Surely the four lines marked by the italic character would alone be sufficient to decide the question, whether such a grace as imitative harmony really exists. I own that it is difficult to determine how much of the effect upon the mind depends upon the meaning associated with the words; but let it be remembered, that words designative of sound have naturally derived their birth from an attempt, in the infancy of language, actually to imitate the sounds of which they are symbolical. After God's own language-the Hebrew -and the affluent Greek, there is probably no tongue so rich in imitative harmonies as our own. Let any person with a true ear, observe the difference between the two words snow and rain. The hushing sound of the sibilant, in the first, followed by the soft liquid and by the round full vowel, is not less indicative of the still descent of snow, than the harsher liquid and vowel, in the second, are of the falling shower. I fear that I shall be considered fanciful, yet I cannot help remarking that the letter R, the sound of which, when lengthened out, is so expressive of the murmur of streams and brooks, is generally to be found in words relating to the element of water, and in such combinations as, either single or reduplicated, suit precisely its different modifications. The words "long" and "slow" are, if pronounced in a natural manner, actually of a longer time than the words short and quick. There is a drag upon the nasal N and G; there is a protracted effect in the vowel followed by a double vowel in the first two words, not to be found in the two last." -Prof. Wilson.]

453. Resembling causes may produce effects that have no resemblance; and causes that have no resemblance may produce resembling effects. A magnificent building, for example, resembles not in any degree an heroic action: and yet the emotions they produce, are concordant, and bear a resemblance to each other. We are still more sensible of this resemblance in a song, when the music is properly adapted to the sentiment: there is no resemblance between thought and sound; but there is the strongest resemblance between the emotion raised by music tender and pathetic, and that raised by the complaint of an unsuccessful lover. Applying this observation to the present subject, it appears that, in some instances, the sound even of a single word makes an impression resembling that which is made by the thing it signifies: witness the word running, composed of two short syllables; and more remarkably the words rapidity, impetuosity, precipitation. Brutal manners produce in the spectator an emotion not unlike what is produced by a harsh and rough sound; and hence the beauty of the figurative expression rugged manners. Again, the word little, being pronounced with a very small aperture of the mouth, has a weak and faint sound, which

452. Concord between words and thought, sometimes due to pronunciation.-Sound and Bense being connected, the properties of the one are readily attributed to the other.

makes an impression resembling that made by a diminutive object. This resemblance of effect is still more remarkable where a number of words are connected in a period: words pronounced in succession make often a strong impression; and when this impression happens to accord with that made by the sense, we are sensible of a complex emotion, peculiarly pleasant; one proceeding from the sentiment, and one from the melody or sound of the words. But the chief pleasure proceeds from having these two concordant emotions combined in perfect harmony, and carried on in the mind to a full close (see chap. ii. part iv.). Except in the single case where sound is described, all the examples given by critics of sense being imitated in sound, resolve into a resemblance of effects: emotions raised by sound and signification may have a resemblance; but sound itself cannot have a resemblance to any thing but sound.*

454. Proceeding now to particulars, and beginning with those cases where the emotions have the strongest resemblance, I observe, first, That by a number of syllables in succession, an emotion is sometimes raised extremely similar to that raised by successive motion; which may be evident even to those who are defective in taste, from the following fact, that the term movement in all lan.guages is equally applied to both. In this manner successive motion, such as walking, running, galloping, can be imitated by a succession of long or short syllables, or by a due mixture of both. For example, slow motion may be justly imitated in a verse where long syllables prevail; especially when aided by a slow pronunciation: Illi inter sese magnâ vi brachia tollunt.-Georg. iv. 174.

On the other hand, swift motion is imitated by a succession of short syllables:

Again:

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas. Thirdly, A line composed of monosyllables, makes an impression, by the frequency of its pauses, similar to what is made by laborious interrupted motion:

With many a weary step and many a groan,

Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone.-Odyssey, xi. 736.
First march the heavy mules securely slow;

O'er hills, o'er dales, o'er crags, o'er rocks they go.

Iliad, xxiii. 138. Fourthly, the impression made by rough sounds in succession, resembles that made by rough or tumultuous motion: on the other

* [See an excellent chapter on the Poetry of Language in Mrs. Ellis's "Poetry of Life."]

453. Resembling causes and their effects.-Non-resembling causes. Example: a building and an heroic action produce concordant emotions. A song, and the sentiment, &c. Example: Resemblance of effects from words connected in a period.-Remark on exam. ples of sense imitated in sound.

hand, the impression of smooth sounds resembles that of gentle motion. The following is an example of both :

Two craggy rocks projecting from the main,
The roaring wind's tempestuous rage restrain;
Within, the waves in softer murmurs glide,

And ships secure without the halsers ride.-Odyssey, iii. 118.

Another example of the latter:

Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows.

Essay on Crit. 866. Fifthly, Prolonged motion is expressed in an Alexandrine line. The first example shall be of slow motion prolonged :

A needless Alexandrine ends the song;
That like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along.

The next example is of forcible motion prolonged :

The waves behind impel the waves before,
Wide-rolling, foaming high, and tumbling to the shore.

The last shall be of rapid motion prolonged:

Ibid. 356.

Iliad, xiii. 1004.

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.

Essay on Crit. 873.

