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СНАР. it, when we read inwardly, and without any Of improved utterance of sound; and also from its varying Perception. with the habitual variations of idiom in differ

ent languages: for, if it were a pleasure of organic sensation, it must necessarily, as before observed, be the same in all languages.

19. Articulation is merely division of tone; which division may be either entire interruption, or only partial suppression, accordingly as the respective organs, by which it is produced, are entirely compressed, or only approximated, to each other. The entire compression of the organs is signified in writing by the mute consonants, and the partial approximation by the liquids and aspirates; neither of which admit of any variation in mode or degree beyond that respectively produced by the compression or approximation of the respective organs of speech; or the different degrees of force or emphasis, with which they are compressed or approximated, which different degrees constitute the differences between the consonants B and P, D and T, and G and K; which are commutable in all flexible tongues.

20. Verse, therefore, considered as a metrical and accentual arrangement of syllables, independent of any chant or melody of tone, with which it is uttered, has nearly the same relation to prose, as dancing has to walking, or other irregular exercise of the limbs. Both,

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considered thus abstractedly, are merely regulated divisions of motion; one of the organs of the mouth, and the other of the members of Perception. the body; and, as both are regulated by musical divisions of time, and graduated according to the emphasis, by which those divisions are marked, both are intimately connected with, and naturally accompanied by music; though both be in principle essentially different from

it.

21. Articulation, being the means by which sound is made the vehicle of thought as well as of sentiment, the modulation of the tone, by which its intervals are filled up, is, in a great degree, regulated by the meaning, which it conveys; wherefore the melody of verse can neither be expressed nor felt by those, who do not understand the language: for, upon that modulation, the prosody depends entirely, and the rhythm in a great measure.

22. Poetry, so far as it consists in language, is the division of rhythm and prosody into certain limited and regular portions, so modified as to express, in the most appropriate sounds, and with the utmost facility and energy, that the respective idioms of the particular languages allow, the various affections, sentiments, and passions of the mind; and those images in nature or art which are the proper subjects and motives of its various passions, sentiments, and

I

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affections. There are, as before observed, certain modifications of tone adapted by nature Of improved Perception, to excite certain sympathies in the mind: consequently the greater proportion of tone, a language has, and the less of articulation, the greater variety of such modifications will it admit of, and the better adapted will it be to the purposes of poetry. Hence arises the superiority of the Italian over all modern languages, both for poetry and music, and the superiority of the Greek, particularly the primitive Homeric Greek, over all others both ancient and modern.

23. Attempts have been made, both in ancient and modern times, to give to the articulate harmony of poetry the diversity and irregularity of musical composition; and similar attempts were made in the seventeenth century to give to sculpture the airy and fantastic variety of painting; but neither the one nor the other succeeded. Of the ancient dithyrambics, indeed, we have no entire specimens: but their being all lost proves that they were not very popular productions; and as for the promiscuous mixtures of verses of different metres, only one instance of it is recorded *, which sufficiently shows the sort of reception which it met with. In modern lyrics, indeed, verses of

* That of Chæremon, in a poem called The Centaur.Aristot. Poet. c. iii.

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unequal lengths have been irregularly mixed; and, in the productions of Dryden and Gray Of improved certainly with happy effect: but then there are Perception. always correspondent rhymes, which preserve a certain degree of that regularity, which has, in all nations, been the general characteristic of poetry. This alone is sufficient to prove that the pleasures which it affords, are not of the ear, but of the intellect: for the combinations of tone, which delight the ear; as well as the combinations of tints, which delight the eye, are irregular. The sweetness and modulation of the voice, indeed, with which poetry is recited, may be pleasing to the mere organs of sense but this is a pleasure independent of the versification; and one, which, I believe, is never felt in any great degrée: for I never heard of any person who found delight in listening to the recitation of verse in a language, which he did not understand; though, as far as the mere sensual pleasure is concerned, his understanding it or not can make no difference. An ingenious, but fanciful writer has, I know, imagined that he should have enjoyed the versification of Virgil more, if he had not understood the meaning of the words*: but, probably, had he tried the experiment with any Persian or Arabian poet celebrated for the

Lord Orford.

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melody of his versification, he would have listened in vain for this melody, or for any Of improved Perception. thing else that could have afforded enjoyment; and would only have perceived a greater or less degree of roughness or smoothness in the flow of the lines, accordingly as the proportionate quantities of articulation or tone respectively predominated in the utterance: but this mere perception, unaccompanied by any musical chant or singing, would not have been of a kind to afford him any pleasure.

24. It is remarkable that the best versifier in our language should have had no taste or liking for music of any kind; and that he who possessed the most skill, and had the truest relish for that art, should have left more uncouth and unharmonious verses, than any other poet of eminence. I know, indeed, that there are critics, who have pretended to discover refinements of melody in the most rugged anomalies of Milton, and, of course, a total want of it in the polished elegance and regularity of Pope*: but, to such critics, I have nothing to say. If they be serious and sincere, they are as extraordinary anomalies as any of those which they admire, and afford ample illustration of the proverb, that there is no disputing concerning