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 fenfe, and hath no peculiar relation to verfe. The cadence is a falling of the voice below the keynote 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 fyilable only excepted which clofes the period, where the fenfe requires a cadence. The reader may be fatisfied of this by experiments; and for that purpofe I recommend to him the Rape of the Lock, which, in point of verfification, is the moft complete performance in the English language. Let him confult in particular a period canto 2. beginning at line 47. and clofed line 52 with the word gay, which only of the whole final fyllables is pronounced with a cadence. He may also examine another period in the 5th canto, which runs from line 45. to line 52.

Though the five requifites above mentioned, enter the compofition of every fpecies of verfe, they are bowever governed by different rules, peculiar to each fpecies. Upon quantity only, one general obfervation may be premised, because it is applicable to every fpecies of verfe, That fyllables, with refpect to the time taken in pronouncing, are long or fhort; two fhort fyllables, with refpect to time, being precifely equal to a long one. Thefe two lengths are effential to verfe of all kinds; and to no verfe, fo far as I know, is a greater variety of time neceffary in pronouncing fyllables. The voice indeed is frequently made to reft longer than ufual, upon a word that bears an important fignification; but that is done to humour the fenfe, and is not neceffary for melody. A thing not more neceffary for melody occurs with refpect to accenting, fimilar to that now inentioned: 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 entering upon particulars;

particulars; beginning with Latin or Greek Hexameter, which are the fame. What I have to obferve upon that fpecies of verfe, will come under the four following heads, number, arrangement, pause, and accent; for as to quantity, what is obferved above may fuffice.

Hexameter lines, as to time, are all of the fame length; being equivalent to the time taken in pronoun cing twelve long fyllables or twenty-four fhort. An Hexameter line may confift of feventeen fyllables: and when regular and not Spondaic, it never has fewer than thirteen whence it follows, that where the fyllables are many, the plurality must be fhort; 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 afcertaining thefe 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 alfo intended to regulate the pronunciation: which is far from being the cafe; for were one to pronounce according to thele feet, the melody of a Hexameter line would be destroy'd, or at beft be much inferior to what it is when properly pronounced. Thefe

feet

* After fome attention given to this fubject, and weighing deliberately every circumftance, I have been forc'd to rest upon the foregoing conclufion, That the Dactyle and Spondee are no other than artificial measures invented for trying the accuracy of compofition. Repeated experiments convince 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 line demonftrates this to be true, without neceffity of an experiment; for, as will appear afterward, there muft always, in this line, be a capital paufe 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 paufe now mentioned divides always a Dactyle or a Spondee, without ever coming after either of thefe feet. Hence it is evi

dent,

in any part of the line, nor fewer than two if any. And, 34, Two long fyllables which have been preceded by two fhort, cannot alfo be followed by two fhort. Thefe few rules fulfil all the cond tions of a Hexameter line, with relation to order or a rangement. To the fe again a fingle rule may be fubfituted, for which I have a ftill greater relifh, as it regulates more affirmatively the construction of every part. That I may put this rule into words with the greater facility, I take a hint from the twelve long fyllables that compofe an Hexameter line to divide it into twelve equal parts or portions, being each of them one long fyllable or two short. A portion being thus defined, I proceed to the rule. The 1t, 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th portions, mult each of them be one long fyllable; the 10th muit always be two fhort fyllables; the 23, 4th, 6.h, and 8th, may indifferently be one long or two fhort. Or to exprefs the thing till more curtly, The 2d, 4th, 6th, and 8th portions may be one long fyllable or two fhort; the 10th must be two fhort fyllables; all the rett inuft confift each of one long fyllable This fulfils all the conditions of an Hexameter line, and comprehends all the combinations of Dactyles and Spondees that this line admits.

Next in order comes the paufe. At the end of every Hexameter line, no ear but must be fenfible of a complete clofe or full paufe; the caufe of which follows. The two long fyllables preceded by two fhort, which always close an Hexameter line, are a fine preparation for a paufe: the reafon is, that long fyllables, or fyllables pronounced flow, refembling a flow and languid motion tending to reft, naturally incline the mind to reft,

or,

roic verfe. Confidering its compofition merely, it is of two kinds; one compofed of five Lumbi; and one of a Trochæus followed by four lambi: but these feet afford no rule for pronouncing; the mufical feet being obvicully thofe parts of the line that are interjected between two paules. To bring out the melody, thefe feet muit 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 Trochæus.

Ch. XVIII. feet must be confined to their fole province of regulating the arrangement, for they ferve no other purpose. They are withal fo artificial and complex, that I am tempted to fubftitute in their stead, other rules more fimple and of more eafy application; for example, the following. t, The line muft always commence with a long fyllable, and close with two long preceded by two fhort. 2d, More than two fhort can never be found in

dent, that if a line be pronounced, as it is fcanned, by Dactyles and Spondees, the paufe muft utterly be neglected; which confequently deftroys the melody, becaufe this paufe is effential to the melody of an Hexanieter verfe. If, on the other hand, the inelody be preferved by making that paufe, the pronouncing by Dactyles or Spondees must be abandoned.

What has led grammarians into the ufe of Dactyles and Spondees, feems not beyond the reach of conjec. ture. To produce melody, the Dactyle and the Spondee, which clofe every Hexameter line, must be diftinctly expreffed in the pronunciation. This difcovery, joined with another, that the foregoing part of the verfe could be measured by the fame feet, probably led grammarians to adopt thefe artificial measures, and perhaps rafhly to conclude, that the pronunciation is directed by thefe feet as the compofition is: the Dactyle and the Sponde at the clofe, ferve 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.

If we must have feet in verfe to regulate the pronunciation, and confequently the melody, thefe feet muft be determined by the paufes. The whole fyllables interjected between two paufes ought to be deemed one mufical foot; becaufe, to preferve the melody, they must all be pronounced together, without any top. And therefore, whatever number there are of paufes in a Hexameter line, the parts into which it is divided by thefe paufes, make juft fo many mufical feet.

Connection obliges me here to anticipate, by obferving, that the fame doctrine is applicable to English He