add to
it, is to put it into Verse. However good the Thought may be, however apt
the Words in which 'tis couched; yet he finds himself at a little unrest,
while Rhyme is wanting. He cannot leave it, till that comes naturally;
and then is at ease, and sits down contented.

"From Replies, which are the most _elevated_ thoughts of Verse, you pass
to the most _mean_ ones, those which are common with the lowest of
household conversation. In these you say, the majesty of the Verse
suffers. You instance in 'the calling of a servant' or 'commanding a door
to be shut' in Rhyme. This, CRITES! is a good observation of yours; but no
argument. For it proves no more, but that such thoughts should be waved,
as often as may be, by the address of the Poet. But suppose they _are_
necessary in the places where he uses them; yet there is no need to put
them into rhyme. He may place them in the beginning of a verse and break
it off, as unfit (when so debased) for any other use: or granting the
worst, that they require more room than the hemistich will allow; yet
still, there is a choice to be made of best words and least vulgar
(provided they be apt) to express such thoughts.

"Many have blamed Rhyme in general for this fault, when the Poet, with a
little care, might have redressed it: but they do it, with no more
justice, than if English Poesy should be made ridiculous, for the sake of
[JOHN TAYLOR] the Water Poet's rhymes.

"Our language is noble, full, and significant; and I know not why he who
is master of it, may not clothe ordinary things in it, as decently as the
Latin; if he use the same diligence in his choice of words.

"_Delectus verborum origo est eloquentiae_ was the saying of JULIUS
CAESAR; one so curious in his, that none of them can be changed but for
the worse.

"One would think 'Unlock the door!' was a thing as vulgar as could be
spoken; and yet SENECA could make it sound high and lofty, in his Latin--

"_Reserate clusos regii postes Laris._

"But I turn from this exception, both because it happens not above twice
or thrice in any Play, that those vulgar thoughts are used: and then too,
were there no other apology to be made, yet the necessity of them (which
is, alike, in all kind[s] of writing) may excuse them. Besides that, the
great eagerness and precipitation with which they are spoken, makes us
rather mind the substance than the dress; that for which they are spoken,
rather than what is spoke[n]. For they a