1800.] Adr. Taylor’s Ariftotle—The Laws of Wellh Verfification, — 208 
To the Editor of the Monthly Mazazine. 
SIR, 
rf AM much obliged to you for the an- 
nouncing my Tranflation.of Ariftotle’s . 
Metaphyfics in fo handfome -a manner 5 
and in addition to what you have alfo faid 
refpecting a Differtation on Nullities, | 
which is to accompany this tranflation, I 
requeft you to infert the following remarks 
for the further information of your mathe- 
amatical readers. 
Nulhities which are fuch expreffions as 
a@—2a, or, fuppoling it’to reprefent an inde- 
finite quantity, ma—ma, properly form a 
part of the dottrine of infinite feries; but 
fo great is the obfcurity in which this fub- 
ject is at prefent involved, that while fome 
eminent mathematicians erroneoufly con- 
tend that nullities are, as their name im- 
plies, zothings, others admit that they are | 
different from nothing, but are not able to 
afcertain what they are, or even to prove 
that they have any pofitive value. Having 
fortunately difeovered the nature of thefe 
nullities, I am able to remove with the 
greateft facility. all the difficulties with 
which this.dark fpecies of algorithm, is 
now replete. Among other things, 
I demonftrate that when the _fraétion 
1 
i-+-T 
ries ;- the quotient, which is an_ infinite fe- 
ries of nullities, wiz. 1—-1-+4-1-—3, &c. 
is precifely equal to 4; and that, confe- 
quently, the affertions which have been 
made by mathematicians refpecting this 
feries are perfeftly erroneous. I likewife 
demonftrate that when 4 = is re- 
folved into the infinite feries :—2--4.—, 
&c. this infinite feries of negative quanti- 
ties is precifely equal to 4, and does not 
require the addition of an infinite fupple- 
ment to produce this equality. 
' This difcovery likewife enables me to 
unfold the nature of infinitely {mall quan- 
tities, and to prove that infinite orders 
of fuch quantities may ‘be admitted, 
without departing from that rigid accuracy 
which is the diftinguifhing characteriftic of 
mathematical {cience. Iam, &c. 
Manor Place, Tro, TayLor. 
Malworth. 
is refolved into an infinite fe- 

eee 
> — 
TERRES 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
“1 STR | | | 
pa me to lay before your read- 
ers a {ketch of the laws of verfifica- 
tion in the Welfli language, agreeably to 
the fuggeftions of Mr. Evans, which ac- 
companied his {pecimen of blank verfe in 
-his tranflation of the Homeric fimile, in- 
ferted in the Magazine for July latt. 
' Your correfpondent entertaias an idea 
that there are no examples of the epic 
verfe in the Welfh, but that all our me- 
tres are to be clafled amongft the lyric 
kind. Were he to perute the firft volume 
eof the WeLtsH ARCHAIOLOGY, now 
publifhing, he would difcover a very great 
variety of verfification in each of thofe {pe- - 
cies. Inthe Bardic Inftitutes, of which 
a copy now lies before me, the canons of 
metrical compofition are laid down, con- 
fitting of twenty-four in number ; thefe 
embrace all the poffible varieties of verfes, 
with refpeét to length, as wellaswith re- 
{pest to their combination together: and, 
in the Inftitutes which I have alluded to, 
there are 425 of the leading examples of 
verification given, towards illuttrating 
the principles. | 
‘There are f{carcely any poetical compo- 
fitions in the Welth, but have in their 
ftruéture a certain confonancy in various 
accented paufes, and in the terminations 
of the verfes; the latter of which is de- 
noted by the term rhyme in Englifh poe- 
try. The laws of rhyme, however, are. 
effentially different in the Welfh: for, the 
full rhyme, or where both endings are ac- 
cented, which is indifpenfable in Enclith, 
would be confidered as producing a jingle 
deftrugtive of true harmony; therefore, 
what are deemed perfeétions in one lan- 
guage, are avoided, as the greateft ble. 
mifhes, in the other. Thus, the rhyming 
fyliables are, in the Welth, required to be 
unaccented; or, if one has an accent, which 
is the cafe in fome metres, the other that 
couples with it mult be without one, 
Rhyme, according to the common accep- 
tation, is, therefore, a very fubordinate 
means for producing harmony in Welfh; 
and the continued fucceffion of it, which 
occurs fo frequently in ancient pieces, pro- 
duces no difagreeable effects. ‘There are 
whole poems wherein the fame rhyme per- 
vades from beginning to end, yet the art- 
ful difpofition of the confonancy and the 
accented paufes fo predominate that the 
rhyme might efcape without making much 
impreffion on an incorrect ear. Rhyme, 
as it is above defcribed, is coeval with 
poetry itfelf amongft the Britons, if we 
may judge from the moft ancient f{peci- 
mens; but fome critics ‘have adduced a 
fhallow argument againft the genuinenefs 
of our remains of ancient poetry, becaule 
they 
