But it is not enough that fentiments be natural and proper. In order to acquire any high degree of poetical merit, they muft alfo be fublime and pathetick. The fublime is not confined to fentiment alone. It belongs to defcription alfo; and whether in description or in fentiment, imports fuch ideas prefented to the mind, as raife it to an uncommon degree of elevation, and fill it with admiration and aftonishment. This is the highest effect either of eloquence or poetry: And to produce this effect, requires a genius glowing with the strongest and warmest conception of fome object awful, great or magnificent. That this character of genius belongs to Offian, may, I think, fufficiently appear from many of the paffages I have already had occafion to quote. To produce more inftances, were fuperfluous. If the engagement of Fingal with the fpirit of Loda, in Carric-thura; if the encounters of the armies, in Fingal; if the address to the fun, in Carthon; if the fimiles founded upon ghofts and fpirits of the night, all formerly mentioned, be not admitted as examples, and illuftrious ones too, of the true poetical fublime, I confefs myself entirely ignorant. of this quality in writing. All the circumftances, indeed, of Offian's compofition, are favourable to the fublime, more perhaps than to any other fpecies of beauty. Accuracy and correctnefs; artfully connected narration: exact method and proportion of parts, we may look for in polished times. The gay and the beautiful, will appear to more advantage in the midst of smiling fcenery and pleasurable themes. But amidst the rude scenes of nature, amidst rocks and torrents and whirlwinds and battles, dwells the fublime. It is the thunder and the lightning of genius. It is the offspring of nature, not of art. It is negligent of all the leffer graces, and perfectly confiftent with a certain noble diforder. It affociates naturally with that grave and folemn fpirit, which diftinguishes our author. For the fublime, is an awful and ferious emotion; and is heightened by all the images of Trouble,, and Terror, and Darkness. Ipfe pater, media nimborum in nocte, corufcâ Terra Terra tremit; fugere feræ ; & mortalia corda Simplicity and concifenefs, are never-failing characteristics of the ftile of a fublime writer. He refts on the majefty of his fentiments, not on the pomp of his expreffions. The main fecret of being fublime, is to fay great things in few, and in plain words: For every fuperfluous decoration degrades a fublime idea. The mind rifes and fwells, when a lofty defcription or fentiment is prefented to it, in its native form. But no fooner does the poet attempt to fpread out this fentiment or defcription, and to deck it round and round with glittering ornaments, than the mind begins to fall from its high elevation; the tranfport is over; the beautiful may remain, but the fublime is gone. Hence the concife and fimple ftyle of Offian, gives great advantage to his fublime conceptions; and affifts them in feizing the imagination with full power Sublimity as belonging to fentiment, coincides in a great measure with magnanimity, heroifm, and generofity of fentiment. Whatever discovers human nature in its greatest elevation; whatever bespeaks a high effort of foul; or fhews a mind fuperior to pleasures, to dangers, and to death, forms what may be called the moral or fentimental fublime. For this, Offian is eminently diftinguished. No poet maintains a higher tone of virtuous and noble fentiment, throughout all his works. Particularly in all the fentiments of Fingal, there is a grandeur and loftinefs proper to fwell the mind with the highest ideas of human perfection. Wherever he appears, we behold the hero. The objects which he purfues, are always truly great; to bend the proud; to protect the injured; to defend his friends; to overcome his enemies by generofity more than by force. A portion of the fame fpirit actuates all the other heroes. Valour reigns; but it is a generous valour, void of cruelty, animated by honour, not by hatred. We behold no debafing paffions among Fingal's warriors; no fpirit of avarice or of infult; but a perpetual contention for fame; a defire of being diftinguished and remembered for gallant actions; a love of juftice; and a zealous attachment to their friends and their country. Such is the ftrain of fentiment in the works of Offian. But the fublimity of moral fentiments, if they wanted the foftening of the tender, would be an hazard of giving a hard and stiff air to poetry. It is not enough to admire. Admiration is a cold feeling, in comparison of that deep intereft, which the heart takes in tender and pathetick fcenes; where, by a myfterious attachment to the objects of compaffion, we are pleafed and delighted, even whilft we mourn. With fcenes of this kind, Offian abounds; and his high merit in thefe, is inconteftable. He may be blamed for drawing tears too often from our eyes; but that he has the power of commanding them, I believe no man, who has the leaft fenfibility, will