Yet By Continued Accumulation Of Questions We Found, That
The Translation Meant, If Any Meaning There Were, Was Nothing Else
Than The Irish Bible.
We heard of manuscripts that were, or that had been in the hands of
somebody's father, or grandfather; but at last we had no reason to
believe they were other than Irish.
Martin mentions Irish, but
never any Earse manuscripts, to be found in the Islands in his
time.
I suppose my opinion of the poems of Ossian is already discovered.
I believe they never existed in any other form than that which we
have seen. The editor, or author, never could shew the original;
nor can it be shewn by any other; to revenge reasonable
incredulity, by refusing evidence, is a degree of insolence, with
which the world is not yet acquainted; and stubborn audacity is the
last refuge of guilt. It would be easy to shew it if he had it;
but whence could it be had? It is too long to be remembered, and
the language formerly had nothing written. He has doubtless
inserted names that circulate in popular stories, and may have
translated some wandering ballads, if any can be found; and the
names, and some of the images being recollected, make an inaccurate
auditor imagine, by the help of Caledonian bigotry, that he has
formerly heard the whole.
I asked a very learned Minister in Sky, who had used all arts to
make me believe the genuineness of the book, whether at last he
believed it himself?
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