- , ~ t* y ^ ' AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF HARMONY IN LANGUAGE, AKD OF THE MECHANISM OF VERSE, MODERN AND ANTIENT. BY WILLIAM .MITFORD, ESQUIRE. THE SECOND EDITION, WITH IMPROVEMENT AND LARGE ADDITION. TO rav avtyuiruv iirinovov *va7rau>ag TE avlotf TUV novuv eralarro raj TUV lopruv a/twjs M,y.i Mcvaaj IwEOpraraf tJb(7av. -Ta /XEV oi/v aXAa fwa owx tXfiv cuafaffiv TOJV iv T?5 mvYi their character upon the ear. Mufical notes may be protracted and divided without other limitation than thofe of the compofer's judgement and the performer's powers ; but the proportionate meafure of fyllables is fixed, in many cafes, by the nature of fpeech, and in mod others by the cuftom of fpeaking. Syllables, therefore, to give obvious meafure, muft be equal, or without ftriking ine- quality ; or they muft differ as one and two, or fo nearly in that proportion, as to imprefs the ear with the idea of that proportion and no other. But a repetition of equal meafures can produce no new character, and for wan}: of variety, will prefently fatiate the ear. The two meafures, one double in length to thq other, are therefore necefiary for all compofition of meafure. Syllables, dif- fering from each other in the proportions of one and two, are found fufficient for all purpofes of compofition in fpeech ; tho mufic wants more vari- ety. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. trary HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. u trary. Accounts of antient times, in different countries, accordingly, mark the early, and per- haps original connection of poetry with mufic, and their late feparation. In our own language, the word SONG remains yet, in poetical ufe, a term fynonymous with poetry. Modern practice in profe, confining that word to a narrower fignification, but a fignification ftill nearly co-extenfive with its antient import (beyond which antient lan- guage had no want) has formed from the Greek and Latin, for modern purpofes, the words POE- TRY and VERSE. Diftinctions of TONE and of TIME, in fyllables, being the fources of MELODY and MEASURE, and confequently the efficients of HARMONY IN LAN- GUAGE, thofe diftinctions muft be the objects of investigation for whoever would become ac- quainted with that harmony. But fuch inveftiga- tion would be vainly attempted in a language whofe living pronuntiation were not perfectly familiar to the inveitigator, and vainly explained to thofe not perfectly acquainted with the living pronun- tiation of the language in which the explanation were communicated. The writer indeed will hardly fuc- ceed on fuch a fubject, whofe native fpeech cannot bear him through it. Fortunately, the Englifli,as op- portunity will be taken to (how, is favorable ; and, with whatever difadvantages, perhaps, among lan- guages now fpoken in Europe, altogether the moil favorable for the purpofe. Propofing 12, INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Proposing then to inveftigate the principles of harmony in human fpcech among the founds of the Englifh language, and to explain them through the EngliQi language, it will be neceflary not only to furvey its founds carefully, but alfo to con- fider attentively the modes in ufe for commu- nicating ideas of them by writing ; without which it were impoffible to be fecure againft being widely mifunderftood. For, tho Engliih fpeech is favorable, yet Engiifh orthography is the mod difadvantageous of any ufed among European nations. Nor will the labors of thofe who, of late years, have employed much ability, with painful diligence, in the endeavor to mark, among the anomalies of that orthography, the proper found of every word, avail me fo far as to fuper- fede all neceflity for my toiling after them on the fame ground. Profiting gratefully from affiftance they afford, I find my own arrangement neceflary for my own purpofe ; which fortunately requires far lefs than their extent of detail. Neverthelefs it puts me under one peculiar difadvantage ; for I muft requeft the reader's purfued attention to a kind of lexicographical matter. With my utmofl endeavors therefore to obviate for him the difguft of fuperfiuous, as well as the difappoint- ment of deficient explanation, I {hall have to put his patience (at leaft I cannot but apprehend it for fome not wholly incurious on the fubjecl:) to a fearful trial. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. SECTION II. Survey of the Sounds of Englifh Speech, and of the Manner of reprefenting them by written Charafters. THE purpofe, of alphabetical writing is to repre- ient language to the eye, by the figns of elementary founds. For the reprefentation to be perfect, there mould be a fign for every elementary found of the language to be reprefented, marking that found only. But a complete alphabet of any language is unknown. Before the art could reach perfection, cuftom has everywhere fixed the prac- tice ; and, for common convenience, an afcertained practice, however imperfect, being preferable to the variation neceflary for attaining perfection, what arbitrary cuftom had once eftabliflied, fcience has generally feared afterward to alter. Unfor- tunately for the Englim language, cuftom, dif- tracted between two widely differing idioms, the Anglo-Saxon, and the Norman- French, has, in fixing its orthography, not only neglected fcience, but allowed capricious ignorance to riot. Hence it will be neceflary, with ftricter care, to furv.ey the eftablifhed reprefentation of the founds of Englilh fpeech by written characters ; to unfo d its per- plexities ; to difcover, among its anomalies, what may pafs for rules j and to fix upon a mode of pointing out to the reader, with certain precifion, any 14 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF any found of the language, of which there may be occafion to treat. In our language, and in moft or perhaps all others, the name LETTER is, in ordinary fpeech, equally given to the elementary found, and to the character reprefenting it ; fimple terms failing to diftinguiih things fo different. The words ELE- MENT to fignify the found, and CHARACTER to flgnify its reprefentative, are often of advantageous ufe, but not fo appropriated as 'to be, on all occa- fions, fufficiently difcriminating. Care therefore will be requifite to prefent thofe two defcriptions of things always clearly feparated to the reader's view. Among the elementary founds of fpeech, divided into VOWELS and CONSONANTS, the vowels hold a great preeminence. A vowel alone may ftand as a fyllable ; without a vowel can be no complete articulation ; all fonoroufnefs, all fweetnefs in lan- guage arife from vowels. The SIMPLE VOWEL-SOUNDS, clearly and flrong- ly diftinguifhed in Englifh fpeech, are SEVEN; but the VOWEL-CHARACTERS of the Engliih alphabet are, in effect, only FIVE, a, e, /, 0, u; for w and jy, as proper vowels, are meer duplicates of u and /. But the defects in the reprefentation of the vowel-founds, confiderable from real want of dif- tinguiming characters, have been made very much greater HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. I greater by perverfe life of the characters we pot- fefs. The feven vowels of Englifh fpeech, to ftate them in the order mofl in ufe among our gramma- rians, are, Firft, the open or broad found of A, heard in wan, warreu, call, falling : Secondly, the middle found of A, in can, fal- low, father, example: Thirdly, the clofe, or flender found of A, in tale, famous : Fourthly, the found of E, in he, evil: Fifthly, the found of o, in fo, rofy : Sixthly, the open found of u, in dull, running, Seventhly, the clofe found of u, in bull, fully, truly. But, befide thefe feven varieties of fimple vowels, there are, in Englifh fpeech, four proper diphthongs. Borrowing, in part, Walker's definition, I would call a diphthong, " a compound vowel, requiring " more than one conformation of the organs for " utterance ;" but, I would proceed, " the dou- " ble conformation producing two diftinguifhable " founds, yet fo Hiding one into the other as to " offer no difcernible point of feparation." Of the four diphthongs of Englifh pronunti- ation, two are reprefented by fingie, and two by double characters. Firft, the found of i> in final : Secondly, l6 'INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Secondly, the found of u, in due, ufual : f Thirdly, the found of or, in coin, toil/ome : Fourthly, the found of ou, in out, abounding. Y and W, for their diphthongal, as for any fimple vowel-found, are but duplicates of I and W, and ib OY and ow are but duplicates of 01 and ou. The notations EU, E\V, IEU, LEW, and ui, reprefent no other founds than are commonly indicated by u alone. Thus brute differs from fruit, and few from view, only in the found of the firft letter ; and we write indifferently fewel or fuel. The other diph- thongal notations of Englifh orthography, ai, ay, ait, aw, ea, ei, eo, ey, ia, ie, oa, mark no diphthongal pr^- nuntiation, (the affirmative ay forms a fmgle excep- tion) nor reprefent any found in Engliih fpeech, different from thofe, already noticed, which are commonly reprefented by fmgle vowel-characters. As reprefentatives of fimple vowels, they will de- mand future attention. The diftinct varieties, then, of VOWEL-SOUNDS in Englifh fpeech, are no lefs than ELEVEN ; be- ing feven fimple vowels, and four proper diph- thongs. But befide thefe varieties of found, there is a a variety arifmg from difference of TIME em- ployed in the enuntiation of the fame found. Six f Thefe founds of I and u, have been reckoned among diph- thongs byWallis, one of the earlieft and the moft learned, and by Sheridan and Walker, among the moft eminent of the later Eng- lifh grammarians. That they are truly diphthongal, muft, I think, be obvious to any ear fairly attending to them. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 17 Six of the feven vowels of Engliih fpeech have, in fome fyllables a longer, in others a (horter TIME, or, in the grammatical word, QUANTITY, ap- propriated to them. Nor is the difference fmall or unimportant, but, on the contrary, fuch as to give to each decidedly its own character, fo that the diftinction is of the eflence of the language. No Engliih voice fails to exprefs, no Eaglifh ear to perceive, the difference between the long found^ for inftance, of the fecond vowel, the middle a, in father, pajfing, example, and the fame found, fhort, as the cuftom of fpeech requires, mfathom t pajfive, ample. Were one ufed for the ottier, we fhould riik to mifunderftand the words ; we mould certainly condemn the pronuntiation. No col- loquial familiarity or hurry will fubftitute the fhort proportion of vowel-found for the long ; nor will any folemnity of occafion warrant the ufe of the long proportion for the fhort. In Scottilh pronuntiation indeed, often^ the Eng- li(h long vowels are fhort, and the fhort long; and this is not leaft among the caufes' of difficulty, for fouthern Englifhmen, to underftatnd their own language in the pronuntiation of the northern part of the iland. To fpeak Engliih properly, and to be intelligible, the eftablifhed proportions of the long and fhort vowels, whatever be the rate of delivery, mufl be obferved. In juft delivery thofe proportions will be found as two to one, or as nearly fo as any menfuration (a matter C which 1 8 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF which will occur to be further fpoken of in the fequel) can afcertain. That fuch difference of length in- the vowel- founds of a language mud be of great importance to its harmony, is obvious. Toward the inveftiga- tion therefore of that harmony, it will be ne- cefTary- to obferve, with fome care, how> in the irregularity of Englifh orthography, the long and the fhort vowels are varioufly repreiented by letters. Common, or rather univerfal, as we find, a- mong languages, the want of diftinguifhing figns for long and fhort vowels, and faulty as Englifh orthography now is, yet its better fpirit, in early times, had a difpofition to fupply the want, and found means often actually to mark for the eye the different lengths of vowel-founds in pronunti- ation. Even yet ,fome relics of the advantageous practice remain, fortunately fixed by the cuflom of writing; not all of equal value, but all requir- ing fome notice. The long founds of vowels are indicated, in> Englifh orthography, in four different ways : Firft, by a very advantageous and unexcep- tionable method, the duplication of the letter, as in meet, proceed, feemly, door, floor. Secondly, by a diphthongal notation,, very in- conveniently replete with confufion, as in rain,, break, meat, rein, deceit, broad, road, foul, bowL In the two laft examples the fifth long vowel is reprefented by the proper reprefentatives of the fourth HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 19 fourth diphthong. But for our knowlege of the words we ihould luppoie the fourth diphthong in- dicated, as in foul and howl. Formerly, indeed, the pronuntiation of mod of thofe words proba- bly was diphthongal, as of fome of them; in fome provincial diale&s, it flill remains: Thirdly, a filent E, following a confonant which follows a vowel, indicates that preceding vowel to be Ions;. This method has been introduced into O our orthography with French words, ending with what the French grammarians call their feminine c. Reaibnable in the French, which requires a repre- fentative fign of its feminine e y the practice in ouf language, which neither has nor Ihould delire to have fo imperfedt and half articulate a vowel-found, is irrational enough, and ftands only by cuftom. Neverthelefs> as often as our filent E indicates the length of a preceding vowel, in the want of other indications warranted by cuftom, it is not without value. The notation may indeed be confidered as diphthongal, with the reprefentative marks di- vided ; the e being written after the confonant, under arbitrary controul of the cuftom of ortho- graphy) to be pronounced before it. The method however, with its irrationality, has alfo its practi- cal inconveniencies. At the end of words, E is fo commonly filent, that a mark is wanting where it is to be pronounced, and fuch a mark is not yet agreed upon. In the middle of words it is commonly omitted, on account of the confu- c 2 jfion 2O INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF fion it would there produce ; and flill the omifliort produces confufion : it is but the choice of the leffer evil. Thus, in forming from fame, Jloade, late, mode, the words famous, fhady, latifh, tnodi/J^ difmifling the e, which mould indicate the length of the preceding vowels, we leave nothing to mow their fuperior length to that of the fame vowels, reprefented by the fame chara&ers, in the words famine, fliadoiv, Latin, model, Fourthly, we find an anomaly perhaps not lefs unreafonable, a filent confonant-charader indicat- ing the length of a preceding vowel ; as in climb, comb, half, talk, night, refign. The latter of the two concluding confonants in- the two firft words, and the former in all the others, wholly unpronounced as confonants, perform the office, ufeful to thofe acquainted with it, of indicating that the pre- ceding vowel is long. The duplication of a con- fonant fometimes does the fame bufinefs, as in tall, fall, roll, grafs, crofs, tofs. But, unfortunately, there is too little certainty in thefe. indications. Ufeful as the moft anoma- lous of them might be, were its powers clearly defined, perverfe cuftom has made that which is the moft completely founded in reafon and analo- gy, fometimes fallacious. Even the doubled vowei- letter too often reprefents a fhort vowel-found, as in took, book, flood, food. The lefs rational in- dications of courfe will not be found more truft- worthy, the filent g alone excepted, which r where- 3 ever HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 21 ever it is eftablifhed by antient cuftom in our or- thography, indicates length in the preceding vowel.* But even this is not the moft perplexing irre- gularity in .our orthography, for thofe who would ipeak intelligibly of that important conftituent' of harmony in fpeech, the quantity of fyllables. In other languages, generally, the vowel-character, reprefenting indifferently a long or a fhort found, reprefents yet the fame found, long or fhort. A contrary .method is peculiar to Englifh orthography. With us, the fame vowel-found, long and fhort, is rarely reprefented by the fame character ; but, on the contrary, according to the general rules of our orthography, each character reprefents the long found of one vowel, and the fhort found of ano- ther. This really odd anomaly, through its famir liarity, is apt to pafs unregarded among ourfelves ; and the more readily, on account of the regularity with which it is conducted ; but to all foreiners it is flriking, and, in learning our language, not a little perplexing. h On every account it will be requifite s t know no exception but in the words cognifance and re- cogni/ance, into which the g has been abfurdly obtruded of late years ; thofe words being derived from the French cannnjjance and recmnoijfancc, or rather from the Norman conufancc. h It has not efcaped the acute obfervation of Samuel Johnfon, who, however, avoiding the trouble of any expla- nation on the fubjeft, has contented himfelf with this re- mark: *'That is eminently obfervable in /, which may be like- " wife remarked in other letters, that the fliort found is not the ' long found contracted, but a found wholly different." Gram- mar prefixed to Johufon's Dictionary. SIX INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF requifite for our purpofe to examine, in fom grey ; and, in two or three familiar words, by ?, with length indicated by a filent e foU lowing an intervening r, as in tfore, vvhere^ ere. The exacl: found of the third long vowel, the clofe or flender A is never fhortened in Englim pro- nunti- 1 A fafhion has been growing to pronounce the word mer- chant, (formerly written as fpoken, marchant, from the French marchand) as if it were written murchant. Here, as in fome other inftances, the corruption of orthography has tended to the corruption of pronuntjation. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 2 ijuntiation. But the fhort vowel-found, regularly reprefented by the fecond vowel-character e, in men, met, merry, approaches it To nearly, that, with a referve for nicer difcrimination where occafion may be, they may perhaps be moft advantage- oufly clafled together; fo that the found repre- fenced by as in move lofe. When the word acquires an additional fyllable beginning with a vowel, the e is rejected, as in mo- ving, lofing The SHORT SOUND of the SIXTH vowel, not of very frequent occurrence in our language, is reprefented, like the long found, either by the fifth character lingly, as in put, full, bifid ; or very anomaloufly by a duplication of the fourth cha- racter, as in good, book, footing-, or by the diphthongal notation on, as in coidd, would. 7. -The m Tho our alphabet is more irregular than that of any other European language, yet anomalies and deficiencies analogous to fome of its anomalies and deficiencies, are found among the moft perfeft. We may have occafion hereafter to advert to the mixed and interchanged ufe of the characters u and o, in the Greek, Latin, and Italian, and to the analog? between the combinations oa, ao, and oo t in Greek and in Englifh. ^O INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF 7. The feventh vowel has* in Englifh fpeech,- a fliort quantity only. The fifth vowel-character, #, is its general reprefentative, as in but* dull, ni/Jsingt cunning. But in feveral inftances the office is fup- plied by the fourth vowel-character o j as infon,tno- ther, coming $ and in others, with wider anomaly, by the fame character, with a filent E following an intervening corifonant j as in done, love, come^ In this cafe the e has no retroactive power; it repre- fents no found, and in truth indicates nothing ; the found of the preceding vowel being fhort, precifely as, where no e follows the confonant* mfon, ton. In too many inftances the diphthongal character, ou, is the anomalous reprefentative of the fame fimple fliort vowel-found ; as in rough, young., country, jour- ney ', and in a few the doubled 0, as in blood, flood. This vowel is uttered with lefs effort of the organs than any other in our pronuntiation. It wants nothing of the protrufion of the lips necef- fary for the fixth. Commonly reprefented by the fame character, the wide difference in found and in manner of enunciation, between the fixth and feventh vowelSj has too much efcaped the notice of our grammarians. The feventh re- quires an opener mouth, not only than the fixth, but even than the fifth, and in found it approaches perhaps as nearly to the fifth as to the fixth ; whence, apparently, the letter o is fo often its reprefentative. Facility of enunciation feems to have recom- mended HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 3! mended this as a fubftitute occasionally for all the other vowel-founds ; fo that, in fyllables lefs ftrongly offered to the ear, every vowel-character may be found reprefenting it. Before the rough confo- nant r, even in fyllables the moft forcibly uttered, the fecond and third characters, E, and i, are, in a manner, its regular indicants 3 as in err y defer^ 'fir, fnr. Such are the fimple vowel-founds ofEnglilh fpeech, and their reprefentatives in Englifh writing. The compound founds, cr DIPHTHONGS, , have no variation of quantity, nor, except the fecdhd of our lift, as already noticed, any variety of repre- fentatives. Neverthelefs, even in their reprefenta- tion there are uncertainties which muft be noticed ; for tho, excepting the fecond, each diphthongal found knows only one reprefentative character, yet the characters are not confined to the indication o* the diphthongal founds. i. We have already feen the firft diphthongal character, I, the regular reprefentative of the fourth fhort fimple voweMbund. Combined with a fol" lowing confonant, it generally indicates that found, as in pin, bit. An added final e bears the retroac- tive indication of length, and at the fame time of change to a very different found, that of the firft diphthong, as in pine> bits. The fame effects preciiely are produced by the introduction of CH, or of c alone, before the confonant. Thus/g- and^/*/, in- dicate 32 INQUIRY INTO THZ PRINCIPLES OF dicate exa&ly the fame combinations of founds, as Jine, and fite, whole articulated cortfcnants are no- other than thofe of Jin and fu ; greatly as thefe differ in vowel, both for articulation and length. But, in fome particular words, even before two or three confonants, under no rule but the law of cuilom, i reprefents the firft diphthongal found ; as in child, wild, mildly, mindful, kindly. It is how- ever before thefe confonants only, which, as we (hall obferve prefently, have their peculiar charac- ter among confonants. 2. The letters, already mentioned as the moft ordinary reprefentative of the fecond diphthong, we have alfo fecn the ordinary reprefentative of three fimple vowels 5 the feventh, as in but and dull; the fhort fixth, as in put and full ; and the long fixth, as in rue, rude, ruler : in due, pupil, fu- ture, it reprefents the fecond diphthong. Combined with a following confonant in the fame fy liable, un- lefs where a retroactive E is added, it always in- dicates a (hort found ; but which of the two (hort founds, no rule can tell. When reprefenting a long found, whether that long found mall be the fimple or the diphthongal, feems to depend on the charac- ter of the preceding confonant, a matter which will come (hortly under notice. When a preceding con- fonant forms a part of the fyllable, the habit of Englifh fpeech always prefers the diphthongal enun- ciation. Nor do thefe rules differ if, inftead of the fmgle letter, a diphthongal character is the indicant. Thus HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 33 Thus blew and blue, have equally the fimple long found ; deiv and flue, the diphthongal : euphony, euhgy, ufe, unit, unite, utility, all equally begin with the diphthong. 3. The nobleft diphthong of Englifh pronun- tiation, the THIRD, is unfortunately the rareft ; and ill habit, patronized by the poets, to f icilitate the production of rime, has gone far toward reducing it, in fome familiar words, for carelefs mouths, to the lefs open found of the fir ft ; as \ujoin, point, appoint. Still, however, in folemn delivery, the full enun- tiation of the proper found is required, and among the beft fpeakers it obtains on all occafions. We may therefore reckon the compound character oi the reprefentative of the third diphthong only ; and in this fimplicity of employment it ftands fin- gular among the reprefentatives of vowel-found in Englifh orthography. 4. The .combination ou, the only reprefentative of the FOURTH diphthong, has already been noticed as the uncertain indicant of other founds, long and fhort ; nor will anything but ufe tell where it is in its proper office of reprefenting the diph- thong. The VARIETIES of VOWEL -SOUND in Englifh fpeech, we find then really no lefs than SEVEN- TEEN, ftrongly diftinguilhcd, either by articulation or by quantity; the LONG founds being fix fimple and four diphthongal, in all TEN, and the SHORT SEVEN. D We 34 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF We proceed now to confiderthe CONSONANTS, of which, however, fortunately our fubject will require fax lefs length and intricacy of examina- tion. Incapable of any clear articulation by themfelves, and therefore contributing neither fonoroufnefs nor fweetnefs to language, CONSONANTS are never- thelefs of great, and perhaps eflential importance, through their power of feparating the flowing founds of vowels, by ftrong boundaries, obvious to the ear ; of adding force and expreffion, and of furniOiing means for ufeful varieties and pleafing contrail. It is in their office of feparating vowels^ principally, that the confonants will require our confideration here. CONSONANTS are divided by grammarians, ac- cording to the organs of utterance which give them their feveral characters, into Labials, Dentals, Palatals, and Nafals> to which, in fome languages, are added Gutturals, to Englifli pronuntiation happily unknown. Confonants are otherwife di- vided under two heads, whofe diftintflions are more important for our prefent purpofe, SEMIVOWELS, and MUTES 5 fo called, the former becaufe capable of an obfcure articulation without any accompany- ing vowel ; the latter, becaufe, unaflbciated with a vowel, they cannot be articulated at all. In our alphabet thefe two kinds of confonants are com- modioufly diftinguifhed by their names ; thofe of the mutes beginning with the confonant whofe name HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 35 yiame is to be exprefled, and ending with a vowel; thofe of the femivowels (V and J excepted) begin- ning with a vowel and ending with the confonant. Four of the femivowels then, L, M, N, R, on ac- count of their faculty of coaiefcing in articulation with other confon..nts, are further diftmguifhed by the name of LIQUIDS ; and three of the mutes, K, P, T, capable of no other found from the moil forced vociferation than from a whifper, are dif- tinguifhed as PURE MUTES, from the others, which are called IMPURE or SEMIMUTES. Confonant -founds, produced, not as vowel - founds, by modulation of the breath among the or- gans of fpeech, but by fome determinate action of thofe organs, bringing them together, or feparating them, have their feveral characters marked by more obvious boundaries; and being lefs liable to be miilaken, are alfo lefs liable to be mifreprefented* Neverthelefs irregularities in the reprefentation of confonant-founds are found* Thofe in Englifh. orthography, principally requiring notice here, are thefe : Firft, the employment of confonant-characters to denote vowel-found ; of which mention has been made in treating of vowels : Secondly, the aflbciation of a vowel-character with a confonant- charafter, to denote a confonant-found different from that which the confonant -character alone would indicate; of which the word ajjbciation affords two examples, in the d and in the ft: Thirdly, D a the 36 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the intrufion of a confonantrcbarader indicating no found ; as in debt, receipt, foreign, ought, bough, i/land; where the b, p, g, gh, and s are perfectly filent : Fourthly, the employment of ibrne charac- ters, c, g, s, t, to indicate, on different occafions, two different founds ; as in ceafe and cafe, giant and giddy, rife the 'noun, and rife the verb, afting and action : Fifthly, the employment of different cha- racters, c and k, c and s and /, s and z-, to denote the fame found : Sixthly, the employment of com- pound characters, ch, tch, gh, ph, sh y th, dg, ng 9 to reprefent fimple confonant-founds. There is yet a found in our language, requiring notice, tho wholly unreprefented in our modern orthography. Nearly refembling that half-articu- late vowel, which the French call their feminine E, it is, in our fpeech, an appendage only of mute con- fonants, fo obfcure that it has gone generally un- obferved. Nowfuch is the nature of the mute con- fonants, that articulation cannot flop with them. In fpeaking the words rob, neck, bad, big, look, fup f not, no voice can make them perfect monofyllables : the louder found indeed ceafes with the flroke of the organs producing the final confonant, and the fyllable is there completed; but articulation, in fpite of effort to flop it, will follow, making an imperfect fecond fyllable, in a whifper. If the whole word be whifpered, this involuntary fecond fyllable, tho of no very clear articulation, will be as clearly perceptible by the ear as the firfl. Hence HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 37 Hence our forefathers wrote robbe, rocke, and fo forth : and perhaps modern criticifm has been fometimes a little rafh in animadveriion upon de- fecls in their verification, imagined only in the want of due attention to the neceflary exiftence of a fy liable, which they may have pronounced fuller than modern cuftom would warrant. In the view here taken of the reprefentatives of founds in Englifh fpeech, fome anomalies, found only in one or two words, are unnoticed ; and efpecially thofe Gallicifms with which the depraved fafhion of the prefent day is adding to our lan- guage deforr^ities not yet become completely con- ftitutional. Without them we have already, I fear, more than enough to juftify the obfervation of the Italian, Barretti, in his Englifh grammar pre- fixed to his dictionary : ' And here,' he fays, * is the explanation of the Englifh alphabet com- ( pleted i which, I hope, will not frighten the ' Italian reader, tho it prefents to his view, I mufl * confefs, a craggy mountain, of molt difficult * afcent." 1 * Ed ecco la fpiegazione dell' alfabetq (Inglefe) finita; che, foero, non ifpaventeni il leggitore Italiano, quantunque prefenti* a luoi occhi, diro cosi, una montagna fcabra, e di malagevolif* lima falita. 38 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF SECTION III. Of Quantity, or Menfuration of the Time of Sounds, in Enghfh Speech. THE foregoing furvey of the elements, however tirefome, appeared preparation indifpenfable for treating intelligibly the fubjecl: propofed. In pro- ceeding, it may ftill be neceflary, tho it is hoped no longer in equal degree, to befpeak the reader's patience. From the elements we advance to the integrals of fpeech, the loweft order of which, as already defined, is that called a fyllable. HARMONY in language then, being, in our de- finition, the refult of a happy combination of jneafure and melody ; MEARURE, meaning menfu- ration of time, made feniible to the ear in the flow of fpeech; ,and MELODY, a pleafmg fucceflion of varying toq^s exhibited in the flow of fpeech, to become acquainted with the mechanifm of that harmony, we muil obferve how meafures and tones exift and vary in the loweft order of the integrals of fpeech, fyllables. A vowel, pronounced alone, is at the fame time an element and an integral ; and, tho not within the etymological import of the word fyllable, is completely of the order of things indicated by that ame. Without a vowel can be no fyllable j and two vowels HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 39 vowels cannot coexift in a fyllable, unlefs com- bined in a diphthongal found. Wherever two vowels are feparately heard, there are two fyl- lables. But the aflbciation of a vowel or diphthong with one conionant, or with more conibnants, to any number that the voice may combine in articu- lation with one vowel, will form but one fyllable : accumulation, or ill combination of confonants, may produce cacophony and indiftinctnefs > but, till a fecond vowel is heard, there can be no fecond fyllable. But vowels, fingly conftituting fyllables, are ca- pable of all varieties of time or quantity, from themeereft point of found, to any length to which the fpeaker's breath can hold j and their founds may be fo melted by the voice into each other, that, not only the differences of their quantities, but the limits of their feveral founds may be hardly, or not at all, perceptible. . Thefe inconveniences, in the combination of vowel-founds, are remedied by the introduction of confonants. Produced by a kind of flroke of the organs of fpeech, the effect of confonants on the ear is quick and decifive. Incapable of lengthened found, the mutes wholly, the femivowels with any advantageous refult, they unite, infbantaneoufly on utterance, with a following vowel, or inftanta- neoufly ftop the found of a preceding vowel, and in the fame inflant ceafe themfelves. The time, 04 or 40 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF or quantity, of a fyllable then depends principally, upon its vowel ; but is mod readily afcertained, when the limits are marked by the ftrojte of the organs which produces a confonant. For illuftra- tion therefore of the length of vowels, hitherto, fyllables have generally been chofen whofe vowel is followed by a confonant, either within the fame, or, which equally anfwers the purpofe, beginning a fucceeding fyllable. With fuch fyllables for examples, we have feen that, among the vowel-founds of Englifh fpeech,two meafures of time or quantity, ftrongly diitinguiihed from each other, are found among circumftances eflential to the language. Of the feven fimple vowel-founds, fix have, on fome occafions, a longer, on others, a fhorter enuntiation, fo that the long is about double in time, or quantity, to the mort ; the feventh has the mort only, and the four diph- thongs only the long quantity. Such fyllables then, wherever we find them, with fuch differences, obvious to the ear in ordinary Englim fpeech, as in the examples cited, will be commodious ftandards of quantity, by which to meafure the length of fyllables otherwife compofed. Our firft rule of quantity then may (land thus : A SYLLABLE WITH A SHORT VOWEL, FOLLOWED BY A SINGLE CONSONANT, HAS THE JUST MEA- SURE OF A SHORT SYLLABLE; as the firft of fathom: A SYLLABLE WITH A LONG VOWEL FOL- LOWED BY A SINGLE CONSONANT HAS DOUBLE THE HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 41 THE TIME OF THE SHORT SYLLABLE, AND FILLS THE JUST MEASURE OF A LONG SYLLABLE ; as the firft of father. If found be added to a given found, the TIME of utterance, or the QUANTITY, mutt neceflarily bein- created. A iyllable, therefore, with a confonant be- fore as well as after its vowel, muft be longer than a fyllable compofed of the fame elements, with the omiflion of the h'rll confonant. Thus, if the fyl- lable or has the juft meafure of a fhort quantity, the fyllable for mould have more than the juft meafure of a fhort quantity. It is however not what may be difcovered by analyfis and ftudied comparifon, but what is flriking to a good ear, in the flow of fpeech, that makes a difference eflential to harmony. The time of a confonant, preceding a vowel within the fame fyllable, tho unqucflionably a particle of quantity, is too much of a point, to be taken into any account of rhyth- mical meafure in the flow of language, by the moil fcrupulous ear. Not fo when two confonants meet. Of thefe each muft have its own adion of the organs ; which muft be either feparated, or clofed, or both, for the diftinct articulation of each. Thus an interval neceffarily has place, with a delay of enuntiation, not minute, and evading obfervation, The claffical reader, who has given any attention to thefe matters, will recoiled the obfervation of Dionyfius of Halicar- pafliis on the words Z&>?, pahs, rooj. but 42- INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF but large and (hiking to the ear. Let the words banifli, baron-, venom, living, body, punifo, be com- pared with J?-&iter, barter, vender, lifting, bodkin, pungent ; the firil fyllables in each fet are the fame, but the difference of time neceffarily employed by the voice, before it can give the fecond fyllable to the ear, is ftriking. The firft fyllables are not of themielves long, in the fecond fet of examples more than in the firft fet ; but the two confonants requiring feparate articulation, the voice is necefla- rily delayed by the double operation ; and before the fecond fyllable ran be heard, a time elapfes equal to what would be requifite for the pronun- tiation of a long vowel inftead of the mort one, provided only a fingle confonant followed. Let the words farther, lifting, order, godly,, fulfome, be compared with fat her, leaving, author, gaudy, foolijb, and the ear will not readily decide of the firft fyl- lables which are the longer. Thofe of the former fet, of themfelves Ihort, are made long, in the compofition of fpeech ; employing double time and therefore rhythmically long j not by increafe of vowel-found, but by duplication of confonant- found. p It is obvious that if two confonants follow a long vowel, not an uncommon circumftance in Eng- lifli pronuntiation, as in alter, needlefs, bolder, the P The claffical reader may find, in the obfervation of this fimple difference, full explanation of fome paflages among the antient writers, Cicero particularly, which appear to have puz- zled fome of the moil le a rned amon-j the moderns. 7 meafure HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 43 jneafure will be beyond the ftandard of a long quan- tity. But the proportionate increafe is not the fame after a long vowel, as after a ihort vowel ; the quantity is not doubled, in the former as in the latter cafe ; and the difference has been found fuch as not to require, for rhythmical purpofes, a new denomination of meafure. An exception, however, to the rule of doubled confonants will require notice : A liquid, follow- ing a mute, may be fo combined with it in pro- nuntiation as fcarcely to delay the voice more than a fingle conibnant. In the words reply, reprefs, the the confonants pi and pr, unconnected with the firft fyllable, mix wholly with the fecond ; fo that the firft, having a (hort vowel, has a fhort quantity. But the voice, with the power of combining, has alfo the power of feparating them. In the pro- per names Ripley, Mapley^ the p is pronounced with the firft fyllable, the /with the fecond ; and through this feparation of the two confonants, the voice is neceflarily retarded, as in the pronuntiation of any other two confonants ; fo that, tho the vowel of the firft fyllable be mort, the rhythmical meafure is long. More than one confonant cannot precede avow- el within the fame fyllable, unlefs fo allotted that they may pafs rapidly over the tongue, as if by a iingle effort. The confonant/ is fingular in being capable of articulation before any other confonant, and alone can be pronounced before two others. Afyl- 44 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF A fyllable whofe vowel is followed by a vowel, has, in Englifli fpeech, never more than the fhort quan- tity. Even of the diphthongs, the third only has neceflary extenfion of found fufficient, without the fupport of a following confonant, to make a long fyllable. Its fuperiority will be obvious to the ear in a comparifon of the words dial, dual, fewer, vow~ el, royal, joyous : the firfl fyllable of the two la'ft words only is long. We have now, I think, gone through all the obfervation neceflary toward a general arrangement of the iyllables of Englifh fpeech, under the two heads of fhort and long ; provided we avoid the error of fome very learned writers upon the fub- jeft, who have allowed the eye fo to impofe upon the ear, that they have eftimated the filent written character as a real fpoken element. To guard therefore againft fuch error, it may be pro- per to advert to fome peculiarities and irregulari- ties in our written reprefentation of language, which have not yet come under notice. We have feen that two confonants, excepting often when the fecond is a liquid, make the fylla- JD!C, formed with the preceding vowel, long. But it muft be obferved that the ITERATION of a CONSONANT-CHARACTER, in Engliih_orthography 5 generally indicates no additior^no^alteration, of confonant-found^ In-tlje words manor and manner, very and merry, literal and littering, confider and for bidder, comet and common , Rudy and ruddy, the fingle HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 41* fingle and the doubled letters indicate exactly the fame fingle found. Neverthelefs, the duplication is not idle. Its indications indeed are wide of all analogy in or- thography,- and little confiftent even among thern- felves ; but they are important. For, as a general rule, the duplication of a con- fonant -character indicates that the preceding vow- el is fhort. When we fee the words baron, canon, venom, critic, colic, puni/h, it is from ufe only we know that the firfl fyllables are all to be pronoun- ced (hort ; for analogy, fuch as our orthography pofTeffcs, would rather intimate the vowels, and of courfe the fyllables, to be long ; as in vary, caning, venal, vital, folar, puny, tuning. But the duplica- tion of the confonant-character marks the fhort found decifively_for _all_yerfed in Englifh fpeHing ; as in barren, cannon, berry, bitter, follow, running. In direct contradiction however to this rule,, the duplication of the confonant-characters L and s, fometimes indicates, as we have already obferved in treating of the alphabet, that the preceding vowel is long; as in call, toll, pafs, falling, t offing, crojjing, amajfmg. It feems to have been the habit of deference to written language, and a comparative difregard of the fpoken, that have led fome very learned Englifh writers to attribute the effect cf two confonant- founds to the Englifh pronuntiation of a doubled confonant-charadter. A very frnall acquaintance with 46 INQUIRY INtO THE PRINCIPLES OF f with Italian pronuntiation, which always gives the double iound for the doubled character, would have guarded againft the error. q But we have, within our own language, circumftances exactly coinciding with the Italian practice, and which, as exceptions, will afiift to illuftrate that general rule of our orthography, that a doubled confonant- eharacter is not pronounced as two, but as a fmgle e tter. The moft frequent exception to that rule is* where the fame confonant-character which ends one word, begins the next j as in learned dulnefs, com- mon notions. Characters fo iterated are not pro- nounced, as in the middle of words, as one letter, but each has its diftinc~t articulation. The differ- ence will be evident in a companion of the phra- fes red deer, black cur,_ black cat, (the c k indicat- ing no more found than either letter alone) with the words redder and blacker , and the family name Blacket. A fecond exception occurs wherever, in words * The French orthography, generally differing enough from ours, agrees with it in regard to the indication of doubled con- fonants : * Un regie general, and qui ne fouffre point d'excepti- on, c'eft qne toute fyllabe, qui finit par une confonne, fuivie 4 d'une autre, eft longue; mais en Franqais, au contraire, le * redoublcment de la confonne prefque toujours avertit que la fyllabe eft breve.' The reafon of the rule is, that, in French j the fecond confonant-chara&er is not pronounced, as in Italian^ but filent, as in Englifli, with 'the fame rstroaclive indication ior the meafure of the preceding vowel as in Englifli. compounded HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 47 compounded with the negative particle nn y an follows ; as in unnumbered, umteteflary, unnamed. Each is diftinctly articulated (the words indeed would otherwife be fcarcely underflood) and the firft fy liable of thofe words of courfe is long. Care- ful delivery will equally diftinguilh the two letters, where words derived from the Latin have the negative particle in followed by an #, and equally where /, or r, fubftituted for , are followed by / and r j provided the affirmative word be alfo adopted into our language ; as in innumerable, ille- gitimate , irresolute, irrevocable, in which the oppofi- tion is to be marked to numerable, legitimate^ refo- lute, revocable. But where the affirmative word has not been received into our language, and that which, in its original language, was of a negative form, indicates in burs fomething pofitive, without particular negation implied, as in innocent, the reafon for the double confonant-found not exifting, the practice of pronuntiation for fuch words has yielded to the general bent of the language, and only a Jingle confonant is fpoken. A third exception is found in fome few other words, as in wholly, formerly written ivholely; which, were the iterated character not iterated in pronuntiation, would be undiftinguifhable from the very different word koly. Among thofe irregularities which our alphabet has in common with many others, it happens that fome of our confonant-charac~tars repreient each two 48 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of two very different confonant-founds. Wherevefr then fuch a character is fo iterated as to indicate two different founds, there are really two different confonants, and the fyllable formed with the pre- ceding vowel will have a long quantity ; as in the words accent., accident > accede. On. the contrary, where different characters, reprefenting the fame confonant-found, meet in one word, the indication is no other than if the more regular reprefentatiye of the found were doubled i as in afcend, defcend, a/certain. Sc being here pronounced as iffs were written, and a {ingle s only being articulated, the firft fyliable of thofe words, having a fhort vowel, has a fhort quantity. Among the peculiarities of our orthography then it muft be obferved, that the characters ng are often combined to reprefent a found differing from any reprefented by a (ingle character, yet ftill not a double, but a (ingle confonant-found ; and never- thelefs thofe characters alfo often meet, each bear- ing its diftinct found. In the former cafe, if the vowel preceding the two confonant -characters be mort, the fyllable formed with it will be fhort ; as in hang,Jing, long* hanger , finger , longing. In the latter cafe the fyilable formed with the preceding vowel muft be long, becaufe two confonants are feparately pronounced after it; ^&\^ longer ^Jlrongejlj anger i linger^ hunger , where the g has its hard found, and equally in avenger, engine, tinging, longitude^ pungent, where it has its foft found. The HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 49 The combinations CH and SH, are reprefentatives of fmgle confonant-founds, which, as well as the fingle found of NG, were our alphabet perfect, fhould have their peculiar reprefentative charac- ters. The combination TCH is in effecl double CH, and the combinations DG and DJ, are in effecl: double foft c and double j. Like other doubled confonant-charadters, they indicate generally that the preceding vowel is fhort, and bear, no more than others, any doubled confonant-found. Of courfe the fyllable formed with the preceding vowel is generally ihort ; as we find in matching fatchel, adjeEl'ive, hedges, ridges, ak'idgingy lodging^ cudgel \ whereas where the duplication is not found, as in the proper names Ajax and Rachel, and the words regent, obliging , cogent, the vowel, and of courfe the fyllable, with exceptions that may moftly be brought under rule, is long. Moflof the fyllables hitherto felected for exam- ples of quantity have been fuch as are marked in pronuntiation by the moft diftinguifhing accent of the word. The reafon for this choice, together with the application of the rules to other fyllables, will be more conveniently explained after we have adverted to the nature of accent and emphafis in Englim fpeech. For the prefent our remarks upon quantity may be concluded here with fum- ming up its rules thus : i. Every fyllable with a long vowel or a diph- thong, followed, whether within the fame, or in E * the 5O INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the next fyllable, by a confonant, has a long quan- tity. 2. Every fyllable with a fhort vowel, followed by the diftindt articulation of two confonants, has a long quantity. 3. Every fyllable with a (hort vowel, followed by only one articulated confonant, has only a (hort quantity. 4. Every fyllable with any vowel, or with the firft, fecond, or fourth diphthong, followed by a vowel or diphthong, has only a fhort quantity j except in fome cafes where monofyllables are lengthened by the power, hereafter to be noticed, of emphafis. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. SECTION IV. Of Tones or Accents, and Emphafis in Englifh Speech, and of their connection with the Time or Quantity of Syl- lables. IF! have been fortunate enough to lead my reader through all my detail of explanation thus far, not overwearied or difgufted, I (hall hope that much of the intricacy, whence hath arifen difagreement among modern writers on the har- mony of language and the mechanifm of verfe, is unfolded for him, and that, the perplexity, likely to be the mod copious fource of difguft, being removed, the way is advantageoufly pre- pared for proceeding to a remaining part of the fubjecl, of much importance and of no little nicety, the TONES of fpeech. That, in every fyllable, of every language, fome TONE, ACCENT, or PITCH of the voice, mufl ac- company articulation, is as evidently of natural neceffity, as that fome portion of time mufl be employed in it. It is abundantly obvious then, that in the Englim language, every word, not monofyllabical, has one fyllable always made eminent by a diftin- guiming tone, or accent. This fyllable is often called the ACCENTED SYLLABLE, and its tone THE ACCENT, and the other fyllables, in contra- E 2 diftinction, 2 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF diftinction, are called UNACCENTED ; a mode of fpeaking which, if it have any occafional conveni- ency, may perhaps be allowed, provided it be al- ways remembered that the terms are fo ufed, by a licence of fpeech, to fignify the more and the lefs eminent accentuation ; accent, or tone, being that, fome mode and degree of which muft always coc'x- ift, that is, muft always be among the imprefiions made by the voice upon the ear, with every fylla- ble uttered. Among forein modern languages, the general character of the accentuation in the Italian, the Spanim, and the modern Greek, is the fame as in the Englifh. In all thefe, and I believe I might add the Portuguefe, the German, and thofe of the fame origin with the German, one fy liable of every two or more in one word, is made eminent by its tone. We are well affured that, fo far at leaft, the accentuation of the antient Greek and Latin, which will come under more particular obfervation hereafter, agreed with that of thefe modern fpeeches. It may be important then to obferve, on account of the more extenfive fami- liarity with the French than with any other forein fpeech, in our owri country, and ftill much more throughout the reft of northern Europe, that the French language differs in this from all others of which I have any knowlege. The French gram- marians and critics univerfally hold that no fylla- blc HARMONY" IN LANGUAGE. 53 ble of any word in their language is intitled to any charac"leriflical accent. A confequence, obvi- ous to thofe who have had any opportunity for obfervation, is, that the accentuation of all the other European languages has peculiar difficul- ties for the French people. That of our own, in particular, little among the difficulties for an Italian learning our fpeech, is to a Frenchman, after boyhood, unattainable. The French are, beyond all other foreiners, diftinguifhed among us by what is commonly called, and properly enough, a forein accent/ What then are the characleriftical qualities of that accent which gives eminence to one iyllable in every polyfyllabical word of theEnglilh language, is a queftion which will require confideration. On firft view it may feem that the anfwer fhould be readily fuggefled by the ear: and it may appear ftrange that opinions very wide of one another have been held by very learned and able men, on a matter fo open to the obfervation of every day and almoft every moment. Still more ftrange however furely muft feem the queftion, What is the difference between the accent, tone, or pitch of the voice, ufeJ in uttering a fyllable, and the quantity, or time employed in uttering it ? or are they not the fame thing? or if not abfolutely r This is among fubje&s, which may occur for farther ex- planation on future opportunity. E 3 * ne 54 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the fame thing, are they not fo blended and con- founded in the nature of modern ipeech, that to diftinguifh them is no longer poffible ? Yet thefe are queftions which have agitated and difturbed the republic of letters for centuries. But upon juft inveftigation, it will be found that the parts concurring to conftitute that fmall, and, it might feem, fimple thing a fyllable, are fo many, fo different, fo minute, and fo implicated, that, when fairly exhibited, it may not perhaps ap- pear wonderful if the critics and difputants have, fome, overlooked, and, others, avoided, the labor neceflary to fuch an analyfis, as alone could obviate miftake about them in their compound form. A fenfe of deficient comprehenfion of what remains to us from various antient writers of the higheft eftimation, concerning the harmony and the mechanifm of verfe in the Greek and Latin languages, has led many among the modern learn- ed to fuppofe that the antients, and efpecially the Greeks, had organs of fpeech and hearing much more delicate and difcerning than men are now commonly endowed with. From the extant writ- ings of the antients however it may be gathered, that their fuperiority has been lefs a gift of nature, than an acquifition of ftudy and practice. In a difcourfe on mufic by Plutarch, who wrote when the doctrine of the harmony of his language, cul- tivated for many centuries, was taught as a part of HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. of grammar, among the early bufinefTes of educa- tion, we find the following paflage : * Three very * minute things, 1 he fays, * always neceflarily * affect the hearing at once, TONE, TIME, and ' SYLLABLE or LETTER.' (By fyllable or let- ter he means the articulation of the elements, confidered feparately from the tone and the time.) * From the march of the tone the melody is dif- ' covered ; from that of the time, the cadence ; from ' that of the letter or fyllable, the words. Always ' proceeding together, their impulfe upon the ear * is fimultaneous. But it is evident that thofe ' whofe hearing is not clear and quick enough to ' diftinguifti them, fo as to have a feparate per- ' ception of each, cannot poflibly follow them * critically, and judge how far each is exprefled ill or well." Yet all that contributes to perplexity in the found of fyllables, is not, even in this paflage, unfolded. To make the analyfis complete, of the three very minute things, mentioned by Plu- tarch, two muft be fubdivided. For, tho TIME yct;> va,yx,a.o Tfia iAapir<% eivctt rat TS xa X >0> **' it ix rn; pi xr wogt? TO rSj xara ^oon rov pvQpov, ix. Si rij? XT y^a/x/ita ^ xuxstto ^a>tgo>, OT ov* ovtiafji.fi/rtf T? oiff*iO'i.u$ XptV* 1 **ro Tut ttcijuttut, 9rg)c TI ffvieiffQeu TOJ xaS sxar> ' o-uxo^ac TO 3 a.