will arise a cogent proof that this method of interpreting those characters is right. But, before I proceed any farther, it may be well to state that the general view I have of the Iliad is this; that the Greeks represent the Europeans; and ταυρος the Trojans, Tauposa (from Mount Taurus) the Asiatics; that the poem, as a whole, is by no means historical of any real war, but has reference only to that predominancy for which those countries might severally be supposed to contend, and in which the victory is correctly assigned to the former, as the latter have in fact been always under their influence, and in many instances of individual countries, under their domination. In such a war therefore, we are not to be surprized at seeing powers inlisted under the same standard, which are generally in rivalry and opposition to each other, as the French and the English; the Portuguese, and the Spaniards: and in further explanation of the circumstance of our finding such powers united together in interest, it may be remarked that a real union subsisted between them in ancient times as to individual parts; for England was for many ages in possession of many valuable portions of France, as Normandy, Aquitaine, Rochelle &c. So again though Spain may in all ages have, been much under the influence of France, yet a considerable part of it, Portugal, has been at the same period united in interest with England. These remarks form a clue to many different fables of the Iliad. But (to proceed with my subject) if France is portrayed by Homer under the person of Agamemnon, it may be natural to conjecture that by Menelaus, his brother, we are to understand Spain. Sufficient evidence of this appears in the catalogue of the Iliad; but it is to be understood that the catalogue, like every other part of Homer, on some occasions throws out lights as a guide, and on others intermixes shades, for the very purpose of distracting the reader from a too ready comprehension of what is intended. I shall at present, therefore, only select the following lines from thence concerning Menelaus ; 531 Ο δ' είχαν κοιλην Λακεδαίμονα κητώεσσαν Φαρην τε Σπαρτην τε Οι τε Λαΐν είχαν Των οι αδελφεος ήρχε βοήν αγαθος Μενέλαος- in which, by the epithet xow, I understand the hollow gulf of the Mediterranean, extending from Gibraltar along the coasts of Spain, France, and Italy to Sicily, which may be seen to resemble a whale in shape (TWEσσa), the mouth of which is formed by the outline of the northern and southern coasts of Sicily. Over this extensive inlet of sca the Spaniards would seem to have a natural right to an influence, from the numerous harbours they have upon it. In Σnal there is an allusion to the well known plant much in use in the manufacture of cordage, which abounds in Spain, and is called there Sparta, but by us Spanish-broom. The expression απάτερθε τε Bwpoσovтo, may allude to the geographical separation of the Spaniards from the French by means of the Pyrenees. In the name of Meveλaos and the expression above, οι τε Λααν ειχον there seems to be a special allusion to the Peninsula of Spain as abounding in olives, λaai. Fig. 162, gives a view of Menelaus as drawn from his prototype in Spain, his face fronting the west. Helen, the wife of Menelaus, is the Mediterranean Sea;* which as washing the shores of * So stood the account of Helen when these chapters · were first printed, (in 1806) and because of the remarks that follow respecting the ancient modes of severally personifying men and women, I have let it stand so still, though well convinced that the character of Helen is to be explained in a very different manner; but such explanation belongs to a copious and important subject, and may be given much more conveniently on another occasion. It is therefore reserved. Spain, and being a sea of the dominion over which Spain might naturally be jealous, may well be said to be married to that country in the person of Menelaus. This personification of a sea is sufficient to do away all the inconsistencies in respect of the age and manners of Helen, upon which some writers have been fond of descanting; since undoubtedly a sea may be old or young, beautiful in a calm, or the reverse in a storm, just as it may suit the fancy of the same or different poets to exhibit it. And it may be right to notice here, that it is the practice of Homer, and the rest of the ancient poets (for reasons sufficiently obvious, relative to the monthly changes of the tides), to describe the sea, or detached portions of it, under the persons of women, and the land and its divisions under those of men; as to rivers, sometimes a male personification is given to them, as to Scamander, Alphæus, &c., and sometimes they are represented as females, under the character of nymphs.* * There is a close analogy between this method and |