and Ro

mans consist of what feet.

This line is susceptible of much variety as to the succession of long and short syllables. It is, however, subjected to laws that confine its variety within certain limits and for ascertaining these limits, grammarians have invented a rule by dactyles and spondees, which they denominate feet.

Among the ancient Greeks and Romans, these feet regulated the pronunciation, which they are far from doing among us; of which the reason will be discovered from the explanation that we shall give of the English accent. We shall at present content ourselves with pointing out the difference between our pronunciation and that of the Romans in the first line of Virgil's eclogues, where it is scarcely credible how much we pervert the quantity.

Tit'yre tù pat'ulæ rec'ubans sub tegʼmine fázi.

It will be acknowledged by every reader who has an ear, that we have placed the accentual marks upon every syllable, and the letter of every syllable, that an Eng lishman marks with the ictus of his voice when he recites the line. But, as will be seen presently, a syllable which is pronounced with the stress of the voice upon a consonant is uttered in the shortest time possible. Hence it follows, that in this verse, as recited by us, there are but two long syllables, tú and fá; though it is certain, that, as recited by a Roman, it contained no fewer than eight long syllables.

Tīỷrëtů pătŭ]'āē rēcuļbāns sūb | tēgminė | fāgī. But though to pronounce it in this manner with the voice dwelling on the vowel of each long syllable would undoubtedly be correct, and preserve the true movement of the verse, yet to an English ear, prejudiced in behalf of a different movement, it sounds so very uncouth, that Lord Kames has pronounced the true feet of the Greek and Roman verses extremely artificial and complex; and has substituted in their stead the following rules, which he thinks more simple and of more easy application. 1st, The line must always commence with a long syllable, and close with two long preceded by two short. 2d, More than two short can never be found together, nor fewer than two. And, 3d, Two long. syllables which have been preceded by two short cannot also be followed by two short. These few rules fulfil all the conditions of a hexameter line with relation to order or arrangement. For these again a single rule may be substituted, which has also the advantage of regulating more affirmatively the construction of every Elem. of part. To put this rule into words with perspicuity, a Criticism, hint is taken from the twelve long syllables that comchap. xviii. pose an hexameter line, to divide it into twelve equal parts or portions, being each of them one long syllable or two short. The rule then is: "The 1st, 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th portions, must each of them be one long syllable; the 10th must always be two short syllables; the 2d, 4th, 6th, and 8th, may either be one

sect. 4.

tion.

long or two short." Or to express the thing still more Versificashortly, "The 2d, 4th, 6th, and 8th portions may he one long syllable or two short; the 10th must be two short syllables; all the rest must consist each of one long syllable." This fulfils all the conditions of an hexameter line, and comprehends all the combinations of dactyles and spondees that this line admits.

181

considered

Next in order comes the pause. At the end of every Pauses in hexameter line, every one must be sensible of a complete hexameter close or full pause; the cause of which follows. The with retwo long syllables preceded by two short, which always spect to close an hexameter line, are a fine preparation for a melody and pause for long syllables, or syllables pronounced slow, resembling a slow and languid motion tending to rest, naturally incline the mind to rest, or, which is the same, to pause; and to this inclination the two preceding short syllables contribute, which, by contrast, make the slow pronunciation of the final syllables the more conspicuous. Beside this complete close or full pause at the end, others are also requisite for the sake of melody; of which two are clearly discoverable, and perhaps there may be more. The longest and most remarkable succeeds the 5th portion: the other, which, being shorter and more faint, may be called the semipause, succeeds the 8th portion. So striking is the pause first mentioned, as to be distinguished even by the rudest ear: the monkish rhymes are evidently built upon it; in which, by an invariable rule, the final word always chimes with that which immediately precedes the pause:

De planctu cudo || metrum cum carmine nudo
Mingere cum bumbis || res est saluberrima lumbis.

The difference of time in the pause and semipause occasions another difference not less remarkable; that it is lawful to divide a word by a semipause, but never by a pause, the bad effect of which is sensibly felt in the following examples:

Effusus labor, atque inmitis rupta Tyranni

tion.

Versifica- connected in reading aloud as are sense and sound, every degree of discord is unpleasant: and for that reason it is a matter of importance to make the musical pauses coincide as much as possible with those of sense; which is requisite more especially with respect to the pause, a deviation from the rule being less remarkable in a semipause. Considering the matter as to melody solely, it is indifferent whether the pauses be at the end of words or in the middle; but when we carry the sense along, it is disagreeable to find a word split into two by a pause, as if there were really two words: and though the disagreeableness here be connected with the sense only, it is by an easy transition of perceptions transferred to the sound; by which means we conceive a line to be harsh and grating to the ear, when in reality it is only so to the understanding.