^.ot^T/x.to^i>or i iv[at xai TO pn. Plut. de Mufica, p. 1 144. ed. Paris. 1624. 4 admits 56 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF admits no variety but of length, TONES may differ either in pitch, or in force, and SYLLABLES, in all the ways in which elements may be combined to form them. In every fyllable therefore at once are offered to the ear, for its perception and judge- ment, the quantity of time, the pitch of tone, and the force of tone, together with the articulation of the elements, which laft is ever and infinitely vary- ing. Now for the ear to feparate all thefe things, which imprefs it always together, fo that the mind may form a diftind: judgement of each, will ob- vioufly require fome attention. ^ To proceed then with the confideration of the firft of Plutarch's three things, Tone, or Accent. The fuperior force of utterance, and confequent loudnefs, by which one fyllable of two or more in one word, in Englifh, and the other modern European languages, French excepted,* is made eminent, can efcape no ear pra<5tifed in thofe lan* guages. The greater part of Englifh writers, on the fubje6t, have conlidered the eminent fyllable in Englifh fpeech as principally diftinguifhed by acutenefs of tone, But fome have held this to be a prejudice of learning, accuflomed to defer -to Greek and Latin authority; the diftinguifhing * It is not meant that no fyllable, in French polyfyllabical words, is ever, in proper French pronuntiation, made eminent by force of utterance; but only that -no one fyllable is, in French, as in the other European languages, regularly and con- ftantly intitkd to fuch preeminence. accent HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 57 accent of Engliih fpeech being characterized by Joudneis only. The queftion is not unimpor- tant, at leaft to the juft reputation of the lan- guage ; for tho variation of force in fpeech might fuflice fir exprciiion, which however may be doubt- ed, yet variation of tone is effential toward adding the grace of melody. To decide this queflion, as the ear only can be the judge, not only we muft difmifs pre- judice, but it will be advantageous to relieve the ear, as far as may be, from whatever, in experi- fnent, may perplex it. In a polyfyllabical word, each fyllable of which is compofed of different elements, and efpecially if with different vowels, fome neceffarily to be fpoken with an opener, and fome with a clofer mouth, the ear is liable to be difturbed in its judgement of the tone, or pitch of the voice, by the varieties in the articulation of the elements. For eafy and fure decifion there- fore, a word mould be found, or, in the want of fuch, feigned, compofed of fyllables, fuch as are commonly ufed in what is called humming a tune, without variety of vowel-found. Let then the fecond vowel of our catalogue, the middle A, be taken, with any confonant after it, to form a fyl- lable, and let it be repeated thrice, to form a trifTyllabical word, as ALALAL. Let this be fpoken as an Englifh word, with the ftrong accent on either fyllable, or, on each, in repeating the word ; and, no change of articulation diflurbing the 58 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the ear, it will be abundantly evident that, with or- dinary Englifh pronuntiation, the STRENGTHENED SYLLABLE has always the ACUTER TONE, or, in mufical phrafe, the higher note. But tho this is fo in proper Englifli pronuntia- tion, it is not fo in all pronuntiation of the Englifli language; and the exceptions will illuftrate "the rule. It is the ftriking peculiarity of the Scottifli dialect of the Englifh language, unknown, as far as I have had opportunity to obferve, in any dialect of any other language, that the diftinguifh- ing accent of its words is a proper grave ; a lowei note than is given to any other fyllable of the word. In that dialect, if the penultimate be the flrengthened fyllable, the concluding fyllable rifes in tone considerably, fo that the word ends with fomething approaching to a fqueak. To thofe who, themfelves fpeaking proper Englifh, have had opportunity to obferve the Lowland Scottifh pro- nuntiation, this ftrong peculiarity cannot fail to have been ftriking. The difference, indeed, of the accentuation of the rolite Englifh, and of all the fouthern pro- vincial Engliih, from that of the Scottifh, with which the northern Engiifh, to a great extent, is congenial, requires no nice ear, or clofe obferva- tion to difcern. It is, on the contrary, fo wide, that almoft any voice may take a mean between the two, through which the nature of each may be ftill more flrongly illuftrated. After pro- nouncing HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. rp nouncing either the fictitious, or any real word, with the Englifh and Scottifh accentuation fuc- ceffively, the fame word may be fpoken without any variation of note, or pitch of the voice, but with one fyllable of the three, for example the fecond, flrengthened and made louder than the others. Such pronuntiation will be a kind of half animated droning, deftitute equally of the Englifh and of the Scottifh character, and wide of all probable character of real language ; like the found of a pipe, varied by flronger and weaker inflation, without any alteration of flop. Such monotony may have been obferved among children learning to read; more tolerable than the com- pleter monotony, alib to be heard among learners, where no variation is made even of loudnefs, but ftill utterly unfatisfactory in reading, and, in fpeaking, never heard. The account given by one of the earliefl and mod learned writers on Englifh grammar, Doctor John Wallis, of the actions of the organs, which feverally produce loudnefs of found and variation of tone in the human voice, may here deferve notice. ' The breath,' he fays, ' which * is as the material of fpeech, pafTes by the throat ; ' and from its various collision with the parts ' about the mouth, arifes all the variety of founds * of the voice, both in tone and in articulation. * Of this variety, however, nothing is produced ' by the lungs ; which operate only to the extru- * fion 60 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ' fion of the breath with greater or lefs force ; f whence, other things ecpal, the voice becomes ' louder or fofter; the lungs having, in fpeech, * preciisly the effect of the bellows in an organ. ' The variety of tones, higher and lower, is ' produced, in fome degree, by the trachea, or ' pipe, but more by the larynx, or knot of the throat. Where the pipe is narrower, the found * will be Sharper; where wider, it will be deeper; 4 and thence the different pitch of voice of dif- ' ferent perfons, and of the fame perfon at different ' ages. But the feat of all the muiical modula- * tion of the voice is in the larynx, adapted to * inlarge or leffen the upper aperture of the throat, * and fo to make the tone of the fame voice ' (harper or deeper. * from different affection of the fame parts, * antes the difference of whifpering and fpeaking- ( out. With greater force of utterance, the ten- * fion of the trachea and larynx becomes greater, ' at the fame time that the concuffion from the 1 lungs is greater, whence arifes the vibration * which produces open fpeech. With fmaller * force of breath, and lefs tenfion of parts, the ' articulation pafles in a whifper.' Wallis wrote in Latin, which I have endea- voured to translate here with fcrupulous exactnefs, His obfervations will have the more authority, becauie he was much verfed in experimental phi- lofophy. But any perfon, making experiment with HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 6 1 with his own voice, will be more readily fenfible of the operation of the tongue, jaws and lips, than of what paffes fo far within the mouth as the larynx _; and it will be obvious that, in the uttdance of deep tones, the found feems to iffue from the throat, pafling through a hollow mouth, with the tongue kept down ; but that, in the utterance of high, or fharp tones, the hollow of the mouth is confiderabiy leflened, by the railing of the tongue, and the found fecms produced between the, tongue and the palate : in the highefl tones the roof of the mouth is mcft affected by the ftroke of the voice, which feems even to approach the nofe." Now if any polyfyllable be fpoken monotonoufly, lengthening only one lyllable, our fictitious word in preference for example, the more forcible ex- trufion of the breath, in fpeaking the louder fyl- lable, will be felt only as producing a flronger vibration in the lame parts in which the utterance of the other fyllables produced a weaker. But fuch monotonous pronuntiation will moft evidently n In a learned and ingenious, and generally very judicious, little treatife, on the Art of delivering written language, pub- lifhed by Dodfley in the year 17751 the author uqnamed, it is contended that the pitch of the voice is in no degree modu- lated in the mouth; the aperture being fuppofed too large, in comparifon with that of the throat, to have any other than the effeft of the bell of a wind-inftrument. Jt appears to me that the power of the tongue to vary the hollow of the mouth, has not been there fufficiently confidered. DOt 6fc INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF not be properly Englifh. To produce the proper Englifh intonation, the tongue mufb be raifed in pronouncing the ftrengthened fyllable ; the vibra- tion will be felt more about the palate, and the tone will be acuter; it will be a higher note. To produce the Scottish intonation, on the contrary, the tongue, in uttering the fame fyllable, muffc be lowered j the concuffion will operate nearer the larynx, and the tone will be graver than that of the other fyllables ; it will be a lower note. But to give eminence to any accent, a ftrengthened enuntiation is neceflary. It is force of utterance that gives eminence equally to the acute in Englifh pronuntiation, and to the grave in Scottifli. Thus I trufl it has been mown that the emi- nent accent of words, in Englifh fpeech, with fuperior force, has alfo, by the indifpenfable law of that fpeech, a higher tone, and is, what it has been mod commonly called, an ACUTE ACCENT. Without variety of tone, or, in mufical phrafe, without various notes, tho there might be rhyth- mus and meafure, there could be no melody in fpeech. I have therefore been anxious to mow the exiftence of fuch variety in Englifh fpeech, by argument and example, tho perhaps for mofl readers fuperfluous. To reduce the practice to their theory, the theory of but few indeed, but of fome whom I refpect, who have held the eminent accent of Englifh words to derive its character HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 63 character from force of utterance only, would be infinitely injurious to the language. But it will be obvious to all acquainted with Englifh fpeech, that the longer polyfyllables have more than one diftinguiflhing accent. One indeed is always predominant ; fuperior in force, higher in tone : it is properly called, by way of eminence, the acute accent, or even fimply the accent. By its fituation in the word, the fituation and the com- parative eminence of inferior accents is directed. In triffyllables, if the middle fyllable be acuted, neither of the others has a diftins^iifbed character: O they will be equally grave, or what is often called unaccented. But if the firft have the acute, the third will be more diftinguifhed by accent than the fecond ; it will be louder and (harper ; as in energy^ confident. If the laft have the acute, the firft will be more diftinguifhed by accent than the fecond ; as in refugee, confidant. In both cafes the middle fyllable will have the loweft tone, as well as the leaft forcible tone. In words of four fyl- lables there will ftill be but two of diftinguifhed accent, as otherwife two acutes would meet in one word; which the genius of Englifh pro- nuntiation refufes. Under this reftriction, words of five fyllables may have three, or only two dif- tinguifhing accents, and words of multiplied fyl- lables more in proportion. But we have not yet gone through the whole complication 64 INQITIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF complication of circumftances in fpeech, whence, through want, apparently, of fufficient patience -,, in analyfis, controverfy hath arifen. EMPHASIS remains to be confidered ; a matter of great im- portance to the harmony of language as well as to the import ; intimately implicated always with accent, and, in Englifli fpeech, fometimes with quantity. The word EMPHASIS, etymologically confidered, means SHOWING, POINTING-OUT FOR OBSERVA- TION. As applied to fpeech, it means marking by the voice any word in a phrafe or fentence as more important than the reft. The purpofe of Emphafis may be effected in feveral ways ; by increafe of force, by variation of tone, by extenfion-pf time inenuntiation, or by any two or all of fhefe together. In the firft way Em- phafis operates by fimple vociferation ; in the fecond, by Accent ; in the third, by Quantity. The offices of Emphafis and of Accent have, a near analogy ; that of the former being to mark for notice, and raife to eminence, words in fen-. * tences, that of the latter, fyllables in words. Their purpofes being thus analagous, fimilar means ierve in a great degree for each, but they have very material differences. Accent is allotted to its fyilable by law of cuftom only, 'without rule of reafon ; and there remains immoveable : Em- phafis, fubject to no controul of cuftom, but always obedient to reafon, may change its place, 2, with HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 65 with the fpeaker's meaning, through all the words of a fentence. Wherever it alights, it combines itfelf with the eminent accent of the word ; com- monly adding to its force, often altering its tone, never removing it from its place, and only fome- times, where fome oppofition is to be marked within the word, holding any very flriking con- neclion with any other fyllable. The operation of emphafis by quantity has place principally in monofyllables ending with vowels ; and even there it is, in Englifh fpeech, always combined with operation by accent. Monofyl- lables obvioufly can neither require nor admit dif- tinvflion of accent within themfelves. They re- ceive therefore, according to their greater or lefs occafional importance among other words, precifely fuch accent only as emphafis affigns them. When monofyllables ending with a vowel require emphafis, extenfion of quantity is commonly added to height of tone and force of utterance, for increafe of effedl. Thus the pronouns, and fome other fami- liar words, as he^Jhe, me, we, you, do,fo, are acuted and long, or grave and fhort, as emphafis may, for the occafion, demand. Extenfion of quantity has fometimes place in polyfyllables, for -the purpofe of emphafis; in few inftances however only, and under particular cir- cuniftances, which evade rule, but may be illuf trated by familiar examples. If one, fimply com- manding another, fays go diretfly, he fpeaks the F firft 66 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF firft fyllable of direcily with a grave accent and a fhort quantity ; exprefling the / by the fourth fhort vowel -found, which is reprefented by / in the firft fyllables of direSt and divide^ by e in the firft fyllables of detefi and deride. But if, impa- tient of delay, he would urge hafte, he will add emphafis to the word direttly, by fubftituting, in the firft fyllable, for the fhort found of the fourth vowel, the found of the firft diphthong, which will give the fyllable a long quantity; the pre- dominating accent being ftill preferred to its proper fyllable, the fecond, tho a change of tone infues both in the firft and fecoiid. Such extenfion of the quantity of a vowel, for emphafis, can have place only where a vowel ends the fyllable ; and there but in few inftances, ex- cept at the end of a word, and efpecially in mono- fyllables, where, as already obferved, it is familiar, It will be obvious to the Englifh reader that no purpofe of emphafis would warrant the extenfion of the firft fyllable of divifionm denial. But there are cafes in which, tho extenfion of the VOWEL is utterly forbidden, the SYLLABLE may be lengthened for the purpofe of emphafis, by addition of confonant-found. If we fay go immediately, we ordinarily fpeak the firft fyllable of immediately fhort, giving to the / the fourth mort vowel-found, and articulating only one m. If we want to give more force to our expreflion, we cannot lengthen the vowel, either by adopting the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. i 67 the diphthongal found, as in direftly^ or by pro- trading the fimple vowel-found; the cuftom of fpeaking fo forbids, that the effect, tho carry-* ing the character of emphafis fo far as to point out for notice, would excite notice only for ridicule. But perfectly within the licence which the cuftom of fpeaking makes respectable, we may dwell upon, the firft M ; and then, articulating the fecond dif- tinctly, as a feparate element, we give a long quantity to the firft fyllable of immediately^ by fuch duplication of confonant-found, as effectually as to that of direElly by lengthening the vowel. All variations of the voice, indicating affirma- tion, interrogation, admiration, furprize, indigna- tion, complaint, or any other intention or affection of the mind, are modes of emphafis, or pointing out ; operating either by accent, or quantity, or both, and therefore never indifferent to the har- mony. For examples of QUANTITY, hitherto, ACUTED SYLLABLES have been generally offered; except in the two laft inftances, where acuted fyllables would not have ferved. The reafon in both cafes is the fame. The cuftom of Englilh fpeech is fmgularly jealout of the quantity of acuted fyl- lables. It will neither allow the fhort vowel of an acuted fyllable to be extended, as we have obierved it permitting in the grave fyllable, the firft of direftly, nor the confonant found to be F 2 doubled, 68 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF doubled, as in the firft of immediately: at no rate will it allow an acuted fyllable to be contracted. Wherever 'the acute falls, the. quantity of the fyllable is decided for long or fhort ; no acuted fyllable is of doubtful quantity. But, for GRAVE SYLLABLES, the cuftom is not fo exact. The vowels of grave fyllables are fel- dom decidedly long: in the rapid delivery of col- loquial intercourfe, almofh all are generally fhort. But folemn elocution will often give them length, where not followed by a confonant within the fyllable; and for the purpofe of emphalis, as we have feen, a fhort fyllable may fometimes become long. Otherwife the rules of quantity are the fame for grave as for acuted fyllables. A long vowel, if fupported by a following confonant, will make a long fyllable, with a grave, equally as with an acute accent; and two confonants, diftinctly articulated, tho the preceding vowel be fhort, whether the accent be acute or grave, will make the fyllable formed with that vowel, long. The PL ACE of the EMINENT ACCENT inwordsi? decided, for every language, by its own rules. For the Latin, as we learn from the higheft authority/ thofe rules were very few and funple; for the Greek more various. The accentuation of Eng- lilh fpeech has its laws, of which Johnfon, in his grammar prefixed to his Dictionary, has given a collection, Quintil. de or. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 69 collection, yet it has with them much irregularity. The moft methodical and completed view of its rules and its anomalies, yet publifhed, is in Nares's Orthoepy i apparently a juvenile work, yet of great merit, and to which the author's revifion, in maturer years, might give very high value. The ACCENTUATION feems to be among the circumftances of language lead liable to change. When new words indeed are introduced from another language, the accentuation of thole words may be for ibme time uncertain. Thus, in Chau- cer's time, words from the French, ending in our, as honour, favour, admitted the acute on the laft, where the convenience of riming poets would have fixed it ; but the genius of Englifli fpeech has long fmce given it irremoveably to the penultimate. Thus alfo Spenfer pro- nounced melancholy, with the acute on the ante- penultimate, while Milton gave the acute to the firft fyllable, where it remains eftablimed. An affectation of forein idiom has of late years gone far toward aboliihing the proper Englilh pro- nuntiation of the word inviron, which had been an EngliQi word at leaft from Shakefpear's age, and fubftituting a French pronuntiation for it, with curious abfurdity, adds the Englifh fign of the plural, the s, which French pronuntiation abhors. But inftances of fuch violent and power- ful depravity in the fafhion of fpeech are rare. Neverthelefs for the abundance of exceptions to F 3 rules jQ INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF rules in Englifli fpeech, all modern compilers of dictionaries, juftly weighing the importance of a proper accentuation, have thought it neceflary to mark, in every word, the place of the eminent accent. * 1 In fome late publications, we find the mark of the acute accent applied to indicate, not an accent, but the articulation only of a final e. By this (no reafonable imitation of the French, who, acknowleging no accent in their language, ufe the fign of the acute to diftinguifli what they call their maf- culine *.) the writers, or perhaps rather the printers, have been ufing their ability, which however it may be hoped is not very great, to add moft inconveniently to the exifling confufion and, / f Uncertainties of Englifli orthography. SARMONY IN LANGUAGE, 7! SECTION V. Of RHYTHMUS or CADENCE. HAVING obferved what are the varieties of found in Englilh fpeech, produced by articulation, and Jiow reprefented in Englifh orthography, what the proportionate meafures, or quantities of time re- quired for a juft delivery of EngliQi fyllables, and how far alfo indicated by orthography and what the tones by which fpeech has the grace of me- lody and energy of expreffion, we mould be pof- felTed of all neceflary preparation for the inquiry, What is the rhythmus or cadence of Englifh fpeech, the foundation of order in the diftribution of ar- ticulate founds, through the good or ill manage- ment of which the flow of profe is pleaiing or of- fenfive, and whereon refts the whole mechanifm of verfe. Among the antient writers, from whom anything remains on the fubjetft, we find mufical and poeti- cal harmony univerfally confidered as holding the moft intimr.te connection, as being fundamentally the fame thing. ' The doctrine of the harmony * of language, even of profe,' fays one of the ableft and moft elegant of the Grecian critics, ' belongs to the fcience of mufic ;' and, accord- ing to the chief of the Roman, c Grammar can- F 4 * not 7* INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP ( not be complete without mufic, as it muft treat ' of rhythmus and meafures.' y If then modern writers, and writers of great ability and great learning, have been univerfally unfatisfactory in treating of thofe fubjects, if the moft learned have mown themfelves evidently at a lofs to underftand much of what remains from the antients upon them, it appears tome to have been owing, in fome perhaps to a total ignorance of mufic, but, in all, to a failure of duly confidering the neceflary and intimate connexion of mufic with poetry, and the identity of poetical and mufical meafures. For the texture of mufical cadence, we find, is readily comprehended by all of moderately accu- rate organs, who give it any attention. The dif- ficulties of poetical cadence, feem to arife moftly from the perplexities of articulation, in the various combinations of elementary founds in fyllables. To begin therefore with confidering the nature and differences of cadences in. mufic, and then proceed to obferve the analogy which the cadences of poetry bear to them, will be found, I think, the ready, y Mot>} y TK i/> ta* v TUV Trofarw.uiii hoyuv Itr^T^'^- Dion. Hal. de ftruft. or. f. 1 1. Turn nee citramuficen grammatice po- teft efle perfedla, cum ei de rhythmis metrifque dicendum fit. Quintil. Inft. or. 1. i.e. 4. The intimacy of the original con- necYion of mufic and poetry, whence the word Mov~w defcribed both, will come under confideration in the fequel. In the paflage above cited from Dionyfius, the meaning of that word, as Dr. Fofter, in his Eflay on Accent and Quantity, has well bferved, is limited to mufic by the context. HARMONY Itf LANGUAGE. 7 3 ready, tho, among the moderns, yet untrodden way, to a juft perception of the principles of the harmony of language, and of the mechanifm of verfe. For this- the reader muft be prepared with fome knowlege of mufic, without which indeed to fpeak intelligibly to him of the principles of harmony in fpeech, can hardly be pofiVble. But a very fmall amount of mufical knowlege, the meer rudiments of mulical grammar may fufHce. To avoid fuperfluous detail therefore, it may per- haps be allowed me to fuppofe information fo commonly poffefled, and fo eafy for any to ac- quire. The cadences of that mufic which is now cul- tivated throughout Europe, are familiarly known, to all acquainted with its firft rudiments, by the names of COMMON TIME and TRIPLE TIME: they are in a degree known, even to thofe wholly un- inflructed -, for there are few who, from the practice of hearing alone, do not readily perceive the dif- ference between the cadence of a march and the cadence of a minuet, the only kinds of mulical cadences effentially different; under which all other varieties, and thofe but few, are comprized. In the modern notation of mufic, the genus and fpecies of the cadence, common time, with its varieties, and triple time with its varieties, are always indicated by their appropriate marks at the beginning of the drain. Moreover, the limits of every cadence arc diftinguifhed, by flrokes, called BARS; 74 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF BARS; a term which, by an ordinary, yet inconve* nient, licence for inaccuracy in language, is alfo employed to fignify what is included between thofe ftrokes, namely the notes altogether conftituting the cadence. COMMON TIME is exhibited, in its fimpleft form by two notes of equal length; TRIPLE TIME by three notes of equal length. But in a feries of jiotes, all of equal length, their time alone cannot mark any cadence ; for fuch a feries can imprefs the ear only as a repetition of fingle notes. To mark cadence by meafure of time alone, there muft be contraft of quantities of time, longer notes and fhorter, fo differing that their proportions may be obvious to the ear. If then, of two equal notes, conftituting a bar or cadence of common time, one be divided, and a feries be compofed of notes fo combined, namely one longer and two fhorter, or two fhorter and one longer alternately, the longer equal in time to the two fhorter, the ear cannot hefitate about the character of the cadence; com- - mon time will be decidedly indicated. So alfo if, of three equal notes conftituting a bar or cadence of triple time, two be blended, fo that the feries be compofed of notes alternately fhorter and longer, or longer and fhorter, the longer double in time ,to the iliorter, triple time will be clearly marked. This, which we are fully allured was the principle of the mechanifrn of Greek and Latin verification, feems with fufficient certainty, alfo to have been the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. ^ the principle of the Greek rrmiical cadences, which would therefore be fundamentally the fame as the modern. But, without variation in the time of notes, character of cadence may be indicated through means of an affifting power, the regular return of Something emphatical in tone. Modern mufic, at lead the very modern, conftantly ufes the in- ftrumentality of tone for the purpofe; and is not confined to a fingle method of applying it. With the voice, and with inftruments capable, like voice, of ready variation in loudnefs and in man- ner of found, the oeginning of every bar is com- monly diftinguifhed by an emphatical note, fome- times called, by writers on mufic, the ACCENTED NOTE. The cadence is thus, efpecially in mufic to accompany dancing, often very ftrongly marked. With inftruments like the harpficliord. incapable of variety in the manner of producing found, and in- capable or unreadily capable of variety in loudnefs, afliflance is derived from an under part or bafs. If the bafs have a fhort and a long note alternately, it will mark the character of triple time very ef- fectually for an accompanying upper part com- pofed of equal notes ; and if the bafs have a long and two fhort notes alternately, it will mark com- mon time for an accompanying upper part of equal notes. If the bafs have only one note in every bar, and that ftruck with the firfl note of the upper part, whether in triple or common time, the* ^6 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF then it will have the effect of giving ftrong em- phafis to the firft note of the bar, and fo mark the cadence powerfully. Nor is the advantage fmall which modern mufic draws from thefe me- thods of marking cadence; not only as a feries of equal notes in the principal air may thus have character of time clearly indicated, but further as, in a feries of notes fo varied in length, or fo mi- nutely fubdivided, as to bewilder the unaffifted ear, the regular return of the emphatical note fuf- fices to keep the character of the cadence clearly exhibited. Hence then arifes opportunity both for more fimpHcity in mufic, and for more variety, than if the cadence were marked by quantity, or meaiure of time, alone. We have obferved that a feries of equal notes can, by their time alone, mark no cadence. A iingle note therefore, extended through the time of a bar, cannot originally excite the idea of any cadence. It wants that character, arifing from obvious proportion of parts, which may inable the ear to diftinguifh it from other meafure of time. Yet, though incapable of originally exciting the idea of any cadence, yet, occafionally intervening, and not too often repeated, among more charac- teriftical meafures, it may carry on the idea of a meafure previoufly indicated. But, in any feries of equal notes, the regular return of emphafis will mark the character of time very decidedly. If it occurs on every other note, common time * will HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. f>j will be indicated; if on every third, triple time; if on every fourth, common time will be marked aain ; it will be a kind of double common time. O * Five notes of equal length, however affifted by emphafis, will be a meafure not readily diflin- guifhed by the ear in the flow of mufic : its pro- portions are too little obvious: in modern mufic therefore it is unknown. But the meafure of fix equal notes, affifted by the indication of emphafis, will be fufficiently obvious, as a duplication of triple time. If five notes are a combination per- plexing to the ear, feven will be ftill more fo, and eight can be but a reduplication of common time. Of minuter divifions, ordinary in modern mufic, our purpofe will not require any notice here. The fundamental varieties of cadence in mufic being then no more than the two fo generally and familiarly known by the names of common time and triple time, we may proceed to obferve what there is in language, that may bear any analogy to thofe mufical cadences. It will be obvious to all, in any degree accuftomed to obferve language in connection with mufic, how faftidioufly Englifti ears require the coincidence of the mufical accent with the orthoepical,of the firft or emphatical note of the bar with the acute or ftrong accent of a juft pronuntiation. Even the moft unlearned will take offence where this coincidence fails. Hence it is that foreiners, the ableft muficians, rarely fucceed in fetting Englifh words to mufic. Handel, tho fS INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF tho altogether wonderfully fuccefsful, has in fome inftances fhown himfelf deficient in Englifh accentuation; whereas hardly the loweft Englifh compofers fail of producing the juft accordance between the mufical and the orthoepical accents. But, in regard to any agreement between mufi- cal times and fyllabical quantities, a general indif- ference is obvious. Here and there, indeed, we may difcover, if we look for it, among the works of the befl Englifh compofers, what indicates fome feeling of quantity in fpeech; but, in general, neither in the habits and prejudices of Englifh ears (and full as little in thofe of any other modern European people) nor in the practice of the beft muiical compofers, is there any appearance of foli- citude about it. Long fyllables are continually fet to fhort notes, and fhort fyllables receive double, triple, any length of time, if not with perfect fatif- faction to a difcerning ear, attending not to the mufic alone, but to the meaning of the fong, yet without anything like the difguft fo ready and fo univerfal, from offence to the orthoepical accen- tuation. If mufic, fome wild kind of mufic, originated earlier, as Lucretius imagi ned, from the fong of birds, yet a regular mufic, fuch as alone we fhould now call mufic, feems to have had one birth with poetry. The oldeft literary compofitions, among all nations, are found to be fongs, in which a meafured flow of language has been accompanied by a fimilarly ^ meafured HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 79 meafured mufical melody. Profe is adverfe to connection with mufic. Every cadence and meafure, indeed, of which language is capable, will occur in profe; but that regular arrangement of cadences, which, in poetry cannot be for a moment difpenfed with, in profe is no fooner perceived than it offends. If, in modern times, profe has fome- times been fuccefsfully fet to mufic, by Handel with the higheft fuccefs, it has been through in- genious ufe of the modern licence to affign any length of note, and any number of notes, to any fyllable. Thus the modern compofer has been inabled to bring the orthoepical accents of the loofc order of profe to that exact coincidence with the meafured arrangement of the emphatical notes of mufic, which, beyond all things, in the connection of language with mufic, the modern ear requires. But thus profe has no longer the flow of profe. It acquires, through this forced connection with mu- fic, the meafured ftep of verfe. Recited in fuch regularly meafured time, with the tones of language only, it would not be borne; whereas, on the other hand, that freedom from all ftriking formality of arrangement, which, in the delivery of profe the car faftidiouily demands, is directly repugnant to any alliance with mufic. / According to Grecian tradition, the regularity of ftroke by which two or three fmiths, beating on one anvil, with hammers of different fizes, avoid interference, and produce regular returns of varying founds, 80 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF founds, gave the firft idea of cadence. But the human voice, and equally a pipe or flute, fup- pofed the earlieft mufical inftrument, would be obferved to have great advantage, by their power of holding tones, not only over the hammers, but over thofe ftringed inftruments, of very early invention alfo, whole found is produced by a ftroke. The fyllables of the Greek language then being ob- ferved, in common fpeech, to- be fome longer and fome fhorter, the longer generally double in time to the ihorter, a regular arrangement of fuch fyllables in fpeech was found, of itfelf, to produce a cadence gratifying to the ear. With the flute that cadence could be perfectly imitated ; but with the hammers, or a mufical inftrument ftruck with the finger or with a plectrum, the imitation would be very imperfect ; the found, not indeed of neceflity abfolutely ceafing, but finking and becoming evanefcent in the moment after the ftroke. The poetical meafures of the Greeks therefore, and of their imitators the Latins, were formed on the principle of mufical time-keeping, with long and fliort notes, like the notes of a flute Accordingly we find wind-inftruments were prin- cipally ufed by them for accompanying recitative on the ftage. The cadence of the modern European languages bears a much clofer analogy to the imagined origin of the fifter arts. How it came to vary from the cadence of thofe languages to which we owe HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 8l owe the beft principles of good tafte in all literature, may be matter for future fpeculation. It may fuffice to mention here, what will be fhown more completely in the fequei, that the cadence of the modern European languages is indicated, not by the regular arrangement of long and fhort fyllables, but by arrangement of the accents of fpeech in coincidence with the ftrokes of the rhythmical hammers ; the acute or ftrong accent correfpond- ing with the fledge's blow. A regular, or nearly regular divifion of time being ftill the object, yet accent operating as the time-beater, the ear be- comes fo ingaged with the effect of accent, that exactnefs in the arrangement and expreffion of quantities is lei's important ; irregularities, hidden or difguifed, palling unregarded. We have already remarked that, in modern mufic, tho the arrangement of times, or, in gram- matical phrafe, quantities, be ftrictly obferved, ftill fomethingof an emphatical accent is important as a time-beater. It fuffices then that the accent of fpeech operate as a time-beater, to affaire the ready affociation of modern verfe with modern mufic. It will be obvious to all who have any fami- liarity with Englifh poetry, that a regularity in the difpofition of accents is its moft ftrikino; cha- ractcriftic. The far greater part of our poetry is marked by the prevailing alternacy of an acute G and 82, INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF and a grave, or a ftronger and weaker accent ; as in the firft lines of Pope's Effay on Man, Awake | my Saint j John, leave } all meanjer things, - To low | ambition and | the pride j of kings. or thefe of Addifon, When all j thy mdrjcies, 6 [ my God, My rijfing foul | furveys; Tranfporjted with | the view | I'm 16ft, In wonjder, love, | and praife. A far fmaller portion of it is diftinguimed by the -return of the acute accent on every third fyllable. -as in thefe of Swift, And we 6r|der our fui>|jes of eVjry degree, To belfeve \ all his ver|fes were writjten by mi. or thefe of Shenftone, With her mien | fhe inajmors the brave, With her wit | fhe ingajges the free, With her mojdefty pleajfes the grave : She is ev'jry way pleajfing to me. . If we proceed then to examine Englifh poetry in combination with mufic, it will be found that, by the former of thefe arrangements of the accents, language is adapted to ready and intimate coali- tion with mulic in common time, and by the latter equally to coalition with mufic in triple time; fo that the only two cadences known to our poetry, are clofely analogous to the only two cadences known in modern mufic, or, perhaps it might be laid, are the fame with thefe mufical cadences which HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 8j which are called COMMON TIME and TRIPLZ TIME. Neverthelefs as even profe, through licence for extending or curtailing the time of its fyllables, may, with all its abhorrence of regularity, be forced into coalition with mufical meafures, fo> through the fame licence, by a more regular and fyftematical violence, tho never without violence, verfe of one cadence may be adapted to mufic of the other ; examples of which will be readily obvious to thofe in any degree familiar with mo- dern fong. But the aptitude and tendency of verfe of either CADENCE, is to coalefce with mufic of the analogous TIME, and with that only. Names are wanted for our poetical cadences. To ufe, as too often we find practifed, thofe of the antient metrical feet, iambic, trochaic, ana- peftic, is to make a grofs and mofb inconvenient confufion of terms. Analogy feems to indicate the appellation of COMMON, or EVEN CADENCE, for that which correfponds with the common time of mufic, and TRIPLE CADENCE for that which correfponds with triple time. G 2, C4 INQUIRY" INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF SECTION VI. Of the Mechanifm of ENGLISH VERSE: Epic; Lyric; Dramatic. VERSE is diftinguifhed from profe by order in the arrangement of founds. Order, in a certain degree, a harmony, a fit- nefs of parts to each other, is neceiTary to elegance in everything; the flow of founds in common difcourfe cannot be pleafing without it.* But any obvious regularity in the flow of founds in common difcourfe is offenfive. A rime, inci- dentally dropping, feldom fails to appear ridicu- lous : a feries of blank verfe, and ftill more a feries of rimes, would appear grofsly abfurd. The order of founds in profe, like the order of forms in a beautiful landfcape, not to be decided by rule and line, requires that art mould never mow itfelf. But, on the contrary, the order of founds in poetry, like the forms of a beautiful building, muft be fo decidedly regular as to be obvioufly artificial. The analogical differences of profe and poetry, and landfcape and architecture, farther purfued, may farther illuftrate the fubject. Architecture, tho refting on fo different a principle, not only may * Tl^jrs l TO MeTgoy ex Qtov, per^a TO. rs E>ocrp;xoTo?* A^fAoyi* yg TJ !r xo rot's Longin. Fragtn. be HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 8^ be admitted in landfcape, but may greatly adorn it. Its regularity, to a certain point, is highly advantageous for contraft. Beyond that, it muft be carefully difguifed. The exactnefs of the paral- lelarity of its lines muft be leflened by perfpective : their continuity muft be broken, by a tree eroding them, or by throwing the building isto ruin. So in profe, parts of verfes continually may and muft be admitted : even a whole verfe often may be ornamental : but its regularity rnuft be con- cealed by the flow of founds preceding and fol- lowing. The form of a verfe, even of a por- tion of a verfe, cannot obtrude itfelf upon the ear, in the flow of profe, without offence. Equally offenfive then in architecture is the irregular line of a clumfy workman, which may approach in fome degree the picturefk, and in poetiy the irregular meafure of the ill-eared verifier, of which the common cenfure is expreffed by the word profaic. In verfe and in architecture art muft be evident j and, to fatisfy, it muft mow itfelf exquifite. lloughnefs, indeed, well introduced, may pleafe ; as, in a building, rufticated ftone-work ; yet any difproportion, any perceptible inexactnefs, in up- rights, parallels, angles, or the turn of arches, will furely offend the eye. So, in poetry, tho there are admired examples of rough found, yet any obvious deficiency in that order, that fitnefs of parts, which characterizes poetical harmony, will furely offend the ear. c 3 Order 26 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Order is made obvious to the eye, in a building, by the regular diftribution of contrafted, yet con- necled forms ; as pillars of equal fizes, with their equal intervals around a temple, connected by the even pavement on which they ftand, and by the fuperimpending intablature, parallel to the pave- ment : in the fimpler form of a private dwelling, by piers and windows, with a plinth below, and a cornice above ; or meerly an eave will have its effect. Order is, in analogous manner, made obvious to the ear, in mufic and poetry, by the regular arrangement of contrafted founds ; as time longer and fhorter, or tone fliarper and flatter, ftronger and weaker ; by which cadence is formed. Rhythmus or cadence is the fimpleft combina- tion, the loweft meafure, by which evident order can be given to the found of either mufic or fpeech. All prdfe may be analyzed into cadences, and all verfe is formed by a regular arrangement of the fame cadences. In common fpeech, or profe, a mixture of cadences, fuch that regularity may not be obtrufive, and art, if ufed, may be hidden, is indifpenfable to the fatisfaction of the ear. In verfe, on the contrary, as we have obferved in the comparifon with landfcape and architecture, ca- dences muft be difpofed with obvious regularity, a regularity that cannot efcape the ear. : But language difpofed regularly .in cadence, without form or proportion beyond what cadence alone can give, would foon become wearifome and difguftinor. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 87 dlfgufting." Variety, as one of the mod elegant of the antient critics has obferved/ is To neceilary to a plealing flow of language, that the moil elegant fymmetry of verfe cannot, in any lengthened feries, atone for the want of it. To combine variety with fymmetry has therefore been the great bufinefs of the inventors of both poetry and mulic. With this view was imagined the arrangement of cadences in fmall combinations, holding relation to each other, yet feparated each by fuch boundaries, and having each within itfelf fuch form, proportion, and felf-confiftency, that the ear, in perceiving the relation of each to the others, would alfo ac- knowlege each as a whole by itfelf. Such whole or integral, in poetry, forming a larger profodial meafure, we call a VERSE j the kind, in the abftracl:, being defignated by the name verfe without the article j as we call our 'own ipecies, in the abftracl;, man, the individual a man. In modern mufic, as the fmaller integrals, called bars, have more regularity than the cadences of modern poetry, fo the greater require generally Jefs j tho perhaps not lefs than is allowed to that commonly called Pindaric verfe. The greater in- tegral, formerly termed a ftrain, rather wants a name in modern ufe. In effect it is diftinguiQied by the clofe [or fall, more or lefs complete, which gives it termination. b Rhythmi neque finem habent certum, nequc ullum In contextu varietatem. Quinctil. Strudl. Or. 1. 9, c. 4. c Dion. Hal. 04 To 88 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF To difcover the mechanifm of verfe, and through that mechanifm exemplify the principles of har- mony in language, we muft analyze verfe. The verfe of Englifti poetry may be confidered as di- vided into Epic, and Lyric. Epic, in its etymo- logy, meaning narrative, has its name from being the verfe beft adapted to lengthened narration; and, being for that reafon fitter for heroic poetry, has obtained alfo the title of Heroic verfe. The kind of mufic which we call Recitative, is that with which it has mofl fitnefs to coalefce. Lyric verfe is fo named from its fuperior aptitude for that richer and higher wrought mufic which we call Air or Tune. The Dramatic has lefs a diftinct character, yet may require fome degree of diflinct confideration. Pope has had extenfive credit as the laft refiner of Engliftt verification, carrying it to a perfection beyond which the language cannot go. The firfl lines of his Eflay on Man, then, for the fimplicity, as well as the acknowleged perfection of their harmony, feem well adapted for a firft example. I (hall divide the verfes into feet, and mark both the quantities and accents of the fyl- lables. For the grounds on which the quantities are afligned, as the matter has never been treated equally at large before, I muft neceffarily refer to the obfervations in the foregoing fection on the fubject. For the accents I (hall not differ from the moft approved pronuntiation and the moil approved dictionaries. To mark the quantities I (hall ufe the characters in common ufe with ^ grammarians, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 89 grammarians, a horizontal flroke for the long quantity, a curved line for the mort quantity. To mark the acute or flrong accent, I fhall alfo ufe the character in common ufe with gram- marians, namely, a {trait ilroke inclining from the perpendicular to the right. We have noticed a fecondary acute, or middle accent, as occurring oc- cafionally in trifiylabical, and -always in longer words: in the flow of fpeech, it frequently dif- tinguimes monofyllables; and not feldom is the principal accent of diflyllables. For this accent I ufe the ftrait ftroke inclining from the perpendi- cular to the left, being a mark unwanted for any other purpofe. Where it may be requifite to de- note Emphafis, thefe two marks united in a point at top may ferve. Grave fyllables, commonly called unaccented, will be fufficiently diftinguifhed by being left unmarked. Awike I my Saint j Jdhn, leave | all meanjer things, To low | ambijtion and J the pride j of kings; Let us, j since life | can litjtle more j supply Than juft | to look | about | us and | to die, Expajtiate free | o'er all | this fcene | of man, ^ A migh|ty maze, | but n5t | without | a plan ; A wild, j where weeds | and flowers { promlsjcuous fhoOt, Or garjden, tempjtlng with J forbidjden fruit. Togejthcr ler | us beat | this am|ple field, Try what | the 6|pen, what J the colvert yield; i The 90 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP The lajtent trads, | the gid|cly heights | explore, Of all j who bllnd|ly creep | or slghtjlefs foar; it i i ^ Eye najture's walks, | flioot foljly as | It flies, And catch J the maujners livjing as | they rife : X III \ Laugh where | we muft, | be canjdid where | we can, L - L _ ' But vindicate | the ways j of God | to man. In examining the quantities through thefe fix- teen lines, we find them very varioufly difpofed. Long fyllables predominate : but whether the fhort fyllables be more or fewer ; whether they occupy more the beginning of the verfe, or the middle or the end ; whether the mort fyllable be the firft or the laft of a foot, or both, or neither ; as far as any fuch variations are carried in thefe fixteen lines, the verfe is fo equally a good verfe, of that one kind called epic or heroic, that to chufe between the better and the worfe would be difficult. A difference of effect indeed is obvious, and the variety, far from objectionable, is pleafmg. But it is a variety evidently not reducible to rule ; fo that the difpofition of long and fhort quantities cannot be the foundation of that order which con- ilitutes the verfe. Not fo of the accents. In the diftribution of thefe we find a ftrict regularity. Alternate fyllables bear the acute. Here and there indeed the acute is of the weaker kind, and in three inftances, two in the thirteenth line, and one in the fifteenth, each fyllable of the foot has a flrong accent. . Neverthelefs THE GENERAL RULE is here fuf- ficiently HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 1 ficiently indicated, that, IN ENGLISH EPIC VERSE THE ALTERNATE SYLLABLES ARE ACUTED. We have obferved, in the preceding fedion, how this difpofition of the accents produces accordance between verfe of the even or common cadence, and muiic in common time. Proof of the rule then may be gained from ex- periment in breach of it. The name SAINT- JOHN, in the firft of thefe verfes, as the family name- of the perfon to whom the poem was ad- drefled, is always pronounced as one word, with the firft fyllable acuted. The fame two fyllables, equally as one compound word, bearing only one acute accent, but on the laft fyllable, delignates, in common fpeech, the apoftle and evangelift John. It may perhaps be neceffary here to obferve, that I reckon the accentuation of a juft delivery, and not the ephemerid famion of orthography, the tefl of a compound word : where two words are fo joined that a juft pronuntiation allows them but one acute accent, they become really one word. Now the firft line of the EfTay on Man, with the word Saint-John fpoken (for fo the poet intended) as the family name, is a verfe fo clearly harmonious that even children will perceive it ; and it is not only harmonious, but it unites dignity with grace in its ftep. Change the pronuntiation of the name Saint-John only by the accent; move the acute from the firft to the laft fyllable, as would be neceflary to defignate Saint-John the evangelift, and the harmony of the verfe is ruined. Nor does it 9$ INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF it thus become a good profe period: it is ftill verfe, but of another kind ; its dignity is gone 3 its former grace is gone ; and if grace is ftill per- ceptible, it is of another character j as in the well known humorous fong, A cobler there was, who lived in a flail : or Swift's, Next day, to be fure, the captain will come At the head of his troop, with trumpet and drum. Judgment. Nor could thofe even who have been habituated to confound accent with quantity, and to confider all acuted fyllables as long, and all grave or weakly toned as fhort, eafily avoid to perceive, in the inftance of the name Saint-John, that the difference arifes not from quantity (if quantity mean the TIME employed in pronuntiation) but fimply from tone or accent. For, not to fpeak of the paufe requifite between the name Saint- John and the following word, it is impoffible to articulate the liquid confonant / after the liquid confonant without moft evident delay of the voice, fo that the time neceflarily to be employed in pro- nouncing the fyllable JOHN, and proceeding to pronounce the fyllable LEAVE, muft, in com- parifon of the time necefTary if a vowel imme- diately followed, be obvioufly long. I Englifli Epic verfe then, requiring no certain ' j diftribution of Quantities, requires a very exacl arrangement HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 93 arrangement of Accents. Generally it will have the acute on alternate fyllables; and rude, un- tutored ears are found commonly incapable of perceiving the harmony of verfe, where a per- fect regularity in that difpofition of the accent fails; fo that they would have the voice force the tones to it, tho againfl the proper pronun- tiation of words. But the formality of that dif-- pofition, unvaried, foon becomes tirefomei and better practifed organs readily difpenfe with it in fome degree. Under what limitations it will be neceflary to inquire ; but, as a prepara- tory ftep, it may be advantageous firft to take fome notice of two other matters, which co- operate in giving variety and character to Englifh verfe. While the intricacies of accerrt and quantity feem to have deterred fome of our ableft critics from the inveftigation of their effect, another incident of Engliili verfe, has ingaged their atten- tion. In every epic verfe there is a critical PAUSE. Far lefs important than either accent or quantity, and of fo quiet and unobtrufive a nature that it remained, till later times, unnoticed, the paufe is however of confiderable power toward the general effect of the verfe. Pope, in one of his pub- limed letters, written in early youth, has named, for the proper places of the paufe, the end of the fourth, fifth, and fixth fyllables; and on judicioufly vary- ing it among theie fituations, he has faid, much of the 94 INQUIRY 1 INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the merit of verification depends/ But, in ma- turer age, it appears, he found that greater latitude might be allowed. In the third line of the Efiay on Man the paufe follows the fecond fyllable : in the fourth it is after the feventh : in the feventh line it occurs again after the fecond fyllable, and in the eighth it follows the third. Nor, as we may hereafter fee, is .it confined, by Pope's own practice, -or by that of the beft of our other poets, even to thefe additional fituations. Generally indeed, according' to his firft rule, it mould be found at the end of the fecond foot, or in the middle of the third, or at the end of the third ; but it may occafionally appear in any part of the verfe. Like a fimilar paufe fometimes in- troduced in mufic, which is confidered as extrane- ous to the beaten time, and making no part of the complement of the bar, this poetical pr.ufe is extraneous to the 'cadence, and of confideration only for its effect on the character of the verfc altogether. The other matter requiring notice is RIME ; an ornament not of a quiet and unobtrufive character, but, on. the contrary, fo forcing itfelf upon the ear's notice, generally indeed, under good manage- ment, agreeably, that, with fome of very grofs and untutored perception, it Hands inftead almofl of all other grace. By writers on verification it ha* d Letters to and from Mr. Walfh. been HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 9 - been little confidered, but for its power of gratify- ing the ear with accordance of found. It has how- ever its obvious ufe, and a very important ufe, as a time-beater. As Accent affifts the diftribution of quantities, or fupplies the want of character in the diftribution, to indicate the boundaries of the primary profodial meafures, called cadences or feet, ib Rime gives indication, not to be miftaken or overlooked, 'of the boundaries of thofe larger profodial meafures, compofed of feveral cadences or feet, which we call verfes. For this purpofe Rime is fo important, that, tho without analogy in mufic, wholly unrelated to melody, and only in its office of time-beater connected with meafure, fcarcely caa any verfe in our language ftand with- out it, except the epic, which indeed often difpenfes with it moft advantageoufly. To proceed then to the confideration of the varieties allowed in the difcribution of accents, afiifted by the paufe, in rimed and unrimed verfe. The alternacy of a weak and a flrong accent, we have obferved, is the regular indicant of the even or common rhythmus. In the afibciation of the fitter arts, the ill effect of a famenefs in the intonation of the poetry is eafily obviated by the large and ready powers of mufic. But when verfe is propofed for re- citation without mutic, it behoves the poet to be diligent and ingenious in the ufe of the fcanty re- fources for variety, which the tones of common dif- courfc afford. Accent however being not the con- ftituent, 96 INQUfRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ftituent, but the indicant only of meafure, he will find that the force of the indication, once clearly given, may in progrefs be occafionally remitted. Ruder ears, indeed, as we have already obferved, are apt to be difappointed by the failure of the ftrong acute in its expected place : but the more practifed organ, not wanting the continual return of the more forcible time-beating, is relieved and gratified by its occaiional and not unfrequent remifiion. Accordingly the variety of freed allowance, in the accentuation of verfe of the common cadence, is the fubftitution of a weaker for the flronger acute. The direct contrary of this, the ftrong accent on each fyllable of the foot, is a variety alfo allowed oc- cafionally, and with gratification to the ear. But with acute or ftrong tone equal on each fyllable of a foot, not lefs than with grave or weak tone equal on each fyllable, that contrail fails, which Ihould conftitute the time-beating, whereon the ear is habituated to depend for indication of cadence. No idea of cadence therefore can thus be originally excited ; but the idea, once imprefled, will not be deftroyed or even checked, for practifed ears, by the occafional introduction of feet fo accented, among feet which have the time-beating clearly given. It is for the poet's judgement to beware of an intemperate ufe of either of thefe fources of variety; of the former efpecially in languages like the Italian and Spanifli, abounding in words of many HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 97 hiany iyllables ; of the latter in languages where monoiyilables prevail, as in our own. I have chofen my firft examples of verfe from Pope, on account of the generally acknowleged perfection of his verification. But the powers of cadence may be more fairly offered to the judge- ment of the ear, in verfe free from the overbearing ornament of rime ; and mod fairly if alib without pomp of diction j as in the following (imply beau- tiful lines, among numbers that might be fele&ed from Shakefpear: The crow j doth sing | as fweetjly as | the lark, When neijther is j atten|ded, and j I think t The nlghjtlngale, | If flie | fliould sing j by day, When evelry goofe | Is cackjilng, would | be thought No better a j musician than J the wren. Mnctiant of Venice, aft 5. In theie verfes we find the remiffion alone of the accent gives all the variety that, in five lines, as far as depends upon accent, the ear requires. In the third of the lines quoted from the EfTay on Man, the mark, of the acute is placed on the fecond fyllable, us. This has been ventured under the fuppofition that, as philofophers, and Specially poet -philofophers, not in France only but elfewhere, have been fond of reckoning them- felves the greateil of mankind, the bard may have meant an emphatical oppofition in that pronoun H to 98 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP to the word KINGS in the preceding line. But, were no fuch oppofition to be expreffed, the two fyllables Let-us would be, in pronuntiation, only one word, acuted on the firft. This TRANSFER of the accent from the fecond to the frrfi fyllable of the verfe, is of very frequent occurrence in our poetry of the common cadence. Rarely fo many lines together are found without it as in the beginning of the Eflay on Man, and often it occurs in many lines together ; as in thefe, with feveral that follow, them, in the fame poem : Thus- then j to man | the voice | of Na'ture fpake, Go, from j the creajtures, thy J Inftruc|tlon take: Learn from | the birds J what food | the thickjets yield ; Learn from | the beafb j the phyjsic of | the field. In the firfl foot of a verfe, this difpofiticn of the accent is generally pleafing ; in any long feries of verfes, as a variety, it is even indifpenfable ; fcarcely in any repetition is it found tirefome ; and yet it appears no imall anomaly. Not only it is, like the irregular diilribution of quantities, without analogy in mulic, but it has a decided tendency to check and derange the accordance of verfe with mulic. Neverthelefs perhaps we may beft account for the fatisfacYion it affords, by reference to what never fails to happen in the pro- grefs of our familiarity with mufic. At firft the ear is commonly moil gratified with airs of the fimplefl divifion of time, but of ftrong or even coarfe HARMONY. IN LANGUAGE. 