The poems of Ossian in the original Gaelic, Volume 1

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G. and W. Nicol, 1807 - Bards and bardism
 

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Page iii - ... long to be remembered, and the language formerly had nothing written. He has doubtless inserted names that circulate in popular stories, and may have translated some wandering ballads, if any can be found; and the names and some of the images being recollected, make an inaccurate auditor imagine, by the help of Caledonian bigotry, that he has formerly heard the whole.
Page lxxx - I received the favour of your letter, dated yesterday ; and I am sorry the gentlemen should think of giving themselves the trouble of waiting upon me, as a ceremony of that kind is altogether superfluous and unnecessary. I shall adhere to the promise I made several years ago to a deputation of the same kind ; that is, to employ my first leisure time, and a considerable portion of time it must be to do it accurately, in arranging and printing the originals of the Poems of Ossian, as they have come...
Page lxvii - Ionia, just as some curious fragments of ancient poetry have been lately collected in the northern parts of this island, their reduction to order in Greece was a work of taste and judgment; and those great names which we have mentioned might claim the same merit in regard to Homer, that the ingenious editor of Fingal is entitled to from Ossian.
Page xxx - The Noble Lord, with his usual zeal for literature, proposed that Clach Ossian, which ignorance or malice had overturned, should be restored to its former place, and a further monument erected, with a suitable inscription. There was not then public spirit enough in Scotland, to raise the sum necessary for that purpose. It is to be hoped, however, that the time is not far distant, when that object will be accomplished. .3. Not only is the Caledonian title to Fingal and his heroes justified by the...
Page xxvi - Yit he was bot of tender youth ; Bot eftir he grewe mekle at fouth, Ellevyne ell wyde met was his mouth, His teith was tene myle sqwaire. He wald apone his tais stand...
Page xlii - The manuscript ap peared to him, in a very different light, from that in which it was seen by those, who had from their infancy been accustomed to hear the contents of it recited or sung, by illiterate men, for the entertainment of the lower classes of society. The account he gives me at present, is the same which he gave me thirty years ago— for I took notes of it then, and have fre* quently repeated it since, upon his authority.
Page lviii - Reverend Dr. Stuart, minister of Luss, knew an old highlander in the isle of Skye, who repeated to him for three successive days, and during several hours each day, without hesitation, and with the utmost rapidity many thousand lines of ancient poetry, and would have continued his repetitions...
Page lxiv - Grant in the year 240, and from the context of the history, the transaction with Swaran cannot have happened many years before. * The existence of Swaran, son of Starno, and his wars in Ireland, and his having been defeated by Fingal, as related by Ossian, are therefore authenticated by the historians of Denmark ; and in their annals, a number of particulars are stated, regarding the manners of those times, which confirm many of the particulars mentioned by Ossian.
Page xlix - Macgillivray, who was then studying poetry and rhetoric, and thought that nothing could equal the beauties of the ancient poets, heard with a sort of indignation Mr. Farquharson say, that there were Erse poems equal in merit to the pieces of the ancients, whom he so much admired ; but when he saw Macpherson's translation, he began to think his indignation unjust, and consequently paid more attention to the comparison which Mr.

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