Mr. Dyer on English Verfification. Or that of Milton-- Him th' Almighty Power Hurl'd headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion down Sometimes it is produced by a fingle word, ulularunt, howl, hifs, roar, &c. This is what Mr. Walth very properly calls, the style of found. This effect is produced by the application of the rule of the acute and grave accents; the acute making stronger, the grave weaker vibrations; from an artful management of the letters, confidered as liquids, confonants, fingle, or double, vowels, dipthongs, open vowels, &c. From regarding the proper places for the paufe, tranfpofition, interrogation, &c. I am not yet fpeaking of any particular fpecies of verfification, but of the effect of found in general, in producing motion or paffion. When the poet wilhes to exprefs, and to raife in the breast of his reader, the fofter or more lively paffions of love, hope, defire, &c. his verfe Should ftudy correfpondent movements; it fhould be foft, and accompanied with all the arts of infinuation; it should move Sprightly, and with an air of triumph and exultation, &c.---on the other hand, when he would exprefs grief, pride, refentment, &c. the language fhould exprefs depreflion, indignation, fudden transition, &c. It is unneceffary to exemplify what has been fo frequently exemplified in books on rhetoric and poetry :---a few hints on the mechanical part of the different fpecies of English verfification, will be more to the purpose of your correfpondent L. The following rules feem to apply to the Iambic, or Heroic, a verfe of five feet, which may be with or without rhyme called Iambic, becaufe the principal foot contained in it is an Iambic, a foot of two fyllables, with the fift IylJable fhort, the laft long. Ex. of the Iambic with rhyme, Here thou | Great Annă, whom | three realms obey, Doft fōmetimes counsel take, | and fōme] times tea. I take these lines as affording an example of an inaccurate rhyme, which I fhall notice presently. At prefent, I obferve, that the last line is an example of perfect Iambic. The Heroic or Iambic admits other feet befides the Iambic. The first of thefe lines in the fourth place has taken a Spondee, or a foot of two long fyllables : 115 And a Pyrrhic, that is, a foot of two short, as in the above verse, “ and their.” It will alfo admit of an Anapæft, that is a foot of three fyllables, the two firft fhort, and the last long; and of a Trochee, a foot of two fyllables, with the firft long, and laft fhort; which the Greek Iambic never admitted: though it may be generally obferved, the more Iambics the verfe contains, it will be fo much the purer. With refpect to long and fhort, it fhould be noticed, though English verfe is not regulated by pofition, it is not fo loofe as to fet afide quantity, Sure there are poets who did never dream Suppofe Poets, which is a Trochee, to be turned into an Iambic, as repūte, rePlete, and we fhall fee that the harmony is inftantly broken; or fuppofe Părnalfus, which is an Amphibrachys, that is, a foot of three fyllables, the first fyllable on each fide fhort, the middle long, be read as an amphimacer, with each fyllable on the fide long, and the middle fhort, we fhall then likewife fee that the rules of quantity are violated, "On Parnaffus top, nor did taste the stream.” The next obfervation relates to the Paufe; a confideration of great importance in verfe, και ες: λέξις κρατν τη πασων, ητις αν έχει αναπαύλας και με rabonas aguonias *. The force of this obfervation will be obvious by confidering what has already been noticed ---the correfpondence of poetry with mufic. Mufic requires variety of movements, no lefs than fweetness of found: and without this variety, both poetry and mufic will be accompanied with a difgufting monotony. In Mr. Walsh's "Letter to Mr.Pope," it is obferved, there is naturally a paufe at the fourth, fifth, or fixth fyllables. "It is upon these the ear refts, upon,the * Dionyf. Hal. De Struct. Orat. judicious 116 Mr. Dyer on English Verfification. The paufe may extend to other fylla. bles; a regard to variety feems frequently to require it, and it may be laid down as a general rule in rhyme, that at the termination of every line, there is a pause. It is fcarcely neceffary to add, that a paufe is a different thing from a stop. In a former letter I spoke of Mr. Pope, as the best standard of rhyme: and this is unquestionably true with refpect to fuavity, richness, and strength. But whether it proceeded from his want of tafte for mufic I will not fay, he is certainly