neither dactyl nor spondee, some conclude with a dactyl, and in the
intermediate part he sometimes deviates equally from the established
custom. I confess that instances of this sort are rare; but they are
surely, though few, sufficient to warrant a sparing use of similar
license in the present day.

Unwilling, however, to seem obstinate in both these particulars, I
conformed myself in some measure to these objections, though
unconvinced myself of their propriety. Several of the rudest and most
unshapely lines I composed anew; and several of the pauses least in
use I displaced for the sake of an easier enunciation.--And this was
the state of the work after the revisal given it about seven years
since.

Between that revisal and the present a considerable time intervened,
and the effect of long discontinuance was, that I became more
dissatisfied with it myself, than the most difficult to be pleased of
all my judges. Not for the sake of a few uneven lines or unwonted
pauses, but for reasons far more substantial. The diction seemed to me
in many passages either not sufficiently elevated, or deficient in the
grace of ease, and in others I found the sense of the original either
not adequately expressed or misapprehended. Many elisions still
remained unsoftened; the compound epithets I found not always happily
combined, and the same sometimes too frequently repeated.

There is no end of passages in HOMER, which must creep unless they are
lifted; yet in such, all embellishment is out of the question. The
hero puts on his clothes, or refreshes himself with food and wine, or
he yokes his steed, takes a journey, and in the evening preparation is
made for his repose. To give relief to subjects prosaic as these