In each of thofe admirable hexameters, fo descriptive of great fize, Et magnos membrorum artus, magna offa, lacertofque. Monftrum horrendum, informe, ingens, cui lumen ademptum. there are eleven long fyllables according to the ancient pronunciation, and only fix or feven according to the modern. If, then, there be any natural fuitablenefs in the flow rhythm of these lines, (and Virgil certainly thought there was), must not that have been more obfervable anciently than it is now ? In the English tongue, the foot Spondeus, confifting of two long fyllables, is not frequent, there being generally one short fyllable, or more, for each long fyllable. And as our accented or emphatic fyllables are all long, and as we give emphasis to the Greek and Latin fyllables in the fame way almost as to our own, we feldom preferve in our pronunciation the rhythm of the ancient poetry, and are (I think) most apt to lose it in thofe verfes that abound in the Spondeus. The Dactyl, of one long and two short fyllables, is very common in English; and it fometimes happens, though not often, that in pronouncing an hexameter of Dactyls we do preferve the true rhythm tolerably well. Of fuch an hexameter I take the rhythm to be the fame with the following: Multitudes Multitudes rufh'd all at once on the plain with a thundering uproar. And according to this rhythm, nearly, we do in fact pronounce the last line of Homer's celebrated defcription of Sifyphus * But this line of Virgil, whose measure and motion are exactly the fame, the moderns pronounce differently, at least in the first three feet : Quadrupedante putrem fonitu quatit ungula camp um. Of this other line of Virgil, defcribing loud found, Sufpiciunt; iterum atque iterum fragor intonat ingens, the rhythm is ftill the fame, after making the neceflary elifions; and if the reader pronounce it fo, his car will perhaps inform him, that it is more imitative than he at first imagined. In the beginning of the Eneid, Eolus, at Juno's defire, fends out his winds to destroy Trojan fleet. Neptune rebukes them for invading his dominions without his leave; and is just going to denounce a threatening, or inflict a punishment, when he recollects, that it was proper to calm his waters, before he did any thing else: Quos ego-fed motos præftat componere fluctus. - The interrupted threat is a dactyl; — the remainder of the line goes off in fpondees. By this tranfition from a quick to a flow rhythm, is it not probable, that the poet intended to imitate the change of Neptune's purpose? But this is loft in our pronunciation, though in the ancient I believe it must have been obfervable.. One instance more, and I quit the fubject. When Dido, that fatal morning on which fhe put a period to her life, faw that Eneas and his Trojans were actually gone, fhe at firft broke forth into frantic denunciations of revenge and ruin; but foon checks herfelf, as if exhausted by her paffion, when fhe reflects, that her ravings were all in vain. Unhappy Dido! (fays fhe), thy evil deftiny is now come upon thee *." (6 This * Infelix Dido! nunc te fata impia tangunt. Eneid, iv. 596.--If we read facta impia, with the Medicean Manufcript, the Rhythm is ftill the fame, and the fenfe not materially different: "Unhappy Dido! now are the "confequences of thy broken vows come upon thee." change change of her mind from tempeft to a momentary calm (for fhe immediately relapfes into vengeance and distraction) is finely imitated in the poet's numbers. The words I have tranflated form a line of Spondees, whose flow and foft motion is a striking contrast to the abrupt and fonorous rapidity of the preceding and following verfes. This beauty, too, is in a great measure loft in our pronunciation; for we only give five or fix Tong fyllables to a line which really contains eleven. Are these remarks too refined? Those readers will hardly think fo, who have studied Virgil's verfification; which is artful and appofite to a degree that was never equalled or attempted by any other poet. In the course of these observations on the found of Poetical Language, I am not confcious of having affirmed any thing which does not admit of proof. Some of the proofs, however, I was obliged to leave out; as they would have led me into long difquifitions, relating rather to the peculiarities of Latin and English verfe, than to the general characters of the Poetic Art. Thefe proofs may poffibly find a place hereafter in A Treatife of verfification and English profody, which I began fome years ago, but have not yet finished. THE EN D. |