very often extremely monotonous; his profeffed imitators are still more so: and this is true not only of Pope's juvenile works, but of those which exhibit the vigour of his manhood, and all the ftrength of fentiment, particularly his Effay on Man." Example, 66 All are but parts of one ftupendous whole, Whole body nature is, and God the foul; That chang'd thro' all and yet through all the fame, Great in the earth as in the etherial frame; Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze, Glows in the ftars, and bloffoms in the trees, Lives through all life, extends through all extent, Spreads undivided, I operates unfpent. The mechanism of this fpecies of verse, in regard to the pause, consists in the varying of its place; and generally fpeaking, it fhould not be made at the fame fyllable above two lines, or at moft three, together. Connected with an observation already made is another, viz. That the clofing rhyme of the couplet fhould be attended with a pause in the couplet in the fenfe, fo as not to run on to the following verfe: Ex. in the couplet already quoted from Denham : Sure there are poets who did never dream Upon Parnaffus, or did taste the fiream Of Helicon. This feems wrong; Pope rarely takes this liberty; Dryden, though a great matter of English verfification, frequently; Darwin, who has ftudied this ipecies of verfe with great nicety, never. This leads to another obfervation, that regards triplets. Rhyme, by thofe who oppofe it, is called jingling: without enquiring into the justice of their difapprobation, or the origin of rhymes, it may with truth be faid, that triplets offend a chafte ear, and generally betray negligence, and want of invention in the writer. Dryden, indeed, ufes them perpetually; but though a great poet, he was frequently negligent and hafty, writ ing from the fpur of the moment, flans pede in uno. Pope ufes them occafionally in his imitations and tranflations, but very fparingly in original poems: there is not a fingle triplet in his "Rape of the Lock," or "The Dunciad:" Dr. Darwin alfo never ufes triplets. It is fcarcely neceffary to add, that by triplets are meant three lines fucceffively rhyming. In odes, where different rhymes intervene, three rhyming lines may with great propriety be admitted in the fame itanza; and the movements are very lively as in a tranflation of a Spanifh ode by a fine modern poet, Mr. Southey Rodrigo, from the world apart Retir'd where Tagus flows, Clafp'd the fair Caba to his heart, When lo! the Spirit of the ftream arose, And pour'd the prophet fong of Spain's impending woes. The above ftanza clofes with an Alexandrine, and affords an example of the place moft proper for its introduction, viz. at the clofe of a ftanza. There are but few places in which it can be introduced with propriety in the regular heroic rhyme. In the blank verfe of Milton, I think it is never ufed: there is not a line that could with greater propriety have been made an Alexandrine than the laft of the last book, Thro' Eden took their folitary way; where a fofter fenfation is to be excited, where the movement of the verfe is flow, and where the line is the finishing verfe of the book. I cannot forbear juft noticing, that a in the middle, fo as to be divided into an Alexandrine has a paufe naturally proper equal number of fyllables, Ex. "The bloom of young defire, and purple light of love:" Gray. The true Alexandrine is a very melodious line, when properly ufed; but what may be called the Super-Alexandrine, or line of fourteen fyllables has, I think, ufes it in his odes called Pindaric, in always a bad effect. Cowley very often which he feems to think every poffible liberty may be taken with measure. Dryfufion of true Alexandrines, now and den, who in his heroics has a great prothen alfo admits the fpurious one; as in the following line of portentous length: Things done relates, not done the feigns, And mingles truth with Lyes. Eneid. As we are now fpeaking concerning rhyme, a caution fhould be left against the too quick return of the fame rhyme. Ex. * Letters written during a short refidence in Spain and Portugal, by Robert Southey. Bloffoms Difcoverers in Philofophy compared with Poets. Bloffoms and fruits and flowers together rife, "Addijon's Letter to Lord Halifax." Here pillars rough with sculpture pierce the skies, And here the proud triumphal arches rife. These are ten lines farther in the fame poem, and may be endured; but cannot be allowed a few lines nearer: of which, however, inftances occur in this charming poem. The laft