No More Learning

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? Prosody. . 21
This metre is called the, Alexandrine; and the
verse, when properly constructed, ought always to
have the caesura between the sixtli and seventh sylla- u^
bles. ' It is, comparatively, little used in English
composition, though adopted, as their common he-
roic measure, by our French neighbours, who have
in it entire poems, tragedies, comedies, &c. 8cc.
which, from the dull unvaried uniformity of the
caesura perpetually recurring after the third foot,
cannot, to an English ear, be otherwise than disgust-^ -
ingly monotonous*. To my ear, at least, they are so,
though accustomed to them from early youth. --In
our English poetry, the Ajsxandrine appears to much
greatei advantage ; not, being, uniformly continued
in succession f, but employed as the closing line in the
* Why is not oar English ballad-measure equally tiresome
and disgusting, since it is'as regularly divided at a particular
stage of the verse, as the French Alexandrine ? --The difference
is obvious and striking. Our line of fourteen syllables is not di-
vided into exact halves, but into members of unequal lengths,
viz. eight syllables and six; the eight-syllable portion admitting,
moreover, within its own compass, an additional and varied
caesura: and these two circumstances sufficiently guard against
that monotonous sing-song uniformity which is so irksome in the
French heroics, where we find nought but six and six and six aud
six--the same numbers, the same cadences, from the beginning
of a volume t<< the end, without the smallest variety, to relieve
the ennui of a wearied and impatient ear.
11 here speak of our general practice only; for there are>
some particular exceptions of English poems entirely written in
the Alexan diine metre. ,
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? 92 Prosody.
old heroic stanza of Spencer and his imitators, or
sparingly introduced (in single lines) among our ten-
syllable heroics, and in bold, irregular odes; in both
which situations, it often produces a very fine effect,
by giving a strongly impressive weight, emphasis,
and dignity to a concluding sentiment or image.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
. . . . That never thought one thing, || but doubly still
was gui-\-did. (Spencer.
3. Iambic of five feet, or ten syllables.
This is our heroic metre--the principal metre
in our language--and is perhaps* the only species
of English verse which can nobly sustain its dignity
without the artificial jingle of rhime--that meretri-
cious ornament of barbarous origin, wholly unknown
to the immortal bards of ancient Greece and Rome.
The five-loot Iambic is happily adapted to themes of
every color and every degree, from the most exalted
to the most humble and familiar, and is used with or
without rhime, as
The swain | with tears | his frus-l-tratelii-l-bor yields,
and fa-|-mish'd dies | amid \ his ri-l-pen'd fields.
(Pope.
in sable pomp, with all her starry train,
The Night resum'd her throne. Reeall'd from war,
Her long-protracted labors Greece forgets. (Glover.
* I say "perhaps" because Mr. Southey's Thalaba might be
quoted to prove that others also of our metres may sometimes
dispense with rhime. .
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? Prosody. 23
Further on, 1 shall make a few remarks on the
structure and variations of this species of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
- In moderation placing all my glo-\-ry,
While Tories call me Whig, and Whig9 a To-\-ry.
(Pope.
Iambic of four feet, or eight syllables.
of Plea-)-sure's glld-|-ed baits | beware,
Nor tempt | the SI-|-ren's fa-|-tal snare, (Cotton.
This metre is chiefly used in songs, fables, and
other light compositions, and is frequently alternated
in stanzas with the Tambic of six syllables--the two
together constituting,' as before observed, the old
ballad-measure of fourteen: e. gr.
Alas! by some degree of woe,
Weev'ry bliss must gain.
The heart can ne'er a transport know,
That never feels a pain. (Lyttelton.
The four-foot Iambic is sometimes called Hudi-
brastic, from Butler's poem of Hudibras, written in
such measure. But that appellation is not applied to
verses which have any claim to poetic terseness or
harmony: it is only when the lines are carelessly
scribbled in a coarse, uncouth, slovenly, prosaic man-
ner, that they are termed Hudibrastic.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Exulting, trembling, raging, faird-\-ing,
Possess'd beyond the Muses*paint-\-ing. (Collins.
* See the note on this orthography in page 41*.
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? 24 Prosody.
Iambic of three feet, or six syllables.
