Ossian Collection > Scottish eccentrics

SCOTTISH
ECCENTRICS
The distinguished Scottish poet
and literary critic who writes this
book recalls how Bernard Shaw in
On The Rocks ironically declares
that the massacres after the
Battle of Culloden were not "mur-
der" but simply "liquidation,"
since the slain Scots in question
were "incompatible with British
civilization." He then surveys the
whole field of Scottish biography,
and shows how true this has
proved of an amazing number of
distinguished Scots, no matter
how successfully the bulk of the
Scottish people have been assim-
ilated to English standards since
the Union. The facts are irresist-
ible and bring out the "eccen-
tricity" of Scottish genius in an
extraordinary fashion.
The author gives full-length
studies often outstanding Scottish
eccentrics, including Lord George
Gordon of the "Gordon Riots";
Sir Thomas Urquhart, the trans-
lator of Rabelais', "Christopher
North"; "Ossian" (James Mac-
pherson, M.P.); James Hogg, the
Ettrick Shepherd; and William
McGonagall, perhaps the world's
best "bad poet". But he supports
these leading cases with apt
material drawn from the lives of
hundreds of Scots of every period
in history and every walk of life,
and in this way builds up a bril-
liant panoramic picture of Scottish
psychology through the ages,
singularly at variance with all
generally accepted views of the
national character.
15
S. net