ciation has for its object the strongest and clearest sense, united with the most agreeable sound; if, in order to be harmonious, we must necessarily enfeeble or obscure the sense; or if, in order to be strong and clear, we find it necessary to be harsh, the composition is certainly faulty; and all a reader can do in this case is, to make such a compromise between sense and sound as will produce, upon the whole, the best effect. It has been before observed, that sometimes in prose, when the meaning is sufficiently obvious, we may abate an enforcement of the sense for the sake of the sound; and in poetry, the sacrifice to sound is much more necessary; that is, if the sense be sufficiently clear; for nothing can offend against every species of pronunciation so much as confusion or obscurity.

But though an elegant and harmonious pronunciation of verse will sometimes oblige us to adopt different inflections from those we should use in prosaick pronunciation, it may still be laid down as a good general rule, that verse requires the same inflections as prose, though less strongly marked, and more approaching to monotones. If, therefore, we are at a loss for the true inflection of voice on any word in poetry, let us reduce it to earnest conversation, and pronounce it in the most familiar and prosaick manner; and we shall for the most part fall into those very inflections we ought to adopt in repeating verse: nay, it is the preservation of these prosaick inflections that makes the poetick pronunciation natural; and the whining cant which is adopted by many affected readers of poetry, owes, in a great measure, its origin to a neglect of this rule. Thus in the following couplet:

Short is the date in which ill acts prevail,
But honesty's a rock will never fáil.

Steele.

If we pronounce the last word fail with the rising inflection, sliding 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 same manner, except the last word, and give this the falling inflection, we shall find a natural tone preserved, and the whining cant entirely vanished.

This observation naturally leads us to a rule which may justly be looked on as the fundamental principle of all poetick pronunciation; which is, that, wherever a sentence, or member of a sentence, would necessarily require the falling inflection in prose, it ought always to have the same inflection in poetry; for though, if we were to read verse prosaically, we should often place the falling inflection where the style of verse would require the rising, yet in those parts, where a portion of perfect sense, or the conclusion of a sentence, necessarily requires the falling inflection, the same inflection must be adopted both in verse and prose.

EXAMPLE.

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit
Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden, till one greater man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat;

Sing, heav'nly muse, that on the secret top

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire

That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed,

In the beginning, how the heav'ns and earth

Rose out of chaos. Milton's Parad. Lost. B. i. v. t.

Though we were to read this passage quite prosaically, it would not admit of the falling inflection on any of its pauses till the end, and here the voice ought to assume the falling inflection, and be in a lower tone than at any of the other pauses: But in the following example:

Conversing with Dr. Johnson upon this subject, he repeated this couplet to me in the manner here described; which he said was the manner in which Savage always used to pronounce verse.

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

In reading this passage prosaically, we might place the falling inflection on Inde; but the poetical pronunciation of this passage would necessarily require a suspension of voice with the rising inflection on that word. It may be observed, indeed, that it is in the frequent use of the rising inflection, where prose would adopt the falling, that the song of poetry consists familiar, strong, argumentative subjects naturally enforce the language with the falling inflection, as this is naturally expressive of activity, force, and precision; but grand, beautiful, and plaintive subjects slide naturally into the rising inflection, as this is expressive of awe, admiration, and melancholy; where the mind may be said to be passive: and it is this general tendency of the plaintive tone to assume the rising inflection, which inclines injudicious readers to adopt it at those pauses where the falling inflection is absolutely necessary; and for want of which the pronunciation degenerates into the whine, so much and so justly disliked; for it is very remarkable, that if, where the sense concludes, we are careful to preserve the falling inflection, and let the voice drop into the natural talking tone, the voice may be suspended in the rising inflection on any other part of the verse, with very little danger of falling into the chant of bad readers. Thus in the following passage which opens the tragedy of Cato :

The dawn is overcast, 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 swell of language in this description, naturally throw the voice into

those tones that express the awe and dignity which these objects excite in the mind; and these tones being inclined to the plaintive, naturally slide into the rising inflection, on the pauses; and this is apt to draw the voice into a chant but let the word Rome have the falling inflection and sink 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 so accurately, if the word Rome has the rising inflection, the whole will appear to be unfinished, and have a disagreeable whining

tone.

This may suffice to shew the necessity of attending to the pronunciation of periods in verse, and of giving them the same inflection of voice they would require in prose; for it must be carefully noted, that though we often end with the rising inflection in verse, where we should use the falling in prose, yet if in prose it is necessary we should end with the rising inflection, we ought always to end with the same inflection in verse; in this case, the rising inflection at the end of a sentence will not appear to have the whining tone. Thus, where a question would require the rising inflection in prose, verse will necessarily require it to the end with the same inflection: and in this case, the rising inflection will have no bad effect on the ear.

EXAMPLE.

What shall an African, shall Juba's heir
Reproach great Cato's son, and show the world
A virtue wanting in a Roman soul?

Here, though every pause requires the rising inflection, and the period the same, yet as this period is an interogation requiring the rising inflection, no whining chant is the consequence, but the whole is

natural.

From these observations, this general rule will naturally arise that though, in verse, we frequently suspend the voice by the rising inflection, where, if the composition were prose, we should adopt the falling; yet, wherever, in prose, the member or sentence would necessarily require the rising inflection, this inflection must necessarily be adopted in verse. An instance of all these cases may be found in the following example from Pope :

He who through vast immensity can pierce,
See worlds on worlds compose one universe;
Observe how system into system runs,
What other planets circle other suns ;
What varied being peoples ev'ry star,
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 just, has thy pervading soul
Look'd through? or can a part contain the whole?
Is the great chain that draws all to agree,
And drawn supports, upheld by God, or thee?

If this passage were prose, every line but the fifth might end with the falling inflection, like a commencing series of five members; but the fifth, being that where the two principal constructive parts unite, and the sense begins to form, here, both in prose and verse, must be the principal pause, and the rising inflection.* The two questions with which this sentence ends, ought to have the rising inflection also, as this is the inflection they would necessarily have in prose; though from injudiciously printing the last couplet so as to form a fresh paragraph, the word whole is generally pronounced with the falling inflection, in order to avoid the bad effect of a question with the rising inflection at the end of a paragraph; which would be effectually prevented by uniting the last couplet to the rest, so as to form one

*See Part I. p. 83, 93.