Thou lov'st | to lie, | and hear
The roar | of wa-|-ters near. (Southey.
This metre is hardly used, except in stanzas, alter-
nately with the Iambic of eight syllables, and in ir-
regular odes. --Sometimes, however, it is used un-
mixed, and with alternate rhime, as
Our English then in fight
Did foreign foes subdue,
And forc'd them all to flight,
When this old cap was new.
(Song of " Time's Alteration. "
Hypermcter, with double rhime--
'Tvvas when the seas were roar-\-1ng
A damsel lay dep1dr-\-mg. (Gay.
This latter is the measure to which Anacreon tuned
his lyre, in those sweet little songs, which, after the
lapse of above two thousand years, are still univer-
sally admired by all readers of taste. He, however,
made an occasional variation, which would not be
quite so agreeable in our language as it is in the
Greek, and which shall be noticed under the head of
Trocha'ics:
Iambic of two feet, or four syllables.
With ra-l-vish'd ears
The mo-|-narch hears,
assumes | the god,
affects | to nod (Dryden.
This metre is occasionally blended with verses of
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? Prosody. 25
different kinds, to diversify the irregular ode--the
only purpose for which it can be advantageously
employed; for, although it might, as a continued
metre, be well enough suited to light sportive themes^
it would be next to impossible, even in a moderate
number of successive lines, to find a rhime for every
fourth syllable.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
With other an-\-guish
I scorn to lan-\-guish. (Thomson.
The Iambic of one foot, or two syllables,
cannot be user! as an independent metre, but may,
as an auxiliary, be employed in stanzas of diversified
measure, for the sake of variety--as the following
eight, which are the first lines of as many stanzas in
that curious old poem from which I have quoted one
for an exemplification of the Iambic metres, in
page 17.
Behold !
alas!
ottr days
we spend.
How vain
They be!
How soon
They end!
Hyper meter, with double rhime--
Snrround-\-ed,
ConfoundA ed. . . . (Anou.
Trochaic Verses
are, in reality, only defective Iambics--that is to say
Iambics wanting the first svliable, as
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? \ Prosody.
Vital spark of heav'nly flame. (Pope,
which line, scanned as Iambic, has a broken foot at
the beginning--
A VT-|-tal spark | of heav'n-|-ly flame --
scanned as Trochaic, it has the broken foot at the
end-- ?
Vital | spark of | heav'nly ) flame . --
In like manner, if we cut off the first syllable from
any other form of the Iambic, we shall equally find
that it may be scanned in both ways, with the defi-
ciency of a scmifoot nt the beginning or the end, ac-
cording as we scan it in Iambuses or Trochees.
Thus, the line which I have given as an exempli-
fication of the Iambic metres in page 17, if de-
prived, in each form, of its first syllable, becomes
Trochaic, viz.
how) Blithe, wlign | first from | far I | came, to | woo and | win
thS | maid.
when) First frttm | far Y | came, ttt | woo and | win thg | maid.
from) Jar i | came, ttt | woo and | win the 1 maid,
t) Came, to | woo and | win thg J maid.
to) Woo and | win thfi | maid.
and) Win tl;? | maid.
and thus we see, that what we call Trochales, regu-
larly terminate in an accented syllable, as is the case
in every other form of English metre ; though, like
every other form, they also admit an additional un-
accented syllable at the end, producing a double
rhime ; so that, by changing Mdid to Maiden in each
of the preceding lines (as heretofore in the Iambics,
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? Prosody. 27
page 17) we shall have twelve forms. of Trochaic
metre *.
