PHYSICAL AND LITERARY. 109 



fucceed in fome particular cafes, inftead 

 pr other gymaaftic methods generally or- 

 deicd. 



We touched at Corfu, where we ad- 

 mired, the mildnefs of tlfe climate, and 

 the fertility of the foil, which juftifies 

 Homer's praifes of its pleafintnefs, and 

 the uninterrupted fuccelTion of its fruits. 

 His defcription of the river in which 

 Ulyffes fwam, of the gardens of Alcinous,^ 

 and of the Port, are lo ftriking and juft, 

 that it feems eafy to determine their fitu- 

 ation, though the reality of them has been 

 doubted of by other travellers. I have 

 often remarked what has been obferved 

 by many, that, in fpeaking of countries 

 and cities, this great poet generally men- 

 tions fome few remarkable indelible pro* 

 perties or characters by which they are e- 

 ver after eafily known. 



The firft place we landed at in the Pe- 

 Joponnefe, was Patras, where, among the 

 few remains of antiquity ftill extant, I faw 

 the well famous for its prognoflicating 

 the fate of the fick who confulted this o- 

 racle. Paufanias fpeaks of it, as if he 



did 



