's tower. The flame was dim and distant; the moon hid
her red face in the east. A blast came from the mountain; on its wings was
the spirit of Loda." In _Carthon_ occurs that beautiful address to the
Sun, which we are fortunate in knowing, from other sources than
Macpherson, is a tolerably correct translation of a real original. If we
had that alone, it would be a revelation of the power of Ossian, and of
the aptitudes of a people who could enjoy it. It is not within our scope
to quote from the veritable Ossian, or to expose the bombast and fustian,
tumid diction and swelling sound of Macpherson, of which the poems contain
so much.

As soon as a stir was made touching the authenticity of the poems, a
number of champions sprang up on both sides: among those who favored
Macpherson, was Dr. Hugh Blair, who wrote the critical dissertation
usually prefixed to the editions of Ossian, and who compares him favorably
to Homer. First among the incredulous, as might be expected, was Dr.
Samuel Johnson, who, in his _Journey to the Hebrides_, lashes Macpherson
for his imposture, and his insolence in refusing to show the original.
Johnson was threatened by Macpherson with a beating, and he answered: "I
hope I shall never be deterred from detecting what I think a cheat by the
menaces of a ruffian ... I thought your book an imposture; I think it an
imposture still ... Your rage I defy ... You may print this if you will."

Proofs of the imposture were little by little discovered by the critics.
There were some real fragments in his first volume; but even these he had
altered, and made symmetrical, so as to disguise their original character.
Ossian would not have known them. As for Fingal, in its six duans, with
captional arguments, it was made up from a few fragments, and no such poem
ever existed. It was Macpherson's from beginning to end.

The final establishment of the forgery was not simply by recourse to
scholars versed in the Celtic tongues, but the Highland Society appointed
a committee in 1767, whose duty it was to send to the Highland pastors a
circular, inquiring whether they had heard in the original the poems of
Ossian, said to be translated by Macpherson; if so, where and by whom they
had been written out or repeated: whether similar fragments still existed,
and whether there were persons living who could repeat them; whether, to
their knowledge, Macpherson had obtained such poems in the Highlands; and
for any information