"She went from op'ra, park, assembly, play, To morning walks and pray'rs three times a day; To part her time 'twixt reading and bohea, To muse and spill her solitary tea; Or o'er cold coffee trifle with the spoon, Count the slow clock, and dine exact at noon; Divert her eyes with pictures in the fire, Hum half a tune, tell stories to the 'squire; Up to her godly garret after sev'n, There starve and pray, for that's the way to heav'n." Pope's Epistles. Here _e_ in _opera_ ought not to be apostrophized, for such a contraction reduces an Amphibrachic foot to an Iambic. The words _prayers_, _seven_ and _heaven_ need not the apostrophe of _e_; for it makes no difference in the pronunciation. But the contraction of _over_ and _betwixt_ is necessary; for without it the measure would be imperfect. PAUSES. Having explained the several kinds of feet, and shown in what places of a verse they may be used, I proceed to another important article, the pauses. Of these there are two kinds, the _cesural_ pause, which divides the line into two equal or unequal parts; and the _final_ pause which closes the verse. These pauses are called _musical_, because their sole end is the melody of verse. The pauses which mark the sense, and for this reason are denominated _sentential_, are the same in verse as in prose. They are marked by the usual stops, a comma, a semicolon, a colon, or a period, as the sense requires, and need no particular explanation. The cesural pause is not essential to verse, for the shorter kinds of measure are without it; but it improves both the melody and the harmony. Melody in music is derived from a succession of sounds; harmony from different sounds in concord. A single voice can produce melody; a union of voices is necessary to form harmony. In this sense harmony cannot be applied to verse, because poetry is recited by a single voice. But harmony may be used in a figurative sense, to express the effect produced by observing the proportion which the members of verse bear to each other.[125] The cesural pause may be placed in any part of the verse; but has the finest effect upon the melody, when placed after the second or third foot, or in the middle of the third. After the second: "In what retreat, inglorious and unknown, Did genius sleep, when dulness seized the throne." After the third: "O say what stranger cause, yet unexplored, Could make a gentle belle reject a lord?" In the middle of the third: "Great are his perils, in this stormy time, Who rashly ventures, on a sea of rhime." In these examples we find a great degree of melody, but not in all the same degree. In comparing the divisions of verse, we experience the most pleasure in viewing those which are equal; hence those verses which have the pause in the middle of the third foot, which is the middle of the verse, are the most melodious. Such is the third example above.