LETTER II.
SIR,
I
Should now go upon the Comparison of Virgil's and Milton's Versification, in which you will meet with that Paradox, as you thought it at first, namely, that the principal Advantage Virgil has over Milton is Virgil's Rhyme. But I beg leave to postpone that matter at present, because I have a mind to make some Remarks upon the second Line in the Translation of the beginning of the Iliad mentioned in my former Letter, in which the auxiliary Verb did (as our Grammarians call it) is made use of. The Line runs thus.
"Which to the Greeks did endless Sorrows bring.
It is commonly apprehended from a Passage in Mr. Pope's Essay on Criticism, that all auxiliary Verbs are mere Expletives.
"While Expletives their feeble Aid do join,
And ten low Words oft creep in one dull Line.
But this I believe Mr. Pope never intended to advance. Milton has used them in many Places, where he could have avoided it if he had pleased. I will produce one.
[page 9]
————————"Him the most High
Wrapt in a balmy Cloud with fiery Steeds
Did, as thou saw'st, receive.———
Milton might have said,
"Receiv'd, as thou hast seen.———
But he thought the auxiliary Verb added Strength to the Expression, as indeed it does. I own where the auxiliary Verb is brought close to its principal, and that a thin monosyllable, as in the Line just now referred to, the Verse is very rude and disagreeable. But to prove that the auxiliary Verb may be employed properly, I will produce an Instance in rhym'd Verse, as strong as that of Milton just mentioned.
"Then did the roaring Waves their Rage compose,
When the great Father of the Flood arose.
Pit's 1st Æneid.
I believe it will not be disputed, but that this Line is as full, as sonorous, and majestick as if the auxiliary Verb had been left out, and the Author had used compos'd instead of did compose. The Expression is certainly more beautiful and more poetical; and the reason of it is, that it occasions suspence, which raises the attention; or in other Words the auxiliary Verb gives notice of something coming, before the principal thing itself appears, which is another Property of Majesty. Mr. Dryden's authority might likewise be added on this occasion; even in his celebrated Lines on Milton it is to be met with.
[page 10]
"Greece, Italy, and England did adorn.
In his Translation of the Æneid there are many Instances of the same nature, one of which I will mention;
"The Queen of Heav'n did thus her fury vent.
The Metre of this Line, as the Words are here rang'd, is not bad, as the Ear can judge; but it would have been extremely so, if he had writ it thus,
"The Queen of Heaven her Fury thus did vent.*
[*His Heart, his Mistress and his Friends did share.
Pope, on Voiture.]
From whence it appears that the auxiliary Verb is not to be rejected at all times; besides, it is a particular Idiom of the English Language: and has a Majesty in it superior to the Latin or Greek Tongue, and I believe to any other Language whatsoever.
Many Instances might be brought to support this Assertion from Great Authorities. I shall produce one from Shakespear.
——————————————This to me
In dreadful Secrecy impart they did.
The Auxiliary Verb is here very properly made use of; and it would be a great loss to English Poetry, if it were to be wholly laid aside. In Translations from the Greek and Latin, I believe it wou'd sometimes be impossible to do justice to an Author without this Help: I think the Passage in Homer before us, I mean the two first Lines of the Iliad, are an Instance of this kind. They have been translated by many Persons of late, Dryden,[page 11] Manwaring, Mr. Tickel, and by Mr. Pope twice, and not by any one of 'em, as I apprehend, in the Spirit of Homer. As to Mr. Pope's two Translations, I don't understand why the latter ought to be preferr'd to the former. Mr. Pope's first Translation stood thus.
The Wrath of Peleus' Son, the direful Spring
Of all the Grecian Woes, O Goddess sing.
Mr. Pope had reason to be dissatisfy'd with the O in the second Line, and to reject it; for Homer has nothing of it. But now let us see how the Vacancy is supplied in Mr. Pope's new Translation.
Achilles' Wrath, to Greece the direful Spring
Of Woes un-number'd, Heav'nly Goddess, sing.
Is not Heav'nly as much an Expletive as O, and can either of these Couplets deserve to be plac'd in the Front of the Iliad? I could wish Mr. Pope would return these two Lines once more to the Anvil, and dismiss all Expletives here at least. But enough of Expletives.
I shall now say something of Monosyllables, which seem to be absolutely condemn'd in the second Line of the two Verses just mention'd from Mr. Pope's Essay on Criticism.
And ten low Words oft creep in one dull Line.
Mr. Dryden indeed has said in several Places, that the vast Number of Monosyllables in our Language makes it barbarous and rough, and unfit for Poetry. I am apt to think Mr. Pope gave into Mr. Dryden's Sentiment a little too hastily. I own ten low Words too frequently creep on in one dull line, in a Poet's Works, whom Mr. Pope has formerly celebrated[page 12] with no mean Encomiums.
The following Lines afford an Example in this respect.
At the beginning of the third Book of the Davideis, this is the Description of Goliah's Sword.
"A Sword so great, that it was only fit
To take off his great Head, who came with it.
Cowley.
Here are ten dull Words most certainly in one dull Line.
"To take off his great Head, who came with it.
And miserable is the Metre in which they creep on. But hundreds of monosyllable Lines are to be found in Milton that are as sublime, as beautiful, and as harmonious as can possibly be written. Look only into the Morning Hymn in the fifth Book.
"Speak ye who best can tell, ye Sons of Light.
Again,
"Thou Sun! of this great World both Eye and Soul.
Again,
"And when high Noon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st.
Again,
"With the fixt Stars, fixt in their Orb that flies.
[page 13]
Again,
"Breathe soft or loud; and wave your Tops, ye Pines.
Again,
"Bear on your Wings and in your Notes his Praise.
