Page:Proofs of the Enquiry into Homer's Life and Writings.pdf/16



T has been a general Complaint among the Readers of the Enquiry, lately published, into the Life and Writings of Homer; ‘That though the chief Facts in it seem to be supported by Proof and Authority, yet they were obliged to take the Proofs themselves upon Trust; because the greatest part of them were adduced from Authors in the ancient Languages, Hebrew, Greek , and Latin, which it does not fall to every one's share to understand: And the others were taken from modern Authors in Spanish, Italian and French, which Languages were as rarely possessed by the Proficients in the Ancient.’

therefore of these Proofs may perhaps be useful; and as the Author of the Enquiry does not seem to have much consulted Rh