Macpherson, James (1736–1796)

Scottish writer. He published Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland in 1760, followed by the epics Fingal in 1761 and Temora in 1763, which he claimed as the work of the 3rd-century bard Ossian. After his death they were shown largely, but not entirely, to be forgeries.

When publicly challenged by Samuel Johnson, Macpherson failed to produce his originals, and a committee established in 1797 decided in 1805 that he had combined fragmentary materials with oral tradition. Nevertheless, the works of ‘Ossian’ influenced the development of the Romantic movement in Britain and in Europe.