present I acknowledge he took what he thought proper out of the _Iliad_ and _Odyssée_, tho' he did not take his _Design_ from either; and his first six Books resemble the _Odyssée_, as the last six do the _Iliad_: And his one Poem, 'tis granted, is in Number of Books no more than a Quarter of _Homer_'s two. But in This the Advantage seems to be on his Side. For there is, if I do not greatly miscalculate, as much important Matter, and as great a Variety of Incidents, in _Virgil_'s Twelve, as in _Homer_'s Forty eight. And yet is _Virgil_'s Poem too much crouded, and the Matter too thick? I think not. Are not _Homer_'s, on the contrary, too lean? and is not the Matter too thinly spred? I think it is. When I say a greater Number of Incidents; I do not mean more Men killed, more Battles fought, more Speeches spoke, and the like: Those are not Incidents; and I own _Homer_ has many more of them than _Virgil_. Mr. _Pope_ admires the Variety of _Homer_'s Battles for this Reason, that tho' they are so numerous they are not tedious. This is _extraordinary_ indeed, if it be _true_: But whether a Thing be tedious or not, is Matter of Experience, rather than of Judgment; and so every particular Person must speak as he finds. Upon his Multitude of Speeches, the most ingenious Gentleman above-mentioned, (who was certainly _born a Poet_, if ever Man was) has this Remark: "It is hardly credible, in a Work of such a Length, how small a Number of Lines are employed in Narration. In _Virgil_ the Dramatic Part is less in proportion to the Narrative." It is so; and even in proportion to the different Length of their Works, _Homer_ has undoubtedly more Speeches than _Virgil_; too many, in my humble Opinion. _Homer_ has not enough of the Narrative Part; but _Virgil_ has enough of the Dramatic; if it must be so called. For, by the way, (tho' I very well remember that _Aristotle_ applies this Word to the Epopée, and have elsewhere taken notice of it, and have observed from Monsieur _Dacier_, that he uses it in a different Sense from This of which we are now speaking) I do not understand why Speech-making in an Heroic Poem must be called _Dramatic_; and by virtue of that Name pass for a Beauty. The Drama indeed consists wholly of Speeches; but then they are spoken by the Persons themselves, who are actually introduced and represented; not related and recited by the Author as spoken by others, as they always are in an Epic Poem. _Those_ are both agreeable, and necessary; _These_, if they take up far the greatest Part of the Work, being inserted by the everlasting Repetition of those introducing, and closing interlocutory Tags, Κaί μιν φωνήσας, Τόν δ' αὖτε προσέειπε, Ὣς ἔφατ', Τὸν δ' ἀπαμειβόμενος, _&c._ are apt to tire the Reader; nor does the Word _Dramatic_ at all lessen the Disgust which they give him. I am aware too, that setting aside the Word _Dramatic_, _Aristotle_ expresly declares for a Multitude of Speeches, and little