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 Chapters on English metre, 
 
 3 1924 031 787 462 
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CHAPTERS 
 
 ON 
 
 ENGLISH METKE. 
 
loniron: c. J. clay and sons, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, 
 
 Ave Makia Lane. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO. 
 LEIPZIG: F. A. BROCKHAUS. 
 
CHAPTEBS ON 
 
 ENGLISH METRE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPH B.' MAYOR, M.A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 C. J. CLAY AND SONS, 
 
 CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE. 
 
 1886 
 
 [All Rights reserved.] 
 
VI PEEFACE. 
 
 ■will at once enable the reader to compare together all that is 
 said on any given subject. 
 
 There is another matter on which I should like to add a 
 word to what is stated in the text. Prof. H. Sidgwick, who 
 has most kindly looked over some of the proof-sheets, suggests, 
 in reference to the chapter on Metrical Metamorphosis, that 
 it would be well to make it more clear to the reader, that 
 it is not a mere verbal question, whether, for instance, a line 
 should be called an iambic with initial truncation or a trochaic 
 with final truncation; and asks me how I would propose to 
 answer "the real and interesting aesthetic question, whether 
 the type (i.e. the normal line) so far predominates in the 
 reader's mind, that he feels the particular line (which departs 
 from the normal line) rather as a variant than as a distinct 
 change of type." To this I would reply (1) that my chief 
 aim will be accomplished, if I can get my readers to observe 
 the different metrical effects of the lines which they read, 
 and to describe them in clear and definite terms, and that 
 this will not be interfered with, even though we should allow 
 of alternative expressions for the same fact ; (2) that a certain 
 number of variants have now become established, as it were, by 
 universal consent, such as the feminine iambic and truncated 
 trochaic ; (3) that when a question arises about the scansion of 
 a line which cannot be referred to any such recognized sub- 
 class, it is not ordinarily a matter of indifference which of two 
 possible explanations we shall adopt, but that we have first 
 to compare such a line with the other lines of the poem in 
 which it occurs, and see whether we can discover any similar 
 irregularities, as for instance in regard to Milton's use of the 
 double trochee (p. 40) ; and must reject any theory which will 
 not suit all such irregular lines; as in p. 87 it is shown, in 
 regard to Coleridge's variations of the 4-foot iambic, that the 
 trochaic explanation will not apply to the line 
 
 Is the night chilly and dark ; 
 
 (4) that, in cases where nothing can be absolutely decided from 
 a comparison of the rest of the poem or of other similar poems, 
 the choice between two possible explanations of a verse must 
 
PREFACE. VU 
 
 in the last resort rest with the educated taste of the reader. 
 It is not enough simply that the ear should be naturally sensi- 
 tive to the harmonies of sound ; the ear must have been 
 accustomed to the particular metre or rhythm, or it will not 
 be able to appreciate it rightly. No doubt it is possible that, 
 even so, differently constituted minds and ears may be dif- 
 ferently affected by the same break or change in the rhythm. 
 In such a case I should be inclined to say with Home Tooke 
 ' truth is what each men troweth ' ; the accurate explanation 
 will be that which accurately expresses each man's own feeling 
 of the rhythm of the line. 
 
 I have given my book the title of Chapters on Metre in 
 order to show that it makes no pretence to completeness. I have 
 not attempted to deal, otherwise than incidentally, either with the 
 aesthetic or the historic side of metrical investigation. I have 
 barely touched on such matters as alliteration and rhyme : I 
 have not ventured to pronounce an opinion as to the origin and 
 early history of our metres. What I have endeavoured to do is 
 to ascertain by a process of induction the more general laws of 
 our modern metre, and to test the results on a variety of in- 
 stances. I wish very much that some competent scholar would 
 take up that historical side of the question which I have left 
 untouched. To mention only one part of it, I do not know 
 where to find a really careful investigation of the growth of 
 accentual Latin verse. It would have been admirably done by 
 the ever-to-be-lamented Munro, if he had chosen to turn his 
 attention to it. I remember hearing long ago a paper read by 
 him before the Cambridge Philosophical Society, in which he 
 drew attention to the importance of the accent as colouring 
 the rhythm even of the quantitative verse of the Augustan age. 
 Thus he contrasted the rude sing-song of the soldiers at Caesar's 
 triumph, 
 
 Ecce Caesar nunc trmmphat qui srihegit Oallias, 
 
 where the verbal accent corresponds throughout with the stress 
 of the quantitative metre, and such a line as that of Virgil, 
 
 Itdliam fdto prdfugus Lavinia mnit, 
 where the poet studiously opposes the accent to the metre. 
 
"VUl PREFACE. 
 
 What may be the earliest specimen of pure accentual verse 
 in Latin I am unable to say. We are told by Christ (Metrik der 
 Griechen und R'diner, p. 402) that Ritschl considered the mill- 
 song of the Lesbian women (aXei, fivXa, aXei) to be an early 
 example of accentual metre in Greek. In Latin the Instructiones 
 of the barbarous Commodianus (flourished about the middle of 
 the third century) is usually named as the first specimen of 
 accentual verse, but his metre is almost as indifferent to accent 
 as it is to quantity. The example quoted by Dr Donaldson in 
 his Latin Grammar is a poem on two of the Diocletian martyrs 
 commencing 
 
 D&ae quaedam r^feruntiir ROmae natae findnae. 
 
 Whatever may be the date of the earliest existing specimen, 
 there can be no doubt that the feeling for quantity had long 
 before died out among all but the learned few, and that such 
 verses for instance as the irregular ^Phalaecians addressed to 
 Alexander Severus (Lamprid. c. 38) would be ordinarily read 
 as accentual iambics corresponding to the hendecasyllabic of 
 modern Italian, our own 5-foot feminine. 
 
 Pulchrum \ quod vi\des es\se 7ios\trum re\gem 
 Quern Sy\rum, te\tulit \ propa\go pul\chrum, 
 Vena\tus fa\cit et \ lepus | come\sus 
 Be quo | contin\u,um, \ capit \ lepo\rem. 
 
 Hence I am unable to place implicit confidence in the assertion 
 of Zarncke, that the origin of this metre cannot be traced 
 further back than the Romance poets'. 
 
 In conclusion I have to return my hearty thanks to Mr 
 A. J. Ellis for allowing me to make free use of various papers 
 on metre, to Dr Furnivall and Prof. Paul Meyer of Paris for 
 much helpful information, and to Mr Roby and Prof. Sidgwick 
 for valuable criticisms and suggestions. 
 
 1 ' Der funffussige Iambus, als ZehnsilbUr oder Bilfailbler erscheinend, ist nicht 
 Dom Alterthume ws uberliefert...Als selbststdndiger Rhythmm erscheint der Vers 
 nirgends (i.e. neither in Latin nor in Greek),' p. 3. See below Postscript, p. 197. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Introduction. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A scientific treatment of the subject of metre is possible and is desirable. 
 Scientific analysis must be kept apart from historical research and 
 aeathetieal criticism. Distinction between prose and verse. Use of 
 classical terms in reference to English metre defended. Scansion by 
 feet the basis of scientific analysis. Principles of metrical classifica- 
 tion. Questions which the metrist has to answer . . . 1 — 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Antiquarian A-priorism. 
 
 Dr Guest's metrical system is based on the assumption that our modern 
 verse should conform to the laws of Anglo-Saxon metre. His normal 
 iambic line, with its two sections and its fixed pauses, is not recognized 
 by our greatest poets, who place their stops where they like, and 
 substitute freely trochees, pyrrhics, spondees and trisyllabic feet for 
 the iamb. Dr Gaest's theory compels him to condemn what is 
 universally approved and approve what is universally condemned. 12 — 33 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Logical A-priorism. 
 
 Dr Abbott starts with the true normal line, but is slow to see how it is 
 modified and varied in the practice of the poets. Through his un- 
 willingness to admit that other feet can be substituted for the iamb 
 he is driven to disyUabize monosyllables, to lay stress on unaccented 
 syllables, and to allow of extra-metrical syllables in almost any part 
 of the line 34^46 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Mr H. Niool and Prof. Paul Meyer on the Old French decasyllabic metre. 
 
 46—48 
 
X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Aesthetic Intuitivism. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mr J. A. Symonds despairs of metrical analysis and would substitute an 
 aesthetic analysis in its place. His various inconsistencies. His 
 challenge to scan certain lines accepted ..... 49 — 56 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Natural or a-posteriori system. 
 
 Mr A. J. Ellis recognizes that the normal heroic line is rare in practice ; 
 that the number of syllables is often greater than ten, and the number 
 of accents generally less, but sometimes more, than five. The stress 
 denoted by the accent is not always the same. Illustrations from 
 Milton and Byron. For the purpose of full analysis Mr ElUs dis- 
 tinguishes nine degrees of force, length, pitch, weight, and silence, 
 giving altogether forty-five varieties of stress, and exemplifies these in 
 some verses of his own. Limit of variation from the normal weak- 
 strong (iambic) foot. Further illustrations from Milton. Criticisms 
 on Mr BUis' remarks, especially in reference to the limit of substitution 
 of other, feet for the iamb. Mr Masson finds pyrrhio, trochee, spondee, 
 anapaest, dactyl, tribrach, cretic, amphibrach, antibacchius in Milton. 
 His instances of the last four disputed. Mr Keightley on Milton's 
 obligations to Italian verse, especially as regards certain uses of the 
 trochee, and the hypermetric syllable at the caesura , . . . 57 — 80 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Metrical Metamorphosis. 
 
 Difficulty of determining the metre of separate lines apart from the poems 
 to which they belong. This arises partly from substitution of one 
 foot for another, partly from the addition of a hypermetrical syllable, 
 at the end in the case of iambic and anapaestic metres, at the 
 beginning in the case of trochaic and dactylic; partly from initial 
 truncation in iambic and anapaestic, and from final truncation in 
 trochaic and dactylic metres. More rarely we find examples of internal 
 truncation. It is owing to this principle of metamorphosis that four- 
 foot iambic and trochaic metres so readily pass into one another, and 
 that anapaestic lines are sometimes mistaken for amphibraohic. 
 Metres may also be disguised by an unmetrical division of the lines. 
 Symbols used for scansion 81 — 98 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Naming and classification of Metres. Illustrations from, Tennyson. 
 
