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diff --git a/35094-8.txt b/35094-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1d23138 --- /dev/null +++ b/35094-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3100 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Art of English Poetry (1708), by Edward Bysshe + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Art of English Poetry (1708) + +Author: Edward Bysshe + +Editor: A. Dwight Culler + +Release Date: January 28, 2011 [EBook #35094] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF ENGLISH POETRY (1708) *** + + + + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Margo Romberg, Joseph +Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The Augustan Reprint Society + + EDWARD BYSSHE + + _The Art of English Poetry_ + + (1708) + + With an Introduction by + A. Dwight Culler + + Publication Number 40 + + Los Angeles + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + University of California + 1953 + + + + + GENERAL EDITORS + + H. Richard Archer, _Clark Memorial Library_ + Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_ + Ralph Cohen, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + ASSISTANT EDITOR + + W. Earl Britton, _University of Michigan_ + + + ADVISORY EDITORS + + Emmett L. Avery, _State College of Washington_ + Benjamin Boyce, _Duke University_ + Louis Bredvold, _University of Michigan_ + John Butt, _King's College, University of Durham_ + James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_ + Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_ + Edward Niles Hooker, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_ + Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_ + Earnest Mossner, _University of Texas_ + James Sutherland, _University College, London_ + H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + CORRESPONDING SECRETARY + + Edna C. Davis, _Clark Memorial Library_ + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +The _Art of English Poetry_ (1702) may be roughly described as an +English version of the _Gradus ad Parnassum_. At least that is the +tradition to which it belongs. Its immediate predecessor was the +pleasant _English Parnassus: Or, a Helpe to English Poesie_ (1657) +compiled by a Middlesex schoolmaster named Joshua Poole, and this work +was avowedly modeled on Ravisius Textor's _Epitheta_ and the _Thesaurus +Poeticus_ of Joannes Buchler. But whereas the _English Parnassus_ was +designed for the schoolroom, the _Art of English Poetry_ was designed +for the world of polite letters, and so may be called the first example +in English of the handbook for the serious poet. + +In its original form the work was an octavo of nearly four hundred pages +divided into three parts: "Rules For making English Verse," a rhyming +dictionary, and a poetical commonplace book containing all the "Most +Natural, Agreeable, and Noble _Thoughts_" of the English poets digested +alphabetically by their subject. Only the first part is reproduced here, +but it seems desirable to say something about the book as a whole.[1] + +It is one of those works which is scorned by all, and used by all who +scorn it. In the sixty years after its publication it went through nine +editions, and though Charles Gildon thought it "a book too scandalously +mean to name," he was constrained to admit that it had "spread, by many +editions, thro' all _England_" and had "carried off so many Impressions, +as have made it with the ignorant, the _Standard_ of Writing."[2] Not +only with the ignorant. Pope knew and used the work, and likewise +Richardson, Fielding, Isaac Watts, Johnson, Goldsmith, Walpole, Blake, +Sir Walter Scott, Bulwer-Lytton, and many others. Indeed, it would be +safe to say that there was hardly a literary man in the eighteenth +century who was not familiar with it. If he used a rhyming dictionary, +he used that in Bysshe, at least until 1775, when it was superseded by +John Walker's _Dictionary of the English Language_. And if he used a +poetical commonplace book, he used either Bysshe or one of the five +other works which were produced in imitation of Bysshe. "Quoi qu'ils en +disent," said the Abbé du Bos of a similar work in French, "ils ont tous +ce livre dans leur arrière cabinet." + +The _Art of English Poetry_ is dominated in every part by the concept of +the heroic poem. The rhyming dictionary, which was enlarged and improved +from that in Poole, contains only those words which "both for their +Sense and Sound are judg'd most proper for the Rhymes of Heroick +Poetry;"[3] and the quotations in the commonplace book are drawn chiefly +from the heroic poem and the heroic drama. In the last revised edition +(1718) the most frequently quoted authors were Lee (104 passages), Rowe +(116), Milton (117), Shakespeare (118), Blackmore (125), Otway (127), +Butler (140), Cowley (143), Pope (155), and Dryden (1,201). Dryden, +therefore, was the great exemplar of the heroic poet, and his _Aeneid_, +which was cited 493 times, was the great exemplar of the heroic poem. +Its meter, the heroic couplet, was for Bysshe the only serious poetic +instrument, all longer lines being used merely to vary and decorate it +and the shorter ones being fit only for masks and operas and Pindaric +odes. As for stanzas, the rhyme royal was not "follow'd" anymore, +Spenser's choice was "unlucky," and in general, as Cowley had said, "no +kind of Staff is proper for a Heroic Poem; as being all too +lirical...."[4] + +The "Rules For making English Verse," which is the most important part +of Bysshe's work, is the first attempt to treat English prosody in a +systematic and comprehensive way. As the title indicates, it is +prescriptive in tone, and it is strictly syllabic in what it +prescribes. The English verse line, according to Bysshe, consists of a +specified number of syllables, usually ten, but permissably from four to +twelve with double rhyme adding an uncounted syllable. A verse with an +extra or a missing syllable (as compared with the pattern established by +the rest of the poem) is either a faulty verse or, more properly, just a +verse of a different kind. There are no feet in English poetry. +Nevertheless, accent, which Bysshe apparently considered a variation in +pitch rather than in duration or loudness, is recognized, and its role +is clearly prescribed. It falls on the even syllables in verses whose +total number is even and on the odd syllables in verses whose odd number +is not due to double rhyme. This, of course, means duple time only, and +Bysshe recognizes no other. When he quotes Congreve's verse, "Apart let +me view then each Heavenly fair," he feels that the measure is somehow +disagreeable, but he does not notice that the accents fall other than he +had prescribed, and he apparently thinks that the line is distinguished +from heroic verse only in having eleven syllables instead of ten. This +is highly important because it shows that although the nomina basis of +his prosody is both accentual and syllabic, the latter element is really +its defining principle. + +In a syllabic prosody it is clearly necessary to determine the number of +syllables in a word whenever that is doubtful and also, if convenient, +to provide ways of regulating that number by syncope and elision. A +large part of Bysshe's treatise, therefore, is concerned with this task, +and in order to understand this part it is necessary to realize that the +shortened forms which he recommends (_am'rous_, _ta'en_, and the like) +were not originally "poetic" in character. By his day some very few had +become slightly archaic and hence were usually restricted to poetry; +others existed side by side, in both prose and poetic speech, with the +longer forms which at last superseded them; but the great majority +represent the regular colloquial idiom of the late seventeenth and early +eighteenth century. Bysshe wanted them used in poetry because he wanted +the language of poetry to conform to that of cultivated conversation and +prose and because he did not want the heroic line weakened by allowing +for syllables that were not there, or were there only to the eye. + +Bysshe says that he extracted his rules from the practice of the best +poets, but this is not true. He extracted them almost entirely from the +_Quatre Traitez de Poësies, Latine, Françoise, Italienne, et Espagnole_ +(1663) by Claude Lancelot, one of the Port Royal educators. From the +Italian, Spanish, and possibly the Latin sections of this work Bysshe +took his rules on the position of the caesura and a few other hints; but +from the French section, the "Breve Instruction sur les Regles de la +Poësie Françoise," he took almost his entire prosodical system. Indeed, +his "Rules" are simply a translation and adaptation of the "Breve +Instruction" with English examples replacing the French. The opening +sentence, for example, which contains the very heart of his doctrine, +reads: "The Structure of our Verses, whether Blank, or in Rhyme, +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 +the source: "La structure ne consiste qu'en vn certain nombre de +syllabes, & non pas en pieds composez de syllabes longues & breves, +comme les vers des Grecs & des Romains."[5] + +Needless to say, this description is accurate when applied to French +verse, but it is not accurate when applied to English. The rhythm of +English verse consists in the regular recurrence of a unit whose exact +nature is variously conceived but which is easily identified by the +accent which signalizes it. In French, however, stress in connected +speech is too weak and uncertain to be made the basis of a satisfactory +rhythm and is replaced in this function by the verse unit itself. These +units are made equal by their having an equal number of syllables, and +their recurrence is signalized by the final pause, by rhyme, and by the +accentuation of the rhymed syllable. In each language there are, of +course, other subsidiary rhythms, but the basic rhythm is founded upon +the verse unit in French and upon a unit within the verse in English. +Clearly, a prosody which applied to one system could not apply to the +other, and to suppose that it did was Bysshe's sole but disastrous +mistake. He was not the first to make it. What prosody there had been +before him had hesitated uncertainly among three systems, the +quantitative, the accentual, and the syllabic, but Bysshe, by +formulating for the first time a complete and explicit _prosodia_, +confirmed it in the one it was already favoring, the syllabic system of +the French. Through him the mistake became irreparable for over a +hundred years, and thus his "Rules" have an importance which is far +beyond their merit. Critically, they are nothing; but historically, they +dominated the popular prosodic thought of the eighteenth century. + +Their supremacy was finally ended in 1816 by the preface to +_Christabel_. There Coleridge wrote that the meter of the poem was not, +properly speaking, irregular, though it might seem so from its being +founded on "a new principle: namely, that of counting in each line the +accents, not the syllables."