x16 
Sudicious change and management of 
. thefe depends the variety of Englifh ver- 
fifieation.”” ; 
, The paufe may extend to other fylla- 
bles 3a regard to variety feems frequently 
to require it, and it may be laid down as 
a general rule. in rhyme, that vat the ter- 
miudation of EVEFY line, there 1s a paute. 
it is {carcely neceflary to add, that a 
paufe is a diiferent thing from a ftop. 
In a-former letter I {poke of Mr. Pope, 
as the beft fandard of rhyme-: and this 
is ungqueftionasly true with refpect to 
fuavity, richnefs, and ftrength. But 
whether it proceeded from his want of 
tafle for mufic I will not fay, he is cer- 
tainly very often extremely monotonous 5 
his profefled imitators are fill more fo: 
and this is true net only of Pope’s juve- 
nile works, but of thofe which exhibit the 
vigour of his manhood, and ali the 
firength of fentiment, particularly his 
“<< Efjcy on Man.” Example, | 
All are but parts of one ftupendous whole, 
Whofe body nature is, | and God the foul ; 
That chang’d thro’ all | and yet through ail 
the fame, : 
Great in the earth } as in the etherial frame; 
Warms in the fun, | refrefhes inthe breeze, 
Glows in the ftars, | and bloffoms in the trees, 
Lives through all life, extends through all 
extent, 
Spreads undivided, | operates unfpent. 
‘The mechanifm of this fpecies of verfe, 
in reg rdto the paufe, confifts in the va- 
rying of its place; and generally {peak- 
ing, it fhould not be made at the fame 
f{yliable above two lires, or at moft three, 
together. Connected with an obferva- 
tion already made is another, viz. 
That the clofing rhyme of the couplet 
fhould be attended with. a paufe in the 
couplet in the fenfe, fo as not to run-on 
to the following verfe: Ex. in the cou- 
piet already quoted from Denham: 
Sure there are poets who did never dream 
Upon Parnaflus, or did tafte the fiream 
Of H-licon. : 
This feems wrong; Pope rarely takes 
this liberty; Dryden, though a grect 
matter of Englifh verfiication, frequent- 
‘ly; Darwin, who hes fadied this {pecies 
ci-werfe with great nicety, never. 
‘This leads to another obfervation, that 
regards triplets. Rhyme, by diofe who 
oppoie it, is calied jingling: without 
enquiring into the juitice of their dijap- 
probation, or the origin of rhymes, it 
may with truth be jaid, that triplets of- 
fend a chafle ear, and generally. betray 
negligence, and want of invention in 
the writer. Dryden, indeed, ufes them 
perpetually ; but though a great poet, he 
Was frequently negligent and hafty, writ- 
‘Mr. Dyer on Englifh Verfification. 
ing from the {pur of the moment, fame ~ 
pede ia uno. Pope ufes them occafionally 
in his imitations and. tranflations, but 
very fparingly in original poems +. there 
is not a fingle triplet in his “¢ Rape of the 
Lock,” or “ Lhe Dunciad:* Dr. Darwit 
alfo never ufes triplets. * | 
It is {carcely neceflary to add, that by 
triplets are meant three lines fucceflively 
rhyming. In odes, where different 
rhymes intervene, three rhyming ‘lines 
may with great propriety be admitted im : 
the fame ftanza; and the movements are 
very lively: as ina tranflation of a Spa- 
nifh ode by a fine modern poet, Mr. 
Southey *, 
Rodrigo, from the world apart 
Retir’d where Tagus flows, Pvt 1 
Clafp’d the fair Caba to his heart, - 
When lo! the Spirit of the ftreamarofe, 
And pour’d the prophet feng of Spain’s im= 
pending woes. 
- The above ftanza clofes with-an Alex-., 
andrine, and affords an example of the 
place moft proper for its imtrodnétion, ¥ 
viz. at the clofeof a ftanza.’ There are 
but few places in which it can’ be intro- 
duced with'propriety in the regular he-*> 
roic rhyme. Inthe blank verte of Mil- 
ton, J think it is mever ufed: there 1s 
not a line that could with greater propri- — 
ety have been made an Alexandrine than 
the laf of the laft book, | 
- Thro’ Eden took their folitary way 3 
where a fofter fenfation is to be excited, 
where the movement of the verfe is flow, 
and where the line is the finifhing verfe 
of the book. , : 
I cannot forbear juft noticing; that a 
proper Alexandrine has.a paufe naturally 
in the middle, fo as to be divided ito an’ ~ 
equal number of fyilables, Ex. fst 
‘© The bloom of young defire, | and purple 
. lignt of love:” 7, Gray. 4 
The true Alexandrine is a very melo- 
dicus line, when properly efed; but 
what may be called the Super-4Zlexandrine, 
or-line of fourteen fylableshas, Ithink, 
always a bad effet. Cowley very often 
ufes it mm his odes called Pmdaric, im 
which he‘ féems’ to think every poffible - 
liberty may be taken with meafure. Dry- 
den, who in his heroics has a great pro- 
fufion of true Alexandrimes; now and 
then alfo admits the {purious cne; as in 
the’following line of portentous length: 
Things done relates, not done fhe feigns, - — 
And mingles truth with Lyes. Enid. 
As we are now fpeaking concerning. 
rhyme, a caution fhouid be left againit the 
too quick return of the fame rhyme. Ex. © 

« ¥s'etters written during a fiort refidence. 
in Spain and Portugal, by Robert Southey. | 
! Blofloms 


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