'Ossian' has been the usual Highland spelling of the Irish Oisin since the time of James Macpherson's poem Ossian, loosely founded on the Highland Ossianic legends. J.F.Campbell, in his discussion of the Scottish Ossianic legends in his Popular Tales of the West Highlands (Vol.IV), well establishes the widespread knowledge of the Ossianic poems and ballads in 18th-century Scotland and of the Fingalian legends. All over the Highlands, Ossian was known as the great poet and singer of the Feinn, who survived them all and kept the memory of them alive by his songs. Many of the Fenian legends survived in these songs, and in such early manuscripts as The Book of Leinster. 'The Death of Diarmid' and other tragic stories of the last days of the Feinn were deeply remembered and the tragic plight of Ossian, old, blind and mighty, is the most vivid of all. What is not recorded in the Highlands is his visit to Tir Nan Og and the happy centuries he passed with Niam of the golden hair.