to be invented, and the difficulties first
created before they can be solved. Hence, again, there follows the
peculiar greatness of the true versifier: such as Shakespeare, Milton,
and Victor Hugo, whom I place beside them as versifier merely, not as
poet. These not only knit and knot the logical texture of the style with
all the dexterity and strength of prose; they not only fill up the
pattern of the verse with infinite variety and sober wit; but they give
us, besides, a rare and special pleasure, by the art, comparable to that
of counterpoint, with which they follow at the same time, and now
contrast, and now combine, the double pattern of the texture and the
verse. Here the sounding line concludes; a little further on, the
well-knit sentence; and yet a little further, and both will reach their
solution on the same ringing syllable. The best that can be offered by
the best writer of prose is to show us the development of the idea and
the stylistic pattern proceed hand in hand, sometimes by an obvious and
triumphant effort, sometimes with a great air of ease and nature. The
writer of verse, by virtue of conquering another difficulty, delights us
with a new series of triumphs. He follows three purposes where his rival
followed only two; and the change is of precisely the same nature as
that from melody to harmony. Or if you prefer to return to the juggler,
behold him now, to the vastly increased enthusiasm of the spectators,
juggling with three oranges instead of two. Thus it is: added
difficulty, added beauty; and the pattern, with every fresh element,
becoming more interesting in itself.

Yet it must not be thought that verse is simply an addition; something
is lost as well as something gained; and there remains plainly
traceable, in comparing the best prose with the best verse, a certain
broad distinction of method in the web. Tight as the versifier may draw
the knot of logic, yet for the ear he still leaves the tissue of the
sentence floating somewhat loose. In prose, the sentence turns upon a
pivot, nicely balanced, and fits into itself with an obtrusive neatness
like a puzzle. The ear remarks and is singly gratified by this return
and balance; while in verse it is all diverted to the measure. To find
comparable passages is hard; for either the versifier is hugely the
superior of the rival, or, if he be not, and still persist in his more
delicate enterprise, he falls to be as widely his inferior. But let us
select