 Examples of trochaic verses, truncated, complete, and hypermetrical, 
 varying in length from two to eight feet. Substitution of. iambs or 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 dactyls for trochees. How tlie different trochaic lines are combined in 
 poems. Iambic metres, truncated, complete, and hypermetrical, varying 
 in length from two to seven feet. Substitution of trochee, anapaest, 
 and dactyl for iamb. How the different iambic lines are combined in 
 poems. Anapaestic metres, truncated, complete, and hypermetrical, 
 varying in length from one foot to eight feet. Verses divided into 
 sections with occasional internal truncation. Substitution of iamb for 
 anapaest. How the different anapaestic lines are combined in poems. 
 Difficulty of distinguishing between truncated anapaestic and truncated 
 dactylic. Dactylic metres rare. Poems in mixed metres, regular or 
 irregular; e.g. trochaic and iambic, iambic and anapaestic, trochaic 
 and dactylic. Classical metres, hendecasyUabio and aloaio . . 99 — 123 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Naming and Classification of Metres. Illustrations from 
 the Hymn-hooh. 
 
 Explanation of the metrical terminology of the Hymn-book. Iambic 
 stanzas of four lines classed according to the length of the lines, with 
 special varieties noted. Iambic stanzas of more than four lines 
 similarly classed. Trochaic, dactylic, and anapaestic stanzas similarly 
 divided and classed. Mixed metres : iambic and trochaic, iambic and 
 dactylic, iambic and anapaestic, trochaic and dactylic, trochaic and 
 anapaestic. A riddle 121 — 134 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Blank Verse of Surrey and Marlowe. 
 
 Harshness of Surrey's rhythm. He freely admits a trochee or anapaest in 
 any foot, and has often two trochees or anapaests in succession. His 
 commonest pause is after the 4th syllable, but we also find a pause 
 after the Ist, 2nd, 3rd and 9th syllables, and he not unfrequently 
 omits either the middle or final pause or both. Pauses which divide 
 the feet have a harsh effect when the preceding syllable is accented- 
 Uses feminine ending, broken lines and Alexandrines. Gascoyne's 
 rule as to iambic metre. Marlowe more regular in accentuation 
 than Surrey. Sometimes begins with a monosyllabic foot. Unusual 
 pronunciation of proper names. Corrupt lines. He occasionally 
 disyllabizes monosyllables, especially those which contain an r or I. 
 Anapaests are common in any part of the line. Dactyls occur in the 
 1st and 4th feet. Trochees are common in the 1st foot, and in the 
 2nd and 3rd after a stop, but otherwise rarer than in Surrey. His 
 pauses are usually at the end of the line and after the 4th or 6th 
 syllable, but he also has the harsh dividing pause after an inverted 
 accent ............ 133 — 145 
 
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Shakespeare's Blank Verse. Macbeth. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 Syllabic variation of metre by way of defect, in fragmentary and defective 
 lines. Instances of the former in rapid dialogue, and also at the begin- 
 ning, middle, and end of longer speeches. The latter may be explained 
 by change of pronunciation, or by a significant pause, or by inten- 
 tional lengthening of a long syllable. Syllabic variation by way of 
 excess, in extra-metrical syllables at the end of the line or after the 
 caesura, or by superfluous syllables, sometimes elided or slurred, some- 
 times forming trisyllabic feet, or Alexandrine verses. Accentual 
 variation by substitution of pyrrhic, spondee or trochee. Mr Ellis re- 
 fuses to admit the Common Section, seeing no reason for completing 
 Shakespeare's short lines. He considers that the recognition of 
 the trisyllabic foot renders unnecessary the assumption of slurring, as 
 •weU as of an extra-metrical syllable in the middle of the line . 146 — 171 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SJiahespeare's Blank Verse. Hamlet. 
 
 Examples of pyrrhie, spondee and trochee in all parts of the line. Femi- 
 nine ending used more frequently in the less poetical passages. The 
 extra syllable is often a monosyllable. The admission of the tri- 
 syllabic foot will not account for all the oases of feminine caesura. 
 Anapaests are found in all the feet, dactyls rarely except in the first. 
 Doubt as to the existence of Alexandrines in Hamlet. Notes on 
 defective and fragmentary lines 172 — 183 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Modern Blank Verse. Tennyson and Browning. 
 
 Comparison of Mnton, Tennyson and Browning in regard to the position 
 of the pauses, the use of the feminine ending, and the substitution 
 of other feet for the iamb. A favourite rhythm of Tennyson's is that 
 in which the' ending of the words does not correspond with the ending 
 of the feet. Double trochee occurs occasionally in Tennyson and often 
 in Browning. Examples of trisyllabic feet, tribrach as well as 
 anapaest and dactyl. Peculiar effect of pause after inverted accent. 
 Appropriateness of rhythm to the thought. Unstopped lines. Other 
 examples of unusual rhythm. Excellences and defects of Browning's 
 rhythm 184—196 
 
 Postscript. 
 
 Abstract of Zarnoke's essay on the 5-foot iambus of Leasing and Schiller 
 
 197—202 
 
 Index 203—206 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 Inteoductoey. 
 
 There are persons to whom system generally is a bugbear, 
 and to whom systems of prosody are especially distasteful. 'The 
 object of rhythm and metre,' they argue, 'is to please the ear. 
 If they fail to do this, they fail of their object, and nothing 
 is gained by showing that they are conformable to certain rules 
 of grammarians. The final authority rests, not with the gram- 
 marian, but with those for whom the poet sings.' It may be 
 answered that, just in the same way, the primary object of 
 the musician and painter is to afford pleasure to the eye and 
 ear. If they fail in this, they too fail in their object. But 
 none will deny the importance of theory and rules in these 
 branches of art, both for training the artist in the means by 
 which he may attain his end, and for educating the hearer 
 and spectator to appreciate a higher and more refined order of 
 beauty. Or we might take our illustration not from an art, 
 but from a science, such as botany. The use of botany is to 
 enable us to describe in exact and definite terms the different 
 characteristics of plants, to arrange and classify all that is 
 known about them, and to reduce the various phenomena to 
 their simplest types and laws. So. the use of prosody is to 
 supply a technical language by which to describe each specimen 
 of verse brought before us ; to distinguish the different kinds of 
 verse, to establish a type of each, by reference to which 
 existing varieties may be compared, and finally to state the 
 laws of composition which have been observed by those whom 
 the world recognizes as poets. Then from this we may draw 
 practical rules of art for the poet or the reader. 
 
 M. M. 1 
 
2 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 No doubt, when the subject matter of the science or art is 
 one with which our affections are more or less intimately 
 connected, there is a natural shrinking from what may appear 
 to be a cold-blooded analysis of that which excites our admi- 
 ration or love. At best, we think we can gain nothing by 
 it. Like the speaker in ' Maud ' we are inclined to say 
 
 a learned man 
 May give it a clumsy name, 
 Let him name it who can. 
 Its beauty would be the same. 
 
 But we are moreover suspicious of any attempt to explain 
 how it is that a poet produces his results. We prefer to accept 
 the poem as a pure inspiration wakening up an answering 
 inspiration in our own minds. We regard the tise of analysis 
 as a perfidious attempt to rob us of inspiration and leave us 
 in its stead a studied expertaess in certain tricks of art. But 
 this is really a total misconception of what is aimed at in 
 metrical analysis. It only deals with the outer vesture of 
 poetry ; it teaches us to look more closely at this, to notice 
 its forms and colours and ornaments, just in the same way as 
 a very slight knowledge of botany enables us to observe the 
 distinguishing beauties of ferns or other plants. It may also go 
 on to show how the inner spirit of poetry reveals itself in 
 its outer vesture, how rhythm and metre correspond to varying 
 moods of feeling and so on, but it makes no pretence to explain 
 the creative inspiration of the poet ; on the contrary it enlarges 
 our idea of its operation and thus tends to enhance our admi- 
 ration and delight, just as the teaching of botany or drawing not 
 only quickens the eye for the external features of a landscape, 
 but vastly increases the imaginative and emotional enjoyment 
 of natural scenery. 
 
 Connected with this dislike to the application of scientific 
 terms and methods to poetry, as injurious to its spirit and feeling, 
 there is the dislike sometimes felt by persons of fine ear to 
 the mechanical process of scanning. Partly they despair of 
 explaining by rule, or representing by a scheme, the rich undu- 
 lation of sound of which the ear is cognizant. This is an objec- . 
 tion to which all science is liable. As Bacon says, " subtilitas 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 naturae subtilitatem argumentandi multis partibus superat." 
 And partly there is an aristocratic confidence in their own 
 poetic instinct, and a suspicion and contempt for knowledge 
 slowly gained by training and effort. Yet, we all know, science 
 the tortoise, quickly outstrips the hare, intuition. Singing by 
 ear is no match for singing from notes. Refined aesthetic 
 sense or tact may judge instinctively of the quality of this 
 or that verse, as melodious or the opposite, but this tact passes 
 away with the individual who possessed it. Science translates 
 quality into a quantitative scale ; rudely, it is true, at first ; 
 but each step gained is a gain for mankind at large, and forms 
 an ever new vantage-ground for the investigations of each 
 succeeding generation. 
 
 We may assume then that a scientific treatment of the 
 subject of metre is possible and is desirable. The next question 
 is, how far has this desirable end been already achieved ? 
 I shall endeavour to answer this in the following chapters by 
 a careful examination of the metrical systems which possess 
 the highest authority and are most in esteem at the present 
 day ; and in order to make my criticisms more generally in- 
 telligible, I shall commence with a brief sketch of what I hold 
 to be the natural or truly scientific system. 
 
 A subject like prosody lends itself to three different kinds of 
 treatment in consequence of its connexion Tvith history on the 
 one side and aesthetics on the other. One of the dangers which 
 the prosodian or metrist has to guard against is the mixing 
 up of these different methods of treatment. Thus Dr Guest 
 in his History of English Rhythms sets before himself as his 
 main object, to trace out the development of one rhythm or 
 metre from another, and to exhibit the varieties of rhythm 
 which characterize each poet and each period, a very interest- 
 ing and important branch of inquiry. But this simple inquiry 
 into matter of fact is rendered almost valueless by the arbitrary 
 assumption that the greater part of the development of English 
 metre has been illegitimate. The rule of verse laid down by 
 our Anglo-Saxon ancestors is treated as a rule of faith, binding 
 on their unfortunate successors to the end of time. No right 
 of private judgment is allowed either to poets or to readers. 
 
