The royal gazette — [Charleston] S.C., 1782-06-15 00:00:00, page 4

LITERARY ARTICLE
From the MONTHLY REVIEW for Jcmoary, 1782.
din Answer to Mr. Show's Enquiry into the Antbenti it, of th?
P°m ofcrihed to Offian. ^v Jolin Clark, rranflutor of the
Cale lonian Birds, and Member of the Societyof Scots An
tiquaries. Bvo.
IN our late review of Mr. Shaw's Enquiry, We e^nreffed an
opinion, in strong term% bf the nedeffity of a full and clear
a n fver to it, 'Jis charges were direct, and perfinal; and struck
deep at the credit of some refocXable characters. Their ve^a
c;ty was ^mn^ched, bv the most forcible and pointed affer
fnn:; and f vcral gentlemen, in whose honour we had the fill'
let confidence, were held up to the Publick as the wilful abet
tors of an imoo n nre.
Amongst nth rs. the ingenious and learned Dr. Ferguson,
profeffor of moral nh^ofophy at Edinburgh, was represented
bv % Shaw as aco-adiutot in the fraud of Mr. Macpherfon,
bv in'roduc'ng to Dr. Percy a Highland fludent. to rehearse
fom : -arts of Offian in the pretended original, which, in faX,
Mr, ^haw declares were tranfided from English into Gaelic,
jn orrp rto carry on he imposition. Dr. Fergulon, lay a pub
ic advertisement in the St. James's Chronicle, and other pa
p<rg, pot only denied the more fetious part, of the charge,
wMrh so deen'v afided his honour, but also declared that he
never was present at such a recital ; and that every circumQance
in the charge was folfe. One nart o' Dr. Ferguson 3 declara
tion, however, hath been contradicted in the fame papers by
Dr. Perc< himfelf—but with a politenef and delicacy becom
ing the charier of that ingenious and worthy divine. He
would not fnono'e that, if anv fraud was acted, Dr. Ferguson
w^ nrivv to it: and is wilFngto believe, that his having been
patent a t the recital abovementioned had escaped his recollec
tion For, in foR, it appears, that Dr. Ferguson was present,
toother with Dr. Phair; and was also the very pei son who in
troduced tae Highland Indent to Dr. Percy, and gave the
r^&, r . who was fcepfcal tibout Offian's poems, an invita
tion to his own honfe, for the purpose of convincing him of
their authenticity by means of this very recital.
The author o'this pCmnhlet informs us, that “ he personally
annfed to Dr. Flair, and "-o effor Ferg Con, and they autho
ffe, him to assure the Puhlick, that the whole is, in every
pa titular, a fa!fi% o d. Ts Mr. Shaw wishes to clear himfelf of
fre direct charge o' writing a falfehood, he may apply to Dr.
Percy, die refoeddle Dean of Carine, for his authority to
contradict it ; n nuNick?! Dr. Percy informed the Publick, that
brtfflrd, with the greatest reluctance, into the con'roverfy;
fee th-r h e was compelled, by truth, to relate what he knew
o'the n'^r.
Te think it due to Mr. Shaw to give these particulars to the
PnNick, wi s h their full evidence. How far his having been
ch wed bvfo incontrovertible an authority, from the direct
charge of FAfchod. in one instance, may leflfen the weight of
e+'er charges of a similar nature alledged egainft him, is a point
we muff leave to be decided by every man for himfelf. We
have already obfeived, that bwfttre mod exid somewhere or
wh, r . Mr. Clark avers, that it exists wholly and entirely with
Mr. Shaw; and, to convince the Publick that this is really
the case, he hath not only attempted to confute Mr. Shaw's
Enquiry by argument, but by tefttmony:—and such testimony,
too, as appears to be in a very great measure decisive.
is we have fitted Mr. Shaw’s evidence at large, the fame
justice is due to Mr. Clark; and we will fully difeharge the
oblation.