182

SIDEC,

Poct.

p. 25.

To the rule that fixes the pause after the 5th portion there is one exception and no more. If the syllable succeeding the 5th portion be short, the pause is sometimes postponed to it.

Pupillis quos dura || premit custodia matrum

Again:

In terras oppressa || gravi sub religione

Again:

Et quorum pars magna || fui; quis talia fando This contributes to diversify the melody; and, where the words are smooth and liquid, is not ungraceful; as in the following examples:

Formosam resonare || doces Amaryllida sylvas Again:

Agricolas, quibus ipsa procul discordibus armis.

If this pause, placed as aforesaid after the short syllable, happen also to divide a word, the melody by these circumstances is totally annihilated. Witness the following line of Ennius, which is plain prose:

Romæ mania terrullit impiger Hannibal armis. Hitherto the arrangement of the long and short syllables of an hexameter line, and its different pauses, have been considered with respect to melody: but to have a just notion of hexameter verse, these particulars must also be considered with respect to sense. There is not perhaps in any other sort of verse such latitude in the long and short syllables; a circumstance that contributes greatly to that richness of melody which is remarkable in hexameter verse, and which made Aristotle pronounce that an epic poem in any other verse would not succeed. One defect, however, must not be dissembled, that the same means which contribute to the richness of the melody render it less fit than several other sorts for a narrative poem. There cannot be a more artful contrivance, as above observed, than to close an hexameter line with two long syllables preceded by two short: but unhappily this construction proves a great embarrassment to the sense; which will thus be evident. As in general there ought to be a strict concordance between the thought and the words in which it is dressed; so, in particular, every close in the sense ought to be accompanied with a close in the sound. In prose this law may be strictly observed, but in verse the same strictness would VOL. XVII. Part I..

tion.

occasion insuperable difficultics. Willing to sacrifice to Versifica the melody of verse some share of the concordance between thought and expression, we freely excuse the separation of the musical pause from that of the sense during the course of a line; but the close of an hexameter line is too conspicuous to admit this liberty for which reason there ought always to be some pause in the sense at the end of every hexameter line, were it but such a pause as is marked by a comma; and for the same reason there ought never to be a full close in the sense but at the end of a line, because there the melody is closed. An hexameter line, to preserve its melody, cannot well admit any great relaxation; and yet, in a narrative poem, it is extremely difficult to adhere strictly to the rule even with these indulgences. Virgil, the chief of poets for versification, is forced often to end a line without any close in the sense, and as often to close the sense during the running of a line; though a close in the melody during the movement of the thought, or a close in the thought during the movement of the melody, cannot be agreeable.

135 The accent, to which we proceed, is not less essential Observathan the other circumstances above noticed. By a good tions on the accent. ear it will be discerned, that in every line there is one syllable distinguishable from the rest by a capital accent: That'syllable, being the seventh portion, is invariably long.

Nec bene promeritis || capitur nec | tangitur ira Again:

Non sibi sed toto || genitûm se | credere mundo Again:

Qualis spelunca | subito com mota columba

In these examples the accent is laid upon the last syllable of a word; which is favourable to the melody in the following respect, that the pause, which for the sake of reading distinctly must follow every word, gives opportunity to prolong the accent. And for that reason, a line thus accented has a more spirited air than when the accent is placed on any other syllable. Compare the foregoing limes with the following.

Alba neque Assyrio || fucâtur | lana veneno Again:

Panditur interea || domus ômnipotentis Olympi Again:

Olli sedato | respondit | corde Latinus.

In lines where the pause comes after the short syllable succeeding the 5th portion, the accent is displaced, and rendered less sensible: it seems to be split into two, and to be laid partly on the 5th portion, and partly on the 7th, its usual place; as in

Nuda genu, nodôque || sinûs collecta fluentes.

Versilication.

vol. i.

For it is to be observed, that all notes are not of the same length or on the same key. In poetry, as well as in music, notes may be high or low, flat or sharp; and some of them may be prolonged at pleasure. "Poctic numbers are indeed founded upon the very same principles with those of the musical kind, and are governed by similar laws (see MUSIC). Proportion and order are the sources of the pleasure which we receive from both; and the beauty of each depends upon a due observation of the laws of measure and movement. The essential difference between them is, that the matter of the one is articulate, that of the other inarticulate sounds: but syllables in the one correspond to notes in the other; poetic feet to musical bars; and verses to strains; in a word, they have all like properties, and are governed by laws of the same kind.

