404 



Mr. Davis on the Poetry of the Chinese. 



persuaded of the existence of the fact ; and a properly qualified native, 

 being summoned into the room, was requested to read out the longer mea- 

 sures of verse in a slow and deliberate manner. The result was, that the 

 ctesura fell exactly in the places above-mentioned, being more strongly 

 marked in some lines than in others, but still unchangeable with regard to 

 position — and the native himself (who, by the way, was a Sewtsae, i. e. had 

 taken his degree) admitted that such was the case. While the long mea- 

 sures admit of, and in some degree require, this pause of the voice, all lines 

 which contain less than five words appear, by reason of their shortness, to 

 be entirely devoid of it. 



The existence of the caesural pause in a particular part of each verse 

 might, of itself, be considered as deserving of notice in a treatise of this 

 nature : but the farther connexion that it has with the structure of the 

 verse makes it still more worthy of attention. The language of China is 

 in a great measure composed of what, for want of a better expression, we 

 will call " compound terms," consisting of two words or characters, which 

 may be a noun with its adjective, a verb with its adverb, two nouns united — 

 and a great many other grammatical combinations of the kind. These are 

 always pronounced together, — as much so as parts of the same compound 

 word in other languages. In a verse of seven words, the cassural pause being 

 after the fourth, the first section of the line generally * consists of two of 

 these compound terms. The fourth and fijth characters can never be 

 coupled in this manner, because the pause cannot take place in the middle 

 of a compound term — but it must be t\\efrst and second, the third and 

 fourth, which are thus related. This being the case with regard to the/;'5/ 

 section of the verse, the last, which contains three characters, is commonly 

 a compound term, with the addition of a single word, which may either 

 precede or come after it. But as this is a subject which may best be illus- 

 trated by examples, here follow some lines of seven words, in which the 

 verbal construction can be observed — together with the place of the csesural 

 pause after the fourth word, as far as this may be shewn without actual 

 recital. 



• Gencrnllij, because !t is not meant to be asserted that Chinese verses are alxvni/s, or 

 entirely composed of such terms : thej' frequently contain a number of single characters, or 

 simple terms ; but whenever the others are used, their position in the verse is invariably as 

 above stated. 



