Hints afforded us by Antiquity, to find out How a blind stroling Bard could come by them.
I do not choose to entertain your Lordship with the Accidents about his Birth[1]; tho’ some Naturalists would reckon them the Beginnings of his good Fortune. I incline rather to observe, That he is generally reputed to have been a Native of Asia the less; a Tract of Ground that for the Temperature of the Climate, and Qualities of the Soil, may vye with any in Europe[2]. It is not so fat and fruitful as the Plains of Babylon or Banks of the Nile, to effeminate the Inhabitants, and beget Laziness and Inactivity: But the Purity and Benignity of the Air, the Varieties of the Fruits and Fields, the Beauty and Number of the Rivers, and the constant Gales from the happy Isles of the Western Sea, all conspire to bring its Productions of every kind to the highest Perfection: They inspire that Mildness of Temper, and Flow of Fancy, which favour the most extensive Views, and give the finest Conceptions of Nature and Truth.
In the Division commonly made of Climates, the Rough and Cold are observed to
- ↑ Snuff» 1},» and}: (gun’pa 'Opéfv) (“727:0 :1in hatSfm'uq. air yup? xiii. 'Hm’br. 13:0“ 'Opm'y.
- ↑ Minmermus, a Man of a delicate Taste, who knew the Courttry well, calls it. sugar?» ‘Arlu, the lovely Asia@@: And Herodotus, who was acquainted with it, and most of the fine Countries then known, affirms, dtpig “laps; int, :1: 10‘ Jim-«sum iri, a? TIL:ng r. it: “Egg” 09 hr; unit's-f iro'yzmm ihuc’iya‘ut zéhm; were» £61354“: TM wail "$8,. "10351.