99 coarfe contraft. 6f tones, and without accompani- ment ; the fimpleft bafe rather diftrac"b than pleafes. But, as fuch airs become familiar, the ear begins not only to bear, but to require more. An accompanying bafe, and minuter divifions of time, perplexing no longer, are found gratifying ; coarfe contrail grows offenfive, and the moft deli- cate gradations of tone become delightful. So alfo, in poetry, as all mull have obferved, the wholly unlearned perceive the cadence of verfe only in the regular return of a flrong accent at equal intervals. With more practice, as in mufic, the ear, improving in quicknefs and nicety of dif- crimination, becomes faftidious. The regular re- turn of an equal accent at equal intervals, tires and annoys. The remiffion, the duplication, and even the omiffion of the acute, fuccenlvely become pleating and ceafe to fuffice for pleafure. Accent therefore holding the lead among the con- ftituents of verfe only as indication of meafure, if its place may be varied, and the meafure not loft to the ear, the variety will be likely, inftead of offending, to gratify. In truth we find this aberration of the accent, in the firft foot of an epic verfe, fo far from in- terfering with due indication of the intended meafure, for practifed ears, that it may hold the firft place in the firft verfe of a poem; where any deficiency of indication of the intended meafure would, 'more than anywhere elfe, be inconvenient H 2 and fOO INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF and offenfive. We find it in the firfl foot of the fccond and third books of the Effay on Man : Know then thyfelf Here then we reft in that of the feeond and third cantoes of the Rape of the Lock : Not with more glories Clofe by thofe meads 4nd in that of each of the two firff Imes of the third book of the Iliad, Thus by their leader's care eaeh martial band Moves into ranks and ftretehes o'er the land. So far indeed is it from offending, that rt will be difficult to draw r from the practice of our mofl approved poets, any rule for limiting its ufe. Familiar however as this variation is in the firft foot of a verfe r it is fo rarely found in any other, at lead among our later poets,, that it may be a; queftion whether they conlider it as allowable or not. We find an example of it indeed in the EfTay on Man, fo early as the thirty -third line, in the fourth foot : Is the | great chaia J that draws | all to } agree ; but poflibly this, tho Pope's, and in the Eflay on. Man, may be generally confidered as not an exam- ple to be followed. Examples however may be found, of very har- monious verfeSj. with the aberration of the accent HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. JOT in the third foot, and in the fourth, as in this of Addifon, It mft \ be f ; | Plato } thou reajfoneil we'll : and even with the aberration in the firft, and in the third or fourth of the fame verfe, as in the follow- ing of Milton, \ imperial powers, \ offspring J of heaven. Mi/ton, Par. Loft, ii. 310. the bright confummate flower Spirits .j odojrous breathes ; \ flowers and j their fruit, Man's nouriftiment. iv. 483.. - So fteers the pjrudeat crane Her annual voyage, borne on winds ; the air Floats as .j they pafs, f| fan'd with unnumjber'd plumes. vii. 432. Hw art j thou 16ft {how, on | a fudjden, loft. ix. 900. But in thefe lines a paufc intervenes between the two ftrong accents, fo that the latter begins a hemiftic, which might ftand as an integral in the verfification, a verie by itfelf; and hence apparently the grace here, whicb, in the ye.rfe cjuotecj from fope, is wanting. Very rarely among our beft poets, we find the aberration of the accen in the fecond foot. The very firft line however of the Paradife Loft offers an example of it : Of man's | firft dis|obc|dience and j the fruit - for the fecondary acute, on the firft fyllable of iifibcdicnce t finks under the imprefiion made by the preceding emphatical fyllables, mcuis and*jfy?. H 3 The * IO2 INQUIRY INTO TH-E PRINCIPLES OF The effect of this variation is pleafing perhaps to fome good ears and not to all. Our poets are evidently fenlible that the introduction of it is hazardous. In the laft foot of a verfe the predominating accent is ftriftly required in, its regular place, to mark the termination, or, in mufical phrafe, the fall or clofe. But why the aberration fhould be fo freely allowed in the firfl foot, and fo hardly in any other ; n the third and fourth only when, as following a paufe, they are, in a manner, another firft, and, in the fecond fo hardly that no rule can be given for its allowance, is not very obvious. What, however, has already been ob- ferved of the effect of practice, may account for it in fome degree. Thofe unpractifed ears, which, tho naturally good, can hardly perceive cadence where the weaker accent, even in the regular place, is fubftituted for the ftronger, lofe it totally with the transfer of the ftrong accent from' the fecond fyllable-to the firft. But where habit has made that transfer familiar, the cadence to follow is as readily expected by the ear, on hearing a portion of a verfe confifting of two feet, the firfl acuted on the firft fyllable, and the fecond oh the laft., as if the firft had its accent in the regular place. That habit, which is powerful in all things, has this power, may be farther gathered from a comparifon of our own verification with that of the moft harmonious language now perhaps fpoken among HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. among men, the Italian j which refts on precifely the lame principles as our own j and is in all the more important points the fame as our own, differ- ing in little circumftanccs hardly more than dia- ledls of the fame language may differ. But re- ierving more on this fubject for a future oppor- tunity, we may beft proceed to obferve the analogy between Englim poetical and mulical meafures. To thofe acquainted with the firft rudiments of mufic, it will be obvious, that, to adapt Eng- gifh epic verfe, in its primary and moft proper form, as in the two firft lines of the EfTay on Man, to mufic in common time, the firft fyllable would aflbrt with a note forming an incomplete portion of a bar, the fecond with the firft note of a com- plete bar; and the firft fyllable of the following line would belong to the fame bar with the laft fyllable of the former line. But if the verfe had the double ending, allowed to Englim dramatic verfe, and always required in Italian epic verfe, a paufe of half a bar muft intervene; and fucb, in the proper recitation of poetry, commonly does inter- vene, between the conclulion of one, and the be- ginning of the next verfe. In Englifh epic verfe without the double ending, fuch paufe muft be, like the paufe in the middle of the verfe, extrane- ous to all menfuration of time ; a kind of break in the time equally as in the found. In neither cafe however, it might appear, ought the firft fyllable of the verfe to be conlidered as extianeous to the firft foot, which ihould begin with the acuted H 4 JO4 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF fyllable, as the mufical bar with the correfponding accented note. But, tho all poetical meafures are of the fame origin with mufical meafures, and reft ultimately on the fame principles, yet many cir- cumftances in the exifting {late of both arts have originated from their ieparation ; whence it has become neceffary to find means for making poetry pleafing in recitation without the embellifhment of mufic, and mufic pleafmg in performance with- out the intereft of fong. Hence, as we have ob- ferved, has arifen that transfer of the accent, gratify- ing, in poetry, to the ear which will not bear it in, mulic. But this transfer, which produces difficulty for the management of the accordance between the mufical and orthoepical accents, fo ftriftly re- quired in the connection of verfe with mufic, produces 'no change of the times of the verfe; it is meerly a change of the manner of time-beating. As, then, th-e arrangement of mufic in bars has been decided by the convenience of the mufical performer, without any confederation of the con- nection of mufic with poetry, fo the arrangement of the fyllables of verfe in feet mould be decided by the convenience of metrical analyfis, without re- gard to thofe divifions which mufic has eftablifhec} for its own feparate purpofes. For metrical analylis jt will be found obviouily moft convenient to divide the Englifii epic verfe into five complete feet, whether in any of thofe feet the accent be transferred from the fecond to the firft fyllable or no, To follow the manner of the muiicians, HARMONY IN JLANCtTAGE. 105 would produce very awkward anomaly, wherever the transfer of the accent occurs. Our epic verfe is commonly called verfe often fyllables; as the Italian epic, which has always the additional unaccented iyllable, is named endecafil- lubo. But the poetical or metrical fyllable is not precifely the fame with the grammatical fyllable. Occaiionally we find, among our beft and mod harmonious verfiaers, two grammatical orthoepical fyllables occupying the place of one poetical fylla- ble j or, to fpeak in the more correct and appofitc phrafe of the antient writers on the fubject, we find feet of three fyllables filling only the meafurc of the even cadence, which is generally fupplied by- two. Our later poets, or their editors, feem much to have feared any exhibition of the trhTyllabical foot in verfe of that cadence; and the practice has grown, in printing, to deform words by the elifion of a vowel, not only where it were better pro- nounced, but fometimes where it muft be pro- pounced. Thus we find heavn and givn printed for heaven and given, tho to pronounce heav'n or giv'n as one fyllable is impoflible. The elided e is indeed, if written, riot, a full-founded vowel, nor is the fyllable formed with it euphonous, but a diftinct fyllable it will be. In the verfes of all our beft elder poets, but indeed of all our beft poets, trirlyllabical feet are found, and generally fo found that, as an occafional variety, their effect is plealing. pommonly they add to the majefty of the flow, often 106 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF often much totheexprefiion, and, unlefs indifcreetty ufed, they never hurt the harmony of the verfe. Mufical men will know, that they bring no difficulty for the connection of verfe of the common or even cadence with mufic in common time. The fol- lowing examples from Milton would all fuffer from a change of the triffyllabical for diflyllabical feet. .. His form had yet not loft All her 1 original brightjnefs, nor j appeared J^efs than archangel ruin'd. P. L. I. 593. .. * And feem to caft PiUinofis | conjecture on | the whole J fuccefs. P. L. II. 123. -' With grave Afpect j he rofe, J and in j his rijfing ftemed 4. pillar | of ftate ; | deep on j his front J Ingraven Pelijberaltion fat, j and pubjlic care. ' P. L. II. 303. I think, Milton acuted afpefl, like refpc'tf, on the laft. Oer many | a frolzen many j a f iclry Alp, i i i i i .' Rocks, caves, | lakes, fens, | bog8,4cas, | andfiiades j of death; A univerfe of death, which God by curfe Created elvll for civil 5nlly good, Where all J life dies j death lives } and nature breeds, Perverfe, all monftrous, all prodigious things, j Abolminable HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. IQJ Abojminable, mutjterable, | and worfe Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceived. P. L. II 627. The admirable effed]; of contrail irTthefe lines, all of unexceptionable harmony, is not only in itfelf, but for the manner of producing it^ ^yhidi the analyfis exhibits, deferying attention. The two next examples are fimply harmonious $ he three following exhibit effed: again. ! Alcjno^us reign'd, j fruit of all kind, in coat Rough or fmooth rin'd e . P. L. V. v. 343. To whdm | thus Eve, J with pcrjfecl beaujty adorned. P. L. IV. 634, ' ' ' All unawares, fluttering j his pensions vain j plumb down J he dropt Ten thoufand fathom deep. P. L. II. 934. f - Nor was his ear lefs pealed, With noilfes loud | and rum|ous, to | compare Great things | with fmall, | than when | Bellolna ftonns With all j her batterjing enlgines bent j to rafe Sorr.e capijtal city, | or I5fs | than if J this frame Of heaven were falling. P. . II. 925. . Speak thou, and be it done : My ojverfliadowling fpirit | and might j with thee I fend along. P. L. VIII. 166. Englifb 108 maUIRY INTO THE PRIKCIPLES OF Englifh epic or heroic verfe then may be de* ^ fcribed, and its rules ftated thus: It is a pro- ,_ fodial mea.fure of five feet of the common or even cadence. In its primary and moft regular form, ^ each of its feet has two fyllables of equal quantity; . ''and the character of the cadence is given through . the marking of time by the regular occurrence of the acute -accent on the fecond fy liable of the foot. Accent being thus the power to which the car becomes habituated to refer for the character r' of the verfe, variety is allowed for he quantities of fyllables, too freely to be exactly limited by rule. A certain balance of quantities, however, throughout the verfe is required, fo that deficiency be nowhere ftriking. Long fyllables therefore rnuft predominate. A redundancy of lyllables is fometimes admitted ; a deficiency, in epic verfe, never. The accents, on account of their power as time-beaters, are fubjecled to ftricber rule. Deviar tion from the primary arrangement is allowed, for the lake of variety, juft fo far as not to defeat the purpofe of that arrangement, which is timer-beat- ing. Under this limitation it is found that the acute accent of the firft foot may be freely trans- ferred from the iecond to the firft fyllable. A fimilar transfer is allowed rarely in the third and fourth feet, tho fometimes with very good effect ; in the fecond more rarely; in the fifth never. Under the fame limitation the duplication of the acute is allowed. On the other hand its remiflion is HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. is an indifpenfable variety, required almoft in every line. Even its abfcnce may fometimes be Al- lowed ; or, however, the remiflion may be fuch as to leave the character of an acute accent but doubtfully perceptible by the ear. Such is Englifh epic verfe without rime. Where that powerful time-beater is introduced, it makes a great change In the character of the harmony; principally by producing a great dependence upon itfelf. Among rimes a verfe is not the higheft denomination of poetical meafure: it is but a por- tion of a longer meafure, to which rime in a great degree gives form and proportion, and alone gives boundary. The meafures formed by rime are either Couplets, or what were formerly called Staves ; for which modern ufe has fubftituted the Italian word Stanza. Among couplets fometimes the Triplet is introduced. The epic or heroic; ftanza is a combination of verfes, varying in num- ber and in the difpofition of the rimes, according to the poet's fancy. It has been originally ima- gined, either by the Italian or Romance poets, apparently to obviate the tirefome uniformity of the couplet ; but it has itfelf an inherent uni- formity fuch that, for our language, the couplet has been generally preferred. All poetry feems to have been, among all na- tions, originally Song. Inftrumental mufic alfo, among all nations, has been a very early, or per- haps I 10 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF haps an original, affociate of fong. With the Greeks, among whom we traee things fartheft into antiquity, except for thole matters for which we have light among the eaftern nations, all re- citation of poetry, ftill in Homer's time, appears to have been mufical. Even the Epic, that nar- rative, by which hiftory was tranfmi feted, and the detail of the moft interefting recent events cir- culated, is, in his frequent notice of it in the fong of the bard, always mentioned as accompanied by an inftrument. It is amufing and interefting to find teftimony to the extent of this practice in the extant relics of the rude literature of our early forefathers, both Britifh and Anglo-Saxon ; among whom hiftory, we find, was recorded in fong, and an inftrument always accompanied the recitation f . Thus all poetry appears to have been, originally, in the etymological and proper meaning of the word, Lyrical. f The metrical paflage in the Anglo-Saxon annals, which has long Cnce ingaged the admiration of the few, whofe cu- riofity has led them to defire acquaintance with the language and literature of our early anceftors, will now be more generally known through Mr. Ellis's notice of it in his recent publica- tion of early Englifh poems. It is a remark of bimop Percy, in his treatife on the Englifh miuftrels, prefixed to his collec- tion of antient poems, that the great Alfred, in his verfion of Boethius, has translated the Latin word cant are by the phrafe ' to fing to the harp,' thus indicating that, in this country, in his days, the accompaniment of an inftrument was efteemed iadifpenfable with fong. While HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. ZI* While the bard's narrative could of itfelf excite or maintain a high intered among the hearers, the limpleft mufic would be the fitted and mod fa- tisfatftory accompaniment. But where his tale was already familiar, lofing its charms with its novelty, it would, in repetition, become even annoying. New fources of gratification were to be fought, and the means which poetry ceafed to afford, he found in mufic. But it was mufic dill in clofe connexion with poetry. A richer flile of mufic was cultivated, and thus new poetical mea- fures were wanted, accommodated to fuch mufic. LYRIC VERSE, as didinguilhed from Epic, feeais to have had its origin, in all languages which pof- feis the two kinds, from improvements in mufic. The Englilh epic verfe of five feet, through that very conftruction which particularly qualifies it for recitation with the tones of common difcourfe, leaving it ready for aflbciation with that fpecies of mufical melody called recitative, is the lead of all our verfes difpofed to coalition with what, in mu- fical language, is called Air or Tune. Five bars are perhaps never found forming an integral por- tion of an air or tune. The divisions of modern mufical air run moflly in two, or rather four bars> and multiplications of four; as eight, twelve, fix- teen, and fo forth. The Englifli lyric meafure of far the mod fre- quent ufe, is accordingly that of four feet of the common cadence. But this is a meafure deficient in 112 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF in that contrail of parts which is necerTary to a decided character, and little capable of variety, cither from accentuation or paufe. It can there- fore ill fupport itfelf without the affiftance of that great refource of the modern European languages, lime. This powerfully helps to give it character, and at the fame time to make a variety fufficient for fhort poems, without admitting any of thofc aberrations of the accent, which, tho, as we have feen, in the epic verfe, highly advantageous for re- citation, are always adverfe to coalition with mufic. Nothing in our language can be more ready for the clofeft coalition with mufic than the following lines of Shenflone : Flow, gen| le flream, | nor let | the vain Thy fmall, | unfuljlicd fiore | difdain; Nor let j the perlfive {age | repine, Whofe la[tent courfe | refemjbles thine. But, in recitation without mulic, the ear would foon be fatiated by the formality of fuch couplets. The alternacy of rimes, in the ftanza, gives a va- riety that may fupport the poet, without the aid of mufic, to a greater length; as in the following of Collins, which is not unpleafantly extended to fix ftanzas, without any variation in the accen- tuation : To fair | Fidejle's grasjsy tomb Soft maids | and viljlage hinds | (hall bring Each ojpening fweet | of earliieft bloom, And ri|fle all J the breajthing fpring. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 113 But Milton, defiring that his longer lyrics, the allegro and penferofo, fhould pleafe in re- citation, has preferred another mode of variety. But hail, j them Godjdefs, fage | and holy, Hail, | divjjneft Melancholy. Come, penjfive nun, j devout | and pure, Scjber, ftedifaft, and J demure, All in j a robe j of darkjeft grain, Flowjing with ] majestic train, And falble ftole, | of Cy'jprus lawn, Over | thy dejcent {boulders drawn ; C6me, | but keep | thy w<5n|ted flate, With e[ven (lep J and mujfing gait, And looks J commerjcing with J the fkiesj Thy rapt | foul sitjting In \ thine eyes. The fifth and eighth of thefe lines are varied by the aberration of the accent in the firfl foot, which we have feen fo common in Englifli epic verfe j but the fecond, fourth, fixth, and ninth have a variety flrikingly of a different character 3 the firft foot is defective; a fingle acuted fyllable only being found in its place. This is a, variety wholly mad- miffible in epic verfe. The five-footed meafure, with fuch deficiency in the firft foot, fo wants the jieceflary balance, that it can neither aflbciate with complete five-footed verfes, nor ftand as a verfe by itfelf. But the lyric meafure of four feet fo differs in character, that, with this defalcation in, the firft foot, it is not only mixed advantageously with complete tour-footed verfes, but has been chofen by fome of our moft approved verfifiers, J for 114 INQUIRY INtO THE PRINCIPLES OF for intire poems. The following beautiful exam- ple is from Shakefpear's play of Meafure for Mea- fure : Take, | O take \ thofe lips | away, That | fo fweetjly were } forfworn ; And | thofe eyes, j the break J of clay, Lights | that do | miflead j the morn ; But | my kifsjes bring | again, Seals | of love, | tho feal'd | in vain S, The difference of effect bet ween this and the com- plete four-footed meafure, is fuch, in recitation, that it appears of quite another character. But in connection with mufic they are really the fame. The truncated verfe will affociate mod readily with mulic compofed for the full meafure, and the full verfe with mufic compofed for the trun- cated verfe. Gray has begun his celebrated ode on the Bards with the truncated verfe, and proceeds with the complete four-footed : Ru|in ftize | thee, ruthjlefs king ; Confujfion oii \ thy banjners wait; Tho, fan'd j by c6n|quefts' crimjfon wing, They mock J the air | in ijdle ftate. The advantage for effect, both in recitation and in fong, will be obvious to all who have been z A fhmza, of confiderable merit, has been added to this little fong in Beaumont and Fletcher's Bloody Brother. But the addition gives the fentiments to a man : they have far more pathos and beadty in coining, as in Shakefpear's play, from fc woman. accuftomed HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. I 15 accuftomed to advert to metrical and mufical effects. Nor, had the poet given the firft foot its unaccented fyllable, as by writing May ruin feize thee Let ruin feize thee or Defiruction feize thee would he have earned any thanks from the mufical compofer ; whofe firfl complete bar muft flill equally have begun with the acuted fyllable, while the preceding grave, wholly unwanted for mufical meafure, would be difpofed of in an incomplete introductory bar by itfelf. Either increafe of time given to the note aflbciated with the laft fyllable of the verfe, or a paufe (in mufical phrafe, a reft) often of advantageous effect, following that note, would fill the meafure, and prepare for proceed- ing in regular time with the next verfe. But another variety, a ftanza compofed of al- ternately four and three feet of the common ca- dence, much affected by our early poets, efpe- cially the minftrels and metrical romance-writers, has alfo found eulogy in modern times. Johnfon calls it * a foft lyric meafure,' and Baretti, with all the prejudices of an Italian ear againft the hardier combinations of elements in our lan- guage, fays it is * di molto piacevol fuono,' of a very pleafmg found ; both of them quoting thefe lines : ** 1 3 When Il6 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF When all | fliall praife, | and ev|ery lay Devote j a wreath | to thee, TI at day, | for come | it will, J that day Shall I lament j to fee. Both of them fpeak of the meafure only as adapted to recitation, without any view to its con- nection with mufic. Unconnected with mufic, its efFect certainly is very ftrongly diftinguifhed from the ftanza compofed in ti rely of four-footed verfes, with alternate rimes. But, in aflbciation with mufic, it is flill the fame with the four-footed j that is, it fills an equal number of bars. In fpeak-. ing thus of the aflbciation of mufic with poetry, I mean a ready and natural aflbciation ; putting put of the queftion that ingenious violence, by which verfe of one cadence may hold pace with mufic of the other, or, through a repetition or diflocation of words, not to be borne in recitation, the poet's meafure is totally altered, and even profe may be made to march to mufical cadence. For examples of the natural aflbciation, many of the beft airs of the Italian opera, efpecially of elder times, might be cited j but here the old tune of Chevy Chafe may anfwer our purpofe. The holding note at the end of the three-footed verfe, or that note with a paufe after it, fills the fpace of the deficient foot. The holding note and the paufe are advantageous in mufic ; fo that, for aflbciation with mufick, not lefs than for recitation, this meafure is intitled to the preference which, among the antient minftrels, it extenfively obtained. * Verfes HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 117 Veifes are found, efpecially among our elder poets, of three feet of the even cadence, wanting the grave fyllable in the firft, of two complete feet, and even of two wanting the grave fyllable in the firft. But none of'thefe are generally ad- vantageous, either for connection with mulic, or for recitation. Accordingly they have been left, by later poets, moftly for the burlefk, for which they are beft adapted. That kind of combination of verfes of various proportions, with rimes at various intervals, which has obtained the title of PINDARIC, merits the favor it has gained, for the pleafantnefs, and often force, of its effect, in recitation only : for mufic it has far lefs aptitude than the fimpler lyric meafures. Lyric verfe has not often been attempted in Englifh without rime. Milton's tranflation of the fifth ode of Horace's firft book is however well known , and that its meafure has had admirers is evinced by Collins's choice of it for his Ode to Evening : If adght | of o5t[en fl5p J or pas|toral fong, May h6pe, | chafte Eve, | to fo6th | thy modleft ear, Like thy | own fo|lemn fprings, Thy fprings | and dy|Ing gales, O nymph referv'd, while now the bright-hair'd fun Sits on yon weftern tent. i An ItfQtllRY INtO THE PRINCIPLES OF An ode of the kind called Pindaric, without nine, has alfo not only found its way into more than one felect collection, but has been diftin- guifhed by the eulogy of the compilers ; the nrft llanza is as follows : This goodly frame what virtue fo approves And teftifies the pure etherial fpirit As mild Benevolence ? She with her fitter Mercy ir.il! awaits Befide th' eternal throne of Jove, And rneafures forth with un withdrawing hand, The bleffings of the various year, Sunfliine or fhower, and chides the madding te.mpeft. But the merit of thefe forms of ftanza is all for recitation : not even the fimpler of them is adapted to ready coalefcence with mufical air ; nor has it yet been fhown that thofe of our meafures which are of themfelves diipoied to ready and intimate connection with mufic can, with fatisfactory effect in recitation, wholly difpenfe with rime. The lyric meafures, hitherto confidered, differ from the epic not at all by the kind of CADENCE, or of wliat the grammarians call FOOT, but by the number only, with whatever may be incident to difference in number. We proceed now to treat of verfe of the other cadence. The" TRIPLE CADENCE had, antiently, as we fhall take occafion to obferve, great confederation among our poets. It then fell into neglect almoft to oblivion, and has been revived but in modern times, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. lip times, for lighter fubjedts only. The genius of Swift found it accommodated to his favorite bur- le/k, and Rowe, Shenftone, and others, have fhown it adapted, in a degree that preceding poets ap- pear not to have been aware of, to paftoral lyrics. To fubjects of folemn dignity it feems, for our prefent language', not accommodated. We have obferved that, of the common ca- dence, the verfe of five feet is that of moil ex- ten.fi ve uie, and fitted for dignified fubjects. It is remarkable that the triple cadence will not bear a verfe of five feet : the ear revolts at the com- bination : its verfes are of four, three, or two feet. At the clofe | of the day, | when the ham|let isflill, And morjtals the fweets | of forgetjfulnefs prove, When nought | but the t6rjrent is heard | on the hill, And nought | but the nightingale's fong j in the grove. Seattle. Yet the rofe J has one powerful virjtue to boaft Far above J all the flowers | of the field ; When its leaves | are all dead | and its cojlors all 16ft, Still how fweet | a perfume J it will yield ! JVttti. Defpair|ing, beside | a clear ftream, A fliep|herd forfa|ken was laid, And while | a falfe ny'mph j was his theme, A wiljlow fupportjed his head. The wind j that blew 6|ver the plain, To his si^hs | with a sigh j did reply, And the brook, | in return j to his pain, Ran mournfully mur|muring by. Row. 14 Sec INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIfLES Of See the fujries arife, See the (hakes | that they rear, How they hifs j in the air. foryden. It is the advantage of the triple cadence that it more immediately and decidedly throws language out of all ordinary march of profe than the com- mon cadence. It is its difadvantage that if lefs admits thofe varieties fo necefTary to the relief of the ear in longer poems. It will bear no change of the place of the acute ; it will allow little re- miffion of the acute, and but rarely the duplication. The paufe alfo it confines rigidly to -its place. The licence for dropping a grave fyllable of the firft foot is however unlimited. In burlefk poetry frequently a grave fyllable of the third foot is omitted ; for the verfe of four feet being com- poied of two equal hemiftics, the beginning of the third foot is, in fome degree, as the begin- ning of a new verfe. We have obferved that, as in modern mufic, no mixture of the two times is admitted in the fame ftrain, fo neither, in Englilh poetry, is the mixture of the two cadences in one verfe. Nor do we find them commonly mixed in the fame poem, unlefs here and there in burlelk. Neverthelefs Dryden has ventured to introduce verfes of the triple among thofe of the common cadence in his noble Ode on St. Cecilia's Day. Hark, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 121 Hark, hark, j the horjrid fofind Has rais'd j up his head, As awak'd j from the dead, And amaz'd j he flares | around. Revenge, j revenge, | Timojtheus cries: See the fujries arife, See the fnakes j that they rear, How they hifs J in the air, And the fpar|kles that flafh j in their ey'es. That Pope admired the effect thus produced, is evident from his emulation of it in his Ode on Saint Cecilia's Day, but his failure of fuccefs may admonim that the attempt is hazardous. Shakefpear, not equally mingling, has however fometimes brought the two cadences very happily together; as in the fpirit Ariel's fong in the Tempeft : Where J the bee j fucks, there | lurk It fn a cow [Hip's bell | I lie. Merlrily, merfrily, fhall | I live now, Unjder the blosjsom that hangs J on the bough. Arne's air for this fong has been juftly admired, both for its intrinfic beauty, and for its finking confonancy to the poet's fentiments. But it does not equally harmonize throughout with the poet s meafures. There wants the change, from the common to the triple cadence, which, in recita- tion, has a very pleafmg and forcible effect. The air, not following this change, but holding its cource in the even cadence, not only fails of a correfponding mufical effect, but difguifes the poetical 122 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF poetical effect It may then be worth obferving, that the change which might be defired from Arne, in conformity to the poetical meafure, has been boldly ventured upfon, for mufical effect, by Handel, where the poetical meafure has not war- ranted, tho it feems to have fuggefted the thing. It is in his mufic for thefe lines from Milton's Allegro : Or let | the mer|ry bells | ring round. And j the jojcund rejbecs found, To many [ a youth | and many j a maid, Danjcing In j the checkered (hade; The mufic for the firft line is, like the poetry, in common time: that for the three others in triple. If we look to the time-beating accent in thefe three latter lines, we find them well accommo- dated to common time j but if we look to the quantities of fyllab.les, they are more adapted to triple. Dividing the feet according to quantities, and not according to accents, the firft foot of the fecond line would be a proper trochee, that of the third a tribrachys, that of the fourth again a trochee. The flow thus altogether, and efpecially the two trilTyllabical feet, feem to have fuggefted to the great compofer the idea which in fong has produced fo happy an effect. The mufical reader will find, in tha.t iong, flrong illuftration of the comparative length and fhortnefs of fylla- bles refulting in the connection of verle with 4 mufic. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. The firft fyllable of jocund, with its long vowel, but ftill more that of dancing, with its long vowel followed by two confonants, the for- mer a liquid, extend themfelves gracefully through the double time neceflarily to be given to one of the fyllables of the foot, which the fhort vowels of the firft of rebecs and checkered, followed only by one articulated confonant will not* Handel has therefore judiciouily given a mort note to the firft fyllable of rebecs, as Arne has to the firft of blofjom in the lines lately quoted from Ariel's long in the Tcmpeft. But tho thefe three lines of Milton, by the accidental order of quantities, ajre,, more than commonly for verfe of the even ca- dence, adapted to coalefce with mufic in triply time, the muhcal reader may judge how much more readily and naturally verfe of the triple ca- dence falls in with mufic in triple time, by alter- ing Milton's verfes, as he may eafily do better for iiimfelf, in fome fuch way as this : And merrier ftill let the rebecs refoimd, To many a youth and to many a maid, Nimble in dance in the checkery fliade. It appears then that our verfes truly lyrical* that is, adapted to ready and complete coalition with mufical air, arc the four-footed of both cadences, "whether perfect or truncated, the flanza of alternately four-footed and three-footed of both cadences, and, for comic poetry, the two- footed of the triple cadence. The two-footed of the 124 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the even cadence wants grace in ferious fong, but is not wholly unfuitable for comic. The DRAMA requires verfe of two kinds; for fong occaiionally, but principally for dialogue. The former differs no way from the lyrical, of which we have been treating. The latter, in Englim poetry; is fundamentally the fame as the epic, but, having peculiarities, which give it fome degree of feparate character, it may be com- modioufly diftinguifhed by its peculiar title of DRAMATIC VERSE. That amount of regularity which is moft fatis- fadtory in poetry limply narrative, is found too formal for dialogue with action ; and hence the difference of epic and dramatic verfe. To the f ... latter, rime is an incumbrance, fo generally offen- five, that no attempt to introduce it has fuc- ceeded. The variety by which dramatic verfe is moft diftinguifhed from epic without rime, is the redundant fyllable of the laft foot, often called the double ending, or, in the phrafe adopted by our grammarians from the antient writers on pro- fody, the hypercataledlic fyllable. The following fix lines from Samuel Johnfon afford three exam- ples of it : Refieft | that life | and death, | affcfting founds, Are 6n|ly vajried modes j of endllefs being. Refleft | that life, | like cvjery either bleffing, Derives J its vajlue from J itsufe | alone. Not for | itfelf, | but for | a no|bler end Th* etSrlnal gave | it, and j that end | is Virtue. The HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. The form of our language does not urge to any intemperate ufe of this variety ; nor indeed does it appear, from the pra&ice of our poets, what amount of ufe of it would be intemperate : it feems as little to require limitation as the transfer of the accent in the firft foot. Among our elder dramatic poets another va- riety is not uncommon, which the caution of the more modern has generally, and perhaps not ad- vantageoufly, avoided. It is a redundant fyllable after the third foot; which, if a paufe follow, divides the verfe very effectually into two verfcs of different proportions. Many examples, pleating at lead to mofl good ears, may be found in $liakefpear : the following are from Milton : Offering His orient liquor in a cryftal glafs. To quench | the drouth | of Phoebus j which as J they tafle their human countenance is changed. Comus, v, 66. I was aweftruck, "And as | I part j I worfhipt : j if thofe | you feek It were a journey like the path to heaven. v. 303. But for | that damn'd | magician, | let him be girt With all the grifly legions. v. 603. t* 17 In 126 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF In Shakefpear fometimes, tho he abounds in. beautifully harmonious verfes, but in Beaumont and Fletcher continually, we meet with a licen- tioufnefs in meafure, which later poets have juftly avoided. Milton ftudied the harmony of his lan- guage with fuperior fcience and with zealous care. Fondly emulating the Italians, he feems to have defired to introduce into our poetry the varieties in meafure of which theirs permits the ufe j yet why in his dramatic works he has fo rarely ufed the hypercatalectic fy liable, unfailing in their verfe, equally epic and dramatic, is not obvious. The common refource of the Italian poets, for variety in dramatic verfe, is the occafional, and not unfre- quent, intermixture of three-footed verfes, always with the hypercataledic fyllable, among the five- footed. Milton feems juftly to have confidered this as lefs adapted to mix with the Englifh epic. Per- haps the redundant fyllable preceding the paufe, which varies the meafure by dividing the verfe into two unequal hemiftics, if fuch an expreffion may be allowed, is the befl fubftitute that our language will admit, and not undeferving the regard of our dramatic poets. The following paiiages from Milton's Samfon Agoniftes, whether they have been intended for, lyrical, or whether for variety of the colloquial dramatic, have much more of the lyrical cha- "*"" rafter, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 127 rafter, and are perhaps the moft beautiful fpeci- mens of the lyrical without rime ever produced in our language. firft created beam, and thou great word, Let there he light, and light was over all, Why am I thus bereav'd thy prime decree ? The sun j to me j Is dark, And si|lent 5s \ the rno'on When fhe | deferts | rlie night, Hid In | her vajcant Tn'lterlujnar cave. r. 89. 1 was | Ins nursjllng once, | and choice | delight, His desjtln'd from | the w5mb, Promls'd | by heavenly mcfsjage twice j defcending Under j his fpejcial eye. Abftejmious, I j grew np, J and thrlv'd amain: He led j me on | to mlghtjie!^ deeds, Above 'J the nerve j of morjtal arm, Agalnft | th' unclr|cumcls'd | our enjcmies. v. 640, The principal varieties, then, which diftingui(h dramatic verfe from epic, confidering the prac- tice of our moft efteemed dramatic poets as fur- niming the rule, are the unlimited licence for the hypercatalectic fyllable, or double ending, and the allowance for a fparing ufe of a fimilarly re- dundant unaccented fyllable in either the fecond foot 123 INQtTIST INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ' foot or the third. Perhaps alfo the transfer of the accent in the fecond foot may be more freely per- muted to dramatic than epic verfe. Milton has evidently had fome partiality for an extenfion of this licence, in imitation of the Italians, with whom the aberration of the accent in the firft and (econd foot of the fame verfe is even more com- mon than in either of them alone ; infomuch that Taflb, who is reckoned among their more fcru- puloufly harmonious poets, has begun his mofl admired work, The Jerufalem Delivered, with fuch a verfe : Canto | I'arme | pietojfe e il cajpitano. We find inftances of it in the Paradife Loft : Soon had his crew Open'd j into j the hill j a fpacious wound. P. L. I. 690. Thou thy foes Jutlly | haft in | derilfion, and | fecure Laugh'fl at their vain defigns. P. L. v. 737. but proportionally more in the Samfon, Irre|c6vera|bly dark, | total { eclipfe 81. Irre(sifti[ble Samjfon, whom j unarmed 126. That in|vinci|ble Samjfon, far } renowned 341. To do juftice to the two former of thefe three laft cited lines, the firft fyllable muft be made long by the diftinct pronunciation of the doubled con- fonant r. I know fuch lines ars among thofe which have brought upon Milton, from fome, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 129 whofe judgement I refpeft, the charge of writing inharmonious verfe. Sp far I think them lefs fuited to the character of our language, that, for epic verfe, the imitation of them is not to be re- commended. INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF SECTION VJI. Of the Hiftory of Englifh Verification. THE hiftory of all learning, and of every art, cannot but be an interefting portion of the hiftory of mankind. After, therefore, having obferved what is the mechanifm of the various forms of Englifh verfe now in common ufe, it may be amufing, and, to a fpeculative mind, perhaps fomewhat more than amufing, to trace the hif- tory of Englifh verification backward into anti- quity. Modern learning, among the various fpeeches of Europe, being comprized moftly in three, the Italian, French, and Englifh, in all of which, not without fome concert, it has been de- rived from the Latin and Greek, thofe three, for that connection, however otherwife widely differ- ing, may be confidered as filler tongues. Of thefe the Italian, taking them in their generally allowed claflical ftate, is confiderably the elder. The re- vived Englim claffical literature is of later birth by near two centuries ; and the French, by near one century, younger ftill. But tho the period of Englim literature of the modern idiom begins fo much later than the Italian, yet an Englifti poet of no mean pretenfion, Chaucer, was little pofterior to the earlieil Italian daffies -, and tho the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. the French literature, of that dialed which, through political weight and not intrinfic merit, has overborne all others of France, is of a birth fo much later dill, yet, as far as the Provencial and Languedocian poets may be admitted as prede- ceffors of the French claffics, French literature may boaft an origin perhaps even earlier than the Italian. The tracing of Englifh verification upward into antiquity has been much facilitated by fome late publications. Bimop Percy's relics of antient Englilh poetry, with his intermingled differta- tions, advantageouily prepared the way, and feem to have proved an incentive to farther labors in the fame mine, among which Mr. Thomas War- ton's hiftory of Englifh poetry, and Mr. Ellis's fpecimcns of early Englilh poets with interfperfed hiftorical iketches, are confpicuous. What ap- pears to me yet wanting is a collection like Mr. Ellis'e, with the order reverfedj inftead of beginning with an unintelligible idiom, and follow- ing the language downward, beginning with the firft material variation from modern Ipeech, and tracing it upward. Thus, with the illuflration which fuch a writer as Mr. Ellis would of courfe be led to give, the reader would be conducted amufingly, and almoft unwittingly, to a fami- liarity with the growing differences ; fo that, on arriving at length at the celebrated Anglo-Saxon war-fong, with which his prefent work begins, fo K 2 highly INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF highly interefting now to a few. but repelling, by its unintelligibility, to moft readers, who therefore fly to the tranflations, almoft all would be ready to form acquaintance with the original in the energetic language of our early forefathers. Tracing Englilh poetry thus, of merit well to claim the title of claffical, to fo remote a fource, we fbould go beyond the earlieft known excellence of Italian and Provencial poetry, EngHili literature has by fome been reckoned at its fummit in queen Ann's reign. But the forms of verification have everywhere had their origin long before the perfection of literature. Our principal and moft valuable lyric meafures are found, as we (hall foon more particularly obferve, among the firfl extant examples of our prefent language. Our five-footed epic verfe, derived apparently from the Italian, was familiar with Chaucer, and feems to have been occasionally in- troduced among lyric meafures before him. It remained for later poets to exert their ingenuity only in combinations of meafures. Theie, in the long courfe of years between Chaucer and Dry- den, became fo numerous that it might feem fancy were exhaufled, and yet we find room re- mained for novelty, and of no mean merit. The fyfcem of ftanzas for the kind of ode, called Pin- daric, in imitation of the Greek ftrophe, anti- flrophe and epode, has been brought into vogue by the late poets Mafon and Gray. To HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 133 To trace our verification then from this late approved novelty upward, we may obferve that" the epic couplet, tho ufed by Chaucer, is ge- nerally efteemed to have received its laft polilh from Pope. By its laft polifh, I undenland that which, with modern pronuntiation makes it mod grateful to the modern ear; reckoning, in all fuch comparifon, fome allowance requifite for the merit of verfe made for other times. But in, harmony of unrimed verfe, Milton's numbers re- main, in large proportion, unexcelled, or perhaps unrivalled, by any of 'latex* date; and where Shakefpear has been in any degree careful, his verfes are ftill among the fweeteft in the lan- guage : even Spenfer's require only a little practice in that obfolete diction which he affected, to ob- tain the praife of conftant fweetnefs. It is an ob- fervation of Hume, that, however uncouth phrafes are found abounding in the writers of the age of Elizabeth and James, yet the language of the court, in their time, differed little from that now ufed in good company. We may go yet higher, and ob- ferve that the poetry of the heroic and unfortunate carl of Surrey, in Henry the eighth's reign, rarely wants grace with the pronuntiation of the prefent day; whence proof appears to refult that the general harmony of the language then and at the prefent day was the fame. Some differences in words and phrafes indeed we find; and fome in pro- jiuntiation, not only we may conclude there were, K 3 but 134 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF but our poetry, as we trace it upward, fhows, in many inftances, what they were. The changes in pronunciation, which poetry in- dicates, can be only thofe which affect the har- mony. In Milton thefe are fo few, and fo fmall, that the general character of the harmony of his language is fcs.rcely tinged by them; but in Shakefpear they begin to be confiderable. They are 'however not altogether difadvantageous, but, by fome, may be efteemed the contrary. Termi- nations in Jon and ious y our poets of the prefent day would fear, however they might deiire, to ufe as two profodial fyllables : then they were fo ufed generally ; infomuch that we find them very frequently forming the concluding foot of a verfe. Now they may conclude a verfe, but in a very different way : they muft be con- fidered only as one fyllable, and that fyllable no portion of a foot, but beyond the meafure, or, in the profodial term, hyperrhythmical. The ter- mination of the paft tenfe in ed alfo commonly then held its rank as a full profodial fyllable. It were perhaps defirable, both in poetry and in profe, and both for diftinctnefs of fpeech, and for avoiding often wretched cacophony, that the fame might be ventured now; but impe- rious cuftoin forbids. In the accentuation of words derived from the Latin and French, fome differences are found, but they are not many. Contrary occurs in Milton, acuted on the fecond. 