RHYTHM. 



notes. 



fhort defcription of each as they more immediately relate ancients, merely to fheiv what refources they had in varying 

 to muiic, at the fame time rendering our differtation on their melody by different combinations of two kinds of 

 rhythm more complete. 



A poetical foot confifts of a certain number of fyllables, 

 which conditutes a diltinft part of a verfe, as a bar does of 

 an air in mufic. An hexameter verfe confids of fix of 

 thefe feet, a pentameter of five. 



The Spondee, Iambus, Trochee, and Pyrrhic or Peri- 

 ambus, are diflyllabic feet, or of two fyllables each. 



The Moloflus has three long fyl- 

 lables, 



EIEliz 5 



The Spondee confills of two long fyl- 

 lables, as vcrlunt. 



An Iambic foot has one fhort and one -£f- 



long fyllable. ©i«, \vyu. pottns, amas. " (A)Z^ . 



return. 



The Trochee has one long and one fhort 

 fyllable, as grains, mufa. 



The Pyrrhic, or Periambus, two fhort 

 fyllables, as mare, probus. 



I 



£ 



filcnt. 



§E 



The Daftyl, Anapseft, Molofl'us, Tribrach, Bacchius, 

 Antibacchius, Amphibrachys, and Creticus, are trifyl- 

 labics, or of three fyllables. To fome of thefe we have no 

 equivalents ; however, the Daftyl, confiding of one long 



and two fhort fyllables 



§Si 



is very com- 



mon in our language, as tenderly, hajlily ; and we have 

 verfes compofed of daftyls as well as the Greeks and 

 Romans : 



My | banks they were | furn'ifh'd with | bees, 

 Vv'hofe | murmurs in- | vlte one to | fleep. 



Thefe may be compared with the following celebrated 

 paflages in Homer and Virgil, where the found is mani- 

 feflly, and intentionally, an echo to the fenfe. Homer 

 (OdyfTey, book xi.) after he has defcribed in labouring 

 Spondees the flow and painful manner in which Syfiphus 

 rolled the (lone up hill, makes ufe of nimble Daftyls in 

 defcribing its fwift defcent : 



And Virgil, lib. viii. v. 596, defcribes, in pure Daftyls, 

 the galloping of the horfe : 



" It clamor, ut agmlnfi fafto 



Quadrupcdante piitrem fonitu quatit unguis campum." 



The Anapatd has two fhort and one long fyllable ; as 



fapiens, recubans, 



&jj=[=^ 



Ifaac Vofiius, 



" De Viribus Rhythmi," p. 56, has faid, that the French 

 have no Daftyls, nor the Englifh a pcrfeft Anapicd in 

 their language. Let the French fpeak for themfelves ; but 

 as to our own part of the charge, it is eafily confuted by 

 the mere mention of the words recommend and difappo'tnt. 

 We fhall enumerate the reft of the poetic feet of the 

 Vol. XXX. 



The Tribrach, three fhort, 



The Bacchius, which is the revcrfe 

 of the Daftyl, has one fhort, and t 

 long fyllables, " 



z SHIP 



The Antibacchius, two long and 

 one fhort, " ~" 



Amphibrachys, one fhort, one long, 

 and one fhort, or one long between 

 two fhort, " " " 



Creticus, one fhort between two 

 long, - — 



§E 



~mm 



e 



^ 



The quadrifyllabics are compounded of feet already 

 mentioned. 



The Proceleufmaticus is compofed - ?j — ~ 

 of four fhort fyllables, or of two Pyr- 

 rhics, *" 



The Choriambus, two fhort between 

 two long, or the junction of the Tro- 

 chsus and Iambus, " w " 



Epitrite; of this foot there are four fpecies : 1. The 

 Iambus and Spondee : 2. The Trochee and Spondee 



"": 3. The Spondee and Iambus ": and 4. The 



Spondee and Trochee . 



PIU) 



ggg gg 



The Paean or Paeon, which is the contrary of this laft, 

 confifts of one long fyllable, and three fhort : " t w-w^ 



Servius reckons more than a hundred different kinds of 

 verfe among the Latins ; and, according to Hephxflion, 

 the number was ftill more confiderable among the Greeks ; 

 confequently their melody might have been varied in as many 

 different ways. There is not, however, the lead appear- 

 ance of the ancients having had in their vocal mufic that kind 

 of meafure which we call pointed ; nor did they admit reds 

 in the middle of a verfe, though at the end of cataleftic, 

 or broken verfes, the finger was allowed to make up the 

 deficiency by a filence, equivalent to a red in modern mufic ; 

 and though they had fo great a variety of feet in '.heir 

 poetry, many of thofe already indancedare unfit fox modern 

 melody. 



" After all the refearches," fays Dr. Burney, " which I 

 have been able to make, it mull be acknowledged that the 

 fubjeft of ancient mufic, in general, (till 1 lain , and pro- 

 bably ever will remain involved in much difficulty and un- 

 certainty. It is fortunate, however, for thofe who wifh to 

 view as near as poffible thin dark angle of antiquity, that 

 the profpeft happens to be the cleared jufl in that part 

 where all its admirers afTure us it is bed worth ezamini 



C c for 



