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SECT. IV.

Verfifications

THE mufic of verfe, though handled by every grammarian, merits more attention than it has been honoured with. It is a fubject intimately connected with human nature; and to explain it thoroughly, feveral nice and delicate feelings muft be employed. But before entering upon it, we muft fee what verfe is, or, in other words, by what mark it is diftinguished from profe; a point not fo easy as may at first be apprehended. It is true, that the conftruction of verfe is governed by precife rules; whereas profe is more loofe, and fcarce fubjected to any rules. But are the many who have no rules, left without means to make the diftinction? and even with refpect to the learned, must they apply the rule before they can with certainty pronounce whether the compofition be profe or verfe? This will hardly be maintained; and therefore inftead of rules, the ear must be appealed to as the proper judge. But by what mark does the ear diftinguifh verfe from profe? The proper and fatisfactory anfwer is, That thefe make different impreffions upon every one who hath an car. This advances us one ftep in our inquiry.

Taking it then for granted, that verfe and profe make upon the ear different impreffions: nothing remains but to explain this difference and to aflign its caufe. To this end, I call to my aid, an obfervation made above upon the found of words, that they are more agreeable to the ear when compofed of long and fhort fyllables, than when all the fyllables are of the fame fort; a continued found in the fame tone,

tone, makes not a mufical impreffion: the fame note fucceffively renewed by intervals, is more agreeable; but ftill makes not a mufical impreffion. To produce that impreffion, variety is neceffary as well as number: the fucceffive founds or fyllables, must be fome of them long, fome of them fhort; and if also high and low, the mufic is the more perfect. The mufical impreffion made by a period confifting of long and fhort fyllables arranged in a certain order, is what the Greeks call rhythmus, the Latins numerus, and we melody or meafure. Cicero justly obferves, that in one continued found there is no melody: "Numerus in continuatione nullus eft." But in what follows he is wide of the truth, if by numerus he means melody or mufical measure: "Distinctio, et æqualium et fæpe variorum in tervallorum per cuffio, numerum conficit; quem in cadentibus guttis, quòd intervallis diftinguuntur, notare poffumus." Falling drops, whether with equal or unequal intervals, are certainly not mufic: we are not fenfible of a mufical impreffion but in a fucceffion of long and fhort notes. And this alfo was probably the opinion of the author cited, though his expreffion be a little unguarded.*

It will probably occur, that melody, if it depend on long and fhort fyllables combined in a' fentence, may be found in profe as well as in verfe; confidering especially, that in both, particular words are accented or pronounced in a higher tone than the reft; and therefore that verfe cannot be diftinguished from profe by melody merely. The obfervation is juft;

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*From this paffage, however, we difcover the etymology of the Latin term for mufical impreffion. Every one being fenfible that there is no mufic in a continued found; the first inquiries were probably carried no farther than to difcover, that to produce a musical impreffion a number of founds is neceffary; and mufical impreffion obtained the name of nu- · merus, before it was clearly afcertained, that variety is neceffary as well as number.

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е до and it follows, that the diftinction between them, fince it depends not fingly on melody, must arise from the difference of the melody: which is precifely the cafe; though that difference cannot with any accuracy be explained in words; all that can be faid is, that verfe is more mufical than profe, and its melody more perfect. The difference between verfe and' profe, resembles the difference, in mufic properly fo called, between the fong and the recitative and the refemblance is not the leaft complete, that thefe differences, like the fhades of colours, approximate fometimes fo nearly as fcarce to be difcernible: the melody of a recitative approaches fometimes to that of a fong which, on the other hand, degenerates fometimes to that of a recitative. Nothing is more diftinguishable from profe, than the bulk of Virgil's Hexameters: many of those compofed by Horace, are very little removed from profe: Sapphic verse has a very fenfible melody: that, on the other hand, of an Iambic, is extremely faint.*

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This more perfect melody of articulate founds, is what diftinguisheth verfe from profe. Verfe is fubjected to certain inflexible laws; the number and variety of the component fyllables being afcertained, and in fome measure the order of fucceffion. Such restraint makes it a matter of difficulty to compofe in verfe; a difficulty that is not to be furmounted but by a peculiar genius. Ufeful leffons conveyed to us in verfe, are agreeable by the union of mufic with instruction but are we for that reafon to reject knowledge, offered in a plainer drefs? That would be ri diculous

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Mufic, properly fo called, is analyfed into melody and harmony. A fucceffion of founds so as to be agreeable to the ear, confiitutes melody: harmony arifes from co-exifling founds. Verse therefore can only reach melody, and not harmony.

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diculous for knowledge is of intrinfic merit, inde. pendent of the means of acquifition; and there are many, not lefs capable than willing to inftruct us, who have no genius for verfe. Hence the use of profe; which, for the reafon now given, is not confined to precife rules. There belongs to it, a certain melody of an inferior kind, which ought to be the aim of every writer; but for fucceeding in it, practice is neceflary more than genius. Nor do we rigidly infift for melodious profe: provided the work convey inftruction, its chief end, we are the lefs folicitous about its drefs.

Having afcertained the nature and limits of our fubject, I proceed to the laws by which it is regulated. Thefe would be endlefs, were verfe of all different kinds to be taken under confideration. I propofe therefore to confine the inquiry, to Latin or Greek Hexameter, and to French and English Heroic verse; which perhaps may carry me farther than the reader will choofe to follow. The obfervations I fhall have occafion to make, will at any rate be fufficient for a fpecimen; and thefe, with proper variations, may easily be transferred to the compofition of other forts of verfe.

Before I enter upon particulars, it must be premifed in general, that to verfe of every kind, five things are of importance. 1ft, The number of fyllables that compose a verfe line. 2d, The different lengths of fyllables, i. e. the difference of time taken in pronouncing. 3d, The arrangement of thefe fyllables combined in words. 4th, The paufes or ftops in pronouncing. 5th, The pronouncing fyllables in a high or a low tone. The three firft mentioned are obviously effential to verfe: if any of them be wanting, there cannot be that higher degree of melody which diftinguifheth verfe from profe. To give a

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just notion of the fourth, it must be observed, that pauses are neceffary for three different purposes: one, to separate periods, and members of the fame period, according to the fenfe; another, to improve the melody of verfe; and the laft, to afford opportunity for drawing breath in reading. A paufe of the first kind is variable, being long or fhort, frequent or lefs frequent, as the fenfe requires. A paufe of the fecond kind, being determined by the melody, is in no degree arbitrary. The laft fort is in a measure arbitrary, depending on the reader's command of breath. But as one cannot read with grace, unless, for drawing breath, opportunity be taken of a paufe in the fenfe or in the melody, this pause ought never to be distinguished from the others; and for that reafon fhall be laid afide. With refpect then to the paufes of fenfe and of melody, it may be affirmed without hesitation, that their coincidence in verfe is a capital beauty but as it cannot be expected, in a long work efpecially, that every line fhould be fo perfect; we fhall afterward have occafion to fee, that the paufe neceffary for the sense must often, in fome degree, be facrificed to the verfe-paufe, 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 sometimes 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

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