that the paræmiac, being intended to terminate a series of lines whose cadence was often sharp and impetuous, would be so constructed as to pass off the ear with a soft and composing close. While on the other hand, amongst several instances, I thought Medea, v. 169.

αἰσχρῶς τον ἐμὸν κτείνάσα κασίν,

closing a sentence of fury with the dimeter ictuated on the last syllable, carried with it somewhat of a violent and angry sound, well suited to the general character and present temper of Medea.

For authority too, I was afterwards prepared to appeal to Terentianus; but had some doubt suggested by a friend, how far even Terentianus' Latin verse would be decisive in a question of Greek metre, when it is well known, that in other kinds of verse, as the Sapphic and Alcaic, the construction of the Greek is much less strictly bound than that of the Latin. I am exceedingly happy, however, to find your judgment so decisive in favour of my own first opinion.

Of Teretianus, the authority is intentionally and distinctly conveyed in his practice. To Boethius I find Prudentius may be added.

Boethius, who has written two odes entirely in the correct paræmiac, assists us by his practice only. And this composition being Latin, and at so late a period, he can merely, perhaps, be considered as being with us, because he is not against us.

Of Cratinus, who is also correct, if more remained, the weight would be strong indeed. As it is, he sways the scale, and strongly too, on our side.

In Seneca's anapests, no paræmiac occurs; but a softness of close is in some sort preserved by adopting the adonic instead, which uniformly throwing the ictus on the penultimate, and being as in the sapphic stanza separately pronounced, leaves after all a complacent movement on the ear.

Having thus detailed, somewhat tediously I fear, the way in which I was led to settle the movement of the tragic trimeter, and the construction of the paræmiac, I will take the liberty of transcribing from the Correspondence of the Monthly Review for Sept. 1801, the principal part of my own letter there inserted. The attempt however to determine the question of what Mr. Porson

calls the pause, has been since rendered obsolete and useless by that most masterly disquisition in the supplementum to his Hecuba Preface.-Letter to the Monthly Review.

In the M. R. March 1800. p. 336, the Reviewer says 'Mr. Porson never intended, we may confidently assert, that his canon (Hecuba 16, 347) should be considered as relating to iambic verses in general," and in confirmation of this remark, the reader is sent to the Ion, as containing in vv. 1, 22, 65, 278, 318, 362, 366, so many exceptions to Mr. Porson's canon; and so indeed, at first sight, they seem. But let the canon be divided into two, and worded as follows, and the exceptions will disappear in the last five instances; in the first two, a small correction will set every thing right.

Canon. 1. When an iambic verse ends in a trisyllable, or quasi trisyllable, (as, τῷ Θεῷ γαρ ην φιλον, or σπαργάνοισι θ ̓ ὁις exeis.) the foot preceding the last is in the tragic writers very rarely, if ever a spondee, in the comic it is very frequently so.

Canon 2. If a monosyllable precede the trisyllable, or quasi trisyllable, with which the verse ends, so that the last four syllables form as it were when pronounced, one quadri-syllable, or two disyllabic words, then the foot preceding the last may be indifferently a spondee or an iambus.

Under this latter canon, vv. 65, 278, 318, 362, and 366, evidently fall; and to the former, vv. 1, 22, afford only an apparent exception.

V. 1.

read

V. 22.

Ατλας ὁ χαλκεοσι νωτοις ουρανον.

Ατλας ὁ νωτοις χαλκεοισιν ουρανον. Φρουρω παραζευξασα φυλακας σώματος. read Φρουρω παραπευξασα φυλακε σώματος.

So the context too demands, and so (in consequence of the Note ad Hecub. v. 347) before I had the opportunity of seeing Mr. Porson's decisive note ad Phoeniss. v. 1419, I had corrected the verse in Mr. Wakefield's edition of the Ion.

The only real exception to the 1st Canon which I have hitherto met with, is in the Phoenissæ. v. 759.

αμφοτερον απολειφθεν γαρ ουδεν θατερον,

a verse certainly deficient in harmony, and which must be considered as one of those very few negligent verses quos incuria

fudit, or perhaps as a sacrifice of sound to sense, since it seems almost impossible by any other words to convey the same ideas in the same portion of metre.

I had before this, met with Iph. in Aul. 531. Karayevdoμaι, but considering it as no no real exception, I passed it over.

The Canon in anapæstic metre which seems hitherto to have escaped remark, is the following:

In regular systems of anapæstic verses in the tragic writers, the versus paræmiacus is then only legitimate, when it is constructed similarly to the concluding hepthimimer of an heroic verse, and like that preferring, before the final syllable, an anapest to a spondee.

Follows the Reviewer's remark.

