J. F. Campbell Collection > Dàn an Deirg agus Tiomna Ghuill (Dargo and Gaul)

Although, as I have said above, I disclaim any in-
tention of pronouncing npon the " Ossianic" controversy,
I tliink it will not be out of place to state clearly tlie
arguments on both sides, for the information of those
who may not have studied the question ; leaving it open
to every reader to form his own conclusion. The ob-
jections to the authenticity of Macpherson's Ossian I
have taken from various sources, but a very fair resumè
of them will be found in an article, 'entitled " Ossian
Redivivus," in the Times of October 14, 1869. The
arguments on the other side are chiefly from Dr. Clerk's
Intrcduction to his edition of Ossian, 1870. It is ob-
jected —
Istly. That though there exist in the Highlands many
old Gaelic ballads, which may be identified with por-
tions of Macpherson's Ossian, yet that nothing has ever
been found at all like his professed Gaelic original,
except Dr. Smith's Seaìi Dàna, and a fragment of a
poem called Mòrduhh, both of which appeared towards
the end of the last century, first in English and after-
wards in Gaelic.
2ndly. Tbat the Gaelic given by Macpherson is cer-
tainly modern, and therefore cannot belong to the age
he claims for it.
3rdly. That the internal peculiarities of his Ossian,
especially as seen in the large number of similes and
constant allusions to ghosts and stormy weather, mark