and not a fingle inftance of them occurs in the tragedies, viz. perfequemur otium; caprifícos erutas; império, amorum dolis, though imperi, armorum doli does occur; intrépidus, exul, vagus, though the form of Sceleribus pœnas luet, which has the fame divifion of words, and of quóque prohibetur magis, which has the fame quantities, occur in every page; as well as that of conjugia defpondet fibi. All monyfyllables were confidered as accented. We believe, that in long words, where three unaccented fyllables preceded the accent, like confociáre, conditionibus, inverecúndus, the Romans admitted a fecondary accent, as the Italians have done in words like fmifuratamente. Prudentius, who ftrictly observed all the accentual laws, has ufed inverecundus lépor in the trimeter iambic, which is faulty, unless a fecondary accent be admitted. This licenfe is however peculiar to him; he has used it only seven times in upwards of 2000 lines, and we know of no other fuch inftance; his authority will not be deemed fufficient to eftablifh it as an admiffible termination. It does not occur in the tragedians.

With refpect to the hexameter cæfura, we think that the Greeks and Romans differed materially in confequence of the difference of their accentuation. The form of verfe, which moft naturally produces the offenfive cadence, is the unequal divifion of a dactyle in the third, without a break after the next long fyllable; as, Suadentque cadentia fidera fomnum. According to Greek accentuation, fuch diftribution of words did not neceffarily produce that cadence, and therefore it is frequent in Homer; but in Latin we think it inadmiffible, unless the firft foot has a thort fyllable accented, as in præcipitat.

From thefe obfervations, it appears to us, that the metrical rules obferved in the fouth of Europe, were not modern inventions, but the old accentual laws of Latin verfe, which furvived thofe of quantity. The Italian flort verfe of the canzoni, is Lydia dic per omnes in all its accentual varieties: the Spanish verse of eight feet ufed in comedies, is the dimeter iambic or glyconic ending with a diflyllable in all their diverfity. The proportion of quantities, by which the lines were connected, being no longer obferved, it became neceflary to limit the variations of the cadence. In the thort lines they could bear all the old variations, except the aberration from the laft proper feat; in the longer verfes, it was expedient to difcard the leaft pleafing forms: but the hexameter and pentameter were too long to produce a good effect in a language where quantity was difregarded. It remained for later poets to confound accent and quantity, and produce that barbarous hexameter, which Klopstock has brought into vogue again. We know not exactly at what period they were first introduced The

French

French are the only nation we know that fpeak without any accent, pronouncing their words with a uniformity, that renders their language unfit for poetry; for, as Mr Mitford obferves, where there is no variety, there can be no continued melody. This circumftance, however, rendered it impoffible for them to confound accent with quantity; and confequently when they attempted to use the hexameter of the Latins, they confidered the meafure of their words. According to Pafquier, the first attempt was made by Etienne Jodelle in 1553. Pafquier himself wrote fome lines upon the fame plan, which he has inferted in the 7th book of his Recherches de la France, with the following obfervation; Or ces vers par moy cy deffus recitez, reprefentent en notre langue les vers Grecs et Latins, dans lefquels on confidere la proportion des pieds longs et briefs feulement." We quote his first four lines, as a specimen of the French hexameter, and pen,

tameter.

Rien ne me plait finon de te chanter et fervir et orner;

Rien ne te plait, mon bien, rien ne te plait que ma mort.
Plus je requiers et plus je me tiens feur d'eftre refufé,

Et ce refus pourtant point ne me semble refus. '

He has taken confiderable license with refpect to the word et; fervir is perhaps a spondee.

Difmifling the hexameter, we will briefly explain what we conceive to be the laws of English accent and verfification, which have perhaps never been rightly confidered. The accentuation of words exceeding one fyllable, can only be learned by habit, on account of its great irregularity. Dr Johnfon has given twenty rules to affift foreigners, but he allows that these have their exceptions. This however is almoft invariable, that every word has fome one fyllable prominently accented; perhaps into has not. Monofyllables ftand nearly in the fame predicament as Greek words accented on the laft; which alone, or followed by a pause, bore the acute; but, followed by other words, loft their accent and remained grave, being fpoken with French monotony. There is, however, this difference, that when several English monofyllables occur together, the most important, and thofe only, bear the acute. If a monofyllabic adjective and fubftantive are joined, the fubftantive has the acute, and the adjective the grave, unless the adjective be placed in antithefis, inwhich cafe the reverfe happens. This law was obferved by all our best poets; but Dr Darwin and other

*

modern

* The metrical ufe of the expreffed grave in the six moririzoi however seems to indicate that the oxytons were not spoken with complete monotony, though probably lefs ftrongly accented, than when the acute was expreffed.

modern writers, have most improperly neglected it, and even affected the reverfe. A monofyllabic adjective, however important, cannot have the acute before a fubftantive accented on the first fyllable; and the reason is, that two fyllables with the acute cannot fall together, unless fo disjoined as to admit a paufe between them: for instance, Pope might have been permitted to write, inftead of more fafe, Nor is Paul's church fáfer than Paul's churchyárd;' becaufe the voice can paufe between the words fufficiently to give the acute to church; but he could not have written, More fafe Paul's high feeple than Paul's church-gard, because the acute could not be given to high in that fituation. In verfes, particularly of the triple cadence, (that is, where the acute falls on every third fyllable), a licenfe has been frequently used of taking off the acute from unimportant diffyllables, and fpeaking them grave, as if they formed a part of the enfuing word.