* It may, at first sight, appear capricious in me, and even
preposterous, to consider the defective verses as the regular Tro-
chaics, and to account those as irregular, which have the addi-
tional un-accented syllable, and are thus divisible into exact tro-
chees, without cither deficiency or redundancy. Had I been un-
acquainted with the Latin Trochai'cs and Iambics, I should cer-
tainly have done just the reverse. But, when I reflected, that,
in Latin versification, the affinity between the Trochaic and the
Iambic is very intimate, as indeed it also is in English--that the
grand Latin Trochaic of seven feet and a half is only the greater
Iambic deprived of its first semifoot, as I have shown in my
" Latin Prosody"--and that those two forms are indiscrimi-
nately blended in the ancient comedies--I naturally paused to
examine how the case stood in our English versification. Here
too I found that the Iambic and the Trochaic were in fact the
same, with only the difference of the first syllable, sometimes
inserted, sometimes omitted, as we very frequently see in our
Anapasstic verses, where the omission of the first syllable hardly
produces any perceptible difference in the measure, and, none iu
the rhythm or cadence; the remainder of the line being accented,
scanned, and pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. Accordingly, Milton
makes no distinction between the Iambic and the Trochaic. In
the Allegro and the Penseroso, he mixes them without the
smallest discrimination, uniting them even in the same couplet,
of which the one line contains eight syllables, while its fellow is
stinted to seven, accented, however, in the same manner as the
corresponding syllables of the longer line, measured backward
from the end, as, for example--
A Come, | but keep | thy w6ut-|-ed state,|
With ? -l-ven step | and mu-|-sing gait. | (II Penseroso.
In modern times, the practice is the same. To instance from
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? '28
Trasody.
But, of the six tegular forms above exemplified,
and the six hypermeters related to them, the first
an elegant poetess of our own day, we see, in Mrs. Baibauld's
address " to Wisdom,"
K II6pfc|with en-|ger spar-|-kling eyes,|
And ea-|-sy faith,[and fond | surprise. |
With respect to the additional un-accented syllable, making
double rbime and exact trochees, that is a purely adventitious
and accidental circumstance, as is sufficiently proved by the ex-
ample of Milton, who, in one and the same couplet, equally
makes the addition to the complete Iambic, as to the defective
line which we call Trochaic, viz.
A Then I to c6me, | in spite | of i'or-\\-ruze
And at | my win-|-dow bid | good mur-\\-ruze-- (L'Allegro,
for surely nobody can suppose that he intended the lattrr of
these lines for Trochaic. --On the whole, then, as all otir other
metres regularly terminate with an accented syllabic ; as the
addition of the supernumerary un-acccnted syllable is an arbi-
trary licence of the poet, and, in fact, only a privileged anomaly,
which equally takes place in every other form of English verse;
as the omission of the first syllable creates no difference in the
nature of the Anapaestic verse; and as the poets make, in
reality, no distinction between the Iambic line of eight syllables
and the Iambic or Trochaic of seien; I conclude, that what we
rail Trochaics, are only defective Iambics, regularly termina-
ting in an accented syllable; and that those which have the
additional un-accented syllable, are irregular hyr. ermeter lines,
although they accidentally happen to make even trochees, and
although some ports have written entiie pieces in that irregular
measure, as indeed every other kind of defective, redundant, rr
otherwise anomalous metre, has occasionally pleased the fancy o'
some writer, who chose to employ it in his compositions.
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? Prosody. 29
three in each class are either not at all used, or at
least so very rarely, as not to be worthy of further
notice in these pages. Indeed, not one of them
would be at all pleasing to a poetic ear; their too
great length being inconsistent with that rapid easy
lightness and volubility which we wish and expect
from the defalcation of the regular Iambic metre.
The longest regular Trochaic which has any claim
to our attention, is the
Trochaic of three feet and a half.
. Man a-|-lone, tn-|-tent to | stray,
ever | turns from | wisdom's | way. (Moore.
This metre is admirably calculated for light, lively,X
cheerful subjects: but it is an extremely difficult
metre to any poet who wishes to write allTrochaics,
without a mixture of eight-syllable Iambics: and
the cause is obvious--a, the, and, of, for, and other
un-emphatic monosyllables, will frequently present
themselves for admission at the beginning of the line,
where one of them will prove a very aukward stum-
bling-block in the poet's way. ' If he adopt that
puny monosyllable to begin a serai-syllable line, he
spoils his verse, which is thus destitute of the neces-
sary accent and emphasis on the first syllable. If he
seek to avoid that inconvenience, and cannot entirely
discard the obnoxious monosyllable, he must make
the line a perfect Iambic of four feet complete, with
the accent on the even syllables; and such indeed is
c2
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? 30 Prosody.
the practice of our best poets, in whose effusions we
very frequently observe that the perfect Iambic has
un-avoidably and imperceptibly crept in among the
Trochaics, so that it is very rare to find even a score
of Trochaic lines unmixed with perfect Iambics.
