VERSIFICATION. 



plani have a lyllable after this accent ; and the fdruccioli 

 have two ; to which fome add the piii che fdruccioli, which 

 have four fvU'iblcs after the accent. 



The lad accent decides the nature and the completion of 

 every vcrfo. The ear meafures the extent of a verfe from 

 its commencement to the laft accent. The car is naturally 

 fenfihle at the occurrence of this laft accent, that the har- 

 mony of the verfe is accomplifhed : it is fatisfied, and de- 

 mands nothinc^ more. It is equal, whether the laft accentu- 

 ated fyllable be itfelf the laft fyllable, or followed by one, 

 two, or four fy'labl.'S ; for the meafurc of tlie verfe is com- 

 prifed between its commencement and tliis laft accentuated 

 fyllable. The fyllables remaining after this accent are re- 

 dundant, with refpeft to the mcafure and harmony of the 

 verfe. (See Ariftotle, Poet, cap. 8.) This confideralion 

 will render it evident, that if a verfe be piano, (which 

 fpccies the Italians fclcft for their regular meafurc,) it will 

 have the pr.'cife luimb-r of fyllables which the nature of tlie 

 verfe afiigns to it ; if it be tronco, it will have one lefs ; if 

 fdrucciolo, one more. Therefore, the verfe piano is acala- 

 leftic ; tlie verfe tronco, cataleptic ; the verfe fdrucciolo, 

 hypercataleftic. 



V. The French in a fimilar manner divide their words 

 chiefly into two claftcs, the mafculinc and the feminine. 

 The mafculine (correfponding to thofe which the Italians 

 term troncbi) have the accent on the laft fyllable ; as verlu, 

 nouveau, il parla, and are generally of the maiculine gender. 

 The feminine (analogous to the Itahan piani) have the ac- 

 cent on the penultimate ; as honnete, ils parlerent, il parle, 

 France, &c. : and thefe are fo called, becaufe that nouns 

 of this defcription are generally terminated by the e mute, 

 a charafteriftic of the feminine gender. The words called 

 fdruccioli by the Italians (gliftant by the French) can only 

 be found in fuch phrafes as garde-le, dites-le, montre- 

 le, &c. 



The fame epithets are alfo applied to their verfe, accord- 

 ing to the charafteriftic of the word which terminates it. 



Thefe pieliminary obfervations, well underftood, will 

 reconcile the anomalies which, until the prcfent, have pro- 

 duced an apparent difference between the nature of the Italian 

 »nd that of the French verfification. For fince the Italians 

 feleft the verfe piano for their common meafurc, and the 

 French the mafculine (or tronco), which, between the com- 

 mencement of the verfe and the accented fyllabl'-, will con- 

 tain one fyllable lefs than the former ; it follows that the 

 Italian verfe will always exceed the French verfe of the 

 fame kind by one fyllable. For example, the Italian hcn- 

 dccafyllable piano has eleven fyllables, and the French 

 hendecafyllable mafculine (tronco) ten; and the French 

 hendecafyllable piano will have the fame, for they do not 

 reckon, as the Italians, the redundant fyllable. 



The only fimple feet admitted in the compofition of 

 French and Italian verfe are the trochee, the iamb, the 

 daftyl, and the anapxft. It is unneceffary to repeat here 

 the definition we have already given of a metre and a rhythm, 

 in a former part of this article. We (hall, therefore, now 

 proceed to Ilate all the polfible combinations that can refult 

 from thefe four feet in the compolition of a hemiftich, which 

 is, by a late French writer, confidered as a fimple or primi- 

 tive verfe. 



