Virginia advocate. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1827-1860, 1830-02-05

showed herself more faithful i'm ,s,;F;,,. ,hs
truth of description more than mon v,,r. ok
Here the elegant and learned Professor cyc,,;,n,.
&" How could blind man have described, -,
many countries with such exactness, Hc VIII.
disguised The he'o OF the Odyssey as abecgar to
slay the suitors Of Penelope, does he not nm
pear To have concealed himself under the mask
OF Ulysses TO write his own history II NAV
be objected that poet might have visited ali
the spots rendered llustrous by the Trojan war.
But koIiades is right in observing that poet
could'not have developed the progress of tho
war and the details Of the BATTLES, with SO much
order and truth. voltnire, Tas,o. and Virgil,
have also sung Of battles, but it is very evident
that they were not present thereat Homer, on
the other hand, be he who he may, has borne
part IN whatever he describes. Next comes
his unexa'npled typographical cxactncss, which
Is quite un iquc among tho ancicn,s. Strnbo, n :
great geographcr, falls far short Of this truth of
description. Livy destroys Italian towns the
walls of which are still standing The marvel.
lous description of Great Britain by Tacitus
makes school boys laugh and all this could not
be otherwise. The ancients had no maps--no
plans traced Thus their modo of locating
places became liable to uncertainty, and it was
necessary for writer to have long and Mt ten.
lively visited people and cities, like Cesar and
Homer, that posterty might not see every thing
misplaced and displayed in their accounts or i'm
nature. This poet was Greek warrior; this
he sufficiently proved by his description Of his
battles and finally, this warrior is the King of
ithaca-of that charming island, .whithee the
'he ancicnts sent tho songster Of Odyssey to
consult the mancs af Ulysses, and where the
oracle OF Delphos said the prince of poets was
born Homer loses nothing by this commenta-
ry no one knew who he was and some of the
learned will tell you that the name of Homer
was n mere nick name. The antiquity of
Greece loses nothing, but many uncertainties
exist respecting tho reality Of this poets exis,
tence. -
Destructive FIRE AT NEw-OR-
LEANs.-A very destructive fire occur
ed at New-Orleans on the night of the
18th January. The horse press and cot
ton warehouse occupied by Niessrs N.
and b. Hart, comprising; range of.
buildings three hundred feet long and
two hundred feet wide, were totally con-
sumed, with their contents, including
about eight thousand bales of cotton.
The value of the cotton, houses and
machinery destroyed is declared to be
nothing short of three hundred thousand
dollars The cotton bales were piled up
to the height of eight or nine tiers, and
presented an appalling mass of fire.
Great fears were entertained for the
Steam press and row of buildings ON
Common ST. opposite to these fired, and
and for CAPTAIN M'Cutcheon's row of
three story buildings next adjoining
them; but although the gable ends Of
the latter were lashed by the flames,
they proved. themselves literally fire
proof. -.
IDLE Bors. The select men of Gloucester.
Mass have published notice informing the
idle boys of that town, that if they arc found
playing the truant in school hours, they will DO
treated as Migrants, according to law
GROCERIES AND HAnDwARE.-In Au.
gusta Geo. on the 9th inst. Mr.. William