Ossian Collection > Sketches descriptive of picturesque scenery, on the southern confines of Perthshire

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of the original. The fcenery delcribed ill
thefe poems is, indeed, hmited ; but how
wonderfully varied is the defcriptioil
itfelf. It mud occur to the lover of an-
tiquities as a fubjed of regret, that this
ancient language is- now haflening to-
wards extindion, in every country where
it had been fpoken. The Cornifh is nov/
for' ever loft ; the Welfh and Gaelic are
now baniilied far beyond their ancient
limits ; and by frequent commerce with
the Low Country, giving -way, with hafty
fteps, to the language of the reft cf the.-
Illand.
The bulk of the Highlanders nov/ un-
derftand Englifh ; and by many, both
languages are fpoken with equal facility.
It is true, that from the intermixture of
Idioms, the dialed in either of them be-
comes corrupt ;• but perhaps, what is loft
in elegance of expreilion, is gained in a-
cutenefs of thinking. The Highlander,
thus poflefled of two languages, is na-
turally led to compare modes of expref-
fton, to trace analogies in grammar, and
u 2 to