They were heroic and harmonious, and were very well
received: he had catered to the very spirit of the age. At first, there
seemed to be no doubt as to their genuineness. It was known to tradition
that this northern Fingal had fought with Severus and Caracalla, on the
banks of the Carun, and that blind Ossian had poured forth a flood of song
after the fight, and made the deeds immortal. And now these songs and
deeds were echoing in English ears,--the thrumming of the harp which told
of "the stream of those olden years, where they have so long hid, in their
mist, their many-colored sides." (_Cathloda_, Duan III.)
So enthusiastically were these poems received, that a subscription was
raised to enable Macpherson to travel in the Highlands, and collect more
of this lingering and beautiful poetry.
Gray the poet, writing to William Mason, in 1760, says: "These poems are
in everybody's mouth in the Highlands; have been handed down from father
to son. We have therefore set on foot a subscription of a guinea or two
apiece, in order to enable Mr.
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