326 LIGHT SCIEXCE FOR LEISURE HOURS. 



one cannot doubt that in such an arrangement Homer 

 exhibits admirable taste and judgment. The contrast 

 between action and inaction, or between the confused 

 tumult of a heady conflict and the subtle advance of 

 the two Greek heroes, is conceived in the true poetic 

 spirit. The dignity and importance of the action, and 

 the interest of the interposed events, are alike en- 

 hanced. Indeed, there is scarcely a noted author 

 whose works do not afford instances of corresponding 

 contrasts. How skilfully, for example, has Shake- 

 speare interposed the " bald, disjointed chat " of the 

 sleepy porter between the conscience-wrought horror 

 of Duncan's murderers and the " horror, horror, hor- 

 ror " which " tongue nor heart could not conceive nor 

 name" of his faithful followers. Nor will the reader 

 need to be reminded of the frequent and effective use 

 by Dickens of the contrast between the humorous and 

 the pathetic. 



The labored character of the description of the 

 shield is an argument though not, perhaps, a very 

 striking one of the independent origin of the poem. 



But the arguments on which I am disposed to lay 

 most stress lie nearer the surface. 



Scarcely any one, I think, can have read the de- 

 scription of the shield without a feeling of wonder that 

 Homer should describe the shield of a mortal hero as 

 adorned with so many and such important objects. 

 We find the sun and moon, the constellations, the waves 



