But, whatever be the cafe in printing, and writing, this is contrary to the practice of all good readers; who pronounce every fyllable diftinctly, and by fo doing gratify our ear much more than if they had made the fuppofed elifions. For, how ridiculous would it be, if one were to read the last line thus!

Full man' an am'rous, man' a quer'lous ditty...

This might indeed be called meafure, but it could not be called English.

Some have imagined, that the rhythm of our verfe depends, like that of the Greek and Latin, not upon the number, but upon the quantity, of fyllables. And it is true, that an English heroick line may be made up of a fhort and long fyllable five times repeated; in which cafe we may fay, without any impropriety, that it is a pure Iambick of five feet: as,

Děfpair, revenge, remorfe torment the foul. But it is no lefs true, that an English heroick line may be compofed, wherein there fhall not be one long fyllable, except the laft: as,

The bufy bodies flutter tattle ftill. Whatever may be faid of this line in other refpects, it will at least be allowed to be of the English heroick species: and yet, if we were to pronounce the fecond, fourth, fixth, and eighth fyllables as if they were long, the articulation would be ridiculous:

The buzz-y bode-ies flutt-er tatt-le still. I grant, that thofe heroick lines, which abound in fyllables that are at once emphatical and short, are not fo proper for expreffing fentiments or images of dignity; yet ftill they

are of the heroick fpecies; and no critick will fay, that they are inconfiftent with rule, or not juftifiable by authority.

"On what then does the meafure of English verfes depend? Not on the number of the fyllables, as we have feen: nor on their quantity; fince an English heroick line may confift of five fhort and five long fyllables, or of nine fhort and one long fyllable. In fact, this matter is regulated by the emphafis. In our verfe, there must be in every foot one emphatick fyllable, whether long or fhort. And the alternate fucceffion of emphatick and non-emphatick fyllables is as effential to English numbers, as that of long and fhort is to the Latin and Greek. Thus in that line,

The bufy bodies flutter tattle'till, though there is not one long fyllable till you come to the end, there are five emphatick fyllables, each of them preceded by a fyllable of no emphafis. And in the other line,

Despair, remorse, revenge, torment the foul, there are alfo five emphatick fyllables, each preceded by a non-emphatick fyllable.

"In what refpect, then, do these be of the fame fpecies) refemble two lines (which are allowed to each other, and in what refpect do they differ? They differ in this respect, that one is made up of fhort and long fyllables alternately difpofed, while the other has in it only one long fyllable: they agree in this, that both the one and the other is compofed of non-emphatick and emphatick fyllables placed alternately. It follows, that, though long and fhort, or short and

P 4

long,

Jong, fyllables may fometimes form the rhythm of English verfe, yet that which invariably and effentially forms it, is the interchange of emphatick and non-emphatick fylJables.

"In lines, that are intended to imitate the fenfe by the articulation, or to be remarkably concife and fignificant, an exuberance of emphatick fyllables may fometimes be found. But fuch lines, whatever merit they may have in refpect of energy, are not well-tuned; and perhaps could hardly be known to be verfe, if we did not find them among other verfes. The imperfection of their harmony, however, we overlook, if they have any other beauty to counterbalance it. Such is this of Milton:

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and

fhades of death.

And fuch is that, in a late Prologue, which I have heard Mrs. Abington pronounce very humouroufly:

Some great fat wife of fome great fat fhopkeeper.

"Our language abounds in words of one fyllable, many of which, being of ambiguous quantity, have no other emphafis, but the rhetorical, which is fixed upon them by the sense. In lines of monofyllables, therefore, that are well-tuned, thofe words, which by the rule of the verfe would have the fyllabick emphafis, have alfo the rhetorical emphafis from the importance of their fignification. If we were to mistake the following line for profe,--

The fun was fet, and all the plains were ftill, yet, if we read it with understand ing, the rhetorical emphasis, co

inciding with the fyllabick, and having indeed the fame effect, would prove it to be poetical, and of the heroick species.

1

"I fhall conclude this part of the fubject with two remarks. The first is, that tho' our poetry derives its meafure from the emphasis of fyllables, and the Greek and Latin theirs from the quantity, we must not look upon the former as barbarous, and upon the latter as alone fufceptible of true harmony: the only inference we can reasonably make is, that Greek and Latin verfes are more uniform than ours in refpect of time. The rhythm of founds may be marked by the diftinction of loud and foft, as well as by that of long and short. Every nation has a right to determine for itfelf in thefe matters; and it is probable, that the English num. Latin and Greek were to the Robers are as delightful to us, as the mans and Grecians. In like manner, though rhimes are intolerable in ancient poetry, it does not fol low, that they are contemptible in themselves: most modern nations have them, and children and pea fants are charmed with them; which could not be, if they had not in certain circumftances the power of pleafing.

"My fecond remark is, that tho' thofe terms in ancient grammar, trochæus, iambus, dactylus, anapaftus, pondeus, &c. do properly fignify certain limited arrangements of long and short fylla bles, it can do no harm to adopt them in English profody. For our emphatick fyllables are often long, and our non-emphatick fyllables are often short; and where this is the cafe, we use these terms without impropriety. And where this

is not the cafe, if we call that foot a trochee (for example) which confifts of an emphatick and nonemphatick fyllable, both of them hort, as body, we do not depart from the original meaning of words more than is frequently done, with out blame, on other occafions.

