Yet I
hear that the father of Ossian boasts of two chests more of ancient
poetry, which he suppresses, because they are too good for the
English.
He that goes into the Highlands with a mind naturally acquiescent,
and a credulity eager for wonders, may come back with an opinion
very different from mine; for the inhabitants knowing the ignorance
of all strangers in their language and antiquities, perhaps are not
very scrupulous adherents to truth; yet I do not say that they
deliberately speak studied falsehood, or have a settled purpose to
deceive. They have inquired and considered little, and do not
always feel their own ignorance. They are not much accustomed to
be interrogated by others; and seem never to have thought upon
interrogating themselves; so that if they do not know what they
tell to be true, they likewise do not distinctly perceive it to be
false.
Mr. Boswell was very diligent in his inquiries; and the result of
his investigations was, that the answer to the second question was
commonly such as nullified the answer to the first.
We were a while told, that they had an old translation of the
scriptures; and told it till it would appear obstinacy to inquire
again.
