[ i° ] 



authority of Herodotus, but from other concurrent circum- 

 ftances, that previous to his writing no fuch reprefentations 

 exifted, the probable alternative will be that his poetical por- 

 traitures were in effect the archetypes from whence, either in 

 his age or in that immediately fucceeding, the images of the 

 Gods were compofed and formed. Indeed there is fcarcely a 

 divinity in all the hoft of the Grecian heavens whofe fymbolic 

 form, fuch as it has been handed down to us by ftatues, wc 

 may not diftindly figure to oiirfelves by an attentive confi- 

 deration of his expreffive epithets and pidlurefque defcrip- 

 tions. 



And here I will, with the utmofl diffidence, take the liberty 

 of fuggefting a circiimftance which, if it were founded in fadl, 

 would ftrongly operate in fiivour of this laft-mentioned opinion 

 of Herodotus. My recolledion does not enable me pofitively 

 to affert, yet I do not believe that Homer in any part of his 

 writings acflually defcribes as an idol any flatue of the Gods. 

 The deities themfelves he frequently paints to our imagination 

 in the moft lively colours, but no where, that I recoiled, enters 

 into any detailed defcription of their reprefentations. If this 

 be the fad, the prefumption will undoubtedly be ftrong that 

 no idol worthy of being defcribed exifted previous to his time, 

 or at the leafl during the period of which he treats, fince 

 affuredly innumerable opportunities muft have offered them- 

 felves in the courfe of his poems for diverfifying and enriching 

 them by fuch defcription. The only inftance that I recoiled 

 either in the Iliad or Odyffey where any mention is made of 



an 



