t of the Greek Poet is wholly
free. The two first lines of his Poem,

_Le Donne, e Cavalieri, l'arme, gli amore,
Le Cortesie l'audaci impresi io canto._

if they do not put one in mind of the Cyclic Writer mentioned by
Horace, who begins his Poem with

_Fortunam Priami cantabo, & nobile bellum._

yet are of a very different strain from those which introduce the
Odyssey,

+Andra moi enepe Mousa polutropon, hos mala polla
Plankthe+ &c.

I cannot help thinking that the whole of this introduction is
remarkably simple and unornamented, though a very judicious and
ingenious Critic seems to be of a contrary opinion.]

The noblest instances of this personification are to be found in the
Sacred Writings. Nothing can exceed the majesty, with which the descent
of the Almighty is described by the Prophet Habakkuk. "Before Him (he
tells us) went the Pestilence, &c." then suddenly addressing the Deity
in the second person, he says "the Mountains _saw Thee_, and they
_trembled_, the Overflowing of the waters _passed by_, the _Deep uttered
his voice_, and _lift up his hands_ on high[84]." In another place, the
Deluge is nobly animated, in order to display the Omnipotence of God.
"The waters (says the Psalmist) stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke
they _fled_, at the voice of thy thunder they _hasted away_."

[Footnote 84: Hab. ch. iii. v. 3.]

From this simple and impartial view of the Lyric Poetry of the Ancients,
considered as one branch of a cultivated Art, your Lordship will perhaps
be inclined to conclude, that in the Arts, as in the characters of men,
those which are susceptible of the highest excellence, are likewise
frequently marked with the most striking defects. This mixture of beauty
and deformity, of grandeur and meanness, which enters so often into the
action as well as the speculation of mankind, ought to be considered as
the characteristic of the human mind, which in the chimerical pursuit of
perfection is hurried by its own impetuosity from one extreme to
another. Your Lordship has, no doubt, frequently observed, that there is
upon the whole a greater uniformity in the characters of men than
superficial enquiry would lead us to conceive. A temptation operating
forcibly on the ruling passion will produce in a temper naturally gentle
and equal, an irregularity as remarkable, and sometimes carried to a
greater length, than the most powerful s