[Footnote 83: Upon the principle established here, we may account in some measure for Voltaire’s apparently paradoxical assertion, with regard to the comparative merit of Homer and Tasso. The Italian (says that spirited writer) has more conduct, variety and justness than the Greek. Admitting the truth of this reflection, we might still reply, that the principal merit of the Iliad, considered as the production of Genius, lies in the grandeur of the sentiments, the beauty and sublimity of the illustrations, and the _original_ strokes which are wrought into the description of the _principal Actors_. In all these respects we may venture to affirm, that Homer remains without a superior among Authors unaided by Inspiration; and the reader must be left to judge whether or not it is from these criterions that we estimate the Genius of a Poet. Our Author proceeds upon the same principles to compare the Orlando Furioso with the Odyssey, and give a preference to the former. The merit of these works may be ascertained in some measure, by the rules we have already established. We need only to add further on this head, that among many beauties we meet with examples of the turgid and bombast in the work of Ariosto; from which that of the Greek Poet is wholly free. The two first lines of his Poem, _Le Donne, e Cavalieri, l’arme, gli amore, Le Cortesie l’audaci impresi io canto._ if they do not put one in mind of the Cyclic Writer mentioned by Horace, who begins his Poem with _Fortunam Priami cantabo, & nobile bellum._ yet are of a very different strain from those which introduce the Odyssey, Ανδρα μοι ενεπε Μουσα πολυτροπον, ὅς μαλα πολλα Πλαγκθη &c. I cannot help thinking that the whole of this introduction is remarkably simple and unornamented, though a very judicious and ingenious Critic seems to be of a contrary opinion.] The noblest instances of this personification are to be found in the Sacred Writings. Nothing can exceed the majesty, with which the descent of the Almighty is described by the Prophet Habakkuk. “Before Him (he tells us) went the Pestilence, &c.” then suddenly addressing the Deity in the second person, he says “the Mountains _saw Thee_, and they _trembled_, the Overflowing of the waters _passed by_, the _Deep uttered his voice_, and _lift up his hands_ on high[84].” In another place, the Deluge is nobly animated, in order to display the Omnipotence of God. “The waters (says the Psalmist) stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke they _fled_, at the voice of thy thunder they _hasted away_.” [Footnote 84: Hab. ch. iii. v. 3.]