 1—2 
 
4 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Verses, however pleasing to the modern ear, are denied to 
 be metrical at all, or else twisted and mangled to suit the 
 usage of five centuries ago; just as a modern sentence might 
 be condemned as ungrammatical, because it could not be 
 explained on antiquarian views of syntax. A confusion of a 
 different kind is found in other metrical writers (of whom Mr 
 J. A. Symonds may be taken as an example), who deprecate any 
 attempt to name or count the feet in a verse, provided its 
 rhythm satisfies their ear and is in harmony with their idea 
 of the poet's feeling. No good can be done until we clear our- 
 selves of these confusions. The first thing which the metrist 
 should set himself to ascertain in regard to any verses submitted 
 to him is the existing tL, the actual phenomenon; what is 
 the normal line of the metre ? how does each particular verse 
 depart from this type ? Then he may go on to investigate 
 the iroiov, the melody and expressiveness of the verse, and the 
 means by which these qualities are attained. And lastly he 
 may investigate the TraJ?, observe how any particular metre 
 has come into existence, what metrical effects each poet has 
 borrowed from others, and what he has added for himself. 
 
 Treating the subject thus from the purely scientific side, 
 and deferring for the present all reference to historical or aesthe- 
 tical considerations, I start with the two fundamental questions. 
 What is the distinction between prose and verse? How are 
 the different kinds of verse to be classified ? 
 
 As regards the first, I suppose all would agree in saying 
 that, in English, verse differed from prose in regularity of 
 accentuation. Where the accent recurs in obedience to a 
 definite law, there we have verse. And the kinds of verse are 
 classified according to the intervals which separate the accents, 
 whether an interval of one syllable or of two syllables, and 
 according as the rhythm is ascending, i.e. passing from an 
 unaccented to an accented syllable, or descending, i.e. passing 
 from an accented to an unaccented syllable. We thus get the 
 four simplest kinds of metres, ascending disyllabic, descending 
 disyllabic, ascending trisyllabic, and descending trisyllabic : the 
 metres commonly known as iambic, trochaic, anapaestic, 
 dactylic. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 Here I am aware that I enter on debated ground. Mr A. J. 
 Ellis, in the course of his great work on English pronunciation, 
 proposes to consider what light is thrown upon the pronunciation 
 of Shakespeare's time by an examination of the rhymes, the 
 accents, and the number of syllables admitted in his verse. He 
 asserts that "the whole subject of English metres requires re- 
 investigation on the basis of accent." "The old names of measures 
 borrowed from Latin prosodists are entirely misleading, and 
 the routine scansion with the accent on alternate syllables is 
 known only to grammarians, having never been practised by 
 poets." 
 
 There are three points here for discussion : Are the classical 
 names to be given up? Is the routine scansion unknown to 
 poets ? Is it, in any case, of use in the interests of education 
 and science ? I cannot myself see that the use of the terms 
 'iambic,' etc., is misleading. No one imagines, that they imply 
 that English metre rests on a quantitative basis. The notion 
 of quantity altogether seems to me rather a puzzle to English 
 people ; they know what a long vowel is, but I doubt whether 
 they would recognize a long syllable such as ' strength ' where 
 the vowel was short. Again, it cannot be denied that there 
 is to the ear a strong resemblance between the rhythm of the 
 English accentual, and the Greek quantitative iambic and 
 trochaic, and it is certainly more convenient to speak of iambic 
 than of ascending disyllabic. The only other way in which 
 I could imagine the term misleading, would be if any one were 
 to suppose that the rules of the Greek metre were applicable 
 in the English ; but this is so easily corrected that it hardly 
 seems worth notice*. 
 
 As to the second point, whether the routine scansion has 
 
 ' I find that Mr Ellis objects to and that it is essential to our compre- 
 
 the Classical nomenclature, rather in hension of the classical metres to dis- 
 
 the interests of Classical, than of sociate their terminology from that 
 
 English metre. His remarks on the of modern metres which have nothing 
 
 above passage are as follows. "It in common with them. " For a fuller 
 
 seems to me that the use of the clas- discussion he refers to his Practical 
 
 sical names has arisen from our not Hints on the Quantitative Fronuncia- 
 
 understanding them, that is, not having tion of Latin. 
 the feeling for what they expressed, 
 
O ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 ever been known to poets, i.e. whether poets have ever kept 
 strictly to the metre in their practice, it surely cannot be 
 denied that some- of our poets, (Chaucer among them) have 
 in some respects approached the routine scansion ; but I am not 
 concerned here either to maintain or to deny that they have 
 done so. What I would affirm is that it is impossible for the 
 routine scansion to die out as long as there are children and 
 common people, and poetry which commends itself to them. 
 And I would also venture to say that it ought not to die out as 
 long as there are scientific men who will endeavour to bring 
 clearness and precision into our notions about poetry as about 
 other things. Routine scansion is the natural form of poetry 
 to a child, as natural to it as the love of sweet things or bright 
 I colours : it is only through the routine scansion that its ear 
 can be educated to appreciate in time a more varied and com- 
 plex rhythm. No one who knows children can doubt this. 
 If example is wanted, it may be found in Ruskin's Praeterita, 
 p. 55, where the author speaks of a prolonged struggle between 
 his childish self and his mother " concerning the accent of the 
 " of in the lines 
 
 Shall any following spring revive 
 The ashes of the urn? 
 
 "I insisting partly in childish obstinacy, and partly in true 
 " instinct for rhythm (being wholly careless on the subject both 
 " of urns and their contents) on reciting it with an accented of. 
 " It was not till after three weeks' labour that my mother got the 
 " accent lightened on the of and laid on the ashes, to her mind." 
 But any parent may test it for himself in children who have 
 a taste for poetry. Whatever effort may be made to teach 
 them to observe the true verbal accents and the stops, and 
 attend to the meaning and logic of the line, they will insist 
 on singing it to a chant of their own, disregarding everything 
 but the metrical accent, and are made quite unhappy if com- 
 pelled to say or read it like prose. And, after all, is this 
 not the right sense of the firjviv deiSe, and ' arma cano,'1 is 
 it not the fact that the earliest recitation of poetry was really 
 what we should consider a childish sing-song ? This becomes 
 still more probable when we remember that music and dancing 
 
INTRODUCTOEY. 7 
 
 were frequent accompaniments of the earliest kinds of poetry, 
 the effect of which would undoubtedly be to emphasize and 
 regulate the beats or accents of the line ; just as in church- 
 singing now the verbal accent is ignored, if it is opposed to 
 the general rhythmical character of the verse. 
 
 But independently of the natural instinct of children to 
 scan, it seems to me that we need the division of the line into 
 metrical feet as the simple basis of all description and compari- 
 son of metres. The foot is the unit which by repetition consti- 
 tutes the line ; the syllable is a mere fraction, and no index to 
 the metre. On the other hand, to assume a larger unit, such as 
 Dr Guest's section spoken of in the next chapter, or the double 
 foot, the ixerpov, implied by the terms trimeter and tetrameter, 
 is contrary to the feeling of English verse, and the latter is 
 altogether unsuitable for the description of our heroic metre, 
 which in its simplest form has five equal beats, and in no way 
 suggests two wholes and a half As regards the name 'foot,' for 
 which Mr Ellis would substitute 'measure,' it seems to me a 
 matter of little importance; 'measure' no doubt expresses its 
 meaning more clearly than the metaphorical 'foot,' but the 
 latter is in possession, while the former is generally understood 
 in a wider and more abstract sense. 
 
 I am in favour then of the scanning by feet, on the ground 
 that it is both natural and necessary, and also that it is scientific. 
 I should further urge it in the interests of practical education. 
 One good effect of the old plan of making all boys write Latin 
 verses was to give men some idea of versification and rhythm, 
 which women seldom have, unless gifted with specially good 
 ears. It is probable that in time to come Latin verse writing 
 will be less and less required, and it is at all events desirable 
 that a purely English education should enable people to enter 
 into and appreciate the beauties of English verse. For this 
 purpose, boys and girls should be practised in observing how 
 the mechanical pendulum swing of scansion is developed into 
 the magnificent harmonies of Milton; they should be taught 
 to notice and explain the difference in rhythm of Dryden 
 and Pope, of Cowper and Wordsworth, of Keats and Shelley 
 and Tennyson and Browning. 
 
8 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Having thus stated how far I disagree with what I believe 
 to be Mr Ellis's meaning, I will state where I should go along 
 with him. I altogether object to putting a poet into the bed of 
 Procrustes. If the foundation of Milton's verse is, as I believe, 
 the regular five-foot iambic, yet it seems to me absurd to say 
 that we must therefore expect to find five regular iambics in 
 every line. Again, I can sympathize with Mr Ellis in his 
 objection to the classicists who would force upon us such terms 
 as choriambic and proceleusmatic to explain the rhythm of 
 Milton. I do not deny that the effect of his rhythm might 
 sometimes be represented by such terms; but if we really 
 imagine that by their use we shall be able to explain the music 
 of his poetry, we are attempting an impossibility, to express in 
 technical language the infinite variety of measured sound which 
 a genius like Milton could draw out of the little five-stringed 
 instrument on which he chose to play. 
 
 Returning now to our simplest genera, the disyllabic and 
 trisyllabic ascending and descending metres, how are we to 
 classify the varieties of these ? First we have the unmixed 
 species of each differing in the number of feet alone ; and of 
 these we have two subspecies, one in which the normal line 
 consists of so many perfect feet and nothing more, the other 
 where the law of the metre requires either the addition or the 
 omission of a short unaccented syllable at the beginning or 
 the end of the line. Of addition we have an example in what 
 is called the 'anacrusis' (back stroke), what Dr Abbott has 
 called the 'catch,' a name given to an unaccented hyper- 
 metrical syllable preceding the first foot of the line, as in 
 the old Latin Saturnian or its English equivalent the six-foot 
 trochaic, 
 
 iThe I Queen was | in her | parlour | eating | bread and | honey |; 
 and again in the so-called feminine ending, by which is meant 
 
 ' This might be otherwise explained serve for illustration. Other examples 
 
 as made up of a three-foot iambic line of anacrusis wiU be found in the 
 
 with feminine ending, followed by a chapter on Classification of Metres 
 
 three-foot trochaic. However, it may under the head Trochaic. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 9 
 
 an unaccented hj^ermetrical syllable following the last foot of 
 the line, as in 
 
 Let's dry | our eyes | and thus | far hear | me Crom|welL 
 
 The omission of short syllables at the beginning or end of a 
 line is known as 'truncation.' It occurs most frequently in 
 trisyllabic metres. Thus in 
 
 Slow|ly and sad|ly we laid | him down|, 
 
 the first anapaest is represented by a monosyllable; and in like 
 manner in 
 
 Merrily | merrily | shall I live | now] 
 
 the last dactyl is represented by a monosyllable. 
 
 Then we have the mixed species, in which the law of the 
 verse requires (not merely permits) the mixture either of the 
 ascending and descending, or of the disyllabic and trisyllabic 
 metres. 
 
