who have been ftudious of this beauty. They are Parnelle, Pitt in his Translations from Vida, Weft in his Pindar, Thomfon in the Castle of Indolence, and the author of an elegant Ode To SUMMER, published in a Miscellany entitled the UNION *. 24. A needlefs Alexandrine ends the fong t. DRYDEN was the firft who introduced the frequent use of this measure into our English heroic, for we do not ever find it even in the longer works of Sandys, nor in Waller. Dryden has often used it very happily, and it gives a complete harmony to many of his triplets. By fcrupulously avoiding it, POPE has fallen into an unpleafing and tiresome monotony in his Iliad. 25. And praise the easy vigour of a line, Where Denham's ftrength and Waller's sweetness joint. FENTON, in his entertaining obfervations on Waller, has given us a curious anecdote concerning the great induftry and exactnefs * Edinburgh, 1753, 12mo. p. 81. + Ver. 356. Ver. 366. very with which Waller polished even his smallest compofitions. "When the court was at Windfor, these verses * were writ in the Taffo of her Royal Highness, at Mr. Waller's request, by the late Duke of Buckinghamshire; and I well remember to have heard his Grace fay, that the author employed the GREATEST PART OF A SUMMER, in compofing, and correcting them. So that however he is generally reputed the parent of those swarms of infect wits, who affect to be thought easy writers, it is evident that he bestowed much time and care on his poems, before he ventured them out of his hands +." 26. True ease in writing comes from art not chance, As thofe move easiest who have learn'd to dance §. It is well known, that the writings of Voiture, of Saraffin, and Fontaine, coft them. much pains, and were laboured into that facility for which they are fo famous, with re Only ten in number. + Fenton's Waller, edit. 12mo. OBSERVATIONS, pag. 148. Ver. 362. peated rafures. Mo peated alterations, and many rafures. liere is reported to have past whole days in fixing upon a proper epithet or rhyme, altho' his verses have all the flow and freedom of converfation. This happy facility, faid a man of wit, may be compared to garden-terraces; the expence of which does not appear: and which, after the coft of feveral millions, yet feem to be a mere work of chance and nature. I have been informed, that Addison was fo extremely nice in polishing his profe compofitions, that, when almoft a whole impreffion of a Spectator was worked off, he would stop the prefs, to infert a new prepofition or conjunction. 27. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, • Ver. 367. THESE THESE lines are usually cited as fine examples of adapting the found to the fenfe. But that POPE has failed in this endeavour, has been lately demonftrated by the RAMBLER. "The verfe intended to represent the whisper of the vernal breeze must surely be confeffed not much to excel in foftness or volubility; and the smooth stream runs with a perpetual clash of jarring confonants. The noise and turbulence of the torrent, is indeed, diftinctly imaged; for it requires very little fkill to make our language rough. But in the lines which mention the effort of Ajax, there is no particular heaviness or delay. The fwiftnefs of Camilla is rather contrasted than exemplified. Why the verfe should be lengthened to express speed, will not easily be discovered. In the dactyls, used for that purpose by the ancients, two short fyllables were pronounced with fuch rapidity, as to be equal only to one long; they therefore naturally exhibit the act of paffing through a long space in a fhort time. But the Alexandrine, by its pause in the midft, is a tardy and and stately measure; and the word unbending, one of the most sluggish and slow which our language affords, cannot much accelerate its motion *” 28. Be thou the first true merit to befriend, His praise is loft, who stays till all commend †. WHEN Thomson published his WINTER, it lay a long time neglected, 'till Mr. Spenfe made honourable mention of it in his Effay on the Odyffey; which becoming a popular book, made the poem univerfally known. Thomson always acknowledged the use of this recommendation; and from this circumstance, an intimacy commenced between the critic and the poet, which lafted 'till the lamented death of the latter, who was of a most amiable and benevolent temper. 29. And fuch as Chaucer is fhall Dryden bet. WALLER has an elegant copy of verses on the mutability of the English tongue, which bears a strong resemblance to this paffage of POPE. *No. 92. + Ver. 474. 1 Ver. 483. Poets |