no service to the cause of Macpherson. Living, it might have tended 

 only to his exposure ; dead, it could tell no tales. But since it has 

 fulfilled its destinies, and Douay students, ignorant of Gaelic as 

 Opician* mice of Greek, have celebrated its funeral rites in their 

 stove, wherefore now disturb its ashes, or evoke its ghost to testify in 

 behalf of the most audacious forgery of modern times ? 



SECTION 11. 



MacpliersorC s Ossian compared with the new Translation of the pretended 



original Gaelic Version. 



The defenders of Macpherson's Ossian being foiled and van- 

 quished in all their attempts to support its authenticity, have as- 

 sumed a new position, and affirm that he was utterly destitute of 

 the genius necessary to the composition of those exquisite produc- 

 tions which bear his name. As a proof, they allege the failure of his 

 translation of Homer, and conclude, that he fell as far short of giv- 

 ing a just English version of the Celtic as of the Grecian bard. 

 " When," says Graham, "we consider the rest of his literary efforts 

 with an impartial eye, it is presumed that they will be found to exhi- 

 bit an inferiority of genius and a mediocrity of talent altogether 

 unequal to the splendid poetry, which, under the name of Ossian, has 

 attracted the admiration of Europe." Poor Macpherson ! How 

 dreadfully would he be mortified by such defences as this ! After all 

 his industry in compiling poems for the honour of Scotland, to be 



t) '"Et divina Ofici rodebant carmina mures." — Juv. 



