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THE CELTIC MAGAZINE. 221THE LADIES OF OSSIANIC TIMES.For contemplation he, and Talour formed :For softness she, and sweet attractive grace.To give an exact description of the Ossianic ladies, of tlieir social position,and the estimation in which they were held Ijy their contemporaries isnow impossible. Not only is Celtic nature entirely changed since then,but the very appellatives applied to females in Ossianic compositions areimtranslatable into English. " Bean " may be Englished wife, woman,sjjouse ; " gaol " nearly means love or loved one ; but how shall we translatean oigh, or how express the inexpressible sAveetness and delicatefeeling of ainnir, or the tender affection applied in the phrase mo run ?Yet our knowledge of ancient Celtic female matters largely depends on aproper understanding of such and similar appellatives. Tyros in Celticaffairs know that the practice of giving meaningless names is mth usa custom acquired from the polished nations around. When, therefore, weread the name of a beauty of ancient Caledon we should know somethingof her character or appearance. Such names as OUavina, smooth-handedmaid ; Malvina, smooth-browed ; Crimina, the tender-hearted ; Crimora,the large-hearted ; Sulmalla, languid eyes ; and Vinvela, melodiousmouth, tell tlieir own tale of the more conspicuous charms of the bearer,and of the female qualities which pleased the Fingallian gallant.We have said that Celtic nature is different from what it was; nor isthat wonderful when we consider the vast changes that have taken placein our education and circumstances. The race has within the past twohundred years been subjected to such powerful alterative circumstancesthat it is only by reading such ancient compositions as Ossian's poemsthat we can have any idea of what the world of Celtic thought was sixteenor twenty centuries ago. The Caledonian of to-day bears about as mucliresemblance to the Feinne of antiquity as a modern Italian bears to theEomans of the Eepublic. Nineteenth century Highlanders may be calledCelts as far as blood is concerned ; morally they are Hebrews ; mentallythey are Greeks ; in manners they are English. That we have, in somethings, gained by the change is unquestionable ; that in many things wehave deteriorated is certain. But, putting aside aU moral and intellectualquestions, there is a solemnity, a pathos, and a sensitiveness to the influencesof nature in the old Celtic character Avhich have for lis a powerfuland pleasant fascination. The ladies not only had their full share of thispathos and plaintiveness, but were from their more delicate constitutionmore open to receive impressions from nature. We believe that theinfluences of " mountains, winds, and cataracts," contributed considerablyto a corresponding purity and greatness in their characters. This educationof natiire along with their appreciation of the bravery of their gentlemenfriends led them to exhibit such heroism of conduct and grandeur ofcharacter that it is now sceptically questioned Avhether such beings couldexist after the Fall.