This form of the Trochaic is sometimes called
Anacreontic, but very erroneously, as Anacreon's
metre is quite different
* It is easy to account for the error. --Some English poet, ac-
quainted with Anacreon, wrote, like him, on light lively subjects
--like him, also, in light easy style--like him, too, in short
metre, though different from that of the Greek songster.
Frooi
those features of partial resemblance, he styled his pieces Ana-
creontic, as we give the name of Pindaric to odes composed in
the bold irregular manner of Pindar, though not written in
Pindar's metre. Hence the English reader,equally unacquainted
with Anacreon in the original Greek, and with the imitations of
his metre in Latin, erroneously conceived, that, in those English
productions, the metre itself was Anacreontic--an egregious
error, excusable however in him, though it would be unpardon-
able in any classical scholar. In short, as already observed in
page 24, the metre in which Anacreon chiefly wrote, and which
alone benrs the title of Anacreontic in Greek and Latin, is our
three-foot Iambic with a supernumerary short syllable, and with
the first foot sometimes an anapaest, as here exemplified in two
of his own lines--
6l6-|-la, ma-|-t8r, ei-|-pen
Sp6l6i-|-t5 pro-|-tfis aO-|-tos. . . .
in the former of which lines, his metre is exactly this--
'Twas when | the" sea9 | we're roar-|-lng. . .
8 dam-|-s? l lay | d8plor-|-Ing--
in the latter,
! t was when 1 the' seas | were roar-|-tng. . .
That a dam-|-sellay | deplor-|-lng
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? Prosody. 31
Hypermeter, with double rid me--
Trembling, | hoping, | llng'itng, \Jlying.
oh ! the | pain, the | bliss, of | dying! (Pope.
Trochaic of two feet and a half.
Prithee, | why s5 ] pale ? (Suckling.
This measure is little used, and cannot be employed
to advantage, except occasionally, for the sake of
variety, in mixed stanzas of various metre.
Hypermeter, with double rhime --
Loudly | roars the J thunder. (Anon.
The Trochaic of one foot and a half
may not unaptly be called the Lilliputian Trochaic,
partly from the brevity of its measure, partly from
the circumstance of its having been so characteristi-
cally employed by Gay in his Lilliputian odes to
Gulliver; e. gr.
See him | stride
Valleys | wide,
5ver J woods,
over | floods, &c.
Except on some Lilliputian occasion of similar
kind, this metre cannot otherwise be employed than
in diversifying mixed stanzas consisting of different
kinds of verse.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
Soft de-\-mals
Are but | trials. (Hughes
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? 32 Prosody.
Anaptestic Verses
properly consist of anapaests alone, as
The misfor-|-tunes that fall | to the lot | of the great.
(Ainsty.
The first foot, however, in all the different forms of
Anapaestic metre, may be a foot of two syllables ;
and, provided that the latter syllable of that foot be
accented, as is the case in the spondee and iambus,
the syllabic difference between either of those feet
and the anapaest, in the first station of the verse,
hardly produces (as before observed under the head
of Trochaics) any perceptible difference in the mea-
sure, and none at all in the rhythm or cadence; the
remainder of the line being accented, scanned, and
pronounced in the same manner, whether the first
foot consist of two syllables or of three. But the
Pyrrhic and Trochee, which have not the second
syllable accented, are, on that account, inadmissible.
The Anapaestic metre is happily adapted to themes
of every kind, except the heroic, for which it does
not possess, in an adequate degree, the necessary
character of masculine energy and dignified eleva-
tion. --In stanzas of four-foot lines with alternate
rhime, it well accords with grave, solemn, melancholy
musings*: in stanzas alternately subjoining verses
of three feet to verses of four, or entirely consisting
of three-foot verses with alternate rhime, it is admi-
* Tis night; and the landscape is lovely no more.
I mourn: but, ye woodlands, I mourn not for . you;
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? Protody. 33
'
rably suited to soft, tender, sentimental, pathetic
subjects; while, in rbimed couplets of the long
measure, it is conveniently subservient to wit, hu-
mour, mirth, festivity, ridicule, satire--to the ani-
mated effusions of martial enthusiasm, or the proud
exultation of triumph *. --On subjects of terrific
complexion, Mr. Lewis has very successfully em-
ployed Anapcestic stanzas of five lines, of four feet
and three.
