XVI 



NEW LETTERS. 



business of versification : but as you have fully answered that 

 intent by your late excellent lines ; you must for the future ex- 

 cuse my replying in the same way, and make some allowance 

 for the difference of our ages. 



However, when at any time you find y r muse propitious, I 

 shall always rejoice to see a copy of y r performance ; and shall 

 be ready to commend ; and what is more rare, yet more sincere, 

 even to object and criticize where there is occasion. 



A little turn for English poetry is no doubt a pretty accom- 

 plishment for a young Gent : and will uot only enable him the 

 better to read and relish our best poets ; but will, like dancing 

 to the body, have an happy influence even on his prose compo- 

 sitions. Our best poets have been our best prose-writers : of 

 this assertion Dryden and Pope are notorious instances. It 

 would be in vain to think of saying much here on the art of 

 versification : instead of the narrow limits of a letter such a 

 subject would require a large volume. However, I may say in 

 few words, that the way to excell is to copy only from our best 

 writers. The great grace of poetry consists in a perpetual 

 variation of y' cadences : if possible no two lines following 

 ought to have their pause at the same foot. Another beauty 

 should not be passed over, and that is the use of throwing the 

 sense and pause into the third line, which adds a dignity and 

 freedom to y r expressions. Dryden introduced this practice, 

 and carryed it to great perfection : but his successor J'ope, by 

 his over exactness, corrected away that noble liberty, and almost 

 reduced every sentence within the narrow bounds of a couplet. 

 Alliteration, or the art of introducing words beginning with the 

 same letter in the same or following line, has also a fine effect 

 when managed with discretion. Dryden and 1'ope practised tli is 

 art with wonderful success. As, for example, where you say " The 

 polish'd beetle," . . the epithet " burnish'd " would be better 

 for the reason above. But then you must avoid affectation in 

 this case, and let the alliteration slide-in as it were without design : 

 and this secret will make your lines appear bold and nervous. 



There are also in poetry allusions, similes, and a thousand 

 nameless graces, the efficacy of which nothing can make you 

 sensible of but the careful reading of our best poets, and a nice 



