mirth, which fometimes break forth at their dances and feafts; the favage American tribes, have been noted by all travellers for their gravity and taciturnity. Somewhat of this taciturnity may be alfo remarked in Offian. On all occafions he is frugal of his words; and never gives you more of an image or a defcription, than is just fufficient to place it before you in one clear point of view. blaze of lightning, which flashes and vanishes. Homer is more extended in his defcriptions; and fills them up with a greater variety of circumftances. Both the poets are dramatick; that is, they introduce their perfonages frequently speaking before us. But Offian is concife and rapid in his fpeeches, as he is in every other thing. Homer, with the Greek vivacity, had alfo fome portion of the Greek loquacity. His fpeeches indeed are highly characteristical; and to them we are much indebted for that admirable display he has given of human nature. Yet if he be tedious any where, it is in thefe; fome of them trifling; and fome of them plainly unfeafonable. Both poets are eminently fublime; but a difference may be remarked in the fpecies of their fublimity. Homer's fublimity is accompanied with more impetuofity and fire; Offian's with more of a folemn and awful grandeur. Homer hurries you along; Offian elevates, and fixes you in aftonishment. Homer is most fublime in actions and battles; Offian, in defcription and fentiment. In the pathetick, Homer, when he chutes to exert it, has great power; but Offian exerts that power much oftener, and has the character of tenderness far more deeply imprinted on his works. No poet knew better how to feize and melt the heart. With regard to dignity of fentiment, the pre-eminence muft clearly be given to Offian. This is indeed a furprising circumftance, that in point of humanity, magnanimity, virtuous feelings of every kind, our rude Celtic bard fhould be diftinguished to fuch a degree, that not only the heroes of Homer, but even thofe of the polite and refined Virgil, are left far behind by thofe of Offian. After these general obfervations on the genius and fpirit of our author, I now proceed to a nearer view, and more accurate examination of his works: And as Fingal is the moft confiderable poem in this collection, it is proper to begin with it. To refufe the title of an epic poem to Fingal, because it is not in every little particular, exacly conformable to the practice of Homer and Virgil, were the 8 merc 24 mere fqueamishnefs and pedantry of criticism. Examined even according to Ariftotle's rules, it will be found to have all the effential requifites of a true and regular epic; and to have feveral of them in fo high a degree, as at firft view to raise our aftonishment on finding Offian's compofition fo agreeable to rules of which he was entirely ignorant. But our aftonishment will ceafe, when we confider from what fource Ariftotle drew thofe rules. Homer knew no more of the laws of criticism than Offian. But guided by nature, he compofed in verfe a regular ftory, founded on heroic actions, which all pofterity admired. Ariftotle, with great fagacity and penetration, traced the causes of this general admiration. He obferved what it was in Homer's compofition, and in the conduct of his story, which gave it fuch it fuch power to pleafe; from this obfervation he deduced the rules which poets ought to follow, who would write and please like Homer; and to a compofition formed according to fuch rules, he gave the name of an epic poem. Hence his whole fyftem arofe. Ariftotle ftudied nature in Homer. Homer and Offian both wrote from nature. No wonder that among all the three, there fhould be fuch agreement and conformity. The fundamental rules delivered by Ariftotle concerning an epic poem, are these: That the action which is the ground work of the poem, fhould be one, compleat, and great; that it fhould be feigned, not merely hiftorical; that it should be enlivened with characters and manners; and heightened by the marvellous. But before entering on any of thefe, it may perhaps be asked, what is the moral of Fingal? For, according to M. Boffu, an epic poem is no other than an allegory contrived to illuftrate fome moral truth. The poet, fays this critic, muft begin with fixing on fome maxim, o inftruction, which he intends to inculcate on mankind. He next forms a fable, like one of fop's, wholly with a view to the moral; and having thus fettled and arranged his plan, he then looks into traditionary hiftory for names and incidents, to give his fable fome air of probability. Never did a more frigid, pedantic notion, enter into the mind of a critic. We may fafely pronounce, that he who fhould compofe an epic poem after this manner, who fhould first lay down a moral and contrive a plan, before he had thought of his perfonages and actors, might deliver indeed very found 1 found inftruction, but would find few readers. There cannot be the leaft doubt that the first object which ftrikes an epic poet, which fires his genius, and gives him any idea of his work, is the action or fubject he is to celebrate. Hardly is there any tale, any subject a poet can chufe for fuch a work, but will afford fome general moral instruction. An epic poem is by its nature one of the moft moral of all poetical compofitions: But its moral tendency is by no means to be limited to fome common-place maxim, which may be gathered from the ftory. It arifes from the admiration of heroic actions, which fuch a compofition is peculiarly calculated to produce; from the virtuous emotions which the characters and incidents raife, whilst we read it; from the happy impreffion which all the parts feparately, as well as the whole taken together, leave upon the mind. However, if a general moral be still infifted on, Fingal obviously furnishes one, not inferior to that of any other Poet, viz. That Wisdom and Bravery always triumph over brutal force; or another nobler ftill; That the most