An advo

In fact, the customs of dif ferent countries are fo different, that when we borrow words from a foreign tongue, it is not always poffible to confine them to their primitive fenfe. With us, an adTuocate is one who pleads a caufe in a court of judicature. cate in ancient Rome was one, who affifted with his countenance and advice the perfon who was obliged to appear before the judges, whether he spoke in his behalf or not. "Let us then have our trochees, iambufes, and anapefts, and our trochaick, iambick, and anapeftick measures only let it be remembered, that, in English profody, a trochee is either a long and fhort, (as lowly), or an emphatick and non-emphatick, fyllable, (as body); an iambus, the reverfe, as renown, repel; an anapeft, an iambus preceded by a fhort fyllable, as magazine; and a dactyl, a trochee followed by a fhort fyllable, as thunderer, profligate.

"As our poetical numbers depend upon the alternate fucceffion of emphatick and non-emphatick fyllables, it may be proper, before I proceed to the fubject of accent, to give fome account of the various forts of measure, that have been eftablished in English poetry; in defcribing which, I must be understood to use the words trochee, iambus, dactyl, and anapest, in the fenfe juft now explained. And I hall take the liberty to mark our

rhythmical emphafis and the want of it, by the fame characters, which in Latin profody denote long and bort fyllables.

"English poetical measure may be divided into four kinds, Dactylick, Iambick, Trochaick, and Anapeftick.

"I. The Dactylick measure being very uncommon, I fhall give only one example of one fpecies of it, which I find in Dryden's Albion and Albanius.

From the low palace of old father Ocean

Come we in pity your cares to deplore; Sea-racing dolphins are train'd for our mo

tion,

tinued through any great number of lines; though in the following example it has a very good effect. It confifts of two iambuses..

With ravish'd ears

The monarch hears, Aff-umes the God, Af-fects to nod.

It fometimes takes, or may take, an additional fhort fyllable; as, Upōn ǎ mountain

Befide a fountain.

mom measures may be varied in the fame way, as well as by the different pofition of their paufes. And fuch varieties, when fkilfully intro duced, give wonderful energy to English, Greek, and Latin numbers; and have, for this reafon, been ftudiously sought after by Ho mer, Virgil, Milton, Dryden, and all other harmonious poets: variety being the foul of harmony, and nothing in language or in mufick

uniform fameness of found and measure. Our heroick verse is fometimes lengthened out by an additional fhort fyllable, and then

Ye lays no longer languish,

For nought can cure my anguish. .84 4. The fourth form is made up of four iambufes, with fometimes an additional fyllable, which gives a pleasing variety.

Or whether, as föme fāges fing, The frolick wind, that breathes the fpring, Young Zephyr with Aurora playing, &c. This measure, which we use both in burlefque and in ferious poetry, is the fame with the Iambick Di meter of the antients; whereof, in its purest form, this is an example:

inärfit äeftübfius.

"C 5th The fifth fpecies of English

Tambick is no other than our.common measure for heroick poetry and

form it confifts of five iambuses :

of the modern Italians.

"Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter.

Che 'l gran fepolchro liberò di Chrifto. But in English, this is more com mon in blank verse, than in rhime; and in tragedy, than in the epick or didactick poem; and among tragedians it is lefs fashionable now, than it was formerly.

6. The fixth form of our Iam bick is commonly called the Alexandrine meafure; becaufe, fay the criticks, (but on what authority I know not) it was firft ufed in poem called Alexander. It confifts of fix iambuses.

For thōu ărt būt öf düft; bě humble, and

bě wife.

The dumb fhall fing, the lame his crutch forego:

but, by the admiffion of other feet, as trochees, dactyls, and anapests, is capable of more than thirty varieties. Indeed, most of our com

Waller was fmooth; but Dryden taught to join

The varying verfe, the full refounding line, The long majestick march, and energy divine.

Spenfer

Spenfer makes it the laft line of his great ftanza; where indeed it has a very happy effect. By the fame artifice, Milton gives fuperlative elevation to fome of his ftanzas on the Nativity :

But first to thofe ychain'd in fleep The wakeful trump of doom, fhall thunder through the deep.

and Gray, to the endings of his Pindarick measures. This verfe is generally pleafing, when it con. cludes a poetical fentence of dignity: as where the aged champion in Dryden's Virgil refigns his arms, with a refolution not to refume them any more:

Take the laft gift these wither'd arms can yield,

Thy gauntlets I refign, and here renounce the field.

In measure and number of feet it is the fame with the pure Iambick Trimeter of the Greeks and Romans; of which every fecond line of the fixteenth epode of Horace is an example:

Suis et ipfa Romă vīrībās rūīt. Some criticks confound our Alexandrine with the French heroick verfe. But the latter, though it fometimes contains the fame number of fyllables, is not Iambick at all, but rather Anapeftick, having for the most part two fhort for one long fyllable, and in rhythm correfponds nearly to the following:

Now fee, when they meet, how their honours behave:

Noble captain, your fervant: Sir Arthur, your flave.

Pray how does my lady? My wife's at your

fervice.

I think I have feen her picture by Jervis. The Alexandrine, like other Englifh Iambicks, may occafionally take an additional short fyllable:

With freedom by my fide, and foft-eyed: Melancholy.

7.

The feventh and last form of our Iambick measure is made up of feven iambuses:

The Lord defcended from above, and bow'd the heavens high,

which was antiently written in öné line; but is now for the most part broken into two, the first containing four feet, and the second three. Chapman's tranflation of Homer's Iliad is the longest work I have feen in this measure. It is now confidered as a Lyrick verfe; and is very popular, and indeed very pleafing.

"III. The fhorteft Trochaick verfe in our language is that ufed by Swift in a burlefque poem called a Lilliputian Ode, confifting of one trochet and a long fyllable.