66 even the sentiments, have undergone such a change, in the translations, that the genuine style of Ossian is not easily to be recognised. Crugal's ghost of mist" is insinuated, by Mr Laing, to be the offspring of the shade of Patroclus, the "UTE xavo" of Homer, with an acknowledged improvement. But this, the gentleman must be informed, is sacred ground. We, Highlanders, claim as extensive an acquaintance with the race. of ghosts, as any persons whatever: we indeed claim, in them, an almost exclusive property. Nor is the construction of our ghosts less elegant than those of Homer. We, as well as he, believe them to be airy, unsubstantial forms, which sometimes render themselves visible, like mist, or the condensed breath of animals. Of the allusions to frost, which occur in these Poems, I have taken notice already. "The heroes," says Ossian, "stood on the "heath, like oaks, with all their branches "round them, when they echo in the stream "of frost; and their withered branches are "rustling in the wind." The original of this is found, by Mr Laing, in Milton's "Stood, "Their glory withered, as when Heaven's fire," &c. Their stately growth "Stands on the blasted heath." And, again, Ossian has:-"They stood like "a half-consumed grove of oaks, when we "see the sky through its branches, and the "meteor passing behind." "This," says Mr Laing, "is Milton's "Satan alarmed, "Collecting all his might, dilated stood, "Like Teneriffe, or Atlas, unremoved; "His stature reached the sky, and on his crest In order to refute the charge of plagia rism, in these instances, nothing further seems requisite, than to place the passages beside each other, and to request the reader's attention to the alleged resemblance. "Cuchullin stood before him, like a hill "that catches the clouds of heaven; the "winds contend on its head of pines; the "hail rattles on its rocks: but firm, in its strength, it stands, and shades the vale of "Cona." This, with Mr Laing, is Virgil's -"Horrendumque intonat armis, « Quantus Athos, aut quantus Eryx, aut ipse coruscis, There are, indeed, in these passages, some slight shades of resemblance, such as must occur in the compositions of men of genius, describing natural scenes of the same kind; but these passages, at the same time, present strong lines of difference. In Virgil, a hero, rustling in his armour, is very well * Æn. lib. xii. v. 700. compared to a mountain, resounding under the storm: in Ossian, again, we have an image, frequently employed by poets, of a hero, firm in his strength, like the hill that catches the clouds of heaven, and resists the hail rattling on its rocks. "Perhaps the most egregious imitation," says Mr Laing, "is that of Milton's sun in an eclipse. Ossian has, the darkened moon, when she moves in a dun circle, through the heavens, and dreadful change "is expected by men.' This," says Mr Laing, "is Milton's moon "In dim eclipse," (which)" with fear of change, "Perplexes monarchs." Surely Mr Laing is not ignorant, that all rude nations have entertained awful forebodings of evil, from the eclipses of the celestial luminaries. Some nations imagine, that, when the sun or moon are in eclipse, they are assailed by a hideous dragon; and they beat drums and kettles, in order to terrify the monster. In all periods of rude society, these phenomena have been supposed to prognosticate the disasters of nations, and the downfal of empires. It would have been strange, if our Caledonian ancestors had affixed no such notions to those appearances. The only other coincidence of Ossian with a classical writer, of which I shall take notice, is his comparison of a hero to "a rock "in a sandy vale: the sea comes with its waves, and roars against its hardened sides: "its head is covered with foam, the hills are echoing around." "This," says Mr Laing, "is Virgil's "Ille velut pelagi rupes immota resistit ; "Quæ sese, multis circum latrantibus undis, "Mole tenet: Scopuli nequicquam et spumea circum "Saxa fremunt." It is wonderful, that Mr Laing should not have perceived, that this is a simile founded |