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where the fenfe or expreffion requires a variation, and that fo far the melody may justly be facrificed. Examples accordingly are not unfrequent, in Milton especially, of the capital paufe being after the first, the fecond, or the third fyllable. And that this licence may be taken, even gracefully, when it adds vigour to the expreffion, will be clear from the following example. Pope, in his tranflation 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 gathering force, it fmokes; and urg'd amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the
plain :

There ftops | So Hector. Their whole force he prov'd,
Refiftlefs when he rag'd; and when he ftopt, unmov'd.

In the penult line, the proper place of the mufical paufe is at the end of the fifth fyllable; but it enlivens the expreffion by its coincidence with that of the fense at the end of the fecond fyllable: the stopping fhort before the ufual paufe in the melody, aids the impreffion that is made by the defcription of the ftone's stopping fhort; and what is loft to the melody by this artifice, is more than compenfated by the force that is added to the defcription. Milton makes a happy ufe of this licence: witnefs the following examples from his Paradife loft.

-Thus with the year

Seafons 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

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

-And wild uproar

Stood rul'd ftood vaft infinitude confin'd.

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 dropp'd || and all the faded roses shed.

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

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 refpect to melody fingly, the paufes are undoubtedly out of their proper place; but being united with thofe of the fenfe, they enforce the expreffion, and enliven it greatly; for, as has been more than once obferv. ed, the beauty of expreffion is communicated to the found, which, by a natural deception, makes even the melody appear more perfect than if the mufical 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 no lefs to the fenfe, by diftinguishing important words from others.* Thefe two effects never can be feparated, without impairing the concord that ought

* An accent confidered with refpect to sense is termed emphafic.

ought to fubfift between the thought and the melody: an accent, for example, placed on a low word, has the effect to burlefque it, by giving it an unnatural elevation; and the injury thus done to the fenfe does not reft there, for it fecms alfo to injure the melody. Let us only reflect what a ridiculous figure a particle must make with an accent or emphafis put upon it, a particle that of itself has no meaning, and that ferves only, like cement, 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. The reafon is, that the object is fet in its beft light by a fingle accent, fo as to make more than one unneceffary for the fenfe: and if another be added, it must be for the found merely; which would be a tranfgreffion of the foregoing rule, by feparating a musical accent from that which is requifite for the fenfe.

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 long fyllables; for a fhort fyllable is not capable of an accent. In the next place, as the melody is enriched in proportion to the number of accents, every word that has a long fyllable may be accented; unlefs the fenfe interpofe, which rejects the accenting a word that makes no figure by its fignification. According to this rule, a line may admit five accents; a cafe by no means rare.

But fuppofing every long fyllable to be accented, there is, in every line, one accent that makes a greater figure than the reft, being that which precedes the capital paufe. It is diftinguifhed into two kinds : one that is immediately before the paufe, and one that is divided from the paufe by a fhort fyllable. The former belongs to lines of the first and third or

der;

der; the latter to thofe 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.
He rais'd his azure_wând || and thus began.

Examples of the other kind:

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 pleasing || though lefs glorious care.

And hew triumphal ârches | to the ground.

These accents make different impreffions on the mind, which will be the fubject of a following fpeculation." In the mean time, it may be fafely pronounced a capital defect in the compofition of verfe, to put a low word, incapable of an accent, in the place where this accent fhould be: this bars the accent altogether; than which I know no fault more fubverfive of the melody, if it be not the barring a pause altogether. I may add affirmatively, that no fingle circumstance contributes more to the energy of verse, than to put an important word where the accent fhould be, a word that merits a peculiar emphasis. To fhow the bad effect of excluding the capital accent, I refer the reader to fome inftances given above, where particles are separated by a pause from the capital words that make them fignificant; and which particles ought, for the fake of melody, to be accented, were they capable of an accent. Add to thefe the following inftances from the Effay on Crit icifm.

*

* Page 109.

Of

Of leaving what is natural and fit

line 448.

Not yet purg'd off, || of spleen and four disdain

1. 528.

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

7.562.

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

1.563.

That only makes || fuperior fenfe belov'd

1. 578.

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

2. 590.

1.597.

'Tis beft fometimes your cenfure to restrain.

When this fault is at the end of a line that clofes a couplet, it leaves not the flightest 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 refemblance between the found and fenfe to exclude the capital accent. This, to my tafte, is a beauty in the following lines.

In thefe deep folitudes || and awful cells
The poor inhabitant | beholds in vain.

To

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