a prey to that mental anguish
so eloquently described by Bunyan. The awful visions which presented
themselves to his vivid imagination find expression in his poems, the
most notable of which are "The Majesty of God," "The Dream," "The
Sufferings of Christ," "The Day of Judgment," "The Hero," "The Skull,"
"Winter" and "Prayer." In the "Day of Judgment," a poem of about 120
stanzas, we are given in sublime verses a vivid delineation of the crack
of doom as the archangel sounds the last trumpet. The poet then goes on
to depict the awful scenes consequent upon the wreck of the elements,
and pictures the gathering together of the whole human race before the
Throne. But Buchanan's masterpiece is admittedly "The Skull." Traces of
the influence of English writers have been observed in all the poet's
writings, and it seems certain that the subject of his greatest poem was
suggested by Shakespeare. The poet seated by a grave espies a skull. He
takes it up and muses on its history. This poem in 44 stanzas concludes
with a picture of the torments of hell and the glories of heaven.

Macpherson's "Ossian."

The writers whom we have been discussing are practically unknown save to
those who are able to read them in the original. Now we have to turn our
attention to a man whose works have never been popular in the Highlands,
but who nevertheless plays a prominent part in the history of European
literature. Though the precise origin of the Fenian cycle may remain a
moot-point to all time, the development of the literature centring in
the names of Finn and Ossian is at any rate clear from the 11th century
onwards. The interest taken in Celtic studies since the middle of the
19th century in Ireland and Scotland and elsewhere has accumulated a
body of evidence which has settled for all time the celebrated dispute
as to the authenticity of Macpherson's Ossian. James Macpherson
(1736-1796), a native of Kingussie, showed a turn for versification
whilst yet a student at college. Whilst acting as tutor at Moffat he was
asked by John Home as to the existence of ancient Gaelic literature in
the Highlands. After some pressing Macpherson undertook to translate
some of the more striking poems, and submitted to Home a rendering of
"The Death of Oscar." Blair, Ferguson and Robertson, the foremost men in
the Edinburgh literary circles of the day, were enthusiastic about the
unearthing of such unsuspected treasures, and at their instance
Macpherson