• On RTTHMICJL MEASURES. loj 



they are formed. This efFedl is more certainly obtained, when 

 the verfe is made to confift of an uneven number of fuch feet, 

 together with an additional fy liable or cxfura. As it is thus 

 deficient of the even number by one fyllable, the reader is na- 

 turally difpofed to fill up the time of that fyllable, either by 

 paufing at the end of the line, or by prolonging the laft or the 

 penult fyllable. In either way, he conveys to the hearer a very 

 diftindl impreffion of the meafure. Such cataledic verfes, as 

 they are called, occur frequently in the works of the ancient 

 poets. 



Verses of the trochaic and iambic kind are often compofed 

 of fome uneven number of feet, without fuch additional fylla- 

 ble. Our common Englifh verfe of ten fyllables is of this 

 form. In this cafe, there feems to be no rythmical means of 

 giving the hearer an impreffion of the meafure, but paufing a 

 little at the end of every line. Such uneven meafures naturally 

 infer a paufe. If the reader, while reciting a line, catches the 

 idea of regular pair^, he will be difpofed, by refting at the end 

 of the line, to complete the time of his lafl pair. This, how- 

 ever, is attended with inconveniencies. The hearer is made to 

 depend for his. impreffion of the combination, chiefly upon the 

 accuracy of the reader. If the latter negledls to make the pro- 

 per paufes, the former may lofe this impreffion, and may be 

 equally difpofed to form combinations of any other number. 

 On the other hand, when there is no grammatical flop at the 

 end of the line, when a claufe of a fentence is continued from 

 one line to another, fuch paufes are ungraceful ; the reader, if 

 he is more attentive to the fentiment than to the rythm, always 

 makes them with reludlance. In fuch cafes too, to mark the 

 end of the line by a particular inflexion of the voice, is very 

 improper ; and it is difficult to obferve paufes without making 

 fuch inflections 



These inconveniencies feemtofurnifhobjecflionstoourEngrifb 

 blank verfe, which is exadly of the nature that I have been de- 



fcribing.- 



