Ossian Collection > Celtic Mss. in relation to the Macpherson Fraud

PREFACE.
That portion of this tractate which relates to
Celtic manuscripts and the doings of Macpherson,
was transmitted to the Scotsman newspaper, in
reply to an article by Professor Mackinnon which
appeared in that journal. My communication
was however returned by the editor on the plea
that he could not find room for its insertion.
It was perhaps too much to expect that a journal
owned by one of the secretaries of a Society, which
had engaged the services of the Celtic Professor
at Oxford, to uphold what I call the Celtic
myth, should open its columns to one inimical to
Macpherson, and utterly sceptical in regard to
his pretended translation. Mr, Mackinnon' s
enumeration seems a vindication of the antiquity
of Celtic MSS. in general, and was no doubt also
projected " as a basis for more extended col-
laboration."
It occurred to me that my remarks on the
Ossian MSS. might with advantage be incor-
porated with some notice of Professor Freeman's