A Stanza, or Staff of Verfes, is an entire A Stanza of Strain, or compleat Period in Verfe: As, a Stanza Verjes, what. of three Lines.

Nothing, thou elder Brother ev'n to Shade!
Thou had'ft a Being ere the World was made,
And (well-fix'd) art alone of ending not
[afraid.

A Stanza of four Verfes.

She ne'er faw Courts, but Courts could have

[undone

With untaught Looks, and an unpractis'd

[Heart,

Her Nets the moft prepar'd could never fhun,
For Nature spread them in the Scorn of Art.

THE Senfe fhould always be finish'd in the Its Number of Stanza; a Stanza in English Poetry cannot con- Verjes. fift of less than three, and has feldom more than twelve Verses, except in Pindarick Odes, where the Stanzas vary very much.

AN Ode or Song is a certain Number of Stan- An Ode or zas more or lefs, and is proper to the Lyric Song, what. Poetry, or that which was made and fet to the

Lyre or Harp.

A Poem is a compleat and finish'd Piece of A Poem defin'd Poetry, or any Compofition in Verfe.

Blank Poetry or Verfe is that which has no Blank Verse Rhyme, but only Meire, Harmony of Syllables, or Poetry. and a delightful Cadence of the Accents. As thus in Milton.

I faw the rifing Birth

Of Nature from the unapparent Deep.
I faw when at his Word this formless Mafs,
The World's material Mould, came to an
[Heap;
Confufion heard his Voice, and wild Uproar
Stood rul'd, ftood vaft Infinity confin'd;
Till at his fecond Bidding, Darkness fled,
Light fhone, and Order from Disorder fprung.

Poetical

Of Poetical
Numbers,

Feet andPlace.

Poetical Numbers, and Feet and Place, may be understood as follows: In Poetry (efpecially in the Latin, Greek, &c.) Syllables are diftinguifhed, according to Quantity, into Long and Long and Short: The long Syllable hath this Mark -, the hort Syllables. Short one this, and a certain Number of these long and fhort Syllables make a Foot, or the PoetiPoetic Foot or cal Feet of a Verfe. The Place or Region of a Foot in a Verfe is its Situation in regard of the Beginning; as the Second, Fourth, Sixth, are Poetic Places. call'd even Places; the First, Third, Fifth, are call'd odd or unequal Places.

Feet.

Poetic Feet

OF Feet fome be of two Syllables, fome of three, as here follow.

and their

Kinds.

A Spondee, two Long,

WE have no English fingle Words which have the Quantity of the Spondee, Pyrrhic, Molofs, and Tribrach; and accordingly I have left their Places vacant. And indeed in English Poetry, there is very small Variety of Feet, the Iambic being as it were fole Regent of our Verfe; according to Mr. Brightland.

If Pulfe of Verse a Nation's Temper shows,
In keen Iambics English Metre flows.

BUT as fome Variety is neceffary to please, our Poets, maugre the Genius of their Tongue, do very gracefully admit sometimes a Trochee, fometimes a Dactyl, &c. into their Compofitions. As the fame Author proceeds:

Two

Two Syllables our English Feet compose,
But Quantities diftinguifh them from Profe:
By long and foort in various Stations plac'd
Our English Verse harmoniously is grac❜d.
With fhort and long Heroic Feet we raise,
But these to vary is the Poet's Praise;
For the fame Sounds perpetually difguft:
Dryden to this Variety was juft.

IF a Verfe confifts of fix Places or Feet, 'tis The Kinds of call'd an Hexameter Verfe; of this Sort were all Verfe. the Compofitions of Latin and Greek Heroic Poetry, as the Eneid and Iliad. But if the Verfe has but five Feet, 'tis call'd Pentameter. If a Verse abounds moftly with Iambics, 'tis call'd Iambic Verfe; and thus it is named in respect of the other Feet.

