Not thus our Heroes of the former Days Of what some call Neglect was study'd Art. 5 When Virgil seems to Trifle in a Line, 'Tis like a Warning-piece, which gives the Sign To Wake your Fancy and prepare your Sight, To reach the noble Height of some unusual Flight. I lose my Patience, when, with Sawcy Pride, 10 By untun'd Ears I hear His Numbers try'd. Reverse of Nature! shall such Copies, then, Arraign th' Originals of Maro's Pen, 15 And the rude Notions of Pedantick Schools The Delicacy of the nicest Ear Finds nothing harsh or out of Order There. A skilful Ear in Numbers shou'd preside, 20 And all Disputes without Appeal decide. This ancient Rome and Elder Athens found, Before mistaken stops debauch'd the sound. When, by Impulse from Heaven, Tyrtæus Sung, In drooping Souldiers a new Courage sprung; 25 Reviving Sparta now the fight maintain'd, And what Two Gen'rals Lost, a Poet Gain'd. By secret influence of Indulgent Skyes, Empire and Poesy Together rise. True Poets are the Guardians of a State, 30 And, when They Fail, portend approaching Fate, For that which Rome to Conquest did Inspire Was not the Vestal, but the Muses fire; An Essay on blanc verse out Heaven joyns the Blessings; no declining Age Of many faults Rhyme is perhaps the Cause; I grant that from some Mossie Idol Oak, But now that Phœbus and the sacred Nine Have we forgot how Raphaels Num'rous Prose Book of Lost. Portentous sight! before the Cloudy van Which (with their pond'rous load, Rocks, Waters, Woods) All was confusion; Heavens Foundations Shook, 5 ΙΟ 15 20 25 30 Threatning no less than Universal Wrack, And, arm'd with vengeance, Gods Victorious Son (Effulgence of Eternal Deity), Grasping ten thousand Thunders in his hand, Drove th' old Original Rebels headlong down, 10 And sent them flameing to the vast Abysse. O may I live to hail the Glorious day, And sing loud Paans through the crowded way, When in Triumphant State the British Muse, True to her self, shall barb'rous aid Refuse, 15 And in the Roman Majesty appear, Which none know better, and none come so near. This crude paper (which beggs yr pardon) I should not have presum'd to transmit in this manner, but to obey yr co'mands, and to save the imputation of being 5 thought unwilling to labour, though it be but in gathering straw. My greate infelicity is that the meeting being on Tuesdays in ye afternoone, I am in a kind of despaire of ever gratifying myne inclinations in a conversation wh I so infinitely honor, & that would be so much to mine 10 advantage; because the very houre interferes wth an employment, wh being of publiq concernement, I can in no way dispense with: I mention this to deplore myne owne misfortune onely, not as it can signifie to any losse of yours; wh cannot be sensible of so inconsiderable a 15 member. I send you notwithstanding these indigested thoughts, and that attempt upon Cicero wch you enjoin'd me. I conceive the reason both of additions to, and the corruption of, the English language, as of most other tongues, has proceeded from the same causes; namely, 20 from victories, plantations, frontieres, staples of com'erce, pedantry of schooles, affectation of travellers, translations, fancy and style of Court, vernility & mincing of citizens, pulpits, political remonstrances, theatres, shopps, &c. The parts affected wth it we find to be the accent, 25 analogy, direct interpretation, tropes, phrases, and the like. I. I would therefore humbly propose that there might first be compil'd a Gram'ar for the præcepts, which (as did the Roman, when Crates transferr'd the art to that city, 5 follow'd by Diomedes, Priscianus, and others who undertooke it) might only insist on the rules, the sole meanes to render it a learned & learnable tongue. 2. That with this a more certaine Orthography were introduc'd, as by leaving out superfluous letters, &c., such as o in woomen, people, u in honour, a in reproach, ugh in though, &c. 3. That there might be invented some new periods and accents, besides such as our gram'arians & critics use, 10 to assist, inspirit, and modifie the pronunciation of sentences, & to stand as markes before hand how the voice & tone is to be govern'd, as in reciting of playes, reading of verses, &c., for the varying the tone of the voyce and affections, &c. 4. To this might follow a Lexicon or collection of all the 15 pure English words by themselves; then those wh are derivative from others, with their prime, certaine, and natural signification; then, the symbolical: so as no innovation might be us'd or favour'd, at least 'till there should arise some necessity of providing a new edition, & 20 of amplifying the old upon mature advice. 5. That in order to this, some were appointed to collect all the technical words, especially those of the more generous employments, as the author of the 'Essaies des Merveilles de la Nature et des plus nobles Artifices' has 25 don for the French, Francis Junius and others have endeavor'd for the Latine; but this must be gleaned from shops, not bookes, & has ben of late attempted by Mr. Moxon. 6. That things difficult to be translated or express'd, and co such as are, as it were, inco'mensurable one to another (as determinations of weights and measures, coines, honors, national habits, armes, dishes, drinkes, municipal constitutions of courts, old and abrogated costomes, &c.) were better interpreted than as yet we find them in dictionaries, 35 glossaries, and noted in the lexicon. 7. That a full catalogue of exotic words, such as are daily minted by our Logodadali, were exhibited, and that it were resolved on what should be sufficient to render them current, ut Civitate donentur, since, without restraining that 40 same indomitam novandi verba licentiam, it will in time quite disguise the language: there are some elegant words introduc'd by physitians chiefely and philosophers, worthy to be |