The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2,
December 1875, by Various

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Title: The Celtic Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 2, December 1875
A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History,
Antiquities, Folk Lore, Traditions, and the Social and
Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad

Author: Various

Editor: Alexander Mackenzie
Alexander Macgregor
Alexander Macbain

Release Date: January 15, 2009 [EBook #27815]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE CELTIC MAGAZINE.

No. II. DECEMBER 1875.

THE STATE OF THE OSSIANIC CONTROVERSY.

IN controversy about Ossian, the man on the affirmative side has an
immeasurable advantage over all others; and, with an average practical
acquaintance with the subject, may exhaust any antagonist. The contents,
the connection, and the details; the origin, the tradition, the
translation; the poetry, the sentiment, the style; the history, the
characters, the _dramatis personae_; the aspects of nature represented,
the customs and manners of the people; the conflicting nationalities
introduced, the eventful issues, the romantic incidents; the probable
scenes, the subsequent changes; the philosophy and the facts, and
multiplied revelations of humanity--all these, and many more such themes
inseparably connected with Ossian, if a man rightly understands and
believes in them, would enable him to maintain his position in actual
controversy, with integrity and ease, for a twelvemonth. The man, on the
other hand, who does not believe in the authenticity of Ossian must
forego all these advantages in succession, and will reduce himself to
straits in an hour. He dare not expatiate or admire, or love, or
eulogise, or trust, or credit, or contemplate, or sympathise with
anything; or admit a fact, or listen to a word, or look at an argument,
on the peril of immediate discomfiture. He must simply shut the book.
His only s