115 
him 
Cdmfortable 
in 
his 
own way, 
wheli 
he 
came incapable of amusing the public. 
After some conversation, 
Homer requested 
Mr. Hamilton to give him a subject for a poem. In 
the mean time, a number of Italians had gathered 
round them to look at Mr. West, who they had 
heard was an American, and whom, like Cardi- 
nal Albani, they imagined td be an Indian. 
Some 
of 
them, 
OH 
hearing 
Homer's 
observed, 
request, 
that he had exhausted his vein, and Bad already 
said and -sung every subject over and over. Mr. 
Hamilton, however, remarked that he thought he 
could propose something new to the bard, and 
pointing to Mr. West, 
said, 
that he was -an 
Ame- 
rican 
COIIIB 
to 
study the 
fine 
afts in Rome ; 
and 
that such an event furnished 
nificent theme. Homer took 
a new and mag- 
possession of the 
thought with the ardour of inspiration. 
He imme- 
diately uns-lung his guitar, 
to draw his 
and began 
ingers rapidly over the strings, swinging his body 
side, and -striking fine and impressive 
from side to 
-chords. 
had thus brought his 
When he 
motions 
imd his feelings into unison with the instrument, 
he began an extemporaneous ode in a manner so