difficult Pronunciation. The Rushing of Land-floods, the Roaring of huge Waters, and the Dashing of Waves against the Shores, is imitated by Words that make a vast and boifterous Sound, and rudely clash together.

The great Plato, who had a Genius for all manner of Learning, was difcourag'd from Poetry by reading that Verfe in Homer, which fo wonderfully expreffes the Roaring of the Billows,

Ηιόνες βούωσιν ἐρευγομένης αλὸς ἔξω *.

Hafte and Swiftness is figur'd by fhort Syllables, by quick and rapid Numbers; Slowness, Gravity, &c. by long Syllables, and Numbers strong and folemn. I fhall produce fome Inftances, and speak to them just as they come into my Thoughts, without any Nicety of Method. Virgil,

Iliad. 17. v. 265.

in his Account of the Sufferings of wicked Souls in the Regions of Punishment, fills the Reader with Dread and Amazement; every Syllable founds Terror; Awe and Astonishment ac-company his majestic Numbers. *In that Paffage,

Tum fæva fonare

Verbera, tum ftridor ferri, tractæq; catenæ,"

the hiffing Letter repeated with broad founding Vowels immediately following, the Force and Roughness of the canine Letter fo often us'd, and those ftrong Syllables in the fecond, third,, and fourth Places, emphatically ex- prefs those dreadful Sounds. A Manof an Ear will, upon the Repetition of them, be apt to fanfy he hears the Crack of the Furies Whips, and the Rattling and Clank of infernal Chains. Those harsh Elifions, and heavy robust Syllables in that Defcription of the

Eneid. 6. v. 558, c..

C 5

hideous

hideous Cyclops, Monftrum horrendum, informe, ingens, naturally exprefs the enormous Bulk, and brutish Fierceness of that mif-fhapen and horrid Monster.

Our Spencer, one of the best Poets this Nation has bred, and whofe Faults are not to be imputed either to want of Genius or Care, but to the Age he liv'd in, was very happy and judicious in the Choice of his Numbers: Of which take this Example, not altogether foreign or unparallel to that of Virgil juft mention'd;

He heard a dreadful Sound,

Which thro' the Wood loud-bellowing did re

bound.

And then,

His monftrous Enemy

With sturdy Steps came ftalking in his Sight,

An hideous Giant, horrible and high.*

⚫ Fairy Queen.

Thofe

Those Verses in the first Georgic,

Ter funt conati imponere Pelio Offam Scilicet, atq; Offa frondofum involvere Olym pum*,

are contriv'd with great Art to reprefent the prodigious Pains the Giants took in heaping Mountains upon Mountains to fcale Heaven, and the Slowness of their Progrefs in that unwieldy Work.

For a Vowel open before a Vowel, makes a Chasm, and requires a ftrong and full Breath; therefore a Pause muft follow, which naturally expreffes Difficulty and Oppofition.

But when Swiftnefs and Speed are to be defcrib'd, fee how the fame wonderful Man varies his Numbers,. and ftill fuits his Verfe to his Subject!

Georg, 1. v. 281.

C 6

Qua

Quadrupedante putrem fonitu quatit ungula

campum.

Here the rapid Numbers, and short Syllables, fuftain'd with ftrong Vowels, admirably reprefent both the Vigour and Speed of a Horfe at full Stretch fcouring o'er the Plain.,

When Horace fings of Mirth, Beauty, and other Subjects, that require Delicacy and Sweetness of Compofition, he smooths his Lines with foft Syllables, and flows in gay and melting Numbers. Scarce any Reader is fo much a Stoic, but good Humour fteals upon him; and he reads with fomething of the Temper which the Author was in when he wrote. How inexpreffibly fweet are thofe near Lines!

Urit me Glycere nitor

Splendentis Pario marmore purius:

Urit grata protervitas,

Et vultus nimium lubricus afpici.