 In the chapter on the metres of Tennyson I have endeavoured 
 to arrange all the varieties of his verse under the above heads; 
 I will here only add a word as to the means by which one 
 particular kind of iambic verse, the heroic, is varied. The 
 normal rhythm is most clearly seen where the accents are 
 perfectly regular in number and in position, where the end 
 of each foot coincides with the end of a word, and the end of 
 the line coincides with a pause in the sense, especially if there 
 is no clashing between the length of the syllable and the 
 position of the accent. Such a normal line is 
 
 And swims | or sinks | or wades | or creeps | or flies |. 
 
 Of course a series of such lines would be intolerably monotonous 
 to all who have passed out of the stage in which sugar is the 
 most exquisite of tastes, and the most beautiful of faces that 
 which presents the sharpest contrast of red and white. It was 
 to avoid such monotony that the rule of the caesura was intro- 
 duced in Greek and Latin verse ; that we find great masters of 
 rhythm, such as Virgil and Milton, so careful to vary the position 
 of their stops; that the accents are multiplied, diminished, or 
 
10 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 inverted, and the number of syllables lessened or increased. 
 Later on I propose to discuss the limits of such variation. 
 
 The business then of the metrist in regard to any set of 
 verses submitted to him is, first,' to ascertain the general type of 
 the verse, five-foot iambic, or whatever it may be, and further to 
 state whether it is metrically complete, or incomplete, owing to 
 final or initial truncation, or more than complete, owing to 
 anacrusis or feminine ending ; in technical language, whether 
 it is acatalectic, catalectic, or hypercatalectic. He has then to 
 point out in each particular line, how far there has been a 
 departure from this general type in respect to the position of 
 the accents or the number of syllables, as by the substitution of 
 a trochee or an anapaest for an iamb, or, say, by the insertion 
 of an extra-metrical syllable in the middle of the line. He has 
 to notice the continuity or discontinuity of the rhythm as 
 determined by grammatical stops or other pauses; and the 
 smoothness or roughness of the rhythm as determined not only 
 by the smoothness or roughness of the separate syllables, the 
 crowding of consonants and so on, but by the relation of the long 
 and short syllables to the normal metrical accents, the grouping 
 of syllables into words, or phrases equivalent to a word, and 
 the division of the words into feet. He has also to notice 
 any special artifices employed by the poet to give harmony 
 to his verses, such as alliteration and rhyme. Lastly, in 
 reading the poem, the metrist has to pay due regard to the 
 rhetorical importance of each word or phrase without allowing 
 this to obscure the more properly metrical effects above de- 
 scribed. It may be well to illustrate my meaning, so far as it 
 can be done at this stage of our analysis, by examining the 
 following line of Marlowe's, 
 
 See where | Christ's blood | streams in | the fir|mament|. 
 
 This is a five-foot iambic with trochaic substitution in the 1st 
 and 3rd feet, and spondaic substitution in the 2nd. There is a 
 rhythmical pause after the 1st, 4th, and 5th syllables, and 
 strong rhetorical emphasis is laid on the 3rd and 5th syllables, 
 Christ's and streams, which are also very long and connected by 
 alliteration. In compensation the 6th and 7th syllables are 
 
INTEODUCTORT. 11 
 
 as short and weak as possible, and form one phrase with the 
 last word. 
 
 Having thus briefly stated what are ray own views on the 
 subject of metre, I shall proceed in the chapters which follow to 
 examine the metrical systems of others, especially those of Dr 
 Guest and Dr Abbott. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIORISM. 
 Dr Guest on English Metee. 
 
 Dr Guest's learned work on the History of English Rhythms 
 was published in 1838. Though the book had become very- 
 scarce, it was not reprinted during the author's lifetime; and 
 it is therefore uncertain how far it can be considered to repre- 
 sent his final view on the subject on which it treats. Since his 
 death a new edition has appear iiii(i.n the year 1882) under 
 the very competent supervisionll mihe Cambridge Professor of 
 Anglo-Saxon, who has made xflseny corrections in detail, but 
 who probably did not feel hinlself at liberty to do what, I 
 think, was required, and recast it throughout. If the book 
 was to be reprinted, and no doubt it possesses permanent value 
 in its copious illustrations, it appears to me that it would have 
 been better to throw it into two separate treatises, one on the 
 history of the Early-English Language and Literature, and 
 the other on the history of English Metre down to the 16th 
 century, omitting altogether the reference to later metres. I 
 will not take upon me to say that, even as to our earlier 
 metres, Dr Guefet would always have been a trustworthy guide. 
 I observe that in many instances his scanning of Anglo-Saxon 
 or Early-English metres is objected to by Professor Skeat, 
 and Dr Guest himself owns (p. 525) that he is unable to under- 
 stand the nature of Chaucer's versification, as to which the 
 editor says in a note ' thanks to the patient researches of Pro- 
 fessor Child and Mr Ellis and the grammatical rules of Dr 
 Morris, the scan.sion of Chaucer is now a tolerably easy matter.' 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PEIOEISM. 13 
 
 My object, however, in these chapters, is not to trace the 
 historical development of English metres from their first be- 
 ginning, but to ascertain the laws of versification which have 
 been observed by the English poets generally during the last 
 three hundred years, and to lay down a simple and natural 
 system of scansion. It is from this point of view that I find 
 Dr Guest's book so entirely misleading and unsatisfactory ; and 
 as it comes out now under the apparent sanction of one of our 
 chief authorities, and is also referred to in the Cambridge 
 Shakespeare (vol. i. p. xvii.) as the best guide to the under- 
 standing of Shakespearian versification, I feel bound to state 
 plainly my reasons against it. I shall therefore endeavour to 
 show that the system there laid down is not only most per- 
 plexing for the ordinary reader, but that it insists on a rule 
 which has been obsolete for centuries, that it condemns, as 
 unrhythmical, verses which, I will venture to say, the great 
 majority of educated men pnd perfectly satisfying to their 
 ear, that it approves what t^^ them appears mere discord, and 
 throws together lines reg^'Wnd irregular, possible and im- 
 possible, in- the most bewilC^xi^K' confusion'. 
 
 Dr Guest holds that ou. tfliodern English metres should 
 conform in the main to the ruks' of the Anglo-Saxon verse ; his 
 account of which may be thus summariaed. "Our Anglo- 
 Saxon poems consist of certain sections bound together in 
 pairs by alliteration. The pure elementary section cannot 
 have more than three, or less than two, accents. Each couple 
 of adjacent accents must be separated by not more than two 
 unaccented syllables; but two accents may come together, if 
 the place of the intervening syllable is supplied by a pause, 
 
 1 The view stated in the text is dann natiirlieh ganz falsche Sohliisse. 
 
 shared by Dr Sohipper {Englisclie Eine weitere Folge davon ist, dass es 
 
 Metrik p. 2): "Dr Guest macht die so verworren angelegt uud dvuohge- 
 
 alteste Form englisoher Poesie, nam- ftthrt ist, dass man sioh nur mit grosser 
 
 lioh die alliterierende LangzeHe, oder Miihe, selbst wenn man von seinem 
 
 vielmehr die rhythmische Section der- Gedankengange sioh leiten lasst, hin- 
 
 selben, zur Basis auoh der spateren durchfinden kann, und so ist derm 
 
 unter ganz anderen Einfliissen sioh das Werk, trotz der grossen FuUe von 
 
 entwiokelnden englisohen Verskunst Material, die es bietet, als ganzlich ver- 
 
 und zieht aus dieser Voraussetzung altetnndunbrauohbarzu bezeichnen.'' 
 
14 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 called the sectional pause. When the accent is separated by 
 one syllable, the rhythm is called common measure; when by 
 two, triple measure. A section may begin (and similarly it 
 may end) with an accented syllable or with not more than 
 two unaccented syllables. There are three pauses which serve 
 for the regulation of the rhythm, final, middle and sectional. 
 The two former are necessary and essential, the third is ex- 
 ceptional. The final pause occurs at the end of a verse, the 
 middle pause divides it into two sections, the sectional pause 
 is found in the middle of one of these sections. As a general 
 rule we may lay it down that the final and middle pauses ought 
 always to coincide with the close of a sentence or clause. We 
 never meet with a grammatical stop in the middle of a sec- 
 tion. The sectional pause seems to have been only used before 
 words on which it was intended to throw a powerful emphasis " 
 pp. 144—161. 
 
 I proceed to test this doctrine of the sections, and I will 
 begin first with the final pause. | Is this observed by our best 
 poets? Dr Guest himself confc^^s that it is not (p. 145). 
 " There never was a greater vil^jion of those first principles, 
 " on which all rhythm must dejpeTd, than placing the final pause 
 " in the middle of a word. IZfeo of this gross fault Milton has 
 " been guilty more than once.",' And he cites P. L. 10. 580 as an 
 example, 
 
 Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide- 
 Encroaching Eve perhaps, had first the rule 
 Of high Olympus. 
 
 "Another serious fault is committed when the final pause 
 separates a qualifying word from the word qualified, e.g. 
 
 And God created the great whales, and each 
 Soul Hving, each that crept. P. L. 7. 391. 
 
 To judgment he proceeded on the accursed 
 Serpent, though brute. P. L. 10. 163. 
 
 " Or when it separates the preposition from the words governed 
 by it, or the personal pronoun from the governing verb, as : 
 
 Read o'er this, 
 And after this, and then to breakfast loith 
 What appetite you have. H. VIII. 3. 2. 201. 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIORISM. 15 
 
 Let it suffice thee that thou know'st 
 Us happy, and without love no happiness.'' P. L. 8. 620. 
 
 This "serious fault," it may be observed, is one to which 
 Shakespeare became more and more prone in his later years. 
 In the earliest plays the sense very commonly closes at the end 
 of the line ; in the later his structure is more broken, and his 
 lines frequently close with unaccented syllables connected in 
 sense with what follows. 
 
 As to the rule that the end of the verse, the ' final pause,' 
 shall always coincide with the end of a sentence or clause, I find 
 on looking through the first fifty lines of the P. L., that, in 
 Pickering's edition, 34 out of the whole number have no final 
 stop, while 10 close with a comma, and only 6 with a more im- 
 portant stop. So again as regards the rule of the ' middle pause.' 
 Put in more familiar language, this means that there should 
 be a stop, or at all events a break in the line, at the end of the 
 second or third foot, or in th ( middle of the third or fourth. 
 This is at any rate a rule . Vof observance ; if it is really 
 essential to the rhythm, tlr \ po excuse to be made for the 
 poet who neglects it. Ant . ' fn fact Dr Guest feels. He 
 quotes (p. 149) with reprobaS,^- "e lines 
 
 Unbrid|led senlsu^^^ioiJ begat | . 
 
