more modern poets to lay it aside, as it was in Homer to make ufe of it. And perhaps it was no unhappy circumftance for Virgil, that there was not in his time that demand upon him of fo great an invention, as might be capable of furnishing all thofe allegorical parts of a poem.

The marvellous fable includes whatever is fupernatural, and especially the machines of the. Gods. He feems the first who brought them into a system of machinery for poetry, and fuch a one as makes its greatest importance and dignity. For we find thofe authors who have been offended at the literal notion of the Gods, constantly laying their accufation against Homer as the chief fupport of it. But whatever cause

there might be to blame his machines in a philofophical or a religious view, they are so perfect in the poetic, that mankind have been ever fince contented to follow them: None have been able

to enlarge the sphere of poetry beyond the limits he has fet: Every attempt of this nature has proved unsuccessful; and after all the various changes of times and religions, his Gods continue to this day the Gods of poetry.

We come now to the characters of his perfons: And here we fhall find no author has ever drawn fo many, with so visible and surprizing a variety, or given us fuch lively and affecting impreffions of them. Every one has fomething fo fingularly his own, that no painter could have diftinguished them more by their features, than the Poet has by their manners. Nothing can be more exact than the diftinctions he has ob

ferved in the different degrees of virtues and vices. The fingle quality of courage is wonderfully diverfified in the feveral characters of the Iliad. That of Achilles is furious and intractable; that of Diomede forward, yet liftening to advice and subject to command: That of Ajax is heavy and felf-confiding; of Hector active and vigilant: The courage of Agamemnon is infpirited by love of empire and ambition, that of Menelaus mixed with foftnefs and tenderness for his people: We find in Idomeneus a plain direct foldier, in Sarpedon a gallant and generous one. Nor is this judicious and aftonishing diverfity to be found only in the principal quality which conftitutes the main of each character, but even in the under-parts of it, to which he takes care to give a tincture of that principal one. For example, the main characters of Ulyffes and Neftor confift in wifdem; and they are diftin&t in this, that the wifdom of one is artificial and varicus, of the other natural, open, and regular. But they have, befides, characters of courage; and this quality alfo takes a different turn in each from the difference of his prudence: for one in the war depends ftill upon caution, the other upon experie ce. It would be endless to produce inftances of thefe kinds. The characlers of Virgil are far from ftriking us in this open manner; they lie in a great degree hidden and undiftinguished, and where they are marked moft evidently affect us not in proportion to thofe of Homer. His characters of valour are much alike; even that of Turnus feems no way

peculiar but as it is in a fuperior degree; and we fee nothing that differences the courage of Mneftheus from that of Sergeftus, Cloanthus, or the reft. In like manner it may be remarked of Statius's heroes, that an air of impetuofity runs thro' them all; the fame horrid and favage courage appears in his Capancus, Tydeus, Hippomedon, etc. They have a parity of character, which makes them feem brothers of one family.. I believe when the reader is led into this track of reflection, if he will purfue it through the Epic and Tragic writers, he will be convinced how infinitely fuperior in this point the invention of Homer was to that of all others.

The Speeches are to be confidered as they flow from the characters, being perfect or defective as they agree or difagree with the manners of those who utter them. As there is more variety of characters in the Iliad, fo there is of fpeeches, than in any other poem. Every thing in it has manners (as Ariftotle expreffes it) that is, every thing is acted or fpoken. It is hardly credible in a work of fuch length, how small a number of lines are employed in narration. In Virgil the dramatic part is lefs in proportion to the narrative; and the fpeeches often confift of general reflections or thoughts, which might be equally juft in any perfon's mouth upon the fame occafion. As many of his perfons have no apparent characters, fo many of his fpeeches efcape being applied and judged by the rule of propriety. We oftner think of the author himself when we read Virgil, than when we are engaged'

in Homer: All which are the effects of a colder invention, that interefts us lefs in the action defcribed: Homer makes us hearers, and Virgil leaves us readers.

If in the next place we take a view of the fentiments, the fame prefiding faculty is eminent in the fublimity and fpirit of his thoughts. Longinus has given his opinion, that it was in this part Homer principally excelled. What were alone fufficient to prove the grandeur and excellence of his fentiments in general, is, that they have fo remarkable a parity with thofe of the Scripture: Duport, in his Gnomologia Homerica, has collected innumerable inftances of this fort. And it is with justice an excellent modern writer allows, that if Virgil has not fo many thoughts that are low and vulgar, he has not fo many that are fublime and noble; and that the Roman author feldom rifes into very aftonishing fentiments where he is not fired by the Iliad.

If we obferve his defcriptions, images, and fi miles, we shall find the invention still predominant. To what elfe can we afcribe that vaft comprehenfion of images of every fort, where we fee each circumftance of art, and individual of nature fummoned together, by the extent and fecundity of his imagination; to which all things in their various views, prefented themselves in an inftant, and had their impreffions taken off to perfection at a heat? Nay, he not only gives us the full profpects of things, but several unexpected peculiarities and fide views, unobserved by any Painter but Homer. Nothing is fo fur

prizing as the defcription of his battles, which take up no less than half the Iliad, and are fupplied with fo vaft a variety of incidents, that no one bears a likenefs to another; fuch different kinds of deaths, that no two heroes are wounded in the fame manner; and fuch a profufion of noble ideas, that every battle rifes above the last. in greatness, horror, and confufion. It is certain there is not near that number of images and defcriptions in any Epic Poet; though every one has affifted himself with a great quantity out of him: And it is evident of Virgil especially, that he has fcarce any comparisons which are not drawn from his master.

If we defcend from hence to the expreffion, wo see the bright imagination of Homer shining out in the most enlivened forms of it. We acknowledge him the father of poetical diction, the first who taught that language of the Gods to men. His expreffion is like the colouring of fome great mafters, which difcovers itself to be laid on boldly, and executed with rapidity. It is indeed the strongest and moft glowing imaginable, and touched with the greateft fpirit. Aristotle had reason to fay, He was the only poet who had found out hoing words; there are in him more daring figures and metaphors than in any good author whatever. An arrow is impatient to be on the wing, a weapon thirsts to drink the blood of an enemy, and the like. Yet his expreffion is never too big for the sense, but justly great in proportion to it. 'Tis the fentiment that fwells and fills out the diction, which rifes with it,