scattering abroad with his hundred hands the leaves of truth. They contend in an age of revivals, illus. trating the beauty, and excellence, and power of spiritual religion-an age of growing liberty, when the nations, having cast off the chains of political tyranny, will not brook the more galling chains of spiritual slavery. And they contend with the pages of history in full view, written over with the enormities of religious despotism. PERCIVAL'S CLASSIC MELODIES. ONE of the most original, and, as many will think, one of the most interesting parts of the new volume of poems by Percival, has the title of "Classic Melodies." In the space of forty pages we are presented with thirty pieces, which must unquestionably be considered as most suc⚫ cessful proofs of the genius and at tainments of the poet and scholar. The pieces are not fragments of a few lines, but complete and highly finished poems, objective and classical in subject, spirit and form. We propose carefully to examine these experiments, and think that some at least of the readers of this journal will thank us for furnishing a metrical key, in regular form, to those which differ most in their structure from modern versification. Though in modern times the science of meter is far less studied than it was among the ancients, yet it still continues to be a subject of pe culiar attractions to poets and schol. ars. The limits of this article will not allow us to enter into a full discussion of the essential peculiarities in the very nature of the ancient versification, compared with the mod ern. We will merely observe, that either the ancients pronounced the words of their language in a manner different from the customary one of conversation, when they recited poetry, or their versification must have made an impression on the ear different from ours, in which we give the same pronunciation to the words as in the familiar intercourse of life. In classical versification, it was essential to the true harmony of a meter, that the metrical beat (ictus) frequently fall on unaccented syllables. In the following examples, let the burlesque character be overlooked, and attention directed solely to the meter. Armă virümquě cănō || Tröjãe quí prīmus ǎb ōris. In this example each word of the 11 two Latin words; and if this was the mode in which the ancients read their poetry, then our English line should be read with the accent on the last syllables of echoes and warsongs. In a note to his translation of Buttman's Greek Grammar, Dr. Robinson informs us that some of the German scholars take pains to discipline their ear and voice until they succeed in giving on such a word as cano an accent on the first syllable and long quantity on the mental difficulty: at some future time we may afford it a fuller consideration, and attempt a satisfactory solution. It will not be uninteresting to present a few more examples. In Dr. Percival's volume, p. 187, occurs the following line: Nōt to Elysian fields || by the still ōblivioŭs rîvěr. By changing a phrase, we can make it correspond in accent and quantity to a line from Homer, Il. «. 187. Nōt to the sweet prospects Thus we have the word prospects Dēep mid the shādes öf night || I sink în silent repōse. By a slight alteration this will correspond in accent with Il. a. 221. In this instance the word night-sent lor's translation of Voss's "Louise." It is made still more odd by the accommodated accent at the end. We will place under it a line from Homer of very inferior merit as regards rhythm. The accents correspond, except at σú. bútter the rolls and the cold hám. Bút when áll had been emptied || the ύβριος I είνεκα | τῆσος Η σύ In ancient versification, lines in which the accent and metrical ictus uniformly coincide are very bad, e. g. Sóle cadénte juvéncus || arátra reliquit in ȧrvo. We quote this line from Hermann, who gives in connection with it the true reason of its unpleasing rhythm. This coincidence of accent and ictus, is undoubtedly the cause of the disagreeable sound, to persons of classical ear, of the Latin poetry of the monks of the middle ages. To discover the true cause of the fact, that what is an intolerable fault in the English and perhaps in all the modern languages, is essential to excellence in the Greek and Latin, requires a more minute investigation into the nature of the rhythm of the latter, as spoken in ancient times, than has yet, so far as we can leafh, been attempted. Sir Philip Sidney, and one or two others in the age of Elizabeth, constructed English hexameters, on the ancient principle; but readers find them intolerable, on account of the violence which must be done to the pronunciation of the language.* The reviewer in the North American of Professor Longfellow's bal It is curious that the reviewer in the North American, in the article already referred to, seems not to have observed the principle according to which the lines are constructed, which he quotes from an anonymous pamphlet. If read according to the intention of their author, they are exceedingly musical. lads, considers his hexameters as not more successful than those of his predecessors in this metrical experiment, and observes, "No modern tongue can fitly represent this ancient meter." Upon this assertion we remark that a perfect correspon dence with ancient meters in the separation of accent from metrical ictus, is indeed with our present habits impossible; but that every other peculiarity of rhythm may be represented, we think Dr. Percival has demonstrated in the volume before us. The reviewer further remarks, "Most modern hexameters are forced and awkward, and forcibly remind us of the difficulty overcome." To the truth of this the hexameters of Dr. Percival are a striking exception. No one will deny the ease and spirit of their movement. We feel indeed constrained to consider these as the only exceptions to the truth of the remark. Having met with English hexameters by thirteen different writers, we cannot but think that our author is the only one among them who has succeeded in producing a meter that closely imitates the ancient, and yet is natural and agreeable. Every one must be struck with the ease and freedom, not only of this but of all his classic meters. Let common readers be ignorant of the fact that they are experiments in versification, and they will scarcely notice that they are new and singular. They will scarcely observe that they contain any greater peculiarities than many of the pieces in other parts of the volume-the songs, for instance, adapted to national airs. The length of the lines in some of them might be complained of, but this objection may be removed by dividing them at the casural pause. All parts of the present volume are distinguished by our author's characteristic magnificence of versification, yet in none does the poet seem to write with less labor and pour forth his verses from a more natural and genial impulse. How admirable are the following extracts, not only for their magnificence and splendor, but, so to speak, for their poetic exuberance of spirits. We will mark in each line the place of the cæsural pause. "Forth on thy rose-wreathen car, || thou rollest 'mid billows of saffron and gold. Loves, on their thin iris wings, I the red streaming mists as thy canopy hold. Gracefully, ever at morn, I thy car thus aloft o'er the mountain is borne, And, as thou comest, the woods ring aloud || with the clang of the welcoming horn." "Still, as in youth, ever green, || the laurel of Homer is flourishing. p. 204. Life-giving streams bathe its roots, its wide waving foliage nourishing.”