obfervation I fhall make relates to open vowels; that is, two vowels opening on each other; which generally speaking, fhould be guarded against, except where the poet wishes to make found correfpond to fenfe, or fome great inconvenience to the line would be the confequence: Milton, however, frequently ufes open vowels; and Pope fometimes, but not often. The following is an example of one : Great in the earth, or in the etherial frame. The open vowels in this line make too great an hiatus, and offend the ear, though, fometimes, it must be confeffed, the cafura would be more offenfive to the ear than the hiatus: ex. Of Nature's works to me expung'd and raz'd. Milton. I Much more might be faid on this fubject: and I am aware, that different critics may fomewhat differ on these niceties; I speak therefore with deference, but hope, if yonr correfpondent L, is young in thefe matters, that he may derive a few hints from what has already been faid not unacceptable to him. propofe, in a future letter, to fubmit to his confideration a few thoughts relative to other species of verfification, more particularly to blank verfe; and to the books recommended in a former letter, as proper to be read, to point out a few In the mean time, I am, &c. more. G. DYER. P.S. I forgot to obferve, with refpect to open vowels, that the founds which moft nearly resemble each other, fhould be moft guarded againft, as A A, A E, E E, E I, II, I Y; where the refemblance is lefs, the hiatus will be lefs, and therefore will be more cafily allowed. The more attentive verfifiers are to the accuracy of their rhymes, the more pure and harmonious will their verfe be. 117 The two first lines quoted from Pope, in this letter, have bad rhymes: as also are the two following: Compute the gains of his ungovern'd zeal, To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. SIR, USED to think that a great difco verer in philosophy, fuch as Bacon or Newton, was much more fuperior to the meaner mob of philofophers, than is a Shakespeare or a Milton to a Blackmore or a Cibber, to the rooks and the jackdaws of poetry. I am of that opinion no longer. I have been induced, I must confels, to diveft myself of much of that exceffive veneration with which I long regarded the principal names in philofophy. at In truth, the authors of great discoveries in philofophy, have rarely or never attained far above the common level of the philofophical knowledge of the ages in which they respectively lived. The conversation of the peaceful intercourse of the citizens of Athens; the harangues and difcuffions in their public affemblies; the moral knowledge which they had generally acquired in the cultivation of the arts, and in the ordinary exercife of coveries and the errors of former philofotheir civil and political rights; the dif the drama; had fo prepared the phers; the writings and exhibitions of way Athens, for the origin of the philofophy of Socrates, as to make it impoffible that there fhould not fome fuch philofopher arife among the Athenians about that æra. Ariftotle was but a difciple of the fchool of Socrates, whofe dialectics and fcientific arrangements had their fource in the doctrines of his master, and of the contemporary fophifts. The difcoveries of Bacon were made at a time when the world began to become weary of the logic and metaphyfics of the schools; when frequent attempts w re made to newmodel and fimplify the school-philofophy; when the improvement of human knowledge was already very generally sought by other means, than the mere laws of fynthesis and of fyllogifin; when experiment and induction had been already tried with fuccefs by the alchemists, and by other explorers of the fecrets of nature. Was there not in these circumftances as much of happy fortune as of fuperior genius, in the accomplishment of thofe grand difcoveries which we afcribe to Bacon? The refearches of Galileo, if they did not difcover the gravity of the atmosphere, 118 Difcovereres in Philofophy compared with Poets. The great poet can never derive from his predeceffors more than a very little of that on which alone his fame can be permanently built. Melody, and variety of verfification; a copious and happily expreffive phrafeology; tafte to avoid falle ornaments of wit and fancy; skill to adjuft all the parts of a work into one whole; all thefe, the poet may, indeed, derive from the study of the works of his predeceffors, but little elfe can this ftudy confer. We easily diftinguish what is merely the copy of a copy from that which is directly