An iambic hemiftich may confift of three, four, or five 

 feet ; fo may the trochaic, the anapsilic, or the dadtylic 

 hemiftich : therefore, from hence we have twelve varieties, 

 or all the pollible combinations of the hemiftich. For each 

 of the four feet cannot produce more than three varieties, 

 the fmallr.ft of which cannot confift of lefs than three, nor 

 the greateft of more than five feet. Hence, then, we have 



at once the minimum and maximum of their extent. At the 

 former, we aHert that an hemiftich cannot confift of lefs 

 than three feet. We have already remarked, that the ex- 

 tent or meafure of a verfe ought to be fuch as to admit of 

 its being eaflly and fenfibly remarked by the car, otherwife 

 it is not verfe, but profe. And every verfe or hemiftich 

 contains more or lefs of the rhythmical order; and, as we 

 have already obferved, a rhythm is a fcries of limilar feet 

 continued until the ear perceives the order of the feries, and 

 is able to anticipate the peculiar nature and recurrence of the 

 verfe. But one foot cannot be a feries, therefore a foot 

 cannot be a hemiftich. We have already affirmed, too, that 

 the fucceffion of two fimilar feet conftitute a metre ; and a 

 metre is the commencement of a feries. But the commence- 

 ment of a feries is not the feries itfelf: the feries fuppofes 

 a continuation ; therefore, the fucceffion of two feet, or a 

 metre, cannot be a hemiftich or primitive verfe. For the 

 union of two feet form a metre ; but a metre is not a 

 rhythm ; therefore, two feet are not a hemiftich. But if to 

 two fimilar feel fucceed another of the fame nature, then the 

 feries is decided. An hemiftich, then, cannot have lefs than 

 three feet. What is fmaller than this is only the element of 

 an hemiftich. Let us further inquire, in what confifts the 

 harmony of a verfe ? Doubtlefs in the regular order of the 

 accents in its rhythm or feries. But one foot has only one 

 accent ; therefore, it has no harmony, and cannot be an 

 hemiftich or radical verfe. So we reply concerning two 

 feet ; they are not an order or feries, but only the com- 

 mencement of a feries. We may, with M. J. J. Sul/.er, 

 illuftrate thefe remarks by repeating the following feries, 

 un deux, un deux, tin deux, un deux, un deux, &c. Here we 

 can eaflly perceive the rhythmical order. But uo one can 

 luppofe that the firft foot, un deux, is an order or feries ; 

 nor in the firft two feet, un deux, un deux, do we perceive 

 more than the commencement of a feries. But if we include 

 the third, un deux, un dew, un deux, we fee at once the 

 order, the feries, the rhythm, and, lallly, the metrical he- 

 miftich precifely decided. Three feet, then, is the fmalleft 

 number v.hich can conftitute the hemiftich or primitive 

 verfe. 



In the fame manner we may determine the maximum of 

 the hcniiftich. Wc have faid that it cannot exceed five feet ; 

 for the number muft be fuch as may be diftinctly remarked 

 by the ear. Suppofe, for example, an hemiftich of fix 

 feet ; fince it may be divided into two equal parts of three 

 feet each, and fince three feet form au hemiftich, it is evident 

 that the line of fix feet is not one but two hcmiftichE, /. e. a 

 verfe. But the homifticli of five feet is incapable of being 

 thus divided. If it be, let the one part confift of three feet, 

 v/hich, as wc have juft proved, is au hemiftich ; the other 

 of two feet, which is only a metre ; and a metre, as we have 

 juft obferved, is not au hemiftich ; confequently, the line of 

 live feet is an hemiftich or primitive verfe. And becaufe a 

 verfe of fix feet is compoled ot two hemilliclis, the line of 

 five feet is the maximum or greateft hemiiUcli or primitive 

 verfe { and lines confiftiiig ol more than tiiis, after the re- 

 dundant fyllables are cut oft', contain two or more hemillichs 

 of a verfe. 



VI. Some writers on verfification are in the habit, how- 

 ever, of treating oil verfe, which they term difylLibic, trifyl- 

 labic, quadrifyllabic, tlie ()uinariu8, and the feiiarius. But 

 thefe are not verfes, but only the elements of a regular and 

 complete verfe. We fhall, however, in coiiformily to their 

 cuftom, and to omit nothing effential, cfpecially in what 

 muft be admitted to form the hafis of this art, proceed to 

 treat on the elements here enumerated. 



J. The dilyllabic member cannot have more than one ac- 

 cent. 



