THE AVERAGE PRICES of NAVIGABLE CANAL SHARES and other PROPERTY, in November 1821 (to the 24th), at the Office of Mr. Scorr, 28, New Bridge street, LonHalf-year-Neath, 400/. Div. 251 per Ann.-Oxford, 6701. Div. 321.-Monmouth, 163 with 5. Half-year's Div-Barneslev, 170 ex Div. 5. Half-year —Grand Junction, 219 Div. 94. per Ann-Ellesmere, 62 ex Div. 34.-Rochdale, 431. 10s. Div. 21, per Ann.-Lancaster, 264. ex Div. 14-Regent's, 25l-Worcester and Birmdon.-Grand Trunk Canal, 18001. Div. 757. per Ann.-Birmingham, 560%. ex Div. 12/ ingham, 25-Thames and Medway, 204—Kenuet and Avon, 17/ 5s. ex Div. 16s. -Wilts and Berks, 31. — Severn and Wye Railway, 31. Div. 11. 6s. per Ann.— West India Dock, 1781. 10s. Div. 10. per Annum.-London Dock. 103/ Div. 41. per Annum.-Globe Assurance 1247. Div. 6l.—Imperial, 90%. Div. 4l. 10s.-Rock Assurance, 17. 18s, ex D v.—Grand Junction Water Works, 53l. 10s.—West Midd esex 507.

EACH DAY'S PRICE OF STOCKS IN NOVEMBER, 1821.

ew S. S. Anu. Nov. 22, 78 7

RICHARDSON, GOODLUCK, and Co. at their Old Established Office, Bank-Buildings, Cornhill.

JORN NICHOLS AND SON, 25, PARLIAMENT STREET, WESTMINSTER.

the now

[ 482 ]

MINOR CORRESPONDENCE.

PHILOVERITAS observes, "Your Correspondents J. S. and A. H. have fallen into common error of believing the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's have the care of that Cathedral; but the fact is, the Dean and Chapter are in no way responsible for the neglect or preservation of the building; they have no controul over the works now carrying on in that building, and have no concern with them whatever. When this Cathedral was rebuilt, a fund was provided for its preservation: this fund, called 'the Fabrick Fund,' was appropriated by Act of Parliament to the repairs of St. Paul's Cathedral Church, and placed under the direction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London, and the Lord Mayor of London for the time being, as trustees of this fabric money; and all business relative to the repairs, &c. of the building, is solely under their management and controul."

The Medal described by H. R. D. is very common. It was struck early in the 16th century by the Protestant party in Germany, as a satire on the Pope and Cardinals. There are several different dies from which this description of medals were struck, some of which have a variety in their inscriptions. A copy of one side is on the reverse of a medal of Sir E. Godfrey, engraved in the Medallic History of England, by Edwards and Son, Plate XXXV. No. 3.

The Drawing of the Medal sent by M. M.G.D. is, we conceive, a French Ticket of Admission to some gentleman or nobleman's Hotel, which are very common at Paris, and have been so for full two centuries. They are little esteemed by collectors.

GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.We have received a paper from E. I. C. in reply to Yorick's Defence of Mr. Lascelles's Symbolic Origin of Gothic Architecture. We consider the arguments of both our Correspondents very ingenious; but we agree with E.I.C. that "a link in the chain of evidence is still wanting," which is candidly admitted by both Yorick and Mr. Lascelles himself. The true source from whence the Pointed Style was derived, is perhaps involved and clouded in obscurity too deeply to be ascertained with certainty at this distance of time. But that "the Style, whoever invented it, was fostered and matured by the Monks, is evident from history," and is not denied by Yorick. We shall therefore beg to close the subject, adapting E. I. C.'s concluding words to both our Correspondents,-"It is now time to take my leave. I fear I have trespassed too much upon your pages, which I must confess I would sooner see filled with information than controversy."

