Editing Ossian (section)

==Authenticity debate==
[[File:François Pascal Simon Gérard 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Ossian Evoking ghosts on the Edge of the Lora'', by [[François Gérard|François Pascal Simon Gérard]], 1801]]

There were immediate disputes of Macpherson's claims on both literary and political grounds. Macpherson promoted a Scottish origin for the material, and was hotly opposed by Irish historians who felt that their heritage was being appropriated. However, both Scotland and Ireland shared a common [[Gaels|Gaelic]] culture during the period in which the poems are set, and some Fenian literature common in both countries was composed in Scotland.

Samuel Johnson, English author, critic, and biographer, was convinced that Macpherson was "a [[wikt:mountebank|mountebank]], a liar, and a fraud, and that the poems were forgeries".<ref>{{Harvnb|Magnusson|2006|p=340}}</ref> Johnson also dismissed the poems' quality. Upon being asked, "But Doctor Johnson, do you really believe that any man today could write such poetry?" he famously replied, "Yes. Many men. Many women. And many children." Johnson is cited as calling the story of Ossian "as gross an imposition as ever the world was troubled with".<ref name="fagles">Introduction of Robert Fagles' translations of [[The Iliad]] and [[The Odyssey]]</ref> In support of his claim, Johnson also called Gaelic the rude speech of a barbarous people, and said there were no manuscripts in it more than 100 years old. In reply, it was proved that the Advocates' Library at Edinburgh contained Gaelic manuscripts 500 years old, and one of even greater antiquity.<ref name=amcyc>{{AmCyc|wstitle=Ossian|inline=1}}</ref>

In response, as his words were spoken during the 18th-century golden age of [[Scottish Gaelic literature]], Dr Johnson swiftly found himself reviled in Gaelic [[satirical poetry]] by, among many others, James MacIntyre, the [[Clan MacIntyre]] [[Tacksman]] of Glen Noe near [[Ben Cruachan]], in ({{langx|gd|Òran don Ollamh MacIain}}, "A Song to Dr Johnson"). Raonuill Dubh MacDhòmhnuill, the eldest son of Gaelic [[national poet]] [[Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair]] and [[Clanranald]] tacksman of [[Laig]], included MacIntyre's satire in the Gaelic poetry anthology called ''The [[Eigg]] Collection'', which was published at [[Edinburgh]] in 1776.<ref> Black, Ronald I.M. (ed.). ''An Lasair: an anthology of 18th-century Scottish Gaelic verse''. Edinburgh, 2001. pp. 292-299, 495-499.</ref>

Scottish author [[Hugh Blair]]'s 1763 ''A Critical Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian'' upheld the work's authenticity against Johnson's scathing criticism and from 1765 was included in every edition of ''Ossian'' to lend the work credibility. The work also had a timely resonance for those swept away by the emerging [[Romanticism|Romantic movement]] and the theory of the "[[noble savage]]", and it echoed the popularity of [[Edmund Burke|Burke's]] seminal ''[[A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful]]'' (1757).<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 163.</ref>

In 1766, [[antiquarian]] and [[Celticist]] [[Charles O'Conor (historian)|Charles O'Conor]], a descendant of the [[Gaelic nobility of Ireland]], dismissed Ossian's authenticity in a new chapter ''Remarks on Mr. Mac Pherson's translation of Fingal and Temora'' that he added to the second edition of his seminal history.<ref>O'Conor, C. ''Dissertations on the ancient history of Ireland (1753) [http://www.exclassics.com/ossian/oconor.pdf (Copy at Ex-Classics)]''</ref> In 1775, he expanded his criticism in a new book, ''Dissertation on the origin and antiquities of the antient Scots''.

[[File:Ossian's Cave front, The Hermitage.JPG|left|thumb|upright=1.2|Ossian's Cave at [[The Hermitage (Scotland)|The Hermitage]] in [[Dunkeld]], Scotland]]

Faced with the controversy, the Committee of the [[Highland Society of London|Highland Society]] enquired after the authenticity of Macpherson's supposed original. It was because of these circumstances that the so-called [[Glenmasan manuscript]] (Adv. 72.2.3) came to light in the late 18th century, a compilation which contains the tale ''Oided mac n-Uisnig''. This text is a version of the Irish ''Longes mac n-Uislenn'' and offers a tale which bears some comparison to Macpherson's "Darthula", although it is radically different in many respects. Donald Smith cited it in his report for the committee.<ref>{{citation |first=Donald |last=MacKinnon |title=The Glenmasan Manuscript |journal=The Celtic Review |volume=1 |issue=6 |year=1905 |pages=3–17|doi=10.2307/30069764 |jstor=30069764 }}</ref>

The controversy raged on into the early years of the 19th century, with disputes as to whether the poems were based on Irish sources, on sources in English, on Gaelic fragments woven into his own composition as Johnson concluded,<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org/Fingal.html |title=Lord Auchinleck's Fingal |publisher=Florida Bibliophile Society |access-date=9 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726060119/http://www.floridabibliophilesociety.org/Fingal.html |archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref> or largely on Scots Gaelic oral traditions and manuscripts as Macpherson claimed. In the late 19th century, it was demonstrated that the only "original" Gaelic manuscripts that Macpherson produced for the poems were in fact translations of his work from English.<ref name=britannica>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ossian|title=Ossian|access-date=Jan 19, 2021}}</ref> During the same period, [[Peter Hately Waddell]] defended the authenticity of the poems, arguing in ''Ossian and the Clyde'' (1875) that the poems contained topographical references that could not have been known to Macpherson.<ref>"Waddell, Peter Hately". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–19.</ref>

In 1952, the Scottish literary scholar [[Derick Thomson]] investigated the sources for Macpherson's work and concluded that Macpherson had collected genuine Scottish Gaelic [[ballads]], employing scribes to record those that were preserved orally and collating manuscripts, but, as a pioneer of [[mythopoeia]], had adapted often contradictory accounts of the same legends into a coherent plotline by altering the original characters and ideas, and had also introduced a great deal of his own.<ref>{{citation |first=Derick |last=Thomson |title=The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's 'Ossian' |year=1952}}</ref>

According to historians [[Colin Kidd]] and James Coleman, ''Fingal'' (1761, dated 1762) was indebted to traditional Gaelic poetry composed in the 15th and 16th centuries, as well as to Macpherson's "own creativity and editorial laxity", while the second epic ''Temora'' (1763) was largely his own creation.<ref name=oxford-mythical/>

Nowadays, the work is considered a classic of [[found manuscript]] trope.<ref name=":1">{{Citation |last=Baker |first=Timothy C. |title=Authentic Inauthenticity: The Found Manuscript |date=2014 |work=Contemporary Scottish Gothic: Mourning, Authenticity, and Tradition |pages=54–88 |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=Timothy C. |url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137457202_3 |access-date=2025-03-13 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/9781137457202_3 |isbn=978-1-137-45720-2}}</ref>