And in the most grand
passage which commences the Gospel of St. John, from the first to the
fourteenth verses, inclusive, there are polysyllables twenty-eight,
monosyllables two hundred and one. This it may be said is poetry, but
not verse, and therefore makes but little against the critic. Well then,
out of his own mouth shall he be confuted. In the fourth epistle of his
_Essay on Man_, a specimen selected purely at random from his works, and
extending altogether to three hundred and ninety-eight lines, there are
no less than twenty-seven (that is, a trifle more than one out of every
fifteen,) made up _entirely_ of monosyllables: and over and above these,
there are one hundred and fifteen which have in them only one word of
greater length; and yet there are few dull creepers among the lines of
Pope.
The early writers, the "pure wells of English undefiled," are full of
"small words."
Hall, in one of the most exquisite of his satires, speaking of the
vanity of "adding house to house, and field to field," has these most
beautiful lines,--
"Fond fool! six feet shall serve for all thy store,
And he that cares for most shall find no more!"
"What harmonious monosyllables!" says Mr.
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