The new invented Words made use of by the Translator of _Homer_ are well enough chosen, and well warranted by the Practice of the greatest Poets, such as _Moveless_, _Instarr'd_, _Inurn'd_, _Conglobe_, _Deathful_, _Fountful_, _Lengthful_: _But if you write of Things abstruse and new, Words of your own inventing may be us'd._ Roscom. I have mention'd some of the Helps which were prepared for the Translator of the _Ilias_. But Dr. _Felton_ informs us, Dr. _Busby_ would not allow of Notes; a very curious Remark That. It is not impossible, but Dr. _Busby_ himself might have read and taught _Homer_ 50 Years as a _Grammarian_, without understanding him as a Poet. A Portion of that Genius which inspir'd the Author is requisite for the Reader to see all the Beauties that are in a Poem. I believe the Lord _Roscommon_'s Judgement will be preferred to that of both those Doctors: _Search every Comment that your Care can find, Some here, some there, may hit the Poet's Mind._ If the Translator of _Homer_ search'd every Comment, his Labour was more than _Herculean_. I own my self extreamly edify'd by what he says of Antiquaries; applying a Saying of my Lord _Bacon_'s to them: _In General they write for Ostentation not for Instruction, and their Works are perpetual Repetitions._ The Reason is plain, they have no Fund of their own, they must therefore borrow from those that have. It is necessary there should be such Men, but the Dryness and Barrenness of their Studies are inconsistent with a lively Fancy and a good Taste; and I know not which of the Antiquaries deserve most to be rever'd by us, those that would restore lost Words, Letters, and Points, or those that would recover lost Fable or History. To know exactly where _Brute_ built his _Palace Royal_, where _Bladud_ set up his _Laboratory_ would be something; as also to prove, that _Cassibelan_ liv'd where my Lord _Essex_ now does at _Cashiobury_; or that _Constantine the Great_ was a _Yorkshire_ Man; which Things have been attempted, would be as much to the Glory of the Students in Antiquity, as to find out a lost _Comma_, or restore a Letter to a Word that was robb'd of it 1500 Years ago. But as for our Monkish Antiquaries, and the Monastick Learning, it seems to be reserv'd for the Improvement of those, whose Minds, like barren Soils, will never bear without dunging. They are always turning up the Ruins of old Convents, and hope like the Cock to find a Jewel in the Dunghill. They dig for holy Water-Pots and Crucifixes, as greedily as the modern _Romans_ dig for Medals, Images, and Urns. To know whether such an Abbey was founded in the Papacy of Pope _Joan_ or Pope _Boniface_, in what Dormitory such a Monk slept, and in what Penitentiary such a Nun was disciplined, must needs be very edifying. But most of all the Deciding of historical Debates by old Charters,