Star.
London, England, 1829-04-25 00:00:00

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FESTIVAL IN HONOUR OF OSSIAN. •
Ton Cum or Tsars Illsommuseas, which posiodkielly holds
Magas at thi /arida Corn Hausa Cookspor-arest, lately
rewind to establisb tortahr annual festivals V humor of seaman
• esistlonions ; aed Today the SIC instant. wee eat spat to the
.4, Oman °Mous. Os this suasion the Celts nada' in Leedom
sr. • were summated la appropriate terms by Mr. Comes of Repot.
arose, who, ape Moque Cow. fait k Member to mat Massif
•r eerier to discharge thrdedes of his ease, he a insane worthy
, of the mese in which be was amsged..ma solo with tiIf•VIOW of
swain tied Indy estelilkhieg the enebootaity sad fame of the
pen sod ben-wheat the Society had • met to ammenserste, but
Megrim to promote cheer objects of buteveinee. sod charity to
whir& the Orb of True Highlaidere in Leadenlhadleverbbly dw
. tad bed rem its formation se s body la the year 1110.
toilet as a Chief," strysSlr. Currie," is es Moe °My what sir.
reasded sod supported by his Clansmen, I therefore with to rep
a gatberleg of the Clam—net by raising the Cross Mre or dread
Sera, es In theses of ad, bet by elevating the torch of charity and
• bemageoce In behalf it the Scottish poor in Leaden, which I feel
conlideot is a sign that win be obeyed with alacrity, by every tree
mibkithe in oar Society."—.ad eco it was.—At sdne o'clock.
Tem*/ sight, the motting-room of the Club In the &kWh Coffee
Mewl presaged 6 very animated scene; a ounteroes body of
Ilighlsoders, salmi whom there were a few English. Irish, and
Weida. having assembled, chiefly. for the purpose of censuses"
rating the framer existence and the presses. fame of that most
indent Of Celetiooise Poets.
Oa this occedeo. General Idumerruc war unanimously called
• so the Chair—or. to speak pore correctly, was elected Chic/ After
: • • the vsealiaeMmaides, and an hour passed in social intercourse.
the Chief addressed the Meeting on the subject upon which It was
• chicly-assembled. He said that the authenticity of the Poems of
°alas. and the very existence of such a personage, weresboth mat.
• tee of question and doubt to many sceptical and captious people;
bet a Highlander, a true Celt, had oo divided opinion epos the
subject. In fact, he could not possibly have any doubt on a matter
se finlike to him. The events recorded in the Poems of Ossiao,
the wild and romantic descriptions of scenery. wen as MOW to
a Highiseder, both by undid., and ocular demoustretiem, es the
Inisteece of soy present or living thing. The heath extended sing
tholes shore—the mountain shaded with mist—the torrent rash.
log through the solitary valley—the scattered oaks—and the tombs
of warriors overgrown with moss—all were objects and memorials
of facts handed down from prostration to generation In the fast.
eases of the Highlands; and to a Highlander all that " came
like s voice that awakened his soul. It is the voice et years that
are gone—they roll before es with ell their deeds." The General
then alluded to the great characteristics of Orslen's peetry—lint,
his teoderoess in some of love and friendship, and his sublimity
describing the warlike deeds of ids martial countryman; and be
observed that the true character of the sedan Coke would, its di
probability. be buried in oblivion, and might have ben exhort.
were It not for the publication and discussing which followed the
translation of these Poems. The more modern septette of net
race of people were to him a convincing and satisfactory evident
of their martial origin and character is the days that sr bog gems
by. Is.fonimately happened that Scotland possessed a men at the
critical time when nay legislative Men was resorted to for she
purpose of dollishly; her Customs, her dares, end her very In.
gush who showed the woad not only the absurdity, bat the utter
impracticability of such s- melees retainable. This wallow by
Janes Muntweasetr; end the locos he adopted were as other
. tins showing, in the cementite. of Ossion's ibis,'" what aort of
people the world bad to deal with--s people not to be tidied melds,
when their manners, their stages, or their prejedice• won tea.
per s 4 MO. Macpitersoo came forth with his descripdato drain
'thotileigloally were; sod his literary khours Stied all frortipe with
gewerlegini end literary emesoversy. The fragments which be
..aollemed of Oman's Poems were translated Into many languages ;
he himself had read them in See Manes. sees--and even
iagareen timid( was animated to the vest sakes which Sa la.
imbibed his career by the inspiring strain of the Celtic bud.* As io'
she part which Macpherson had In this predestine, he was willies
to allow him the merit—soda great meek it was—of belay so in.
