Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

PREFACE.
WiTHOCT increasing his genius, the author may have
improved his language, in the eleven years tliai the
following poems have been in the hands of the public.
Errors in diction might have been committed at twenty-
four, which the expei'ience of a riper age may remove ;
and some exuberances in imagery may be restrained
with advantage, by a degree of judgment acquired in
the progress of time. Impressed with this opinion, lie
ran over the whole with attention and accuracy ; and
he hopes he has brought the work to a state of correct-
ness which will preclude all future improvements.
The eagerness with w!iich these poems have been
received abroad, is a recompense for the coldness with
which a few have affected to treat them at home. All
the polite nations of Europe have transferred them into
their respective languages ; and they speak of him who
brought them to light, in terms that might flatter the
vanity of one fond of fame. In a convenient indiffer-
ence for a literary reputation, the author hears praise
without being elevated, and ribaldry without being de-
pressed. He has frequently seen the first bestowed
too precipitately ; and the latter is so faithless to its
purpose, that it is often the only index to merit in the
present age.
Though the taste which defines genius by the points
of the compass, is a subject fit for mirth in itself, it ia