where  any  hypothesis  is  to  be  maintained  merely  by  a
doubtful  allusion  or  an  insulated  expression.
Whether  either  the  Iliad  or  the  Odyssey  was  the  work
of  a  single  hand  has  been  much  doubted,  perhaps  with
reason,  but  certainly  with  a  considerable  appearance  of  reason,
supported  by  evidence  both  external  and  internal,  so  far  at
least  as  the  Iliad  is  concerned.  The  total  ignorance  of  the
history,  or  even  real  name  of  their  author,  the  variety  of
great  poems,  amounting  to  more  than  twenty  in  number,
attributed  to  him  by  the  ancients,  and  the  contention  of
different  states  for  the  honor  of  his  birth,  are  embarrassing
circumstances  when  considered  with  reference  to  a  single
individual.  But  whatever  may  be  the  fact  with  respect  to
the  author  or  authors  of  these  poems,  the  great  mass  of  both
is  undoubtedly  of  sufficient  antiquity  to  be  received  as  casting
the  strongest,  and  indeed  the  only,  light  we  possess  on  the
earliest  ages  of  Grecian  history.  It  is  against  the  pretended
genuineness  of  detached  verses  and  small  fragments  that  we
should  be  on  our  guard,  for  such  only  are  likely  to  be  of
recent  introduction;  and  a  few  words  on  the  manner  in
which  these  interpolations  have  found  their  way  into  the
poems,  will  shew  that  such  a  corruption  of  the  text  was
almost  inevitable.
Without  stopping  to  inquire  whether  the  Homeric  poems
were  consigned  to  writing  at  the  period  of  their  promulgation.
or  whether  a  written  character  was  even  known  to  their
author,  we  may,  in  passing,  remark  the  singular  circumstance
that  he  who  alludes  almost  to  every  occupation  of  men,  and