Nevertheless I would not have you entirely lay afide the thoughts of my epitaph, any more than I do thofe of the probability of my becoming (ere long) the fubject of one. For death has of late been very familiar with fome of my fize: I am told my Lord Lumley and Mr. Litton are gone before me; and though I may now, without vanity, esteem myself the least thing like a man in England, yet I can't but be forry, two heroes of fuch a make fhould die inglorious in their beds; when it had been a fate more worthy our fize, had they met with theirs from an irruption of cranes, or other warlike animals, thofe ancient enemies to our pygmæan ancestors! You of á fuperior species little regard what befals us bomunciones fefquipedales; however, you have no reason to be fo unconcerned, fince all phyficians agree there is no greater fign of a plague among men, than a mor. tality among frogs. I was the other day in company. with a lady, who rallied my perfon so much, as to cause a total fubverfion of my countenance: fome days after, to be revenged on her, I prefented her, among other company, the following Rondeau on that occafion, which I defire you to show Sappho. You know where you did despise And fome things of little fize, You, 'tis true, have fine black eyes, You know where. This fort of writing called the Rondeau is what I never knew practised in our nation, and, I verily believe, it was not in use with the Greeks or Romans, -neither Macrobius nor Hyginus taking the leaft notice of it. 'Tis to be observed, that the vulgar spelling and pronouncing it round O, is a manifest corruption, and by no means to be allowed of by critics. Some may mistakenly imagine that it was a fort of Rondeau which the Gallic foldiers* fung in Cæfar's triumph over *From this Song of the Gallic Soldiers, I will take occafion to observe, that we have several forts of measures commonly used in our English versification, which exactly correspond to many that are used by the Greeks and Romans; of which the following are a specimen : What we call an Alexandrine verse in English, is perfectly like a pure Iambic verfe in Greek or Latin; Deěp īn | thě gloo | mỹ Cāve | thě pen | five fāge | rěclīnd— πέπυσ | μενη | μεν ως | απει | κασαι | παρει | Săbină qualis aut | pĕrūs | tă fō | libūs Our verse of four feet confifts of four Iambics, like the following dimeter Iambic verfe in Horace : Remōte | from cĩ | ties līv'd | ǎ fwäin | · In which measure also many hymns for the Church were written, by thofe elegant Latin Poets that adorned Italy at the time of the revival of literature; as the following of Ant. Flaminius ; Jam over Gaul-Gallias Cafar fubegit, etc. as it is recorded by Suetonius in Julio, and fo derive its original Jam noctis umbras Lucifer, Terrâ poloque dimovet One of the most harmonious measures in our language, bears a moft minute resemblance to the Greek Trochaic measure; as will appear by reading the following paffages of Gray and Euripides together; and compared alfo with the words; Δεσμα | τοις ξε | νοισι | προσθές— Ποι δὲ [ σ' εκφυ | γοιεν | αν The only difference is that the infertion of rhyme in the English measure breaks the one line into two; but the metre remains, notwithstanding, intrinfically the fame. We have alfo Anacreontic meafures confifting of three pure Iambics, and one femiped Ŏ foftly gliding num | bers That woō to gễn | tlě flūm | bers Θελω | λέγειν. | Άτρες | δας Θέλω ] δὲ καὶ | μοναδει And that exquifite Ode in Shakespear fung by Ariel, Where the Bee fucks | there fuck | I, On a Bat's back | I do | fly, precifely correfponds with the metre of the following lines in Horace, original from the ancient Gauls to the modern French but this is erroneous; the words there not being ranged according the laws of the Rondeau, as laid down by Clement Marot. If you will say, that the fong of the foldiers might be only the rude beginning of this kind of poem, and fo confequently imperfect, neither Heinfius nor I can be of that opinion; and fo I conclude, that we know nothing of the matter. But, Sir, I ask your pardon for all this buffoonery, which I could not addrefs to any one fo well as to you, fince I have found by experience, you most eafily forgive my impertinencies. 'Tis only to fhow you that I am mindful of you at all times, that I write at all times; and as nothing I can fay can be worth your reading, fo I may as well throw out what comes uppermoft, as study to be dull. I am, etc. Tu fe cândă mārmo|ra| Summovere litto | ra Pauperem labori | bus We have alfo Anapæstic verses in our metre➡ Ånd the King | fĕiz'd ǎ flām | beău with zeal | to děftrōy | A line that contains four Anapæfts, making twelve fyllables and four feet. We are always to remember that our feet are regulated by accent, not by quantity. LETTER XV. FROM MR. CROMWELL. July 15, 1710. AT T last I have prevailed over a lazy humour to transcribe this elegy: I have changed the fituation of fome of the Latin verses, and made fome interpolations, but I hope they are not abfurd, and foreign to my author's fense and manner: but they are referred to your cenfure, as a debt; whom I esteem no less a critic than a poet: I expect to be treated with the same rigour as I have practised to Mr. Dryden and you. Hanc veniam petimufque damufque viciffim. I defire the favour of your opinion why Priam, in his speech to Pyrrhus in the fecond Eneid, fays this to him, At non ille, fatum quo te mentiris, Achilles. He would intimate (I fancy by Pyrrhus's answer) only his degeneracy: but then thefe following lines of the verfion (I fuppofe from Homer's history) feem abfurd in the mouth of Priam, viz. He chear'd my forrows, and for fums of gold I am, Your, etc. |