Page:Life and Writings of Homer.pdf/22

10 been the first or second Generation, after the Transplantation or rather the final Settlement of this Colony, from the rocky Morea to these happy Lands: A Situation, in which Nature is observed to make the most vigorous Efforts, and to be most profuse of her genial Treasure. The Curious in Horses, are concerned to have a mixed Breed, a Remove or two from the foreign Parent; and what Influence it might have here, will belong to the Curious in Mankind to determine.

Homer then, came into the World, in such a Country, and under so propitious an Aspect of Nature, we must next enquire, what Reception he met with upon his Arrival; in what Condition he found things, and what Dispositions they must produce in an exalted Genius, and comprehensive Mind. This is a difficult Speculation, and I shou’d be under no small Apprehensions how to get thro’ it, if I did not know that Men moving, like your Lordship, in the higher Spheres of Life, are well acquainted with the Effects of Culture and Education. They know the Changes they are able to produce; and are not surprized to find them, as it were, new moulding human Creatures, and transforming them more than Urganda or Circe. The Influence of Example and Discipline is, in effect, so extensive, that some very acute Writers have mistaken it for the only Source