“And now having laid down this as a foundation:  to begin with CRITES, I must crave leave to tell him, that some of his arguments against Rhyme, reach no farther that from the faults or defects of ill Rhyme to conclude against the use of it in general [p. 598].  May not I conclude against Blank Verse, by the same reason?  If the words of some Poets, who write in it, are either ill-chosen or ill-placed; which makes not only Rhyme, but all kinds of Verse, in any language, unnatural:  shall I, for their virtuous affectation, condemn those excellent lines of FLETCHER, which are written in that kind?  Is there anything in Rhyme more constrained, than this line in Blank Verse?

    “I, heaven invoke! and strong resistance make.

“Where you see both the clauses are placed unnaturally; that is, contrary to the common way of speaking, and that, without the excuse of a rhyme to cause it:  yet you would think me very ridiculous, if I should accuse the stubbornness of Blank Verse for this; and not rather, the stiffness of the Poet.  Therefore, CRITES! you must either prove that words, though well chosen and duly placed, yet render not Rhyme natural in itself; or that, however natural and easy the Rhyme may be, yet it is not proper for a Play.

“If you insist on the former part; I would ask you what other conditions are required to make Rhyme natural in itself, besides an election of apt words, and a right disposing of them?  For the due choice of your words expresses your Sense naturally, and the due placing them adapts the Rhyme to it.

“If you object that one verse may be made for the sake of another, though both the words and rhyme be apt, I answer it cannot possibly so fall out.  For either there is a dependence of sense betwixt the first line and the second; or there is none.  If there be that connection, then, in the natural position of the words, the latter line must, of necessity, flow from the former:  if there be no dependence, yet, still, the due ordering of words makes the last line as natural in itself as the other.  So that the necessity of a rhyme never forces any but bad or lazy writers, to say what they would not otherwise.

“’Tis true, there is both care and art required to write in Verse.  A good Poet never concludes upon the first line, till he has sought out such a rhyme as may fit the Sense already prepared, to heighten the second.  Many times, the Close of the Sense falls into the middle of the next verse, or farther off; and he may often prevail [avail] himself of the same advantages in English, which VIRGIL had in Latin; he may break off in the hemistich, and begin another line.

“Indeed, the not observing these two last things, makes Plays that are writ in Verse so tedious:  for though, most commonly, the Sense is to be confined to the Couplet; yet, nothing that does perpetuo tenore fluere, ‘run in the same channel,’ can please always.  ’Tis like the murmuring of a stream:  which, not varying in the fall, causes at first attention; at last, drowsiness.  VARIETY OF CADENCES is the best Rule; the greatest help to the Actors, and refreshment to the Audience.