He is the famous fabricator of the Ossianic poems (Ossian is the name of a legendary Gaelic warrior and bard) which aroused such enthusiasm among the Romantics. The material of the Ossianic cycle consists of Gaelic and Scottish songs, of which M. published a first volume in 1760, followed by *Fingal* at the end of 1761 and *Temora* in 1765. After M.’s death it was established that he had invented many parts of the Ossian. In Italy the Ossian was translated by Abbot Melchiorre Cesarotti (cf. modern ed., ed. G. Balsamo Crivelli, Turin 1924).
BIBL.: T. B. Saunders, *Life and Letters of J. M.*, London 1906; P. Van Tieghem, *Le préromantisme*, Paris 1924, pp. 195-287. Augusto Guidi