quantity. In the following examples we perceive the fame defect:

And old impertinence expel by new
With varying vanities | from ev'ry part
Love in thefe labyrinths || his flaves detains
New ftratagems the radiant lock to gain
Her eyes half languifhing || half drown'd in tears
Roar'd for the handkerchiet that caus'd his pain
Paflions like elements || though born to fight.

The great variety of melody confpicuous in Englifh verfe, arifes chiefly from the paufes and accents; which are of greater importance than is commonly thought. There is a degree of intricacy in this branch of our fubject, and it will be difficult to give a diftinct view of it; but it is too late to think of difficulties after we are engaged. The paufe, which paves the way to the accent, offers itfelf firft to our examination; and from a very flort trial, the following facts will be verified. ift, A line admits but one capital paufe. 2d, In different lines, we find this paufe after the fourth fyllable, after the fifth, after the fixth, and after the feventh. Thefe four places of the paufe lay a folid foundation for dividing English Heroic lines into four kinds; and I warn the reader beforehand, that unlefs he attend to this distinction, he cannot have any just notion of the richness and variety of English verfification. Each kind or order hath a melody peculiar to itself, readily diftinguishable by a good ear: and I am not without hopes to make the cause of this peculiarity fufficiently evident. It must be obferved, at the fame time, that the paufe cannot be made indifferently at any of the places mentioned: it is the fenfe that regulates the pause, as will be feen afterward; and con

fequently,

fequently, it is the fenfe that determines of what or der every line must be there can be but one capital mufical pause in a line; and that paufe ought to coincide, if poffible, with a paufe in the fenfe, in or der that the found may accord with the fenfe.

What is faid fhall be illuftrated by examples of each fort or order. And firft of the paufe after the fourth fyllable:

Back through the paths || of pleasing fenfe I ran.

Again,

Profufe of blifs and pregnant with delight.

After the 5th:

So when an angel by divine command,
With rifing tempefts | thakes a guilty land.

After the 6th :

Speed the foft intercourfe from foul to foul.

Again,

Then from his clofing eyes thy form fhall part.

After the 7th:

And taught the doubtful battle || where to rage.

Again,

And in the fmooth defcription || murmur ftili.

Befide the capital pause now mentioned, inferior paufes will be discovered by a nice ear. Of these there are commonly two in each line : one before the capital paufe, and one after it. The former

comes

comes invariably after the first long fyllable, whether the line begin with a long fyllable or a short. The other in its variety imitates the capital pause in fome lines it comes after the 6th fyllable, in fome after the 7th, and in fome after the 8th. Of these femipauses take the following examples.

rft and 8th:

Led through a fad || variety | of wo.

ift and 7th :

Still on that breaft enamour'd let me lie.

2d and 8th:

From ftorms a fhelter and from heat a fhade. #

2d and 6th:

Let wealth. let honour wait | the wedded dame.

2d and 7th :

Above all pain | all paffion | and all pride.

Even from these few examples it appears, that the place of the last femipaufe, like that of the full pause, is directed in a good meafure by the fenfe. Its proper place with refpect to the melody is after the eighth fyllable, fo as to finifh the line with an Iambus diftinctly pronounced, which, by a long fyllable after a fhort, is a preparation for reft: but fometimes it comes after the 6th, and fometimes after the 7th fyllable, in order to avoid a paufe in the middle of a word, or between two words intimately connected; and fo far melody is juftly facrificed to sense.

In difcourfing of Hexameter verfe, it was laid down as a rule, That a full paufe ought never to divide a word fuch licence deviates too far from the coincidence that ought to be between the paufes of fenfe and of melody. The fame rule must obtain in an English line; and we fhall fupport reafon by experiments:

A noble fuper luity it craves

Abhor, a perpetuity fhould ftand

Are these lines distinguishable from profe? Scarcely, I think.

The fame rule is not applicable to a femipause, which being fhort and faint, is not fenfibly difagree. able when it divides a word.

Relen efs walls whofe dark fome round | contains
For her white virgins hymcneals fing

In thefe deep folitudes and av ul cells.

It must however be acknowledged, that the melody here fuffers in fome degree: a word ought to be pronounced without any reft between its component fyllables: a femipaufe that bends to this rule, is fcarce perceived.

The capital paufe is fo effential to the melody, that one cannot be too nice in the choice of its place, in order to have it clear and diftinct. It cannot be in better company than with a paufe in the fenfe; and if the fenfe require but a comma after the fourth, fifth, fixth, or feventh fyllable, it is fufficient for the mufical paufe. But to make fuch coincidence effential, would cramp verfification too much; and we have experience for our authority, that there may be a pause in the melody where the fenfe requires

none.

1

none. We muft not however imagine, that a mufical paufe may come after any word indifferently: fome words, like fyllables of the fame word, are fo intimately connected, as not to bear a feparation even by a paufe. The feparating, for example, a fubantive from its article would be harsh and unplea...nt witnefs the following line, which cannot be pronounced with a paufe as marked,

If Delia fiile, the flow'rs begin to fpring.

But ought to be pronounced in the following man

ner,

If Delia fmile, the flow'rs begin to fpring.

If then it be not a matter of indifference where to make the paufe, there ought to be rules for determining what words may be feparated by a paufe, and what are incapable of fuch feparation. I fhall endeavour to afcertain these rules; not chiefly for their utility, but in order to unfold fome latent principles, that tend to regulate our tafle even where we are fcarce fenfible of them and to that end, the method that appears the moft promifing, is to run over the verbal relations, beginning with the most intimate. The first that prefents itself is that of adjective and fubftantive, being the relation of fubject and quality, the most intimate of all and with refpect to fuch intimate companions, the question is, Whether they can bear to be feparated by a paufe. What occurs is, that a quality cannot exift independent of a fubject; nor are they feparable even in imagination, becaufe they make parts of the fame idea: and for that reafon, with refpect to melody as well as fenfe, it must be difagreeable, to beftow upon the adjective a

fort