 Thy an|ger un|app6^ -^hle | still ra|ges. 
 
 And in p. 185, after granting tly'^^ " the adoption of foreign 
 metre brought into our language \fflany verses which neither 
 had, nor were intended to have, the middle pause," he goes on 
 to say that "our poetry quickly worked itself free from such 
 admixture," and therefore, " when we meet (four-accent) verses 
 " such as the following : 
 
 Guiding | the fi|ery-wheel|ed throne | , 
 The cherjub Con|templa|tion | , 
 
 " I do not see how we can treat them otherwise than as false 
 " rhythm ; or, if the middle pause be disowned, at least require 
 "that they should not intrude among verses of a different 
 "character and origin. If the poet make no account of the 
 " pause, let him be consistent and reject its aid altogether. If 
 " he prefer the rhythm of the foreigner, let him show his in- 
 
16 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 "genuity in a correct imitation, and not fall back upon our 
 " English verse when his skill is exhausted. Both foreign and 
 " English rhythms are injured by being jumbled together in this 
 " slovenly and inartificial manner." Again, in p. 560, speaking 
 of Milton's use of the heroic verse, it is said, " He varied the 
 " flow of the rhythm and lengthened the sections ; these were 
 "legitimate alterations; he split the sections and overlaid the 
 "pauses, and the law of his metre was broken, the science of bis 
 " versification gone." 
 
 It may be worth while to add a few more examples of the 
 non-observance of this middle pause, by way of showing how 
 little it has been regarded by our best poets, and how far it is 
 from being essential to the beauty of the rhythm. Thus in 
 Ben Jonson's famous lines we have 
 
 That makes | simpli|city | a grace | . 
 Than all | the adul teries | of art | . 
 
 I should have added Milton's lin 
 
 And ev|er algaiPipS [.ting cares ] 
 
 but I observe that Dr Gues; 
 against (p. 101). It is at 
 
 Jaarks it as having a pause after 
 fy rate an instance in point, as 
 showing that Milton did notf",hink himself bound to break the 
 sense in the middle, any / ore than at the end of the line. 
 In the first fifty lines oft.P. L., I find that 22 are printed 
 without a stop in the central portion of the line, embracing 
 all the syllables; at which the middle pause might occur. In 
 the first fifty Ijlnes of Pope's Essay on Man, there are 23 
 lines, and in Tennyson's Morte d' Arthur 26 out of 50, with- 
 out a central stop. I do not mean to say that in all these 
 lines there should be precisely the same pause after each of 
 the central syllables or words, but there are many of them in 
 which the poet seems to have aimed at a uniform unbroken 
 rhythm, perhaps by way of contrast to the broken rhythm of 
 preceding lines. 
 Such are : 
 
 I may assert eternal Providence, 
 
 And justify the ways of God to man. P. L. 1. 25. 
 
ANTIQUAEIAN A-PRIORISM. 17 
 
 Or ask of yonder argent fields above. Pope, Ess. i 41. 
 
 A little thing may harm a wounded man. 
 
 Rose up from out the bosom of the lake. Morte d' Arthur. 
 
 So much for the rule that there must be a stop in the 
 middle, and at the end, of a line. I now proceed to consider the 
 converse rule, that there must be no sectional stop, i.e. no stop 
 except at the middle and the end. Here too Dr Guest has to 
 confess that the practice of the poets is against him. " A very 
 favourite stop with Shakespeare was the one before the last 
 accented syllable of the verse. Under his sanction it has become 
 familiar, though opposed to every principle of accentual rhythm." 
 Among the examples quoted of this objectionable rhythm is one 
 certainly of the most exquisite lines in the English language. 
 
 Loud, as from numbers without number, sweet 
 As from blest voices uttering joy. P. L. 3. 345. 
 
 Even the correct Pope sins in the same fashion, e.g. 
 
 And, to their proper operation, still 
 
 Ascribe all good, to their improper, iU. Essq '^8. 
 
 Force first made conquest, and that conques/ ^45. 
 
 And Dry den in Ahs. and Ach. 
 
 Thee, Saviour, thee the nation's vows ooi. 
 And, never satisfied with blessing, bless. 
 
 and Tennyson in the Gardener's Daughter, 
 
 Divided in a graceful quiet, paused. 
 
 And dropt the branch she held, and turning, wound i 
 
 Her looser hair in braid. \ 
 
 \ 
 Dr Guest, in spite of his theory, does not seem to objecl 
 
 much to the stop foUowin-'v the 8th syllable of the heroic line, as 
 in Milton P. i. 1. J'" /^ 
 
 '■~:;-;i,hill 
 
 Delight;'-; ""^^-i-.^,,,.^,^ ^....^_. 
 
 Fast bV' let with only partial 
 
 Invoke \ "th this what is said in 
 
 Nor to the stA- 'come apparent as we 
 
 2nd syllable, as in \ .OijQ Dryden differed from 
 
 Say first, o\ ^^, f^t /^ counted the lengthen- 
 
 What can w\ ^ ^ ^^ ^jadmitted three syllable^ 
 
 M. M. \ 2 — 2 
 
18 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 But he speaks of the stop after an accented first syllable, 
 or an unaccented second, following an accented first syllable, as 
 being alike inadmissible. 
 
 Of the former we have not only the magnificent examples 
 in Milton ; 
 
 Death his dart 
 Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked. P. L. 11. 491. 
 
 Grasping ten thousand thunders, which he sent 
 Before him, such as in their souls infused 
 Plagues ; P. L. 6. 830. 
 
 but even in Pope it is not uncommon, e.g. 
 
 Know, nature's children all divide her care. Essay, m 43. 
 Where, but among the heroes and the wise? Essay, iv 218. 
 
 Of the latter Milton makes a scarcely inferior use in the 
 lines 
 
 And now his heart 
 Distends with pride, and, hardening in his strength 
 Glories. P. L. 1. 571. 
 
 On Lemnos, th' Aegean isle: thus they relate 
 Erring: P. L. 1. 746. 
 
 but Pope too admits this stop without scruple, provided the 
 pause is not so great as to complete the sense. 
 
 Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair. 
 
 List under reason and deserve her care. Essay, ll 96 
 
 In showing what Draconian justice Dr Guest deals out to 
 
 the poets who offend against his a priori rules, I do not mean 
 
 i^ to deny that, in general, a more pleasing rhythm is obtained by 
 
 ) a pause in the middle or at the end of a verse, than by one 
 
 immediately after the first or before the last syllable ; but the 
 
 very fact that such a rhythm is usually avoided makes it all the 
 
 more effective, when the^waadi^us isolated is felt to be weighty 
 
 rs^ffiichJk^^ybex' seems P°siti°°'^s ^^ the examples from Milton. 
 
 rhythm, 'pe?fe,ps by w^*^^ is justified in the lines which follow, 
 
 preceding lines. irne's Marino Faliero : 
 
 Such are : 
 
 dest humHeness of heart 
 I may assert eter^^^^^ ^^<j ^elf-subdued 
 And justify the w^^g ^^^^^ j^and had borne such part. 
 
ANTIQUAEUN A-PBIORISM. 19 
 
 p. 18, 
 
 It does not please thee then, if silence have 
 Speech, and if thine speak true, to hear me praise 
 Bertuccio? Has my boy deserved of thee 
 lU? 
 
 p. 98, 
 
 How these knaves, 
 Whose life is service or rebellion, fear 
 Death ! and a child high-born would shame them. 
 
 If 
 Death seems so gracious in a great man's eyes. 
 Die, my Lord : 
 
 p. 117, 
 
 Let there be night, and there was night — who says 
 
 That? 
 
 Nor now, nor then, nor ever now need that 
 
 Be. 
 
 Dr Guest continues (p. 156) " our poets sometimes place 
 a stop after the third syllable, but never I think happily." A« 
 an instance he quotes 
 
 What in me is dark 
 Illumine, what is low raise and support. P. L. 1. 22. 
 
 Milton has this three times in his first ten lines, and even 
 Pope has it four times in ten lines {Essay, i 66 — 74). It is also 
 common with Tennyson. 
 
 I have thought it worth while to add these instances from 
 Pope, because Dr Guest is accustomed to refer to him as a model 
 of correct versification. Thus he ends his chapter on the stops 
 with the words " When we see how nearly the freedom of 
 " our elder poets approached to license, we may appreciate, in 
 "some measure the obligations we are under to the school of 
 " Pope and Dryden. The attempts to revive the abuses, which 
 "they reformed, have happily, as yet, met with only partial 
 "success" (p. 157). We may compare with this what is said in 
 p. 529, the meaning of which will become apparent as we 
 proceed : "The rhythm of Pope and Dryden differed from 
 " Milton's in three particulars. It always counted the lengthen- 
 " ing syllable of the first section ; it admitted three syllable* 
 
 2—2 
 
20 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 "only in the second foot of the abrupt section; and it rejected 
 '• the sectional pause." Milton's practice is stated just before, 
 " he did not always count the lengthening syllable of the first 
 " section. An abrupt section was furnished with a foot of three 
 " syllables — the first section always, the second in all cases but 
 "those in which the first section had a lengthening syllable 
 "which was counted in the verse. The pausing section 7 p. 
 "was sometimes admitted as his first section, and is some- 
 " times found lengthened." [The Cimmerian darkness of the 
 last sentence had better be cleared up at once; the rest will 
 explain itself as we go on. By 'pausing section' Dr Guest 
 means a section in whicli a pause takes the place of an un- 
 accented syllable. His 'section 7' is of the form bAbAbbA 
 (A standing for accented, b for unaccented syllables); '7 p.' 
 means that the second unaccented syllable is represented by a 
 pause (giving the form bA-AbbA), as in Milton P. L. 1. 253, 
 which Dr Guest scans 
 
 A mind | not | to be changed | : by place | or time | 
 
 the pause after mind, together with the monosyllable not, repre- 
 senting the 2nd foot. 
 
 A pausing section is lengthened when an unaccented syllable 
 is added at the end, as in P. L. 10. 71. 
 
 On earth | these \ thy transgres|sor« : hut \ thou knowst | 
 
 According to Dr Guest's system the monosyllables these and 
 but, with the preceding pauses, stand for the 2nd and 4th feet ; 
 and the last syllable of transgressors is superfluous, a feminine 
 ending of the first section.] 
 
