by the force of art: in Shakspeare it strikes before we are aware, like an

accidental fire from heaven: but in Homer, and in him only, it burns

everywhere clearly and everywhere irresistibly.

I shall here endeavour to show how this vast invention exerts itself in a

manner superior to that of any poet through all the main constituent parts

of his work: as it is the great and peculiar characteristic which

distinguishes him from all other authors.

This strong and ruling faculty was like a powerful star, which, in the

violence of its course, drew all things within its vortex. It seemed not

enough to have taken in the whole circle of arts, and the whole compass of

nature, to supply his maxims and reflections; all the inward passions and

affections of mankind, to furnish his characters: and all the outward

forms and images of things for his descriptions: but wanting yet an ampler

sphere to expatiate in, he opened a new and boundless walk for his

imagination, and created a world for himself in the invention of fable.

That which Aristotle calls "the soul of poetry," was first breathed into

it by Homer, I shall begin with considering him in his part, as it is

naturally the first; and I speak of it both as it means the design of a

poem, and as it is taken for fiction.

Fable may be divided into the probable, the allegorical, and the

marvellous. The probable fable is the recital of such actions as, though

they did not happen, yet might, in the common course of nature; or of such

as, though they did, became fables by the additional episodes and manner

The Iliad of Homer