four Augustan ages, as they call them. The first is that of Greece, in the time of Philip of Macedon, in which flourished Socrates, Plato, Demosthenes, Aristotle, Apelles, Phidias, Praxi∣teles, Thucydides, Xenophon, Eschylus, Euri∣pides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander, Phi∣lemon. The second is that of Rome, under Augustus, near or under whose reign flourished Laberius, Catullus, Lucretius, Cicero, Livy, Virgil, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, Phaedrus, Vitruvius. The third is again that of Rome, after the revival of learning, and contains the names of Ariosto, Sannazaro, Guicciardini, Vida, Bembo, Sadolet, Macchia∣vel, Michael Angelo, Raffaello, Tiziano. The fourth and last is that of France, under Louis XIV. in which stand Corneille, Moliere, Ra∣cine, &c. &c.
NOW you must observe, my dear friend, that we are gravely told that genius was, during these ages, carried to its greatest height in these respective countries. A remark of superlative futility. In the Augustan age of Greece, for example, where is the name of Homer, who flourished about 300 years before? Where is