Chapter 9

_SIR,_

To reply to the Opinion that _Vossius_ has given in favour of _French_ Verse compared with _English_, I would observe in the first Place that what the _French_ call Heroick Verse, is the very worst Sort of Verse that can be contriv'd. If the Excellence of Verse consists chiefly in varying the Pause, as I have shewn it does in the _Latin_, and could do the same in the _Greek_ and other Languages; what must be thought of that Sort of Versification in which the Pause is most strictly preserv'd in the same Place in every Line, be it for 10 or 20 thousand together, especially in Verses of 12 Syllables? Perhaps an _Englishman_ may not be a very proper Person to make this Objection to _French_ Verse: I will therefore produce the Opinion of several of their own Writers.

_Ronsard_, in the Preface to his _Franciade_, owns that their _Alexandrine_ Lines have too much prattle (_ils ont trop de caquet_) and that it is a Fault in their Poetry that one Line does not run into another, and therefore he wrote his _Franciade_ in Verses of ten Syllables, and broke the Measure. The Author of the History of _French_ Poetry confesses, that the constant Pause in their Lines makes the Poetry tedious; and the judicious and learned Translator of _Quintilian_ says directly, that it is owing to the continual Sameness of Numbers that their Verse cannot please long. In reality, it is a kind of Stanza, and ought to be so writ.

_Jeune & vaillant Heros Dont la haute sagesse N'est point le fruit tardif D'une lente vieillesse._

Not to insist upon the _Prattle_ (as _Ronsard_ calls it) of these two celebrated Lines; for what does _Vaillant_ add to _Heros_, or _haute_ to _sagesse_, and what is the Difference between _tardif_ and _lente_? I say to let this pass, the eternal Repetition of the same Pause is the Reverse of Harmony: Three Feet and three Feet for thousands of Lines together, make exactly the same Musick as the ting, tong, tang of the same Number of Bells in a Country-Church. We had this wretched sort of Metre amongst us formerly, and _Chaucer_ is justly stil'd the Father of _English_ Verse, because he was the first that ever wrote in rhym'd Couplets of ten Syllables each Line. He found, by his Judgment, and the Delicacy of his Ear, that Lines of eight Syllables, such as _Gower_ his Cotemporary wrote in, were too short, and the twelve Syllable-Lines too long. He pitch'd upon the other Sort just mentioned, and that is now found, by the Experience of so many Ages, to be the most majestick and most harmonious kind of Verse. Just the same Obligation the _Romans_ had to _Ennius_: He first introduc'd the Hexameter Line, and therefore is properly called the Father of their Poetry; and it is judiciously said, that if they had never had _Ennius_, perhaps they had never had _Virgil_. If the _French_ had taken _Ronsard_'s Advice instead of following _Malherbe_, perhaps they might, and indeed they certainly would have arriv'd at a better Art of Versification than we see now amongst them: But they have miss'd their Way; tho' had it happen'd otherwise, they could never have equall'd the _English_ in Poetry, because their Language is not capable of it, for two Reasons which I shall mention, and many others that I could add to them.

_1st_, Their Words do not sound so fully as ours, of which these Nouns are Examples, _God_, _Dieu_. _Man_, _L'Homme_. In both the _English_ Words every Letter is perceiv'd by the Ear. In the _French_ the first Word is of a very confused Sound, and the latter dies away in the _e_ mute. So _Angels_, _Ange_. _Head_, _Tete_. And innumerable others. And in Verbs, _to love_, _to hate_, _Aimer_, _Hayir_. In the _English_ the Sound is clear and strong. In _French_ the last Letter is dropp'd, and the Words don't dwell upon the Ear like the _English_.

_2d_, They have too many Particles: To shew how much more their Verse is incumber'd by them than the _English_, I will give you an Example from a Passage in _Milton_.

"So spoke, so wish'd much humbled _Eve_, but Fate Subscrib'd not; Nature first gave Signs, imprest On Bird, Beast, Air; Air suddenly eclips'd After short blush of Morn.--

Now to put this Passage into _French_ all the following Particles must be added.

_Le_, _La_, _Des_, _Les_, _Les_, _Le_, _Le_, _Un_, _Du_. Of which there is not one in the _English_: And what an Effect this would have in Heroick Verse, you will easily judge.

Upon the whole, _Vossius_ was very little acquainted with _English_ Heroic Poetry. _Hudibras_ was the favourite Bard in his time, and therefore he does us the Honour to say, the _English_ is extremely fit for that sort of Poetry which the _Italians_ call _Sdruccioli_, that is, Doggrel Verse.

Thus much for _Vossius_, and his _French_ and _English_ Poetry. I will now shew you a very different Opinion of another learned Foreigner, referr'd to more than once already, and I will give it you in his own Words.

"_Sane in Epico Carminum genere_; Joh. Miltoni _insigne poema_, The Paradise Lost, _Gallos omnes in epicis inseliciores longo post se intervallo reliquit_. Morhosius Polyhistor.

This judicious Critick gave the same Opinion of Mr. _Cowley_ above 50 Years ago, which Mr. _Pope_ has given of him lately in one of his _Horatian_ Epistles.

"Abr. Cowley _seu Coulejus poemata scripsit_, &c. _Quæ ad genium Virgiliani Carminis non accedunt: argutiis enim nimium indulget, ut Epigrammaticum potius quod interdum scribat, quam planum carmen: Ac præterea non ubique purus est: quanquam Angli illum omnes veterum Poetarum numeros implevisse sibi persuadeant._

Foreigners, I am apt to think, frequently judge with more Exactness of our Countrymen's Performances than the generality of the Natives. I think the Judgment of another learned Foreigner very sensible, when he says upon reading _Virgilium Dryd[)e]ni_, "That if the Original had been no better than the Copy, _Augustus_ would have done well to have committed it to the Flames." But the Author's own Words are worth perusing.

"_Sæpe, Maro, dixi, quantum mutatus ab illo es! Romani quondam qui stupor orbis eras. Si te sic tantum voluisset vivere Cæsar, Quam satius, flammis te periisse foret._ _Vid._ Fabric. Bib. Lat.

December 4. 1736,

_I am_, SIR, _&c._