and their _Claim_ renew;
Too oft _Impressions_ on our _Armies_ make,
Cut off our _Straglers_ and our _Out-Guards_ take, 480
Which lazily our Authors now admit,
And call th' _Excursions of Luxuriant Wit_;
With _Badger-Feet_ the two-top'd _Mount_ we climb,
And stalk from _Peak_ to _Peak_ on _Stilts of Rime_.
Sweet WALLER'S _Dimeter_ we most approve
For cheerful _Songs_ and _moving Tales of Love_,
Which for _Heroic Subjects_ wants of _Strength_,
Too _short_, as _Alexandrins_ err in _Length_.
Our _Ear's_ the Judge of _Cadence_; nicely weigh
What _Consonants_; rebel, and what obey; 490
What _Vowels_ mixt compose a pleasing _Sound_,
And what the tender _Organs_ grate and wound.
Nor at thy Reader's _Mercy_ chuse to lie,
Nor let _his Judgment_ want of _thine_ supply:
So _easie_ let thy _Verse_ so _smoothly_ fall,
They must be read _aright_ if read at all.
[Sidenote: _Numbers_.]
Nor _equal Numbers_ will for all suffice,
The _Sock_ creeps low, the _Tragic Bushkins_ rife;
None knew this _Art_ so well, so well did use
As did the _Mantuan Shepherd's_ Heav'nly Muse: 500
He marry'd _Sound and Sense_, at odds before,
We hear his _Scylla bark, Charybdis roar_;
And when in Fields his _Fiery Coursers_ meet
The _hollow Ground_ shakes underneath their feet:
Yet nicer _Ears_ can taste a _Diff'rence_ when
Of _Flocks_ and _Fields_ he _sings_ or _Arms_ and _Men_.
If I our _English Numbers_ taste aright,
We in the grave _Iambic_ most delight:
Each _second_ Syllable the Voice should _rest_,
_Spondees_ may serve, but still th' _Iambic's_ best: 510
Th' unpleasing _Trochee_ always makes a _Blot_,
And lames the _Numbers_; or, if this forgot,
A strong _Spondaic_ should the _next_ succeed,
The feeble _Wall_ will a good _Buttress_ need:
Long _Writing, Observation, Art_ and _Pain_
Must here unite if you the _Prize_ would gain.
[Sidenote: _Pauses_.]
_Pause_ is the _Rest_ of _Voice_, the poor _Remains_
Of _antient Song_ that still our _Verse_ retains:
The _second Foot_ or _third's_ our usual _Rest_,
Tho more of _Art's_ in _varying_ oft exprest. 520
At ev'ry Word the _Pause_ is sometimes[3] made,
And wond'rous _Beauty_ every where displaid:
--But here we _gu