3 , Spenfer HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 135 Spenfer acuted melancholy on the fecond, and yet we find contrary acuted by him on the firft. It may be doubted if his accentuation of melancholy ever was popular; but Milton's pro- nuntiation of contrary remains among the lower people. The earl of Surrey's age forms an era for early Engliih literature. To that accomplifhed nobleman we are faid to owe the firft exam- ples of our prefent epic pentameter unrimed h ; examples which have been followed fo to the glory of Englifh poetry. From lord Surrey's age, looking upward, we find, during the long wars of the rofes, almoft a void; and then Chaucer beams upon us with a brilliancy the more ftriking from the extent of intervening darknefs. The differences in his language from that of the prefent day will not appear wonderful, but, rather it may appear wonderful they are no greater. For the pecu- liarities of his diction, and whence they havearifen, Mr. Ellis may beadvantageoufly confulted. For the harmony of his verfes, the more immediate object of our prefent inquiry, that it may fometimes be hardly difcernible, mould lefs excite furprize, than that, with the pronuntiation of the prefent day, and notwithftanding the vices in our copies of his works, it is in fo large a proportion found perfect. What are all the vices in our copies of his works, is unlikely ever to become known ; but h This is aflerted by that diligent inquirer after early Englifh poetry, bifhop Percy. K 4 his l$6 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF his own words, as we may variously gather them, will beft inable us to form conjecture. In Eliza- beth's reign, Thomas Speght gave an edition, which was republiQied by him, with a dedication to fir Robert Cecil, afterward earl of Salifbury, ftill in black-letter, in the year 1602. In the dedication he affirms that he had reformed the whole work by old copies, * whereby,' he fays, * Chaucer, for the moft part, is reftored to his owne ' antiquitie.' In his addrefs afterward to the reader, he fays, e And for his verfes, although in divers c places they may feeme to us tq ftand of unequal * meafures, yet a fkilful reader, that can lean 4 them in their nature, (hall find it otherwife. ' And ifaverfe here and there fal out a fiilable * (horter or longer than another, I rather aret it * to the negligence and. rape of Adam Scrivener, 4 that I may fpeak as Chaucer doth, than to any * unconning or overfight in the author. For how * fearful he was to have his works mis-written, or ' his verfe mis-meafured, may appeare in the end ' of his fift booke of Troylus and Crefeide, where ' he writeth thus : And for there is fo great diverfitie In Englifti and in writing of our tongue, So pray I God that none mis-write thee, Ne thee mis-metre for defaut of tongue. Now what might be the diverfitie produced by the ignorance or careleflhefs of lefs eminent editors, even in printing, Speght's own diverfities may afford ground for eftimation. For, after ad- monifhing HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. moniming his reader in the words and orthogra- phy juft quoted, he gives the pafiage in its proper place, t\\Q fifth booke offroitus, as it is there fpelt, thus : And for there is fo great diverfite In Engl : fli and in writing of our tong, So pray I to God that none mis-write thee, Ne thee miffc metre for defaut of tong. Hence conjecture may be formed of the mis-. writing and mis-metering to which popular poetry might be liable, from fcriveners, while printing was unknown. But very many of Chaucer's verfes, even with the pronuntiation of the prefent day, after all hazards of mifwriting, are perfectly harmonious; whence the prefumption is ftrong, that, were all written correctly, and fpoken with t*e pronuntia- tion of his day, we mould find all fuch as in the mafs to intitle his eloquence to that high eulogy which, as Mr. Ellis obferves, elder writers have beftowed on it. That the general character of the harmony of the language, was no other then than at this day, the proof appears certain. What were the principal differences of pronuntiation, by which harmony was affected, his verfes plainly in- dicate. Terminations from the Norman-French, in our, ence, we, and fome others, now pronounced with a grave accent, were then commonly acuted, and added to the iiore of rimes. Of this his JBalade of the Village, given by Johnfon in his Ilillory INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Hiftory of the Englifh language, affords large ex- ample. The vowel e, tho often omitted, even in black-letter editions, where it ought to appear, and perhaps fometimes inferted where it ought not, was in Chaucer's time pronounced in a dif- tinct fyllable after mute confonants, which it now follows only in an unavoidable whifper * ; and the habit of fpeech appears to have given it frequently alfo after femi-vowels. Of this John- fon was aware, and he has generally marked, tho perhaps not always well, the e to be pro- nounced. Let us examine a little the following four lines from the Canterbury tales: Alas/ too dear abought {he her beautee, Wherefore I fay that all men may fee That yefts tn c fortune or of nature Been caufe of death of many a creature. Heft's Remark on the Do/tor of Plyfic't Tale. Thefe verfes, fpoken with the pronuntiation of the prefent day, would give none to imagine that they could be intended for the five-footed epic. The two former approach fome of Swift's doggrel in triple cadence, and the two others are Hudi- braftic four-footed verfes, of the even cadence with the double ending. Fortunately however it remains poffible, and not even difficult, to gather, from the tenor of Chaucer's verification, how they would 1 See the fecond fedlion of this Inquiry, toward the end. be HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. be pronounced in his own age. That he intended beautee to be acuted on the laft will be imme- diately obvious to all ; which fuffices to make the firft line a good^five-footed epic. In Chaucer, and others of his time, v/e frequently find the word all written with an added e, and fo made a diffyl^ lyable, all's. Thus the fecond alfo is a good five- footed epic. In the word yefts y meaning gifts y the harm combination fts cannot be pronounced with- out a whifpered vowel between the / and j, mak- ing really a feparate fyllable ; and accordingly we find it in old writings, as in the pronuntiation of the vulgar at this day, gift is, or giftes. Fortune, naturty and creature, are generally acuted by Chaucer on the laft, and creature is likely to have been in his time a triffyllable, as it is in French, and as creator is yet in Englifh. Thus the verfes all be- come perfectly good five -footed epics. And that they were intended fo to be, thofe preceding and following, which are fo without correction, would fufficiently indicate : Algate this fylly maid is flam, alas ! Alas ! too dear abought (lie her beautee. Wherefore I fay that alle men may fee That yeftis of fortune or of nature Been caufe of death of many a creature. Her beauty was her death, I dare well fayen, Alas! fo piteoufly as fhe was flayen. The lines here added offer alfo matter for ob- fervations, which may tend to the further expla- nation of the harmony of Chaucer's poetry. On the INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the revival of clafllcal learning, in Henry the feventh's time, the minds of litterary men became fb bent upon Greek and Latin that their own lan- guage fell into neglect. Nor was this, in the moment, ib unreafonable as it would be now. J^atin became the common language of the learned, in which they held ready communiation from na- tion to nation throughout Europe, when in no other language they could communicate at all ; and in Latin and Greek only the principles of good tafte were to be acquired. In thofe circum- ftances the vernacular idiom of courfe fell into that neglect, in which it remained in our univer- iities till within the lad half century, and remains in a great degree to this day. This ftate of things con-fidered, it will not appear wonderful if, in the pedantic age of Elizabeth, correctnefs was little regarded in the Saxon part of our language, and if corruption grew among thofc words and phrafes and inflections which were verging at all toward obfoletion. In Speght's edition of Chaucer, for the word maid^ in the fir ft of the lines laft quoted, is printed maiden* to the injury evidently of the harmony. But Chaucer would not write maiden for the fingular ; in his time it was the plural of maid; as, in polite language ftill, oxen is the plural of ox, and, in the weftern dialeft, houfen of houfe. In the fixth of thefe lines then we find the word beauty fpelt as at this day, whereas four lines only above HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. above it is differently fpelt. But it appears that the poet intended a different accentuation of the word in the two places, and therefore may have him- felf ufed the licence of his day for various fpelling. The licence for vary ing accentuation could fcarcely fail to arife with the large acceffion, about his time gaining vogue in our fpeech, from a language like the French,which denies to its words any fixt and charadteriftical accent. This licence was too com- modious for hafty rimers, not to be eagerly adopted by the minftrels, who, as bifhop Percy has ob- ferved, ufed it freely. Even in Chaucer we find not -only French, but Anglo-Saxon words, fub- je&ed to it. In the middle of a verfe he would acute the words hanging, knowing, keeping, as we do now, on the firft ; but, for rime-fake, he does not fcruple to demand the acute occafionally upon the laft : Upon his thornb he had of gold a ring, And by his fide a naked fword honging. And dainties mo than been in my knowing. Thus leave I Canace her nauk keeping. Squiei't Tale. Neverthelefs it appears that this irregularity does not properly belong to the Saxon part of our language, but has arifen from mixture of the French. For the Anglo-Saxon termination of the prefcnt participle was not in ing, but in 142 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of in and or end; and to this day, in the weflern dialed, the nafal ng is unheard ; the participle, in the pronuntiation of the country people, ending always in fimple. The nafal found feems to have been introduced from the French ; and when the French articulation had obtained vogue, the French indeciiion of accentuation was a conve- nience which the riming poets would of courfe catch at. Fortunately the genius of the Anglo- Saxon pronuntiation at length prevailed in this point, and fo our poetry is lefs ilained with nafal rimes. In tracing our verification then upward from Chaucer, and his friend, little older than himfelf, Gower, we come to a period confiderably interelt- ing in the hiftory of language; becaufe, as in our law and conftitution, fo in our fpeech, with the uncertainties incident to a great revolution, and in an age dark throughout Europe, better autho- rities are found for tracing that revolution than any of the fame kind, perhaps, in any other part of the world. After the Norman conqueft, the court and the nobility fpoke Norman-French, the body of the people Anglo-Saxon. Political in- terefts concurred with weight of numbers to make - the Anglo-Saxon at length predominate - } but with a depraved idiom, very materially altered from the old language, and with a large addition of words from the forein tongue. The manner of this re- volution, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 143 volution, its periods, its amount at different pe- riods, and its final refult, are illuftrated with much ingenuity, learning, and judgement by Mr. Ellis. The bufinefs here will be meerly to trace, as far as we can, our verification toward its fource. Chaucer died in the year 1400, Gower in 1402. Beyond them we feem to have nothing, the date of which can be afcertained till we reach Robert of Glocefter, whofe veriion of Geoffrey of Mon- mouth's Hiftory of Britain, in rime, Mr. Ellis fup- pofes to have been completed about the year 1280. Mr. Thomas Warton, in his Hiftory of Englifh Poetry, has pronouced * this riming * chronicle,' as he calls it, ' totally void of art or * imagination/ Neverthelefs Dr. Johnfon has thought it worth a long quotation in his Hiftory of the Englifh Language ; and Mr. Ellis, not reckoning the monk of Glocefter among great poets, refers however to parts of his work as mark- ing not only good fenfe, but eloquence. His verfe is that which, fo late as the feventeenth century, Chapman chofe for his Translation of Homer ; a meafure which we may perhaps trace hereafter be- yond the Englifh language. It is a meafure of fcven feet of the even cadence, being truly a dou- ble verfe, and no other than the common modern lyric meafure of four and three feet alternately, or, as it has been often called, from the number of poetical 144 -INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF poetical fyllables, eights and fixes; with the dif- ference only that, whereas in the lyric ftanza of four and three feet alternately, it is required that the fourth foot end with the completion of a word, ib that a paufe may follow, in the couplet of feven- footed verfes, the paufe, though ordinarily occur- ring at the end of the fourth foot, is not fo in- difpenfably required there*. Robert of Glo- cefter's language is, in Johnfon's phrafe, a kind of intermediate diction, neither Saxon nor Englifh,. and, according to Mr. Thomas Warton, its more than common obfcurity is partly e owing to the * weftern dialect, in which the monk of Glocefter * was educated.' Something alfo fhould probably be attributed to the careleffnefs and miftakes of tranfcribers and editors, which Chaucer fo depre- cated. Attention to the accentuation of his day, as it may be gathered from other early poets, and from himfelf, is neceffary to a ready perception of his miafure ; but after fuch attention it will k Samuel Johnfon, in his Hiftory of the Englifli Language, obferves, that * this meafure, poliflied into greater exahie(s, * appeared to our anceftors fo fuitable to the genius of the * Englifli language, that it was continued in ufe almoft to the * middle of the feventeenth century.' I imagine he meant a reference to Chapman's work. His preceding obfervation, that it taught the way to the Alexandrines of the French 4 [poetry,* would, I think, never have been, made, if he had had any familiarity with French poetry in French pronun- ciation. not HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. not remain at all doubtful. The firft of the lines given by Johnfon may ferve as a fpecimen : Of the | batayles | of Denjemarch | that hii { dude in | this londe, That worft | were of | all 6th [ere | we molte abbe | on lionde. Worft hii | were, J vor 6th|ere | adde|fomwanne | yd6, AsR6|meynes and Saxjons and | wel-wufte | that lond | therto. Ac hii | ne kept | yt hold[e noht | bote | robby | and fende, And desjtrue j and berne | and fie- | and ne J couthe abbe|non ende. And bote | luteyt j nas worth [they hii- | were ojvercdme - ylome, Vor myd j (Types j and gret | poer, | as preft | efsone j hii come. ' The reader, unverfed in our elder poetry, may perhaps think I have gone beyond warrant in af- ligning fyllabical power to the final e among thefe lines, but I am perluaded that, with attention to Chaucer and Gower he will find me juflified, 1 Hii dude, they doed, did. Mote albe an lionde t muft have in hand. Wttfle, for wafted, paft tenfe, of the fame analogy as knew from know, Ikw from HOTU, rofe from rife, froze fromfreeze, and others. Deftnte, the French word defiruit. Bote lute, but little. Myd, the German word for With. Poer, the Norman Potter^ which in modern French is become Pouvoir. Prejt is alfo the French word. i. - The 146 INQUIRY INTO THB PRINCIPLES OF The following lyric is fuppofed of about Robert of Glocefter's time : yet, with the advantage of Mr. Ellis's reformation of the orthography, it has a fmoothnefs of numbers that might vie with any compofition of Pope's age ; and the language, tho not all modern, can want a vocabulary fcarcely for any reader. Wtnjter wajkeneth all j my care ; Now ( thefe leajves wax|s.th bare, Oft | I sigh j and mo6r|ne fare, When j it com|eth in J my thought, Of this j world's joy, | how it | goeth all j to nought. The mcafure of the four firft of thefe lines, the iourfootcd of the even cadence with the firft foot truncated, a favorite meafure at this day, we may find occafion td trace to the fame forein fpeech whence we mail find that of Robert of Glocefter has been derived. If the age of the poem be rightly afligned, the concluding line of the ilanza is by far the oldeft example of the fivefooted epic that I know in our language. Giving modern orthography to antient poetry, as Mr. Ellis has done, is relieving to the reader, if un- pracYifed in the antient orthography, and incurious about it ; but highly hazardous for the meafures, which the antient fpelling will generally indicate to the pra&ifed eye, where by die modern they are thrown into confufion and obfcurity. I therefore prefer HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 147 prefer recurring tojohnfon's hiftory of the EngHfh language for the following, which he offers as a fpe- cimen of Anglo-Saxon poetry, tho it is, as Mr. Ellis has juftly faid of fome earlier fpecimens, a barbarized dialed, in words only Anglo-Saxon, in idiom corrupted and degraded. The meafure, amid all the antiquity of language perfectly ob- vious, is precifely what Milton has chofen for his Allegro and Penferofo, the fourfooted of the even o * cadence, with the firft foot complete or truncated indifferently : Fur | in fee, j by weftje Spaygne, Is j a lond | ihote j Cockaygne. Ther nis j lond unjder hevjenrich* Of wel | ofg6d|nis hit | iliche. Thoy parjadis j be mirji and briyt Cockaygjne is | of fairjir siyt. Another lyric poem, in the common modern ftanza of fourfooted and threefooted verfes, is given by Johnfon as one of the oldeft extant examples of our prefent poetical meafures. For relief to the reader unverfed in the old language, I have placed a verfion befide it. Heven and erfc he overfiefc Heaven and earth he overfeeth, His eyhen m bith fulhriht. His eyes are full bright. Sunne and mone and alle fterren Sun and moon and all ftars Bie* iieftre on his lihte. Are darknefs amid his light. H. m In the Saxon chara&ers, in whicli Johnfon has given fhe J>ocm, this word it written tglen. But it is evident enough that j. a thr 148 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF He wot hwet fcenchcfc and hwet He knows what thinketh and do|> Alle quike wihte. Nis no louenl fwich is Chrift, Ne no king fwich is Drihte. Heven and ciSe and all fcatis, Biloken is on his honde. He d^S all J:at his \ville is On fea and ec on loade. ] !e is ord albuten orde And ende albuten ende, He one is evre on echc ftede, Wende wer 15 u wende. He is buven us and bine<5en, Bivoren and ec bihind. Se man J>at Codes wille deS Hie mai him aihwar vinde. Eche rune he iherJS And wot eche dedc. He thurh-fiy$ eches ifcanc' Wai hwat fel us to rede. " doth Every living man. There is no lord fuch as is Chrift, Nor king fuch as is the Lord. Heaven and earth and all that is Created is of his hand. He doth all that his will is On fea and eke on land. He is beginning all without beg; nninj, And end all without ends He one is ever in each place, Go wherever thou mayft go. He is above us and beneath, Before and eke behind* The man that God's will doth, He may him everywhere find. Each word lie heareth, And knoweth each deed. He fees through every one's thought> Se man nevre nele don god, The man that never did any good, Ne nevre godlif leden, Nor ever good life led, Ir deth and dom come to his dure, Ere death and doom come t& his door, He mai him fore adreden. He may him forely dread. the Saxon 5 had often the pronundation of ourjr, as the Greek y has before the vowels c, n, , and y, among the modern Greeks. We find in Chaucer yefts for gifts, (Hoft's Obfervation on the Squier's Tale) and in Johnfon's quotation from Lydgate, a cotemporary of Chaucer, forydfulnefs ; as, in the north of England, at this day,_^a/ for gate n Thofe more verfed in the Saxon might probably remedy the incorreftnefs, if fuch there is, as I fufpecl, in this line. TlYus HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 149 Thus we have traced our verfification of the EVEN CADENCE into antiquity, more than fix cen- turies. The hiftory of the TRIPLE CADENCE re- mains yet for inquiry j and, notwithflanding its neglect among our principal poets during thofe fix centuries, it may be found to deferve fomc examination. Within the prefent century, that cadence, as we have before obferved, has gained iome vogue for pafloral and burlefk fubjects ; and Dryden has introduced it happily, and Pope, not without fome opinion apparently of its worth, has attempted it lefs happily, in poems of the fub" limed character. But it is remarkable how little of it we find in any collections of old poetry. Mil- ton's publifhed works afford not a fingle example. In Mr. Ellis's collection, tracing it upward, the firft occurring is a fong of Queen Elizabeth's reign, by Humfrey Gifford. You glad|ly would have | me to make | you fome toy, And yet | will not tell j me whereof | I fhould write: The ftrangcjnefs of this | doth breed J me annoy, And makes | iv,e to feek | what things | to indite. The next, by Thomas Tuffer, is attributed to the preceding reign j In Health to be ftirring fliall profit thee befr ; In ficknefs hate trouble ; feek quiet and reft. Remember thy fou! ; let no fancy prevail ; Make ready to God-ward ; let faith never quail. The fooner thyfelf thou fubnrritteft to God, The fooner he ceafeth. to fcourge with his rod. L 3 It INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF It will be obferved that, in all thefe verfes a fyl- lable is wanting in the firfl foot, which, as we have before remarked, is common in poetry of the triple cadence ; but, in the two laft of GifFord's a fy liable is alfo wanting in the third foot ; a licence which has been fometimes imitated by Swift and other poets of the eighteenth century Neither Gif- ford's verfes, nor Tufier's requite any deviation from .the mofl approved pronuntiation of the pre- fent day, to make their harmony perfect. An example of another meafure of the triple cadence is given in the fame collection, alfo from Tuffer. What lookeft thou herein to have ? Fine verfes, thy fancy topleafe? Of many my betters that crave ; Look nothing but rudenefs in thefe. Mr. Ellis has obferved of thefe lines, that they are in a meter afterward adopted by Shenftone ; a remark indicating that fo diligent an inquirer had fcarcely met with anything of the kind between Tufler and Shenftone. From Drayton, who had confiderable reputation in the age of queen Elizabeth, there remains a lyric poem in triple meafure, ftill of a different form : Near to the filver Trent Sirena dwelleth, She to whom nature lent All that excelleth. This, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. This, in purfuing the poem, we find to be an imitation of that Italian meafure which Metaftafo has chofen for his ode to Venus, Scendi propizia, Cnl tuo fplendore, O bella Venere, Madre d'Amore. In the Englilh, however, not only the grace but the decifion of the Italian meafure fails j the two firft verfes might be miftaken for one epic of the common cadence, with the aberration of the accent in the firft foot, Near to the silver Tre"nt Sirena dwelleth ; and the confufion is inhanced by the ornament of rime mifplaced in the final fyllables of the firft and third verfes. If rime be given them, which Metaftafio has more judicioufly omitted, it fliould be of the kind which the Italians ca\\fdruccio!e, of three fyllables, as merrily and verily. But words of this form of termination are little abundant in our language ; and fo the popular fong of God fave the King, which has three confecutive verfes in every four, of the fame meafure with the firft and third of Drayton's ftanza, is found in large proportion liable to the fame ambiguity, In bifhop Percy's collection of old Englifh poetry, we find a poem in the triple cadence, whence the biihop has taken occafion for one of thofe interfperfed diflertations, with which he has L 4 / added 152, INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF added variety and intereft to his publication. The poem, intitled the Complaint of Confcience, is without date, but feems to have been of Henry the Eighth or Edward the Sixth's reign ; for that it did not precede the reformation is marked by the mention of wives and children of the clergy. The only known copy is fo incorrect, that the learned editor has thought it neceffary to hazard fome amendments, and ftill the verfes are occa- fionally halting. The intended meafure however is perfectly obvious. The firft ftanza runs thus : As I walked of late by an wood fide, To God for to meditate was mine entent, Where lender an Hawthorne I fuddenlye fpyed, A filly poor creature, ragged and rent, With bloody teares his face was befprent, His fleflie and his color confumed away, And his garments they were all mire, mucke, and clay. In the fame collection are many older examples of the triple meafure, in poems of confiderable merit ; efpecially one intitled the Yurnament of Tottenham, which, in fubject analogous to the famed work of Cervantes, for purity of taile, as well as ingenuity m wit, might bear a comparifon with it. Neverthelefs the meafure, owing pro- bably in a great degree to the careleflhefs and error of tranfcribers, is frequently found halting; and fo is every other example of the triple meafure in the bifhop's three volumes. It is to our book of common prayer that I muft refer for the moft per- fect HARMONY IN LANCUAGI. feet example of the triple meafure that I have found of fo early an age. That commonly called the old verfion of the hundred and fourth Pfalm muft be, I fuppofe, as old as the Complaint of Con- fcience, or perhaps older, and its meafure is of thc Jame kind : My foul praife the Lord, Speak good of his name, O Lord our great God, How doft thou appear! How paffing in glory ! ttcr.v great is thy fame ! Honour and Majefty In thee fljine moil clear. The accentuation of the words Honour and Majefty, is what obtained in Chaucer's time, and was not wholly obfolete in Spenfer's, the acute on the laft : but this excepted, nothing different from modern pronuntiation is required to make thefe lines throughout fmooth and harmonious. In the next ftanza a halting verfe occurs, In the clouds full fure. This, however, feems to owe its awkward gait to modern pronuntiation and orthography, the author having probably red, I'th cloudes full fure, making cloudes a diflyllable, like Chaucer, and re- ducing in the to a monofyliable, as we find frequent in Shakefpear. Thus then we trace the triple cadence, in rimed verfe, perfect as high as the age of the Reforma- tion. But far beyond that age there was Englifli poetry 154 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF poetry WITHOUT RIME, which we find to have been in its day highly popular, yet which has fo gone into defuetude, that the intended meafure has become, even to learned and ingenious inveftiga- tors of our early poetry, incomprehenfible * The ' verfes,' fays Mr. Ellis, who appears to have examined the obfervations of preceding critics, ' are not diftinguifhed from profe, either by a de- ' terminate number of fyllables, or by rime, or * indeed by any other apparent teft, except the ' fludied occurrence of the fame letter three times ' in each line ; a contrivance \vhichwe mould not ' fufpedt of producing much harmony. Thismea- * fure is referred by Dr. Percy to one of the hun- * dred and thirty-fix different kinds of meter, * which Wormius has difcovered among the Ice- * landic poets.' It is only for the notice with which fuch critics as Mr. Ellis and the bifhop of Dromore have ho- nored it, that I can have any refpecl; for Wormius's difcovery of a hundred and thirty-fix Icelandic meafures. But the bilhop, in his (hort preface to the poem intitled, the Complaint of Confcience, and in the following obfervations on the meter of Pierce Plowman's Vifion, has indicated that all the old unrimed Englifh poetry has the fame meafure as the Complaint of Confcience ; and that allitera- tion, not the conftituent, for it cannot be the con- ftituent of meafure, is ufed for ornament only in the latter poem, as rime is in the former. Illuftra- ' tion HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. tion of the juftnefs of this indication will not require any deep or difficult refearch. The bifhop has named the meter of Pierce Plowman's Viiion for the fubject of his obferva- tions, only as that curious poem is the mod generally known of many in the fame meafure, c that fingular * fpacies of verification,' as Ite fays, * the nature of * which has been fo little underftood.' The time when that poem was competed, is pretty well af- certained to have been about the year 1350, or not long after. The author is faid by Crowley, the firft printer of it, to have been Robert Langland, a fecular fie ft, and fellow of Oriel college, in Ox- ford, born at Mortimer's Cleobury in Shropshire i but, Mr.. Ellis fays, * the only remaining evidence ' rather indicates that his name was William.' The fame elegant critic gives the character of the poem thus : ' It is full of good fenfe and piety, rendered * interefting by a fucceffion of incidents, inlivened * by flrong fatire, and ornamented by many fine * fpecimens of defcriptive poetry, in which the ' genius of the author appears to great advantage.' Such merit will give intereft to the inveftigation of the meafure, which will alone be our butinefs here. Notwithftanding the imagined deficiency of meafure, and the certain want of rime, in an age when Chaucer was giving new vogue to rime, and new grace to meafure in the Englifh language, the form of the verfe of Pierce Plowman's Vifion was popular enough to induce another writer of no mean 156 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF mean talent, to chufe the fame, Tome years after, for a poem of analogous fubject, which is yet ex- tant, with the title of Pierce Plowman's Creed. Mr. Ellis has obferved that this bears evidence of having been compofed after the 'death of Wickliffe, which happened in 1384, and is therefore more modern than many of Chaucer's works. It cannot but follow that the author of the Creed, whofe purpofe was to imprefs the people, muft have reck- oned upon the meafure of the Vifion as a form of verfe then grateful to the popular ear, not lefs, or hardly lefs, than thofe which Gower and Chaucer had been leading to new favor. But the popu- larity of the Vifion was not momentary. Near two centuries after its firft publication in manufcript, three editions of it were printed in the one year 1350, by Robert Crowley, and a fourth in 1561, by Owen Rogers. And there remains evidence that even its meafure continued nearly thus long to hold popular favor ; for, in the fixteenth century, it was chofen for a poem of confiderable length of the Epic kind, defcribing the memorable battle of Floddon, won by the earl of Surrey, agamfl James the Fourth of Scotland, who fell in it, in 1513. The date of the poem is nearly afcertained, by the mention of the death of James Stanley, bifhop of- Ely, as a recent event, which happened in 1515. Percy, on the Meter of Pierce Plowman's Vafion. Rel. of An. Po. vol. i, Alliteration HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. Alliteration is fhown by bifhop Percy to have been ufed occafionally by Icelandic, Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, and French poets, but with any re- gularity and conftancy, only* as far as appears, by Englifh poets of the fourteenth,flfteenth,and begin-* ning of the fixteenth centuries. It will be obvious that alliteration cannot make poetical meafure. It might poffibly, like rime, affift the indication of meafure, tho far lefs powerfully than rime. But it has been ufed by the author of Pierce Plow- man's Vifion, and the other alliterating poets, without aim at the regularity neceflary to the indication of meafure, as a meer ornament for the amufement of the ear. That Pierce Plow- man's Vifion, however, and all the works of its kind, had poetical meafure, and were properly verfe, in the pronuntiation of their day, is un- queftionable. The manner of writing them, in old manufcripts, mentioned by bifhop Percy, would alone indicate fo much. But we have no occafion to reft on fuch indication. The three very firfl lines of the long paflage given by Mr. Ellis, from the Vifion, are, in modern pronuntiation, without any help, perfectly harmo- nious four-footed verfes of the triple cadence; the fourth halts : I wot well, quoth Hunger, what ficknefs you aileth ; Ye have manged overmuch, and that maketh you groan t And I hote thee, quoth Hungfr, as thou thy heal willed, That thou drink no day ere thou dine fomewhar. The 158 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP The failure of rime, with a meafure with which we have been accuftomed to it, makes a deceiving change, like the failure of the ufual drefs in a fami- liar acquaintance. Let rime then be added, and it will efcape none that thefe lines are ordinary four- footed verfes of the triple cadence ; the three firft perfect, like thofe lately quoted from Tufler, the fourth wanting fomething, like feveral in the Com 2 plaint of Confcience : I wot well, quoth Hunger, what ficknefs you aileth ; Ye have manged overmuch, and that maketh you groan : And I hote thee, quoth Hunger, or health furely faileth, That thou dine every day ere thou take drink alone. .Some mcorrectneffes, in poems derived from times before the age of printing, we mail be taught by the admonitions of Chaucer and his early edi- UuSvtq expect ; and fo to expect as not to attribute them to the poet himfelf. With obfervation and companion however, we mail find this unrimed verfe-of the triple cadence little lefs generally, of lefs eafily, to be reftored than Chaucer's, and other rimed poetry of the even cadence, of the fame age* Rarely indeed more than three lines together, even of Chaucer's, are found wholly unwanting medica- tion. For the fourth of thefe from the Vilion, no deep fearch, no fuppofition of what is not conti- nually occurring in our early verification, is needed, It firft halts with the monofyllable drink. But it win HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. ip will not be forgotten that notice has formerly been taken of the impoflibility of flopping the voice with the enuntiation of a mute confonant p ; whence our forefathers commonly added an orthographical e, and, as we may gather from their poetry, pro- nounced it ; not after the manner of the prefent day, in an unavoidable whiiper, but aloud, giving it importance enough to have allowance as a po- etical fyllable. The voice indeed, unable to flop with the enuntiation of a mute confonant, can however pafs immediately to the pronuntiation of another confonant, provided a vowel precede the firfl ; but from the diflindt enuntiation of the two confonants nk it cannot proceed to a third, without the whifpered vowel. The e, ufually concluding the word drinks in our early orthography, has certainly been ill omitted here; and, with its pronuntiation, the meafure of the former half of the verfe will be filled. The liquid confonant n does not at all require any following found. But, in Langland's age, the word dine was yet re- cently gained from the French ; and as, eren in old Englilh words, the final vowel, which now paffes in a whifper, was then often if not generally fpoken aloud, it is poffible that the poet may have reckoned upon a fecond fyllable in that word. For the modern reader, the antient pronuntiation of the -line may pernaps befl be pointed out by * Se&ion II. of this Inquiry. the l6o INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF the character a fubftituted for the antient e t thus, That thou drinka no day ere thou dina fomewhat. The difpofition to this pronuntiation, in the fpeech of our forefathers, appears in many old fcngs, as in this of Shakefpear : Jog on, jog on the footpath way, And merrily bend the ftile-a: A merry heart goes all the day ; Your fad tires in a mile-a. Winter's Tale, A& 4. But, in the weflern provincial dialect, the word dinner is ufed as a verb, inftead of dine, fo that the line would run, That thou drinka no day ere thou dinner fomewhat. In the fame dialed: it is alfo ordinary to intro- duce a fhort a between two confonants, for eafy utterance, anywhere : fo that the word fomewhat, tho in colloquial hurry reduced to fuminiit, would, in more deliberate -delivery be fomawhat. Whe- ther thefe modes of fpeaking obtain in Shropfhire, the poet's fuppofed country, or in Worceftermire, where the fcene of the poem is laid, I have not obterved ; but I have thought them deferving mention, for the fake of mowing that our provin- cial dialects, now faft wearing out, may yet fome- times furnim correction for the corruptions, which the polite learning of editors has introduced into the works of our elder poets. Where HARMONY Ift LANGUAGE. Where fo much corruption has been, as the un- queftionable authority of Chaucer, with the proofs found in his editors, give us ground to fuppofe, and the many learned and able modern inquirers after our antient poetry concur in noticing, it would be unreafonable to expect that every verfe efanyofthofe early poems is to be reftored to priftine purity, or that the proper harmony of all, were all certainly reftored, could be clearly de- monftrated : arid perhaps* as even in modern po- - etry here and there a line of lefs pleating flow may occur, fo alfo in the elder there may be fome which, even with the pronunciation of their day, were lefs perfect. We may however refer to the riming poets for example of mod of the apparent irregularities, or perhaps all, to be found in this unfimed verfe. The licences ufed by riming poets, in verfe of the triple cadence, are princi- pally to omit, without limitation, one, and fome- times both the grave fyllables of the firft foot, to extend this licence to the third foot, as the begin^ ning of a fecond hemiftic, or, father, as we find it among the earlier, another verfe. A grave fyl* lable is alfo fometimes found added, and fome- times dropped, in almofl every part of the rerfe : but where this has been the purpofe of the poet, and where the fault of the tranfcriber, is often impoffible now to tell. It muft fuiEce us, there* fore, if the purpofcd harmony is not always clear, M that l62 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF that it is often obvious, and rarely beyond reafon- able conjecture ; and that, when difcovered, it is commonly, even with the pronuntiation of a mo- dern voice, fatisfactory to the modern ear. For i'luftration, through fome remarks, I will add a few lines from the Vifion, tho means occur at prefent to give them only from Mr. ElhYs quotation, de- prived of the old orthography. Eat | not, I hote j thee, till hunjger thee take, And fend | thee of his fa;ice | to favour | with thy lips : And keep | fome till fupper | lime, and sit | not too long, And rife j up ere appejtite have eatjen his fill. Let j not fir Surjfeit fit | on thy board. Leve him not j for he is lechejrous and licojrous of tongue, And after many j manner of meat J his maw | is a-hungered, And if thou dijet thee thus { I ('are J lay my ears That Phyjfick fhall his furjred cloke for } his food fell, And his cloke \ of Calajbrie with ail his j knops of gold, And be fain, J by my faith, j his ph/|fick to let, And learn to lajbour with hand, | for li-ve|lode is fweet. For muqderers are many j leeches ; Lord, j hem amend ! They do men die } by their drmks j ere'defttjny it would. The meafure of thele lines, with modern pro- nuntiation, fuch as the orthography indicates, not everywhere exact, is .yet abundantly obvious. The inexactnefs however arifes nowhere from de- ficiency, as in the former lines (for I con&der the total failure of grave fyllables in the fi'rfl foot, difcreetly ufed, as within the claimed licence of the meafure.) but from fuperfluity of fyllables. Our copies HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 163 copies of Shakefpear, and other poets of his age, ihovv that it would be in the manner of fpeech of our anceftors to retrench fome 6f the fuperfluities ; and it feems probable that fome have been added by the careleflhefs, or perhaps the ignorant zeal of tranfcribers. The paflage, including the four lines firfl quoted, might be given, not with any certainty, but I think with a fair probability of directing the modern voice very nearly to the old harmony, thus : I wot | well, quoth Hun|ger, what fickjnefs you aileth : Ye have manged j overmuch, | and that majketh you groan. And I hote | thee, quoth Hunjger, as thou | thy heal willeft, That thou drinkja no day | ere thou dine J fomawhat. Eat | not, I hote j ihee, ere hunjger thee take, And fend | thee o's fauce j to favour j with thy lips. Keep | fome till fupjper, and fit | not too long, And rife | up ere appe|tite have eat|en his fill. Let | not fir Surjfeit fit | on thy board. / Leve him not, j for he's lechejrous and licojrous of ton^ After many | manner of meat | his maw | is a-hungeredi An thou dilet thee thus, | I dare | lay mine ears That Phyjfic (hall's furjred cloke for | his food fell, And his cloke | of Calajbrie with all's | knops of gold, And be fain, | by my faith, | his phyjfic to let, and Learn to lajbor * with hand ; | for live|lode is fweet. For * It is evident from Chaucer that words of this form, bor- rowed with uncertain accent from the French, were in poetry, however it might be in profe, acuted on cither fyllable, as the poet's convenience might require. M 2 164 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF For murdjerers are many | leeches; Lord, J hem amend! Men die | by their drinks } ere defti]ny r it would. Bifhop Percy has given two extracts from a poem of confiderable length in the fame meafure as the Vifion, and, in his' opinion, as old, or older. Chrift, Chriften king, that on the crofle tholed. Had paines and paflyons to defend our foules. Give us grace on the ground the greatly to ferve, For that royall red blood that ran from thy fide. Rough as fome of thefe verfes may appear at firft fight, very little is wanting to make them harmonious for the modern voice. To indicate the proper harmony to the modern eye, I would write them thus: Chrift, Chriftian king, that on the crofs thcled, Had pains and paffions to defend ouer foules. Give us grace on the ground thee greatly to ferve, For that royal red blood that nm from thy fide. The Latin Chriilianus,' the Italian Criftiano, the French Chretien, from one of which the word written Chriften mud have been derived, would Jill authorize the orthography Chriftian, and the pronuntiation of three fyllables ; which,- in Shake- * The word dejliny would be likely to gain its accentuation from the Italian, which, by its poets in books, and by its prieftj in converfation, has contributed more perhaps to our language than has been generally noticed. (pear's HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 16$ fpear's time we find was continually given, at lead in the delivery of poetry, to words of that form. Words of the form of our we find alfo frequently, among the poets of his age, poetical diffyllables. But in Chaucer the Saxon termination of the in- finitive mood an or en is of frequent occurrence, fo that, taking our as a monofyllable, the meafure may have been rendered complete by making the preceding word a trifly liable, defsnden. It was lefs ufual in Chaucer's time to omit the prepofitive fign of the infinitive mood to, even when the Saxon infinitive termination was ufed; otherwite, pajfions being adopted from the French, and therefore capa- ble of the acute accent either on the laft or the firft fyllable, the diftic might have run thus : Had paines and paeons Defenden our fouls. I do not mean to offer this as an equally pro- bable reading with either of the others, but it ap- peared worth while fo far to indicate the various ways in which, confiftently with what we find to have been the practice in the old language, the apparent imperfections of the verfe may be ob- viated. The other verfes of this extract want no* correction or explanation. Rime perhaps they may want to fatisfy the modern ear, but their mea- fure is obvioufly regular, of the fame kind with that of the hundred and fourth pfalm already quoted. M 3 From l66 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF From the fame poem the biQiop has extracted the following defcription of Life perfonified, which may, on more than one account, deferve notice, tho the verification only will be our object here. Shee was brighter of her blee then was the bright fonn ; Her rudcl redder than the rofe that on the rife hangeth ; Meekely fmiling with her mouth and merry in her lookes, Ever laughing for love as fhe like would. And as (he came by the bankes the boughes, eche one, They louted to that ladye, and laid forth their branchet, Bloflbmes and burgens breathed full fweete. Flowers flouriuVd in the frith where fhee forth ftepped, And the grafle that was gray greened belive. Irregular in meafure and deficient in harmony as thefe lines are, with the pronuntiation indicated by their orthography for the modern voice, yet a very moderate allowance only for thofe circum- flances of the pronuntiation of their own day, and of the errors of tranfcribers, which have been al- ready noticed, is wanting to make them regular and harmonious. Where fyllables fail, the loud pronuntiation of the now filent or whifpered , or the introduction of the Anglo-Saxon augment y t or 0, fo ordinary in Chaucer's time and not wholly obfolete in Addition's, will afford all the neceflary fupply. Where fyllables overabound, the elifions familiar in Shakefpear's age, or the omiflion of an expletive, fuch as feem to have been often inr truded HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 167 trudecl by hafty tranfcribers, will reduce them to their juft number. Perhaps the alterations here following, tho I think all within probability, arc rather more than were ablblutely necefTary : She was brighter o' her blec ' than was the bright fun ; Her rud redder than th' rofe l that on the rife u hangeth; Meekely fmiling wi* her mouth and merry in her lookes, Ever laughing for love, as file like awould. As (he came by the bankes the boughes everich one They louteu v to th' lady and laid forth their branches. Bloflbms and burgens breathed full fweete. Flowers flourifh'd i' th' frith w where fhe forth aftepped, And the grafs that was gray agreened belive x . To thofe whom curiofity may lead to defire ac- quaintance with this old poetry, the continual halting of the verfe, neceffarily incident with fuch pronuntiaticn as the orthography, under the rules and cuftom of the prefent day, indicates, cannot but be annoying, offenfive, and ^ven repelling. For the chance therefore of a little affifting toward the removal of fuch an obilacle, 1 will mark the meafures of another paflage of the * Saxon bleo, cclor. * In northern Englifh pronunciation, at this day, it is trtfc. * Shoot or twig. r Bowed. w Copfe-wooJ. The words /////; and rife are ftill in ufe in the weftern dialed, for hcdging-wood. * Became gretn immediately. Belive is yet, in the northern dialeft, the ordinary word to exprefs immediately. M 4 Vifion, INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Vilion, which has been a favorite among the In* quirers after our early poets, and which, as Miy Ellis has obferved, may have fuggefted to Milton his fublirne defcription of the Lazar-houfe, in the eleventh book of Paradife Loft. For the reader lefs verfed in our elder language, it may be need- ful to mention that Kinde is the word in ufe in it * to mean Nature ; and it muft be obferved that the firfl phrafe of the paflage has an Anglo-Saxon in- verfion, through which, in confequence of the lofs of the cafes from our prefei t fpeech, the fenfe is. lefs obvious. The words, in their modern order, would run < Kinde (or Nature) then heard Con- * fcience.' The inverfion affords ftrong proof of the author's attention to meafure ; for meafure alone, as far as appears, can have led him to ufe it. His mythology, it will be obferved, has not been derived from the Greek or Latin, for he makes Kinde mafculine : Kinde Conscience then heard, | and came out | of the planets, And fent | forth his forjayers *, fejvers and fluxes, Coughs | and cardijacles, cramps, J and tooth-aches, Boiljes and blotch |es and burnjing agues, Phrencjfis and foul | evil forlayers of Kinde. There * Mr. Ellis has given farriers, which he interprets/wvigrr/. But only three lines farther he gives' fcragers in the text. I have already remarked the interchanged ufe of g and y among our forefathers, whence I reckon myfelf warranted, for the fake pnly of a ready exhibition of the meaffire, to write foraycrs in |otb places. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. There was " Harjow ! and hel|pe ! here | cometh Kinde, " With Death J that is dreadjful, to unldon z us all !" A|ge the hoar | he was in | the van-ward, And bare th' banjner 'fore Death : | by right j he it claimed. Kind|e came afjter, with ma|ny keen fores, Pox and j peftilenjces, and much J people fiicnt; So Kind, | through corruptions kiljled full many. Death came J driving afjter, and all J to duft paflied, Kingles and kay|fers, knightjSs and popes: Many a lovjely laldy, and lemjan of knightcs, Swoonjed and fweltjed for forjrow of Death's dints. Our next ftep will carry us beyond the utmoft period to which Englifh poetry of the even ca- dence, or any regularly rimed Englim poetry, has been traced. Mr. Ellis has given an extract of considerable length from a poem, highly curious for its age and its language, preferved among the Cotton manufcripts in the Britifh mufeum, an Englifh tranflation of a French poetical verfion of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Britifh hiftory. The date is afligned to about the year 1185. The dialect is (ingularly uncouth. In Langland's poem we find the Engliih already a language, tho not polimed, yet no way grofsly irregular, and in a confiderable degree capable, by its copioufnefs and its force, of every purpofe of eloquence. Eyen in thofe ear- lieft poems which Johnfon has intitled Saxon, there is all the regularity of a formed language; and they are really Englith, little differing from the z Undon, contracted from Undoan, the Saxon infinitive. provincial INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF provincial dialects, flill fpoken, tho now faft going into obfolction. But in Layamon of Ernley's tranf- lation of Wace's Brut, there is all the appearance of a language thrown into confufion by the cir- cumflances of thofe who fpoke it, and flrugling to adapt itfelf to the new flate of things. It is truly neither Saxon nor Englifh. Far lefs therefore than in Pierce Plowman's Vifion, or the Poem in- titled Life and Death, ought we to expect, in every line, clear indication of the harmony intended : It fhould fuffice if we find frequently that refemblance to the verfirkation of the more formed language cf following poets, which may furnifli reafonable prefumption what the character of the harmony was throughout. Authority, on which explanations might be given, or corrections ventured, of courfe can be little to be found. We have however the advantage, fuch as it may be, that can be drawn from the genuine old orthography ; which Mr. Ellis has no otherwife altered than by fubftituting the two letters //; for the better practice of our fore- fathers to exprefs the found by a fingle character. For example I mail not delire to feek beyond the firft lines of his extract j and, all things confidered, I think it will appear rather wonderful that the identical triple meafure of Pierce Plowman's vifion is fo often confpicuous, than if there are fome lines in which we may be unable to cjifcover the fame or any other meafure, Tha HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. Tha the mafs j was ifungen When the rnafs was fung Of chireken" heo thrungen, From church they thronged. The. king, | mid his foike, The king amid his folk To his J mete verde, To his meat fared, (wene.) And muc|le his duyethe.* And much of his nobiliry. Drem j wesonhirede. Joy was through the palace. Tha quene j on other halve The queen, on the other fide, Her herjberwe ifohte. Her harbour (apartment} fought. Hf6 j hafde if wifmonnc She had of women Wunjder ane moui-en. Wonderous many a one. Tha the king | was ifeten When the king was feated Mid his monjnen to his mete, Amid his men to his meat, To than c king j came the bif- To the king came the biflhop, cop Seind Dujbrig the was fo god, Saint Dubrig that was fogood, And nom | of his hafde . And took off from his head His kinc| helm htelme. His king-helmet high. (For thai | mucle golde For that mnchgo'd The king | hine bear n'alde.) The king himfelt bear not w.uld (did not chufe to bear.) And dude | ane lafle crune And did (placed) a lefs crown On thas kinges hafde. Upon the king's head. And In Mr. Eliis's book chirccken. But as neither the tenor of the orthography in this poem, nor the older Saxon orthography, countenance the accumulation of confonants, we may reafona- bly fufpeft mifwriting, and that it is ihus a e has been intruded unwarranted, or the word intended may have been chireken. b Mr. Ellis, aware of the varying pronuntiation of the Saxon 5 has given the Saxon character, which, as the meafure is no way concerned, feemed here unneceflary, f The Saxon accufetive. 7* INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF And feoth-then | hegon do And prefently then he went and did Athere quejne alfwo. By the queen alfo. Inne Troie j this was laye, In Troy this was law Bih core ae'iderne daye, From their elder days, Tha Brut|tes of come, Whence the Britons came, The weoren j wel idone, (Forthofe) that were well edij- cated, A'l|e tha wepmen All the weapon-men At heore | mete feten At their meat fate Sundi | bi heom feolvcn. Afunder by themfelves. That heom { thuhle weldon ; (That by them was thoijght well done) And a'ijfvva tha wifmen, And alfo the women Heore iwune hafden. Their apartment had. We are now already far. advanced into the age when literature, never wholly extinct, was almoft wholly confined to monafteries. Of the laity few could read : almoft all the little learning among them was, for memory fake, and for ingaging at- tention, clothed in verfe, and communicated in fong, commonly with the accompaniment of an in- flrument. The cotemporary hiftorian of the great Alfred, Afler, informs us that the literary educa- tion of that extraordinary prince began with learn- ing fongs in his own language j and; it is from an expreffion of that extraordinary prince himfelf, in a literary work remaining from him, that bimop Percy juftly infers how ordinary, and almoft uni- yerfal it was, in his time, for thp mufic of an inftrument HARMONY- IN LANGUAGE. 