Page images
PDF
EPUB

Qu' adoucit la prudence, et cet air de droiture
Du vifage des rois refpectable parure.

Ces deux objets divin n'ont pas les mêmes traits,
Is paroiffent formés, quoique tous deux parfaits;
L'un pour la majeflé, la force, et la nobleffe;
L'autre pour la douceur, la grace, et la tendresse;
Celui-ci pour Dieu feul, l'autre pour l'homme encor.

Here the fenfe is fairly tranflated, the words are of equal power, and yet how inferior the melody!

Many attempts have been made to introduce Hexameter verfe into the living languages, but without fuccefs. The English language, I am inclined to think, is not fufceptible of this melody and my reafons are thefe. First, the polyfyllables in Latin and Greek are finely diverfified by long and fhort fyllables, a circumftance that qualifies them for the melody of Hexameter verfe: ours are extremely ill qualified for that fervice, because they fuperabound in fhort fyllables. Secondly, the bulk of our monofyllables are arbitrary with regard to length, which is an unlucky circumftance in Hexameter: for although cuftom, as obferved above, may render familiar a long or a fhort pronunciation of the fame word, yet the mind wavering between the two founds, cannot be fo much affected with either, as with a word that hath always the fame found; and for that reafon, arbitrary founds are ill fitted for a melody which is chiefly fupported by quantity. In Latin and Greek Hexameter, invariable founds direct and afcertain the melody. Englifh Hexameter would be deftitute of melody, unless by artful pronunciation; because of neceffity the bulk of its founds must be arbitrary. The pronunciation is eafy in a fimple movement of alternate long and fhort fyllables; but would be perplexing and unpleasant in the diverfified movement of Hexame ter verfe.

Rhyme

Rhyme makes fo great a figure in modern poetry, as to deserve a folemn trial. I have for that reafon referved it to be examined with deliberation; in order to discover, if I can, its peculiar beauties, and its degree of merit. The first view of this fubject leads naturally to the following reflection: "That rhyme having no relation to fentiment, nor any effect upon the ear other than a mere jingle, ought to be banished. all compofitions of any dignity, as affording but a trifling and childish pleafure." It will alfo be obferved, "That a jingle of words hath in fome meafure a ludicrous effect; witness the double rhymes of Hudibras, which contribute no fmall fhare to its drollery that in a serious work this ludicrous effect would be equally remarkable, were it not obfcured by the prevailing gravity of the fubject that having however a conftant tendency to give a ludicrous air to the compofition, more than ordinary fire is requifite to fupport the dignity of the fentiments against fuch an undermining antagonist.*"

Thefe arguments are fpecious, and have undoubtedly fome weight. Yet, on the other hand, it ought to be confidered, that in modern tongues rhyme has become univerfal among men as well as children; and that it cannot have fuch a currency without fome foundation in human nature. In fact, it has been fuccefsfully employ'd by poets of genius, in their,fcrious and grave compofitions, as well as in those which are more light and airy. Here in weighing authority against argument, the fcales feem to be upon a level and therefore, to come at any thing decifive, we must pierce a little deeper.

Mufic has great power over the foul; and may fuccefsfully be employ'd to inflame or foothe paffions,

*Voffius, De poematum cantu, p. 26. says, orationis afficit, quam in fono ludere fyllabarum."

"

if

Nihil æque gravitati

if not actually to raise them. A fingle found, however fweet, is not mufic; but a fingle found, repeated after intervals, may have the effect to roufe attention, and to keep the hearer awake and a variety of fimilar founds fucceeding each other after regular intervals, muft have a ftill ftronger effect. This confideration is applicable to rhyme, which connects two verfc-lines by making them close with two words fimilar in found. And confidering attentively the mufical effect of a couplet, we find, that it roufes the mind, and produceth an emotion moderately gay without dignity or elevation: like the murmuring of a brook gliding through pebbles, it calms the mind when perturbed, and gently raises it when funk. These effects are fcarce perceived when the whole poem is in rhyme; but are extremely remarkable by contrast, in the couplets that close the several acts of our later tragedies the tone of the mind is fenfibly varied by them, from anguifh, diftrefs, or melancholy, to fome degree of eafe and alacrity. For the truth of this obfervation, I appeal to the speech of Jane Shore in the fourth act, when her doom was pronounced by Glo'fter; to the fpeech of Lady Jane Gray at the end of the first act; and to that of Califta, in the Fair Penitent, when the leaves the stage, about the middle of the third act. The fpeech of Alicia, at the clofe of the fourth act of Jane Shore, puts the matter beyond doubt: in a fcene of deep diftrefs, the rhymes which finish the act, produce a certain gaiety and cheerfulness, far from according with the tone of the paffion :

