72 DEFINITION OF POETRY. 



still ; Madame de Stael had recourse to opium, Charles 

 Lamb to tobacco, and Leigh Hunt to tea ; Dermocly 

 drank porter, Wordsworth water, and Person brandy : 

 we are not correctly informed as to the potations of old 

 Homer, Virgil however was not disinclined to a cup of 

 Cseeuban sometimes, and many a good drop Horace 

 and Macsenas drank in concord. Notwithstanding the 

 variety of influences under which these worthy people 

 produced their lucubrations my definition will answer 

 for all. 



A few specimens < exempli gratia ' as my reverend 



friend St. J n would say (many a pleasant day's 



fishing we have had together.) 



Homer has been called the prince of poets, and he 

 deserves the title ; for, the greater the falsehood he had 

 to tell, the better he seemed to be pleased with him- 

 self; my worthy friend M y told me one evening, 



when we were partners at whist, that he had read over 

 Homer twenty times and learned something good every 

 time so much for taste. Homer says 



"That Achilles was agorf in might;" "That the ri>-t r Xanthus 



bellowed like a bull;'" "That it hissed like a cauldron wheivin ;i 



fat boar was Stewing In /'/* men Innl ;" " That lancet drink blood ;' r 



"That his heroes fought like Jlamcs ;" "That they fouuht lik<> 



voracious ?n>/n -x who devour lambs and kids;" "That Hcctar 



walked about like a sm>ii'-C(i]>pc<l tnounftiin." 



The poet Virgil in describing Scylla and Charybdis says 



" Dextrum Scylla latus, laevum implacata Charybdis 



Obsidet ; atque imo barathri ter gurgite vastos 



Sorbet in abruptum fluctus, rursusque sub auras 



Erigit alternos, et sidera verberat unda. ^En. L.III. v. 420 Ac. 



"Strikes the stars with its foam :" now if we sup- 

 pose the moon to be one of Virgil's stars for the sake 

 of its propinquity then as its mean distance from the 

 earth is 236,267 miles we must have a wave of corres- 

 ponding altitude, what a bouncer ! fie fie Maro. 



One more from the bard of Mantua. 



" Ilos super advenit Volsca de gente Camilla, 

 Agmen agens equitum, et florentes sere catervas, 

 Bellatrix ; nou ilia colo calathisvc Minervae 

 Fcemineas assueta manus ; sed pnelia virgo 



