ページの画像
PDF
ePub

four first books of Macpherson's Fingal in Earse, written at the beginning of the fifteenth century, in the short interval between Fordun's and Winton's Chronicles, twenty years before the oldest manuscript extant in the Scottish language, is a literary curiosity or forgery which the world has not yet seen.

years. What is more to the purpose, this is the only MS. specified in Blair's Appendix, as communicated to Macpherson. "Mr. Angus Macneil writes-that Neil Macmurrick, whose predecessors had for many generations been bards to the family of Clanronald, declared in his presence that he himself gave to Mr. Macpherson a manuscript containing some of the poems which are now translated and published." Luckily Macpherson had given an obligation to restore the book; and was actually threatened with a prosecution by the Clanronald family, before it was restored. The only other MS. ever specified or appealed to for the originals of Ossian, has been thus described. “If Dr. Johnson will but call some morning on John Mackenzie, esq. of the Temple, he will find more volumes in the Gaelic language and character, than perhaps he will be pleased to look at after what he has said. Among these are two volumes which are very remarkable: the one is a large folio MS. called An Duanaireadh Ruadh, or the Red Rhymer; which was given by Mr. Macdona' of Glenealladel in Muideart, to Mr. Macdonald of Kyles in Cnoideart, who gave it to Mr. Macpherson. It contains a variety of subjects, such as some of Ossian's Poems, Highland Tales, &c. The other is called An Leabhar Dearg, or the Red Book, which was given to Mr. Macpherson by the bard Macvurich. This was reckoned one of the most valuable MS. in the bard's possession.” Macknichol's Remarks on Johnson's Journey to the Hebrides, p. 303.

I

Having ascertained the contents of the Red Book of Clanronald, to the satisfaction of the public, I applied to Mr. John Mackenzie for the production of the Red Rhymer, to which Johnson was referred by Macnichol with such peculiar effrontery, or rather perhaps by Macpherson himself. Mr. Mackenzie is the gentleman to whom Macpherson bequeathed his MSS. and the publication of his Earse version of Ossian; and I required him, "as he valued, or wished to vindicate the memory of his deceased friend, to produce and lodge the Red Rhymer in some public library, or what would be equally satisfactory, to transmit the book to the Highland Society of Scotland, for public inspection, or in short to produce a single MS. of a single poem of Ossian's, such as the conclusion of my Dissertation required."

In consequence of this requisition, nineteen manuscript volumes, in

IV. 1. The contradiction is not greater, between the Manners. primeval refinement ascribed to the highlanders and their recent barbarism, than between their real manners at the period of Fingal and those described in the poems of Ossian. When invaded by Severus, the Caledonians, and Mæatæ between the walls, are minutely described both by

quarto and octavo, were transmitted to Edinburgh; but the Red Rhymer in folio, the only remaining MS. ever specified or appealed to for the originals of Ossian, was not produced. The MSS. consisted of medical and religious treatises, Irish legends and legendary histories, an obituary, a vocabulary, genealogies, &c. with many of the Irish ballads ascribed to Ossian; but not a single original, as far as could be discovered, of Macpherson's pretended translation of Ossian. Upon this subject can give the reader the more satisfactory proofs. 1. According to Mr. Mackenzie's explanation," these Gaelic MSS. were placed in his hands, as secretary to the Highland Society of London, for the purpose of removing the doubts, which were raised several years ago by Dr. Johnson, whether any ancient manuscripts in that language really existed;" and some of them in all probability were the same MSS. which Macpherson had formerly left in Becket's shop. They were examined by Shaw, at Dr. Johnson's request as we may well presume; but Mr. Mackenzie did not venture, then or afterwards, during the controversy between Shaw and Clarke, to point out a single original of Macpherson's Ossian. 2. On examining them myself, I was highly gratified to find the identical MSS. of which Mr. Astle has published specimens (Origin of Writing); and though I differ with reluctance from that distinguished antiquary, my doubts concerning the specimen of Cathal Macmuirnuigh's poems were confirmed by the MS. Instead of belonging to the fifteenth century, it is certainly not much older than the Red Book of Clanronald's bard, which is written in nearly the same character; is frequently inscribed with the same name, Cathal, (or Catholus) Macmuirneach ccy. (cecinit) and has acquired the same marks of antiquity from the damp and smoke of Macvurich's cottage. But whether these MSS. were communicated to Mr. Astle, by Macpherson himself, or by his friend Mr, Mackenzie, the conclusion is certain, that if they had contained a single poem of Macpherson's Ossian, that poem would have been pointed out, in preference to Macvurich's, as the most proper to be engraved and published, as a specimen both of Earse poetry, and of Earse manuscripts. 3. In answer to the pointed requisition which I had made, Mr. Mackenzie produced nineteen volumes of MSS. not to ascertain the authenticity of Ossian, but professedly "placed in his hands to remove

