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imperceptibly make a syncope, which converts Murmuring into a trochee, and Innumerable into an Iambus and a Pyrrhic, thus

...Mūrm'ring; and, with him, fled the shades of night

...ìnnū-\-m❜ráblě before th' Almighty's throne.

I do not, however, deny, that, on some very rare occasions, a real dactyl, tribrachys, or anapæst, may be productive of beauty, in the way of picturesque or imitative harmony. But, where there is not some particular and striking effect of that kind to be produced by the trisyllabic foot, its admission, instead of being contributive to harmony or beauty, generally proves inimical to both. In the latter of those two verses, for instance, it would have been much better to load the line with slow heavy spondees, for the purpose of retarding the reader's progress, and affording him time for a leisurely survey of the countless throng, than to hurry him away on the wings of a rapid tribrachys, before he has enjoyed one moment's pause, to cast his eyes around.

In the following line of Milton

All judgement, whe-\-ther in heav'n | or earth or hell— it is not at all necessary to make a trisyllabic foot: we can reduce it to a proper lambus by pronouncing wheth'r in, for which we have the authority of Swift

And thus fanatic saints, though neith'r in

Doctrine or discipline our brethren—

furnishing a hint to adopt a similar expedient in

many other cases, which, at first sight, are calculated to embarrass the inexperienced reader *; as, for example, in this line of Dryden

The care--ful De-| vil is still | at hand with meanswe can easily pronounce Dev'l is short, as we do Dev'lish, and make the third foot an Iam bus

On the whole, I recommend to my young readers, never, without irresistible necessity, to make a trisyllabic foot in lambic or Trochaïc verse. And here I drop the subject for the present-intending, however, to treat it more largely and minutely on a future occasion-and observing in the mean time, that, although I have, in compliance with the ideas of others, occasionally marked in the "KEY" a trisyllabic foot in lambic metre, I by no means wish them to consider it as really such, but, by shortening it in the pronunciation, to reduce it to an lambus, a Trochee, or a Pyrrhic, as the case may require.

The Casura.

As already observed in page 3, the Casura (which literally means a cutting or division) is a

* Although some instances of synæresis and syncope, such as I recommend, may, to the English reader, appear harsh and portentous, I feel confident that the classical scholar, accustomed to the much bolder licences of Homer, will account these English licences perfectly moderate and warrantable: and, as Milton was well versed in Greek and Roman literature, we need not be surprised that he should, in these as in many other respects, have copied the practice of the ancients.

pause, which usually takes place somewhere near the middle of the verse, affording a convenient rest for the voice, and enabling the reader or speaker to renew the effort necessary for the delivery of the entire line; ten successive syllables, uttered together in unbroken tenor, being in general too many to be pronounced with proper emphasis, and due poetic effect.

The most advantageous position for the cæsura is generally held to be after the fourth, fifth, or sixth syllable, though it occasionally takes place, without disadvantage, after the third or seventh. Its position is, for the most part, easily ascertained by the grammatic construction and the punctuation, which naturally indicate the place where the sense either requires or admits a pause: e gr.

The saviour comes, 4 by ancient bards foretold.

From storms a shelter, " || and from heat a shade.

6

(Pope.

(Pope.

(Pope.

Exalt thy tow'ry head, and lift thy eyes.
Exploring, 3 till they find their native deep. (Boyse.
Within that mystic circle, 7 safety seek. (Boyse.

When the grammatic construction does not require any pause, and there is no punctuation to mark the place for the cæsura, more accurate discrimination is requisite to ascertain it: but, even in these cases, it is, in general, a matter of no difficulty, for a reader of any judgement, to discover, at first sight, the proper station for the pause: e. gr.

Virtue alone is happiness below. (Pope.
With all the incense ' || of the breathing spring.

(Pope, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes.

6 *

Deluded with the visionary light. (Boyse.
Yet be not blindly guided 7 || by the throng.

(Pope.

(Roscommon.

Sometimes we see the cæsura take place after the

second syllable, or the eighth, as

2

Happy without the privilege of will. (Boyse.

In diff'rent individuals || we find...(Boyse.

for no reader of taste would separate the adjective from its substantive in the latter of these verses, or the preposition from its regimen in the former.

Sometimes, moreover, the line requires or admits two pauses, as

2

6

His cooks, through long disuse, ' || their trade

2

[blocks in formation]

Cæsar, the world's great master, 7 || and his own.

2

8

(Pope. ' your

Or pierc'd, with half so painful grief, 3 ||

[blocks in formation]

If, by a (not very elegant) alteration of the final syllable, this line were converted into

Nor ardent warriors meet with bateful foes

the cæsura should be made after Warriors: but to place it so in Pope's line above, would entirely inar and pervert the sense, as the reader will clearly perceive, on pronouncing the words meet with together in close conjunction.

And goodness, 3 || like the sun," || enlightens all.

(Boyse

And raise thee, 3 || from a rebel, 7 || to a son. (Boyse. Most perfect, 3 || most intelligent, || most wise. (Boyse.

8

From the examples above quoted, and innumerable others occurring in the works of our most admired poets, it will evidently appear that the British Muse is much less fastidious with respect to the cæsura, than the Muse of ancient Rome-or, at least, the Roman grammarians, who condemned, as " un-verse," every line, however well constructed in other respects, which had not the cæsura in such or such particular position*. In English--thanks to Phoebus and the Nine! no such rigid, pedantic, tasteless law has yet been enacted: poets may make the cæsura where they please, and, by widely diversifying its position, may give to their numbers a grateful variety, which they would not otherwise possess. Dryden well understood the value of that advantage, and judiciously availed himself of it, to a greater extent, perhaps, than any bard before or since his time.

* Those learned gentlemen (as noticed in my "Latin Prosody") had the modesty to condemn, as not proper verses, ertain lines in Virgil's most polished productions-merely because the cæsura happened not to take place in exact conformity to their notions!

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