Of the feveral Kinds of Feet above fet down, of the differthe Spondee and the Dactyl are the moft confider- ent Natures able, as being the Meafures ufed in the Heroic and Qualities of the feveral Verfe by Homer, Virgil, &c. These two Feet are kinds of Feet. of equal Time (for two fhort Syllables are equal to one long one) but of different Motion. She Spondee has an even, strong and steady Pace, which may be compar'd to a Trott: But the Motion of the Dactyl is brisk, and resembles the nimbler Strokes of, a Gallop. An inverted Dactyl is an Anapest, a very sprightly Trott, and a Motion proper to excite and enrage. The Iambic is alfo of a light and fprightly Nature; the Trochee is of a contrary one, fit to exprefs weak and languid Motions; as all thofe Measures which move from long to fhort Syllables. The Pyrrhic and Tribrach are very rapid, as the Molofs is flow and beavy. The Verfe is generally fo order'd by the skilful Poet, that it in fonie meafure expreffes the very Nature and Modes of the Subject, by the Number and Sound of the Feet S

and

Of the Kinds of Poetry.

and Syllables. This Mr. Pope gives an elegant Inftance of, when, to fhew how heavy and dull the French Monofyllable Poetry is, he faith,

And ten low Words oft creep in one dull Line.

Which Line is an Inftance of what he reproves ; for there are indeed ten Monofyllable Words, which feem to creep heavily through the Line, and make it dull and flat.

THERE are various Kinds of Poetry conftantly in Ufe; the Subject, peculiar Characters, and a Poetical Defcription of the most confiderable Sorts, I fhall give the Reader from Mr. Brightland, Boileau, &c. And firft

Of BUCOLICS or PASTORAL.

Of Bucolics or THIS fort of Poetry is call'd Paftoral, because
Paftoral; and it is an Imitation of a Shepherd's Life, or that of
Georgics.
Rural Nymphs and Swains. It is alfo call'd
Bucolics from the Cow-berds, &c. which were the
Subject of their Employment: As Georgics are
Poems fo call'd from Husbandry and Agriculture,
the Subjects about which they are employ'd.

The Paftoral that fings of happy Swains,
And harmless Nymphs that haunt the Woods
[and Plains,
Should through the whole discover ev'ry where
Their true Simplicity and pious Air;
And in the Characters of Maids and Youth,
Unpractis'd Plainnefs, Innocence and Truth.

As a fair Nymph, when rifing from her Bed,
With fparkling Diamonds dreffes not her Head;
But, without Gold, or Pearl, or coftly Scents,
Gathers from neighb'ring Fields her Orna-
[ments:

Such,

Such, lovely in its Drefs, but plain withal,
Ought to appear a perfect Paftoral.

Its Style muft ftill be natural and clear,
And Elegance in every Part appear;
Its bumble Method nothing has of Fierce,
But hates the Rattling of a lofty Verfe.
There native Beauty pleafes, and excites,
And never with barb Sounds the Ear affrights.
Oppos'd to this another, low in Style,
Makes Shepherds speak a Language base and
[vile:
His Writings flat and heavy, without Sound,
Kiffing the Earth and creeping on the Ground.
Each Paftoral a little Plot must own,
Which as it must be fimple, must be one :
With Small Digreffions yet it will dispense,
Nor needs it always Allegoric Senfe.

The Paftoral admits of Vows and Praise,
Of Promifes, Complaints, of Mirth and Joys,
Congratulations, Singing, Riddles, Jests,
Of Parables, Sentences, and the rest.

In Paftorals to know what Rules are right,
For Guides take Virgil, and read Theocrite;
Be their just Writings, by the Gods infpir'd,
Your conftant Pattern, practis'd, and admir'd.
By them alone you'll easily comprehend
How Poets, without Shame, may condescend
To fing of Gardens, Fields, of Flowers and
[Fruit,
To ftir up Shepherds, and to tune the Flute:-
This of their Writings is the Grace and Flight,
Their Rifings lofty, yet not cut of Sight.

OF ELEGY.

AN Elegy is a mournful Poem, a funeral Song Of Elegs, and or Ditty; first invented to bewail the Death of its Properties. a Friend,

S 2