And how beautifully are trochees intermixed in the following, where lady Macbeth speaks in a hurry and agitation of mind? Which gives the fterneft good night. He's about Hé's about it 4 The tribrac is likewise used by our poets, as equivalent in time and measure to the iambic. So Milton I, 91. Now mifery hath join'd in equal ruin into what pit thou feēst| And Shakespeare very poetically in K. Lear, A& IV. Edg. So mājny fathom down precipităting. which has the fame effect as that in Virgil. "Procumbit humi bos. But the great art in Milton, of placing a fpondee in the fifth place, ought not here to be omited; this occafions pause and delay, and calls for the reader's attention: fo in the seventh book, where God speaks to Chaos, Sílence'ye troubled waves and thōu Deep, peace thou Deep No spondee in the fifth place in Greek or Latin verses can equal this beauty; and no poet did ever equal it, but Shakespeare. In Macbeth. What hath quench'd thēm|hǎth gīv'n/mě fire|--Hark! peace! If the spondaic foot, then the anapest, as of equal time, may likewise be admitted. Othello. And give thy worst. of thoughts the worst of words lag. Good my Lord părdon mẽ. 1 s the work of words 1 2 3 4 Spčak to me what thou art thy elvill fpirit] Brutus 5 This paffage is in Julius Caefar, where Brutus speaks to the ghost: those anapests spčak tŏ mî, what thou art, have a beautiful effect, as they fhew a certain confusion on a furprize. Spirit is constantly used in Milton as a monofyllable, whether 'tis fo here I leave to the reader. T SHAKE SHAKESPEARE has feveral hemiftiques; a poetical licence that Virgil introduced into the Latin poetry: but there have not been wanting hands, to fill these broken verses up for both the poets. It may not be displeasing to the reader to point out fuch kind of workmanship in Virgil. Æneas is thus addrefs'd by one of Ulyffes' fhip's crew, who had been unfortunately left behind in Sicily. "Sum patria ex Ithaca, comes infelicis Ulyffei, "Nomen Achaemenides." III, 613. Achæmenides could very properly call himself, comes infelicis Ulyssei; speaking with some pity on the long wanderings and misfortunes of his mafter. But Æneas with no poetical decorum could thus mention his name; his epithet would be fcelerum inventor-dirus-and fuch like. When therefore Æneas foon after is led by the thread of his narration to speak of Achæmenides, I don't doubt but he mentions him without any notice of Ulyffes at all: "Talia monftrabat relegens errata retrorfum "Litora Achaemenides." III, 691. But a meddling critic (who thought that Vir gil's verfes fhould be all compleated) finding a Bb little little before, comes infelicis Ulyssei joined to Achæmenides, fills up the hemiftich with this illplaced addition : "Litora Achaemenides [comes infelicis Ulyffei.]" In the fixth Aeneid, the hero fpeaks to the Sybil. "Foliis tantum ne carmina manda, "Ne turbata volent, rapidis ludibria ventis : Finem dedit ore loquendi." Ipfa canas, ora. The river God Tyber is fpeaking of himself. Aen. VIII. 66 Ego fum, pleno quem flumine cernis "Stringentem ripas, et pinguia culta fecantem "Coeruleus Tybris. Coelo gratiffimus amnis." Some other fufpected places may be pointed. out: but I fubmit to the judgment of the reader, whether he can think these additions, any other than botches in poetry: and how much more virgilian would these verses appear, were they left as I have here marked them? IT ought not to be forgotten that Shakespeare has many words, either of admiration or exclamation, &c. out of the verfe. Nor is this without example in the Greek tragedies. In the Hecuba of Euripides y. 863. Φεῦ Φεῦ Οὐκ ἔςι θνητῶν ὅσις ἐς ἐλεύθερΘ. Sophocles in Aj. . 748. .、 " 18 18 Βραδείαν ἡμᾶς ἄρ ̓ ὁ τήνδε τὴν ὁδὸν οἶμοι ἶθ ̓ ἐκκάλυψον, ὡς ἴδω τὸ πᾶν κακόν. In Hamlet, A& I. "Gh. So art thou to revenge, when thou fhalt ❝ hear. "Ham. What? "Gh. I am thy father's fpirit." And presently after, "Gh. If thou didst ever thy dear father love"Ham. Oh heav'n! "Gh. Revenge his foul and most unnatural "murther! "Ham. Murther! "Gh. Murther most foul, as in the best it is." In Othello, A& III. "Oth. Oh, yes, and went between us very <6 Iago. Indeed! oft. "Oth. Indeed! ay, indeed. Difcern'ft thou "ought in that ?” Bb 2 And |