to his Works in that wherein they were
first written, and the modest Opinion he prescribes to his own, and other
Mens Poetical Performances, is no Discouragement to these Hopes;

Whoever thinks a faultless Piece to see,
Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er shall be.

And _Horace_, while he is teaching us the Beauties in the Art of Poetry,
gives no less than nine _Monosyllables_ in the compass of a Verse and a
half;

_Sed nunc non_ erat _his_ locus: & fortasse cupressum
_Scis_ simulare. _Quid hoc si_, &c.

Now if these are Beauties, as I doubt not but the _politer Criticks_
will allow, I cannot see why our Language may not now and then be
tolerated in using _Monosyllables_, when it is done discreetly, and
sparingly; and as I do not commend any of our Moderns who contract
Words into _Monosyllables_ to botch up their Verses, much less such as
do it out of Affectation; yet certainly the use of _Monosyllables_ may
be made to produce a charming and harmonious Effect, where they fall
under a Judgment that can rightly dispose and order them. And indeed,
if a Variety and Copiousness of Feet, and a Latitude of shifting and
transposing Words either in Prose or Poetical Compositions, be of any
use, towards the rendering such Compactions sweet, or nervous, or
harmonious, according to the Exigencies of the several sorts of Stile,
one wou'd think _Monosyllables_ to be best accommodated to all these
Purposes, and according to the Skill of those who know how to manage
them, to answer all the Ends, either of masculine Force, or female
Tenderness; for being single you have a Liberty of placing them where,
and as you please; whereas in Words of many Syllables you are more
confined, and must take them as you find them, or be put upon the
cruel necessity of mangling and tearing them asunder. Mr. _Dryden_,
it is true, wou'd make us believe he had a great Aversion to
_Monosyllables_. Yet he cannot help making use of them sometimes in
entire Verses, nor conceal his having a sort of Pride, even where he
tells us he was forc'd to do it. For to have done otherwise would have
been a Force on Nature, which would have been unworthy of so great a
Genius, whose Care it was to study Nature, and to imitate and copy it
to the Life; and it is not improbable, that there might be somewhat of
a latent Delicacy and Niceness in this Matter, which he chose rather
to dissemble, than to expose, to the indiscreet Management of meaner
Writ