Phoenician.

Even where he is moft fabulous, he takes the hint from tales propagated before his time, and embroiders his own variations on that extravagance, which had already the fan&tion of popular credulity. Thus the poet's genius, though impatient of the limited knowledge of his age, is unwilling to abandon nature; and when he seems to defert her, it is in favour of fome pleafing irregularity, which vulgar opinion had fubfituted in her place. This mixture of fomething, that was either true, or commonly believed to be fo, with regard to the fcene of his fabulous narration, is obfervable in his defcription of the islands of Circe, Eolus, and above all, in that of Calypfo.

His knowledge of the fun fetting in the ocean might fall within the obfervation even of that confined ftate of navigation, which we may reasonably allow to his age; for it is probable, that not only the Phoenicians, but the Poet's countrymen, had paffed the Pillars of Hercules, and of course could, as eye witnesses, report fuch an appearance. But how he could learn that the fun rifes out of the ocean, or that the globe is entirely furrounded by water, was fo much beyond my idea of his experience, that I continued to attribute this knowledge to guefs and conjecture; till upon further confideration I was induced to think, that this account of the ocean, upon which fo much of his geographical fcience is founded, will, if rightly underflood, rather convince us of his ignorance upon that head; and that

the ocean in his time had a very different meaning from that which it now conveys. Nor am I furprifed that, fomuch later, Herodotus fhould treat this idea of an ocean, where the fun rifes, as a poetical fiction.

HOMER'S WINDS.

Under the article of Homer's country, we have anticipated fome obfervations on the winds of that climate; but his navigation naturally engages us in a further confideration of this fubject. We find only thofe which blow from the four cardinal points exprefsly mentioned in the Iliad and Odyffey. In the ftorm which Neptune prepares against Ulyffes, failing from Calypfo's ifland, they are all introduced in the following order, Eurus, Notus, Zephyrus, and Boreas.

So imperfect a lift of winds correfponds with the coafting navigation of thofe times, and forbids us to expect more than a general idea of their nature and qualities. Some of the ancients imagined, that the Poet meant to exprefs a fubdivifion of thofe principal winds by certain epithets; which they understood to convey the idea (for which it should feem the Greek language had not yet found a name), it is rather to be difcovered where he employs two of them together, as in the inftances already taken notice of, where Boreas and Zephyrus blow from the Thracian mountains on the Egean fea; for if we tranflate them literally, the North-west, we shall bring that defcription ftill nearer to nature and truth*.

Taking thofe winds in the order in which the Poet has placed them,

we

It

we find their most remarkable difference of character is, that Eurus and Notus are more mild and gentle, Zephyrus and Boreas more ftormy and boisterous. The two first are introduced less frequently than the last; for, as allufions of this kind generally ferve to illuftrate animated pictures, the characters of Zephyrus and Boreas beft fuit the Poet's purpose upon fuch occafions. Accordingly we find them employed oftener in the Iliad than in the Odyffey. Eurus is never diftinguished by an epithet: and Notus only by that of fwift. They are never reprefented as perfons, except in one inftance; they are defcribed by qualities, the reverse of those of their antagonist winds; for Eurus is employed in melting the fnow, which Zephyrus brings down; and Notus covers the mountain-tops with clouds, which it is the business of Boreas to dispel.

Zephyrus is called hard-blowing, rapid, the swiftest of all the winds, noify, whistling or rattling, moift, and is reprefented as bringing rain or fnow.

I find two paffages in the Odyffey, which feem to give an idea of Zephyrus, different from this general character, and more like the Zephyr of modern poetry. One is in the Poet's defcription of the Elyfian plain, where neither winter's "fnow nor rain are feen, but a "continual refreshing Zephyr blows from the ocean;" the other is the defcription of Alcinous's gardens, where the rich vegetation is afcribed to a conflant Zephyr.

When we recolle&t (what I have above attempted to prove) that the Zephyr of Homer's country, upon which he must have formed his familiar ideas of that wind, blew from the mountains of Thrace; and that the two inftances which I have given, are the only ones in which he defcribes the qualities of that wind in a distant western climate, in lead of contradiction and inconfiftence, we discover an extenfive knowledge of nature. For, while he is accurate in his accounts of the known appearances of his own country, he accommodates his defcription to what he had either heard or feen in diftant parts. To have used the gentle Zephyr, in a fimile addressed to Ionian readers, or to have given the character of feverity to that of western climates, would have been equally incorrect.

