When two syllables likewise are abscinded from the rest, they evidently want some associate sounds to make them harmonious. -Eyes -more wakeful than to drouze, Charm'd with Arcadian pipe, the past'ral reed He ended, and the sun gave signal high First in the east his glorious lamp was seen, His longitude through heav'n's high road; the gray Shedding sweet influence. The same defect is perceived in the following line, where the pause is at the second syllable from the beginning. The race Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard When the pause falls upon the third syllable or the seventh, the harmony is better preserved; but as the third and seventh are weak syllables, the period leaves the ear unsatisfied, and in expectation of the remaining part of the verse. -He, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulph, God,-with frequent intercourse, It may be, I think, established as a rule, that a pause which concludes a period should be made for the most part upon a strong syllable, as the fourth and sixth; but those pauses which only suspend the sense may be placed upon the weaker. Thus the rest in the third line of the first passage satisfies the ear better than in the fourth, and the close of the second quotation better than of the third. -The evil soon Drawn back, redounded (as a flood) on those What we by day Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind, The paths and bow'rs doubt not but our joint hands Will keep from wilderness with ease as wide As we need walk, till younger hands ere long The rest in the fifth place has the same inconvenience as in the seventh and third, that the syllable is weak, Beast now with beast 'gan war, and fowl with fowl, The noblest and most majestick pauses which our versification admits, are upon the fourth and sixth syllables, which are both strongly sounded in a pure and regular verse, and at either of which the line is so divided, that both members participate of harmony. But now at last the sacred influence Of light appears, and from the walls of heav'n A glimmering dawn: here nature first begins But far above all others, if I can give any credit to my own ear, is the rest upon the sixth syllable, which, taking in a complete compass of sound, such as is sufficient to constitute one of our lyrick measures, makes a full and solemn close. Some passages which conclude at this stop, I could never read without some strong emotions of delight or admiration. Before the hills appear'd, or fountain flow'd, Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles, He blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since, perhaps If the poetry of Milton be examined, with regard to the pauses and flow of his verses into each other, it will appear, that he has performed all that our language would admit; and the comparison of his numbers with those who have cultivated the same manner of writing, will show that he excelled as much in the lower as the higher parts of his art, and that his skill in harmony was not less than his invention or his learning. NUMB. 91. TUESDAY, January 29, 1751. Dulcis inexpertis cultura potentis amici, Expertus metuit. To court the great ones, and to sooth their pride, HOR. But those that have, know well that danger's near. CREECH. THE SCIENCES having long seen their votaries labouring for the benefit of mankind without reward, put up their petition to Jupiter for a more equitable distribution of riches and honours. Jupiter was moved at their complaints, and touched with the approaching miseries of men, whom the SCIENCES, wearied with perpetual ingratitude, were now threatening to forsake, and who would have been reduced by their departure to feed in dens upon the mast of trees, to hunt their prey in deserts, and to perish under the paws of animals stronger and fiercer than themselves. A synod of the celestials was therefore convened, in which it was resolved, that PATRONAGE should descend to the assistance of the SCIENCES. PATRONAGE was the daughter of ASTREA, by a mortal father, and had been educated in the school of TRUTH, by the Goddesses, whom she was now appointed to protect. She had from her mother that dignity of aspect, which struck terror into false merit, and from her mistress that reserve, which made her |