of their incongruity. They must exactly fit the character of the person to whom they are attributed, while equally not fitting for us, and, therefore laughed at by us.

Kindly. Lastly, in genuine humor there is always a feeling of kindliness towards the persons who are ridiculed. We have our laugh at them, but in a good-natured way which wishes them no harm. Humor, in this respect, differs widely from wit. It is never bitter, it is never malignant. It is perfectly consistent with the largest charity. Thackeray, himself a humorist of high order, has defined humor to be a compound of wit and love. "The best humor," he says, "is that which contains most humanity, that which is flavored throughout with tenderness and kindness."

Humorists Kind-hearted. — In accordance with the last remark, it may be observed that those writers who have been most celebrated for their wit have usually been noted for their ill-temper, while the humorists have in the main been persons of kind and amiable disposition. Among the humorous writers of recent times who may be quoted in illustration of this remark, are Lamb, Hood, Thackeray, and Dickens, of England, and Irving, Lowell, Holmes, and Saxe, of our own country.

Continuance. Wit and Humor differ in regard to continuance. Wit is concentrated, and comes at intervals, and by flashes. Humor is different in its nature, and is capable of being continued through a whole performance, and for almost any length of time.

CHAPTER VI.

VERSIFICATION.

THE present chapter has to do with the mechanism of Poetry, rather than with poetry itself.

Object of Inquiry. — It is not necessary, at this point, to define what poetry is, as to its essential nature. It is for the present enough to know, that the object which the poet has in presenting his thoughts in a poetical form is to increase thereby the pleasure which the mere thoughts themselves might give the reader, and that a part at least of this increased pleasure depends upon contrivances which are wholly of a mechanical nature.

THE FOUNDATION OF VERSE.

The Question. Why is it that the same thoughts, even when expressed in the same words, please more, arranged in one particular way, than they do under some other arrangement, which conveys the sense with equal clearness?

The Proof. - That the fact is as it is here stated, is a point which any one can decide for himself. Take, for instance, the following passage from Byron, stripped of its poetical form:

"It is the hour when the nightingale's high note is heard from the boughs; it is the hour when lovers' vows in every whispered word seem sweet; and gentle winds and near waters make music to the lonely ear. The dews have lightly wet each flower, and the stars are met in the sky, and a deeper blue is on the wave, and a browner hue on the leaf, and that clear obscure in the heaven, so softly dark and darkly pure, which follows the decline of day, as twilight melts away beneath the moon."

Example Explained. Here the sense is just as clear as in the form in which it was originally written, and the words are all the

same: they are only arranged differently. The words, even under their present arrangement, exhibit pleasant pictures to the imagination. But how much is that pleasure enhanced, when they flow forth in the melodious form in which the poet placed them!

It is the hour when from the boughs
The nightingale's high note is heard;
It is the hour when lovers' vows

Seem sweet in every whispered word;
And gentle winds and waters near
Make music to the lonely ear.

Each flower the dews have lightly wet,
And in the sky the stars have met,
And on the wave is deeper blue,

And on the leaf a browner hue,
And in the heaven that clear obscure,
So softly dark, and darkly pure,
Which follows the decline of day,

As twilight melts beneath the moon away.

There is probably not a reader living who does not feel an increased gratification in reading the passage in this form. The question arises, whence this increase of pleasure? It cannot be in the sense, for that is expressed with equal clearness, and by the same words, in both cases.

Verse in an Unknown Language. — This point is rendered, if possible, still more apparent by remarking that the same principle, whatever it is, that gives us this increase of pleasure, gives us pleasure in the case even of nonsense, that is, in the melodious versification of a language which we do not understand, and which therefore conveys no sense to us.

Example.-Take the first line în Virgil. The sense is expressed clearly enough by the words standing thus:

Tu, Tityre, sub fagi patulae tegmine recubans.

It is not necessary to understand Latin, to find an agreeable difference when the line is read as Virgil wrote it:

Tityre, tu patulae, recubans sub tegmine fagi.

