LETTER VIII.

"Hoc metuens, molemque & montis insuper altosImposuit, regemque dedit, qui fœdere certoEt premere, & laxas sciret dare jussus habenas,

"Hoc metuens, molemque & montis insuper altos

Imposuit, regemque dedit, qui fœdere certo

Et premere, & laxas sciret dare jussus habenas,

Dr.Trapp,

"But fearing this, the Sovereign of the GodsPent them in gloomy Caves, and o'er them threwVast Piles of massy Rocks; impos'd a King,Who should by certain Measures know to curb,Or, when commanded, to indulge their Rage.

"But fearing this, the Sovereign of the Gods

Pent them in gloomy Caves, and o'er them threw

Vast Piles of massy Rocks; impos'd a King,

Who should by certain Measures know to curb,

Or, when commanded, to indulge their Rage.

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Mr.Pit,

"ButJove, the mighty Ruin to prevent,In gloomy Caves th'Aereal Captives pent:O'er their wild Rage the pond'rous Rock he spread,And hurl'd huge Heaps of Mountains on their Head;And gave a King commissioned to restrainAnd curb the Tempest, or to loose the Rein.

"ButJove, the mighty Ruin to prevent,

In gloomy Caves th'Aereal Captives pent:

O'er their wild Rage the pond'rous Rock he spread,

And hurl'd huge Heaps of Mountains on their Head;

And gave a King commissioned to restrain

And curb the Tempest, or to loose the Rein.

Hurl'd,huge,Heaps,Head, all in the same Line, imitate Virgil'sMetuens,Molem,Montis.

And again,

"————————Facti de nomineByrsam;Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,Quove tenetis iter?—————————

"————————Facti de nomineByrsam;

Sed vos qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,

Quove tenetis iter?—————————

Dr.Trapp,

"———————And the Name ofByrsagaveIn Mem'ry of the Deed. But, in your turn,At length inform me, who, and whence you are,And whither bound?——————

"———————And the Name ofByrsagave

In Mem'ry of the Deed. But, in your turn,

At length inform me, who, and whence you are,

And whither bound?——————

Mr.Pit,

"HenceByrsanam'd: But now ye Strangers, say,Who? Whence you are? And whither lies your way?———

"HenceByrsanam'd: But now ye Strangers, say,

Who? Whence you are? And whither lies your way?———

There is no Occasion to make any more Remarks upon these Lines.

Nov. 20. 1736.

I am,Sir,&c.

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SIR,

T has been said by several Persons, especially by Foreigners, that there is no such thing as Measure or Feet, or long and short Syllables inEnglishWords. This Mistake, I believe, is chiefly owing toVossius, who has advanc'd it in his TreatiseDe Poematum Cantu, &c. As also, that theFrenchLanguage is more fit for Heroick Verse than theEnglish. To examine one or both of these Points will be the Subject of this Letter.

That our Language does not abound with Dactyls and Spondees is very true; but that we have Words enough which are perfect Iambick and Trochaick Feet is very certain, and this naturally makes our Verse Iambick.

Divine,Attend,Directs, are as perfect Iambicks as anyLatinWords of two Syllables, and so are most of our Monosyllable Nouns with their Particles.

The Lord,The Man,The Rock. Every one must perceive that in all these Words, the last Syllable strikes the Ear more than the first, or, in other Words, the last is longer than the first, which is all that makes an IambickLatinFoot.

The following Words,People,Substance,Angels,Chearful, and the like, are all Trochaick Feet; for it is easily observ'd, that the first Syllable dwells[page 70]longer on the Ear than the latter.

I wonder thatVossius, who was a Canon ofWindsor, did not perceive this in the Metre which he could not but often have heard at Church.

"All People that on Earth do dwellSing to the Lord with chearful Voice.

"All People that on Earth do dwell

Sing to the Lord with chearful Voice.

Suppose these two Lines were alter'd thus,

"All ye People that on Earth dwell,Sing to the Lord with Voice chearful.

"All ye People that on Earth dwell,

Sing to the Lord with Voice chearful.

Here the natural Sound of the WordsPeopleandChearfulis very much alter'd, by their being wrong plac'd; or rather, the Verse is quite destroy'd: But to chuse an Example fromMilton.

