"In fhew of Zeal, or, as to Paffion mov'd, That is, in Sounds the most proper to ftrike, or to feize the Ear. Thus CICERO thunders at once in ftrongest Tämbics and Anapafts, and flashes in the Face of Guilty CATILINE then in FULL SENATE Prefent before him. Quoufque tandem abūtêre, CATILINA, patientiá noftrâ? Nibilně Té nocturnum Præfidium Palatii? Nihil Urbis Vigilia? Nihil Timōr populi! Nihil confenfus Bonorum omnium? Nihil Hic munitiffimus babendi Senatus locus? Nihil ōra* HORUM Vultufque moverunt ? For it is evident that in the Ufe of this Movement you are able to give a stronger Accent to the Voice than in any other. It has at once ǎ Sharp and ǎ Sudden Sound: The Same which Men ūse when they pour out ǎ Torrent of Words in their Anger. 'Twas such a Refentment as never had a Parallel in the World, before or fince, (if we may judge by the terrible Effects of it,) which first infpir'd the Invention of This Kind of Measure in Verfe, and rais'd it at once to fuch a Perfection, as no Writer that follow'd was able to attain : So far does Nature carry us beyond the Power of Art and Imitation. Archilochum PROPRIO Rabies armavit IAMBO. HOR. de Arte Poëticâ, Ver. 79. No wonder therefore that MILTON, who fo well understood the Power of Numbers, as we may fee almost in every Line of PARADISE. LOST or REGAIN'D, makes us in the very Sound of the Words, to hear the Faln Archangel rouzing his Fellow-Devils from the Lake where they lay astonish'd; when SATAN calls, and the Poët gives the Relation of it almost all in Pureft and Strongest Tämbics : "Awake! Arife! or be Forever Faln ! "He call'd so loud that all the hóllo' Deep *For in This Order I read the Words, with the Ancient Copies, to give the greater Pause and Emphasis to Every Clofing Word, but especially to That, [HORUM,] in pronouncing of which he turn'd the Eyes of the Traitor to view and tremble at the Prefence and Countenances of the moft August Affembly in the World. And And fo many Genuine Tämbics, fuch, I mean, as would have appear'd fo to the Ears of an Ancient Greek or Roman, you will not easily find in such a continued Succeffion, either in This, or any other English Poët, except in Mr. DRYDEN: Or, if you do, 'tis in Affectation of Smoothness, rather than Propriety. §. IX. Upon all other Occafions the Numbers, in Every Just Compofition, will be as Various as the Paffions and Idéas. Which brings to my Mind the Remarks that were made fome Years ago upon the Invocation or Argument to PARADISE LOST, where, for forty Lines together, the fame Numbers, in every Refpect, are hardly once repeated; as if the Author had intended to fhew us, in the very Entrance of his Poëm, what an endless Variety we were to expect. But the Moment his Thoughts were fir'd with the Grandeur and Importance of his Subject; and he was to infpire his Readers with a Sacred Indignation at the Pride and Ambition of SATAN; and at the Same time, to give us a dreadful View of his Fall and Punishment, the Numbers immediately change, or fix rather in one Impetuous Movement; and are all, tho' not Pure, yet properly and prevalently Tämbic for Twelve or Twenty Lines that follow, with hardly any Variation: Which fhews the Care and Judgment, or rather the prodigious Genius and Felicity of MILTON, who could never think or write in any Measures, where the NUMBERS and the IDEAS fhould fhock and deftroy each other. ; For the Same Reason, where not STRENGTH, but SWEETNESS of SOUND is requir'd, and Numbers that lull and enchant the Mind the Same Strong or Pure Iämbics are induftriously avoided, and exchang'd for fuch other Movements, as fteal along more Soft and Silent, as far as the Law of Tämbic Measures will admit, and which may seem to resemble the Music of the Spheres, the Music rather of Heav'n itself, where Hármony Sō Smoothes her Charming Tōnes, that God's own Ear Or Or the Ear of Man here on Earth, when Silence yields To