"From what has been said, it is evident, that the essence of numbers consists in certain impressions made on the mind through the ear at stated and regular distances of time, with an observation of a relative proportion in those distances; and that the other circumstances of long or short in syllables, or diversity of notes in uttering them, are not essentials but only accidents of poetic numbers. Should this be questioned, the objector might be silenced by having the experiment tried on a drum, on which, although it is incapable of producing long or short, high or low notes, there is no kind of metre which may not be beat. That, therefore, which regulates the series and movement of the impressions given to the ear by the recitation of an English verse, must, when properly disposed, constitute the essence of English poetic numbers; but it is the accent which particularly impresses the sound of certain syllables or letters upon the ear; for in every word there is a syllable or letter accented. The necessity and use of the accent, as well in prose as in verse, we shall therefore proceed to explain. "As words may be formed of various numbers of syl*Art of lables, from one up to eight or nine*, it was necessary Reading, that there should be some peculiar mark to distinguish words from disjointed syllables, otherwise speech would be nothing but a continued succession of syllables conveying no ideas. This distinction of one word from another might be made by a perceptible pause at the end of each in speaking, analogous to the distance made between them in writing and in printing. But these pauses would make discourse disgustingly tedious; and though they might render words sufficiently distinct, they would make the meaning of sentences extremely confused. Words might also be distinguished from each other, and from a collection of detached syllables, by an elevation or depression of the voice upon one syllable of each word; and this, as is well known to the learned, was the practice of the Greeks and Romans. But the English tongue has for this purpose adopted a mark of the easiest and simplest kind, which is called accent. By accent is meant, a certain stress of the voice, upon a particular letter of a syllable, which distinguishes it from the rest, and at the same time distinguishes the syllable itself to which it belongs from the other syllables which compose the word. Thus, in the word hab'it, the accent upon the b distinguishes that letter from the others, and the first syllable from the last; add more syllables to it, and it will still do the same, as hab'itable. In the word ac. cep't, the p is the distinguished letter, and the syllable

which contains it the distinguished syllable; but if we Verificaadd more syllables to it, as in the word acceptible, the seat of the accent is changed to the first syllable, ef which e is the distinguished letter. Every word in cur language of more syllables than one has one of the syllables distinguished from the rest in this manner, and every monosyllable has a letter. Thus, in the word hat the t is accented, in hate the vowel a, in cub' the b, and in cúbe the u: so that as articulation is the essence of syllables, accent is the essence of words; which without it would be nothing more than a mere succession of syllables."

We have said, that it was the practice of the Greeks and Romans to elevate or depress their voice upon one syllable of each word. In this elevation or depression consisted their accent; but the English accent consists in the mere stress of the voice, without any change of note. "Among the Greeks, all syllables were pronounced either in a high, low, or middle note; or else in a union of the high and low by means of the intermediate. The middle note, which was exactly at an equal distance between the high and the low, was that in which the unaccented syllables were pronounced. But every word had one letter, if a monosyllable; or one syllable, if it consisted of more than one, distinguished from the rest; either by a note of the voice perceptibly higher than the middle note, which was called the acute accent; or by a note perceptibly, and in an equal proportion, lower than the middle one, which was called the grave accent; or by an union of the acute and grave on one syllable, which was done by the voice passing from the acute, through the middle note, in continuity down to the grave, which was called the circumflex."

"Now in pronouncing English words, it is true that one syllable is always distinguished from the rest; but it is not by any perceptible elevation or depression of the voice, any high or low note, that it is done, but merely by dwelling longer upon it, or by giving it a more forcible stroke. When the stress or accent is on the vowel, we dwell longer on that syllable than on the rest; as, in the words glory, father, holy. When it is on the consonant, the voice, passing rapidly over the vowel, gives a smarter stroke to the consonant, which distinguishes that syllable from others, as in the words bat'tle, hab'it, bar'row."

Having treated so largely of accent and quantity, the next thing to be considered in verse will be quickly discussed; for in English it depends wholly on the seat of the accent. "When the accent or stress is on the vowel, the syllable is necessarily long, because the accent cannot be made without dwelling on the vowel a longer time than usual. When it is on the consonant, the syllable is short; because the accent is made by passing rapidly over the vowel, and giving a smart stroke of the voice to the following consonants. Thus the words ad'd, led', bid', cub', are all short, the voice passing quickly over the vowel to the consonant; but for the contrary reason, the words áll, láid, bíde, cúbe, are long; the accent being on the vowels, on which the voice dwells some time before it takes in the sound of the consonant."

"Obvious as this point is, it has wholly escaped the observation of many an ingenious and learned writer. Lord Kames affirms, that accenting is confined in * El. of English heroic verse to the long syllables; for a short Crä. vol. ii. F 2 syllable