[6] Scholars have wondered what was "new" +about this, and the answer is that it was not new in English poetry, but +in English prosodical criticism it was new, for it was a departure from +Bysshe. + + A. Dwight Culler + Yale University + + + + +A NOTE ON THE TEXT + + +The nine editions of the _Art of English Poetry_ were as follows: 1702, +1705, 1708, 1710, 1714, 1718, 1724, 1737, and 1762. Four of these--1705, +1708, 1710, and 1718--represent a revision of the preceding edition, +that of 1718 only in the matter of adding new passages to the +commonplace book. The last revised text of the "Rules," therefore, is +that of the fourth edition (1710), but since this differs from the third +only by the omission of one passage, which is of some interest, it +seemed best to reproduce the text of the third edition (1708). The +omitted passage is the last five lines, beginning "and therefore ...," +of the second paragraph on page 22. + + + + +NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION + + +[1] For a fuller discussion see my "Edward Bysshe and the Poet's +Handbook," _PMLA_ LXIII (September, 1948), 858-885, from which the +material for this introduction is largely taken. I am indebted to the +Editor for permission to use it again. + +[2] Charles Gildon, _The Laws of Poetry_ (London, 1721), p. 72, and _The +Complete Art of Poetry_ (London, 1718), I, 93. + +[3] Edward Bysshe, _The Art of English Poetry_ (London, 1708), p. ii of +the rhyming dictionary (the three parts are paginated separately). + +[4] _Ibid._, "Rules," pp. 32-33; Cowley is quoted in Dryden, tr., _The +Works of Virgil_ (London, 1697), sig. fl^v. + +[5] _Ibid._, "Rules," p. 1; _Quatre Traitez_, p. 51. Lancelot adds that +Italian and Spanish verse, "like that of all other vernacular +languages," are syllabic (_ibid._, p. 93). + +[6] Coleridge, _Complete Poetical Works_, ed. E. H. Coleridge (Oxford, +1912), I, 215. + + + + + THE + + ART + + OF + + ENGLISH POETRY + + CONTAINING + + I. _Rules_ for making _VERSES_. + + II. A _Collection_ of the most Natural, + Agreeable, and Sublime _THOUGHTS_, viz. + Allusions, Similes, Descriptions and Characters, + of Persons and Things; that are to be found + in the best _ENGLISH_ POETS. + + III. A _Dictionary_ of _RHYMES_. + + _By_ Edw. Bysshe. _Gent._ + + The Third Edition, with large Improvements. + + _LONDON_ + + Printed for Sam. Buckley, at the _Dolphin_ in + _Little Britain_. MDCCVIII. + + + + +_The PREFACE._ + + +So many are the Qualifications, as well natural as acquir'd, that are +essentially requisite to the making of a good Poet, that 'tis in vain +for any Man to aim at a great Reputation on account of his Poetical +Performances, by barely following the Rules of others, and reducing +their Speculations into Practice. It may not be impossible indeed for +Men, even of indifferent Parts, by making Examples to the Rules +hereafter given, to compose Verses smooth, and well-sounding to the Ear; +yet if such Verses want strong Sense, Propriety and Elevation of +Thought, or Purity of Diction, they will be at best but what _Horace_ +calls them, _Versus inopes rerum, nugæque canoræ_, and the Writers of +them not Poets, but versifying Scriblers. I pretend not therefore by the +following Sheets to teach a Man to be a Poet in spight of Fate and +Nature, but only to be of Help to the few who are born to be so, and +whom _audit vocatus Apollo_. + +To this End I give in the first Place _Rules for making_ English +_Verse_: And these Rules I have, according to the best of my Judgment, +endeavour'd to extract from the Practice, and to frame after the +Examples of the Poets that are most celebrated for a fluent and numerous +Turn of Verse. + +Another Part of this Treatise, is a _Dictionary of Rhymes_: To which +having prefix'd a large Preface shewing the Method and Usefulness of it, +I shall trouble the Reader in this place no farther than to acquaint +him, that if it be as useful and acceptable to the Publick, as the +composing it was tedious and painful to me, I shall never repent me of +the Labour. + +What I shall chiefly speak of here, is the largest Part of this +Treatise, which I call a _Collection of the most natural and sublime +Thoughts that are in the best_ English _Poets_. And to be ingenuous in +the Discovery, this was the Part of it that principally induc'd me to +undertake the Whole: The Task was indeed laborious, but pleasing; and +the sole Praise I expected from it, was, that I made a judicious Choice +and proper Disposition of the Passages I extracted. A Mixture of so +many different Subjects, and such a Variety of Thoughts upon them, may +possibly not satisfy the Reader so well, as a Composition perfect in its +Kind on one intire Subject; but certainly it will divert and amuse him +better; for here is no Thread of Story, nor Connexion of one Part with +another, to keep his Mind intent, and constrain him to any Length of +Reading. I detain him therefore only to acquaint him, why it is made a +Part of this Book, and how Serviceable it may be to the main Design of +it. + +Having drawn up Rules for making Verses, and a Dictionary of Rhymes, +which are the Mechanick Tools of a Poet; I came in the next Place to +consider, what other human Aid could be offer'd him; a Genius and +Judgment not being mine to give. Now I imagin'd that a Man might have +both these, and yet sometimes, for the sake of a Syllable or two more or +less, to give a Verse its true Measure, be at a stand for Epithets and +Synonymes, with which I have seen Books of this Nature in several +Languages plentifully furnish'd. + +Now, tho' I have differ'd from them in Method, yet I am of Opinion this +Collection may serve to the same End, with equal Profit and greater +Pleasure to the Reader. For, what are Epithets, but Adjectives that +denote and express the Qualities of the Substantives to which they are +join'd? as _Purple_, _Rosie_, _Smiling_, _Dewy_, Morning: _Dim_, +_Gloomy_, _Silent_, Night. What Synonymes, but Words of a like +Signification? as _Fear_, _Dread_, _Terrour_, _Consternation_, +_Affright_, _Dismay_, &c. Are they not then naturally to be sought for +in the Descriptions of Persons and Things? And can we not better judge +by a Piece of Painting, how Beautifully Colours may be dispos'd; than by +seeing the same several Colours scatter'd without Design on a Table? +When you are at a Loss therefore for proper Epithets or Synonymes, look +in this Alphabetical Collection for any Word under which the Subject of +your Thought may most probably be rang'd; and you will find what have +been imploy'd by our best Writers, and in what Manner. + +It would have been as easie a Task for me as it has been to others +before me, to have threaded tedious Bead-rolls of Synonymes and Epithets +together, and put them by themselves: But when they stand alone, they +appear bald, insipid, uncouth, and offensive both to the Eye and Ear. In +that Disposition they may indeed help the Memory, but cannot direct the +Judgment in the Choice. + +But besides, to confess a Secret, I am very unwilling it should be laid +to my Charge, that I have furnish'd Tools, and given a Temptation of +Versifying, to such as in spight of Art and Nature undertake to be +Poets; and who mistake their Fondness to Rhyme, or Necessity of Writing, +for a true Genius of Poetry, and lawful Call from _Apollo_. Such +Debasers of Rhyme and Dablers in Poetry would do well to consider, that +a Man would justly deserve a higher Esteem in the World by being a good +Mason or Shoo-maker, or by excelling in any other Art that his Talent +inclines him to, and that is useful to Mankind, than by being an +indifferent or second-Rate Poet. Such have no Claim to that Divine +Appellation: + + _Neque enim concludere Versum + Dixeris esse satis: Neque, si quis scribat, uti nos, + Sermoni propiora, putes hunc esse Poetam. + Ingenium cui sit, cui Mens divinior, atque Os + Magna sonaturum, des Nominis hujus Honorem._ Horat. + +I resolv'd therefore to place these, the principal Materials, under the +awful Guard of the immortal _Shakespear_, _Milton_, _Dryden_, &c. + + _Procul o procul este Profani!_ Virg. + +But let Men of better Minds be excited to a generous Emulation. + +I have inserted not only Similes, Allusions, Characters, and +Descriptions; but also the most Natural and Sublime Thoughts of our +Modern Poets on all Subjects whatever. I say, of our Modern; for tho' +some of the Antient, as _Chaucer_, _Spencer_, and others, have not been +excell'd, perhaps not equall'd, by any that have succeeded them, either +in Justness of Description, or in Propriety and Greatness of Thought; +yet their Language is now become so antiquated and obsolete, that most +Readers of our Age have no Ear for them: And this is the Reason that +the good _Shakespear_ himself is not so frequently cited in this +Collection, as he would otherwise deserve to be. + +I have endeavour'd to give the Passages as naked and stript of +Superfluities and foreign Matter, as possibly I could: but often found +my self oblig'd for the sake of the Connexion of the Sense, which else +would have been interrupted, and consequently obscure, to insert some of +them under Heads, to which every Part or Line of them may be thought not +properly to belong: Nay, I sometimes even found it difficult to chuse +under what Head to place several of the best Thoughts; but the Reader +may be assur'd, that if he find them not where he expects, he will not +wholly lose his Labour; for + + _The Search it self rewards his Pains; + And if like Chymists his great End he miss, + Yet things well worth his Toil he gains; + And does his Charge and Labour pay + With good unsought Experiments by the way._ Cowley. + +That the Reader may judge of every Passage with due Deference for each +Author, he will find their Names at the End of the last Line; and as the +late Versions of the Greek and Roman Poets have not a little +contributed to this Collection, _Homer_, _Anacreon_, _Lucretius_, +_Catullus_, _Virgil_, _Horace_, _Ovid_, _Juvenal_, &c. are cited with +their Translators: And after each Author's Name are quoted their Plays +and other Poems, from whence the Passages are extracted. + +The Reader will likewise observe, that I have sometimes ascrib'd to +several Authors the Quotations taken from one and the same Play. Thus to +those from the first and third Act of _Oedipus_, I have put _Dryden_; to +those from the three other, _Lee_: Because the first and third Act of +that Play were written by _Dryden_, the three other by _Lee_. To those +from _Troilus_ and _Cressida_ I have sometimes put _Shakespear_, +sometimes _Dryden_; because he having alter'd that Play, whatever I +found not in the Edition of _Shakespear_, ought to be ascrib'd to him. +And in like manner of several other Plays. + +As no Thought can be justly said to be fine, unless it be true, I have +all along had a great regard for Truth; except only 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 yeux 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 suppress'd either; or that what +is here uncontradicted must be unanswerable. + +If any take Offence at the Loosness of some of the Thoughts, as +particularly upon _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 Chastness of +the Words qualifies the Lasciviousness of the Images they represent. And +let them farther know, that I have not always chosen what I most +approv'd, but what carries with it the best Stroaks 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 +Aptness and Propriety of Expression; and above all, of the Beauty of +Colouring, in which the Poet's Art chiefly consists. Nor, in short, +would I take upon me to determine what things should have been said; but +have shewn only what are said, and in what manner. + + + + + RULES + For making + ENGLISH VERSE. + + +In 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 Verse. + + + + +CHAP. I. + +_Of the Structure of_ English _Verses._ + + +The Structure of our Verses, whether Blank, or in Rhyme, 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 Quantity of _English_ Syllables, and, in Imitation of the _Latins_, +compos'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 suspect 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 often disagreeable, nay, inconsistent with another. But +that Design being now wholly exploded, it is sufficient to have +mention'd it. + + +Our Verses then consist in a certain Number of Syllables; but the Verses +of double Rhyme require a Syllable more than those of single Rhyme. Thus +in a Poem whose Verses consist of ten Syllables, those of the same Poem +that are accented on the last save one, which we call Verses of double +Rhyme, must have eleven; as may be seen by these Verses. + + _A Man so various that he seem'd to be + Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome: + Stiff in Opinion, always in the Wrong, + Was ev'ry thing by starts, and nothing long: + But, in the Course of one revolving Moon, + Was Fidler, Chymist, Statesman, and Buffoon: + Then all for Women, Painting, Rhyming, Drinking; + Besides ten thousand Freaks that dy'd in Thinking. + Praising and Railing were his usual Themes; + And both, to shew his Judgment, in Extreams. + So over-violent, or over-civil, + That every Man with him was God or Devil._ Dryd. + +Where the 4 Verses that are accented on the last save one, have 11 +Syllables; the others, accented on the last, but 10. + + +In a Poem whose Verses consist of 8, the double Rhymes require 9, as, + + _When hard Words, Jealousies and Fears, + Set Folks together by the Ears; + And made 'em fight, like mad, or drunk, + For Dame Religion, as for Punk; + Whose Honesty they all durst swear for, + Tho' not a Man of 'em know wherefore: + Then did Sir Knight abandon Dwelling, + And out he rode a Collonelling._ Hud. + + +In a Poem whose Verses consist of 7, the double Rhymes require 8, as, + + _All thy Verse is softer far + Than the downy Feathers are + Of my Wings, or of my Arrows; + Of my Mother's Doves or Sparrows._ Cowl. + + +This must also be observ'd in Blank Verse; as, + + _Welcom, thou worthy Partner of my Lawrels! + Thou Brother of my Choice! a Band more sacred + Than Nature's brittle Tye. By holy Friendship! + Glory and Fame stood still for thy Arrival, + My Soul seem'd wanting of its better Half, + And languish'd for thy Absence, like a Prophet, + Who waits the Inspiration of his God._ Rowe. + + +And