Ossian Collection > Aspects of poetry

252 THE POETRY OF THE [iX.
exists in the English nature, and shows how it is the
dash of Celtic blood in English veins, which has given
to it some of its finest, if least recognised, quality; how
the commingling of Celtic sentiment and sensibility with
Saxon steadiness and method has leavened our litera-
ture. I know nothing finer in criticism than the subtle
and admirable tact with which he traces the way in
which the presence of a Celtic sentiment has heightened
and spiritualised the genius of our best poets, has added
to the imagination of Shakespeare a magic charm, not
to be found even in the finest words of Goethe. This
line of thought, true and interesting as it is, has refer-
ence to the unconscious influence of the Celtic spirit on
Englishmen, who never once, perhaps, thought or cared
for anything Celtic. It would be a humbler and more
obvious task to trace, how the direct and conscious infil-
tration of the Celtic genius, from the time of MacPher-
son's Ossian, has told on our modern poets. But from
this I must refrain to-day ; and in what remains confine
myself strictly to the Gael of the Scottish Highlands
and their poetry.
I shall not venture to speak of the Celts in general,
much less of that very abstract thing called ' Celtism.'
For Celt is a wide word, which covers several very
distinct and different peoples. What is true of the
poetry of Wales is not true of the poetry of Ireland.
What is true of the poetry of Ireland cannot be said
of the poetry of the Scottish Gael. In all our talk