02656cam a22003373u 4500 77301 UtSlPG 20260610134806.0 m cr n 260607r20251873utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d 2020778880 UtSlPG en iso639-1 PR M'Pherson, John, Rev., 1837-1911 Ossianic controversy Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-11-23 Mairi, Eleni Christofaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (National Library of Scotland) Ossianic controversy by Rev. John M'Pherson is a literary lecture and critical essay written in the late 19th century. It probes the debate over the authenticity of the Ossianic poems attributed to the ancient bard Ossian and publicized by James Macpherson, outlining how the dispute arose and the principal arguments for and against the poems’ genuineness. The lecture begins with the mid-18th-century “discovery” of Gaelic fragments and the publication of Fingal and Temora, charting their rapid European acclaim and the ensuing backlash from skeptics such as Johnson and Laing, fueled by Macpherson’s evasive handling of originals. It then reviews the core objections—claims of impossible refinement among “barbarous” Caledonians, the implausibility of centuries-long oral transmission, the absence of early manuscripts, charges of plagiarism, the poems’ silence on religion, and the failure to find exact Gaelic counterparts—and answers them with evidence of bardic and Druidic institutions, the power of oral tradition, early written witnesses like the Dean of Lismore’s book, the bard’s non-religious remit, and losses after the collapse of clanship, including the vanished Farquharson collection. The lecture rejects Irish priority and alternative authorship theories (whether Lachlan or James Macpherson), appealing to internal Gaelic style and the translator’s limited poetic gifts. It ends with a confident verdict on essential authenticity: Fingal lived and Ossian sang. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Greenock: A. Mackenzie & Co., 1873 Ossian, active 3rd century Macpherson, James, 1736-1796 https://digital.nls.uk/81085792 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77301 118021 118021