their women, and thought as mean them as favages commonly do, ( could never have thought, even dream, of bestowing on them thof berlefs graces that exalt the fem and render many of them objects and elevated affection. I fay me pofing a favage to have been di fpired, manners fo inconfiftent own, would not have been r even comprehended, by his And yet that they were high certain, having been diffufc ranks, and preferved for n memory alone, without w the argument mentioned with double force, to c manners of the Caledoni been really fuch as Offian Catharina Alexowna, En promoted affemblies of m as a means to polifh the fubjects. And in order cency in fuch affemblies, body of regulations, of w ing are a fpecimen. 66 66 at forfeitures, queftion. my The subject, it is true, has fwelled upon hands beyond expectation; but it is not a little interesting. If these manners be genuine, they are a fingular phenomenon in the Hiftory of Man: if they bę the invention of an illiterate bard, among favages utterly ignorant of fuch manners, the phenomenon is no lefs fingular. Let either fide be taken, and a fort of miracle must be admitted. In the inftances above given, fuch a beautiful mixture there is of fimplicity and dignity, and fo much life given to the manners described, that real manners were never represented with a more striking appearance of truth. If thefe manners be fictitious, I fay again, that the author must have been infpired: they plainly exceed the invention of a favage; nay, they exceed the invention of any known writer. Every man will judge for himself: it is perhaps fondness for fuch refined manners, that makes me incline to reality against fiction. I am aware at the fame time, that manners fo pure and elevated, in the first stage of fociety, are difficult to be accounted for. The Caledonians were not an original tribe, who may be fuppofed to have had "fenfit* (a)." All favages have an impreffion of immortality; but few, even of the most enlightened before Christianity prevailed, had the leaft notion of any occupations in another life, but what they were accustomed to in this. Even Virgil, with all his poetical invention, finds no amusements for his departed heroes, but what they were fond of when alive; the fame love for war, the fame taste for hunting, and the fame affection to their friends. As we have no reason to expect more invention in Offian, the observation may serve as a key to the ghosts introduced by him, and to his whole machinery, as termed by critics. His defcription of these ghofts is copied plainly from the creed of his country. In a historical account of the progrefs of manners, it would argue gross insensibility to overlook those above mentioned. "It is reported, that the Gauls frequently "lent money to be paid back in the infernal regions, from a firm perfuafion that the fouls of men were immortal. I would have called them fools, if "those wearers of breeches had not thought the fame as Pythagoras who wore a cloak." (a) Lib. 2. The The subject, it is true, has fwelled upon my hands beyond expectation; but it is not a little interefting. If these manners be genuine, they are a fingular phenomenon in the History of Man: if they be the invention of an illiterate bard, among favages utterly ignorant of fuch manners, the phenomenon is no lefs fingular. Let either fide be taken, and a fort of miracle must be admitted. In the inftances above given, fuch a beautiful mixture there is of fimplicity and dignity, and fo much life given to the manners described, that real manners were never reprefented with a more striking appearance of truth. If thefe manners be fictitious, I fay again, that the author must have been infpired: they plainly exceed the invention of a favage; nay, they exceed the invention of any known writer. Every man will judge for himself: it is perhaps fondness for fuch refined manners, that makes me incline to reality against fiction. I am aware at the fame time, that manners fo pure and elevated, in the first stage of fociety, are difficult to be accounted for. The Caledonians were not an original tribe, who may be fuppofed to have had With respect to the Celtic women in particular, it is agreed by all writers, that they were extremely beautiful (a); and no lefs remarkable for spirit than for beauty. If we can rely on Diodorus Siculus, the women in Gaul equalled the men in courage. Tacitus, in his life of Agricola, fays, that the British women frequently joined with the men, when attacked by an enemy. And so much were they regarded, as to be thought capable of the highest command. "Neque enim fexum in imperiis difcernunt," fays the fame author (b). And accordingly, during the war carried on by Caractacus, a gallant British King, against the Romans, Cartifmandua was Queen of the Brigantes. Boadicea is recorded in Roman annals as a Queen of a warlike fpirit. She led on a great army against the Romans; and in exhorting her people to behave with courage, fhe obferved, that it was not unufual to see a British army led on to battle * “ They made no distinction of sex in confer"ring authority." (a) Diodorus Siculus, lib. 5. Athenæus, lib. 13. (3) Vita Agricolæ, cap. 16. |