And

"_Sing_ Heav'nly Muse! that on the _Secret_ Top.

And a little lower,

"That _Shepherd_ who first taught the chosen _Seed_.

But I will produce an Example or two of this kind out of our Author's

juvenile Poems. His Verses upon the Circumcision are addressed to the

Angels that appear'd to the Shepherds, and begin thus,

"Ye flaming Pow'rs, and _winged Warriors_ bright,

That erst with Musick and triumphant Song

Through the _soft Silence_ of the listning Night

_So sweetly sung_ your Joy the Clouds along.

All the Masters of Verse from _Chaucer_ to _Milton_, and from _Milton_

to this time, were sensible of this Art. _Dryden_ attends to it more

than any thing else.

"_Beneath_ the Shade which _Beechen Boughs_ diffuse,

_You Tityrus_ entertain _your_ Sylvan Muse:

_Round_ the _wide World_ in Banishment _we roam_,

_Forc'd from_ our pleasing _Fields_ and native Home.

Again,

_Arms and_ the Man I sing, who _forc'd_ by _Fate_

And _haughty_ Juno's unrelenting _Hate_,

_Expell'd_ and _Exil'd_, left the _Trojan_ Shore:

_Long Labours_, both by Sea and _Land_ he bore.

Mr. _Pope_ begins his Poems with this Delicacy.

"_First_ in these _Fields_ I try the _Sylvan Strains_,

Nor _blush_ to sport on _Windsor's blissful_ Plains.

_Fair_ Thames _flow_ gently _from_ thy _Sacred Spring_,

While on thy Banks _Sicilian_ Muses _Sing_;

Let Vernal Airs _thro' tre_mbling Osiers play,

And _Albion_'s Cliffs _resound_ the _rural_ Lay.

You, that too wise for _Pride_, too good for _Pow'r_

Enjoy the _Glory_ to be _great_ no more.

Mr. _Pitt_ has the following Lines in his 2d _Æneid_.

"So when an _aged Ash_, whose Honours rise

From some _steep_ Mountain tow'ring to the _Skies_,

With many _an Axe_ by _shouting Swains_ is ply'd,

_Fierce_ they repeat the _Strokes from_ every _Side_;

_The tall Tree trembling_, as the Blows go round,

Bows the _high Head_, and nods to every Wound.

Sir _Philip Sidney_, who was very unhappy in Versification, seems to

have despised this Beauty in Verse, and even to have thought it an

Excellence to fix the Pause always in one Place, namely at the End of

the second Foot: So that he must have had no more Ear for Poetry than

Mr. _Cowley_. Not but that I am apt to think some Writers in Sir

_Philip Sidney_'s time carried this matter to a ridiculous Extreme.

Others thought this Beauty a Deformity, and concluded it so from two

or three silly _Latin_ Lines of _Ennius_ and _Tully,_ such as,

_O Tite, Tute, Tati_, &c.

And,

_O Fortunatam, natam_, &c.

without ever attending to _Virgil_ in the least.

_Spencer_ every where abounds in all his Works with _Alliterations_; I

will produce but one, which is exceeding beautiful.

"The _Lilly, Lady_ of the _Flow'ry Field_.

Here is a double initial Alliteration, and a continual mix'd

Alliteration of the liquid _L_, which makes the Verse so very musical

that there are few such Lines in our, or any other Language.

_Fairfax_, who was one of the first curious Versifyers amongst us,

embellishes his Lines continually with this Ornament.

In his Description of a Troop of fighting Monks, in his first Book of

his Translation of _Tasso_, are these Lines.

"Their jolly Notes, they _Chanted_ loud and _Clear_:

And _horrid Helms high_ on their _Heads_ they bear.

Than which Verses nothing can be more truly poetical.

But to go farther back than either _Fairfax_ or _Spencer_, those

celebrated Lines in our antient Translation of the _Psalms_ owe their

greatest Beauty to their _Alliteration_.

"The Lord descended from above,

And bow'd the _Heavens high_,

And underneath his Feet he cast

The Darkness of the Sky.

"On _Cherubs_ and on _Cherubims_

Full _royally_ he _rode_,

And on the _Wings_ of mighty _Winds_

Came flying _all abroad_.

A Line of _Chaucer_'s just now offers itself to my Memory, which has

almost all the Arts of Poetry in it.

"A _Sheffield_ Whittle bare _he_ in _his Hose_.

There is a fine Alliteration in the Conclusion of the Line, Bare _he_

in _his Hose_, and a mix'd one at the Beginning of it. The _h_ in the

first Syllables of the second and third Words mixes the Sound very

agreeably; and lastly, the Inversion of the Phrase (where the

Nominative is put immediately after the Verb) is extremely poetical.

