104 
fore by poetic licenfe may become fhort 
in the Jatter end of a line. Jamin fome. 
meafure. confirmed in this conjefture, by 
obferving that Ovid and Virgil make the 
fir fylable of .Eous fhort in the latter 
partof a line, though they make it long in 
all other fituations. 
Words of this meafure ~—w, fuch as 
Zgreflis, vilacris, S&c., are capable cf 
being introduced into alimoft any part of a 
Jine ; and they are numerous, and fre- 
quently ufed. It cannot therefore be 
afcribed to mere chance, that thefe au- 
thors have uniformly obferved the diftine- 
tion before-mentioned, and never giveh 
fuch words their changed poetic quantity 
except at theend of a verfe. 
Tonitrua, tonitribus, and ludibria, have 
the antepenult long in the latter part of a 
line; as, touitrua mentes, tonitribus ether, 
Ovip: ludibria. ventris, Vircit. In 
thefe words accent has a firong tendency 
to increafe the quantity of the doubtful 
fyllable. And as they cannot, at leat the 
two former of them, be admitted into an 
heroic verfe without having that fyllable 
made long, I fhould not be furprifed if 
they were found in other parts of a line 
with their poetic quantity ; though I do 
not recollect that I ever met with fuch a 
cafe. Ina fimilar fituation the firft fyl- 
lable in agreftia is fhort, as, 
VIRG. 
Ovid and Virgil generally, if not al- 
ways, make the firft fyilable of lacryma 
Short; but Horace makes it common. 
Ludicra has generally the penult fhort : 
Virgil once makes it long, but it is in the 
fifth foot, and perhaps he would not have 
done fo in any other fituation. Lugabris, 
though generally long, is made fhort by 
Horace at the end-of a lyric verfe; as, 
Tam cari capitis, precipe lugtbres. 
inter agreftia regem. 
Patris, anda few other fimilar words, 
may perhaps be varied in any part of a 
ine. The compounds of pharetra. and 
coluber, being long words, are not always 
bound by the fame law by which their pri- 
mitives are regulated. 
Hence we may conclude, that the rules 
re(pecting the mute and liquid, as com- 
monly laid down by grammarians, can- 
not fafely be followea by modern poets 
without due attention to certain important 
limitations, well eftablifhed by the autho- 
rity of the beit writers cf the Augufan 
age. 
7 > Permit me to add a few words in reply 
to the remarks which your learned Corre- 
fpondent Mr. Robinfon made in your Ma- 
gazine for the laft month, upon what J ad- 
Mr. Pickbourn on Profody. 
{March 1, 
vanced in it in the month of November ow 
accent and quantity. I agree with him, 
that the acute accent, according to the 
meaning of the Greek word ofds, conveys 
the idea of quicknefs, i. e., it hurries to 
give the found of a word, and, by the 
ftrefs which it lays on one fyllable, ocea~ 
fions the next to it to be fhorter, or lefs 
diftinétly heard, than it otherwife would 
be; fo that whatever time is added to the 
accented fyllable, is deducted from that 
whicn is next to it. This, I think, is the 
true meaning of the paflage quoted by Mr. 
R. from Bifhop Hare :—** Hine ufu venit, 
ut fyllaba acute: proxima pro correpta ha- 
beatur, breviorque acuta videatur, etiam 
cum ipfa quoque brevis eft.” Accent 
gives a little addition to a long vowel, 
but the privation of accent does not occa- 
fion a long fyllable to become fhort. The 
fecond fyllable of amavit being accented, 
‘is a litle longer than the fecond fyllable 
in amaverunt, though they are both long, 
fyllables. In pronouncing fuch words as 
animus, dominus, &c., though the vowels 
perfeGily retain their fhort found, yet the 
fharp ftroke of the voice laid on the firft 
fyllable increafes the impreffion which that 
fyllable makes on the ear, and diminifhes 
the impreffion made by that which follows 
it. Nor can I think it poffible to lay the 
acute accent on a fhort vowel without 
producing this effet ; though Mr. Fotter, 
in his book on accent, fays he once knew 
aman who could doit. By an improper 
ufe of accent long vowels are often chan- 
ged into fhort ones, as nomina, the firft 
fyllable of which fhould be pronounced 
with a Jong vowel found, as we pronounce 
the firft fyllable of xomen. . 
«« Mr, R. fays, in addition to the cafes 
alluded to by Mr. P. in which we are ac- 
cuftomed to violate quantity, allow me to 
notice, that we commonly err in pro- 
nouncing as long every fhort antepenulti- 
ma of all polylyllables whofe penultimas 
are alfo fhort.”” This cafe was not omit- 
ted by me. I faid, in polyfyllables ac- 
cented on the antepenult we fometimes 
err, by giving a fhort found toa vowel 
Jong by nature, as in juvenilibus ; and at 
other times by giving a long found toa 
vowel naturally fhort, as in intérea. I 
mentioned incolumis, depofilum, confiliums 
&c., as exceptions, becaufe I never heard 
an Englifh fcholar pronounce the accented 
fyllables-of thofe words with a long vowel 
found. For the fame reafon I would ex- 
cept fome of the words mentioned by Mr. 
R., viz., latrocinium, populus, oculus: 
for it is not cuftomary to make the accent- 
ed vowels of thofe words long. al 
this. 
