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I might gratify my readers, and myself, with many more extracts upon this subject; but there is neither leisure nor space afforded me. I should, however, like to know if Shakespeare was himself given to horsing. There is no judging a poet by his works, as was beautifully illustrated in the case of Jemmy Thomson; and, so far as I recollect, none of his biographers or commentators make mention of his inclinations that way; but no conclusion, either on the one side or the other, can be drawn from their silence, as their attention was unfortunately directed to a crowd of other topics, which threatened almost to overwhelm at once the meaning and the fame of the illustrious bard. It is no doubt true, that the literary men of the olden time were a different sort of people, and moved in a very different sphere from their successors of the present day. Their wishes were probably - more humble, and their difficulties more urgent; and instead of being ambitious to exhibit on horseback, they were probably solicitous rather of a seat at a city feast, and to display their skill in the mysteries thereof

Times are altered, and pocts

have undergone a manifest change, in outward things at lesst. They may, now-a-days, indulge themselves in every humour, and in the luxury of riding in coaches as well as on horseback; and they, and the world, are the better for it. Their poetry is improved by it. A ride on horseback dissipates idle humours, and clears away the muddiness of the brain; it excites the animal spirits, and inspires new ideas of life and happiness. I am convinced Walter Scott is fond of

riding on horseback, and I think I remember of some person admiring the dignity of his appearance when mounted. It is well known that Byron was (alas! that I should live to speak of him as one that is past!) very partial to this exercise; and Í have no doubt that his finest passages were committed to paper immediately on his return from the course; or perhaps he carried materials with him, "to catch the luring image as it rose." Sterne used horseback; and the situation and to compose his sermons when on exercise are calculated to inspire the mind with a variety of ideas, and a beauty and energy of language, which may in vain be looked for in the close atmosphere and confined prospect of a four-cornered room.

I think it is Montaigne who says he would rather be a good horseman than a good logician. There certainly appears to be no inconsistency between these two qualitiesand it seems quite possible for a man to have both. It happens, however, very unaccountably, as I opine, that there are several individuals of this learned city who are reputed great wits and powerful logicians, who, notwithstanding almost daily practice, are yet very deficient in the science of horsemanship. It might be deemed invidious, and perhaps my motives might be misconstrued, were I to point them out by a more precise description; but they are seen almost daily on horseback, and yet their progress in the acquisition of this graceful accomplishment is extremely slow. Day after day on horseback,-day after day galloping, and trotting, and attempting all the other modes of getting forward, and making a display, which are usually practised by equestrians, it remains

a kind of problem how these individuals should still continue in their original state of ignorance and inability to ride either with comfort or with grace. Neither time nor practice makes the least perceptible improvement on them. I do not know whether the Phrenologist could throw any light upon this question; but it appears to be one peculiarly calculated for their consideration. There may exist some incompatibility, not yet discovered, or at least not yet known, to the old sects of Philosophers, between the possession of a certain portion of brains heavily imbued with scholarship, and that agility which is requisite to make a good rider; but I leave this very interesting and important inquiry to their more profound researches.

It may perhaps be difficult to distinguish the contortions of a Philosopher from the hacking of a horsecouper or muirland-farmer; but there is one character which cannot be mistaken upon horseback,-I mean that of a gentleman; the bearing of a gentleman is indeed discoverable in every situation, and in all his actions, however trivial. There is nothing he does, or can do, but what is done in the best taste, and with the greatest propriety, grace, and politeness. In entering a room, or in doing any of the little agreeables of polite life, the feeling and tact of a gentleman is distinctly discernible, and can neither be mistaken nor counterfeited by the imitations of less-gifted individuals. But in no situation is the superiority of a gentleman so manifest and unequivocal, and so incapable of imitation, as upon horseback. His position is the most secure, and at the same time the most easy and graceful. He has a perfect command of himself and the animal beneath him; and, which excludes every idea of rebellion or cross-purposes between them, one never anticipates or thinks of the possibility of such a thing, when contemplating the progress of a gentleman on horseback. They move as if they formed one piece of beautiful and graceful machinery. And really we cannot wonder, that the first people who were seen on horseback were taken for a people half-horse half-man, so much were they considered as one.

