J. F. Campbell Collection > Poems of Ossian > Volume 3

AUTHENTICITY OF OSSIAn's POEMS. 469
some ìmpartia] ciiticisms on Mr. Macpherson's trans-
lation, he observes, " That his work, as it stands,
exhibits a genuine authentic view of ancient Gaelic
poetry, I am as firmly persuaded as I can be of any
thing. It will, however, be a great satisfaction to
the learned world, if that publication shall be com-
pleted, which Mr. Macpherson had begun, of the
whole Gaelic originals in their native state on one
page, and a literal translation on the opposite page.
The idea, which he once entertained, and of which
he shewed me a specimen, of printing the Gaelic
in Greek characters (to avoid the disputes about
Gaelic orthography), I indeed strongly reprobated,
as what "would carry to the world a strange affected
appearance, and prevent the originals froni being
legible by any, but those who were accustomed to
read Greek characters."*
The Rev. Andrew Gallie, in his letter to Charles
Macintosh, Esq. a member of the Committee of the
Highland Society of Edinburgh, dated March 12,
1799,t declares, that Mr. James Macpherson, the
translator of Ossian's poems, was, for some years
before he entered on that work, his intimate ac-
quaintance and friend. That when he returned from
his tour through the western Highlands and Islands,
he came to Mr. Gallie's house in Brae-Badenoch, and
on enquiring the success of his journey, he produced
* Dr. Adam Ferguson, the Rev. Dr. Carlisle, and Mr. Home, author
of Douglas, atso bear testimony to the circumstances of the first dis-
covery and pubiication of Ossian's poems. See Appendix to thft
Report of the Highland Socìely, p. 62, et seq.
t See Letter inserted ia the Report of Highland Society, p. 30.