in a single sound, because it has no proportion to another.

Hypocrites austerely talk,

Defaming as impure what God declares

Pure; and commands to some, leaves free to all.1

When two syllables likewise are abscinded from the rest, they evidently want some associate sounds to make them harmonious.

Eyes

more wakeful than to drouse,

Charm'd with Arcadian pipe, the past'ral reed
Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Meanwhile
To re-salute the world with sacred light
Leucothea wak'd.2

He ended, and the sun gave signal high
To the bright minister that watch'd: he blew
His trumpet.3

First in the east his glorious lamp was seen,4

Regent of day; and all th' horizon round

Invested with bright rays, jocund to run

His longitude through heav'n's high road; the gray
Dawn, and the Pleiades, before him danc'd,

Shedding sweet influence.

The same defect is perceived in the following line, where the pause is at the second syllable from the beginning,

The race

Of that wild rout that tore the Thracian bard
In Rhodope, where woods and rocks had ears
To rapture till the savage clamour drown'd
Both harp and voice; nor could the muse defend
Her son. So fail not thou, who thee implores.5

2 Ib. xi. 130.

1 Paradise Lost, iv. 744. 4 "First in his east the glorious lamp was seen," etc.-Ib.

vii. 370.

3 Ib. xi. 72.

5 Ib. vii. 33.

2

When the pause falls upon the third syllable or the seventh, the harmony is better preserved; but as the third and seventh are weak syllables, the period leaves the ear unsatisfied, and in expectation of the remaining part of the verse.

-He, with his horrid crew,

Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded though immortal. But his doom
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him.1

God,-with frequent intercourse,

Thither will send his winged messengers On errands of supernal grace. So sung - The glorious train ascending.2

It may be, I think, established as a rule, that a pause which concludes a period should be made for the most part upon a strong syllable, as the fourth and sixth; but those pauses which only suspend the sense may be placed upon the weaker. Thus the rest in the third line of the first passage satisfies the ear better than in the fourth, and the close of the second quotation better than of the third.

The evil soon

Drawn back, redounded (as a flood) on those
From whom it sprung; impossible to mix

With blessedness.

What we by day

Lop overgrown, or prune, or prop, or bind,

One night or two with wanton growth derides,
Tending to wild.4

1 Paradise Lost, i. 51.

2 Ib. vii. 571.

8 "Driv'n back," etc.-Ib. vii. 57. This error is found in the first edition, and was left uncorrected in the subsequent 4 Ib. ix. 209.

ones.

The paths and bow'rs doubt not but our joint hands
Will keep from wilderness with ease as wide

As we need walk, till younger hands ere long
Assist us.1

The rest in the fifth place has the same inconvenience as in the seventh and third, that the syllable is weak.

Beast now with beast 'gan war, and fowl with fowl,
And fish with fish, to graze the herb all leaving,
Devour'd each other: Nor stood much in awe
Of man, but fled him, or with countenance grim,
Glar'd on him passing.2

The noblest and most majestic pauses which our versification admits, are upon the fourth and sixth syllables, which are both strongly sounded in a pure and regular verse, and at either of which the line is so divided, that both members participate of harmony.

But now at last the sacred influence

Of light appears, and from the walls of heav'n
Shoots far into the bosom of dim night

A glimmering dawn: here nature first begins
Her farthest verge, and chaos to retire.3

But far above all others, if I can give any credit to my own ear, is the rest upon the sixth syllable, which, taking in a complete compass of sound, such as is sufficient to constitute one of our lyric measures, makes a full and solemn close. Some passages which conclude at this stop, I could never read without some strong emotions of delight or admiration.

1 "These paths," etc.-Ib. ix. 244.

2 Ib. x. 710.

3 Ib. ii. 1034.

Before the hills appear'd or fountain flow'd,
Thou with the eternal wisdom didst converse,1
Wisdom thy sister, and with her didst play
In presence of the Almighty Father, pleas'd
With thy celestial song.

Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles,
Like those Hesperian gardens fam'd of old,
Fortunate fields, and groves, and flow'ry vales,
Thrice happy isles! But who dwelt happy there,
He stay'd not to inquire.2

He blew

His trumpet, heard in Oreb since, perhaps
When GOD descended; and perhaps, once more
To sound at general doom.3

If the poetry of Milton be examined, with regard to the pauses and flow of his verses into each other, it will appear, that he has performed all that our language would admit; and the comparison of his numbers with those who have cultivated the same manner of writing, will shew that he excelled as much in the lower as the higher parts of his art, and that his skill in harmony was not less than his invention or his learning.

1 "Thou with eternal wisdom," etc.-Ib. vii. 9.
2 Ib. iii. 567.
3 Ib. xi. 73.

No. 93. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1751.

-Experiar quid concedatur in illos

Quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.—Juv.1

More safely truth to urge her claim presumes,
On names now found alone on books and tombs.

HERE are few books on which more time is spent by young students, than on treatises which deliver the characters of authors; nor any which oftener deceive the expectation of the reader, or fill his mind with more opinions which the progress of his studies and the increase of his knowledge oblige him to resign.

Baillet2 has introduced his collection of the decisions of the learned, by an enumeration of the prejudices which mislead the critic, and raise the passions in rebellion against the judgment. His catalogue, though large, is imperfect; and who can hope to complete it? The beauties of writing have been observed to be often such as cannot in the present state of human knowledge be evinced by evidence, or drawn out into demonstrations; they are therefore wholly subject to the imagination, and do not force their effects upon a mind pre-occupied by unfavourable sentiments, nor overcome the counteraction of a false principle or of stubborn partiality.

1 Juvenal, Satires, i. 170.

2 A French critic, born 1649, died 1706.