173 inftrument to accompany the recitation of poetry. We have already noticed the power of mufic fo to hide defects in verification, that profe may be made to take its ftep from mufical cadence, as if it were verfe. It has alfo occurred for notice that three fyllables may form a foot of the even cadence, accommodated to three notes filling a bar of com- mon mulical time, where one note is equal in length to the two others ; and fo two fyllables may make a foot of the triple cadence, accommodated to two notes forming a bar of triple mufical time, one of which is double in length to the other, From this facility of mufical divifion, and the readinefs with which the ear, habituated to the ftroke of accent for indication of meafure, con- cedes to mufical arrangement the proper orthoepi- cal length of fyllables, the riming miniftrels took opportunity for licentioufnefs in meafure, far be- yond any that can be fairly attributed to thofc poets of their age who ufed unrimed verfe. Of many of the early pieces, air- of them in rime, in bilhop Percy's collection, it may, on firft view, be difficult to fay whether they were intended for common or triple meafure. The learned editor has put accentual marks to fome of the words, for the purpofe of relieving his reader from the perplexity which the apparent irregularity of the meafure might occafion. His marks, all directing a pro- nunciation different from what modern cuftom would 174 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF would allow, fhow that he fuppofed the even ca dence intended. But I think, on careful examin- ation, it will appear that in all the earlier, the triple cadence has been intended, and that the accentual marks, directing to a pronuntiation different from the modern, directs generally to what was not in the poets contemplation. The more modem fong of Chevy Chace, of which Addiibn has given his elegant criticifm, miftaking it, as tjie learned bifhop has well obferved, for the original, is evidently enough the common modern ilanza of alternately four feet and three, of the even cadence. Accord- ingly the old tune, perhaps compofed for it on its firft publication in Queen Elizabeth's reign, is in common time. But the original fong, the firft in the collection, appears very evidently intended for the triple cadence. In any endeavour to bring it to the even cadence, it will remain, as the bifhop feems to have been aware, rough and inharmo- nious, beyond what is commonly found in fongs of its day, Englim, Scotifla, or of the marches between the two ; and far beyond what could be likely to belong to a poem that acquired fuch popularity, and ftill in Queen Elizabeth's reign was the delight of Sir Philip Sidney. But let the triple cadence be taken for the bafis of its harmony, and there will be fcarcely any roughnefs that will not give way to pronuntiation warranted by what re- mains indicated of the pronuntiation of thofe times; i or HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. I J $ or to correction, that may derive probability from the varieties to be found in manufcripts. In tracing our poetry upward into antiquity, the oldeft which we have been examining, cor- rupted Anglofaxon, but flill Anglofaxon, with fcarcely any mixture of another language, affords evidence of a pronuntiation bearing a general ana- logy to that now ufed by us, fo ftrong as to in- courage a further profecution of the inquiry. My purpofe however will be but a flight examination of the older and purer Anglofaxon poetry, leaving deeper inveftigation for thofe better provided with learning and leifure. Errors in tranfcription, which we find fo abounded in Chaucer's age and after him, we may reafonably fufpect of being numerous in Anglofaxon manufcripts. It could hardly be otherwife, when to gather a poem from recitation was ordinary, from reading rare. And unfortunately we do not poflefs means, as for Chaucer's age, to ga- ther their kind, or to calculate their amount. For this, therefore, among other reafons, I fhall take my examples where it has happened to me, with little fludy of the language, to find both the fenfe and the harmony mod obvious; and I have thought it bed to give them in characters familiar to all readers, only referving the Anglofaxon fimple rc- prelentatives of the founds for which we now ufe the two characters ///. Hwat ic lioj>a fela I who poems many Luftlice yeo L uftily (joyfully) erft Sane 176 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Sane onfaelum, Sang unfeldom (not feldom) Nu fceal fiofigende Now fhall bemoaning, Wope yewseged With weeping worn, tVreccea yiomor* A wretched exile, Singan farcwidas. Sing fore-quothings (forrow&u fayings) Me ftios siccetung. Me this fighing Hafaj) agiled. Hath enervated. In this paftage, from the verfion of Boethius, attributed to the great Alfred, the language is in fo large a proportion the language of the prefent day, that, after tracing our verification through the intermediate ftages, there feems little hazard in affigning the accents as I have ventured to af- fign them; and then the triple cadence, with ,very little failure of grave fyllables, is obvious through- out. The meafure is that of the hundred and fourth pfalm, except that the firft foot is generally without an unaccented fyllable, like Metaftafio's Scendi propizia. In the next extract from the fame curious work, a freer ufe, if we may truft the copy for corredl- nefs, has been made of the licence to give only two fyllables to a foot of the triple cadence. Whether the quantity, or proper time of enun- tiation of fyllables warranted this in any inffance, or in any degree, it is irnpoffible now to know j d Wreccea or Wrecca, an Exile, whence etymologifts derive our word Wretch, Diomop, forro-zuful, wretched. but HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 177 but the irregularity, appears certainly not greater than has been ordinary with the riming minftrels of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, nor is it fuch but that the triple cadence of the Englifli poetry, through which we have been tracing it, is abundantly evident. O thou fliaping (creator of) The (hining ftars Heavens and earth, Thou on high-feat (a throne) Ever reignelh And thou all rapid Heaven round whirled 1 , And through thy holy might The ftars beneedefl (compelleft) That they to thee hearken. Like as the fun Of fwarthy night Thedarknefsclifpelleth Through thy might, So its blacknefs with light Bright of ftars fcippend Scirra tungla Hefones and eorjan, Du on heahfetle E'cum ricfaft, And Su ealne hra'fe Hefon ymbhwe'arfeft, A'nd SSurh }>ine haliye miht e Tunglu yepedeft Daet hi 'Se to heraj>. Swy'lce feo funne Sweartra nihta Dioftro adwa^fcej) Durh thine miht, Blacum leohte Beorhte fteorran c This line, in the printed copy, forms two lines. In the old manufcripts the ends of the verfes are commonly marked by points. It is obvious how likely fuch points muft be to fail and to overabound, through careleflhefs or accident. Accordingly inftances are evident where two and even more verfes are writ- ten, and, in fcrupulous conformity to the manufcript, printed as one, as well as where one is divided into two; and perhaps fometimes what we find given as three verfes fliould be only two, dividing the middle line nearly in it* middle. N Mona 178 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Mona yemetyath The moon tempers Durh Sinra mehta fped. Through thy might's fpeed (effi- cacy.) In the frequent occurrence of two vowels to- gether in Anglo-Saxon words, it cannot now be known with certainty where they may have formed two fyllables, where only one, where they may have had a proper diphthongal enuntiation, and where they may have reprefented but a fimple vowel found. But it is to be obferved that, in all our provincial dialects, the pronuntiation of two vowels, with fometimes more and fometimes lefs of diphthongal union, abounds ; efpecially in the wcftern, which after the union of the heptarchy, was of courfe the court dialect. But our poets of the prefent day ufe the liberty, in fome cafes, where vowels meet, at their pleafure to give them diftincYton, as forming two fyllables, or to melt them into one ; or, however, to reckon them as filling the ordinary meafure of one only. Thus Gray has written: . . Full many a flower is born to blufti unfeen. In this verfe are two triflyllabical feet, which might have been avoided, and the meafure would have been unqueftionably regular, tho with effect far lefs pleafing, were it written thus : Full many flowers blow to blufh unfeen. I think the probability of equal licence among the Anglo-Saxon poets, may be fairly reckoned uponj HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 170 upon; and then there will be no difficulty in arranging in triple cadence the following lines of the celebrated ode in the Saxon chronicle on Athenian's victory. In moft of them, indeed, that cadence is ftrikingly obvious. Her '.^thelftan cy'ning, 'Eorla drihten, Beorna bean gifa 'And his brothor eac 'Eadmund 'Atheling 'Ealdor langne tyr, Yesloyon at fsecce, Sweorda ecgum, Ymbe Brunanburh. Bord-wealsclufan Heowan h heatholinda. Hamora 1 lafan Afaran Eadwardes. Here (at this time) Athelftan king, Of earls the lord, Of barons the liberal remune- rator, And his brother eke, Edmund Athcling Through long anceftry fupreme- ly eminent Slew at fack r (made Jlaughter in Battle) With fvvords* edges About Brunanburh. Well-built \yalls they clove Of fortrefles lofty. The fpoil was left To Edward's progeny. Swa f Johnfon derivesy^c^ from the Spanifli/zajr, the French choc and the Dutch fchocken, miffing the Saxon word which has been the original moft probably of the firft, and per- haps of all. tBord-ivtal feems to have meant a wall artificially jointed, in contradiftindlion from weal, fimply, which was more com- monly ufed to exprefs a wall of inferior materials or ruder con- ftru&ion, more common, in thofe days, than better building, h Hetnu, feptum. Lye and Manning's dictionary. 1 Hanty Hama, Horn, Sax. Hamur^ Cimbr. //, cxuvi and ibmetimes on the con- trary, tho rarely, o becoming ti. The Latin confonants appear to have been moftly what are reprefented by the fame characters in mod of the modern languages of Europe. Dif- ficulty or doubt occur only about c, and/, and v. Whether c before e and / was pronounced like the Englifh ch, as by the modern Romans, Tufcans, and Neapolitans, or like the Englifh c, bearing in that fituation the power of j, which is the pro- nuntiation of the Bolognefe, Venetians, and all the Lombards, as well as of the Spaniards, Portu- guefe, Provincials, Gafcoons, of the greater part of thofe in fhort, whofe fpeeches approach the Italian in affinity with the Latin, is a queflion that can probably never be refolved. What alfo was that pronuntiation of /which, in the times of Cicero and Quint ilian, defied the power of a Grecian voke*, will probably be ever fought in vain ; for the modern Greek

, and dico Jeieo ; cgi, the preterit with the temporal augment from ago> preferved the a thus, aegi ; and edi and emifrom edo and cmo^ doubled the e ihub ecdi, eemi. Jnftances, as he remarks, are numerous in the Leges regix & Decemvirales, collected by Lipfius, and given, alfo by Sylburgius. long 206 INQUIRY INTO f HE PRINCIPLES OF long fy liable j a fhort vowel, followed by only one confonant made a fhort fyllable : with two con- fonants following a fhort vowel, the fyllable be-* came long. In regard to vowels followed by vowels, the languages differed : in Greek fuch fyllables were often ftill long; in proper Latin words never. Long fyllables, being not all com- pofed alike, had fmall differences of length ; per^ ceptible when carefully balanced, as had alfo fhort fyllables 1 ; but for the purpofes of rhythmus and poetical meafure, the fimple diftin&ion into long and fhort, the long confidered as double in time to the fhort, was efteemed fufficient. From the rules, thus delivered to us, and from the practice of the poets, the meafure of a very large proportion of the fyllables of each language is with certainty known ; fo that for the juft ex- preflion of the quantity in pronuntiation, our dif- ficulty is that, and that alone, wl^ich we find for the peculiarities in the pronuntiation of any living language not familiar to us, arifmg from want of habit in the organs. Nor is there anything elfe, in regard to quantity, of any confideration that has been in controverfy among the modern learned*. ..Not * Dion. Hal. Struft. Or. tt Some Scottidi writers, indeed, of great learning* particularly the lords of feffion, Kaimes and Monboddo, have imagined a fomething in antient verfe evidently unknowu to Diouyfius, Cicero, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. Not fo with regard to ACCENT : it has been muchdifputed what the antient accent was. Never- thelefs thus much we find abundantly and clearly and concurrently afferted by all the ablefl antient writers, and they were fingularly able men from whom we have the teftimony, that accent w"as the TONE given to a fyllable in pronuntiation. Nor indeed, however the fancies and prejudices of many of the modern learned, warm in the dif- pute about accent and quantity, may have led them to color and difguife this fimple definition, has it been, I think, by any directly controverted. The three great queftions have been, Whether ac- cent is quantity ? Whether accent makes quan- tity ? and Whether the antient accent, however diftincl; from quantity, was not alfo very different from anything ir? the pronuntiation of the polite languages of modem Europe ? After what has preceded, I cannot but hope I may be allowed ta difmifs the two former queffions ; and lo-the third is what I (hall proceed to consider. We learn from concurrent authorities, of the higheft clafs r that every word, equally of the Cicero, and Qumtilian ; and a learned and ingenious French- mrui, of whom Mr. Payne Knight has taken juft notice, has not feated to avow the fancy that he could teach Homer and all the Greek poets to write harmonious Greek verfe. But the no- tions of thcfe learned nnd ingenious men are fo peculiar to them- felves, not at all in common, but feverally, that a ferious at- tempt to refute them could only earn, as it could only deferve, ridicule, Greek 108 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Greek and the Latin language, monofyllables of courfe excepted, had one fyllable offered td the ear more prominently, with a fharper tone, than the reft ; {mail unimportant words only* fometimes, in the flow of fentences, lofing the diftinction w . Here then, in the outfet, we find exact accordance with what is obvious in four, at leaft, of the living languages of Europe, the Italian, the Spanish, the modern Greek, and the Englifh ; I believe I might add the Welfh, the German, and perhaps others : I know of no ex- ception but for the French. In the four languages firft mentioned, the accent is important, not only to the gracefulnefs of pronuntiation, but often to diftinction of meaning. It is altogether fo im- portant, that dictionaries of thofe languages have it marked on every word not monofyllabica], as a matter eflential to the accommodation of learners. But we find that, in the Greek and Latin, the fituation of the acute accent was deter- mined by rules unknown to any modern language of weftern Europe. In regard to thofe rules y how- ever, the two antient languages differed from each other, fcarcely lefs than from thofe modern tongues. The rules for the Latin were remarkably fimple j and they remain delivered to us on the higheft authority, in the cleared terms *. In diffyllabical w Dion. Hal. de Stru<3. Or. f. a, Cic : ad Brut. 18, QyintiL Inft. Or. 1. I, c. 5, &c. * Quintil. Intt. Or. words, UARMONY IN L-ANG9AGE. words, the firft fyllable always bore the acute. In polyfyllables the place of the acute was determined by the quantity of the penultimate : if this was long, the acute refted on it; if fhort, then the antepenultimate, whether long or fhort, bore the acute. The^ rules, tho no living tongue of weftern Europe acknowleges them, are yet eafy in application for modern voices, efpecially Italian and Englifh ; and accordingly all Italian and Eng- lifh fcholars, in fpeaking with any care, pronounce in conformity to them. Thus far then we have nothing to lead us to believe that the accen- tuation of the Latin differed materially from that of mofl of the principal languages of modern Europe. We learn then, from the fame great authority, that the Greek rules differed from the Latin very materially: they were 'far lefs fimple, and the ac- centuation, which had in confequence more variety, was, even to Roman cars, much more pleating than their own. We have not however from the fame, or from any equal authority, a complete account of the Greek rules of accentuation ; the works of eminent men, who, in the beft times, treated exprefsly on the fubject, having been all loft : but, from the befl times, we have numerous criticifms on the accentuation of particular words, in fo many inftances confirming the rules, deli- vered to us indeed only by late grammarians, but P pro- INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF profeffedly drawn by them from writers of the beft ages, that the credit of thofe rules feems altogether abundantly eftablifhed. In Grecian fpeech the Accent was frequently^ where in Latin it never oc- curred, on the laft fyllable;. and, indifferently, on a long or a fhort laft fyllabk* -When not on the laft, its place was generally determined by quantity ; not, however, as in Latin, by the quantity of the pe- nultimate, but generally by that of the laft fylla- ble : if this was long, the penultimate, whatever its quantity, had the acute ; if (hort, then, with a few exceptions, the antepenultimate had the acute. Before the antepenultimate,, equally in Greek and in Latin, the acute was denied a place. In thefe rules, differing from anything obtain- ing in the weftern languages of modern Europe, there is however yet nothing in any manner or degree implying that the accent, in either of the antient learned languages, differed from what is found in the modern Greek, daughter of one, in the Italian and Spanifh, daughters of the other, or in the Englim, which, tho compofed in large proportion of fcions from' the Latin and its deri- vatives, is, in its -flock, of another kind. The antients acknowleged three different ac- cents, acute, grave, and circumflex. Of thefe the aeute is univerfally defcribed as the eminent accent, admitting no equal within the fame word ; and HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 211 and in this the antient and modern languages agree. A term was then wanting to diftinguilh collectively the fyllables which had not the acute, or fharp accent, and the term adopted was Grave, analogous to our mufical term Flat. The circum- flex is defcribed as a compound accent, formed of the (harp and flat combined in one fyllable. The circumflex therefore could have exiflence only in a long fyllable, and, of long fyllables, only in thofe whofe vowel was long. Containing the acute, it was always the principal accent of the word. For place it was confined, in Greek, to the lad fylla- ble and the penultimate ; in Latin, equally with the fimple acute, it was denied to the laffc fyllable. Perhaps in mod modern languages the circumflex exifts, tho probably it was offered to the ear with more characteriftical decillon by antient, and efpe- cially by Grecian voices. The diftinction of acute or (harp and grave or flat, for which the lefs cor- rect terms accented and unaccented are often fub- ftituted, is obvious in perhaps all the languages of modern Europe, except the French, as eflential to a juft pronuntiation. But it has been a favorite notion of fome learned men, that the accents of poetr^, oratory, and even common difcourte, in antient Greece and Rome, in the politefl ages, differed from anything in the polite pronuntiation of modern Europe, being ftrictly mufical ; fo that all communication p 3 by 211 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF by fpeech was in what we call recitative. If there- fore anything remains like it in modern times, it is among the American favages, or, in Europe, among the moft uneducated of the Cornifh Englifh, and perhaps fome people in comers of the continent, remote from capitals. This notion, whatever cha- racter 6f whinificalnefs it may bear, will require fome coniideration, on account, not only of the reputation of thofe who have maintained it, but of the high claffical authority they claim in fupport of it, and moreover as the difcuflion may lead to considerable elucidation of our fubjedr.. The authority relied on, as moft pointedly to the purpofe, is a paflage of Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus. ' The melody of common difcourfe,' fays that able writer, in his Treatife on Litterary Compofi- tion, ' is comprized within the meafure of (that . * interval of the Grecian mufical fyftem called) the ' diapente, never riling more than three tones and ' a hemitone, nor finking more.' When the Grecian mufical fyftem is more com- pletely . explained than it has yet been, we may perhaps be better inabled to judge how far the diapente may be a meafure for the tones of com- mon fpeech in modern languages. In the mean time all that I Qiall undertake immediately upon this paflage to obferve, is, that Dionyfius fpeaks in it, not of the extent of tone that may have plstce in one word, but of what may be admitted in HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 213 in a difcourfe -, and I will own that I can,gather from it little more than a general conclufion, to exprefs which I will borrow a fentencefrom Teren- tianus Maurus : ' Grecian diligence,' fays that writer, ' was fingularly directed to the ftudy of lan- ' g ua g e inveftigating its properties, and polifhing * It, even to the nail's end.' Should Englifh diligence ever take a fimilar direction, whether the project of the ingenious Mr. Steele, for noting the tones of common difcourfe, may be perfected or no, thofe tones however might perhaps be again as fami- liarly treated of as they were formerly by the Greek xvriters, without neceffity for explanation at every ftep, and without rifk of being mifunderilood. But we have, in the former part of this inquiry, adverted to the natural and neceflary analogy between the harmony of language and mufic. Speaking and fmging are different operations of the fame organs, producing different effects 5 '. y The ingenious and learned anonymous author of a little tract, infilled the Art of delivering written Language, has ob- ferved, I think juftly, that ' the eflential and chief difference ' between the tones ufed in fpeaking and finging, lies in the ' latter being carried on by diftinft intervals of fome eontinu- 4 ance, that will harmonize with other accompanying founds; ' while the former is, in general, made up of fuch minute and 1 cvanefcent variations and inflexions of voice (tho now and * then leaping from one mufical note to another confiderably * diftant, p. 67.) as could not poflibly have a place in any fcale * .of practical jnufic whatever.' Ch. 7, p. 69. p 3 214 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF The antient writers on mufic and language never loft fight of either the analogy or the differences; Mufical terms, and circmnftances in mufic, con- timially offering themfelves as convenient for de- fcribing or illuftrating the harmony of language, were ufed by them freely : but the more carefully their works are ftudied, the more it will fully ap- pear that they were always attentive to the dif- ferences of fpeech and mufic. , On the contrary, among the modern learned, among fome, through want of confidering the analogy between the tones of fpeech and mufic, and among many perhaps through a total want of mufical knowlege, the very multiplication of terms, for the purpofe of precifion, has fuperin- duced confufion. For, with us, what in mufic is called the Time, being in language called the Quantity, what in mufic is called a Note, being in language called an Accent, or fometimes a Tone ; while the word Tone has in mufic a fpe- cific and well-known meaning, whereas, applied to language, its meaning is vague ; learned men being then often unmufical, and muficians com- monly unlearned, the notion has gained that dif- ferent names, given to the fame thing differently combined, mean different things, and not only the harmony of language has failed of that elu- cidation which can come only through a juft con- gelation of its analogy with mufic, but miftakes have HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 21$ have gained authority, and no fmall confufion has refulted. , The very learned Dr. Fofter, to whofe treatife, in defence of the Greek accents, with gratitude 1 acknowlege myfelf indebted for the firft clew toward the unravelling, which I have attempted, of the harmony of language, has been by no means free from fuch miftakes. There is; in his learned woik, one ftrangc error, into which apparently he has been frightened by his opponents ; perhaps indeed more an error of phrafe than of opinion i but it is at the fame time ib adverfe to his favorite and juft purpofe, and ib obvious to detection, that, unleis made and perfevered in under the impreffion of alarm, it appears unaccountable. It relates to a paffage of Dionyfius of Halicarnaf- fus, important enough to our fubject of itfelf to require notice. * I know,' fays the doctor, * that * Dionyfius of Halicarnaflus fpeaks of the con- ( trariety of accents to meter on fome occaiions ; '* and that paflage hath been urged as affording an * invincible and conclufive argument againft the * ufe of accents in general among the old Greeks. * But if we confider this paflage a little, we (hall ' fee how very unfairly it has been reprefented in * relation to this fubjedt. I allow then tliat Dio- ' nyfius doth complain of accents as fubverfive of * quantity on fome occafions; but on what occa- * fions ? Why, when fome un/kilful compofers of p 4 'mufic, 2l6 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP ' mufic, they who fet the Greek odes to mufic, did fometimes join a long fyllable to a * mort note, an acuted one to a grave note, and * vice verfa; who made, as he there fays, the words bend to the mufical notes, and not the ' notes to the words.' Now in truth there is not, in the pafiage re- ferred to, nor in any other paffage of Dionyfius, one fyllable about the contrariety of accents to meter, nor any kind or degree of complaint, exprefled or implied, of accents as fubverfive of quantity; and it is very remarkable that the doctor's own very juft explanation relates to a very different thing; not the contrariety of ac- cent to meter, not the fubverfion of quantity by accent, but the contrariety of fome Greek vocal mufic to both quantity a"nd accent, and the fub- verfion of both by that mufic : mufic, apparently, not of an unfkilful compofer, as the doctor has fuppofed, but certainly of a compofer who did not fcruple to give effect to his own art at the expence of the poet's art, to improve the mufical melody by the fubverfion of the poetical. The paflage, well deferving attention from who- ever may have curiofity for the fubjecl:, runs thus : ' Mufic,' fays Dionyfius, - * inftead of adapting * notes to the words, aflumes to itfelf to fubjed * the words to its notes. Among numerous in- f fiances, the lyric verfes addrefled by Eledra to the * chorus, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. * chorus, in Euripides's tragedy of Oreftes, will ' furnilh example : * In this paflage the words Ify*, c-iy*, Atuxoi/ are * all fung with the fame note, tho each has, in ' fpeech, a (harp and a flat fyllable. The laft fyl- c lable of a^SuAuf has the fame note with the fe- ' cond, tho, in fpeech, two acute accents can no ' how have place in the fame word. In nOm? alfo * the firft fyllable has a lower note, and the two * others have the fame higher note. In xTUTrflV* * the expreffion of the circumflex is omitted, and ' its fyllable has the fame note with a fyllable not 4 bearing the fame accent. Finally, in aVo7ry Doftor Fofter, in his reply to Dr. Galley; and the practice of the modern Greeks, both in writing and in pronunciation, exactly agrees with what he has fliown to have been that of their prcdeceflbrs, ing 224 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ing the accents of the Greek and Latin. The circumftances of French pronuntiation may per- haps come among matters of future inquiry. At prefent fuffice it that nothing remaining in antient authors (hows, or gives reafon to imagine, that the accentuation of well-educated perfons of the polite ages of Athens and antient Rome, differed fo much, or fo characteristically, from that of the well-educated of London, Florence, and Rome of the prefent day, as the accentuation of the people of the - fouth of England from that of thofe of the north, in fpeaking the fame Englifh language. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE, SECTION XI. Of the Rhythmus or Cadence of the GKEEK and LATIK LANGUAGES. IF we are now truly acquainted with the nature and general qualities of accent and quantity, as they exifted in Greek and Roman fpeech, without undertaking for precifion in the juft expreflion of them, we may proceed to inquire concerning Rhythmus or Cadence. What this was, among the antients, information remains to us fo full, and of fuch authority, that the miftakes and doubts and differences about it, which have been enter- tained among the learned, feem attributable only to their want of leifure or inclination for the labor of analyfis, neceflary for a fufficiently accurate ac- quaintance with thofe elemental founds of which rhythmus muft be compounded. Quintilian defcribes the antient RHYTHMUS, and explains its difference from METER thus c , ' All compofition, menfuration, and arrangement 'of Otnnis ftru&ura ac dimenfio et copulat'o vocum confiat aut numeris (numeros 'Pvd/tovi; accipi volo) aut fciVp*, id eft dimenfione quadam. Qnod etiam fi conftat utrunque pedibus, habt-t tamen fimplicem diffcrentiam. Nam rhythmi, id eft numeri, fpatio> temporum conftant: metra etiam ordine: ideo- que altfrum efle qnantitatis videtur, alterum qualitatis. 'PtS^oj ait 126 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of * of founds, mufl depend either upon CADENCE* * or upon METER, which is but another name for ' menfuration. Now tho both confift of feet, yet ' have they a plain difference. RHYTHM us, NUM- * BERS, cadence, or time-keeping, depend meerly ' upon the fpace of certain portions of time ; but * to conftitute meter, a certain order of different ' portions of time is requifite. To the former ' therefore quantity of time only is neceffary ; to * the latter quality alfo. Rhythmus is either EVEN, ( as in the dactyl, whofe one long fyliable is com- tut par eft, ut daftylus ; unam enim fyllabum parem (duobus) brevibus habct. Eft quidem vis cadem et aliis pedibus, fed nomen illud tenet. Longam efle duorum temporum, brcvem unius, ctiam pueri fciunt. Aut fefcuplex, ut paeon; cujus vis eft ex longa et tribus brevibus ; quique ei contrarius, ex tribus brevibus et longa, vel alio quoquo modo tempora tria ad duo relata fefcuplum faciunt : aut duplex, ut iambus ; nam eft ex brevi et longa ; quique eft ei contrarius. Sunt hi et metrici pedes; fed hoc intereft, quod rhythmo indifferens eft dac- tylufne ille priores habeat breves, an fequentes : TEMPUS INIM SOLUM MITITUR, UT A SUBLEVATIONE AD POSI- TIONEM IISDEM SIT spATiis PBDEU; in verfu pro daftylo poni not poterit anapzftus vel fpondeus : nee paeon eadern ra- tione a brevibus incipiet ac definet. Sunt et ilia difcrimina, quod rhythmis libera fpatia, metris finita font: et his certae claufulae ; illi quo modo coeperant currunt nfque ad ^iret^t^v, id eft tranfitum in aliud genus rhythmi : et quod metrum ia verbis modo, rhythmus etiam in corporis motu eft. * Thus I venture to tranflate his word numtri, which, it ap- pears, was not fo in received ufe for his purpofe, but that he has thought necefTary to add that he confidered it as equivalent to the Greek ^fi/w. ' menfuratc HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 227 ' menfurate with its two fhort ones, (other feet ' equally fill the even cadence, but daiftyl is the * prevailing name, and every boy knows that a ' long fyllable has two times, a (hort fyllable ' one) or it is SESCUPLE, as in the pson, com- ' poled of a long fyllable and three fliort ones, * or on the contrary, of three ihort and one long, * or of three times added to two in any man- * ner, fo that tne whole being divided into two * parts, one may be half more than the other ; * or it is DOUBLE, as in the Iambic, compofed of * one Ihort and one long fyllable, or the reverfe. * Thefe are metrical feet alfo. But this diftin<5Uon * is to be obferved ; that it is indifferent to rhyth- ' mus whether the two fhort iyilables precede or 1 follow the long one; the even or dadtylic rhyth- ' mus will, in either cafe, be produced; for which ' it fuffices that, when the time is duly meafured, * by alternately raifing and dropping the hand or ' foot, each a<5tion mark an equal portion. But ' in verfo an anapeft or a fpondee cannot always be * fubftituted for a dactyl, nor is it indifferent ' whether a paeon begin or end with the fliort * fyllables. There are moreover thefe differences: * fpace for rhythmus is unlimited : fuch as the * rhythmus began, fuch it may go on to the ' [AtrxSoXri ; that is till a change to another rhy th- * mus.' (Thus it goes through a whole epic poem unchanged.) * But fpace for meafures is bounded : * meafures are dealt out in portions, (verfes) con- Q 2 * fined 228 INQUIRY 1 INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ' fined to certain limits. Moreover meter exiffe ' in words only, but rhythmus (time-keeping) fr may be equally exhibited in motion'of the body*' (as in dance). Thus far the author's meaning is per- fpicuous. What follows- has been varioufly under - ftood by commentators, and I apprehend rightly by none. Indeed there feeras evident corruption from tranfcribers ; and yet the fenfe fo mines through the mift that it might be gathered per- haps very nearly. It is however lefs wanted for our purpofe than what precedes ; and a paffage amended without authority could not have the de- firable weight. But however we might wiih for more informa- tion, that. contained in the paf&ge which I have tranflated, is- of very high value. With a cliiiinJ<.aa,~$, yuirat at neti ^&>f{ and for orna- ment 238 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ment adopting rime. But the more clafiical fcho- lars, were enough aware that quantity and net ac- cent had given the mechanifm of claffical poetry ; and, tho means were totally wanting to learn the quantities of fyllables by the ear, yet they ga- thered, with laborious diligence, the diftindions of long and fhort, and the rules of verfification, indi- cated in claflical writings ; and, whenever they at- tempted compofition in Latin verfe, were careful to obferve them. The accentuation of the Latin language, as we have already feen, was extremely fimple. In diffyllables the acute was confined ftrictly to one iituation, by the rule denying it to the laft; and in polyfyllables it could vary its place only be- tween the penultimate and the antepenultimate : on which of thofe it muft reft, the quantity of the former decided. Now it happens that thefe very fimple rules of accentuation, tho not excluflve rules for the Italian, Spanifh, and Englim lan- guages, which all allow greater variety, yet fo ac- cord with the general manner of thofe languages, that little more has been really wanting to dired Italian, Spanifh, and Englifli Scholars to the pro- per accentuation of Latin words, than to obferve the quantity of the -penultimate of polyfyllables ; infomuch that, while the acquifition of a juft ac- centuation has little entered into the contempla- tion of modern teachers, they have fortuitoufly di- rected their pupils to it, by meerly urging attention to HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. to quantity. The effeft of attention fo affiduoufly given to quantity, incur public feminaries, has been, that our fcholars write Latin according to quan- tity,and pronounce it according to accent ; that they EXPRESS juftly the accents, and can NAME juftly the quantities, but with all the attention, with all the drudgery that is required of our liberal youth in learning to name the quantities, yet the expreffion of them by the voice, and that judicial office which our great matters, Cicero and Quintilian, re- quire of the ear, as far as it regards quantity, has been totally negledted. Thefe, however palpable truths, I might have fome apprehenlion in declaring, if many men of the moft approved learning, and particularly Mr. Harris, the author of Hermes, and doclor Fuller, many years eminent among the teachers in our moft flouriming claflicai feminary, had not fairly refigned, for the method of that feminary and of our fcholars in general, the pretence to fpeak the antient languages according to quantity. Scarcely indeed a Latin verfe can be found that may not afford irrefragable proof of the incorrectnefs of the approved Engliih pronuntiation. The firft lines of the ^Eneid will give abundance. Who will be found to defend the common and approved pro- nuntiation of the tirft fyllable of cano ? Does that pronuntiation g've the fhort found which the verfe requires ? or does it not make the fyllable as long as any of the language, whofe vowel is followed by only one confonant ? If accent could affefb quan- tity, 240 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES O* tity, has it not all the force of the acute accent added to its length ? and finally, does the mofl ap- proved modern pronuntiation make any difference, in point of quantity, between the firfl fyllable of cano y which mofl confeifedly ought to be fhort, and the firfl of fato, which, as affuredly ought to be of twice its length ? How then can it be pre- tended that fuch pronuntiation is according to quantity ? But, it may be faid, there is a harmony in Latin verfe, as it is pronounced by Italian and Englifh fcholars, clearly diflinguifhing it from profe, and pleafing to the ear. True : but what is that har- mony ? Is it not obvious to every fcholar of thofe nations, that falfe .quantity may often be fubfti- tuted for true, not only without offence, but even with gratification to the ear, and with offence only to the knowlege ftored in the fcholar's mind ? Memory of written examples is what the modem fcholar relies on> but pronuntiation, giving the quantities duly characterized to the ear, is what Cicero and Quintilian require. The truth, let it not offend, is, that the har- mony produced by Italian, and English fcholars in their pronuntiation of Latin verfe, however pleafing, is not harmony of quantity but harmony of accent; the verfe, as they fpeak it, is not metri- cal, but, like their vernacular verfe, accentual. A Latin hexameter is, in the pronuntiation of Englifh fcholars, not a verfe, of fix feet of the even rhythmus, and that rhythmus decided by fimple HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 24! fimple meafure of time, or arrangement of quan- tities, but it is a verfe of five feet of the triple rhythmus, and the rhythmus indicated by ar- rangement of accents. A hexameter verfe, to pleafe us, muft have five ftrong accents : the three former whether on long or fhort fyllables matters not : the two laft muft be on fyllables long by rule. But the modern ear is carelefs about length of fyl- lables in pronunciation : the fyllables on which the two laft ftrong accents fall may be fhort i;i pro- nunriation, without offence to the modern ear ; which requires them on fyllables long by rule, not through any regard for length of fyllables, but be- caufe the antient rule of verfe requires long fyl- lables where the modern ear requires the two laft ftrong accents. Of antient verfes none are more generally pleaf- ing to the Englifh and Italian ear than the Sap- phic. Thecaufe of this favor does not lie deep. The Sapphic is a verfe of eleven fyllables like the Ita- lian epic, and the Englifli dramatic pentameter; and, in the Latin Sapphic, the accents rarely fail to be fo difpofed as to mark very exactly the meafure of thofe Engliih and Italian verfes. The two firft lines of the firft of Horace's odes in that meafure, will fumce to (how the exactnefs of the fimilitude : Jam fatis terris nivis atque dirse Grandinis mifit pater, et rubente Let this aufpicious day be ever facred, Let it be kept for triumph and rejoicing. R Seldom INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of Seldom are found in it even the varieties of which the Italians are fond, and which Milton delighted in imitating : the accentuation is commonly con- fined with the flridnefs of Englifh poets of the pre- fent day. ' Thofe, who have long flattered themfelves with ' an opinion that, in their pronuntiation of Greek ' and Latin, they flrictly adhered to right quan- ' tity, may probably be ftartled at the declaration of truths fo adverfe to their prepofleflions.' Thefe are doctor Fofter's words ; and I rejoice in being under the cover of that learned man's lliield when I find myfelf compelled to affirm, that the gene- rally approved pronuntiation of Englilh fcholars is not guided >by aqy conlideration of quantity at all. It is notorious that if any Englifh fcholar were but to attempt, in fpeaking Latin, to make the differ- ence of long and fhort Syllables fenfible to the ear* for inftance, if the firft fyllables of cano andfato, the authority of Cicero would not fave him ; he would furely incur the imputation of affecting fmgu- larity. But it may^be worth while to obferve how fcrupuloufly, how importunately a juft accen- tuation of Latin verfe is demanded by our fcho- lars : nor may it, for thofe who have given any at- tention to the difputes about accent and quantity, be unamufing to fee how widely the accentuation, xmiverfally demanded, is at variance with the notion that the acute or ftrong accent is a long quantity, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 243 or MAKES a long quantity, or necelTarily COINCIDES with a long quantity. In Latin hexameter verfc the modern ear requires that the acute or ftrong accent be confined ftridly, in the fifth and fixth feet, to the firft fyllable, and is much diflurbed to find it in any other fituation. Obferve the fol- lowing : JEole, namque tibi divum pater atque hominum rex. JEn. i. 69. Exfultantque aeftu latices ; furit intus aquae vis. vii. 464. Confilium, et facvz nutu Junonis eunt res. vii. 59. Quae vigilanda viris ; vel earn ruit imbriferum ver. Georg. i. 313. Thefe, tho Virgil wrote them, the modern ear has difficulty to acknowlege for hexameter verfes, on account of the dislocation (may we call it) of the accent in the fifth and fixth feet. A modern, writer of Latin poetry would hardly dare to offer fuch. I remember meeting fomewhere with a criticifm on Horace's hexameters, in which it was boldly faid that a modern fchoolboy mould be whipped for writing verfes of fuch ilovenly want of harmony. Yet how different the feelings of the fame perfons for the fame antient meafures in the Sapphic ! There the modern ear cannot bear the ftrong accent on the long fyllable of the da&yl, where it frequently occurs in Greek verfe, but ri- gidly requires it on the firft of the fhort fyllables, R 2 where, 244 tWQtTIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF where, to our great gratification, in Horace we al- moft conftantly find it. The modern ear will hardly pardon even the numerofus Horatius an occafionar deviation from this its rule, as in Quam jocus circumvolat et cupido. But in the pentameter a change of feeling come* again, and a different feeling for the different feet of that fame verfe. For, in the firft daftyl of the fecond hemiftic, we are difpofed to allow the ac- cent only to the long fyllable, as ia the laft dactyl of the hexameter : In the laft daftyl again we re- quire a ftrong accent on the firft fyllable ; but that does not content us ; we muft have another on the laft, tho fhort ; and then for the conclud- ing fyllable of the verfe, tho long, to be accented is intolerable. But indeed we are not more confident through the hexameter. In the two laft feet we faftidiouily require the accent on the firft fyllable, but not fo in any other foot of the verfe. In the firft line of the ./Eneid the accent on the firft fyllable of cano, the laft ofada<5tyl, fatisfies us very well; and, in the fecond line we are equally contented with the accent on the lecond fyllable of Italian and on the firft of profugus, each the fecond of a dadlyl; and all three fhort fyllables. Indeed fcarcely any- thing in recitation could be more offenfive than the acute accent on the firft fyllable of every foot, except the repetition of it upon every long fyliable. It KARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 245 It, will be obvious that if accent was quan- tity, or made quantity, or if the acute or ftrong accent could only exift with a long quantity, thefe things could not be. The truth is that ac- cent and quantity being perfectly diftinct affections of fyllables, and accent the ruling power of Englifh, Italian, and perhaps moft other modern European verification, accent is that to which the modern car is difpofed to defer, in attending to the recita- tion of any verfe. In Latin verfe, through the peculiar conftruction of the language, in the com- bination of the metrical cadences, there refults a time-beating of accent, producing other cadences totally diftinct from the metrical cadences. Thefe accentual cadences then, without any regard to thofe proportions of time in fyllables by which the antient metrical cadences were conflituted, are what form the delight of the modern ear in Latin verfe. With many indeed they have found favor as if they were the antient cadence, tho doctor Fofter, and others of the ableft fcho- lars, have mown themfelves enough aware of the contrary. 46 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF APPENDIX TO THE TWELFTH SECTION. i H E character of the meafure of Latin hexame- ter and pentameter verie, in modern pronuntiation, may be exhibited more readily, and perhaps more clearly, by the following mufical notation than by ^ny words. It will not be fuppofed that I mean to attribute to modern voices, in the recitation of Latin verfe, an exaftnefs of time which they do jiot obferve in the poetry of their own languages, It is the general chara.cter only of the meaiuie that I mean to reprefent, and I think the reprelen- tation fo far faithful, J JIJ./JIJJJ Tityre tu patulae recubans fub tegmine fagi Jayl- J el UVJrlJJ J-J1.'..NiJJr Teftrem tenui mufam medi-taris a - vena. r patriam fugimus et dulcia linquimus arva Arma virumque cano, Trojse qui primus ab oris. The pentameter, tho fomewhat differently filled, is, in modern recitation, precifely the fame meafure as the hexameter It HAHMONY IN LANGUAGE. 247 If J W JlJJJrlJj WlJ^diJJril Hanc tua Pe -nelope lento tibi niiffit U - lixe, J JV JIJ JriJ. / JIJ Jf J JrJI Nil mihi re - fcribas, tu tarnen ipfe veni Troja jacet certe, Danais in-vifa pu - ellis JWJIJ JrlJ./JlcJ J IJJrZ Vix Priamus tanti to - taque Troja fiat. It will be obvious that the triple time '"which modern voices give, in the recitation of antient verfe of the even rhythmus, is not trje triple ca- dence of Englifh or Italian poetry, and flill lefs i? analogous to the antient rhythmus duplex : its proportion, both to the modern triple cadence and to the antient rhythmus duplex is as the triple time of modern mufical notation i to .the time ^ or as the antient moloJflus to the iambus and trochee. Some of our .critics have fpoken of the great importance of the PAUS.E in the middle of the hexameter and pentameter verfes. I do not re- collect ever to have met with, or heard of any notice of it by any antien* writer. The mufical notation exhibits the caufe of its importance in modern recitation : the meafure could not be filled without it* 248 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES 0* SECTION XIII. Of the Difputes alo"t-' P ACCENT and QUANTITY of the GRKLK LANGUAGE. \Vi TH the afiiftance of what we have been ob- ferving concerning the Latin language, it will be eafy fro ciifcover the ground of the quarrel of fo many modern icholars, with the whole fyftem of Gree accentuation ; as well with what has been tranfmitted of highefb authority from clafiical times, as with the accentual marks, which, after the bed Greek manufcripts, and in conformity with the rules tranfmitted by later grammarians on the authority of the elder, appear in our printed editions. The Greek language was not, like the Latin, loft in the dark ages. Becoming the language of the court, and at length of the law, of the eaftern empire, as it had for centuries been the mod uni- verlal language of the people, it furvived in living f] eech to modern ages ; and not till the dawn of reviving learning had already begun to fpread over weftern Europe, was in evil hour finally over- whelmed or diflipated by the flood of Turkifh barbarifm. A little before that lamentable ca- taftrophe, thofe extraordinary patrons of letters and the arts, the Medicis of Florence, had beguri to give vogue to Grecian litterature within the pale of HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 249 cf the Roman church ; where the quarrels between the two churches hr.d before contributed to check its credit. Their munificence incouraged the wretched outcafts from Constantinople, who had talents and learning, to migrate into Italy, with what books they could carry ; and the fplendid example was foon followed, tho not with equal fteps, in fome other parts. Thus, on the firft rife cf Grecian litterature in weftern Europe, its uni- verfities and capitals were fupplied with mailers, the moft polilhed as well as learned men of their day, who taught the Greek language as a living tongue. Hence it became over Europe, for a time, a fafhionable language; and hence the facility with which even ladies, for fuch we find reported as Grecian fchoiars of that age, may have acquired a proficiency in it, which has appeared to fome learned men in modern times ftupendous enough to ingage them to controvert its reality. While thofe unfortunate outcafls lived, their inftructions concerning the pronuntiation, as well as every other point of their language, appears to have been univerfally refpe&ed. But when they were gone, there could be no farther fupply of fuch men from Grecian countries. Grecian fpeech remained to be taught, no longer, as before, by Grecian mouths, but, in Italy by Italian, ia France by French, in Germany by German, ia England by Engliih. In each country of courfc it INQUIRY INTO tilt PRINCIPLES OF it became tinctured with the vernacular founds and manner of utterance : for all experience fhows that the perfect pronuntiation of any lan- guage is to be acquired only in early youth, and to be upheld only by practice among thofe who Ipeak it as their mother tongue. Neverthelefs we learn from that curious col- lection of letters which pafled between John Cheke, profeflbr of Greek in the Univerfity of Cambridge, and Stephen Gardiner, bimop of Win- chefter and chancellor of the Univerfity, that, to their time, the common pronuntiation of the Greek language there, and indeed throughout Eu- rope, as nearly as forein voices could retain and tranfmit it, was the fame which had been taught by the Greeks themfelves, and the fame nearly as that of the beft educated of Conftantinople and Athens at the prefent day. This pronuntiation, which Cheke defired to alter, the bifliop defired to preferve ; and it feems as if innovation was fa- vored by the zealous pariizans of the proteftant eaufe, becaufe it was oppofed by a popifh bilhop ; as the correction of the calendar was refufed through- out proteftant Europe, becaufe the truth was firft brought forward under authority of the fee of Rome. In the bifhop'-s letters we find much dignity, with a juft polkenefs and moderation in exert- ing his authority to maintain the eftablifhed prac- tice. In the profefibr's letters there is confiderable eloquence, but much petulance, .and ao found ar- gumeat HATIMONY IN LANGUAGE. 25! gument to recommend the innovation for which he was intemperately earned. But the bi (hop's vio- lence in religious matters made him juftly unpo- pular; and, with the downfal of popery, on the acceffion of queen Elizabeth, the profefibr's caufe triumphed. Thenceforward whatever had been preferved of the articulation, which Grecian voices had taught, was to be denied to the Greek lan- guage; and its letters and combinations of letters were to have no other founds than the cuftom of Englifti fpeech affigned to thofe fuppofed the fame, or equivalent letters, in Englilh orthography. But, in the difpute between theprofeffor and the bifhop, the articulation only of the vowels and diph- thongs, was brought into queftion. The reverence for the accentual marks, which had been inculcated by the emigrating Greeks, remained unimpaired. Thofe laft ramparts, which Grecian ingenuity had railed for the protection of the antient pronuntia- tion, were relerved for the afiaults of fcholars of a later age. Whether indeed the Greek reftorers of Grecian learning in the weft themfelves expreffed exactly the antient quantities of fyllables, we are no way pofitively allured ; but we know that in po- etical compofition they vere juftly attentive to them ; and no complaint remains, from their age, of any deficiency of harmony in Greek verfe, as they recited and taught to recite it, but on the con- trary it found high favor wherever it became known. Of this indeed, whatever credit be given to the accounts of the proficiency of ladies in Greek 252 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Greek litterature, that it became among them a fafhionable accomplifhment is ftrong indication. But with every generation of fcholars, the devia- tions from the pronuntiation of the firft teachers could not fail to increafe ; and the patronage which Cheke's innovation obtained, not in England only, but on the continent, could not but tend to ex- tinguilh the whole remaining effect of their in- flrucYicns s . i Greek pronuntiation thus, in every country in Europe, was bent to the pronuntiation of that country j in Italy it became completely Italian, French, in France, in Germany, German, and En- glim in England. Thofe who have given any attention to living languages will not wonder that, in this ftate of things, Greek poetry mould, in the pronuntiation of all the fcholars of Europe, be no longer poetry ; that its meafures were corrupted, its cadence difli- pated : the wonder would rather be were it not fo. Let a moment's attention only be given to a few obvious circumftances. The people of England and the people of France, for above feven hundred years, have had conftant intercourfe, and much of the Engiim language has been derived from a French dialect. Yet what a flrange jargon do the peo~ * The correfpondence between the profeflbr and bifliop Gar- diner was printed at Bafil in 1555, only thirteen years after the date of the bilhop's edid which gave occafion to it. pie HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 253 pie of each make, in attempting the pronuntiatiori of the other, unlefs familiarized with it under the advantage of hearing it well fpoken. Perhaps no Frenchman, after the age of twenty, with any ad- vantage of practice, ever fo acquired Englifh pro- nuntiation that any Englifh ear would be fatisfied with his recitation of Englifh poetry. The French and the Italian then are not only neighbouring, but lifter languages ; yet neither can an Italian relifh French verification, nor a Frenchman, after the age of manhood, learn to exprefs the juft harmony of the Italian. Their reciprocal difficulties are far greater than an Englimman finds for Italian pro- nuntiation, or an Italian for Englifh, But an ingenious and learned Frenchman has furnifhed an example which perhaps may afford fome ufeful admonition to our fcholars. Mr. Girardin, at his eftate of Ermenonville, has formed a garden, in fome degree on the Englifli model, and he has adorned it with infcriptions, after the example of Shenftone, one of which, dedicated to Shenftone himfelf, runs thus : This plain ftone To William Shenftomr. In his writings he difplay'd A mind natural. At Leafowes lie laid Arcadian greens rural. I do not know Mr. Girardin : but I have known Frenchmen! to whom the Englifh language was INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF was, in books, nearly as familiar as their own; & familiar that they could tranflate an Englifh book or newfpaper into French almoft as faft as they could read it, who yet in attempting what Mr. Girardin has attempted, would have failed at leaft equally. Mr. Girardin certainly fuppofed thefe lines not only Englifh phrafe but Englifli verfe. How completely they want all character of Englifh verfe, every Ehglifhman, even the moft unlearned, will feel. Can we then reafonably believe that modern compofitions in Latin or Greek, whether for phrafe, or for harmony, would found better to old Roman or Athenian ears than Mr. Girardin's Englifh lines to our own ? This however I mention for illuftration only ; our prefent fubject being, not modern cotnpo- fition, but modern delivery of antient compofi- tions. And here I am aware it may be urged that Latin poetry has, in modern recitation, a ca- dence and harmony generally pleafing to the mo- dern ear. Be it or not the antient harmony, it is preferable to no harmony. But Greek poetry, as delivered by modern voices, ufing the Greek ac^ centuation, isdeftitute of cadence ; it is not diflin- guiiliabie from the meereft profej and however this may not be matter for reafonable wonder, it is matter for difappointment ; it is matter for dif- fatisfaction and difguft. The principles of ver- ification and the ftructure of verfe being then in both HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 2$$ both languages the fame, the ufe of the Latin ac- centuation with Greek verfe was an obvious re- fource ; and trial being made, the refult was likely to be in fome degree gratifying; for ca- dence, fuch as modern recitation produces in Latin verfe, would inftantly follow. Here then lies the fource of the quarrel of fo many lettered men of Italy, Germany, and Eng- land, with the Greek marks of accent ; which has led them to overlook, to explain away, or, oftener, to confider as unintelligible, what remains con- cerning Greek accentuation, delivered from high- eft authority, in cleared terms, and in itfelf moft confonant with the practice of modern fpeech. In Greek poetry, recited according to the Greek rules of accentuation, the modern voice conti- nually falfifying the quantity, the modern ear too being unhabituated to cadence marked by quan- tity only, and the variety in the Greek accentua- tion giving no regular time-beating, like the Latin, the loofenefs of profe generally refults : here and there only, as the accents take accidentally a re- gular order, any form of verfe becoming fenfible to the ear. But let the Latin rules of accentuation guide the reciter of Greek poetry, and it will have nearly, and generally, tho not completely and al- ways, the fams grace of cadence which modern voices give to the Latin. Under thefe circum- ftances it is not wonderful that fome prejudice ihould grow againft the Greek accentuation, and in INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF in favor of the Latin, fo as even to obtain a par- tiality for the application of the Latin accentua- tion to the recitation of the Greek language. In this ftate of things then what is to be done ? Muft we be contented to read Greek po- etry as meer profe ? Is not that amount of poetical harmony, which the Latin accentuation gives to Greek verfe, different as it may be from the true antient harmony, preferable to no harmony ? Call it a delufion, it. is a pleating delufion, which we fhall be unwilling to give up, without fome amends. Indeed if no amends could be propofed, I mould be at fome lofs for an anfwer. But a very fliort examination 'will iufEce to affare us that, even fuppofing it impoffible for modern voices to exprefs the antient harmony, and make it perceptible to modern ears, yet the total fubverfion of the Greek accentual fyftern, and that complete fubftitution of the Latin fyftem for the Greek tongue, changing wholly the cha- racier of the harmony of the language, is not only a wanton violence in profe, but needlefs, in the extent to which very modern ufage has given fandion, for producing even the grace of ac- centual cadence in Greek, verfe. Taking the Iliad, we need fcarcely go be- yond the third word for proof. In the firft, r.lwv, the Greek and the Latin accentuation agree. For the fecond, ?