and the national religion altered, the Bards continued to flourish; not as a set of strolling fongsters, like the Greek 'Aados or Rhapfodifts, in Homer's time, but as an order of men highly respected in the state, and supported by a publick establishment. We find them, according to the teftimonies of Strabo and Diodorus, before the age of Auguftus Cæfar; and we find them remaining under the fame name, and exercifing the fame functions as of old, in Ireland, and in the north of Scotland, almost down to our own times. It is well known that in both thefe countries, every Regulus or chief had his own Bard, who was confidered as an officer of rank in his court; and had lands affigned. him, which defcended to his family. Of the: honour in which the Bards were held, many inftances occur in Offian's poems. On all important occafions, they were the ambaffa-dors between contending chiefs; and their perfons were held facred.. "Cairbar feared to ftretch his fword to the bards, though his foul "was dark.-Loofe the bards, faid his brother Cathmor, they are "the fons of other times. Their voice fhall be heard in other ages, "when the kings of Temora have failed *.” From all this, the Celtic tribes clearly appear to have been addicted in so high a degree to poetry, and to have made it so much their study from the earliest times, as may remove our wonder at meeting with a vein of higher poetical refinement among them, than was at first fight to have been expected among nations, whom we are accustomed to call barbarous. Barbarity,. I muft observe, is a very equivocal term; it admits of many different forms and degrees; and though, in all of them, it exclude polished manners, it is, however, not inconfiftent with generous fentiments and tender affections + What degrees of friendship, love and heroism, may poffibly *P. 188. Surely among the wild Laplanders, if any where, barbarity is in its most perfect ftate. Yet their love fongs which Scheffer has given us in his Lapponia, are a proof that natural tenderness of fentiment may be found in a country, into which the Jeaft glimmering of fcience has never penetrated. To moft English readers these fongs are well known by the elegant ttanilations of them in the spectator, No. 366 and 406. I fhall fubjoin Scheffer's Latin verfion of one of them, which has the appearance of being strictly literal. Sol, clariffimum emitte lumen in paludem Orra. Si enifus in fumma picearum cacumina fcirem me vifurum Orra paludem, in ea eniterer, ut viderem inter quos amica mea effet flores; omnes fufcinderem frutices ibi enatos, omnes ramos præsecarem, hos virentes ramos. Curfum nubium effem fecutus, quæ iter fuum infti tuunt fibly be found to prevail in a rude state of fociety, no one can fay. Aftonishing inftances of them we know, from hiftory, have fometimes appeared: and a few characters diftinguished by those high qualities, might lay a foundation for a fet of manners being introduced into the fongs of the Bards, more refined, it is probable, and exalted, according to the ufual poetical licence, than the real manners of the country. In particular, with refpect to heroism; the great employment of the Celtic bards, was to delineate the characters, and fing the praises of heroes. So Lucan ; Vos quoque qui fortes animos, belloque peremptos, Pharf. 1. 1. Now when we confider a college or order of men, who, cultivating poetry throughout a long series of ages, had their imaginations continually employed on the ideas of heroifm; who had all the poems and panegyricks, which were composed by their predeceffors, handed down to them with care; who rivalled and endeavoured to outftrip those who had gone before them, each in the celebration of his particular hero; is it not natural to think, that at length the character of a hero would appear in their fongs with the highest luftre, and be adorned with qualities truly noble? Some of the qualities indeed which diftinguish a Fingal, moderation, humanity, and clemency, would not probably be the first ideas of heroifm occurring to a barbarous people: But no fooner had fuch ideas begun to dawn on the minds of poets, than, as the human mind easily opens to the native reprefentations of human perfection, they would be feized and embraced; they would enter into their panegyricks; they would afford materials for fucceeding bards to work upon, and improve; tuunt verfus paludem Orra, fi ad te volare poffem alis, cornicum alis. Sed mihi defunt alæ, alæ querquedulæ, pedefque, anferum pedes plantæve bonæ, quæ deferre me valeant ad te. Satis expectafti diu; per tot dies, tot dies tuos optimos, oculis tuis jucundiffimis, corde tuo amiciffimo. Quod fi longiffime velles effugere, cito tamen te confequerer. Quid fermius validiufve effe poteft quam contorti nervi, catenæve ferreæ, quæ duriffime ligant? Sic amor contorquet caput noftrum, mutat cogitationes & fententias. Puerorum voluntas, voluntas venti; juvenum cogitationes, longæ cogitationes. Quos fi audirem omnes, a via, a via jufta declinarem. Unum eft confilium quod capiam; ita fcio viam rectiorem me reperturum. Schefferi Lapponia, Cap. 25. they they would contribute not a little to exalt the publick manners. For fuch fongs as thefe, familiar to the Celtic warriors from their childhood, and throughout their whole life, both in war and in peace, their principal entertainment; muft have had a very confiderable influence in propagating among them real manners nearly approaching to the poetical; and in forming even fuch a hero as Fingal. Efpecially when we confider that among their limited objects of ambition, among the few advantages which in a favage ftate, man could obtain over man, the chief was Fame, and that Immortality which they expected to receive from their virtues and exploits, in the fongs of bards +. Having made these remarks on the Celtic poetry and Bards in general, I fhall next confider the particular advantages which Offian poffeffed. He appears clearly to have lived in a period which enjoyed all the benefit I juft now mentioned of traditionary poetry. The exploits of Trathal, Trenmor, and the other ancestors of Fingal, are spoken of as familiarly known. Ancient bards are frequently alluded to. In one remarkable paffage, Offian defcribes himself as living in a fort of claffical age, enlightened by the memorials of former times, conveyed in