imitated from nature. We praife the great poet only in proportion as his images and fentiments are original as well as juft and interesting. Of all the literary arts, poetry is the leaft benefited by the gradual progress of human knowledge. Its grand engines are continually difarmed by the overthrow of ignorance and fuperftition: and one poet after another ftill pre-occupies from his fucceffors, one after another of the great provinces of nature, fo as to excite the general fentiment; Pereant qui noftra, ante nos, dixére. If Virgil has imitated Homer; if Milton has borrowed largely from all poetical antiquity, facred and profane, we are careful to ftrip them of all their borrowed feathers, whenever we come to eftimate their poetical merits. What infinite pains has been taken to trace all the imitations and plagiarifins of the divine Shakespeare? We give poets credit folely for what each has himself actually caught from nature. We fometimes, as has been beautifully fhewn by Dr. Hurd, fuppofe them imitators, when they are, in truth, entitled to the praise of originality. A poet cannot borrow, without being perceived to borrow. philofophy we are apt, at all times, to praise him who impofes the key-stone, as if he had built the whole arch. atmosphere, yet advanced fo near to this difcovery, as to leave no very extraordinary merit to his pupil Torricelli, in the actual accomplishment of it. Far be it from me to offer to tear, with rafh hand, the laurels from the immortal brow of Newton! Yet, let me permitted to obferve, that when this great man difcovered the doctrine of the attraction of gravitation, aftronomy, geography, and navigation; mechanics, and all the mechanical arts, had been improved to fuch a pitch of advancement, the attention of philofophers was fo earnestly turned towards the difcovery of the true fyftem of the univerfe, and the operations of mathematical calculation had been so much facilitated and improved, that the theory of gravitation, had it even efcaped the genius of Newton, could not well have failed to arife to the meditations of fome one or another of the philofophers, who were cotemporary with him. Reflecting upon these facts, we shall find it difficult to maintain, that even Newton foared to fuch an exceffive height above the common level of the knowledge of his age, as many of his admirers feem to have imagined. In the more recent inftance of the difcovery of the true theory of chemistry, does the merit of that discovery reft with Lavoifier alone? No; Van Helmont, Boyle, Mayow, Hale, Priestley, Bergman, Scheele, Black, Cavendish, Baumé, Macquer, Bucquet, had, fucceffively or collaterally, purfued chemical inveftigations, and traced out the general truths of this science, till it was almoft as impoffible that fome one or another fhould not ftumble on Lavoifier's discoveries, as that a number of perfons fhould, in a dark night, wander about among frequent open pits, and yet none of them have the fortune to fall in. Such has ever been the cafe in regard to the grand difcoveries in philofophy. Knew we but minutely the fteps by which their authors were conducted to them, we fhould not fail to abate much from the fervour of that admiration with which we are at present difpofed to regard thofe authors. Nay, MODERN PERU AND MEXICO. more. I doubt not, but there has been a greater energy of genius exerted, and much more contributed towards the true advancement of science, by perfons whose names are undiftinguifhed in its annals; than by thofe on whom has been fondly lavished boundless praife. It is in philofcphy as in war: the foldiers fight the battle, but the meed of victory is for the generals alone. In n poetry, the cafe is widely different. In It is for thefe reafons, chiefly, that I think the truly great poet to be a more illuftrious character than the great difcoverer in philofophy. H. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF PERU. Intended as a Continuation of the Hiftory of the Monuments of Peru, inferted in our Magazine for December last. [From "El Mercurio Peruano."] HE firft object which prefents itself fopher, in the hiftory of the monuments of ancient Peru, is the delineation of the various difpofitions and organization of The Phyfical Geography of Peru. its vaft territory. In tracing with his pen, amid the fpoils and ravages of time and of war, the degree of cultivation this famous nation had attained, when, without the help either of the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, or the Greeks, it eftablished wife laws, and