dious; and the judicious and learned Translator of Quintilian fays directly, that it is owing to the continual Sameness of Numbers that their Verfe cannot please long. In reality, it is a kind of Stanza, and ought to be fo writ. Jeune & vaillant Heros Not to infift upon the Prattle (as Ronfard calls it) of these two celebrated Lines; for what does Vaillant add to Heros, or baute to fageffe, and what is the Difference between tardif and lente? I fay to let this pafs, the eternal Repetition of the fame Paufe is the Reverfe of Harmony: Three Feet and three Feet for thousands of Lines together, make exactly the fame Mufick as the ting, tong, tang of the fame Number of Bells in a Country-Church. We had this wretched fort of Metre amongst us formerly, and Chaucer is justly ftil'd the Father of English Verfe, because he was the first that ever wrote in rhym'd Couplets of ten Syllables each Line. He found, by his Judgment, and the Delicacy of his Ear, that Lines of eight Syllables, fuch as Gower his Cotemporary wrote in, were too fhort, and the twelve Syllable-Lines too long. He pitch'd upon the other Sort juft mentioned, and that is now found, by the Experience of fo many Ages, to be the most majestick and moft harmonious kind of Verse. Just the fame Obligation the Romans had to Ennius: He first introduc'd the Hexameter Line, and therefore is properly called the Father of their Poetry; and it is judiciously faid, that if they had never had Ennius, perhaps they had never had Virgil. If the French had taken Ronfard's Advice inftead of following Malherbe, perhaps they might, and indeed they they certainly would have arriv'd at a better Art of Verfification than we fee now amongst them: But they have mifs'd their Way; tho' had it happen'd otherwife, they could never have equall'd the English in Poetry, because their Language is not ca pable of it, for two Reasons which I fhall mention, and many others that I could add to them. ft, Their Words do not found fo fully as ours, of which thefe Nouns are Examples. God, Dieu. Man, L'Homme. In both the English Words every Letter is perceiv'd by the Ear. In the French the firft Word is of a very confused Sound, and the latter dies away in the mute. So Angels, Ange. Head, Tete. And innumerable others. And in Verbs, to love, to hate, Aimer, Hayir. In the English the Sound is clear and ftrong. In French the laft Letter is dropp'd, and the Words don't dwell upon the Ear like the English. 2d, They have too many Particles: To fhew how much more their Verfe is incumber'd by them than the English, I will give you an Example from a Paffage in Milton. "So fpoke, fo wish'd much humbled Eve, but Fate • Subfcrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprest "On Bird, Beaft, Air; Air fuddenly eclips'd "After fhort blufh of Morn. Now to put this Paffage into French all the following Particles must be added. Le, La, Des, Les, Les, Le, Le, Un, Du. Of which there is not one in the English: And what an Effect this would have in Heroick Verfe, you will eafily judge.. Upon Upon the whole, Voffius was very little acquainted with English Heroic Poetry. Hudibras was the favourite Bard in his time, and therefore he does us the Honour to fay, the English is extremely fit for that fort of Poetry which the Italians call Sdruccioli, that is, Doggrel Verfe. Thus much for Voffius, and his French and English Poetry. I will now fhew you a very different Opinion of another learned Foreigner, referr❜d to more than once already, and I will give it you in his own Words. "Sane in Epico Carminum genere; Joh. Miltoni infigne poema, The Paradife Loft, Gallos omnes "in epicis infeliciores longo poft fe intervallo reliquit. "Morhofius Polyhiftor. This judicious Critick gave the fame Opinion of Mr. Cowley above 50 Years ago, which Mr. Pope has given of him lately in one of his Horatian Epiftles. "Abr. Cowley feu Coulejus poemata fcripfit, &c. "Quæ ad genium Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt : "argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut Epigrammaticum potius quod interdum fcribat, quam planum carmen : "Ac præterea non ubique purus eft: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum Poetarum numeros "impleviffe fibi perfuadeant. Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactnefs of our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very fenfible, when he fays upon reading Virgilium Drydeni, "That if the Original had been no better "than the Copy, Auguftus would have done well "to have committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth perufing. Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo és! 866 Vid, Fabric, Bib. Lat. December 4. 1736. I am, SIR, &c. LET. LETTER X SIR, B Y what I have shewn in the preceding Letters, it fufficiently appears that Virgil and Milton had good reason to begin with Hinc canere incipiam. Nunc te Bacche canam. Arma Virumque cano. Sing Heavenly Mufe. Their Verfe is all Mufick, and that is the reason why their Poems please, though ever fo often read: And all Poetry that is not attended with Harmony, is properly fpeaking no Poetry at all. Let the Senfe be ever fo fine, if the Verfe is not melodious, the Reader will undoubtedly find himfelf foon overtaken with Drowfinefs. But what I chiefly hope I have made out, is, that Rhyme does not owe its Original to Druids, or to dreaming Monks, fince it is certain there is more Rhyme in Virgil, than there can be in any English Tranflation of his Works. English Verse never admits but of two Syllables that Rhyme in two Lines. But in Virgil, it is not eafy to tell how many Rhymes there are in a fingle Line; as for Example, |