•1't>'4 Oh Hit Machhiery of the 



turtirbeingS'intet-fcre with the human actors of 

 the^ poe^m . The one is by i' kind 6P insp iration , 

 eTevatihg those, Avhoni they favour^ and de- 

 pressing and terrifying those, whom they hate 

 and persecute. This to a poet may, perhaps, 

 be tolerated, though it is a miserable exhibition 

 of the popular di-vinities^ and accounts too 

 w^ir'for the debased moral of thd heathens, 

 thcii- 'partiJtl ' affections, their • vindictive and 

 implacable passions, their waht'of ^ll^ympathy 

 for man as man. It may be considered in this 

 ^y, as a mere poetical fiction or imagery, 

 fconveying in niore emphatic terms the idea of 

 the grind, or -'the terrible. But the poetical 

 illusion vanisHes', whfeh- in the second way 

 tlie^ deitic^ lire personally introdticed on the 

 sta^^e; never above, generally below the 

 standard of nieii ; serving to no purpose but 

 a^' the necessary appendages of a national 

 lioein, or as a sacrifice to a political re- 

 H*^ton, but derived from a popular faith, 

 which was the very dotage of a low, gross, and 

 vicious superstition. 



• Of this second class are the following -in- 

 'fe^hces, which, among many others that might 

 Be adduced, it maybe sufficient to notice. 

 noDiomed is a warrior of the highest order. 

 Is hiS heroism exalted by the personal accom- 

 -[inriktient -and co-operation of Minerva ? 



