In election for the Roman Empery, In a chariot of inestimable value. Tell him, if he will, 97:17. Tit. And. 1. 1. Pericles, 2. 4. He shall ha' | the gro|grans: at | the rate | I told | him. B. Jons. E. M. in his Humour, 2. 1. 10 : 5. is a regular verse of the triple measure. CHAPTER V. We have now to consider those verses of five accents, which have three accented syllables in the first section; and shall begin with observing upon certain peculiarities of their rhythm; more especially such as distinguish them from the class of verses, we have just passed under review. There was, at one time, much vague and unprofitable speculation as to the best position of the middle pause— an indeterminate problem, which admits of several answers. Gascoigne thought the pause would be "best placed" after the fourth syllable; King James preferred the sixth. The latter objects specially to the fifth, because it is "odde, and everie odde fute is short." Johnson's objection to the middle pause, when it follows an unaccented syllable, has been already noticed; he would tolerate it when the sense was merely suspended, but not when it closed a period. There are certainly many sentences, which ought to end with a full and strongly marked rhythm; and, as certainly, others in which a feeble ending, so far from a defect, may be a beauty. I consider it a beauty in the very verse which Johnson has quoted to prove it the contrary; He with his horrid crew Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulph When we are told, that such "a period leaves the ear unsatisfied," we must remember, that Johnson's ear was educated to admire the precise, but cold and monotonous rhythm of Pope. As to its leaving the reader "in expectation of the remaining part of the verse," I cannot see in what consists the objection. There are also sentences, which ought to end slowly and with dignity; but there are others, which may with equal propriety end abruptly. Whether the pause, then, be best placed after the section of two, or of three accents; whether after an accented or an unaccented syllable; must depend entirely on the circumstances of each case. It may be granted, that the "noblest and most majectic pauses" are those which follow the fourth and sixth syllables, and more especially the sixth; and though the latter ought not to be preferred, because it makes "a full and solemn close," yet it deserves our preference, whenever such a close is necessary. There is certainly something imposing in that "complete compass of sound," to which Johnson listened with so much pleasure, when the pause followed the sixth syllable. Those who are familiar with his favourite rhythms, will readily understand "the strong emotions of delight and admiration" with which he professes to have read the following passages; Before the hills appear'd or fountains flow'd, Or other worlds they seem'd, or happy isles, He blew His trumpet, heard in Oreb since, perhaps When God descended; and perhaps once more To sound at gen'ral doom. From the importance which Milton attached to "apt numbers," it is clear that the poet and his critic differed no less in theory than in practice. The former moved with majesty, whenever his subject required it; the latter loved the pomp of words for its own sake. The one wished to suit his rhythm to his matter; the other too often swelled out a thought, which could ill bear it, in order to fill a rolling and a stately period. We have seen that several of our modern critics, and among them Johnson, objected to any verse, whose second section began abruptly. As the objection is supported by examples, which belong to the class of verses we are now considering, a few observations upon it will not, I think, be altogether out of place. It is said, that the injury to the measure is remarkably striking, when the "vicious verse" concludes a period. This delicious place For us too large; where thy abundance wants His harmless life Does with substantial blessedness abound, And the soft wings of peace: cover him round, In the first of these verses, I can only see those “ apt numbers," which Milton affected beyond any other poet, that has written our language. But Cowley is indefensible. Instead of accommodating the flow of his verse to the subject, he has expressed his beautiful thought in the most jerking line his measure would allow. Giving all his attention to the smoothness of his syllables, he seems to have forgotten his rhythm. The whole, however, of Johnson's criticism is founded on false premises. When he denounced the verses last quoted, as gross violations of "the law of metre," he had set out with assuming, that the repetition of the accent "at equal times," was "the most complete harmony of which a single verse is capable." Our mixed rhythms were merely introduced for the purposes of variety; to relieve us from the weariness induced by "the perpe tual recurrence of the same cadence," and to make us more sensible of the harmony of the pure measure." This notion is not of modern date; for so early as the sixteenth century, Webbe had laid it down, that "the natural course" of English verse ran "upon the Iambicke stroke;" and that "by all likelihood it had the origin thereof." He might have been taught sounder doctrine by his contemporary Gascoigne. This critic laments that they were fallen into such "a plain and simple manner of writing, that there is none other foote used but one," and that such "sound or scanning continueth through the whole verse." He admires "the libertie in feete and measures" used by their Father Chaucer; and tells his reader, that "whosoever do peruse and well consider his works, he shall find, although his lines are not alwayes of one self-same number of syllables, yet being read by one who hath understanding, the longest verse, and that which hath most syllables in it, will fall to the eare correspondent to that which hath fewest syllables in it; and likewise that which hath in it fewest syllables, shall be founde yet to consist of wordes, that have such naturall sounde, as may seeme equal in length to a verse, which hath many moe syllables of lighter accents.' There can be no doubt, that our heroic metre was from the first a mixed one; and though, owing to various causes-chiefly to the prevalence of false accentuationit has approached nearer and nearer to the common measure, yet to narrow its limits, beyond what is necessary for the security of the accent, is to impair its beauty no less than its efficiency. Our verses of five accents begin much more commonly with sections 1. and 17. when the pause follows the third accent, than when it follows the second. The greater length of the section, and the more continuous flow of the rhythm, is doubtless the cause. |