 The authenticity of these so-called translations from the works of a 3rd-century bard was immediately challenged in England, and Samuel Johnson, after some local investigation, would assert (in "A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland", 1775) that Macpherson had found fragments of ancient poems and stories, then wove into a romance of his own composition.Macpherson is said to have challenged Johnson, who replied that he was not to be deterred from detecting what he thought a cheat by the menaces of a ruffian.Macpherson never produced his originals, which he refused to publish on the grounds of expense.