prominent in the early history of the colony, and in the war of the Revolution. His father, Colonel Robert Munford, a distinguished patriot, died when William was only eight years old; the boy was therefore left in charge of his mother, an amiable and accomplished lady, who added to strong natural powers the best culture of the times, and a familiarity with the most polished society. The influence of this excellent person upon the character of her son was deep and lasting. Although her income was narrow, owing to the embarrassed circumstances in which the estate of her husband was left at his death, she resolved that her son should enjoy all the advantages of a liberal and classical education. Having completed his preparatory studies, under the care of the Rev. Mr. Cameron, at the Petersburg academy, he entered William and Mary's college, in Williamsburg. He displayed, very early in life, while yet at the academy, the same love of letters, and the same amiable qualities of character, which went with him through life. He was graduated at the college with high honors, and immediately commenced the study of the law, to which he had been destined, under Mr. Wythe, afterward the celebrated Chancellor, to whom he had become known during his residence in Williamsburg. The letters of young Munford show the cordial and intimate relations which existed between him and his venerable teacher, and which continued until the death of the latter, in 1806. In 1792, Mr. Munford removed to Richmond, Mr. Wythe having transferred his residence thither, on his appointment as Chancellor of the State; but he returned afterwards to William and Mary, to attend the law lectures of Mr. St. George Tucker. Having completed his studies, he returned to his native county, and was called to the bar in the twentieth year of his age, and by his diligence, character, and ability soon secured a large practice. In 1797, he was elected a representative from the county of Mecklenburg to the House of Delegates, which place he continued to hold until 1802, when he was appointed a senator from the district in which he resided. In 1806, he was chosen by the legislature a member of the Privy Council of State, in which he continued until 1811, when he was elected clerk of the House of Delegates.* This office

On the death of Mr. Munford, the House of Delegates, by a large majority, appointed his eldest son to the office, and he has held it ever since.

he held until his death. In addition to his numerous other labors, both professional and political, he was for several years the reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeals of Virginia; at first alone, and afterwards in connection with W. W. Henry. Six volumes of these reports were the fruit of his own labor, and four were prepared by him and Mr. Henry in conjunction. He resided in the city of Richmond during the last nineteen years of his life.

Mr. Munford acquired the respect of the community in which he lived, and of the State, of which he was one of the brightest ornaments, to a remarkable degree. The industry, integrity, and ability which he manifested as a professional man and as a legislator, the virtues that adorned his character in private life, the loveliness of his conduct in the domestic circle, caused him to be regarded with a peculiar warmth of affection by all who had the happiness to know him ; and after his death the bright example of his life became a precious legacy to his bereaved family, and a treasure of spotless reputation to the public which had for so many years benefited by his labors, his writings, his deeds of mercy and charity.

From his early childhood, Mr. Munford cherished an ardent love of literature. Through all the stages of public and professional life, amidst the cares of the family circle and the interests of philanthropy, the dignity of learning was never forgotten; the graces which the Muse imparts to the common routine of toil and care were never by him neglected. Ancient literature was dear to him from early association and the cultivated tastes of maturer years; and the best works of several modern languages occupied many of his leisure hours. But his favorite pursuit was the study of the Greek. The originality and splendor of Hellenic genius, the variety, beauty, and expressive power of the Greek language, the exquisite movements of its poetical rhythms, fascinated his mind, and excited an ardor of enthusiasm in his breast, which encouraged him to labor as few men have labored in its acquisition. But above all did he delight in the "Tale of Troy divine "; that wondrous monument, standing unequalled in grandeur, as it stands solitary in the remotest age of history; the creation of a genius never approached but once in the annals of literature. At an early period, he formed the design of translating the Iliad. He had always been fond of poetical

composition, and showed in youth considerable facility and elegance in versification. No translation with which he was familiar came up to his idea of what a translation of the Iliad ought to be; and he determined to try his hand upon the often attempted, but as yet unexecuted task, of making a version which should at once be faithful and poetical, which should be both a fair representative of the incomparable original and an interesting English poem.

This was the great literary labor of Mr. Munford's life. It was completed, and the manuscript was prepared for the press, a short time before his death, which took place at his residence in Richmond, July 21st, 1825. This event, felt to be a heavy calamity to the commonwealth, to whose name his character and career are an honor, put a stop to the arrangements for publication, which had already been partially made. The manuscript remained in the state in which its author left it, until the present time. Mr. Munford's family, feeling a just pride in the good name of their deceased relative, have now paid the debt due to his memory, in a manner befitting the sentiment of reverence which they can never cease to entertain; they have published his translation of the Iliad in a style of typographical beauty which its literary merit deserves. It is a work which will do honor not only to the name of its author, but to the literary reputation of the country; and we feel it not only a duty, but a pleasure, to welcome its appearance at this time, by giving it whatever advantage it may derive from being heralded to the learned public in the pages of this Journal.

