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0RTI10METRY. |
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A frequent rhyme in Waller is the word so, which has been noted and censured by Johnson :
Thy skilful hand contributes to our woe, And whets those arrows which confound us so : A thousand Cupids in those curls do sit, Those curious nets thy slender fingers knit.
" Verses to Saccharissa's Maid "
Who, naming me, doth warm his courage so, Shows for my sake what his bold hand would do.
" Verses for Drinking Healths*
We find in Dryden rhymes of the same class.
The Panther smiled at this, " and when," said she, " Were those first councils disallow'd by me ? 'Tis dangerous climbing ; to your sons and you I leave the ladder, and its omen too.— Why all these wars to win the book, if we Must not interpret for ourselves, but she ? " Hind and Panther.*
They occur more frequently in his prologues and epilogue ; but examples enough have been given ; for they are not introduced for the purpose of censure, but only to show what, in the present day, ought to be avoided.
Another defect in this part of versification is the employment of such rhymes as are become hackneyed by overmuch use. What these rhymes are, is described and exemplified by Pope ; he calls them " the sure returns of still expected rhymes ; " as in this couplet: |
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