1892-93.] THE PRESENT ASPECT OF THE OSSIAMC CONTROVERSY. 



329 



possession. " I have seen him an hundred times," Mr. MacGillivray adds, 

 " turning over his folio, when he read the translation, and comparing it 

 with the Erse, and I can positively say that I saw him in this manner go 

 through the whole poems. of Fingal and Temora." The important MS., 

 which was at one time at Douay, was unhappil}' lost or destroyed amid the 

 military disturbances which subsequently swept over that part of the conti- 

 nent of Europe. An accession of strength, of which too much cannot be 

 made, is imparted by the MS. of Douay to the authenticity of the poems 

 of O-isian, and consequently to the veracity and reliability of MacPher- 

 son. Even Mr. Campbell, who, unhappily for his lofty reputation for 

 generosity of heart and mind, is most reluctant to award any praise what- 

 ever to MacPherson, is compelled, out of regard, doubtless, to the power- 

 ful evidence of the MS. of Douay, to admit that, "unless the statement 

 of Mr. MacGillivray is a deliberate falsehood, there is an end of the argu- 

 ment which makes MacPherson the author, though no early copy of the 

 entire poems is known." 



Shortly after the publication of Temora, MacPherson accompanied 

 Governor Johnstone to Florida, and, it is supposed, took with him the 

 Gaelic poems of Ossian to that country. From 1773 until his death in 

 February, 1796, MacPherson's time was much occupied in the discharge 

 of the duties which his position as agent of the Nabob of Arcot imposed 

 upon him. He had in contemplation to print the Gaelic poems of 

 Ossian in Greek rather than in Roman characters. A sum amounting 

 to ;i^i,ooo Sterling was collected in India among gentlemen who were 

 natives of the Highlands of Scotland, and who were at that time in the 

 East occupying eminent positions in the service of their country. Sir 

 John MacGregor Murray took a prominent part in raising money among 

 his Gaelic countrymen in India for the purpose of publishing the poems 

 of Ossian in the original language. In the circular which he issued, he 

 said, among other things, that his appeal was to " men who have Gaelic 

 blood in their veins and Gaelic sentiments in their hearts — men who 

 know and feel that elegant as Ossian's modern dress is, it is not equal to his 

 native garb, and that Gaelic, barbarous and uncouth as it is represented, 

 has expressions peculiarly nervous and sublime for every noble and 

 exalted idea that can enlarge and elevate the human mind. The object 

 of this address is to verify the prediction of Ossian that Fingal shall be 

 clothed with fame, a train of light to other times." The munificence of 

 the Gaelic gentlemen in India amounted to something like ;^i,200 Ster- 

 liiig. They exemplified in an excellent manner the truthfulness of the 

 words of Horace : 



Coeluir. non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt. 



