of Macpherson commented,

"From a singular coincidence of circumstances, it was in
this house, where I now write, that I first read the poems
in my early youth, with an ardent credulity that remained
unshaken for many years of my life; and with a pleasure
to which even the triumphant satisfaction of detecting the
imposture is comparatively nothing. The enthusiasm with
which I read and studied the poems, enabled me afterwards,
when my suspicions were once awakened, to trace and expose
the deception with greater success. Yet, notwithstanding
the severity of minute criticism, I can still peruse them
as a wild and wonderful assemblage of imitation with which
the fancy is often pleased and gratified, even when the
judgment condemns them most."[2]



II

It was John Home, famous on both sides of the Tweed as the
author of _Douglas_, who first encouraged Macpherson to undertake
his translations. While taking the waters at Moffat in the fall of
1759, he was pleased to meet a young Highland tutor, who was not
only familiar with ancient Gaelic poetry but who had in his possession
several such poems. Home, like nearly all of the Edinburgh
literati, knew no Gaelic and asked Macpherson to translate
one of them. The younger man at first protested that a translation
"would give a very imperfect idea of the original," but Home "with
some difficulty" persuaded him to try. In a "day or two" Macpherson