24 
ledge of the properties of the different 
gates (but particularly that of oxygen) 
he cannot comprehend the exiftence of a 
fact admitted by all enlightened philofo- 
phers of the prefent day, viz. that fub- 
tances, fuch as the ox cydes of mercury, 
zinc, &c. do contain oxygenous matter 
im folution, and that by a chemical pro- 
cels which takes place in the ftomach, 
and which is admirably calculated to. 
excite our admiration and anfwer our 
defigns, do readily impart this vivilying 
pr inciple to ftimulate the vital organs, it 
is not.for me to fpend that time in an- 
fwering fuch fuperficial queries, which 
require only a fiicht knowledge of phi- 
lofophical chemiliry to folve, and which 
might be more ufefully employed in the 
exercife of my profeflional duties. I re- 
commend to his attention the following 
celebrated Italian proverb, ‘* A caula 
perfa parole affai.”” 
Ely Place, Holbern, 
‘Fanuary 1251799 
- 
To the Editer of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
i for November laff, a doubt exprefled 
_with refpect to the propriety of the word 
<< hitch,’* as we find it in the Ov aNE 
Hine, in all the editions of Pope hitherto 
printed : 
*¢ Slides intoverfe and hitches in eae 
with an emendation fuggetted of the word 
<‘ edze,”’ as a properer term than “¢hitch;”” 
fo thet the line to be correctly written, 
fhould run thus: 
€* Slides i nto verie, and edges into rhyme,’’ &c. 
With all due deference however to the 
‘learned emendator, whofe accuracy and 
acumen im refearches of this nature are 
very generally and gratefully acknow- 
tedged and admired, and whofe produc- 
tions in facred and profane criticiim have 
rendered a lafting fervice to the cau‘e of 
piety and general literature, I cannot help, 
in this particular inftance, callme m 
gueftion the juftnefs of this or indeed of 
any other verbal alteration as neceflary to 
be pee in the verfe alluded to. 
I fhail briefly explain the reafons why 
T think my ‘elf warranted to retain the 
reading as it now flands. To forma pro- 
‘per and determinate judgment onthe f{ub- 
ject, tne pafla ‘Bes I preiume, fhould be 
fier in connexion with the fcope and 
‘context. 
« Peace is my dear delight, not Fleury’s more— 
ut touch me—and no minifter fo fore ; 
—————— 
Your much obliged, 
Cus. BROWN. 



a ap ep 
*Pope’s Imita_ons of Horace, book ii. fatex 
Ver. 77- 

Obferve in your very valuable Magazine 
Mr. Arthur Kerfhaw on the Word Hitch. 
(Jane. 
Who e’er offends, at fome unlucky time 
Slides into verfe and hitches in a rhyme ; 
Sacred to ridicule his whole life long, 
And the fad burden of fome merry fong. 
So fang the Englifh poet, with 2 
ftrength and fpirit, a familiar eafe, a 
grace, a beautiful abruptnefs, fcar cely, if 
at all, inferior to the glori fous object of his 
imitation. 
The drift ‘of the paflage will appear, I 
think, fufficiently obvious, and we fhall 
hardly miftake the poet’s meaning, if, a- 
dopting the definition of the word in quer 
tion precifely as given by Dr. Johnfon 
and Mr. WakKEFIELD himielf*, we con- 
ceive the cause to be put here for the 
EFFECT, bya common figure of rhetoric, 
Viz. “ HITCHEsSin arhyme,” for “¢ sTUM- 
BLES in a-rhyme,”’ &c. This or fome- 
thing like it, the poet muft certainly have 
had his mind, from his touching next on 
the RIDICULE CONSEQUENT to SUCH a 
SITUATION ;—-or rather, to expreis my 
fentiments freely, the <«é SACRED +O El 
DICULE his whole life long,” &c. may be 
confidered as a further and ee complete 
elucidation of this conftru€tion : the 
paflage. 
I am greatly miftaken if one of our mot 
elegant and graceful writers, whofe fupe- 
rior tafte and judgment no perfon will call 
in queition, is not exaétly of the fame 
opinion as myfelf, with ce 3 to the fi- 
curative feme and acceptation in which 
the word is hereufed. A ccording to Mr. 
MELMOTH, tthere is not onlya pertinency, 
but even a peculiar aptnefs, a curious fe- 
licity in the phrafe;—obvioully, I thould 
think, underftanding the word ‘ hitch’ 
in the extenfive fenfe above mentioned. 
I have no particular fault to find with 
“‘ edge,” as fubftituted for «« hitch,”” pro- 
vided the line were to run *¢ edges m.a 
rhyme,” and not ‘* edges iufo rhyme,” 
&c.; unlets that in poetry, the change of 
only a fyllable or tzve tometimes pra: ani a2 
ee, unpleafant fexfatien on the ear, and 
afeds the harmony of the numbers! Of 
this, however, poets themfelves are proba- 
bly the beit judges—This fame unplea~ 
fant tenfation is not a little increafed, by 
the word “ into”” occurring twice in the 
fame line, according to Mr.W aKEFIELD’S 
correcticn—and which _may_ be ~juftly 
*©To HITCH.” To ) catch, t to mave eepeey 
Johnion, 
Fitch is ufed in the northern counties, for 
getting intoa place /ideways, with difficulty and 
contrivance.—In many parts of England, it is 
cuftomary to fay, that ‘fone fubftance Aitches 
on ero meaning, that it catches on the 
edges 5 protuberances, of another. Mr. 
A KEFIELD. 
+ See the Letters Sir Thomas Fitzofborne. 
objected. 

