Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

xxxii INTRODUCTION.
Cuchullin's horses and car, that in none of his
translations is the inequality of Macpherson's
genius to that of Ossian so very conspicuous."
Letter from Lachlan Macpherson, of Strath-
mashie, October 22, 1763:—" In the year 1760 I had
the pleasure of accompanying my friend Mr. Mac-
pherson during some part of his journey in search
of the poems of Ossian through the Highlands. I
assisted him in collecting them, and took down
from oral tradition, and transcribed from old manu-
scripts by far the greatest part of those pieces he
has published. Since the publication I have care-
fully compared the translation with the copies of
the originals in my hands, and find it amazingly
literal, even in such a degree as to preserve
in some measure the cadence of the Gaelic versi-
fication."
Letter from Rev. John Macpherson, D.D., of
Sleat, Nov. 27, 1763 : — " I have in obedience to your
request made enquiry for all the persons around
me who were able to rehearse from memory any
parts of the poems published by Mr. Macpherson,
and have made them to rehearse in my hearing the
several fragments or detached pieces of those
poems which they were able to repeat. This done,
I compared with great care the pieces rehearsed
by them with Mr. Macpherson's translation. These
pieces or fragments are : the description of Cuch-