; and Spenfer's Calendar, at the fame time; and I affure you, I continue the fame opinion I had always of them. By the little hints you take upon all occafions to improve them, 'tis probable you will make them yet better against winter; tho' there is a mean to be kept even in that too, and a man may correct his verses till he takes away the true spirit of them especially if he submits to the correction of fome who pafs for great Critics, by mechanical rules, and never enter into the true defign and Genius of an author. I have seen fome of thefe that would hardly allow any one good Ode in Horace, who cry Virgil wants fancy, and that Homer is very incorrect. While they talk at this rate, one would think them above the common rate of mortals: but generally they are great admirers of Ovid and Lucan; and when they write themselves, we find out all the mystery. They scan their verses upon their fingers; run after Conceits and glaring thoughts: their poems are all made up of Couplets, of which the first may be the laft, or the last firft, without any fort of prejudice to their works: in which there is no defign, or method, or any thing natural or juft. For you are certainly in the right, that in all writings whatsoever (not poetry only) nature is to be follow'd; and we should be jealous of ourselves for being fond of Similies, Conceits, and what they call faying fine Things. When we were in the North, my Lord Wharton fhew'd me a letter he had receiv'd from a certain great General in Spain *; I told him I would by all means have that General recall'd and set to writing here at home, for it was impoffible that a man with so much Wit as he fhew'd, could be fit to command an Army, or do any other bufinefst. As for what you fay of Expreffion: 'tis indeed *The Earl of Peterborrow. Mr. Walih's Remark will be thought very innocent, when indeed the fame thing to Wit, as Drefs is to Beauty: I have seen many women over-drefs'd, and several look better in a carelefs night gown, with their hair about their ears, than Mademoiselle Spanheim drefs'd for a ball. I do not design to be in London till towards the parliament: then I fhall certainly be there; and hope by that time you will have finish'd your Paftorals as you would have them appear in the world, and particularly the third, of Autumn, which I have not yet feen. Your laft Eclogue being upon the fame subject as that of mine on Mrs. Tempest's Death, I fhould take it very kindly in you to give it a little turn, as if it were to the memory of the fame Lady, if they were not written for fome particular Woman whom you would make immortal. may take occafion to fhew the difference between Poets Miftreffes, and other mens. I only hint this, which you may either do, or let alone, juft as you think fit. I fhall be very much pleas'd to fee you again in Town, and to hear from you in the mean time. I am, with very much efteem, You Your, &c. A LETTER VI. Oct. 22, 1706. FTER the thoughts I have already sent you on the subject of English Verfification, you defire my opinion as to fome farther particulars. There are indeed certain Niceties, which, tho' not much observed even by correct verfifiers, I cannot but think, deserve to be better regarded. when the reader is informed that it was made on the Earl of Peterborrow, juft before the glorious campaigns of Barcelona and Valentia. VOL. VII. E P. 1. It 1. It is not enough that nothing offends the ear, but a good poet will adapt the very Sounds, as well as Words, to the things he treats of. So that there is (if one may exprefs it fo) a Style of Sound. As in defcribing a gliding stream, the numbers should run eafy and flowing; in describing a rough torrent or deluge, fonorous and fwelling, and fo of the reft. This is evident every where in Homer and Virgil, and no where else, that I know of, to any obfervable degree. The following examples will make this plain, which I have taken from Vida. Molle viam tacito lapfu per levia radit. Tolle moras, cape faxa muna, cape robora, Paftor. This, I think, is what very few observe in practice, and is undoubtedly of wonderful force in imprinting the image on the reader: We have one excellent example of it in our language, Mr. Dryden's Ode on St. Cæcilia's day, entitled, Alexander's Feaft. 2. Every nice ear muft (I believe) have obferv'd, that in any smooth English verfe of ten fyllables, there is naturally a Paufe at the fourth, fifth, or fixth fyllable. It is upon these the ear refts, and upon the judicious change and management of which depends the variety of verfification. For Example, At the fifth. Where'er thy navy | Spreads her canvas wings, At the fourth. Homage to thee and peace to all she brings. At the fixth. Like tracts of leverets | in morning fnow. ་ Now I fancy, that, to preferve an exact Harmony and Variety, the Paufe at the 4th or 6th should not be continued above three lines together, without the interpofition of another; elfe it will be apt to weary the ear with one continued tone, at least it does mine: That at the 5th runs quicker, and carries not quite fo dead a weight, fo tires not fo much, tho' it be continued longer. 3. Another nicety is in relation to Expletives, whether words or fyllables, which are made use of purely to fupply a vacancy: Do before verbs plural is abfolutely fuch; and it is not improbable but future refiners may explode did and does in the fame manner, which are almost always used for the fake of rhime. The fame caufe has occafioned the promifcuous ufe of you and thou to the fame perfon, which can never found so graceful as either one or the other. 4. I would alfo object to the irruption of Alexandrine verses, of twelve fyllables, which, I think, should never be allow'd but when some remarkable beauty or propriety in them atones for the liberty: Mr. Dryden has been too free of these, especially in his latter works. I am of the fame opinion as to Triple Rhimes. 5. I could equally object to the Repetition of the fame Rhimes within four or fix lines of each other, as tirefome to the ear thro' their Monotony. 6. Monofyllable Lines, unless very artfully managed, are stiff, or languishing: but may be beautiful to exprefs Melancholy, Slowness, or Labour. 7. To come to the Hiatus, or Gap between two words, which is caus'd by two vowels opening on each other (upon which you defire me to be particular) I think the rule in this cafe is either to use the Cæfura, or admit the Hiatus, juft as the ear is leaft fhock'd E 2 fhock'd by either: For the Cæfura fometimes offends the ear more than the Hiatus itself, and our language is naturally overcharg'd with confonants: As for example; If in this verse, The old have Int'reft ever in their eye, we should say, to avoid the Hiatus, The Hiatus which has the worft effect, is when one word ends with the fame vowel that begins the following; and next to this, thofe vowels whose founds come nearest to each other, are most to be avoided. O, A, or U, will bear a more full and graceful found than E, I, or Y. I know, fome people will think thefe Obfervations trivial, and therefore I am glad to corroborate them by fome great authorities, which I have met with in Tully and Quintilian. In the fourth book of Rhetoric to Herennius, are these words: Fugiemus crebras vocalium concurfiones, quæ vaftam atque biantem reddunt orationem; ut hoc eft, Bacca anea amaniffimæ impendebant. And Quintilian, 1. ix. cap. 4. Vocalium concurfus cum accidit, biat & interfiftit, & quafi laborat oratio. Peffime longæ quæ eafdem inter fe literas committunt, fonabunt: Præcipuus tamen erit hiatus earum quæ cavo aut patulo ore efferuntur. E plenior litera eft, I anguftior. But he goes on to reprove the excefs on the other hand of being too folicitous in this matter, and fays admirably, Nefcio an negligentia in hoc, aut folicitudo fit pejor. So likewife Tully (Orator.ad Brut.) Theopompum reprehendunt, quod eas literas tanto opere fugerit, etfi idem magifter ejus Socrates: which laft author, as Turnebus on Quintilian obferves, has hardly one Hiatus in all his works. Quintilian tells us, that Tully and Demofthenes did not much obferve this nicety, tho' Tully himself fays in his Orator, Crebra ifta vocum concurfio, quam magna |