&, they differ : the Greek requires the acute on the firil fyliable, the Latin 9 on. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 257 on the fecond ; and fince Weftminftcr has ceafed to refpect the Greek rule, the Latin has been the fole arbiter of the pronuntiation of our fchools and univerfities. Yet what can in this inftance juftify it ? Shall weftill be told that the firft fyllable of the word, being the lad of a dactyl, (houid be pro- nounced fhort, and therefore is incompatible with the ftrong accent, which, on the contrary, the fe- cond fyllable requires, becaufe it is long ? Ho\v confiftently with the practice of our fchools and univerfities in other cafes, where it is fupported by the higheft authority, this can be maintained, the following lines of Virgil may (how : Mufa mihi cauflas memora, quo numine Isefo, Quidve dolens regina deum tot volvere cafus. Jn. \. g. Ssepe tener noftris ab ovilihus imbuet agnus. Ille meas errare boves, ut cernis, & ipfum. Eel. i. Every fcholar, gives the ftrong accent to the firft fyllables of mihi, dolens, tener. meas y all fhort fyllables, each the laft of a dactyl, and that dactyl the firft foot of a hexameter verfe ; precifely the circumftances of the firft fyllable of &, in the firft line of the Iliad* The modern ear is perfectly fatisfied with the effect on the harmony of the La- tin lines. To what purpofe then, deny the proper Greek accentuation to the Greek word ? h Let h The following obfervation I owe to mv learned and inge- nious friend the poet laureat. A poem deprecating war might S adopt 2f8 INCiUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Let us proceed to the next word, &ix. Here again we find the Greek and Latin rules of accen- tuation differ ; but, inftead of the Greek contra- dicting, and the Latin fupporting, as in the former cafe, the prejudice which confiders the acute accent as compatible only with a long quantity, on the contrary, the Latin contradicts and the Greek coincides with it ; for the Latin would give the acute to the firft fyllable, tho fhort, but the Greek affigns it to the laft, which is long ; and yet even here, directly againft their own avowed principles, the modern cuftom of fcholars refufes the Greek accentuation and will have the Latin. Clearly unneceflary, even upon their own principles, Tor any purpofe of quantity, neither is this perverfion of the Greek accentuation at all neceffary for that accen- tual harmony, for which we have obferved the mo- adopt the firft words of the Iliad, only dividing the word anct, and thus making the fentence interrogative, thus : In this cafe the modern fafliion of fcholars would give the acute accent to that very fyllable in the combination an fo which the advocate for the accentual marks defires and cannot obtain allowance for in the fingle word compofed of precifely the fame fyllables ; and fuch pronuntiation will not at all offend the ear of any fcholar of the modern fafhion in this cafe, tho in the other it will be declared intolerable. Can it be the ear that is fo inconfiftent in its judgement? or is it not frejudice that takes away the power and even the will to judge by the ear > dern HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 359 dern ear to be fo felicitous. For this alfo Virgil will aufwer : Pofthablta colnifTe Samo : hie illias arma JEn. i. v. 20. Id metuens, vcttfifque mrrtior baturnia belli. &n. i.v. 27. No modern ear objects to the flow of thefe verfes, tho a ftrong accent falls on the firft fyllable of the third foot in each; exactly the fituation to which neverthelefs the modern cuftom of fcholars denies the ftrong accent to a long fyllable in the firft line of the Iliad for the purpoie of giving it no the preceding flioi t fyllable, and thus, according to the tenets of many, making that (yllable long. But the modern ear would object to the flow of thefe verfes were the acute accent withheld from the firft fyllables of Samo and mewor. Tho each the third fyllable of a dactyl, the modern fcholar is not afhamed to give them, with the acute accent, a really long quantity. We might proceed to advert to the whimfical tranipofition of the accent, which modern cuftom demands, in the firft word of the fecond line of the Iliad, JUAG/XIW, from one fhort fyllable to an- other Ihort fyllable ; equally unrequired for the ' accentual harmony as for any other purpofe ojf common fenfe. But whoever may have curiofity to carry on the inquiry may find endlefs proof of the ufeleffhefs of that violence with which the prac- tice of the day makes the Greek language receive imiverfally the Latin accentuation. How con- s 2 trary 60 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF trary the Roman practice was, Quintilian will tell: ( Sed accentus quoque, cum rigore quodam, turn ' fimilitudine ipfa, minus fuaves. habemus ; quia e ultima fyllaba nee acuta unquam excitatur, nee * in flexa circumducitur, fed in gravem > vel duas ' graves cad it Temper. Itaque tanto eft ferrno * Grsecus Latino jucundior, ut noftri poetae, quo- * ties dulce carmen efle voluerunt, illorum id no- ' minibus exornent.' Quintil. Inft. or. J. 12. c. 10. In the hexameter verfe it is for the two lafl feet that the Greek accentuation is apt to be par- ticularly offenfive to the modern fcholar's ear. For the acute accent on the firft fyllable of each of thofe feet is eflential to that accentual harmony with which, in Latin verfe, the modern fcholar is habitually delighted. If that difpofition fails, hex- ameter verfe will be, to the modern, or indeed,, with the recitation of modern voices, to any ear, no verfe. Now the Latin accentuation feldom fails to give this difpofition, but the Greek often ; to the no unreafonabie diffatisfaction of thofe who find thence difappointment of an expected har- mony, and no equivalent. There was publifhed, a few years ago, a treatife on the Profodies of the Greek and Latin lan- guages, with a dedication to lord Thurlow, faid to be written by a prelate of diftinguilhed learning. It contains the beft inveftigation of the hiftory of the Greek accentual marks, the fulled collection of HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 261 of teftimonies to the antiquity and extent of their ufe, and the completeft refutation of objections to them as intended indications of that affedion of common fpeech which we call accent, that have perhaps yet appeared. But, warm and able ad- vocate as the author is for tnofe valuable helps toward the juft pronuntiation of the moft harmo- nious language ever fpoken by men, he has been unable to give up to his regard and reverence for them that accentual harmony which, in hexameter verfe, by their fituation in the two laft feet, they often tend to confound and deftroy. He has therefore imagined, with great ingenuity, a fcheme of reconciliation, whereby the laft foot of the hex- ameter verfe, to which, for the accentual harmony, it is moft indilpenfable, fhall never fail of the acute accent, and the laft but one, its next moft im- portant fituation, rarely. For this fcheme, which he confefles to be novel in appearance, the author claims fupport from Quintilian, who will however be found really to give him none. In all its ex- tent the projed would make dreadful confufion in Greek pronuntiation, Neverthelefs, for the fake of that accentual harmony which it is calculated to preferve, I fhould be inclined to favor its re- ception for the laft foot only of hexameter verfe, to which alone, for that purpofe, it is neceffary, provided the better metrical harmony can no way be reftored, or being reftored, may be found too difficult of pradice for modern voices, or too little s 3 accon> 262 INCIUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP accommodated to the prejudices of modern ears. Unfortunately to detect what is out of order in a complex piece of machinery, and to repair it com- pletely and reftore every motion, are two very differ- ent affairs. But between thefe two there are other points ; to (how what the form of the machine was in its periedl (late, and what its motions mould be ; for which I will not avoid the riik of offering the beft help I can. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 263 SECTION VII. Of Means for Approximation toward a jufl Expreflion of the Harmony of the GREEK and LATIN LANGUAGES, APPARENTLY it can have been only through a want of all knowlege of mufic, or a neglect of all confederation of the analogies between mulic and fpeech, that thofe terms, fo exactly cor- reiponding in the two antient languages, and in each fo plainly fpeaking their own meaning, a/j where every Englifli fcholar gives them nearly the Italian enuntiation. This queftion he put, not at all furprized that I fpoke the four words, with which he was diflatisfted, differently from the Ita- lians, but that I pronounced the other three fo nearly in the Italian manner. I anfwered that, in our own language thofe letters reprefented different founds, as they \ere differently combined ; and from habit we ufed the lame variations of articula- tion in fpeaking Latin. * For your own language ' -well/ lie replitd j ' but why fo confound the pro* * nuntiation of Latin ?' I could not help anfwering that, to confefs fairly, it was not well, even in our own language j which was in truth diigraced by grofsand abfurd irregularities of orthography ; and it was in our blindneis to the deformity of thefe, arifmg from over familiarity, that we were led by them to perplex the founds of the Latin. Indeed I believe none, who will confider the matter, can remain fo prejudiced as not to allow the juftnefs HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 27!. juftnefs of the aged Roman's objections, for he was a very old man, to that confufion of the vowels, which, on ever fo little confideration, cannot fail to be ftriking in the eftablilhed pronuntiation of -Latin among Englifli-fcholars. But that confufion, which perplexes and offends forein, without any diflurb- ance to Englim ears, familiarized to it, is far from being all the evil. Our prefent pronuntiation of the Latin vowels, giving them different founds as they are differently combined, according to the rule or cuftom of our own language, is often com- pletely repugnant to the juft quantities of Latin fyllables. Some remarkable inftances occur in the two firft lines of the ^Lneid j for as the three firft words of the Iliad fufficed for pregnant example of the improprieties of our Greek pronuntiation, fo we need hardly go beyond the two firft lines of the jEneid for examples to the fame purpofe in Latin. In the fecond word of the firft line, virumque, the practice of Englim fcho.lars gives the Englifh diphthongal found of i to a fhort fyllable. In the nature of things that found cannot be fo contracted as to make the fyllable otherwife than of the long proportion \ fo that, without a change of articula- tion, the quantity of the fyllable is unavoidably falfified. But, in the fifft word of the fecond line, ItaJiam, the cuftom of fcholars gives another found, and that as fliort as any vowel-found in Englifh pronuntiation, to the fame vowel-character, where it reprefents a long found ; fo that here again the quantity 272 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of quantity is violated in a contrary direction. This perverfion cannot but deferve attention, in all its circumftances, from thofe who either claim or de- fire to fpeak truly according to quantity. Both the fyllables in queftion are grave; both are followed by acuted fyllables ; accent is therefore no acceflary to difference of found tending to either true or falfe quantity ; but the i in virumque, which ought to be fhort, is pronounced as a diph- . thong, and fo made long ; while the / at the be- ginning of Italiam, which ought to be long, re- ceives another, and that as fhort a found as any vowel within the compafs of Englifh pronuntia- tion. Nor will the prefent cuflom of fcholars allow the changes neceflary for the expreffion of the juft quantity in each word : otherwife the practice were abundantly eafyj for nothing more is wanting than an interchange of founds between the two words.; the / in virumque mould have the fame fhort found as in Italiam or viridum ; and the / in the firft fyllable of Italiam might be duly length- ened, by receiving the found of the fame letter in the fame fituation, in the Englim words idea, iden- tity, idolatry, being the fame which it commonly re- ceives from Englim voices pronouncing ill the Latin word virumque. Again in the word cane, none can deny that the practice of Englim fcholars gives as long a found to the firft fyllable as to the firft offato, or to any fyllable of the language, in which a vowel is fol- lowed HARMOKY IN LANGUAGE. 273 lowed by only one confonant. It cannot be ne- cefTary to cite more inflances. If then it be afoed, how are thefe improprieties to be remedied ? I fhould without hefitation fay, befl and very eafily and readily by adopting at once the modern Roman articulation of Latin : befl, both becaufe in the fimpleft way, and be-r caufe in the way moft likely to be nearefl to the antient articulation ; eafily and readily, becaufe modern Roman articulation has nothing confider- ably different from what is found in the compafs of Englifh fpeech. Were the Roman articulation adopted, it would be no longer in queflion what found mould be given to the i of virttm that it may be fhort, or what to the fame vowel in the firfl fy liable of Italiam that it may be long ; for Roman pronuntiation has but one mode of articulating that vowel, which may be either fhortened or lengthened at plcafure. There would be as little doubt how the firfl fyllable of cano y fhould be re- duced to its proper fhortnefs. It would be pro- nounced nearly as Englifli fcholars always pro- nounce the fame fyllable, in what may be almoft called the fame word, cammus. Nor would the ab- furd objection be made, that fo it is pronounced as if two confonants followed the vowel ; for the jufl diflinction would be learnt, from Roman pro- nuntiation, between a confonant articulated, and a confonant meerly written. It is not however meant to be afferted that the practice of modern T Roman 274 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Roman fcholars, in pronouncing Latin, is correct in point of quantity ; but whereas the ordinary Englifh pronuntiation of the vowels, in their feveral combinations with confonants, not ne- ceflarily denying corrednefs with regard to quan- tity in fpeaking Latin, throws however difficulties in the way of fuch correctnefs, the modem Roman pronuntiation on the contrary gives, even for En- glim voices, all facility for it. I have much more difficulty to fay how our prefent moft vicious pronuntiation of the Greek language may beft be improved. Among the Tufcans and Romans of this day the fame charac- ters feem to reprefent the fame vowels as with their forefathers, when the Latin language was in full vigor. But with the Greek, as we have al- ready had occafion to obferve, it is far otherwife. The pronuntiation of the Greeks of the prefent day evidently enough differs, in regard to fome of the vowels, from that which remains defcribed by Dionyfius. Neverthelefs, thofe particular vices cxcepted, which may be traced growing through centuries, there feems no reafonable ground for doubting that the prefent polite pronuntiation of Conilantinople, and perhaps of Athens, approaches nearer to the fpeech of the ant lent Greeks than that of any other moderns, with any advantages that ftudy can give. We have complete affurance that the claffical Greek remained the language of the Conflantinopolitan court till the final over- throw HARMONY IN LAftdUAOft. irow of the empire, in the reign of our Henry the feventh, and that its grammar and fyntax were preferred to that time in great purity 10 . It is againft all reafon then to fuppofe that a people fo iuccefsfully careful of their language, in thofe points, would have been negligent of the pronun- tiation j and it will be-againft all experience^ we may fay againft the knowlege of all who have any experience in living language, to imagine that they would not fpeak their own language better, more in the way of their anceftorSj than foreiners^ with whatfoever advantages of learning and ftudy. Since the final overthrow of the Greek empire, indeed^ litterature has been at a low ebb in Conftanti- nople ; but what difpofition and opportunities exifled for ftudy, have been directed with fond predilection to the old language ; the careful cul- tivation of which has never ceafed. The old Ian- k For this the authorities quoted by Mr. Gibbon, and Mr. Rofcoe, as well as thofe colle&ed by Dr Fofter, and by the right reverend author of the Treatife on the Profodies of the Greek and Latin languages, may be confulted. ' Anna Com- * nena,' fays Gibbbn, ' may boaft of her Attic ftyle (To'EAAniif * is xpo eo-Tr&ydac.ur*) and Zonaras, her contemporary, but not ' her flatterer, may add with truth yiw-Aon ii^i* ax^iC?? 'AT?IX- * fas-**.' c. 53. n. iii. v. 5. Anna Comnena flourished in the beginning of the twelfth century. Gibbon praifes Pachymer, who flourished in the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth, John Cantacuzene, and Nicephorus Grcgoras, who followed him, and Laonicus Chalcondyles, and Ducas, who wrote after the fall of the empire. T 2 276 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF guage has always been, and remains the language of the church : it has always had its profeflbrs and teachers : it is ftill confidered, by all who pre- tend to learning among the Greeks, as their proper tongue. The vulgar corrupted fpeech, tho lefs altered from the claffical than the Italian from the Latin, they hold in little efteem : they muft of neceflity fpeak it, but the antient is that in which they generally prefer to write. Nor has their love and care for that unrivalled language been unfuc- cefsful. I am inclined to fufpect that the difpofition which has appeared^ through weftern Europe, to fpeak of modern Greek learning with contempt, has had its origin from the quarrel between the Greek and Roman churches, and its prevalence from prejudice derived from the Roman clergy. For myfelf, I think it juflice to a race too long held undefervedly cheap in weftern Europe, to bear that teftimony which I may in their favor. I have met with few fcholars of any other country who had the amount of grammatical and critical learning in the Greek language which I have found in a Greek, and I never met with any who had the fame feeling of the lan- guage. What I mean by feeling, is that percep- tion of meaning, independent of reafoning, and often incommunicable by direct inftrudion, through which, for example, Englim children of five years old never miftake the difference between fball and willy which learned doctors of Paris and even HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 277 even of Edinborough and Dublin, cannot be taught to comprehend. It has been in the want of this power of feeling chat fome of our learned have fuppofed the Greek aorifl fometimes to bear the meaning of a future ; that none perceive the dif- tinct import of the prefent and aorifl participles -, and that we are told the aorift tenfe of the verb is more ufed by the Greek hiflorians, the preter- perfect by the orators, without a fyllable to in- ftrucl: us why ; tho perhaps the analogy to ex- plain it to the Englifh fcholar is ready in our com- mon fpeech. I will venture then to declare my opinion that, as to approach the neareft that may be to the true pronuntiation of the Latin lan- guage, the firft thing to be done is to adopt the Roman articulation, fo to attain a fimilar approxi- mation to that of the Greek, we can do no other way fo well as to adopt the Conftantinopolitan. One cannot without wonder obferve the defi- cient difcrimination, the apparently carelefs in- accuracy of fome learned and otherwife difcerning modem critics, in treating of the founds of fpeech. To animadvert on all the remarkable inftances that may be found, were almoft endlefs. I will felect a very remarkable one from among thofe that may beft aflift to illuflrate the jufl diftin&ion of founds in antient and in modern languages. In the thirty-feventh of the eflays with the title of fir Thomas Fitzofborn's letters, by that elegant fcholar the late Mr. Melmoth, is the fol- T 3 lowing 178 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF lowing paffage : ' Mofl certain it is that the de- licacy of the antients, with refpect to numbers, ' was far fuperior to anything that modern tafte ' can pretend to, and that they difcovered differ- ' ences which are to us abfolutely imperceptible. ' To mention only one remarkable inftance : a very antient writer has obferved upon the fol- * lowing verfe in Virgil, Arma virumque cano Trojac qui primus ab oris, ' that if, inftead of primus we were to pronounce it ' primls (is being long and us fhort) the intire har-< * mony of the line would be deftroyed. But * whofe ear is now fo exquifitely fenfible as to per- , * ceive the diflinftion between thofe two quan- ' tities ? To this queflion the proper anfwer feems ob- vious ; no ear, now or ever, could perceive any diftin&ion, as the words are fpoken by Englifh fcholars ; for, before a diftinction can be perceived by the ear, it mufl be made by the voice, and the pronuntiation of Englifti fcholars makes none, But, in antient pronuntiation, we have fufficient afTurance, the difference between a long and a, fhort fyllable was not minute, and perceptible only to ears of exquifite fenfibility : the time of one was double the time of the other ; the diflindion was great and ilriking ; and for its purpofe of de- ciding the march of cadence in popular poetry it muft be fo. Evidently then the queflion mould have been, not * whofe ear can perceive the dif- ' tindion HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 279 e tinftion ?' but ' how fliould the voice make the ' diftinction ?' When really made, as the antients made it, proportioning the times as two to one, the ear muft be dull indeed that could not per- ceive it. Nor is anything out of the way of common Englifli pronuntiation neceflary to illuftrate the diftinction by example. The awkwardnefs for explaining fuch points will be found, not in our fpeech, but in our orthography. The word primus \ve pronounce, as to the quantities, properly ; making the fir/I fyllable long, the fecond fliort ; but for the word primis the common pronuntiation of Englifli fcholars is clearly falfe ; for the laft fyl- lable, which fhould be long, they make fhort, as in primus. The proper length however may be given without going at all beyond the ordinary bounds of Englifli pronuntiation, and it may be done in two ways j either by ufmg the common long found of /, as \nfunrije, exile ; or, more properly, by extending the common fhort found of /, of which found, when long, we have obierved, in our ortho- graphy, ce is the proper, and ea a common re- prefentative. That found, not very frequently oc- curring in our language without the flrong accent, is neverthclefs familiar enough ; as in the words increafe, decreafe (the nouns, diftinguifhcd by ac- cent from the verbs) heartseafe, colleague, fweet- meat, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and fo forth ; port" reeve, ivellmsanin^ ill meaning, and others. T 4 Thus* INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Thus, with a mode of pronuntiation obvious and familiar to Englifh voices, every fyllable of the Greek and Latin languages might have its diftin- guilhing quantity, abundantly made perceptible to every ear of moderate fenfibility ; nothing prevent- ing but the cuftom of Englifh fcholars. But the manner in which founds are now applied to the vowel-charafters of thofe languages, is curious enough (might I be allowed to fpeak plain truth I fiiould fay perverfe enough) to deferve a little farther animadverfion. Wherever we meet with thofe of the Greek long vowels *'hich are diftin- guifhed by their appropriate characters, as in Spwc, we are very properly forbidden, in any circum- flances, to change the pronuntiation. But for the fame word in Latin we are not to ufe the fame found of the o. This is to be ftiil indeed long, but the articulation is to be that whofe appropri- ate reprefentative in Englifh orthography is the combination an, the fame which we give to the fame combination whenever it occurs in Latin, as in laus. Authority for fuch change is certainly to be found only in the cuftom of Englifh fcholars. But it mould be farther obferved that the prer fervation of the quantity in this pronuntiation of o is purely accidental. It fo happens that, before 5 and ft, o has commonly a long found in Englifh, tho not always the fame long found j and it is a whimfical kind of regularity with which we carry the fame variety to the pronuntiation of Latin. The HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. The Englifh word mofs, is pronounced as if written maufs, and fo we fpeak the Latin word mos as if it were written maufs. But the Englifh word poft we pronounce as if it were written poaft ! ; and fo in the Latin word poft the o is not to have the fame found as in the Latin word mos, but the fame as in the Englifh word poft, which happens to be the more proper way for the Latin, tho, for the En- glim, it comes under an exception rather than a rule. One irlftance more of the extreme incorreftnefs, in point of quantity, of the approved pronuntia- tion of Latin among Englifh fcholars, I wifh to notice, becaufe it is fo familiar, and of a Kind to be ftriking. The difference in the proper quantity of the firft fy liable of pater and the firft of mater is abundantly known: but in the pronuntiation of Englifh fcholars no difference is made. And why fo ? It might feem they were refolved to confine the doctrine of quantity as fomething myfterious or cabaliflical, to be locked up in the mind and forbidden in practice. Why elfe refufe to the Latin thofe differences which are familiar in En- glifh pronuntiation ; in which the firfl fyllables of fathom, fallow, gather ; mother, many, very, blojjbm t are fhort, and the firft of father, falling, rather, frothy, Alary, vary, lojj'es, are long. 1 It will be recolle&ed that we take the combination oa, as he proper reprefcntative, in Englifli orthography, of the fixth long vowel. Seifl, II. of this Inquiry. To 28z INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF To conclude then our obfervations on the pro- nuntiation of the Greek and Latin languages. Whether we pronounce a with a broader or nar- rower found, whether we fpeak c and j in the Ita- lian or the Englifh manner, matters not for the quantity of the fyllables, or any effential of po- etical harmony. What is really wanting for English fcholars, to obviate the grofleft violation, the reverfal often of juft quantity, is, firft, to give diftinctly the proper proportionate length of found to every vowel, and, fecondly, where iterated con- fonants occur, to articulate them in the Italian way (a mode, as we have obferved, not alien to our fpeech) as diftinct letters. Apparently 2, equally in Latin and in Greek, mould alfo be pronounced in the Italian way, to make it effe&ually a double con- fonant. -X"is, in our own fpeech, commonly double. For any other letters, it is for fimplicity fake and convenience, principally, that I would recom- mend, for the Latin language, the modern Roman articulation, and, for the Greek, the Conftantino- politan or Athenian. To approach then toward any juft expreflion of the harmony and character of the languages, in poetry or in profe, each of them muft have its own proper accentuation, as we may befi gather it ; and the information re- maining is large. That of the Latin, now in ufe among Englifli fcholars, fhould be preferred, and the Greek muft have its own reftored. But, in verfe efpecially, even Latin verfe, I apprehend it muft HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 283 mufl be vain to think of managing the juft ex- preffion of quantities, and preferving at the fame time the proper accentuation, without the affift- ance of that refource which the antients them- felves, at leafl the Romans ufed, the arfis and the- fis, or double time-beating. Thus we might ap- proach the neareft, I imagine, that may now be pof- fible, to a juft exprefiion of the harmony, in poetry and in profe, of thofe languages which, with all the vices of our prefent pronunciation of them, we moft juftly admire, and to the acquifition of which we dedicate, with no fmall pain to ingenu- ous youth, fo large a portion of the moft precious feafon of education. To rifing youth the ad- ditional acquifition of a pronuntiation approxi- mating juftnefs, were living examples before them, would coft little or nothing. The difficulty were to find the firft examples, and obtain credit for them, 284 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF SECTION XV. Of the Principles of HARMONY and MECHANISM of VERSE in fome modern Languages. ARTICLE I. Of the French Language. THE FRENCH Language, as it has now ftood for more than a century, is the moft improved, and, through diligent and able cultivation, the moft advantageoufly exhibited, of any of modern Eu- rope ; being yet effentially, in words, in texture, and in harmony, the pooreft perhaps in which let- ters were ever cultivated. The French is remarkable among languages, and not lead among thofe of modern Europe, for its want of accent. ' Pour bien parler Francois f il ne faut point avoir d'accent,' is a rule univer- fally held among French grammarians. By this cannot be meant that all French fyllables are to be pronounced with the fame tone. Whoever has heard the language properly fpoken mufl be aware that it is otherwife. But that no fyllable of any French word is regularly and conftantly intitled to any eminence of tone, the French critics are fo agreed HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 285 agreed that it feems undifputable. They are equally agreed, not that there is no difference in the times or quantities of fyllables, but that no regular proportion of time or quantity belongs to the fyllables of the French language ; no fuch difference that the regularity of the proportions may be obvious to the ear. Wanting fuch regularity, quantity cannot be the conftituent of any cadence or poetical meafure; and for want of eminence of accent regularly afligned to fyllables, accent cannot be either the conftituent or indicant of cadence or poetical meafure in French, as it is in Englifh, Italian, and other modern tongues. No- thing feems to remain then for conftituting mea- fure in the French language, but to number fyl- Jables ; and for indication of meafure, that is, for giving boundaries obvious to the ear, only Rime and Paufe. Being defirous of affuring myfelf of the nature of French verfe, when at Paris many years ago, I often gave my attention, at the theater, to the de- clamation of the beft actors, with the particular purpofe of gathering it ; but with fo little fucccfs that, I muft own, I have remained ever ignorant what it is that, under French rules, can make a French verfe, with the requifite number of fyl- lables, a more or a lefs harmonious verfe. It will be remembered that I confider euphony as diftin<5b from harmony. But the declamation of the the- ater might poffibly the lefs affift, becaufe it is a rule 286 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF rule of the French flage, ftudioufly to avoid giving any prominence to the rimes, which are effential to French verfe, and rather to conceal them in the flow of fpeech. No regularity of meafure then being exhibited by the difpofition of either quan- tities or accents, and rime, the powerful and al- moft only indicant of meafure in French verfe, being concealed or difguifed, what can remain to give any character of verfe to French poetry, in the declamation of the theater ? Indeed the very prac- tice of fuch poets as Corneille and Racine, con- ilantly to give rime to their dramatic poetry, fen- lible as they would be, hardly lefs than others, of its offenfivenefs on the flage, affords the flrongeft prefumption of their conviction that, in their lan- guage, without rime could be no verfe. Voltaire has offered what he has called unrimed or blank verfe, in imitation of the Englifh and Italian, or ra- ther in ridicule of the Englifh and Italian ; for he has taken occalion, from the deficiency, of which he appears to have been juflly fenfible, in his own verfes, and in all of the kind that could be compofed in his language, to fpeak contemptuoufly of unrimed verfe in general. Mofl reafonably he might fpeak contemptuoufly of unrimed verfe in his own language, where it can be verfe only in name and written form, having nothing eflential to diftinguifh it from the meereft profe. I remember to have met with a French gram- mar of the Englifh language, wherein were direc- tiont HARMONY W LANGUAGE, 187 tions for the French learner to acqufre the Englifli pronuntiation, prefaced with the proper admonition that * La langue Angloife eflunelangue cadencee, ' comme I'ltalienne.' Now thofe whofe own lan- guage has cadence, have difficulty to conceive a Janguage without it, and difficulty generally yet greater to diveft their pronuntiation of cadence. Hence the principal peculiarities of foreiners in pronouncing the French language. Five and twenty or thirty years ago it was fafhionable at Paris to call the ordinary EngliQi pronuntiation of French ' la pronontiation dattylienne des An* glois ;' a term not fo more mifapplied fhan anapeftic, among our own learned, to mean nearly the fame thing, or iambic , trochaic, and other names of antient feet meafured by quantity, to fignify differ* cnt arrangements of accent in the Englifh lan- guage. It is this dacJylian pronuntiation of French verfe in Englifh mouths that has led fome Englifli writers of the moft learned and able, but little fa- miliar with French fpeech, to imagine the French, epic verfe, often called Alexandrine, fundamentally the fame with our four-footed verfe of the triple cadence ; as A coWer there was and he lived in a Sail. But there is no real analogy, in conflitution or mechanifm, between that Englifli verfe and the French epic. Occafionally indeed a French epic verfe, with the moft approved French pronuntia- tion, 288 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF tion, will be found bearing a ftrong fitnilitude of our four-footed of the triple cadence ; but occafionally alfo an equal fimilitude of that very different verfe, our fix-footed of the even ca- dence, not uncommonly called Alexandrine ; and far oftener than either no form of Englifh verfe at all will appear. The fimilitude of En- glim cadence which Englifh mouths are apt to give generally to French verfe, arifes from an accentuation of the words which does not be- long to the language. But the refemblance which French pronuntiation gives, here to one Englifh cadence, there to another of a widely dif- ferent conftitution and character, arifes from no accentuation inherent in the words, from no ap- pertenance of the words feverally, from nothing effential to the conftitution of the verfe, but from the accidental influence generally of emphafis only, But the French people, who have able mu- ficians, and excel all the world in dance, cannot be without fenfibility to the powers of harmony in knguage, as well as in mufic and motion. The very phrafe juft noticed, f the dactylian pronuntia- ' tion of the Englifh,' would indicate fo much. How then has the harmony of the Latin language, not the harmony of quantity only, which has va- nifhed from all modern languages, but the har- mony of accent alfo, retained and fubftituted in moft of them, been, in the French, a daughter of the Latin, fo completely loft ? It has been a juft remark of able and obferving writers, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 289 Writers, that languages have been moft complex in their origin, and have been fimplified with extent of ufe. Thus the dual number has dropped from the Greek and from the Anglo-Saxon. But conquefl> and the transfer of a language to a new people, would tend ftill more powerfully to the fimplirl- cation of the language transferred. In the fall of the Roman empire, while energy of mind, direct - ing military force, gave political power to the con- quering barbarians, fcience and arts, with, the ge- neral difpofition of mankind to elegance, ftill fo preferved civil influence to the old inhabitants, that the language of the latter prevailed, but with fome neceflary conceffions. To make it readily in- telligible to the conquerors, the various declen- lions, which puzzled them, were abandoned, and a very few prepofitions ferved to indicate the cafes equally of all declenfions. The exact diftinctions of quantity in fyllables were at the fame time loft. But accent, to judge from what remains of the former language of the conquerors, was an import- ant circumftance of that language; whence, in learn- ing the new fpeech, its accent was the more readily adopted. Thus accent remains the ruling indicant of cadence in the Italian, Spanilh, Portuguefe, and Romanefk or Southern French, as it had been of the Teutonic and Gothic dialects. In a topographical defcription of France, printed at Paris in Lewis the Thirteenth's reign, it is ftated that two languages then divided the country, with U the 290 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of the Loire for the boundary between them : the people to the northward of that river, fays the au- thor, fpeak French, thofe to the fouthward Roman, or, as we commonly call it, Romanefk or Romance. Now it was in the northern provinces that the Franks principally prevailed, after the fouthern had yielded to other barbarians, who extended their conquefts over Spain. Long after the Franks the Normans introduced new barbarifm extenfively among the northern provinces. The language of the conquered was adopted by both people, but with alterations far greater than in the fouthern parts. It will not be diffi- cult then to conceive how, in thefe circum- ilances, between the druggie in the mouths of the northern conquerors to pronounce Latin words, and the requilite efforts of the fubdued people to make every fyllable of their language obvious to forein ears, not regularity of quantity only, but character of accent too might vanifh. In making a new polyfyllabical word clear to the ear and cafy to the voice of the lordly learners, it would often be neceflary to fpeak every fyllable feparately, with equal tone, as is common in teaching chil- dren, leaving the accent to be added when the articulation were already familiar. But the arti- culation itfeif undergoing - confiderable change, the altered word might become a member of the new dialect without a determined accentuation ; and from the habit of thus omitting diflindion of accent, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 29! accent, the omiffion might become a characteristic of the new pronuntiation. But it will deferve no- tice that there is a difference between the Teutonic languages and the Latin in the principle of accen- tuation, which might furnifh additional caufe for the northern French to neglect, or difcard from their new fpeech, the Latin tones. This difference may be illuftrated by example from our own lan- guage. In our derivative words the accent always adheres fteadily to fome fyllable of the root where- by it may bed indicate the fundamental fenfe of the word ; as in mind, minded, minding, mindful, mindfully ; care, caring, careful, carelefsly ; for- get, forgetting, forgotten, forgetfully, forgetful- nefs. But in the Latin, abounding in inflexion, the accent was often moved to a new fyllable, to affift the indication of a new (hade of meaning intended by the inflexion. The faireft daughters of the Latin then, the Italian and Spanifh, loling the inflexions, have preferved the Latin accentua- tion where, for found, it is ftill advantageous, but for the meaning it rather tends to confufion. This may be feen in the Italian words maggiore, minore, megliorc, peggiore, amatore, leggitore, mietitore, arditamente, debilmentc, forzatamente, amabiimente, compared with the Englifh words greater, fmaller, better, lover, reader, reaper, boldly, weakly, forcibly, lovingly, where the ac- cent is on that fyllable which diftinguimes the fundamental fenfe of the word j whereas in the u 2 Italian, 2$2 INQUIRY INTO tftE PRINCIPLES OF Italian it afiifts no indication of difference in worcte of fignification fo widely differing. The Frankifh and Norman conquerors therefore, pronouncing imperfectly, omitting final fyllables, and finishing with thofe great alterations of the language which produced the modern French, might find it necef- fary, for making their fpeech intelligible, to in- creafe the proportionate ftrefs of the voice on the leading fyllables, and yet unneceflary to give to any one of them a decided eminence. To this, at leaft as a concurrent caufe, we may apparently at- tribute the lofs of appropriate and diftinguifhing accent in the French language. The French with all its defects, has found fuch cxtenfive favor among the higher clafles in the northern nations of Europe, nations of rough ' and uncultivated native fpeech, as to give occafion to French writers to boaft of it as a fort of univer- fal language. But it has never been able to make its way iouthward. Perhaps the fimplicity which allows variation of tone only under the guidance of emphafis, may not be intirely without its own peculiar elegance, tho upon the whole a great de- fect in the language. For connection with mufic, it will be obvious that much facility is provided by the failure of accent, as well as of quantity, in Frencn verfe. But it will be alfo obvious that there can be fcarcely any real analogy of character between any French verfe (fentiment being out of the queftion) and any mufical movement : the artificial HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 293 artificial connection, between French verfe and mufic may be what the mufical compofer pleafes ; and of this facility the able muficians who, of late years, have been leading the French people toward a tafte for Italian mufic, have availed themfeives ; but for any natural connection means feem wholly wanting. In the old and truly national French mufic, a ftriking peculiarity of character was de- rived from the language with which it was con- nected, and that mufic no people but the French themfeives could relifh. ARTICLE II. Of the Italian Language. I HAVE not found that the principles of verfifica- tion have been better explained for any other mo- dern language than for our own. The ftriking effects of accent however have been obferved in Italian not lels than in Englilh verification ; and it has been remarked that the mechanifm of Eng- liih and Italian verfe is nearly the fame : even our principal meafures have been apparently bor- rowed from the Italian, eipecially our epic verfe. Barretti, the author of the Italian Englilh gram- mar and dictionary, a man of little talent and little u 3 learning, 294 INQUIRY" INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP learning, had however the very confiderable ad- vantage of living in fome intimacy with Samuel Johnfon. In his grammars he has undertaken to explain the texture of Italian verfe to Englifhmen and of Englifh to Italians. For Englifh verfe he has meerly abridged Johnfon. In treating of Italian verfe he (hows his complete feeling of its congeniality with the Englifh, obferving of the epic that it differs from the Englifh epic only in requiring conflantly the hyperrhythmical final fyl- lable, the double ending, and in admitting and even requiring more variety, through a more fre- quent and wider departure from the primary, fun- damental arrangement of accents ; the primary arrangement being for both languages precitely the fame. For example of thaf arrangement, in the Italian, he gives this couplet : Che viver piu felice e piu beato Che ritrovarfi in fervitu d'amore ! Where he fays, the flrong accents fall on each ' even fyllable ; that is, on the fecond, fourth, ' fixth, eighth, and tenth.* The Englimman will certainly find, in thofe two lines, fo accented, pre- cifely the meafure of his own epic verfe. But an- other matter will deferve attention here. It is evident -that Barretti. was fenfible of the fame double accentuation in triffyllabical and other longer words of the Italian language, which has been formerly noticed in treating of Englifh ac- 8 centuation, "HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 2Q" centuation m , and that the weaker accents affift in the conftitution of Italian as of Englifti verfe. In the fecond 'of the two lines above given, the firft accent and the third, namely the accent on the firft fyllable of ritrovarfi and on the firft of fer- vitii, are of the weaker kind n . But m Seft. IV. of this Inquiry. After having defcribed and illuflrated thus juftly the fun- damental arrangement of accents in Italian epic verfe, Barrett! proceeds to Ipeak of the allowed deviations with evident ex- travagance. That we-may avoid uniformity in our verfifica- * tion,' he fa\ s, ' we place our accents in different manners, * ibmetimes on even, fometimes on uneven fyllables : fome- * times the very firft fyllable of the verfe is forcibly accented, * and fometimes the neceflary rapidity of utterance gives no ' room at all for accents until we reach the fourth, fifth, and ' even fixth fyllable. The accents fometimes are diftant, fome- ' times they meet ; now ftronger, now fofter, as chance or ' /kill direcV Giving credit to the impreifion which this ac- count, haftily taken, might make, it might be fuppofed there was no certain regularity in Italian verfe, and, in (hort, that it \vas no verfe. But the Englifli reader will be aware that the forcible accenting of the firft fyllable is very common in En- g.ifli epic verfe, and therefore not to be wondered at in Italian. He will know alfo that in Englifli verfe, as in Italian, the ac- cents are fometimes more diftant, and that, far oftener than in Italian, they meet, through the frequent occurrence of em- phatical monofyllables. From Barretti's own grammar and dictionary he may learn that every Italian word, not monofvl- labical, has its predominating accent ; and therefore the examples he has given of fnch lengthened intermiffion of accent cannot bo ftriftly correft, and Ihould only be underftood as examples u 4 of 296 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF But of the congeniality of Englifh with Italian verfification, I met at Rome formerly with proof, which I can no way ib well explain as in relating the circumftances. They occurred accidentally, in con- verfation with the fame learned old man, whom I have mentioned in fpeaking of Latin verfe. Of modern languages, belide his own, he knew only French; which he would not fpeak, becaufe, he laid, the habit of fpeaking any forein language tended to vitiate the true Roman pronuntiation. French verfe he held in utter averfion, and for Englifh verfe, fuppoiing it formed on the fame model with the French, he had, by anticipation, a contempt evident enough, tho he avoided to declare it.. I could not get credit with him for my aflertion that, however the roughnefs of our language might difguiie it, our verfe was eflentially the fame as the Italian. No book being at hand to furnifh of remitted accentuation. His own rules and illuftrations by example then, noticed in the text above, will fhow that in Italian as in Englifli, longer words have fecondary diftinguifti- ing accents ; and thus all the differences of Italian from Eng- lifh 'epic verfe will remain thofe only which have been here- tofore, or will be hereafter noticed in the text. Barretti was but a very imperfect matter of the Englifh lan- guage, as is too evident even in his dictionary, butftill more glar- ing in fome of his fmaller works. His grammar and his travels have been written for him, and feeni to bear fome occafional marks of Johnfon's pen. Johnfon did not know Jtalian, and fo would be likely to fail of exaclnefs in defcribing, under Bar~ retti's inilrucYion, the anomalies of Italian verfification. example HARxMONY IN LANGUAGE. 