1306.] 
Yo the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
¥ OU favoured me with the infertion, 
\ in vol. xv., p. 1¢8, of an inquiry 
whether any authority could be found for 
T. Warton’s afcribing the modern Chrift- 
mas-carols to the Puritans. -As no an- 
{wer has appeared, I conclude that the 
affertion was, as I thought, hazarded by 
him in his abhorrence to that four feét of 
Chriftians. This difguft breaks out on fo 
many occafions, that, like Sir Andrew 
Ague-cheek, honeft Tom feems to be 
nioved with an inclination to ‘* beat a Pu- 
ritan like a dog’’ wherever he meets with 
him. The pains he takes to faften on 
them the heinous fin of introducing pfal- 
mody into the Church of England are 
highly charaéteriftic ; though of the au- 
thors of the notable verfion of the Pfalms 
in our prayer-books, it appears that Stern- 
hold had a place in the royal houfhold, 
Hopkins was a clergyman, Whyttingham 
ean of Durham, Wifdome an archdea- 
con, and Norton a dramatitt. I have met 
with a remarkable proof of this propenfity 
of his, in what he fays of Marloe, a dra- 
matic poet and player, contemporary with 
Shakefpear. ‘* Marloe’s wit and fpright- 
linefs of converfation had often the unbap- 
py effe& of tempting him to fport with 
facred fubjeéts . . .. His {cepticifm, 
whatever it might be, was corftrued by 
the prejudiced and peevifh Puritans into 
abfolute atheiim ; and they tcok pains to 
reprefent the unfortunate cataftrophe of 
his untimely death, as an immediate judg- 
ment from heaven upon his execrable im- 
piety.” In anote, he refers to Beard’s 
«© Theatre of God’s Judgments,’ and a 
MS. in the Harieian colleétion. I know 
not whether thofe were Puritan writers; 
but let us fee how Anthony Wood, cer- 
tainly no Puritan, defcribes Marloe. 
‘¢ This Marlee, we are told, prefuming 
upon his own little wit, thought proper to 
practife the moft Epicurean indulgence, 
and openly profeficd atheifm. He denied 
God our Saviour; he blafphemed the 
adorable Trinity ; and, as it was report- 
ed, wrote feveral difcourfes againft it, af- 
firming our Saviour to be a deceiver, the 
faid Scriptures to contain nothing but idle 
ftories, and all religion to be a device of 
policy and prieitcratt.” If thefe charges 
be matier of fact, there is certainly no 
ground to impute peevifhnefs and preju- 
‘dice to thofe who accufed him cf atheifm,- 
whether Puritans or not. Marloe’s un- 
happy end was, being ftabbed in a quar- 
rel.about a loofe woman, which, if nojudg- 
Warton and Marle.—=Profody. 
I 
« 
103 
ment, was at leafta confequence of his 
libertinifm. 
As Hume has attributed to the Puri- 
tans all the civil liberty of the times, fo it 
might be fuppofed that Warton meant to 
afcribe to them all the religion; but to 
this honour they are not entitled, unlefs 
every ferious perfon in that age be deno- 
minated a Puritan.. In faét, there could 
have been no reformation from Popery of 
any kind, if the converts had not been in- 
fpired with a degree of religious zeal that 
would manifeftly influence their language 
and demeanour ; and the moft eminent 
members of the Church of England were 
then, as they now are, fcarcely diftinguifh. 
able from the Calviniftic Proteftants in 
the external marks of piety. 
Your's, &c. N. N. 
; a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazime. 
SLR, 
VOWEL before a mute followed by 
A a liquid, is, I belicve, by all gram- 
marians faid to be doubtful, or common, 
unlefs the vowel belong by nature. But 
if we form our judgment, not from mo- 
dern poets, but from the authority of Ovid, 
Virgil, Horace, and other writers of the 
Augultan age, we fhall conclude that this 
rule ought to be applied with great limi. 
tation. For, according to their invariable 
praétice, in heroic verfe, words of three 
fyllables having the firtt fhort, and the fe- 
cond reputed common, fuch as wvolucris 
Pharetra, tenebra, &c., never have the 
penult long, except atthe end of a line; as, 
Et primo fimilis volticri, mox vera volwcris. 
Ovip. 
And words of three fyllables having the 
firft reputed common and the fecond long, 
as agrefizs, Cyclopis, &c., never have the 
firft fyllable thort, except at the end of a 
line s/\as; 
Tgnarosque vie mecum miferatus agreftes. 
Ke vos agrefturn prefentia numina Fauni. - 
VIRGIL. 
he middle fyliables of wolucris, tene- 
bra, &c., are naturally fhort, and always 
pronounced asfuch in profe. But, though 
fhort, they are the longef of all fhort fyl- 
lables, and therefore eccafionally become 
long by poetic licenfe. And as it is pare 
ticularly neceflayy that the latter hemi- 
ftich fhould be {mooth. and harmonious, 
perhaps this licenfe may be more freely in. 
dulged there than in any other fituation. 
In lke manner the firft fyllables in agref= 
t1s, Cyclopis, &c., are naturaily long, but 
the fhostett of all long fyllables, and theres 
O2 fore 
