Goodisson, William: A historical and topographical essay upon the islands of Corfu, Leucadia, Cephalonia, Ithaka and Zante: with remarks upon the character manners and customs of the Ionian Greeks : descriptions of the scenery and remains of antiquity discovered therein, and reflections upon the Cyclopian ruins, illustrated by maps and sketches (London: Thomas and George Underwood, 1822)

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PREFACE.

“ of written records and prose histories instantly
“ and totally altered. The probability, and the very
“ remarkable consistency of Homer’s historical anec-
“ dotes, variously dispersed as they are among his
“ poetical details and embellishments, form a second
“ and powerful testimony. Indeed the connection,
“ and the clearness of Grecian history, through the
“ very early times of which Homer has treated,
“ appear extraordinary, when compared with the
“ darkness and uncertainty that begin in the instant
“ of our losing his guidance, and continue through
“ ages. In confirmation then of this presumptive
“ evidence, we have very complete positive proof
“ to the only point that could admit of it, his
“ geography; which has wonderfully stood the most
“ scrupulous inquiries from those who were every
“ way qualified to make them. From all these,
“ with, perhaps, other considerations, followed,
“ what we may add in the fourth place, the credit
** paid to Homer’s history by the most judicious
“ prose writers of antiquity, and among the early
“ ones particularly by Thucydides. But the very
“ fame of the principal person? and events cele-
“ brated by Homer seems to have led some to
“ question their reality.”