Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian, &c > Volume 1

Vlll PREFACE.
reeled edition of 1773 is adopted through-
out, and the additions are carefully marked
and distinguished l^y Italics, though the al-
terations are too numerous and minute to
be noted. Not only Macpherson's histori-
cal dissertations, but many of his .notes, are
rejected, as full of falsehood ; and Blair's
critical dissertation is also omitted, as it can
do no honour now to his memory.
In the course of my enquiries, I have disco-
vered above four thousand of Macpherson's
verses, Avritten between the age of seven-
teen and twenty-two, while he sacrificed, or
served his apprenticeship in secret to tlie muses.
His earliest poem is in blank verse, and
entitled Death ; the second is a heroic
poem, which may be stiled the Hunter;
both written at the aoe of ei oh teen, and
discovered in the Highlands in his own
hand-writing. The Highlander, his next
heroic poem, was published in 1758. Other
verses, marked with his initials, were occa-
sionally inserted in the Scots and Edinburgh