1807.) 
lic intercourfe. They are not unfre- 
quently fo narrow, that two carriages 
cannot pafs each other: when fuch 
meetings occur, it is a univerial rule, 
and feems generally underftood, that 
the vehicle which has proceeded the 
leaft dittance, fhall back to a convenient 
opening, The fpot attracting moit at- 
tention in this ride, is Wootton-bridge ; 
the tide flowing into a {mall river here, 
forms a beautiful lake in the valley, the 
borders of which are ornamented with 
hanging woods, and the rifing grounds 
beyond are enlivened with detached cot- 
tages and farms. 
Ryde is a neat, cheerful,-little town, 
built on a pleafant eminence, with a fine 
command of profpect towards Portfmouth 
and Gofport, It is thé principal port on 
this fide the-ifland, whence embarka- 
tions are daily made for Portfmouth. The | 
fhore is of beautiful fand, and the bath- 
ing good. Had a crefcent been here 
formed, as was intended, facing the fea, 
the accommodations for company would 
have been much more agreeable than 
they now are. The modern buildings 
are fo arranged, as f{carcely to afford any 
view of the ocean, and from many of the 
lodging-houfes it is too fatiguing a walk 
tor the invalids often to reach it. -Al- 
though Ryde is one of the principal 
towns of the ifland, there is no refident 
clergyman in the place; anda gentleman 
who was there on the fabbath, went at 
the call of the bell to the chapel; but as 
neither parfon, clerk, nor congregation 
attended, he entered the defk and read 
prayers for his own edification.* On 
the fea-fhore, very near the town, is a 
large piece of watte ground, over which 
the traveller paffes to fome of the moft 
interetting fcenery in the neighbourhood. 
A vaft number of apparent graves ar- 
refted attention; but the defolatenefs, 
the expofure of the fpot, would not futfer 
us to believe it to be the confecrated 
re(t of thofe who had left the tender re- 
Jative, or the partial friend. On en- 
quiry we found, that here the bodies of 
* Amidft all our difficult and very expen- 
five attempts to convey the light of chriftian 
knowledge to the moft diftant parts of the 
globe, it is much to be lamented, that more 
attention has not been paid to our own family- 
ifles. Even in the Ifle of Wight it is not 
uncommon to meet with whole families who 
cannot read. Sunday-fchools are unknown, 
except among{t a refpectable fociety of dif- 
fenters, at Newport, and the poor in the 
villages ate in a deplorable ftate of igno- 
ance, 
a 
Lycaum of Ancient Literature.—No. V. 
347 
the unfortunate perfons who are drowned - 
and thrown afhore, are buried, and here 
part of the crew of the Royal George are 
interred. When money 1s found about 
the perfon, the body is depoftted in con- 
fecrated ground, and the funeral fervice 
is read; when otherwife, a hole is dug 
in this general repofitory, and without 
cofin, and without ceremony, the duit is 
contigned to its native element.*—( To 
be continued. } 
eT 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
LYCHUM, OF ANCIENT LITERA- 
. TURE.—WNo. V. 
OF THE ODYSSEY, AND.SMALLER POEMS OF 
HOMER. ; 
T will not be neceflary for us to detain 
the reader lony on the fubject of the 
Odyffey ; it has by no means fo much en- 
gaged the attention of the Critics as the 
Thad.  Criticifm is in general produced 
by admiration, and beth feem to have 
been exbaufied on the latter poem, while 
the other has excited much lefs difcufsi- 
on. This, of itfelf, may be confidered 
as a fufficient proof of inferiority. Who- 
ever, indeed, perufes the Odyffey, will 
be convinced of the truth of the remark 
made by Longinus, that in this poem, Ho- 
mer may be compared to the fetting Sun, 
whofe grandeur fill remains without the 
heat of his meridian beams. It contains 
none of thofe fublime pictures, heroic 
characters, of thofe lively fcenes-and ani-~ 
mated paflayes, of that impaffioned elo- 
quence of fentiment and language, which 
{ucceed each other in the Hiad with fo 
muchenergy and vigour. The Odyffey is 
perhaps a more amuling work, as polleiling 
greater variety. It contains many in- 
tereiting {tories and fome beautiful paf- 
fages, The fame deicriptive and drama- 
tic genius, and the fame fertility of inven- 
tion are ftill obtfervable. But the fables 
of the Ihad are calculated to {trike and ex- 
alt the imagination, while the other, by 
defcending from the dignity of gods and he- 
roes, are more likely to difguit and degrade 
it. The -wildeft fictions and the boldeft 
flights of the Iliad have yet a charaétes of 
grandeur and fublimity which pleafe the 
tancy of the reader though they may not in- 
* Tt was with concern I learned that rhe 
Humane Society has not extended its bene- 
volent aufpicesto the Ile of Wight. I was 
affured by a perfon on the fpot, that a body 
retaining fome warmth, had very recently 
been wathed afhore; but there is no apparatus, 
no fociety, nu houfes of reception for the re- 
covery of drowned perfons in the whole 
land! : P 
aw aiigence 
