“It has been generally supposed that Corfu, or Corcyra, was the Phaeacia of Homer; but Sir Henry Englefield thinks the position of that island inconsistent with the voyage of Ulysses as described in the Odyssey.  That gentleman has also observed a number of such remarkable coincidences between the courts of Alcinous and Solomon, that they may be thought curious and interesting.  Homer was familiar with the names of Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt; and, as he lived about the time of Solomon, it would not have been extraordinary if he had introduced some account of the magnificence of that prince into his poem.  As Solomon was famous for wisdom, so the name of Alcinous signifies strength of knowledge; as the gardens of Solomon were celebrated, so are those of Alcinous (Od. 7.112.); as the kingdom of Solomon was distinguished by twelve tribes under twelve princes (1 Kings, ch. 4.), so that of Alcinous (Od. 8. 390.) was ruled by an equal number; as the throne of Solomon was supported by lions of gold (1 Kings, ch. 10.), so that of Alcinous was placed on dogs of silver and gold (Od, 7. 91.); as the fleets of Solomon were famous, so were those of Alcinous.  It is perhaps worthy of remark, that Neptune sate on the mountains of the SOLYMI, as he returned from AEthiopia to AEgae, while he raised the tempest which threw Ulysses on the coast of Phaeacia; and that the Solymi of Pamphylia are very considerably distant from the route.—­The suspicious character, also, which Nausicaa attributes to her countryman agrees precisely with that which the Greeks and Romans gave of the Jews.”

The seventh chapter contains a description of the Monastery of Kathara, and several adjacent places.  The eighth, among other curiosities, fixes on an imaginary site for the Farm of Laertes:  but this is the agony of conjecture indeed!—­and the ninth chapter mentions another Monastery, and a rock still called the School of Homer.  Some sepulchral inscriptions of a very simple nature are included.—­The tenth and last chapter brings us round to the Port of Schoenus, near Bathi; after we have completed, seemingly in a very minute and accurate manner, the tour of the island.

We can certainly recommend a perusal of this volume to every lover of classical scene and story.  If we may indulge the pleasing belief that Homer sang of a real kingdom, and that Ulysses governed it, though we discern many feeble links in Mr. Gell’s chain of evidence, we are on the whole induced to fancy that this is the Ithaca of the bard and of the monarch.  At all events, Mr. Gell has enabled every future traveller to form a clearer judgment on the question than he could have established without such a “Vade-mecum to Ithaca,” or a “Have with you, to the House of Ulysses,” as the present.  With Homer in his pocket, and Gell on his sumpter-horse or mule, the Odyssean tourist may now make a very classical and delightful excursion; and we doubt not that the advantages accruing to the Ithacences, from the increased number of travellers who will visit them in consequence of Mr. Gell’s account of their country, will induce them to confer on that gentleman any heraldic honours which they may have to bestow, should he ever look in upon them again.—­Baron Bathi would be a pretty title:—­