the son of Ulysses and Penelope, was still in the cradle when his father went with the rest of the Greeks to the Trojan war. At the end of this celebrated war, Telemachus, anxious to see his father, went to seek him; and as the place of his residence, and the cause of his long absence, were then unknown, he visited the court of Menelaus and Nestor to obtain information. He afterwards returned to Ithaca, where the suitors of his mother Penelope had conspired to murder him, but he avoided their snares; and by means of Minerva he discovered his father, who had arrived in the island two days before him, and was then in the house of Eumaeus. With this faithful servant and Ulysses Telemachus concerted how to deliver his mother from the importunities of her suitors, and it was effected with great success. After the death of his father, Telemachus went to the island of Æaea, where he married Circe, or, according to others, Calypso the daughter of Circe, by whom he had a son called Latinus. He some time after had the misfortune to kill his mother-in-law Circe, and fled to Italy, where he founded Clitumn. Telemachus was accompanied in his visit to Nestor and Menelaus by the goddefs of wisdom under the form of Mentor. It is said that, when a child, Telemachus fell into the sea, and that a dolphin brought him safe to shore, after he had remained some time under water. From this circumstance Ulysses had the figure of a dolphin engraved on the seal which he wore on his ring.

From these stories, collected from Homer and the other poets of antiquity, the celebrated Fenelon archbishop of Cambay took the idea of his well-known Adventures of Telemachus; which, though not composed in verse, is justly entitled to be esteemed a poem. "The plan of the work (says Dr Blair) is in general well contrived; and is deficient neither in epic grandeur nor unity of object. The author has entered with much fidelity into the spirit and ideas of the ancient poets, particularly into the ancient mythology, which retains more dignity, and makes a better figure in his hands than in those of any other modern poet. His descriptions are rich and beautiful; especially of the loiter and calmer scenes, for which the genius of Fenelon was best fitted; such as the incidents of pastoral life, the pleasures of virtue, or a country flourishing in peace. There is an inimitable sweetness and tenderness in several of the pictures of this kind which he has given;" and his measured prose, which is remarkably harmonious, gives the style nearly as much elevation as the French language is capable of supporting even in regular verse.

According to the same eminent critic, "the best executed part of the work is the first six books, in which Telemachus recounts his adventures to Calypso. The narration throughout them is lively and interesting. Afterwards, especially in the last twelve books, it becomes more tedious and languid; and in the warlike adventures which are attempted,

(a) Each reflector, after every arrangement, must be restored to its place. Telephium, tempted; there is a great defect of vigour. The chief objection against this work being clasped with epic poems, arises from the minute details of virtuous policy, into which the author in some places enters; and from the discourses and instructions of Mentor, which recur upon us too often, and too much in the strain of common-place morality. Though these were well suited to the main design of the author, which was to form the mind of a young prince, yet they seem not congruous to the nature of epic poetry; the object of which is to improve us by means of actions, characters, and sentiments, rather than by delivering professed and formal instruction.