Mr. Dyer on Englifh Verfification. 
Or that of Milton--- 
————--—-Him th’ Almighty Power : 
Hurl’d headlong flaming from the ethereal 
_ fky : 
With ir bgt ruin and combuition down 
To bottomlefs perdition, &c. . 
Sometimes it is ‘produced by a fingle 
word, ulularunt, howl, hifs, roar, &c. 
This is what Mr. Walth very properly. 
calls, the ftyle of found. 
_ This effect is produced by the applica- 
tion of the rule of the acute and grave 
accents ; the acute making ftronger, the 
grave weaker vibrations; trom an artful 
management of the letters, confidered as 
liquids, confonants, fingle, or double, 
vowels, dipthongs, open vowels, &c. 
From regarding the proper places for the 
paufe, tran{pofition, interrogation, &cs 
I am not yet {peaking of any parti- 
cular fpecies of verfification, but of the 
effect of found in general, in producing 
motion or paffion. When the poet wifhes 
to exprefs; and to raife in the breaft of 
his reader, the fofter or more lively paf- 
fons of love, hope, defire, Sc. his verfe 
fhould ftudy correfpondent movements ; 
it fhould be foft, and accompanied with 
all the arts of infinuation ; it fhould move 
{prightly, and with an air: of triumph 
and exultation, &c.---on the other hand, 
when he would exprefs grief, pride, re- 
fentment, &c. the language fhould ex- 
prefs depreflion, indignation, fudden 
tranfition, &c. - 
It is unneceflary to exemplify what has 
been fo frequently exemplified in books 
on rhetoric and poetry :---a few hints on 
the*mechanical part of the different {pe- 
cies of Englith verfification, will be more 
to the purpofé of your correfpondent L. 
The following rules feem to apply to 
the Iambic, or Heroic, a verfe of five 
feet, which may be with or without 
thyme: called Iambic, becaufe the prin- 
cipal foot contained in it is an Iambic, a 
foot of two fyllables, with the firtt fyl- 
lable fhort, the laft long. Ex. of the 
Tambic with rhyme, ~ 
Hére thou] Grext An|na, whdm | thréé 
realms obey, 
Dok fome|times coiinfél take, | and fome | 
times t€a. 
T take thefe lines as affording an ex- 
ample of an inaccurate rhyme, which ‘I 
fall notice prefently. At prefent, I ob- 
ferve, that the laft line is an example of 
perfect Tambic. 
The Heroic or Iambic admits other 
feet belides the Iambic. The firft of 
thefe lines in the fourth place has taken a 
Spondee, or a foot of two long fyllables ; 
great difheulty.”’ 
115 
and this line is quoted to fhew, thatthe 
obfervation of a fhrewd modern writer is 
not quite accurate, ‘* that to: place three 
long fyllables confecutzvely in English, isa 
The Englith Iambic alfo admits a 
Daétyl, that is, a foot of three fyllables, 
with the firft fyllable long, and the laft 
fhort, as in that line of Waller’s, } 
Coiild Gr { dér teach | and their | high {pisits 
-| cOmpGfe 
as *¢ High {pirits”’. 
And a Pyrrhic, that is, a foot of two 
fhort, asin the above verfe, ‘* 3nd. their.22 
It will alfoadmit of an Anapett, tha 
is a foot of three fyllables, the two 
firft fhort, and the :laft long; and of a 
Trochee, a foot of two, fyllables, with 
the firft long, and laft fhort; which the 
Greck Iambic never admitted: though 
it may be generally obferved, the more 
lambics the verfe contains, it will be fo 
much the purer. 
With refpeé&t to long and fhort,> it 
fhould be noticed, though Englifh verfe 
is not regulated by pofition, it is net fe 
loofe as to fet afide quantity, 
Sure there are poets who'Wid never dream 
Upon Parnaffus,. nor did tafte the ftream 
Of Helicon, &c. 
Suppofe Potts, which is a Trochee, t 
be turned into an Iambic, as repiite, ré- 
pléte, and we thall fee that the harmony. 
is inftantly broken; or fuppofe Parna{- 
{jis, which isan Amphibrachys, that is, 
a foot of three fyllables, the firft fylable 
on each fide fhort, the middle long, be 
read as an amphimacer, with each fylla- 
ble on the fide long, and the middie 
fhort, we fhall then likewife fee that the 
rules of quantity are violated, 
¢ On Parniffus top, nor did tafte the ftream.”? 
The next obfervation relates to the 
Paufe ; a confideration of great import- 
ance in yerle, was ecb Attic ueaty 7 
TUTWY, ATG HY EWOE AVATAVAASH HH b [LE 
taboras approves *. The force of this 
obfervation will be obvious by confi- 
dering what has already been noticed 
---the correfpondence of poetry . with 
mufic. Mufic requires variety of move- 
ments, no lefs than fweetneis of found: 
and without this variety, both poetry 
and mufic will be accompanied with a 
difgufting monotony. 
In Mr. Walth’s ‘‘Letter to Mr.Pope,”” it. 
is obferved, there is naturally a paufe 
at the fourth, fifth, or fixth, fyllables. - 
‘¢ It is upon thefe the ear reftss upon the 

* Dionyf, Hal, De Struét. Orat. 
Qa 
pidisaous 
