Mr. Walsh died at forty-nine years old, in the year 1708, the year before the Essay on Criticism was printed, which concludes with his Eulogy. To these observations on English Versification, I desire to add the following from the sensible and ingenious Mr. Webb: "The sole aim of versification is harmony. To understand this properly, we must divide it into two kinds. The first consists of a general flow of verse, most pleasing to the ear, but independent on the sense: the second, in bringing the sound or measure of the verse to correspond with, and accompany, the idea. The former may be called a verbal harmony, the latter a sentimental. If we consider the flow of verse merely as music, it will then be allowed, that variety is less necessary than sweetness; and that a continued repetition of the same movements must be tiresome in poetry, as it would in music. On examining Mr. Pope's verses, we shall find that in eighteen out of twenty, the pauses rest on the fourth and last, or the fifth or last syllables; and that, almost without exception, the period is divided into two equal lines, and, as it were, linked by the rhyme into a couplet. For example, All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Essay on Man. "Every ear must feel the ill effect of the monotony in these lines; the cause of it is obvious; this verse consists of ten syllables, or five feet; when the pause falls on the fourth syllable, we shall find, that we pronounce the six last in the same time that we do the four first; so that the couplet is not only divided into two equal lines, but each line, with respect to time, is divided into two equal parts; as, Warms in the Sun, refreshes in the Breeze, Glows in the Stars, and blossoms in the Trees : Or else, the pause falls on the fifth syllable, and then the line is divided with a mechanic exactness. As, Spreads undivided, operates unspent. "Mr. Pope in a letter to Mr. Walsh, speaking of English verse, says, "There is naturally a Pause at the fourth fifth, or sixth syllable. It is upon this the ear rests, and upon the judicious change and management of which depends the variety of versification." Of this he gives the following examples: 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 sixth. Like tracts of leverets, in morning snow. "In this place Mr. Pope takes no notice of the second pause, which always rests on the last word of each line, and is strongly marked by the rhyme. But, it is on the balance between the two pauses, that the monotony of the verse depends. Now this balance is governed by the equal division of the line in point of time. Thus, if you repeat the two first examples given, you will find no difference as to the time, whether the pause falls on the fourth or fifth syllable; and this, I think, will extend even to the last example; or, if there should be any difference, it is so trifling, that it will generally escape the ear. But this is not so in blank verse; for the lines being made often to run one into the other, the second pause is sunk; the balance, from the equal division of each line, is removed, and by changing the pauses at pleasure, an open is given into an unlimited variety. "Observe the effects in the first lines of Paradise Lost. Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man, Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, heavenly muse. "In these, and the lines that immediately follow, the pauses are shifted through all the ten syllables. verse. "But this variety is not inseparable from the nature of blank In Addison's Cato, there is, I think, the very same monotony which we have condemned in Mr. Pope: Thus, The dawn is overcast, the morning low'rs, The great, th' important day Big with the fate of Cato and of Rome. Again, Who knows not this, but what can Cato do That courts the yoke, and bows the neck to Cæsar? A poor epitome of Roman greatness. This is the very echo of the couplet measure." Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry, p. 40. To these rules on the niceties of Versification may perhaps be added a caution of abstaining as much as possible from the too frequent use, and too near assemblage of the hissing consonant S. Our most melodious poet has not always so abstained; witness the well known line; Soon he sooth'd his soul to pleasure; Dionysius of Halicarnassus says the Greeks used their letter sigma very sparingly; and Athenæus relates that Pindar wrote a whole Ode without once introducing a letter that so much wounded their delicate ears. 87 LETTERS TO AND FROM H. CROMWELL, ESQ. 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, whose loss itself they do not so 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 expression, when I tell you that Sappho (by which heathenish name you have christened a very orthodox Lady) did not accompany me into the Country. Well, you have your Lady in the Town still, and I have my Heart in the Country still, which being wholly unemployed as yet, has the more room in it for my friends, and does not want a corner at your service. You have extremely obliged me by your frankness and kindness; and if I have abused it by too much freedom on my part, I hope you will attribute it to |