97 



iraus hunc terrarum orbem, et omnia ab eo contenta certa ratione quafi 

 metro difpofuit, rebusque tam celeftibus quam tcrrenis harmoniam quan- 

 dam indidit: fatis patet cum ipfms naturce primordiis cantum primo 

 exftitiffe." And juft after, with an exquilite knowledge of nature: 

 " Vidcraus omnes aves plurimura, multas totum annum exercere can- 

 tillando. Quod fi aptis illis inter fe, atque mutuo refponfu fouis xquan- 

 tibus incequalitatem fuam vis addatur orationis : quid aliud eft, quam 

 imago quKdam illarum proportionum, quas folis notx funt fapientibus ?"* 

 But that Echo is the foul of poetry, and rhlme her proper office, 

 we have Rucellai's own authority, in the very poem before us. Hear 

 what a poet he has made of Echo ! Not content with making her the 

 inventrefs of the rhlme, fhe muft be fomething more ; fhe muft be the 

 genius of the firfl haraiony, in the moment he is afferting the fuperiority 

 of blank-verfe. \ 



Vol. IX. N ^''gS' 



* Left the reader fiiould fuppofe that the author indulges an opinion two airy and 

 fanciful, he is requefted to read the greater part of the fourth book of Lucretius, Dc 

 Rerum Natura, where the principle oi In,ago is iUuftrated in the moft beautiful and phi- 

 lofophic manner. Particularly let him read the whole of the verfes, from line 529. 

 beginnin-. with " Principio auditur /onus," to line 598, inclufive ; Sound, he will there 

 find, to "receive a corporeal form, and the doflrine here laid down enforced on fuch 

 principles as Anti-Lucretius himfelf would not difipprove. 



Sex etiam, aut fepteni loca vidi reddere voces, 

 Unam cum jaceres : ita colles collibus ipfis 

 Verba repulfantes iterabant difla referre. 

 Hxc loca capripedes fatyros, nymphastjue tenere 



Finitimos fingunt ; 



Chordarumque fonos fieri ; dulceisque querelas, 

 Tibia quas fundit digitis pulfata canentum, 

 Fiftula fylveftrem ne ceffet fundere mufam. 

 ut omne 



Humanum genus eft avidum nimis auHcuIarum. 



Lucre!. Llh. 4- 



