'By courtesy of a friend I had the loan of Mr. Pope's poetical works together with his translations of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey". I also read Mr. Hervey's "Theron and Aspasia", but with no great pleasure, because of its chiefly dwelling upon controverted points of theology. I was induced to read it by a sense of what was due to the request of a valued friend. As to Mr. Pope's works and translations, I read them with much satisfaction. In passing, I must observe that of Homer's poems I greatly preferred the "Odyssey"; for the "Iliad" was too full of warlike descriptions for one of my pacific temper. I still retain this preference. My reading times were at my meals, and after I had left work in the evening.'