There warlike Ajax, there Achilles lies,
Patroclus there, a Man divinely wife;
There too my dearest Son. *

It proceeds, I fuppofe, from the fame Reason, that having wrote the Iliad in the Youth and Vigour of his Genius, he has furnish'd it with continued Scenes of Action and Combat ; whereas, the greateft part of the Odysey is fpent in Narration, the Delight of Old-age. 12 So. that, in the Odyssey, Homer may with justice be resembled to the Setting Sun, whofe Grandeur ftill remains, without the Meridian Heat of his Beams, The Stile is not so grand and majestic as that of the Iliad; the Sublimity not continued with fo much Spirit, nor fo uniformly noble; the Tides of Paffion flow not along with fo much Profufion, nor do they hurry away the Reader in fo rapid a Current. There is not the fame Volubility and quick variation of the Phrafe; nor is the Work embellifhed with fo many ftrong and expreffive Images. Yet like the Ocean, whose very Shores when deferted by the Tide, mark out how wide it fometimes flows, fo Homer's Genius, when ebbing into all those fabulous and incredible Ramblings of Ulyffes, fhews plainly how fublime it once had been. Not that I am forgetful

Odyf. y. ver. 109.

forgetful of those Storms, which are described in fo terrible a manner, in feveral parts of the Ody fey; of Ulyffes's Adventures with the Cyclop, and fome other Inftances of the true Sublime. No; I am speaking indeed of Old-age, but 'tis the Old-age of Homer. However it is evident from the whole Series of the Odysey, that there is far more Narration in it, than Action.

I have digreffed thus far, merely for the fake of fhewing, that, in the Decline of their Vigour, the greatest Genius's are apt to turn afide unto Trifles. Thofe Stories of shutting up the Winds in a Bag, of the Men in Circe's Island metamorphos'd into Swine, whom 13 Zoilus calls, little Squeaking Pigs; of Jupiter's being nurfed by the Doves like one of their Young, of Ulyffes in a Wreck, when he took no Suftenance for ten Days, and those incredible Abfurdities concerning the Death of the Suitors; all these are undeniable Instances of this in the Odyssey. 14 Dreams indeed they are, but such as even, Jove might dream.

I have digreffed thus far, for the fake of fhewing, as I obferved before, that a decrease of the Pathetic in great Orators and Poets of ten ends 15 in the moral kind of writing.. Thus the Odysey furnishing us with Rules of Morality

Morality, drawn from that courfe of Life, which the Suitors lead in the Palace of Ulyf fes, has in fome degree the Air of a Comedy, where the various Manners of Men are ingeniously and faithfully described.

SECTION X.

LET us confider next, whether we cannot find out fome other means, to infuse Sublimity into our Writings. Now, as there are no Subjects, which are not attended by some adherent Circumftances, an accurate and judicious Choice of the moft fuitable of these Circumftances, and an ingenious and skilful Connexion of them into one Body, must neceffarily produce the Sublime. For what by the judicious Choice, and what by the skilful Connexion, they cannot but very much affect the Imagination.

Sappho is an Inftance of this, who having obferv'd the Anxities and Tortures infeparable to jealous Love, has collected and displayed them all with the moft lively Exactness. But in what Particular has she fhewn her Excellence? In selecting those Circumstances, which fuit beft with her Subject, and afterwards connecting them together with so much Art.

Bleft

'

Bleft as th'immortal Gods is be,
The Youth who fondly fits by thee,
And bears, and fees thee all the while
Softly Speak, and fweetly smile.

'Twas this depriv'd my Soul of Reft,
And rais'd fuch Tumults in my Breaft;
For while I gaz'd, in Transport toft,
My Breath was gone, my Voice was loft.

My Bofom glow'd; the fubtle Flame
Ran quick thro' all my vital Frame;
O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness bung;
My Ears with hollow Murmurs rung.

In dewy Damps my Limbs were chill'd;
My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd;
My feeble Pulfe forgot to play,
I fainted, funk, and dy'd away.

I

Philips.

Are you not amaz'd, my Friend, to find how in the fame Moment fhe is at a lofs for her Soul, her Body, her Ears, her Tongue, her Eyes, her Colour, all of them as much absent from her, as if they had never belonged to her? And what contrary Effects does the feel together? She glows, the chills, the raves, The reafons; now fhe is in Tumults, and now The is dying away. In a Word, fhe feems not

to

to be attacked by one alone, but by a Combination of the most violent Paffions.

All the Symptoms of this kind are true Effects of jealous Love; but the Excellence of this Ode, as I obferved before, confifts in the judicious Choice and Connexion of the most notable Circumftances. And it proceeds from his due Application of the most formidable Incidents, that the Poet excels fo much in defcribing Tempefts. 2 The Author of the Poem on the Armafpians doubts not but these Lines are great and full of Terror.

Ye Pow'rs, what Madness! how on Ships fo frail
(Tremendous Thought!) can thoughtless Mortals fail?
For ftormy Seas they quit the pleafing Plain,

Plant Woods in Waves, and dwell amidst the Main.
Far o'er the Deep (a trackless Path) they go,
And wander Oceans in pursuit of Woe.

No Eafe their Hearts, no Reft their Eyes can find,
On Heav'n their Looks, and on the Waves their Mind
Sunk are their Spirits, while their Arms they rear,
And Gods are wearied with their fruitless Pray'r.

Mr. Pope

Every impartial Reader will discern that thefe Lines are florid more than terrible. But how does Homer raise a Defcription, to mention only one Example amongst a thousand!

He