Anapcestic offour feet.
'Tis the voice | of the slug-|-gard : i hear | hlin
complain:
For morn is nppronching,your charms to restore,
PtrfuiuM with fresh fragrance, unci gliti'ring with (lew.
Nor yet lor the ravage of winter I mourn :--
Kind Nature the embryo blossom shall save :
But when shall spring visit the mouldering urn ?
Oh! when shall it dawn on the night of the grave? (Benttioi
* If, like T)MsEus of old, I had to awake dormant valour with
the totce of sung, 1 would, in preference to every other form
nf English metre, chouse the Anapaestic of four feet in couplets,
which--if well written, in real anapa'Sts un-encumbercd with an
undue weight of heavy syllables, and judiciously aided by appro-
printe music-- could hardly fuil to mnrtinlisc even shivering cow-
ards, and warm them into heroes ; the brisk animating inarch of
the veTse having the same effect on the soul, as the body expe-
riences from the quick lively step, which, by accelerating the
circulation of the blood, at once warms and dilates the heart
and renders the warrior more prompt to deeds of prowess--
"Many lines may be found in Mr. Lewis's productions, which
would justify my choice, and a few in No. 770 of the following
Eiercises.
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? 34 Prosody.
" You have tsak'd | me too soon: | 1 must sliim-|-ber
again. " (Walts.
The spar-\-\b\v and lin-l-net will feed | from your
hand,
Grow tame | at your kind-l-ness, and come | at com-
mand. (Garrick.
This metre is sometimes called Ansteiaii or Jin-
steian, from Mr. Ainsty, who successfully employed
it in his "New Bath Guide;' and it is perhaps
(with the exception of the old ballad-measure) the
\ easiest metre in our language, to a writer who can
reconcile his ear to more than one heavy or accented
syllable in each foot. But, to a poet \vho wishes to
write real annpajsts of two perfectly light syllables
and only one heavy or accented, it is perhaps the
most difficult--more so even than the pure Trochaic
--because the number of roonosyllubic substantives,
adjectives, and verbs, with which our language '
abounds, and which cannot be made to glide off
smoothly without any accent, renders it almost
impossible to find a constant supply of pure real
nnappests. Accordingly, in the very best of our ann-
pajstic productions, we frequently meet with lines ia
which we are compelled either to injure the sense by
slightly passing over syllables which justly claim no-
tice and emphasis, or to retard the speed of the verse,
by laying on those syllables a weight of accent too
heavy for the rapid course of the real anapaest. For
this reason, unwilling to deviate from the line of pro-
priety on either side, I have, in the " K EY," avoided
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? Prosody. 35
to mark the quantity of any syllables in the Ana-
passtic verses, except the final syllable of each foot,
which, at all events, must necessarily be accented.
There is a variation, or violation, of this metre,
which here requires notice, as it not unfrequently
occurs. It consists in the omission of one syllable
from the third foot, which thus becomes a spondee or
an iambus; e. gr.
In fil-! -letsof brass, | rolVdup | to hisears. (Swift.
And observe, | while you live, | that no | man is shy
To discover the goods he came honestly by. (Swift.
But such lines, by whomsoever written, cannot be
considered in any better light than that of lame,
aukward, imperfect verses, which, though they may
sometimes be tolerated for the sake of Uie matter, can
certainly not be praised, and ought never to be imi-
tated.
The same remark is, in general, applicable to a
similar licence sometimes occurring in the fourth
foot, when a spondee is substituted for the anapaest.
On particular occasions, however, this latter species
of spondaic Anapaestic may (like the Greek and La-
tin Scazon, or limping Iambic) prove a perfectly eli-
gible metre. In skilful hands, it may sometimes be
successfully applied to the purposes either of ridi-
cule or of pathos. Some striking word or words,
forming a grave spondee at the close, thus become
the more impressive, where the reader, after having
lightly skimmed over the preceding anapaests, finds
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? 36 Prosody.
liis speed on expectedly checked by that heavy foot,
as when a rarer, in his rapid course, is suddenly
startled and stopped by some unforeseen impediment.