Both Zephyrus and Boreas make their appearance as perfons; they are equally concerned in kindling the funeral pile of Patroclus, at the prayer of Achilles. Xanthus and Balius, the immortal horfes of that hero, are the offspring of Podarge and Zephyrus; a pedigree worthy of Homer's imagination, but, perhaps, like many of his fictions, engrafted upon fome tradition, which had popular prejudice on it's fide. For a ftrange notion prevailed, that upon the coast of the Atlantic ocean mares were impregnated by the west wind; and however ridiculous this opinion may appear, it has been feriously fupported by grave and refpectable writers of a more enlightened age. As to the amours of Zephyrus and Flora, they are the

natural

natural mythology of later poets and of a more weitern climate, and unknown to Ionia and Homer. Boreas is rapid and violem, but ferene and drying; difpels clouds, brings hoar-froft and foow, is clear, pure, wholefome, and reviving.

This account of Boreas coincides much more with that of modern poetry, and is in general more agrecable to the experience and ob. fervation of western climates, than that of Eurus and Zephyrus.

It has probably been owing to Homer's example, that fucceeding poets and artills, though in other refpects departing from his defcription of thofe fubjects, often reprefent Borcas and Zephyrus as perfons. Their air and figure are fa miliar to us in the machinery of modern poetry, as well as in the works of painters and fculptors, who give the character of harth and aged feverity to one, and that of youthful beauty and gentleness to the other; while Eurus and Notus, efpecially the latter, appear fo feldom in a human fhape, and are fo imperfectly described, that we have no determinate idea of their drefs or perfons.

We find the figures of the four principal with the four intermediate winds, in alto relievo, bigger than life, on the octagon tower of Andronicus Cyrrhettes at Athens. As this is the only monument of antiquity, that I have feen, where they are fo well executed and fo well preferved, I examined them with a view to thofe conformities between the poet and the fculptor, by which we fometimes trace the borrowed idea to its original fource, but with little fuccefs. Whether it was that the artift was confined to

certain ideas by the intended use of this tower, which was particularly adapted to the meridian of Attica; or that his invention was inferior to his execution, I shall not venture to judge; but there is a famenefs of attitude, drapery, and character, in thofe winds, that would make it very difficult to diftinguish their names, were they not infcribed over each figure.

I cannot finish this article without comparing Homer and Virgil as navigators, in order to fhew the fuperior accuracy of the former with regard to thofe minute circumftances of nature and truth. The winds which Homer employs in his poem are adapted to the hip's failing, to which Virgil does not pay the fame attention. I fhall confine myself to one inftance. The defcription of the departure of Eneas from Carthage is not only inconfiftent with truth and poffibility, in this refpect, but contradictory to itfelf. He fails in the morning with a weft wind, which is very improperly called favourable; but before he is out of fight of Carthage, we find him pursuing his courfe with a north wind, which is ftill more contrary to his intended courfe; when, in the evening, he has gotten clear of the land, the wind changes to the weft with every prognoftic of a stormy night; Palinurus, in this fituation, orders his men to reef their fails and ply their oars ; but, finding it vain to ftruggle with this weft wind, which was before called favourable, he confults the ftars in a very dark night, and concluding that he is not far from the coast of Sicily, iteers for that island."

Travels

Travels in Afia Minor: or, an Account of a Tour made at the Expence of the Society of Diletanti. By Richard Chandler, D. D. Fellow of Magdalen College, and of the Society of Antiquaries. Vol. 4to.

TH

HE author dedicates his work to his employers; and we altogether agree with him in the praife they deferve. He will forgive us, that for a moment we defer the praife that is due to his ingenious labours, while we do justice to the liberal and enlightened principles of his patrons, who engaged him in this work.

The Society of Diletanti, in a manner, exculpate our times from the imputation of fordid and felfish enjoyments: they do credit to their rank and fortune, when their patronage and liberality are employed in a noble attention to arts and letters.

