[740] Spence, p. 238.
[741] Spence, p. 36.
[742] Spence, p. 103.
[743] Pope to Swift, Sept. 15, 1734.
[744] Spence, p. 12.
[745] Warton's Essay on the Genius of Pope, 5th ed. vol. ii. p. 149.
[746] "It may safely," says Lord Kames, "be pronounced a capital defect in the composition of a verse, to put a low word, incapable of an accent, in the place where this accent should be," and he instances the last syllable of "dependencies," in Pope's Essay on Man, Epist. i. ver. 30:
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies,
Gradations just, &c.
What appeared a defect to Lord Kames will seem to many persons an advantage. The want of accent softens the rhyme, and relieves the monotonous, cloying effect of a full concord of sound. In most of Pope's imperfect rhymes the similarity of sound is too slight, and the ear is disappointed.
[747] Letters by Eminent Persons, 2nd ed. vol. ii. p. 48.