297 example but Barretti's dictionary, I red to him the fix lines from Rowe : Let this aufpicious day be ever facrerf ; No mourning, no misfortune happen on it: Let it be mark'd for triumph and rejoicing : Let happy lovers ever keep it holy ; Chufe it to fill their hopes and crown their wiflies, This happy day that gives me my Califta. I had fcarcely completed the fecond when, with evident furprize and pleafure, he cried out ' B^ne, * bene;' and when I had finifhed, he expreffcd largely his gratification at finding Englifli verfifica- tion formed on the fame model with that of his own language. Thus reconciled to our dramatic verle, I fuppofed I mould have pleafed him with the ftanza of four and three feet, becaufe Barretti commends it, and becaufe the rimes happen to be all vocal : When all fhall praife and every lay Devote a wreath to thee, That day, for come it will, that day Shall I lament to fee. But I was difappointed. The meafure is not ufed by the Italian poets, and I imagine the want of the double ending, tfce hypercatalectic fyl- lable, difappointed his ear; for when I red to him afterward Johnfon's own verfes cited by Barretti, harmonious verfes with good rimes, but all with the fmgle ending, he was evidently lefs fatis- fied than with Rowc's, which have the hyperca- taleclic fyllable without rime. He was however pleafed 298 INQUIRY INTO THE PR4NCIPLES OF pleafed again with a ftanza in which I thought the confonants terminating the rimes might have offended him : 'Twas when the feas were roaring With hollow blaft of wind, A damfel Jay deploring All on a rock reclined. But here he found a near refemblance to the favorite meafure of the Italian lyric poets, In vece del naviglio Vede partir le fponde ; Giura che fuggi il lido, E pur cosi non e. Alefiandro di Metaftafio, at. 3. fc. r. The Italian epic verfe then refembles the Eng- lifh with the differences only already noticed ; namely, that it requires conftantly the hypercata- lectic fy liable ; that it admits more readily the aberration of the acute in the fourth, third, and even the fecond foot, and that it requires more ufe of thefe varieties, efpecially the aberration in the fecond. Of modern poets who have written exprefsly for mufic, Metaftafio is inconteftably the chief. No other has fludied the connection of mufic and poetry fo much and fo well. It is evident that he has fought variety of meafures, and it is evident alfo that he has found no great variety in his lan- guage to pleaie him. His favorite, clearly, has been HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 299 been that which appears to have been always the mod ordinary meafure for Italian fong, the three- footed of the even cadence with the hypercataledYic fyllable ; varied only with the omifiion of that fyl- lable, or, in the Italian phrafe, with the rima tronca, at regular intervals; as in his well-known canzonet and palinode to Nice, already noticed. But whether thofe longer odes may hate been lefs ftudied for connection with mufic I cannot tell, and therefore it may be furer to refer to his dra- matic lyrics for example. The following is from .his Achilla : Fra 1'ombre un lampo folo Bafta al nocchier fagace, Che gia ritrova il polo, Gia riconofce il mar. Al peliegrin ben fpeflb Bafta un veftigio imprcflb Perche la via fallace Non 1'abbia ad ingannar. Att. i. fc. 6. I have formerly noticed that the verfes of our common flanza of four feet and three alternately, arrange thcmfelves all readily with the fame mu- fical time as thofe of this Italian ftanza, the mea- fure being rilled through the afliftance of either a long note at the end of the fhorter verfes, or a pauie, which offends neither in mufic nor in poetry. Still more readily and regularly thefe Italian three-footed verfes, with the hypercataleftic fyllable, 300 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF fyllable, Effort themfelves with the mufical time of four equal feet. Example completely in point occurs in a fong fet to mufic by the celebrated Galuppi, compared with a fong written by the late learned Mr. Harris, author of Hermes, and by him adapted to the fame mufic. The Italian fong runs thus : La paftorella al prato Col gregge fe ne va, Col agnellino al lato, Cantando in liberta. This, it will be feen, is exactly the rneafure of the 3Engli(h fong lately quoted, 'Twas when the feas were roaring. But Mr. Harris, fkilled as he was in mufic, did not fear to give to the fame notes a poetical mea- fure, very confiderably different. His lines arc thefe : With us alike each feafon fuits ; The fpring has fragrant flow'rs, The fummer corn, the autumn fruits, The winter focial hours. The reader who knows the air will perceive that the additional fyllable in the firft and third lines, tho an acuted fyllable, giving character to an additional foot in the poetry, is fo far from an in- cumbrance to the mulic that it rather fills the meafure with advantage ; and yet the fecond and fourth lines, fhorter by a complete foot, have no ungraceful deficiency, but on the contrary, through HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. qci J through protraction of quantity in the note ac- companying the Jaft fyllable, or a reft after it, or both, the meafure is enough indicated, and with effect more grateful to the ear than if this variety were not introduced. The mufical cadence in- d( ed, through the licence which I have formerly mentioned as common among modern muficians, is triple, while the poetical cadence is even ; but the example neverthelefs,for thepurpofe for which I have given it, is complete. Metaftafio I think never ufes the FOUR-FOOTED of the even cadence but with the firft foot trun- cated , as in thefe examples : Fra 1'orror della tempefta, Che alle ftelle il volto imbruna, Qualche raggio di fortuna Gia commincia a fcintillar. Dopo forte fi funefta Sara placida quefta alma, Egodra, tornata in calma, I pcrigli rammentar. Siroe, att. I. fc. 17. Sia lontano ogni cimento, L'onda fiatranquilla e pura, Buon guerrier non s'afficura, Non fi fida il buon nocchier. Anche in pace, in calma ancora, L'armi adatte, i remi apprefta, Di battalia o di tempefta Qualche aflalto a foftener. La Clcmenza di Tito, att. a. fc. 4. The 3O2 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF The reafon of this will be obvious to the mu- lical reader. In Englifii poetry, the even four- footed verfe, in its moil ordinary form, without the hypercatalectic fyllable, is adapted to fill the mufical meafure of four bars (or if they are half bars it is in effed the fame thing) without defi- ciency and without excels. But the grace of Italian poetry requiring generally the hypercata- lectic fyllable to make the rima giufta or double ending, that fyllable, were the firft foot complete, would be hyperrhythmical, and would very much, incumber the mufic. On the contrary, the firft foot being truncated, the lafl iyllable of the verfe } other wife hypercatalectic and hyperrhythmical, be- comes a complementary fyllable, without which an extenfion of time, either by quantity or reft, would be neceflary to fill the cadence. Thus, with its double ending, the truncated Italian verfe fills the meafure of four mufical bars, like the Englilh com- . plete four-footed with the fingle ending. It will be evident, from a view equally of Italian and Englim verfe in connection with mufic, that, for that connection, fome occahonal fhortening of the verfe, that may give opportunity for reft in the mufic, at convenient intervals, is advantageous. Whether this has been confidered by any of our later poets, who have written for muiic, I know not , tho I think it was by the elder, before the gigantic genius of Handel had taught a difregard for iuch niceties, by mowing that, with power of violence HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 303 violence enough, even profe might be forced into affociation with mulic, and become that which our forefathers confidered as the very oppofite to profe, fong. But Metaftafio has been always carefully attentive to this point, and therefore conftantly in- troduces the rima tronca, or fingle ending, at in- tervals among his four-footed lyrics. On the other hand, in Englilh verfe of this meafure, the prevalence, nearly to conftancy, of the fingle end- ing, which the genius of the language requires, is attended with a recurrence of the paufe ungrace- fully quick and uniform. Hence apparently Mil- ton's nice ear has been led to prefer that mixture of the complete four-footed with the truncated which prevails in his Allegro and Penferofo. In no other way perhaps, equally fuited to the ge- nius of our language, could he have gained fo nearly the advantage of the Italian mixture of the double with the fingle rime. Tho the effect in re- citation is very different, yet, for combination with mufic, the grave fyllable, at the end or at the be- ginning of the verfe, fills the time with equal con- venience. Metaftafio's farther varieties, in the even ca- dence, are rarely any other than thofe produced by varying the difpofition of the different kinds of rimes. The triple cadence has been in confiderable fa- vor with the great poet of the Italian mufical drama, and he has evidently thought it fit equally for 304 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF for fublime and for lighter fubjects. His varieties of lyric verfe in it exceed thofe in the even. His moll common triple meafure is that of the ce- lebrated ode to Venus, heretofore noticed. The following addrefs to Fortune, in his Scipio's dream, is in the fame meafure, but varied, at wide intervals, with the rima tronca, and fo forming a different flanza : Di che fei 1'arbitra Del niondo intero, Ma non pretendere Percio 1'impeto, D'un alma intrepida D'un nobilcor. Te vili adorino, Nume tiranno, Quei che non prezzano, Quei che non har.no Che'l baflb merito Del tuo favor. For analyfis of Italian verfe, as well as of Eng- lim, it appears moft convenient to confider the accented fyllable, when in its regular place, as the laft rather than the firft of a foot, both in the even and the triple cadence. Under this diviiion, the firft foot of all the verfes of the odes to Venus, and to Fortune wants its two grave fyllables* Hence, as we have obferved in the four-footed of the even cadence, the concluding fyllables are not, like the concluding fyllable of the epic endeca- fiiiabo, hyperrhythmical, but complementary. In connection HARMONY IN LANGUAGE, connection with mufic, this triple meafure, like the even meafure lad noticed, requires, for alliance with its. firft fyllable, the accented note beginning a bar. The firft, third and fifth verfes of the ftanza of the Ode to Fortune are adapted to coa- tefce with the notes of two bars, or two half-bars, of triple time, without reft : the fecond and fourth veifes, having a fyllable lefs, will require either extenfion of quantity, or a reft, to fill the mufical time. The fixth, having two fyllables lefs, muft have its time rilled either by more ex- tenfion of quantity or more reft. A few inftances we find, in Metaftafio, of this meafure, wanting conftantly one of the com- plementary fyllables, and at intervals both ; and the abruptncfs thus produced is fometimes advan* tageous for particular expreffion, as in this example from his Artaxerxes : Non ti fon padre ; Non mi fci figlio : Pitta nbn fento D'un traditor. Tu fei cagione Del tuo periglio ; Tu fei tormento Del gen it or. Att. i. fc. 12. In the connection of thefe lines with the cor- refpondent mufical cadence, to fill the mufical time, cither a reft is rjeceflary at the end of every verfe, or a protraction of the quantity of the pen- X ultimate 306 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES 0* ultimate fyllable. A nearly fimilar reft or pro- traction, which a good ear will lead the voice to give, even in reciting verfes of this meafure, pro- duces the abmptnefs which cannot fail to be fink- ing in them, even in recitation. Where therefore occasion for particular expref- fion has not recommended this broken meafure, a more continued flow has been preferred, and the over-frequency of interruption has been obviated by partly filling the void in the firfb foot. One grave fyllable preceding the acute of the flrft foot, and another following the acute of the laft, the mufical meafare is filled exactly as in the Ode to Venus and the Addrefs to Fortune, tho the cha- racter of the verfe in recitation is made confider- ably different by the different fituation of the paufe, The following example is from Metaftafio's De- mofoonte : Prudente mi chiedi ? Mi brami innocente. Lo fenti ; lo vede j Dipeade da te. )i lei, per cui peno, Se penfo al pcriglio, Tal fmatiia ho r.el feno/ Tal benda ho ful ciglio, Che 1'alma di frena Capace non e. Demof. att. 2. fc. 2. Yhe deficiency of double rimes, and of words fit for double and triple endings, tho without rime, makes this meafure iefs fit for our language; yet the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 307 the meafure of the hundred and fourth pfalm, al- ready quoted, differs from it' in nothing fo effcn- tially as the more irregular introduction of the fingle ending ; and our common four-footed verfe of the triple cadence is but a duplication of it ; as in this couplet of Dryden, When prefent we love, and when abfent agree : I think not of Iris, nor Iris of me. Far feldomer among Metaftafio's fongs occurs the three-footed verfe of the triple cadence ; which neverthelefs he appears to have thought not lefs fit for fublime than for light expreffion, tho our poets have ventured upon it only for iuch fubjects as thofe of Shenftone's mufe. Metaftaiio has chofen it for this addrefs to Jupiter : J tuoi ftrali, terror de' mortal!, Ah fofpendi, gran padre de' numi, Ah deponi, gran nume dc' re. Fumi il tempio del fangue d'un empio, Ch' oltraggio con infano furore, Sorrmio Giove, un immago di te. L'onde chete del pallido Lete L'empio varchi ; ma il noftro timore, Ma il fuo fallo portando con fe Olimpiade, att. 3. fc. 6. and for this fublime image : Son quel fiume che gonfio d'umori, Quando il gelo fi fcioglie in torrenti, Selve, armenti, capanne, paftori, Porta feco, e ritegno non ha. X 2 Sc 36S INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES 0? Sc fi vede negl'argini flretto, Sdegna il letto, confonde le fponde, E fuperbo fremendo fen va. Didone, att. i. fc. 13. He has chofen it alfo for this more playful fen- ti merit : Ogn'amante puo darfi guerriero ; r Che diverfa da quella a'i Marte Non e molto la fcuola d'Amor. Quefto adopra lufinghe ed inganni : Quello inventa 1'infidie, gli aguati ; E fi fcorda gli affanni paflati, L'uno e 1'aitro quand' e vincitor. Iffipilc, tt. i. fc. 10. If, in Italian epic verfe, a licence is admitted and a variety required, beyond what we allow to our own, in Metaftalio's lyrics it is not fo : on the con- trary we find there a fcrupulous regularity, a re- gularity much ftricter than among our lyric poets > no mixture of verfes of more and fewer feet, no li- cence for more or fewer fyllables, except in regard to grave fyllables following the laft foot, which may be two, one, or none ; and, even in regard to- this variety,- having once formed his ftanza, he ftriclily preferves the form. This then is remark- able of his verfes of the triple cadence. In the two- footed verfe, if it concludes with what the Italians call a verbo fdrucciolo, that is, if two grave fyl- lables follow the laft acuted fyllable, then the firft foot of the verfe always wants both its grave fyl- Jables: if only one grave fy liable follow the laft acute, "HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 309 scute, then the firft foot may have ont grave fyl. table preceding its acute, but only one j a-nd the form adopted for the firft foot of the ftanza, is ftri&ly preferved in the firft foot of every verfe of the poem. But in the three-footed verfe of the triple cadence, never are lefs than two grave fyl- lables preceding the firft acute ; fo that the firft foot of the three-footed verfe is always complete, that of t'r.e two-footed never. The reafon of the difference, thus tonftantly ob- ferved, will not be obfcure to the mufical reader at all accuftomed to obferve mufic in connection with poetry. It refts on the fame principle which has led the Italian poets, as before remarked, to deny a complete firft foot to their four-footed meafure of the even cadence. If the two-footed verfe of the triple cadence had its firft foot complete, and had alfo a hy per rhythmical fyllable following ks laft, the meafure would be altogether awkward for connection with mufic; becaufe the two feet would fill two bars or half-bars, - and the hyper- rhythmical fyllable, from the caufe formerly men- tioned, would be a fuperfluity, not readily to be brought to accord with the mufical cadence. But the three-footed verfe not being in itfelf adapted to fill the times of mufical meafure, but always wanting either extenfion of quantity, or reft, the hyperrhythmical fyllable there only affifts to- ward the completion of that meafure. x 3 The INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF The varieties in which Metaftafio indulges, ii^ the difpofition of the indicatory accents, are nar-. rowly limited. In the even three-footed verfe in- deed he freely ufes the aberration in the firft foot ; whether the accentuation of his language denied a ftricter adherence to the more regular form, which is far more adapted to coalition with mufic, or he judged it necefiary fo far to concede to effecl: in recitation. Very rarely however we find any other aberration of the accent in that meafure. In the four-footed verfe, fometimes the acute is wanting on the fmgle fyllable of the firft foot. But it is to be confidered that, in recitation, that fyllable is rendered confpicuous, by a certain degree of em- phafis, refulting from the paufe which of courfe takes place at' the end of a verfe ; and it will fcarcely ever be found that this fyllable, tho want- ing the orthoepical, may not, without offence, re- ceive the mufical accent ; as in the line given from Siroe, Sara placida quefta alma Moreover this aberration is of rare occurrence. Sometimes, but ftill very rarely, the aberration is admitted in the third foot, as in the firfl line quoted from the Clemenza di Tito : Siajlontajno ognijdmento But it will be obferved that every four-footed verfe confifts of two equal hemiftics ; fo that the aber- ration in the third foot, which is the firft of the fe- * contf ^ HARMONY IN LANGtTAGE. 311 ,cond hemiftic, has privilege nearly as that on the firft foot of a verfe. In that triple two-footed verfe which wants 'both the grave fyllables of its firft foot, of which the odes to Venus and to Fortune are examples, liberty is frequently taken with the fingle fyllable of the firft foot : which is often found lefs power- fully acuted than the following fyllable. But here hat fingle fyliable is fo rendered eminent by fitua- tion, as to be not unfit for aflcciation with the mu- iical accent. In the other forms of verfe of the triple .cadence I -think aberration of the acute is fcarcely .ever found ; and even the duplication, in Englilh yerfe not uncommon, in Italian is very rare. The Simplicity and regularity, in the mechanifm of the Italian lyric verfe, furnifh ftrong indication that the licences admitted and even required in the epic, have originated in the feparation of epic verfe from mulic. Wanting the varieties which inuiic furniihes, other varieties, accommodated to iimple recitation, became neceffary; varieties which render verfe far lefs ready for connection with mufic. For DRAMATIC dialogue, as I have had occafion Joobferve in treating of Englifh verfe, the Italians life their endecafillabo, the even five-footed epic verfe with the hyperrhythmical fyllable, varied by irregular mixture of the three-footed, which alfo constantly bears the hyperrhythmical fyl- Jable. * 4 INQUIRY INTO TH2 PRINCIPLES ARTICLE 3 . t Of the Spanifi, Portuguefe and Romanejk Lan- guages. THE Caflilian, or clafiical Spanim, and the Ro- maneikjor fouthern French, hardly differ fo much from the claffical Italian, that is the Tufcan and Roman, as Tome dialects within Italy : even the Neapolitan, bordering on the Roman, and the Bolognefe, bordering on the Tufcan, are al~ inoft other languages. But in all thefe the principle of verification is the fame as in the claffical Italian and the Knglim. The epic verfe of the Spaniards and Portuguefe differs not from the Italian. But the dramatic verfe of the SpanUh poets, whofe dramatic works are abundant, differs greatly. It is the truncated four-footed, a favorite lyric meafure of the Italian poets, but never ufed by them for dramatic dialogue. The Spanim poets ufe it alfo commonly as a lyric meafure, generally in ftanzas of four verfes, with imperfect rimes; of which bifhop Percy has given a fpecimen to- ward the end of his relics of antient Englifh poetry. The imperfection of the rimes, common among the Spanim poets, mould apparently be attributed neither to negligence or unildlfulnefs in the poet, .nor to defect in the language : fo far indeed, from implying HARMONY IN LANGUAGE, 313 implying defect in the language, perhaps they ra- ther imply perfection ; indicating that the Spanifli lyric poetry wants lefs affiftance from that coarfo ornament than other modern European tongues. The Romanefk is a fpeech little generally jcnown ; pafling with many for an imperfect or corrupt French ; but it deferves another eftima- tion. Since Lewis the Thirteenth's reign probably the Parifian French has been gaining much upon it j and in no long time poffibly the Romanefk may be worn out, as the Cornu-Britim is of late years extinct, and the various Englifh dialects are rapidly vanifhing. But in the fouthern provinces of France the Romanefk. yet remains, nearly as it flood in the time of the Provencial poets, the pa- triarcs of modern European verfe. It is a language between the Italian, Spanidi, and French ; in its dialects approaching the SpaniQi more as it ap- proaches Spain, the Italian as it approaches Italy, the French as it approaches Paris; but, in its ge- neral character having more of the Spaniih. Since the fall of the kingdom of Aries, and the decay of the courts of Aix and Touloufe, it has been little cultivated but in popular fongs. But men of fu- perior acquirements have Ibrnetimes amufed them- felves with compcfitions in it; and one, eminent among the guilty leaders of the French revolution, after having mown its yet remaining powers in verfe, propofed, as I have been aflured, to (how of what it was capable in profe, but that circum- ftances 514 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES O* {lances led him to views of ambition in the po- litical line, and then other circumftances impoied fiience upon him. By accident a genuine fpeci- rnen of the language, in its rudeft and pureft itate, fell in my way, which may poiiibly amufe fome readers curious about languages. Mr. de Gualy, of the regiment of Caftries, going to imbark at Portfmouth for the unfortunate expedition to Quiberon, came to vifit his kinfman, of the fame name, then officer in a militia regiment ftationed jn Fareham barracks. The family of Gualy is noble, of the weftern part of Lar.guedoc ; the chief intitled -baron de St. Rome, from a fmall town of that name on the river Tarne, but having * t> his relidence at Milhaud, or Milliau, on the fame river. The Guaiys being proteftants, and fo, till of -late years, excluded from the French fervice, the father of the militia officer had migrated to Eng- land, and reached the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Engliih fervice ; into which he alfo introduced his fon, who was captain in the fecond battalion of the firfl foot, before he ingaged in the militia. After dinner at the regimental mefs, finging being propofed, the officer of Caftries offered to bear his part : he could not ling Englifh, but, if he might be allowed, he faid, he would fmg a popular fong of his own wild country, which his coufin, who in his youth had been once to fee the chief of their family at Milhaud, would remember as a favorite of their common grandfather. Being pl.eafed with the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 3! jj the air, which had far more of the character of Spanifli than French mufic, I defired him to recite the words, which he did, and I then requefted him to write them for me. He faid that, tho fpeaking the dialeft moft familiarly, he was unaccuftomed to write it, and therefore he mufl fpell as he beft could. Amid the difturbance of furrounding con- verfation, then, he wrote as it is here given, with the difference only that the accents marking the cadence, as far as I could depend on my memory of his pronuntiation, have been added. For it is to be obferved that the Romanefk is a language of cadence marked by accent, like the Italian, Spa- nifh and Englifh. It may be convenient aiib for moft readers to mention that confonants written are never filent, as in French, and that e and tt are to be pronounced always fully, as in Italian ; the French u and feminine e being unknown to the Ro- manefk. Mr. de Gualy has placed a d before j 9 ch, and g, meerly to indicate that thofe letters arc differently pronounced from the French ; namely j as in Englifl*, cl as in Englilh and Spanifli, and g as in Englifh and Italian, The words which he has written djama'i and dchangearie would be re- prefented in Italian orthography by the letters giamai and ciangiarie. In writing the pronoun of the firft peribn you, he mentioned that the pronun- tiation was precifely that of the Englilh pronoun of the fecond perion, reprefented by the fame let- ters. Everywhere, with him, the dipthongal nota- ou and the fimple vowel u rcprefeat the fame found. 31 6 IN<^JTRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of found. 5T has been doubled in the word totttt, fim- ply to admonifli that it is not filent as in French, and # has been alfo doubled in the words kann and pendenn^ only to warn that it is the real conformant, and not the lign of the French nafal vowel, which is as ftrange to the Languedocian dialed: as the French and feminine e. It is remarkable of the Languedocian that it confounds v and b even more than the Spanifli or Neapolitan : Mr. de Gualy wrote both letters alike; and in Langue- docian pronuntiation it is often difficult for the ear to diftinguim them. I have preferred one or the other only as it would beft mark for the reader th$ meaning of the word. The fong then follows : Kann tu rifes tcutt me pla'i ; Animarios uno Icfiko : Tous uillous e toun air gai* Fjbu reni I'aigo a la bouco. EgaY, EgaV. tncaro noun la teni mai la voli; Encaro noun la teni mai 1'aouraY. Medizou que moun rival See ven pendenn moiin abf^en^a. Lui facara'i amb' un pal, Ss prenn a quelo lic^n^a. Ega'i, &C. Kan lou eel fe virarie, C6mmo faou los aoumeletos Djarxm'i you ne dchandgeane L'amovir ka"i" per ma bruneio.* The r The following literal verfion is inteoded meerly to anf\ver the purpofc -of a vocabulary : Quand HARMONY in LANOTTASE. The meafure of this fong is that moft in favor with the Italian lyric poets, and almoft exclufively with the Spanifli, formed into a tetraftic, which is followed by a couplet in the Italian epic meafure, the endecafillabo. With regard to the dialect, the reader will have obferved that the difcrimination of fexual terminations, preferved in the Italian and Spanifli, from the Latin, has been nearly loft in the Romaneik. A carelefs pronuntiation of the firft vowel, a, has brought it to the found of o in the fouthern language of France, and fo has prepared it for the degradation to the half articulate found of the feminine c in the northern, or proper French. But the ability to diihiifs the pronouns from its verbs is an advantage over the proper French, which, even in this village fong, is flriking. Quand tu ris tout tu me plais : Tu anhnerois une souche, Tes yeux & ton air gai Font venirl'eau *> la bouche. Egai", egai*. Je ne la tiens pas encore, mais je la veux : Je ne la ticns pas encore, mais je 1'aurai. I/on dit que mon rival S'eft venu pendant mon abfence. Jel'afibmmerois avec une mafllie S'il prenne a cclle-la quclque licence. Egai, Sec. Quand le del fe vircroit Comme fe font les omelettes Jamaisje ne changerois L'amour que j'ai pour ma brunette. I think 318 INQUIPxY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OIF I think it likely that in a farther invedigatiort ofSpanifh, Portuguefe, and Romanefk poetry, to which might be added that of the Italian and Si- cilian dialects, and of all other daughters of the Latin, fornc curious elucidation of the natural con- nection of mufic and poetry would refult ; but this labor I mil ft leave for thofe who, with more Icifure, have alfo much more familiarity with thpfe ipeeches. ARTICLE 4. Of the modern and middle-aged Greek. I HAVE heard of a dhTertation, which I never met with, on the feventy-two dialects of the modern Greek. A language fo ex'tenlively fpoken as the Greek, among countries where other lan- guages were alfo fpoken, could not but acquire various, (hades in various parts, and would be likely to become, in fome places, fo altered, that it might be hard to fay whether it remained Greek or no. Yet the Greek has not, like the Latin, branched out into daughter languages. The litterary Greek, remaining the language of the polite to the final overthrow of the Greek empire, is flill looked up to, by the well educated, as their proper tongue ; and all modern deviations from it, how- ever JrtARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 31^ ever unavoidably to be practifed for the common purpofes of life, are confidered rather as jargons than dialects. The modern Greek, therefore, tho capable of being rendered, by cultivation, equal perhaps at lead to any modern European fpeech, has remained almoft uncultivated. No nation upon earth however probably is without its po- pular fongs ; and popular poetry can exift only in the common language of the people. For popular preaching alfo the ipeech of the many alone will ferve. In popular poetry therefore almoft only, and popular preaching, the language of modem Greece is to be found committed to writ ins;. O In treating of this language I (hall ftill prefer the method taken for our own fpeech, tracing the ftream from the moft modern examples upward toward its fource. Thus we (hall be led through what is commonly called the middle-aged Greek,, which differs from the clafiical by numerous new words, required by new circumfbnces, but not by anything characteriftical in the language, to that it will not require here any diftincT: confideration. The mod recent examples of the modern Greek language, to which I can refer, aie of the pre- dicatory or oratorical kind, the proclamations of Bonaparte, and of the patriarch of Conftantinople, to the maritime Greeks ; both publifhed with the intercepted correfpondence of the French army in Egypt. The former is of the feventy-two dialecls, and yet exhibits ftrong marks of the fuperior lan- guage 320 JNQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES Of guage whence it originated. The other is the po- lite fpeech of Conftantinople at the prefent day. The poetry however only of the language is our proper object here, and of this the moil modern examples that have fallen in my way are thole given by Monfieur Guys in his Voyage Litteraire de la Grece. When at Marfeille, feven and twenty years ago, I had an advantageous introduction to Mr. Guys, but it Hood me in little {lead. He was a man dipofed to retirement, and his fituation was awkward. It is indeed not eafily defcribed in our language ; becaufe as the circumftances have no exiftence with us, terms are of courfe wanting. Mr. Guys was of a bwrgeoifc family, and having acquired wealth, had purchafed a nominal office under the crown, that of fecrctaire du roi, which conferred what the French called noblejje, meaning the rank and condition of a gentleman. He was thus raifed above the hofpitable fociety of the rich merchants of the then highly fiourifhing city of Marfeille, and yet would be looked upon with no refpect by the poor and proud noblejj'e of Provence, into whofe rank he had obtruded himfelf. He lived therefore at Marfeille, where, unlefs in office, no others of his new rank would live, in a manner infu- lated among his books ; and to me, who had pafled from a polite and hofpitable reception at the houfe of one of the oldefl families of Provencial noblefle to the ready civilities of the Marfeillefe merchants, and might pafs again and repafs (a privilege how- ever fcARMONY tN LANGUAC2. :vcr almoft peculiar then to Englifh travellers) Mr. Guys was at a lofs how to mow civility. Aly acquaintance with him therefore has been almofl only through his book. Mr. Guys' long refidence among the Greeks, his opportunities for communication among them, and his tafte and learning, fuperior as a merchant, gave him advantages for feledling the fpecimens which he has given of modern Greek poetry. Un- fortunately however, they have been printed with an incorreclnefs which feems to be accounted for only by his diftance, at Marfeille, from the prefs of Paris. Unfortunately alfo his tranilations of them, tho in profe, are fo loofe,, even beyond the ordinary licen- tioufnefs -of French tranflators, that they fcarcely aflift at all toward correction of the original. Neverthelefs, in the want of other fpecimens, they are valuable, and, for my principal purpofe, nearly perfect, becaufe the meafures are everywhere clear. They are all obvioufly accentual, all adorned with rime, and no way eflentially differing from Italian and Englifh meafures. The following lines begin a long which Mr. Guys calls the moft mo- dern, compofed in compliment to a young woman his neighbour : tf xa 15 TO/ KoyoufjioV) aof ATT TUV (Acniuvatyt may have been formed either from the antient Greek *^, or rather from the Italian aavigare. Mr. Guys HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 525 This may be rendered litterally in EnglifJh thus : * Open the Cledona : my beloved fails to the ene- ' my's camp, and comes off conqueror.' Of one diftic more, bearing a ientiment likely to be popular in a lively nation, reduced, in confe- quence of the failure of martial fpirit, to the prefent condition of the Greeks, I will venture to attempt correction and tranflation : T y'sMa, (AS ra Aoujunoi) /WE rriv ^xoav rj ( Laughter with weeping, forrow with joy, in f one hour were fown, and together fprang.' Mr. Guys fays that, in fmging thefe diftics, each verfe is divided into hemiftics. But had we not this information, which might be neceiTary for Mr. Guys' fellowcountrymen, it would be ob- vious enough, to thole verfed in accentual poetry, that, tho written as couplets, they are really ftanzas of four verfes, like the Chevy-chace cri- Guys has given what he calls a tranflation of thefe diftics; but it is in verfe, and being of courfe not lefs pure French, in tafte and in phrafe, than his profe verfions, unlefs for any who may admire it as French poetry, it is utterly ufelefs* 1 rif'xa feems a corruption, preferred for rime-fake to the nore claffical forms, preferved yet in politer ufe, wi*f and TTtxf i. Y 3 ticifed 326 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ticifed in the Spectator, and Tickell's well-known ballad :. Of Leinfter, famed for maidens fair, Bright Lucy was the grace, Nor e'er did Liffy's limpid ftream Refieft a fairer face. - * with the difference only that the Greek rimes arc all double. Mr. Guys has given a fpecimen only of one other jneafure, in which {ingle rimes are introduced, Me ME ftourava. as TO ruv Me EflWvcwov xaif ov, M' avs.fj.wr dhxQgi 2.<6$ovf tcxi This arrangement has lefs elegance, whether for recitation or connection with mufic, than the n With this fong Mr. Guys has given the Grecian mufic. The word xs/*o, in his fecond edition, is in his firft XE/*O, and what either may mean his translation will not inform, nor have I been able to learn. Mi is a contraftion of ^ET. Koflivu is to approach. It is a moft curious incident of the modern Greek language that it has totally loft the infinitive mood, the want of which is fometimes fupplied by a participle, but generally, as here, by the fubjunftive mood. N yj*& u nofieva is laterally ' J approach that I fink,' meaning * I am ready to fink.' ordinary HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. ordinary Italian forms of ftanza : the refts are divided more advantageoufly where the finglc rimes are at wider diftances from the double. A Greek fong, of a meafure different from any given by Mr. Guys, is found in doctor Chandler's account of his travels in Greece. It has been felected with no purpofe of mowing either the" language, or thofe who fpeak it, advantageoufly, and will deferve notice only for the failure of other examples of the meafure, which is exactly that of Milton's Allegro ; Mirth admit me of thy crew* rou Mnre vov fA$e To, Ta ptya.'ha yi Taea TO T* The ftory is told by doftor Chandler, that a bifliop of Damala, in the antient Epidaurian territory, diflatisfied with the fmalnefs of the fifties brought him, would go out himfelf with the fifli ing-boats. Taken by a Moorifli corfair he wa fold as a flave, and, being found little capable of other work, was employed as afliftant to a nurfe in rocking a child. Con- templating his folly and confequent mifery, he compofed the fong, which literally tranflated, runs thus : ' Bifhop of Damala, neither fetife nor brain. Little ones you would not ; great * ones you coveted. Turn the hand-mill ; rock the Arab- child.' Y 4 Thefe INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Thefe are all To recent that they may be con- fidered as examples of the Greek verification of the prefent day ; which evidently rcfts on precifely the l4me principles as the Italian, and that large portion of the other weftern European congenial with the Italian. I propofe now then, with the materials before me (more might eafily be obtained by the curious, but thei'e may perhaps fuffice for my immediate purpofe) to trace Greek versification upward toward antiquity. From the examples already given it will be no very wide ftep to a work printed at Venice in 1658, a tranllatioa of Guarini's Paftor Fido, by a Greek of the iland of Zant. The title runs, Ilaraf 0/Jbj, rr/ovv Floi^criv ITiroj, Hra%Jwi;liyaTw, AvSwv 'riv avsutlogov TJ In thefe five lines cadence indicated by accent is perfedly obvious j and fo regular, that farther quotation feems as unneceflary to (how the kind of verfe, as it is for any other purpofe little defirable. Aberration of the accent is, throughout the poem, or rather bundle of poems, freely ufed in the firft foot of either verfe or hemiflic, and fcarcely clfe- where : the regularity is fully equal to that of the moft fcrupulous Italian lyric poets. The difference between thefe verfes and the more modern Greek: appears to be fcarcely any, beyond the adherence of the elder poet to antient pronuntiation, which the moderns have vitiated by often blending two vowels in one poetical fyllable, after the Italian manner.. Thus, in the lines from Tzetzes Mants made a triple time, T^goo?. This laft diftin&ion, w^iich, as we learn both from Quintilian and Dionyfius, was Always noticed by thofe who profefledly inquired about rhythmus, pafled ordinarily in verfe as only a double time. Neverthelefs difcretion would no doubt be neceflary in the ufe of it : over-frequently repeated, or in awkward arrangement, it would offend the nicer ear, and hence apparently the mention of it by Tzetzes. b The word ^vJioTif, tho no claffical authority appears to be known for it, may neverthejefs have been a word of claffical times, being regularly formed from the claffical word pgt'&Kf. It is translated by Lacifi vHit in/titla \ by Fofter, more properly and HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 339 This remarkable pafTage follows the f hifto- rical book,' and ftands as preface to a poem, in proper iambic verfe, on education, which is followed by a fhort poem in proper epic OF heroic verfe, and that again by another in proper iambics. Till the final overthrow of the Greek empire by the Turks, in the fifteenth century, we find the claflkal form of verfe .was cul- tivated among the learned, and was alone in favor among them. The epitaph compofed for himfelf by John Laicr.ris, of the imperial family of Con- ftantinople, acknowleging with gratitude the hof- pitality which, after that melancholy event, he found at Rome and Florence, while he lamented the fate of his own country, will hardly tire, even thofe to whom it is known, with repetition here : Aao-xaf ij c&bodavrri yaw tVMa.'iQrro, yx'irp "Ourf X/rjv {ei'vw u %ivs f FTO |wei>j%i'v, aM* a^Gerau si Qtpot. e The and yet I think not quite juftly, vulgaris infcitia. Ignorance, or rather illiteratenefs, may indeed, without any great violence, be confidered as implied in vulgarity; but vulgarity, or what is of and belonging to the multitude, feems all that is abfolutely exprefled by the term xt^anmj?. Neither Lacifi nor Foftcr feem to have been aware that the modern Greek language, commonly called by the modern Greek people 'P&^aota, it fa- miliarly termed by the learned among them, when they write, as they are fond of doing, in the anlient language, xyojua. y\ua-crt 9 which feems to anfwer precifcly to our phrafe wlgar-tongve. e Four lines will hardly be found to which it were more .. Had I the opportunity now, which a variety of inviting objefts led me then to neglcft, at leaft fo far that I have preferred neither x 4 note 344 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF note nor recolleclion of any particulars of this laft article, I fhould have more curiofity for it than for any of the others; for a juft explanation of the antient mixtures of poetical mea- fures could hardly fail to carry with it fome elucidation of the character of antient mufic, and of the connection of antient mufic with poetry. ARTICLE 5. v Of Oriental and Celtic Verification. IT would require an intimate acquaintance with the living founds of the eaftern dialects, for the written letter alone can do little, to form any opinion of the character of their verfification. The learned bifhop Hare's idea of explaining He- brew verfification by the laws of the Greek and Latin, is an extravagance on one fide, and the perhaps more learned and more elegantly critical bifhop Lowth's idea that Hebrew poetry was profe, and yet was the finefb of all poetry, is an oppofite and even a greater extravagance, into which men of their found ability could not have given, had they been more practifed in the various fpeech of men, and lefs habituated to form their notions of language from converfe with the dead letter only in their libraries. The modern Arabic, daughter certainly or fitter of the Hebrew, is a language fo extensively HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 345 cxtenfively fpoken, much more than any other on earth, that dialects cannot fail to vary much in it But from what little I have been able to gather, moftly of the dialects of Syria and Egypt, I mould fuppofe that its verfe is accentual. It would how- ever he far too much thence to infer that the verfe of the Hebrews was accentual, becaufe we know that the verfe of the modern Italians and modern Greeks is accentual, and the verfe of their anceftors was not fo. The verfe of the Hebrews and Chal- dees may have been regulated by fimple meafure of time, as that of the Greeks and Latins was, and yet the attempt to reduce their verfes, without knowing anything of their pronuntiation, to Greek and Latin rules, will be neverthelefs abfurd. It appears however likely that the power of accent to regulate cadence was introduced among the Greeks of the latter empire, together with figu- rative diction, to the overthrow of juft meafure of time and fimplicity of expreflion, from the eaft. Of the poetry of the Hebrews, no reafonable doubt can be entertained that it was verfe, dif- tinguifhed by regularity of meafure from profe; but it may poflibly, or, we might perhaps venture to fay, not improbably, have had accent for its principal regulator. The Weilh language has been reckoned by fome to have affinity with the Greek; and the Welfh themfelves have been fond of claiming this relationfhip. As far as I have had opportunity to look 346 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF look into languages, I have been able to difcover but two diftinct kinds, or, in the technical term borrowed from the Latin, genera, within the limits of Perfia, eaftward, and not going beyond the Atlantic, weftward. The Chinefe no doubt is a diftind kind. What the Malay, the Hin- doo, the Shanfcrit and others may be, I know not. But among the nations weftward of India, I think all may be arranged in affinity with either the Greek or the Hebrew. Whether the Hebrew or the Chaldee have the better claim to patriarchal dignity, for the prefent queftion matters not, or whether the Greek or the Sclavonic. All the Teu- tonic dialeds, which pervade modern Europe fo extenfively, together with the Latin and the antient -Cerfic, are of the fame genus with the Greek. The antient Chaldee, Syriac, Punic, and Celtic, with its modern branches, the Welm, Erfe or Gaelic (including Irifh and Highland Scotifh) Breton, and I believe Bifcayan, tho this I have not been able to afcertain, are of the fame genus with the Hebrew. Words indeed are found in the Wei fh language, which appear to have affinity with Greek words; and fo very many Greek have affinity with Hebrew words. It is matter of won. der whence the wide and charade riftical differ- ence in the conftrudioh of the languages, and the very great fuperiority of the Greek can have ari- fen ; but the' charafteriftical differences are ob- vioufly very great; and the Welm bears ftrong 8 charac- HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 347 chara&eriftical marks of affinity with the Hebrew, and none of affinity with the Greek, of any proba- ble later date than the feparation of the Greek itfelf from the Hebrew. The mechanifm of Welfh verfe, as far as I have been able to gather, is clearly accentual. This cannot have been derived from the Latin of old, whofe verfe was not accentual but of quantity j nor is there any fhadow of probability that it has been borrowed from the Englifh. We know not there- fore where to look for its origin but to the an- tient Britons. One remark more only upon a fub- jecc which I am ill qualified to profecute : The an- tient Wclfh airs, which have been tranfmitted tra- ditionarily by ignohint harpers, and all belong to fongs, have all that marked accentuation which might fit them for dance ; which indicates ftrongly that the verfe to which they were adapted was powerfully marked by accent. I will however venture an obfervation lefs imme- diately belonging to the fubjecT:. In the an- tient Scotifh airs, which are juftly admired for their very peculiar yet beautiful melody, there is no modulation, no change of key. But in the Welih, even the mod imperfect fragments, the air often highly beautiful, tho far lefs ftriking for its peculiarity, we find change of key frequent, and fometimes very artificial modulation, fuch as the modern compoler might not difadvantageouily emulate. Have both been derived from a com- mon 348 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF mon origin, the Greek mufic. brought into Britain by the Romans ? And has not the peculiar cha- racter of the Scotifh arifen from the defective pow- ers of the only inftrument retained by fugitives among the bleak and ftormy highlands, the bag- pipe, while the Welfh, holding the triple harp, but in their poverty and their troubles among their mountains, tho in a better climate, unable duly to cultivate fo complex and troublefome, yet fweet and powerful an inftrument, preferved ruins of a higher ftile of mulic, but only mins ? ARTICLE 6. Of the Change of the Mechanifm of Verfe, from that of the Latin to that of the modern Languages de- rived from the Latin. MEANS are not extant for tracing the dialects of modern Italy, and the kindred languages, up to the Latin, as the modern to the antient Greek. The void is wide j but in the decaying Latin, which remains to us, may be traced a tendency toward the character which pervades the daughters of the Latin ; character of pronuntiation as well as character of phrafe. The firft difference which has made itfelf ob- vious to fcholars, has arifen from the feparation of the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. the eaftern and weftern empires. In the beft age of the Latin language, the Auguftan age, the beft poets, as we have formerly obferved from Quin- tilian, were fond of varying the uniformity of the Latin accentuation by the introduction of Greek names ; and, as every pretender to polite learning cultivated the Greek language, thofe names, fo in- troduced in Latin poetry, retained, in recitation, the Greek accent ; otherwile the poet's purpofe would have failed. But when, after the feparation of the empires, and the decay of learning amid violent troubles, the Greek language was no longer cul- tivated in the weft, the pronuntiation of the Greek words adopted in the Latin language, and of Greek names in general, would of courfe yield to the Latin idiom. The accentuation both of the Greek and of the Latin, having been decided by the difpofition of quantities among the fyllables of words, but under different rules, when the proper Greek pronuntiation was loft, either the Greek ac-, centuation* of thole words would be changed for one accommodated to Latin rule, or, to bring the words to the Latin character, without changing the place of the acute accent, the quantity muft be altered. Commonly then, we find, the accent was retained, and the quantity altered. Thus in the name He/ena, the acute being on the penulti- mate, that fyllable was lengthened ; and under the fame rule, in the name PJtitippHS, the acute being on the ante-penultimate, the penultimate would be 35 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF be fliortened. Italian, Spanifh, and modern Greek, agree in the accentuation of this name, tho differ- ing in orthography, Filippo, Felipe, $I\nrwot. Such inftances might be eafily multiplied. But among many names of places in the kingdom of Naples, retaining to this day their Greek accen- tuation againft Latin rule, Posilippo and Taranto are remarkable ; the former becaufe the place was fo furrounded by the favorite refidences of the Roman great of the Auguftan and following ages, the other, becaufe in Roman writing, and equally no doubt in fpeaking, it was altered to a Roman form requiring a different accentuation, Tarentum. Some inftances in the north of Italy are ftriking from different circumftances. The few Grecian colonies there, fcattered along the coaft by the Maflilians, widely feparated from the mother- country, and fecluded among barbarians, probably loft the Greek language in the earlieft irruptions of the Gothic hords. Neverthelefs Monaco, in a fitua- tion hardly to be approached by land, has, amid cor- ruption in articulation and in orthography, preferved its Greek accentuation from MoWxo?, the antient name ; and it has been in vain that the Latin form Nic*a would require the acute on the penultimate; the Greek accentuation of Ntxaia, demanding the acute on the antepenultimate, has fo preponde- rated, that, whether in Roman or in barbarian mouths, the long penultimate has dropped from the name, which remains in Italian Nizza, in French HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 35! French Nice. On an eminence among the moun- tains between thefe two little cities, is the village of Torbia, a name formed from the Greek T^cVaia. Here alfo the Latin Trophaa, would require the acute on the penultimate. Neverthelefs, tho let- ters have been inverted, the Greek acccent holds its place. The concurrence of thefe examples, fcattered on a coaft of inhofpitable mountains, with thole remaining among the rich and highly peopled fouthern Italian colonies, and of both with the practice of the modern Greeks, is a kind of phe- nomenon that may be thought not unworthy the obfervation of thofe who have curiofity for the hiftory of languages. Thus it feems likely enough that fome of the earlieft corruptions of Latin quantity arofe among the Greek words which had been adopted in the language. But the growing carclefsnefs about quantity, and fuperior refpect for accent, introduced by the Gothic conquerors, was probably not a little promoted by the ftile of mufic, of more poignancy than delicacy, and of cadence flrongly marked, likely to have been moft relilhed by them. At the fame time thepronuntiation of words would often receive change, while the orthography re- mained ; and poflibly to this fhould, in many cafes, be attributed the extreme irregularity of fome of the later Roman verification, in which even two conibnants following a vowel do not in- fure the length of the fyllable. This has excited (Iron r INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ftrong expreflion of contempt from fome modern fcholars ; whom yet perhaps Cicero and Quintilian would admonifh to inquire whether, in the pro- nuntiation of the day, two confonants were given to the ear, before they undertake to fay that the poet has put a long fyllable for a (hort one> On com- paring the modern language of Italy with the Latin, it will appear highly probable that, in the middle ages, fome confonants, which neverthelefs held their 'place in orthography, were no longer heard in de- livery ; a circumftance not a little too familiar in Englifh. orthography. It mufb follow that, in thofe ages, verfification for the mafs of the people, tho {till refling on quantity, could no longer be pre- cifely the verfification of Virgil and Ovid. As troubles and revolutions then were repeated, as the original race of inhabitants became lefs, and the new fettlers more numerous, the pronuntiation would become more corrupted, and the popular verfification muft of neceffity accommodate itfelf to the pronuntiation of the day. At length the accentual cadence, which is commonly found in Virgil, and fcarcely ever fails in Ovid, becoming the only cadence marked by the voice, the better cadence of quantity ceafed not only to be per- ceived, but even underftood. To adorn the ac- centual cadence, rimes were added and the hexa- meter became a couplet. Thus when the change of language was finally completed from the antient Latin to the modern Tufcan, it was a very ad- vantageous HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 353 vantageous change accompanying it, which efta- blifhed the poetical meafures of Petrarca and Taflb, not on the ruin of thofe of Horace and Virgil, which no longer held other exiftence than in writing, but of a wretched burlefk of them. The few words which, in the firft revival of let- ters in Italy, the Italians adopted from the Greek, then dill a living language with its accentuation Xinqueftioned, would be likely to hold their Greek tones. Thus the word idea, ufed fo early as by Petrarc, has been tranfmitted equally in Italian and in Englifh with its Grecian accentuation undif- turbed. The names Jkfcrfcand Sophia afford fimilar example : nor is quantity here at all violated even in Englifh pronuntiation, but on the contrary, if modern fcholars will acute the word o?, the intire difmiflal of the penultimate fyllable, formed with a long A A vowel 354 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF vowel fupported by a following confonant, is a ftill greater violence on quantity, in favor of accent, than the difmiflal of vowels preceding vowels, in the Italian names Nizza and Torbia. When the former articles of this fection were committed to the prefs, I was wholly unaware of a claim made by fome German poets of the prelent age. It is to the Italian tranflator of the Iliad, Cefarotti, I owe the information that they have un- dertaken, in their rough language, to give, not only the hexameter verfe of the Greek and Latin, but all the lyrical meafures of Horace and even of Pindar; and this not in fmall and probationary attempts only, like thofe in which Sidney failed, as all muft fail, in our tongue, but in whole epic poems, and a complete verfion of Horace's odes. But Cefarotti adds, ' It muft however be confefled * that the Latino-Germanic profody differs fome- * what from the antient ; and indeed I have dif- ' ficulty to believe that Horace and Virgil would ' know their own meafures Ib Germanized/* In thefe * * I Tedefchi, piii laboriofi ed oftinati de%\ 'Italian!, a forza * d'infiftenza, pretendono d'efler giunti a rappreientar, nel * loro verfo, tutti i metri del Latini e del Greci. II celebrc * Klopftock, oltre aver pofta la fua Mefliade in verfo efametro, * fcrifle anche alcune ode collo fpirito e coi metri lirici di Pin- ' daro. II Prof. Ramler dell' Accad. di Berlino, ha, per cosi * dire, rigenerato Orazio, confervandogli, nella lingua Tedefca, * il genie, lo ftile, e fpeflb anche 1'armonia fillabica. Convien * pera confeflare che le regolc della profodia Latino-Germanica 'fono HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 355 thefe opinions I cannot but agree with the learned Italian ; and indeed, combining what I have been able to gather from others, concerning German ver- fifkation, with the fmall obfervation for which I have had opportunity myfelf, and adding, what is abundantly obvious, the complete confufion of accent and quantity in all the writings of the ableft German fcholars on the fubjec"t, nearly the fame which has been made by Italian and EngliQi fcholars, and which has not equally been made by the French, I cannot doubt the fuperiority of ac- cent, and the utter impotence of quantity, as regulator of that harmony of which the German language is capable, and principal efficient of its verfe. Nor will it be any difgrace to the Ger- man, and other dialects of Teutonic origin, to agree in this with the Englifh, which is a fifter-fpeech, and with the Italian, Spanifh, and Romanefk, which were compelled to depofe the ruling power of the harmony of their parent language, and re- ceive new laws of verfe from the Teutonic con- querors. ' fono alquanto diverfe d'all' antica; ed bo pena a credere che ' 1'orecchie di Virgilio e d'Orazio riconofceflero il loro metro ' germanizzato.' A A INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIJIES OF SECTION XVI. Of EUPHONT and CACOPHONY. ACCORDING to our preceding definitions Eu- phony and Cacophony, in language, mean found pleafing and unplealing, confidered as it may exift in fyllables uncombined, or in the tranfition from fyllable to fyllable, and therefore independent of harmonical refults. Neverthelefs as the fineft mu- fic, exhibited on a coarfe inftrument, may offend rather than gratify the ear, fo if euphony is defi- cient in a language, but ftill more, if cacophony abounds, any powers of harmony it may poflefs will fail of their juft effect. Euphony arifes chiefly from vowels, cacophony .from confonants. But a language confifting of only vowels would pall on the ear, as unmixed fweets on the palate. Among inftruments it would moft refemble the mufical glaffes ; which, with all the great powers they poflefs, quickly fatiate : even the flute has, for moft ears, too untempered a fweetnefs. Confonants therefore are neceflary, not only to mark divifions of vowels, not only to add force to the faint effect of vowels, but through their very afperity to relieve the tedioufnefs of continued foftnefs. Euphony then, fimply confidered, may perhaps be affirmed to exift in vowel found only ; but eu- phony, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 357 phony, in extended recitation, depends on the juft mixture of vowel and confonant founds. In this juft mixture, as in moft other points, the an- tient Greek language feems to have excelled all others known to have been fpoken. The Hebrew was fo harm, and the congenial dialects of Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia, had a fimilar character, that we find Jofephus confeffing he was amamed to ex- hibit their founds by reprefentation of Grecian characters. The Latin had powerful harmony, but not without a confiderable mixture of harm found, which has poffibly been too much polifhed away by its faireft daughter, the Italian. The founds of the Greek language may be compared to thofe of a fine violin ; joining the greateft fweetnefs with the moft various powers : the founds of the Latin may be compared to thofe of a harm violin, of power ftill great, but lefs various, and of far lefs ingaging fweetnefs : the founds of the Italian re- femble thofe of a fine flute, the fweetnefs ex- quifite,. but the power inferior. The French, for its nafal tones and want of effect of accent, might perhaps be compared to the bagpipe ; or to that organ-flop which has moft of the nafal effect of the bagpipe; both wanting the powers of ac- cent. I am at a lofs for an inftrument to which to compare the Englifli, becaufe its virtues and its vices are both fo great. For both, the opinions of foreiners will deferve much consideration. In an account of Paris, lately publifhed, it is faid, A A 3 * The 358 INQUIRY INTO THZ PRINCIPLES OF ' The French complain that the Englifh fpeak fo ' much between their teeth, that they cannot un- < derftand them :' adding, in their own quaint expreffion, TAnglois eft la feule langue pour qui ' il ne faut pas une langue/ It is impoffible not to acknowlege that there is much juftice in this imputation. Yet I am inclined to think that we are not a little indebted to the French themfelves for the habit of fpeaking thus indiftindly. For a century paft, the fafhion of learning to fpeak French, as a part of very early education, has been growing among us ; but more efpecially in the laft half century, it has been, for girls, univerfal : thofe who learn anything, learn at lead a little French. It is a remark of Cicero that the pu- rity of the fpeech delivered from our forefathers has been everywhere beft preferved among women. What then is likely to be the effect of the cultivation of the French language upon our fpeech ? The nrft direction, commonly given, in teaching French pronuntiation, is to open the mouth for the letter a ; but not fo wide as for our own firft vowel : therefore, tho the open a is of more frequent occurrence in French than in Eng- lifh, yet in the way of power to open the mouth, nothing is gained. Of the next vowel, e y the pro- nuntiation in French is various : but it is for the feminine ,a found peculiar to the French language, that inftruction is moft wanted by foreiners, and this is not among the founds that will open the mouth, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 359 mouth, or give any grace to pronunciation. The Frenchman who was witty upon the muttering of the Englifh within their teeth, and the needleff- nefs of a tongue for fpeaking their language, was, ho doubt, from habit, unconfcious of the character of fuch phrafes in his own language as ' je ne le ' veux pas j cela ne fe peut pas.' The fonorous brevity of the correfponding phrafes in Italian, *non ' lo voglio: non fi puo,' might ftartle him. The French u has much difficulty for all foreiners ; for none more than Italians ; but neither is that a vowel to open the mouth ; on the contrary it requires a protrulion of the lips, for which I have known a French teacher give direction by a very apt finiili- tude, too coarfe for mention here. Giving however fome credit to French criticifm on the vices of Englifh pronuntiation, I will quote a learned and able foreiner of another country for its virtues, but its virtues of three centuries ago. Polydore Vergil, legate of Rome at the court of king Henry the feventh, and afterward cardinal, in his Hiilory of England, quoted always with refpecl by our belt hiftorians,oblerves that three languages were fpoken in Britain, the Englifh, the Welfh, and the Erie. For their comparative merits he could judge only of the found j but the terms in which he attributes fu peri or euphony to the Eng- lifli deferve notice J * Angli, Latinos re mechanifm y and all others in tfm y have no analogy with any old Englifli words, nor are orthographically pronounce- able. The common people therefore ordinarily take the not unfair liberty of difmilling the final m, of which they do not underftand the ufe, and pronounce catechiz. Politer Englifli pronuntia- tion, not yet become fo French as to admit the feminine e at the end of the word, yet, in its effort to pronounce the m after the J, is compelled to the ufe of that half articulate vowel, or fomething very like it, where no letter is orthographically acknow- leged, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 36$ leged, between the s and the m : thus we imitate the French fo far as to make the combination al- together more than one fyllable and yet lefs than two. Had analogy and euphony been at all to- gether confidered, we have, within our language, what might have indicated the means of accom- modating both. The power, admitted in fome cafes, of writing a y to be pronounced, inftead of an e to be filent, often accommodates euphony greatly ; as conveniency and redundancy, for conve- nience and redundance. If indeed the Latin termina- tion in tia were required to authorize the Englifh termination in y, it would not anfwer,for the ad- dition of that vowel to the. words catechifm and meckanifn. But the fpirit of formation of words received in Englifh fpeech has not been al- ways fo fcrupulous ; and it would have been ad- vantageous for the language, if, in derivation, and in everything,- it had more aliened an analogy of its own, inftead of fervilely deferring, in the fafliion too much fandioned even by Samuel Johnfon, to the rules or practice of other tongues. The confideration of euphony and cacophony might lead into length far beyond what would be fuitable here. I will therefore touch upon one point only more. The hiding found of s has always been reckoned among the moft ungraceful of confonants, and yet it abounds in moft languages. It is frequent in euphonous Greek; more frequent in Latin; far B Jefs 37O INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF lefs in the modern Italian, and yet, even there fome- times very pointedly forced upon the ear, ftanding alone as indicant of the negative in compofition,. inflead of the Latin fyllable dis. But in Spanifh, one of the mofl euphonous of modern fpeeches, s abounds. Its frequency has fometimes been reckoned among the difgraces of the Englilh. I think not its fimple frequency, but rather the combinations in which it is found, is among the difgraces of the Englifl*. S is among thofe let- ters which antient grammarians intitled SIR- VILE. It has been obferved, on a former occa- fion, that s is the only confonant which can be combined by the voice in pronuntiation with two other confonants. It has fuch aptitude to co- alefce in pronuntiation with other confonants, that it is capable of fupplying the place often of that obfcure vowel found, nearly refem- bling the French feminine e, which will fol- low a mute confonant, if nothing elfe follows. Hence apparently the extenfion of that inelegant corruption, now rapidly fpreading from the fpeecli pf the vulgar of the metropolis, by which an s is continually added to words to which it of no right belongs, generally at the end, but, in compound words, often in the middle. In fpite of Johnfon, and all our beft lexicographers, numerous words are inriched with a final s unknown to our forefathers. 