I have either heard or read, that a poet of the last century, whom I fhall not name, becaufe I am not perfectly fure of the fact, pretended to fome fecrets, in versification, which he did not choose to communicate. If it was fo, it showed a jealoufy unworthy of fo great a mafter of numbers: he might fafely enough, for his own fuperiority, have published those fecrets, whatever they were; for it is impoffible they could ever be of much use. He could easily advise you to vary your paufes, and tell you which are the most graceful: but these, and all fuch precepts, are nothing to the purpofe; a good ear will naturally produce harmony without the leaft regard or attention to rules; and there is no cure for a bad one. The only way to improve the ear, whether good or bad, is to accuftom it to the most harmonious writing.

Blank verfe admits of a greater variety of paufes than rhyme, and is partly for that reafon the fittest for works of any confiderable length, But in English poetry, I queftion whether it is poffible, with any fuc. cefs, to write odes, epiitles, elegies, paftorals, or fatires, without rhyme. And it happens luckily, that in thefe fhort pieces the ear has not time to be tired with the return of the chimes which, in my humble opinion, had better fometimes play a little falfe to one another, than to be for ever fcrupuloufly exact, provided fuch licences never hock the ear.

It does not require a very exquifite ear to write too finooth, or even har, monious lines running; yet in rhyme, a poet, who is always very careful to polifh his couplet, may pafs with the multitude for a great mafter in verfification. But as long as his harmony is confined within fuch narrow bounds, he writes but like a fchool boy, who keep in the line only with the help of ruled paper.

Dr Swift and Mr Pope took of fence, one does not know why, at

the triplet, and very rarely condefcended to admit it into their verse. It is true, it had been ufed to a naufeous excefs by fome taftelefs writers; and Mr Pope's own imitation of Rochefter, might juftly enough give him a difguft to the triplet for his whole life. Yet it contributes not a little to the grace of Dryden's verfification; and I can fee no reafon why it fhould be prohibited now; as it gives a variety to the numbers, which in rhyme is fufficiently limited to require fuch a help.

It does not feem quite foreign to the prefent fubject to take fome notice of Voltaire, who after having given it as his opinion, that Mr Pope is the moft harmonious of all the English poets, adds, with a very plaufible affurance, that he has redu ced the fharp hiflings of the English trumpet to the fweet founds of the flute. It is no great wonder, that one who is apt to write much at random, fhould prefume to talk fo contemptuoufly of a manly, and elegant and harmonious language, with which he plainly appears to have but a very fuperficial acquaintance. But who ever talked before of the hillings of a trumpet, or of harp hiflings? We have all heard of the boarfe trumpet, but the hifing trumpet is an inftrument we are not yet acquainted with. However, to pafs thefe little improprieties, this compliment to Pope fhews how well our critic is qualified to pronounce fentence upon the English poets. No one is more fenfible than I am of Mr Pope's merit; but his blindeft admirer might startle at the preference beftowed upon him here. For, not to mention the great names of Spenfer, Shakelpeare, and Milton, upon fuch an occafion, let us only compare Pope in this point of view, with a writer upon whom, as they fay, he formed himfelf, and whom not only in his own opinion, but in that of many others, he is thought to have excelled in the art of verfifying.

removed, and thofe incidents only are retained which the fober criticifm of history fanctions with its approbation, a fame ample enough to intereft the judicious, and to perpetuate his honorable memory, will ftill continue to bloom.

We are not yet empowered to point out the exact province from which Arthur emerged. We hear of two kings of Gwent in the fixth century of the name of Arthrius; but whether either of thefe was the conqueror of the Saxons, or whether his reputation had occafioned others to impofe the name on their children, or whether it be the fame name, is uncertain. It is affirmed that Noe, fon of an Arthur, gave Llandilovawr to the church. If this was a child of the celebrated Arthur, his donation announces a fovereignty in Carmar thenshire but in thefe days of confufion, when chieftains fied from one country to another, we cannot infer the first refidence of the father from the fituation of his children. When Melva, king of Somerfetfhire, deprived him of his wife, he appeared at the head of the men of Cornwall and Devon: when he gave his fplendid feat, after his victory over the Saxons, Caerleon on the Ufk was the fcene of the caroufal. Thefe incidents feem to ftation him in various places, and forbid us to decide pofitively in favour of either.

The chronology of his firft appearance is alfo undetermined. We may choose the period which feems to us moft probable, but we have no right to force it on the belief of others. The æra which we fhould prefer would be one which did not precede 528. On fuch a fubject it would be ludicrous to attempt precifion.

