§ VI.

TH E accent is sometimes placed on every third fyllable.. In verses constructed after this manner, the movement will be light and quick.. The reason is, the number of unaccented syllables exceeds that of the accented, nearly in the proportion of two to one; and the former are more rapidly pronounced than the latter. On this account the measure is more properly adapted to lively and joyous subjects. These verses frequently admit of twelve syllables, because they have only four, which are not pronounced with rapidity.

EXAMPLES..

'Tis the voice of the sluggard, I hear him complain,
You have wak'd me too soon, I must slumber agáin.
As the door on its hínges, so hé on his béd,
Turns his side, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

Sometimes they consist of eleven syllables:
My tíme, O ye múses, was happily spént,
When Phébe went with me wherever I went *.

Spect. N° 603.

See, wild as the winds, o'er the désert he flíes :
Hark! Hæmus resounds with the bacchanals cries.

Pope.

Then finish, dear Clóe, this pástoral war,

And lét us, like Horace and Ly'dia, agrée;

For thou art a girl, as much brighter than bér,
As he was a póet subliner than mé *.

Prior.

The different position of these accents conftitutes all that variety, which we have in our versification, in the epic line, in the fong, in the Pindaric ode, &c. The first, which moves with a steady and majestic pace, requires an alternate accent. The generality of fongs, or poems on sprightly and joyous subjects, have an accent on every third fyllable only, which makes the verses run with more vivacity, or more levity.

§ VII.

VERSES, which have an air of ridicule, jocularity, or burlesque, sometimes confift of eleven fyllables, and have a double thyme at the

end.

:

EXAMPLES.

There heroes' wits are kept in pond'rous vases,
And beaux' in snuff-boxes, and tweezer cafes.

Rape of the L. v. 115.

To figh for ribands, if thou art so filly,

Mark how they grace lord Umbra, or fir Billy.

Eff. on. M. iv. 277.

From the dear man unwilling she must fever,
Yet takes one kiss, before she parts for ever.

Epift. 1. M. B. 5.

And he, who now to fenfe, now nonsense leaning,
Means not, but blunders round about a meaning.

Prol. to Sat. 185.

Such verses frequently confift of nine fylla

bles:

Yet, to his guest though no way sparing,

He eat himself the rind and paring.

Pope, Imit. of H. vi. 169.

And

And 'tis but just, I'll tell you wherefore,
You give the things you never care for.

Ib. vii. 33.

Call fire, and sword, and defolation,
A godly-thorough reformation.*.

Hudib. c. i. 2017

Sometimes of seven:

ODE from ANACREON.

In roses Cupid peeping,

Disturb'd a bee a fleeping;

Nor spy'd it, e're it stung him;

The smart fo forely wrung him,
His precious tears he wasted,
And straight to Venus hasted.

I'm kill'd! O mother! crying,

I'm kill'd! I'm just a dying!
No chance was ever fadder,
A tiny winged adder,
A bee by peafants named,
My finger has inflamed !

If for a bee to sting thee,
Quoth she, such trouble bring thee;
Think, Cupid, how confounded,

:

Are those, whom thou hast wounded!..

Lewis's Mifc. Poems, vol. 1. 305.

* A crazy politician of the present day, with a little alteration of these Hudibrastic lines, may

Call fire, and sword, and defolation,

A WISE and GLORIOUS reformation.

§ VIII.

WHEN the accent falls on significant words, or proper syllables, the verse, though confifting of ten words, is not inharmonious.

EXAMPLES.

For while I sit with thée, I séem in héav'n.

P. L. viii. 210.

Ar'ms and the man I síng, who fórc'd by fáte.

Dryd. Æn. i. 1.

No bird so light, no thought so swift as they.

What bárk to wáft me, and what wind to blów.

Odyť. vii. 48.

Ib. x. 597.

Ib. xi. 249.

Thríce in my arms I strove her shade to bind.

Shúns the dire rocks; in vain she cuts the skíes;
The dire rocks méet, and crúsh her ás she flíes.

He knew his lórd, he knew and strove to meet;

Ib. xii. 77.

Ib. xvii. 360.

In váin he stróve to crawl, and kíss his féet.

Till tir'd be fléeps, and life's poor play is o'ér.

Eff, on M. ii. 282.

A'nd