NINETEENTH MEETING. 31 



■" La Societa Toscana di Scienze Natural! in Pisa " announcing 

 the death of its President. 



Mr. W. H. VanderSmissen, M.A., read a paper, prepared by 

 Rev. Neil MacNish, LL.D., of Cornwall, on the authenticity of 

 the " Sean Dana." 



The paper contained a defence of the literary honesty of the 

 E-ev. Dr. John Smith, of Kilbrandon and Campbelltown, Argyleshire, 

 against the strictures of Mr. J. F. Campbell, compiler of " Leabhar 

 na Feinne." Dr. Smith published in 1780, twenty years after the 

 appearance of Macpherson's Ossian, a work called " Gaelic Antiqui- 

 ties," containing " a collection of ancient poems translated from the 

 Gaelic of Ossian," etc., and in 1787 his "Sean Dana," or ancient lays 

 or poems, the original Gaelic of those translated in the first collection. 

 Mr. Campbell casts doubt on the genuineness of these poems, and 

 charges Dr. Smith with having given his own compositions to the 

 world as those of Ossian. Against this charge Dr. MacNish's paper 

 defends the author, on the ground partly of the high character he 

 bore, as evidenced by the testimony of the Highland Society's report 

 on the Ossian poems, but chiefly on the internal evidence of the 

 poems themselves. 



Mr. David Spence said that it was almost unnecessary to 

 discuss the question. In his opinion the authenticity of the 

 poem of the Sean Dana had been fully established. With 

 regard to the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, Hector 

 McLean one of the best Gaelic scholars, had come to the 

 conclusion that the English poems which McPherson had 

 collected were composed by McPherson himself. This did 

 not agree with the opinion of certain German writers, but he 

 (Mr. S.) had looked into the matter pretty closely and believed 

 that McLean's theory was true. The Gaelic poems were 

 genuine. He had read over the different arguments and had no 

 doubt of their genuineness. He came to the conclusion that Mc- 

 Pherson had found those poems in the Highlands. The manu- 

 scripts from which the poems were taken were found in McPher- 

 son's possession. Dr. McNish considered that a great change 

 had come over the Highlands since McPherson's time. It 



