Now,{96}of versifying there are two sorts,the one ancient,the other modern;the ancient marked the quantity of each syllable,and according to that framed his verse;the modern,observing only number,with some regard of the accent,the chief life of it standeth in that like sounding of the words,which we call rhyme.
Whether of these be the more excellent,would bear many speeches;the ancient,no doubt more fit for music,both words and time observing quantity;and more fit lively to express divers passions,by the low or lofty sound of the well-weighed syllable.The latter,likewise,with his rhyme striketh a certain music to the ear;and,in fine,since it doth delight,though by another way,it obtaineth the same purpose;there being in either,sweetness,and wanting in neither,majesty.Truly the English,before any vulgar language Iknow,is fit for both sorts;for,for the ancient,the Italian is so full of vowels,that it must ever be cumbered with elisions.The Dutch so,of the other side,with consonants,that they cannot yield the sweet sliding fit for a verse.The French,in his whole language,hath not one word that hath his accent in the last syllable,saving two,called antepenultima;and little more,hath the Spanish,and therefore very gracelessly may they use dactiles.
The English is subject to none of these defects.
Now for rhyme,though we do not observe quantity,we observe the accent very precisely,which other languages either cannot do,or will not do so absolutely.That "caesura,"or breathing-place,in the midst of the verse,neither Italian nor Spanish have,the French and we never almost fail of.Lastly,even the very rhyme itself the Italian cannot put in the last syllable,by the French named the masculine rhyme,but still in the next to the last,which the French call the female;or the next before that,which the Italian calls "sdrucciola:"the example of the former is,"buono,""suono;"of the sdrucciola is,"femina,""semina."The French,of the other side,hath both the male,as "bon,""son,"and the female,as "plaise,""taise;"but the "sdrucciola"he hath not;where the English hath all three,as "due,""true,""father,""rather,""motion,""potion;"with much more which might be said,but that already I find the trifling of this discourse is much too much enlarged.
So {97}that since the ever praiseworthy poesy is full of virtue,breeding delightfulness,and void of no gift that ought to be in the noble name of learning;since the blames laid against it are either false or feeble;since the cause why it is not esteemed in England is the fault of poet-apes,not poets;since,lastly,our tongue is most fit to honour poesy,and to be honoured by poesy;I conjure you all that have had the evil luck to read this ink-wasting toy of mine,even in the name of the Nine Muses,no more to scorn the sacred mysteries of poesy;no more to laugh at the name of poets,as though they were next inheritors to fools;no more to jest at the reverend title of "a rhymer;"but to believe,with Aristotle,that they were the ancient treasurers of the Grecian's divinity;to believe,with Bembus,that they were the first bringers in of all civility;to believe,with Scaliger,that no philosopher's precepts can sooner make you an honest man,than the reading of Virgil;to believe,with Clauserus,the translator of Cornutus,that it pleased the heavenly deity by Hesiod and Homer,under the veil of fables,to give us all knowledge,logic,rhetoric,philosophy natural and moral,and "quid non?"to believe,with me,that there are many mysteries contained in poetry,which of purpose were written darkly,lest by profane wits it should be abused;to believe,with Landin,that they are so beloved of the gods that whatsoever they write proceeds of a divine fury.Lastly,to believe themselves,when they tell you they will make you immortal by their verses.
Thus doing,your names shall flourish in the printers'shops:thus doing,you shall be of kin to many a poetical preface:thus doing,you shall be most fair,most rich,most wise,most all:you shall dwell upon superlatives:thus doing,though you be "Libertino patre natus,"you shall suddenly grow "Herculea proles,""Si quid mea Carmina possunt:"thus doing,your soul shall be placed with Dante's Beatrix,or Virgil's Anchisis.
But if (fie of such a but!)you be born so near the dull-making cataract of Nilus,that you cannot hear the planet-like music of poetry;if you have so earth-creeping a mind,that it cannot lift itself up to look to the sky of poetry,or rather,by a certain rustical disdain,will become such a Mome,as to be a Momus of poetry;then,though I will not wish unto you the ass's ears of Midas,nor to be driven by a poet's verses,as Bubonax was,to hang himself;nor to be rhymed to death,as is said to be done in Ireland;yet thus much curse I must send you in the behalf of all poets;that while you live,you live in love,and never get favour,for lacking skill of a sonnet;and when you die,your memory die from the earth for want of an epitaph.
