. indeed, but in fucceffion, or the one after the other, and though no two of them are fuppofed to make a dipththong. In thefe licences too, the Italians feem not to be very regular, and the fame concourfe of vowels which in one place makes but one fyllable, will in another fometimes make two. There are even fome words which in the end of a verfe are constantly counted for two fyllables, but which in any other part of it are never counted for more than one; fuch as fuo, tuo, fuoi, tuoi. Rufcelli obferves, that in the Italian Heroic Verfe the accent ought to fall upon the fourth, the fixth, the eighth, and the tenth fyllables; and that if it falls upon the third, the fifth, the seventh, or the ninth syllables, it spoils the verfe. In English, if the accent falls upon any of the above-mentioned odd fyllables, it equally spoils the verfe. Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blafts. Though a line of Milton has not the ordinary movement of an English Heroic Verfe, the accent falls upon the third and fifth fyllables. In Italian frequently, and in English fometimes, an accent is with great grace thrown upon the first fyllable, in which cafe it feldom happens that any other fyllable is accented before the fourth : Cánto l'armé pietóse e'l capitáno. Fírft in these fields I try the fylvan stráins. Both in English and in Italian the fecond fyllable may be accented with great grace, and it generally is fo when the first syllable is not accented: E in van l'inferno a' lui s'oppose; e in vano Than just to look about us, and to die, &c. Both in English and in Italian Verse, an accent, though it must never be misplaced, may fometimes be omitted with great grace, In the last of the above-quoted English Verses there is no accent upon the eighth fyllable; the conjunction and not admitting of any. In the following Italian Verfe there is no accent upon the fixth fyllable: O Mufa, tu, che di caduchi allori, &c. The prepofition di will as little admit of an accent as the conjunction and. In this cafe, however, when the even fyllable is not accented, neither of the odd fyllables immedi ately before or behind it must be accented. Neither in English nor in Italian can twa accents running be omitted. It must be obferved, that in Italian there are two accents, the grave and the acute: the grave accent is always marked by a flight ftroke over the fyllable to which it belongs; the acute accent has no mark. The English language knows no diftinction between the grave and the acute accents. The The fame author obferves, that in the Italian Verfe the Paufe, or what the grammarians call the Cefura, may with propriety be introduced after either the third, the fourth, the fifth, the fixth, or the feventh fyllables. The like obfervations have been made by feveral different writers upon the English Heroic Verfe. Dobie admires particularly the verfe in which there are two paufes; one after the fifth, and another after the ninth fyllable. The example he gives is from Petrarch: Nel dolce tempo de la prima etade, &c. In this verse, the second paufe, which he says comes after the ninth fyllable, in reality comes in between the two vowels, which, in the Italian way of counting fyllables, compofe the ninth fyllable. It may be doubtful, therefore, whether this pause may not be confidered as coming after the eighth fyllable. I do not recollect any good English Verse in which the paufe comes in after the ninth fyllable. We have many in which it comes in after the eighth : Yet oft, before his infant eyes, would run, &c. In which verfe there are two pauses; one after the fecond, and the other after the eighth fyllable. I have obferved many Italian Verfes in which the paufe comes after the fecond fyllable. Both Both the English and the Italian Heroie Verfe, perhaps, are not fo properly compofed of a certain number of fyllables, which vary according to the nature of the rhyme; as of a certain number of intervals, (of five invariably,) each of which is equal in length, or time, to two ordinary diftinct fyllables, though it may fometimes contain more, of which the extraordinary shortnefs compensates the extraordinary number. The clofe frequently of each of those intervals, but always of every fecond interval, is marked by a distinct accent. This accent may frequently, with great grace, fall upon the beginning of the first interval; after which, it cannot, without fpoiling the verfe, fall any where but upon the clofe of an interval. The fyllable or fyllables which come after the accent that clofes the fifth interval are never accented. They make no diftinct interval, but are confidered as a fort of excrefcence of the verse, and are in a manner counted for nothing. |