Now, could any man succeed in assuming such differ ent characters as this? If he could, it would show that Dr. Smith and Mr. Macpherson were phenomena in the literary world that never before appeared. • We find in Dr. Smith's publication some of Macpher son's poems fully identified. We also find some of those imitations called ursgeuls, or new tales, to which Mac pherson likewise refers, and, to keep clear of which, he was so anxious. Now, after reading Miss Brooke's Col lection, Mr. Walker's Irish Bards, and the Collections of the Highland Society of Scotland, we would ask, how could there be imitations without something to imitate ? We are quite aware of an answer to this ; that is, that the imitations are also fabricated. To reply to any man capa ble of making such an objection, would be to extinguish all reason and all virtue. They are totally different from ancient poems in style and character. A few years ago, Almost every Highlander, the moment the reciter would mix any of the new tales, would exclaim, that is modern, that is not Ossian or Ullin, Etc.
These imitations have continued down to our own me mory. We have seen some of them of the last century, either humorous or political. We have seen others evi dently intended to bring the ancient original poems to dis credit, so as to destroy all the ancient associations of the people, founded on the exploits and renown of their fa thers. All this arose from an idea, a very false one, that as long as these elegant compositions retained their hold of the people's mind, the gospel could have no chance of making any impression. (See Report, and Bishop Carse well's Preface.) Before we conclude this part of the sub ject, it is necessary to refer to the immense collections made by the Highland Societies of London and Scotland, with a view to throw light upon the authenticity of Os sian's poems. An account of these collections will be found in the appendix to the Report of the Highland So ciety of Scotland, as examined by the late Dr. Donald Smith, the first Gaelic scholar of his country.
There is, however, a collection of Ossianic and other Gaelic poems, by Dr. Irvine of Little Dunkeld, a copy of which has been deposited with the Highland Society of London, and another is to be deposited with the Highland Society of Scotland, which Dr. Smith never saw, and which clearly demonstrates, ac many ntlwrc have afiqrnled, that poems ascribed to Ossian, Ullin, and others equal in me rit to those collected and translated by Mr. Macpherson and Dr. Smith, existed in the Highlands. These are writ ten just as collected during a period of nearly forty years, and any competent judge may at once see how the old and new poems were mixed together. That is, the at tempt made by the successive bards to supply what was lost, or to model the story so as to please the taste of their hearers. An account of this last collection would of it self furnish an irrefragable evidence that Macpherson ne ver could have been the author of the poems which he ascribed to Ossian.
We must now hasten to the internal evidence, which the poems of Ossian themselves, as published by the High land Society of London, amply furnish.
Having extended our observations upon the external evidence so much beyond our intention, a few observations here must suffice.
The first is, that the originals of all the poems translat ed by Mr. Macpherson have not been found. Every search was made, but without success. His going to America, and his other peregrinations, may in part ac count for the loss of some of his collections. But we must confess, that on this head there are some difficulties which our knowledge cannot solve.' They do not, how ever, form any argument against his honesty The trans lation, of which we have not the original, is perfectly uni form with that of wbich we have the original. If, there fore, we are satisfied that the one is genuine so we must be as to the other. If Mr. Macpherson intended a for gery, he would have either left the whole entire or none at all. We know that, from the abuse he experienced from Dr. Johnson and his followers, and from other causes, he became almost indifferent about the originals, and heard the clamour of his opponents with 'a feeling which almost determined him to abandon a field where no further ho nours could be gained.
Though the originals of the whole of Ossian's works have not been found, it is but justice to say that every means have been employed by the Highland Societies of London and Scotland to discover them. Nor have we rea son to doubt the integrity of Mr. Mackenzie, Mr. Mac pherson's executor, in this matter. All that he got he gave to the Highland Society of London.
What became of the MSS. which certainly Mr. Mac pherson had received, it is in vain now to inytre. Though we have a most sincere regard for the merits and memory of Mr. Macpherson, we must be permitted to ha zard a suspicion that he himself may have destroyed them, to prevent any person from discovering or ascertaining what labour he employed in restoring their contents, to what he supposed may have been their ancient and origi nal state. If, however, this may have been his object, it shows that he never could have been the author, and that he was a bad politician. Because we can ascertain to a demonstration how he proceeded in his labours of resto ration, from fragments which still exist in their original state. Still, however, upon this part of the subject we must speak with diffidence, because we really do not know how many editions of the same poems he may have got, and because we have this moment before us editions of poems never translated, and probably never seen by him, which differ widely from one another, and yet which bear evident marks of having been originally the same. They are all ascribed to Ossian and his contemporary bards.