parallel to this strange kind of measure, and, therefore,
I shall offer a brief account of it. A stanza
consists of a limited and given number of lines, or
rather pauses, each of which must invariably and
unalterably consist of a given number of syllables,
and terminate in the same rhyme, which rhyme
must be a broad or slender vowel, it being indifferent
what its sound be, provided the arrangement
into these two classes be attended to. To give an
example, the stanza called Durmo consists of seven
pauses, the first ending in the broad vowels o or u,
and consisting of twelve syllables ; the second in e
or /, and consisting of seven syllables; the third
in o or w, consisting of six ; the fourth also in o
or u, and having seven syllables; the fifth in e or
¿, consisting of eight syllables ; the sixth in 0 or u,
consisting of five syllables; and the seventh of
slender vowels, consisting of eight syllables.
It is not easy to understand from what principle
this fantastical measure could have had its origin,
for it is not to be supposed that the rhyme
which is not repeated until at the interval of seven
lines or pauses, as in the instance quoted, and of
others at an interval of nine or even ten, should
still hang upon the ear and be remembered.
A Javanese poem of any length does not uniformly
consist of the same measure throughout, for
the different measures are supposed to be most appropriate
to particular subjects 5 hence, they are
varied as the subject is grave or lively, expresses
love, hatred, peace, war, or négociation.
The trammels of this description of verse give
rise to the necessity of ample prosodial licences.
Sometimes the first, or even the two first syllables
of a word are omitted, and at other times as many
are added to eke out a line, and obtain a rhyme
producing a very ludicrous effect, as in several of
the worst of our own old ballads. In short, sense
is as often sacrificed to sound in the poetry of the
Javanese, as in that of any people on earth.
An account of Javanese literature is curious,
and even important, as it tends to throw light on
the history of society in general, and more particularly
on that considerable portion of the species
which is contained in Java itself, and the other
countries of the Indian Archipelago j but if the
reader expects to find in the literature of Java any
merit worthy the attention of the European scholar,
he will be utterly disappointed. He will discover
in it neither sublimity, pathos, tenderness,
nor humour, but, on the contrary, bombast, puerility,
or utter inanity, in literature, the very stammering
of infancy without its interest or amusement.
Javanese literature may be divided into lyrical
compositions, or songs ; romances founded on Hindu
legends ; romances founded on native story ;
histories of modern transactions j legal and ethical