976 
gruous mixture of the trivial and play- 
ful. } 
But, it will be faid, that in eftimating 
the value of rhyme, we ought not to 
confider the mere reiteration of fimilar 
founds, but obferve the effect of this re- 
petition, when combined, at regular in- 
tervals, with metrical numbers. Thus 
combined, rhyme is fuppofed to furnith 
an admirable expedient for conftruéting | 
harmonious verfes in languages whote 
metre is feanty and imperfect. Dr. John- 
fon vindicates the ufe of rhyme, in Eng- 
lith verfe, chiefly on this ground: ‘ the 
mufic (fays he) of the Englifh heroic 
line ftrikes the ear fo faintly, that it 1s 
eafily loft, unlefs all the fyllables of every 
line co-operate together : this co-opera- 
tion can only be obtained by the prefer- 
vation of every verfe unmingled with 
another, as a dittinét fyftem of founds : 
and this diftinétnefs 1s obtained and pre- 
ferved by the artifice of rhyme *.”’ 
In this argument, 1t is too confidently 
affumed, that the Enylith language 1s {fo 
defeétive in metrical power, as to ren- 
der the help of rhyme neceflary. If it 
be true, that Englith verfe is formed by 
accent, and not by quantity, it is at 
jeaft as eafy to afcertain which fyllables 
in a verfe are aceented.or unaccented, as 
which are long or fhozt.. If, from long 
habit, Englithmen have taught their ears 
to find no melody in Englith verfe, with- 
out the prevalence of that regular recur- 
rence of accented fyllahles, which an- 
fwers either to the iambic, the trochaic, 
or the anapziftic foot in ancient protody ; 
the difficulty of framing thefe, in verfes 
and ftanzas of a given form, cannot be 
greater than that of arranging words in 
all the vapaeties of feet and meafure, 
which the feveral kinds of Greek and 
Latin verfe require. Though Englith 
poeis have relied too much upon their ac- 
cuftomed auxiliary, to make many expe- 
riments in blank verfe ; we are not with- 
cut fuccefsful examples to prove, that 
the Englith language -is capable of me- 
trical melody without rhyme. What ear 
is not charmed with Collins’s Ode to 
Evening, or Mrs. Barbauld’s Ode to 
Spring ? 
If it be allowed, that rhyme is not a 
““neceflary help,” it muft, at the fame 
time, be admitted to be a grievous in- 
cumbrance. 
One obvious inconvenience attending 

* Life of Milton—fee, to the fame purpofe, 
Bp. Hurd’s Commentaries om Horace, vol. ii 
p- 156. Ed.a7. 
The Enquirer. 
No. XII. f Apri}, 
the ufe of rhyme, is, that it puts a trou- 
blefome reftraint upon the writer in the 
conftruétion of his periods. Each cou- 
plet being, by itfelf, an entire ftruéture 
of melody, it is naturally expeéted, that 
it fhould terminate with a paufe in the 
fenfe. In ftanzas where the rhyme is 
alternate, or mixed, it is’ commonly 
thought neceffary that the fenfe and the 
melody fhould be completed together. 
Where thefe rules are frequently violat- 
ed, the effeét of the rhyme and num- 
bers 1s impaired. The poet, in thus 
bringing every period to its proper di- 
mentions, is fometimes obliged to ftretch 
out a fentence beyond its proper length, 
but much more frequently to reftrain his 
ideas, and contraét his expreilions, that 
both may be brought within the exaét 
compaf{s of his meafure.. As Jord Kaims 
fays, ‘the fentence muft be curtailed 
and broken to pieces, to make it fquare 
with the curtnefs of rhyme.” In fome 
intiances, this may produce concifeneds 
and energy, and Pope has often been 
mentioned as a happy example of this 
elfect. But whatever real advantage is 
gained in this refpeét by rhyme, would 
be as well obtained in meafured ftanzas 
without it: and it is furely a fufficient 
check upon the flight of genius, to tie 
it down to the laws of verfe, without, 
at the fame time, loading it with the 
fhackles of rhyme. 
An_ objeétion, of ftill greater weight, 
againft the ufe of rhyme, arifes from the 
reftraint which it unavoidably lays upon 
the writer’s conceptions and expreffion. 
It cannot be fuppofed, that, of the words 
which are moft proper to exprefs the 
poet’s ideas, a fufficient number fhall 
have fimilar endinps; and that thefe 
very words fhall exaétly fall into that 
place which at once beft fuits the num- 
bers and grammatical conftruétion, and 
is the proper interval of the rhyme. In 
fome inftances, it muft happen, that of 
the proper words in a couplet, no two 
fhall be fo fortunate in their termination, 
as totally with each other. In other in- 
tances, though there fhould be two 
rhyming words within the required li- 
mit, it may not be poffible, without the 
moft aukward tran{pofition, or even with 
it, to bring thefe two words to a proper 
diftance from each other at the clofe of 
the lines. Whenever either of thefe 
cates happens, the poet, being deter- 
mined not to part with his rhymes, mutt 
give up his poetical idea, and thus make 
a jacrifice of fenfe to found. 
For the fame reafon that the rhyming 
poet 
