Page line 256, 18, for generally, read always. As to the nature of the modern French alexandrine, see note (G). 257, 6, for Described by all men, read Describing all men. 262, 10, see note (G). 263, 11, for iheot, read ibeot. 272, It should have been noticed, that the examples, quoted in this chapter, have been arranged generally according to the authors, as the number of varieties was too scanty to render the mode of subdivision, hitherto followed, advisable. The index 51 1 c. 5 should also have preceded the 5th, 6th, and 7th examples, quoted in this page, and 2: 51: 1 the ninth. 272, 30, dele The sea and un frequented deserts where | the snow dwells. 274, 13, for gewendam, read gewendan. 275, 15, after the words But to bring in St. Peter, read (as Milton has done). 278, 4, for other, read others. 278, 11, for as yet wide | land, read as yet wide land. 278, 281, 19, for the last verse, read the last verse but one. 283, 15, the notation, used in this chapter, readily adapts itself to verses of six or seven accents, but when a verse contains eight or more accents, the reader must be furnished with some further intimation than is given by the mere numerical index, before he can hope to follow its rhythm. Even in tracing the rhythm of a verse which contains only six or seven accents, he will require the like assistance, if the middle pause of the compound section fall in the midst of a word. But, in both these cases, I believe the index, followed by such explanation, to afford the shortest and readiest means of pointing out the rhythm. 283, 32, for 7: 3: 611. c. read 81: 11: 71. c. 284, 30, for 21:11c: 11:11. c. read 21: 11c: 11: 1. c. 286, 18, in this last example the accents are properly eleven, not twelve. Thas lean es the | he him on | tham leoh te gescyrlede: thon ne let e he his hin|e langle weal dan. 300, and there may even be a question, if we should not read thon ne letle he his hine, and, by this elision of the vowel, reduce the number to ten. 294, 22, for O Troy | Troy | Troy, read O Troy | Troy Troy. 3, for The section 1. p. is occasionally found in Anglo-Saxon poems, of the first class, read The section 1 p, of the first class, is occasionally found in Anglo-Saxon poems. 305, 27, for lord ys, read lordys. 307, 23, after the word verse put a full stop in place of the semicolon, and then read Owing to the license, which certain of our poets allow themselves in the management of their pauses, there is danger, &c. 311, 1, for mor eattention, read more attention. CHAPTER I. RHYTHM in its widest sense may be defined as the law of succession. It is the regulating principle of every whole, that is made up of proportional parts, and is as necessary to the regulation of motion, or the arrangement of matter, as to the orderly succession of sounds. By applying it to the first of these purposes we have obtained the dance; and sculpture and architecture are the results of its application to the second. The rhythmical arrangement of sounds not articulated produces music, while from the like arrangement of articulate sounds we get the cadences of prose the measures of verse. and Verse may be defined as a succession of articulate sounds regulated by a rhythm so definite, that we can readily foresee the results which follow from its application. Rhythm is also met with in prose, but in the latter its range is so wide, that we never can anticipate its flow, while the pleasure we derive from verse is founded on this very anticipation. As verse consists merely in the arrangement of certain sounds according to a certain rhythm, it is obvious, that neither poetry nor even sense can be essential to it. We may be alive to the beauty of a foreign rhythm, though we do not understand the language, and the burthen of many an English song has long yielded a certain pleasure, though every whit as unmeaning as the nonsense verses of the schoolboy. In considering the general character of any proposed metre, we should have especial regard to three circum stances; first to the elements, which are to be arranged; secondly to the accidents, by which these elements are distinguished; and thirdly to the law of succession, by which the arrangement is effected. In making verse, the elements subjected to the rhythm, may be either syllables, or verses, or staves. The only accidents, which need be noticed as of rhythmical value, are three, the time or quantity, the accent, and the modification of the sound. Rhythm may be marked either by the time or the accent. In the great family of languages which has been termed the Indo-European, and which spread from the Ganges to the Shannon, three made time the index of their rhythm, to wit the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin; all the the others adopted accent. It is remarkable that those dialects which now represent the Sanscrit, Greek, and Latin, have lost their temporal and possess merely an accentual rhythm. We are able in some measure to follow the progress of this change. So gradual was it in the Greek, that even as late as the eleventh century there were authors who wrote indifferently in either rhythm. The origin, however, of accentual verse, as it now prevails in those languages, is by no means clear. Whether it were borrowed from the northern invader, or were the natural growth of a mixed and broken language, or merely the revival of a vulgar rhythm, which had been heretofore kept under by the prevalence of one more fashionable and perhaps more perfect, are questions I shall pass by, as being at least as difficult as they are interesting. ARRANGEMENT OF THE SUBJECT. Having premised thus much as to the meaning of our terms, I will now lay before the reader the course I shall follow in tracing the progress of our English rhythms. In the second book we shall consider the rhythm of indivi dual verses; and in the third the rhythm of particular pas sages, or, to speak more precisely, the flow of several verses in combination; while the fourth book will be devoted to the history of our staves, that is, of those regular combinations, which form as it were a second class of elements to be regulated by the rhythm. The book which opens with the present chapter is little more than introductory, but the matters discussed in it are of high importance to the right understanding of the subject. In the next chapter we shall consider the different modifications of sound, with a view to the aid they afford us in embellishing and perfecting the rhythm. In the third we shall inquire what constitutes a syllable, and discuss the nature of accent in the fourth, and of quantity in the fifth. The various kinds of rhime will be the subject of the sixth chapter, and in the seventh and last we shall treat of the rhythmical pauses. CHAPTER II. THE VOICE. If we drop a small heavy body into still water it forms a circular wave, which gradually enlarges and loses itself upon the surface. In like manner, if one hard body strike against another-as the cog of a metal wheel against a quill-a wave is formed in the air which expands on all sides round the point of contact. When this wave reaches the ear, it produces on that organ the sensation of sound. If now the wheel be turned round, so that the cogs strike against the quill in succession, several concentric waves are produced, following each other at equidistant periods of time; and if the velocity be such that there are more than thirty sound-waves in a second, the sensation produced by one lasts till another enters the ear, and a continuous sound is the result. This continuous sound is called a tone or musical note. As we increase the number of sound-waves, the tone changes its character, and is said to become sharper. When more than six thousand enter the ear in a second, the tone becomes so sharp and squeaking as to be no longer perceptible by organs constituted like our own. The wave which thus produces the sensation of sound, differs widely in origin from that which moves along the surface of the water. The latter is formed by the vertical rising of the watery particles, and as these fall again in obedience to the force of gravity, they drive upwards those next adjoining. The motion of the particles is thus perpendicular or nearly so to the direction of the wave's motion. The air-wave is formed by the condensation as |