u 



conduct of Macpherson, in withholding from the pubhc the Gaehc 

 originals,"* and says candidly, " if Fingal exists in Gaelic, let it be 

 shewn; and if ever the originals can be shewn, opposition maybe 

 silenced." 



Another powerful auxiliary to the cause of Macpherson appeared 

 in 1780, in a work of Mr. John Smith, minister at Kilbrandon, 

 Argyleshire. This work is entitled "Gaelic Antiquities, consisting of a 

 History of the Druids, particularly of those of Caledonia ; a Dissertation 

 on the authenticity of the Poems of Ossian, and a collection of ancient 

 Poems translated from the Gaelic of Ullin, Ossian, Orran, and others. 

 This was followed in 1787 by the publication of Sean Dana; le Oisian, 

 Orran, Ullann, &c., ancient poems collected in the western Highlands 

 and isles, being the originals of the translations published some time ago 

 in the Gaelic Antiquities, by John Smith, D. D., minister of the Gospel 

 at Campbelton." This collection consists of fifteen poems, eleven of 

 which are ascribed to Ossian, the rest to three of the most celebrated 

 of his contemporary bards. Smith follows close in the wake of Blair, 

 whose arguments from internal evidence, he repeats. He thinks the 

 prevalence of the bardic institutions will account for the preservation 

 of the poems through so many ages. 



In 1783, Thomas Hill, an English gentleman, published a small 

 work, containing several Gaelic songs and poems, collected during a 

 tour through the Highlands of Scotland in 1780, but they were 

 mostly of that class which Macpherson and Smith would have re- 

 jected. This was unfortunate. Had he been so lucky as to stumble 

 on an ancient copy of the real Ossian, how he would have been en- 

 riched ! 



As it became the fashion to admire Ossian, it also became fashion- 

 able to make collections of Ossianic poems. Foreigners caught the 



• Sir John Sinclair's Ossian, iii. 361. 



