Fragments Of Ancient Poetry

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James MacPherson
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Title: Fragments Of Ancient Poetry
Author: James MacPherson
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OF ANCIENT POETRY ***
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FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT POETRY
by JAMES MACPHERSON
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
Introduction by JOHN J. DUNN
GENERAL EDITORS
George Robert Guffey, University of California, Los Angeles
Earl Miner, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
Robert Vosper, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
ADVISORY EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of California, Los Angeles
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles

Lawrence Clark Powell, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
INTRODUCTION
Byron was actually the third Scotsman in about fifty years who awoke
and found himself famous; the sudden rise from obscurity to
international fame had been experienced earlier by two fellow
countrymen, Sir Walter Scott and James Macpherson. Considering the
greatness of the reputation of the two younger writers, it may seem
strange to link their names with Macpherson's, but in the early
nineteenth century it would not have seemed so odd. In fact, as young
men both Scott and Byron would have probably have been flattered by
such an association. Scott tells us that in his youth he "devoured rather
than perused" Ossian and that he could repeat whole duans "without
remorse"; and, as I shall discuss later, Byron paid Macpherson the high
compliment of writing an imitation of Ossian, which he published in
Hours of Idleness.
The publication of the modest and anonymous pamphlet, _Fragments
of Ancient Poetry_ marks the beginning of Macpherson's rise to fame,
and concomitantly the start of a controversy that is unique in literary
history. For the half-century that followed, the body of poetry that was
eventually collected as The Poems of Ossian provoked the comment of
nearly every important man of letters. Extravagance and partisanship
were characteristic of most of the remarks, but few literary men were
indifferent.
The intensity and duration of the controversy are indicative of how
seriously Macpherson's work was taken, for it was to many readers of
the day daring, original, and passionate. Even Malcolm Laing, whose

ardor in exposing Macpherson's imposture exceeded that of Dr.
Johnson, responded to the literary quality of the poems. In a note on the
fourth and fifth "Fragments" the arch prosecutor of Macpherson
commented,
"From a singular coincidence of circumstances, it was in
this house,
where I now write, that I first read the poems
in my early youth, with
an ardent credulity that remained
unshaken for many years of my life;
and with a pleasure
to which even the triumphant satisfaction of
detecting the
imposture is comparatively nothing. The enthusiasm
with
which I read and studied the poems, enabled me afterwards,

when my suspicions were once awakened, to trace and expose
the
deception with greater success. Yet, notwithstanding
the severity of
minute criticism, I can still peruse them
as a wild and wonderful
assemblage of imitation with which
the fancy is often pleased and
gratified, even when the
judgment condemns them most."[2]
II
It was John Home, famous on both sides of the Tweed as the
author
of Douglas, who first encouraged Macpherson to undertake his
translations. While taking the waters at Moffat in the fall of 1759, he
was pleased to meet a young Highland tutor, who was not only familiar
with ancient Gaelic poetry but who had in his possession several such
poems. Home, like nearly all of the Edinburgh
literati, knew no
Gaelic