ALWAYS Festrained; fach poefy, as, through the idlenes vor negligence of writers, xis not fo reftrained, not agreeing to his own idea of this part of learning [c].w

に

Thefe reflexions will afford a "proper folution of that question, which has been agitated by the critics, "Whether a work "of fiction and imagination (fuch as that "of the archbishop of Cambray, for in*stance) conducted, in other refpects, ac

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cording to the rules of the epic poem, but written in profe, may deferve the name of 1o POEмporu not." For, though it be frivolous sindeed to difpute about names, -yet from what has been faid it appears, that if metre be not incongruous to the nature of an epic compofition, and it afford aspleafure which is not to be found in mere profe, metre is, for that reafon, effential to this mode of writing; which is only faying in other words, that and epic compofition, to give all the pleasure which it is capable of giving, must be written in verfeax stars STE yods as doul Toy wod

[] ADV. OF LEARNING, vol. i. p. 50. Birch's Ed. 1765.

Dr.

But,

But, fecondly, this conclufion, I think, extends farther than to fuch works as aspire to the name of epic. For instance, what are we to think of those novels of romances, as they are called, that is, fables conftructed on some private and familiar fubject which have been fo current, of late, through all Europe? As they propose pleafure for their end, and prosecute it, befides, in the way of fiction, though without métrical numbers, and generally, indeed, in harsh and rugged profe, one easily fees what their pretenfions are, and under what idea they are ambitious to be received. Yet, as they are wholly deftitute of meafured founds (to fay nothing of their other numberlefs defects) they can, at most, be confidered but as hafty, imperfect, and abortive poems; whether spawned from the dramatic, or narrative fpecies, it may be hard to fay

4. Unfinish'd things, one knows not what to call, Their generation's so equivocal.

However, fuch as they are, these novelties have been generally well received: Some, for the real merit of their execution;

Others,

Others, for their amufing fubjects; All of them, for the gratification they afford, or promise at least, to a vitiated, palled, and fickly imagination that last disease of learned minds, and fure prognostic of expiring Letters. But whatever may be the temporary success of these things (for they vanish as faft as they are produced, and are produced as foon as they are con ceived) good fenfe will acknowledge no work of art but fuch as is compofed according to the laws of its kind. These KINDS, as arbitrary things as we account them (for I neither forget nor difpute what our best philosophy teaches concerning kinds and forts), have yet fo far their foundation in nature and the reafon of things, that it will not be allowed us to mul tiply, or vary them, at pleasure. We may, indeed, mix and confound them, if we will (for there is a fort of literary luxury, which would engrofs all pleasures at once, even fuch as are contradictory to each other), or, in our rage for inceffant gratification, we may take up with half-formed pleasures, fuch as come firft to hand, and

may

may be administered by any body: But true tafte requires chafte, fevere, and fimple pleasures; and true genius will only be concerned in adminiftering fuch.my

Laftly, on the fame principle on which we have decided on thefe queftions concerning the abfolute merits of poems in profe, in all languages, we may, alfo, determine another, which has been put concerning the comparative merits of RHYMED, and what is called BLANK Verfe, in our own, and the other modern languages.g

Critics and antiquaries have been follicitous to find out who were the inventors of rhyme, which fome fetch from the Monks, fome from the Goths, and others from the Arabians: whereas, the truth feems to be, that rhyme, or the confonance of final fyllables, occurring at ftated intervals, is the dictate of nature, or, as we may fay, an appeal to the ear, in all languages, and in fome degree pleafing in all. The difference is, that, in fome languages, these confonances are apt of themselves to occur fo often that they rather naufeate, than please, and fo, instead of being affected,

are

are ftudiously avoided by good writers; while in others, as in all the modern ones, where these confonances are lefs frequent, and where the quantity of fyllables is not fo distinctly marked as, of itself, to afford an harmonious measure and musical variety, there it is of neceffity that poets have had recourfe to Rhyme; or to fome other expedient of the like nature, fuch as the Alliteration, for inftance; which is only another way of delighting the ear by iterated found, and may be defined, the confonance of initial letters, as rhyme is, the confonance of final fyllables. All this, I fay, is of neceffity, because what we call verfes in fuch languages will be otherwise untuneful, and will not strike the ear with that vivacity, which is requifite to put a fenfible difference between poetic numbers and meafured profes

In fhort, no method of gratifying the ear by measured found, which experience has found pleafing, is to be neglected by the poet and although, from the different ftructure and genius of languages, these methods will be different, the ftudious application