1805.] On the Prsnunclation of Greek and Latin Poetry. 103 

 To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



IN your ufeful publication for Decem- 

 ber laft (page 381), a query was pro- 

 pofed on the method of pronouncing 

 Greek and Latin poetry, and the commu- 

 rications oF your Correrpondents were 

 invited on that interefting fubjeift. Since 

 reading that article, I have lacked with 

 eagernri's into each fucceffive number of 

 your Magazine, hoping to find fome re- 

 plies to aqueftion which muft beacknow- 

 ledged to be important. Hitherto, how- 

 ever, I have been difappointed. Your 

 valuable and learned Correfpondent, Mr. 

 Robinfon, has noticed the fubjeft, and 

 has feconded the requeft of the former 

 writer ; •but with regret I add, that he 

 has refrained from giving any fentiment 

 of his own. If the fubjcft be permiried 

 to fink into inattention or indifference, I 

 believe that your Correfpondent O. E. I. 

 will not be the only diHippointfd perfon. 

 Yet fuch muft be the cafe, unlefs fome 

 one vrill ventuie to throw his fentiments 

 into the field of public criticifm. VYidi 

 much diffidence I enter upon this hazard, 

 but with the hope that this communica- 

 ti:)n will excite to more important ones. 



Yew quel ill thinks, that " the curr-cnt 

 Englifii mode ofreciting the two nobleli lan- 

 guages that ever adoined the earth, is in 

 the very extreme of cacophony, barbarifin, 

 and felf-contradictioi)." Perhaps this is 

 too ftiong ctnfure, but I fear ft is ju(f to 

 a confiderable ex'ent. Our current mole 

 of reading Greek and Latin, may, I ap- 

 prehend, be defcnbed with tolerable accu. 

 racy to be, an application of the cuftom 

 of accenting peculiar to our ov.'n lan- 

 guage, regulated in a fmall degree by pro- 

 lodial rules. I ufe the word " accent" in 

 its modern fenCe, to denote the iiius or 

 flrefs of the voice placed ufuslly on one 

 fyllable only of a word, except that word 

 be a very long polyfylLibic one, in which 

 cafe we fometimes oblerve two accented 

 fyllables, as ' incomniL-nfurability.' This 

 Items to be the bafe of our prevailing pro. 

 nunciation ; but we combine with it a 

 partial regard to profodial rules. Thus 

 we accent tlie fiilt iyllablc of a ilaftyl, and 

 "happy wou'd it be if we always did i'o 

 well. But if we meet witli a pyrrhic, a 

 tribrach, a cretic, a fpomke,* or even an 

 iambus, we c. mmonly do exa'£lly the 



• 1 ilo not ohjcft to the accent on the firft 

 fyllable of a fpondee or cretic, but to its be- 

 iiig niide to relV folfly th-.ie. Ihus we ge- 

 nerally hear urhes uttered as it" it were a tro- 

 chee, and ferfdii as if it were a da£fyl. 



Monthly Mag. No. 133. 



fime ! Doss the reader revolt at this af- 

 fertion, ard alinoft deterrnir'e to withhold 

 his belief? Let him impartially conlidcr 

 how thiee fchohrs out of four lead Ho- 

 race, Virgil, and Hoiner, and I fear he 

 will be compelled to admit the monftrous 

 fa£f. Of all the beau.iful varieties of 

 metre in Horace, there are but fjtir, ac- 

 cording to my humble apprehenfion, in 

 which we produce any tolerable effefl.— 

 Tiufe are, the Sapphic and its lubjoined 

 Adonic, the dimeter Iambic, and the di. 

 meter Alcaic of feven fyllables. For ex- 

 ample : 



Sapfh. & Ad. 

 Audiet civcs acuillc ferrum, 

 Quo graves Perfae melius perirent ; 

 Audiet pujnas, vitio f>3rencum 

 Rara j jvencus. 

 Dim. Iav2b, 

 Arnica vis patlori'jus. 

 Dim. Ale. 7/)//. 

 Lydia, die, peromnes. 

 Yet really, Sir, I am afraid this allow- 

 ance is rather too much. I have felefted 

 the foregoing verles as fome which will 

 pais through our lipSlefs crufiied and in- 

 juied than ihe moft of their brethren; 

 yet even thsl'e do not efcape lis unhurt, 

 and of their fellows many are murdered 

 outright. As for the trochnics, the ana- 

 peftics, the trimeter iambics, thechoriam- 

 blcs, &c. and even the foaring alcaic, the 

 plaintive pentameter, and the venerably- 

 mijeftic hexameter, they are treated by us 

 with lefs ceremony than the verieil refufe 

 of Giub-ftreet dogger^d — with re peifl to 

 their meafure only do I mean ; lor their 

 r.oble fentiments and happy diflion pene- 

 trate and move \is in foite of the obfta- 

 cles which ourjelves have created. 



The diladvantages of our prevailing 

 method of reading the Greek and Roman 

 poets feem to fall under the foUoAing di- 

 Itiiicl heads. 



1. We do no juftice to thoi'e final fyl- 

 lables whofe natural Ihort quantiry be- 

 comes long by polition, though fcarcely a 

 verle occurs without fuch an inifance.-— 

 In defiance of reafon and fechng, and 

 (what to fome perluns perhaps is a more 

 cogent argument) a fundamental law of 

 proi'ody, we perfift in niaking them lliort ; 

 except, iiideed, wlien the (yllablejn quef- 

 tion is lengthened by an eoclitic, and 

 then, \^o gracious and condrlcendiiip; are 

 we, :.s to gr^nt to tile - little appei>u<«ge 

 i:8 peaceable enjoyment of that naht 

 which we tyrannically rtlufe to ahnolt 

 every word of dignity and confequence. 



2. Conceding, for the prefent, that a 



O fyllable 