Dr. Chandler has executed his work with care and diligence; and it was a work not to be executed by any man, who was not furnished with a fund of knowledge and learning. We will not prefume to pafs a judgment either of diffent, or agreement, on the juftness of many conjectures of Dr. Chandler; it was part of his duty to fuggeft his opinions; and fo far from cenfuring his fo doing, we rather regret that he has not even been more liberal in his conjectures, as the very offer of an opinion, tends to the investigation of truth, tho' it may not immediately hit upon it, as it creates that difcuffion and examination, without which the juftness of no propofition can be afcertained. Whether the opinion of the Barrows, fuppofed to be

thofe of Achilles, and other claffical heroes, is well founded or not, we muft fufpend our judgment, till Dr. Chandler favours the world with other effays; but we regret that they could not be made part of this prefent work.

The utility of travels, on the principle thefe were made, is too apparent to need difcuffion. The prefent manners which prevail in that country, fo long the feat of fcience, arts, commerce, and refinement, and the contrast of its prefent ftate with its antient hiftory, is a fubject which gives a peculiar and touching intereft to

all relations of travels into the dominions of the Grand Seignior. The author makes us feel this impreffion, in a very lively and fenfible manner, in many parts of his work. It were to be wished that the cuts of the feveral ruins had accompanied the narrative of the travels. As they were the great object of the journey, it feems in a manner defective, as it is certainly lefs entertaining without them.

Our extract all begin from his fight of mount Ida, comprehending the defcription of the Turks.

"The next morning we had paffed Pfyra, corruptly called Ipfera; Scio was on our right hand; Lefbos or Mitylene on our left; and the mouth of the gulph of Smyrna not very remote before us. The plague, as we were informed at Leghorn, having appeared at this place in the fpring, our captain was unwilling to arrive there before it fhould have ceafed, and now refolved to proceed direaly to Conftantinople. The gale was fair, and the opportunity too favourable to be neglected, it being common in fummer to meet with a contrary

contrary wind, and to be detained on the fea or forced to anchor off Tenedos. We were oppofite cape Baba or Lectos, a promontory of mount Ida, in the evening; and had in view Tenedos and Lemnos and the main land both of Europe and Afia. We could difcern fires on Lefbos, as before on feveral iflands and capes, made chiefly by fishermen and fhepherds, who live much abroad in the air; or to burn the strong ftalks of the Turkey wheat and the dry herbage on the mountains. In the day-time a column of smoke often afcends, vifible afar.

Saturday, Auguft the 25th, the fun rifing beautifully behind mount Ida difclofed its numerous tops, and brightened the furface of the fea. We were now entering the Hellefpont, with the Troad on our right hand, and on the left the Cherronefe or peninfula of Thrace. About fix in the morning we were within Sigeum and the oppofite promontory Maftufia. They are divided by a very narrow ftrait. We then paffed between the two caftles erected by Mahomet the Fourth in 1659. That on the European fide ftands high, the other low; and by each is a town. Thefe ftructures, with the houfes, the graceful minarets and cypreffes, the mountains, and iflands, and fhining water, formed a view exceedingly delicious. The cocks crowed afhore, and were anfwered by thofe in our coops on board, the waves broke on the Afiatic beach with an amusing murmur, and the foft air wafted fragrance.

the river Scamander, which had a bank or bar of fand at the mouth. The fream was then inconfiderable, but, we were told, is in winter frequently fwollen to a great fize, and difcolours the fea far without the promontories. The shore of the Cherronese, as we advanced, was fteep, of a dry barren afpect, and contrafted by the Afiatic coaft, which rifes gently, mount Ida terminating the view. The width of the Hellefpont, the fmoothness of the water, and the rippling of the current, reminded us of the Thames. Xerxes but flightly degraded it, when he filed it a falt river.

We now faw a level and extenfive plain, the fcene, as we conceived, of the battles of the Iliad, with barrows of heroes, and

We now approached the inner caftles, which were erected by Mahomet the fecond, and command a very narrow ftrait, dividing the two continents. By each is a town; and at that in Afia was hoifted a white flag, near the feafide, and alfo a red one with the crofs. Thefe belonged to the English and French nations. As we had agreed to land here, the captain, when we were abreast with the Afiatic caftle, brought the hip too, and made a fignal for a scheick or wherry to come along fide. Our baggage was lowered into it with great expedition, and we quitted the fhip, which fired three guns, and failed away.

After leaving the Anglicana, we had fcarcely time to contemplate the favage figures of our boatmen, who had their necks and arms bare, and their faces yellow from the fun, before we reached land. The current carried us below the caftle, where we saw on the fhore two Turkish women. But what figures! each wrapped in a white sheet, fhapelefs, and Dalk

ing