We may, however, without giving way to enthusiasm, admit that fome beauties of this kind may be produced. A fudden stop at an unusual fyllable may image the ceffation of action, or the pause of discourse; and Milton has very happily imitated the repetitions of an echo: I fled, and cried out death: Hell trembled at the hideous name, and figh'd The measure of time in pronouncing may be varied fo as very strongly to reprefent, not only the modes of external motion, but the quick or flow fucceffion of ideas, and confequently the paffions of the mind. This at least was the power of the spondaick and dactylick harmony, but our lan- . guage can reach no eminent diverfities of found. We can indeed fometimes, by encumbering and retarding the line, fhew the difficulty of a progress made by strong efforts and with frequent interruptions, or mark a flow and heavy motion. Thus Milton has imaged the toil of Satan ftruggling through chaos; So he with difficulty and labour hard Mov'd on: with difficulty and labour he thus he has defcribed the leviathans or whales; Wallowing unwieldy, enormous in their gait. But he has at other times neglected fuch representations, as may be observed in the volubility and levity of these lines, which express an action tardy and reluctant, L3 Descent Defcent and fall To us is adverfe. Who but felt of late, In another place, he defcribes the gentle glide of ebbing waters in a line remarkably rough and halting; Tripping ebb; that stole With foft foot tow'rds the deep who now had stopp'd It is not, indeed, to be expected, that the found fhould always affift the meaning, but it ought never to counteract it; and therefore Milton has here certainly committed a fault like that of the player, who looked on the earth when he implored the heavens, and to the heavens when he addreffed the earth. Those who are determined to find in Milton an affemblage of all the excellencies which have ennobled all other poets, will perhaps be offended that I do not celebrate his verfification in higher terms; for there are readers who discover that in this paffage, So ftretch'd out huge in length the arch fiend lay, a long form is defcribed in a long line; but the truth is, that length of body is only mentioned in a flow line, to which it has only the resemblance of time to space, of an hour to a maypole, The fame turn of ingenuity might perform wonders upon the description of the ark : Then from the mountains hewing timber tall, Began to build a veffel of huge bulk; Meafur'd by cubit, length, and breadth, and height. In these lines the poet apparently defigns to fix the attention upon bulk but this is effected by the enumeration, not by the measure; for what analogy can there be between modulations of found, and corporeal dimenfions? Milton indeed feems only to have regarded this species of embellishment fo far as not to reject it when it came unfought; which would often happen to a mind fo vigorous, employed upon a fubject fo He had, indeed, a greater various and extensive. and a nobler work to perform; a fingle fentiment of moral or religious truth, a fingle image of life or nature, would have been cheaply loft for a thousand echoes of the cadence to the sense; and he who had undertaken to vindicate the ways of God to man, might have been accused of neglecting his caufe, had he lavished much of his attention upon fyllables and founds, NUMB. 95. TUESDAY, February 12, 1751, A fugitive from heav'n and prayer, Deep fcienc'd in the mazy lore Hoift fail, and back by voyage plow To that bleft harbour, which I left before. SIR, To the RAMBLER. HOR FRANCIS, THERE are many diseases both of the body and mind, which it is far easier to prevent than to cure, and therefore I hope you will think me employed in an office not useless either to learning or virtue, if I defcribe the fymptoms of an intellectual malady, which, though at firft it feizes only the paffions, will, if not speedily remedied, infect the reason, and, from blasting the bloffoms of knowledge, proceed in time to canker the root. I was born in the house of difcord. My parents were of unfuitable ages, contrary tempers, and different religions, and therefore employed the fpirit and acutenefs which nature had very liberally beftowed upon both, in hourly disputes, and inceffant contriv contrivances to detect each other in the wrong; fo that from the first exertions of reafon I was bred a difputant, trained up in all the arts of domeftick fophistry, initiated in a thousand low stratagems, nimble shifts, and fly concealments; verfed in all the turns of altercation, and acquainted with the whole difcipline of fending and proving. It was neceffarily my care to preferve the kindness of both the controvertifts, and therefore I had very early formed the habit of fufpending my judgment, of hearing arguments with indifference, inclining as occafion required to either fide, and of holding myself undetermined between them till I knew for what opinion I might conveniently declare. Thus, Sir, I acquired very early the skill of dif putation; and, as we naturally love the arts in which we believe ourselves to excel, I did not let my abilities lie useless, nor fuffer my dexterity to be loft for want of practice. I engaged in perpetual wrangles with my fchool-fellows, and was never to be convinced or repreffed by any other arguments than blows, by which my antagonists commonly determined the controverfy, as I was, like the Roman orator, much more eminent for eloquence than courage. At the university I found my predominant ambition completely gratified by the study of logick. I impreffed upon my memory a thoufand axioms, and ten thousand distinctions, practifed every form of fyllogism, paffed all my days in the fchools of difputation, and slept every night with Smiglecius *, on my pillow. * A Polish writer, whofe "Logick" was formerly held in great eftimation in this country, as well as on the continent. C. You |