rical characters would have been as much out of place, as in Tragedy; ferving only unfeasonably to amufe the fancy, whilft they stopped the current, and weakened the force of paffion. With apoftrophes, or addreffes to perfons abfent or dead, which have been, in all ages, the language of paffion, our poet abounds; and they are among his highest beauties. Witness the apoftrophe, in the first book of Fingal, to the maid of Inistore, whofe lover had fallen in battle; and that inimitably fine one of Cuchullin to Bragela at the conclufion of the fame book. He commands the harp to be ftruck in her praise; and the mention of Bragela's name, immediately fuggefting to him a crowd of tender ideas; "Doft thou "raife thy fair face from the rocks," he exclaims, "to find the fails of Cuchullin? The fea is rolling "far diftant, and its white foam fhall deceive thee "for my fails." And now his imagination being wrought up to conceive her as, at that moment, really in this fituation, he becomes afraid of the harm she may receive from the inclemency of the night; and with an enthusiasm, happy and affecting, though beyond the cautious ftrain of modern poetry, Retire," he proceeds, "retire, for it is "night, my love, and the dark winds figh in thy "hair. Retire to the hall of my feafts, and think "of the times that are paft; for I will not return till the ftorm of war has ceafed. O Connal, fpeak of wars and arms, and fend her from my mind; "for lovely with her raven hair is the white-bofom«ed daughter of Sorglan*." This breathes all the native spirit of paffion and tenderness. 66 * Vol. i. p. 27. The The addreffes to the fun, to the moon †, and to the evening ftar t, muft draw the attention of every reader of taste, as among the most splendid ornaments of this collection. The beauties of each are too great, and too obvious to need any particular comment. In one paffage only of the address to the moon, there appears fome obfcurity. "Whither doft thou retire from thy "course, when the darkness of thy countenance "grows? Haft thou thy hall like Offian ? Dwelleft "thou in the shadow of grief? Have thy fifters fal"len from heaven? Are they who rejoiced with "thee at night, no more? Yes, they have fallen, "fair light! and thou doft often retire to mourn." We may be at a lofs to comprehend, at first view, the ground of these speculations of Offian, concerning the moon; but when all the circumftances are attended to, they will appear to flow naturally from the prefent fituation of his mind. A mind under the dominion of any ftrong paffion, tinetures with its own difpofition, every object which it beholds. The old bard, with his heart bleeding for the lofs of all his friends, is meditating on the different phases of the moon. Her waning and darkness, presents to his melancholy imagination, the image of forrow; and presently the idea arises, and is indulged, that, like himself, fhe retires to mourn over the lofs of other moons, or of stars, whom he calls her fifters, and fancies to have once rejoiced with her at night, now fallen from heaven. * Vol. i. P. 200. i. p. 291. + Vol. i. p. 218. 1 Vol. Darkness Darkness fuggefted the idea of mourning, and mourning fuggefted nothing so naturally to Offian, as the death of beloved friends. An instance precifely fimilar of this influence of paffion, may be feen in a paffage which has always been admired of Shakespear's King Lear. The old man on the point of distraction, through the inhumanity of his daughters, fees Edgar appear disguised like a beggar and a madman. Lear. Didft thou give all to thy daughters? And art thou come to this? Couldeft thou leave nothing? Didft thou give them all? Kent. He hath no daughters, Sir. Lear. Death, traitor! nothing could have fub dued nature, To fuch a lownefs, but his unkind daughters. King Lear, Ac 3. Scene 5. The apoftrophe to the winds, in the opening of Darthula, is in the highest spirit of poetry. "But "the winds deceive thee, O Darthula: and deny "the woody Etha to thy fails. These are not thy "mountains, Nathos, nor is that the roar of thy "climbing waves. The halls of Cairbar are near, "and the towers of the foe lift their head."Where have ye been, ye fouthern winds; when "the fons of my love were deceived? But ye "have been sporting on plains, and pursuing "the thiftle's beard. O that ye had been rust"ling in the fails of Nathos, till the hills of Etha "rofe! till they rofe in their clouds, and faw their "coming chief*." This paffage is remarkable Vol. i. p. 220. for for the resemblance it bears to an expoftulation with the wood nymphs, on their abfence at a critical time; which, as a favourite poetical idea, Virgil has copied from Theocritus, and Milton has very happily imitated from both. Where were ye, nymphs! when the remorfclefs deep Clos'd o'er the head of your lov'd Lycidas? For neither were ye playing on the steep Nor yet where Deva fpreads her wizard stream * Having now treated fully of Offian's talents, with refpect to defcription and imagery, it only remains to make fome obfervations on his fentiments. No fentiments can be beautiful without being proper; that is, fuited to the character and fituation of those who utter them. In this repect, Offian is as correct as moft writers. His characters, as above obferved, are in general well fupported, which could not have been the cafe, had the fentiments been unnatural or out of place. A variety of perfonages of different ages, fexes, and conditions, are introduced into his poems; and they Speak and act with a propriety of fentiment and behaviour, which it is surprising to find in fo rude an age. Let the poem of Darthula, throughout, be taken as an example. * Milton's Lycidas. See Theocrit, Idyll. I. Πα ποκ' ἀρ ἦσθ ̓ ὁκα Δαφνις ἔτακετο; πᾶ πικα, Νύμφαι, &c. And Virg. Eclog. 1o. Quæ nemora, aut qui vos faltus habuere, puellæ, &c. But and But it is not enough that fentiments be natural In order to acquire any high degree proper. 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 defcription 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 warmeft 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 addrefs 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 illustrious ones too, of the true poetical fublime, I confefs myself entirely ignorant of this quality in writing. All the circumstances, 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 midft of fmiling fcenery and pleasurable themes. But 8 amidft |
