Ossian Collection > Fingal

xii A DISSERTATION concerning the
tlqulty of their families on the authority of their
poems.
The ufe of letters was not known in the North
of Europe 'till long after the inllitution of the
bards : the records of the famihes of their pa-
trons, their own, and more ancient poems were
handed down by, tradition. Their poetical com-
pofitions were admirably contrived for that pur-
pofe. They were adapted to mufic ; and the
moH: perfect harmony obferved. Each verfe was
fo connected with thofe which preceded or fol-
lowed it, that if one line had been remembered
in a ffanza, it was almofl: impoffible to forget the
refl. The cadences followed in fo natural a gra-
dation, and the words were fo adapted to the
common turn of the voice, after it was raifed to
a certain key, that it was almoft impoflible, from
a fimilarity of found, to fubflitute one word for
another. This excellence is peculiar to the Celtic
tongue, and is perhaps to be met with in no other
language. Nor does this choice of words clog the
fenfe or weaken the exprefTion. The numerous
fle6tions of confonants, and variation in declenfion,
make the lan,G;uage very copious.
The defcendants of the Celtoe, Avho inhabited
Britain and its ifles, were not fmgular in this me-
thod of preferving the moll: precious monuments
of their nation. The ancient laws of the Greeks
were couched in verfe, and handed down by tra-
dition. The Spartans, through a long habit, be-
came fo fond of this cuflom, that they would ne-
ver allow their laws to be committed to writing.
The afl:ions of great men, and the eulogiums of
kings and heroes were preferved in the fame man-
ner. All the hiftorical monuments of the old
Germans were comprehended in their ancient
fongs * ; which v/ere eith^ hymns to their gods,
or
♦ Tacitus de mor. Germ.