queftion. The general character of his poetry, is the heroic mixed with the elegiac ftrain; admiration tempered with pity. Ever fond of giving, as he expreffes it," the joy of grief," it is vifible, that on all moving fubjects, he delights to exert his genius; and accordingly, never were there finer pathetick fituations, than what his works prefent. His great art in managing them, lies in giving vent to the fimple and natural emotions of the heart. We meet with no exaggerated declamation; no fubtile refinements on forrow; no fubftitution of defcription in place of paffion. Offian felt strongly himself; and the heart when uttering its native language 6 guage never fails, by powerful fympathy, to affect the heart. A great variety of examples might be produced. We need only open the book to find them every where. What, for inftance, can be more moving, than the lamentations of Oithona, after her misfortune? Gaul, the fon of Morni, her lover, ignorant of what she had fuffered, comes to her refcue. Their meeting is tender in the highest degree. He propofes to engage her foe, in fingle combat, and gives her in charge what he is to do, if he himself fhall fall. And fhall the daughter of Nuäth live, he replied with a bursting figh? Shall I live in Tromathon, and the fon of Morni low? My heart is not of that rock; nor my foul careless as that fea, which lifts its blue waves to every wind, and rolls beneath the "ftorm. The blaft, which fhall lay thee low, fhall fpread the "branches of Oithona on earth. We fhall wither together, fon of "car-borne Morni! The narrow houfe is pleasant to me; and the grey stone of the dead; for never more will I leave thy rocks, fea"furrounded Tromathon!--Chief of Strumon, why cameft thou "over the waves to Nuäth's mournful daughter? Why did not I pafs away in fecret, like the flower of the rock, that lifts its fair « head unseen, and ftrews its withered leaves on the blast? Why "didft thou come, O Gaul! to hear my departing figh ?---O had "I dwelt at Duvranna, in the bright beams of my fame! Then "had my years come on with joy; and the virgins would bless my fteps. But I fall in youth, fon of Morni, and my father shall "bluth in his hall *." Oithona mourns like a woman; in Cuchullin's expreffions of grief after his defeat, we behold the fentiments of a hero, generous but defponding. The fituation is remarkably fine. Cuchullin, rouzed from his cave, by the noife of battle, fees Fingal victorious in the field. He is defcribed as kindling at the fight. "His hand "is on the fword of his fathers; his red-rolling eyes on the foe. "He thrice attempted to rush to battle; and thrice did Connal ftop "him" fuggefting, that Fingal was routing the foe; and that he ought not by the fhow of fuperfluous aid, to deprive the king of any part of the honour of a victory, which was owing to him alone. *P. 244, 245, 248 Cuchullin Cuchullin yields to this generous fentiment; but we see it stinging him to the heart with the fenfe of his own disgrace. "Then, "Carril, go, replied the chief, and greet the king of Morven. "When Lochlin falls away like a ftream after rain, and the noise "of the battle is over. Then be thy voice fweet in his ear, to "praise the king of fwords. Give him the fword of Caithbat; for "Cuchullin is worthy no more to lift the arms of his fathers. But, "O ye ghosts of the lonely Cromla! Ye fouls of chiefs that are no "more! Be ye the companions of Cuchullin, and talk to him in "the cave of his forrow. For never more fhall I be renowned among the mighty in the land. I am like a beam that has fhone: "Like a mist that has fled away; when the blast of the morning came, and brightened the fhaggy fide of the hill. Connal! Talk of arms no more: Departed is my fame. My fighs fhall be on "Cromla's wind; till my footsteps ceafe to be feen. And thou, "white-bofomed Bragela! mourn over the fall of my fame; for vanquished, I will never return to thee, thou fun-beam of Dun"fcaich *! -Eftuat Ingens Uno in corde pudor, luctufque, & confcia virtus. Befides fuch extended pathetick fcenes, Offian frequently pierces the heart by a fingle unexpected ftroke. When Ofcar fell in battle, "No father mourned his fon flain in youth; no brother, his bro"ther of love; they fell without tears, for the chief of the people "was low +." In the admirable interview of Hector with Andromache, in the fixth Iliad, the circumftance of the child in his nurfe's arms, has often been remarked, as adding much to the tenderness of the scene. In the following paffage relating to the death of Cuchullin, we find a circumftance that muft ftrike the imagination with ftill greater force. "And is the fon of Semo fallen? "faid Carril with a figh. Mournful are Tura's walls, and forrow "dwells at Dunfcaich. Thy fpoufe is left alone in her youth; the "fon of thy love is alone. He fhall come to Bragela, and afk her why the weeps. He fhall lift his eyes to the wall, and fee his father's fword. Whofe fword is that? he will fay; and the ་་ * P. 60. + P. 182. " foul |