SOURCE: "The Effects of Ossian in Lowland Scotland," in Aberdeen and the Enlightenment: Proceedings of a Conference Held at the University of Aberdeen, edited by Jennifer J. Carter and Joan H. Pittock, Aberdeen University Press, 1987, pp. 357-62.

In the following essay, originally delivered as a lecture in 1986, Leneman describes how Macpherson's poetry influenced the Scottish perception of the Highlands.

In the first half of the eighteenth century the Highlands held no appeal for Lowland Scots. The scenery had no attraction, as evidenced by descriptions such as Daniel Defoe's 'frightful country full of hidious desart mountains.' The language was considered barbarous and the people were seen as superstitious and incorrigibly idle. Indeed, their whole way of life seemed an offence against the Calvinist work ethic.

The only attraction which the Highlands had at this time was potential. If the Highlanders could be remade in the image of Lowlanders...