Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-02-27
GENERAL CONTENTS OF THE WORK.

BY SAMUEL WO0DWORIH
GENERAL CONTENTS OF THE WORK.
l. Elements OF English ConPosrTIos, reduced
to plan practical RuLEs drawn from the VIII
tings of Lord Rams, Blair, Walker, Irving, &c.
II. Rules for the construction OF ENGLISH
VASE, by which the most ordinary as well as
most brilliant ideas may be readily expressed
in smooth harmonious numbers. 1t is not the
object OF these Rules to accommodate the art
to the practice, and thus TO tolerate the nume-
rous errors and unwarrantable liberties OF " &C.
leJrated Poets, merely because they are cele-
6rated but rather to form critical TEST by
which such errors and liberties may be detect
ed and avoided. 1t is intended to show, not
how Poetry has been, but how it ought to be
written.
These Rules, which are few, plain, and
easily comprehended, are Invested OF all per-
picking phrascology, and adapted to the .Ne,o
School of Poetry, which now obtains in Great
Britain, aud TO which public taste, on both sides
the Atlantic, is principally indebted for its re-
cent reformation and present refinement.
The .Eet,ical Gam,u, on which these Rules
are predicated, will be found valuable auxilia-
ry, not only to the pupil, whose unAedged
muse has never yet yentured to soar into the
sublime regions Of fancy, but, also, to the ac-
complished "lnaster of the lyre,' whose dar-
ing and successful fights have already scaled
the bciptal summit OF mount Parnassus. 1t
will be seen that Scale or Gaana is rs apph-
cable 10 Poetry as to Music, and that the rudi-
mcnis Of each art may, and ought TO be, taught
by similar process.
III. Rules for PuScruArIoy, founded on the
practice Of the most correct writer's in the
CT
tures on the Pf,ncttc,ion 81 Verse.
~. Epithcts ard Synonymes, suitable for
any and every possible subject, which subjects
are alphabetically arranged as heads for
the garious epithets applicable to them. Thus,
for instance, under the word ,aszrcE, will be
found every aajecttue which can property agree
with that noan--ss enuioits, long, pro,eayed, te-
dioas, unspeicome, bainfnl, conssraiied, fargeJM,
obfvious, sc. sc. Under BROOM, such ei,i-
diets as m,fmuimig, si'zsr, grassy, 5Gbbfng,
gprgEHs, schispetlny, ftrhag, neasdening, &c.
Under sry--az90e, cerRieon, starry, vanitef
spanFied, &c. Under rsE--meting, deamy,
sparkling, piercing, Soc. &c. But enough has
been said to convince the reader Of the utility
Of this part OF the work.
Y. A choice selection Of the most elegant,
significant, and approved f6rais OF commencing,
Dispensing, protesting, coniuring or beseech-
ing, expressing gratitude, beneaiction, mate
diction, blessing times and days, cursing ditto,
breaking Of a subject, Introducing slmiituGes
invoking MUSES., concluding letters, &c. &c.
VI. a Dictionary Of Rhymes, on plan at
once novel, amusing, and instructive. All The
single rhymes in the English language are here
collected, ard olas8ea ia such a manner as to
enable the poet, in moment, and without the
least trouble, TO End an appropriate word,
which, perhaps, an hours mental eXertion
would not have brought to his recollection.
VII. But this is not all. The rhymes are not
only Chased, but each and every one is defined
b. its practical use, i'll examples quoted from
the works OF the most celebrated poets, ancient
and modern, who have written in the English
language. LII this one improvement it is hum
bly, conceived. consists the chief excellence of
the work. Il rneie collection of underlined
rhymes, standing alone by themselves, as they
do in other works Of this kind, are not only
offensive to thee eye and ear, but are, also, Who'll
~ inadequate to the intended purposc--uiz.
that OF directing the judgment i'll its choice;
whereas, in the arrangement now adopted,
each rhyme is repeated AS often as its various
powers ard different signiiications win permit.
Thus the young poets net only furnished with
the requisite rhyme. but also with every neces-
ssry instruction Tor its proper application.
VII. But another (and. perhaps, not the
least importantly use OF this part OF the work,
remains to be mentioned. From what has al
ready been said, it will be perceived that this
Phymiag Dic.ionary is, also, in ITSELF a Dicsion-
arg Of foeticR Gnotatisas, comprising colcc-
ton Of such natural, agreeable and sublime
thoughts, as are to be found in the best English
poets-such rs illusions, SMILES, descriptions
and characters or persons and things. 1t thus
becomes textbook of .'lottos, suitable for al
most any subject, arranged under appropriate
heads, and referred to IN copious index. Il
viii, also, in most, cases, subserve all the pur
poses Of a Dictionary Of Etithets and Sylony-
mes; fer by finding, in the index, such word
as the subject Of our thought is most likely to
be ranged under, we can readily discover, in
some part of the collection, what terms have
been employed by other writer's and in what
manner.
TO illustrate this, also, by example, let it be
supposed that the poet is at loss for some
term synonymous with ambition. BY finding the
word ambition i'll the index, he will be instantly
directed to a great variety of quotations illus.
trative of the term-such, for instance, as the
following:
Yet true renown is join'd with virtue still,
But h@tef po.Oer lets loose the unbridled WILL
The soldiers 4artue-- pirt,e's dead7iest foe,
Whose high desires no horizon would know
Ambition is the drobsy efthe souz,
whose thirst we must not yieldto, but control.
Firt'e's disease, which, like surfeit, bred
From undigestcd flIncss, turns his head
may not be improper, in this place, to OBJ
Iflrr hes 10 Il.