First order.

On her white breaft, a fparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kifs, and infidels adore.
Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose,
Quick as her eyes, and as unfix'd as those :
Favours to none, to all the fmiles extends;
Oft the rejects, but never once offends.
Bright as the fun, her eyes the gazers ftrike,
And like the fun, they fhine on all alike.
Yet graceful ease, and sweetness void of pride,
Might hide her faults, if belles had faults to hide;
If to her flare fome female errors fall,
Look on her face, and you'll forget 'em all.

Rape of the Lock.

In accounting for the remarkable livelinefs of this paffage, it will be acknowledged by every one who has an ear, that the melody muft come in for a fhare. The lines, all of them, are of the first order; a very unufual circumftance in the author of this poem, fo eminent for variety in his verfification. Who can doubt, that he has been led by delicacy of tafte to employ the first order preferably to the others?

Second order,

Our humble province is to tend the fair,
Not a lefs pleafing, though lefs glorious care;
To fave the powder from too rude a gale,"
Nor let the imprifon'd effences exhale;

To draw freih colours from the vernal flow'rs;
To fical from rainbows, ere they drop their thow'rs, &c.

Again:

Oh thoughtlefs mortals! ever blind to fate,
Too foon dejected, and too foon elate.

Sudden, thefe honours thall be fnatch'd away,
And curs'd for ever this victorious day.

Third order.

To fifty chofen fylphs, of special note,
We trust th' important charge, the petticoat.

Again:

Oh fay what stranger caufe, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?

A plurality of lines of the fourth order would not have a good effect in fucceffion; because, by a remarkable tendency to reft, their proper office is to clofe a period. The reader, therefore, muft be fatisfied with inftances where this order is mixed with others.

Not louder fhrieks to pitying Heaven are caft,

When Husband's or when lapdog's breathe their last.

Again :

Steel could the works of mortal pride confound,
And hew triumphal arches to the ground.

Again:

She fees, and trembles at th' approaching ill,
Juft in the jaws of ruin, and codille.

Again:

With earnest eyes, and round unthinking face,
He first the fnuff-box open'd, then the cafe.

And this fuggefts another experiment, which is to fet the different orders more directly in oppofition, by giving examples where they are mixed in the fame paffage.

First and fecond orders.

Sol through white curtains fhot a tim'rous ray,
And ope'd thofe eyes that muft eclipfe the day.

Again:

Not youthful kings in battle feiz'd alive,
Not fcornful virgins who their charms furvive,
Not ardent lovers robb'd of all their blifs,
Not ancient ladies when refus'd a kifs.
Not tyrants fierce that unrepenting die,
Not Cynthia when her mantua's pin'd awry,
E'er felt fuch rage, refentment, and despair,
As thou fad virgin for thy ravish'd hair.

First and third.

Think what an equipage thou haft in air,
And view with fcorn two pages and a chair.

Again:

What guards the purity of melting maids,
In courtly balls, and midnight masquerades,
Safe from the treach'rous friend, the daring fpark,
The glance by day, the whisper in the dark

Again:

With tender billet-doux he lights the pyre,
And breathes three am'rous fighs to raise the fire;
Then proftrate falls, and begs with ardent eyes,
Soon to obtain and long poffefs the prize.

Again:

Jove's thunder roars, heav'n trembles all around,
Blue Neptune ftorms, the bellowing deeps refound,
Earth fhakes her nodding tow'rs, the ground gives way,
And the pale ghofts ftart at the flash of day!

Second

Second and third.

Sunk in Thaleftris' arms, the nymph he found,
Her eyes dejected, and her hair unbound.

Again:

On her heav'd bofom hung her drooping head,
Which with a figh the raised; and thus fhe faid.

Mufing on the foregoing fubject, I begin to doubt whether all this while I have not been in a reverie, and whether the scene before me, full of objects new and fingular, be not mere fairy-land. Is there any truth in the appearance, or is it wholly a work of imagination? We cannot doubt of its reality; and we may with affurance pronounce, that great is the merit of English Heroic verfe: for though uniformity prevails in the arrangement, in the equality of the lines, and in the refemblance of the final founds; variety is still more confpicuous in the paufes and in the ac cents, which are diverfified in a furprifing manner. Of the beauty that refults from a due mixture of uniformity and variety, many inftances have already occurred, but none more illuftrious than English verfification; however rude it may be in the fim plicity of its arrangement, it is highly melodious by its pauses and accents, fo as already to rival the most perfect fpecies known in Greece or Rome; and it is no difagreeable profpect to find it fufceptible of still greater refinement.

We proceed to blank verfe, which hath fo many circumftances in common with rhyme, that its peculiarities may be brought within a narrow compass. With refpect to form, it differs from rhyme in re

See chap. 9.

jecting

jecting the jingle of fimilar founds, which purifies it from a childish pleafure, but this improvement is a trifle compared with what follows. Our verfe is extremely cramped by rhyme; and the peculiar advantage of blank verfe is, that it is at liberty to attend the imagination in its boldeft flights. Rhyme neceffarily divides verfe into couplets; each couplet makes a complete mufical period, the parts of which are divided by paufes, and the whole fummed up by a full ciole at the end; the melody begins anew with the next couplet and in this manner a compofition in rhyme proceeds couplet after couplet. I have often had occafion to mention the correfpondence and concord that ought to fubfift between found and sense; from which it is a plain inference, that if a couplet be a complete period with regard to melody, it ought regularly to be the fame with regard to fenfe. As it is extremely difficult to fupport fuch strictnefs of compofition, licences are indulged, as explained above; which, however, muft be ufed with difcretion, To as to preferve fome degree of concord between the fenfe and the mufic; there ought never to be a full clofe in the fenfe but at the end of a couplet; and there ought always to be fome paufe in the fenfe at the end of every couplet: the fame period as to fenfe may be extended through feveral couplets; but each couplet ought to contain a diftinct member diftinguished by a paufe in the fenfe as well as in the found; and the whole ought to be clofed with a complete.cadence.*. Rules fuch as thefe, muft confine rhyme within very narrow bounds: a thought of any extent, cannot be reduced within its com

pafs

*This rule is quite neglected in French verfification. Even Boileau makes no difficulty, to close one fubje&t with the first line of a couplet, and to begin a new fubje&t with the fecond. Such licence, however fanctioned by practice, is unpleafant by the difcordance between the paufes of the fenfe and of the melody.