Evening star., 1925-03-10

Macpherson on the title page. signed
Sir J. Reynolds, Pinxt" That last
means sculptor or engraver He was
the great Sir Joshua.
Inc face of Macpherson is strangely
interesting, especially in connection
with his history, the fact that he
VISITED America, and was accused OF
everything from plagiarism to i'm
morality.
Inc engraving shows a typical face
OF man of the pre- -Revolutfonary
period. hair brushed back. nose like
"ashington's, sloping jawbones to a
small but still determined chin.
must confess that after reading
the discussions and reading the poems
my sympathy is all with Macpherson.
AS he himself said. Those who have
doubted my veracity have paid a. com
pliment to my genius" He also
stated, Those who alone are capable
Oh transferring ancient poetry into a
modern language might be better en-
ployed in giving originals of their
own were 1t not for that wretched
envy and meanness which affects TO
despise cotemporary genius
There in a nutshell one may have
the secret of Ossian. Macpherson
probably did have a few old manu-
scripts, and, seeing their possibili-
ties went them one better, but was
afraid to publish them as originals.
1t is interesting to Americans 10
know that Macpherson came TO Pen
sacola, Fla, in 1863, as secretary to
Gov. Johnson. After executing his
office in settling the office Of that
colony, he visited several Of the West
Indies islands and several OF "the
North American provinces" and re-
turned to England in 1865
When the resistance of the Ameri-
cans called for the pen, as we'll as
the sword of authority" the book
states, Mr.. Macpherson was engaged
as one of the ablest. He published a
pamphlet, entitled The Rights OF
Great Britain Asserted Against the
Claims of the Colonies for which he
obtained great credit on account of
the style and argument"
Evidently, George Washington did
not read that pamphlet
X x x X
The anonymous author of the Life
of James Macpherson" in this volume
did not care for his subject. since he
concluded the tri-page essay with
the following morsel:
Mr.. Macpherson was tall, robust,
clumsy and ill-favored In his person.
coarse IN MS dppetlteS, unpOllSneu IN
his manners and loose in his morals.
He was never married but was en-
gagged in round Of low amours. His
memory may be regretted by few,
but must he execrated by the great
est part of his associates"
After this pleasantly one is amazed
on reading the Poems of Ossian" to
find them as clean as the sea air that
blew over Scotland. If Mr.. Macpher-
son were as bad as his biographer
says, certainly something of it must
have cropped out in the poems, trans
latiops or originals, whichever they
may be.
But the poems of Ossian remain to-
day, as of old, brimful of the highest
sentiments and the purest descrip-
| tions, lacking anything that could
offend.
If Macpherson was as black as
painted, then the only thing one can
say is that a mans private life makes
no difference in what he writes. The
devil himself, then, might write a
lullaby, and the lullaby would be no
less lovely because the devil wrote it
A mans writing ought to stand for,
the best of him. If it does, he is to
be judged on 1T, not on back-stair
gossip. If Macpherson really wrote
Ossian-and we judge him from his
poems-he must have been a pretty
decent sort. after an