poser or orator, unless he wishes to offend the ears of his audience, will lengthen his piece with proper expletives, or with adequate rests or pauses, so as to make his periods duly commensurable. A Whoever would pronounce our heroic lines of ten syllables with propriety, must allow at least six cadences, by the assistance of proper pauses to each line, and frequently eight: as in the following example. Not attending to this is one of the many reasons why we hear so much of our finest poetry wretchedly read and delivered, and the rhythmus of our most sacred songs totally destroy Another Example in Six Cadences. 19.7 19.17 1Y! Y 3. To all in feri or animals A.. A. A १ A A ९।५९ 'tis giv en, A.. To enjoy the state allotted them by heaven. A..A.. A.. The following also, as well as thousands of lines that might be produced, distinctly show, that the method of measuring, or scanning English verses with Greek feet, without any allowance for pauses, is inaccurate and indecisive, and ought to be a lesson to those prosodians who are guided in the measuring of our finest verses, by their eyes rather than by their ears; which they will find, if they make the experiment, to be as fallacious guides, when applied to the rhythmus of a poetic line, as they are when applied to the rhythmus of music. The following lines are set with the marks of rests, quantity, and cadence. It will appear that verses of five feet consist of from 6 to 8 cadences; and those of four feet generally consist of five cadences. Lines which consist of five cadences or metres, have less grace and dignity than those of eight. 3 Daughter of God and man, r ác complish'd Eve. r A A... A... A The three following distichs are all in triple time and jig measure, and the syllable more or less, at first, or at last, makes no difference in the rhyth mus. TYLY IY 3.From the knaves, and the fools, and the fops of the time ... Δ Y. 1 YIY:1YLY prose, and the triflers in rhyme. A A A YIY IZINJILI De fend me from all the dis asters that follow. A A A.. A.. In the application of the preceding rules to these and the following examples, the only endeavour was to do justice to the proper measure of our language, without the least intention of adapting them to the Greek prosody. ۲۱۲۲ A Δ.. Where not a blossom to the breeze 1 can open; but A A.. Y!!!Y Y Darkening tempests closing all around me, Place me where sunshine? A ever more mescorches, r A mortal r |