This is evident every where in Homer and Virgil, and no where elfe, that I know of, to any obfery, able degree. The following examples will make this plain, which I have taken from Vida, obrodi Molle viam tacito lapfu per levia radit. nabiting Incedit tardo molimine fubfidendons Lustantes ventos, tempeftatefque fonoras.

Immenfo cum præcipitans ruit Oceano Nox: pelda andd Telum imbelle fine itu, conjecit.

"

Sebi ocy Tolle moras, cape faxe manu, cape robora, Pafter. Ferte citi flammas, date tela, repellite peftem.

This, I think, is what very few obferve 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. Cecilia'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 thefe the ear refts, and upon the judicious change and management of which depends the variety of verfification. For example, At the fifth.bh shells bydles lliwa taak

Where'er thy navy spreads her canvass wings, At the fourth.

Homage to thee and peace to all she brings. At the fixth.

Like tracts of leverets in morning fnow.

Now

Now I fancy, that, to preferve an exact Harmony and Variety, the Paufe at the 4th or 6th fhould 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 leaft it does , at least it d 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 ufe 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 rhyme. The fame caufe has occafioned the promifcuous ufe you and thou to the fame perfon, which can never found fo graceful as either one or the other.

of

4. I would alfo object to the irruption of Alexandrine verfes, of twelve fyllables, which, I think, fhould never be allow'd but when fome remarkable beauty or propriety in for the liberty: em atones Mr. Dryden has been too free of thefe, efpecially in his latter works. I am of the fame opinion as to Triple Rhimes.

55. I could equally object to the Repetition of the fame Rhymes within four or fix lines of each other, as tirefome to the ear thro' their Monotony.

6. Mo-

6. Monofyllable Lines, unless very artfully managed, are stiff, or languifhing: but may be beautiful to exprefs Melancholy, Slowness, or Labour.

7. Το 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, just as the ear is least shock'd by either: For the he 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 verfe,

The old have Int'reft ever in their eye,

we should fay, to avoid the Hiatus,

The Hiatus which has the worst effect, is when one word ends with the fame vowel that begins the following; and next to this, this thofe vowels whofe founds come nearest to each other, are moft to be avoided. O, A, or U, will bear a more full and graceful Sound 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 thefe words: Fugiemus crebras vocalium, concurfiones, quæ vaftam atque biantem reddunt orationem; ut hoc eft, Baccæ ænea amænissimæ impen

debant.

debant. And Quintilian 1. ix. uan 1. ix. cap. 4. Vocalium concurfus cum accidit, biat & interfiflit, & quafi laborat oratio. Peffimi longe que eafdem inter fe literas committunt, fonabunt: Præcipuus tamen erit hiatus earum que 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 So likewife Tully (Orator. boc, aut folicitudo fit pejor. 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 ex parte vitiofam, fugit Demofthenes. If I am not mistaken, Malherbe of all the moderns has been the most scrupulous in this point; and I think Menage in his obfervations upon him fays, he has not one in his poems. To conclude, I believe the Hiatus fhould be avoided with more care in poetry than in Oratory; and I would conftantly try to prevent it, unless where the cutting it off is more prejudical to the found than the Hiatus itfelf. I am, &c. A. POPE.

Mr. Walsh died at forty-nine years old, in the year 1708, the year before the Effay on Criticifm was printed, which concludes with his Elogy.

VOL. VIII.

F

LET.

LETTERS

TO AND FROM

H. CROMWELL, Efq;

From the Year 1708 to 1711.

LETTER I.

March 18, 1708..

I Believe it was with me when I left the Town, as

it is with a great many men when they leave the world, whofe lofs itself they do not fo much regret, as that of their friends whom they leave behind in it. For I do not know one thing for which I can envy London, but for your continuing there. Yet I guess you will expect me to recant this expreffion, when I tell you that Sappho (by which heathenish name you have chriften'd a very orthodox Lady) did not accompany me into the Country. Well, you have your Lady in the Town ftill, and I have my Heart in the Country ftill, which being wholly unemploy'd as yet, has the more room in it for my friends, and

does