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pause,—the former in the middle, the latter at the close of 
the line. The former does not always divide the line into 
two equal parts, but may be varied according to the taste of 
the writer; and in one line may be several pauses, though 
one is generally stronger than the rest. 
In Latin, the czesural pause is after the second foot; but 
in English, the taste of the poet is shown in changing its 
place. Expression often requires a deviation from rule, but 
care must be taken that the pause shall coincide with tlie 
sense, or even help,—certainly not mar it. 
The difference between prose, verse, and poetry, is ex- 
amined and explained at some length. They all consist of 
long and short, accented or unaccented syllables. Dionysius 
of Halicarnassus, and in our own day, Bishop W. Cleaver, 
could find a certain order of feet in Demosthenes and Iso- 
crates. The rythm of proseis unfettered, that of verse con- 
fined within a certain number of feet. To this, poetry adds 
poetical diction and figures. Verse, in the opinion of the 
author, is essential to poetry. There may be verse without 
poetry, but no poetry without verse; and according to this 
decision, neither Fenelon’s Telemachus, nor Macpherson’s. 
Ossian is to be considered as genuine poetry. In this, 
every thing should be animated and impassioned ; not a 
single prosaic expression should be admitted into short: 
poems ; and if in long epic-and didactic poems some indul- 
gence to such expressions be allowed, it should be compen-. 
sated by the greatest attention to melodious versification.. 
With respect to the propriety of introducing the Alexan- 
drine into heroic verse, there is a difference of opinion. 
Johnson condemns the practice, as violating the-prineiple of 
verse ; but Dryden, who understood the subject better, says, 
4 Spencer gave me the boldness to use the Alexandrine. It 
adds a certain majesty to the verse, and stops the sense from 
overflowing into another line. I have frequently used the 
triplet rhymes, because they bound the sense, and therefore 
