That is, I'm a bit puzzled, Grishka. First, having scrolled up and down this thread, I can't see anything about "intoxicated scholars". Secondly, JM came in for a good deal of personal abuse (Dr Johnson, with his characteristic brutishness and a stout cudgel, apparently sought him out with the intention of teaching a Scot to know his place), whereas other writers who have drawn inspiration from earlier material did not and have not. To refer to Sir Joshua Reynolds, admittedly speaking of Antique statuary and the works of Renaissance artists, these pieces -familiar to any educated person of the time- were to be regarded as "a quarry from which every man may draw as he pleases", and the same held true for the Imitation (not mere copying, in contemporary terminology) of Classical writing; at some points, I recall from years ago, Macpherson is clearly borrowing from the Iliad.

What do you make of Chatterton?