Ossian Collection > Life and letters of James Macpherson

PREFACE. vii
of the Ossianic poems form a chapter, hitherto
unwritten, in the literary history of the eight-
eenth century ; and to attempt to write it is, I
trust, at least a respectable endeavour. I have
thrown it into the form of a biography because
the question of the authenticity of the poems
largely tm^ns on Macpherson's actual proceed-
ings, and his personal character and attain-
ments ; and thus it is that some interest still
attaches to the details of his life, so far as they
can be discovered.
While I beheve that, on the whole, he has
been greatly slandered, he is certainly no hero ;
and I hope that I am not afflicted, in regard
to him, with what has been called the lues
boswelliana, or the disease of admiration. I hope
also that I am free from any suspicion of
national prejudice ; I have not the honour of
being a Scotsman. My curiosity about so wide
and perplexing a subject as the Ossianic con-
troversy was aroused by an accident ; and one
of the recognised ways of getting rid of a
burden is to write a book on it.