probably at a late period of his life-certainly after he had passed the middle age of man. Some vague geo

graphical descriptions had come from Egypt with the wisdom of that people, and of the farthest East, from whence they drew their wisdom. Thales, a historian, geographer, and philosopher, who had added to the stock of geographical knowledge by his travels, on his return from Egypt promulgated his researches to his countrymen. He had learned something of geometry as well as geography, and set about settling the philosophy of the equinoxes, for the better admeasurement of time, as well as of the earth. From the discoveries of modern travellers in Egypt,-Denon and others,there can be no doubt but that the sciences of astronomy and geometry had been long known there at the period when Thales visited that country. Taste in letters, in architecture, and science in war, were far in advance of other sciences, down to the days of Archimedes who transcended all his predecessors in mathematics and natural philosophy.

Geography was not more necessary to history than chronology. These two have been emphatically called the eyes of history,-the latter being as important, in many aspects, as the former, but, in fact, more difficult to obtain. The seasons were first to be measured, and accurately too, before chronology could assume such a form as would be satisfactory to the inquisitive mind. Rude nations know but little of chronology. The most enlightened savages of our country have no accurate means of the crude admeasurement of time, and keeping a record of the measure. Se-qua-yah, who invented the Cherokee alphabet, had no exact account of his age; and is now engaged in attempting to fix some laws satisfactory to himself on this subject.

The Greeks had several epochs, more or less certain. First, from the Argonautic expedition; next, from the siege of Troy; then from the Olympic games. This last era was established 776 years before Christ, about twenty-three years before the foundation of Rome, according to some chronologists. The history of Greece is said to have commenced more than seven hundred years before the Argonautic expedition. This was truly an age of fable. The age from the siege of Troy was more accurately defined by the early historians, and of course more reliance could be placed on it; for from this period, or near it, we begin to have something like contemporaneous history.

It must, I think, be acknowledged by every good philosophical historian, that the ancients had no very metaphysical ideas of time or space. The philosophy of eternity, of mind, of space, or matter, was not then so well understood as in our days, degenerate as the antiquarian would call us. Even the Jupiter of the ancients had not half as great a space to act in as Napoleon panted for; and there was no fixed principle of his indestructible essence in their philosophy. He may have end of years who had beginning of days; and the whole doctrine of the theogony of the Greeks goes upon the birth of deities. To have lived in these ages of great minds, great amidst their errors;-to have commingled familiarly with the sons of gods and the fair ⚫ daughters of men, and their giant progeny; would have been full of delight. To have caught, as it were, the morning incense of nature, as it first arose from the east; to have viewed her beauties when they were first unveiled,-would have been ecstasy; and to have drank in the first inspirations of the muse, most glori

ous. But who would not rather live among the lesser men of the present day, with a God without beginning of days or end of years; omnipotent, omnipresent, all merciful, the father of all, the friend of all; and to whom all may return,-than to have lived among demi-gods, with

"Deities, partial, changeful, and unjust,

Whose attributes were rage, revenge, and lust ?”

But do not understand me as decrying the history of those ages, for it is impossible to be respectably learned without attending to the ancients, and drinking deeply of their knowledge. It is one of the duties of those who live in any age, to draw lessons of wisdom from all that has passed, and we shall therefore cast a glance at their historians, poets, and orators, without any squeamish fear,-a fear now prevalent,-of imbibing any doctrines that may weaken our faith, or distract our understandings.

Homer, who was born, or rather wrote, about eight hundred and eighty years before Christ, according to the best authority, is one of the most delightful historians, as well as poets, that has come down to us from antiquity. Poetry was then not only the ornament of sentiment, and the beauty of fiction, but was also all that was mental. In fact, it embraced all the knowledge of mankind; it taught them what they believed to be their history; celebrated their mythology; filled them with romantic and heroic conceptions; and gave additional pleasure to the heart by the charm it afforded the ear. If much relating to this great poet, historian, and philosopher, is involved in doubt and obscu

rity, still there is enough that is certain to satisfy us on the subject of the state of society in the age in which he lived.

This work itself has a singular history. It was first edited, and probably first written out, as a splendid legendary history, by the great lawgiver, Lycurgus, two hundred years after Homer's death; and more than three hundred years afterwards revised by Pisistratus, the first of all the Greeks who collected volumes for a public library. It is said, also, that Solon revised and corrected the text of Homer; and there can be no doubt but that Alexander the Great engaged his tutor, Aristotle, to give a finishing hand in correcting the compositions of the immortal bard. The account of the birth and life of Homer, said by some to be from Herodotus, is probably the best that can be found.

"A man of Magnesia, whose name was Menalippus, went to settle at Cumæ, where he married the daughter of a citizen called Homyres, and had by her a daughter called Critheis. The father and mother dying, Critheis was left under the tuition of Cleonax, her father's friend; and suffering herself to be deluded, became pregnant. The guardian, though his care had not prevented the misfortune, was, however, willing to conceal it, and therefore sent Critheis to Smyrna. Critheis being near her time, went one day to a festival, which the town of Smyrna was celebrating on the banks of the river Meles, where she was delivered of Homer, whom she called Melesigenes, because he was born on the banks of that river. Having nothing to maintain her, she was forced to spin; and a man of Smyrna called Phemius, who taught literature and music, having seen Critheis, who lodged near him, and being

pleased with her housewifery, took her into his house to spin the wool he received from his scholars for schooling. Here she behaved herself so modestly and discreetly, that Phemius married her, and adopted her son, in whom he discovered a wonderful genius, and an excellent natural disposition. After the death of Phemius and Critheis, Homer succeeded to his fatherin-law's fortune and school, and was admired, not only by the inhabitants of Smyrna, but by strangers who resorted from all parts to that place of trade. A shipmaster called Mentes, who was a man of wit, very learned, and a lover of poetry, was so pleased with Homer that he persuaded him to leave his school, and to travel with him. Homer, whose mind was then employed upon his 'Iliad,' and who thought it of great consequence to see the places of which he should have occasion to treat, embraced the opportunity, and during their several voyages, never failed carefully to note down what he thought worth observing. He travelled into Egypt, whence he brought into Greece the names of their gods, and the chief ceremonies of their worship. He visited Africa and Spain, in return from which places he touched at Ithaca, and was there much troubled with a rheum falling upon his eyes. Mentes being in haste to visit Leucadia, his native country, left Homer well recommended to Mentor, one of the chief men of the island of Ithaca, and there he was informed of many things relating to Ulysses, which he afterwards made use of in composing his 'Odyssey.' Mentes returning to Ithaca, found Homer cured. They embarked together, and after much time spent in visiting the coast of Peloponnesus and the islands, they arrived at Colophon, where Homer was again troubled