this Verse of _Milton_, + + _Void of all Succour and needful Comfort,_ + +wants a Syllable; for, being accented on the last save one, it ought to +have 11, as all the Verses, but two, of the preceeding Example have: But +if we transpose the Words thus, + + _Of Succour and all needful Comfort void,_ + +it then wants nothing of its due Measure, because it is accented on the +last Syllable. + + + + +SECT. I. + +_Of the several Sorts of Verses; and first of those of ten Syllables. Of +the due Observation of the Accent; and of the Pause._ + + +Our Poetry admits for the most part but of three sorts of Verses; that +is to say, of Verses of 10, 8, or 7 Syllables: Those of 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, +and 14, are generally imploy'd in Masks and Operas, and in the Stanzas +of Lyrick and Pindarick Odes, and we have few intire Poems compos'd in +any of those sorts of Verses. Those of 12, and of 14 Syllables, are +frequently inserted in our Poems in Heroick Verse, and when rightly made +use of, carry a peculiar Grace with them. _See the next Section towards +the end._ + + +The Verses of 10 Syllables, which are our Heroick, are us'd in Heroick +Poems, in Tragedies, Comedies, Pastorals, Elegies; and sometimes in +Burlesque. + +In these Verses two things are chiefly to be consider'd. + + 1. The Seat of the Accent. + 2. The Pause. + +For, 'tis not enough that Verses have their just Number of Syllables: +the true Harmony of them depends on a due Observation of the Accent and +Pause. + +The Accent is an Elevation, or a Falling of the Voice, on a certain +Syllable of a Word. + +The Pause is a Rest or Stop that is made in pronouncing the Verse, and +that divides it, as it were, into two parts; each of which is call'd an +Hemistich, or Half-Verse. + +But this Division is not always equal, that is to say, one of the +Half-verses does not always contain the same Number of Syllables as the +other: and this Inequality proceeds from the Seat of the Accent that is +strongest, and prevails most in the first Half-verse. For, the Pause +must be observ'd at the end of the Word where such Accent happens to +be, or at the end of the following Word. + + +Now in a Verse of 10 Syllables, this Accent must be either on the 2d, +4th, or 6th; which produces 5 several Pauses, that is to say, at the 3d, +4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th Syllable of the Verse; For, + + +When it happens to be on the 2d, the Pause will be either at the 3d, or +4th. + +At the 3d, in two manners: + +1. When the Syllable accented happens to be the last save one of a Word; +as, + + _As busy--as intentive Emmets are; + Or Cities--whom unlook'd-for Sieges scare._ Dav. + +2. Or, when the Accent is on the last of a Word, and the next a +Monosyllable, whose Construction is govern'd by that on which the Accent +is; as, + + _Despise it,--and more noble Thoughts pursue._ Dryd. + + +When the Accent falls on the 2d Syllable of the Verse, and the last save +two of a Word, the Pause will be at the 4th; as, + + _He meditates--his absent Enemy._ Dryd. + + +When the Accent is on the 4th of a Verse, the Pause will be either at +the same Syllable, or at the 5th, or 6th. + +At the same, when the Syllable of the Accent happens to be the last of a +Word; as, + + _Such huge Extreams--inhabit thy great Mind, + God-like, unmov'd,--and yet, like Woman, kind._ Wall. + +At the 5th in 2 manners: + +1. When it happens to be the last save one of a Word; as, + + _Like bright_ Aurora--_whose refulgent Ray + Foretells the Fervour--of ensuing Day; + And warns the Shepherd--with his Flocks, retreat + To leafy Shadows--from the threaten'd Heat._ Wall. + +2. Or the last of the Word, if the next be a Monosyllable govern'd by +it; as, + + _So fresh the Wound is--and the Grief so vast._ Wall. + +At the 6th, when the Syllable of the Accent happens to be the last save +two of a Word; as, + + _Those Seeds of Luxury,--Debate, and Pride._ Wall. + +Lastly, When the Accent is on the 6th Syllable of the Verse, the Pause +will be either at the same Syllable, or at the 7th. + +At the same, when the Syllable of the Accent happens to be the last of a +Word; as, + + _She meditates Revenge--resolv'd to die._ Wall. + +At the 7th in two manners: + +1. When it happens to be the last save one of a Word; as, + + _Nor when the War is over,--is it Peace._ Dryd. + + _Mirrors are taught to flatter,--but our Springs._ Wall. + +2. Or the last of a Word, if the following one be a Monosyllable whose +Construction depends on the preceeding Word on which the Accent is; as, + + _And since he could not save her,--with her dy'd._ Dryd. + + +From all this it appears, that the Pause is determin'd by the Seat of +the Accent; but if the Accents happen to be equally strong, on the 2d, +4th, and 6th Syllable of a Verse, the Sense and Construction of the +Words must then guide to the Observation of the Pause: For Example; In +one of the Verses I cited as an Instance of it at the 7th Syllable, + + _Mirrors are taught to flatter, but our Springs._ + +The Accent is as strong on _Taught_, as on the first Syllable of +_Flatter_, and if the Pause were observ'd at the 4th Syllable of the +Verse, it would have nothing disagreeable in its Sound: as, + + + _Mirrors are taught--to flatter, but our Springs + Present th' impartial Images of things._ + +Which tho' it be no Violence to the Ear, yet it is to the Sense, and +that ought always carefully to be avoided in reading or in repeating of +Verses. + + +For this Reason it is, that the Construction or Sense should never end +at a Syllable where the Pause ought not to be made; as at the 8th and 2d +in the two following Verses: + + _Bright_ Hesper _twinkles from afar:--Away + My Kids!--for you have had a Feast to day._ Staff. + +Which Verses have nothing disagreeable in their Structure but the Pause; +which in the first of them must be observ'd at the 8th Syllable, in the +2d at the 2d; and so unequal a Division can produce no true Harmony. And +for this Reason too, the Pauses at the 3d and 7th Syllables, tho' not +wholly to be condemn'd, ought to be but sparingly practis'd. + + +The foregoing Rules ought indispensibly to be follow'd in all our Verses +of 10 Syllables; and the observation of them, like that of right Time in +Musick, will produce Harmony; the neglect of them, Harshness and +Discord; as appears by the following Verses. + + _None think Rewards render'd worthy their Worth. + And both Lovers, both thy Disciples were,_ Dav. + +In which tho' the true Number of Syllables be observ'd, yet neither of +them have so much as the Sound of a Verse: Now their Disagreeableness +proceeds from the undue Seat of the Accent: For Example, the first of +them is accented on the 5th and 7th Syllables; but if we change the +Words, and remove the Accent to the 4th and 6th, the Verse will become +smooth and easie; as, + + _None think Rewards are equal to their Worth._ + +The harshness of the last of them proceeds from its being accented on +the 3d Syllable, which may be mended thus, by transposing only one Word; + + _And Lovers both, both thy Disciples were._ + + +In like manner the following Verses, + + _To be massacred, not in Battle slain._ Blac. + + _But forc'd, harsh, and uneasie unto all._ Cowl. + + _Against the Insults of the Wind and Tide._ Blac. + + _A second Essay will the Pow'rs appease._ Blac. + + _With_ Scythians _expert in the Dart and Bow._ Dryd. + +are rough, because the foregoing Rules are not observ'd in their +Structure: For Example, the first, where the Pause is at the 5th +Syllable, and the Accent on the 3d, is contrary to the Rule which says, +that the Accent that determines the Pause must be on the 2d, 4th, or 6th +Syllable of the Verse; and to mend that Verse we need only place the +Accent on the 4th, and then the Pause at the 5th will have nothing +disagreeable, as, + + _Thus to be murther'd, not in Battle slain._ + +The second Verse is Accented on the 3d Syllable, and the Pause is there +too; which makes it indeed the thing it expresses, forc'd, harsh, and +uneasie; it may be mended thus, + + _But forc'd and harsh, uneasie unto all._ + +The 3d, 4th, and 5th of those Verses, have like faults; for the Pauses +are at the 5th, and the Accent there too, which is likewise contrary to +the foregoing Rules: Now they will be made smooth and flowing, by taking +the Accent from the 5th, and removing the Seat of the Pause; as, + + _Against th' Insults both of the Wind and Tide. + A second Trial will the Pow'rs appease. + With_ Scythians _skilfull in the Dart and Bow._ + + +From whence we conclude, that in all Verses of 10 Syllables, the most +prevailing Accents ought to be on the 2d, 4th, or 6th Syllables; for if +they are on the 3d, 5th, or 7th, the Verses will be rough and +disagreeable, as has been prov'd by the preceeding Instances. + +In short, the wrong placing of the Accent is as great a fault in our +Versification, as false Quantity was in that of the Antients; and +therefore we ought to take equal care to avoid it, and endeavour so to +dispose the Words, that they may create a certain Melody in the Ear, +without Labour to the Tongue, or Violence to the Sense. + + + + +SECT. II. + +_Of the other Sorts of Verses that are us'd in our Poetry._ + + +After the Verses of 10 Syllables, those of 8 are most frequent, and we +have many intire Poems compos'd in them. + + +In the Structure of these Verses, as well as of those of 10 Syllables, +we must take care that the most prevailing Accents be neither on the 3d +nor 5th Syllables of them. + +They also require a Pause to be observ'd in pronouncing them, which is +generally at the 4th, or 5th Syllable; as, + + _I'll sing of Heroes,--and of Kings, } + In mighty Numbers--mighty things; } + Begin, my_ Muse,--_but lo the Strings, } + To my great Song--rebellious prove, + The Strings will sound--of nought but Love._ Cowl. + + +The Verses of 7 Syllables, which are call'd _Anacreontick_, are most +beautiful when the strongest Accent is on the 3d, and the Pause either +there, or at the 4th, as, + + _Fill the Bowl--with rosy Wine, + Round our Temples--Roses twine; + Crown'd with Roses--we contemn_ + Gyges _wealthy--Diadem._ Cowl. + + +The Verses of 9, and of 11 Syllables, are of two sorts, one is those +that are accented upon the last save one, which are only the Verses of +double Rhyme that belong to those of 8 and 10 Syllables, of which +Examples have already been given. The other is those that are accented +on the last Syllable, which are employ'd only in Compositions for +Musick, and in the lowest sort of Burlesque Poetry; the disagreeableness +of their Measure having wholly excluded them from grave and serious +Subjects. They who desire to see Examples of them, may find some +scatter'd here and there in our Masks, and Operas, and in our Burlesque +Writers. I will give but two. + + Hilas, O Hilas, _why sit we mute? + Now that each Bird saluteth the Spring._ Wall. + + _Apart let me view then each Heavenly Fair, + For three at a time there's no Mortal can bear._ Congr. + + +The Verses of 12 Syllables are truly Heroick, both in their Measure and +Sound; tho' we have no intire Works compos'd in them; and they are so +far from being a Blemish to the Poems they are in, that on the contrary, +when rightly employed, they conduce not a little to the Ornament of +them; particularly in the following Rencounters. + + +1. When they conclude an Episode in an Heroick Poem: Thus _Stafford_ +ends his Translation of that of _Camilla_ from the 11th Æneid, with a +Verse of 12 Syllables. + + _The ling'ring Soul th' unwelcom Doom receives, + And, murm'ring with Disdain, the beauteous Body leaves._ + +2. When they conclude a Triplet and full Sense together; as, + + _Millions of op'ning Mouths to Fame belong; } + And every Mouth is furnish'd with a Tongue; } + And round with list'ning Ears the flying Plague is hung._ Dryd. } + + +And here we may observe by the way, that whenever a Triplet is made use +of in an Heroick Poem, it is a fault not to close the Sense at the end +of the Triplet, but to continue it into the next Line; as _Dryden_ has +done in his Translation of the 11th Æneid in those Lines. + + _With Olives crown'd, the Presents they shall bear, } + A Purple Robe, a Royal Iv'ry Chair, } + And all the Marks of Sway that_ Latian _Monarchs wear, } + And Sums of Gold_, &c. + +And in the 7th Æneid he has committed the like fault. + + _Then they, whose Mothers, frantick with their Fear, } + In Woods and Wilds the Flags of_ Bacchus _bear, } + And lead his Dances with dishevel'd Hair, } + Increase the Clamour_, &c. + + +But the Sense is not confin'd to the Couplet, for the Close of it may +fall into the middle of the next Verse, that is the Third, and sometimes +farther off: Provided the last Verse of the Couplet exceed not the +Number of ten Syllables; for then the Sense ought always to conclude +with it. Examples of this are so frequent, that 'tis needless to give +any. + + +3. When they conclude the Stanzas of Lyrick or Pindarick Odes; Examples +of which are often seen in _Dryden_, and others. + +In these Verses the Pause ought to be at the 6th Syllable, as may be +seen in the foregoing Examples. + +We sometimes find it, tho' very rarely, at the 7th; as, + + _That such a cursed Creature--lives so long a space._ + +When it is at the 4th, the Verse will be rough and hobbling: as, + + _And Midwife Time--the ripen'd Plot to Murther brought._ Dryd. + + _The Prince pursu'd--and march'd along with equal Pace._ Dryd. + +In the last of which it is very apparent, that if the Sense and +Construction would allow us to make the Pause at the 6th Syllable, + + _The Prince pursu'd, and march'd--along with equal Pace._ + +the Verse would be much more flowing and easie. + +The Verses of 14 Syllables are less frequent than those of 12; they are +likewise inserted in Heroick Poems, _&c._ and are agreeable enough when +they conclude a Triplet and Sense, and follow a Verse of 12; as, + + _For thee the Land in fragrant Flowers is drest; } + For thee the Ocean smiles, and smooths her wavy Breast, Dryd.