Ossian
Sir: Hugh Trevor-Roper ('Wrong but romantic', 16 March) does not resolve the dilemma posed by Macpherson — either the man made up the lot out of his own head, in which case he must be credited With starting single-handed the entire European romantic movement, Scott, Byron, Goethe, Chateaubriand and count- less others (but his dishonesty is discredit- able), or else all he did was to put together and add to existing Gaelic originals (in Which case his credit as author and discre- dit as forger are both greatly reduced). The farther the truth is from the one the nearer It must be to the other. A false claim to an ancient source is hardly unique, Chatterton and Horace Walpole come to mind, but with these English forgers would anyone allocate 40 column inches to their dishon- esty and only one to a reluctant second- hand tribute to their writing? In his ability to inspire continuous venom for centuries after his death Macpherson is excelled only by Oliver Cromwell: both had great suc- cess in life and neither admitted fault in the actions which now inspire the venom.
M. D. Thornton
12 Bellfield Road, Stirling
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