1

Dio and Herodian. The former observes that they possess dry and rugged hills, or desert and marshy plains. Destitute of walls, of towns, and of agriculture, they subsist by pasturage, hunting, or fruits, (for they abominate fish though abundant,) and reside in booths, naked, and without shoes, using their women, and supporting their children, in common. Their government is mostly democratical. They delight in robbery, and fight from cars with small and swift horses; but their infantry is equally firm in action and rapid in pursuit or flight. Their arms are a shield, a dagger, and a short dart, with a brazen apple towards the point, to astonish the enemy with the sound when brandished. They are inured to hunger, cold, and fatigue; immersed in their morasses, with their heads. only above water, they can endure hunger for many days, or subsist on roots and bark in the woods. "Towards "the sea," says Herodian, "most parts of Britain are "full of marshes, through which the barbarians are ac"customed to swim or wade, disregarding the mud, as

they are almost naked; for they are unused to cloaths, "encircling their loins and neck with ornaments of iron,

a mark of wealth which they prize like gold. Their

the doubts raised by Dr. Johnson, whether any ancient Gaelic MSS. really existed." The question was not whether any Earse or Irish MSS. could be found in the Highlands; but whether a single book, of Fingal, or a single poem of Ossian's, such as translated by Macpherson, of a decent length, could be produced in manuscript, and the manuscript indisputably of an older date than the eighteenth century; the condition upon which I had publicly engaged to renounce my objections, and to become a sincere convert to the authenticity of the poems. But Mr. Mackenzie purposely evaded the requisition. In the literary treasures of the Highland Society, collected with such care for the refutation of Johnson, he was unable to point out, either to Mr. Shaw, or to Mr. Astle, or to myself, a single MS. that contained the original of a single poem in Macpherson's Oasian.

"bodies are stained with figures of animals. They are "warlike and blood-thirsty; and are armed only with a "narrow shield and a lance, with a sword depending from "their naked bodies but without helmet or mail, which "they deem an impediment in crossing their marshes, whose vapours constantly obscure the sky." Such were our savage Caledonian ancestors; and though the present highlanders had not then arrived, their Irish progenitors were still more barbarous. Gens inhospita et bellicosa, says Solinus. Sanguine interemptorum hausto, prius victores vultus suos oblinunt. Fas ac nefas eodem animo ducunt. St. Jerome, an eye witness, asserts that, in the third century, the Attacotti were addicted to human flesh. Although we should reject the fact with the community of women among the Caledonians, a people obnoxious to such imputations must have been truly barbarous, and we are assured by Gildas, that the Picts, and their allies the Scots, were still savages at the departure of the Romans. Emergunt certatim de carucis, tetri-Scotorum Pictorumque greges, moribus ex parte dissidentes, et una eademque sanguinis fundendi aviditate concordes; furciferosque magis vultus pilis, quam corporum pudenda, pudendisque proxima, vestibus tegentes 22.

with

2. When we return to the poems of Ossian, I should Compared insult the reader's understanding were I to expatiate upon Ossian's. the gross contradictions between the generous heroes, the chaste or lovesick maids, clad in complete steel; feasting from sparkling shells, in the halls of mossy towers, traversing the northern ocean in large ships, yet subsisting solely on venison; and those naked, sanguinary barbarians, armed with a small shield, a dart, a dagger; almost destitute of iron, which they prized like gold; residing pro

22

Dio Cassius, 1. 21. p. 339. Herodian, 1. 3. c. 47. Solinus, ch. 30 Gildas, ch. 15.

Religion

omitted.

miscuously in wattled booths, and possessed of no navigation but currachs, which crossed the Irish channel, says Solinus, during a few days only at the summer solstice. If the poems, though not quite so ancient, are said to be still authentic, my answer is this: As the hunting, pastoral, and agricultural stages of society, the virtue, and supreme felicity of the savage state, are the peculiar doctrines of modern times, the poems must either belong to the present age, or to the age which they describe; and if it be once admitted that the poems are ascribed to Ossian by a posterior bard, the conclusion is inevitable; that there was no age so likely as the present, and no man so capable as Macpherson to produce the imposture. The Caledonians and Irish, if destitute of agriculture 23, were already far advanced in the pastoral state: their horses and cattle were domesticated: their cars are infallible marks of a pastoral nation, recently migratory; in the Hebudes they subsisted on milk and fish; but the poems of Ossian are descriptive of the manners and customs of every age but those of his own. The allusions to herds and harvests, which occurred in the first Fragments, were easily suppressed; but the translator knew not what to avoid, nor what customs to ascribe to the age. No religious adorations, sacrifices, or rites; nothing peculiar to the age is described; but the savage state is gratuitously invested with more than the generous gallantry of chivalry, the morals of christianity, or the sentimental affectation of the present times.

3. But religion was avoided, as a dangerous topic that led to detection. The gods and rites of the Caledonians were unknown; and for this omission, the translator in

23 The Earse etymology of Cruithnich, wheat-eaters, the name of the Picts (from Cruthen the first Pictish king) is an admirable proof that wheat was the bread-corn of Scotland before the birth of Christ.

« 前へ次へ »