1601.} 



Improved Beer-Fent. 



i 



forts of M?.rot arul Ronfaid, to its acknow. 

 ledged perfedlion in the woi ks of Racine 

 and Boi eau, in (lie lame manner as our 

 Own has been improved fiom the tinries of 

 Chaucer to what it is in the prefent day ; 

 if all thefe piefumpti«ns of excellence 

 concur, would it not be fairer to fay, 'hat 

 We do not relifli their verfification becaufe 

 we do not underltand it, than to fupp 'fe, 

 that whit a whole nation highly values 

 has no nieiit. I know very welU that 

 Icarcclv any Englishman does relifli French 

 veriification ; but I know alfo, that, to 

 entrf iii'o the beauties of a foreign lan- 

 guage, and jaiticuiarly the rythm, re- 

 quires to have been familiar with it almtH 

 irom infancy, not onlv as fubmi;tcd to 

 the eve in books, but to the ear in actual 

 recitation. I would put an Engli)hinan 

 to this teft. Laying afide all opinion of 

 the beauty, does he appreciate the diffe- 

 rence of the veif.ficati'jn of Racine, of 

 Boileau, (.if Do L' !e, as readily and com- 

 plettiy as tiie Fitnch t hemic:'. ves do ? If 

 he does not, it is plain there is a fome- 

 thing which he dues not enter into, and 

 in that ibnething probably confiits the 

 char-u, But wliat 1 chitfly have to re- 

 niaik upon, is the afi'erli.in in the no:e, 

 that the French mcajure is anapajfic— 

 Your readers. Sir, know, if they know 

 any thmg oi the matter, that Latin veife 

 ccnfilts of feet, regulated according to 

 quantity, and that an anapajl is made up 

 of two ftirrt fyliables and a long one, 

 which long fyllable is pronounced in the 

 fame time with the other two, and that the 

 number of fyliables in a lin; ot mixt feet 

 may vary provided the fame qumiity is 

 pr:ferved. They alfo know, that in our 

 language we have no proper quantity, and 

 that therefore the ide» of feet, when trans- 

 ferred to Englifh verfe, is not pcrfecfly 

 accurate. We have, however, accent, 

 which in feme mealure jnltifies the appli- 

 cation of the term, as it enables us to 

 produce a varied harmony, by dwelling on 

 ibme fyliables and Aiding over others ; 

 producing nearly the fame effe£l with the 

 fixed quantity of the Latins and Greeks, 

 though not fo entu'ely as to allow us to de- 

 jiart from the number ot fyliables rtqnired 

 in eath line. Thus the line quoted by 

 the author may be ficanned fo as, without 

 much impropriety, to be termed ana- 

 paiftiC ; 



i'lfr a cZblcr thire wJt | andh! Iiv2d"in a fail* 



• I have fupplicd the word for to make 

 »hc iirft foot coinpltat. 



But what analogy can there be between 

 this and theFrcir h verfification, fince it is 

 well known the Fiench h :ve no accent? 

 The greateft difficulty whirh an Enshlh- 

 man meets wi h in (peak ng French — a 

 difficulty mo e than ail tne ^eadcr^ and 

 all the rules of ^ramrani, is o get rid of 

 his .iccent. If lie imigwies ti"»e verfts of 

 Ricne are to be r-aJ m h. Im^ gallop* 

 ing iTit-afure with the tiiity of the cobler^ 

 hecaul'e they confift of she f>iiic number 

 of fylhbles, he knows noihing ^f Frencli 

 pronunciation. The argument lies in a 

 ih rt compifs : neitErr the Englifh nor 

 French Unguagej have proper quantity. 

 The only way by which we can have a 

 liiii compofed of the anapoeft, or any 

 other foot, is by means of accent. The 

 French have no accent ; confequently 

 their verfe is not anapjsftic. If, not- 

 withftinciihg, any perfon poifeiTrs an ?ar 

 fo very Engiifh as to find it amufing to 

 puriiie ihis fancied refemblance between 

 the Burrhus of Racine, the Cid of Cor- 

 ncille, Szc. and the af iieiaid Cobler, I can 

 only i:«y, that, as far as the verfe is con- 

 cerned, it is the. only amufement he is 

 likely to derive from rhem. I have only 

 to add, that I /hould not have noticed 3 

 remaik thrown out in a book wiitten for 

 a very difFerent purpofe, but ti.at I be- 

 lieve the miftake to be a common one j 

 and I would juft hint, that the merit of 

 the French poets, and of all their o.her 

 authors, is exadtly the fame whether we 

 happen to be at war or at peace with the 

 nation. Y. Z. 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine- 



SIR, 



THE fpirit and flavour of malt-llquor 

 lb nulerinlly depending on ils being 

 kept air-tight in the calJ:, it is no wonder 

 that the ingenuity of workmen has been 

 employed in contriving various kinds of 

 hients, to obviate the inconveniencies of 

 the wooden fpile. I have tried all the dif- 

 ferent kinds that I could procure, but 

 found them every one li.ible to objcflion. 

 To remedy their detefts, I offer the fol- 

 fowing idea ot a 'vent on a ncnju conflruc- 

 tion, which I hope to fee foon reduced to 

 prafllce by fome one or other ot the Bir- 

 mingham manufacturers — viz. a fmall 

 cock, exailly en the fame piinciple as a 

 common wine or Ipirit cock, differing 

 only in fize, and in haying (like the pr-- 

 fent brafs vents) a fcrew on theendwhicll 

 is to enter the vent-hole of thec-ifk. The 

 curved nozzle not being Dtcelfrtry, the 



pipe 