9 To HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. To all terminations, formerly in ward, as inward^ forward, toward, an added s begins to obtain even in claflical books. A learned lawyer would not write afeflions for afeffion: but his editor will print it fo. It is curious to obfcrve how corruption arifes. Sedlon and Summons are words commonly coming into ufe together. Seflion is from Se/fio, Summons from Summonitio, and, analogy confidcred, were per- haps more properly written fummonce. But the s, having obtained in the fingular of fummons, his crept into ufe as an addition to the proper fingular offeJ/ioH ; and now in the fame learned law-books, where we find authority for writing a fcflions, we find alfo authority for writing, inftead of the old verb tofummoH, the new verb to fummom b . The founds which we are accuftomed to hear in the fpeech of the polite, gain favor with our ears, as the drefles of the prevailing fafhion in our eyes ; but if we diveft ourlelves of this prejudice, we fhall b A mod curious inflance of the defpotifm exercifed in thefe matters by the editors, occurs in the quarto edition of John- fon's D'ftionary. The verb tofummon ii given, in its proper place, without a hint of any authority for a final / : yet under the word bring, among the explanations, occurs the verb to/um- rnons, with the s added. Johnfon being thus made to furniflx authority againft himfelf and againft all the authorities to which he has referred, it is no wonder that learned lawyers, who have little leifure for fucrh little matters, (hould have been unable, in their publications, to defrnd their language againll fuch inele- gant corruption. This inffonce, iho among the aloft remark- able, is far from being fingular in its kind. B B t often 372- INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF often find an attention to euphony in the fpeech of the vulgar, which in polite fpeech has given way to cacophony not more reafonable than the buckram coats and immenfe periwigs, and pinch- ing flays and cumbrous hoops, long fmce julily exploded. The modern vulgarifm I fay,' is offenfive only on account of the mouths it is commonly heard from : with foreiners unac- quainted with its vulgarity, it will have due cre- dit for euphony. The deficiencies of our gram- mars, formed after thofe of other languages, without juft inveftigation of our own, has led to cacophony in polite fpeech, which the vulgar yet avoid. In all languages fome things have been admitted under no other rule than that of euphony, many things for- merly in our own ; but now, with an affectation of correctnefs, often widely miftaken, all conceffion to euphony is denied. Englifh fpeech has rarely any material cacophony in the middle of words, except what may arife from the too common practice of indiftindt deli- very; but in terminations it too certainly abounds. Much however may be obviated or concealed by ju- dicious difpofition. A well-eared poet will of courfe avoid cacophony in rimes, and in the confpicuous parts, efpecially the laft fy liable, of any verfe. A long vowel in the final fyllable of a large proportion of the firft verfes of Paradife Loft, contributes not a, little to the grandeur and folemnity of the effect. Pope . HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 373 Pope has had general credit for what are called rich rimes; tho his higher refpect juftly directed to that powerful clofenefs of phrafe, in which he Iingularly excels, has led him to admit fome rimes rather caco- phonous. The word KING is certainly not eupho- nous, nor of dignified found ; the vowel is fhort and clofe, and the following confonant, one confonant exprefled by two characters, the moft cacophonous in our pronuntiation. ; Neverthelefs the idea con- veyed obviates any impreffion of lownefs. Whe- ther however it was for the dignity of the idea or the oppofite quality of the found, that Pope chofe it for the firft rime of his Eflay on Man, with ca- cophony doubled by an added J, appears doubtful. He has indeed not fcrupled the termination in />/, for the firft rime of his tranflation of the Iliad, but the example is not to be recommended. Termi- nations in a long vowel, or a liquid confonant pre- ceded by a long vowel, will be moft euphonous. The termination in a liquid confonant preceded by a fhort vowel, tho lefs rich, will make a pleafant variety. That of a mute preceded by a long vowel will be wholly unobjectionable, rich with- out any cacophony, if a vowel begin the following word, as in the firft verfe of Paradife Loft. Thefe however would, in our language, be limits too narrow for the poet ; and the ear practifed in our verification will take no offence at the conclufion of the fecond line of Paradife Loft, where a long vowel is followed by two conlbnants within the B B 3 fame 374 INQUIRY IHTO THE PRINCIPLES OP fame fyllable, and two confonants begin the next verfe. But here it is reljeved by the whifpered fyllable which muffc follow the mute /, and which, at the end of a verfe, at leaft to ears habituated to it, may be not without its grace. The judicious poet however will be fparing of fuch accumulation of confonants. The reft of the opening of the Paradiie Loft is perhaps among the moft perfect models of the beft euphony, as well as of the beft harmony, of which our language is capable. HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. * SECTION XVII. Of GRAMMAR. THE Harmony of Language is materially in- terefted in GRAMMAR, inaimuch as the varieties of grammatical form and grammatical order furnifh the principal means for the harmonious arrangement of words in fentences. A wide field is thus indi- cated, in which however it is not intended here either to expatiate or to take any regular road ; fome obfervations only are propofed, and not a treatife. In the earliefl ages of Englifh litterature, the analyfis of the language could not but ingage fome attention from thofe required or defirous to write in it. Neverthelefs Ben Jonfon's compendious grammar, printed among his works, is perhaps the oldeft now extant. But tho already in his time the language had been cultivated with a fuccefs which, in fome branches, has not been fince equalled, yet in our univerfities and principal fchools it remained wholly neglected. Scholars might gain its grammar, if fancy fo directed their diligence, by comparing its forms and phrafes with thofe of two very different fpeeches, the antient GreeK and Latin. But the inconvenience refulting from the neglect was not fmall. While B B 4 a few 376 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF a few men of extraordinary talents availed them- felves of the inherent powers of the language to pro- duce fome unrivaTled works, it was in general writ- ten and fpoken inelegantly and incorrectly ; info- much that Swift, eflcemed the pureft writer of that commonly called the golden age of Englifh letters, has expreffed his opinion of the depravity of the common practice of his time, in ftrong terms. His project for an academy of the language, in imitation of the Italian and French, has not been generally confidered with favor by our men of letters who have noticed it * the French academy itfelf has been the feoff of fome eminent wits even of its own nation : and yet I cannot fcruple to declare my opinion that the French language owes much to its academy, and that the Englifh might have profited from a fimilar inflitution con- ducted with equal judgement. But the fpirit of trade, among its extraordinary operations in this country, has done that for the litterature, which the fpirit of litterature itfelf feems rather to have fcorned. A fociety of bookfellers, employing Samuel Johnibn, produced that highly valuable work, imperfect as it is, a (inpendous work for a fingle man, his Englifh dictionary. About the fame time, Harris, Sheridan, and others * contributed to make the ftudy of the Englifh tongue an object for the Engliflk fcholar ; but the attention of our univerfities feems to have been roufed to it principally by the claffical authority of bifhop HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. bimop Lowth. That eminent critic was the firft to mark for the fcholar's attention the importance of the Anglofaxon tongue, the groundwork of the. modern language, on which its analogy wholly refls. He firft exhibited in juft light the precifion which tne Engllfti derives from its articles, beyond any other known language, even the antient Greek. He firft completely vindicated the cafes of the nouns againft the miftakcs of former writers, fome of great authority, which had produced lome injury to the fpeech, and threatened much more. He went beyond all before him in explanation of the fupe- rior merits of the Englifh VERB. Samuel Johnfon has, with a kind of dignified carelefsnefs, noticed the difficulties of the Englifh future, as what he was unable completely to explain. Every Englifh child feels the difference ofy7/#// and ;///, and ufes each in its proper place ; yet Johnfon's ex- amples, to which he refers for all explanation, have been found of little avail todireft foreiners, or even the Scotch and Irifb, to the proper practice. Lowth has gone far beyond Johnfon ; but even his explanation, juft, and perhaps complete in logical diftinclion, has been found infufficicnt to direcl ufe. A manulcript treauie on Englilh grammar, un- fortunately little more than begun, by the hue Mr. Thomas Whateley, fecretary of the treafury under Mr. George Grenville, was feveral years ago, but not till after the author's death, put into my hands. It promifed to have been, had it been finifhecj, 378 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OP finiftied, the completeft analyfis extant of any language. I have often regretted that I did not profit more from it while I had the means ; I made no notes from it, but his explanation of the Eng- lifh future has remained in my memory. Aux- iliary verbs, he faid, are none of them meer aux- iliaries ; all have their proper powers as principal or fubftantive verbs. To will is yet in Englifh a complete verb, declaring the act of volition in ge- neral. Shall is no longer a complete verb, but its independent meaning is neverthelefs clear ; it de- clares volition alfo, but volition directed to a par- ticular object, indicating the intention to compel. Englifh verbs then, not having, as thofe of fome other languages, the convenience of an appropriate form to indicate futurity, are affifted by the ex- pedient, common in other languages for other tenfes, of introducing an auxiliary verb. The verb to will prefented itfelf, marking futurity clearly, and, for the fecond and third perfons, com- modioufly ; becaufe, as we can exercife no volition for others, its power of indicating volition intro- duces no ambiguity ; it can imply futurity only. But for the rirft perfon it is far from equally commodious ; becaufe it cannot there mark futu- rity exciulively of volition, llefort therefore was had to the verb fliall> which indicates futurity equally as will; and, as we cannot exercife volition for others, fo neither do we exercife compulfion upon ourfelves. In the firfl perfon, therefore, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 379 Jkall indicates fimple futurity, as clearly as will in the fecond and third. The proper Englifh future tenfe then is not, as it ftands in all our grammars, IJhall or will go ', thoujhalt or wit f go, and fo forth. The phrafes I will go, thou flialt go, he Jhall go, we will go, you JJiall go, they Jhall go, are not future tenfe ; the verbs will and JJiall, in thofe phrafes, are not auxiliary but principal verbs, declaring volition concerning the aclion indicated by the verb go. The proper EngliQi future runs fimply, / jliall go, thou wilt go, he will go, we Jhall go, you will go, they will go. In this expofition I fear my memory may not have ferved me to do juftice to the clearnefs and preciiion of Mr. Whateley ; tho I hope the fub- ftance of his idea will be found explained fuffi- ciently to be ufeful. I fhall proceed to a few farther obfervations, without being able to fay, from niy recollection, whether, he had touched on any of them. The diftin&ion of/fo// and will, conflantly made in Englifh fpeech, tho hitherto fo deficiently ex- plained in grammars, gives a clear fuperiority of precifion to the Englifh over all thofe languages which have the advantage, in form, of expreffing the future by a fingle word ; for in the future tenfe of all with which I am acquainted, the declaration of volition is confounded with the fimple future. Our grammars of other languages therefore, in tranUating the future tenfe, are correct, in giving JliaU 380 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF Jhall or willy throughout the perfons ; becaufe the futures of thofe languages imply both y#rf// and will, leaving diftinction to be gathered from the context. But as inEnglifh the diflinction between /fo// and will is ftrong and clear, that diftinftion ought to be exhibited in every grammar in which it is pro- pofed to explain another language by the Englifh, or the Englifti by another language, as well as in grammars limply Englifh. It thus appears that the confufion of JJiall and willy commonly made by the Scotch and Irifh, is, in the more ordinary occurrencies of fpeech, no more than is equally made in thofe languages which we admire as the moft perfect, the Greek and Latin, and in the principal daughters of the Latin, the Italian, Spanim, and French. But as neceffity fometimes will occur in all lan- guages to exprefs clearly and decidedly the dif- tinction between volition or intended compulfion, and the fimple future, all the languages more commonly known among us, have their refources for the purpofe, which are occafionally brought into ufe. All have a verb congenial with our verb to will. The diftinct force of Jhall is very nearly exprelTed in French by the verb devoir^ and in Italian by dovete. In Latin the gerund and the future participle affift. But in our language, were the Scotim confufion of/^// and will to grow, in- ftcad of being, as at prefent, fuperior to all others in the conftant precifion of its future tenfe, it would HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 381 would be inferior, and indeed very defective ; as it would Want the advantages which the French, Italian, and others actually poflefs, and which all languages need, for occafional difcrimination ". Analogous to the diftindion ofJJiall and will, is that of Jliould and would. The proper Englifh conditional is not / Jliould or would ', thou Jhouldeft or wouldeft, and fo forth, but / Jhould go, thou wouldeft go, he would go, ive Jhould go, you would go, they would go. But here is to be obferved a diftinction wholly unnoticed by Lowth. The irre- gular verb JJiould, befide its proper fenfe as the conditional of JJiall, has, from early times, ob- tained ufe in another fenfe as equivalent to ought. When it bears this fenfe, it is not properly an auxiliary in any perfon, and therefore cannot, in 1 The modern Greek, among its misfortunes, having loft the future form of the parent fpeech, has been reduced to feek an auxiliary for expreffing future time. The verb $iA, analogous to the Englim ou/77, has been adopted, and, as the parent lan- guage, equally with the Latin and its daughters, confounded the fimple future with the future of volition and compulfion, more difcrimination was not fought by the modern Greeks : they fay 9/Xw ya4"' I "^ a ^ or W 'N write, $*Xfi? y^a^n, thou flialt or wilt write, SI'AH y^tt, he (hall or will write, $Aofu yg4>u, and fo forth. They have indeed a more elegant form, tho lefs ufed, Si-yga^w, Sb-jfc^tK* Si-yfa^n. This, were the language more cultivated, might poffibly gain more ufe, which would be attended with the advantage of leaving the verb 9*'** more difingaged for the neceflary purpofe of diftinclly exprefling volition. any 382 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF any perfon, be changed for the verb would. If in the firft perfon, I JJiould go is faid for I ought to go, fo equally in the fecond and third perfon, it muft be thou Jhouldeft go, he Jhould go. It had been better for the precifion of the language if this fenfe of the word JJiould had never obtained, but were li- mited to the verb ought> which is appropriated to it \ The learned French printer Eflienne, who has called himfelf Stephanus, and whom our learned commonly call Stephens, and, it mould be added, to whom the caufe of letters has great obligations, flattered his fellowcountrymen, and perhaps him- felf, with the idea that the French verb has pecu- liar congeniality with the Greek. I think it may eafily be mown that the French verb, holding clofe congeniality with the parent Latin, has little with the Greek ; but that the Englilh, fuperior to all by many advantages, inferior to all by fome de- . ficiencies, has altogether far clofer congeniality with the Greek than the French, the Italian, the "Spanifli, or their parent the Latin. Our grammars of modern languages abound, not lefs than thofe of the antient, with erroneous verfions of tenfes ; a fault imputable much lefs to the authors of thofe gran> b The Scoticifms /'// be obliged to you and Pd le obliged to you, have been of late years creeping into polite life among carelefs polite fpeakers, perhaps heedlefs whether they inteud them as abbreviations of / ivill or 7 Jball, I --would or / Jhculd. Any growth of the practice would be very injurious to the language. . mars HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 383 mars than to the deficient inveftigation of Englifh grammar itfelf. In any converfation with foreiners, however, the fact will become obvious. I remem- ber being in company where a French officer faid to an Englifh officer, ignorant of the French language, ' How long arc you in the fervice ? f . The Englifhman mowing that he did not under- ftand the queftion, the Frenchman reforted to a clofer tranflation of the phrafe he" would have ufed in his own language, ' How long is it that you arc ' in the fervice ?' The Englimman replied, * You * mean to alk how long / have been in the fervice.' * I dare fay I do/ replied the Frenchman, ' but/ turning then to another, who had been converting with him in French, he added, ' were I to fay in ' my own language, ' Comme longtems y-a-t-il ' que vous avez ete au fervice ?' it would imply * that you are no longer in the fervice.' Here is indicated an important diftincYion be- tween the French tenfe formed with the auxiliary avoir and the Englifli formed with the auxiliary have, which ought to be noticed in all grammars, and is noticed in none. The French fai fait, and the Italian ho fatto, are truly preter-perfed j but the EngliQi I have done, is not preter-perfecl:, but flridly prefent-perfect. In French and Italian they fay, * je - 1'ai fait hier/ c 1'ho fatto venti anni * fono.' But in Englifh, * I have done it yefter- ' day/ or, ' I have done it five minutes -ago/ would be 384 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF be a folecifm. l I have done/ can be faid only of the prefent completed : if a certain time paft, howfoever fhort, is indicated, the phrafe muft be, according to circumftances, k I did,' or 'I had ' done.' The Englifh, differing here from the Latin, equally as from the French and Italian, accords ex- actly with the Greek. But the Englifh does not correfpond exactly with the-. French, Italian, or Latin, in any tenfe of the indicative mood, except perhaps that called phi-perfect. Scribo, fcrivo, j'ecris, are to be tranf- lated fometimes / write, fome times I am writing; the fenfe differing occaiionally in all the languages, the form in .Englifh alone. The Italian indeed has a power beyond the French and Latin, atcl ap- proaching, perhaps reaching the Englifh, in its p\\wfejlofcrivendo. Analogous to this is the G reek; Tjy^xvca y^oiQuv. Phrafes io get their fhades of* meaning from the cuftomof the day and place, and the Greek language was fpoken through fo many centuries, and over fo many countries, that to fay any Greek phrafe was confined to any precife meaning, from Homer's age to that of Longinus, in all the parts of the world where Greek was the common fpeech of the polite and -learned, would be too much, perhaps, for the fcholar of the moft extenlive reading and moft tenacious memory. Hence poffibly this ufe of the verb ruy^uvu is fo little noticed in dictionaries . Hence alfo ap- parently HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. patently the Greek language remains altogether fo defe D 3 fuperior INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF fuperior aptitude for focial intercourfe, and of a clearnefs and precifion, making it peculiarly fit for public treaties and all communication between nation and nation ; for which great purpofe it has been allowed to fuperfede the Latin, formerly the common language of the diplomacy of Europe. But the former praife appears to me owing, not to the merit of the language, but to the talent of the people ; relieving their language, poor in words, by phrafes ingenioufly devifed ; fometimes pleallng by their elegance, fometimes amufing by their oddity; difmiffed as they grow trite, and fupplied ftill with fuccefifors that find favor, through the fruitful ingenuity of the fpeakers. The latter praife I am difpofed to allow to the language as it is written, but for the living fpeech I fuppofe it cannot be aflerted. That the language has equal precision in fpeech as in writing, cannot poffibly be maintained. No language within my knowlege Co abounds in, what for oratory cannot but be highly difad- vantageous, words alike in found which in fenfe differ wholly. One word in French fpeech bears the feveral meanings of the feveral Englifh words have, has, art, is, and. But for the written lan- guage its able cultivators have eftablifhed all the Englifh diftindtions and more; it prefents to the eye the various words at, aye, ayes, ait, nyent, es, eft, et; which, for the ear, if a confonant begin the next word, are one. Their objed undoubtedly has been to maintain, in the written language, means HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 407 means for clearnefs with concifenefs, of which the living fpeech is incapable; and they have evidently fucceeded. Poffibly an ingenious and ready fpeaker may find expreflions for all occafions, free from uncertainty of import ; but that it may be done ib eafily, ib varioufly, or always fo concifely, in fpccch as in writing, cannot be contended. With- out iceking for examples, I will mention one more accidentally occurring. One word in French fpeech, one only in found, if a confonant follow, has fix various fignifications ; four of which are in- dicated by the Englilh words blood, fenfe, without, a hundred, and the others, phrafes in orthography, but fimple fyllables in fpeech, are not to be ex- actly rendered in Englifli ; fang, fens, fans, cent, e'en, sen. Certainly the advantage of the written over the fpoken language here is not fmall. The care and judgement with which the French have preferved everything ufeful in their ortho- graphy, difmilled everything of meer incumbrance, added marks indicating the different powers of the fame character, always refpecting etymology, but always jealouily aflerting the proper analogy of their language, may well delerve our emulation. In one point indeed they have gone to an abfurd extreme, barbarizing claflkal names, fo as fome- times utterly to difguile them. This practice among us, once in vogue, has long fmce fortunately ceafed. But, of whatever they have done well, we have done the contrary. Inftead of mAmtain- D D 4 ing 408 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF ing the analogy of our own language, we alk for rule rather from any other whence, well or ill, we have borrowed words. Inftead of preferving everything ufeful in our orthography, and difmiff- ing incumbrances, we rather cherifh incumbrance, and difmifs the ufeful. Two hundred years ago Ben Johnfon complained of the intrufion of g, without any warrant from etymology or common fenfe, into fo many of our words where cuftorn commands the barbarous combination gh to fhow itfelf in writing; tho fortunately the fancy of thofe who would make our fpeech bend to what he juftly calls our pfeudography, has not yet prevailed fo far as to procure it any refpedt in pronuntiation. Other fuch intruders have, fince his time, been as whimfically eftablifhed, while fome letters ufeful for indication of found have loft their places. It will be difficult to fay how the ufelefs h has found its way into the name 'Thames, unlefs from the abfurd imagination of analogy between Thames and Thomas ; or why, of the letters with which our forefathers, as late as Swift's time, wrote the word JJiooe, one neceflary to indicate the pronun- tiation has been difmiffed, and the fuperfluous one preferved ; unlefs to make our orthography amufmg as a riddle. The prevailing orthography of the word fliew^ to which Samuel Johnfon has declared his preference of Jhow, appears to reft on fimilar ground. And indeed -Jhew feems to have been originally no more than the preterit ofjfaw ; as HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 409 as knew of know, grew of grow, blew of blow, and fo alfo Jlreiv of Jlrow, and chew of f/^iy or chow * ; tho the modern practice of editors would make fir civ and chew the themes of the verbs. Fafhion favors the introduction of French words, and defers often more than reafonably to French rule, and yet fometimes, where mod reafonably it might, will not admit it. We find the orthogra- phy of words, adopted from the French, where it happens to aflbrt with Englifh pronunciation, changed to fomething utterly out of reafon, as forain and foverain, to foreign and foverelgn. On the contrary where the French orthography, becaufe out of all analogy with anything Englim, has been altered by our forefathers to an Englim form, our modern editors will reftore the myfterious fpelling ; and the adopted words poniard, puny, account, are to put on what appears among Englim words a kind of mafqueracie drefs, and be writ ten poignard, puifne, accompt. Our forefathers could generally find, within our own language, appofite words and phrafes to ex- " Thus Shakcfpear, in Troi'Ius and Grenada: Perchance, my lord, I Jhew more craft than love, And/t7/ fo roundly to a large confeffion, To angle for your thoughts. Aft iii. fc. 3. And in an old tranflation of Plutarch's life of Themiftocles: Within thele feas the brave Athenians./kw Their matchlefs valour, when they overthrew The numerous nations that from Afia fpring. prefs 410 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF prefs ideas fuggefted in other languages ; or, as the French and Italians do (till, would bend the forein words and phrafes to their own idiom. But the fa (hi oh of the prefent day requires all the preferva- tion of French found and accent that Englifn mouths can give ; it will adopt French corruption of German, Italian, and even oriental names; tho Englilh mouths are very apt to fail, and even be- come ridiculous, in aping French pronunciation. The phrafe Belles Lettres, foppifh enough in its own language, has been fanctioned by academical authority as an Englifh phrafe, in a part of our iland where fcience, in all branches long and ably cultivated, has been directed with much learning^ and talent and diligence to the inveftigation of the general principles of language. It feems not yet however to have gained eftablimment at Oxford or Cambridge ; where a juft, or indeed any graceful pronuntiation of the phrafe would certainly put many learned mouths to hard trial. Abfurdity commonly induces difficulty and thence new ab- furdity. Plurals have moftly, in French, no other enuntiation than their (ingulars ; being diftinguifhed only by the preceding article. For the phrafe belles lettres, indeed, this fignifies little ; beca-ufe neither of the compound words has yet obtained any feparate reception in our language : they are acknowleged only in combination, with a meaning no' more admitting variety of number than our own equivalent phrafes, polite learning) or polite literature. But HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. But we have feparate words, introduced lately*, by very high authority, for which a plural, to be dif- tinguifhed in fpeech fomehow, is indifpenfable. We are not yet advanced enough, apparently, even for a fecretary of ftate to venture upon the intro- duction of the French article, as an incident to Englifh fpeech. Nothing remains then but to add the found of our own common fign of the plural, an s for the eye, but a z fur the ear, to a word otherwife of French pronuntiation. We are in a way thus o add not a little new intricacy to the fcience of Englifh orthography, which has long been complained of by foreiners as of a difficulty almoft infuperable, and even among ourfelves is in no fmall degree a myftery. The new fpeHing-book muft inform youth that pot no longer fpells always pot-, it is fometirnes no more than po, as in depot ' and entrepot. In this new perverlion of analogy in orthography then, we gain, in the plurals, fome- times confufion of meaning, and fometirnes a kind of mule found, too much French to be Eng- lifh, and yet not by any poffibility to be made completely French. The newly adopted French word depot, becomes, in the plural, an old Englilh word, depofe. But no voice can add the Englifh indication of the plural to the French nafal , or, as they call it r the nafal vowel. Wherever that found is the laft of an adopted word, it muft in the plural neceffarily be changed, that the audible fign of the plural may follow. Thus the fafhionable pronuntiation 412 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF pronuntiation of- the word environs is now nei- ther Englifh nor French j tho already in Shake- fpear's time, at lead as a verb, that word had ac- quired a completely Englifh enuruiation, and is often found among our bcfc poets, where the new pronuntiation, not recommended certainly by eu- phony, would deftroy theyerfe. With fiiihion, words and manner of pronuntia- tion fornetirnes come and go. Within the lafc half century the phrafe a-propos had fo obtained favor with polite mouths, that fcarcely a comedy of the day was without it. If the new words depot, entrepot, projet, precis, with the phrafes of a fpeech little capable of compounding words, phrafes which in their adoption by us mud fland as fingle words and primitives, aide-de-camp, charge-d* affaires, and aJl others of the fort, having fufficiently anfwered their purpofe of exhibiting the learning of the in- troducers, and expofing more than ninety-nine in a hundred of thofe under neceffity of ufing them, to ridicule for inexpertnefs in the peculiarities of French pronuntiation, might fall quietly into the ^eglect and contempt in which a-propos now lies, our language would be fortunate. The Englim language is monofyllabical in larger amount than, for the intereft of its harmony, were delirable. Neverthelefs Pope's example of ill effect in accumulation of monofyllables, And ten low words oft creep in one dull line, the HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 415 the terror of every young poet, has brought upon them perhaps a more general reprobation than they deferved, or than he in any probability intended ; for they are found filling his verfes fometimes with effect every way different. This indeed has not pafi*ed without notice from, later critics. ' It has ' been laid,' fays Webb, in his Obfervations on Mufic and Poetry, * that monofyllables are fit to ' defcribe a flow and heavy motion, and may be c happily employed to exprefs languor and melan- ' choiy. What inference are we to draw, mould s it appear that they may be as happily employed *' on the oppofite motions and affections ? No : fly me, fly me, far as pole from pole. I mould anfwer that monofyllables are, forharmo- nical purpofes, various in character. But more- over they have their peculiar virtues. They re- ceive emphafis with fuperior effect. When not emphatical, they admit remiffion of the acute in all the degrees in which the fyllables of any poly- fyllabical word admit or require it. Their forts, for harmonical purpofes, are characterized either by quantity or by accent ; and by accent in all its varieties, from the flrongeft emphafis, to the lowelt remiffion of tone. Their effect then, in the flow of language, verle or profe, will depend on the manner of combining their various forts. With- out an acute accent a monofyllable becomes, in harmonical effect, a part of the preceding or fol- lowing 41 4 IN T QUIRV INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF lowiag word ; as the word me, in the line quoted by Webb from Pope ; whence the phrafe^-w*?, is as effectually to the ear one euphonous difly liable as the word Jlimy or briny. In th'e fpirited and eafy flow of that line thus, its monofyllabifm is apt to efcape the ear's notice. And indeed the ten fyllables are only in grammatical analyfis ten words : the voice in proper delivery makes them, in effect for the ear, but five ; namely, one monofyllable, two diflyllables, a triflyllable, and again a difiylla- ble j or, as fome perhaps would think the delivery beft, the phrafes fly-me-fly-me., without fenfible flop between them, would become one quadri- fyllable, the penultimate only bearing the .empha- tical accent. So alfo in Milton's famous defcrip- tion of Eve : Grace was in all her fteps, heaven in her eye, In Nor does it appear eafy to fay where, in the ac~ cumulation of monofyllables, with good combina- tion, excefs will begin ; tho to venture upon fifty together will hardly be to be generally recom- mended, however we may admire it in the follow- ing paflage of Shake fpear : Good friend, thou haft no caufe to fay fo yet. But thou (halt have ; and creep time e'er fo flow, Yet it fhall come for me to do thee good. J had a thing to fay : but let it go. - The fun is in the heaven, and the broad day Attended ' King John, Aft iii. Mufical HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 415 Mufical time having been, in the early part of this work, much referred to and refted upon, for iiluftration of the nature of poetical cadence, I (hall defire to add a remark, pofiibly not ufelefs toward obviating mifconception. In the notation of mufic, now in ufe, the indications of meafure, prefixed to every air, are, in a great degree, arbi- trary marks : but formerly, when mufic was per- haps more ftudied as a fcience, tho lefs perfected as an art, the indications ufed had a more regular and obvious reference to what was indicated. The fimpleft common time was marked either by the letter C or the figure 2 ; the fimpleft triple time by the figure 3. When the air was fuch as to give the notes an arrangement in larger combinations, to that the recurrence of the mufical accent, for- merly noticed, inftead of being on every fecond, occurred only on every fourth note, for inftancc every fourth crotchet, or portion of time equal to a crotchet, the performer was admonifhed of it by the prefixed mark *; judicioufly accommodated to its purpofe, becaufe where the principal muficai accent is on every fourth note, or portion of time equal to a given note, there will be an inferior accent on every fecond. So alfo in triple time, if the return of the principal indicatory accent was more diflant, fo that any perceptible inferior accent intervened, the mark was *, and this was the old and proper indication of what is called minuet' time. 416 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES O? time. Now this time is in its nature more com- plex than mulicians, for the purpoies of mufic alone, have had occafion to notice. The move- ment is not fimply triple, but a compound of triple and common time ; the inferior accent marking what are in effect (perceptible enough when the ear attends for the purpofe, tho other- xvife nearly hidden by the general effect) three fmall bars of common time within each bar of triple time; and fometirnes indeed indicated in no- tation by the manner of connecting the notes, thus J"~3 J~~ol J J That particular character of air, diftinguifhed by the name of Polonefejs a ftill more complex triple time, in which the common time within the triple is more ftrongly marked for the ear. The proper indication of it would be that now ap- propriated to minuet-time, |; the character 01 the air depending much upon the occasional and frequent introduction of four notes for the complement of the interior cadence ; as thus, J""JJ J M "2~ < J~ < 2 J J. As then the minuet is a triplication of common time, fo the jig is a duplication of triple time; and, inftead of would be mod properly marked * It is remark- able that the fimpler arrangements of time are thofe of the mod cultivated mufic, and alone fit for great and folemn effect. The Poloneie is fuited onlv HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 417 only to dance, or burlefk fong ; and in thefe a cadence yet more complex, for variety, may fometimes pleafe, a triplication of triple time 3 m m N. found more among the rnuflc of the wilder than of more cultivated people, and perhaps moft in Irifli dances. In every extenfive nation, where the influence of a great metropolis does not extend, in perpetual circulation, through every part, DIALECTS will be various. In antient Greece, a narrow country, but very much divided by mountains and by poli- tics, the four dialects, acknowleged as claffical, were far from being all the varieties of the lan- guage. Thucydides informs us that the fpeech of JEtolia was hardly intelligible in any other part of Greece ; and fome fpecimens preierved by Xeno- phon, Ariftophanes, and others, mow that the La- cedaemonian differed confiderably from the claffical Doric. Nor will this appear wonderful to thole who have had opportunity for any acquaintance with the varieties yet exifting, tho faft wearing- out, within England itfelf ; a country little moun- tainous, and for centuries united under one go- vernment and one fyllem of jurifprudence. Even at this day converfation would be difficult between a peafant fror.i the Yorkfhire dales, and one from the vale of Taunton or the hills of Dorfet. In E K other 418 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLE! OF other countries differences will be found yet greater. In Italy, even in Lombardy, where one river runs the length of the level country, a Piedmontefc peafant from the wefhern end, meeting a Venetian from the eaftern, could hold- little colloquial inter- courfe. It is indeed remarkable of Italy, a coun- try fo divided by impracticable mountains, that the harfheft dialed: of its language, and the fofteft, the Piedmontefe and the Venetian, each extreme in its character, are fpoken within one plain. But the Neapolitan is almoft utterly unintelligible beyond its own diftrict, tho through all Italy the language is of Latin origin, with a few words only in one place more than another of Grecian, Gothic, or Saracenic birth, and the fpeech acknowleged by the polite and lettered is everywhere the fame. But cultivated and uncultivated dialects will little admit comparifon; and cultivated branches from the modern European flocks are very few. While the courts ofAix and Touloufe exifted, the Romanefk was a cultivated fpeech j but whether to be called a dialed rather of the French or of the Spanifh, or a diftinct language, as the Por- tuguefe, may be matter of queftion. Of the branches of the Italian, the Venetian alone has been in any degree cultivated. Perhaps no fe- condary dialect of Europe can better claim a claflical eftimation than the Scottifh branch of the Englifh. ' The diftinction of fouthern and northern Englifh HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 419 Engiifh has already been noticed. The former has varieties, weftern, eaftern, and midland ; the latter, fpreading almoft from the middle of Eng- land over all the lowlands of Scotland, may per- haps be ftill more fubdivided. But the cultivated dialects of the language are only two, the Engiifh of the government and jurifprudence of England, and the Englim of the government and jurifpru- dence of Scotland. * David Hume, who has rated Shakefpear's merit altogether lower, I think, than any other Britifh critic, reckons among his faults a deficiency in harmony. Samuel Johnfon's opinion differed widely : 4 To Shakefpear,' he fays, * we muflafcribe 4 the praife, unlefs Spenfer may divide it with him, 4 of having firft difcovered to how much fmooth- * nefs and harmony the Englim language could be c foftened. He has fpeeches, perhaps fometimes 4 fcenes, which have all the delicacy of Howe, ' without his effeminacy. He endeavours indeed 4 commonly to ftrike by the force and vigor of his * dialogue, but he never executes his purpofe 4 better than when he tries to footh by foftnefs.' I will own my intire concurrence with Johnlbn, and I am perfuaded it was not without a view to the fuperior harmony of Skakefpear's verfifica- tion, that Milton has called him ' fweeteft Shake- fpear.' Neverthelels I think the difference of Hume's opinion may be accounted for, and it will E 2 not 420 INQUIRY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF not be beyond the purpofe of our inquiry to obferve how. In fpeaking of the extenfion of the Anglofaxon conqueft over the lowlands of Scotland, Hume has faid that the prefent Scottifh dialect is the pureft Anglofaxon anywhere now fpoken. I wholly doubt this. Between the claflical Englifh. and the cultivated Scottifh, the difference is too frnall to be eafily appretiated. Of provincial dia- lects, Hume probably knew only the Scottifh. I believe it will b>e found that the weftern Englifh,. and perhaps fome of the eaftern, is hardly lefs Saxon than the pureft of Scotland or the north of England. Numerous Saxon words and phrafes indeed, un- known in the fouth, are found in the north, but many alfo exift in the fouthern fpeech which are peculiar to it. This then is remarkable of the Saxon part of both dialects : with all the wide difference in the character and pitch of tones, the fituation of the cadence-marking accent ' is found almoft uni- verfally the fame. But in words derived from the French and Latin it is otherwife, and the difference has been evidently increafing fince Chaucer's time. Perhaps it cannot be better il- luftrated than by two occurrences in the Houfe of Commons within memory. It was when fir Fletcher Norton was fpeaker, that the lord advo- cate of Scotland, Montgomery, moving for a com- mittee HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. mittee of inquiry to be appointed, gave the flrong accent, after the Scottifh manner, to the firft fyl- lable of the words committee and inquiry ; at the fame time ufing, in the fecond lyllable of the latter, the (hort found of the fourth vowel, inftead of the long found of the firft diphthong, which fouthern Englifh pronuntiation requires. The fpeaker, tho in early life not without familiarity with the fpeech of the north of England, was puzzled by this dif- guife of the words ; nor, tho they were, at his re- quifition, thrice repeated, was he inabled to put the queftion, till a member near the chair whifpered him, with the Englifh accentuation, what the learned mover meant. The other circumftance oc- curred in the conteft of parties following the con- clufion of the American war. A Scottim member, more remarkable for a powerful eloquence, than for pure Englifh pronuntiation, in the courfe of a fpeech faid, ' I will not give my fupport to a cabal; ' I will give my fupport to adminiftration.' This declaration, the part he meant to take having been* before dubious, produced a marked fenfation, with, a cry of * hear, hear,' which excited the curiolity of a member juft then entering. Turning to old Pearfon the doorkeeper, who happened to be at his elbow, within the door, he a/ked what the fpeik- ing member had faid ? ' I do not know,' anfwered Pearfon, * what he has been talking about ; only * I juft heard him fay he would give a ball and i E 3 'a fupper INQUI'RY INTO THE PRINCIPLES OF * a (upper to adminiftration.' This ftrange perverfion of the words, as jocular as it may ap- pear, the old man made without any purpofe of cither joke or perverfion ; mifled intirely by the learned member's Scottifh pronuntiation of the words cabal and fupport, with a long vowel in the fecond fyllable of the former, as in the words ball and bawl, and the ftrong accent on the firfl fyllable of the latter, as in the word flipper. I have been told by thofe who have con- verfed with David Hume that his pronuntiation was perfect Scottim. The language of Shake- fpear abounds in words of Latin origin, in the opinion of fome critics, rather to excefs. How the harmony of his verfe would often be over- thrown by .pronuntiation fuch as that of the eminent perfons juft mentioned, will be ob- vious. It is owing to the prevalence of the Saxon idiom that, as the cadence of Scottim poetry is generally ready for the fouthern voice and pleating to the fouthern ear, fo the fouthern Englifh poetry does not commonly offer material difficulties in its cadence for northern organs. But an opinion has obtained currency, that it is of the genius of the Englifli language to throw the acute accent as far back in the word as may be. All the ableft writers on the fubject contradict this, and invefligation in our poetry, upward to Chaucer, HARMONY IN LANGUAGE. 423 Chaucer, will prove that the opinion is errone- ous; yet it holds and feems even to be extend- ing itfelf. The injury hence threatened td the whole body of our poetry is incalculable. The cafe of the word fubjeft, may deferve confidpration. All our dictionaries concur with all our poetry in aflerting that the word fo written, when a noun, fhould have the acute on the firft, but, when a verb, on the fecond fyllable, Neverthelefs the new fafhion, which has already eftablifhed itfelf in the oratory of the bar, and of both hoiifes of parlia- ment, gives the acute to the firft fyllable of the verb, equally as of the noun. Let the confequence be obferved in the following paflages : The angel Led them direft, and down the cliff as faft, To ihcfubjefied plain. Milton, Par. Loft. Think not, young warriors, your diminifh'd name Shall lofe of luftre by fubjeSing rage To the cool dictates of experienced age. pryden. In one fhort v]ew,/ul>Jee tho more commonly for In the third line, the lafl fyllable of o-ywiS^aj is the pofleffive pronoun, united with the preceding word, according to the common manner of the modern language, in confequence of lofing its accent. no'%i> in the fourth line, I reckon a contraction of "TIUJ i-/j l - Of the following word I take the firft or two firft letters to be the fign of the iubjunr.ive mood va, which occurs twice in the next line intire, as preceding a confonant, and once in the laft line with the vowel elided, becaufe a vowel follows j v aypunvvcrouv. Of the remainder of the word or phrafe which ftands printed vxffi, I cannot venture to explain my conjecture, farther than by referring to the following litteral tranflation of the whole paflage : * Go ' you, worthy herdmen, who have inclofed in toils the terri- ' We and highly incenfed animal, and, according to our cuf- ' torn, give the fignal of the hunting, where it is to be, and * do it altogether. Let the bugle-horn be founded, that eyes * may be awakened, and let voices be exerted to roufe all ' hearts.' The * disjec~ti membra poetse' are here fo hardly, difcernible, that it may be due to the original to fhow the reader, unverfed in the Italian language, its fuperiority, as it may be fhown even in a tranflation the moft litteral : l Go * you, who inclofed the horrible beaft, and giye the accuftomed f fignal of the future chace. Go, awakening eyes with the * horn, and hearts with the voice.' Should the Englifii fportfman deiirc explanation pf the manner of hunting here adverted to, he may find it very completely and very amuf- ingly given in Riduiger's prints, -sreprefenting the manner of huntijig in the fouth of Germ..ny at this day. THE END. T.u!:e TIanfard, Printer, Crcat Tuniltiie, LiiicoinVlan 'Fields* UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-Series 4939 A 000117788