'2S2 



The seventh section, p. 62, is to shew " That the existence of 

 Swaran, and other personages mentioned in the Poems of Ossian, is 

 authenticated by Danish historians." The proofs of this fact depend 

 upon extracts from " Suhm's History of Denmark," communicated 

 by the Rev. Mr. Rosing, pastor of the Danish Church in London. 

 But from the extracts given, p. 63, and in the Appendix, p. 208, it 

 is evident that Suhm had no other authority for what he relates con- 

 cerning Swaran, than what is furnished by the poems of Ossian. The 

 extract given at p. 211, runs thus : No. I. p. 195, " Hodbrod then 

 resided in Solficeld and on Swaran's Hill, which has, no doubt, been 

 called so after the famous Swaran in Ossian, (about 412.)" Here we 

 have Suhm speaking of Swaran on the authority of Ossian, as he is 

 made to do before, p. 63, and to prove the authenticity of Ossian, 

 Sir John Sinclair quotes Suhm. If this kind of evidence be satisfac- 

 tory, no longer can doubts be entertained of the authenticity of 

 Ossian's poems. It is no doubt of equal weight Avith the internal 

 evidence discovered by Doctor Blair in the poems themselves, which 

 we have noticed in some of the former pages of this Essay. 



At page 71, Sir John refers, with confidence, to the Report of the 

 Highland Society for a variety of satisfactory proofs of the authen- 

 ticity of the poems, particularly that part where it mentions that 

 "about 1500 verses, in words almost the same with the poem of 

 Fingal, were transmitted to the Society." The verses here alluded 

 to, form the Cento compiled by Doctor Smith. We have no hesita- 

 tion in acknowledging that that Cento does contain the substance of 

 a great part of the poem of Fingal, but instead of that being a proof 

 for, it is a proof against the authenticity of Macpherson's Ossian, and 

 of the Gaelic translation made of that English work, and published 

 by the Society as the original of Ossian. The Cento is compiled from 

 a variety of Irish poems, corrupted from their original purity by 



