52 



also, and have arrived at a conclusion the very reverse of Sir John 

 Sinclair's. He has stated it, as his opinion, that " whoever care- 

 fully examines and compares the two translations, will be convinced 

 that Mr. Ross's new translation furnishes the strongest possible inter- 

 nal proofs, that the Gaelic was the original, and Macpherson's a 

 loose, and in many parts, a turgid translation from that original. 

 " He fortifies his own opinion by that of Miss Baillie's, the dramatic 

 author, who remarks, that the new translation appears less pom- 

 pous, more simple, and more appropriate, than that of Macpherson ; 

 and besides being free from those particular images and forms of 

 expression, which, in his seem to be borrowed from other sources ; it 

 presents us with the story, and the images, and sentiments, that en- 

 rich the story in a more distinct and defined manner, avoiding the 

 great repetition of general epithets, which give to the other, notwith- 

 standing all its beauties, a fatiguing sameness, of which many have 

 complained. This I should think must impress the public at large 

 with a belief that the Gaelic copy is the original, and Macpherson's a 

 translation." 



We are sorry Miss Baillie ever penned these observations ; they 

 compel us to believe and to affirm, that in them she has sacrificed 

 her taste and judgment to complaisance ; and that had she fairly 

 examined and compared the two versions, she would have dissented 

 from Sir John Sinclair's opinion as much as ourselves. We beg the 

 reader to bear in mind, that the passages which we have compared, 

 are, with one or two brief exceptions, those printed in italic in Ross's 

 version, as containing the demonstration of the Baronet's problem. 

 Unless we are egregiously deceived, we have clearly proved the supe- 

 riority of the parallel passages in Macpherson. They are less laboured, 

 less bolstered up with epithets, in imagery more correct, in the choice 

 of particular expressions more picturesque, and altogether have more of 



