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Arethusa

VERSE is an harmonious arrangement of long, or short syllables, adapted to different kinds of poetry the de owes its origin entirely to the measured cadence, bereen sic, which was used when the first songs or hymne to the recited. This music, divided into different parts, to assETT atrofthe, antistrophe, or stanza, contained thesamposition of of feet. To know what constituted the differentree syllab rythmical feet among the ancients, with resps the spon number and quantity of their syllables, we hav and the o to do but to consult those who have written on short, as and prosody: it is the business of a school-mas dactyl, of than the accomplishment of a Man of Taste. of two sho Various essays have been made in different rt; and the compare the characters of ancient and mode different s tion, and to point out the difference beyond a numbers, t of mistake. But they have made distinctioses, such as fact there was no difference, and left the cx feet dact

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imus, or number, is certainly essential to verse r in the dead or living languages; and the rent ce between the two is this: the number in ancient lates to the feet, and in modern Poetry to the gyl or to assert that modern Poetry has ho fect, is a sabsurdity. The feet, that principally enter i position of Greek and Latm verice, RFE EHDET free labies: those of two syllables are GHET as the spandee; or both short, as the pYFING and the therong, as the lambie of Ch r shoot, as the trochee. Those of three wher dich, zone Long and two short syllables cr Burt and one long; the rhwachim t; ' nctossus of three long ifferent emorations of these on

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feet of the ancient poetry are still found in the versification of living languages; for as cadence was regulated by the ear, it was impossible for a man to write melodious verse without naturally falling into the use of ancient feet, though perhaps he neither knows their measure_nor denomination. Thus Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton, Dryden, Pope, and all our Poets, abound with dactyls, spondees, trochees, anapests, &c. which they use indiscriminately in all kinds of composition, whether Tragic,Epic, Pastoral, or Ode, having in this particular greatly the advantage of the ancients, who were restricted to particular kinds of feet in particular kinds of Verse. If we then are confined with the fetters of what is called rhyme, they were restricted to particular species of feet; so that the advantages and disadvantages are pretty equally balanced: but indeed the English are more free in this particular, than any other modern nation. They not only use Blank-verse in Tragedy and the Epic, but even in Lyric Poetry. Milton's translation of Horace's Ode to Pyrrha is universally known, and generally admired, in our opinion much above its merit. There is an Ode extant without Rhyme addressed to Evening by the late Mr. Collins much more beautiful; and Mr. Warton with some others has happily succeeded in divers occasional pieces, that are free of this restraint but the number in all of these depends upon the syllables, and not upon the feet, which are unlimited.

It is generally supposed that the genius of the English language will not admit of Greek or Latin measure; but this, we apprehend, is a mistake owing to the prejudice of education. It is impossible that the same measure, composed of the same times, should have a good effect upon the ear in one language, and a bad effect in another. The truth is, we have been accustomed from our infancy to the numbers of English Poetry, and the very sound and signification of the words dispose the ear to receive them in a certain manner; so that its disappointment must be attended with a disagreeable sensation. In imbibing the first rudiments of education, we acquire, as it were, another ear for the numbers of Greek and Latin Poetry, and this being reserved entirely for the sounds and significa

tions of the words, that constitute those dead languages, will not easily accommodate itself to the sounds of our vernacular tongue, though conveyed in the same time and measure. In a word Latin and Greek have annexed to them the ideas of the ancient measure, from which they are not easily disjoined. But we will venture to say, this difficulty might be surmounted by an effort of attention and a little practice; and in that case we should in time be as well pleased with English as with Latin hexameters. Sir Philip Sidney is said to have miscarried in his essays; but his miscarriage was no more than that of failing in an attempt to introduce a new fashion. The failure was not owing to any defect or imperfection in the scheme, but to the want of taste, to the irresolution and ignorance of the public. Without all doubt the ancient measure, so different from that of modern Poetry, must have appeared remarkably uncouth to people in general, who were ignorant of the classics; and nothing but the countenance and perseverance of the learned could reconcile them to the alteration. We have seen several late specimens of English hexameters and sapphics, so happily composed, that by attaching them to the idea of ancient measure, we found them in all respects as melodious and agreeable to the ear, as the works of Virgil and Anacreon, or Horace,

Though the number of syllables distinguishes the nature of the English verse from that of the Greek and Latin, it constitutes neither harmony, grace, nor expression. These must depend upon the choice of words, the seat of the accent, the pause, and the cadence. The accent, or tone, is understood to be an elevation or sinking of the voice in reciting the pause is a rest, that divides the verse into two parts, each of them called an hemistich. The pause and accent in English Poetry vary occasionally, according to the meaning of the words; so that the hemistich does not always consist of an equal number of syllables; and this variety is agreeable, as it prevents a dull repetition of regular stops, like those in the French versification, every line of which is divided by a pause exactly in the middle. The cadence comprehends that poetical style which animates every line, that propriety which

gives strength and expression, that numerosity which renders the verse smooth, flowing, and harmonious, that significancy which marks the passions, and in many cases makes the sound an echo to the sense. The Greek and Latin languages, in being copious and ductile, are susceptible of a vast variety of cadences, which the living languages will not admit and of these a reader of any ear will judge for himself.

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