_SIR,_
To reply to the Opinion that _Vossius_ has given in favour of _French_
Verse compared with _English_, I would observe in the first Place that
what the _French_ call Heroick Verse, is the very worst Sort of Verse
that can be contriv'd. If the Excellence of Verse consists chiefly in
varying the Pause, as I have shewn it does in the _Latin_, and could
do the same in the _Greek_ and other Languages; what must be thought
of that Sort of Versification in which the Pause is most strictly
preserv'd in the same Place in every Line, be it for 10 or 20 thousand
together, especially in Verses of 12 Syllables? Perhaps an
_Englishman_ may not be a very proper Person to make this Objection to
_French_ Verse: I will therefore produce the Opinion of several of
their own Writers.
_Ronsard_, in the Preface to his _Franciade_, owns that their
_Alexandrine_ Lines have too much prattle (_ils ont trop de caquet_)
and that it is a Fault in their Poetry that one Line does not run into
another, and therefore he wrote his _Franciade_ in Verses of ten
Syllables, and broke the Measure. The Author of the History of
_French_ Poetry confesses, that the constant Pause in their Lines
makes the Poetry tedious; and the judicious and learned Translator of
_Quintilian_ says directly, that it is owing to the continual Sameness
of Numbers that their Verse cannot please long. In reality, it is a
kind of Stanza, and ought to be so writ.
_Jeune & vaillant Heros
Dont la haute sagesse
N'est point le fruit tardif
D'une lente vieillesse._
Not to insist upon the _Prattle_ (as _Ronsard_ calls it) of these two
celebrated Lines; for what does _Vaillant_ add to _Heros_, or _haute_
to _sagesse_, and what is the Difference between _tardif_ and _lente_?
I say to let this pass, the eternal Repetition of the same Pause is
the Reverse of Harmony: Three Feet and three Feet for thousands of
Lines together, make exactly the same Musick as the ting, tong, tang
of the same Number of Bells in a Country-Church. We had this wretched
sort of Metre amongst us formerly, and _Chaucer_ is justly stil'd the
Father of _English_ Verse, because he was the first that ever wrote in
rhym'd Couplets of ten Syllables each Line. He found, by his Judgment,
and the Delicacy of his Ear, that Lines of eight Syllables, such as
_Gower_ his Cotemporary wrote in, were too short, and the twelve
Syllable-Lines too long. He pitch'd upon the other Sort just
mentioned, and that is now found, by the Experience of so many Ages,
to be the most majestick and most harmonious kind of Verse. Just the
same Obligation the _Romans_ had to _Ennius_: He first introduc'd the
Hexameter Line, and therefore is properly called the Father of their
Poetry; and it is judiciously said, that if they had never had
_Ennius_, perhaps they had never had _Virgil_. If the _French_ had
taken _Ronsard_'s Advice instead of following _Malherbe_, perhaps they
might, and indeed they certainly would have arriv'd at a better Art of
Versification than we see now amongst them: But they have miss'd their
Way; tho' had it happen'd otherwise, they could never have equall'd
the _English_ in Poetry, because their Language is not capable of it,
for two Reasons which I shall mention, and many others that I could
add to them.
_1st_, Their Words do not sound so fully as ours, of which these Nouns
are Examples, _God_, _Dieu_. _Man_, _L'Homme_. In both the _English_
Words every Letter is perceiv'd by the Ear. In the _French_ the first
Word is of a very confused Sound, and the latter dies away in the _e_
mute. So _Angels_, _Ange_. _Head_, _Tete_. And innumerable others. And
in Verbs, _to love_, _to hate_, _Aimer_, _Hayir_. In the _English_ the
Sound is clear and strong. In _French_ the last Letter is dropp'd, and
the Words don't dwell upon the Ear like the _English_.
_2d_, They have too many Particles: To shew how much more their Verse
is incumber'd by them than the _English_, I will give you an Example
from a Passage in _Milton_.
"So spoke, so wish'd much humbled _Eve_, but Fate
Subscrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprest
On Bird, Beast, Air; Air suddenly eclips'd
After short blush of Morn.--
Now to put this Passage into _French_ all the following Particles must
be added.
_Le_, _La_, _Des_, _Les_, _Les_, _Le_, _Le_, _Un_, _Du_. Of which
there is not one in the _English_: And what an Effect this would have
in Heroick Verse, you will easily judge.
Upon the whole, _Vossius_ was very little acquainted with _English_
Heroic Poetry. _Hudibras_ was the favourite Bard in his time, and
therefore he does us the Honour to say, the _English_ is extremely fit
for that sort of Poetry which the _Italians_ call _Sdruccioli_, that
is, Doggrel Verse.
Thus much for _Vossius_, and his _French_ and _English_ Poetry. I will
now shew you a very different Opinion of another learned Foreigner,
referr'd to more than once already, and I will give it you in his own
Words.
"_Sane in Epico Carminum genere_; Joh. Miltoni _insigne poema_, The
Paradise Lost, _Gallos omnes in epicis inseliciores longo post se
intervallo reliquit_.
Morhosius Polyhistor.
This judicious Critick gave the same Opinion of Mr. _Cowley_ above 50
Years ago, which Mr. _Pope_ has given of him lately in one of his
_Horatian_ Epistles.
"Abr. Cowley _seu Coulejus poemata scripsit_, &c. _Quæ ad genium
Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt: argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut
Epigrammaticum potius quod interdum scribat, quam planum carmen: Ac
præterea non ubique purus est: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum
Poetarum numeros implevisse sibi persuadeant._
Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactness of
our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I
think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very sensible, when he
says upon reading _Virgilium Dryd[)e]ni_, "That if the Original had
been no better than the Copy, _Augustus_ would have done well to have
committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth
perusing.
"_Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es!
Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras.
Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar,
Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret._
_Vid._ Fabric. Bib. Lat.
December 4. 1736,
_I am_, SIR, _&c._