400 THE AUTHENTICITY OF 



reference is made to tlie religious belief of the age in which Ossian 

 is supposed to have lived, it is enough to mention that the Gaelic 

 bards formed a distinct class from the Druids to whom the concerns 

 of religion were committed. '' Illi rebus divinis intersunt, sacrificia 

 publica ac privata procurant, religiones interpretantur."* The poems 

 of Ossian, it is true, present a very rude belief. The heroes in their airy 

 halls are supposed to follow those avocations which were dear to them 

 on earth. "They pursue boars of mist along the edge of the clouds." 

 There are still stronger grounds for overthrowing the opinions 

 advanced by Johnson, Laing, and perhaps by Hume, respecting the 

 poems of Ossian. In deference to the many objections which 

 were raised against the genuineness of these poems, the Highland 

 Society submitted a series of questions to clergymen and others, who 

 resided in the Highlands of Scotland. The object of these questions 

 was, to ascertain whether poems similar to those collected and pub- 

 lished by MacPherson existed in the Highlands and were available. 

 Minute inquiry was made as to whether the poems published by 

 MacPherson could be identified with the poems which were still in 

 circulation. The report of the Highland Society was published in 

 1806. By unassailable evidence it was shown, that the history of 

 Fingal and his followers, of Ossian and his poems, was commonly 

 known ; that poems similar to those which were published by 

 MacPherson existed in many parts of the country, and could be 

 recited by men who had never heard of MacPherson. Regarding 

 the prevalence of Ossianic poetry in the Highlands, the report 

 terminates with this decided language : " The committee can with 

 confidence state its opinion, that such poetry did exist ; that it was 

 common, general, and in great abundance; that it was of a most 

 impressive and striking sort, in a high degree eloquent, tender and 

 sublime." f The following citations from the letters addressed to the 

 committee are very explicit : " Before MacPherson could know his 

 right hand from his left, I have heard fragments of them repeated, 

 and many of those fragments I recognized in Mr. MacPherson's 

 translation." J "There are many poems ascribed to Ossian more than 

 Mr. MacPherson has translated; many of which, I dare say, he 

 never heard, and of these not a few, in my humble opinion, of as 



* De Bello GaUico. Lib. 6, 13. 

 t Highland Society's Report on Ossian, p. 151 ; and ibid, p. 39. 

 t Highland Society's Report on Ossian, p. 151 ; and ibid, p. 39^ 



