And on the Trojan Plain. 219 
The scenery presented to the eye of the 
iraveller in the road is beautifully rich, 
picturesque, and sublime. From the smooth 
and fertile plain, the eye turns with pleasure 
to the snowy peaks of Ida, the blue Kgean, 
the isles of Samothrace, T’enedos, and Im- 
bros, and the stupendous mount Athos, which, 
though at distance of 100 miles, forms a pro- 
minent feature in the landscape. And when 
he beholds, realised to his view, the scene of 
those actions which inspired the mighty poet ; 
the fields where those battles were fought,— 
the delight of his early years; and the grassy 
mounds which cover the ashes of his well 
known heroes,—of the gentle Hector at whose 
fate he has wept, and of the angry Achilles at 
whose rage he has trembled: when he beholds 
the dizzy Scamander rolling at his feet,—the 
broad Hellespont extended before him,—those 
lofty peaks, the course of Juno’s chariot,— 
and that, the throne of Jove himself ; the scep- 
ticism, which at a distance may have obscured 
his belief in the records of Homer, will here 
vanish like mist before the blaze of day, and 
he will exclaim with the poet, 
‘‘ Minstrel! with thee to muse, to mourn, 
“To trace again those scenes of yore, 
“ Believing every hillock green 
“Contains no fabled heroes’ ashes, 