} + And Heav'n it self with more serene and purer Light is blest._ } + +But if they follow one of 10 Syllables, the Inequality of the Measure +renders them less agreeable; as, + + _While all thy Province, Nature, I survey, (Dryd.} + And sing to_ Memmius _an Immortal Lay } + Of Heav'n and Earth; and every where thy wondrous Pow'r display_ } + +Especially if it be the last of a Couplet only; as, + + _With Court-Informers haunts, and Royal Spies, + Things done relates, not done she feigns, and mingles Truth with + Lies._ (Dryd. + + +But this is only in Heroicks; for in Pindaricks and Lyricks, Verses of +12 or 14 Syllables are frequently and gracefully plac'd, not only after +those of 12 or 10, but of any other number of Syllables whatsoever. + +The Verses of 4 and 6 Syllables have nothing worth observing, and +therefore I shall content my self with having made mention of them. They +are, as I said before, us'd only in Operas, and Masks, and in Lyrick and +Pindarick Odes. Take one Example of them. + + _To rule by Love, + To shed no Blood, + May be extoll'd above; + But here below, + Let Princes know, + 'Tis fatal to be good._ Dryd. + + + + +SECT. III. + +_Several Rules conducing to the Beauty of our Versification._ + + +Our Poetry being very much polish'd and refin'd since the Days of +_Chaucer_, _Spencer_ and the other antient Poets, some Rules which they +neglected, and that conduce very much to the Ornament of it, have been +practis'd by the best of the Moderns. + + +The first is, to avoid as much as possible the Concourse of Vowels, +which occasions a certain ill-sounding Gaping, call'd by the Latins +_Hiatus_; and which they thought so disagreeable to the Ear, that, to +avoid it, whenever a Word ended in a Vowel, and the next began with one, +they never, even in Prose, sounded the Vowel of the first Word, but lost +it in the Pronunciation; and it is a fault in our Poets not to do the +like, whenever our Language will admit of it. + +For this Reason, the _e_ of the Particle _The_ ought always to be cut +off before the Words that begin by a Vowel; as, + + _With weeping Eyes she heard th' unwelcome News._ Dryd. + +And it is a fault to make _The_ and the first Syllable of the following +word two distinct Syllables, as in this, + + _Refrain'd a while by the unwelcome Night._ Wall. + +A second sort of _Hiatus_, and that ought no less to be avoided is, when +a Word that ends in a Vowel that cannot be cut off, is plac'd before one +that begins by the same Vowel, or one that has the like Sound; as, + + _Should thy Iambicks swell into a Book._ Wall. + + +The second Rule is, to contract the two last Syllables of the +Preterperfect Tenses of all the Verbs that will admit of it; which are +all the Regular Verbs whatsoever, except only those ending in D or T, +and DE or TE. And it is a fault to make _Amazed_ of three Syllables, and +_Loved_ of two; instead of _Amaz'd_ of two, and _Lov'd_ of one. + +And the second Person of the Present and Preterperfect Tenses of all +Verbs ought to be contracted in like manner; as _thou lov'st_, for _thou +lovest_, &c. + + +The third Rule is, not to make use of several Words in a Verse that +begin by the same Letter; as, + + _The Court he knew to steer in Storms of State. + He in these Miracles Design discern'd._ Dav. + + +Yet we find an Instance of such a Verse in _Dryden's_ Translation of the +first Pastoral of _Virgil_; + + _Till then a helpless, hopeless, homely Swain._ + +Which I am perswaded he left not thus through Negligence or +Inadvertency, but with design to paint in the Number and Sound of the +Words the thing he describ'd, a Shepherd in whom + + _Nec spes libertatis erat, nec cura peculi._ + + +Now how far the Sound of the _H_ aspirate, with which three Feet of that +Verse begin, expresses the Despair of the Swain, let the Judicious +judge: I have taken notice of it only to say, that 'tis a great Beauty +in Poetry, when the Words and Numbers are so dispos'd, as by their Order +and Sound to represent the things describ'd. + + +The fourth is, to avoid ending a Verse by an Adjective whose Substantive +begins the following; as, + + _Some lost their quiet Rivals, some their kind + Parents_, &c. Dav. + +Or, by a Preposition when the Case it governs begins the Verse that +follows; as, + + _The daily less'ning of our Life, shews by + A little dying, how outright to dye._ Wall. + + +The fifth is, to avoid the frequent Use of Words of many Syllables, +which are proper enough in Prose, but come not into Verse without a +certain Violence altogether disagreeable; particularly those whose +Accent is on the fourth Syllable from the last; as _Undutifulness_. + + + + +SECT. IV. + +_Doubts concerning the Number of Syllables of certain Words._ + + +There is no Language whatsoever, that so often joyns several Vowels +together to make Diphthongs of them, as ours; this appears in our having +several compos'd of three different Vowels: as EAU, and EOU in +_Beauteous_: IOU in _Glorious_, UAI in _Acquaint_, &c. + + +Now from hence may arise some Difficulties concerning the true +Pronunciation of those Vowels: Whether they ought to be sounded +separately in two Syllables, or joyntly in one. + + +The antient Poets made them sometimes of two Syllables, sometimes but of +one, as the Measure of their Verse requir'd; but they are now become to +be but of one, and it is a fault to make them of two: From whence we may +draw this general Rule; + + +That whenever one Syllable of a Word ends in a Vowel, and the next +begins by one, provided the first of those Syllables be not that on +which the Word is accented, those two Syllables ought in Verse to be +contracted and made but one. + +Thus _Beauteous_ is but two Syllables, _Victorious_ but three, and it is +a fault in _Dryden_, to make it four, as he has done in this Verse: + + _Your Arms are on the_ Rhine _victorious._ + +To prove that this Verse wants a Syllable of its due Measure, we need +but add one to it; as, + + _Your Arms are on the_ Rhine _victorious now._ + +Where tho' the Syllable _now_ be added to the Verse, it has no more than +its due number of Syllables, which plainly proves it wanted it. + +But if the Accent be upon the first of these Syllables, they cannot be +contracted to make a Diphthong, but must be computed as two distinct +Syllables: Thus _Poet_, _Lion_, _Quiet_, and the like, must always be +us'd as two Syllables: _Poetry_ and the like, as three. + +And it is a fault to make _Riot_, for Example, one Syllable, as _Milton_ +has done in this Verse. + + _Their Riot ascends above their lofty Tow'rs._ + +The same Poet has in another place made use of a like Word twice in one +Verse, and made it two Syllables each time. + + _With Ruin upon Ruin, Rout on Rout._ + +And any Ear may discover that this last Verse has its true Measure, the +other not. + + +But there are some Words that may be excepted; as _Diamond_, _Violet_, +_Violent_, _Diadem_, _Hyacinth_, and perhaps some others, which, though +they are accented upon the first Vowel, are sometimes us'd but as two +Syllables; as in the following Verses, + + _From Diamond Quarries hewn, and Rocks of Gold._ Milt. + + _With Poppies, Daffadils, and Violets joyn'd._ Tate. + + _With vain, but violent Force their Darts they flung._ Cowl. + + _His Ephod, Mitre, well-cut Diadem on._ Cowl. + + _My blushing Hyacinths, and my Bays I keep._ Dryd. + +Sometimes as three; as + + _A Mount of rocky Diamond did rise._ Blac. + + _Hence the blue Violet and blushing Rose._ Blac. + + _And set soft Hyacinths of Iron Blue._ Dryd. + + +When they are us'd but as two Syllables they suffer an Elision of one of +their Vowels, and are generally written thus, _Di'mond_, _Vi'let_, &c. + + +This Contraction is not always made of Syllables of the same Word only; +for the Particle _A_ being plac'd after a Word that ends in a Vowel, +will sometimes admit of the like Contraction: For Example, after the +Word _many_; as, + + _Tho' many a Victim from my Folds was bought, + And many a Cheese to Country-Markets brought._ Dryd. + + _They many a Trophy gain'd with many a Wound._ Dav. + +After _To_; as, + + _Can he to a Friend, to a Son so bloody grow._ Cowl. + +After _They_; as, + + _From thee, their long-known King, they a King desire._ Cowl. + +After _By_; as, + + _When we by a foolish Figure say._ Cowl. + +And perhaps after some others. + + +There are also other Words whose Syllables are sometimes contracted, +sometimes not: as, _Bower_, _Heaven_, _Prayer_, _Nigher_, _Towards_, and +many more of the like Nature: But they generally ought to be us'd but as +one Syllable; and then they suffer an Elision of the Vowel that precedes +their final Consonant, and ought to be written thus: _Pow'r_, _Heav'n_, +_Pray'r_, _Nigh'r_, _tow'rds_. + + +The Termination ISM is always us'd but as one Syllable; as + + _Where griesly Schism and raging Strife appear._ Cowl. + + _And Rhumatisms I send to rack the Joynts._ Dryd. + +And, indeed, considering that it has but one Vowel, it may seem absurd +to assert that it ought to be reckon'd two Syllables; yet in my Opinion, +those Verses seem to have a Syllable more than their due Measure, and +would run better if we took one from them; as, + + _Where griesly Schism, raging Strife appear. + I Rhumatisms send to rack the Joynts._ + + +Yet this Opinion being contrary to the constant practice of our Poets, I +shall not presume to advance it as a Rule for others to follow; but +leave it to be decided by such as are better Judges of Poetical Numbers. + + +The like may be said of the Terminations ASM and OSM. + + + + +SECT. V. + +_Of the Elisions that are allow'd in our Versification._ + + +Our Verses consisting only of a certain Number of Syllables, nothing can +be of more ease, or greater use to our Poets, than the retaining or +cutting off a Syllable from a Verse, according as the measure of it +requires; and therefore it is requisite to treat of the Elisions that +are allowable in our Poetry, some of which have been already taken +notice of in the preceding Section. + + +By Elision, I mean the cutting off one or more Letters from a Word, +whereby two Syllables come to be contracted into one; or the taking away +an intire Syllable. Now when in a Word of more than two Syllables, which +is accented on the last save two, the Liquid R, happens to be between +two Vowels, that which precedes the Liquid admits of an Elision, Of this +nature are many Words in ANCE, ENCE, ENT, ER, OUS, and RY; as +_Temperance_, _Preference_, _Different_, _Flatterer_, _Amorous_, +_Victory_: Which are Words of three Syllables, and often us'd as such in +Verse; but they may also be contracted into two, by cutting off the +Vowel that precedes the Liquid; as _Temp'rance_, _Pref'rence_, +_Diff'rent_, _Flatt'rer_, _Am'rous_, _Vict'ry_. The like Elision is +sometimes us'd, when any of the other Liquids L, M, or N, happen to be +between two Vowels, in Words accented like the former, as _Fabulous_, +_Enemy_, _Mariner_, which may be contracted _Fab'lous_, _En'my_, +_Mar'ner_. But this is not so frequent. + + +Observe, that I said accented on the last save two; for if the Word be +accented on the last save one, that is to say, on the Vowel that +precedes the Liquid, that Vowel may not be cut off. And therefore it is +a fault to make, for Example, _Sonorous_ of two Syllables, as in this +Verse; + + _With Son'rous Metals wak'd the drowsie Day._ Blac. + +Which always ought to be of three; as in this, + + _Sonorous Metals blowing martial Sounds._ Milt. + + +In like manner; whenever the Letter S happens to be between two Vowels +in Words of three Syllables, accented on the first, one of the Vowels +may be cut off; as _Pris'ner_, _Bus'ness_, &c. + + +Or the Letter C when 'tis sounded like S; that is to say, whenever it +preceds the Vowels E or I; as _Med'cine_, for _Medicine_. + +Or V Consonant; as _Cov'nant_ for _Covenant_. + + +To these may be added the Gerunds of all Verbs whose Infinitives end in +any of the Liquids, preceded by a Vowel or Diphthong, and that are +accented on the last save one: for the Gerunds being form'd by adding +the Syllable ING to the Infinitive, the Liquid that was their final +Letter, comes thereby to be between two Vowels; and the Accent that was +on the last save one of the Infinitive, comes to be on the last save two +of the Gerund: And therefore the Vowel or Diphthong, that precedes the +Liquid, may be cut off; by means whereof the Gerund of three Syllables +comes to be but of two, as from _Travel_, _Travelling_, or _Trav'ling_; +from _Endeavour_, _Endeavouring_, or _Endeav'ring_, &c. + + +But if the Accent be on the last Syllable of such a Verb, its Gerund +will not suffer such an Elision: Thus the Gerund of _Devour_ must always +be three Syllables, _Devouring_, not _Dev'ring_; because all Derivatives +still retain the Accent of their Primitives, that is, on the same +Syllable: and the Accent always obliges the Syllable on which it is, to +remain entire. + +The Gerunds of the Verbs in OW, accented on the last save two, suffer an +Elision of the O that precedes the W; as _Foll'wing_, _Wall'wing_. + + +The Particle _It_ admits of an Elision of its Vowel before _Is_, _Was_, +_Were_, _Will_, _Would_; as _'Tis_, _'Twas_, _'Twere_, _'Twill_, +_'Twould_, for _It is_, _It was_, &c. + + +_It_ likewise sometimes suffers the like Elision, when plac'd after a +Word that ends in a Vowel; as _By't_ for _By it_, _Do't_ for _Do it_: Or +that ends in a Consonant after which the Letter T can be pronounc'd; as +_Was't_ for _Was it_, _In't_ for _In it_, and the like: But this is not +so frequent in Heroick Verse. + + +The Particle _Is_ may lose its _I_ after any Word that ends in a Vowel, +or in any of the Consonants after which the Letter S may be sounded; as +_she's_ for _she is_: The _Air's_ for the _Air is_, &c. + +_To_ (sign of the Infinitive Mood) may lose its O before any Verb that +begins by a Vowel; as _T' amaze_, _t' undo_, &c. + + +_To_ (Sign of the Dative Case) may likewise lose its O before any Noun +that begins with a Vowel; as _t' Air_, _t' every_, _&c._ But this +Elision is not so allowable as the former. + + +_Are_ may lose its _A_ after the Pronouns Personal, _We_, _You_, _They_; +as _We're_, _You're_, _They're_: And thus it is that this Elision ought +to be made, and not as some do, by cutting off the final Vowels of the +Pronouns Personal; _W'are_, _Y'are_, _Th'are_. + + +_Will_ and _Would_ may lose all their first Letters, and retain only +their final one, after any of the Pronouns Personal; as _I'll_ for _I +will_; _He'd_ for _He would_; or after _Who_, as _who'll_ for _who +will_; _who'd_ for _who would_. + + +_Have_, may lose its two first Letters after _I_, _You_, _We_, _They_; +as _I've_, _You've_, _We've_, _They've_. + + +_Not_, its two first Letters after can; as _Can't_ for _Can not_. + + +_Am_, its _A_ after _I_: _I'm_ for _I am_. + + +_Us_, its _U_ after _Let_: _Let's_ for _Let us_. + + +_Taken_, its _K_, as _Ta'en_: for so it ought to be written, not +_ta'ne_. + + +_Heaven_, _Seven_; _Even_, _Eleven_, and the Participles _Driven_, +_Given_, _Thriven_, and their Compounds, may lose their last Vowel, as +_Heav'n_, _Forgiv'n_, &c. _See the foregoing Section, p. 13._ + + +To these may be added _Bow'r_, _Pow'r_, _Flow'r_, _Tow'r_, _Show'r_, for +_Bower_, _Power_, &c. + + +_Never_, _Ever_, _Over_, may lose their _V_; and are contracted thus, +_Ne'er_, _E'er_, _O'er_. + + +Some Words admit of an Elision of their first Syllable; as _'Tween_, +_'Twixt_, _'Mong_, _'Mongst_, _'Gainst_, _'Bove_, _'Cause_, _'Fore_, for +_Between_, _Betwixt_, _Among_, _Amongst_, _Against_, _Above_, _Because_, +_Before_. And some others that may be observ'd in reading our Poets. + + +I have already, in the 3d Section of this Chapter, spoken of the Elision +of the _e_ of the Particle _The_ before Vowels: But it is requisite +likewise to take notice, that it sometimes loses its Vowel before a Word +that begins by a Consonant, and then its two remaining Letters are +joyn'd to the preceding Word; as _To th' Wall_, for _To the Wall_; _By +th' Wall_, for _By the Wall_, &c. But this is scarce allowable in +Heroick Poetry. + + +The Particles _In_, _Of_, and _On_, sometimes lose their Consonants, and +are joyn'd to the Particle _The_ in like manner; as _i'th'_, _o'th'_, +for _in the_, _of the_. + + +In some of our Poets we find the Pronoun _His_ lose its two first +Letters after any Word that ends in a Vowel; as _to's_, _by's_, &c. for +_to his_, _by his_, &c. Or after many Words that end in a Consonant, +after which the Letter S can be pronounc'd; as _In's_, _for's_, for _In +his_, _for his_, &c. This is frequent in _Cowley_, who often takes too +great a Liberty in his Contractions; as _t' your_ for _to your_, _t' +which_ for _to which_, and many others; in which we must be cautious of +following his Example: But the contracting of the Pronoun _His_ in the +manner I mention'd, is not wholly to be condemn'd. + + +We sometimes find the Word _Who_, contracted before Words that begin by +a Vowel; as, + + _Wh' expose to Scorn and Hate both them and it._ Cowl. + + +And the Preposition _By_ in like manner; as, + + _B' unequal Fate, and Providence's Crime._ Dryd. + + _Well did he know how Palms b' Oppression speed._ Cowl. + + +And the Pronouns personal, _He_, _She_, _They_, _We_; as, + + _Timely h' obeys her wife Advice, and strait + To unjust Force sh' opposes just Deceit._ Cowl. + + _Themselves at first against themselves th' excite._ Cowl. + + _Shame and Woe to us, if w' our Wealth obey._ Cowl. + + +But these and the like Contractions are very rare in our most correct +Poets, and ought indeed wholly to be avoided: For 'tis a general Rule, +that no Vowel can be cut off before another, when it cannot be sunk in +the pronunciation of it: And therefore we ought to take care never to +place a Word that begins by a Vowel, after a Word that ends in one (mute +E only excepted) unless the final Vowel of the former can be lost in its +Pronunciation: For, to leave two Vowels opening on each other, causes a +very disagreeable _Hiatus_. Whenever therefore a Vowel ends a Word, the +next ought to begin with a Consonant, or what is Equivalent to it; as +our W, and H aspirate, plainly are. + + +For which reason 'tis a Fault in some of our Poets to cut off the _e_ of +the Particle _The_, for Example, before a Word that begins by an H +aspirate; as + + _And th' hasty Troops march'd loud and chearful down._ Cowl. + + +But if the H aspirate be follow'd by another E, that of the Particle +_The_ may be cut off; As, + + _Th' Heroick Prince's Courage or his Love._ Wall. + + _Th'_ Hesperian _Fruit, and made the Dragon sleep._ Wall. + + + + +CHAP. II. + +_Of Rhyme._ + + + + +SECT. I. + +_What Rhyme is, and the several Sorts of it._ + + +Rhyme is a Likeness or Uniformity of Sound in the terminations of two +Words, I say, of Sound, not of Letters; for the Office of Rhyme being to +content and please the Ear, and not the Eye, the Sound only is to be +regarded, not the Writing: Thus _Maid_ and _Perswade_, _Laugh_ and +_Quaff_, tho' they differ in Writing, rhyme very well: But _Plough_ and +_Cough_, tho' written alike, rhyme not at all. + + +In our Versification we may observe 3 several sorts of Rhyme; Single, +Double, and Treble. + + +The single Rhyme is of two sorts: One of the Words that are accented on +the last Syllable: Another, of those that have their Accent on the last +save two. + + +The Words accented on the last Syllable, if they end in a Consonant, or +mute E, oblige the Rhyme to begin at the vowel that precedes their last +Consonant, and to continue to the end of the Word: In a Consonant; as, + + _Here might be seen that Beauty, Wealth, and Wit, + And Prowess, to the Pow'r of Love submit._ Dryd. + +In mute E; as, + + _A Spark of Virtue by the deepest Shade + Of sad Adversity, is fairer made._ Wall. + + +But if a Diphthong precede the last Consonant, the Rhyme must begin at +that Vowel of it whose Sound most prevails; as, + + _Next to the Pow'r of waking Tempests cease, + Was in that Storm to have so calm a Peace._ Wall. + + +If the Words accented on the last Syllable end in any of the Vowels +except mute E, or in a Diphthong, the Rhyme is made only to that Vowel +or Diphthong. To the Vowel; as + + _So wing'd with Praise we penetrate the Sky, + Teach Clouds and Stars to praise him as we fly._ Wall. + +To the Diphthong; as, + + _So hungry Wolves, tho' greedy of their Prey, + Stop when they find a Lion in the way._ Wall. + + +The other sort of single Rhyme is of the Words that have their Accent on +the last Syllable save two. And these rhyme to the other in the same +manner as the former; that is to say, if they end in any of the Vowels, +except mute E, the Rhyme is made only to that Vowel; as, + + _So seems to speak the youthful Deity; + Voice, Colour, Hair, and all like_ Mercury. Wall. + +But if they end in a Consonant or mute E, the Rhyme must begin at the +Vowel that precedes that Consonant, and continue to the end of the Word. +As has been shewn by the former Examples. + +But we must take notice, that all the Words that are accented on the +last save two, will rhyme, not only to one another, but also to all the +Words whose Terminations have the same Sound, tho' they are accented on +the last Syllable. Thus _Tenderness_ rhymes not only to _Poetess_, +_Wretchedness_, and the like, that are accented on the last save two, +but also to _Confess_, _Excess_, &c. that are accented on the last; as, + + _Thou art my Father now, these Words confess, + That Same, and that indulgent Tenderness._ Dryd. + + + + +SECT. II. + +_Of Double and Treble Rhyme._ + + +All Words that are accented on the last save one, require the Rhyme to +begin at the Vowel of that Syllable, and to continue to the end of the +Word; and this is what we call Double Rhyme; as, + + _Then all for Women, Painting, Rhyming, Drinking, + Besides ten Thousand Freaks that dy'd in Thinking._ Dryd. + + +But it is convenient to take notice, that the ancient Poets did not +always observe this Rule, and took care only that the last Syllables of +the Words should be alike in Sound, without any regard to the Seat of +the Accent. Thus _Nation_ and _Affection_, _Tenderness_ and _Hapless_, +_Villany_ and _Gentry_, _Follow_ and _Willow_, and the like, were +allow'd as Rhymes to each other in the Days of _Chaucer_, _Spencer_, and +the rest of the Antients; but this is now become a fault in our +Versification; and these two Verses of _Cowley_ rhyme not at all. + + _A clear and lively brown was_ Merab's _Dye; + Such as the proudest Colours might envy._ + +Nor these of _Dryden_. + + _Thus Air was void of Light, and Earth unstable, + And Waters dark Abyss unnavigable._ + + +Because we may not place an Accent on the last Syllable of _Envy_, nor +on the last save one of _unnavigable_; which nevertheless we must be +oblig'd to do, if we make the first of them rhyme to _Dye_, the last to +_Unstable_. + + +But we may that observe in Burlesque Poetry, it is permitted to place an +Accent upon a Syllable that naturally has none; as, + + _When Pulpit, Drum Ecclesiastick, + Was beat with Fist instead of a Stick._ + +Where unless we pronounce the Particle A with a strong Accent upon it, +and make it sound like the Vowel _a_ in the last Syllable but one of +_Ecclesiastick_, the Verse will lose all its Beauty and Rhyme. But this +is allowable in Burlesque Poetry only. + +Observe that these double Rhymes may be compos'd of two several Words; +provided the Accent be on the last Syllable of the first of them; as in +these Verses of _Cowley_, speaking of Gold; + + _A Curse on him who did refine it, + A Curse on him who first did coin it._ + +Or some of the Verses may end in an entire word, and the Rhyme to it be +compos'd of several; as, + + _Tho' stor'd with Deletery Med'cines, + Which whosoever took is dead since._ Hud. + + +The Treble Rhyme is, when in words accented on the last save two we +begin the Rhyme at the Vowel of that Syllable, and continue it to the +end of the word: Thus _Charity_ and _Parity_, _Tenderness_ and +_Slenderness_, &c., are treble Rhymes. And these too, as well as the +double, may be compos'd of several words; as, + + _There was an ancient sage Philosopher, + That had read_ Alexander Ross _over._ Hud. + +The Treble Rhyme is very seldom us'd, and ought wholly to be excluded +from serious Subjects; for it has a certain flatness, unworthy the +Gravity requir'd in Heroick Verse. In which _Dryden_ was of Opinion that +even the double Rhymes ought very cautiously to find place; and in all +his Translation of _Virgil_, he has made use of none except only in such +words as admit of a Contraction, and therefore cannot properly be said +to be double Rhymes; as _Giv'n_, _Driv'n_, _Tow'r_, _Pow'r_, and the +like. And indeed, considering their Measure is different from that of an +Heroick Verse, which consists but of 10 Syllables, they ought not to be +too frequently us'd in Heroick Poems; but they are very graceful in the +Lyrick, to which, as well as to the Burlesque, those Rhymes more +properly belong. + + + + +SECT. III. + +_Further Instructions concerning Rhyme._ + + +The Consonants, that precede the Vowels where the Rhyme begins, must be +different in Sound, and not the same; for then the Rhyme will be too +perfect; as _Light_, _Delight_; _Vice_, _Advice_, and the like; for tho' +such Rhymes were allowable in the Days of _Spencer_ and the other old +Poets, they are not so now; nor can there be any Musick in one single +Note. _Cowley_ himself owns, that they ought not to be employed except +in Pindarick Odes, which is a sort of free Poetry, and there too very +sparingly, and not without a third Rhyme to answer to both; as, + + _In barren Age wild and inglorious lye, + And boast of past Fertility, } + The poor Relief of present Poverty._ Cowl.