Page:First book of the Iliad; Battle of the frogs and mice; Hymn to the Delian Apollo; Bacchus, or, the Rovers; second book of the Iliad (IA firstbookofiliad00home).pdf/16

 as it were, a peg whereon to hang a few detached and, otherwise, unconnected fragments. Such is the light in which I would have the reader regard them—and as such, I hope they will not prove altogether uninteresting to him. As to the imitations of Homer which present themselves at every page of our English Poets, the field is so wide, and the flowers so endless, that I prefer leaving them for the reader's own gathering—if he choose to undertake the task. They began to multiply upon my hands so fast, that I was compelled to omit them, or suffer the notes to swell beyond all bounds and proportion.