Ithaca of its name, on such authority, as it would be to
assert that no such island existed, because no tolerable
representation of its form can be found in the Venetian
surveys.

"The rare medals of the Island, of which three are represented
in the title-page, might be adduced as a proof that the name
of Ithaca was not lost during the reigns of the Roman
emperors. They have the head of Ulysses, recognised by the
pileum, or pointed cap, while the reverse of one presents the
figure of a cock, the emblem of his vigilance, with the legend
[Greek: ITHAKON]. A few of these medals are preserved in the
cabinets of the curious, and one also, with the cock, found in
the island, is in the possession of Signor Zavo, of Bathi. The
uppermost coin is in the collection of Dr. Hunter; the
second is copied from Newman, and the third is the property of
R.P. Knight, Esq.

"Several inscriptions, which will be hereafter produced, will
tend to the confirmation of the idea that Ithaca was inhabited
about the time when the Romans were masters of Greece; yet
there is every reason to believe that few, if any, of the
present proprietors of the soil are descended from ancestors
who had long resided successively in the island. Even those
who lived, at the time of Ulysses, in Ithaca, seem to have
been on the point of emigrating to Argos, and no chief
remained, after the second in descent from that hero, worthy
of being recorded in history. It appears that the isle has
been twice colonised from Cephalonia in modern times, and I
was informed that a grant had been made by the Venetians,
entitling each settler in Ithaca to as much land as his
circumstances would enable him to cultivate."

Mr. Gell then proceeds to invalidate the authority of previous
writers on the subject of Ithaca. Sir George Wheeler and M. le
Chevalier fall under his severe animadversion; and, indeed, according
to his account, neither of these gentlemen had visited the island,
and the description of the latter is "absolutely too absurd for
refutation." In another place, he speaks of M. le C. "disgracing a
work of such merit by the introduction of such fabrications;" again,
of the inaccuracy of the author's maps; and, lastly, of his inserting
an island at the southern entry of the Channel between Cephalonia and
Ithaca, which has no existence. This observation very n