The reader of this will be inclined to cry out with Prior -


Ye critics, say,
How poor to this was Pindar's style!


Even those who cannot perhaps find in the Isthmian or Nemaean songs
what Antiquity what disposed them to expect, will at least see that
they are ill represented by such puny poetry; and all will determine
that, if this be the old Theban strain, it is not worthy of revival.

To the disproportion and incongruity of Cowley's sentiments must be
added the uncertainty and looseness of his measures. He takes the
liberty of using in any place a verse of any length, from two
syllables to twelve. The verses of Pindar have, as he observes,
very little harmony to a modern ear; yet by examining the syllables
we perceive them to be regular, and have reason enough for supposing
that the ancient audiences were delighted with the sound. The
imitator ought therefore to have adopted what he found, and to have
added what was wanting; to have preserved a constant return of the
same numbers, and to have supplied smoothness of transition and
continuity of thought.

It is urged by Dr. Sprat, that the "irregularity of numbers is the
very thing" which makes "that kind of poesy fit for all manner of
subjects." But he should have remembered, that what is fit for
everything can fit nothing well. The great pleasure of verse arises
from the known measure of the lines, and uniform structure of the
stanzas, by which the voice is regulated, and the memory relieved.