_Bare he._ _Chaucer_ seems (to me) by the help of a delicate Ear, and

a curious Judgment, to have learnt all his Graces from _Virgil_. 1.

His Rhyme. 2. His Inversion of the Phrase: And 3. His Alliteratio. The

Varying of the Pause he does not seem to have attended to. But to

return to _Milton_.

Having spoken sufficiently of the _Initial_, I come now to the _mix'd

Alliteration_. And this latter is almost as common as the former, and

is to be found in all such Lines as these.

"--And now is come

Into the _blissful Field_.--

Every Ear must perceive how the _f_ and the _l_ are mingled in the two

last Words.

Again,

"--Th[r=]o' G[r=]oves of My[rr=]h.--

Here the rough _r_ predominates as much as the soft _l_ did in the

first Part of the Verse.

Again,

"And _Flow'r_y O_dours_.--

Here the _Allusio Verborum_ is introduc'd. _Flow'r_ at the Beginning

of the first Word, and _Dour_ at the End of the second, make a most

agreeable Harmony. The Line concludes with what may be call'd the

_Assultus_, or the Attack upon the Ear.

"--_C[=a]ssi[=a], N[=a]rd [=a]nd B[=a]lm._--

These five _A_'s in four Words at the End of the Line must make

themselves perceiv'd if Words can do it. 'Tis of the same kind as

_Virgil_'s,

"--_Tumid[=a] æquor[=a] pl[=a]c[=a]t._

But it may be proper to add another Instance or two of the _Allusio

Verborum_.

"So talk'd the _spirited sly Snake_, and _Eve_

Yet more amaz'd.--

Again,

"When from the _Boughs_ a savoury Odour _blown_.

Again,

"Immediately the Mountains huge appear

Emergent, and their _broad bare Backs_ upheave

Into the Clouds.--

Again,

"--Scarce from his Mould

_Behemoth, biggest born_ of Earth, upheav'd

His Vastness.--

Spirited sly Snake.--Boughs blown.--Broad bare Backs.--_Behemoth_

biggest born.

All these Passages are in the same Stile of Sound as _Virgil_'s--

_Metuens_, _Molem_, _Montis_.

"_Hoc metuens, molemque & montis insuper altos

Imposuit._--

Observe how the _molemque_ & _montis_ labour in the Verse exactly in

the same manner as

Broad, bare Backs, and _Behemoth_ biggest born.

But here let me give you a few more Instances of the _Allusio

Verborum_, or the mixing of Sounds of Words in rhym'd Verse.

"As o'er th'Aerial _Alps_ sublimely spread

Some aged Oak uprears his reverend Head.

_Pit_'s Æneid.

A Gentleman justly esteemed for his great Learning and excellent Skill

in Criticism, but not of so delicate an Ear as Mr. _Pit_, would have

had him writ, _As on th'Aerial Alps_.

But then the Verse would have wanted much of its Harmony, because

_O'er_ mingles in Sound with _A'er_ which _On_ does not; and the same

thing would have happen'd in the next Line, if it had stood thus--

_Some aged Oak uplifts his mighty Head_.--Because _uplifts_ and

_mighty_ have no Resemblance in Sound to each other, or to _Aged_ and

_Head_; but as the Line stands,

"Some aged Oak uprears his Reverend Head,

the Words all melt into one another, and the Musick dies along the

Verse from the Beginning to the End. This is the greatest Delicacy of

Poetry, neither are the other Graces wanting in this Verse. The Pause

is properly varied, the first Line is entirely suspended. There is in

it a double Alliteration, _Aerial Alps, sublimely spread_: And to

conclude all, the Rhyme is as perfect as possible.

Octob. 11. 1736.

_I am_, SIR, _&c._

* * * * *

_P.S._

In looking over this Letter I observe a Passage in _Milton_, which

merits a very particular Consideration, and which I ought to have

taken notice of before, when I was speaking of the Collocation of

Words; the Passage I mean is, _For since I first_, &c. The entire

Passage runs thus,

"_Eve, easily_ may Faith admit that all

The Good which we enjoy, from Heav'n descends;

_But_, that from _us_ ought should ascend to Heav'n

So prevalent as to concern the Mind

Of God high-blest, or to incline his Will,

Hard to belief may seem; _yet_ this will Prayer,

Or one short Sigh of human Breath, up born

Ev'n to the Seat of God. For since I sought

By Pray'r th' offended Deity to appease;

_Kneel'd_ and before him humbled all my Heart,

Methought I saw him placable and mild,

Bending his Ear, _&c._

How extremely fine is the Poetry of this Passage? How soft is the

beginning, occasion'd by the Assonance of the two first Words, _Eve_,

_Easily_, and of the five next all alliterated with the same Vowel,

_A_

"--_May Faith admit that all._