<< nimium Cælo, & pelago confise fereno, "Et fola in ficca fecum spatiatur arenâ. And the like. But what would you fay, if I was to obferve to you all that Erythraus has writ of the Rhyme Cum intervallo, & fine intervallo in Virgil? Of the Rhyme fine intervallo there are four Examples in the two first Lines of the Eneid, namely, in the first, no-tro, and qui—pri. In the fecond, to---pro, and que---ve. "Arma virumque canō, troje qui prīmns ab oris "Italiam, fato profugus, Lavinaque venit. But for this particular, and the other juft mentioned, I refer you to Erythraus himself, if you would be fully inftructed on this Subject. The Conclufion of this whole Matter is this: Rhyme is certainly one of the chief Ornaments of Latin Verfe, even of Virgil's Verfe: Moft of his wonderful, harmonious Paragraphs are concluded with a full, ftrong, plain Rhyme: And if this is the Cafe; if Virgil's Verfe would lofe one of its chief Ornaments by being ftript of Rhyme, What would English Verfe do without it? Thofe learned Perfons who in their Writings have treated Rhyme only as a needlefs Gingle, had not fully confidered all that could be faid on this Subject: Rhyme, as I have obferved once before, has many Enemies becaufe of its Difficulty, when accompanied with all the other neceffary Arts of Verfification. It is a particular Talent which very few are bleffed with, and ought to be esteemed accordingly: But if we give way to the Difuse of it, and even suffer Blank Verse to be brought in Competition with it, Poetry will in a fhort 4 fhort time be loft in England, as it has been long fince in Italy, and, if I miftake not, from this very Caufe. They have Blank-vers'd Homer, Virgil, and Milton, and I believe all the Claffick Poets: And if we follow their Example in giving Applause to this kind of Verfe, we must expect the fame Confequences. We fhould be the more to blame in this refpect, because we have lately had fo many excellent Writers of proper Verse amongst us, as Addifon, Rowe, Prior, and many others; and have now Mr. Pope, Mr. Pit, and fome whom I do not juft now recollect. Milton, as I obferv'd already, is never to be mention'd as an Example in favour of Blank-Verfe: To supply the Want of Rhyme in him, there are fo many Arts of Verfe, fuch Variety of Melody, that it would require no fmall Volume to point them out. I have nothing more to add, but that it is a very furprizing thing, that Milton ever undertook to write in fuch a Stile as he has made ufe of, and yet more furprizing that he should be read by all forts of People, confidering that the Stile is more properly Latin or Greek than English, I believe both these Things arife from the fame Caufe, which to me feems to be the English Bible; at least, as to the latter, it cannot be from any thing elfe. That Milton acquir'd his Stile from the Common Bible, is not at all improbable, though he understood the Original, It is certain he was entirely converfant with the Bible, and, in all Probability frequently made ufe of the English Translation. Now this Tranflation is, by Great Providence, (give me leave to call it fo) adapted to the Latin and Greek Collocation, or Arrangement of Words; that is, the Words are placed in the English as they ftand in thofe Languages, which, perhaps, you may not have fo much attended to but I that that you may be glad to fee fome Examples of what I am fpeaking of Pfalm v. 3. My Voice fhalt thou bear in the Morning, O Lord; in the Morning will I direct Prayer unto thee, and will look up. Matthew xiii. 1. The fame Day went Jefus out of the Houfe, aud fat by the Sea-fide. Matthew xxvii. 32. And as they came out, they found a Man of Cyrene, Simon by Name: Him they compelled to bear his Crofs. John ii. 11. This Beginning of Miracles did Jefus in Cana of Galilee, John xii. 16. These things understood not his Difciples at the firft. John viii. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the Lufts of your Father will ye do. "Verbo fenfum cludere, multo, fi compofitio patiatur, optimum eft. "In Verbis enim Sermonis vis ineft" Quintil. By thefe Paffages, and innumerable others that might be produc'd, it appears that the English Bible is tranflated in fuch a manner as I have mentioned above: And as we fee many Places in the Paradife Loft, which are exactly taken from this Tranflation, Why may we not conclude Milton acquir'd much of his Stile from this Book? I can give an Inftance of another very learned Perfon, who certainly learnt his way of Writing from it. I mean the late Dr. Clarke. Nothing can be more clear than his Stile, and yet nothing can be more like the Greek or Latin, agreeably to the English Bible. I beg leave to produce one Inftance from his Expofition of the Church Cate chifm. G " Next "Next after the Creed are in natural Order plac'd "the Ten Commandments. Is there any thing in Demofthenes or Tully more inverted than this Paffage? And yet the meaneft Perfons understand it, and are not at all fhock'd at it; and this cannot poffibly, with respect to them, proceed from any thing elfe, but their having been from their Childhood accustomed to this Language in the Bible, and their still continuing frequently to hear it in the publick Offices of the Church, and elsewhere: From whence I am apt to think Mr. Pope's Opinion is not to be fubfcrib'd to, when he fays, "And what now Chaucer is, fhall Dryden be." It did not occur to that ingenious Writer, that the State of the English Language is very different at this time from what it was in Chaucer's Days: It was then in its Infancy: And even the publick WorShip of God was in a foreign Tongue, a thing as fatal to the Language of any Country, as to Religion itfelf. But now we have all that Service in the verna cular Tongue; and befides that, the Bible in Englifh, which may be properly called the Standard of our Language: For this Book contains a Variety of every kind of Stile, the Poetick, the Hiftorick, the Narrative, and all framed after the manner of the moft learned Tongues. So that whilst this Book. continues to be as publickly used among us as it is at prefent, the English Language cannot receive any great Alteration; but all forts of learned Men may write, either in Verfe or Profe, in the most learned. manner in their native Tongue, and at the fame time be perfectly understood by the common People. Indeed, |