Page:Proofs of the Enquiry into Homer's Life and Writings.pdf/103

Rh Proofs of the Enquiry into ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ' ■

impregnated the Gales that play among these wonderful Gardens, full of Orange and Lemon Trees, flowering all the Year round, that I began to fancy my self in some Part of Paradise : For, as far as your Eye can reach around, you see nothing but what delights every Sense. The Sight is entertained with the noble Prospect of the Sea, and of a Country full of the most beautiful Trees : The Ears are charmed with the infinite Variety of little singing Birds, who night nor day cease not their chearing Song: Provisions are here in Plenty, and exquisite both for Health and Taste : and the Manners of the People are mild, affable and courteous ; so that to describe every thing, one might compose a great Book of the Excellencies of the Place.'

SECTION

XII.

IT i s said to be a Blemifi in the greater Part of poetical Compositions, particularly of the Epic and Dramatic kinds, that while you are reading, you perceive them to be Fi ctions. One great Reason of this Miscarriage is, that the Persons introduced speak not naturally, but talk as poetically as the Poet himself : This the most ingenious and mild of all the modern Critics, Mr. De la Motte, condemns in the ENE ID. z Rh