287 



strenuous advocate for the authenticity of the Scotch Ossian,to shew 

 where the word is confined to that restricted sense attributed to it by 

 Captain Mc Donald. As for the word Toure, we fearlessly assert 

 that it never appeared in any ancient Gaelic writing. Tur, or Tort 

 is the Gaelic name of a Tower, Castle, &c. ; but Toure has no such 

 meaning. In fact, there is no such word ; the diphthong ou never 

 found a place in the Gaelic language. 



The other averments contained in the Captain's deposition, are 

 so unimportant to the subject, that it is a wonder Sir John thought 

 them worthy of insertion, and being of this opinion, we forbear occu- 

 pying any more of our space with those depositions. 



No. 2 of the Appendix, p. 208, is the letter of the Rev. Mr. Ros- 

 ing, with extracts, &c., from Suhm's History of Denmark. To what 

 we have already said upon this subject, p. 120, we find it unneces- 

 sary to add any further observations. 



No. 3 Appendix, p. 215, contains an account of the subscription 

 entered into by a number of patriotic Highland gentlemen in India, 

 to enable Mr. Macpherson to bear the expense of publishing the 

 " Originals" of his Ossian, but as it adds not an iota of evidence on 

 the poems, we pass it by without further notice. 



No. 4, p. 224, is the Declaration of Captain Alexander Morrison, 

 of Greenock. This Declaration contains nothing more than what was 

 contained in that gentleman's testimony, published in " the Report 

 of the Highland Society," and on which we have already made some 

 observations in this Essay, p. 84. We shall, therefore, dismiss this 

 article, by merely observing, that we fear the venerable Captain's 

 memory was not quite so good as he thought it was. As a proof 

 that his memory was good, he begs leave "to repeat the Gaelic 

 Alphabet." He might have refreshed his memory if he chose, but it 

 appears he did not, for in the names of the letters given by him, 

 there are some unknown to the Gaelic Aibgitter, or Alphabet. 



