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re POEMS OF OSSIAN, JAMES MACEHERSOW, Ese. AUTHENTICATED, ILLUSTRATED, ft EXPLAINED, " UGH CAMPBELL, Kse.. FAS, Hn. Yhvet otm ultonene, ime PAINTED Fot Sin TLLIPS & CO. 5 srmmnit de. ain aman BE nosh KOBLE FRANCIS, Marquis of Hastings, Burl ‘gt Moira, and Viscaunt Loudon, Governor Ginera of India, be. So. He. My Loan Maravrs, "Puat the gratitude of so obscure an individual as I am, should fly over scas to you, in a remote quarter of the Globe, cannot be matter of surprise, when that of hundreds, whether of the literary men whom you have fostered and cherished, or of the army of emi. grants whom you so generously fed and sheltered, traverse the same regions, and confess theuselves not more grateful for the benevolence of a truly: noble mind, than for the ende sing manner in which its excel- Jent qualities wore exercised, ‘As patrons now-a-days are become unfashionable, and are merJy nomise', net virtual beings, 80, in fairness, I eantot be charged ought but vanity,— after five yrar. reves: shea—in at ranpting '0 give your same to posterity wth ths. of the first ot British poets; for in so doing, nevhaps, T may peoserve my own. And, though cay 'n cans prevent me following yor i your pr noblest: maxi of ue plilusuphy 5 ne- g the Ke yoo! with the . > cs ie pescattol eo daxious to do all the gocd Ieean} and, fvther, that T thoutd uot appear wanting in gratitude, whdy any epublic opportunity fronts itself, of confessing my- self grateful. Besides, to you, my Lord Marquis, the fame of the poet Ossian canng: he wholly matter of indiffer. ence, aficr his authemjcity bas been so tong doubted vend dispated by miiny of your literary friends and acquaintance; particularly ‘as «the Reedy Lego” Eegan of Ossian flows through your paternal park at Moira, on the one hand; and, as it would require no great portion of genealogical research on the other, to prove that your son and daughters are descended from Fingal, as well as from the noble stem which produced the gallant Wallace.* ‘The Campbells and * M‘Leorls are indisputably descended from the Abori- gines, ot Celtoe of the north; and tradition goes far- ther, and declares the former noble family the lineal offepring of Dermid, one.of the sons of Fingal, king of Morve; whose lands are still in their possession, ax a part of those of the ancient kings of Atha, in Ulster, cantinue to this day inl the possession of their descendants the present noble-family of O-Neill. "The descent of the Campbells, however, before the ninth century, is only reogrded in ‘traditionory lege:rds ; but in a country unb'.ot with the use of letters, where public events are coi fienat tormd's wmory, Trade * ‘Phe motuer of the great ant e~ sAnt Wallace, was a danghe ter of Si Ronald C.sut "+ adong the direct ancestor of the Marchioness of Har air conkin of Wallace, Sutsimah, heiress oF T ovdon ‘gh Camrvell, of Red Carte, ence tt voudon dusfag the las. t ye ~ “pEpregtrow. Y tion, T think, abl aly be stripped of its exeggert tions, reduced to 2 mediym, and thet medium, 1 an of oyjnion, should be adopted, as being founded in trutf. It is knowa to yous Lordship, that Ossian’s Poums have been Jong consiered not merely a tran sation, but a genuine work of the translator and com- piler of these ancient songs. And even among the numerous sticklers for, and aginst, the authenticity of Ossian, we see the doubts almost justified—for in ‘we perceive, or hear of, nothing but that emall amd very dubious portion of proof, that “ they had “heard the pipers or shannahs of the Highlands sing some of the Poums before the translator gave them their * English dre Had those advocates for authenticity taken a more extended circle, and sought for other more con- vincing proofs, they might have found them ; and I, would only have been a gleaner, where now I have seaped largely! For instance, had these friends -of Ossian, but read Buchanan's History of Scotland, and glanced over