Things fair and good;
But all that Fair and Good, in thy Divine
_Semblance_, and in thy Beauty's heav'nly Ray
United I beheld--

I presume there is no other Language in which Perfection equal to this
is to be found: And I could give many more Instances of the same kind
out of the _Paradise Lost_.

VII. The seventh Particular in _Virgil_ was his _Varying the Common
Pronunciation_, in which _Milton_ has imitated him in several Places;
the following is one Instance.

"--Thus to his Son au--[=di]--bly spake.

For so it must be read, and not after the common manner.

Again,

"Hoarse Murmur eccho'd to his Words Applause
Thro' the in--[=fi]--nite Host--

And the like in many other Places.

VIII. _His Verses contrary to the Common Measure._ The following is an
Example of this kind.

"Drove headlong down to the Bottomless Pit.--

Those who may be apt to find fault with such Arts as these (for Arts
they are in _Virgil_ and _Milton_) little think what it is to write 10
or 12 thousand Lines, and to vary the Sound of them in such manner as
to entertain the Ear from the Beginning to the End of the Work.

IX. I come now to the _Alliteratio_.

And 1. To speak of the single _Alliteratio_. This is so common in
_Milton_, that you need but begin the Poem, or open any Page of it,
and you will meet with it.

"Of Man's _first_ Disobedience, and the _Fruit_
Of that forbidden _Tree_, whose mortal _Taste_
Brought Death into the _World_, and all our _Woe_.

Again,

"_Restore_ us, and _Regain_ the blissful Seat.

And

"_Sing_ Heav'nly Muse! that on the _Secret_ Top.

And a little lower,

"That _Shepherd_ who first taught the chosen _Seed_.

But I will produce an Example or two of this kind out of our Author's
juvenile Poems. His Verses upon the Circumcision are addressed to the
Angels that appear'd to the Shepherds, and begin thus,

"Ye flaming Pow'rs, and _winged Warriors_ bright,
That erst with Musick and triumphant Song
Through the _soft Silence_ of the listning Night
_So sweetly sung_ your Joy the Clouds along.

All the Masters of Verse from _Chaucer_ to _Milton_, and from _Milton_
to this time, were sensible of this Art. _Dryden_ attends to it more
than any thing else.

"_Beneath_ the Shade which _Beechen Boughs_ diffuse,
_You Tityrus_ entertain _your_ Sylvan Muse:
_Round_ the _wide World_ in Banishment _we roam_,
_Forc'd from_ our pleasing _Fields_ and nat