the night-warbling Bird, .that, Now ǎwake, Tūnes sweetest his Love-labour'd Song In the Same manner, when his Lonely Forfaken Virgin fings, in the Mask, Sweet EсCHO, Sweetest Nymph COMUS cries out, in the Same SOLEMN TONES, How Sweetly did they float upon the Wings Of Silence ! At évěry Fall Smoothing the Rávěn Down Of Darkness till it fmil'd Sūch Sounds ǎs Thefe will take th' Enchanted Soul, And lap it in Elýfium But then, as in SINGING, fo in RECITING, every Syllable must have not only its Proper Accent, but its Juft Length and Solemnity of Sound, fuch as different Vowels or Diphthongs, and different Emotions of the Soul, do naturally give it: And That, in whatever Place of the Verse we meet it. And This is the Great Advantage of the Admiffion of Different and quite Contrary Movements into This kind of Verse, to adapt it to all the Endless Variety of Paffions and Ideas which we propose to excite in the Mind of the Reader. In the Active or Angry Parts of the Poëm, we expect the Force and Rapidity of the ftrongest Tämbics: But look over all the Hymns of ADAM and EVE, or That of the Poët Himself to Wedded Love, or His Addreffes to Light, or to URANIA, and you will find the Same Strong Tämbics as induftriously avoided; and all is SLOW and SOLEMN; in AIRS that BREATHE or INSPIRE DEVOTION: And the Grave and Sacred SPONDEES are the Sounds that justly prevail. But to give you the Clearer Notion of what I intend, I will refer you only to one Paffage, which I have particular Reason to mention. Thámmuz Thámmuz came next, běhind, Whose annual Wound in Lébănon ǎllur'd PARADISE LOST, B. i. Ver. 446. How different are Thefe from Thofe Sounds we lately men tion'd, addrefs'd to the Faln Angels by the Prince of Darkness, or Those other in which a more Awful Power is introduc'd, when it had commanded. The Gúlph of Tartarus to open wide Of Wrauth ǎwakt In Like Numbers, in the Relation of RAPHAEL, but with yet ftronger and more remarkable Percuffions on the Ear, Sō-únděr fíěry Cōpe-togéthěr rúsh'd you the Which has made me wonder, Sir, to fee (fince my reading to Sudden Thoughts on the Variety of the Numbers in PARADISE LOST, which you have defir'd me to tranfcribe,) the Lines, which I have mention'd above, produc'd by a * Learned and Ingenious Author, as an Inftance of the SWEETNESS of Iambic Measures. The following Verses are much more Tämbic, but are they therefore SWEETER? I believe no body will fay fo. But they are, what they fhould be, a Hideous Peal of Hoarfe and Barking Sounds, in Verfes otherwife fufficiently Smooth. * Dr. PEMBERTON's Obfervations on Poetry, p. 133. 2 about about her Middle round A Crý of Héll-hounds never céafing bark'd With wide Cerberian Moúths full loud-and rúng Vext SCYLLA, bathing in the Sea that parts CalábRia fRom the hoáRfe TRinácRian ShóRe. PARADISE LOST, B. ii. Ver. 653. See the Like Inftance of jarring Sounds, chiefly occafion'd by the frequent Repetition of the Letter R, in B. vi. 206-211. And in VIRG. Æn. viii. 690, and in HOR. Epod. x. per totam. And, indeed, the Iämbic Measures are rather Smooth than Sweet, and are chofen for the Rapid, or the Stately Movement, according as they are more or less Pure, that is, as they are more or lefs mixt with the Dactyle, the Tribrachus or Trochee; or with the Weighty and Majestic Spondee. See PARADISE Lost, B. i. 41-60. Such a happy and well-chofen Variety we may obferve in the following Lines. But fee the ángry Víctor has recall'd His Ministers of Vengeance and Pursuit Back to the Gates of Heav'n the Súlphurous Haili Of Heav'n receiv'd us falling; and the Thūndĕr, PARADISE LOST, B. i. 169. par What Majefty! what Rapidity! and, above all, what Propriety may we obferve in Thefe Lines! Some of which, the First and the Laft ticularly, are almost PURE IAMBICS; and yet I am much mistaken, if there be, [as I am fure there ought not to be,] any remarkable SWEETNESS in ANY of 'em. |