the tyaditional list of Scottish kings, obtained from the Irish Shannaks by Major or For~ dun, even there they would ‘have seen, that there really had been a king or chie“ain of the Ghael, name Fin, or Fion, which placed before Gael, gives the poctical name of our hero." And by comparing dates they woulli have discovered hat shis Féon Gael swayed the rude iceptre of Morren, qitemporary with Carae calla, the Roman governor of Britain.” The wantle uf darkness, howereh, whith Time threw-over the ee ie * GawinDougiag wee tei donse — eer," Fink oul, > + 4 Wha pinctid Hy Detyyand geet aim pois f” vi DEDICATION, of Scottish kings or chieftians,“we' too heavy, even fey Sir George Mackenzie tq draw tsidey er remove ! But, admitting, however, that the list of Forkun'or Major should be broogity against me on this point, Is The credit due to the Inch Bards greater than that which is due to those off Fingal’s tountry, who sung hia deeds from age to,age, from father to son? I should hope not! but fam almost betrayed inte an argument, instead ofea Dedication. alenee, my Lord, Buchanan, who wrote two hundred yeara before Ossian was brought to light in England, cannot be considered my partizan—for Tam the first who called him in to aid Osian—nor can we suppose that this Fion, Fin, or Fingal, of whose mention in’ history, even Macpherson spears to have been igno- tant, was only a king of Buchanan's imagination! For Tam of bpinion, that, though Edward the Firat, of England, destroyed the ancient Seottish records, yet if ‘there be aiy of the middleage historians of that country deserving of credit, Buchanan is that historian, —Now Buchanan, though apparently ignorant of Fin- gal, appoars to have been well informed of poems and nuattial songs in the Highlands, 'yhich, I chink, we may safely infer were those of Ossian for he recurds their existence in the following words: And it would be ab- surd to imagine, mow that the Highlands have beet gleaned over and over again, that the songs alluded to by the learned historia, wore any pther, than those of Ossian which, I think, thyze cannot be « doubt, were laaded down from father to sea, through the memo- ies of the senachics or Yards, from, the time ‘gf the Romans. Buchanan writer'c® the natives sf Morven” * They sing son 30 rot ur cleggnt, containing the ules DEDICATION. vit + gies of valiant nivj, and their barda ordinarily handle «no other subject ; their Ienguage is somewhat like dhe old Sawlish."* . No one knows better than your Lordship, that bards have ever been found as in friendship, ar they have been held formidgble and dangeroua in strife, I need not go back to the days of Tyrtwus to dhistrate my opinion, or prove that noble minds have ever chosen bards for ther friends, not ‘from fear, but from the nobility of their soule and natunes whilst, on the contrary, little minded tyrants have eather wholly neglected, or persecuted, the favourite of the muses! ‘The following curious instances of Loth sides of the proposition wre, I think, not uns worthy of a place in this Dedication, because it will in some measure bear out the coincidence of the manners of all the nosthern nations, I shall commence with, an age emerging from the darkness of Gothic night, and there find Ossianic manners and customs * Willinm of Melmsbury writes of the Normans on the night preceding the batile of Hastings. Tungcantilena, Rollaridi inchonia ut martium viros exemplum pugna. fores accenderet-+ Apc, on the same subject, says Voltaire, of the chiof'bard or singer—Le Taillefer aprO avcir entonnt Te chanton que les soldats repeloient, se jetta le preiaier parmi‘des Angloise, et fit tut This proves tat armies beitg preceglod by their bards or singera, is nat peculiar to the Mish, Seots, or. Welsh.f * Libs 1, p. 9%, foto edits + Lib. 3, p01. 4} Putaire, a2, Uni), p. 69. {i Muridtoré aca pasagy, froin sn old talian chronicle, whieh ug of Diivet-end Roland, if that be the one al= im of Balmebyry, was not e&nitved to ar