you and thou to the fame person, which can never found fo graceful as either one or the other.

4. I would also object to the irruption of Alexandrine verses, of twelve fyllables, which, I think, fhould never be allow'd 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 tirefome to the ear thro' their Monotony.

6. Monofyllable Lines, unlefs very artfully managed, are ftiff, 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) [ think the rule in this cafe is either to use the Cæfura, or admit the Hiatus, just 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 verse,

:

The old have Int'reft ever in their eye,

we should say, to avoid the Hiatus,

But th old have int'reft.

The Hiatus which has the worft effect, is when one word ends with the fame vowel that begins the following; and next to this, thofe vowels whofe founds 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, quae vaftam atque hiantem reddunt orationem ; ut hoc eft, Baccae aeneae amoeniffimae impendebant. And Quintilian, 1. ix. cap. 4. Vocalium concurfus cum accidit, hiat et interfiftit, et quafi laborat oratio. Peffime longae quae eafdem inter fe literas committunt, fonabunt: praeci. puus tamen erit hiatus earum quae cavo aut patulo ore efferuntur. E plenior litera eft, I anguftior. But he goes on to reprove the excefs on the other hand of being too folicitous in this matter, and fays admirably, Nefcio an negligentia in hoc, aut folicitudo fit pejor. So likewife Tully (Orat. ad Brut.) Theopompum reprebendunt, quod eas literas tanto opere fugerit, etfi idem magifter ejus Socrates: which laft 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 the Orator, Crebra ifta vocum concurfio, quam magna ex parte vitiofam, fugit Demofthenes. lf I am not mistaken, Malherbe of all the moderns has been the moft 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 conftantly try to prevent it, unless where the cutting it off is more prejudicial to the found than the Hiatus itself.

I am, etc. A. POPE.

Mr. Walsh died at forty-nine 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.

I

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

is with a great many men 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 London, 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 fill, which being wholly unemploy'd as yet, has the more room in it for my friends, aud does not want a corner at your fervice. You have extremely obliged me by your frankness and kindness; and if I have abus'd it by too much freedom on my part, I hope you will attribute it to the natural opennefs of my temper, which hardly knows how to fhow Refpect, where it

feels Affection. I would love my Friend, as my miftrefs, without ceremony; and hope a little rough ufage fometimes may not be more difpleafing to the one, than it is to the other.

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

Prandeo, poto, cano, ludo, lego, cæno, quiefco. Every day with me is literally another yesterday, for it is exactly the fame: it has the fame bufinefs, which is Poetry; and the fame pleasure, which is Idlenefs. A man might indeed pafs his time much better, but I question if any man could pafs it much eafier. If you will visit our fhades this fpring, 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 thofe goods at any rate, which would otherwife always be lying upon their hands.

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

Your, etc.

LETTER II.

April 27, 1708.

Why should not I

I Have nothing to fay to you in this letter; but I was refolv'd to write to tell you fo. content myself with fo many great Examples, of deep

Divines, profound Cafuifts, grave Philofophers; who have written, not letters only, but whole Tomes and voluminous Treatifes about Nothing? Why fhould a fellow like me, who all his life does nothing, be asham'd to write nothing? and that to one who has nothing to do but to read it? But perhaps you'll fay, the whole world has fomething to do, fomething to talk of, fomething to wish for, fomething to be employed about: But pray, Sir, caft up the account, put all thefe fomethings together, and what is the fum total but just nothing? I have no more to say, but to defire you to give my service (that is nothing to your friends, and to believe that I am nothing more than Your, etc. Ex nihilo nil fit. LUCR.

LETTER III.

May 10, 1708.

You talk of fame and glory, and of the great men

of Antiquity: Pray tell me, what are all your great dead men, but fo many little living letters? What a vast reward is here for all the ink wafted by Writers, and all the blood fpilt by Princes? There was in old time one Severus a Roman Emperor. I dare fay you never called him by any other name in your life and yet in his days he was Ayled Lucius, Septimius, Severus, Pius, Pertinax, Auguftus, Parthicus, Adiabenicus, Arabicus, Maximus, and what not? What a prodigious wafte of letters has time made! what a number have here dropt off, and left the poor furviving feven unattended! For my own part, four are all I have to care for; and i'll be judg'd by you if any man cou'd live in lefs compafs? Well, for the future I'll drown all high thoughts in the Lethe of cowslip-wine; as for Tame, Renown, Reputation, take 'em, Critics!