A few words may suppress or retain the final e mute, as

encore, zéphyre.

Ex Ce qu'il a fait pour elle, il peut encor le faire ;

Il peut la garantir encor d'un sort contraire. Corneille.

Dont Flore et les zéphyrs embellissent les bords. Voltaire.

Rem. 1. Avecque was allowed in poetry for avec until the middle of the 17th century, but is now entirely obsolète.

Rem. 2. Proper names derived from Latin sometimes take the French or Latin form, according to the exigency of the verse ; as Claude, Claudius ; Mécène, Mécénas ; Lélius, Lélie ; Porsenne, Porsenna ; but some cannot now be changed, as Brutus, Crassus, for which Brute and Crasse would not be allowed in modem verse.

LICENSES IN ARRANGEMENT.

§ S4r9 Inversion is one of the most striking characteristics which distinguish poetical language from prose. The following are the principal cases in which it is employed :

1. The préposition and its complément are very frequently placed before the words upon which they dépend.

Ex. Et tous, devant V autel avec ordre introduits,

De leurs champs dans leurs mains portaient les premiers fruits.

Racine.

2. The pronoun which is the object (accusative or dative) of an infinitive depending upon another verb, may be elegantly placed before the two verbs, instead of between them, as in prose.

POETICAL LICENSES.

Ex. Ce terme est équivoque ; il le faut éclaircir. Boileau. Oui, je le vais trouver, je lui vais obéir. Voltaire.

3. In the second member of a phrase, after one of the conjun étions et, ou, the personal pronoun joined to the imperative, and placed after it in prose, may, in poetry, be placed before it.

Ex. Tu veux servir : va, sers, et me laisse en repos. Racine. Rem. In this case, me, te take the place of moi, toi.

4. The adverba pas, point, plus, with an infinitive, may suffer inversion in poetry. This inversion is somewhat obsolète.

Ex. A ne confondre plus mon fils et l'empereur. Racine.

5. Assez, with an accompanying adjective or participle, may suffer inversion in poetry. This inversion is somewhat obsolète.

Ex. En m'arrachant mon fils, m'aurait punie assez. Voltaire.

6. In certain phrases, the subject may folio w the verb in prose, and of course m poetry; as vienne le temps ; les dépenses qu'a occasionnées votre luxe/ le siècle où vivait César, etc. Other inversions of the subject and verb, though formerly fréquent in poetry, are almost entirèly abandoned at the présent day.

Rem. The inversion of the attribute and verb is also generallyavoided;* but both subject and attribute may suffer inversion in the Marotic f style.

Ex. Vous à qui donnèrent les dieux

Tant de lumières naturelles. Voltaire.

v Honni seras, ainsi que je prévoi. Rousseau.

7. The inversion of the direct object and verb is very rare at the présent day, though preserved in the Marotic style.

Ex. Et ne pouvant son faible vous cacher,

Le vôtre au moins il tache d'éplucher. Rousseau.

* This inversion is preserved even in prose in the ancient expressions Bien fou sera celui; homicide point ne seras.

f Clément Marot, born in 1495, was one of the earliest French writers, and the best poet of his time. His epistles, sonnets, epigrams, élégies, and ballads won for him a great réputation. He used poetic licenses very freely, and has since been imitated by La Fontaine, J. B. Rousseau, and Voltaire. His style, full of simple grâce, established a school called the Marotic.

Rem. In certain established phrases and constructions, the inversion of subject and verb takes place in prose, and of course in poetry ; as, Le bruit que j'entends ; je la vois ; pour tout dire ; sans rien omettre ; à pierre fendre.

8. An epithet, simple or complex, belonging to the predicate, may be placed before the verb when it would cause no ambiguity.

Ex. Pleurante après son char veux-tu que l'on me voie ? Racine. Raide mort étendu sur la terre il le couche. La Fontaine.

§ 35. The inversion of the préposition and its complément, and the governing word, is to be avoided when it would bring two substantives together, causing thereby harshness or ambiguity.

Ex. Ceux qui louaient le plus de son chant l'harmonie. Florian.

The substantives may be separated, and the inversion would not then be inharmonious ; as,

Tous ceux qui de son chant admiraient l'harmonie.

1. When two compléments, depending the one upon the other, are each preceded by a préposition, they should follow the logical order.

Ex. Je n'ai pu de mon fils consentir a la mort. Voltaire.

This La Harpe calls " a forced and unnatural inversion, foreign to the genius of our language." He corrects it as follows :

Je n'ai pu de mon fils envisager la mort,

because de preceding la mort, and also preceding à, there was a double inversion.

There is a gain in simplicity of construction, a loss in harmony.

2. A préposition and an infinitive or substantive forming its complément should not be separated, though examples of this construction are found as late as Corneille.

Ex. Pour de ce grand dessein assurer le succès. Corneille. Malgré de nos destins la rigueur importune. Id.