Take it which way you will, the leading idea is that of "littleness;"
moreover, there is no propriety in the word "creep" as applied to
_merely vulgar_ words, while words petty in size may, with great
justice, be said to "creep" in a "petty pace," requiring no less than
ten steps to walk the length of a line.
Pope was criticising compositions intended to pass as poetry of the best
kind. Will [Greek: ph]. point out in any existing poem of such
profession and character, a single heroic line, consisting of _ten_
words, _all_ which _ten_ words shall be "low" in the sense of "vulgar"?
Can even the Muses of burlesque and slang furnish such an instance?
Has not [Greek: ph]. suffered himself to be carried too far by his
exultation in being "down" (the last-named Muse has kindly supplied me
with the expression) upon a piece of verbal carelessness on the part of
K.I.P.B.T.?
* * * * *
REPLIES TO MINOR QUERIES.
_Concolinel_ (Vol. ii., pp. 217. 317.).--As _Calen O Custore me_, after
sorely puzzling the critics, was at length discovered to be an Irish
air, or the burthen of an Irish song, is it not possible that the
equally outlandish-looking "_Concolinel_" may be only a corruption of
"_Coolin_", that "far-famed melody," as Mr. Bunting terms it in his
_last_ collection of _The Ancient Music of Ireland_ (Dublin, 1840),
where it may be found in a style "more Irish than that of the sets
hitherto published?" And truly it is a "sweet air," well fitted to "make
passionate _the_ sense of hearing," and melt the soul of even Don
Adriano de Armado.
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