It may be noted as to the modern pronunciation that whilst ordinary mortals (including among verse-writers Scott and Lockhart, Tennyson and Hood) accent the word as a dactyl (bālcŏny̆), the crême de la crême, if we are not mistaken, makes it, or did in the last generation make it, as Cowper does below, an amphibrach (bălcōny̆): "Xanthus his name with those of heavenly birth, But called Scamander by the sons of earth!" [According to the N.E.D. the present pronunciation, "which," said Sam. Rogers, "makes me sick," was established about 1825.]
c. 1348.—"E al continuo v'era pieno di belle donne a' balconi."—Giov. Villani, x. 132-4.
c. 1340-50.—
"Il figliuol di Latona avea già nove
Volte guardato dal balcon sovrano,
Per quella, ch'alcun tempo mosse
I suoi sospir, ed or gli altrui commove in vano."
Petrarca, Rime, Pte. i. Sonn. 35,
ed. Pisa, 1805.
c. 1340-50.—