compleat victory over an enemy is obtained by that moderation and generofity which convert him into a friend. The unity of the Epic action, which, of all Ariftotle's rules, is the chief and moft material, is fo ftrictly preserved in Fingal, that it must be perceived by every reader. It is a more compleat unity than what arifes from relating the actions of one man, which the Greek critic juftly cenfures as imperfect; it is the unity of one enterprife, the deliverance of Ireland from the invafion of Swaran: An enterprise, which has furely the full Heroic dignity. All the incidents recorded bear a conftant reference to one end; no double plot is carried on; but the parts unite into a regular whole: And as the action is one and great, fo it is an entire or compleat action. For we find, as the Critic farther requires, a beginning, a middle, and an end; a Ncdus, or intrigue in the Poem; Difficulties occurring through Cuchullin's rashness and bad fuccefs; thofe difficulties gradually furmounted; and at laft the work conducted to that happy conclufion which is held effential to Epic Poetry. Unity is indeed obferved with greater exactnefs in Fingal, than in almost any other Epic compofition. For not only is unity of subject maintained, but that of time and place alfo. The Autumn is clearly pointed out as the season of the action; and from beginning E ning to end the fcene is never fhifted from the heath of Lena, along the fea-fhore. The duration of the action in Fingal, is much fhorter than in the Iliad or Æneid. But fure, there may be fhorter as well as longer Heroic Poems; and if the authority of Ariftotle be alfo required for this, he fays exprefly that the Épic compofition is indefinite as to the time of its duration. Accordingly the Action of the Iliad lafts only forty-feven days, whilft that of the Æneid is continued for more than a year. Throughout the whole of Fingal, there reigns that grandeur of fentiment, style and imagery, which ought ever to distinguish this high fpecies of poetry. The story is conducted with no fmall art. The Poet goes not back to a tedious recital of the beginning of the war with Swaran; but haftening to the main action, he falls in exactly, by a moft happy coincidence of thought, with the rule of Horace. Semper ad eventum feftinat, & in medias res, De Arte Poet. He invokes no mufe, for he acknowledged none; but his occafional addreffes to Malvina, have a finer effect than the invocation of any mufe. He fets out with no formal propofition of his fubject; but the fubject naturally and easily unfolds its felf; the poem opening in an animated manner, with the fituation of Cuchullin, and the arrival of a fcout who informs him of Swaran's landing. Mention is presently made of Fingal, and of the expected affiftance. from the fhips of the lonely ifle, in order to give further light to the fubject. For the poet often shows his addrefs in gradually preparing us for the events he is to introduce; and in particular the paration for the appearance of Fingal, the previous expectations that are raised, and the extreme magnificence fully answering thefe expectations, with which the hero is at length prefented to us, are all worked up with fuch skillful conduct as would do honour to any poet of the most refined times. Homer's art in magnifying the character of Achilles has been univerfally admired. Offian certainly fhows no less art in aggrandizing Fingal. Nothing could be pre more more happily imagined for this purpose than the whole management of the last battle, wherein Gaul the fon of Morni, had befought Fingal to retire, and to leave to him and his other chiefs the honour of the day. The generofity of the King in agreeing to this propofal; the majesty with which he retreats to the hill, from whence he was to behold the engagement, attended by his Bards, and waving the lightning of his fword; his perceiving the chiefs overpowered by numbers, but loth to deprive them of the glory of victorý by coming in perfon to their affiftance; his fending Ullin, the Bard, to animate their courage; and at laft, when the danger becomes more preffing, his rifing in his might, and interpofing, like a divinity, to decide the doubtful fate of the day; are all circumstances contrived with so much art as plainly discover the Celtic Bards to have been not unpractised in Heroic poetry. J The story which is the foundation of the Iliad is in itself as simple as that of Fingal. A quarrel arifes between Achilles and Agamemnon concerning a female flave; on which, Achilles, apprehending himself to be injured, withdraws his affiftance from the rest of the Greeks. The Greeks fall into great diftress, and befeech him to be reconciled to them. He refuses to fight for them in perfon, but fends his friend Patroclus; and upon his being flain, goes forth to revenge his death, and kills Hector. The fubject of Fingal is this: Swaran comes to invade Ireland: Cuchullin, the guardian of the young King, had applied for affiftance to Fingal, who reigned in the oppofite coaft of Scotland. But before. Fingal's arrival, he is hurried by rafh counsel to encounter Swaran. He is defeated; he retreats; and defponds. Fingal arrives in this conjuncture. The battle is for fome time dubious; but in the end he conquers Swaran; and the remembrance of Swaran's being the brother of Agandecca, who had once faved his life, makes him difmifs him honourably. Homer it is true has filled up his story with a much greater variety of particulars than Offian; and in this has fhown a compafs of invention fuperior to that of the other poet. But it must not be forgotten, that though Homer be more circumstantial, his incidents however are lefs diversified in kind than those of Offian. War and bloodshed reign throughout the Iliad; and notwithstanding all the fertility of Homer's invention, there is fo much uniformity in his fubjects, that there are few readers, who, before the close, are not tired of perpetual |