James Macpherson

Overview:

• Legal Name: Macpherson, James
• Place of Birth: Ruthven, Iverness, Scotland
• Date of Birth: October 27, 1736
• Date of Death: February 17, 1796

Notes:

Infamous for generating a series of supposed translations of 3rd-century Gaelic poetry attributed to a poet named Ossian. These poems were, in fact, originally written in English by Macpherson, and translated into Gaelic. Although found to be a hoax, the Ossian poems had a great influence on the early Romantic writers.

Resources:

• Wikipedia article on James Macpherson