"And if ourSubstancebeindeed Divine.————

Let this be alter'd,

"And indeed Divine if be our Substance.————

Is not the Verse quite destroy'd by this Alteration? And does it not appear to be so, becauseIndeedandDivine, which are Iambick Feet, are plac'd as if they were Trochaick, andSubstance, which is a Trochaick Foot, is plac'd as if it were an Iambick? But I might have omitted the altering of this Line ofMilton's, if I had thought of one inCowley's Davideis, which is as barbarous as it is possible for the Wit of Man to make a Verse.

"To Divine Nobé directs then his Flight.Lib. 3. v. 3.

"To Divine Nobé directs then his Flight.

Lib. 3. v. 3.

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Nobé, Mr.Cowleysays in his Notes, he puts instead ofNob, because that Word seem'd to him to beunheroical. But that is not what I am chiefly to take notice of.DivineandDirectsare both Iambicks, but Mr.Cowleyhas made them both Trochaicks, which makes this Line so terrible to the Ear.

It is plain thatVossius, who came intoEnglandwhen he was pretty much advanc'd in Years, and in all probability convers'd chiefly inLatinorFrench, knew nothing at all of the Pronunciation ofEnglishWords. We have as certainly Feet or Numbers in our Language, as in theLatin; and indeed theLatinseems to me to be rather more arbitrary in this respect than theEnglish. What Reason can be given whymainmanusis short, andmainmaneslong? Why isainamenslong, andainamansshort, and the like of other Words too numerous to relate?

That allEnglishVerses areIambick, appears most plainly by considering Monosyllable Lines. For Example:

"Arms and the Man I sing, who forc'd by Fate.

HereArms,the,I,who,by, appear to be shorter in their Sound thanand,man,sing,forc'd,fate.

Again,

"Breathe soft or loud, and wave your Tops, ye Pines.

In this Line the same Difference is perceiv'd betweenbreathe,or,your,ye; andsoft,loud,wave,tops,pines.

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Whence it is evident that these Lines are perfectly Iambick.

The Particleand, as well as some other Monosyllables, may be said to be common, like many Words inLatin; they submit themselves to be alter'd by the Voice in reading, and may be pronounced either long or short: But this is not so in other Words. And here it may be proper to observe, thatMiltonhas a very artful Way of varying his Numbers, by putting a Trochaick Foot at the Beginning of a Verse; and the Reason why he could do it, is, that the Verse is not enough form'd in that place for the Ear to perceive the Want of the proper Measure. The Examples of this kind are very numerous: I will mention but two.

"Angels, for ye behold him, and with Song.

And again,

"Fountains, and ye that warble as ye flow.

Nov. 27. 1736.

I am,Sir,&c.

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SIR,

O reply to the Opinion thatVossiushas given in favour ofFrenchVerse compared withEnglish, I would observe in the first Place that what theFrenchcall Heroick Verse, is the very worst Sort of Verse that can be contriv'd. If the Excellence of Verse consists chiefly in varying the Pause, as I have shewn it does in theLatin, and could do the same in theGreekand other Languages; what must be thought of that Sort of Versification in which the Pause is most strictly preserv'd in the same Place in every Line, be it for 10 or 20 thousand together, especially in Verses of 12 Syllables? Perhaps anEnglishmanmay not be a very proper Person to make this Objection toFrenchVerse: I will therefore produce the Opinion of several of their own Writers.

Ronsard, in the Preface to hisFranciade, owns that theirAlexandrineLines have too much prattle (ils ont trop de caquet) and that it is a Fault in their Poetry that one Line does not run into another, and therefore he wrote hisFranciadein Verses of ten Syllables, and broke the Measure. The Author of the History ofFrenchPoetry confesses, that the constant Pause in their Lines makes the Poetry tedious; and the judicious and learned Translator of[page 74]Quintiliansays directly, that it is owing to the continual Sameness of Numbers that their Verse cannot please long. In reality, it is a kind of Stanza, and ought to be so writ.

Jeune & vaillant HerosDont la haute sagesseN'est point le fruit tardifD'une lente vieillesse.

