interpofition of another; else it will be apt to weary the ear with one continued tone, at least it does mine: That at the 5th runs quicker, and carries not quite fo dead a weight, so tires not fo much, tho' it be continued longer.

3. Another nicety is in relation to Expletives, whether words or fyllables, which are made use of purely to supply a vacancy: Do before verbs plural is abfolutely fuch; and it is not improbable but future refiners may explode Did and Does in the fame manner, which are almost always used for the fake of Rhime. The fame caufe has occafioned the promifcuous ufe of You and Thou to the fame perfon, which can never found fo graceful as either one or the other.

4. I would alfo object to the irruption of Alexandrine. verfes, of twelve fyllables, which, I think, should never be allowed but when fome remarkable beauty or propriety in them atones for the liberty: Mr Dryden has been too free of these, especially in his latter works. I am of the fame opinion as to Triple Rhimes.

5. I could equally object to the Repetition of the fame Rhimes within four or fix lines of each other, as tiresome to the ear thro' their Monotony.

6. Monofyllable Lines, unless very artfully managed, are stiff, or languishing: but may be beautiful to exprefs Melancholy, Slownefs, or Labour.

7. To come to the Hiatus, or. Gap between two words, which is caus'd by two vowels opening on each other (upon which you defire 'me to be particular) I think the rule in this cafe is either to use the Cæfura, or admit the Hiatus, juft as the ear is least shock'd by either: For the Cæfura fometimes offends the ear more than the Hiatus itfelf, and our language is naturally overcharg'd with confonants: As for example; If in this verfe,

The old have Int'reft ever in their eye,

we should fay, to avoid the Hiatus,

But th' old have int'reft.

The Hiatus which has the worst effect, is when one word ends with the fame vowel that begins the following; and next to this, those vowels whose sounds come nearest to each other, are most to be avoided. O, A, or U, will bear a more full and graceful Sound than E, I, or Y. I know, fome people will think thefe Obfervations trivial, and therefore I am glad to corroborate them by fome great authorities which I have met with in Tully and Quintilian. In the fourth book of Rhetoric to Herennius, are these words: Fugiemus crebras vocalium, concurfiones, que vaftam atque hantem reddunt orationem; ut hoc eft, Bacce eneæ ameniffimæ impendebant. And Quintilian 1. ix. cap. 4. Vocalium concurfus cum accidit, hiat & interfiftit, & quafi laborat oratio. Peffimi longe quæ eafdem inter fe literas committunt, fonabunt: Præcipuus tamen erit hiatus earum quae cavo aut patulo ore efferuntur. E ple

nior litera eft, I anguftior. But he goes on to reprove the excess on the other hand of being too follicitous in this matter, and says admirably, Nefcio an negligentia in huc, aut folicitudo fit pejor. So likewife Tully (Orator. ad Brut.) Theopompum reprehendunt, quod eas literas tanto opere fugerit, etfi idem magifter ejus Socrates : which last author, as Turnebus on Quintilian obferves, has hardly one Hiatus in all his works. Quintilian tells us, that Tully and Demofthenes did not much obferve this nicety, though Tully himself fays in his Orator, Crebra ifta vocum concurfio, quam magna ex parte vitiofam, fugit Demofthenes. If I am not miftaken, Malherbe of all the moderns has been the most fcrupulous in this point; and I think Menage in his obfervations upon him fays, he has not one in his poems. To conclude, I believe the Hiatus fhould be avoided with more care in poetry than in Oratory; and I would constantly try to prevent it, unless where the cutting it off is more prejudicial to the found than the Hiatus itself. I am, &c.

A. POPE.

Mr Walsh died at 49 years old, in the year 1708, the year before the Effay on Criticifm was printed, which concludes with his Elogy.

LETTERS

TO AND FROM

H. CROMWELL, Efq;

From the Year 1708 to 1711.

LETTER I.

March 18. 1708.

Believe it was with me when I left the Town, as

I it is with a great many when when they leave the

world, whofe lofs itself they do not fo much regret, as that of their friends whom they leave behind in it. For I do not know one thing for which I can envy Lon. don, but for your continuing there. Yet I guess you will expect me to recant this expreffion, when I tell you that Sappho (by which heathenish name you have chriften'd a very orthodox Lady) did not accompany me into the Country. Well, you have your Lady in the Town ftill, and I have my Heart in the Country ftill, which being wholly unemployed as yet, has the more room in it for my friends, and does not want a corner at your fervice. You have extremely obliged me by your franknefs and kindnefs; and if I have abused it by too much freedom

on my part, I hope you will attribute it to the natu. ral openness of my temper, which hardly knows how to fhow Refpect, where it feels Affection. I would love my Friend, as my Mistress, without ceremony; and hope a little rough usage fometimes may not be more displeasing to the one than it is to the other.

If

you have any curiofity to know in what manner I live, or rather lose a life, Martial will inform you in one line :

Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lego, cano, quiefco.

Every day with me is literally another yesterday, for it is exactly the fame: It has the fame business, which is Poetry; and the fame pleasure, which is idlenefs. A man might indeed pass his time much better, but I question if any man could pass it much easier. If you will visit our shades this spring, which I very much defire, you may perhaps inftruct me to manage my game more wifely; but at prefent I am fatisfy'd to trifle away my time any way, rather than let it stick by me; as fhop-keepers are glad to be rid of those goods at any rate, which would otherwise always be lying upon their hands.

Sir, if you will favour me sometimes with your letters, it will be a great fatisfaction to me on several accounts; and on this in particular, that it will show me (to my comfort) that even a wife man is sometimes very idle; for fo you must needs be when you can find leifure to write to

Your, &c.