Speaking of Nature, or the God of Nature:

Warms in the fun || refreshes in the breeze,
Glows in the ftars || and bloffoms in the trees,
Lives through all life || extends through all extent,
Spreads undivided || operates unfpent.

Paufes are like to dwell longer upon hand than I imagined; for the subject is not yet exhaufted. It is laid down above, that English heroic verfe, confidering melody only, admits no more than four capital pauses; and that the capital paufe of every line is determined by the fense to be after the fourth, the fifth, the fixth, or feventh fyllable. And that this doctrine holds true fo far as melody alone is concerned, every good ear will bear testimony. At the fame time, examples are not unfrequent, in Milton especially, of the capital pause being after the first, the second, or the third fyllable. And that this licence may be taken, even gracefully, when it adds vigour to the expreffion, I readily admit. So far the found may be justly facrificed to the fenfe or expreffion. That this licence may be fuccefsfully taken,

will be clear from the following example. Pope, in his translation of Homer, defcribes a rock broke off from a mountain, and hurling to the plain, in the following words.

From steep to steep the rolling ruin bounds;
At every fhock the crackling wood refounds;
Still gath'ring force, it fmocks; and urg’d amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to
the plain:

There stops || So Hector. Their whole force he prov'd,

Refistless when he rag'd; and when he stopt, unmov'd.

In the penult line the proper place of the mufical pause is at the end of the fifth fyllable; but it enlivens the expreffion by its coincidence with that of the fenfe at the

end of the fecond fyllable. The ftopping fhort before the ufual pause in the melody, aids the impreffion that is made. by the description of the ftone's ftopping short. And what is loft to the melody by this artifice, is more than compenfated by the force that is added to the description.

*

Milton

Milton makes a happy use of this licence, witness the following examples from his Paradife Loft.

Thus with the year

Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day || or the sweet approach of even or morn.

Celestial voices to the midnight-air...
Sole or refponfive each to others note.

And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook but delay'd to strike.

And hard'ning in his strength

Glories for never fince created man

Met fuch embodied force.

From his flack hand the garland wreath'd for Eve Down drop'd and all the faded roses shed.

Of uneffential night, receives him next,
Wide gaping || and with utter loss of being
Threatens him, &c.

For

For now the thought

Both of loft happiness and lafting pain.

Torments him round he throws his baleful eyes, &c.

If we confider the foregoing paffages with respect to melody fingly, the paufes are undoubtedly out of their proper place, But being united with those of the sense, they inforce the expreffion and enliven it greatly. And the beauty of expreffion is communicated to the found, which, by a natural deception, makes even the melody appear more perfect than if the musical paufes were regular.

To explain the rules of accenting, two general obfervations must be premised. The firft is, That accents have a double effect. They contribute to the melody, by giving it air and fpirit: they contribute not lefs to the fenfe, by diftinguishing important words from others. These two effects ought never to be feparated. If a mufical accent be put where the fenfe rejects it, we feel a discordance betwixt the thought and

the

the melody.

An accent, for example, placed on a word that makes no figure, has the effect to burlefk it, by giving it an unnatural elevation. The injury thus done to the fenfe, is communicated to the melody by the intimacy of connection, and both feem to be wounded. This rule is applicable in a peculiar manner to particles. It is indeed ridiculous to put an emphasis on a word which of itself has no meaning, and like cement ferves only to unite words fignificant. The other general obfervation is, That a word of whatever number of fyllables, is not accented upon more than one of them. Nor is this an arbitrary prac tice. The object represented by the word, is fet in its beft light by a fingle accent: reiterated accents on different fyllables in fucceffion, make not the emphasis stronger; but have an air, as if the found only of the accented fyllables were regarded, and not the fense of the word.

Keeping in view the foregoing obfervations, the doctrine of accenting English heroic verfe, is extremely fimple. In the first place, accenting is confined to the lang

fyllables;