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MADAM,
TH' other day, at Mrs. D. Us. house, I heard Harmonious, and Melodious Mu∣sick, both Instruments and Voices, but in my Opinion, there is no Musick so Sweet, and Pow∣erful as Oratory, for Sweet VVords are better than a Sweet Sound, and when they are Joyned together, it Ravishes the Soul; wherefore Ly∣rick Poetry hath Advantage of all other Poetry, because both Sound and Sense are Harmonious, wherefore the Antients had both their Heroick
Poems, and Comedies, and Tragedies, in Verse, and Tunes set to them, and Sung, both in their Theatres of War and Peace, as in the Fields and Stages, the One rais'd up their Spirits to Action, the Other caused more Attention. But, per∣chance you will say, that Oratory is Elegant Prose, and not Elegant Verse. Certainly, there is as much Oratory in Elegant Verse, as in Ele∣gant Prose, for as Oratory, which perchance some think onely Eloquent Prose, moves Passi∣on, and makes all the Auditory to be of the O∣ratours Opinion; so do Eloquent Verses: for who moves Passions, as Love, Hate, Anger, Grief, Pity, Piety, and the like, more than Po∣ets? or who can Perswade more Powerfully than Poets? for so great a Power have Poets in their Poetry, as to make the Minds of Men to believe Feignings for Realities, and can there be better Orations, Arguments, and Disputati∣ons, than in Homer, Virgil, and many other Po∣ets VVorks? But Oratory in Prose and Verse, is both to Move the Mind, and to Stir up the Spirits, as also to Quiet the Mind, and to Allay the Spirits, onely this Advantage Poets have over Oratours, that there is no Good, or Excellent Poet, but he Naturally is an Oratour, whereas there have been, and may be, very Good Oratours, which are no Good Poets; yet howsoever, both Eloquent Prose and Verse are Harmonious and Delight∣ful both to the Ears and Mind. And so lea∣ving
those Gifts to Natures Favorites, and Times Practice, I rest,
Madam,
Your faithfull Friend and Servant.