made, in certain points of view, great advances in the arts and fciences, he finds it indifpenfibly neceffary to examine the foil on which the ruins, that are to guide and direct him in his researches, are placed. The grandeur of the works erected by the hand of man is not to be estimated folely by the fad remnants to which they are reduced : it is effential that the proportions of the land, which ferved them as a fupport, fhould alfo enter into the calculation. The canal which waters the most fertile valley, does not display the fame magnificence in itself, nor manifeft an equal effort and skill on the part of the artificer, as that which, running between formidable precipices, rifes to the fummit of the mountain, and pierces the deep cleft, which in magnitude equals its arm, or falls into the valley from between the brink and the declivity of lofty hills. On the other hand, as the qualities and circumstances of regions influence the genius and character of those by whom they are peopled, without the phyfical knowledge of Peru, it would be impoffible to trace out the eminent advantages of its former or prefent inhabitants. It is true that we gave a general idea of Peru*, on the happy day when, in publishing our firft Mercury, we made a gracious offering to the tutelar angel of thefe territories: but this is not what we are about to copy. We then confined ourfelves chiefly to the plans which had been fuggefted, in dividing, peopling, and cultivating Peru, by the different views and interefts of its glorious conquerors. We prefented to our readers a prefatory introduction, a leifure compofition, in which, noticing rapidly and in fubftance whatever this country owes to man, we prepared them for the elucidation of each of the parts contained in that valuable ketch of our political geography. We now follow a different courfe. At the moment while we are naming Peru, we banish from our view its inhabitants and its cities, and annihilate even the fuperb towers of opulent Lima. The plains which our forefathers laboured and fertilized difappear; and the delightful cn * See our Magazine for November laft. virons of Rimac prefent no other orna→ ment than a multitude of fhrubs and green meadows, which, agitated by the gentle breeze, rival the undulations and murmurs of the Pacific Ocean as it washes its banks. Having penetrated into the obfcure ages which have long ceased to exift, in fearch of the fragments of the edifices of the Yncas, to complete the hiftory of their monuments, we now fix our attention on thofe times when the human footstep had as yet left no print on the fands of this favoured region, when its fertile plains were still uncultivated. Nature alone appears, wrapt up in a mysterious filence. Her powerful hand is about to give the last perfection to the globe, and to fupport its equilibrium by forming two distinct worlds in one fingle conti nent. It would appear that after she had exercifed herself on the burning fands of Africa, on the leafy and fragrant groves of Afia, and on the temperate and colder climates of Europe, the aimed at affembling together in Peru all the productions fhe had denied to the other three quar ters, to repofe there majeftically, fur rounded by each of them. Such and fo great are the riches this admirable kingdom contains! In defcribing its phyfical geography, it will not be inexpe dient to adopt certain divifions. fhall, in the first place, treat of the general defign of the two worlds which compofe the two principal parts of Peru We of thofe two worlds which form the auguft temple of our mother and liberal benefactrefs. Their limits, their directions, their correfpondencies; their respective advantages over the rest of the terraqueous globe; and their preponderance and influx in the equilibrium of this globe, are objects which, prefenting themselves on a large fcale, will lead and accuftom us, without fatigue, to the detailed examination of whatever each of them in particular contains. O! that any one could poffefs the divine and energetic pencil of nature, to give to his portraits the colouring and delicacy with which he has beautified the original! Peru, the limits of which are traced out by the great phenomena by which it divides the provinces of its univerfal empire, forms without doubt the whole of the fouthern part of the burning zone, which runs north and fouth from the equator to the tropic of Capricorn, and weft and eaft from the borders of the Pacific fea to the forefts and defarts of the Country of the Amazons, by which the eaftern |