But there is one object far superior to all these, in point of interest, gracefulness, and beauty,-I mean a lady mounted on an ambling palfrey. The philosopher and the gentleman must bow their diminished heads before such an aspiring object. I remember the first time I saw the lovely Mon horseback, and the scene shall never be forgot. After the tedious toil of a long day's unsuccessful fishing, I was returning home jaded and fatigued. On reaching the gentle sloping hill from which my little home and the neighbouring village could be seen, I stood for a while contemplating the happy scene. The sun was just going down in glorious and gorgeous splendour, and the surrounding landscape was tinged with its harmonious and golden hues. The lovely lady, mounted on a milk-white pony, came upon me suddenly at this place. The reflection of the setting-sun, and the lively exercise she was engaged in, had brightened her countenance to an appearance quite heavenly; and when she disappeared from my sight, she left me in doubt whether she was a being of heaven or of earth, so sudden, so bright, and so beautiful, had been the apparition. It is rather surprising to me that an accomplishment so graceful should not be more general amongst the ladies. They may rest assured, that in no exercise or movement is it in their power to excite a more exquisite interest, or a higher admiration, and there is none better calculated to heighten their beauty and enliven their spirits. The quadrille, or the waltz, or the promenade, no doubt, afford admirable opportunities for the display of elegance and grace; but the situation on horseback is much more elevated, and the appearance is more imposing; and in avoiding late hours and the fatigues of a ball-room, they are more than compensated by the benefit derived from an exhilarating ride. Our older moralists were rather disposed to censure and ridicule the female equestrian; and if their representation of the character of that day is to be taken as correct, their censures were perhaps called for, and merited. In these instances, it would appear that there was an assumption of masculine de

meanour and vulgar habits, equally
unbecoming and indelicate. But the
present age is too refined; the minds
of the female world have been too
highly improved to countenance or
admit of any such practices now;
and in recommending this exercise
to my fair friends, I have no fear of
its being carried to such an extreme.
It is, I am sure, calculated to im-
prove their health and increase their
happiness; and it is really important
to encourage the cultivation of all
those 66
means and appliances" by
which such important objects may
be attained. I have no wish, cer-
tainly, to see my fair friends con-
tinually at a hard gallop, and far
less do I ever wish to see the day
when they shall follow the hounds→→→→
leap a five-bar gateor, like Mrs
Thornton, display their powers on
the race-course. Be moderate, gentle,
and delicate, and I shall delight,
above all things, in seeing them well
practised in this delightful accom-
plishment.

The

Although an ardent admirer of the beauties of horsemanship, I am no jockey, or admirer or encourager of jockeys. I like nothing about hunting but the romance of it. sight of the hounds, and the hunters, and the horses, in a clear morning, ascending out of a woody dell in full cry, is one which I could never witness without the highest delight and admiration. The cries of the huntsmen, the full swell of the horns, and the howlings of the hounds, re-echoed through the woods, ring in the ear with a thrilling extacy of pleasure. I have had some experience of the high excitements of the hunter in scenes like these; but it strikes me, that the finest gratification is felt only by the on-looker, who comprehends and enjoys the whole romantic scene, and, like the spectator of a battle, can follow out its varied mazes without his attention being distracted by personal risks, or his vision limited by natural obstacles.

ON THE SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS OF HOMER.