lV e were indeed aware, that much depended on the per
sonal credit of Mr; Shaw; and, from some enquiries concern
,ing his character, we were not disposed to rejed his teftimofy
as wholly fpuriotw: nor could we willingly allow ourselves to
think that he was so far loft to honour, and even common pre
caution, as to crowd his book, not only with evasive and equi
vocal reasonings, but with affections so palpably falfe, as to
men the evident door to detection abd confutation Howe
ver we are sorry to fay,fhat Mr. Clark feemsto have succeed
ed too wellin exposing Mr Shaw’s '' prete lions to Hutt :" for
ff we might comprif the present attempt into a brief yet com
preherfive account of its general design, we might call it—
« The LIE direct lo Mr. Wiliam Shaw." —This gentleman,
who was so eager to fix the charge of imposition on his coun
tryman, and who flood forward as the only Scotchman who had
the honesty or the courage to speak the truth, is here held
forth to publick view, in the horrid light of an abandoned and
unprincipled man, whose foie motive was interest, combined
with revenge:—A miserable outcast from his country, and his
country's < freem;'a venal zpoftate from the Church of Scot
land; an ingrate to his best friend, and a mean pararite of
Cffian's worst enemy —Dr. Johnson. This—if we may credit
Nr. Clark—this is Mr. Shaw.,
After fame general remarks on Mr. Shaw's birth, education,
and prof flion. Mr. Clark exports his Gaelic erudition with the
root pointed fcverity ; and particularly observes, with refpeft
to bis r^tona,,, that " instead of adhering to the dialed fpo
kec in the Hylands of Scotland, he hath thrown into his work
all the words he could collect from vocabularies of the differ
ent dirt& of the Celtic; particularly that which is used in
Ireland," This corrupt mixture is attributed, by our author,
to Mr. Shaw’s having spent the former part of his life in his na
tive iAe of Arran, " where a dialed of the Gaelic tongue is
used, so corrupt in the words, and so vicious in the pronun
ciation, as to be almost unintelligiblein the other weflern inlands,
and the opposite continent of the Highlands, where the language
4$ spoken with elegance and purity."
To the single and unsupported assertions of Mr. Shaw, his
answerer onpofes the direct and explicit testimonies of several
very refpe&able gentlemen ; and hath even opposed Mr. Shaw's
afferrions hy his own testimony, in part collected from his Ana
ffo, which is I efore the publick, and in part from private let
ters, which are in the possession of the Author himfelf.
With tefptX to the authenticity of the poems of Offian,
which it was the design of Mr. Shaw's Enquiry totally to inva
lidate, Mr. Clark grants, that “ he never, indeed, heard the
Fingal and Femora rehearsed by any single Highlander in the
fame arrangement in which Mr. Macpherfon hath published
them." but he asserts, that “ be hath frequently heard, from
Afferent persons, almost every passage in these two poems, with
no more diff rence from the translation than what the genius
ofthe language required ; and not near so much as there is be
fwtth the different editions of these poems in the different parts
of the Highlands. This variation was well accounted for (fays
Mr. Clark) by Mr. Shaw himfelf [viz. in his Analffi], before
be thought it his interest to disguise the truth."
There was a time, it seems, when Mr. Shaw was so firmly
persuaded of the authenticity of these poems, that “ he propo
sed to me (fays Mr. Clark), to print proposals for a general col
ie&ion of them, as well as of others, and to arrange the whole
simply as they are rehearsed by the people, without making them
up into epic pieces; which I accordingly did. The originals,
and translations were to have been published in separate vo
lumes Mr. Shaw himfelf, with the greatest enthusiasm, vo
luntarily undertook to procure fubferibers for me in England,
and wrote me several letters on that fubjeft from London, as
f ring ne in the most positive manner of his success. But in
stead of performing what he had thus spontaneously promised,
the very next part of his conduct towards me was to hold me
forth as an impostor to the Publick."
Mr. Shaw, we find, was angry with Mr Macpherfon, not
Dr palming fictitious poems on the Publick, but for curtailing
the originals. The Maid of Craea, an episode in Fingal, was
omitted by the editor, but is now in the pofftflion of Mr. Clark.
It extends to some hundred lines, and is a large complete poem
of itfelf.
Mr. Shaw, in his Enquiry, {peaks very particularly of his
visits to Mr. Mackenzie, treasurer of the Highland society, for
the purpose of infpedting Gaelick'MSS,; and records a lingu
lar circumstance, evhich we quoted in onr last Review. It is
tit we Ihould present the reader with Mr. Mackenzie's own
account of this transaction.
" To prove (fays our author), beyond the power of contra
didion, the difingenuity, as well as the gross ignorance of Mr.
Shaw, on a fubjeift which he pretends to underhand better than
any man living, I will lay before the reader the following fafts.
