toa On RYTHMICAL MEASURES. 



his attention, the frequent repetition of it, like the frequent re- 

 petition of a fhort mufical ftrain, can hardly fail to be in fome 

 degree irkfome and difgufting. The other cafe, in which the 

 fimilarity takes place only in a part of the line, is more con- 

 fiftent with variety. We have the moft diftinct impreflion of a 

 return, when the fimilarity occurs at the end of the line. Of 

 this we have a ftriking example in the common hexameter verfe 

 of the ancients. The dadtylus and fpondseus, recurring regu- 

 larly at equal intervals, necefTarily leads the hearer to confider 

 thofe intervals as diftinct combinations of equal times, although 

 the fame feet be difpofed in the other parts of the meafure in 

 every poflible way. The iambus recurring at the end of iam- 

 bic verfes, when diftinctly pronounced, will give fome im- 

 preflion of a combination, when the rythm in the other parts 

 of the line is very irregular. Other inftances of the fame kind 

 will readily occur. Sometimes the moft ftriking fimilarity takes 

 place in the middle of the line. The dactylus, in the middle 

 of the fapphic verfe, feems to have the chief effect in forming 

 the return of that meafure. 



When the return of the verfe, or the impreflion which the 

 hearer has of diftinct combinations, is to depend chiefly upon 

 fuch fimilarities, it is neceflary, that the cadence in that part of 

 the line in which the fimilarity takes place, be marked, and eafily 

 diftinguifhable from that of the other parts, or that the verfe 

 be made up of fome diverfity of feet. When lines run uni- 

 formly by the fame, or nearly the fame feet, as in trochaic and 

 iambic verfes, no fuch diftinct recurrences can happen. In 

 this cafe, fome other means muft be ufed to give the hearer the 

 impreflion of a combination. A very gentle hint will incline 

 a hearer to count off fuch feet by combinations of the fmaller 

 even numbers. For this, little more is neceflary than to write 

 them out in feparate lines. The tones of voice, with which a 

 perfon is difpofed to read lines of fuch even meafure, are often 

 fufficient to direct the hearer to the number according to which 



they 