In 519, Cerdic obtained the deci. five victory at Chardford, which eftablifhed him in the fovereignty of Weffex. With whom he fought we know not. It is 527 before another ftruggle occurred, and this was fought Ed. Mag. Feb. 1800.

at Chardfley, in Bucks. We may concede the command of the Britons to Arthur if we please; but we cannot, if rigidly interrogated, produce evidence of the fact

In 530, if that was the particular year in which Geraint fell, we can authenticate his prefence in the battle of Llongborth. We have already intimated another battle on the Llawen, in which Arthur alfo feems to have been the general. He may have fought the twelve battles mentioned by Nennius; but it is not beyond the rules of fair criticism to doubt if they were all directed against the AngloSaxons. We know that a part of Arthur's valour was exerted against his ambitious competitors: he once led on the warriors of Cornwall and Devon against the king of Somersetfhire, and he is alfo declared to have maintained a war in the north against a British prince. Huel, the brother of Gildas Albanius, would not fubmit to the dominion of Arthur. A vigorous war deftroyed the refractory chief, and Arthur rejoiced that his moft formidable enemy was no more.

Four of the twelve battles have been ably illuftrated by Mr Whita ker. Mr Camden and others had remarked, that the Douglas, on which Nennius had placed them, was a river in Lancashire. The hiftorian of Manchefter has commented on the pofitions of thefe conflicts with great local knowledge: his fancy, though often too prolific, and even on this portion of our history brilliantly active, yet describes these with so much probability, that we may adopt his fketches as history.

The battle of Badon Mount has been celebrated as his greatest and moft useful atchievement: a long interval of repose to the Britons has been announced as its confequence; yet it is curious to remark, that this mighty victory only checked the progrefs of Cerdic, and does not appear to have produced any further fuccefs. N

We

We hear not of the vindictive pursuit of Arthur, of the invafion of Hampfhire; or the danger of Cerdic. The Saxon was penetrating onward even toward Wales ör Mercia: he was de feated, and did not advance. No other conflicts enfued. Arthur was content to repulfe. This muft have been because he wanted power to pursue. Arthur was, therefore, not the warrior of irresistible strength: he permitted Cerdic to retain his fettlements at Weffex, and fuch an ac quiefcence accredits the chronicle, which afferts, that after many fierce conflicts, he conceded to the Saxon, the counties of Southampton and Somerset.

This ftate of moderate greatnefs fuits the character in which the Welsh bards exhibit Arthur: they commemorate him, but it is not with that excelling glory with which he has been furrounded by fubfequent traditions. The fong fometimes fwells with the actions of a warrior: but it was an age of warriors, and Urien of Reged feems to have employed the harp more than Arthur. Lywarch the aged, who lived through the whole period of flaughter, and had been one of the guests and counsellors of Arthur, yet difplays him not in tranfcendent majefty. In the battle of Llongborth, which Arthur direct ed, it was the valour of Geriant that arrested the bard's notice and his elegy, though long, fcarcely mentions the commander, whose merit, in the frenzy of later fablers, clouds every other. As his poem was a gift to the dead, it may be fuppofed to poffefs lefs of flattery and more of truth in its panegyric; it fpeaks of Arthur with refpe&t, but not with wonder: Arthur is fimply mentioned as the commander and the conductor of the toil of war, but Geraint is profufely celebrated.

In the fame manner Arthur appears in the Afellanau of Myrzin: he is mentioned as a character well

known, but not idolized: yet he was then dead, and all the actions of his patriotism and valour had been per formed; not a fingle epithet is added, from which we can difcern him to have been that whirlwind of war, which fwept away in its courfe all the skill and armies of Europe. That he was a courageous warrior is unqueftionable; but that he was the mira. culous Mars of the British hiftory, from whom kings and nations funk in panic, is completely difproved by the temperate encomiums of his contemporary bards.

One fact is fufficient to refute all the hyperboles of Jeffry. Though Arthur lived and fought, yet the Anglo-Saxons were not driven from the island, but gradually advanced their conquefts, with progreffive dominion, whether he was alive, or whe ther he was dead. Reflecting on this unquestionable fact, we may hefitate to believe that Arthur was victorious in all his battles, becaufe, if he weilded the whole force of Britain, and only fought to conquer, what refcued Cerdic, Ella, the fon of Hengift, and the invaders of Effex and East Anglia, frem abfolute deftruction?

Yet, on perufing the British Triades, we difcover fome traits which raise Arthur above the fituation of a provincial chieftain. They give him three chief palaces, and the pofitions of thefe imply a fovereignty on the weftern part of the island from Cornwall to Scotland. His court feems to have been fomewhat extraordinary, because we read of its three goldentongued knights, its three free and difcontented guefts, its three undaunted chiefs, his three knight-counfellors, his three compeers; all these expreffions indicate a prince of peculiar power and diftinction, and on connecting thefe with the number and fituation of his palaces, a prince of confiderable dignity rifes to our

view.

Two circumftances will render this

ag