Again, speaking of a rock torn from the brow of a mountain :

Still gath'ring force, it smokes, and urged amain,
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down, impetuous to the plain.
Iliad, xiii. 197.

resembling faintly Hence the beauty

Sixthly, A period consisting mostly of long syllables, that is, of syllables pronounced slow, produceth an emotion that which is produced by gravity and solemnity. of the following verse:

Olli sedato respondit corde Latinus.

It resembles equally an object that is insipid and uninteresting.
Tædet quotidianarum harum formarum.

Terence, Eunuchus, Act ii. Sc. 3. Seventhly, A slow succession of ideas is a circumstance that belongs equally to settled melancholy, and to a period composed of polysyllables pronounced slow; and hence by similarity of emotions, the latter is imitative of the former:

In those deep solitudes, and awful cells,

Where heavenly pensive Contemplation dwells,

And ever-musing Melancholy reigns.-Pope, Elosia to Abelard. Eighthly, A long syllable made short, or a short syllable made long, raises, by the difficulty of pronouncing contrary to custom, a feeling similar to that of hard labor:

When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow.

Essay on Crit. 870.

Ninthly, Harsh or rough words pronounced with difficulty, excite a feeling similar to that which proceeds from the labor of thought to a dull writer:

Just writes to make his barrenness appear,
And strains from hard-bound brains eight lines a year.

Pope's Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot, I. 181.

455. I shall close with one example more, which of all makes the finest figure. In the first section mention is made of a climax in sound; and in the second, of a climax in sense. It belongs to the present subject to observe that when these coincide in the same passage, the concordance of sound and sense is delightful: the reader is conscious not only of pleasure from the two climaxes separately, but of an additional pleasure from their concordance, and from finding the sense so justly imitated by the sound. In this respect no periods are more perfect than those borrowed from Cicero in the first section.

The concord between sense and sound is no less agreeable in what may be termed an anticlimax, where the progress is from great to little; for this has the effect to make diminutive objects appear still more diminutive. Horace affords a striking example:

Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus.

The arrangement here is singularly artful: the first place is occupied by the verb, which is the capital word by its sense as well as sound; the close is reserved for the word that is the meanest in sense as well as in sound. And it must not be overlooked that the resembling sounds of the two last syllables give a ludicrous air to the whole.

I have had occasion to observe, that to complete the resemblance between sound and sense, artful pronunciation contributes not a little. Pronunciation, therefore, may be considered as a branch of the present subject; and with some observations upon it the section shall be concluded.

In order to give a just idea of pronunciation, it must be distinguished from singing. The latter is carried on by notes, requiring each of them a different aperture of the windpipe: the notes properly belonging to the former, are expressed by different apertures of the mouth, without varying the aperture of the windpipe. This, however, doth not hinder pronunciation to borrow from singing, as one sometimes is naturally led to do in expressing a vehement passion.

In reading, as in singing, there is a key-note: above this note the voice is frequently elevated, to make the sound correspond to the

454. Emotions raised by a succession of syllables.-Successive motion imitated. Slow motion. Swift motion. Laborious interrupted motion. Rough or tumultuous motion. Prolonged motion.-Gravity and solemnity.-Melancholy.-Feeling of hard labor.-Labor of thought imitated.

elevation of the subject: but the mind in an elevated state is disposed to action; therefore, in order to a rest, it must be brought down to the key-note. Hence the term cadence.

The only general rule that can be given for directing the pronunciation is, To sound the words in such a manner as to imitate the things they signify. In pronouncing words signifying what is elevated, the voice ought to be raised above its ordinary tone; and words signifying dejection of mind, ought to be pronounced in a low note. To imitate a stern and impetuous passion, the words ought to be pronounced rough and loud; a sweet and kindly passion, on the contrary, ought to be imitated by a soft and melodious tone of voice. In Dryden's ode of Alexander's Feast, the line Fal'n, fal'n, fal'n, fal'n, represents a gradual sinking of the mind; and therefore is pronounced with a falling voice by every one of taste, without instruction. In general, words that make the greatest figure ought to be marked with a peculiar emphasis. Another circumstance contributes to the resemblance between sense and sound, which is slow or quick pronunciation for though the length or shortness of the syllables with relation to each other, be in prose ascertained in some measure, and in verse accurately; yet, taking a whole line or period together, it may be pronounced slow or fast. A period, accordingly, ought to be pronounced slow when it expresses what is solemn or deliberate; and ought to be pronounced quick when it expresses what is brisk, lively, or impetuous.

In this chapter I have mentioned none of the beauties of language but what arise from words taken in their proper sense. Beauties that depend on the metaphorical and figurative power of words, are reserved to be treated chapter xx.

[It seems desirable here to introduce some fine thoughts and illustrations from Hazlitt, upon topics treated in this chapter.-Ed.

456. Poetry, in its matter and form, is natural imagery or feeling combined with passion and fancy. In its mode of conveyance it combines the ordinary use of language with musical expression. There is a question of long standing-in what the essence of poetry consists; or what it is that determines why one set of ideas should be expressed in prose, another in verse. Milton has told us his idea of poetry in a single line:

Thoughts that voluntary move
Harmonious numbers.

As there are certain sounds that excite certain movements, and the song and dance go together, so there are, no doubt, certain thoughts that lead to certain tones of voice, or modulations of sound, and change the words of Mercury into the songs of Apollo." There is a striking instance of this adaptation of the movement of

455. Coincidence of climax of sound and of sense in a passage.-Effect of anticlimax.Pronunciation; distinguished from singing. General rule for pronunciation. Illustrations. How it contributes to a resemblance between sound and sense.