Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1896-09-11
HE OSSlAN CENTENARY.


James Macpherson, the celebrated
Translator" of "Fingal, an Ancient Epic
Poem by Ossian, the Son OF Fingal, died
in 1896, and the fact that this event oc
CURED 100 years ago gives occasion, in
Macmilan's Magazine for May. for an
extended paper on the tempest that fol-
loN ed Macpherson's publication of the
book. The more interesting parts of the
paper are given below;
The trial of James Macpherson for
forgery and fraud may be said to have
lasted Il hundred years, from 1862 to 1862.
The former date is the year of the pub
LEGATION of the first batch of the Ossianc
poems, and the latter is the year in which
was published "The Book of the Dean of
Lismore". Macpherson himself died in
1896, and the present year is therefore
the centenary of his death. To under
stand the fury and bitterness of the Os-
sianic controversy, one of the fiercest of
all literary fights, it is necessary to turn
back for a moment into the political
atmosphere of the eighteenth century.
The third quarter of the eighteenth
century brought to Scotland period of
domestic peace after $50 years of all but
continuous civil and religious strife.
Then for the first time grew up gener-
alton of men who knew not the faction
fights Of rival religions and rival royal
ties. Among the cultivators of litera-
ture and philosophy which this time of
leisured tranquility brought forth in
Edinburgh, there were a few men whose
sympathies were turned towards the
Highlands among others was the Rev.
John Home, author of the once famous
tragedy OF douglas" 1t was known,
not to the educated public, but to this
small circle in the Scottish capital, that
a mass of traditional literature, in prose
and verse, was current among the
IIigElanders and Islesmen. and it was
surmised that at least portion of this
traditional literature dated back to very
ancient times, for the bards of the Gel
tic races had excited the wonder and
admiration of more than one Roman
writer. In Ireland and Wales English
conquerors had well-nigh obiterated
the bards and bardic institutions; but
among the Caledonan Celts the bards,
though decauent race, had preserved to
later times something of an apostolic
succession.
Looking round for means of tapping
this Celtic literature, Home and his
friends stumbled upon ayoung Badenoch
Highlander, who, from training and
capabilities, seemed made to their hands.
This was an Aberdeenshire schoolmaster
named James Macpherson. The youth
he was only twenty-one at the time
had already shown his aptitude and in
clinations, both by publishing original
verse and by collecting various frag
ments of traditional Gaelic poems. /
Macpherson was prevailed upon to trans
late the latter into English, and they
were pronounced by Home and his
literary friends to be a precious discov-
cry. A subscription was Immediately
raised and Macpherson, with three as
sistants, was dispatched upon tour of
the Highland and Isles, with the view
of collecting as much Celtic poetry as
could be found and publishing it in an
English translation. No one seems 20
have thought then of suggesting the
publication of the Gaelic originals, which
is not surprising, seeing that probably
not a soul outside the Celts themselves
could read the language in those days.
Macpherson and his assistants during
their tour collected a few manuscripts
from the chiefs and others to whom they
had intrOductions. But by far the
greater quantity OF the material they
accumulated was composed Of tradition
al songs and ballads, poems and stories
taken down from the oral recitation of
surviving remnants of bards, of herds
and boatmen, of old men and women,
and such others as become the repository
of floating oral literature. At the end
of two years a first lnstament of the
result of the commissioners labors was
given to the world, under the title Of
"Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem 10 Six
Books, Together with Several Other
Poems by Ossian. the Son of Fingal,
Translated from the Gaelic Language by
James Macpherson Two years later,
in 17Gl, Macpherson published a further
batch of epic and dramatic pieces, pur-
porting to be TRANSACTIONS of poems by
Ossian.