—p. 202, Bright the temple is flashing: Wide a nation is rolling on, Spear and armor are clashing."-p. 212. "With loud barst as of thunder, II 'mid a wide whirlwind of fire, From the high heaven in glory, || descends the god of war. The fearless hero, exulting, Il beholds his warrior sire; And he mounts, joyous, beside him, I the bright triumphal car."*. How the mind is floated on in the following choriambics. -p. 216. "When the blue wave sinks on the sea, || and the still night hushes the deep, Ever my soul hastens to thee, || ever thy smile blesses my sleep." The problem to be solved in such attempts as these that we are now considering, is analogous to that of an adequate translation from one language into another. A perfect *The Ascent of Romulus. translation it is evident can not produce an effect identically the same as that of the original, for no two languages are alike in their impression on the ear and mind. A translator works with different instruments, and if his success be com plete, he will produce effects, not indeed precisely the same, but such as are exactly analogous and completely equivalent. So in the case of imitating the ancient meters. Temporal meters are to be transla ted into accentual, and provided the strong and spirit-stirring rhythms of the former are faithfully given, the means may and must to a consider able extent be different. Dr. Percival seems to have been guided by the strong instinct of a master of versification in his own language. Hence he has added the ornament and support of rhyme to all the meters which can be assisted by it. Rhymed Latin hexameters were indeed written in abundance by the monks of the middle ages, and produced no effect but that of a barbarous jingle. But as a general rule the versification of the modern tongues requires rhyme. Guest, in his" History of English Rhythms," remarks of rhyme that "its advantages have been felt so strongly, that no people have ever adopted an accentual rhythm without also adopt ing rhyme.' Those who have discussed the practicability of imitating the ancient meters, and decided against it on the ground that meter in our language must be accentual, have overlooked the important fact that we may construct accentual meters, the rule of which shall be that the accented syllables shall be long as well as accented. It is upon this principle that Dr. Percival seems to have proceeded. Indeed it is in consequence of a general observance of this principle, that he has always been distinguished in his versifica tion by a classic smoothness of flow, in respect of which, as well as in purity and felicity of language, he ranks with poets of the highest order. But in imitating an ancient meter, more must be done, if we would produce a satisfactory effect, than merely copy the arrangement of the long and short syllables. In the classic versification, the recur rence of accents separate from the regular beat of the verse, gave a variety and a sort of fullness of sound which prevented the sing-song and nursery-rhyme effect of the mere naked meter, such as we hear it in the scanning of the schools. Not precisely the same indeed, but a sim ilar occurrence of accents out of place, constitutes a striking point of merit in our poet's "Classic Melodies,' as we shall presently show when we quote from his hexameters. But there is still another resource in English versification, by which an equivalent may be afforded for the varied and full effect just described. It consists in a compensation by one or more syllables for want of quantity in another. In theory and in the rudest specimens, accentual versification is a mere tinkling succession of accented and unaccented syllables, the accident of quantity occurring without any order and producing no effect. Yet in the most harmonious English versification, the accented syllable is, as a general rule, long; and when in such versi fication it is short, it will be found to be preceded or followed by an accented syllable of uncommon length, or by an unaccented syllable that is long, or by both in conjunction. E. g. Nō useless coffin enclosed his breast, In these celebrated lines the word "coffin" should, according to the rule of the meter, have its first syl * Under the term rhyme this writer includes alliteration. lable long; but in compensation for its being short, we find all the three preceding syllables long. The second line is regular, except that after the word "shroud" we find only one short syllable, when there should be two, or a long one in place of two; but as the chief stress of the voice falls on this word, it becomes so very long that a single short syllable is sufficient to fill out the time, and consequently although this syllable is very short, yet the effect of a spondee is produced, as the sentiment requires. If we try the experiment of inserting another syllable, we shall find the line more regular indeed, but less impressive. E. g. "Not in sheet nor în shrōud had wě wõund him." It has been justly objected to the manufacturers of English hexameters, that the feet which they have called dactyls and spondees are, in many cases, not these feet, but something else without a name. Even a slight examination of their lines will show that this objection is well founded. Such words as pitěõus seem to be considered dactyls as much as words like glorious. Dr. Percival seems very careful to have the first syllable of his dactyls really long, We we may represent by two lines, or if occasionally this can not be, to make compensation by filling out the time on other syllables. Many of the meters in this part of the volume under consideration, are entirely new to our language, while some of them, viz. the iambic, trochaic, and anapæstic, are common, as far as regards their general movement, both to ancient and moderh versification. The heroic hexameter will however be considered the most interesting of all these experiments, partly because it is the most magnificent of the ancient meters, and partly because it is the one which modern poets have been most ambitious to imitate. Indeed at the present day, the example of the Germans has caused it to be quite the fashion in England and America, to attempt English hexameters. We will therefore consider this measure a little more in detail. The others we will briefly describe and illustrate for the sat. isfaction of those who read the volume. The ancient heroic hexameter is a dactylic measure. In its most regular form it has what is called thus: Dr. Percival, with fine poetical tact, has adopted this regular form of the hexameter, and as his spe cimens are short, has introduced but few variations in the place of the cæsura. Apparently having his ear impressed with the rhythm of Homer, rather than the more spondaic movement of the Latin poets, he has given his lines that dactylic union of rapidity and energy which represents the true idea of the heroic hexameter, and which has been missed by all his predecessors. Anapæstic measures, as is well known, are common in English, and |