Excerpt from The Poems of Ossian: To Which Are Prefixed a Preliminary Discourse and Dissertation on the AEra and Poems of Ossian Nearly half a century has elapsed since the tion of the poems ascribed by Mr. Macpherson to Ossian, which poems be then professed to have col lected in the original Gaelir, during a tour throu h the Western Highlands and rules; but a doubt 0 their authenticity nevertheless obtained, and, from their first appearance to this day, has continued in various de to Degreestata the literary worn. In the present year, port, springing from an inquiry insti tuted for the purpose of leaving, with regard to this r, no hinge or ioop to hang adoubt on, has been laid before the public. As the committee, in this investigation, followed, in a great measure, that line of conduct chalked out by David Hume to Dr. Blair, shall, previously to stating their precise mode of p ceeding, make several large and interesting extracts from the historian's two letters on this subject. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.