WHOEVER has read the Odyssey with any degree of attention, must have been surprised why it was necessary for Ulysses to encounter the dangers of Scylla and Charybdis, when he might have easily avoided them, by sailing round the western extremity of Sicily. We cannot be lieve that one so distinguished for the cautious prudence of his conduct, would have preferred almost inevitable ruin to probable safety; and yet he is chargeable with this inconsistency, if he ventured upon a way, which, with the exception of one solitary instance, (Od. 12. 66, &c.,) had proved the destruction of all who had previously attempted it. Virgil makes Helenus advise Æneas to choose the circuitous rout in preference to so formidable a passage; and, by so doing, seems to have thought that the conduct of his illustrious predecessor was liable to objection. It is, indeed, difficult to say what could have induced Homer to make his hero act in a manner so much at variance with the usual prudence of his character. Certainly it was not the desire of displaying his gigantic powers of description. Such a

M.

supposition would be an impeachment of his ingenuity, as he might have easily introduced into his narrative all the terrors of Scylla and Charybdis, without so flagrant violation of probability; or, if the presence of his hero was necessary to give still greater interest and animation to his description, he had a tempest at his command for the accomplishment of his purposes.

These objections, it will readily appear, are founded on the belief that the island of Circe was situated on the west coast of Italy, and that the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer are the same as the Scylla and Charybdis of the moderns. We cannot, however, avoid suspecting the correctness of these opinions, since, to suppose them true, not only involves the inconsistency to which we have alluded, but, as will be shown, would compel us to believe in what is impossible. We are, indeed, aware that many writers of antiquity can be produced in support of them; but it is to Homer himself we would have recourse, in order to show that the residence of Circe was different from what it is generally

supposed to have been when she was visited by Ulysses; and that the identity of the Scylla and Charybdis described by Homer, and of those in the straits of Messina, has no existence whatever, except in their

names.

Before we can establish the truth of the latter assertion, it will be requisite to ascertain the position of Circe's island, from which Ulysses set sail at the commencement of his voyage. On this point, Homer supplies us with the most satisfactory information. He states, in language as plain as he could have possibly used, that it was near the habitation of Aurora, and the rising of the sun, (Od. 12. 3 and 4.) This position evidently corresponds with the eastern shores of the Euxine. The words of Homer, indeed, when considered by themselves, can only authorise us to conclude, that the habitation of Circe was situated at the eastern extremity of the known world; but, when taken in connection with the fact, that Circe resided near the land of Colchis before her flight into Italy, they are sufficient to prove that her abode, when she was left by Ulysses, was near the eastern shores of the Black Sea. Besides, this idea receives additional confirmation from the epithet which is given by Homer to the island. He calls it ean-(Od. 12. 3,)—a term evidently derived from Ea, an island of Colchis, near the eastern shores of the Euxine. stead, therefore, of supposing that the island in question was on the west coast of Italy, we must fix it in a place which might have been considered, in that early period of society, as at the opposite extremity of the world.

sea on the west of Italy and the Euxine be to separated by land. This, however, though in reality the case, does not seem to have been his opinion; and unless it can be shown that his ideas on this point of geography corresponded with those of the moderns, it is quite logical to admit the truth of what he says respecting the situation of Circe's island, and from it to infer, that he supposed the sea on the west of Italy not to be separated from the Euxine by land, but to be connected with it by a continuation of the same element.

Though this argument seems to be sufficient in itself to prove that Homer believed in the existence of this communication by sea, yet it may not be improper to mention, that the same circumstance is rendered at least probable, by the idea which he entertained respecting a circumambient ocean. In his account of the objects depicted on the shield of Achilles, he represents the sea as encompassing the earth; and, considering the very limited knowledge possessed in the age of Homer with regard to the earth's superficial extent, it is not improbable that he viewed the Euxine and the sea on the west of Italy as forming different parts of the surrounding ocean. If this supposition be admitted, there was no impropriety in representing Ulysses as sailing directly from Italy to the eastern extremity of the EuxIn- ine.

