to add vowels to the beginning of words, than to cut them off from the end. Milton therefore seems to have somewhat mistaken the nature of our language, of which the chief defect is ruggedness and asperity, and has left our harsh cadences yet harsher. But his elifions are not all equally to be cenfured. In some fyllables they may be allowed; and, perhaps, in a few may be fafely imitated. The clifion of a vowel is undoubtedly vicious when it is ftrongly founded, and makes, with its affociate confonant, a full and audible fyllable. What he gives Spiritual, may to pureft fpirits be found Fruits, Hefperian fables true, Evening now approach'd ; For we have alfo our evening and our morn. - Of guests he makes them flaves Inhofpitably, and kills their infant males. And vital virtue infus'd, and vital warmth, Throughout the fluid mafs. God made thee of choice his own, and of his own To ferve him. I believe every reader will agree, that, in all thofe paffages, though not equally in all, the mufic is injured, and in fome the meaning obfcured. There are other lines in which the vowel is cut off but it is fo faintly pronounced in common fpeech, that the lofs of it in poetry is fcarcely perceived; and therefore fuch compliance with the measure may be allowed. Nature breeds, Perverfe, all monftrous, all prodigious things, From the fore They view'd the vast immenfurable abyss. Impenetrable, impal'd with circ'ling fire. To none communicable in earth or heav'n. Yet even thefe contractions increase the roughnefs of a language too rough already; and though, in long poems, they may be fometimes fuffered, yet it never can be faulty to forbear them. Milton frequently ufes in his poems the hypermetrical or redundant line of eleven fyllables. Thus it shall befal Him who, to worth in woman over-trusting, I alfo err'd in over much admiring. Verfes N°88. Verfes of this kind occur almost in every page: but though they are not unpleafing or diffonant, they ought not to be admitted into heroic poetry; fince the narrow limits of our language allow us no other diftinction of epic and tragic measures, than is afforded by the liberty of changing at will the terminations of the dramatic lines, and bringing them, by that relaxation of metrical rigour, nearer to profe. THE RAMBLER. NUMBER LXXXIX. LONDON, Tuesday, January 22. 1751. Dulce eft defipere in loco. HOR. L Ocke, whom there is no reafon to fufpect of being a favourer of idleness or libertinifm, has advanced, that whoever hopes to employ any part of his time with efficacy and vigour, muft allow fome of it to pass in trifles. It is beyond the powers of humanity, to pass a whole life in profound study and intenfe meditation; and the VOL. IV. L moft moft rigorous exacters of industry and seriousness, have appointed fome hours for relaxation and amufement. It is certain, that, with or without our consent, many of the few moments allotted us will flide imperceptibly away; and that the mind will break from confinement to its stated task, into fudden excurfions. Severe and connected attention is preferved but for a short time: and when a man shuts himself up in his closet, and bends his thoughts to the difcuffion of any abstruse question, he will find his faculties continually ftealing away to more pleafing entertainment, and often find himself tranfported, he knows not how, to diftant tracts of thought; and return to his first object as from a dream, without knowing when he forfook it, or how long he has been abstracted from it. It has been obferved, that the most studious are not always the most learned. There is indeed no great difficulty to perceive, that this difference of proficiency may arife from the difference of intellectual powers, of the choice of books, or the convenience of information. But I believe it likewife frequently happens, that the most recluse are not the most vigorous profecutors of study. Many impose upon the world, and many upon themselves, with an appearance of fevere and exemplary diligence; when they, in reality, give themselves up to the luxury of fancy; pleafe their minds with regulating the paft, or planning out the future; place themfelves at will in fituations of happiness, and flumber away their days in voluntary vifions. In the journey of life fome are left behind, because they are naturally feeble and flow; some, because they |