That no supporter but the huge firm earth
Can hold it up: here I and sorrow sit;
Here is my throne: bid kings come bow to it."
Six polysyllables only in eight lines!
The ingenuity of Pope's line is great, but the criticism false. We applaud it only because we have never taken the trouble to think about the matter, and take it for granted that all monosyllabic lines must "creep" like that which he puts forward as a specimen. The very frequency of monosyllables in the compositions of our language is one grand cause of that frequency passing uncommented upon by the general reader. The investigation prompted by the criticism will serve only to show its unsoundness.
K.I.P.B.T.
ON GRAY'S ELEGY.
If required to name the most popular English poem of the last century, I should perhaps fix on the Elegy of Gray. According to Mason, it "ran through eleven editions in a very short space of time." If he means separate editions, I can point out six other impressions in the life-time of the poet, besides those in miscellaneous collections viz. In Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, London, 1753. Folio—1765. Folio—and in Poems by Mr. Gray, London, 1768. small 8o.—Glasgow 1768. 4o.—London. A new edition, 1768. small 8o. A new edition, 1770. small 8o. So much has been said of translations and imitations, that I shall confine myself to the text.
Of the first separate edition I am so fortunate as to possess a copy. It is thus entitled:—