J. F. Campbell Collection > Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian

SS LETTERS TO MR. MACKENZIE.
century ; as IJ^ial Frasach, one of the characters introduc-
ed in it, was an Irish king, who abdicated his throne, and
retired to the monastery of Icolumkill, where he died in
765. Mr M. however seems to have either seen or heard
of this poem, as he observes in a note that the traditionary
account of Darthula's death was, that she ended her days
by suicide ; which is the account given of Deardruin in
this poem, although the poet glosses it over very gently.
He speaks of her borrowing a knife, and afterwards we
find her dead, on the body of Nathos. The concluding
verses, which mention two yews as growing from their
graves^ and entwining their branches on high, make a
part, if I remember rightly, of some other of Mr M.'s
translations, biit I do not recollect which, j remain, with
esteem,
Dear Sir,
Your most humble servant,
John Smith.
3. From Doctor John Smith, dated Ca?npbehon,
21st June 1S02.
Sir,
It was only last night that I had the plea-
pure of your letter of the llth. It is now two or three
and twenty years since I published the translations you
mention ; and as I had taken no pains to keep either let-
ters, copies, or memorandums of them, nor had any occa-
sion, except what you gave me, of saying almost any
thing about them, my reco%ction does not warrant me
now to add any thing more precise to the general account
which I then gave of them. Since that time, indeed, I dp
not think that I ever read a single page of them. Last
■winter I accidentally found, in an old book which I had