Jeune & vaillant Heros

Dont la haute sagesse

N'est point le fruit tardif

D'une lente vieillesse.

Not to insist upon thePrattle(asRonsardcalls it) of these two celebrated Lines; for what doesVaillantadd toHeros, orhautetosagesse, and what is the Difference betweentardifandlente? I say to let this pass, the eternal Repetition of the same Pause is the Reverse of Harmony: Three Feet and three Feet for thousands of Lines together, make exactly the same Musick as the ting, tong, tang of the same Number of Bells in a Country-Church. We had this wretched sort of Metre amongst us formerly, andChauceris justly stil'd the Father ofEnglishVerse, 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, such asGowerhis Cotemporary wrote in, were too short, and the twelve Syllable-Lines too long. He pitch'd upon the other Sort just mentioned, and that is now found, by the Experience of so many Ages, to be the most majestick and most harmonious kind of Verse. Just the same Obligation theRomanshad toEnnius: He first introduc'd the Hexameter Line, and therefore is properly called the Father of their Poetry; and it is judiciously said, that if they had never hadEnnius, perhaps they had never hadVirgil. If theFrenchhad takenRonsard's Advice instead of followingMalherbe, perhaps they might, and indeed they certainly would have arriv'd at a better Art of[page 75]Versification than we see now amongst them: But they have miss'd their Way; tho' had it happen'd otherwise, they could never have equall'd theEnglishin Poetry, because their Language is not capable of it, for two Reasons which I shall mention, and many others that I could add to them.

1st, Their Words do not sound so fully as ours, of which these Nouns are Examples,God,Dieu.Man,L'Homme. In both theEnglishWords every Letter is perceiv'd by the Ear. In theFrenchthe first Word is of a very confused Sound, and the latter dies away in theemute. SoAngels,Ange.Head,Tete. And innumerable others. And in Verbs,to love,to hate,Aimer,Hayir. In theEnglishthe Sound is clear and strong. InFrenchthe last Letter is dropp'd, and the Words don't dwell upon the Ear like theEnglish.

2d, They have too many Particles: To shew how much more their Verse is incumber'd by them than theEnglish, I will give you an Example from a Passage inMilton.

"So spoke, so wish'd much humbledEve, butSubscrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprestOn Bird, Beast, Air; Air suddenly eclips'dAfter short blush of Morn.——————

"So spoke, so wish'd much humbledEve, but

Subscrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprest

On Bird, Beast, Air; Air suddenly eclips'd

After short blush of Morn.——————

Now to put this Passage intoFrenchall the following Particles must be added.

Le,La,Des,Les,Les,Le,Le,Un,Du. Of which there is not one in theEnglish: And what an Effect this would have in Heroick Verse, you will easily judge.

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Upon the whole,Vossiuswas very little acquainted withEnglishHeroic Poetry.Hudibraswas the favourite Bard in his time, and therefore he does us the Honour to say, theEnglishis extremely fit for that sort of Poetry which theItalianscallSdruccioli, that is, Doggrel Verse.

Thus much forVossius, and hisFrenchandEnglishPoetry. I will now shew 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. Miltoniinsigne poema, The Paradise Lost,Gallos omnes in epicis inseliciores longo post se intervallo reliquit.Morhosius Polyhistor.

"Sane in Epico Carminum genere; Joh. Miltoniinsigne poema, The Paradise Lost,Gallos omnes in epicis inseliciores longo post se intervallo reliquit.

Morhosius Polyhistor.

This judicious Critick gave the same Opinion of Mr.Cowleyabove 50 Years ago, which Mr.Popehas given of him lately in one of hisHoratianEpistles.

"Abr. Cowleyseu Coulejus poemata scripsit, &c.Quæ ad genium Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt: argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut Epigrammaticum potius quod interdum scribat, quam planum carmen: Ac præterea non ubique purus est: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum Poetarum numeros implevisse sibi persuadeant.

Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactness of our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very sensible, when he says upon readingVirgilium Dryděni, "That if the Original had been no better than the Copy,Augustuswould have done well to have committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth perusing.

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"Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar,Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret.Vid.Fabric. Bib. Lat.

"Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar,Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret.

"Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!

Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.

Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar,

Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret.

Vid.Fabric. Bib. Lat.

December 4. 1736,

I am,Sir,&c.

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SIR,

Y what I have shewn in the preceding Letters, it sufficiently appears thatVirgilandMiltonhad good reason to begin withHinc canere incipiam.Nunc te Bacche canam.Arma Virumque cano.Sing Heavenly Muse.Their Verse is allMusick, and that is the reason why their Poems please, though ever so often read: And all Poetry that is not attended with Harmony, is properly speaking no Poetry at all.

Let the Sense be ever so fine, if theVerseis notmelodious, the Reader will undoubtedly find himself soon overtaken with Drowsiness. But what I chiefly hope I have made out, is, thatRhymedoes not owe its Original toDruids, or todreaming Monks, since it is certain there is moreRhymeinVirgil, than there can be in anyEnglishTranslation of his Works.EnglishVerse never admits but of two Syllables that Rhyme in two Lines. But inVirgil, it is not easy to tell how many Rhymes there are in a single Line; as for Example,

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"O nimium Cœlo, & pelago confise sereno,"Et sola in siccâ secum spatiatur arenâ.

"O nimium Cœlo, & pelago confise sereno,

"Et sola in siccâ secum spatiatur arenâ.

And the like. But what would you say, if I was to observe to you all thatErythræushas writ of the RhymeCum intervallo, & sine intervalloinVirgil? Of the Rhymesine intervallothere are four Examples in the two first Lines of theÆneid, namely, in the first,no—tro, andqui—pri. In the second,to—pro, andque—ve.

"Arma virumque canō, trōjæ quī prīmus ab orisItaliam, fatō prōfugus, Lavinaquē vēnit.—

"Arma virumque canō, trōjæ quī prīmus ab oris

Italiam, fatō prōfugus, Lavinaquē vēnit.—

But for this particular, and the other just mentioned, I refer you toErythræushimself, if you would be fully instructed on this Subject. The Conclusion of this whole Matter is this: Rhyme is certainly one of the chief Ornaments ofLatinVerse, even ofVirgil's Verse: Most of his wonderful, harmonious Paragraphs are concluded with a full, strong, plain Rhyme: And if this is the Case; ifVirgil's Verse would lose one of its chief Ornaments by being stript of Rhyme, What wouldEnglishVerse do without it? Those learned Persons who in their Writings have treated Rhyme only as a needlessGingle, had not fully considered all that could be said on this Subject:Rhyme, as I have observed once before, has many Enemies because of its Difficulty, when accompanied with all the other necessary Arts of Versification. It is a particular Talent which very few are blessed with, and ought to be esteemed accordingly: But if we give way to the Disuse of it, and even suffer Blank Verse to be brought in Competition with it, Poetry will in a short time be lost inEngland, as it has been long[page 80]since inItaly, and, if I mistake not, from this very Cause. They have Blank-vers'dHomer,Virgil, andMilton, and I believe all theClassick Poets: And if we follow their Example in giving Applause to this kind of Verse, we must expect the same Consequences. We should be the more to blame in this respect, because we have lately had so many excellent Writers of proper Verse amongst us, asAddison,Rowe,Prior, and many others; and have now Mr.Pope, Mr.Pit, and some whom I do not just now recollect.

Milton, as I observ'd already, is never to be mention'd as an Example in favour of Blank-Verse: To supply the Want ofRhymein him, there are so many Arts of Verse, such Variety of Melody, that it would require no small Volume to point them out.

I have nothing more to add, but that it is a very surprizing thing, thatMiltonever undertook to write in such aStileas he has made use of, and yet more surprizing that he should be read by all sorts of People, considering that theStileis more properlyLatinorGreekthanEnglish.

I believe both these Things arise from the same Cause, which to me seems to be theEnglish Bible; at least, as to the latter, it cannot be from any thing else. ThatMiltonacquir'd hisStilefrom theCommon Bible, is not at all improbable, though he understood the Original. It is certain he was entirely conversant with theBible, and, in all Probability frequently made use of theEnglishTranslation. Now this Translation is, by Great Providence, (give me leave to call it so) adapted to theLatin and Greek Collocation, or Arrangement of Words; that is, the Words are placed in theEnglishas they stand in those Languages, which, perhaps, you may not have so much attended to but that you may be glad to see some Examples of what[page 81]I am speaking of.

