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722 OSSIAN firmed the opinion expressed by Stone. In 1759 Home became acquainted with James Macpherson, then a young man of 21, of good classical education, who had already published two or three poems in English of very little merit. He was acquainted with the Gaelic language, and on being questioned by Home as to the existence of ancient Gaelic poetry answered that there was a great deal of it, and in his judgment it was very good. Home persuaded him to translate some of it into English, and he produced 16 short pieces, which he said were episodes of a long poem by Ossian on the wars of Fingal. These were published in 1760 under the title of "Frag- ments of Ancient Poetry collected in the High- lands of Scotland," with a commendatory pre- face by Hugh Blair, the distinguished critic and professor of rhetoric, to wham Home had shown the poems. They were received with great favor by the public, and excited so much interest that several eminent scholars in Scot- land warmly solicited Macpherson to make a journey through the highlands in order to gather what he could of the Ossianic poems. He complied with reluctance, declaring that he was unfit for the task, but finally set out ac- companied by two gentlemen, both of them good Gaelic scholars. The result of their re- searches was the publication in 1762 of "Fin- gal," and in 1763 of "Temora," with five minor poems, all translated by Macpherson into English prose of a declamatory and some- what turgid description. They created a pro- digious sensation, and almost immediately ex- cited a fierce controversy. The poems were translated into almost all the languages of Eu- rope, and ran through many editions. Among their eminent admirers may be mentioned Goethe, Schiller, and Napoleon. In Scotland their merit and their authenticity were main- tained by nearly all the leading men of let- ters, while in England Dr. Johnson, whose critical authority was at that time nearly un- questioned, denounced them as impudent for- geries, the composition of Macpherson himself. Gaelic he said was the rude speech of a bar- barous people, and 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. The gentlemen who travelled with Macpherson in the highlands testified that they took down some of the poems from oral recitation and transcribed others from old manuscripts. Gen- tlemen resident in the highlands testified that they gave manuscripts to Macpherson, and oth- er persons of unquestionable character also de- clared that Macpherson on his return from the highlands showed them several volumes of Gaelic manuscripts containing poems by Ossian. Macpherson, in fact, carried his manuscripts to London, deposited them with his publishers in the Strand, where they remained for a year, advertised in the newspapers that he had done OSSOLI so, and offered to publish them if a sufficient number of subscribers came forward. No at- tention was paid to his offer or to the manu- scripts, and finally Macpherson, a man of proud, irascible, and haughty nature, grew disgusted with being called a forger and a liar, and for the rest of his life treated his assailants with contemptuous indifference. Recent investiga- tions by competent scholars seem to have clear- ly established the authenticity of Ossian and justified Macpherson from the charges against him. See "The Poems of Ossian in the Ori- ginal Gaelic," by the Rev. Archibald Clerk (2 vols., Edinburgh and London, 1870). OSSOLI, Margaret Fuller, marchioness, an Ame- rican authoress, born in Cambridgeport, Mass., May 23, 1810, died by shipwreck on Fire Isl- and beach, off Long Island, July 16, 1850. She was the eldest child of Timothy Fuller, who conducted her early education. At six years of age she read Latin ; at eight she began to pore over Shakespeare, Cervantes, and Moli&re; and her lonely studies had induced a habit of mel- ancholy and reserve before she was sent to school at Groton, Mass. There she was re- markable for her capacity and freaks of pas- sion, and for eccentricities. She returned home at the age of 15, and began an extended course of self-culture. She began to study German in 1832, and within a year had read the prin- cipal works of Goethe, Schiller, Tieck, Korner, and Novalis. The family removed to Groton in 1833 ; her father died two years afterward, leaving little property ; and she began to teach languages in Boston to private classes and in Mr. Alcott's school. In 1837 she became prin- cipal of a school in Providence. Emerson thus describes her personal appearance at this period : " She was rather under the middle height ; her complexion was fair, with strong fair hair. She was then, as always, carefully and becomingly dressed, and of lady-like self-possession. For the rest, her appearance had nothing prepos- sessing. Her extreme plainness, a trick of in- cessantly opening and shutting her eyelids, the nasal tone of her voice, all repelled." On bet- ter acquaintance he found her more agreeable : " She was an active, inspiring companion and correspondent, and all the art, the thought, and the nobleness in New England seemed at that moment related to her and she to it. She was everywhere a welcome guest. The houses of her friends in town and country were open to her, and every hospitable attention eagerly offered. Her arrival was a holiday, and so was her abode. She stayed a few days, often a week, more seldom a month ; and all tasks that could be suspended were put aside to catch the favorable hour, in walking, riding, or boating, to talk with this joyful guest, who brought wit, anecdotes, love stories, tragedies, oracles with her." In 1839 she went to re- side at Jamaica Plain in the vicinity of Bos- ton, and in 1840 became editor of the "Dial," a quarterly journal, which she conducted for two years, aided by R. W. Emerson, George