and was thus in the process of formulating his theories on the origins
of poetry and the nature of the sublime. Blair lost no time in
communicating with Macpherson:

"I being as much struck as Mr Home with the high spirit of poetry
which breathed in them, presently made inquiry where Mr. Macpherson
was to be found; and having sent for him to come to me, had much
conversation with him on the subject."[Footnote 5]

Macpherson told Blair that there were "greater and more considerable
poems of the same strain" still extant in the Highlands; Blair like
Home was eager for more, but Macpherson again declined to translate them.
He said that he felt himself inadequate to render "the spirit and force"
of the originals and that "they would be very ill relished by the public
as so very different from the strain of modern ideas, and of modern,
connected, and polished poetry." This whetted Blair's interest even more,
and after "repeated importunity" he persuaded Macpherson to translate
more fragments. The result was the present volume, which Blair saw to
the press and for which he wrote the Preface "in consequence of the
conversations" that he had with Macpherson.[Footnote 6: ]

Most of Blair's Preface does seem to be based on information supplied
by Macpherson, for Blair had almost no first-hand knowledge about
Highland poetry or its traditions. It is apparent from the Preface then,
that Macpherson had not yet decided to ascribe the poems to a single
poet; Ossian is one of the principal poets in the collection but the
whole is merely ascribed "to the bards" (see pp. v-vi). It is also
evident from the Preface that Macpherson was shifting from the
reluctant "translator" of a few "fragments" to the projector of a
full-length epic "if enough encouragement were given for such an