} + +Where the words _Fertility_ and _Poverty_ rhyme very well to the last +word of the first Verse, _Lye_; but cannot rhyme to each other, because +the Consonants that precede the last Vowels are the same, both in +Writing and Sound. + + +But this is yet less allowable if the Accent be on the Syllable of the +Rhyme; as, + + _Her Language melts Omnipotence, arrests + His Hand, and thence the vengeful Lightning wrests._ Blac. + + +From hence it follows that a word cannot rhyme to it self, tho' the +signification be different; as _He Leaves_ to _the Leaves_, &c. + +Nor the words that differ both in Writing and Sense, if they have the +same Sound, as _Maid_ and _Made_, _Prey_ and _Pray_, _to Bow_ and _a +Bough_: as, + + _How gawdy Fate may be in Presents_ sent, + _And creep insensibly by Touch or_ Scent. Oldh. + + +Nor a Compound to its Simple; as _Move_ to _Remove_, _Taught_ to +_Untaught_, &c. + + +Nor the Compounds of the same Words to one another, as _Disprove_ to +_Approve_, and the like. All which proceeds from what I said before, +_viz._ That the Consonants that precede the Vowel where the Rhyme +begins, must not be the same in Sound, but different. In all which we +vary from our Neighbours; for neither the _French_, _Italians_ not +_Spaniards_ will allow that a Rhyme can be too perfect: And we meet with +frequent Examples in their Poetry, where not only the Compounds rhyme to +their Simples, and to themselves; but even where words written and +pronounc'd exactly alike, provided they have a different Signification, +are made use of as Rhymes to one another: But this is not permitted in +our Poetry; and therefore, tho' in the two former Editions of this Book +I said that _Rhyme is only a Sameness of Sound at the End of Words_, I +have in this given it a Definition which I take to be more agreeable to +our Practice, and call'd it _a Likeness or Uniformity of Sound in the +Terminations of two Words_. + + +We must take care not to place a Word at the middle of a Verse that +rhymes to the last Word of it; as, + + _So young in show, as if he still should grow._ + + +But this fault is still more inexcusable, if the second Verse rhyme to +the middle and end of the first; as, + + _Knowledge he only sought, and so soon caught, + As if for him Knowledge had rather sought._ Cowl. + + _Here Passion sways; but there the Muse shall raise + Eternal Monuments of louder Praise._ Wall. + + +Or both the middle and end of the second to the last Word of the first; +as, + + _Farewell, she cry'd, my Sister, thou dear Part, + Thou sweetest part of my divided Heart._ Dryd. + +Where the tenderness of Expression will not attone for the Jingle. + + + + +CHAP. III. + +_Of the several sorts of Poems, or Compositions in Verse._ + + +All our Poems may be divided into two sorts; the first of those that are +compos'd in Couplets; the second are those that are compos'd in Stanzas +consisting of several Verses. + + + + +SECT. I. + +_Of the Poems compos'd in Couplets._ + + +In the Poems compos'd in Couplets, the Rhymes follow one another, and +end at each Couplet; that is to say, the 2d Verse rhymes to the 1st, the +4th to the 3d, the 6th to the 5th, and in like manner to the end of the +Poem. + + +The Verses employ'd in this sort of Poems, are either Verses of 10 +Syllables; as, + + _Oh! could I flow like thee, and make thy Stream + My great Example, as it is my Theme; + The deep, yet clear tho' gentle, yet net dull; + Strong, without Rage; without o'erflowing, full._ Denh. + + +Or of 8; as, + + _O fairest Piece of well-form'd Earth, + Why urge you thus your haughty Birth; + The Pow'r, which you have o'er us, lies + Not in your Race, but in your Eyes. + Smile but on me, and you shall scorn + Henceforth to be of Princes born; + I can describe the shady Grove, + Where your lov'd Mother slept with_ Jove; + _And yet excuse the faultless Dame, + Caught with her Spouse's Shape and Name; + Thy matchless Form will Credit bring, + To all the Wonders I shall sing._ Wall. + + +Or of 7; as, + + Phillis, _why should we delay + Pleasures shorter than the Day? + Could we, which we never can, + Stretch our lives beyond their Span. + Beauty like a Shadow flies, + and our Youth before us dies,_ + _Or would Youth and Beauty stay, + Love has Wings, and will away. + Love has swifter Wings than Time._ Wall. + +But the second Verse of the Couplet does not always contain a like +number of Syllables with the first; as, + + _What shall I do to be for ever known, + And make the Age to come my own? + I shall like Beasts and common People dye, + Unless you write my Elegy._ Cowl. + + + + +SECT. II. + +_Of the Poems compos'd in Stanzas: And first, of the Stanzas consisting +of three, and of four Verses._ + + +In the Poems composed in Stanzas, each Stanza contains a certain number +of Verses consisting for the most part of a different number of +Syllables: And a Poem that consists of several Stanzas, we generally +call an Ode; and this is Lyrick Poetry. + + +But we must not forget to observe that our Antient Poets frequently made +use of intermixed Rhyme in their Heroick Poems, which they dispos'd into +Stanzas and Cantos. Thus the _Troilus_ and _Cressida_ of _Chaucer_ is +compos'd in Stanzas consisting of 7 Verses; the _Fairy Queen_ of +_Spencer_ in Stanzas of 9, _&c._ And this they took from _Italians_, +whose Heroick Poems generally consist in Stanzas of 8. But this is now +wholly laid aside, and _Davenant_, who compos'd his _Gondibert_ in +Stanzas of Verses in alternate Rhyme, was the last that followed their +Example of intermingling Rhymes in Heroick Poems. + + +The Stanzas employ'd in our Poetry, cannot consist of less than three, +and are seldom of more than 12 Verses, except in Pindarick Odes, where +the Stanzas are different from one another in number of Verses, as shall +be shewn. + + +But to treat of all the different Stanzas that are employ'd or may be +admitted in our Poetry, would be a labour no less tedious than useless; +it being easie to demonstrate, that they may be vary'd almost to an +Infinity, that would be different from one another, either in the Number +of the Verses of each Stanza, or in the Number of the Syllables of each +Verse; or lastly, in the various intermingling of the Rhyme. I shall +therefore confine my self to mention only such as are most frequently +us'd by the best of our modern Poets. And first of the Stanzas +consisting of three Verses. + +In the Stanzas of three Verses, or Triplets, the Verses of each Stanza +rhyme to one another; and are either Heroick; as, + + _Nothing, thou Elder Brother e'en to shade! } + Thou hadst a Being e'er the World was made. } + And, (well-fix'd) art alone of ending not afraid._ Roch.} + +Or else they consist of 8 Syllables; as these of _Waller_, _Of a fair +Lady playing with a Snake_. + + _Strange that such Horrour and such Grace } + Should dwell together in one Place, } + A Fury's Arm, an Angel's Face,_ } + + +Nor do the Verses of these Stanzas always contain a like number of +Syllables; for the first and third may have ten, the second but eight; +as, + + _Men without Love have oft so cunning grown, } + That something like it they have shewn, } + But none who had it, ev'r seem'd to have none. } + Love's of a strangely open, simple kind, } + Can no Arts or Disguises find, } + But thinks none sees it, 'cause it self is blind._ Cowl.} + + +In the Stanzas of 4 Verses, the Rhyme may be intermix'd in two different +manners; for either the 1st and 3d Verse may rhyme to each other, and by +consequence the 2d and 4th, and this is call'd Alternate Rhyme; or the +1st and 4th may rhyme, and by consequence the 2d and 3d. + + +But there are some Poems in Stanzas of four Verses, where the Rhymes +follow one another, and the Verses differ in number of syllables only; +as in _Cowley's_ Hymn to the Light, which begins thus, + + _First born of_ Chaos! _who so fair didst come + From the old Negro's darksom Womb: + Which, when it saw the lovely Child, + The melancholy Mass put on kind Looks and smil'd._ + + +But these Stanzas are generally in Alternate Rhyme, and the Verses +consist either of 10 Syllables; as, + + _She ne'er saw Courts, but Courts could have undone + With untaught Looks and an unpractis'd Heart: + Her Nets the most prepar'd could never shun; + For Nature spread them in the scorn of Art._ Dav. + + +Or of 8; as, + + _Had_ Echo _with so sweet a Grace,_ + Narcissus _loud Complaints return'd: + Not for Reflexion of his Face, + But of his Voice the Boy had burn'd._ Wall. + + +Or of 10 and 8. that is to say, the 1st and 3d of 10; the 2d and 4th of +8; as, + + _Love from Time's Wings has stol'n the Feathers sure, + He has, and put them to his own; + For Hours of late as long as Days endure. + And very Minutes Hours are grown._ Cowl. + + +Or of 8 and 6 in the like manner; as, + + _Then ask not Bodies doom'd to dye, + To what Abode they go; + Since Knowledge is but Sorrow's Spy, + 'Tis better not to know._ Dav. + + +Or of 7; as, + + _Not the silver Doves that fly, + Yoak'd in_ Cytherea's _Car; + Nor the Wings that lift so high, + And convey her Son so far;_ + + _Are so lovely sweet and fair, + Or do more ennoble Love; + Are so choicely match'd a Pair, + Or with more consent do move._ Wall. + +_Note_, That it is absolutely necessary that both the Construction and +Sense should end with the Stanza, and not fall into the beginning of the +following one, as it does in the last Example, which is a fault wholly +to be avoided. + + + + +SECT. III. + +_Of the Stanzas of Six Verses._ + + +The Stanzas of 6 Verses, are generally only one of the before-mention'd +Quadrans or Stanzas of 4 Verses, with two Verses at the end that rhyme +to one another; as, + + _A Rural Judge dispos'd of Beautie's Prize, + A simple Shepherd was prefer'd to_ Jove; + _Down to the Mountains from the partial Skies + Came_ Juno, Pallas, _and the Queen of Love, + To plead for that which was so justly giv'n + To the bright_ Carlisle _of the Courts of Heav'n._ Wall. + +Where the 4 first Verses are only a Quadran, and consist of 10 Syllables +each in Alternate Rhyme. + + +The following Stanza in like manner is compos'd of a Quadran, whose +Verses consist of 8 Syllables; and to which 2 Verses that rhyme to one +another are added at the end; as, + + _Hope waits upon the flowry Prime, + And Summer, tho' it be less gay, + Yet is not look'd on as a time + Of Declination and Decay, + For with a full Hand that does bring + All that was promised by the Spring._ Wall. + + +Sometimes the Quadran ends the Stanza; and the two Lines of the same +Rhyme begin it; as, + + _Here's to thee_, Dick, _this whining Love despise: + Pledge me, my Friend, and drink till thou be'st wise. + It sparkles brighter far than she; + 'Tis pure and right without Deceit; + And such no Woman e'er can be; + No, they are all Sophisticate._ Cowl. + + +Or as in these, where the first and last Verses of the Stanza consist of +10 Syllables; + + _When Chance or cruel Bus'ness parts us two, + What do our Souls, I wonder, do? + While Sleep does our dull Bodies tie, + Methinks at home they should not stay + Content with Dreams, but boldly fly + Abroad, and meet each other half the way._ Cowl. + + +Or as in the following Stanza, where the 4th and 5th Verses rhyme to +each other, and the 3d and 6th; + + _While what I write I do not see, + I dare thus ev'n to you write Poetry, + Ah foolish Muse! that dost so high aspire, + And know'st her Judgment well, + How much it does thy Pow'r excell; + Yet dar'st be read by thy just Doom the Fire._ Cowl. + (Written in Juice of Lemon. + + +But in some of these Stanzas, the Rhymes follow one another; as, + + _Take heed, take heed, thou lovely Maid, + Nor be by glitt'ring Ills betray'd: + Thy self for Money! Oh! let no Man know + The Price of Beauty fall'n so low: + What dangers oughtst thou not to dread + When Love that's blind, is by blind Fortune led?