5796.) 
To the Edtter of the Monibly Magazine. 
SIR, ° 
WN reading over the critique in’ the: 
British Critic on the Metron- 
arifion, 1 was ftruck with the manifeft 
want ef candour towards its author, as 
well as the manifeft ignorance of the cri- 
tic, on the main objeét of the work. 
Whether it is juftifiable in any anony-. 
mous writers to vent their fpleen upon a 
work, and then name to the public the 
man whom they fuppofe to be its author, 
I fhall not now trouble myfelf to deter- 
mine. The Doétor, whom they have 
mentioned, is well known in a circle of 
literary men, and is efteemed for talents, 
which might have faved him from the 
wanton attacks of the Reverend Editors 
of the Britith Critic. IL know enough of 
him and the editors to form a tolerably 
good eftimate of their comparative me- 
rits; but comparifons are odious, and I 
fhall only obferve here, that whatever 
may be the defects of the Doctor’s lan- 
guage, ftyle, and compofition, he had ad- 
“vantages on the fubjeét of his work out 
of the reach of the Reverend Editors, 
and was capable of forming an opinion, 
which, from their prejudice and want of 
tafte only, appeared erroneous. 
The Doétor has travelled much, has 
feen much good company, and has com- 
ared together the pronunciation of dif- 
Eveat countries. The Reverend Editors 
have hada tolerable education at home, 
were brought up in our barbarous mode 
of pronouncing the learned languages, 
and, becaufe their ears have been per- 
verted, can fee no difference between 
reading a verfe contrary to allrules, and 
reading it exactly in the manner of the 
ancients. Let two people read a fpeech 
of Shakfpeare, the one with a broad 
Yorkfhire accent, the other more agree- 
ably to refined ears, without doubt we 
fhould prefer the reading of the latter ; 
but fhould the Yorkfhire-man, to the 
badnefs of. his accent add every other 
fault of bad reading, we fhould furely 
think it of fome advantage to give hima 
tafte for true poetry, by teaching him 
the nature of verfe, and correcting egre- 
gious faults, though we could not entire- 
ly extirpate the bad effeéts of his dia- 
lect. , 
~ The Englifh nation is in the fituation 
of the honeft Yorkthireman. We can- 
not {peak Latin ella bocca Romana; but 
“we can, if we pleafe, read verfe like 
verfe, and make fome difference between 
a love fong and a fermon. The Reve- 
rend Editors, and many, probably, of your 
Metronariften vindicated. 345 
readers, have never tried the Sapphic 
and Alcaic meafures upon true prin- 
ciples; nor, unlefs they have been ac- 
cuftomed to obferye the modulation of 
verfe in the modern, can'they-have much 
idea of itsharmony in the ancient lan- 
guages. Yet there was that harmony in 
the latter; and, if we affect to be fenfible 
of it—as I have frequently been in com- 
pany when very learned men have fpo- 
ken in raptures on the occafion—if we 
affeét to be fenfible of it, when a falfe 
Pronunciation mars the metre, furely we 
lofe ourfelves in grofs affeétation, or 
are ftrangely mifled by the early prejudices 
of our education. ~ 5 
You will think it odd, that I was led te 
thefe thoughts by a language which cer- 
tainly is not very harmonious: yet, if in 
this janguage it is neceflary to pay fome. 
attention to the metre, how much more 
muft it be fo, in a language capable of 
creating to ears of tafte fo much greater 
pleafure ? Thus if we take a line in Vir- 
gil, 
Alba liguftra cadiint vaccini a nigra leguntury 
and read it, as it is done in the great 
fchools, making the a in cadunt long, and 
the w fhort, furely we lofe the beauty of 
the verfe. Let us fee how this is render- 
ed in the German : . 
Weiffer ligufter verwelkt die dunkle vaccinie 
pflucht man. 
In the latter cafe we take care that our 
dactyls and fpondees fhould properly ap- © 
pear; and fhould be fhocked at making 
fuch a grofs miftake in heroic meafure, as 
our Lat readers do, by admitting the two 
trochees guftra cadint into their verfe. 
A. few more inftances may amufe thofe 
of your readers who have not feen the 
heroic meafure of the Germans. I 
have marked the falfe quantities, which 
the boys are taught to make by their maf- 
ters in the great {chools : 
Lac mihi non eftate novim non frigore defit,- 
Frifche milch ift im fommer bei mir und im. 
frofte nicht {parfam, 
Pan primus calamos cera conjungere plures, 
Pan hat zuerft rohrpfeifen mit wacks an «inane 
der zu fiigen. 
Ecce férint nvmphaé calathis tibi candida Nais. 
Lilien fchau in korbe gedrangt die weiffe najade. 
Florentém cytisim fequitir lafciva puella.  . 
Blumige cytifus ftauden verfolgt die wahlige 
_ ziege. 
QD yepov n pecrer dn ce veot Depot prey mlerte 
Wahrleich, o greis, fehr hart umdrangen dich 
jungere manner. 
Eigelees, et & epsoy Sogu prccivelae ey medapenaiy, 
Lern, ob mir felber vielleicht auch wite der 
fpeer in den handen. 
Now, if the boy makes the falfe quan- 
tices 



