Gell, William: The geography and antiquities of Ithaca (London, 1807)

the peculiar advantages of a residence in a maritime coun-
try gave him opportunities of more accurate observation
in travelling, Avhence he doubtless drew that fund of in-
variably just and appropriate epithets; the merit of which
no one can fairly appreciate, who has not consulted the
Iliad and Odyssey in the places they describe.

The celebrated invasion of Asia Minor, by the Greeks,
under Agamemnon, would naturally be the favourite theme
of poetry in the neighbourhood of its action, and the ap-
plause and honours with which the bard of the Iliad was
received, would lead him like his wandering brothers from
isle to isle and from court to court, would fill his memory
with a succession of picturesque objects, and form that
strength of moral reflection which a life thus spent would
be likely to produce in a manly and exalted mind.

In the two poems of Homer no difference occurs so
striking, as that between the incidents of the Iliad and
those of the Odyssey; the dissentions and combats of the
first are nothing more than historical matters of fact, with
little or no aid from the fancy of the poet, and as such,
have been generally referred to as the commencement of