SCOTLAND 



5T7 



the 



tangling*, 

 .iture, 

 and 



Alltir 



Ac. 



Gaelic lan- 

 guage. 



Literature 

 and science. 



Poems of 



Ussiiin. 



in humorous rrpresrntntioni, and is far from 

 miMiited to the plaintive and tender. Th- poem*, 

 and r-perifllly the songs of Burns, illustrate and confirm 

 these observations. Fur the didactic and the ublimer 

 kinds of poetry, it may be rattier deficient in majesty 

 and compass." 



The < u-lic language, or that spoken in the High- 

 lands of Scotland, is a dialect of the Celtic, dinlecU of 

 which are also spoken in Ireland, Wales, Bretagne.and 

 tl.e Sp .ui-h province of Biscay. Of all these the dia* 

 >ts and the Irish arc the niunt pure. 

 That which is spoken in the north of Scotland ia much 

 more pure, and more abundant in primitives than that 

 which was written some centuries ago, among the 

 most unmixed part of the Irish nation. " A Scotsman, 

 says Macpherson,* tolerably conversant in his own 

 language, understands an Irish composition, from that 

 derivative analogy which it has to the Gaelic of North 

 Britain. An Irishman, on the other hand, without the 

 aid of study, can never understand a composition in 

 the Gaelic tongue. This affords a proof, that the Scots- 

 Gaelic is the most original, and consequently the lan- 

 guage of a more ancient and unmixed people."t 



It would be inconsistent with the nature of a work 

 like this, to attempt even the briefest sketch of the li- 

 terary history of Scotland.} We can afford room only 

 for a few general remarks. There is scarcely a depart- 

 ment in the wide field of learning and research, in 

 which the Scotch have not been highly distinguished. 

 In mathematical and physical science the names of 

 James and David Gregory, of Maclaurin, Simpson, 

 Black, Hutton, Robison, Playfair, and Ivory, will be 

 long remembered. In the practical arts of civil engi- 

 neering, the labours of Watt, Murdoch, Rennie.and Tel- 

 ford, will bear testimony to the remotest times of their 

 pre-eminent talents. In history, Fordun, Buchanan, Ro- 

 bertson, Hume, Stuart, Ferguson, Watson, and Smollett, 

 have shone forth with the highest lustrp. Among our 

 ethical writers may be enumerated Reid, Smith, Beattie, 

 Oswald, Campbell, Lord Kames, Lord Monboddo, and 

 Stewart ; among our novellists, Smollett, Moore, Mac- 

 kenzie, and Sir Walter Scott ; among our anatomists 

 and physicians, the Gregories and the Monroes; among 

 our critics, Blair and Kames; among our antiqua- 

 ries, Lord Hailes, Geddes, Pinkerton, Geo. Chal- 

 mers, and Dr. Jamieson ; among our divines, Macknight, 

 Blair, Logan .Moncreiff and Alison ; among our painters, 

 Runciman, Jamieson, Raeburn, Thomson, and Wilkie ; 

 and among our poets, Lermont, Harbour, Douglas, Ram. 

 say, Thomson, Mallet, Armstrong, Arbuthnot, Mickle, 

 Smollett, Beattie, Ferguson, Burns, Mackenzie, Baillie, 

 Leyden, Scott, and Byron. 



There are two events in the literary history of 

 Scotland, which it is impossible to pass without no- 

 tice, not only from the prominent place which they 

 hold, but from the extensive and deep interest which 

 they have excited in every part of the civilized world. 

 The events to which we allude are the appearance of 

 the poems of Ossian, and the novels of Sir Walter 

 Scott. If the poems of Ossian are the productions 



of an ancient period, they cannot fail to be 

 with the most intense interest. If, on UM contrary, 

 they ere the production* of modern bard, finotiand 

 has equal reason to be proud of having given OMB 

 birth. Whether they are ancient or modem, they hove 

 been read with the deepest interest in every pen of 

 the world ; they have been translated into elf the Ian- 

 guages of Europe, and the most distinguished critics 

 have vied with each other in pointing out their beau- 

 ties ; while many of the most eminent poets have en- 

 deavoured in vain to imitate that pathos and wild su- 

 blimity by which they are so particularly characterised. 

 Nor was this a transient effect produced by the blaze 

 of their h'rt appearance. After fifty years they have 

 retained their popularity, and have acquired a perma- 

 nent interest independent of the controversies to which 

 they have given rise.|| 



The publication of the Waverley novels forms a sin- 

 gular feature in the literary history of Scotland. The fine * ! ''''-" 

 sketches which they contain of the character and man- 

 ners of the Scottish peasantry ; the dramatic scatm 

 which the author has sketched with such vivacity and 

 richness of effect ; and the purity of the Scottish lan- 

 guage, with all the peculiar phraseology and idioms 

 which are employed, have placed these works at the 

 head of all others of the same class. But the singular 

 feature in these works is tha, like the poems of Ossian, 

 though they are in a peculiar manner national works, 

 conversant with our national history and local manners, 

 yet they have acquired the character of European pro- 

 ductions, which excite the same admiration in the meat 

 distant countries, where our history, our language, and 

 our customs are unknown. The author has struck 

 those chords of human feeling and sympathy which 

 belong to man as an individual of the species, which 

 no territorial limits can confine, and which no 

 factitious institutions can imp*>r. The German, the 

 frenchman, the Swiss, the Italian and the Spaniard, 

 the Scandinavian and the Russian, weep over the sor- 

 rows of Ossian, and over the heroes of our Jacobite his- 

 tory, as if they had been the objects of their own na- 

 tional idolatry. 



In national character the Scots hold a high rank. Ntiaa*i 

 They are a grave, sober, sincere and religious people, 

 and attached to their superiors, whether that superiori- 

 ty is derived from rank, wealth, official dignity, talen's 

 or virtue. Out of their own country they are peculiarly 

 noted for their industry and enterprise, ana few of 

 them return till they have earned a competency to 

 support them in their old age. Like the English, 

 are distinguished by their courage, by their love of 

 domestic life, and by a contempt for every thing like 

 show or theatrical effect. By their enemies, the 

 Scotch have been considered as displaying a pliancy 

 or servility of character ; but if this remark is the 

 result of observation anil not of malignity, it must 

 have been drawn from the study of that part of our 

 population which have but recently escaped from the 

 influence of feudal habits, or roust have been witnessed 

 in those districts where the power or kindness of the 



Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian. 



f An elaborate dictionary of the Oaelic language is now about to be publuhed under the auspices c 



j To such of our readers as wish to study the literary history of Scotland, we would Kcommsstd ths perusal of IJr. li 

 tlonon the Literary Hutory of Scotland prefixed to his Uvetofthe Sail* Pocto. 



|| Those who consider these poems as modem productions, must entertain no ordinary opinion of the UlsMsoT 

 compose the Gaelic originals of those poems from the original English, so that the aaost esstisyjslihcd Gaelic 

 translation to the original, and discover, in it beauties, which are entirely lest in the English roswn. 