M. W. J. who enquires about the Selby estate, is referred for particulars to vol. XC. i. pp. 587, 588; and to p. 316.

N. N. R. states, that PROVIDENS, who enquires (p. 386) what Insurance Office will

pay 100l. per annum to a person after he shall have passed the age of 21, in consideration of a premium of 100l. paid at the birth of such person, "is not likely to receive a satisfactory answer; I think, however, that I have discovered the cause of the report he alludes to. You will find in the Carpentariana, published in Paris in 1746 (20 years after the death of Charpentier), a statement that at that time there existed in England an Insurance Office, which, in consideration of 100l. paid at the birth of a child (that is, within a short time after its birth), engaged to give the child, after it should have attained the age of twelve, a life annuity of 100. I believe that M. Charpentier's text may have been corrupted, and that for 12 we should read 21; but in either case I take this to be the foundation of the statement to which PROVIDENS alludes."

W. T. P. says, in alluding to the number of Suicides and Duellists, "If there was an Act of Parliament directing that the body of every individual who was killed in a duel, and of every individual who came to his death by the hands of Justice, and of every individual who died by his own hand, under whatever circumstances, should be delivered to properly authorized and designated persons for dissection, it would probably supply the want of the Profession, and stop the trade of the resurrection men."

We are informed, that the favourite air Auld Robin Gray has lately been published with the name of Rev. W. Leeves to it, as composer; the work in which it appears is called "Sacred Melodies (by Williams, near Charing-cross), which our Correspondent thinks with more propriety might be called Serious Melodies. He adds, that this air has been attributed to Lady Anne Linsay, and that it is by many supposed to be an old Scotch tune. Question, who wrote the words?

C. S. is anxious for the information, "whether there is at present any compilation comprehending all the accounts or particulars of consequence which have ever been made public by antient or modern philosophers, respecting the different cities, Herculaneum and the rest, involved in the destruction by Mount Vesuvius?" The Favour of A.C. is thankfully received. A. B. is much too personal.

In our SUPPLEMENT, to be published on the first day of February, will appear several interesting articles; particularly the History and Antiquities of Fotheringhay, with an Account of the Execution of Mary Queen of Scots; Tour through France; Burlesque Festivals of former Ages; and Reviews of The Pirate, Lord Byron's new Tragedies, &c. &c. Embellished with Views of Fotheringhay Church, co. Northampton, Lydiate Abbey, co. Lancaster, &c.

THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE,

For DECEMBER,

1821.

MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE.

Mr. URBAN,

Dec. 1.

AVING made some incipient Hllections concerning Homer, in consequence of the Prize Essay on that subject, proposed by the Royal Society of Literature, I was unexpectedly taken with such dangerous illness, and of so long continuance, as to preclude all possibility of concluding the task within the time fixed; especially as I should have made journeys to the great libraries, and would by no means offer a work, not as completely elaborate as my humble powers could make it.

The adversaria here given are either from continental authors, very little or at all read in England, or from old Latinists, classical and otherwise. As the subject is interesting, they may, however undigested and crude, be acceptable to the Scholar; at least, are now of no use to me, and I therefore forward them with pleasure to your valuable Miscellany.

They are classed under the great bearings of the subject, and the known desiderata, however little light they may throw upon them. Yours, &c.

T. D. FOSBROKE.

But

I. Of the personal History of Homer, nothing whatever is certain. Lucian absolutely maintains, that nothing whatever is known of the real history, birth, life, actions, or country, of Homer. He is apparently supported by the ill success of the best writers on the subject. the fact seems to be, that Homer lived in an age when fable, mythology, and biography, were all mixed together, and no account was taken of him till after death, in high glory, when the heathen poetical saint was invested with a popish legend full of trumpery. The antient trash circu

lated about him favours this opinion. "Homer remembered when he was a peacock," said Ennius, "Pavum se meminit Homerus, Ennio somniante;" upon which Tertullian, who quotes the passage (Opera, p. 336), gravely observes, that he does not believe poets, sleeping or waking.

Now there are two points of Homer's history, most certainly to be ascertained from his writings.

The first is his country. The leading dialect in which he writes must betray this, and profound Greek scholars would soon come to a satisfactory conclusion on this point.