 In p. 531 other faults of Milton's verse are pointed out. 
 " The verbal accent is often disregarded and the same word 
 "variously accented even within the compass of a few lines." 
 " Milton's passion for variety too often endangers his metre. 
 " Not only do his pauses" (i.e. the places where Dr Guest thinks 
 there ought to be pauses, at the middle and end of the line) 
 "divide portions of the sentence, most intimately connected 
 " together, but frequently we have periods ending in the midst 
 "of a section, and sometimes immediately after the first, or 
 "before the last syllable of the verse." If beauty is thus 
 
ANTIQUAKIAN A-PEIORISM. 21 
 
 procured, " it is a beauty beyond the reach of Milton's metre, 
 "a beauty therefore which he had no right to meddle with. 
 " Versification ceases to be a science, if its laws may be thus 
 "lightly broken." 
 
 We have already found that, in regard to the position of 
 stops, even our least adventurous poets have asserted the right, 
 which Dr Guest would deny them, of breaking the sense at 
 any point in the line. We proceed to examine the other alleged 
 divergences between the metres of Milton and Pope. The 
 former, it is said, did " not always count the lengthening syllable 
 of the first section." By this it is meant that Milton, as he 
 occasionally introduces a feminine ending of the line, e.g. 
 
 That durst | dislike | his reign | and me | prefer|ring, 
 
 SO he admits a superfluous syllable after the section or half-line. 
 I have no wish to deny that lines may be found even in our 
 latest poets, which are evidently composed of two sections, and 
 in which the first and last foot of either section are allowed all 
 the privileges of the first and last foot of the line. Such lines 
 are Tennyson's long trochaics treated of in another chapter. 
 Whether Milton ever regarded his heroic verse as made up of 
 two sections may be doubted. Shakespeare was, I think, so far 
 conscious of the section, as occasionally to make it a pretext for 
 introducing an extra syllable. Mr A. J. Ellis does not grant even 
 this. He considers that all cases which have been explained 
 on this principle, are really examples of trisyllabic feet. And 
 no doubt, such an explanation is possible in by far the largest 
 number of instances. The question is really complicated with 
 two others, in which I think Dr Guest takes an erroneous view. 
 He regards it, not as a rare exception (such as we find in 
 Chaucer) but as a recognized and established variety of the 
 heroic line for a single accented syllable to take the place of 
 the iambic foot at the beginning of a section, or after what he 
 calls the 'sectional pause.' To a section which thus commences 
 with an accent he gives the name of the 'abrupt section'; and 
 he thinks that it makes no difference to the regularity and 
 correctness of the verse, whether this first accent is separated 
 from the second by one unaccented syllable or by two. The/ 
 
22 ON ENGLISH METKE. 
 
 other question is as to the admissibility of trisyllabic feet. 
 As Dr Guest distinctly recognizes the 'triple measure,' one 
 would have thought there could have been no doubt on this 
 subject, but it would seem from several passages that, except 
 in what he caUs the tumbling metre, he would desire to 
 confine it to his abrupt section. If he is forced to admit its 
 use elsewhere, he indemnifies himself by denouncing it as licen- 
 tious; but in general he seeks to explain away such examples 
 on the principle of elision. Thus in p. 37 he supposes believe, 
 betray, belike, to lose their first syllable in the lines 
 
 Let pi|ty not | be belie\ved there | she shook | Lear, 4. 3. 31. 
 
 To betray | the head|y hus|bands rob | the ea|sy 
 
 B. Jons. Cat. 3. 3. 
 
 O belike \ his inaj|esty | hath some | intent | B. III. 1. 1. 49. 
 
 Instances of two vowels compressed into one are given in 
 p. 41. 
 
 Knowing who | I am | as I | know who | thou art | P. iJ. 1. 355. 
 
 "Kaii flying \ behoves | him now | both oar | and sail | 
 
 P. L. 2. 941. 
 
 Of riot I ascends | above | their loft|iest tow'rs | P. L. 1. 498. 
 
 Without I mediator whose | high offijce now | P. L. 12. 239. 
 
 Instances of short vowel elided before m, in p. 47. 
 
 Legit\imate Ed|gar I | must have | your land | Lear, 1. 2. 15. 
 His mind | so ven\omously \ that bum|ing shame | Lea/r, 4. 3. 47. 
 
 before ng p. 52. 
 
 With telling ] me of | the moldlwarp and | the ant | 
 
 1 H. IV. 3. 1. 148. 
 
 This oath | I willingly take | and will | perform | 
 
 3 H. YI. 1. 1. 201. 
 
 before ^ or r pp. 55, 57. 
 
 A third | more o'p\'d&ni than | your sis|ters? Speak | Lear, 1. 1. 87. 
 
 Will but I remember \ me what | a deal | of world | R. II. 1. 3. 268. 
 
 Other examples of elision are 
 
 Her dd\icate cheek | it seemed | she was | a queen | Lear, 4. 3. 13, 
 
ANTIQUAEIAN A-PRIOEISM. 23 
 
 Needs must | the ser|pent now | his cap\ital bruise | P. L. 12. 383. 
 Your hor\rihle plea|sure here | I stand | your slave | Lear, 3. 2. 18. 
 
 Of the last line it is said (p. 63), "It is clear that horrible is 
 a disyllable but whether it should be pronounced horr'ble or 
 horrihV may be doubted : the latter is perhaps the safer." 
 
 Recourse is also had to ' synalcepha', as in the following: 
 
 'Pas|sion and ap|athy: and glo\ry and shame | P. L. 2. 564. 
 Anlguish and doubt | and fear|: and sor\row and pain | P.L. 1. 558. 
 No ungrate\ful food| : and food | alike | those pure | P. L. 5. 407. 
 
 The three following were quoted by Tyrwhitt to show that 
 the heroic verse admitted three syllables in any one of the first 
 three feet. 
 
 Ominom | oonjec|ture on | the whole | success | P. L. 2. 123. 
 A pil\lar of state | deep | in his front | engrav|en P. L. 2. 301. 
 Celest|ial spi\rits in bond|age nor | the abyss | P. L. 1. 658. 
 
 Dr Guest says on this (p. 175), "if a critic of Tyrwhitt's 
 " reputation did not know that ominous, pillar, and spirit were to 
 " be pronounced om'nous, pilVr, and sp'rit, can we fairly expect 
 " such knowledge to flash, as it were by intuition, on the unin- 
 " structed reader ? Of late years, however, the fashionable 
 " opinion has been that in such cases the vowel may be pro- 
 " nounced without injury to the rhythm. Thelwall discovered 
 " in Milton an appogiatura or syllable more than is counted in 
 " the bar, and was of opinion that such syllables constitute an 
 " essential part of the expressive harmony of the best writers 
 " and should never be superseded by the barbarous expedient 
 " of elision. He reads the following verses one with twelve and 
 " the other with thirteen syllables ! 
 
 CovSring the beach and blackSning the strand. Dryden. 
 Ungrateful oflfSring to the immortal powgrs. Pope. 
 
 " There are men entitled to our respect whose writings have, 
 "to a certain extent, countenanced this error. Both Words- 
 
 • By the colon Dr Guest marks what by the bar he denotes that the preoed- 
 he considers to be the middle pause ; ing syllable bears the accent. / 
 
24 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 '"worth and Coleridge use certain words, as though they still 
 "contained the same number of syllables, as in the time of 
 "Shakespeare. Thus they make delicate a dissyllable, yet 
 " would certainly shrink from pronouncing it deVcate." He adds 
 that the pettiness of the delinquency cannot be pleaded in 
 defence of this sacrifice of rhythm, for "if a short and evanescent 
 syllable may be obtruded, so may a long one." It is with 
 pleasure we read Prof. Skeat's note on the above: "On the 
 "contrary I think that the pettiness of the delinquency may 
 "be pleaded.... The true rule concerning trisyllabic feet is 
 " simply this, that the intrusive syllable should be as short and 
 " light as possible. A good example is Pope's favourite line 
 The free|zing Taii|ais through | a waste | of snows | 
 
 " Here the intrusive syllable is the short a in Tanais and 
 " is very light and short, as it should be. It adds a great beauty 
 " to the verse, as may easily be perceived by reading Tannis and 
 " comparing the results'." Prof Skeat thinks the author must 
 have subsequently abandoned his theory, 'because,' he says, 
 'examples of trisyllabic feet abound in the later part of the book'. 
 And he cites from p. 217 
 
 Write I them togeth|er ; your's | is as fair | a name | 
 
 Jvl. Caes. 1. 2. 144. 
 
 Me I from attemp|ting: wherejfore do I | assume | P.L. 2. 450. 
 Let I me not think | on't : frail|ty thy name | is wom|an 
 
 Hamlet, 1. 2. 146. 
 
 But these all come under the category of the abrupt sec- 
 tion, in which Dr Guest has always admitted the triple measure. 
 Thus in the very line, in which he denies Tyrwhitt's right to 
 find a trisyllabic second foot, he has himself no difficulty in 
 recognizing a trisyllabic fourth foot, because it follows an initial 
 accent, i.e. a monosyllabic foot commencing a section : 
 A pillar | of state|: deep | in his front | engra|ven. 
 
 We do however find some instances which cannot be thus 
 explained as in pp. 166, 22.5, 239 and 240 : 
 
 That I invin|cible Sam|son ; far | renowned | 
 
 Like I the first | of a thun|der : shoVr | and now | 
 
 ^ Cf. also the editor's note on p. 51. 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIORISM. 25 
 
 In I their trip|le degrees|: re|gions to which | 
 Shoots I invis|ible vir|tue: e'en | to the deep | 
 With I impet|uous recoiI| : and jar|ring sound | 
 We may bold|ly spend]: upon | the hope | of what | 
 In elect|ion for|; the Eo|man emp|ery | i 
 
 Then comes the question, whether the evidence adduced in 
 support of a superfluous syllable at the end of the first section, 
 may not be explained on the hypothesis of such a trisyllabic 
 foot in the middle of the line; whether in fact there is any- 
 thing more to be said in its favour than for the extra syllable 
 which Dr Abbott admits before a pause in any part of the 
 Shakespearian line (S. O. § 454), or the superfluous unem- 
 phatic syllable which he allows in any foot {8. G. § 456). I 
 have treated of Shakespearian usage in another chapter. As 
 to Milton, I venture to say that, of all the numerous instances 
 cited by Dr Guest of an extra syllable before the middle pause, 
 there is not one which may not be more easily explained as a 
 trisyllabic foot. And the great advantage of such an expla- 
 nation is that it enables us to get rid of the monosyllabic foot 
 and all the exceptional rules which this necessitates. For in- 
 stance Dr Guest's complicated rule, "An abrupt section was 
 (by Milton) furnished with a foot of three syllables, the first 
 section always, the second in all cases but those in which the 
 first section had a lengthening syllable which was counted in 
 the verse," is exemplified in the lines 
 
 Oth|ers apart|: sat | on a hill | retired | 
 A|ges of hope|less end|: this | would he worse | 
 Write I them togeth|er: yours | is as fair | a name | 
 Confound|ed though | immor|tal; but | his doom | . 
 
