On August 7 he writes to Mason that the Erse fragments have been
published five weeks ago in Scotland, though he had not received his copy
till the last week. "I continue to think them genuine, though my reasons
for believing the contrary are rather stronger than ever." David Hume,
who afterward became skeptical as to their authenticity, wrote to Gray,
assuring him that these poems were in everybody's mouth in the Highlands,
and had been handed down from father to son, from an age beyond all
memory and tradition. Gray's final conclusion is very much the same with
that of the general public, to which the Ossianic question is even yet a
puzzle. "I remain still in doubt about the authenticity of these poems,
tho' inclining rather to believe them genuine in spite of the world.
Whether they are the inventions of antiquity, or of a modern Scotchman,
either case is to me alike unaccountable. _Je m'y perds._"

We are more concerned here with the impression which MacPherson's books,
taking them just as they stand, made upon their contemporary Europe, than
with the history of the controversy to which they gave rise, and which is
still unsettled after more than a century and a quarter of discussion.
Nevertheless, as this controversy began immediately upon their
publication, and had reference not only to the authenticity of the
Ossianic poems, but also to their literary value; it cannot be altogether
ignored in this account. The principal facts upon which it turned may be
given in a nut-shell. In 1759 Mr. John Home, author of the tragedy of
"Douglas," who had become interested in the subject of Gaelic poetry, met
in Dumfriesshire a young Scotchman, named James MacPherson, who was
traveling as private tutor to Mr. Graham of Balgowan. MacPherson had in
his possession a number of manuscripts which, he said, were transcripts
of Gaelic poems taken down from the recital of old people in the
Highlands. He translated two of these for Home, who was so much struck
with them that he sent or showed copies to Dr. Hugh Blair, Professor of