*fatigable collector and so elegant tesaskroe ; and that was al.—
,He gathered these fragments from every old Cat be could get *e-
quated with, male and female, and he certainly might take upon
himself to MI op the banks where the chain wee broken. This he
did, sod be astonished the literary woad with a continuous detail
of
Me splendid achievements of the indent CAW The Iliad of
the Mimi harper, Howse, and she /Knead of Virgil, were In like
mama disjointed; bet afterwards Naked in the UMW Maur as
Meephenott linked the Poems or Osman. The satheeticky at the
Was wee. however, doubted; although that of the former never
was. Anima the moderns who dialed their authenticity was the
celebrated Dr. Johnson, who made a journey to the Highlands and
the Hebrides. fur no other purpose than to satisfy his Meats; sad
In this jestreey, forsooth, he most mods pitch upon a Seeable...
• Bowen, a Lowland Stu, as his oempenlea—asither of wheel ea
dientood one word of the original language In which the *orb wa.
composed. It could sec therefore, be expected that wend was
to be derived from the investigation of a man, hewour great lit
other respects, who wanted the rely nuellikatioa which would be
of any sink. to him. Whet would we my to the blind Millen.
were be, to his hindmost, to attempt the discovery of the moirces-og
the Mist or to Captain Parry, if hopreceeded to explore the North
Were passage without a compass? Dr.Johnsoe's expedition tosb
Highlands was fully as absurd me either of them would have been,
were such a thing attempted.=The•Cnure thee proceeded to stele
his *pianos so the ancient condition of the Caledesisos—k was his
print. sod lot any man who bellowed himself moldissl;
contradict him If he pleased. Opinion was suited ; and be had •
right to have one of his own, end deliver It when coneenlent. He
thought this a convenient and proper dose to deny the existence of
theferearsystees In the Highlands of Scotland. The feudal system
was one better known- to the Lowland ma Seglish Ueda and
Baran than to the Highland Chiefs. It coosiseed of the employ.
ment of a great retinae, ever whim the Superior could
/feed it Wow aa he pleased, and for which employment the wretched
retshare were paid their hire. The =cleat Highland usage or
system was poiriarchat—notfendol. Every man was a child of the
primitive stock ; his welfare, his comfort, his prosperity, his feuds
sod his favours, were
,sU kindled with those of hie Chief, and
Whit concerned one concerned the whole may. Emerges-
des were met in this system by a unity of dodge mid actin, and
when an enterprise was over, each man red red to his home, his
isle reward being the ceaselessness of Loin acted towards IN
.neighbour and friend as he would be Sited by. .Thie di.
tact--aud was there f*odelbos in this? Any man who coOranwill
the Highland patriarchal system with the Lowland halal system;
moues be able to Indonesia' the primitive itendition of she
Cale, or thi Penn of Galan. One weed ea the carping divan
set ea trodidass. • Ile would solawely declare, with his had ea
hie heirt, that he-believed there never ads* a tradition bet had
bane gmidatian In fact; and be further banal that then wens
fewer files and ridiculous tradition than there were bin sokricli.
nioartheerbs and books.—The Chid' then set down amid man.
dealt sheen infter which • The maser, ot Oiden" wet dm* is
Pinta Aron end George Clark, the caleinted piper of Vitamin,
played en steeds, Lenient.
thereafter, • Mr, Cumin. the VW* Mildest, prepaid
the MOM If the madding Chief; and he tog diet opportunity of
orrahini at coeddierable .ogth on the audienddly of Oodles
hem, liton the era in which he Mad. . Then being iamb ea.
1611.#11.Intiodsig historical research la the sondatents delivered
by Ma Carrie, a heist outline of it may be appropriately how
doted. -Of the authenticity of these Penis be had ets doubt alas.
nord:setier this raison, bemuse he amid himself repeat several
beer* of the peodoctleas of Orden, never treashood by. Mem
lebieliveri hooded down to Ma by his rather, who Snit
.01 Ke ele of eighty moil mod to kb father by hb 'ragas**,

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