1807.] 
grefs of {kill in manufacture, become a 
ralvuable material in the fabrication of 
certain cloths. 
Under the ancient laws, there are in- 
Jpectors to examine the cloths, and re- 
port at the quarter-feffions whether they 
be made according to the f{tatute-regu- 
lations. Thefe pertous now take their 
fees; but yielding to the progres of the 
manufacture, no longer infitt upon the 
rigorous performance of their duty. 
Their office appears to be quite unne- 
cellary. 
The quantity of capital in the woollen 
trade and manufacture in the Weft of 
England, has been prodigioufly augment- 
ed fince machinery came to be employed. 
The confequence ‘of its employment has 
thus been to increafe the quantity of the 
manufac lure, 
workmen of any clafs out of bi eu 
The Spaniards, having cil, 
wool, one-third or one-half cheaper than 
thefe articles can be purchatec d in Eng- 
land, might rival us in the woollen ma- 
nutacture if they could procure our ma- 
ehinery. Sake 
—Sh a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
THE LYCHUM OF ANCIENT 
LITERATURE.—No. HI. 
THE ILIAD. 
UCH then is the uncertain account 
we have of Homer; fuch are the 
faint fhadows which antiquity reflect at 
this diftance of time. But if we recall 
the mind from this dark view of his ftory, 
and fix it all at once on the poems he 
has left us, cur pity is turned into won- 
der. We forget the rude draught of his 
perfon and fortune, to contemplate the 
nobler image of iis foul. The blind 
fongtter immediately vanithes, and in his 
room we are pre fented svat the father 
and prince of verte, the preacher of wilt 
dom and virtue, the founder of arts and 
fciences, the great mafter of civil life, 
and the counfellor of kings, Thefe were 
the titles which the ancients conferred 
on him, in their enthufiaftic admiration 
of the greatnefs of his thoughts, the tor- 
rent of his words, the charms of his 
fiétions, and the utility of his precepts. 
The Iliad, the firft and moft confider- 
able poem of Homer, is founded on the 
memorable war of Troy, occafioned by 
the feduction of Helen, carried on with 
alternate fucceffes and misfortunes, a 
mot terminated till after a clofe and vi- 
gorous hege of ten years. Some critics 
ef former ages, and a very ingenious 
not at all to throw the> 
foap, and. 
‘excent the Bible. 
kycaeum of Ancient Literature.—No. ITI, 135 
writer of our own, have not only affert-' 
ed that no fuch poet as Homer ever 
exited, but have even denied the oc- 
currence of any fuch event as the taking 
of Troy. But the attempt ‘to eftablifh 
fo fancifal an bypotheiis, contradicted by 
the whole body of ancient literature, 
can Be conlidered only as the chimera of 
men who, difdaining to follow the trace 
purfued by fo many other writers, have 
fought for novelty in the wildeft para- 
doxes and in the loofett conjectures, Tt 
is too late for all the efforts of modern 
fcepticifm to throw deubts upon a tranf= 
action corroborated by the teftimony of 
every claflic author, and whichisin no one 
of the ancient writings either exprefsly 
denied or even incidentally queftioned. 
That we are indebted for many of the 
incidents in the poem folely to the in- 
vention of the poet, is heyond difpute ; 
but it may be confidered as equally cer~ 
tain, that the Hahah ect was not invented 
by him, but is the reprefentation of a 
real fact which took place long before 
his time. 
The Thad is ungueftionably the nobleft 
monumeut of human genius ever exhi- 
bited to the world, and has been tran 
mitted to us withthe jufteft admiration, 
through every age. But when we com- 
mence its perufal, we fhould previoully 
conilider that we are about to read the 
mott ancient book that ever was written, 
It is highly neceflary 
that we fhould keep this in mind; or we 
cannot enter into the fpinit, nor tafte the 
compofition, of the poem. The reader 
muft not expect to find the correétnefs 
aud elegance of the Auouftan age. He 
mutt diveft hirafelf of all modem ideas 
of refinement, and fuffer himfelf to. be 
traniported in imagination $000 years 
back in the hiftory of mankind. He 
will fee admirable reprefentations of 
characters and manners, but full retain 
ing a tinéture of the frvage ftate ; moral 
ideas, as yet nuperfectly formed; bodily 
fircngth prized as a principal endow- 
ment; patiions not curbed by the re- 
ftraints of a more advanced itate of fo- 
ciety; uncommon beauty of language, 
fometimes employed on very trivial fub- 
jects; and a motley affemblage of por- 
‘traits varioully drawn, but each repre- 
fenting, In the truett colours, the virtues 
or the imperfections of the human 
mind. 
The opening of the Thad certainly 
does not poffe fs that dignity which a mo- 
dern expects in a preat epic poem. It 
begins with no higher fubjeét than the 
difpute 
