other Men; tho' upon the observing such little Niceties,
does all the Musick of Numbers defend. But the Refinement of our
Versication is a sort of Criticism, which the +Essayer+, if we may judge
of his Knowledge by his Practice, seems yet to learn; for never was
there such a Pack of Stiff ill sounding Rhimes put together as his Essay
is stuff'd with: To add therefore to his other Collections, let him
remember hereafter, that Verses have Feet given 'em either to walk
gracefully and smooth, and sometimes with Majesty and State like
+Virgils+, or to run light and easy like +Ovid+'s, not to stand
stockstill like Dr. +Donne+'s, or to hobble like indigested Prose: That
the counting of the Syllables is the least Part of the Poets Work, in
the turning either of a soft or a Sonorous Line; that the +Ed's+ went
away with the +For to's+, and the +Until's+ in that general Rout that
fell on the whole Body of the +thereon's+, the +therein's+, and
+thereby's+, when those useful +Expletives+, the +altho's+ and the
+Unto's+, and those most convenient +Synalaepha's+ +'midst+, +'mongst+,
+'gainst+, and +'twixt+, were every one +cut off+; which dismal
Slaughter was follow'd with the utter Extirpation of the ancient House
of the +hereof's+ and the +therefrom's+, &c. Nor is this Reformation the
Arbitrary Fancy of a Few, who would impose their own Private Opinions
and Practices upon the rest of their Countrymen, but grounded on the
Authority of +Horace+, who tells us in his Epistle +de arte Poetica+,
that Present Use is the final Judge of Language, (the Verse is too well
known to need quoting) and on the common Reason of Mankind, which
forbids us those antiquated Words and obsolete Idioms of Speech, whose
worth Time has worn out, how well soever they may seem to stop a Gap in
Verse, and suit our shapeless Immature Conceptions; for what is grown
Pedantick and unbecoming when 'tis spoke, will not have a jot the better
grace for being writ down._ This Gentleman's Opinion, and that of
others, which agrees with his, justify'd by the Example of all the
Polite Writers in King _Charles_ the Second's Reign, which probably may
be the _Augustan_ Age of _English_ Poetry, is not to warrant the
Affectation of such as are for the _Can'ts_, the _Don'ts_, the _Won'ts_,
the _Shan'ts_, &c. but to refer to the Ear the cutting off those useless
Syllables the _Ed's_ and _Eth's_ both in Verse and Prose; and I question
whether any one wou'd not be better pleas'd to he