DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48956#0302
•Sg6 BEAUTY OF LANGUAGE. Ch. XVIII.
concord that ought to subsist between the thought
and the melody: an accent, for example, placed
on a low word , has the effedi to burlesque it, by
giving it an unnatural elevation; and the injury
thus done to the sense does not rest there, for it
seems also to injure the melody. Let us only re-
ssedl what a ridiculous figure a particle must make
with an accent or emphasis put upon it, a particle
that of itself has no meaning, and that serves
only, like cement, to unite words stgnificant. The
other general observation is , That a word of what-
ever number of syllables, is not accented upon
more than one of them. The reason is-, that the
object is set in its best light by a single accent, so
as to make more than one unnecessary for the
sense: and if another be added, it must be for the
sound merely ; which would be a transgression of
the foregoing rule, by separating a musical accent
from that which is requiiite for the sense.
Keeping in view the foregoing observations, the
dodirine of accenting Encdish Heroic verse is ex-
tremely simple. In the first place, accenting is
confined to the long syllables; for a stiort syllable
is not capable os an accent. In the next place, as
the melody is enriched in proportion to the num-
ber of accents, every word that has a long syllable
may be accented; unless the sense interpose,
which rejects the accenting a word that makes no
figure by its sigriificatioq. According to this rule,
concord that ought to subsist between the thought
and the melody: an accent, for example, placed
on a low word , has the effedi to burlesque it, by
giving it an unnatural elevation; and the injury
thus done to the sense does not rest there, for it
seems also to injure the melody. Let us only re-
ssedl what a ridiculous figure a particle must make
with an accent or emphasis put upon it, a particle
that of itself has no meaning, and that serves
only, like cement, to unite words stgnificant. The
other general observation is , That a word of what-
ever number of syllables, is not accented upon
more than one of them. The reason is-, that the
object is set in its best light by a single accent, so
as to make more than one unnecessary for the
sense: and if another be added, it must be for the
sound merely ; which would be a transgression of
the foregoing rule, by separating a musical accent
from that which is requiiite for the sense.
Keeping in view the foregoing observations, the
dodirine of accenting Encdish Heroic verse is ex-
tremely simple. In the first place, accenting is
confined to the long syllables; for a stiort syllable
is not capable os an accent. In the next place, as
the melody is enriched in proportion to the num-
ber of accents, every word that has a long syllable
may be accented; unless the sense interpose,
which rejects the accenting a word that makes no
figure by its sigriificatioq. According to this rule,