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

irucJH m'donald. .49
x»f our ancestors : for the descendants of these heroes main-
tained their independence on the main land, and retained
the historical traditions and poetry of their fathers over
«very part of our country.
However conspicuous may be the character, and how-
ever profound the learning of those men who assert, that
the poems of Ossian are a forgery of modern times, but .
who confess themselves ignorant of the language in which
these poems are handed down, I should reckon their igno-
rance of the iBatter in question a strong argument against
our paying any deference to their opinions ; seeing that
there is not one Highlander, not one individual acquainted
v/ith our country and the Gaelic language, who has ever, for
a moment, doubted the authenticity of these poems. There
is none of us who has not heard frequent mention of tljc
characters that occur in them. The farther back we trace
the traditions, and the more accurately we enquire into
the characters to which they allude, our conviction be-
comes the stronger that they can neither be fictitious nor
imaginary.
It is no argument against the transmission of these an-
cient poems, that no man can now be found who is able to
repeat the whole of them. There are few men v/ho can
repeat much of any poetry with accuracy j excepting such
persons as make it their profession, and who earn their
bread by their memories. It is enough that thousands can
be still found in our Highlands and Isles who can recite
many detached portions of them, according as they were
pleased with particular passages, or as certain incidents re-
corded in them made a peculiar impression on their minds.
How, if all v.'ere iictitious, could so many poems, named
after Ossian, have existed for so many hundred years, and
been still retained amongst the remostest islands, and the
most sequc^jtered corners of our Jlighlands.
E