Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

170 CRITICAL DISSERTATIOIT
of taste, as among the most splendid orname.its of this
collection. T!ie beauties of each arc too great and too
obvious to need any particular comment. In one pas-
sage only of the address to the moon, there appears
some obscurity. " Whither dost thou i-etire from thy
course when the darkness of thy countenance grows ?
Hast thou thy hall like Ossian ? Dwellest thou in tho
shadow of grief? Have thy sisters fallen from heaven ?
Are they who rejoiced with thee, at night, no more '?
Yes, they have fallen, fair light ! and thou dost often
retire to mourn." We may be at a loss to compre-
hend, at first view, the ground of those speculations of
Ossian concerning the moon : but when all the circum-
stances are attended to, they will appear to flow natu-
rally from the present situation of his mind. A mind
under the dominion of any strong passion, tinctures
with its own disposition every ohject which it beholds.
The old bard, with his heart bleeding for the loss of
all his friends, is meditating on the different phases of
the moon. Her waning and darkness present to his
melancholy imagination the image of sorrow ; and
presently the idea arises, and is indulged, that like
himself, she retires to mourn over the loss of other
moons, or of stars, whom he calls her sisters, and fan-
cies to have once rejoiced with her at night, now fallen
from heaven. Darkness suggested the idea of mourn-
ing, and mourning suggested nothing so naturally to
Ossian as the death of beloved friends. An instance
precisely similar, of this influence of passion, may be
seen in a passage, which has always been admired, of
Shakspeare's King Lear. The old man, on the point of
distraction through the inhumanity of his daughters, sees
Edgar appear, disguised like a beggar and a madman.
Ijiar. Didst thou give all to thy daughters *? And art thou come
to this "?
Couldst thou leave notliing 1 Didst thou give them all 1