1736-1796. Scottish writer and forger, author
of Fragments of Ancient Poetry collected in
the Highlands of Scotland 1760, followed by
the epics Fingal 1761 and Temora 1763, which
he claimed as the work of the 3rd-century
bard Ossian. After his death they were shown
to be forgeries. When challenged by Dr Samuel
Johnson, Macpherson failed to produce his
originals and a committee decided in 1797
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.