Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

A
PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE.
A S Svriit has, with some reason, affirmed that all sub
■^^ lunary happiness consists in being well deceived,
it may possibly be the creed of many, that it had been
wise, if, after Dr. Blair's ingenious and elegant Dis-
sertation OD " the venerable Ossian," all doubts re-
specting what we have been taught to call his works
had for ever ceased ; since there appears cause to be-
lieve, that numbers who listened with delight to
" the voice of Cona," would have been happy, if,
seeing their own good, they had been content with
these Poems accompanied by Dr. Blair's judgment,
and sought to know no more. There are men, how-
ever, whose ardent love of truth rises on all occa-
sions paramount to every other consideration ; and
though the first step in search of it should dissoNe the
charm, and turn a fruitful Edeu into a barren wild,
they would pursue it. For these, and for the idly cn-
rions in literary problems, added to the wish of
making this new edition of " The Poems of Ossian"
as well-informed as the hour would allow, we have
here thought it proper to insert some account of a
renewal of the controversy relating to the genuine-
ness of this rich treasure of poetical excellence.
Nearly half a century has elapsed since the publi<
cation of the poems ascribed by Mr. Macpherson lo
Ossian, which poems he then professed to have col-
lected in the original Gaelic during a tour through
the Western Highlands and Isles ; but a doubt of their
authenticity nevertheless obtained, and from their first
appearance to this day has continued in various de-
grees to agitate the literary world. In the present