27h 
and confonant 
of tafte >—or, 
to the genuine principles 
whether the pleature de- 
rived from it, be not the mere effect of 
arbitrary aflociation ?—whether 2 if the 
origin, natNre, and eie€ts, of this prac- 
tice be fairly examimed, it will nor be 
found, that rhyme, inficad of being an 
ernament, ts a defeét, in verfe? 
If we were inclined to refer the guef- 
tion to the decifion of authority, fuch an 
appeal would be ineffectual, Againft the 
oracular decifion of Dr. Johnfon, though. 
fupported by the voice. of other czi- 
tics of no mean name, ic might be fuf- 
ficient to caft into the oppofite fcale the 
weighty judgment of Muton, who has 
‘ faid, that ‘‘* rhyme is no neceflary ad- 
juné, or true ornament, of poem or 
good verfe ; but the invention of a bar- 
barous age, to. fet off wretched matter 
and lame metre, graced, indeed, fince, 
by the ufe of fome famous Pe poets, 
carried away by cufiom, but much to their 
Own vexation, eee and conftraint, 
to exprefs many things otherwife, and. - 
for the moft part w orle, than they would 
have exprefled them.’ If the fuccefs 
of ee modern poets, in rhyme, be 
urged as a proof, in faét, of the excel- 
lence of this node of verfifying, it. will 
remain to be afked, Woes the fame 
gen s, and the fame tafte, pula 
without © the troublefome bondage of 
inane might not have produced per- 
formances of fill higher merit. If a 
f 
numerous ee of ae aes ees ud 
fines of chair app Podanon, “bs writing, 
for the He part, in rhyme, it: fhould 
be recolle€ted, that feveral of the more 
eminent a our Englifh- peets have 
exprefled their refilefine{s 
grievous yoke. Dryden, of whom John- 
fon has. {aid, perna 2DS with exaggerated 
praife, that “to him-we owe the im- 
provement, perhaps, the completion, of 
our metre,” calls rhyme 
s¢ At beft; a pleafing found, and fair barbarity.”” 
Rofcommon confeffes, shat rlyme is 
the cauie of many faults; and that, 
“ Too fri& to rhyme, we flight more ufeful 
laws.”" 
Prior, in fober profe, complains, that 
rhyme ‘* is too confined ; ;” and that, “ir 
cuts off the fenfe at theend of every firtt 
line, which mu& always rhyme to the 
next following, and coné ‘equently pro- 
duces too frequ cently 2 an identity in found, 
and brings SSC cone ta"the point of 
an epigram:’’—“ He that writes. im 
rhymes,” fays this fkilful srhymer, 
Lhe Enquirer, No. XII. 
[Apzi, 
‘“‘ dances in fetters.” The ingenious 
author of Phedra and Hippolytus la- 
ments that < Syranedg rhyme ties the 
poet in needlefs bends.”’ 
*¢ Procruftes like, the axe or wheel applies, 
To lop the mangl’d fenfe, or firetch it inte 
izes ; 
At betta crutch, that lifts the weak alohg, 
Support s the feeble, but retards the ftrong ; 
And the*chance thoughts, when eeyern'd by 
the cloie, 
Oft rife to fiftian, or defcend to prefe.?” 
Even the witty Butler, who has, per- 
haps, ufed rhyme to better purpofe than 
any other poet, has employed his playful 
fancy i Im ridiculing it; and kas acknow- 
ledged, that in rhyming couplets, one 
verie is made for the other; and that 
“sé Rhyme the rudder is of verfes, 
With which, like thips, they fteer their courfes.** 
If the merit of rhyme be eftimated by 
its parentage, little can be fatd in its fo— 
vour. It can boaft no alliance with thofe 
great mafters of fine writing, the Greeks 
and Romans. Homer and “Virgil knew 
nothing of rhyme ; and had they known 
it, there can be little doubt that the ey 
would have defpifed it. If modern re- 
fearch has difcovered forte tracés of this 
ingenious device in the Eaftern nations, 
it 1s certain, that with refpeét to‘us, the 
ee has originated from bards, or 
monks. Among the latter, the idle hours 
of monaftic life, were often worn away 
in writing wretched Latin rhymes, in 
honour of Chritt, the Virgin Mary, or 
fome oe -created famt. About the 
time that we find ean acroftic, with the 
name Fe/us at each end of the lines, we 
we ‘meet with the following tender 
rhy Hics. +... 
Sc Fefus decus angelicutty 
In aure dulce canti win, 
iit ore mel miricifieum, 
rde ne&ar Ceclicum ? 
Duoe yates loco fuero, : 
vi 
um Fefum defidero, 
vam letus cum invenero ! 
am felix x cum tenuera!” 
7 
i?2 C2 
eek 
‘ jetes, my glory, name angelic} 
Tis in the ear, the fweeteft mufic 3 
*Yis in the mouth, honey delicious ; 
*Tis in the heart, ae is moft precious ; : 
Whatever piace to me fhall be given, 
Jefus itill with me, ’t will be my heayen : 
Rapt in delight, wherever I find him, 
Whi.e in my arms I joyfully bind him.: 
he .reft muff not be copied. This 
kind of. rhymes continued to be the 

* Fabricli Poet. Vet. Eccl. Bafil. 
aimufement 
1562. 