_ Cowl. + + +Lastly, some of these Stanzas are compos'd of 2 Triplets; as, + + _The Lightning, which tall Oaks oppose in vain, + To strike sometimes does net disdain + The humble Furzes of the Plain. + She being so high, and I so low, + Her Pow'r by this does greater show, + Who at such Distance gives so sure a Blow._ Cowl. + + + + +SECT. IV. + +_Of the Stanzas of 8 Verses._ + + +I have already said, that the _Italians_ compose their Heroick Poems in +Stanzas of 8 Verses, where the Rhyme is dispos'd as follows; the 1st, +2d, and 5th Verses rhyme to one another, and the 2d, 4th, and 6th, the +two last always rhyme to each other. Now our Translators of their +Heroick Poems have observ'd the same Stanza and Disposition of Rhyme; of +which take the following Example from _Fairfax's_ Translation of +_Tasso's Goffredo_, _Cant._ 1. _Stan._ 3d. + + _Thither thou know'st the World is best inclin'd, + Where luring_ Parnass _most his Beams imparts; + And Truth convey'd in Verse of gentlest kind, + To read sometimes, will move the dullest Hearts; + So we, if Children young diseas'd we find, + Anoint with Sweets the Vessel's foremost parts, + To make them taste the Potions sharp we give; + They drink deceiv'd, and so deceiv'd they live._ + + +But our Poets seldom imploy this Stanza in Compositions of their own; +where the following Stanzas of 8 Verses are most frequent. + + _Some others may with safety tell + The mod'rate Flames which in them dwell; + And either find some Med'cine there, + Or cure themselves ev'n by Despair: + My Love's so great, that it might prove + Dang'rous to tell her that I love. + So tender is my Wound, it cannot bear + Any Salute, tho' of the kindest Air._ Cowl. + +Where the Rhymes follow one another, and the six first Verses consist of +8 Syllables each, the two last of 10. + + +We have another sort of Stanza of 8 Verses, where the 4th rhymes to the +1st, the 3d to the ad, and the four last are two Couplets; and where the +1st, 4th, 6th and 8th, are of 10 Syllables each, the 4 others but of 8; +as, + + _I've often wish'd to love: What shall I do? + Me still the cruel Boy does spare; + And I a double Task must bear, + First to wooe him, and then a Mistress too. + Come at last, and strike for shame, + If thou art any thing besides a Name; + I'll think thee else no God to be, + But Poets, rather, Gods, who first created thee._ Cowl. + + +Another, when the 2 first and 2 last Verses consist of 10 Syllables +each, and rhyme to one another, the 4 other but of 8 in alternate Rhyme. + + _Tho' you be absent hence, I needs must say, + The Trees as beauteous are, and Flowers as gay, + As ever they were wont so be: + Nay the Birds rural Musick too + Is as melodious and free, + As if they sung to pleasure you. + I saw a Rose-bud ope this Morn; I'll swear + The blushing Morning open'd not more fair._ Cowl. + + +Another where the 4 first Verses are two Couplets, the 4 last in +alternate Rhyme; as in _Cowley's_ Ode, _Of a Lady that made Posies for +Rings_. + + _I little thought the time would ever be, + That I should Wit in dwarfish Posies see. + As all Words in few Letters live, + Thou to few Words all Sense dost give. + 'Twas Nature taught you this rare Art, + In such a Little Much to shew; + Who all the Good she did impart + To Womankind, epitomis'd in you._ + + + + +SECT. V. + +_Of the Stanzas of 10 and of 12 Verses._ + + +The Stanzas of 10 and 12 Verses are seldom employed in our Poetry, it +being very difficult to confine our selves to a certain Disposition of +Rhyme, and measure of Verse, for so many Lines together; for which +Reason those of 4, 6, and 8 Verses are the most frequent. However we +sometimes find some of 10 and 12; as in _Cowley's_ Ode which he calls +_Verses left upon a Wager_, where the Rhymes follow one another, but the +Verses differ in Number of Syllables. + + _As seen hereafter will I Wagers lay + 'Gainst what an Oracle shall say: + Fool that I was to venture to deny + A Tongue so us'd to Victory. + A Tongue so blest by Nature and by Art, + That never yet it spoke, but gain'd a Heart. + Tho' what you said had not been true, + If spoke by any else but you; + Your Speech will govern Destiny, + And Fate will change, rather than you shall lye._ Cowl. + + +The same Poet furnishes us with an Example of a Stanza of 12 Verses in +the Ode he calls the _The Prophet_, where the Rhymes are observ'd in the +same manner as in the former Example. + + _Teach me to Love! Go teach thy self more Wit: + I chief Professor am of it. + Teach Craft to_ Scots, _and Thrift to_ Jews, + _Teach Boldness to the Stews. + In tyrants Courts teach supple Flattery, + Teach_ Jesuits _that have travell'd far, to lye. + Tenth Fire to burn, and Winds to blow, + Teach restless Fountains how to flow, + Teach the dull Earth fixt to abide, + Teach Womankind Inconstancy and Pride. + See if your Diligence there will useful prove; + But, prithee teach not me to Love._ + + + + +SECT. VI. + +_Of the Stanzas that consist of an odd Number of Verses._ + + +We have also Stanzas that consist of odd numbers of Verses, as of 5, 7, +9, and 11; in all which it of necessity follows, that three Verses of +the Stanza rhyme to one another, or that one of them be a blank Verse. + + +In the Stanzas of 5 Verses, the 1st and 3d may rhyme, and the 2d and two +last; as, + + _Sees not my Love how Time resumes + The Beauty which he lent these Flow'rs: + Tho' none should taste of their Perfumes, + Yet they must live but some few Hours: + Time what we forbear, devours._ Wall. + +Which is only a Stanza of 4 Verses in alternate Rhyme, to which a 5th +Verse is added that rhymes to the 2d and 4th. + + +See also an Instance of a Stanza of 5 Verses where the Rhymes are +intermix'd in the same manner as the former, but the 1st and 3d Verses +are composed but of 4 Syllables each. + + _Go lovely Rose, + Tell her that wastes her Time and me, + That now she knows, + When I resemble her to thee, + How sweet and fair she seems to be._ Wall. + + +In the following Example the two first Verses rhyme, and the three last. + + _'Tis well, 'tis well with them, said I, + Whose short-liv'd Passions with themselves can dye. + For none can be unhappy, who + 'Midst all his Ills a Time does know, + The ne'er so long, when he shall not be so._ Cowl. + + +In this Stanza, the 2 first and the last, and the 3d and 4th rhyme to +one another. + + _It is enough, enough of time and pain + Hast thou consum'd in vain: + Leave, wretched Cowley, leave, + Thy self with Shadows to deceive. + Think that already lost which than must never gain._ Cowl. + + +The Stanzas of 7 Verses are frequent enough in our Poetry, especially +among the Ancients, who compos'd many of their Poems in this sort of +Stanza: See an Example of one of them taken from _Spencer_ in _The +Ruines of Time_, where the 1st and 3d Verses rhyme to one another, the +2d, 4th and 5th, and the two last. + + _But Fame with Golden Wings aloft doth fly + Above the reach of ruinous Decay, + And with brave Plumes does beat the Azure Sky, + Admir'd of base-born Men from far away: + Then whoso will with virtuous Deeds essay + To mount to Heaven, on_ Pegasus _must ride, + And in sweet Poets Verse be glorify'd._ + + +I have rather chosen to take notice of this Stanza, because that Poet +and _Chaucer_ have made use of it in many of their Poems, tho' they have +not been follow'd in it by any of the Moderns: whose Stanza's of 7 +Verses are generally compos'd as follows. + + +Either the four first Verses are a Quadran in Alternate Rhyme, and the +three last rhyme to one another; as, + + _Now by my Love, the greatest Oath that is, + None loves you half so well as I; + I do not ask your Love for this, + But for Heaven's sake believe me, or I dye. + No Servant sure but did deserve + His Master should believe that he did serve; + And I'll ask no more Wages tho' I starve._ Cowl. + + +Or the four first are two Couplets, and the three last a Triplet; as, + + _Indeed I must confess + When Souls mix 'tis a Happiness, + But not compleat till Bodies too combine, + And closely as our Minds together joyn. + But Half of Heav'n the Souls in Glory taste, + 'Till by Love in Heav'n at last, + Their Bodies too are plac'd._ Cowl. + + +Or, on the contrary, the three first may rhyme, and the four last be in +Rhymes that follow one another; as, + + _From Hate, Fear, Hope, Anger, and Envy free, + And all the Passions else that be, + In vain I boast of Liberty: + In vain this State a Freedom call, + Since I have Love; and Love is all. + Sot that I am! who think it fit to brag + That I have no Disease besides the Plague._ Cowl. + + +Or the 1st may rhyme to the two last, the 2d to the 5th, and the 3d and +4th to one another; as, + + _In vain thou drowsie God I thee invoke, + For thou who dost from Fumes arise, + Then who Man's Soul do'st overshade + With a Thick Cloud by Vapours made, + Canst have no Pow'r to shut his Eyes, + Or passage of his Spirits to choak, + Whose Flame's so pure, that it sends up no smoke._ Cowl. + + +Or lastly, the four first and two last may be in following Rhyme, and +the 5th a Blank Verse; as, + + _Thou robb'st my Days of Bus'ness and Delights, + Of Sleep thou robb'st my Nights: + Ah lovely Thief! what wilt thou do? + What, rob me of Heav'n too! + Thou ev'n my Prayers dost from me steal, + And I with wild Idolatry + Begin to God, and end them all to thee._ Cowl. + + +The Stanzas of 9 and of 11 Syllables are not so frequent as those of 5 +and of 7. _Spencer_ has composed his _Fairy Queen_ in Stanzas of 9 +Verses, where the 1st rhymes to the 3d, the 2d to the 4th 5th and 7th; +and the 6th to the two last. But this Stanza is very difficult to +maintain, and the unlucky choice of it reduc'd him often to the +necessity of making use of many exploded Words; nor has he, I think, +been follow'd in it by any of the Moderns; whose 6 first Verses of the +Stanzas that consist of 9, are generally in Rhymes that follow one +another, and the three last a Triplet; as, + + _Beauty, Love's Scene and Masquerade, + So well by well-plac'd Lights, and Distance made; + False Coin! with which th' Impostor cheats us still, + The Stamp and Colour good, but Metal ill: + Which light or base we find, when we + Weigh by Enjoyment, and examine thee. + For tho' thy Being be but Show, + 'Tis chiefly Night which Men to thee allow, + And chuse t' enjoy thee, when thou least art thou._ Cowl. + + +In the following Example the like Rhyme is observ'd, but the Verses +differ in Measure from the former. + + _Beneath this gloomy Shade, + By Nature only for my Sorrows made, + I'll spend this Voice in Cries; + In Tears I'll waste these Eyes, + By Love so vainly fed: + So Lust of old, the Deluge punished. + Ah wretched Youth! said I; + Ah wretched Youth! twice did I sadly cry; + Ah wretched Youth! the Fields and Floods reply._ Cowl. + + +The Stanzas consisting of 11 Verses are yet less frequent than those of +9, and have nothing particular to be observ'd in them. Take an Example +of one of them, where the 6 first are 3 Couplets, the three next a +Triplet, the two last a Couplet; and where the 4th, the 7th, and the +last Verses are of 10 Syllables each, the others of 8. + + _No, to what purpose should I speak? + No, wretched Heart, swell till you break; + She cannot love me if she would; + And, to say Truth, 'twere pity that she should. + No, to the Grave thy Sorrows bear, + As silent as they will be there: + Since that lov'd Hand this mortal Wound does give, + So handsomely the thing contrive, + That she may guiltless of it live: + So perish, that her killing thee + May a Chance-medley, and no Murther be._ Cowl. + + + + +SECT. VII. + +_Of Pindarick Odes, and Poems in Blank Verse._ + + +The Stanzas of Pindarick Odes are neither confin'd to a certain number +of Verses, nor the Verses to a certain number of Syllables, nor the +Rhyme to a certain Distance. Some Stanzas contain 50 Verses or more, +others not above 10, and sometimes not so many: Some Verses 14, nay, 16 +Syllables, others not above 4: Sometimes the Rhymes follow one another +for several Couplets together, sometimes they are remov'd 6 Verses