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

Xl PREFACE.
distinct lines, from the copy communicated
by Morison, previous to the year 1780, to
Mackinnon of Glendaruel ; but that in these
hues, and almost in every other word, it
coincides most minutely with another copy
which Morison had given to the Rev. Mr
Irvine of Ranoch, and which was communi-
cated by the latter to Mr Macdiarmid,
whose own copy has been evidently trans-
cribed from the same original. Mr Ir-
vine, at the same time, procured from
Morison a copy of the Address to the Sun
in Carric-thura, which last, Mr Macdiar-
mid has also produced ; and as these are
the only specimens of IMacpherson's Ossian,
procured from the one, and possessed by the
other, the conclusion is unavoidable, that
the old man in Glenlyon Avas no other than
Morison himself *^.. Morison, having com-
^9 Compare Macdiarmid's copy (appendix to Mac-
kenzie's lleport, 185.) AvithMr Irvinu's copy in tiie Li-
terary Journal for August 1804, p. 126. Morison
adds in his evidence, that he had given Mr Irvine a
true and faithful copy of the Address to the Sun, in the