Apart let me view then each Heavenly Fair,
For three at a time there's no Mortal can bear.Congr.
The Verses of 12 Syllables are truly Heroick, both in their Measure and Sound; tho' we have no intire Works compos'd in them; and they are so far from being a Blemish to the Poems they are in, that on the contrary, when rightly employed, they conduce not a little to the Ornament of them; particularly in the following Rencounters.
1. When they conclude an Episode in an Heroick Poem: Thus Stafford ends his Translation of that of Camilla from the 11th Æneid, with a Verse of 12 Syllables.
The ling'ring Soul th' unwelcom Doom receives,
And, murm'ring with Disdain, the beauteous Body leaves.
2. When they conclude a Triplet and full Sense together; as,
Millions of op'ning Mouths to Fame belong;
And every Mouth is furnish'd with a Tongue;
And round with list'ning Ears the flying Plague is hung.Dryd.
And here we may observe by the way, that whenever a Triplet is made use of in an Heroick Poem, it is a fault not to close the Sense at the end of the Triplet, but to continue it into the next Line; as Dryden has done in his Translation of the 11th Æneid in those Lines.
With Olives crown'd, the Presents they shall bear,
A Purple Robe, a Royal Iv'ry Chair,
And all the Marks of Sway that Latian Monarchs wear,
And Sums of Gold, &c.