Page:Life and Writings of Homer.pdf/25

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HERE is, My Lord, a thing, which, tho' it has happened in all Ages and Nations, is yet very hard to describe. Few People are capable of observing it, and therefore Terms have not been contrived to express a Perception that is taken from the widest Views of Human Affairs. It may be called a Progression of Manners; and depends for the most part upon our Fortunes: As they flourish or decline, so we live and are affected; and the greatest Revolutions in them produce the most conspicuous Alterations in the other: For the Manners of a I