that he seldom mentions persons or things, that we may not conclude to have been well known during the time in which he wrote. It is Pope's opinion, that his account of people, princes, and nations, is purely historical, founded on the real transactions of that age, and is by far the most valuable piece of history and geography extant, concerning the state of Greece in that early period of the world. His geographical divisions of that country were thought so exact, that we are told of many controversies, concerning the boundaries of Grecian cities, being determined by the authority of his poems. Alcibiades once gave a rhetorician a sound box on the ear for not having the writings of Homer in his school. Alexander the Great was so charmed with them, that he commonly placed them under his pillow beside his sword; he enclosed the Iliad in the most precious box of Darius, "in order," said he to his courtiers, "that the most perfect production of the human mind may be enclosed in the richest casket in the world;" and one day seeing the tomb of Achilles in Sigæum, "Fortunate hero," said he, "thou hast had a Homer to sing thy victories!"

Longinus, the most refined of critics, beautifully compares the Iliad to the mid-day, and the Odyssey to the setting sun; and observes, "that though the Iliad claims an uncontested superiority over the Odyssey, yet in the latter, the same force, the same sublimity and elegance prevail, though divested of their most powerful fire; and it still preserves its original splendour and majesty, though deprived of its meridian heat." Lycurgus, Solon, and the kings and

princes of Greece set such a value on Homer's works, that they took the utmost pains in procuring correct editions of them, the most esteemed of which was that of Aristarchus.* Didymus+ was the first who wrote notes on Homer, and Eustathius, archbishop of Thessalonica in the twelfth century, is the most celebrated of his commentators. Homer composed several other works beside the Iliad and the Odyssey. There are ascribed to him the Battle of the Frogs and the Mice, thirty-two Hymns, and several other pieces, most of which are Epigrams; but the most probable opinion is, that there are none of Homer's works now extant, except the Iliad and the Odyssey. Pope has given us an elegant translation of the Iliad, adorned with all the harmony of poetic numbers; this inimitable poem is so much read and so generally admired, that I will not attempt to describe its many

* A celebrated grammarian of Samos, disciple of Aristophanes; he lived the greatest part of his life at Alexandria, and Ptolemy Philometer entrusted him with the education of his sons. He was famous for his critical powers, and revised Homer's poems with such severity, that ever after all severe critics were called Aristarchi: he wrote above eight hundred commentaries on different authors, much esteemed in his day. In his old age he became dropsical, upon which he starved himself to death in the seventy-second year of his age, B.C. 157. + A Scholiast on Homer, surnamed Chalkenteras, flourished, B.C. 40.

A Greek commentator on the works of Homer. It is to be lamented that the design of Alexander Politus, begun at Florence, in 1735, and published in the first five books of the Iliad, is not executed, as a Latin translation of these excellent commentaries is among the desiderata of the present day.

beauties: the Moonlight Scene, in the eighth book, I here give as a specimen of Pope's translation:

"As when the moon, refulgent lamp of night!
"O'er Heaven's clear azure spreads her sacred light;
"When not a breath disturbs the deep serene,
"And not a cloud o'ercasts the solemn scene:
"Around her throne the vivid planets roll,
"And stars unnumbered gild the glowing pole;
"O'er the dark trees a yellower verdure shed,
"And tipt with silver every mountain's head;
"Then shine the vales, the rocks in prospect rise!
"A flood of glory bursts from all the skies:
"The conscious swains, rejoicing in the sight,
"Eye the blue vault, and bless the useful light."

Madame Dacier translated both the Iliad and Odyssey into French prose, of which there is an English version by Broome. Cowper has also translated the works of Homer into blank verse.

I here insert, for the information of my readers, Cowper's translation of the above passage; and though at first sight they may not be able to judge which is the more literal, they will easily perceive which is the more poetical.

"As when around the clear bright Moon, the stars
"Shine in full splendour, and the winds are hushed,
"The groves, the mountain tops, the headland heights
"Stand all apparent, not a vapour streaks
"The boundless blue, but æther opened wide-
"All glitters, and the shepherd's heart is cheered."

But those who wish to know the several editions of Homer, and the writers who have employed themselves on the works of that great poet, may consult Fabricius, in the first volume of his Bibliotheca Græca.

AUTHORITIES.

WOOD'S Essay on the Genius and Writings of HOMER.CUMBERLAND's Observer.-ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA.LEMPRIERE'S Classical Dictionary.

THE LIFE

OF

JOHN MILTON.

"BUT MILTON next, with high and haughty stalks,
"Unfettered in majestic numbers walks;

"No vulgar Hero can his Muse engage,

"Nor earth's wide scene confine his hallowed rage."

WITH the name of Milton, must ever be associated in a British mind the highest sentiments of veneration. He who makes the least pretension to liberal knowledge and taste, and who, notwithstanding, feels no wish to learn the circumstances of the life of such a writer, may justly be suspected of some dislike, not only to the Muse, but to goodness itself, and to that greatness of mind which procures distinguished ho

nours.

"Paradise Lost," however, has established an imperishable fame. Human nature must suffer an awful wreck, before that work can cease to interest the numerous thousands of its readers! No wonder then, that memoirs of the life of its Author have long followed one another, with increasing success, till the subject, through all its authorities, is now nearly ex