--In the following line of Mr. Campbell, who con-
cludes several stanzas with the same two words, the
final spondee will probably please many reade--
And, where-e-l-ver I went, | was my poor | dog Tray.
Hypermeta;with double rhime-- .
But thanks | to my friends | for their care [ in my
breed- \-mg,
Who taught | me betimes | to love work-|-ing and
read-\-mg. (Watts.
Anapastic of three feet.
But the svveet-|-est of mo-|-ments will fly. (Anon.
She shi-! -ver'd with cold, | as she went. (Southey.
This metre (as observed in page 32) is very plea-
singly combined in stanzas with the anapaestic of four
feet, as
Ye powr's, | who make Beau-] ty and Vir-|-lue your
Let no sor-|-row my Phyl-|-lis molest! [care !
Let no blast [ of misfor-|-tune intrude | on the fair,
To ruf-]-fle the calm | of her breast. (Anon.
Used by itself in stanzas with alternate rhime, it is
ineffably sweet, and is perhaps the happiest metre
in our language, for soft tender themes, as
Ye shepherds, so cheerful and gay,
Whose flocks never carelessly' roam !
Should Corydon's happen to stray,
Ah ! lead the poor wanderers home. (Shenstone.
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? Prosody. 37
Hypermeter, with double rhirne--
So foul | and so fierce | are their na-\\-tures. (Watts.
Anapastic of two feet.
The bent | of the mind,
From its plea-l-sures, we find.
As I cannot say much in praise of this metre, I
briefly dismiss it, in company with its fellow
Hypermeter, double-rhimed--
If sor-|-rows corrode || us,
And cares ( overload \\ us
as you write
In despite
of the Muse,
Anapmstic of one foot.
and refuse
To amend
What you've penn'd. . . . (Anon.
This trifling metre cannot be used to advantage in
continuation, but may sometimes be usefully em-
ployed in giving variety to the stanzas of irregular
odes, or other compositions.
Hypermeter, with double rhime--
It isplea-ysiire
Without mea-\-sure. (Anon.
Mixture of Feet in the Iambic Metre.
1 shall here exclusively confine my view to the
heroic line of ten syllables: but the same remarks,
which I make on it, will equally apply to the other
forms of Iambic metre--with only this difference,
that, according as they are longer or shorter, tbey
allow more or less scope for poetic licence.
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? 38 ' - Prosody.
As already observed in page 14, pure Iambic
verses properly contain no other foot than the Iam-
bus, as
Her beau-|-ty nought | impair'd | by leDgth J 6f
years, . :* v;n
txceed-\-ingfair* | her an-l-gel form | appears.
* Exceeding fair. --Some modern writers appear to have con-
ceived an irreconcilable antipathy to the word " Exceeding,"
thus used in conjunction with an adjective, and have, on every
occasion, substituted " Exceedingly" in its stead. Nevertheless,
if I rightly understand the import of the former, as used by very
respectable authors, (and, among others, our translators of the
Bible, who have furnished us with near sixty examples of" Ex-
ceeding" in conjunction with adjectives) it is not only a legiti-
mate, but a fine, significant, emphatic expression. When, for ex-
ample, it is said of a woman, that she is exceeding fair, passing
fair, or surpassing fair (which are all synonymous phrases), if we
but rightly parse the sentences, we shall readily come at the true
meaning, which is, that she is fair, not merely in the positive and
ordinary degree, but superlatively fair, ? exceeding," " passing,"
or" surpassing," what is usually deemed "fair;" the participle
being in the nominative case agreeing with" she," and "fair" in
the accusative [or objective] case, governed by the participle:--
or, both the adjective and the participle may be considered as
nominatives; i. e. "She is fair, surpassing all others in that re-
speet. "--Thus, when Goldsmith, in his" Deserted Village," de-
scribes the curate, . is
. . . . . passing rich with forty pounds a year--
the meaning is obviously this, that the good ma. :, according to
his own ideas, surpassed in riches all the rich--fancied himself as
rich as Croesus. --See the note on " Ever so" and " Never so,"
in page 64,
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? Prosody.