I have now gone over the whole of what Mr. Shaw calls his ftubborn facts; and no troop, I believe, ever displayed lefs fortitude in the day of battle. I have not hitherto refted the merits of the question on the insufficiency of his arguments; nor on his grofs ignorance of Celtic, and even English grammar: but I have charged him with avowedly publishing falfehoods, knowing them to be fuch. I have confined myself to the leading points of the queftion; for to drag forward every untruth, would be nearly a republication of his pamphlet. The perfonal animofities fubfifting between the translator of Offian and Dr. Johnfon concerns not the merits of the prefent controverfy; altho' I am convinced, it drew its exfiftence from that circumftance alone.

So much for Mr. Shaw's facts; we fhall next give a few fpecimens of his arguments.

"The bifon, a fpecies of wild cow, the pe "culiar native of the forefts and mountains of "Scotland, although now exftinet, was certainly "common in those days; yet no mention is ma"de of it." P. 27.

I would

I would be very glad to know, how Mr. Shaw came to learn, that the bison was the pe culiar native of Scotland, more than of other countries.

Since our Inquirer has not been able to prove the poems of Offian fpurious, from what they do contain, he endeavours to effect his purpose, from what they do not contain; and asferts, that they must be an impofition, becaufe they contain not a lift of all the beasts of the field. He has lately published a Dictionary, about four times the price of all the poems translated by Mr. Macpherfon; yet it contains not one third of the language the very word in queftion is not there.

The next infallible mark of impofition is, that "Hunting the wild boar is not mentioned."

The asfertion, however, is not true. Hunting the wild boar is often mentioned in poems in my posfeffion, which go by the name of Offian, though not in thofe translated by Mr. Macpherson. From these two detections, however, Mr. Shaw rears his creft with an ostentatious confidence, and concludes the victory to be decided in his own favour.

"It

"It were too much to fuppofe, that the "author could be fo happy as to fucceed in "every thing, and make the deception comple"te. In an impofture, a man cannot shut every "avenue to detection. However, it has fucceeded "far enough; a a variety of editions have been "fold; and the author has acquired credit by "his ingenuity. That was the great defi

"deratum. I, however, envy it not.

"O grant, me honeft fame, or grant me noue!"

P. 28,

If any one, perfonally acquainted with Mr. Shaw, can read the laft line with gravity, he has obtained a command over his muscles, which I have not been able to acquire.

"Thither (to the Highlands) the author "went, to fee the face of the country, and the "appearance's of nature; befides that, he was "born and lived long in the mountains and val"leys: Hence that feriousness which pervades "the whole, and which is fo familiar to every "Highlander; and is one great reason, 'why "every one of them is fo' ready to believe the "Poeins authentic." P. 29.

Our Inquirer has here acknowledged, what he has everywhere else denied that the

Highlanders believed the Poems authentic. Se riousness is here faid to be familiar to every Highlander I believe it: But how a serious man comes to be easier impofed upon than one void of reflection, is not quite fo clear.

"Any Englishman may go down and fee "these phenomena in the elements and face of "the country; of which he may lay up a num. "ber, and write, when he comes home, poetry "of the fame nature." P. 29.

If any Englishman can write poems equal to thofe of Offian, it is remarkable, that not one Englishman or Scotchman has ever produced one stanza as a fpecimen, except those who have avowedly translated them from the Gaelic. I am fure, Mr. Shaw will heartily join with me in saying, that the English and the inhabitants of the Low Country are far more learned than the modern Highlanders, who, he fays himself, are at this day only emerged from a ftate of nature; that they have the advantage of the English being their mother- tongue, which the Highlanders are obliged to study from books, as a foreign language: yet, with all these ad. vantages, I call upon Mr. Shaw, to produce

one

one piece, compofed by one of them, equal even to the translations of the Poems of Offian.

"I remember, when I travelled that coun"try three years ago, to have fat down on a "hill; and, the fcene being favourable, in a "poetic mood, I jingled together upon paper,

with fuitable invented Gaelic names, the epi"thets of blue eyed, meek-eyed, mildly-looking, "white-bofomed, dark-brown locks, noble, gene"rous, valiant, tears, Spears, darts, hearts, harts, "quivers, bows, arrows, helmets, fteel, ftreams, "torrents, noble deeds, other times, bards, chiefs, "storms, fongs, &c. and produced a little poem, "which reads pretty fmoothly; and, if I had "a mind to publifh it, it would be no difficult "matter to perfuade fome people, I had transslated it from the Gaelic." P. 30.

This is the first time, that ever I heard of Mr. Shaw's being in a poetic mood; and the offfpring of that mood is just what I would have looked for, "a jingle fuitable" to the exfpectations of any perfon acquainted with Mr. Shaw's poetical abilities. This jingle, however, we are told, reads pretty fmoothly: prettiness and Smoothness, to be fure, are very necessary

qua.