 How far more simple does the metrical analysis become, as 
 soon as we recognize that the accentual trochee and anapaest 
 are permitted alternatives for the iamb, and that the middle 
 pause has no metrical effect. Marking the feet by bars, I find 
 in the line 
 
 1 I do not of course agree with Dr trochee in the last foot but one. The 
 Guest's scansion of these lines, except- fifth line may be read as beginning 
 ing the last two. The first four com- with trochee followed by dactyl, or 
 mence with a double trochee, of which the first foot is an anapaest, the re- 
 more hereafter : the third has also a maining feet iambs. 
 
26 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Others | ap4rt | s4t on | a hfll | retfred | 
 a trochee in the first and third feet ; and in 
 
 Write them | tog^th|er, yoiirs | is as iiir \ a n&me | 
 
 a trochee in the first foot and an anapaest in the fourth. 
 
 But Dr Guest not only admits a monosyllabic foot, when 
 it is followed by two unaccented syllables (which we have seen 
 to be his way of describing trochee followed by iamb), but 
 also when it is separated by one unaccented syllable from the 
 next accent. This is in fact his first rhythm (p. XVII.), which 
 he denotes by the formula AbA, and of which he cites as 
 examples : 
 
 Ja|el who | with hos|pita|ble guile |. p. 210. 
 
 Which I by God's | will: kind | and calm|ly blows |. p. 211. 
 
 With I the love | juice : as | I bid | thee do | . p. 215. 
 
 For I the cool shade] : thith|er has|tily got | . p. 215. 
 
 As I throw out | our eyes|: for brave | Othel|lo. p. 232. 
 
 So I by for|mer lec|ture: and | advice | . p. 233. 
 
 It is scarcely credible that any educated person could have 
 read these lines without suspecting some error; but such is 
 the force of erroneous theory, that Dr Guest could actually thus 
 misread lines which are correctly given as follows, both in 
 Professor Skeat's notes, and in any editions which I have been 
 able to consult. 
 
 Jael I who with | mhoslpitab|le guile | Sams. Ag. 989. 
 
 Which by | God's will | full kynd | and calm|ly blows | . Gascoyne. 
 
 With the I love juice | as I | did bid | thee do | 
 
 M. N. D. 3. 2. 36. 
 
 For the | cool shade | him thith|er hast|ily got [ F. Q. i 2. 29. 
 
 As to I throw out | our eyes | for brave | Othel|lo 0th. 2. 1. 36. 
 
 So by I my for|mer lec|ture and | advice | Hamlet, 2. 1. 64. 
 
 These are not by any means all the misquotations noticed 
 by the editor. Where the lines are rightly given, they are 
 frequently misscanned ; or else they are mispronounced or mis- 
 divided or were never meant to be complete verses. A very 
 small fraction remain which are probably corrupt, or in any 
 
ANTIQUAEIAN A-PRIORISM. 27 
 
 case are so exceptional, that it is absurd to base a theory of 
 metre upon them. I give examples of each class, with Dr G.'s 
 scansion. 
 p. 209, 
 
 vive I le roi|: as | I have banked | their towers |. 
 
 Here vive ought to be read as a disyllable, as is shown by 
 Dr Abbott, 8. G. § 489. 
 
 Several of the instances given contain exclamations, which 
 may be either extra-metrical, as p. 250, 
 
 O I ye Gods | ye Gods | must I | endure | all this | 
 
 or may be lengthened or repeated at pleasure, as in p. 211, 
 
 Tut ! I when struck'st | thou : one | blow in | the field | 
 
 I this learn|ing: what | a thing | it is | . 
 
 Others are intended to be fragmentary, as in p. 211, 
 
 Nev|er! nev|er!: come | away | away | . 
 
 The scanning is in fault in pp. 234, 235, 
 
 See I him pluck | Aufid|ius: down | by the hair | 
 which properly begins with a trisyllabic foot. 
 
 See him pluck | Aufid|ius | down by j the hair | 
 and 
 
 What I an al|tera|tion : of hon|our has | 
 
 where alteration has really five syllables and the line should 
 be divided 
 
 What an altlerajtion [ of ho|nour has | . 
 
 The same unfortunate theory has converted five-foot iambics 
 into Alexandrines, as in p. 249, 
 
 Hath I he asked | for me| : know | you not | he has | 
 
 p. 292, 
 
 1 knew I not which | to take| : and what | to leave,] ha| ! 
 Bound I to keep life | in drones] : and id]le moths] ? No ] ! 
 
 The first of these lines should be divided 
 
 Hath he ] asked for | me know ] you not | he has ] 
 
28 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 In the 2nd and 3rd we have extra-metrical exclamations ab- 
 surdly forced into the lines ; indeed the 2nd is printed as 
 prose in the Globe edition. 
 
 p. 250, 
 
 We'll I along | ourselves|: and meet | them at | Philip|pi 
 Vir|tue as | I thought|: truth du|ty so | eiijoin|ing. 
 
 The former terse may either be read with an initial ana- 
 paest, or the first syllable of along disappears (see Abbott § 460). 
 The latter commences with a trochee and anapaest, unless we 
 suppose with Dr Abbott that the 2nd and 3rd syllables run into 
 one. 
 
 We have thus seen that Milton knows nothing of abrupt 
 section and middle pause, and that the rhythmical effects, 
 described by Dr Guest under these names, are easily explained 
 by the fact that he admits freely trochaic and trisyllabic feet. 
 We will next enquire whether he admits a monosyllabic foot 
 under the guise of the 'sectional pause.' Before we can answer 
 this, we must examine Dr Guest's view of the concurrence of 
 accented syllables. He finds great fault with Dr Johnson for 
 suggesting that sometimes the accent is equally strong upon 
 two adjoining syllables, as (p. 75) 
 
 Thus at their shady lodge arrived, hCth stood, 
 B6th titrned. 
 
 " Here," it is said, " every reader of taste would pronounce 
 " the words stood, turned, with a greater stress than that which 
 "falls on the word preceding. But these words are at least 
 " equal in quantity, and Johnson fell into the mistake of con- 
 " sidering quantity identical with accent." On the contrary I 
 should say that every reader of common sense would feel that 
 the repeated both was strongly emphatic and that Johnson was 
 quite right in laying at least equal stress on the two words. 
 I am glad to find the editor in his note on p. 416 refusing his 
 assent to Dr Guest's dictum, that two accented syllables cannot 
 come together. I think however that he is mistaken in speaking 
 of the examples given in p. 281 as inconsistent with Dr Guest's 
 theory, because in those examples a pause is supposed to inter- 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIOKISM. 29 
 
 vene between the accented syllables and to be equivalent to an 
 omitted syllable. The fact is Dr Guest, finding he could not 
 get rid of all cases of adjacent accents either by the numerous 
 exceptions admitted in Bk i. eh. 4, or by his theory of abrupt 
 sections, bethought him of the sectional pause, as a further 
 means of explaining all cases in which trochee followed on 
 iamb. Thus in the line quoted on p. 295 
 
 A mind | n6t to | be clianged| by place | or time | 
 
 he makes the accented not a monosyllabic foot, and considers 
 that it may follow accented mind because there is an inter- 
 vening pause occupying the time of an unaccented syllable. 
 Similarly the line 
 
 He spe&ks | Wt us | dr4w n^ar | matchless 1 in might | 
 
 takes with him the form 
 
 He speaks | let | us_ draw near] : match|less in might | . 
 
 We are now in a position to understand Dr Guest's remarks 
 quoted above on p. 19 as to the difference between the rhythm 
 of Pope and Milton. Pope, it is there said, always counted the 
 lengthening syllable of the first section (i.e. ignored Dr Guest's 
 sections); but so, as we have seen, did Milton. Pope rejected 
 the sectional pause (i.e. did not follow up iamb with trochee) 
 This, I grant, is much rarer in Pope than Milton, but still we 
 find such a line as 
 
 Is the I gr^at chdin | that dr^ws | dll to | agree | Essay, i 33. 
 
 which on Dr Guest's system would require a sectional pause 
 between draws and all, and must be divided as follows : 
 
 Is I the great chain|: that draws | all | to agree | 
 
 The third distinction is, that Pope admits three syllables 
 only in the 2nd foot, but the line just quoted would be an 
 example of a final trisyllabic, if read with the sectional pause ; 
 and in the ' favorite line ' 
 
 The freez|iug Tan|ais through | a waste | of snows | 
 
30 OK ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 we have three syllables in the 3rd foot. Compare also the 
 following ' : 
 
 Annucd \ for me | the grape | the rose | renew | 
 
 The juice | necta|reot« and \ the bal|my dew | Essay, i 134. 
 
 Then na|ture AQ\mates and \ can man | do less | ib. 150. 
 
 Account I for mor|al as | for Ti3.t\ural things \ ib. 162. 
 
 To inspect \ a mite | not com|prehend | the heaven [ ih. 197. 
 
 From the \ green ■mj\riads in \ the peo|pled grass | ib. 210. 
 
 For ev|er s&£i\arate yet | for ev|er near | ih. 224. 
 
 If it be said, these should be slurred, so as to make them di- 
 syllables, it may be replied that, that is just what Dr Guest 
 said of Milton's trisyllabic feet in the first part of his book, 
 though here at the end (p. 529) he has to confess that the 
 common view is the right one. 
 
 The remaining charge brought against Milton is that he 
 disregards the verbal accent. This is merely Dr Guest's ad- 
 mission that his system, with all its cycles and epicycles, does 
 not really accord with the facts, ov aw^et, ra (j)aiv6fj,eva. He 
 assumes that, except where the normal rhythm is broken 
 through by the law of sections and pauses, every foot in the 
 heroic measure is bound to be strictly iambic. But he laments 
 that here, as elsewhere, the poets will persist in disobeying his 
 laws. Their iambs are such as to defy all rules of accentuation. 
 They accent the article and the preposition more strongly than 
 the noun, as in (p. 81 foil.) 
 
 A third | thought wise | and lear|ned a \ foMth rich | B. Jonson. 
 She was | not the | prime cause | but I | myself | Milton, S. A. 234. 
 Profaned | first by | the ser|pent by \ him first | P. L. 9. 929. 
 
 ["Here," it is said, "the pronoun requires an emphasis which 
 makes the false accentuation still more glaring."] 
 
