on
_Mahomet_--he has produced English hexameters of very happy
construction, uniting vigour with harmony. His occasional success marks
a step of decided progress. Dr Whewell also, in some passages of his
_Hermann and Dorothea_, reached a musical effect sufficient to show,
that, if he had bestowed more leisure, he might have rendered the whole
of Goethe's masterpiece in its original measure, at least as agreeably
as the _Faust_ has been presented to us hitherto. Mr Coleridge's
felicity, both in the Elegiac metre and a slight variation of the
Hendecasyllabic, is universally acknowledged.

The present experiment was made before the writer had seen the German
Homer of Voss; but in revising his MS. he has had that skillful
performance by him, and he has now and then, as he hopes, derived
advantage from its study. Part of the first book of the _Iliad_ is said
to have been accomplished by Wolff in a still superior manner; but the
writer has never had the advantage of comparing it with Voss. Nor was he
acquainted, until he had finished his task, with a small specimen of the
first book in English hexameters, which occurs in the _History of
English Rhythms_, lately published by Mr E. Guest, of Caius College,
Cambridge.

Like Voss and Mr Guest, he has chosen to adhere to the Homeric names of
the deities, in place of adopting the Latin forms; and in this matter he
has little doubt that every scholar will approve his choice. Mr
Archdeacon Williams has commonly followed the same plan in those very
spirited prose translations that adorn his learned Essay, _Homerus_.

It is hardly necessary to interpret these names: as, perhaps, no one
will give much attention to the following pages, who does not already
know that ZEUS answers to Jupiter--and that KRONION is a usual Homeric
designation of Zeus, signifying the son of KRONOS = SATURN: that HERA is
Juno; POSEIDON, Neptune: ARES, Mars; ARTEMIS, Diana; APHRODITE, Venus;
HERMES, Mercury; and so forth.

Should this experiment be received with any favour, the writer has in
his portfolio a good deal of Homer, long since translated in the same
manner; and he would not be reluctant to attempt the completion of an
Iliad in English Hexameters, such as he can make them.
N.N.T.
LONDON, _Jan._ 31, 1846.]

* * * * *

Now the assembly dissolv'd; and the multitude rose and disperst them,
Each making sp