There are several considerations which should not be lost sight of in the examination of this work. It had not the advantage of being carried through the press by the author. Every person, accustomed to writing for the press, will at once feel how much a work of this extent loses for want of the finishing touches which the writer could have given to it, as it passed, sentence by sentence, under his critical eye, when every fault would be brought out into bold relief by the distinctness of type. In the next place, it should be remembered, that, during the twenty years that have elapsed since the translation was completed, the literature of Homer has been completely remodelled. A variety of questions, important to the exact appreciation of the poetic spirit and genius of the Homeric poetry, have been discussed with a keenness of

critical skill and a copiousness of learning quite unknown in former times. The point of view from which Homer is judged is very different now from what it was a quarter of a century ago; and many opinions which were current then will hardly be admitted into the creed of classical scholarship of the present day. We can barely allude to this topic, because its full discussion would require more space than can now be given to it; but the discriminating reader of Munford's Iliad, especially in the notes which he has added to the several books of his version, will be at no loss to apply this general plea in abatement of a rigid critical judgment.

Our readers must not understand by these hints, that in our opinion the translation by Mr. Munford needs to be excused for important defects. Judged by itself, and without reference to the circumstances in which it was left and has now been published, it is an excellent version of the poet. Mr. Munford had studied the poem until he had imbued his own mind with its fiery spirit. He loved, passionately loved, the immortal rhapsodies which illustrate so magnificently the genius of that distant, and, but for their radiance, that dark and unknown age. He was familiarly conversant with the best existing text, which had been his favorite reading the greater part of his life. The older commentaries had been weighed by him with conscientious and judicial deliberation and impartiality. He applied himself, therefore, to the selected labor of his hours of relaxation from the sterner duties of the forum, well equipped with the learning of his time, and carried into the Homeric cause the earnestness, the fidelity, and the love of truth, which marked the routine of his daily business. His poetical style is formed upon the models most in vogue in his day. It has great merits, and some defects. It is rich and rhythmical, stately, and often remarkably expressive. Sometimes it reminds us of the noble march of Milton's

The subject of the Homeric poetry has been repeatedly handled with great ability by the German scholars. Nitsch, Lachmann, K. O. Maller, Wilhelm Muller, and others, have thrown much light upon it. A condensed and most able judginent on the various questions involved in the Homeric discussions is contained in Mr. Grote's History of Greece (Vol. II., pp. 159 - 277). This long expected work, only two volumes of which have yet appeared, promises to be a valuable and important addition to English historical literature. It shows ample and well digested learning, a candid spirit, and is written in a style marked by a dignified elegance well suited to historical composition.

verse; and we have no doubt the Paradise Lost was one of the favorite companions of Mr. Munford's literary hours. the selection of single words, Mr. Munford is for the most part very happy; long passages might be pointed out, wherein no completing touch of the master's hand is wanting; the magnificent conceptions of the great original are so thoroughly rendered, with every heightening felicity of epithet, rhythm, and sound that echoes the sense.

But Mr. Munford's style is not uniformly so well adapted to render the Homeric poetry. Indeed, no modern style can perfectly reproduce the Homeric. The Grecian epic was in its day the most popular form of story-telling, for the entertainment of assemblies of men, on festive occasions. In quantity, it was as abundant as the modern novel; in quality, it had, of course, various degrees of merit. It was delivered in a species of musical recitative, with a slight accompaniment of the phorminx, the cithern of the heroic age. The language was descriptive, melodious, and rich; strikingly objective, or concrete, in its general character, and admirably suited to charm the ear and delight the imagination of a simple, gay, and beauty-loving people. "Almost five centuries had passed," says Frederic Jacobs," before the poems of Homer were imprisoned in written characters; and even then, mindful of their original destination, they flowed more sweetly from the tongue to the ear." To produce the whole original effect of the Homeric epic for the Homeric poems, the noblest of their class, doubtless, are now the only representatives of the vocal literature of heroic Greece would require the reproduction of the circumstances and character of the Homeric age; of the copious and graphic dialect, which is said by the great scholar just quoted to "resemble the smooth mirror of a broad and silent lake, from whose depth a serene sky, with its soft and sunny vault, and the varied nature along its sunny shores, are reflected in transfigured beauty "; it would require the restoration of the ⚫ lost magic of the heroic hexameter, that marvellous rhythm, whose varying music was consecrated to epic verse until the civilization of the ancient world was buried under the barbarism of the Middle Ages; finally, it would require the restoration of the Ionic mind and life, with its joyous festivities, its panegyrical assemblies, its dances, and the altars of the gods, its religious rites, its freedom from care, its youthful