Mr. M tckenzie hath authoffed me to lay, " that Mr. Shaw
hadfeen the M3S. in his cultody before the publication of his
pamplet; had looked at them, and turned over the leaves-; but
at that time had read only a few words up and down in differ
ent places, but not one complete fehtence, though requested
foto do by Mr. Mackenzie at that time. That since the pub
lication of his pamplet, Mr. Shaw hath again seen those MSS.
and again read tingle words in different parts; but upon being
pressed by Mr. Mackenzie, in presence of another gentleman,
to try to read ft few Sentences, he applied himfelf to one page
of a MS. in verse ; and, after poring about a quarter of an
hour, he made out three lines, which related, as read aloud
by Mr. Shaw himfelf, to Oscar the fan of Offian. Upon being
alked how those lines agreed with the doctrine of his pamphlet ?
Mr. Shaw nnfwered, that he believed" they were the compo
sitions of the i<th century, and not of Offian."
After remarking some curious instances of Mr. Shaw's al
leged ignorance, contradiction, and vanity, our Author gives
us a piece ofvaluable information. Dr. Johnson, on being in
formed that some part of Offian's poems had been found in the
Saxon character, remarks, in his " Journey to the Western
Klands," that the 66 editor of Offian had difeovered, by some
peculiar fortune, an unwritten language, written in a charac
ter which the natives probably never beheld." " Here," fays
Mr. Clark, “ Dr. Johnson betrays ignorance incompatible
with his high pretentions to letters. There is not a man in
Great-Britain, or Ireland, at all conversant with old MSS. but
knows, that the Saxons, Highlanders, and Irilh wrote their
several languages in the felf-fame character. Whether the kith
and Highlanders had them originally from the Saxons, or the
Saxons from them is a matter of no moment. They are un
doubtedly the fame, and came originally from the Romans,
who were certainly the introducers of letters into Gieat-Bri
tain; from which they were transplanted, with the Christian
religion, into Ireland. St. Patrick, who was a Scotchman, is
laid to have been the firft who introduced letters into Ireland ;
and if that was the case, it is probable that the Irilh, Scotch,
and Saxons, received the Roman letters through the hands of
the ancient Britons."
As the ancient and even modern Rate of the Highlands is
not generally understood, Mr. Clark lays a short Ike ch of it
before the reader, from which he will easily fee how their an
cient Poems came to be preserved.
When St. Columba, in the 6th century, gathered the
monks into monasteries, the Gaelic was the only language of
Scotland and Ireland: and Roman learning began to be
cultivated in those monafteries.* As there was a constant
intercourse between the inhabitants of both iffands, as the de
feendants of one common parent, and as their language was
materially the fame, it was reduced to writing in the fame
chara^er, and on the fame grammatical principles by both.
The policy of the clergy induced them to confine all learning
to their own order, by which means they not only kept the
vulgar in awe with greater ease, but often aimed at the molt
eminent civil offices in the state. As the genius of Chrftianity
did not, like that of Druidism, admit of a junction between
the bard- a 1 d the clergy, the former were prevented from par
taking of the advantages arising from the cultivation of letters.
The poetic trade, however, continued, not only honourable,
but lucrative. As boote were unknown to the people, the
songs of the bards became the only amusement of their leisure
hour's. The authors were can ffed, honoured, and rewarded
by a people enthufiafticafly fond of the memory of their fore
fathers. As the mind was not stored with ary other fubje&s
of contemplation , except those poems, the, were learned with
a degree of quickness, and preferred witha purity, which, to
persons accuHomed to the life of books, is not eatiy concei
vable. His bard was to the ancient chief, what a iba yis to
the modern one. Publick academies were instituted for the
study of the poetick art; and it is not to be imagined that
candidates would be wanting for such an employment. When
the pious Christian went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of his
favourite faint, the bard, with equal enthusiasm, travelled to
the habitation of his favourite poet, to learn his competitions^
When the compositions of one country had been acquired,
those of another were fought after; Ireland and Scotland were
alternately visited by the bards of each nation.
“ Although literature was thus neglected by the bards, it
was industriously cultivated by the clergy of the Highlands and
Isles, before the reformation. But the art of printing was un
happily little pradifed in our country before that period, and
the manuferipts, a few excepted, Shared the fate of themona
fteries, which perished by the enthusiastic zeal of the times.
“ The modern state of the Highlands presents a view some
what different, which cafily accounts for the neglect of Cel
tic literature, of late.
