En un moment s'est-il évanmii

Ail syllables, mute or otherwise, are counted except (i) when a 'mute e' is elided before a word beginning with a vowel or 'mute

h,' e.g., 1. 1 : Est-ce toi, chèr(e) Élis(e) ? = 6 sylls. ; (2) at the end of a line, where the ' mute e ' is reckoned with the preceding sounded syllable, which is thus made a "féminine rhyme," e.g.: 1. 7 . . . ||

est cher à ma mé?noire ! = 6 sylls.

It is for this reason that Racine avails himself (11. 92, 436, 514,

1232) of the license to spell encor instead of encore, therebv reducing

1 2 3 4 5 ' 6 the word by one syllable: 1. 436, . . .\\le voit e>icor la nuit; and

converselv he \\r\\.es jusques lox jusque before au, to prevent the elision

end keep the word dissyllabic, in 1. 136, Sion, jusques au ciel: Il ... .

Similarly in 1. 426, for the simpler expression Tous révèrent à genoux^

he writes, Tout révèr(e) à genoux, || reducing the seven syllables of the former to a correct hemistich.

CVESURA.

Between the two hemistichs of an hexameter there must be a pause, called la césure, or ' caesura.'