to call off their attention from their work, to dismal inquiries into the nature of truth and falsehood, to the apophthegms of moralists, the discoveries of philosophers, or the disquisitions of the learned. I shall frequently devote a paper entirely to their service ; and, as I have none of those antiquated prejudices or opinions about me, that advice may tend to the reformation of manners; or, indeed, that mankind stand in any need of improvement -- I shall study to entertain them without assuming the superiority of a dictator. In my attempts to collect materials for this purpose, I shall hope to succeed, notwithstanding •Oxford (according to the opinion of many) is such a dull, insipid, out-of-the-way place, that if it were not for the stage coaches, it would be difficult for a body to pick up news enough in the week to furnish a petit-maitre's pocket-book.' There still remains a very large class of readers, for whom I.confess myself totally unable to provide. I mean those, who (from various causes which I shall not at present enumerate) are entertained with nothing but anecdotes of the beau monde, gleaned from waiters and unliveried gentlemen; or the scurrilities of an insolent buffoon, which are unpunished because they are unworthy of notice. That my attention has not been engaged in pursuits which will enable me to gratify such tastes, I do not repine. Cur ego laborem notus esse tam prave, • Why should I labour in vicious industry, when I may remain without toil in innocent silence ?' I should in vain endeavour to readers any very accurate idea of my proposed plan, as that which is in itself incomplete must be imperfect convey my to in description. Thus far I can venture to promise them; that, however little pleasure they may reap from perusing the produce of a gayer hour, or however little instruction from the lucubrations of a graver one, they will not have occasion to reproach me with having willingly disseminated error, having made my correspondence with the public the vehicle of private calumnies, or ministered by my pen to the gratification of vice. I may now, perhaps, be forgiven, if I say a few words of myself; and having entered upon that favourite topic on which the dull can expatiate with brilliancy, and the sterile with copiousness, let me obtain the negative praise of not having been prolix. I shall only then add, that I am in good health, neither sick, listless, satirical, nor melancholy; and, that I shall be thankful for the communications of all correspondents, and object to the publishing of nothing which is not devoid of candour, delicacy, common sense, or grammatical correctness. -pereat mea Musa, dolosum Virtutemque, artemque, et quicquid carmine dignum. N° 2. SATURDAY, MARCH 24, 1787. Laudant illa, sed ista legunt.-MARTIAL. The elegant and justly-admired author of the Adventurer* censures the practice of our instructors of youth for making their pupils more intimately ac No. 75. 6 quainted with the liad than the Odyssey of Homer. I fear he has done this without producing, by his arguments, a reformation in the conduct of some, who still persist in the prosecution of their plan; or conviction in the minds of others, who may have altered it.-" This absurd custom,' says he, which seems to arise from the supposed superiority of the former poem, has induced me to make some reflections on the latter.' The custom does not appear to me an absurd one, but founded on the experience of its utility; nor can I think the superiority of the Iliad supposed, but real. • The moral of this poem,' says the Adventurer, • is more extensively useful than that of the Iliad, which, indeed, by displaying the dire effects of discord among rulers, may rectify the conduct of princes, and may be called the manual of monarchs : where, as, the patience, the prudence, the wisdom, the temperance, and fortitude of Ulysses, afford a pattern, the utility of which is not confined within the compass of courts and palaces, but descends and diffuses its influence over common life and daily practice.' Upon this argument, namely, that the affairs which the Iliad treats of, are too far removed from common life to be of service to common readers, is grounded his principal objection to the practice before observed. Admitting the position to be true, the conclusion does not necessarily follow. It is universally allowed, that the doctrine of morality has never been more forcibly inculcated, or its practice more strenuously and successfully recommendea, than in the lofty tales and sublime language of Eastern literature: they have been subjects of imitation to an Adventurer and a Rambler, and of admiration to all. The iendency of these tales is universally an incitement to virtue, by an unlimited display of the workings of Providence. Yet how far removed are they from the business of common life and daily practice!' Infinite merit is certainly due to the simplicity of the Odyssey. Yet is the Iliad by no means inferior in this particular. Even inter reges atque tetrarchas there is frequently room for it, and no opportunity is lost of introducing it. Whoever recollects how Andromache was employed, when from the top of the tower she beheld the fate of her husband, will in vain seek to find the simplicity of that passage which describes her employment any where equalled. αλοχος δ' ουπω τι πεπυστο Εκτορος" ου γαρ οι τις ετήτυμος αγγελος ελθων But not as yet the fatal news had spread Il. xxii. 440. ΡΟΡΕ, xxii. 462, &c. Criticism has no language to describe the exquisite tenderness and simplicity of the Κεκλετο δ' αμφιπολοισιν ευπλόκαμοις κατα δωμα Mr. Pope's translation of which passage will give the English reader a very faint idea of the beauties of his original. The general originality of Thomson will not be impeached, if I subjoin a passage from his Winter, which bears a beautiful resemblance of the foregoing lines in Homer: In vain for him the officious wife prepares Nor friends, nor sacred home. If the fairest examples, proceeds the Adventurer, ought to be placed before us in an age prone to imitation, if patriotism be preferable to implacability, if an eager desire to return to one's country and family, be more manly and noble, than an eager desire to be revenged of an enemy; then should our eyes be fixed rather on Ulysses than Achilles. Unexperienced minds, too easily captivated with the fire and fury of a gallant general, are apt to prefer courage to constancy, and firmness to humanity. It is one of the acute Dr. Clarke's observations, that Homer has represented the character of Achilles, qualis fuit, non qualis esse debuerit. The remark, however obvious it may appear when made, would not, perhaps, have occurred to the mind of a common reader. The conduct of the son of Peleus is related, but not defended; the cause of virtue does not suffer by the exhibition of a character, in most respects amiable, in all illustrious, yet sometimes giving way to the gratifications of lust, and sometimes to an inordinate thirst for revenge. Its proper stigma is inflicted upon each deviation from virtue, by placing it in an odious light. His affectionate lamentation over his dead friend Patroclus, does not prevent the poet from stigmatizing the cruelty he exercised upon the slain Hector. From a contemplation of the character of Ulysses and Achilles, very different sentiments arise. When we are observing the former, the mind is wrapped in unwearied admiration ; it is scarce awakened to observation from a continued series of praiseworthy |