To those readers who are unacquainted with the history and progress of English poetry, and who are not conversant with the writings of our earlier poets; whose poetical reading has perhaps never extended beyond the age of Pope, or Dryden, and who, therefore, may be sometimes offended by an occasional negligence of diction, or ruggedness of verse—to such readers I would submit the following judicious observations of Headly:—"The older poets disdained stooping to the character of syllable-mongers: as their conceptions were vigorous, they trusted to the simple provision of nature for their equipment; and though often introduced into the world ragged, they were always healthy. To cull words, vary pauses, adjust accents, diversify cadence, and by, as it were, balancing the line, make the first part of it betray the second, was an employment reserved for the leisure and coolness of after-times, whose poetical establishment was about to consist of a suite of traditional imagery, hereditary similies, readiness of rhyme, and volubility of syllables."
Yet, notwithstanding some occasional coarseness, and carelessness of language, and some harshness and roughness of versification, I shall venture to assert, that in justness, and solidity of thought, in propriety and delicacy of sentiment, in ease, and energy of expression, and in the selection, and exactness of rhymes, these authors will not be found inferior to any of the minor poets who flourished in England, from the period of the accession of King Charles I. down to the Restoration: and, with respect to musical flow of verse, and harmony of numbers, I could point out several passages, particularly in the first division, which need not fear a comparison with the boasted "sweetness" of Waller, and the "strength" of Denham; though they were probably written before any compositions of those authors had been published.
