H O M 



105 



H O N 



pardon many maxims of moral conduct which Ulysses 

 practically avows: but if by sentiment we mean the 

 tied feeling of the heart, where, it may be 

 asked, shall we find it, if it is not found in the pathetic 

 situation* of Telemachus, the conjugal lo> e of Penelo- 

 pe, and the return of Ulysses to his home, with all the 

 circumstances that attend it, his aged dog expiring 

 with joy at his feet, and his father relating to him, 

 while be retain* hit disguise, all the little circum- 

 stances of his childhood that could awaken his tender- 



Besides the Iliad and Odyssey, Homer is said to 

 have composed another poem, entitled Marviiet. It is 

 now lost. It is said by some to have been a comedy ; 

 bat, from some rerses in the contest between Homer 

 and Hesiod, it may be rather conjectured to have been 

 piece of mockery and satire. Margites is the name 

 of a person in a verse that is preserved by Plato, who 

 it described as knowing many thing*, and knowing no- 

 thing welL Such a character may hare been the ori- 

 ginal hero of Homer's satire, and been thus damned to 

 everuuting memory, like the Mac Flecknoe of Dryden. 

 The little mock heroic of the Battle of Ikr Mice and 

 Frog*. i> well known, from Parnell'i translation, to the 

 English reader. Professor Heyne supposes it spurious, 

 because be finds scarcely any Tones in it that breathe 



the spirit of Homer ; bat this is no decisive argument, 

 as Homer might be the worst of all parodists, though 

 the best of original poets. The hymns attributed to 

 him deserve more attention, as, along with those of 

 CalUmaehsM, they form a curious historical monument 

 of the popular superstitions of antiquity. L nfortu- 

 nately, in the numerous collection f them which 

 Clarke's Homer exhibits, there is only one perhaps, 

 vis. the Hymn to A potto, which is not apocryphal ; and 

 the scholisst of Pindar throws doubts even upon that 

 one. Bat Thucydides recognised in that ode the 

 touch of Homeric genius, and the suflrages of a scho- 

 bast has certainly no right to be put in competition 

 with that of so elegant a writer. As to the epigrams 

 that have been occasionally ascribed to him, they carry 

 internal proof of their sparioosness. (,) 



mtci<li*m). in law, is the killing 

 of any human creature. This act is of three kinds, ac- 

 cording to the circumstance* in which it is perpetrated, 



Ki/t>Ur, rr*M(Vr, and/aW/ns* or culpmUe. 

 Homicide mjutgmHt -irhen the act is commHted 

 MMr oMsW tttMnrotdaUMtr ncoGMfty, And infcrf no dtwmf 

 of guilt or blame ; as. for instance, by virtue of such 

 n oftVee as obliges one, in the execution of public jus- 

 tice, to put to death a malefactor, who hath forfeited 

 us life by the laws and verdict of his country. 

 act is also considered JusOsable in some cases, either 



i of 



psiblic jwstke, or for the prc- 



Homicidr is r-rraaastV, when a person engaged 



t:.- OH I .,:' .,; g 



in a 



lawful art i. without intention, 



desth. F.nrusable homicide is of two kinds; either rr 



irfartmtmm, by misadventure, or It d'Jcmdendo, in srlf. 



defence, including homicide upon chance-medley, where- Homolo- 



by s man kills another, who assaults him, in the course 



of a sudden brawl or quarrel. Honduras. 



Felonious or culpable homicide has different degrees, \ av ~ y - v ' 

 wh ch distinguish the offence into manslaughter and 

 wilful murder ; in the last of which, the act, being com- 

 mitted from malice and forethought, admits of no de- 

 and subjects the criminal to the highest pun- 

 i->hment of the law. See Blackstone ; Erskine ; and 

 Hume On Crime*. (:) 



HOMOLOGOUS SIDES and ANGLES. See GEO- 

 METRY, vol. x. p. 414, col. 1. 



HOMOPHONI, in music, denotes the unison whose 

 ratio is 1 = 1, and whose expression in Farey's notation 

 is 0. See : .' nor. 



HON AN s,. t . lm\\, vol. vi. p. 214, col. 1. 



HONIH I: \>. r Hiai'ERAS, a maritime province 

 of the Spanish kingdom of Guatimala in America, 

 which the Spaniards calculate to extend 185 leagues 

 from north to south, and 50 from east to west. The sur- Climt. 

 face is in general mountainous, and is intersected by deep 

 vallies, conducting numerous rivers down to the sea ; 

 but part of the coast is extremely low and marshy. 

 A hot and humid atmosphere renders the province un- 

 healthy, unless on the shore, where regular breezes re- 

 fresh the inhabitants ; and here epidemical diseases 

 rarely prevail. .Thunder showers are frequent during 

 the warmest season, sometimes raging with great 

 lence. This province is penetrated by a large bay, 

 called the Bay of Honduras, to which our notice shall 

 be more particularly directed : the coast abound* hi 

 dangers to the mariner from rocks and shoali ; and all 

 along its margin are keys, that is, peninsulas or promon- 

 tories, between creeks and the mouths of rivers. These 

 keys are known by different names, as St George's 

 key, Tumeff key, Ambergrease key, and the like ; and 

 some of the islands pass by the same denomination. 



Some authors affirm, thai gold and silver are found Natural 

 in Honduras ; but, according to the late traveller Hum- produe- 

 boldt, it scarcely presents any metallic mines. Vege- tion '- 

 tat ion is in remarkable luxuriance, and the plants nume- 

 rous and diversified. Grapes are produced twice a year 

 from the vines; sugar canes, coffee, cotton, and in- 

 digo, are abundant, and also grain of several kinds ; 

 but the inhabitants are too indolent to avail themselves 

 of the benefits of nature. The most important plants, 

 in a commercial view, are mahogany and logwood ; the 

 former is employed for all descriptions of furniture in 

 Britain and America, and the latter lor <l\eing. Chiefly 

 for the purpose of obtaining these two commodities, a 

 British settlement has long been established in the Bay 

 of Honduras ; and a vast quantity of the former is ex- 

 ported annually. The mode of* procuring it, is to 

 dispatch a skilful negro to climb the highest trees on 

 lofty places, for the purpose of discovering mahogany 

 in the wools, which is generally solitary, and 

 at a great distance, from the yellowish hue of its fo- 

 liage. A gang of from ten to fifty slaves is then sent 

 out to erect a scaffold around each tree that is select- 



. - , . 



at ih* tctnn of iMi sort with which Homer atx.un<l. In corn- 



sou XL fABT I. 



