fect; we shall afterward have occafion to fee, that the paufe neceffary for the fenfe muft often, in fome degree, be facrificed to the verse-pause, and the latter fometimes to the former.

The pronouncing fyllables in a high or low tone, contributes alfo to melody. In reading whether verfe or profe, a certain tone is affumed, which may be called the key-note; and in that tone the bulk of the words are founded. Sometimes to humour the fenfe, and fometimes the melody, a particular fyllable is founded in a higher tone; and this is termed accenting a fyllable, or gracing it with an accent. Opposed to the accent, is the cadence, which I have not mentioned as one of the requifites of verfe, because it is entirely regulated by the sense, and hath no peculiar relation to verse. The cadence is a falling of the voice below the key-note at the clofe of every period; and fo little is it effential to verfe, that in correct reading the final fyllable of every line is accented, that fyllable only excepted with clofes the period, where the fenfe requires a cadence. The reader may be fatisfied of this by experiments; and for that purpose I recommend to him the Rape of the Lock, which, in point of verfification, is the most complete performance in the English language. Let him confult in a particular period canto 2. beginning at line 47. and closed line 52. with the word gay, which only of the whole final fyllables is pronounced with a cadence. He may also exa

mine another period in the 5th canto which runs from line 45. to line 52.

Tho' the five requifites above mentioned, enter the compofition of every species of verfe, they are however governed by different rules, peculiar to each species. Upon quantity only, one general obfervation may be premised, because it is applicable to every species of verfe, That fyllables, with respect to the time taken in pronouncing, are long or fhort; two short syllables, with respect to time, being precifely equal to a long one. These two lengths are effential to verfe of all kinds; and to no verse, as far as I know, is a greater variety of time neceffary in pronouncing fyllables. The voice indeed is frequently made to reft longer than usual upon a word that bears an important fignification; but this is done to humour the fenfe, and is not neceffary for melody. A thing not more neceffary for melody occurs with respect to accenting, fimilar to that now mentioned: A word fignifying any thing humble, low, or dejected, is naturally, in profe, as well as in verfe, pronounced in a tone below the key-note.

We are now fufficiently prepared for particulars; beginning with Latin or Greek Hexameter, which are the fame. What I have to observe upon this fpecies of verse, will come under the four following heads; number, arrangement, pause, and accent: For as to quantity, what is observed above may fuffice.

VOL. II.

Η

Hexameter

Hexameter lines, as to time, are all of the fame length; being equivalent to the time taken in pronouncing twelve long fyllables or twenty-four fhort. An Hexameter line may confift of seventeen fyllables; and when regular and not Spondiac, it never has fewer than thirteen: whence it follows, that where the fyllables are many, the plurality must be short; where few, the plurality must be long.

This line is fufceptible of much variety as to the fucceffion of long and fhort fyllables. It is however fubjected 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. One at first view is led to think, that these feet are also intended to regulate the pronunciation: which is far from being the cafe; for were one to pronounce according to these feet, the melody of a Hexameter line would be deftroyed, or at best be much inferior to what it is when properly pronounced*. These feet must be confined to regu

late

*After giving fome attention to this fubject, and weighing deliberately every circumftauce, I was neceffarily led to the foregoing conclufion, That the Dactyle and Spondee are no other than artificial measures, invented for trying the accuracy of compofition. Repeated experiments have convinced me, that though the fenfe fhould be neglected, an Hexameter line read by Dactyles and Spondees will not be melodious. And the compofition of an Hexameter

late the arrangement, for they ferve no other purpose. They are withal so artificial and complex, that I am tempted to substitute in their stead, other rules more fimple and of more eafy application ; for example, the following. Ift, The line muft always commence with a long fyllable, and

clofe

line demonftrates this to be true, without neceffity of an experiment; for, as will appear afterward, there must always, in this line, be a capital pause at the end of the fifth long fyllable, reckoning, as above, two fhort for one long; and when we measure this line by Dactyles and Spondees, the pause now mentioned divides always a Dactyle,,or a Spondee, without once falling in after either of thefe feet. Hence it is evident, that if a line be pronounced as it is fcanned, by Dactyles and Spondees, the pause must utterly be neglected; which deftroys the melody, because this pause is effential to the melody of an Hexameter verse. If, on the other hand, the melody be preserved by making that pause, the pronouncing by Dactyles or Spondees muft be abandoned.

What has led grammarians into the use of Dactyles and Spondees, feeths, not beyond the reach of conjecture. To produce melody, the Dactyle and the Spondee, which clofe every Hexameter line, must be diftinctly expressed in the pronunciation. This discovery, joined with another, that the foregoing part of the verfe could be measured by the fame feet, probably led grammarians to adopt these artificial measures, and perhaps rafhly to conclude, that the pronunciation is directed by these feet as the compofition is: the Dactyle and the Spondee at the close, serve indeed to regulate the pronunciation as well as the compofition; but in the foregoing part of the line, they regulate the compofition only, not the pronunciation.

clofe with two long preceded by two fhort. 2d, More than two fhort can never be found together, nor fewer than two. And, 3d, Two long fyllables which have been preceded by two fhort, cannot alfo be followed by two fhort. These few rules fulfil all the conditions of a Hexameter line, with relation to order or arrangement. To thefe again a fingle rule may be fubftituted, for which I have a ftill greater relish, as it regulates more affirmatively the conftruction of every part. That I may put this rule into words with perfpicuity, I take a hint from the twelve long fyllables that compofe

an

If we must have feet in verfe to regulate the pronunciation and confequently the melody, these feet must be determined by the paufes. All the fyllables interjected between two paufes ought to be deemed one musical foot; because, to preferve the melody, they must all be pronounced together, without any ftop. And therefore, whatever number there are of paufes in a Hexameter line, the parts into which it is divided by thefe pauses, make just so many mufical feet.

Connection obliges me here to anticipate, and to obferve, that the fame doctrine is applicable to English heroic verse, Confidering its compofition merely, it is of two kinds; one compofed of five lambi; and one of a Trochæus followed by four lambi: but these feet afford no rule for pronouncing; the mufical feet being obviously thofe parts of the line that are interjected between two paufes. To bring out the melody, thefe feet must be expreffed in the pronunciation; or, which comes to the fame, the pronunciation must be directed by the paufes, without regard to the Iambus or Tro

chæus.