The Other is the _Elision of Vowels_: Upon which, in my Opinion, the Criticks have ran into Extremes on both Sides. Mr. _Dryden_ declares for it as a general Rule which he has observed without Exception, in his Translation of the _Æneis_;[22] and is utterly against _a Vowel gaping after another for want of a Cesura_, as he expresses himself. Another great Master and Refiner of our Language[23] is for very little, or no Abbreviation; if I do not mistake his Meaning. It is true, in the Letter, to which I refer, he instances only in cutting off the Vowel E at the End of our Participles ending in _ed_; but I presume his Argument is equally designed against the Elision of a Vowel before a Vowel in two different Words: And, if I do not forget, he has declared himself of That Opinion, when I have had the Honour and Pleasure of his most agreeable and instructive Conversation. But with humble Submission to both these great Men, the Elision seems sometimes proper, and sometimes not, in the Particle _The_; for upon That, and the Particle _To_, the Question chiefly turns; _He_, and _She_ being but very rarely abbreviated by any tolerable Writer: And therefore Mr. _Dryden_ expresses himself too much at large, when he speaks of Vowels in general. And when this Elision is proper, and when not, the Ear is a sufficient Judge. The _French_, we know, continually use it in their _Le_, and that in Prose, and common Discourse, as well as in Verse: _L'Amour_, _L'Eternel_, _L'Invincible_, &c. As also in their Pronouns, _me_, _te_, and _se_. In our _English_ Poetry, I think it may be either, _Th' Eternal_, _Th' Almighty_; or _The Eternal_, _The Almighty_; but rather the former: It should be always, _The Army_, _The Enemy_; never _Th' Army_, or _Th' Enemy_. And so in other Instances: Of which the Ear (which by the way will never endure the Sound of _Th' Ear_) is always to be Judge. But of these Things too much.