is libelled by this
application of his name, and advises that 'Zoilus' should be
substituted. The question lies between spite and presumption; and it is
not easy to decide upon a case where the claims of each party are so
strong: but the name of Aristarch, who, simple man! would allow no verse
to pass for Homer's which he did not approve of, is retained, for
reasons that will be deemed cogent.

Fortunate is it for the world when this spirit incites only to actions
that meet with an adequate punishment in derision; such, as in a scheme
of poetical justice, would be aptly requited by assigning to the agents,
when they quit this lower world, a station in that not uncomfortable
limbo--the Paradise of Fools! But, assuredly, we shall have here another
proof that ridicule is not the test of truth, if it prevent us from
perceiving, that _depravity_ has no ally more active, more inveterate,
nor, from the difficulty of divining to what kind and degree of
extravagance it may prompt, more pernicious than self-conceit. Where
this alliance is too obvious to be disputed, the culprit ought not to be
allowed the benefit of contempt--as a shelter from detestation; much
less should he be permitted to plead, in excuse for his transgressions,
that especial malevolence had little or no part in them. It is not
recorded, that the ancient, who set fire to the temple of Diana, had a
particular dislike to the goddess of chastity, or held idolatry in
abhorrence: he was a fool, an egregious fool, but not the less, on that
account, a most odious monster. The tyrant who is described as having
rattled his chariot along a bridge of brass over the heads of his
subjects, was, no doubt, inwardly laughed at; but what if this mock
Jupiter, not satisfied with an empty noise of his own making, had amused
himself with throwing fire-brands upon the house-tops, as a substitute
for lightning; and, from his elevation, had hurled stones upon the heads
of his people, to show that he was a master of the destructive bolt, as
well as of the harmless voice of the thunder!--The lovers of all that is
honourable to humanity have recently had occasion to rejoice over the
downfall of an intoxicated despot, whose vagaries furnish more solid
materials by which the philosopher will exemplify how strict is the
connection between the ludicrously, and the terribly fantastic. We know,
also, that Robespierre was one of the vainest men that the most vain
country upon earth has produ