254 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



is agreeable to every subject. The ancients applied heroic 

 verse to encomium, elegy to complaint, iambic to invective, 

 and lyric to ode and hymn; and the same has been pru 

 dently observed by the modern poets, each in his own 

 language: only they deserve censure in this, that some of 

 them, through affectation of antiquity, have endeavored 

 to set the modern languages to ancient measure; as sap- 

 phic, elegiac, etc., which is both disagreeable to the ear, 

 and contrary to the structure of such languages. 14 And in 

 these cases, the judgment of the sense is to be preferred 

 to the precepts of art. As the poet says, 



&quot;Coense Ferculse nostrge 



Mallem convivis quam placuisse cocis.&quot; 15 



Nor is this an art, but the abuse of art, as it does not per 

 fect nature, but corrupt her. As to poetry, both with re 

 gard to its fable and its verse, it is like a luxuriant plant, 

 sprouting not from seed, but by the mere vigor of the soil; 

 whence it everywhere creeps up, and spreads itself so wide, 

 that it were endless to be solicitous about its defects. And 

 as to the accents of words, there is no necessity for taking 

 notice of so trivial a thing ; only it may be proper to inti 

 mate, that these are observed with great exactness, while 

 the accents of sentences are neglected; though it is nearly 

 common to all mankind to sink the voice at the end of a 

 period, to raise it in interrogation, and the like. 16 And so 

 much for that part of grammar which regards speaking. 



Writing is practiced either by means of the common al 

 phabet, now vulgarly received, or of a secret and private 

 one, agreed upon between particular persons, and called 

 by the name of cipher. But here a question arises about 

 the common orthography; viz., whether words should be 

 wrote as they are pronounced, or after the common manner? 



14 For some examples of this kind, see Southey s Epics. 



15 Martial, Epig. ix. 82. 



16 The stage having cultivated the accentuation of sentences more than the 

 school, the rules of the art might, perhaps, to advantage, be borrowed from 

 thence, in order to form an early habit of graceful speaking. Shaw. 