“ The people of fortune fend their children, when very
young to the low country, to be educated, who, as the Gaelic
language is utterly unknown at the un verities, have not an
equal opportunity of learning it with other branches of litera
ture. —On his knowledge of classical k arnihg, and the English
language, every promotion through life is thought entirely to
depend. When his education is compleated, he is fixed in
some proieffion, the knowledge of which takes up the next
period, of his life —Hence poetry (the Gaelic) is with a fey/
exceptions, neglected by the learned in the Higlands. We
fnall next fee by whom it is preferred,
“ When the rich fend their fans to the university to search
for science, the poor fend theirs to the mountains to look after
their cattle. These, as the land is not in general favourable to
agriculture, constitute the principal wealtli of the country ;
and confequrntly their preservation becomes the firft object of
attention. The mountains on which they feed being exlenfive,
little time is exhausted in attending them. Leisure and retire
ment beget reflexion ; and tht|mind, undisturbed by the buttle
of society, has fuf time to look back to the tales of other years.
The feenery of ancient poetry is familiar to the eye; and the
breast, hitherto vacant, is prepared for its reception. Thus the
ihfe rior fort of people search for persons who can rehearse those
poems; and they learn them with incredible facility. And in
this manner they acquire an early acquaintance with theilluf
trious characters, celebrated in the traditions of their country."
Though Mr. Macpherfon hath declined to appear in person
in a controversy which he himfelf hath excited, and which for
some tim^ hath subsisted on his credit, yet on his authority
Mr. Clark informs us, that what Mr. Shaw relates concerning
his interview with Mr. Macpherfon contains the most gross and
wilful falfhoods. The author of this pamphlet declares, that
he is authorifed positively to deny Mr. Shaw's insidious change
against the editor of Offian, viz. that on Afring to fee the Gaelic
manuferipts he <was always put off with some evajuve apology.
Mr. Macpherfon never recollects Mr. Shaw's having presumed
to &"#; for ^ fight of them ; though if he had made the request,
Alter having convicted Mr. Shaw of the mot notorious and
aggravated violations of truth by the testimony of others, Mr,
Clark observes, “ that there is still another evidence to be ad
duced, whose testimony would not probaldy be talren on an,
other fubjeft, but that under consideration." This evidence is
Mg Shaw himfelf, whom his answerer call to the bar of the
Publick as a witness againfl his own assertions. This part of
the present work is entitled, S^ w contra Shaw, and consists
of extracts from his A- alv's, and his Fnnfrv; by which this
gentleman is convicted of the most glaring inconsistencies and
contradictions.
The present work, together with Mr. 'Shaw's, hath excited
in us various reflexions. We are often milled bv strong asser
tions, and plaufib e pretences; and while on the one hand we
endeavour to avoid an irrefohite fcepticifm. we may sometimes
appear to betray too eager a belief It is only the orfmt evi
dence which can influence us: and on the weight of fads, or
probability of argument s our judgment muff in a great degree
depend. What an antaronift may adduce in reply to plausible
reafor mgs, or pretended fads, mutt be unknown, or can be
but faintly guessed at. Without fufficierit reafonto oppof those
which do appear, would be obstinacy: to be aware of ever,
thing that can be urged in r er >l v , would require a penetration
which we have not the prefumpiion to boat of.
Since this article was written, Dr. Ferguson hath again pb
fit;vely and publickly denied everv part of Dr. Percy's relation
concerning the Highland Student.' We ihould be sorry to im
pute falfhood, or even equivocation, to gentlemen of firth
refoeXable characters as Dean Percv ard Profeffor Fer^ifon.
Candourleads us to conclude that there must be some midake
in this matter; and that the mistake is to be attributed to
for^etfulnefi and nothing else.
^==^^===!^^
'rHE Creditors of the Estate of Sir John Colleton, Ba
ronet, decree', will be pleased to render a state of their
demands, and the debtors to make payment, to
ROBERT JOHNSTON, Administrator.
<)tb Mircb, I^2. ||Na. 2, St. Michael's Alley.
SOUTII-CAROLINA.
ALEXANDER BRODIE, of the Province aforefaid, who
is in custody of the Sheriff of the Board of Police, at the
suit of Henry Martin, hiving petitioned the Intendants of the fid
Board that he may he admitted *o the benefit of the a& made for the
relief of infolv nt debt rs: It is ordered,That the said Henr^ Martin,
and all others to whom the said petitioner is any wife indebted, be,
and they are hereby summoned andhave notice to appear at the
fitting of the said Board, which Ihall happen three months after th#
date hereof, to shew caafe, if any they have, why the petitioner
Ihould not have the prayer of his petition granted.
iph April, 1,82. THO. WINSTANLEY, C. P.
SOUTH-CAROLINA.
