y (which will soon appear) I refer
Mr. Bristed. In the meantime, without troubling myself to ascertain
whether Doctors Johnson and Campbell are wrong, or whether Pope is
wrong, or whether the reviewer is right or wrong, at this point or at
that, let me succinctly state what is _the truth_ on the topics at
issue.

And first; the same principles, in _all_ cases, govern _all_ verse.
What is true in English is true in Greek.

Secondly; in a series of lines, if one line contains more syllables
than the law of the verse demands, and if, nevertheless, this line is
pronounced in the same time, upon the whole, as the rest of the lines,
then this line suggests celerity--on account of the increased rapidity
of enunciation required. Thus in the Greek Hexameter the dactylic
lines--those most abounding in dactyls--serve best to convey the idea
of rapid motion. The spondaic lines convey that of slowness.

Thirdly; it is a gross mistake to suppose that the Greek dactylic
line is 'the model in this matter'--the matter of the English
Alexandrine. The Greek dactylic line is of the same number of
feet--bars--beats--pulsations--as the ordinary dactylic-spondaic lines
among which it occurs. But the Alexandrine is longer by one foot--by
one pulsation--than the pentameters among which it arises. For its
pronunciation it demands _more time_, and therefore, _ceteris
paribus_, it would well serve to convey the impression of length, or
duration, and thus, indirectly, of slowness. I say _ceteris paribus_.
But, by varying conditions, we can effect a total change in the
impression conveyed. When the idea of slowness is conveyed by the
Alexandrine, it is not conveyed by any slower enunciation of
syllables--that is to say, it is not _directly_ conveyed--but
indirectly, through the idea of _length_ in the whole line. Now, if we
wish to convey, by means of an Alexandrine, the impression of
velocity, we readily do so by giving rapidity to our enunciation of
the syllables composing the several feet. To effect this, however, we
must have _more_ syllables, or we shall get through the whole line too
quickly for the intended time. To get more syllables, all we have to
do, is to use, in place of iambuses, what our prosodies call
anapoests.[1] Thus, in the line,

Flies o'er the unbending corn and skims along the main,

the syllables '_the unbend_' form an anapoest and, demanding unusual
rapidity of enunciation, in order that we may get them in in the