An Apology for the Study of Northern Antiquities | Page 8

teaching us the Beauties in the Art of Poetry,
gives no less than nine Monosyllables in the compass of a Verse and a
half;
Sed nunc non erat his locus: & fortasse cupressum Scis simulare. Quid
hoc si, &c.
Now if these are Beauties, as I doubt not but the politer Criticks will
allow, I cannot see why our Language may not now and then be

tolerated in using Monosyllables, when it is done discreetly, and
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 _Æneis_, 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 _Æneis_, 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