Blair Collection > Popular tales of the West Highlands > Volume 4

PUBLISHED AND TRADITIOXAL. 2 2 I
time. Tliey are apparently very old, and it is possible
at the time tliey were composed the language of boili
countries was the same, considering they had one
common origin. By whom they were composed, or at
what time they were composed, cannot, with any de-
gree of certainty, be determined. They stretch back
into a period of whose history I know very little, and,
consequently, I am precluded from adding more. —
Meanwhile, I remain, yours very faithfully,
D. K. TORRIE.
/. F. Camj)hell, Esq., etc. etc.
To this let me add the opinion of a Highlander, who
had had much to do with the publication of Gaelic
books, and lives in a city.
62 Argtle Street, Glasgow,
November 9, 1861.
My dear Sir — In compliance Avith your request,
I will now proceed briefly to give you my opinion of
the poems attributed to Ossian and other ancient Celtic
bards. Although a doubt never crossed my mind re-
garding the genuineness of these productions, yet after
a careful investigation of the subject, I have now a
more definite and satisfactory impression of the matter
than I had heretofore. I believe that " Fingal fought,
and that Ossian sang," as firmly as I believe any other
historical fact. I have now the same opinion of them
that I had thirty years ago, when I first began to take