to what Extent, and how most readily attainable?” 245 
without reference to the succeeding. These defects were re- 
medied : the passage was practised, and finally delivered, as well 
as the human ear could estimate so irregular a combination, in 
the following proportions, the rhythmical divisions or bars being 
exactly ascertained by viewing an adjusted pendulum which vi- 
brated seventy-two timesina minute. The recital of the six di- 
visions occupied precisely five seconds of time, or six vibrations. 
Oh B apps ss—our | being\’s end—ljand aim— 
2 14 35)6 6| 661 9 3/4 8 
This unavoidable irregularity of proportion in syllables, —espe- 
cially the short ones, which consistently with the character of 
language can neither be contracted nor extended, but in a very 
limited degree—was equally acknowledged by the ancients; 
Dionysius of Halicarnassus having supplied us in this respect with 
an interesting document unknown to the generality of our best 
informed. This intelligent critic, in the xvth section of his ce- 
lebrated work on language, has the following passage; which 
proves to our satisfaction that the Greeks themselves, who pos- 
sessed the most regular language ever formed by man, never en- 
tertained the chimerical notion of reciting even their poeiry in 
any thing like accurate time or quantity. This passage being 
rather long, I shal] give it a summary translation. 
‘¢ It must be confessed,” says Dionysius, ‘‘ that the syllable 
is short which consists of a short vowel, suppose o in 6205. Pre- 
fix to this the semivowel # as £o%0¢, and the syllable remains 
short—not however in the same manner, as it will have a certain 
minute addition of time more than the former. Prefix again the 
mute Tr, as Tgd705: this syllable will then be greater than the for- 
mer syllables, and yet it remains short. Prefix a third letter, as 
otesg¢os: and by these three audible additions it becomes still 
longer. The same with our long syllables : y if increased by the 
addition of four letters, as in owAjv, would certainly be rendered 
greater than when it consisted of the single letter. It is suffi- 
cient to say, that a short syllable differs from a short, and a long 
syllable from a long one; and that every short has mot the same 
power, neither has every Jong, whether in prose or in poetry.” 
Such was the Grecian usage—such the Roman—and such 
must continue the necessary usage of this and of every other 
country. | 
To what purpose then, say our modern disputants, have all 
the regulations of imaginary quantity been established by the 
ancients? and have not these regulations contributed’ to lar- 
barize both languages, particularlythe Roman? These are the 
general questions of uninformed critics, and to these I shall par- 
Q 3 ticularly 
