218 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. I. 



undertake a journey to the Highlands in order to gather more Ossianic 

 poems. He, along mth the eminent Gaelic scholars, Lachlan and Ewen 

 Macpherson, travelled through the Highlands in 1760 for this purpose. 

 Lachlan took down many poems recited by various persons in the High- 

 lands, and copied some manuscripts. In 1762 Macpherson published 

 what he termed English translations ; and at once the great war as to 

 their authenticity began. It is certain that Macpherson collected a great 

 number of poems from recitation, and that he rescued a large number of 

 manuscripts written in the old Gaelic characters, which bore all the marks 

 of antiquity. These documents were seen in his possession by men 

 whose word is above question. In 1796 James Macpherson died, leaving 

 a large amount of money by his will toward the publication of the Gaelic 

 poems from which, as was alleged, the English translation was made. A 

 copy of the poems prepared for the press in his handwriting, or that of 

 his friends, was found among his papers ; but not a scrap of the manu- 

 scripts, or of the original copies of the poems taken from recitation 

 could be found. He had at one time placed these documents in the 

 han dsof Becket, a London bookseller, and advertised that any one wishing 

 to satisfy himself might see them there. It must not be forgotten that 

 nearly forty years had elapsed before a search was made for them by the 

 Highland Society. They may have been in the meantime mislaid or 

 lost, or condemned as a nuisance by some tidy housekeeper, and con- 

 signed to the flames. 



On the death of Macpherson the Highland Society of Scotland began 

 in earnest to gather evidence from every available quarter as to the 

 authenticity of the poems. Their secretary was Henry Mackenzie, the 

 author of " The Man of Feeling." The inquiry was conducted in the 

 most judicious spirit, and their report, published in 1805, embodies the 

 results of the investigation. 



It is extremely difficult for those who regard Macpherson as the 

 author to explain away the vast array of facts contained in this Report ; 

 and it is to be feared that some of them have unconsciously presented a 

 garbled statement of the evidence. W. F. Skene, one of the greatest 

 authorities on the early history of Scotland, says in his introduction to 

 the book of the Dean of Lismore (1799) : " x-\ndrew Gallie, of Badenoch, 

 sent to the Highland Society a part of the Gaelic of Fingal, which 

 appeared in the Gaelic version subsequently published. He said that he 

 had taken it from a manuscript he had received, ' written by a friend, 

 who was at that time with Macpherson and me ; a gentleman well known 

 for an uncommon acquaintance with the Gaelic language and a happy 

 faculty for writing it in Roman characters.' On being pressed to say 



