nunciation of verse will sometimes oblige us to adopt different inflexions from those we should ufe in profaic pronunciation, it may ftill be laid down as a good general rule, that verse requires the fame inflexions as profe, though lefs strongly marked, and more approaching to monotones. If, therefore, we are at a lofs for the true inflexion of voice on any word in poetry, let us reduce it to earnest conversation, and pronounce it in the most familiar and profaic manner; and we shall for the most part fall into those very inflexions we ought to adopt in repeating verse: nay, it is the preservation of these profaic inflexions that makes the poetic pronunciation natural: and the whining cant which is adopted by many affected readers of poetry, owes, in a great measure, its origin to a à neglect of this rule. Thus in the following couplet:

Short is the date in which ill acts prevail,

But honefty's a rock will never fail. Steele.

If we pronounce the laft word fail with the rifing inflexion, fliding upwards a little higher than usual, we shall infallibly draw the couplet into the whining tone we are here speaking of; but if we pronounce every part of the same sentence exactly in the fame manner, except the laft word, and give this the falling inflexion, we shall find a natural tone preferved, and the whining cant entirely vanished.

This obfervation naturally leads us to a rule

* Converfing with Dr. Johnson upon this fubject, he repeated this couplet to me in the manner here described; which he faid was the manner in which Savage always used to pronounce verse.

which may juftly be looked on as the fundamental principle of all poetic pronunciation; which is, that, wherever a sentence, or member of a fentence, would neceffarily require the falling inflexion in profe, it ought always to have the fame inflexion in poetry; for though, if we were to read verfe profaically, we should often place the falling inflexion where the style of verfe would require the rifing, yet in thofe parts, where a portion of perfect fenfe, or the conclufion of a sentence, neceffarily requires the falling inflexion, the fame inflexion must be adopted both in verfe and profe.

EXAMPLE.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whofe mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With lofs of Eden, till one greater man
Reftore us, and regain the blissful feat
Sing heav'nly mufe, that on the fecret top
Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didft infpire

That fhepherd, who firft taught the chosen feed,

In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth

Rofe out of chaos. Milton's Parad. Loft, B. i. v. 1.

Though we were to read this paffage quite profaically, it would not admit of the falling inflexion on any of its paufes till the end, and here the voice ought to affume the falling inflexion, and be in a lower tone than at any of the other paufes: But in the following example:

High on a throne of royal ftate, which far
Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Inde,
Or where the gorgeous Eaft with richest hand,
Show'rs on her kings barbaric pearl and gold,
Satan exalted fat. Ibid. B. ii. v. 1.

In reading this paffage profaically, we might place the falling inflexión on Inde; but the

poetical pronunciation of this paffage would neceffarily require a fufpenfion of voice with the rifing inflexion on that word. It may be obferved, indeed, that it is in the frequent use of the rifing inflexion, where profe would adopt the falling, that the fong of poetry confifts: familiar, ftrong, argumentative fubjects naturally enforce the language with the falling inflexion, as this is naturally expreffive of activity, force, and precifion; but grand, beautiful, and plaintive fubjects flide naturally into the rifing inflexion, as this is expreffive of awe, admiration, and melancholy; where the mind may be faid to be paffive: and it is this general tendency of the plaintive tone to affume the rifing inflexion, which inclines injudicious readers to adopt it at thofe paufes where the falling inflexion is abfolutely neceffary; and for want of which the pronunciation degenerates into the whine, fo much and so justly disliked; for it is very remarkable, that if, where the sense concludes, we are careful to preferve the falling inflexion, and let the voice drop into the natural talking tone, the voice may be fufpended in the rifing inflexion on any other part of the verfe, with very little danger of falling into the chant of bad readers. Thus in the following paffage which opens the tragedy of Cato:

The dawn is overcaft, the morning low'rs,
And heavily in clouds brings on the day;
The great, the important day,

Big with the fate of Cato and of Rome.

The grandeur of the objects and fwell of language in this defcription, naturally throw the voice into those tones that exprefs the awe and

dignity which these objects excite in the mind; and these tones being inclined to the plaintive, naturally flide into the rifing inflexion on the pauses; and this is apt to draw the voice into a chant: but let the word Rome have the falling inflexion and fink into a lower key, in the natural talking tone, and the imperfections in pronouncing the former part will be in a great measure covered; on the contrary, though the former part be pronounced ever fo accurately, if the word Rome has the rifing inflexion, the whole will appear to be unfinished, and have a disagreeable whining tone.

This may fuffice to fhew the neceffity of attending to the pronunciation of periods in verfe, and of giving them the fame inflexion of voice they would require in profe; for it must be carefully noted, that though we often end with the rifing inflexion in verfe, where we fhould use the falling in profe, yet if in profe it is neceffary we fhould end with the rifing inflexion, we ought always to end with the fame inflexion in verfe; in this cafe, the rifing inflexion at the end of a fentence will not appear to have the whining tone. Thus, where a question would require the rifing inflexion in profe, verfe will neceffarily require it to end with the fame inflexion: and in this case, the rifing inflexion will have no bad effect on the

ear.

EXAMPLE.

What! fhall an African, fhall Juba's heir
Reproach great Cato's fon, and fhew the world
A virtue wanting in a Roman foul?

Here, though every paufe requires the rifing inflexion, and the period the fame, yet as this

period is an interrogation requiring the rifing inflexion, no whining chant is the confequence, but the whole is natural.

From these obfervations, this general rule will naturally arife; that though, in verfe, we frequently fufpend the voice by the rifing inflexion, where, if the compofition were profe, we should adopt the falling; yet, wherever, in profe, the member or Sentence would neceffarily require the rifing inflexion, this inflexion must neceffarily be adopted in verfe. An inftance of all thefe cafes may be found in the following example from Pope :

He who through vaft immenfity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compofe one universe;
Obferve how fyftem into fyftem runs,
What other planets circle other funs;
What vary'd being peoples ev'ry ftar,
May tell why heav'n has made us as we are.
But of this frame, the bearings and the ties,
The strong connections, nice dependencies,
Gradations juft, has thy pervading foul
Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole?
Is the great chain that draws all to agree,
And drawn fupports, upheld by God, or thee?

If this paffage were prose, every line but the fifth might end with the falling inflexion, like a commencing feries of five members; but the fifth, being that where the two principal conftructive parts unite, and the fenfe begins to form, here, both in profe and verfe, muft be the principal paufe, and the rifing inflexion.* The two questions with which this fentence ends, ought to have the rifing inflexion alfo, as this is the inflexion they would neceffarily

*See Part I. p. 67, 87.