Ossian
Source 1 : Preface to ‘Fragments of ancient poetry, collected in the Highlands of Scotland, and translated from the Galic or Erse language’, 1760
Printed book (NLS shelfmark: Oss.2)
In September 1759, James Macpherson, a young poet and tutor from the Highlands, met the celebrated playwright John Home while on a visit to Moffat. During this chance meeting, the two men discussed their mutual interest in Gaelic poetry, and Macpherson promised to provide translations of several ancient Gaelic poems in his possession.
Ossian poems published
These poems of Ossian excited the imagination of the Edinburgh literati, including Hugh Blair , Adam Ferguson, and Alexander Carlyle. Macpherson was encouraged to publish the poems, and they appeared under the title ‘Fragments of ancient poetry’ in 1760.
The preface to this book was written by Hugh Blair, but published anonymously. Blair was a Church of Scotland minister and also a professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres at the University of Edinburgh.
Transcript
PREFACE
[page iii]
This page marked with CHAPTER COFFEE HOUSE symbol (Bishop’s mitre)
THE public may depend on the following fragments as genuine remains of ancient Scottish poetry. The date of their composition cannot be exactly ascertained. Tradition, in the country where they were written, refers them to an aera of the most remote antiquity: and this tradition is supported by the spirit and strain of the poems themselves; which abound with those ideas, and paint those manners, that belong to the most early state of society. The diction too, in the original, is very obsolete; and differs widely from the style of such poems as have been written in the same language two or three centuries ago. They were certainly composed before the establishment
[page iv]
of clanship in the northern part of Scotland, which is itself very ancient; for had clans been then formed and known, they must have made a considerable figure in the work of a Highland Bard; whereas there is not the least mention of them in these poems. It is remarkable that there are found in them no allusions to the Christian religion or worship; indeed, few traces of religion of any kind. One circumstance seems to prove them to be coeval with the very infancy of Christianity in Scotland. In a fragment of the same poems, which the translator has seen, a Culdee or Monk is represented as desirous to take down in writing from the mouth of Oscian, who is the principal personage in several of the following fragments, his warlike atchievements and those of his family. But Oscian treats the monk and his religion with disdain, telling him, that the deeds of such great men were subjects too
[page v]
high to be recorded by him, or by any of his religion: A full proof that Christianity was not as yet established in the country.
Though the poems now published appear as detached pieces in this collection, there is ground to believe that most of them were originally episodes of a greater work which related to the wars of Fingal. Concerning this hero innumerable traditions remain, to this day, in the Highlands of Scotland. The story of Oscian, his son, is so generally known, that to describe one in whom the race of a great family ends, it has passed into a proverb; “Oscian the last of the heroes.”
There can be no doubt that these poems are to be ascribed to the Bards; a race of men well known to have continued throughout many ages in Ireland
[page vi]
and the north of Scotland. Every chief or great man had in his family a Bard or poet, whose office it was to record in verse, the illustrious actions of that family. By the succession of these Bards, such poems were handed down from race to race; some in manuscript, but more by oral tradition. And tradition, in a country so free of intermixture with foreigners, and among a people so strongly attached to the memory of their ancestors, has preserved many of them in a great measure incorrupted to this day.
They are not set to music, nor sung. The versification in the original is simple; and to such as understand the language, very smooth and beautiful. Rhyme is seldom used: but the cadence, and the length of the line varied, so as to suit the sense. The translation is extremely literal. Even the arrangement of the words in the original has been
[page vii]
imitated; to which must be imputed some inversions in the style, that otherwise would not have been chosen.
Of the poetical merit of these fragments nothing shall here be said. Let the public judge, and pronounce. It is believed, that, by a careful inquiry, many more remains of ancient genius, no less valuable than those now given to the world, might be found in the same country where these have been collected. In particular there is reason to hope that one work of considerable length, and which deserves to be styled an heroic poem, might be recovered and translated, if encouragement were given to such an undertaking. The subject is, an invasion of Ireland by Swarthan King of Lochlyn; which is the name of Denmark in the Erse language. Cuchulaid, the General or Chief of the Irish tribes, upon intelligence of the
[page viii]
invasion, assembles his forces. Councils are held; and battles fought. But after several unsuccessful engagements, the Irish are forced to submit. At length, Fingal King of Scotland, called in this poem, “The Desert of the hills,” arrives with his ships to assist Cuchulaid. He expels the Danes from the country; and returns home victorious. This poem is held to be of greater antiquity than any of the rest that are preserved: And the author speaks of himself as present in the expedition of Fingal. The three last poems in the collection are fragments which the translator obtained of this epic poem; and though very imperfect, they were judged not unworthy of being inserted. If the whole were recovered, it might serve to throw considerable light upon the Scottish and Irish antiquities.
Discussion Points
- In his ‘Preface’, Hugh Blair says that ‘the public may depend on the following fragments as genuine remains of ancient Scottish poetry’. What evidence does he provide for their authenticity?
- In source 5, William Shaw challenges this argument. Outline the main points of his counter argument.
- Hugh Blair lectured on language, literature, and rhetoric. Is there anything in the way he writes that suggests he was an expert in this field? Give evidence to support your answer.