Alicia. For ever? Oh! For ever!

Oh! who can bear to be a wretch for ever!
My rival too! his last thoughts hung on her:
And, as he parted, left a blefling for her:
Shall the be blefs'd, and I be curs'd, for ever!

No;

No; fince her fatal beauty was the canfe

Of all my fuff'rings, let her fhare my pains;
Let her, like me of ev'ry joy forlorn,

Devote the hour when fuch a wretch was born:
Like me to defarts and to darkness run,
Abhor the day, and curfe the golden fun;
Caft ev'ry good and ev'ry hope behind;
Deteft the works of nature, loathe mankind :
Like me with cries diftracted fill the air,
Tear her poor bofom, and her frantic hair,
And prove the torments of the last despair.

}

Having defcribed, the beft way I can, the impreffion that rhyme makes on the mind; I proceed to examine whether there be any fubjects to which rhyme is peculiarly adapted, and for what fubjects it is improper. Grand and lofty fubjects, which have a powerful influence, claim precedence in this inquiry. In the chapter of Grandeur and Sublimity it is eftablifhed, that a grand or fublime object, inspires a warm enthufiaftic emotion difdaining ftrict regularity and order; which emotion is very different from that infpired by the moderately enlivening mufic of rhyme. Suppofing then an elevated fubject to be expreffed in rhyme, what must be the effect? The intimate union of the mufic with the fubject, produces an intimate union of their emotions? one infpired by the fubject, which tends to elevate and expand the mind; and one infpired by the mufic, which, confining the mind within the narrow limits of regular cadence and fimilar found, tends to prevent all elevation above its own pitch. Emotions fo little concordant, cannot in union have a happy effect.

But it is fcarce neceffary to reafon upon a cafe that never did, and probably never will happen, viz. an important fubject clothed in rhyme, and yet fupported in its utmoft elevation. A happy thought or warm expreflion, may at times give a fudden bound

upward;

upward; but it requires a genius greater than has hitherto existed, to fupport a poem of any length in a tone elevated much above that of the melody. Taffo and Ariofto ought not to be made exceptions, and ftill lefs Voltaire. And after all, where the poet has the dead weight of rhyme conftantly to struggle with, how can we expect an uniform elevation in a high pitch; when fuch elevation with all the fupport it can receive from language, requires the utmost effort of the human genius?

But now, admitting rhyme to be an unfit drefs for grand and lofty images; it has one advantage however, which is, to raise a low fubject to its own degree of elevation. Addifon* obferves, "That rhyme, without any other affiftance, throws the language off from profe, and very often makes an indifferent phrafe pafs unregarded; but where the verfe is not built upon rhymes, there, pomp of found and energy of expreflion are indifpenfably neceffary, to fupport the style, and keep it from falling into the flatnefs of profe." This effect of rhyme, is remarkable in French verfe: which, being fimple, and little qualified for inverfion, readily finks down to profe where not artificially fupported: rhyme is therefore indifpenfable in French tragedy, and may be proper even in French comedy. Voltaire † affigns that very reafon for adhering to rhyme in these compofitions. He indeed candidly owns, that, even with the fupport of rhyme, the tragedies of his country are little better than converfation-pieces; which feems to infer, that the French language is weak, and an improper drefs for any grand fubject. Voltaire was fenfible of the imperfection; and yet Voltaire attempted an epic poem in that language.

Spectator, No. 285...

The

+ Preface to his OEdipus, and in his difcourfe upon tragedy, prefixed To the tragedy of Brutus.

« PreviousContinue »