Thomas Bailey Saunders

“ If ‘Fingal’ had raised doubts, ‘Temora’ confirmed them. Hume wrote to Blair on 19 Sept. 1763 that most men of letters in London took the poems for ‘a palpable and impudent forgery,’ but he admitted that a few fragments might be genuine (see his Essay in Burton's Hume, vol. i. App. p. 471) . Writing again to Blair on 6 Oct. Hume described Macpherson as a ‘strange and heteroclite mortal, and most perverse and unamiable.’
By the two poems Macpherson had made some 1,200l., and, becoming proud of his success, he was scornful of suspicion. ”

“ The comedy was a great success, and enjoyed an almost uninterrupted run till the end of the season, but Knowles's acting did not meet with much approval. On taking ‘The Hunchback’ to Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was received with enthusiasm by his former friends and pupils. When his next important play, ‘The Wife,’ was brought out at Covent Garden on 24 April 1833, Charles Lamb wrote both prologue and epilogue; and an article in the ‘Edinburgh Review’ at this date described Knowles as the most successful dramatist of the day. ”

“ KNOWLES, JAMES (1759–1840) , lexicographer, born in 1759, was son of John Knowles of Dublin, by Frances, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Sheridan of Quilca, the friend of Swift. His mother's brother, Thomas Sheridan, author of a ‘Pronouncing Dictionary,’ and father of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, directed his education and intended him for the church; but an early marriage led Knowles to establish a school in Cork in 1780, which prospered until 1793. ”

“ Home took the manuscripts with him to Edinburgh, where Dr. Hugh Blair [q. v.] was greatly struck by them, and to London, where they excited interest in literary circles. At length Macpherson published them at Edinburgh in July 1760, under the title, ‘Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands,’ with an introduction by Blair, who pronounced them genuine remains of ancient Scottish poetry. They were well received. Gregory and Lord Kames joined Blair in pronouncing them genuine, and Macpherson became a man of note. ”

“ A distinguished student, he proceeded in 1849 as a Snell exhibitioner to Balliol College, Oxford. In 1853 he obtained a first class in literis humanioribus as well as third class honours in the school of law and modern history, and in the following year he was awarded the Arnold prize for an essay on 'The Benefits arising from the Union of England and Scotland in the reign of Queen Anne.' He graduated B.A. 1853 and M.A. 1872. Settling, on leaving Oxford, in Edinburgh, he passed as an advocate there in 1858, and proved himself an able and industrious lawyer. ”

“ Although Gray was warm in praise of the poems, he was doubtful ‘whether they were the invention of antiquity or of a modern Scotchman’ (Mason, Life of Gray, 1807, ii. 167–73) . Hume inclined to a belief in their authenticity, and described Macpherson as a modest, sensible young man.
In the preface to the ‘Fragments’ Blair referred to the existence of a longer poem, in epic form, relating at great length the wars of Fion or Fingal, and said he thought it might, with trouble, be collected entire. But Macpherson showed reluctance to undertake the task. ”

“ Boswell in 1785 declared that public interest in the question of the authenticity of the Ossianic poems was at an end, but on Macpherson's death the controversy broke out afresh. In 1797 the Highland Society of Scotland appointed a committee to investigate the poems ascribed to Ossian. While the committee was at work, criticism took a new form in the hands of Malcolm Laing [q. v.] , who, first in an appendix to his ‘History of Scotland,’ Edinburgh, 1800, ii. ”

“ Knowles at once set to work to redeem the failure. In 1830 he and his family left Glasgow and settled near Newhaven, by Edinburgh, and there, while working at a new comedy, he put the last touches to his ‘Alfred the Great, or the Patriot King.’ This came out at Drury Lane on 28 April 1831, and met with some success, partly, perhaps, from the political circumstances of the time. ”

“ That a great legend of Fingal and Ossian, his son and songster, had immemorially existed in Scotland, and that Ossianic poetry, of an impressive and striking character, was still found generally and in great abundance in the highlands; (2) That while fragments were found giving the substance and sometimes the literal expression of parts of Macpherson's work, no one poem was discoverable the same in title or tenor with his publications. Further, the committee inclined to believe (3) that he had liberally edited his originals and inserted passages of his own. ”

