356 [from Homer’s Iliad, To the Reader]
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And, for our tongue, that still is so empayr’d By travailing linguists; I can prove it cleare, That no tongue hath the Muses utterance heyr’d For verse, and that sweet Musique to the eare 5 Strooke out of rime, so naturally as this; Our Monosyllables, so kindly fall And meete, opposde in rime, as they did kisse: French and Italian, most immetricall; Their many syllables, in harsh Collision, 10 Fall as they brake their necks; their bastard Rimes Saluting as they justl’d in transition, And set our teeth on edge; nor tunes, nor times Kept in their falles. And me thinkes, their long words Shew in short verse, as in a narrow place, 15 Two opposites should meet, with two-hand swords Unweildily, without or use or grace. | Our English language. |