Chapter I: Of the Structure of English Verses

The structure of our verses, whether blank or in rhyme, consists in a certain number of syllables; not in feet composed of long and short syllables, as the verses of the Greeks and Romans. And though some ingenious persons formerly puzzled themselves in prescribing rules for the quantity of English syllables, and, in imitation of the Latins, composed verses by the measure of spondees, dactyls, &c., yet the success of their undertaking has fully evinced the vainness of their attempt, and given ground to suspect they had not thoroughly weighed what the genius of our language would bear, nor reflected that each tongue has its peculiar beauties, and that what is agreeable and natural to one, is very often disagreeable, nay, inconsistent with another. But that design being now wholly exploded, it is sufficient to have mentioned it.

Our verses, then, consist in a certain number of syllables; but the verses of double rhyme require a syllable more than those of single rhyme. Thus in a poem whose verses consist of ten syllables, those of the same poem that are accented on the last save one, which we call verses of double rhyme, must have eleven, as may be seen by these verses:—

"A Man so various that he seem'd to be
Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome:
Stiff in Opinion, always in the Wrong,
Was ev'ry thing by starts, and nothing long;
But, in the Course of our revolving moon:
Was Fiddler, Chymist, Statesman and Buffoon:
Then all for Women, Painting, Rhyming, Drinking,
Besides Ten thousand Freaks that dy'd in Thinking,
Praising and Railing were his usual Themes,
And both, to shew his Judgment, in Extreams.
So over-violent, or over-civil,
That every Man with him was God or Devil."—_Dryden._

Where the four verses that are accented on the last save one have
eleven syllables, the others, accented on the last, but ten.

In a poem whose verses consist of eight, the double rhymes require nine; as,

"When hard Words, Jealousies, and Fears,
Set Folks together by the ears;
And made 'em fight, like mad, or drunk,
For Dame Religion as for Punk;
Whose honesty they all durst swear for,
Tho' not a Man of 'em knew wherefore:
Then did Sir Knight abandon Duelling,
And out he rode a Colonelling."—_Hudibras._

In a poem whose verses consist of seven, the double rhymes require
eight; as,

"All thy verse is softer far
Than the downy Feathers are
Of my Wings, or of my Arrows,
Of my Mother's Doves or Sparrows."—_Cowley._

This must also be observed in blank verse; as,

"Welcome, thou worthy Partner of my Laurels!
Thou Brother of my Choice! A Band more sacred
Than Nature's brittle Tye. By holy Friendship!
Glory and Fame stood still for thy Arrival:
My Soul seem'd wanting of its better Half,
And languish'd for thy Absence like a Prophet,
Who waits the Inspiration of his God."—_Rowe._

And this verse of Milton,

"Void of all Succour and needful Comfort,"

wants a syllable; for, being accented on the last save one, it ought to have eleven, as all the verses but two of the preceding example have. But if we transpose the words thus,

"Of Succour and all needful Comfort void,"

it then wants nothing of its due measure, because it is accented on the last syllable.