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English versification. Our accent is different from that of the 
Greeks and Romans: ours lays more s¢ress on vowels or syl- 
lables, theirs consisted in a depression or elevation of the 
voice ; ours produces the effect of quantity, theirs was entirely 
distinct from such an effect. 
Another stress of the voice, which has great influence on 
verse is, EMPHASIS, 7. e. stress with expression. As accent 
is the ligament of a word, emphasis is the ligament of a sen- 
tence. It combines and points out the words which ex- 
press a sentiment; and is produced by a change of tone 
adapted to the emotion which the sentiment inspires, not 
always elevated, but often (perhaps generally) low. The 
quantity of a syllable will often depend on emphasis; and 
hence it follows, that every composer of modulated prose or 
of verse, should be a good reader, or at least a good judge . 
of reading, for if he read with one idea of accent and em- 
phasis, and his lines are afterwards recited with a different 
one, it is plain that the metre will be spoiled. 
An essential constituent part of verse is the roor. Our 
verse consists of feet, and not merely of a determinate num- 
ber of syllables. The éambus is the foundation of English 
heroic verse, but other feet are admissible in particular 
places; and though the heroic line is said to consist of ten 
syllables, it often comprises many more. This foot was also 
the essence of the verse of the ancient tragedy and comedy, 
being best adapted to dialogue according to Horace,—alter- 
nis aptum sermonibus. It would seem, therefore, that the 
ancient drama is peculiarly fit for exact translation into 
English. 
The excellence of verse consists, like that of beauty, in 
uniformity and variety. It supposes a regular order and re- 
currence of sounds; but if these be too uniform, it becomes 
tiresome,—if continually broken, the metre is confused. 
The pauses is to be regarded as indispensable to the 
structure of verse, particularly the cesural and the final 
