ὡς ὁποτε Ζεφυρος νεφεα στυφελιξη αργεσταο Νοτοιο, βαθειη λαιλαπι τυπτων; πολλον δε τροφι κυμα κυλινδεται, ὑψοσε δ’ αχνη σκιδναται εξ ανεμοιο πολυπλαγκτοιο ιωης. “As when the west wind buffets the cloudlets of the brightening south wind, lashing them with furious squall, and the big wave swells up and rolls along, and the spray is scattered on high by the blast of the careering gale”; or to the pictures of the billow-buffeted headland, and the wave bursting on the ship in _Iliad_, xv. 618-628; or to the storm-cloud coming over the sea in _Iliad_, iv. 277; or to the descent of the wind on the standing corn, _Iliad_, ii. 147. He would point, above all, to the description of Calypso’s grotto, in _Odyssey_, v. 63-74; to that of the harbour of Phorcys, in _Odyssey_, xiii. 97-112; to the fountain in the grove, xvii. 205-211. Mr. Palgrave comments justly on Homer’s minute observation of nature; but he only gives one illustration, where it is noticed in _Odyssey_, vi. 94, that the sea, in beating on the coast, “washed the pebbles clean.” He might have added with propriety many others: as the “earth blackening behind the plough,” in _Iliad_, xviii. 548; the bats in the cave, _Odyssey_, xxiv. 5-8; the birds escaping from the vultures, _Iliad_, xxii. 304, 305; the wasps “wriggling as far as the middle,” σφηκες μεσον αιολοι, _Iliad_, xii. 167; the dogs and the lions, _Iliad_, xviii. 585, 586. Mr. Palgrave observes that Homer “was not only familiar with the sea, but loved it with a love somewhat unusual in poets.” We venture to submit that there is not a line in Homer indicating that he “loved” the sea, except for poetical purposes; like most of the Greeks he probably dreaded it; his real feeling towards it is no doubt indicated in his own words:-- ου γαρ εγω γε τι φημι κακωτερον αλλο θαλασσης ανδρα γε συγχευαι. --nothing crushes a man’s spirit more than the sea. Mr. Palgrave justly points out that Hesiod’s rude prosaic style and matter are not congenial to the poetic landscape, yet it is only fair to Hesiod to say, that his poetry is not without vivid touches of natural description, as the winter scene in _Works and Days_, 504 sqq., and his description of the beginning of spring, 565-569, show. Professor Palgrave next glances at the treatment of nature in the lyric poets, and very properly cites the lovely fragment of Alcman: βαλε δη βαλε κηρυλος ειην ὁς τ’ επι κυματος ανθος ἁμ’ αλκυονεσσι ποτηται, νηλεγες ητορ εχων, ἁλιπορφυρος ειαρος ορνις,-- but in translating it makes a truly extraordinary blunder. “Would I were the kingfisher, as he flies, with his mates _in his feeble age_, between wind and water.”