Can it be said that ten dull Words creep on dully in any one of these Lines? But Examples may likewise be given in rhym'd Verse, of the Harmony of Monosyllables. Harmony consists in mixing rough and smooth, soft and harsh Sounds. What Words can be rougher than such as these, Rides, Rapt, Throws, Storms; or smoother than these, Wheel, Hush, Lull?
"Then mounted on his radiant Carr he rides,
And wheels along the level of the Tides.
Pit's 1st Æneid.
How rough is the first Line, how soft the latter! As soft as the Original, which is a Masterpiece.
"Rapt by his Steeds he flies in open Day,
Throws up the Reins, and skims the watry Way.
"Has given to thee great Æolus to raise
Storms at thy sov'reign Will, and smooth the Seas.
"He spake, and speaking chas'd the Clouds away,
Hush'd the loud Billows, and restor'd the Day.
[page 14]
"Mean time the Goddess on Ascanius throws,
A balmy Slumber and a sweet Repose.
Lull'd in her Lap to Rest, the Queen of Love,
Convey'd him to the soft Idalian Grove.
Pit's 1st Æneid.
Where can a smoother Line than this be found in our Language?
"Lull'd in her Lap to Rest, the Queen of Love.
And it may be observed that this Line is all Monosyllables.
Monosyllables are likewise of great consequence on another account. The Strength of the English Language is greatly owing to them: For to them it is principally obliged for its Conciseness; and Conciseness is Strength. Now Conciseness is not only to express ourselves in as few Words as we can, but the Excellency of the Language shews itself, if those few Words are composed of few Syllables. And herein upon Examination, the Strength of the English Tongue will be found to lye; and for this reason it may be said to be more concise than the Latin; which will appear if Virgil is turned into English, I mean even English Verse. For Example:
"—Ubi tot Simois correpta sub undas
Scuta virum, Galeasq; & fortia Corpora volvit.
"Where Simois Streams incumber'd with the slain,
Roll'd Shields, and Helms, and Heroes to the Main.
Pit's 1st Æneid.
[page 15]
To discover which of these two Passages is the most concise, it is not sufficient to shew, that there are two whole English Lines, and but one Line and three Parts of another in the Latin. Latin and English Lines cannot be compared together, because in a Latin Line there are six Feet, and in an English Line but five. Again, in Latin Verse there must be in every Line one Foot of three Syllables, often three or four, or even five Feet of three Syllables, and sometimes four or five Syllables in one Foot. Whereas in an English Line, there is hardly ever more than two Syllables in a foot. So that an English Verse cannot be compared with the Latin by the Line, or by the Foot, but only by the Syllables of which the Words are composed, which make the Feet in both the Languages. The Business then is to enquire whether we write or pronounce more Syllables in the Latin or English Verses here quoted: Upon Enquiry it appears that there are twenty nine Syllables in the Latin, and but twenty one in the English; so that the English is almost one third part less than the Latin; which certainly shews the former to be much more concise than the latter, there being nothing left out in the English, but the whole Thought is rather more fully expressed: And this we see is owing to Monosyllables both Verbs and Nouns, Streams, Slain, Shields, Roll'd, Helms, Main. In short the whole Passage is equal to the Original in Majesty and Harmony, and superior in Conciseness.
To give another Example or two of the same nature.
"Urbs antiqua fuit, Tyrii tenuere Coloni,
Carthago, Italiam contra, Tyberinaque longe
Ostia, dives opum, studiisque Asperrima Belli.
[page 16]
"Against the Italian Coast, of ancient Fame
A City rose, and Carthage was the Name;
A Tyrian Colony, from Tyber far,
"Rich, rough, and brave, and exercis'd in war.
Mr. Pit's Æneid.
"—Facti de Nomine Byrsam,
Sed vos, qui tandem, quibus aut venistis ab oris,
Quove tenetis iter?—
"Hence Byrsa nam'd.—But now ye Strangers, say,
Who, whence you are, and whither lies your Way?
I have chosen here three Passages of three very different kinds, and in all of them the English appears to be much more concise than the Latin; neither is there any thing wanting in the Fulness of the Sense, or in Majesty, or in Harmony of Numbers, any more in the two last Passages than in the former. Another Instance of this kind might be produced out of Virgil's most perfect Work, the Georgick, although it wants the Advantage of being translated by such a Hand as Mr. Pit's.
"Si vero Viciamq; seres vitemq; Faselum,
Nec Pelusiacœ curam aspernabere lentis.
"But if the Vetch you sow, or meaner,
Nor shall disdain th' Ægyptian Lentil's Care.
In the Latin there are thirty Syllables in the two Lines, in the English but twenty one. So that the English is almost one third more concise than the Latin; and at the same time Virgil's Sense fully expressed.
[page 17]
I will conclude this Letter with the Opinion of a Foreigner concerning our Monosyllables: A Person not at all prepossessed in favour of our Language.
"The English Language, besides the most significant Words borrowed from the Latin, Greek, &c. and often shortned, hath a vast Stock of its own, and being for the most part Monosyllables, no Speech is capable of expressing Thought in Sounds so few as the English does: This is easily observed by the Translations of the English into Foreign Languages.
"The Strength and Conciseness that Monosyllables (especially in Verbs) produce, are of wonderful Use in Lyrick Poetry, because they enter into any Foot or Measure of Verses, by different Transpositions; so that I dare venture to assert, there is no Italian or Foreign Song, which English Words will not suit; the Variety of Feet and Metres producing equal Variety of Mode and Movements in Composition. The want of this is what makes the French vocal Musick so confined and uniform; for I cannot recollect above two of their Verbs in use in the infinitive Mood, that are Monosyllables, and not one exact Dactile in all their Polysyllables."
Röner's Preface to his Melopeïa Sacra.
Sept. 13. 1736.
I am, Sir, &c.
[page 18]
