Ossian Collection > Poems of Ossian

INTRODUCTION. xxvii
Much detraction of Macpherson's work has been
based on the translator's own letters and on his
efforts in archaeology. In a letter to Dr. Blair he
remarked " that his Highland pride was alarmed
at appearing to the world only as a translator."
Again, in the preface to the edition of 1773,
Macpherson wrote regarding improvements in his
version : " Errors in diction might have been com-
mitted at twenty-four which the experience of a
riper age may remove, and some exuberances in
imagery may be restrained with advantage by a
degree of judgment acquired in the progress of
time." Upon these words Laing insisted that
Macpherson claimed for himself the authorship of
the Ossianic poems. Less prejudiced critics can
take a more obvious meaning from them. In the
same page with the latter extract Macpherson
twice expressly alludes to himself as "the Trans-
lator." Had he been anything more than this he
would certainly have used a more distinct means
of making his merit known, since self-effacement
was by no means a conspicuous trait of his
character. Also, in his introduction to " Comala,"
. Macpherson asserted that the Caracul referred
to in that poem was the Caracalla of the
Roman writers. Now, "Gibbon has noted that this
was a name given to Antoninus, the son of Sevei us,
four years after his defeat by the Caledonians in 211