Considering the metrical art simply as a science, and consequently excluding all casualty, we must allow that Triplets and Alexandrines, inserted by caprice, are interruptions of that constancy to which science aspires. And though the variety which they produce may very justly be desired, yet, to make poetry exact, there ought to be some stated mode of admitting them. But till some such regulation can be formed, I wish them still to be retained in their present state. They are sometimes convenient to the poet. Fenton was of opinion, that Dryden was too liberal, and Pope too sparing, in their use. The rhymes of Dryden are commonly just, and he valued himself for his readiness in finding them; but he is sometimes open to objection. It is the common practice of our poets to end the second line with a weak or grave syllable : Together o'er the Alps methinks we fly, Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy. Dryden sometimes puts the weak rhyme in the first: Laugh, all the powers that favour tyranny Sometimes he concludes a period or paragraph with the first line of a couplet, which, though the French seem to do it without irregularity, always displeases in English poetry. The Alexandrine, though much his favourite, is not always very diligently fabricated by him. It invariably requires a break at the sixth syllable; a rule which the modern French poets never violate, but which Dryden sometimes neglected: And with paternal thunder vindicates his throne. Of Dryden's works it was said by Pope, that "he could select from them better specimens of every mode of poetry than any other English writer could supply." Perhaps no nation ever produced a writer that enriched his language with such variety of models. To him we owe the improvement, perhaps the completion of our metre, the refinement of our language, and much of the correctness of our sentiments. By him we were taught "sapere et fari," to think naturally and express forcibly. Though Davies has reasoned in rhyme before him, it may be perhaps maintained that he was the first who joined argument with poetry. He showed us the true bounds of a translator's liberty. What was said of Rome, adorned by Augustus, may be applied by an easy metaphor to English poetry embellished by Dryden, "lateritiam invenit, marmoream reliquit." He found it brick and he left it marble. The invocation before the Georgicks is here inserted from Mr. Milbourne's version, that according to his own proposal, his verses may be compared with those which he censures. What makes the richest tilth, beneath what signs I sing, Mecanas! Ye immensely clear, Vast orbs of light, which guide the rolling year; We fatt'ning corn for hungry mast pursue, Wood-nymphs and fawns, your kind assistance yield; And thou, great Cæsar! though we know not yet Among what gods thou 'lt fix thy lofty seat; Whether thou 'lt be the kind tutelar god Of thy own Rome, or with thy awful nod Guide the vast world, while thy great hand shall bear And thy bright brows thy mother's myrtles wear; Tethys will for the happy purchase yield There yet remains a spacious room for thee; Mr. DRYDEN, having received from Rhymer his Remarks on the Tragedies of the last Age, wrote observations on the blank leaves: which, having been in the possession of Mr. Garrick, are by his favour communicated to the publick, that no particle of Dryden may be lost. "That we may less wonder why pity and terror are not now the only springs on which our tragedies move, and that Shakspeare may be more excused, Rapin confesses that the French tragedies now all run on the tendre; and gives the reason, because love is the passion which most predominates in our souls, and that therefore the passions represented become insipid, unless they are conformable to the thoughts of the audience. But it is to be concluded, that this passion works not now amongst the French so strongly as the other two did amongst the ancients. Amongst us, who have a stronger genius for writing, the operations from the writing are much stronger: for the raising of Shakspeare's passions is more from the excellency of the words and thoughts, than the justness of the occasion; and, if he has been able to pick single occasions, he has never founded the whole reasonably yet, by the genius of poetry in writing, he has succeeded. "Rapin attributes more to the dictio, that is, to the words and discourse of a tragedy, than Aristotle has done, who places them in the last rank of beauties; perhaps, only last in order, because they are the last product of the design, of the disposition or connexion of its parts; of the characters, of the manners of those characters, and of the thoughts proceeding from those manners. Rapin's words are remarkable: 'Tis not the admirable intrigue, the surprising events, and extraordinary incidents, that make the beauty of a tragedy: 'tis the discourses, when they are natural and passionate: so are Shakspeare's. "The parts of a poem, tragick or heroick, are, "1. The fable itself. "2. The order or manner of its contrivance, in relation of the parts to the whole. "3. The manners, or decency, of the characters, in speaking or acting what is proper for them, and proper to be shown by the poet. "4. The thoughts which express the manners. "5. The words which express those thoughts. "In the last of these Homer excels Virgil; Virgil all the other ancient poets; and Shakspeare all modern poets. |