as,

at the termination, in order to leave an impression on the mind. Sometimes, however, in very animated expression, it has a good effect to place the emphatic word the first in order, "Blessed is he who cometh in the name of the Lord." "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I give thee." In this last sentence, the eager expectation, and the imploring look of the beggar naturally lead to a vivid conception of what was in his thoughts; and this conception is answered by the form in which the declaration of the apostle is couched.

LETTER VIII.

Harmony.-Sentences.

MY DEAR JOHN,

THE third quality of a good style, whether plain or ornamented, is harmony. The fable, that a swarm of bees settled on the cradle of Plato, as emblematical of the future sweetness of his style, seems to have been invented, like many other pretended presages, only to suit the event. The sweetness and harmony of Plato must, however, be allowed to be his greatest excellence, and that quality seems principally to have given him popularity and lasting fame. But Plato is not the only author who has been elevated into high reputation by his style. The harmony of style must greatly depend upon the writer possessing a fine and well-tuned ear, and this no critical rules can furnish; yet it is possible that, aided by the perusal of good authors, they may contribute to the correcting of a deficient ear, or the improvement of a good

one. Without harmony of style the best matter will weary or disgust; with it very indifferent books have attracted at least a temporary popularity. We have one author in our language whose only excellence, I might almost say, was the finest ear that perhaps ever fell to the lot of any writer-I speak of Lord Bolingbroke. The poverty and triteness of his matter sink him beneath most of the writers of his age, and yet it is almost impossible to read his productions without being charmed: there is in his periods the charm of magic.

I have not a doubt that the harmony of prose compositions pleases upon the same principles with those of verse; and that something like a metrical arrangement may be traced in the style of our best prose writers. This observa- / tion will be less clear and obvious to those who are only acquainted with modern verse. There so much has been given to the rhyme, that little attention has been paid to the charm of numbers; and there is a sameness in the measure which inevitably tires the ear. The French verse is all in dactyls ;* the English in iambics

* A dactyl is one long and two short syllables, marked

or trochaics.

1

Even our blank verse has too

much of monotony to please for any length of time. This is not the case with the Greek and Latin hexameter verses. In them there is such a mixture of dactyls and spondees, that you will scarcely ever find two succeeding lines alike. This finely diversifies the measure, and the ear is not wearied by an insipid sameness, while the verse is sufficiently marked by the recurrence of the same sound at the end of the lines.

The harmony of prose numbers, I am well convinced, depends on the judicious admixture of long and short syllables, and the musical, or perhaps metrical conclusion of the periods or sentences. This is an arrangement made by the ear, perhaps without the observation or knowledge of the writer. A fine ear feels what sounds would be agreeable if it heard them pronounced, and naturally, and almost without effort, moulds and forms the sentences in the most pleasing manner. It might be not an un

thus: tegmině? a spondee two long syllables, as fāgi; an iambic a short followed by a long syllable—" ǎwāke my St. John, &c. A trochee a long and short one, as glitt❜ring stōnes and golden things," &c.

improving exercise to a student, who is master of Latin prosody, to examine occasionally the usual metre of our best authors; for almost every one will be found to have a metre peculiar to himself. I remember when I was young, I sometimes amused myself in this way. I have no note of the instances, but the results I perfectly recollect.

I found that many long syllables crowded together rendered a style languid and heavy; and this I apprehend to be the reason why monosyllables, if too numerous, are unpleasing either in prose or verse.

A style abounding in dactyls will seem rapid, but it wants dignity. You will find the writings of Shaftsbury very much of this description.

Many verses in our common translation of the Bible, and the reading Psalms, you will find almost perfect hexameters. Macpherson's Ossian is throughout metrical, and even mo

notonous.

A familiar subject will accord well with dactyls and anapestics. A grave uniform style abounds most in trochees and iambics.

A rough and halting style is where, from a