LETTER X.
SIR,
B
Y what I have shewn in the preceding Letters, it sufficiently appears that Virgil and Milton had good reason to begin with Hinc canere incipiam. Nunc te Bacche canam. Arma Virumque cano. Sing Heavenly Muse. Their Verse is all Musick, and that is the reason why their Poems please, though ever so often read: And all Poetry that is not attended with Harmony, is properly speaking no Poetry at all.
Let the Sense be ever so fine, if the Verse is not melodious, the Reader will undoubtedly find himself soon overtaken with Drowsiness. But what I chiefly hope I have made out, is, that Rhyme does not owe its Original to Druids, or to dreaming Monks, since it is certain there is more Rhyme in Virgil, than there can be in any English Translation of his Works. English Verse never admits but of two Syllables that Rhyme in two Lines. But in Virgil, it is not easy to tell how many Rhymes there are in a single Line; as for Example,
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"O nimium Cœlo, & pelago confise sereno,
"Et sola in siccâ secum spatiatur arenâ.
And the like. But what would you say, if I was to observe to you all that Erythræus has writ of the Rhyme Cum intervallo, & sine intervallo in Virgil? Of the Rhyme sine intervallo there are four Examples in the two first Lines of the Æneid, namely, in the first, no—tro, and qui—pri. In the second, to—pro, and que—ve.
"Arma virumque canō, trōjæ quī prīmus ab oris
Italiam, fatō prōfugus, Lavinaquē vēnit.—
But for this particular, and the other just mentioned, I refer you to Erythræus himself, if you would be fully instructed on this Subject. The Conclusion of this whole Matter is this: Rhyme is certainly one of the chief Ornaments of Latin Verse, even of Virgil's Verse: Most of his wonderful, harmonious Paragraphs are concluded with a full, strong, plain Rhyme: And if this is the Case; if Virgil's Verse would lose one of its chief Ornaments by being stript of Rhyme, What would English Verse do without it? Those learned Persons who in their Writings have treated Rhyme only as a needless Gingle, had not fully considered all that could be said on this Subject: Rhyme, as I have observed once before, has many Enemies because of its Difficulty, when accompanied with all the other necessary Arts of Versification. It is a particular Talent which very few are blessed with, and ought to be esteemed accordingly: But if we give way to the Disuse of it, and even suffer Blank Verse to be brought in Competition with it, Poetry will in a short time be lost in England, as it has been long[page 80] since in Italy, and, if I mistake not, from this very Cause. They have Blank-vers'd Homer, Virgil, and Milton, and I believe all the Classick Poets: And if we follow their Example in giving Applause to this kind of Verse, we must expect the same Consequences. We should be the more to blame in this respect, because we have lately had so many excellent Writers of proper Verse amongst us, as Addison, Rowe, Prior, and many others; and have now Mr. Pope, Mr. Pit, and some whom I do not just now recollect.
Milton, as I observ'd already, is never to be mention'd as an Example in favour of Blank-Verse: To supply the Want of Rhyme in him, there are so many Arts of Verse, such Variety of Melody, that it would require no small Volume to point them out.
I have nothing more to add, but that it is a very surprizing thing, that Milton ever undertook to write in such a Stile as he has made use of, and yet more surprizing that he should be read by all sorts of People, considering that the Stile is more properly Latin or Greek than English.
I believe both these Things arise from the same Cause, which to me seems to be the English Bible; at least, as to the latter, it cannot be from any thing else. 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 conversant with the Bible, and, in all Probability frequently made use of the English Translation. Now this Translation is, by Great Providence, (give me leave to call it so) adapted to the Latin and Greek Collocation, or Arrangement of Words; that is, the Words are placed in the English as they stand in those Languages, which, perhaps, you may not have so much attended to but that you may be glad to see some Examples of what[page 81] I am speaking of.
Psalm v. 3. My Voice shalt thou hear in the Morning, O Lord; in the Morning will I direct Prayer unto thee, and will look up.
Matthew xiii. 1. The same Day went Jesus out of the House, and sat by the Sea-side.
Matthew xxvii. 32. And as they came out, they found a Man of Cyrene, Simon by Name: Him they compelled to bear his Cross.
John ii. 11. This Beginning of Miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee.
John xii. 16. These things understood not his Disciples at the first.
John viii. 44. Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the Lusts of your Father will ye do.
"Verbo sensum cludere, multo, si compositio patiatur, optimum est.
In Verbis enim Sermonis vis inest."
Quintil.
By these Passages, and innumerable others that might be produc'd, it appears that the English Bible is translated in such a manner as I have mentioned above: And as we see many Places in the Paradise Lost, which are exactly taken from this Translation, Why may we not conclude Milton acquir'd much of his Stile from this Book? I can give an Instance of another very learned Person, 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 Instance from his Exposition of the Church Catechism.
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"Next after the Creed are in natural Order plac'd the Ten Commandments.
Is there any thing in Demosthenes or Tully more inverted than this Passage? And yet the meanest Persons understand it, and are not at all shock'd at it; and this cannot possibly, with respect to them, proceed from any thing else, 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 subscrib'd to, when he says,
"And what now Chaucer is, shall 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 itself. But now we have all that Service in the vernacular Tongue; and besides that, the Bible in English, which may be properly called the Standard of our Language: For this Book contains a Variety of every kind of Stile, the Poetick, the Historick, the Narrative, and all framed after the manner of the most learned Tongues. So that whilst this Book continues to be as publickly used among us as it is at present, the English Language cannot receive any great Alteration; but all sorts of learned Men may write, either in Verse or Prose, in the most learned manner in their native Tongue, and at the same time be perfectly understood by the common People. Indeed, if ever we should be so unhappy as to be depriv'd[page 83] of the publick Use of that Book, all that came with it, must go with it; and then Farewel the English Language, Farewel Milton, Farewel Learning, and Farewel all that distinguishes Man from Beasts.
Decemb. 9. 1736.
I am, Sir, &c.
FINIS.
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Transcriber's Note LETTER I.: Page 3: Superfluous opening quotes removed from "Subject-matter LETTER V.: Page 42: Section numbered "3." in original; changed to "III" for consistency. LETTER X.: Page 79: corrected typo: 'primns' changed to 'primus' |