“ Twenty years later, fresh material for settling the question was afforded by the publication of the ‘Dean of Lismore's Book’ (ed. T. MacLauchlan, London, 1862, with a valuable introduction by W. F. Skene) , which contains some eleven thousand verses of Gaelic poetry written at various times, and collected between 1512 and 1526 by James MacGregor [q. v.] , dean of Lismore (see also Notes and Queries, 6th ser. ix. 137, 272, 2nd ser. iii. 217) . The best general defence of Macpherson appeared in 1870, in a prefatory essay to a fine edition of the ‘Poems of Ossian,’ by Archibald Clerk. ”

“ LEIGH, RICHARD (fl. 1675) , poet, born in 1649, was younger son of Edward Leigh of Rushall, Staffordshire. He entered Queen's College, Oxford, in Lent term 1666, and proceeded B.A. on 19 June 1669. He afterwards went to London and became an actor in the company of the Duke of York, where other actors bearing the same surname [see Leigh, Anthony and John] , from whom he is to be carefully distinguished, were engaged at the same time. ”

“ When his health began to fail he returned to his native Inverness-shire, bought an estate in Badenoch, and, changing its name from Raitts to Belville, built himself a mansion, which, however, he did not live to see entirely finished. He treated his tenants with good-natured indulgence, and grew domestic and religious. ”

“ LANCASTER, HENRY HILL (1829–1875) , essayist, born on 10 Jan. 1829 at Glasgow, was son of Thomas Lancaster, a Glasgow merchant, and of Jane Kelly. He was educated first at the high school, Glasgow, and afterwards at the university. ”

“ LEE, HENRY (1765–1836) , author of 'Caleb Quotem,' was born on 27 Oct. 1766, apparently in Nottingham, where he was educated. He early contributed poetical articles to Moore's Almanacks. He lived some time at Normanton, and soon after the age of twenty-one went to London and became an actor. Joining Stratford's company at Newport Pagnell, he travelled with it, chiefly in the west of England. At a later date he seems to have owned and managed theatres at Taunton and other places. He also went to the Channel Islands. ”

“ Before leaving Belfast he received a testimonial from some of the leading citizens. He returned to London, where he appears to have carried on his profession as ‘teacher of reading, elocution, grammar, and composition’ for several years. ”

“ KIDLEY, WILLIAM (fl. 1624) , poet, was son of John Kidley of Dartmouth, Devonshire, where he was born in 1606. In matriculating at Oxford he gave his name as Kidley, alias Pointer. He entered at Exeter College on 16 July 1625, and graduated B.A. 12 Nov. ”

“ Johnson's Tour’ (1779) ; McNicol affirmed that the scurrilities in the book were inserted without his knowledge after it was sent to London for publication. Walpole wrote in March 1775 that Macpherson had been as much a bully as Johnson a brute (Journal, i. 472) . In 1781 William Shaw, a Scottish minister, and author of a Gaelic dictionary, published in London an ‘Inquiry into the Authenticity of Ossian,’ supporting Johnson's view. Shaw was answered in an abusive style by one Clerk of Edinburgh, and Johnson then took Shaw under his protection, and helped him to reply. ”

“ On 13 Feb. 1815 his tragedy of ‘Caius Gracchus’ had been brought out with great success at the Belfast Theatre. When Kean visited Glasgow he suggested to Knowles a play on the subject of Virginius. Though at this period he was teaching thirteen hours a day, Knowles wrote the drama in three months; but by the time it was ready Kean had accepted another play on the same theme, which was not performed at Drury Lane until 29 May 1820 (Genest, Hist. Stage, ix. 36) . Knowles meanwhile produced his drama at Glasgow, where Tait, a friend of Macready, saw it, and brought it under that actor's notice. ”

“ An Appendix on Electricity rendered useful in Medicinal intentions,’ London, 1760. ‘Philosophical Essays,’ in 3 pts., Worcester, 1766. ‘The Electrical Philosopher, containing a new System of Physics, founded upon the principle of an Universal Plenum of Elementary Fire,’ Worcester, 1774. ”

“ As an actor, his style, from a want of relief and transition, was apt to become tedious, but his unmistakable earnestness strongly recommended him to audiences with whom, as a dramatist, he was in his lifetime highly popular (see Westland Marston, Our Recent Actors, ii. 122) .
His published works may be conveniently divided into three classes. The dates given are those of first publication. I. Dramatic works: ‘Caius Gracchus,’ a tragedy in five acts, 1815; ‘Virginius,’ a tragedy in five acts, 1820 ”

“ His farce of 'Caleb Quotem' was written about 1789, and after being performed in the country was brought out at the Haymarket on July 1798 under the title 'Throw Physic to the Dogs' (Genest, Hist. of the Stage, vii. 887) . ”