Blair Collection > Celtic magazine > Volume 12

Maephersoiis Ossian. 201
pours forth extempore to Malvina, or the Son of Alpin, his unpre-
meditated poem. Is such a thing natural ? Macpherson has also
been accused of plagiarism : Laing called his " Ossian " a patch-
work of plagiarism, and gave the parallel passages. But Mac-
pherson did this for him in his 1762 Volume ; there he gives the
passages in Homer, Virgil, and the Bible that correspond, in his
foot-notes, and they are many. In fact, he was well-read in those
works, and easily reproduced the parallel passages, which he
had, consciously or unconsciously, imitated. It is significant that
in the 1763 Volume, and the complete edition of 1773, there are
no parallel passages given. Honesty may be carried too far.
{To be continued.)
A HIGHLAND FAIRY STORY.
[From Mrs. Mackellar.]
An old man of venerable aspect sat on a hill-side on a calm,
quiet Sabbath morning reading his Bible. He had gone there at
an early hour to watch his cows and keep them from wandering
to forbidden pastures, and he improved the time by prayer and
meditation of the Word of God. As he sat buried in deep
thought, a sound fell upon his ear as if a gentle breeze had
disturbed the heather and bracken around him, and he looked up
with the feeling that some one stood near him. To his surprise
he saw before him a female of diminutive size, arrayed in a
garment of green silk. To his look of inquiry, she said, in a
low, quivering voice, "Old man, is there a hope of salvation for
me in that book you are reading so earnestly V
He guessed she was of the fairy race, and as he looked
mournfully into her disturbed countenance, he replied, "There is
a free offer of salvation here for all the lost children of Adam
that choose to accept it, but for no other."
The female's face got horribly distorted, and with a wild,
unearthly scream she fled away, and, although the old man never
saw her again, he was painfully haunted with that look and cry
until the day of his death.