An Apology for the Study of Northern Antiquities | Page 8

sparingly; and as I do not commend any of our Moderns who contract Words into Monosyllables to botch up their Verses, much less such as do it out of Affectation; yet certainly the use of Monosyllables may be made to produce a charming and harmonious Effect, where they fall under a Judgment that can rightly dispose and order them. And indeed, if a Variety and Copiousness of Feet, and a Latitude of shifting and transposing Words either in Prose or Poetical Compositions, be of any use, towards the rendering such Compactions sweet, or nervous, or harmonious, according to the Exigencies of the several sorts of Stile, one wou'd think Monosyllables to be best accommodated to all these Purposes, and according to the Skill of those who know how to manage them, to answer all the Ends, either of masculine Force, or female Tenderness; for being single you have a Liberty of placing them where, and as you please; whereas in Words of many Syllables you are more confined, and must take them as you find them, or be put upon the cruel necessity of mangling and tearing them asunder. Mr. Dryden, it is true, wou'd make us believe he had a great Aversion to Monosyllables. Yet he cannot help making use of them sometimes in entire Verses, nor conceal his having a sort of Pride, even where he tells us he was forc'd to do it. For to have done otherwise would have been a Force on Nature, which would have been unworthy of so great a Genius, whose Care it was to study Nature, and to imitate and copy it to the Life; and it is not improbable, that there might be somewhat of a latent Delicacy and Niceness in this Matter, which he chose rather to dissemble, than to expose, to the indiscreet Management of meaner Writers. For in the first Line of his great Work the _?neis_, every Word is a _Monosyllable_; and tho' he makes a seeming kind of Apology, yet he cannot forbear owning a secret Pleasure in what he had done. "My first Line in the _?neis_, says he, is not harsh.
"Arms and the Man I sing, who forc'd by Fate.
"But a much better Instance may be given from the last Line of Manilius, made English by our learned and judicious Mr. _Creech_;
"Nor could the World have born so fierce a Flame.
"Where the many liquid Consonants are placed so artfully, that they give a pleasing Sound to the Words, tho' they are all of one Syllable."
It is plain from these last Words, that the Subject-matter, Monosyllables, is not so much to be complain'd of; what is chiefly to be requir'd, is of the Poet, that he be a good Workman, in forming them aright, and that he _place them artfully_: and, however Mr. Dryden may desire to disguise himself, yet, as he some where says, Nature will prevail. For see with how much Passion he has exprest himself towards these two Verses, in which the Poet has not been sparing of _Monosyllables_: "I am sure, says he, there are few who make Verses, have observ'd the Sweetness of these two Lines in _Coopers Hill;
"Tho deep, yet clear; tho gentle, yet not dull; Strong without Rage, without o'erflowing full.
"And there are yet fewer that can find the reason of that Sweetness, I have given it to some of my Friends in Conversation, and they have allow'd the Criticism to be just."
You see, Sir, this great Master had his Reserves, and this was one of the Arcana, to which every Novice was not admitted to aspire; this was an Entertainment only for his best Friends, such as he thought worthy of his Conversation; and I do not wonder at it, for he was acquainted not only with the Greek and_ Latin Poets_, but with the best of his own Countrey, as well of ancient as of latter times, and knew their Beauties and Defects: and tho' he did not think himself obliged to be lavish, in dispersing the Fruits of so much Pains and Labour at random, yet was he not wanting in his Generosity to such as deserved his Friendship, and in whom he discern'd a Spirit capable of improving the Hints of so great a Master. To give greater Probability to what I have said concerning Monosyllables, I will give some Instances, as well from such Poets as have gone before him, as those which have succeeded him. It will not be taken amiss by those who value the Judgment of Sir Philip Sydney, and that of Mr. Dryden, if I begin with Father Chaucer.
#Er it was Day, as was her won to do.#
Again,
#And but I have her Mercy and her Grace, That I may seen her at the lefte way; I nam but