236

HIS PROSPEROUS LIFE.

It is either true, therefore, that Macpherson was a poet of unusual originality, or that he in fact discovered in the ancient Gaelic, a rich vein of poetry, from which he drew his overflowing store of imagery and thought. For, whatever else be decided, it must be allowed at this day that the author of Ossian was a poet.

Impostor or poet, few lives have glided on more successfully than that of Macpherson. He was born at Ruthven, in Invernesshire, and educated at Aberdeen. He became schoolmaster of his native village, where he was soon known as the writer of poems. But he does not seem to have escaped from obscurity until 1759, when Ferguson, Home, and other men of letters, met to inspect some fragments of Gaelic verse, which Macpherson had discovered and translated. Pleased with the novelty of the discovery, the critics urged a translation ; specimens were shown to Blair, Grey, and Shenstone, who joined in admiring them, and they were published in 1760, with a preface by Blair. A subscription was in consequence raised at Edinburgh, to enable the discoverer to continue his researches, and in 1762, he produced Fingal, an epic poem in six books, dedicated to Lord Bute. Two years after, so rich were his discoveries, he published Temora, another poem in eight books: while these novel and singular productions soon gained general notice, and were eagerly read both in England and abroad, as relics of the literature of ancient Gael. Many attempts, however, were made to shake their authenticity. Johnson doubted from the first; Blair

HE ENTERS PARLIAMENT.

237

defended them earnestly, and Hume first believed and then rejected them. At length, however, they were abandoned, even by the most ardent of their admirers, and Macpherson was everywhere thought to have been their author.

Meanwhile, having arisen thus suddenly to notice, Macpherson was making the best use of his time in advancing his own fortune. In 1764, he was made secretary to Captain Johnstone, the Governor of Pensacola, from whence he returned in 1766, with a pension of £200 for life. He now became a violent partisan of the ministry, and wrote on their side without cessation. In 1773, however, he published his prose translation of the Iliad, an attempt to conform Homer to the rhythm and style of Ossian. This was succeeded by his History, in two volumes, quarto, with two volumes of original papers attached. For this work, the popular author received £3,000, and was now become one of the chief writers of the time. He was the friend of all the eminent men of the day, and was universally allowed to be a person of uncommon merit and talent.

Having now obtained the lucrative post of agent for the Nabob of Arcot, Macpherson entered Parliament for Camelford, and sat until 1790. He then retired from public life, rich, respected and generally liked; and he died at Inverness, 17th February, 1796.

Such was the prosperous life of the author of Ossian. His doubtful fame has never yet been cleared up, and it is still impossible to decide how far he was a poet and how

238

FOX CONDEMNS HIS HISTORY.

far an impostor. His History is pronounced by Fox to be full of "impudent" falsehoods; it has long sunk from public notice, and had no charm either of style or thought to relieve it from neglect. Nor is it possible to believe, that one who wrote so dull a history could have produced so wild and imaginative a poem as that which the world has generally attributed to him.

NATHANIEL HOOKE.

THE chief facts that remain of the life of Hooke, are that he was a Roman Catholic and the friend of Pope. Where he was born or where he died no one has cared to tell. He is said to have lost his fortune in the South Sea scheme, and was intimate with the gifted frequenters of Twickenham and Dawley. He died probably in 1764, leaving several works of value, and having spent a life of literary labor.

After the loss of his fortune, he was patronized by the Duchess of Marlborough, who gave him £5,000 to aid her in arranging the papers for a history of her conduct at court until 1710. It is said, however, that the historian and the duchess quarrelled before the work was finished, and that the former was dismissed. Hooke, it is also related, offended Bolingbroke by introducing a priest to the bedside of Pope, when he was dying. He belonged to the quietest sect of Catholics and was an ardent admirer of Fenelon, whose life he translated in 1723.

His History of Rome extends from the founding of

240

HIS ACCOUNT OF ROME.

the city to the final triumph of Octavius. It is dedicated to Pope whom he flatters as a friend to virtue, to his country and to the liberties of mankind. Hooke wrote in a clear and not unpleasant style, and his History is still the best account of the Romans we have in the language. It is more thorough than Ferguson's history, and far more faithful than that of Echard. Goldsmith's Rome is only a pleasant abridgment of it; while Arnold's learned and valuable work closes with the

Punic wars. It is remarkable that English scholars should have paid so little attention to the History of Rome, and that a work written more than a century ago, notwithstanding all the boasted discoveries of modern inquirers, should still remain the only tolerable narrative of the most famous nation of antiquity.

Had Arnold lived, he would no doubt have amply supplied this defect in our literature, and Mr. Merivales interesting work, has in a measure taken the place of that of Hooke. Yet neither of these scholars have produced a narrative commencing with the foundation of the great city, and closing with the fall of the republic, which can be considered a complete history. And Hooke an inferior writer and a moderate scholar, is the only English historian of Rome.

His history is chiefly a compilation from Catrou and Rouille, and various French authors, but he no doubt was familiar with the Latin historians, and was probably a far better scholar than either Ferguson or Echard. He defends the authenticity of the earlier history, previous to