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English versification. Our accent is different from that of the 

 Greeks and Romans : ours lays more stress on vowels or syl- 

 lables, theirs consisted in a depression or elevation of the 

 voice ; ours produces the effect of quantity, theirs was entirely 

 distinct from such an effect. 



Another stress of the voice, which has great influence on 

 verse is, emphasis, i. e. stress with expression. As accent 

 is the ligament of a word, emphasis is the ligament of a sen- 

 tence. It combines and points out the words which ex- 

 press a sentiment ; and is produced by a change of tone 

 adapted to the emotion which the sentiment inspires, not 

 always elevated, but often (perhaps generally) low. The 

 quantity of a syllable will often depend on emphasis ; and 

 hence it follows, that every composer of modulated prose or 

 of verse, should be a good reader, or at least a good judge 

 of reading, for if he read with one idea of accent and em- 

 phasis, and his lines are afterwards recited with a different 

 one, it is plain that the metre will be spoiled. 



An essential constituent part of verse is the foot. Our 

 verse consists of feet, and not merely of a determinate num- 

 ber of syllables. The iambus is the foundation of English 

 heroic verse, but other feet are admissible in particular 

 places ; and though the heroic line is said to consist of ten 

 syllables, it often comprises many more. This foot was also 

 the essence of the verse of the ancient tragedy and comedy, 

 being best adapted to dialogue according to Horace, — alter- 

 riis aptum sermonibus. It would seem, therefore, that the 

 ancient drama is peculiarly fit for exact translation into 

 English. 



The excellence of verse consists, like that of beauty, in 

 uniformity and variety. It supposes a regular order and re- 

 currence of sounds ; but if these be too uniform, it becomes 

 tiresome, — -if continually broken, the metre is confused. 



The pause is to be regarded as indispensable to the 

 structure of verse, particularly the caesural and the final 



