affected-in the common duties of fociety is a greater portion of flavery than can be inflicted by the most despotic sovereign."

The rapidity with which this fatirical oration was delivered, did not permit a fingle word to be thrust in by way of interruption-but no fooner was it concluded, than the company made amends for their retention, by all speaking together; fome to commend, but most to object. Adraftus being truly fenfible of his indifcretion, with great difpatch paid for his ordinary, and left the company to cut up his argument as a defert to their dinner.

On

On Rhyme.

RHYME is allowed not to have existed until after the claffical ages, on which account it is held by fome to be barbarous; others think it fo congenial with modern languages, that our poetry cannot fubfift without it-Milton feems to have been of the former opinion, and Dr. Johnson of the latter.

On this subject, as well as many others, we should form rules from authorized practice, and not force great geniuses to fubmit to our regulations. Poffeffing fo much exquifite poetry in rhyme, let us not call rhyme barbarous; and when reading Milton and Shakespeare, can we fay that rhyme is effential to poetry? From the effect of rhyme and blankverfe,

X 4

verfe, when used by good poets, we may some distinctions, although

venture upon

we dare not make laws.

When we read the Iliad by Pope, and the Paradife Loft, we are ready to pronounce, from their difference, that long poems ought to be in blank verse:* and short ones, being conftantly in rhyme, (with a very few exceptions) we may be affured that they ought to be fo. There is certainly a difference of character between long and fhort pieces-a poem of length is not many fhort ones put together, nor will a small part of a long poem make a short one. Take any detached part of the Paradise Loft, however beautiful, yet it evidently belongs to fome great whole; whereas a fhort piece has

the

*The Lycidas and Samfon Agonistes of Milton have rhymes in a scattered irregular manner, which is a very pleasing structure for a poem of lengthit gives a connection of parts without the constant artificial return of the ftanza or couplet.

the air of fomething begun, and concluded, in a few lines. There is a greatness

of defign and a breadth of pencilling is the one-a neatnefs of touch and highfinishing in the other. In fome very few inftances both thefe qualities are united: Hudibras and the Alma, although poems of length, have all the point of epigra:n. If then high-finishing and neatness be characteristics of fhort pieces, it accounts for rhyme being fo effential to their perfection-blank verfe, as before obferved, belongs to fomething large in defign and manner. Another effential of finall poems is, that the conclufion fhould have fomething to mark it. As I have mentioned this more at large elsewhere, I shall only here remark, that Horace's Odes in general are deficient in this particular, and that the short pieces of Voltaire never

want it.

Another effect of rhyme is, connecting the parts of the poem, as far as the ftruc

ture

ture is concerned.

To fhew the good

effects of this connection was the occafion of the above prefatory remarks; and, by reducing it to a figure, perhaps we may have a rule for judging of the merit of different difpofitions of rhyme in the various fpecies of poetry.

which has the appearance of two things joined together, or one divided into halves.

The alternate rhyme-thus

a