from the pause by a short syllable. The former belongs to lines of the first and third order; the latter to those of the second and fourth.

Examples of the first kind:

Smooth flow the waves | the zephyrs gently play,
Belinda smiled and all the world was gay.

He raised his azure wând | and thus began.

Examples of the other kind:

There lay three gârters | half a pair of gloves,
And all the trophies of his former loves.

Our humble province | is to tend the fair,
Not a less pleasing though less glorious care.

And hew triumphal arches | to the ground.

It is a great defect in the composition of verse to put a low word incapable of an accent, in the place where this accent should be; and no single circumstance contributes more to the energy of verse than to put an important word where the accent should be-a word that merits a peculiar emphasis. The following are faulty lines:

Of leaving what | is natural and fit.

Not yet purged off, of spleen and sour disdain.
No pardon vile | obscurity should find.

When love was all | an easy monarch's care.

When this fault is at the end of a line that closes a couplet, it destroys the melody altogether:

But of this frame the bearings, and the ties,

The strong connections, nice dependencies.

For a fuller exhibition of the subject, consult the Author's edition of "Kames' Elements," whence the observations on Pauses and Accents have been drawn, pp. 309-342.

RULES FOR RHYMING SYLLABLES.

1. The syllables must be accented syllables.

2. The vowel sounds inust be the same.

3. If these syllables end with consonants, the consonantal sounds must be the same.

4. The consonants preceding the vowel must be different from

each other in form and sound; that is, no syllable must be put in rhyme with itself.

5. It is to be noticed that not the letters, but the sounds of the letters, constitute rhyme; hence such words as plough and enough, though ending in similar letters are not words that rhyme together, being different in sound when pronounced. The words buff and rough though unlike in form, yet being of the same sound, rhyme together.

6. Lines ending in trochees require the last two syllables to rhymne; those ending with a dactyle, require the last three to rhyme.

7. The more numerous the consonants that enter into the rhyming syllables, the stronger and better is the rhyme. Examples of strong and perfect rhymes:

It is not that I may not have incurr'd

For my ancestral faults, or mine the wound
I bleed withal, and, had it been conferr'd
With a just weapon, it had flow'd unbound;

To thee I do devote it-thou shalt take

The vengeance, which shall yet be sought and found,
Which if I have not taken for the sake-

But let that pass-I sleep, but thou shalt yet awake.

Childe Harold.

The rhymes in the first and third lines above, abounding in consonants after the vowel are particularly rich and strong. The consonants before the vowel in all the rhymes, it will be observed, are unlike; in the first nc, in the third nf; in the second w, in the fourth, nb, &c. The above rules are exemplified in the next quotation:

Three days before my Mary's death,

We walk'd by Grassmere shore;

"Sweet lake!" she said with faltering breath,

"I ne'er shall see thee more !"

John Wilson.

LESSON CLXV.

IMPERFECT RHYMES.

Imperfect rhymes end in syllables whose vowel sounds and whose consonants are not exactly the same, but more or less

nearly approach to sameness, and hence are less or more imperfect in their rhymes.

1. There are rhymes addressed to the eye which are not rhymes when addressed to the ear, and hence are not admissible: head and bead; breath and beneath; increase and ease.

2. Rhymes when they sound alike are admissible, though they differ to the eye in form; thus, soul and stole; eye and sky; smile and isle.

8. As h is not an articulate sound it is not to be counted in the beginning of a word; hence air and hair, I and high, are not legitimate, because parts before the vowels a and i are not different.

Examples of imperfect rhymes:

And without utterance, save the shrug or sigh
Deal round to happy fools its speechless obloquy.
That we become a part of what has been
And grow upon the spot, all-seeing but unseen.

Byron.

Ib.

Of an enamor'd goddess, and the cell
Haunted by holy love-the earliest oracle.

Ib.

DOUBLE, TRIPLE, and Middle RHYMES.

The following examples are taken from Fowler's English Grammar:

Double Rhymes, where an unaccented follows an accented syllable:

The sportive Autumn claim'd by rights

An archer for her lover;

And even in winter's dark, cold nights,

A charm he could discover.

Her routs and balls and fireside joy,

For this time were his reasons;

In short, Young Love's a gallant boy
That likes all times and seasons.

Campbell.

Treble Rhyme, shows an accented syllable followed by two

unaccented syllables:

O ye immortal gods! what is theogony?

Oh thou, too, immortal man! what is philanthropy?

O world that was and is! what is cosmogony?

Some people have accused me of misanthropy.

Byron.

Middle Rhyme is that which exists between the last accented syllables of the two sections of a line.

"The cheering and enlivening power of Rhyme," says Lord Kames, "is remarkable in poems of short lines, where the rhymes return upon the ear in quick succession; for which reason, rhyme is perfectly well adapted to gay, light, and airy subjects."

Oh, the pleasing, pleasing anguish,
When we love and when we languish!
Wishes rising,

Thoughts surprising,
Pleasure courting,
Charms transporting,
Fancy viewing

Joys ensuing,

Oh, the pleasing, pleasing anguish!

For that reason, such frequent rhymes are very improper for any severe or serious passion; the dissonance between the subject and the melody is very sensibly felt. Witness the following

LESSON CLXVI.

BLANK VERSE.

Blank verse is a more free and noble species of versification than rhyme. The principal defect in rhyme, is the full close which it forces upon the ear at the end of every couplet. Blank verse is freed from this, and allows the lines to run into each other with as great liberty as the Latin hexameter permits, perhaps with greater. Hence it is particularly suited to subjects of dignity and force, which demand more free and manly numbers than rhyme.

The constraint and strict regularity of rhyme, are unfavorable to the sublime, or to the highly pathetic strain. An epic poem, or a tragedy, would be fettered and degraded by it. It is best adapted to compositions of a temperate strain, where no particular vehemence is required in the sentiments, nor great sublimity in the style; such as pastorals, elegies, epistles, satires, &c. To these it communicates that degree of elevation which is proper for them; and without any other assistance, sufficiently distinguishes the style from prose. He who should write such poems in blank verse, would render his work harsh and unpleasing. In order to support a poetical style, he would be obliged to affect a pomp of language unsuitable to the subject.

The present form of English heroic rhyme in couplets, is a modern species of versification. The measure generally used in the days of Queen Elizabeth, King James, and King Charles I., was the stanza of eight lines, such as Spenser employs, borrowed from the Italian; a measure very constrained and artificial.

Waller was the first who brought couplets into vogue; and Dryden afterwards established the usage. Waller first smoothed our verse; Dryden perfected it. Pope's versification has a peculiar character. It is flowing and smooth in the highest degree; far more labored and correct than that of any who went before him. He introduced one considerable change into heroic verse, by totally throwing aside the triplets, or three lines rhyming together, in which Dryden abounded. Dryden's versification, however, has very great merit; and, like all his productions, has much spirit, mixed with carelessness. It is not so smooth and correct as Pope's; it is, however, more varied and easy. He subjects himself less to the rule of closing the sense with a couplet; and frequently takes the liberty of making his couplets run into one another, with somewhat of the freedom of blank

verse.