"The observations on the note in the Hecuba, we submit to the learned Greek Professor. To the Canon which banishes dactyls from the first place of paræmiacs, we cannot subscribe assent, till Mr. Tate produces every dimeter, catalectic, anapæstic, from every one of the tragedies and comedies, corrected without violence, and reduced to his scheme by transposition or unstrained alternative. Mr. Tate cites instances* [nos. 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.]; should he continue his search, he will find, if we mistake not, many inore unbending verses than he seems prepared to expect."

Thus, Sir, have I availed myself of your love of learning, as extended even to an obscure scholar like myself, for the purpose of laying before you in some degree the progress and present state of my metrical studies. Already I have been encouraged by your authority, and enlightened by your instruction. Allow me to hope that you will continue your friendly and generous communication of any remarks which you may have leisure to make, for my further improvement and direction in points of metrical criticism. You will see that I make no use of accents, Ignorantiam meam candide fateor, inscitiæ tantum reus," is my plea in the very formula of our Professor. (Medea, note i.) Any effectual lessons on the doctrine of accent, otherwise than vivâ voce delivered, I cannot well conceive. And till I enjoy

* The Reviewer's is only a general reference, not a distinct quotation.

that advantage, I must answer to the question apa ye yivwokeis; with the Ethiopian, πως αν δυναίμην, εαν μη τις οδηγηση με.

There is one point, on which I wish to clear myself in this private manner, since in a public way I am not allowed. One of the few copies of the metrical paper which Mr. Dalzel's good nature enabled me to present to a dozen friends or eminent scholars some how or other made its appearance in the AntiJacobin Review for April. I immediately wrote to the Editors to disclaim any knowledge of its publication there, and to say that that publication was absolutely against my wishes. But the letter itself, or any notice of it, I have in vain looked to see in the numbers for May, June, and July. Mr. Dalzel, till the matter was explained, could not but feel hurt on his own account; and in other respects, such a premature appearance of the paper must have been considered as an awkward at least, if not an arrogant thing. A second hint to the Anti-Jacobin Reviewers has passed as unguarded and unnoticed as the first.

With the highest esteem for your eminent learning and virtues, and a particular sense of what I myself owe to your liberality, I remain, Sir, your grateful and obliged correspondent, JAMES TATE.

SIR,

Richmond School, Yorkshire, August 19, 1804. Since I last did myself the honour of writing to you, I have never lost sight of the valuable instruction contained in your letter of June 20, 1802; and I feel much more confidence than I else should have done, in the design which I now entertain of laying before the public, along with a sketch of the theory of the Greek cases which you have seen, a manual of the Greek metre, for the use of young students; such a manual as may qualify them to approach with more advantage, and drink more boldly at the fountain head of this knowledge, "Hinc lucem et pocula," of our Alma Mater's Professor of Greek.

Hence, you will gratify me very highly, Sir, by the favour of your opinion on the long letter Teрi μeтpwv, which, under the protection of your good nature, I ventured to submit to your judgment about two years ago, as well as on the MS. of the Theory of the Greek Cases, which my friend, Mr. George Butler,

tells me was put into your hands when you were last in Cambridge. Possessing a little leisure at present from the labours of my profession, I should be better enabled to profit by the advantage of your remarks, which, whether they establish, or set right, or overthrow my positions, will bestow on me an equal obligation, and be received with equal gratitude. The MS. on the Cases, if you finish the perusal of it while you stay in the University, you will be so kind as order to be delivered to Mr. John Spence, student of Trinity College, who will take care of it for me; but your remarks on it, as soon as you may find it convenient to commit them to paper, you will oblige me very much to dispatch by the post; and I shall not fail to acknowledge from the press, with due gratitude, the honour and the benefit which your communications confer on an obscure scholar like myself. I remain, Sir, with the highest respect, your obliged and obedient servant, JAMES TATE.

Rev. G. F. Tavel, in the following letter to Dr. Parr, not only speaks the language of experience, but of good sense and kindness. I believe the application was made for one of Dr. Parr's protegés, who afterwards was sent to Edinburgh:

DEAR SIR,

Trin. Coll. Cambridge, Nov. 20, 1809.

Immediately upon the receipt of your favour I went to the Master of Caius, who communicated to me your letter respecting your young friend; and I am free to own, that it is impossible not to feel highly interested for the fate of this young man, who appears, by your account, to possess quite a colossal mind. Notwithstanding, however, the general vigour of his intellect, I fear that he would feel much embarrassed here for want of the specific attainments usually in requisition, of Greek and Latin, particularly of the former. It is a hard thing for a man of genius to see others of palpably inferior talents gaining commendation and prizes over him, solely on account of the vantage ground (so difficult afterwards to be reached) of good previous instruction and drilling; and are you not a little afraid,