from +each other; and all this in the same Stanza. _Cowley_ was the first who +introduc'd this sort of Poetry into our Language: Nor can the nature of +it be better describ'd than as he himself has done it, in one of the +Stanzas of his Ode upon _Liberty_, which I will transcribe, not as an +Example, for none can properly be given where no Rule can be prescrib'd, +but to give an Idea of the Nature of this sort of Poetry. + + _If Life should a well-order'd Poem be, + In which he only hits the White, + Who joyns true Profit with the best Delight; + The more Heroick Strain let others take, + Mine the Pindarick way I'll make: + The Matter shall be grave, the Numbers loose and free, + It shall not keep one settled pace of Time, + In the same Tune it shall not always Chime, + Nor shall each day just to his Neighbour rhyme. + A thousand Liberties it shall dispence, + And yet shall manage all without offence, + Or to the sweetness of the Sound, or Greatness of the Sense._ + _Nor shall it never from one Subject start, + Nor seek Transitions to depart; + Nor its set way o'er Stiles and Bridges make, + Nor thro' Lanes a Compass take, + As if it fear'd some Trespass to commit, + When the wide Air's a Road for it. + So the Imperial Eagle does not stay + Till the whole Carcass he devour, + That's fall'n into his Pow'r, + As if his gen'rous Hunger understood, + That he can never want plenty of Food; + He only sucks the tastful Blood, + And to fresh Game flies chearfully away, + To Kites and meaner Birds he leaves the mangled Prey._ + +This sort of Poetry is employed in all manner of Subjects; in Pleasant, +in Grave, in Amorous, in Heroick, in Philosophical, in Moral, and in +Divine. + + +Blank Verse is where the Measure is exactly kept without Rhyme; +_Shakespear_, to avoid the troublesome Constraint of Rhyme, was the +first who invented it; our Poets since him have made use of it in many +of their Tragedies and Comedies: but the most celebrated Poem in this +kind of Verse is _Milton's Paradise Lost_; from the 5th Book of which I +have taken the following Lines for an Example of Blank Verse. + + _These are thy glorious Works, Parent of Good! + Almighty! thine this universal Frame, + Thus wondrous fair! thy self how wondrous then! + Speak you, who best can tell, ye Sons of Light, + Angels! for you behold him, and with Songs, + And Choral Symphonies, Day without Night + Circle his Throne rejoycing, you in Heaven. + On Earth! joyn all ye Creatures, to extol + Him first, him last, him midst, and without end. + Fairest of Stars! last in the Train of Night, + Is better thou belong not to the Dawn, + Sure Pledge of Day, that crown'st the smiling Morn, + With thy bright Circlet, praise him in thy Sphere, + While Day arises, that sweet Hour of Prime! + Thou Sun! of this great World, both Eye and Soul, + Acknowledge him thy Greater, sound his Praise + In thy Eternal Course, both when thou climb'st + And when high Noon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st. + Moon! that now meet'st the Orient Sun, now fly'st + With the fix'd Stars, fix'd in their Orb that flies, + And ye five other wandring Fires! that move + In Mystick Dance, not without Song, resound_ + _His Praise, who out of Darkness call'd up Light. + Air! and ye Elements! the eldest Birth + Of Nature's Womb, that in Quaternion run + Perpetual Circle multiform, and mix + And nourish all things; let your ceaseless Change + Vary to our great Maker still new Praise. + To Mists and Exhalations! that now rise + From Hill or steaming Lake, dusky or grey, + Till the sun paint your fleecy Skirts with Gold, + In Honour to the World's great Author rise; + Whether to deck with Clouds th' uncolour'd Sky, + Or wet the thirsty Earth with falling Showr's, + Rising or falling, still advance his Praise. + His Praise, ye Winds! that from four Quarters blow, + Breathe soft or loud; and wave your Tops, ye Pines! + With ev'ry Plant, in sign of Worship, wave. + Fountains! and ye that warble as you flow + Melodious Murmurs, warbling tune his Praise. + Join Voices all ye living Souls, ye Birds! + That singing, up to Heav'n's high Gate ascend, + Bear on your Wings, and in your Notes his Praise. + Ye that in Waters glide! and ye that walk + The Earth! and stately tread, or lowly creep; + Witness if I be silent, Ev'n or Morn, + To Hill or Valley, Fountain or fresh Shade, + Made vocal by my Song, and taught his Praise._ + + +Thus I have given a short Account of all the sorts of Poems, that are +most us'd in our Language. The Acrosticks, Anagrams, _&c._ deserve not +to be mention'd, and we may say of them what an Ancient Poet said long +ago. + + + _Stultum est difficiles habere Nugas, + Et stultus Labor est ineptiarum._ + + +_FINIS._ + + + + + * * * * * + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + +First Year (1946-47) + +Numbers 1-6 out of print. + + +Second Year (1947-1948) + +7. John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on Wit +from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702). + +8. Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684). + +9. T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736). + +10. Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, +etc._ (1744). + +11. Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717). + +12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood +Krutch. + + +Third Year (1948-1949) + +13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720). + +14. Edward Moore's _The Gamester_ (1753). + +15. John Oldmixon's _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley_ +(1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's _The British Academy_ (1712). + +16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673). + +17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William +Shakespeare_ (1709). + +18. "Of Genius," in _The Occasional Paper_, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and +Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_ (1720). + + +Fourth Year (1949-1950) + +19. Susanna Centlivre's _The Busie Body_ (1709). + +20. Lewis Theobold's _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ (1734). + +21. _Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela_ +(1754). + +22. Samuel Johnson's _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749) and Two +_Rambler_ papers (1750). + +23. John Dryden's _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). + +24. Pierre Nicole's _An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from +Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting +Epigrams_, translated by J. V. Cunningham. + + +Fifth Year (1950-51) + +25. Thomas Baker's _The Fine Lady's Airs_ (1709). + +26. Charles Macklin's _The Man of the World_ (1792). + +27. Frances Reynolds' _An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, +and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, etc._ (1785). + +28. John Evelyn's _An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); and _A +Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661). + +29. Daniel Defoe's _A Vindication of the Press_ (1718). + +30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper's _Letters Concerning +Taste_, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong's _Miscellanies_ (1770). + + +Sixth Year (1951-1952) + +31. Thomas Gray's _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751); and +_The Eton College Manuscript_. + +32. Prefaces to Fiction; Georges de Scudéry's Preface to _Ibrahim_ +(1674), etc. + +33. Henry Gally's _A Critical Essay_ on Characteristic-Writings (1725). + +34. Thomas Tyers' A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1785). + +35. James Boswell, Andrew Erskine, and George Dempster. _Critical +Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira, Written by Mr. David Malloch_ +(1763). + +36. Joseph Harris's _The City Bride_ (1696). + +37. Thomas Morrison's _A Pindarick Ode on Painting_ (1767). + +38. John Phillips' _A Satyr Against Hypocrites_. + +39. Thomas Warton's _A History of English Poetry_. + + + + +William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California + +THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + + _General Editors_ + + H. Richard Archer + Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library + + R. C. Boys + University of Michigan + + Ralph Cohen + University of California, Los Angeles + + Vinton A. Dearing + University of California, Los Angeles + + _Corresponding Secretary_: Mrs. Edna C. Davis, Wm. Andrews Clark + Memorial Library + +The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually +facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century +works. The editorial policy of the Society remains unchanged. As in the +past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications. All +income of the Society is devoted to defraying cost of publication and +mailing. + +All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and +Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial +Library, 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California. +Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of +the general editors. The membership fee is $3.00 a year for subscribers +in the United States and Canada and 15/- for subscribers in Great Britain +and Europe. British and European subscribers should address B. H. +Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England. + + * * * * * + + Publications for the seventh year [1952-1953] + + (At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be + reprinted.) + +_Selections from the Tatler, the Spectator, the Guardian._ Introduction +by Donald F. Bond. + +Bernard Mandeville: _A Letter to Dion_ (1732). Introduction by Jacob +Viner. + +M. C. Sarbiewski: _The Odes of Casimire_ (1646). Introduction by +Maren-Sofie Roestvig. + +_An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding_ (1751). +Introduction by James A. Work. + +[Thomas Morrison]: _A Pindarick Ode on Painting_ (1767). Introduction by +Frederick W. Hilles. + +[John Phillips]: _Satyr Against Hypocrits_ (1655). Introduction by Leon +Howard. + +_Prefaces to Fiction._ Second series. Selected with an introduction by +Charles Davies. + +Thomas Warton: _A History of English Poetry: An Unpublished +Continuation._ Introduction by Rodney M. Baine. + +Publications for the first six years (with the exception of NOS. 1-6, +which are out of print) are available at the rate of $3.00 a year. +Prices for individual numbers may be obtained by writing to the Society. + + * * * * * + + THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + _WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY_ + + 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California + +Make check or money order payable to The Regents of the University of +California. + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes + +The main text dates from the 18th Century, when English spelling had not +yet been normalised. Only the following obvious typos have been amended: + +On title page of the main text, "THOUHGTS" amended to "THOUGHTS". + +P. 1, "&c, yet the" amended to "&c., yet the". + +P. 5, "2 Or the last ..." amended to "2. Or the last ..." + +Also on P. 5, "Dry'd" amended to "Dryd.", and a missing period added +after "Staff". + +P. 6, After "In like manner the following Verses" the period has been +amended to a comma. + +P. 16, comma added after "W'are". + +P. 20, "&cc," amended to "&c.," in "&c., are treble Rhymes". + +P. 23, after "Or of 8; as", a comma has been added. + +P. 33, "last" amended to "last." in "to the two last." + +P. 34, "descib'd" amended to "describ'd" in "be better describ'd". + +P. 36, "onr" amended to "our" in "most us'd in our Language". + + +In the Preface, the French phrase "consiste qu'en vn [typo for un?] +certain nombre de syllabes, & non pas en pieds composez [composés] de +syllabes" has been left unchanged. + +Also in the Preface, in the quote from Boileau, missing accents have not +been supplied in "Il doit regner par tout; & meme dans la Fable". + +On P. 13, "Bower" should match "Pow'r" a few lines further on. Not +amended as it is not clear whether "Bower" and "Bow'r" or "Power" and +"Pow'r" was intended. + +The one example of [oe], "Maren-Sofie Roestvig" on the final page, has +been changed to oe. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Art of English Poetry (1708), by Edward Bysshe + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ART OF ENGLISH POETRY (1708) *** + +***** This file should be named 35094-8.txt or 35094-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/0/9/35094/ + +Produced by Tor Martin Kristiansen, Margo Romberg, Joseph +Cooper and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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