If it be said, that according to this Account, _Homer_ has the Advantage; because _all_ the Light is supposed to have been first in him, and only a _Part_ of it (tho' the greatest) transferred to _Virgil_: it must be remembered that we are only making a _Comparison_: For if it were an exact _Parallel_, we must conceive (which we are far from doing) that the _very individual_ Fire of the _Greek_ Poet was transferred into the _Roman_; and that the one ceases to exist separately from the other. But besides; admitting _Homer_ to have the Advantage _so far_ as this Objection supposes; yet still _Virgil_ has it _upon the Whole_, even with respect to Fire, of which we are now discoursing. Tho' the Light in the cloudy Shrine were _more_ than That in the Sun; yet in the Sun it is placed in a _higher_, and more _regular_ Sphere; more _aptly disposed_ for _warming_ and _illuminating_, and more _commodiously situated_ for the Delight and Benefit of Mankind. "The _Roman_ Author (we are told) seldom rises into very astonishing Sentiments, where he is not fired by the _Iliad_.[17]" Tho' I absolutely deny the Matter of Fact yet supposing it were true, still _fired he is_: The Poetical Spirit is in him, however he came by it; and that too _better_, if not _more_, than in him from whom he is imagined to have received it. How far the Reader will be of my Opinion upon this Head I know not: But to me the Truth of what I have urged resembles the _Things_ of which I have been speaking: It _shines_ like the _Light_, and _burns_ like the _Fire_. As to _Similes_, _Homer_ is supposed to have the full Propriety of _Them_; and even the greatest Part of _Virgil_'s must be His. That a great Number of _Virgil_'s are taken from him, I deny not; but most of them are exceedingly improved by being transplanted: Tho' I believe if he had taken fewer from _Homer_, and given us more of his own, his Poem would have been so much the better. Not that he really has copy'd from _Homer_ in this Instance, near so much as some Criticks pretend; and he has more Similes entirely his own; than the aforesaid Criticks will allow him. In my Remarks I shall mention some Particulars. Generally speaking, _Homer's Descriptions_ are admirable. But even in this View, I think Those are unjust to _Virgil_, who do not allow that he excels his Master. Consider the several Instances already cited, upon the Article of Poetical Fire; for most of them may be equally applied to This. What Images! what Paintings! what Representations of Nature! what Nature it self, do we find and feel in them! Besides a Multitude of others, which cannot now be so much as mentioned: I must here again refer to my Notes for Particulars.