Preface which is prefixed to them, in consequence of the conversations I had held with Mr Macpherson.

The Fragments, when published, drew much attention; and excited, among all persons of taste and letters, an earnest desire to recover, if possible, all those considerable remains of Gaelic poetry which were said still to exist in the Highlands. When Mr Macpherson was spoken to on the subject, and urged by several persons to undertake the search, he showed extreme unwillingness to engage in it; representing both his diffidence of success and of public approbation, and the difficulty and expensiveness of such a search as was requisite through the remote Highlands. At length, to encourage him to undertake it, a meeting was brought together at a dinner, to which Mr Macpherson was invited, and which I had a chief hand in convocating, of many of the first persons of rank and taste in Edinburgh. The late Patrick Lord Elibank took a great lead at that meeting, together with Dr Robertson, Mr John Home, Sir Adam Fergusson, and many others whom I have now forgotten, who were all very zealous for forwarding the discovery proposed; and after much conversation with Mr Macpherson, it was agreed, that he should disengage himself from all other employment, and set out without delay on this poetical mission throughout the Highlands; and as his circumstances did not admit of his engaging in this at his own expence, that the whole expence he might undergo was to be defrayed by a collection raised from this meeting, with the aid of such other friends as we might chuse to apply to for that purpose; and we, in effect, engaged for his future success. Mr Robert Chalmers, if I remember right, was the person who undertook to collect the money, and to act as our treasurer.' I remember well, that when the company were about to break up, and I was going away, Mr Macpherson followed me to the door, and told me that from the spirit of that meeting, he now for the

first time entertained the hope that the undertaking to which I had so often prompted him would be attended with success; that hitherto he had imagined they were merely romantic ideas which I held out to him, but he now saw them likely to be realized, and should endeavour to acquit himself, so as to give satisfaction to all his friends.

Accordingly, he soon after set out on his mission through the Highlands; and during the time he was employed in it, he wrote to me and others of his friends, informing us what success he met with, in collecting from many different and remote parts all the remains he could find of ancient Gaelic poetry, either in writing or by oral tradition. When he returned to Edinburgh in winter, laden with his poetical treasures, he took lodgings in a house immediately below where I then lived, at the head of Blackfriar's Wynd, and busied himself in translating from the Gaelic into English. I saw him very frequently: he gave me accounts from time to time how he proceeded, and used frequently at dinner to read or repeat to me parts of what he had that day translated. Being myself entirely ignorant of the Gaelic language, I never examined or looked into his papers; but some gentlemen who knew that language, particularly Professor Adam Fergusson, told me that they did look into his papers, and saw some which appeared to them to be old manuscripts; and that, in comparing his version with the original, they found it exact and faithful, in any parts which they read.

After finishing his translation, he went to London and published it; and of his success there we all know. We all know likewise the doubts and scepticism concerning the genuineness of his work, which arose in England soon after the publication of it, and after my Dissertation upon it was also given to the world. These doubts his temper led him to disdain; perhaps to disdain too much. So far, however; he endeavoured to give satisfaction to the public,

that for some months he left all the originals of his translation open to inspection and examination, in Becket the bookseller's shop, and intimated, by advertisement in the Newspapers, that he had done so. But when, after their being left there for a considerable time, he found that no one person had ever called to look at them, his disdain of public censure became still stronger. I urged him to write to the Highlands for authentic testimonies from some of those gentlemen from whom he received his materials. He utterly rejected this proposal, as implying a public distrust of his veracity; but at the same time consented to my making some enquiries of this nature, which he thought might come more suitably from me than from himself. Accordingly, from my zeal to throw every light upon the subject, I did write to a number of gentlemen in the Highlands, many of them of the most respectable rank and character, requesting information of what they knew respecting the originals of those poems of which Mr Macpherson had published a translation. The result of their testimony I gave in a printed Appendix to my Dissertation on the Poetry of Ossian; furnishing, I think, strong and irrefragable evidence in favour of the authenticity of the poems now given to the world as genuine productions of ancient Highland bards.

For my own part, from my perfect knowledge of all the circumstances of their discovery and translation, it waslimpossible for me to entertain any doubts on the subject of their authenticity. Of all the men I ever knew, Mr Macpherson was the most unlikely and unfit to contrive and carry on such an imposture, as some people in England ascribed to him. He had none of the versatility, the art and dissimulation, which such a character and such an undertaking would have required. He was proud, high-spirited, and disdainful; irritable to a degree, when his honour and veracity were impeached; not very apt, on any occa

sion, to listen to advice and when unjust censures were thrown out against him, obstinate in his purpose of disregarding and contemning them, without the least concern of giving any satisfaction to those who opposed or cavilled at him.

Scepticism has indeed been entertained by many, how far his work, supposing it to be no imposture on the whole, could be relied upon as an accurate and faithful translation of his Gaelic originals. That in some of the longer works, he may have combined and brought together some pieces which he found scattered and broken, and that, in comparing the different copies which he frequently found of the same poem, either in manuscript or by rehearsal, he selected from them all such as he thought the best readings, I make no doubt, nor did he himself seem to disavow it. I also think it probable that he may have left out some rudenesses and extravagancies which he might occasionally find in the old Gaelic songs. But after all the enquiries I have been at pains to make, I can find no ground to suspect that his deviations from the original text were at all considerable, or his interpolations any more than what 'were simply necessary to connect together pieces of one whole which he found disjointed: That his work, as it stands, exhibits a genuine authentic view of ancicat Gaelic poetry, I am as firmly persuaded, as I can be of any thing. It will, however, be a great satisfaction to the learned world, if that publication shall be completed, which Mr Macpherson had begun, of the whole Gaelic originals in their native state on one page, and a literal Latin translation on the opposite page. The idea which he once entertained, and of which he showed me a specimen, of printing the Gaelic in Greek characters, (to avoid the disputes about Gaelic orthography), I indeed strongly reprobated, as what would carry to the world a strange affected appear

ance, and prevent the originals from being legible by any but those who were accustomed to read Greek characters.

I have thus, my dear Sir, given you as full an account as I could of all that I remember concerning the discovery and publication of the poems of Ossian. I shall be happy if it give any satisfaction to that very respectable association of gentlemen to whom you wish it to be communicated, and to which I have myself the honour of belonging, in the station of an Honorary Member. I have perhaps been minute and tedious in my narration of particulars, but as I am now among the oldest persons alive who had any hand in that discovery and publication, I imagined that even some of the small circumstances I have mentioned, may be considered as of some weight. I confess I cannot avoid considering the discovery of the works of Ossian as an important æra in the annals of taste and literature; and the share which I have had, in contributing towards it, as a part of my life, by which I have deserved well both of this age and posterity. I have the honour to be, with much esteem and respect,

My Dear Sir,

Your most obedient, and
faithful humble servant,

HUGH BLAIR.

2. From Dr ADAM FERGUSSON, dated Hallyards, near Peebles, 26th March 1798.

MY DEAR SIR,

I have, within these few days, been honoured with a circular letter from the Committee of the Highland Society, with Queries relating to the poems of Ossian.

1