critics, that might not be unwittingly observed by an enlarged mind, in full possession of its subject, rich in imagination, and superior to ostentation. It is only a wonder, that this combination is so rare. Perhaps, Homer owed his superiority in this respect to the simple age in which he lived, before literary vanity, ingenious refinements, affectation and pedantry had birth. When, however, we consider, that Homer is the only man, by whom this undertaking has been accomplished to the satisfaction of all; and take into the account, the many privations and disadvantages, to which he was personally subject, we shall still deem him worthy of all the praises, with which he has been hailed in his descent to our times.

Lest it should be thought, that I overlook or undervalue the Episodes, and inferior incidents of the Iliad, I must add, that it excels all other poems not more in grandeur of subject, artifice of composition, and elevation of style, than in amiable and affecting views of private life and character, specimens of the most variegated and convincing eloquence, and original pictures of the most sublime and beautiful scenes in nature.

These remarks relate to the Iliad. The subject of the Odyssey precludes the possibility of observing the unities, or other distinguishing attributes of its companion; but were I restricted for life to one book of entertainment, I should choose the Odyssey.

Beside the Iliad and Odyssey, and the desiderata mentioned by Herodotus, there are forty-nine pieces ascribed to Homer, still extant, including the epigrams quoted in his life: but a variety of opinions exist with respect to their authenticity. His battle of the frogs and mice is a very spirited and humorous specimen of mock heroic. In perusing it, I observed several words not to be found in the Iliad or Odyssey: of these the most remarkable is one,* which implies not only, that the art of writing was practised in his days, but that he committed this poem to writing himself. Another phrase, which appears more unequivocally to point to a period later than Homer, is Pancratium.+ If the Plectrum was in use in Homer's days, we might expect to find it in the Iliad and Odyssey, in which he has so often occasion to introduce the muses and the bards; but it occurs only in the hymn to Apollo. (v. 185.) The word lyre also occurs but once; and that in the minor poems.

If the hymn to Apollo be genuine, it also contains the only express mention of Homer that occurs in any of his works. He entreats Latona, Apollo, and Diana, if any stranger should ask them, who was the sweetest poet, and their greatest favourite, to say,

* Δελλος.

+ Πανκραλίω τε πάλη τε και εις δρομον Bat. 95. * Λυρα.

"A blind man who lives in Chios, whose songs will be celebrated in after ages, and will carry our praises over the whole world:" and men will believe this, says Homer; for it is true. (v. 164.)

In the following treatise, I may have occasion to advert to some particulars in these minor poems; but as their authenticity is not unquestionable, the reader will receive them with a proportional degree of caution. I shall also make use of the Sacred Writings, for the purpose of illustrating the manners of the Trojan times, and Homer's days. Some of their authors were contemporary with him or his heroes, and lived in the same quarter of the world: but as the customs of the east are the same in very distant countries, and undergo little or no change by time, it will not be necessary to be very scrupulous with respect to the place or period in which they flourished.

The readers will not, I trust, be displeased, that in this Introductory Section, I have not perplexed myself or them with those frigid disquisitions, with which the learned have laboured to extinguish our enthusiasm, and feed a heartless and tasteless scepticism; concerning the reality of the Siege of Troy, the existence of its poet, the authenticity of the Odyssey, and the interpolations in the Iliad.

37

SECTION I.

ASTRONOMY AND CHRONOLOGY.

In the first part of this Essay, I shall give some account of the state of science in the times, of which I have undertaken to treat. I shall begin with As. tronomy, not only as the most sublime department of natural knowledge; but because, of all the sciences, it was of the greatest importance to the ancients; since their progress in the arts of navigation and agriculture could neither be effected nor explained without it. The principles of Astronomy, as far as they are connected with practice, have been rendered so familiar; and the results of difficult calculations are so generally reduced to tables, that we cannot, at first sight, see the variety of ways, in which this science is subservient to the necessities of man. This facility of acquiring knowledge is now become so great, in many arts and sciences, as to damp the order of study, as well as to remove the necessity of investigation. But in those early times, every man, who ploughed the sea or land, was depen

dent on his own personal observation for that knowledge, which we now find in our almanacks. Yet notwithstanding this necessity of studying the face of the heavens; notwithstanding the fine climate of Greece and Asia Minor, and the clear sky and extensive plains of Egypt, Arabia, and other eastern countries, the notices of astronomical knowledge, which occur in my authors, are very inconsiderable. Newton may have had reason for his reliance on the celestial sphere, constructed by Chiron, and the confidence, with which he builds his system of Chronology on the precision of the Centaur, in ascertaining the equinoctial and solstitial points; but [ must confine myself to the written records, without desiring to find in Homer more than Homer knew, or denying, that he may have known more than he had occasion to communicate, or might be ignorant of what might be known to others.

Let us imagine to ourselves a Chaldean shepherd, of a comprehensive mind, and a contemplative turn, spending his days in the open air, and tending his flocks by night; and endeavour to ascertain, how far he might advance in astronomical knowledge, merely by ocular observation; and then compare his discoveries with those intimations on the same subject, which we meet with in Homer and Hesiod.

The first phenomenon, that would obtrude itself on his attention, is the apparent diurnal progress of the sun. He would every day see it rise in the eastern quarter of the heavens, and set in the west.