Evening star., 1925-03-10
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

When Fingal, the Irish giant, walk
eo over Scotland and Ireland CEN
turies ago, he started a controversy
that has scarcely been settled to this
day.
was there such a bard as Ossian
son OF Fingal, who actually wrote
the poems called his. or were these
epics the work of one James Mac
pherson, who first gave them to the
world as translations?
In the years following their pub
lication, in 1862, ragged one of the
greatest literay sQuabbles of all his
tory. F1ngal was made Scotch, by
Macpherson-naturally enough-the
poems singing the praises Of Scotia.
Old DR.. Johnson came out against
the authenticity of the poems: DR.. Hugh
Blair defended them. Burlesques of the
epics were printed. The matter became
huge topic of conversation in all po-
lite society.
Table talk hinged on the questions:
DO you believe there was an old
bard, blind like Homer, named Os-
sian, and do you think he really
wrote it?"
DO you think James Macpherson
really wrote the poems, and attribut-
ed them to Ossian?"
Macpherson himself blew up in a
hun, and refused to turn over to the
disputants the ancient documents from
which he declared he made the trans
lations. This, of course, put a de-
cided black eye to the whole thing.
So they argued, and argued, and
argued, the result being the usual
end of such arguments--some believ-
ed there really was an Ossian, others
hnf No Fol- 4.
thing. Neither side could convince the
other.
There the matter has rested these
centuries since. Critical opinion in
clines to the belief that Macpherson
perhaps had few fragments of old
Gaelic poems, from which he built up
his "translations."
Many have heard of ossian, but
few have read his poems.
Being among the former number,
I was interested when l discovered
an old copy of the book on the
shelves of q secondhand book store.
Here was my chance, at last, to
read Ossian! Though several cen
turtles late, I, too, could take a hand
in the Ossian Macpherson dispute
and live over again the keen delight
OF controversy!
Being in the happy situation of a
man who is doing what he loves to
do, it is my privilege to bring to the
readers of this column many thin gs
which they, being busy on other af-
fairs, would like to know about, but
have not the time otherwise.
I seized with delight, then. the old
copy of Ossian, and bore 1t off to my
den for study at leisure. It is a fine
old copy, printed in 1895 by Walker
Printer, Phila," and published by J.
P. Peaslee, New York. The copy is
bound in green leather, outlined in
gold, still bright. The print is large
and hand-set, of course.
On the title page, in the faded
brown of=old ink, is superscription.
The romance of old books, One
might weave a pretty story from that
inscription. But I am glad, at any
event, that the old book. carefully
handled of old, has fallen into hands
that will continue to cherish 1t.
The volume has several hundred
pages of preliminary discourse
setting forth the pro and con OF the
controversy, with the findings of the
learned committee which sat on the
case.
Yes, they had committees in those
days! And I suppose the chairman
was the only one that did any work,
Human nature is much the same
There is q small steel engraving OF