Such being the system of accentuation in Teutonic languages, arifing neceffarily from the number of their important monofyllables, the laws of our heroic and dramatic verfe are nearly fimilar to those of the Italians. The tenth fyllable shall be accented; but the accent may be occafionally drawn back to the eighth. The fixth Shall be accented, or both fourth and eighth the only exception to this rule is, when the fecond and eighth are accented, and no other accent intervenes. Thefe are the invariable and fundamental rules that regulate our metre: if two accents are frequently thrown together, (which, as we have obferved, cannot be done unless the words admit a paufe of the voice), the effect will be unpleafant; but in every other way the metre fhould be varied as much as poffible; for, if the accents always fall on the alternate fyllables, it will want melody, to which variety is effential. It is obfervable, that the Greeks and Romans generally agreed in never throwing back the accent beyond one long and one fhort fyllable; whereas, one of the greatest faults in the English language is the removal of it beyond a long and two fhort, and fometimes beyond four fhort fyllables, as in differently, néceffarily. We quote a few lines from Pope with the accents and quantities marked.

Príde, envy, málice, against Dryden rose,

L

in various shapes, of pārsōns, crítics, beaus;
But sense surviv'd when mérry jésts were pást,

For rising merit will buoy up at last.

Might he return and bless once more our eyes,
New Blackmōrés and new Milbourns would arise.

Nay, should great Homer lift his awful head,

Zoilus again would start up from the dead.

In this paffage, the laft line is read with fome ambiguity, be cause it is doubtful whether fart or up are most important, and which should take the acute accent. The metre requires it to be thrown on start; because if up, which is the seventh, takes the acute, both fixth and eighth remain grave, and the metre Fails but in the first line, the fixth fyllable is fhort and unaccented; yet the acute falling on the fourth and eighth in the words malice and Dryden, the metre is perfectly good. Words which never can be accented, like to, the, of, &c. may occupy the fixth place, if the fourth and eighth have the acute, and vice verfa, but otherwife not. English verfe has however one peculiarity, which ferves to increafe the dignity of the line, as elifions do in other languages. The difficulty of founding two acutes together, makes the accents fall generally on alternate fyllables, which may be called their proper feats: and the verse is naturally divided into five accentual feet; in any, or all of which, an additional unaccented fyllable may be inferted, which fhall not be reckoned in scanning the verfe; but fuch fyllables, fhould not be inferted between two, which, if feparated, would both bear the acute. For inftance, the following lines are accurate;

And májny an ámforous málny a húmfórous láy.

The impérial énign, which full hígh advanced.

But we are of opinion, that feveral verfes even in Pope are faulty, because, by the improper pofition of the additional syllable, two accents meet in the fame foot, which is improper, and could not otherwife happen without an intervening paufe.

Heaven's whole | foundations to their centre nód.

We are aware, that the word heaven has been very univerfally ufed as a monofyllable; a practice against which we proteft, becaufe v cannot be fpoken with a final liquid, as in heaven, devil, &c. without the intervention of a vowel, however fhort. The fame is the cafe with the word prifm, which Dr Darwin has on the other hand improperly ufed as a diffyllable in the latter part of a verfe. We think that a middle courfe fhould be fteered. Dionyfius has properly explained, that amongit long fyllables, fome are longer than others, amongst fhort ones fome fhorter, on account of the nature of the vowel and the number of con

fonants;

fonants; and it appears to us, that fuch final fyllables are of the fhorteft fpecies, and that they have not fufficient ftrength to fupport the half of an accentual foot, unlefs, perhaps, near the beginning of a verfe; and therefore, they should always be used as fuperfluous fyllables, but not fo placed as to throw two accents in the fame foot. All heaven's foundations would be good metre, because the adjective remains grave before its accented fubftantive. The following line from Milton, though at first fight it may appear fimilar, is in fact very different.

Fallen Chérub, to be weak | is mísferable.

It divides like,

Irrecoverably dárk, | total | eclipse.

in which there is an aberration of the accent from its proper feat in every foot, except the third and the laft; but Pope's line cannot be fo fcanned, because in that cafe, there would be an aberration in the fecond and third foot, which is not permiffible. It must be obferved, that in verfe of the triple cadence, heaven and prifm fhould be always ufed like other diffyllables; because although the triple is allowed to mix with the even cadence, no cadence can be used beyond the triple; and three unaccented fyllables with one accented, cannot be used as an accentual foot: on which account, no additional fyllables or aberration of accent can be permitted in that metre, but in fome very long words a fecondary accent is employed. This metre, having been frequently used for ludicrous fubjects, has been written carelessly: its conftruction, however, requires great attention; for if the licenfe of making diffyllables grave be used injudiciously, or the accent thrown on an unimportant, and taken off an important monofyllable, the verfe will claudicate. When two accented fyllables met, the Romans appear to have used the fame optional liberty, that is taken in the Teutonic languages, where monofyllables abound: they frequently threw the effential accent on a monofyllable, in which cafe, the fyllable following must have remained grave; as in pér mare et terras fúgit.

Thus much with refpect to the accentual laws of English verse; but we further affert, that there is a clear difference between accent and quantity in the English language; and that, independ ent of accent, quantity neither is, nor ought to be entirely dif regarded in our verfification. Every ear accustomed to Latin fapphics, would obferve the peculiar ftructure of the following lines, and object to them in English blank verfe; yet are they in every refpect fuch as frequently occur, excepting that the words all follow the Latin rule of accentuation, and that the arrangement of quantities as well as accents, correfponds with that in a fapphic stanza,