Troy.

Who , indeed , has not heard of Troy and of . Hector , and of Priam , and Hecuba , and "telerrima causa belli , " the fair Helen and the victimized Paris , and of Achilles and Agamemnon , and Ajax and Ulysses , and above all of

Homer . To those who like Praed ' s ideal Etonian ( we fancy they do differently there now ) ,

" Who knew the streets of Rome and Troy , Who supped with Fates and Furies , " believe in Homer and in Troy , the doubts and controversies of the present day are almost painful . "When Lord Byron talked of a doubter of a former

generation , as that "blackguard Bryant , " he but expressed in his OAVH sincere vernacular the opinion of most classical students . It is , however , not to be denied that Wolf , a learned Germanhas found many supporters at

, home and abroad for his colder and more critical objections . But despite of all , Bryant and Wolf , and the Biyantites and Wolfites of the hour , Ave prefer " errare cum Mr . Gladstone " in such a matterthan to be

, very Avise and profoundly critical with Wolf or any English sceptic of lesser notoriety . We at once say , ive believe fully and

firmly both in Troy and in Homer , and to all who have ever read Homer ' s Iliad and Odyssey ( Ave leave out the question to-day of the Homeric Poems ) , their remembrance of them is ever pleasant , and their gratitude to the old bard

intense . Eor even HOAV Ave can recall , with all the " sentiment " and effusion of youth , pleasant travels on the dusty Ti'oas , the companionship of the great , and the true , and the softer associations of poetry and pathos .

As alternately our sympathies pre touched , or our interest is roused , as Ave deplore the fate of Hector or admire the courage of Achilles , as Ave pity poor old Priam , and yet sympathize with the indignant Greeksas ive are

im-, pressed , if ivithout much of admiration , with the subtlety of Ulysses or the cleverness of Agamemnon , Ave yet can deeply feel for Andromache , and think

her parting with Hector the most touching of episodes . And as Ave find in the Homeric Song all that can dignify virtue and all that can delight imagination , all that is high-minded , tender , feeling , and true ,

despite the onward march of men and the accumulated poetry of time , ive yet can go hack to the tale of Troy and of Hector and Achilles and Ulysses , and Penelope and ( Eneas , and Priam and'Cassandraand even Briseiswith

, , a sense of freshness ivhich nothing can take away , with a perception of the true spirit of s-onjs . s , and pleasant tender imagination , which no later poet has equalled , much leas surpassed . And to us therefore the news of

Dr . Schliemann s excavations lias come Avith feelings , both of grateful sympathy and revivified interest , Eor three years the good Dr ., ive believe , as his name tells us of German extraction , accompanied by his wife , an Athenian lady endowed

evidently with great energy and presence of mind , has been diligently exploring the site , as he rightly conjectured , of old Troy . It is well-known that much difference of opinion has preimiled among even the most learned men as to the real sit of the famous Ilium .

Misled by Strabo oi old , some'in all ages have refused to believe that New Troy was built on the ruins of its older namesake , and have therefore sought for Troy on one or other of the " debris" of old cities which still

surmount the plain , like Bournabaslu and Chiflak . ButDr . Schliemann rig i itly conj ectured that New Troy ivas , after all , the real site of old Troy , ivhich , standing as it does on its own elevated plateau , and

between two rivers , best answers to Homer ' s own description , ivho . had clearly seen with his own eyes what he so well pourtrays . The place is now called Hissarlilc , and here it was that Dr . Schliemann

determined to excavate , and thus by Avhat Lord Palmerston called a " concurrence of atoms , " and somebody else has termed