either in verse or profe, all words of harsh found, difficult pronunciation, or unwieldy magnitude, are to be avoided as much as poffible, unless when they have in the found fomething peculiarly emphatical; and words are to be fo placed in respect of one another, as that difcordant combinations may not refult from their union. But in poetry this is more neceffary than in profe; poetical language being underflood to be an imitation of natural language improved to that perfection which is confiftent with probability. To poetry, therefore, a greater latitude must be allowed than to profe, in expreffing, by tropes and figures of pleafing found, thofe ideas whereof the proper names are in any refpect offenfive, either to the ear or to the fancy *.

II. How far verfification or regular measure may be effential to this art, has been difputed by critical writers; fome holding it to be indifpenfably neceffary, and fome not neceffary at all. Without recapitulating what has been faid by others, I fhall only deliver my own opinion, which, if I mistake not, will be found confiftent with the principles already established.

First, then, I am of opinion, that to poetry verfe is not effential. In a profe work, we may have the fable, the arrangement, and a great deal of the pathos, and language,

See part 2. chap. 1. fect. 3. § I. 1. 2.

of

7

of poetry; and fuch a work is certainly a poem, though perhaps not a perfect one. For how abfurd would it be to say, that by changing the position only of a word or two in each line, one might diveft Homer's Iliad of the poetical character! At this rate, the arts of poetry and verfification would be the fame; and the rules in Defpauter's Grammar, and the moral diftichs afcribed to Cato, would be as real poetry as any part of Virgil. In fact, fome very ancient poems, when tranflated into a modern tongue, are far lefs poetical in verse than in profe; the alterations neceffary to adapt them to our numbers being detrimental to their fublime fimplicity; of which any perfon of taste will be fenfible, who compares our common profe-version of Job, the Pfalms, and Song of Solomon, with the best metrical paraphrafe of those books that has yet appeared *. Nay,

* Madame Dacier, zealous to vindicate her Homer, feems to carry the encomium on profe-tranflation rather too far, when the exclaims, "Ouy, je ne crains "point de le dire, et je pourrois le prouver, les pöetes But the is

traduits en vers ceffent d'etre poetes."

right in what she fays a little after: "En fait de traduc"etion, il y a fouvent dans la profe une précision, une "beauté, et une force, dont la pöefie ne peut approcher. "Les livres des Prophetes, et les Pfeaumes, dans la "vulgate meme, font pleins de paffages, que le plus "grand pöete du monde ne fçauroit rendre en vers, "fans leur faire perdre de leur majefté, et de leur éner"gie."

Préface a l'Iliade de Mad. Dacier, p. 39.

in many cafes, Comedy will be more poetical, because more pleafing and natural, in profe, than in verfe. By verfifying Tom Jones and The Merry Wives of Windfor, we fhould fpoil the two finest Comic poems, the one Epic, the other Dramatical, now in the world.

But, fecondly, Though verfe be not effential to poetry, it is neceffary to the perfection of all poetry that admits of it. Verfe is to poetry, what colours are to painting *. A painter might display great genius, and draw mafterly figures with chalk or ink; but if he intend a perfect picture, he must employ in his work as many colours as are seen in the object he imitates. Or, to adopt a beautiful comparison of Demofthenes, quoted by Aristotle," Verfification is to poetry "what bloom is to the human counte

nance." A good face is agreeable when the bloom is gone; and good poetry may pleafe without verfification; harmonious numbers may fet off an indifferent poem, and a fine bloom indifferent features: but, without verfe, poetry is incomplete; and

*Horace feems to hint at the fame comparison, when, after fpecifying the feveral forts of verfe suitable to Epic, Elegiac, Lyric, and Dramatic Poetry, he adds,

Defcriptas fervare vices, operumque colores,

Cur ego, fi nequeo ignoroque, Pocta falutor?

† Ariftot. Rhetor. lib. 3. cap. 4.

I

Ar. Poet. verf. 86.

beauty

beauty is not perfect, unless to sweetness and regularity of feature there be fuperadded,

The bloom of young defire, and purple light of love.

If numbers are neceffary to the perfection of the higher poetry, they are no lefs fo to that of the lower kinds, to Paftoral, Song, and Satire, which have little befides the language and verfification to distinguish them from profe; and which some ancient authors are unwilling to admit to the rank of poems;

though I think it too nice a fcruple, both because fuch writings are commonly termed Poetical, and alfo because there is, even in them, fomething that may not improperly be confidered as an imitation of na

ture.

That the rhythm and measures of verse are naturally agreeable; and therefore, that by these poetry may be made more pleafing than it would be without them, is evident from this, that children and illiterate people, whofe admiration we cannot fuppofe to be the effect of habit or prejudice, are exceedingly delighted with them. In many proverbial fayings, where there is neither rhime nor alliteration*, rhythm is obviously studied. Nay, the use of rhythm in poetry is univer

* See Effay on Laughter, chap, 2. fect. 3.

VOL. II.

PP

fal;

fal; whereas alliteration and rhime, though relished by fome nations, are not much fought after by others. And we need not be at a lofs to account for the agreeableness of proportion and order, if we reflect, that they fuggeft the agreeable ideas of contrivance and fkill, at the fame time that they render the connection of things obvious to the understanding, and imprint it deeply on the memory*. Verse, by promoting diftinct and eafy remembrance, conveys ideas to the mind with energy, and enlivens every emotion the poet intends to raise in the reader or hearer. Befides, when we attend to verses, after hearing one or two, we become acquainted with the measure, which therefore we always look for in the fequel. This perpetual interchange of hope and gratification is a fource of delight; and to this in part is owing the pleafure we take in the rhimes of modern poetry. And hence we fee, that though an incorrect rhime, or untuneable verse, be in itself, and compared with an important fentiment, a very trifling matter; yet it is no trifle in regard to its effects on the hearer; because it brings dif appointment, and fo gives a temporary shock to the mind, and interrupts the current of the affections; and because it fuggefts the disagreeable ideas of negligence or want of

* On the effects of Rhythm in music, fee above, part 1. chap. 6. fect. 2. § 4.