In words, as fashions, the same rule will hold, Alike fantastic if too new or old: Be not the first by whom the new are tried, Nor yet the last to lay the old aside.
Some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there. These equal syllables alone require, Though oft the ear the open vowels tire; While expletives their feeble aid to join, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line.
True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learnd to dance. T is not enough no harshness gives offence, The sound must seem an echo to the sense.
Soft is the strain when zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rocks vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow: Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies oer th unbending corn, and skims along the main.