Explanation. The difference here cannot be in the sense. It must be in the sound; and, to be more specific still, not simply in the sounds by themselves, for we have the same identical sounds in both cases, but in the arrangement of the sounds. The ultimate analysis of the subject, therefore, necessarily leads to some consideration of the action of the vocal organs in uttering articulate sounds.

1. Vocal Impulse. — The first thing to be observed in regard to this utterance is that the vocal organs act by impulse. This may be accepted as an ultimate fact.

A Comparison. -The movement of the voice in pronunciation is not that of a boat gliding equably through the water, but that of a man walking on the ground by distinct steps. The voice goes step by step in the pronunciation of words.

Comparison Extended.—Extending the metaphor somewhat, we may say, it is the consonant sound which arrests the voice in its progress, just as the ground arrests the foot of the man walking. So also it is the vowel sound, in which the voice is prolonged, that represents the space passed over by the traveller in going from one footstep to another. To carry the voice over this space, that is, to carry it from one consonant upon which it has rested, through a vowel, to a lodgment upon some other consonant, requires a distinct, fresh impulse.

Syllables. - These impulses are only another name for syllables, and a syllable is so much of a word as is pronounced during one impulse of the voice. It includes a vowel always, and generally one or

more consonants.

2. Strong and Light Impulses.-The second thing to be observed in this matter is that in ordinary pronunciation we never utter a long succession of syllables with precisely the same degree of impulse. This also is to be accepted as an ultimate fact.

Explanation. One finds himself naturally and easily giving a quick, strong impulse to every second or third syllable, and a light, tripping one to the syllable or syllables intervening. The organs seem to go most easily and pleasantly, not in the military tread of the soldier, but in the hop-step-and-jump of schoolboys. The syllable to which this strong impulse is given is variously called a heavy, a grave, or an accented syllable.

3. Time between Impulses. A third thing to be observed is, that, after giving one of these strong impulses or accents, some little time is required before the organs are in a condition to give another accent.

Accentual Intervals. - This interval between two accents may either be left vacant, or it may be filled up with one or more light,

unaccented syllables. When the time is not so filled up, there is, after each heavy impulse, a pause or rest.

Examples. This may be illustrated by the words faith, truth, mirth, spite, hate. In pronouncing these words, thus arranged, we involuntarily give to each a strong impulse or accent, and after each we make a pause.

If to each of these words the syllable ful be added, making faithful, truthful, mirthful, spiteful, hateful, the additional light syllable will then occupy the time before occupied by the pause.

The interval between the accents may be occupied by two light syllables, instead of one, as in the word faithfully. These two light syllables are then considered as occupying exactly the same time as the one syllable, or the pause.

are all pronounced in exactly the same time, and are, in versification, all counted as of the same length.

Accentual Stress not Arbitrary. It is not, therefore, by custom, or by the edicts of prosodians and orthoepists, that certain syllables, at short intervals, receive a strong and distinguishing stress or impulse of the voice. On the contrary, this alternate action and reaction of the voice is as natural and involuntary as are the pulsations of the heart, or the inspiration and expiration of the breath.

Accent Paramount. Accent is thus a paramount law in all speech, dividing it up into convenient and agreeable sections or periods.

Names of Accentual Divisions. These sections or periods have received various names. They are called sometimes "cadences," because at the termination of each the voice seems to fall; sometimes "" feet," because the voice seems to go through the syllables step by step; sometimes "metres," because thereby a line or a sentence is meted or measured; sometimes also "numbers," because it thus becomes a matter of count. All these terms may be, and have been, applied equally to prose and verse, because all speech necessarily has the accentual divisions indicated by these names. Custom, however, has in a great measure restricted the terms "feet" and "metres" to poetry, and "cadences" to prose.

Place of the Accents Important. The heavy or accented syllables may be placed at such convenient distances apart as to give both ease to the speaker and pleasure to the hearer. On the other hand, we can readily imagine such a combination of syllables with refer