Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

ON THE POEMS OF OSSIAN. 121
hand. Be thou a stream of mighty tides agamst the
foes of thy people ; but Hke the gale that moves the
grass to those whc5 ask thine aid. So Trenmor lived ;
such Trathal was ; and such has Fingal been. My
arm was the support of the injured ; the weak rested
behind the lightning of my steel." These were the
maxims of true heruism, to which he formed his grand-
son. His fame is represented as everywhere spread ;
the greatest heroes acknowledge his superiority ; his
enon)ies tremble at his name ; and the highest enco-
mium that can be bestowed on one whom the poets would
most exalt, is to sav, that his soul was like the soul of
Fingal.
To do justice to the poet's merit, in supporting such
a character as this, I must observe, what is not com-
monly attended to, that there is no part of poetical
execution more difficult, than to draw a perfect char-
acter in such a manner as to render it distinct, and
affecting to the mind. Some strokes of human imper-
fection and frailty, are what usually give us the most
clear view, and the most sensible impression of a char-
acter ; because they present to us a man, such as we
have seen ; tlicy recall known features of human
nature. When poets attempt to go beyond this range,
and describe a faultless hero, they for the most part set
before us a sort of vague, undistinguishable character,
such as the imagination cannot lay hold of, or realize
to itself as the object of affection. We know how
much Virgil has failed in this particular. His perfect
hero, iEneas, is an unanimated, insipid personage,
whom we may pretend to admire, but whom no one
can heartily love. But what Virgil has failed in,
Ossian, to our astonishment, has successfully executed.
His Fingal, though exhibited without any of the com-
mon human failings, is, nevertheless, a real man ; a
character which touches and ijiterests every reader.
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