It will probably occur to those who have followed Ulysses through his wanderings, that he was on the west of Italy before he visited the residence of Circe; and as it would be absurd to suppose that he navigated the Thracian Bosphorus, and crossed the Black Sea from west to east, in order to arrive at Ithaca, it may be objected that it was physically impossible for him to sail from Italy to the Euxine. This argument, though formidable at first sight, is not insuperable. It evidently involves the assumption that Homer believed the

But it may be said, that, if Homer supposed this passage to exist, he might have brought his hero back to his native country by the Scylla and Charybdis. On the supposition of this communication by water, we are willing to admit the possibility of the voyage; but we cannot allow that it could have been accomplished during the short time in which, Homer describes it to have taken place. Such, indeed, was the celerity with which it was performed, that Ulysses seems to have arrived at the Island of the Sun the very day on which he left the habitation of Circe. The fewness of the events that occurred during this part of his voyage, and the rapidity of their succession, are circumstances which the poet has marked with the greatest clearness and perspicuity. We find that the

vessel of Ulysses was quickly wafted from Circe's Island to the rocks of the Syrens; that he had no sooner passed this dangerous coast, than he heard the noise, and saw the swelling waves of Charybdis, and that he reached the Island of the Sun immediately after his escape from the terrors of that destructive whirlr pool.

It will be easily perceived, that the force of the argument depends upon three circumstances: the position of Circe's Island-the immense distance between it and the modern Charybdis-and the shortness of the time which Ulysses took to sail from that island to the Charybdis of Homer. With regard to the locality of Circe's habitation, we have the authority of Homer himself, who, as we have shown, places it at the eastern extremity of the known world, and its proximity to the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer is fairly deducible from the short interval of time which elapsed before Ulysses encountered the dangers of that formidable rock and whirlpool. If, then, the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer are the same as those of the moderns, the poet is not only chargeable with a violation of probability, in representing his hero as preferring a passage at once dangerous and unknown, to one that was known and comparatively safe; but he is guilty of an additional absurdity, in making Ulysses perform what it was impossible for him to accomplish. From these considerations, we think ourselves justified in asserting, that the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer were not situated in that narrow passage which now bears the name of the Straits of Messina.

But if this was not their local position, where are we to find them? It is often more easy to state a difficulty than to solve it; and this is particularly the case in the present instance, as there seems to be no situation that can be substituted for the one which, in the common opinion, they have uniformly held. We have, therefore, no other alternative left, than to suppose that they were indebted for their existence to the imagination of the poet. We do not see any reasonable objection to this mode of removing the difficulty. The creative power of fancy is as legiti

mately exercised in the production of a place, as in that of a new race of beings; and Homer seems to have availed himself of this privilege much more frequently than is generally supposed. The Island of Calypso, for instance, has been placed by different inquirers in different parts of the world; but a satisfactory position has not, as far as we know, ever been given to it; a circumstance that may be accounted for, by supposing it to have been only a poetic fiction.

But even as creations of the poet, the rock and whirlpool under consideration must have been viewed by him as having a local situation. In order to ascertain it, it will be necessary to remember, that Ulysses passed them when returning to his native country. If, then, he sailed from the eastern extremity of the Euxine, they must have occurred in some part betwixt that place and Ithaca; and it is not improbable that Homer placed them in some imaginary strait, which, in his opinion, connected the Adriatic with the surrounding ocean.

Before dismissing the subject, it may be proper to take notice of an objection which may be urged against what has been advanced. The identity of the names, it may be 'said, could not have been the result of chance, and, of course, there must be some connection between the Scylla and Charybdis of Homer and those of the moderns. The force of the preceding observations, however, would not be invalidated, even if no reason could be assigned for this coincidence; but we may remark, that the names were probably invented by Homer, and subsequently applied by some Grecian colonists to the rock and whirlpool between Sicily and Italy. Nothing can be more natural, than for emigrants to affix the local appellations to which they had been accustomed in their native land, to corresponding places in the country to which they have removed; and though the modern Scylla and Charybdis fall far short of the terrors with which Homer has invested those of his own creation, yet the resemblances between them are sufficient to warrant the supposition which has been made, to account for the identity of the names.

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