To speak henceforth of RA/nu/ay and Rein inns Must his
long vowel ever cling like ivy Around that very dull historian Livy? Must Venus — a round, ripe word like a
plum—
Withering to Wennu.v, strike the M usea dumb ?
Why should this care for languages be shown Always to Latin, never to our own ? Ours also is a tongue; her native laws, Not derivations, must decide the cause. Our usage rules (speech knows no higher court) "Antepenultimates are mostly short, And most penultimates with us shall he Lengthened, whate'er their pristine quan- tity."
Thus from sublimis though we get sublime, Sublimity with divinity shall rhyme; Though crime, yet criminal; though rare, yet charity Rhymed in our fathers' days (see Hood) with rarity;
Thus only ignorant pedants ma-31U malign us For saying but also //lima. Nay, Sir, in your own speech, I'll lay a dollar,
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