258 
and moft harmonious writers, who have 
not admitted entire verfe, or marked 
portions of verfe, into their profe, fo as 
to infringe its harmony, counteraét its 
proper effeét, thock the ear, and offend 
the judgment. The late Dr. JOHNSON ; 
the anthor of the letters of Junius; and 
Mr. Burxk, ponies leafi of any, 
violate this principle: JoHNSON was 
protected from the error of infringing it, 
partly by his ufe of long and fonorous 
‘words, which form numbers*, ang are, 
therefore, feparated from poetic feet or 
meafure : and partly, too, by the gravity 
of his manner, w hich could hardly fall 
into the moft common danger of this 
kind, that of the wochaic or anupeftic 
meafure ; thefe being fo ftcikingly ght 
_ and fubfultory, that in his periods they 
° 
would have been glaringly difcordant. 
Of the two other great writers, much re- 
finement of ear in one, .and great 
learning, with the habit of a parliament- 
ary eloquence, in the other, character- 
iftically g grand and flowing, have gene- - 
rally, iideed almoft conftantly, ack 
their periods from this blemifh and 
difgrace. 
If 1 have hitherto expreffed myfelf 
clearly, and with juftneis, thus much 
‘will have appeared. 
That in eae there are three conftitu- 
‘ent principles : the wiea/jure, which makes 
it ver/e, and | eflentially contradiftinguithes 
ait from prefe : 
The rhyifiz1, whieh regulates its juft, 
harmonious, and expretiive pronunci- 
ation : 
The xumbers, which are the portions 
of diferiminated time and cadence which 
enter into the compofition of the rhythm 
Though the meafure makes verle, 
even the dithyrambic—for it would not 
be verfe without portions, at leaft, of 
meafured numbers, diffuled through it— 
of itfelf, ic will not make good verfe. 
The meafure may be mechanically true, 
but the flow and cadence, the harmony, 
accent, and emphafis, fo defective, that 
it will be verfe only to the fcanning, and 
neither verfe nor profe to the ear 
There will be fome {pecies indeed of 
verfe, where the rhythm fo clearly ac- 
companies the mea/ure, that if you have 
one, hardly any thing but the worft or 
moft perverfe ear, can form fuch a com- 
pofition as fhall not neceflarily have 
both. 

* Whatever exceeded two times (a short 
{-lable being eftimated as half a time) was 
termed not a foor but a number. 
On Metre. 
; [April, 
This is peculiarly Hie eafe of the ana- 
pefiuc, the dadylic, and the trochaic: for 
here the accent and cadence vividly co- 
incides with the intervals of the meafure. » 
This makes them the moft faging of all 
meafures; the moft contrary to free; 
but yet, from their marked uniformity, 
and their not being refoluble into varied 
numbers, not the "ie adapted for long 
continued verfes. . 
That the daétylic numbers are confpi- 
cuous in the a/carc ode, is, I think, un- 
deniably apparent ; and I recolleét one 
great {chool, at leaft. where, in the pro- 
nunciation of the mafters, thefe dac- 
tylic numbers were beautifully fenfible. 
This conformation of the alcaic is, m- 
deed, fo manifeft, that Peroti* even feats 
by oe in the latter half of the firtt 
and fecond, and the preceding half of 
the laft verfe. 
The metre then refolves itfelf thus : 
aoe fee Vides, ut alta, fet nive 
candidum 
}  Soracie, nes jam fufi~ 
neant onus 
Sylu@ laborantes, ge 
Luque 
Flumina confriterint 
acuto. 
I have marked the meafures by half 
bars and bars, for greater diftinéinefs ; 
and the rhythm, by its diftribution of 
numbers. 
Such is the méafure ©/-divide it How by 
the zumbers into which a juft attention 
to paufe, cadence, emphafis, and expref- 
fion, will refolve it; and fee whether it 
will not become this: 
vw = 
-—wwe vv 
rae (atte 
Eo: 
~ vv -veyv v=o Vv 
5 ing [ite tren ae 
. 
Vides, ut alta | fee 
nive candidum 
Soraecyte 4 mecjam | 
fufiineant onus 
Sylva _ laborantes ¢ 
gelugue 
} Flwnina | eonftite,- 
: rint |} acuto. 
The numbers then are—an sambic, 
followed by a éacchius, for the firft half 
meatfure of the firft verfe ; two daéty/s, 
the fecond. An antibacchius, followed by 
a /pondee, for the firft half of the fecond ; 
the other half as the-firft, or elfe a dat 
tyl, a femipede, and a pyrrbic, which I 
think more correét. A /poxdee, followed 
by an epitrite, for the firft half of the. 
third: two daéyds for the firft half of the 
fourth, followed by a half time, and 
fucceeded by a dacchius. Your's, &e. 
PHILORYTHMUS. 
| 
* De Mettis Horatianis, Ed. Colinai, 1543. 
for 
ae 2 f= —- fr, VV ae uw 
