1 8 Gleanings from the 



nefts, too, in the hollow cave at the landing- 

 place in Ithaca. Wafps are named with them as 

 making their abodes in a rugged path, and not 

 quitting them at the approach of the fpoiler, but 

 fighting for their young. A pafTage which fpeaks 

 of the Trojans iffuing forth from their city, mows 

 that boy-nature was with the Greeks much the 

 fame as it is with us; "they poured out like wafps 

 dwelling near a road-fide, which filly boys are ac- 

 cuftomed to irritate, ever difturbing them as they 

 live in their road-fide homes, and caufe a common 

 evil to many ; and if by chance a wayfarer going 

 by mould unwittingly difturb them, they with their 

 flrong hearts fly each one ftraight before it, and 

 fight for their little ones." 1 



In contemplating the wide range of Homer's 

 natural hiftory, and the evident love with which 

 he dwells upon fome of the nobler forms of 

 animal life, we cannot help being ftruck with the 

 prodigality of his allufions to animals. It fhows 

 the ftrength of his fympathies with outer nature. 

 He may thus be advantageoufly compared with 

 his fuccefTors in Epic poetry. Virgil lavifhes his 

 tendernefs on birds and beasts in the "Eclogues" 

 and " Georgics," but feldom names them in the 

 "^Eneid ;" feldom, that is, as compared with the 

 frequency with which they do duty as fimiles, or to 

 enliven the Homeric landfcapes. Save in his firft 

 book, or when treating more efpecially of creation, 

 Milton is equally reticent. Indeed, the few allu- 

 fions which our poet does make to animal life, 

 or even to plants and flowers other than thofe 

 1 "Iliad," xvi. 259. 



