Fortunately for the committee, the Marquis of Graham, one of the members of the society, had a seat in the House of Commons, and to this nobleman they entrusted a Bill for the repeal of the Act passed in 1747, commonly known as the _Unclothing Act_. The noble Marquis took charge of the bill, which he introduced to the House in May 1782, with so much earnestness that it passed through the various stages in both Houses of Parliament with unusual rapidity. Indeed, within a few months after this date, the legal restriction placed on the dress of a people for the past thirty-five years, was obliterated for ever. "The thanks of the Society were given to his Lordship for his exertions in procuring a law so acceptable to all Highlanders."[C] Addresses in prose and poetry were presented to the Marquis from all the Highland parishes, while at the same time the contemporary Gaelic bards were profuse with patriotic songs of praise, notably among them, that by Duncan M'Intyre (_Donnachadh Ban_) commencing-- Fhuair mi naidheachd as ùr Tha taitinn ri rùn mo chridh Gu faigheamaid fasan na dùtch A chleachd sinn an tùs ur tìm, O'n tha sinn le glaineachan làn, A bruidhinn air màran binn, So i deoch slainte Mhontrois A sheasamh a choir so dhuinn. The next action of national importance which engaged the attention of the Society was the publication of the Poems of Ossian in the original Gaelic. In the prosecution of this project Alan Cameron was also zealous, but before it was completed he was called away to duties of a sterner nature. About the same time the controversy respecting the authenticity of the poems was continuing to run its rancour unabated. During the few days of Alan's sojourn as a fugitive in Mr Bond's house, they had conversed on the merits of Ossian's poems, the latter gentleman informed Alan that he had such evidence in favour of their ancient existence that he was convinced of their being the genuine remains of poetry of a very remote period, adding that he owed his intimacy with Ossian to the acquaintance of the Rev. Colin M'Farquhar (a native of one of the Hebrides), at this time minister in Newhaven of Pennsylvannia. It occurred to Alan that it would be desirable to get the testimony of the reverend gentleman respecting the poems, therefore he decided to address himself to his kind friend in Philadelphia on the subject. In due time Mr Bond replied with a communication from Mr M'Farquhar, dated, "Newhaven, Penn., January 1806," stating as follows:--"It is perfectly within my recollection when I was living in the Highlands of Scotland, that Mr James Macpherson was there collecting as many as he could find of the Poems of Ossian. Among those applied to was a co-presbyter of mine, who knew that a man of distinguished celebrity had resided in my congregation, and he requested the favour of me to have an interview with him and take down in writing some of these poems from his lips for