about the early poetry of the
northern nations, but at some points his knowledge of Scottish
literature made the transition fairly easy to the literature of other
Teutonic peoples. But he was especially bound to be interested in the
Gaelic, for a Scotsman of his day could hardly avoid forming an opinion
in regard to the Ossianic controversy then raging with what Scott
thought must be its final violence. He did not understand the Gaelic
language,[91] but he had a vivid interest in the Highlanders. The
picturesque quality of their customs made it natural enough for him to
use them in his novels, and by the "sheer force of genius," says Mr.
Palgrave, who considers this Scott's greatest achievement, "he united
the sympathies of two hostile races."[92]

As early as 1792 Scott had written for the Speculative Society an essay
on the authenticity of Ossian's poems, and one of his articles for the
_Edinburgh Review_ in 1805 was on the same subject, occasioned by a
couple of important documents which supported opposite sides, and which,
he said, set the question finally at issue. This article represents
Scott the critic in a typical attitude. The material was almost
altogether furnished in the works which he was surveying.[93] His task
was to distinguish the essential points of the problem, to state them
plainly, and to weigh the evidence on each side. In this he shows
notable clearness of thought, and also, throughout the rather long
treatment of a complicated subject, great lucidity in arrangement and
statement. He was led by this study to change the opinion which he had
held in common with most of his countrymen, and to adopt the belief that
the poems were essentially creations of Macpherson, with only the names
and some parts of the story adopted from the Gaelic.[94] Other
references to Ossian occur in Scott's writings, and it is evident in
this case, as in many others, that an investigation of the matter in his
early career, whether from original or from secondary sources, gave him
material for allusion and comment throughout his life. For, as we have
constant occasion to remark in studying Scott, with a very definite
grasp of concrete fact he combined a vigorous generalizing power, and
all the parts of his knowledge were actively related. He seems to have
made little preparation for some of his most interesting reviews, but to
have utilized in them the store gathered in his mind for other purposes.

Of the northern Teuton