B.

In each of the following cases, if a pause is required, there is no real hiatus-the rule is good, it satisfies the ear; if a pause is not possible, there is real hiatus--the rule is bad, it satisfies the eye alone.

1. An aspirated h* may be placed after a vowel.
Gardez qu'une voyelle, à courir trop hâtée
Ne soit d'une voyelle, à son chemin heurtée.
Où courez-vous ainsi tout pâle et hors d'haleine?

(BOILEAU.)

(RACINE.)

2. A nasal vowel† may be placed before an ordinary vowel. Et transportant cent fois et le nom et le verbe.

(BOILEAU.)

Néron en colère.

Sans cesse il me semblait que
Qui vous donna la main et qui vous donna l'être.

(RACINE.)

(CORNEILLE.)

La faim aux animaux ne faisait point la guerre.

(LA FONTAINE.)

Mais Rome veut un maître et non une maîtresse.

(RACINE.) 3. A consonant which does not admit of liaison may stand before a vowel.

Je reprends sur le champ le papier et la plume.

L'étranger est en fuite, et le Juif est soumis.

Dispersa tout son camp à l'aspect de Jéhu.

C.

(BOILEAU.)

(RACINE.)

(ID.)

Neither the ear nor the eye has been consulted in the following cases :

1. When an elided e mute leaves another vowel behind it, there is often real hiatus; but it is allowed.

Où sa vie et ses biens se trouvent attachés.

Une femme

... c'était Athalie elle-même.

(MOLIÈRE.) (RACINE.)

On aura, que je pense

(MOLIÈRE.) (ID.)

Grande joie à me voir après dix jours d'absence.

Enfermée à la clef ou menée | avec lui.

2. In the body of many words there is real hiatus (see § 526): obéir, gratuit; tua, obéi, gratuit; yet such words are allowed,

* §§ 127, 139.

† § 77.

+ $100.

§ 528. Dialogue.

The rules which apply to ordinary lines, apply to the several parts of equal or unequal length of which dialogue is made up. Lines so broken cannot be said to have rhythm; they only imitate unbroken lines in which real rhythm exists. And as in ordinary lines we find occasionally more than one minor accent, it is reasonable to expect that in dialogue this is still more likely to happen.

Il est un peu blessé || sur certai | nes matières ||
Chose étrange, de voir || comme avec | passion ||
Un chacun est chaussé || de son opinion ||

(I frappe à sa porte)

Hola! |

Scene ii. ARNOLPHE; ALAIN, GEORGETTE (dans la maison).

Qui heurte?

ALAIN.

ARNOLPHE.

Ouvrez || (à part) On aura, | que je pense ||
Grande joie à me voir || après dix jours | d'absence. ||

ALAIN.

Qui va là ? |

ARNOLPHE.

Moi. |

ALAIN.

Georgette ||

GEORGETTE.

Eh bien?!

ALAIN.

Ouvre là-bas. ||
(MOLIÈRE.)

§ 529. Poetical Licenses.

In verse certain modes of spelling, certain constructions, etc., which have been for the most part banished from prose, are still allowed. These privileges granted to verse are spoken of as poetical licenses. For example-

1. The following words are spelt in two ways; in the first list will be found the usual spelling:

certes

encore

certe

encor

The absence or presence of s in the first person singular of certain verbs has been explained in § 369.

2. The following arrangement of words, among others, are unusual in prose:

(a) The Preposition and its noun before the verb, substantive, or adjective, upon which it depends:

Aux petits des oiseaux il donne leur pâture.
Et que si des destins la fatale puissance.
Mais des enfants l'amour est le partage.

(RACINE.)

Et mes prétentions hautement étouffées
A vos voeux triomphants sont d'illustres trophées.

(b) The transposition of the subject and verb:

(MOLIÈRE.

Ces yeux que n'ont émus, ni soupirs, ni terreur. (RACINE.)
Périsse mon amour, périsse mon espoir. † (CORNEILLE.)
(c) The transposition of the verb and substantive direct object:*
Un courage élevé toute peine surmonte.

(d) Such transpositions as the following:-
Et, se promettant tout de leur vieille amitié
De mon trône en son âme elle prend la moitié.

(RACINE.)

(CORNEILLE.)

(ID.)

*For the insertion of the substantival Direct Object between the auxiliary and Past Participle, see § 458.

†This Optative is found in prose, but for the most only in wellknown phrases; ex.: Vive l'Empereur, Dieu vous bénisse, etc. (§ 472.)

NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

§ 530. Hiatus in verse.

The following remarks include some of those made in § 527:Till the end of the sixteenth century no "rules" were observed in respect to hiatus. The instinct which told a good writer to avoid everything which was unpleasant to the ear was the only guide. It would have been better if the matter had stopped there. An author with a delicate ear would have done without formal instructions. The "rules" only enabled one not thus endowed to avoid unpleasant combinations to some extent. There the good ended the rules only hampered the better writer.

The following examples are taken from the period immediately preceding Malherbe, who first insisted upon the banishment of the hiatus in verse.

Nymphe qui ait si folâtres cheveux.

(RONSARD.)

Que l'homme est malheureux qui au monde se fie. (ID.)
D'où est-tu? qui est-tu? Quelle est ta nourriture?

(RÉGNIER.)

The rules of Malherbe are open to the following objections:

1. They are too stringent; for there is nothing necessarily unpleasant in the recurrence of vowel sounds: Dieu, ciel, lier, vieux, religion, ouïr, fiancée, tua, alouette, etc., etc.

2. They go beyond their professed object; for they forbid combinations which cannot possibly contain hiatus :

(a) Where a stop occurs between the vowels :

Oh! sortons; la voici. Il la faut éviter.

(b) Where the first vowel sound is uttered by one person, and the second by another :

Eh bien ! quoi?

Oh! ma mère, le temple est profané.

(c) Where by another rule (that of the cæsura) a pause is required. If the cæsura is weak, hiatus may perhaps be said to occur, but that would be equally true of the end of the line where the rule allows such hiatus:

Une vache était là on l'appelle; elle vient.

524. The Full Accent at the Twelfth Sylable. The tu accent at the end or the ine nust be assisted

By yme is meant a correspondence, it certain nertha, of de ertuALION I verus. fence me myne Mgm to