the fongs of bards; and points at a period of darkness and ignorance which lay beyond the reach of tradition. "His words," fays he, " came only by halves to our ears; they "were dark as the tales of other times, before the light of the fong "arofe." Offian, himself, appears to have been endowed by nature with an exquifite fenfibility of heart; prone to that tender melancholy which is fo often an attendant on great genius; and fufceptible equally of strong and of foft emotions. He was not only a profeffed bard, educated with care, as we may easily believe, to all the poetical art then known, and connected, as he fhews us himself, in intimate friendship with the other contemporary bards, but a warrior alfo; and the fon of the most renowned hero and prince of his age. This formed a conjunction of circumftances, uncommonly favourable towards exalting the imagination of a poet. He relates expeditions in which he had been engaged; he fings of battles in + When Edward I. conquered Wales, he put to death all the Welch bards. This cruel policy plainly fhews, how great an influence he imagined the fongs of these bards to have over the minds of the people; and of what nature he judged that influence to be. The Welch bards were of the fame Celtic race with the Scottish and Irish. P. 101. which which he had fought and overcome; he had beheld the most illuftrious fcenes which that age could exhibit, both of heroifm in war, and magnificence in peace. For however rude the magnificence of thofe times may feem to us, we must remember that all ideas of magnificence are comparative; and that the age of Fingal was an æra of diftinguished fplendor in that part of the world. Fingal reigned over a confiderable territory; he was enriched with the fpoils of the Roman province; he was ennobled by his victories and great actions; and was in all refpects a perfonage of much higher dignity than any of the chieftains, or heads of Clans, who lived in the fame country, after a more extenfive monarchy was established. The manners of Offian's age, fo far as we can gather them from his writings, were abundantly favourable to a poetical genius. The two difpiriting vices, to which Longinus imputes the decline of poetry, covetoufnefs and effeminacy, were as yet unknown. The cares of men were few. They lived a roving indolent life; hunting and war their principal employments; and their chief amusements, the mufick of bards and "the feaft of fhells." The great object purfued by heroic spirits, was " to receive their fame," that is, to become worthy of being celebrated in the fongs of bards; and "to have "their name on the four gray ftones." To die, unlamented by a bard, was deemed fo great a misfortune, as even to disturb their ghosts in another state. After death, they expected to follow employments of the fame nature with those which had amused them on earth; to fly with their friends on clouds, to pursue airy deer, and to liften to their praise in the mouths of bards. In fuch times as thefe, in a country where poetry had been fo long cultivated, and fo highly honoured, is it any wonder that among the race and fucceffion of bards, one Homer fhould arise; a man who, endowed with a natural happy genius, favoured by peculiar advantages of birth and condition, and meeting in the courfe of his life, with a variety of incidents proper to fire his imagination, and to touch his heart, fhould attain a degree of eminence in poetry, worthy to draw the admiration of more refined ages? The compofitions of Offian are fo ftrongly marked with characters of antiquity, that although there were no external proof to fupport that antiquity, hardly any reader of judgment and taste, could hefitate in referring them to a very remote æra. There are four great ftages through which men fucceffively pafs in the progress of fociety. fociety. The first and earlieft is the life of hunters; pafturage fucceeds to this, as the ideas of property begin to take root; next, agriculture; and lastly, commerce. Throughout Offian's poems, we plainly find ourselves in the firft of thefe periods of fociety; during which, hunting was the chief employment of men, and the principal method of their procuring fubfiftence. Pafturage was not indeed wholly unknown; for we hear of dividing the herd in the cafe of a divorce; but the allufions to herds and to cattle are not many; and of agriculture, we find no traces. No cities appear to have been built in the territories of Fingal. No art is mentioned except that of working in iron. Every thing prefents to us the moft fimple and unimproved manners. At their feafts, the heroes prepared their own repaft; they fat round the light of the burning oak; the wind lifted their locks, and whistled through their open halls. Whatever was beyond the neceffaries of life was known to them only as the fpoil of the Roman province; "the gold of the ftranger; the lights of the ftranger; the steeds of the stranger, the children of the rein †.”, It This representation of Offian's times, must strike us the more, as genuine and authentick, when it is compared with a poem of later date, which Mr. Macpherson has preferved in one of his notes. is that wherein five bards are reprefented as paffing the evening in the houfe of a chief, and each of them feparately giving his defcription of the night. The night fcenery is beautiful; and the author has plainly imitated the style and manner of Offian: But he has allowed fome images to appear which betray a later period of fociety. For we meet with windows clapping, the herds of goats and cows feeking fhelter, the fhepherd wandering, corn on the plain, and the wakeful hind rebuilding the fhocks of corn which had been overturned by the tempeft. Whereas in Offian's works, from beginning to end, all is confiftent; no modern allufion drops from him; but every where, the fame face of rude nature appears; a country wholly uncultivated, thinly inhabited, and recently peopled. The *P. 31. The chariot of Cuchullin has been thought by fome to be reprefented as more magnificent than is confiftent with the poverty of that age; in Book I. of Fingal. But this chariot is plainly only a horfe litter; and the gems mentioned in the defcription, are no other than the fhining ftones or pebbles, known to be frequently found along the western coaft of Scotland. + P. 253. D grafs |