Psalm v. 3.My Voice shalt thou hear in the Morning, O Lord; in the Morning will I direct Prayer unto thee, and will look up.Matthew xiii. 1.The same Day went Jesus out of the House, and sat by the Sea-side.Matthew xxvii. 32.And as they came out, they found a Man ofCyrene, Simonby Name: Himthey compelled to bear his Cross.John ii. 11.This Beginning of Miracles didJesusinCanaofGalilee.John xii. 16.These things understood not his Disciples at the first.John viii. 44.Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the Lusts of your Father will ye do.

Psalm v. 3.My Voice shalt thou hear in the Morning, O Lord; in the Morning will I direct Prayer unto thee, and will look up.

Matthew xiii. 1.The same Day went Jesus out of the House, and sat by the Sea-side.

Matthew xxvii. 32.And as they came out, they found a Man ofCyrene, Simonby Name: Himthey compelled to bear his Cross.

John ii. 11.This Beginning of Miracles didJesusinCanaofGalilee.

John xii. 16.These things understood not his Disciples at the first.

John viii. 44.Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the Lusts of your Father will ye do.

"Verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est.In Verbis enim Sermonis vis inest."Quintil.

"Verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est.In Verbis enim Sermonis vis inest."

"Verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est.

In Verbis enim Sermonis vis inest."

Quintil.

By these Passages, and innumerable others that might be produc'd, it appears that theEnglish Bibleis translated in such a manner as I have mentioned above: And as we see many Places in theParadise Lost, which are exactly taken from this Translation, Why may we not concludeMiltonacquir'd much of his Stile from this Book? I can give an Instance of another very learned Person, who certainly learnt his way of Writing from it. I mean the late Dr.Clarke. Nothing can be more clear than hisStile, and yet nothing can be more like theGreekorLatin, agreeably to theEnglish Bible. I beg leave to produce one Instance from hisExposition of the Church Catechism.

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"Next after the Creed are in natural Order plac'd the Ten Commandments.

Is there any thing inDemosthenesorTullymore inverted than this Passage? And yet the meanest Persons understand it, and are not at all shock'd at it; and this cannot possibly, with respect to them, proceed from any thing else, but their having been from their Childhood accustomed to this Language in theBible, and their still continuing frequently to hear it in the publick Offices of the Church, and elsewhere: From whence I am apt to think Mr.Pope's Opinion is not to be subscrib'd to, when he says,

"And what nowChauceris, shallDrydenbe."

It did not occur to that ingenious Writer, that the State of theEnglishLanguage is very different at this time from what it was inChaucer's Days: It was then in its Infancy: And eventhe publick Worship of God was in a foreign Tongue, a thing as fatal to theLanguageof any Country, as toReligionitself. But now we have all that Service in the vernacular Tongue; and besides that, theBibleinEnglish, which may be properly called theStandardof our Language: For this Book contains a Variety of every kind ofStile, thePoetick, theHistorick, theNarrative, and all framed after the manner of the most learned Tongues. So that whilst thisBookcontinues to be as publickly used among us as it is at present, theEnglishLanguage cannot receive any great Alteration; but all sorts of learned Men may write, either in Verse or Prose, in the most learned manner in their native Tongue, and at the same time be perfectly understood by the common People. Indeed, if ever we should be so unhappy as to be depriv'd[page 83]of thepublick Useof thatBook, all that came with it, must go with it; and then Farewel theEnglish Language, FarewelMilton, FarewelLearning, and Farewel all that distinguishes Man from Beasts.

Decemb. 9. 1736.

I am,Sir,&c.

Transcriber's Note

LETTER I.:Page 3: Superfluous opening quotes removed from "Subject-matter

LETTER V.:Page 42: Section numbered "3." in original; changed to "III" for consistency.

LETTER X.:Page 79: corrected typo: 'primns' changed to 'primus'

ton d' apameibomenos

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Sun de duô marpsas, hôs te phulakas poti gaiê / Kopt'

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