NAPOLEON AND OSSIAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11056, 6 May 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

NAPOLEON AND OSSIAN.

O.v Napoleon asking Lady Malcolm how sho liked St. Helena, she replied that she was a Scotch woman and admired hills. "If you are Scotch," said he, you must know Ossian's poems." ... He said he admired them very much, particularly Durthula, mid inquired if the controversy about their authenticity had been decided, and whether Macpherson had really written them. He laughed on her replying with quickness that Macpherson was not capable of writing them. ... ° _ She asked him if he had read the poems in a French translation. He said there were two, he had them both, but they were not good. The Italian one was excellent, beauti ful. She said that they had been more admired on the Continent than in England. He exclaimed with energy, "It was I-I made them the fashion. I have even been accused of having my head filled with Ossian's clouds. Lady Malcolm complimented him on his taste. He then said, laughing, " But Fingal was an Irishman." The Admiral replied that Lady Malcolm would take that worse than saying that Macpherson had written the poems. He again laughed, and asked what part of Scotland they (the bards) had inhabited. She replied the western islands and Loch Aber, where there were many places called by the names mentioned in Ossian. He said many of the names resembled Italian, such as Malvina, Comala, Hidula, and several others he repeated. Sir Arthur Watson's "A Diary of St. .Helena." " t " |