66 cessities of rhyme. The fact, indeed, was held by the Quarterly Review" as demonstrative of his "calm, settled, imperturbable, drivelling idiocy;" but to other eyes than those of William Gifford, the same poetry appeared to be one glorious carcanet of "orient pearls at random strung." The harp might be Æolian, but it "discoursed sweet music." Many other poets besides Keats might be shown to have taken suggestions from rhymes, and these both numerous and fine; nor is the circumstance of their having so done in the slightest degree disparaging. If the thoughts were original, they possessed the one characteristic needful in poetry, and it mattered not whence they sprung. Still less mattered it whether the suggestive rhymes occurred spontaneously to the mind, or were taken from a book. On this trifling distinction the question really and wholly hangs. Let not the alumni of the Muses, then, when they would express the whispers of the "maids divine" in fit terms, either scruple or be ashamed to have recourse to all such aids as lie at their command. And not the least of these, certainly, will the Rhyming Dictionary be found. It is impossible to give any hints, likely to be very beneficial, on the forms or kinds of verse which, in these modern days, it would be most advantageous to cultivate. The point is by no means unimportant, nevertheless, seeing that, in the absence or dearth of that true and high originality which lies in subject-matter, mere novelty of form is the next feature most likely to arrest attention to productions in verse. It is not novelty of subject, of course, that is here referred to, but simply novelty in the particular species of versification employed. All the old varieties of form, from ode to epic, and all the old measures and lines, from the trissyllabic upwards, having been used to satiety, our own generation, or rather that of ou immediate sires, expended a deal of ingenuity in inventing new vestments for their poetical fancies. Those who lighted on anything original were fortunate men; and, without depreciating one whit the genius of our own Scott, we must hold him to have been of the number, in as far as he struck out, or at least first worked out fully, the idea of what may be called Ballad-epics. The friends of Coleridge indeed say, that Scott took the hint from hearing "Christabel" read in manuscript. But it was obviously from the old national ballads that the inspiration really came. Having once begun, Scott kept the field against all sectators, Byron only, by a total change of scenes and themes, attaining to an equality of success. Otherwise, the first comer held his ground in the face of hosts of rivals, even Wordsworth having failed in his attempts of the kind, as the "White Doe of Rylstone" sufficiently shows. Southey also failed, at all events comparatively; and the reader must be called on here to remark the vast pains which the latter poet took to strike out a new form of versification for himself. Poems of all shapes and sizes, with rhyme and without rhyme, regular and irregular, with measures of every conceivable kind and length, hexameters after Virgil, and Sapphics after Horace all of these fantasias did Southey try, but without making a hit in any one instance. His scholarship swamped his originality, However, he is but adverted to now, as an instance of one who felt deeply the value of original forms of versification, and strove hard for success in that walk. Others were more fortunate. Macpherson's "Ossian," perhaps, may be considered the most striking example in our language of what may be accomplished by a decidedly novel form of verse. Without denying merit to the work, it may be safely asserted, that, had Macpherson produced his "Ossian" in ordinary heroic lines, the son of Fingal would have made no noise among men. Shenstone is another poet whose pastorals keep their place in all collections chiefly through their singularity of versification, just as Sterne's wit is rendered racier by his artificial starts and blanks in composition. It may possibly seem invidious to notice cases of living authors, but, as Mr T. B. Macaulay lives not by his poetry, there can be no great harm in selecting him as a modern example, and expressing the opinion that his Lays of Rome" owe much of their success to the comparatively novel form of the versification. Others have tried the same verse since, in new "lays" of all sorts; but such happy strokes are made only once for all, when made by true talent. Repetitions are ever set down as imitations. 66 Originality, be it again said, of matter of thoughts and images—is the staple of all genuine and successful poetry. But as various helps to correct versification have been recommended here, so are aspirants to the bays also counselled not to overlook, as unimportant, the forms and kinds of verse to be by them adopted, but to keep in mind, even there, the paramount value of novelty. Alfred Tennyson has not disdained to attend to this point in his "In Memoriam," which is composed in a kind of verse not before used in any long piece in our language. The poem in question consists, virtually, of a series of Sonnets, of peculiar construction, each being framed of three Quatrains, in octo-syllabic lines. The mere measure has little ease or harmony; but it is to a great extent new, and has perhaps done much to save the poet from the charge of imitation. Had he composed his Elegy in ordinary sonnets, its resemblance to the famous Shaksperian series in theme, thought, and diction, would have been very observable, or at least much more observable than now. The example of the Laureate, therefore, is to the point here, and should have a degree of weight proportioned to his high position and great talents. Let this lesson, on the propriety of aiming at novelty in the chosen forms of verse, be stored up with the others given on Versification generally. In this age, when a love of elegant Literature is so widely diffused, and ought to be encouraged as a material adjunct to civilisation, such lessons, it is hoped, may not prove useless, whether they be turned to the purposes of amusement, or applied to graver ends. Once more, however, let us here guard against misinterpretation. The poet derives his faculties from nature; and more than any other faculties, perhaps, those of the poet are special, singular, and idiosyncratic. But, like all faculties, be they what they may, they are valueless without due culture. This is a mere truism; and yet it is one of which a pretty strong counter-belief justifies the expression here. The idea that poets spring from the creative source ready-fashioned, like Minerva from the head of Jove, and are incapable of modification or improvement afterwards in any shape, has led practically to many follies, and to the waste, possibly, of a goodly amount of brains. The "vision and the faculty divine," to be noble and useful, must be directed and managed nobly and usefully; and so far, and no farther, does our impression that Poetry. is an Art extend. There is no man who reads poetry with a true sense of its beauties, but discerns, wherever he approves, the hand of the artist. The poetic mind is the indispensable basis; but tillage alone makes the soil productive. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. AB. Bab, cab, dab, mab, nab, blab, crab, drab, scab, stab. Allowable rhymes, babe, astrolabe, &c. ACE. Ace, dace, pace, face, lace, mace, race, brace, chace, grace, place, space, trace, apace, deface, efface, disgrace, displace, misplace, embrace, grimace, interlace, retrace, populace, &c. Perfect rhymes, base, case, abase, debase, &c. Allowable rhymes, grass, glass, &c., peace, cease, &c., dress, less, &c. "False eloquence, like the prismatic glass, Its gaudy colours spreads on ev'ry place."-POPE. "Then gladly turning sought his ancient place, And passed a life of piety and peace."-PARNELL. "Old mould'ring urns, pale fear, and dark distress, ACH. Attach, detach, &c. Perfect rhymes, batch, match, &c. Allowable rhymes, fetch, wretch, &c. ACK. Back, cack, hack, jack, lack, pack, quack, tack, sack, rack, black, clack, crack, knack, slack, snack, stack, track, wrack, attack, zodiac, demoniac, symposiac, almanac. Allowable rhymes, bake, take, &c., neck, speck, &c. "Thus Pegasus, a nearer way to take, May boldly deviate from the common track."-POPE. АСТ. Act, fact, pact, tract, attract, abstract, extract, compact, contract, |