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ly in Passages that are purely Satirical, where some Allowance must be given: For Satire may be fine and true Satire, tho' it be not directly and according to the Letter, true: 'tis enough that it carry with it a Probability or Semblance of Truth. Let it not here be objected, that I have from the Translators of the Greek and Roman Poets, taken some Descriptions meerly fabulous: for the well-invented Fables of the Antients were design'd only to inculcate the Truth with more Delight, and to make it shine with greater Splendour.

Rien n'est beau que le Vrai. Le Vrai seul eft Aimable:
Il doit regner par tout; & meme dans la Fable
De toute Fiction l' adroite Fausseté
Ne tend qu à faire aux yeuz, briller la Verité. Boileau.

I have upon every Subject given both Pro and Con whenever I met with them, or that I judg'd them worth giving: and if both are not always found, let none imagine that I wilfully fuppress'd either; or that what is here uncontradicted must be unanswerable.

If any take Offence at the Loosness of fome of the Thoughts, as particularly up

on

on Love, where I have given the different Sentiments which Mankind, according to their several Temperaments, ever had, and ever will have of it; such may observe, that I have strictly avoided all manner of Obscenity throughout the whole Collection: And tho' here and there a Thought may perhaps have a Cast of Wantonness, yet the cleanly Metaphors palliate the Broadness of the Meaning, and the Chaftness of the Words qualifies the Lasciviousness of the Images they reprefent. And let them farther know, that I have not always chofen what I most approv'd, but what carries with it the best Strokes for Imitation: For, upon the whole matter, it was not my Business to judge any farther, than of the Vigour and Force of Thought, of the Purity of Language, of the Apuness and Propriety of Expression ; and above all, of the Beauty of Colouring, in which the Poet's Art chiefly confifts. Nor, in short, would I take upon me to determine what things should have been faid; but have shewn only what are said, and in what manner.

RULES

ly in Passages that are purely Satirical, where some Allowance must be given : For Satire may be fine and true Satire, tho' it be not directly and according to the Letter, true: 'tis enough that it carry with it a Probability or Semblance of Truth. Let it not here be objected, that I have from the Translators of the Greek and Roman Poets, taken some Descriptions meerly fabulous: for the well-invented Fables of the Antients were design'd only to inculcate the Truth with more Delight, and to make it shine with greater Splendour.

Rien n'est beau que le Vrai. Le Vrai seul est Aimable : Il doit regner par tout; & meme dans la Fable: De toute Fiction l' adroite Fausseté Ne tend qu à faire aux yeuz briller la Verité. Boileau. I have upon every Subject given both Pro and Con whenever I met with them, or that I judg'd them worth giving: and if both are not always found, let none imagine that I wilfully fuppress'd either; or that what is here uncontradicted must be unanswerable.

If any take Offence at the Loosness of fome of the Thoughts, as particularly up

on

on Love, where I have given the different Sentiments which Mankind, according to their several Temperaments, ever had, and ever will have of it; fuch may observe, that I have strictly avoided all manner of Obscenity throughout the whole Collection: And tho' here and there a Thought may perhaps have a Cast of Wantonness, yet the cleanly Metaphors palliate the Broadness of the Meaning, and the Chaftness of the Words qualifies the Lasciviousness of the Images they reprefent. And let them farther know, that I have not always chofen what I most approv'd, but what carries with it the best Strokes for Imitation: For, upon the whole matter, it was not my Business to judge any farther, than of the Vigour and Force of Thought, of the Purity of Language, of the Apuness and Propriety of Expression ; and above all, of the Beauty of Colouring, in which the Poet's Art chiefly confifts. Nor, in short, would I take upon me to determine what things should have been said; but have shewn only what are faid, and in what manner.

RULES

RULES

For making

ENGLISH VERSE.

IN

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N the English Versification there are two Things chiefly to be consider'd;

1. The Verses.

2. The several Sorts of Poems, or Compositions in Verse. But because in the Verses there are also two Things to be observ'd, The Structure of the Verse, and the Rhyme; this Treatise shall be divided into three Chapters;

I. Of the Structure of English Verses.

II. Of Rhyme.

III. Of the several Sorts of Poems, or Compositions in Verf

T

CHAP. I.

Of the Structure of English Verses.

HE Structure of our consists in a certain Number of Syllables; not in Feet compos'd of long and short Syllables, as the Verses of the Greeks and Romans. And though some ingenious Persons formerly puzzled themselves in prescribing Rules for the Quan tity of English Syllables, and, in Imitation of the Latins, come pos'd Verses by the measure of Spondees, Dactyls, &c. yet the Success of their Undertaking has fully evinc'd the Vainness of their Attempt, and given ground to fufpect they had not throughly weigh'd what the Genius of our Language would bear; nor reflected that each Tongue has its peculiar Beauties, and that what is agreeable and natural to one, is very

Verses, whether Blank, or in Rhyme,

Design being now wholly exploded, it is sufficient to have mention'd it.

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