"What harmonious monosyllables!" says Mr. Gifford; and what critic will
refuse to echo his exclamation? The same writer is full of monosyllabic
lines, and he is among the most energetic {306} of satirists. By the
way, it is not a little curious, that in George Webster's _White Devil,
or Vittoria Corombona_, almost the same thought is also clothed in two
monosyllabic lines:--

"His wealth is summed, and this is all his store:
This poor men get, and great men get no more."

Was Young dull? Listen, for it is indeed a "solemn sound:"--

"The bell strikes one. We take no note of time
Save by its loss, to give it then a tongue
Was wise in man."

Was Milton tame? Hear the "lost archangel" calling upon Hell to receive
its new possessor:--

"One who brings
A mind not to be chang'd by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in _itself_
Can make a heav'n of hell,--a hell of heav'n.
What _matter_ where, if I be still the same,
And what I should be; all but less than he
Whom _thunder_ hath made _greater_? Here at least
We shall be free; the _Almighty_ hath not built
Here for his _envy_; will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign _secure_; and in my choice
To reign is worth _ambition_, though in hell: