In these Verses, tho' truly beautiful, there is not somuch as one Phrase, not one Word, but what might with Propriety be used in Prose. It is observable, however, that even these, and the like Expressions, when transposed, and taken out of Metre, lose all their Elegance: For tho' every Word, considered in itself, is agreeable to either Style, yet there is somewhat so distinguishing in the poetical, as throws a Beauty upon Words, which, out of Metre, would appear insipid, or absurd; and yet, tho' we are sensible of the Thing, it is impossible to assign a Reason for it.
Another Peculiarity there is in the Style of Poetry, that a Thing is often express'd, not by Name, but by some concomitamt Circumstance, or Adjunct belonging to it; by which Means the Mind is led on to an entire Conception of it, by pleasing Intervals, as it were, and a successive Gradation of Thought. Thus Virgil,
[33] Depresso incipiat jam tum mihi taurus aratro Ingemere, & sulco attritus splendescere vomer.
Ev'n then my Steers and Plough, In the deep Furrows shall begin to groan. Trapp.
[34] —prunis lapidosa rubescere corna.
And on the Plumbs the stony Cornel grew.
And in the same Book,
[35] Impositos duris crepitare incudibus enses.
Nor the Spatt'ring of the Steel, On Anvils form'd, and hammer'd into Swords.