Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

122 niTICAL DISSERTATION
To this il has much contributed that the poet has rep-
resented him as an old man ; and by this has gained
the advantage of throwing around him a great many
circumstances, peculiar to that age, which paint him to
the fancy in a more distinct light. He is surrounded
with his family ; he instructs his children in the prin-
ciples of virtue ; he is narrative of his past exploits ;
he is venerable with the gray locks of age ; he is fre
quently disposed to moralize, like an old man, on hu-
man vanity, and the prospect of death. There is more
art, at least more felicity, in this, than may at first be
imagined. For youth and old age are the two states
of human life, capable of being placed in the most pic-
turesque lights. Middle age is more general and
vague ; and has fewer circumstances peculiar to the
idea of it. And when any object is in a situation that
admits it to be rendered particular, and to be clothed
with a variety of circumstances, it always stands out
more clear and full of poetical description.
Besides human personages, divine or supernatural
agents are often introduced into epic poetry, forming
what is called the machinery of it ; which most critics
hold to be an essential part. The marvellous, it must
be admitted, has always a great charm for the bulk of
readers. It gratifies the imagination, and affords room
for striking and sublime description. No wonder,
therefore, that all poets should have a strong propensity
towards it. But 1 must observe, that nothing is more
difficult than to adjust properly the marvellous with tho
probable. If a poet sacrifice probability, and fill his
work with extravagant supernatural scenes, he spreads
o'-er it an appearance of romance and childish fiction ;
he transports his readers from this work! into a fantas-
tic visionary region ; and loses that weight and dignity
which should reign in epic poetry. No work from
wliich probability is altogether banished, can make a