LAWRENCE DUGGON, of the province aforefaid, who
is in custody of the Sheriff of the Board of Police, at the suit
of Barnard Kane, having petitioned the I tendants of th^ said Board
that he may be admitted to the benefit of the a& ma'e for the relief
of insolvent debtors: It is ordered, That the said Barnard Kane,
and all others to whom the said petitioner is any wife indebted, be,
and they are hereby summoned and have notice to appear at the
fitting of the said Beard, which Ihall happen three months after the
date 'hereof, to shew cause, if any they have, why the petitioner
foould not have the prayer of his petition granted.
Al, W, 17U THO. WINSTANLEY, C. P.
Mr. Macpherfon Wfeves he ffiould not have granted it, M he
disliked the man, and was convinced of his ignorance Mr
M. larther declares, that the manuferipts depofi ed with M%
Bucket contained no Irilli genealogies, as Mr. Shaw would insi
nuate, were never in Mr Mackenzie l hands, and never out of
Mr., Macpherfon's poffedijn, frnce they were taken from Bec
ket's Shop.
Mf.Clark makes a modest apology for his own attempt
juftify himself from the charge of imposition directly brought
aga nit him by Mr. Shaw. For the particulars of his vindica
tion we mult refer the curious reader to the pamphlet itfe'f
Mr. Clark gives a flat denial to Mr. Shawl assertions; and°
alter offering some observations to credit his own, he hath the
following bold and striking expressions. “ Tam tired, and I fear
I hive tired the reader much more with joining fahhrr 'to the
name of Mr. William Shaw: though downright fidi n mert
I ttle more than a flat contradiction. And yet lam rouf dto
a ;°p'""°" ° these disagreeable contradictions in every page
of his pamphlet, tor there is not a page +hat is not replete w th
the molt impudent falfhoods. Amidst the agitation which an
honed man feels at every daring violation of veracity, I some
times hehtate whether the reflect due to truth, or the good
manners to which the reader is entitled, should predominate.
a ° at t el ,° n to tru his itfelf commendable, T trust:
final, be excused tor expreffi >ns, which under that considera
tion cannot be deemed too severe."
A letter under Profeffor M'Leod's own hand, addressed to
' T " T ' r contains a direct and unequivocal denial of what
Mr. Snaw asserted in his enquiry, viz. “ that he offered him
hah a crown per wot d for all that he could produce of Offian's
p°,y'. abovejix lines " The Profeffor's letter contains the
following curious particulars. “ Mr. Macpherfon, with whom
1 had the happiness of commencing a very early acquaintance
at college, lead a considerable part of those poems to me in
the original Gaelic, before the publication <f his version: an!
it was owing to my own engagements at the time, and not to
any backwardness on his part, that T had not the pleasure of
hearing h m read the whole. He lately indulged me with the
original of Lveral parages of bo+h the poems of Fingal and
1 tmoia, to grati y a third gentleman, who wither I to have
thole pallages m the Gaelic: and 1 have not the least doubt of
his dipolition to oblige me, or any man who applies to him as
a gentleman, in the fame way arain ; or by giving any other
fatisfaQi^n on the fubjefl, that can be reasonably defiled."
b We did not confider the affair on the fo/Zo^W &llih a fe.
rious light; m d fufpe&edither ridicule on # ne fide or mistake
or exaggeration on the other. The whole dory is here ver,
fatistactorily explained ; —but by no means, we fear, to the
credit of Mr. Shaw, in point of honour or gratitude.
As to the cUr r vman who offered to supp rs, lay an oa f h, the
impoftnre of Offian, if Mr. Shaw would join in carrying it
into execution, Mi. Clark cannot guffs at his name; and with
out hesitation conchi les ft to te a mere fi Qion of this lover of
trtah—is he ironicall. calls William Shaw.
We are next presented with a letter from Mr. M'NicoT. Our
former acqulin mice wrih this gentlemen, did not greatly pre
poffeis us in his favour: and we are firry on the present occasion
to had hatfli language and idle petulance :—and al! out of pire
zeal lor Caledonia and her birds !—inftead of plain fads and
Solid argument. This " fretful porcupine" but we have
aheady said enough of Mr. M'Nicol —lt is nec< flary however
to observe, that he dif,ifms all acquaintance with Mr. iha%
t bough he was aide, it seems, to have assisted him very mate
rially in his enquiries: -that Mr. Shaw knew this, and only
av rided him, because o c his attack on his great patron Dr.
Johnson, Mr. M'Nicol charges Mr,Shaw with some inftancet
of disingenuous con uft ; and observes that his behaviour was
such as clifgulted the fenhole, and Shocked the religious part of
his countrymen ; and by his rudeness, vanity, and want of
honour, he loft many advantages, which might otherwise have
been secured.