handed down by tradition. The Spartans,
through a long habit, became so fond of this
custom, that they would never allow their laws
to be committed to writing. The actions of
great men, and the eulogiums of kings and
heroes, were preserved in the same manner.
All the historical monuments of the old Ger-
mans were comprehended in their ancient
songs"; which were either hymns to their
gods, or elegies in praise of their heroes, and
were intended to perpetuate the great event se ancie

in their nation which were carefully intere with f
Iwoven with them. This species of compose mem

of thei

aced, in this
fessed, is m
of records.

tion was not committed to writing, but del
vered by oral tradition". The care they to
to have the poems taught to their childre
the uninterrupted custom of repeating the
upon certain occasions, and the happy meas,
of the verse, served to preserve them f
long time uncorrupted. This oral chron
of the Germans was not forgot in the eig
century; and it probably would have rema
to this day, had not learning, which th
every thing, that is not committed to wri
fabulous, been introduced. It was from E
cal traditions that Garcilasso composed h

Ca

ingenuity ibed, in thes times, and no story. We mu back in antiq were their con world. If we period, we d arous times. I

n Abbé de la Bleterie Remarques sur la Germain Caledonia,

nature a

21

xat of the Yacas of Peru. The Peruvians d lost all other monuments of their history, i was from ancient poems, which his ntier, a princess of the blood of the Yncas,

=

him in his youth, that he collected the els of bis history. If other nations then, Diaditen been overrun by enemies, and -abroad and received colonies, could any ages preserve, by oral tradition, their mi Elstories uncorrupted, it is much cable that the ancient Scots, a people fntermixture with foreigners, and so tached to the memory of their an- had the works of their bards handed great purity.

is advanced, in this short Dissertat be confessed, is mere conjecture. the reach of records, is settled a no ingenuity can penetrate. The described, in these poems, suit - Celtic times, and no other period in history. We must, therefore. -es far back in antiquity; and it who were their contemporaries the world. If we have placed proper period, we do honour to - barbarous times. He exercised rtue in Caledonia, while Helio ced human nature at Rome

Λ

DISSERTATION

CONCERNING THE

POEMS OF OSSIAN.