The second is, that he was unquestionably a great traveller and observer; and this fact leads to an inference that he was by no means of the inferior rank supposed. He was, according to appearances, a Bard, and as such, a public instructor. The Bard, in his own writings, never moves without a herald, has a distinguished place at the King's table, and is helped by Ulysses to the first cut (Burney, Musick, I. 357). The same learned writer says, "that songs preceded the use of letters, and served not only for amusement, but supplied the place of history in after ages; laws were sung, and prayers were chanted," &c. Id. 465. It is much to be feared, that many of the biographers of Homer, however excellent scholars, were not sufficient Antiquaries to see the assistance to be derived from the mauners of the times. They have thus unintentionally degraded Homer. The Iliad (says a judicious foreigner) is a poem, professedly written to inform the Greeks, divided into many small states, how much it behoved them to be united, and to preserve a good understanding among themselves. Homer therefore sets before their eyes

the

486

Personal History and Age of Homer.

He

the evils which befel their ancestors
from the anger of Achilles, and his
quarrel with Agamemnon, and the
advantages which followed their re-
conciliation. This is its palpable mo-
ral;
and the inference is, that the com-
position was a task imposed upon Ho-
mer, in consequence of some state
necessity, which required a patriotic
exertion, similar to that of the Ro-
man orator who brought up the fa-
ble of the Belly and Members. Af-
ter the poem was delivered in parts,
it was easily preserved in those days
for lasting and permanent use.
siod, whom all writers make nearly
coeval with Homer, was at first a
shepherd, and afterwards a priest of
the Muses. Pausanias says, that in
his time his poetry was to be seen,
written upon tablets of lead, in the
Temple of the Muses, of which he
was the minister. The same means,
by multiplying the copyists, might
have been practised with regard to
Homer; and the reader will observe,
as will be hereafter shown, that the
ancients themselves distinguished good
and bad editions of the old Bard.
Further proof of the public instruct-
orship of Homer might be shown
from the temples, &c. in his honour;
but these are detailed in the mytho:
logical dictionaries and we shall
have occasion to show, under a dis-
tinct article, that Homer was in the
main the founder of Greek supe-
riority of character.

II. The Age of Homer. Volney, in his "Chronologie des douze siecles," has the following passage:

"Tatian, in a fragment preserved by Eusebius (Præpar. Evang. fo. 491), has given us the names of sixteen authors, each more antient than the others, who were all earnestly occupied with a desire of finding out the time when Homer lived. The confrontation of their results is very interesting, because their calculations having been made upon the most antient monuments which they possessed, and original memoirs of different 'nations and different times, they represent to us state of chronology, of which the details no longer exist. This is a translation of the passage of Tatian.

a

"According to Crates, Homer was posterior to the Trojan war eighty years; according to Eratosthenes, one hundred; according to Aristarchus, one hundred and forty according to others, one hundred and eighty: some make him contemporary with the Ionian colony; many of Gyges,

[Dec.

King of Lydia. Herodotus thinks (L. ii.) that he lived four hundred years before him, and associates with him Hesiod."

In the actual state of knowledge, these sentiments form enormous contradictions; for instance, from Gyges to the war of Troy, we now reckon But more than four hundred years. are these discordances well founded? Is it probable that writers who have had original monuments before them, should have committed errors so gross? By what means did Herodotus estimate that Homer lived four hundred years before him? Has he been privileged with a chronology exact and detailed? In this case, why does he use the vague terms of lived, to estimate (vécut, estimer, sic)? Why the summary number of four hundred ? Here the calculation of Herodotus is not that which presents itself at the first sight. He has not pretended to estimate by years, but by generations: it is a method which is familiar to him. Thus, when he says, that the poets have lived four ages before him, he means the value of four ages in generations; that is to say, twelve in his system; but if they value these twelve generations in the manner we propose, there will be only three bundred years. But Herodotus having flourished towards the year 530, Homer is placed, by the true sense of his calculation, in the year 230; and we will now see how the testimonies of other writers square with this interpretation.

In

It is to be recollected, that we have placed the ruin of Troy at the year 100 of the Temple. Homer's having lived, according to Crates, eighty years, answers to the year 180. the calculation of Eratosthenes, it answers to the year 200. They, who made him contemporary with Gyges, are not far from the same sentiment, since Gyges reigned in the year 262. Besides, the term contemporary, embracing a whole life, takes a grand extent. They who placed him in the time of the Ionian colony, synchronize with Aristarchus; since, by the confession of Eratosthenes (Marsham, Chron. Egypt. p. 334, in fol.), it falls in the year 140, after the ruin of Troy. Others say, that he was born before the Olympiads, and the opinion of these persons coincides with most of the writers quoted. Lastly,

the