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affections. There are, as before observed, certain modifications of tone adapted by nature 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 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 degree: 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 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

tastes.

• See Webb on Poetry.

25. English verse arises from a limited and regulated distribution of accents and pauses, as well as of quantities; and, as Pope has observed*, in the heroic verse of ten syllables, a pause naturally falls upon the fourth, fifth, or sixth syllable; besides that at the end of every verse; which equally takes place in every kind of metre in every language; since, without it, the verse is only a distinct portion of measure to the eye, but not at all to the ear. Milton has, however, frequently no pause at the end of the verse, but occasionally upon every other syllable, from the first to the ninth; and this licence has been applauded, as adding endless variety to the harmony, of his versification f. That it must add variety either to the harmony or dissonance of language, I admit: but the very essence of verse consists in the variety of its harmony not being endless, but being limited to the changes, that certain divisions of articulate sound, determinate in their quantities, regulated in their modes of utterance, and corresponding to, or succeeding each other, are capable of. Language may have more variety of cadence without these limitations or regulations; but then it will not be versified language, although it be duly and correctly measured out into lines of ten syllables each:

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Fourth Letter to Walsh.

+ Webb on Poetry,

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neither will it have that elastic energy and rapidity of movement, which give a character of Of improved Perception. enthusiasm; and, in fact, make it poetry* : for it is this character of enthusiasm, that marks the poetical language of all nations; and to this a metrical division, strongly marked by limited pauses or accents, or similar terminations of the verses, as in the Greek and Latin hexameter, or English couplet, is certainly most appropriate.

26. The principle of harmony, as Dionysius of Halicarnassus has observed, is the same in prose as in verse; it consisting in certain arrangements of quantities, accents, and pauses in both; which, in the one, are without limitation or restraint; but, in the other, are restricted by rules, and measured out into given portions; which succeed each other, either immediately, as in our heroic metre; alternately, as in our elegiac and lighter lyric; or after certain periods, as in our pindaric or graver lyric. It is possible that a person may prefer free and unrestrained language, in all cases, to that which is restricted to rule and measure; as it

The critic above cited says, in praise of a line, that the breast actually labours to get through it. Dial. i. p. 46. To employ labour in writing may be a merit, if it be employed with taste; but to require labour in reading is a species of ponderous excellence, that never yet found favour in the ears of any but a systematic critic.

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