if it
be an illusion, it is a very agreeable deception, and is effected by
an ingenious interpretation of the passages in Homer that are
supposed to be descriptive of the scenes which our traveller has
visited. We shall extract some of these adaptations of the ancient
picture to the modern scene, marking the points of resemblance which
appear to be strained and forced, as well as those which are more
easy and natural: but we must first insert some preliminary matter
from the opening chapter.

The following passage conveys a sort of general sketch of the book,
which may give our readers a tolerably adequate notion of its
contents:--

"The present work may adduce, by a simple and correct survey
of the island, coincidences in its geography, in its natural
productions, and moral state, before unnoticed. Some will be
directly pointed out; the fancy or ingenuity of the reader may
be employed in tracing others; the mind familiar with the
imagery of the Odyssey will recognise with satisfaction the
scenes themselves; and this volume is offered to the public,
not entirely without hopes of vindicating the poem of Homer
from the scepticism of those critics who imagine that the
Odyssey is a mere poetical composition, unsupported by
history, and unconnected with the localities of any particular
situation.

"Some have asserted that, in the comparison of places now
existing with the descriptions of Homer, we ought not to
expect coincidence in minute details; yet it seems only by
these that the kingdom of Ulysses, or any other, can be
identified, as, if such as idea be admitted, every small and
rocky island in the Ionian Sea, containing a good port, might,
with equal plausibility, assume the appellation of Ithaca.

"The Venetian geographers have in a great degree contributed
to raise those doubts which have existed on the identity of
the modern with the ancient Ithaca, by giving, in their
charts, the name of Val di Compare to the island. That name
is, however, totally unknown in the country, where the isle is
invariably called Ithaca by the upper ranks, and Theaki by the
vulgar. The Venetians have equally corrupted the name of
almost every place in Greece; yet, as the natives of Epactos
or Naupactos never heard of Lepanto, those of Zacynthos of
Zante, or the Athenians of Settines, it would be as unfair to
rob