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
Writers. For in the first Line of his great Work the _Æneis_, every
Word is a _Monosyllable_; and tho' he makes a seeming kind of Apology,
yet he cannot forbear owning a secret Pleasure in what he had done.
"My first Line in the _Æneis_, says he, is not harsh.

"Arms and the Man I sing, who forc'd by Fate.

"But a much better Instance may be given from the last Line of
_Manilius_, made _English_ by our learned and judicious Mr. _Creech_;

"Nor could the World have born so fierce a Flame.

"Where the many liquid Consonants are placed so artfully, that they give
a pleasing Sound to the Words, tho' they are all of one Syllable."

It is plain from these last Words, that the Subject-matter,
_Monosyllables_, is not so much to be complain'd of; what is chiefly to
be requir'd, is of the Poet, that he be a good Workman, in forming them
aright, and that he _place them artfully_: and, however Mr. _Dryden_
may desire to disguise himself, yet, as he some where says, Nature will
prevail. For see with how much Passion he has exprest himself towards
these two Verses, in which the Poet has not been sparing of
_Monosyllables_: "I am sure, says he, there are few who make Verses,