the Controversy, respecting the authenticity oj Ossian, with notes ; and 

 a Supplemental Essay, by John M^ Arthur, L.L.D.; published under 

 the sanction of the Highland Society of London." This work seems 

 intended to supersede the necessity of all further publication on the 

 subject. Sir John Sinclair appears to think that it will fully confute 

 all the objections by which the authenticity of the poems ever has 

 been, or ever will be opposed. We have come to a different conclu- 

 sion. We are of opinion that such a work alone was wanting to con- 

 firm our objections, and that it has supplied additional proofs of the 

 imposition. :;,^ „,j 



The principal evidence on which Sir John rests his cause, is, that 

 " a manuscript of Ossian in Gaelic, actually existed at Douay, in 

 Flanders, previous to Mr. Macpherson's having made any collection 

 of those poems." Influenced by a laudable desire to arrive at the 

 truth, and having heard that the Roman Catholic Bishop, Cameron, 

 resident in Edinburgh, could give useful information on the subject, 

 he opened a correspondence with him, and learned the following 

 facts : 1st, That the Rev. John Farquharson, Avhen a, missionary in 

 Strathglass, in the Highlands of Scotland, collected about the year 

 1745, a number of Gaelic Poems, which were called by him Ossian 's 

 Poems, and which he affirmed were not inferior to Virgil or Homer ; 

 2nd, and 3rd, That the said MS. collection was left by him, first at the 

 College of Douay, then at Dinant, and lastly at Douay again, among 

 his own countrymen there resident ; 4th, That it was written on large 

 folio paper; 5th, That it was at Douay in 1777, when Bishop Chisholm 

 left that place, but that it was then much damaged, and became so 

 much neglected, that the leaves were torn out, and were used, so long 

 as they lasted, to light the fire ; 6th, That in 1766 or 1767, Farquhar- 

 son received Macpherson's translation, and compared Fingal and 

 Temora, and some of the lesser poems, with the Gaelic ; 7th, That he 



VOL. XVI. E 



