t from _us_ ought should ascend to Heav'n
So prevalent as to concern the Mind
Of God high-blest, or to incline his Will,
Hard to belief may seem; _yet_ this will Prayer,
Or one short Sigh of human Breath, up born
Ev'n to the Seat of God. For since I sought
By Pray'r th' offended Deity to appease;
_Kneel'd_ and before him humbled all my Heart,
Methought I saw him placable and mild,
Bending his Ear, _&c._

How extremely fine is the Poetry of this Passage? How soft is the
beginning, occasion'd by the Assonance of the two first Words, _Eve_,
_Easily_, and of the five next all alliterated with the same Vowel,
_A_

"--_May Faith admit that all._

How solemn is the Pause at the 1st Syllable of the 3d Line! _But_--

And the Caesure upon the Monosyllable _Us_ that follows immediately,

"_But_--that from _us_--

And the same Energy is plainly perceiv'd at the End of the 6th Line,
where the Caesure is plac'd upon the Monosyllable _yet_,

"_Yet_--this will Prayer, _&c._

But when we come to that Line,

"_Kneel'd_; and before Him humbled all my Heart,

such is the Force of the Word _kneel'd_ in that Situation, that we
actually see _Adam_ upon his Knees before the offended Deity; and by
the Conclusion of this Paragraph,--_Bending his Ear_, Infinite
Goodness is visibly as it were represented to our Eyes as inclining to
hearken to the Prayers of his penitent Creature.

LETTER VI.

_SIR,_

[Sidenote: XI.]

I am now to proceed to the _Assonantia Syllabarum_ or _Rhyme_. I have
shown under this Head how much _Virgil_ abounds in _Rhyme_; from
whence I conclude, that it may be reasonably supposed _Rhyme_ had its
Original from a nobler Beginning than the Barbarity of _Druids_ and
_Monks_. It is very probable that _Chaucer_, _Dante_, and _Petrarch_
learnt it from _Virgil_, and that other Nations follow'd the Example
they had set them.

To say the _Bards_ rhym'd in the Times of grossest Ignorance, merely
by their own Invention, only proves that Rhyme is naturally
harmonious. We are told by the Learned that the _Hebrew_ Poetry is in
_Rhyme_, and that where-ever any Footsteps of this Art are to be
trac'd, _Rhyme_ is always found, whether in _Lapland_ or in _China_.

If it should be objected that the _Greek_ Tongue is an Exception to
this general Rule; that Matter perhaps may be disputed, or a
particular Answer might be given. But that the _Latin_ Language is a
Friend to _Rhyme_ is clear b