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fyllables; for the melody admits not an accent upon any short fyllable. In the next place, as the melody is inriched in proportion to the number of accents, every word that has a long fyllable ought to be accented, unless where the accent is rejected by the fenfe a word, as obferved, that makes no figure by its fignification, cannot bear an accent. According to this rule, a line may admit five accents; a cafe by no

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But fuppofing every long fyllable to be accented, there is conftantly, in every lines one accent which makes a greater figure than the reft. This capital accent is that which precedes the capital pause. Hence it is distinguishable into two kinds; one that is immediately fucceeded by the paufe, and one that is divided from the pause by a short fyllable. The former belongs to lines of the firft and third order: the latter to those of the fecond and fourth. Examples of the first kind.

Smooth flow the wâves | the zephyrs gently play, Belinda fmil'd and all the world was gay.

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VOL. II.

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He rais'd his azure wând and thus begun

Examples of the second.

There lay three gârters || half a pair of gloves;
And all the trophies of his former loves.

Our humble province || is to tend the fair,
Not a lefs pleafing though lefs glorious care.

And hew triumphal arches || to the ground

Thefe accents make different impreffions on the mind, which will be the subject of a following fpeculation. In the mean time, it may be fafely pronounced a capital defect in the compofition of verse, to put a low word, incapable of an accent, in the place where this accent fhould be. This bars the accent altogether; and I know no other fault more fubverfive of the melody, if it be not that of barring a paufe altogether. I may add affirmatively, that it is a capital beauty in the compofition of verfe, to have the most important word of the fentence, fo placed as that this capital accent may be laid upon it. No fingle circumftance contributes more to the energy of verfe, than to

have this accent on a word, that, by the importance of its meaning, is intitled to a peculiar emphafis. To fhow the bad effect of excluding the capital accent, I refer the reader to fome inftances given above, p.ooo, where particles are feparated by a paufe from the capital words that make them fignificant, and which particles ought, for the fake of the melody, to be accented, were they capable of an accent. Add to these the following inftances from the Effay on Criticism.

Oft, leaving what || is natural and fit,

Not yet purg'd off, of fpleen and four difdain

line 448.

1. 528.

No pardon vile | obfcenity fhould find

1.53

When love was all an eafy monarch's care

For 'tis but half a judge's task, to know

'Tis not enough, I tafte, judgement, learning, join

1.537.

1.562.

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That only makes fuperior fenfe belov'd

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Whofe right it is, uncenfur'd, to be dull

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'Tis best fometimes || your cenfure to restrain

When this fault is at the end of the line that clofes a couplet, it leaves not the least trace of melody:

But of this frame the bearings, and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies

In a line expreffive of what is humble or dejected, it improves the resemblance betwixt the found and fenfe, to exclude the capital accent. This, to my taste, is a beauty in the following lines.

In thêfe deep sôlitudes and awful cells # }}

The poor inhabitant | behôlds in vain

To conclude this article, the accents are not, like the fyllables, confined to a certain number. Some lines have no fewer than

five, and there are lines that admit not above one. This variety, as we have seen, depends entirely on the different powers of the component words. Particles, even where they are long by pofition, cannot be accented; and polysyllables, whatever space they occupy, admit but one accent. Polyfyllables have another defect, that they generally exclude the full paufe. I have fhown above, that few polyfyllables can find place in the conftruction of English verse. Here are reafons for excluding them, could they find place.

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I am now prepared to fulfil a promise concerning the four forts of lines that enter into English heroic verfe. That these have, each of them, a peculiar melody distinguishable by a good ear, I ventured to fuggeft, and promised to account for: and though this fubject is extremely delicate, I am not without hopes of making good my engagement. First, however, like a wary general, I take all advantages the ground will permit. I do not aver, that this peculiarity of modulation is in every inftance per

ceptible,

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