In 1763 Macpherson published a second quarto containing the poem of Temora in eight books, along with several other pieces. The first book of the former had appeared in the collection of 1762, the editor saying that it was merely the opening of the poem; but the great interest about the publication of 1763 is that here for the first time we are presented with the Gaelic original of one of the books of the poem. It is not true that Macpherson never offered to publish any portion of the original until he was obliged to do so by the pressure of public opinion, for in this case he published the Gaelic original of a part of the work altogether of his own accord. In a short introductory paragraph to the Gaelic, he says that he chooses the seventh book of Temora, “not from any other superior merit than the variety of its versification. To print any part of the former collection,” he adds, “was unnecessary, as a copy of the originals lay for many months in the bookseller’s hands for the inspection of the curious.” Of this new publication, however, he sees it right to furnish a portion “for the satisfaction of those who doubt the authenticity of Ossian’s poems.” The editor adds that “though the erroneous orthography of the bards is departed from in many instances in the following specimen, yet several quiescent consonants are retained, to show the derivation of the words.” He accounts for the uncouth appearance of the language by the use of the Roman letters, which are incapable of expressing the sounds of the Gaelic. What kind of orthography Macpherson would have selected he does not say. He could not be unacquainted with the phonetic orthography of the Dean of Lismore’s book, and may, perhaps, have had it in view in the above remarks. But the orthography which he himself uses is neither the bardic nor the phonetic, and is more uncouth than any orthography which the bards were in the habit of using. One thing is clear, that the Gaelic of the seventh book of Temora was never copied from any manuscript written by a bard. The book opens as follows:—
“O linna doir-choille na Leigo
Air uair, eri’ ceo taobh-ghórm nan tón;
Nuair dhunas dorsa na h’oicha
Air iulluir shuil-greina nan speur.
Tomhail, mo Lara nan sruth
Thaomas du’-nial, as doricha cruaim;
Mar ghlas-scia’, roi taoma nan nial
Snamh seachad, ta Gellach na h’oicha.
Le so edi’ taisin o-shean