fole province of regulating the arrangement, for they ferve no other purpose. They are withal fo artificial and complex, that I am tempted to fubstitute in their place, other rules more simple and of more easy application; for example, the following. ist, The line must always commence with sense should be neglected, an Hexameter line read by Dactyles and Spondees, will not be melodious. And the composition of an Hexameter line demonstrates this to be true, without neceffity of an experiment; for, as will appear afterward, there must always, in this line, be a capital pause at the end of the fifth long fyllable, reckoning, as above, two short for one long; and when we measure this line by Dactyles and Spondees, the pause now mentioned divides always a Dactyle or a Spondee, without ever being at the end of either of these feet. Hence it is evident, that if a line be pronounced, as it is scanned, by Dactyles and Spondees, the pause must utterly be neglected; which consequently destroys the melody, because this pause is essential to the melody of an Hexameter verse. If, on the other hand, the melody be preserved by making this pause, the pronouncing by Dactyles or Spondees must be abandoned. What has led grammarians into the use of Dastyles and Spondees, seems not beyond the reach of conjecture. To produce me. lody, the Dactyle and the Spondee, which close every Hexameter line, must be distinctly expressed in the pronunciation. This discovery, joined with another, that the foregoing part of the verse could be measured by the same feet, probably led grammarians to adopt these artificial measures, and perhaps rashly to conclude, that the pronunciation is directed by these feet as the composition is: the Dactyle and the Spondee at the close, serve indeed the double purpose of regulating the pronunciation as well as the composition; but in the foregoing part of the line, they regulate the composition only, not the pronunciation. with a long fyllable, and close with two long preceded by two short. 2d, More than two short can never be found in any part of the line, nor fewer than two if any. And, 3d, Two long fyllables which have been preceded by two short, cannot also be followed by two short. These few rules fulfil all the conditions of a Hexameter line, with relation to order or arrangement. To these again a single rule may be substituted, for which I have a still greater relish, as it regu lates more affirmatively the construction of every part. That I may put this rule into words with the greater facility, I take a hint from the twelve long fyllables that compose an Hexameter line, to divide it into twelve equal parts or portions, be If we must have feet in verse to regulate the pronunciation, and consequently the melody, these feet must be determined by the pauses, The whole fyllables interjected between two pauses ought to be deemed one musical foot; because, to preserve the melody, they must all be pronounced together, without any stop. And therefore, whatever number there are of pauses in a Hexameter line, the parts into which it is divided by these pauses, make just so many musical feet. Connection obliges me here to anticipate, by observing, that the same doctrine is applicable to English Heroic verse. Confidering its compofition merely, it is of two kinds; one conmposed of five lambi ; and one of a Trochæus followed by four Iambi: but these feet afford no rule for pronouncing; the musical feet being obviously those parts of the line that are interjected between two pauses. To bring out the melody, these feet must be expressed in the pronunciation; or, which comes to the fame, the pronunciation must be directed by the pauses, without regard to the lambus or Trochæus. ing each of them one long fyllable or two short. A portion being thus defined, I proceed to the rule. The ist, 3d, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th portions, must each of them be one long fyllable; the 10th must always be two short fyllables; the 2d, 4th, 6th, and 8th, may indifferently be one long or two short. Or to express the thing still more curtly, The 2d, 4th, 6th, and 8th portions may be one long syllable or two. short; the 10th must be two short fyllables; all the rest must consist each of one long fyllable. This fulfils all the conditions of an Hexameter line, and comprehends all the combinations of Dactyles and Spondees that this line admits. Next in order comes the pause. At the end of every Hexameter line, no ear but must be senfible of a complete close or full pause; an effect that proceeds from the very construction of this line; which will appear as follows. The two long fyllables preceded by two short, which always close an Hexameter line, are a fine preparation for a full close: for syllables pronounced flow, resembling a flow and languid motion tending to rest, naturally incline the mind to rest, or, which is the same, to a pause; and to this inclination the two preceding short syllables contribute, which, by contrast, make the flow pronunciation of the final fyllables the more confpicuous. Beside this complete close or full pause at the end, others are also requisite for the fake of melody; of which I difco ver two clearly, and perhaps there may be more. The longest and most remarkable, succeeds the 5th portion: the other, which, being more faint, may be called the semipause, succeeds the 8th portion. So striking is the pause first mentioned, as to be diftinguished even by the rudest ear : the monkish rhymes are evidently built upon it in which, by an invariable rule, the final word always chimes with that which immediately precedes the pause : De planctu cudo || mitrum cum carmine nudo The difference of time in the pause and semipause, occafions another difference not less remarkable; that it is lawful to divide a word by a semipause, but never by a pause, the bad effect of which is sensibly felt in the following examples : Effufus labor, at || que inmitis rupta Tyranni Again: Observans nido im||plumes detraxit; at illa Again: Loricam quam Demoleo detraxerat ipse The dividing a word by a semipause has not the fame bad effect: Jamque pedem referens || cafus elvaferat omnes. Again: Qualis populea || moærens Philo | mela fub umbra Again: Ludere quæ vellem || calamo per|mifit agresti. Lines, however, where words are left entire, without being divided even by a semipause, run by that means much the more sweetly. Nec gemere aërea || ceffabit | turtur ab ulmo. Again: Quadrupedante putrem || fonitu quatit | ungula campum. Again: Eurydicen toto || referebant | flumine ripz. The reason of these observations will be evident upon the flightest reflection. Between things so intimately connected in reading aloud, as are sense and found, every degree of difcord is unpleasant to the ear: and for that reason, it is a matter of importance, to make the musical pauses coincide as much as poffible with those of the sense; which is requisite, more especially, with refpect to the pause, a deviation from the rule being less remarkable in a semipause. Confider |