ing can be more truly poetical.

But to go farther back than either _Fairfax_ or _Spencer_, those
celebrated Lines in our antient Translation of the _Psalms_ owe their
greatest Beauty to their _Alliteration_.

"The Lord descended from above,
And bow'd the _Heavens high_,
And underneath his Feet he cast
The Darkness of the Sky.

"On _Cherubs_ and on _Cherubims_
Full _royally_ he _rode_,
And on the _Wings_ of mighty _Winds_
Came flying _all abroad_.

A Line of _Chaucer_'s just now offers itself to my Memory, which has
almost all the Arts of Poetry in it.

"A _Sheffield_ Whittle bare _he_ in _his Hose_.

There is a fine Alliteration in the Conclusion of the Line, Bare _he_
in _his Hose_, and a mix'd one at the Beginning of it. The _h_ in the
first Syllables of the second and third Words mixes the Sound very
agreeably; and lastly, the Inversion of the Phrase (where the
Nominative is put immediately after the Verb) is extremely poetical.
_Bare he._ _Chaucer_ seems (to me) by the help of a delicate Ear, and
a curious Judgment, to have learnt all his Graces from _Virgil_. 1.
His Rhyme. 2. His Inversion of the Phrase: And 3. His Alliteratio. The
Varying of the Pause he does not seem to have attended to. But to
return to _Milton_.

Having spoken sufficiently of the _Initial_, I come now to the _mix'd
Alliteration_. And this latter is almost as common as the former, and
is to be found in all such Lines as these.

"--And now is come
Into the _blissful Field_.--

Every Ear must perceive how the _f_ and the _l_ are mingled in the two
last Words.

Again,

"--Th[r=]o' G[r=]oves of My[rr=]h.--

Here the rough _r_ predominates as much as the soft _l_ did in the
first Part of the Verse.

Again,

"And _Flow'r_y O_dours_.--

Here the _Allusio Verborum_ is introduc'd. _Flow'r_ at the Beginning
of the first Word, and _Dour_ at the End of the second, make a most
agreeable Harmony. The Line concludes with what may be call'd the
_Assultus_, or the Attack upon the Ear.

"--_C[=a]ssi[=a], N[=a]rd [=a]nd B[=a]lm._--

These five _A_'s in four Words at the End of the Line must make
themselves perceiv'd if Words can do it. 'Tis of the same kind as
_Virgil_'s,

"--_Tumid[=a] aequor[=a] pl[=a]c[=a]t._

But it may be proper to add another Instance or two of the _Allusio
Verborum_.

"So talk'd the _spirited sly Snake_, and _Eve_
Yet more amaz'd.--

Again,

"When from the _Boughs_ a