 They give a stronger accent to the possessive pronoun than 
 to the following adjective, to the personal and relative pronoun 
 than to the verb, as in Fletcher's 
 
 That I I may sit | and pour | out my \ sad sprite. 
 
 1 Some might prefer to divide some of the lines differently, e.g. 
 The juice | uecta|reou8 | and the baljmy dew | 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIOEISM. 31 
 
 ["This verse of Fletcher has even more than his usual pro- 
 portion of blunders. With proper accents it would belong to 
 the triple measure, 
 
 That I I may sit | and pour out | my sad sprite | " 
 
 I do not know how others may feel, but to me this utter 
 misconception of a most beautiful line is a conclusive proof of 
 Dr Guest's unfitness to write on the subject of metre.] 
 
 So in Milton's 
 
 Crea|ted hu|gest that | swim th' o|cean stream. P. L. 1. 200. 
 
 The most cruel blow is, that even Pope should be an offender 
 in these respects, e.g. 
 
 The treach|erous col|ours the \ fair art | betray | Criticism, 492. 
 In words | as fash|ions the \ same rule | will hold \ do. 333. 
 Against | the po|et their | own arms | they turned | do. 106. 
 
 Now what is the real state of the case? Do we really suppose 
 that the poets were so foolish as to lay an unnatural stress on 
 the most unimportant word in the line, and so destroy the force 
 and meaning of the line ? Is it not plain that they intended to 
 vary the ordinary rhythm by introducing an accentual pyrrhic 
 followed by an accentual spondee {e.g. the treach|erous col|o'itrs 
 tM, I fair art | betray |) and that the result produced by this 
 means is most satisfactory to the educated earl 
 
 I think that I have said enough to show that Dr Guest, with 
 all his learning, is not a safe guide to the study of metre. 
 There is hardly a single rule which he has laid down, which 
 is not in flat opposition to the practice of the poets of the 
 last three centuries. Tried by his code, they are all miserable 
 sinners, they have left undone what they ought to have done, 
 and done what they ought not to have done. They know 
 nothing of that which he makes the foundation of his system, 
 the doctrine of the sections and pauses ; they put their stops 
 wherever it pleases them ; they substitute freely trochees, 
 pyrrhics, spondees and trisyllabic feet for the iamb. But 
 Dr Guest's theory not only condemns as unmetrical what is 
 proved to be metrical by the consistent practice of the poets; 
 
32 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 he is, as we have seen, equally unfortunate in admitting what 
 is palpably impossible. He mistakes a verse belonging to one 
 metre for a verse belonging to another metre, e.g. the five-foot, 
 for the six-foot iambic, and puts under the same head verses 
 belonging to different metrical systems, as in p. 198, where he 
 gives, as examples of the formula bAbA : AbbAb, two lines, one 
 iambic, the other anapaestic. 
 
 Well struck | in years| : fair | and not jeal|ous R. III. 1. 1. 90. 
 Forthwith | how thou | oughtst | to receive | him S. Agon. 328. 
 
 The former is no doubt difficult, but it occurs in the middle 
 of a speech of the ordinary heroic verse, and unless there is very 
 strong reason to be contrary, it should be treated as such itself 
 Dr Abbott (>Si. G. § 480) says "it might be possible to scan as 
 " follows : 
 
 Well struck | in ye|ars, fa|ir and | not jeal|ous 
 
 " but the Folio has jealious and the word is often thus written 
 " and pronounced by Elizabethan authors." If jealious, which 
 may be compared with the archaic stupendious, is rejected, I 
 should myself prefer to make the last foot a trochee, as in 
 Macbeth, 5. 5. 32. 
 
 But know I not how | to do | it. Well, | siy, sir | 
 
 It would then be divided as follows 
 
 Well struck | in ye|ars fair | and not | je£ous | 
 
 The line from Samson Agonistes should be compared with 
 other examples of anapaestic metre in the same poem, e.g. 
 
 Or the sphere | of for|tune rai|ses. 1. 172. 
 Univer|sally crowned | with high|est prai|ses. 1. 175. 
 
 So this should be divided 
 
 Forthwith | how thou oiightst | to receive | him 
 
 Milton probably intended it to correspond to the versm 
 paroemiacus, or anapaestic dimeter catalectic, which formed the 
 closing line of the anapaestic system in Greek. 
 
 The points named above, as condemnatory of Dr Guest's 
 system, are selected from a very much larger number which 
 
ANTIQUARIAN A-PRIORISM. 33 
 
 I had noted down in three distinct perusals of his book. I have 
 thought it right to give my criticisms a permanent form, not in 
 the least from a wish to depreciate the value of the author's 
 work in this and other departments of English history and 
 literature. On the contrary I have a most sincere respect for 
 his industry and independence. I think later writers might 
 have avoided some errors into which they have fallen if they had 
 considered more carefully the evidence .which he has accumu- 
 lated. But in my opinion the book is entirely unfitted to be, 
 what is still a desideratum in English education, a practical 
 guide to the study of metre. 
 
 M. M. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 LOGICAL A-PRIORISM. 
 De Abbott on English Metee. 
 
 De Guest's system of prosody is, as far as I know, original ; 
 that which comes next for consideration, Dr Abbott's, is a 
 modification of what may be called the traditional system. In 
 its general outline, I believe this to be also the true and natural 
 system, giving technical expression to the practice of the best 
 writers and readers of poetry, and not setting up an antiquarian 
 standard to which they are required to conform. In the 
 particular form, however, which Dr Abbott has given to this 
 system, he seems to me to have gone wrong in the same way 
 as Dr Guest, by insisting on certain a priori rules, which it 
 is not always easy to reconcile with the practice of the poets. 
 He has the advantage over Dr Guest in starting with the true 
 normal line, instead of the fictitious sections, but he is too 
 much enamoured with a mechanical regularity, and makes 
 too little allowance for the freedom of English versification. 
 
 The general theory is given in the Shakespearian Grammar, 
 2nd ed. 1870, §§ 452—515, and in the Third Part of Abbott 
 and Seeley's English Lessons for English People, 1871, §§ 97 — 
 150'. 
 
 The foot, not the section, is there assumed as the basis of 
 metre. It is defined as the smallest recurring combination 
 of syllables. In English the names of feet, trochee, iambus, &c. 
 
 1 The metrical rvdes laid down in what less sweeping than those in the 
 the older boolt, for which Dr Abbott is later book, ia which he is a co-worker 
 solely responsible, seem to be some- with Prof. Seeley. 
 
LOGICAL A-PEIORISM. 35 
 
 denote groups of accented and non-accented syllables without 
 regard to quantity. Accent means a loud stress of voice. A 
 distinction is made between word-accent and metrical accent. 
 Every polysyllable has at least one word-accent. The accent of 
 monosyllables depends upon their collocation. The metrical 
 accent, if it falls on a word at all, must fall on its principal word- 
 accent, but it may also fall on a syllable which has no word- 
 accent (e.g. on a monosyllable or on the last syllable of a tri- 
 syllabic word such as merrily). We can never have three 
 consecutive clearly pronounced syllables without a metrical 
 accent. Emphasis is a stress laid on monosyllables or the word- 
 accent of polysyllables, for the purpose of calling attention to 
 the meaning. In poetry an emphatic syllable generally receives 
 the metrical accent, but we sometimes find the metrical accent 
 falling on an unemphatic syllable, and followed by an emphatic 
 non-accented syllable. It is rarely that all the metrical accents 
 of a line are also emphatic. In reading we should allow em- 
 phasis as well as accent to exert its influence. Any mono- 
 syllable, however unemphatic, that comes between two un- 
 accented monosyllables (this should be syllables) must receive 
 a metrical accent in disyllabic metre. As examples we have 
 {Eng. Less. p. 155 foil.) 
 
 Oh, weep for Adonais. Th^ quick dreams. 
 Then tore with bloody talon M rent plain. 
 Spreads his light wings and in a moment flies. 
 Make satire a lampoon and fiction lie. 
 
 The difJBculty which occurs to us on reading these lines is, 
 how we are to make the metrical accent on the italicized syllables 
 correspond to the definition of accent, "a loud stress of the 
 voice." It is plain that the, in and a are about the least im- 
 portant words in the lines in which they occur, and that in the 
 first two lines the is intentionally prefixed to the important 
 words quick and rent in order to give them additional emphasis. 
 In technical language the is here a 'proclitic'; so far from laying 
 any stress upon it, a good reader would pass it over more lightly 
 than any other word in the lines. I am unable therefore to see 
 the propriety of describing these as accented syllables, unless, 
 when we use the term metrical accent, we simply mean that 
 
 3—2 
 
36 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 the syllables, which are said to be metrically accented, are those 
 which, if the verse were mechanically regular, would have had a 
 word-accent, and to which therefore the general influence of 
 the rhythm may seem to impart a sort of shadow of the word- 
 accent. As far as the reading goes, accentuation on this principle 
 becomes unmeaning, and the only thing to regard is emphasis, 
 or the distinction between the emphatic and unemphatic syl- 
 lables. All verses will be perfectly regular as regards accents 
 (or feet), but variety will be produced by the over-riding 
 emphasis. This is a simple and logical view, but, as we shall 
 see, it is not consistently adhered to. 
 
 Thus in S. G. § 457, where the question is raised, whether 
 'an unemphatic monosyllable is allowed to stand in an em- 
 phatic place and receive the accent', it is stated that the 
 article seems to have been regarded as capable of more em- 
 phasis in Shakespeare's time than it is now ; but still attempts 
 are made to explain away several of the instances in which;i^e 
 and still more a are found in the even syllables of the verse, 
 and would therefore, on the mechanical principle, receive the 
 accent. Thus in the line which Dr Abbott scans 
 
 a devil | a bor|n dev|il on | whose na|tiire, 
 
 but which I should scan 
 
 a dev|il a | born dev|il on | whose na|ture, 
 
 the accent on a is avoid-ed by assigning two syllables to horn 
 and one syllable to the first devil ; and, in the following lines, 
 it is suggested that an accented the may be avoided by the free 
 admission of trisyllabic feet (both anapaest and amphibrach), 
 and by giving two syllables to dead, three syllables to lightenings, 
 and four to physician. 
 
 Your breath | first kindled | the de|ad coal | of war | 
 Than meet | and join | Jove's light|enings | the preciir|sors 
 More nedds she | the divine | thin the | phys£c|i4n | 
 
 I do not deny that monosyllables, in which r follows a vowel, 
 are often disyllabized in Shakespeare (cf. S. G. §§ 480, 485, and 
 my chapter on the Metre of Shakespeare), but I have great 
 doubts as to some other monosyllables treated of in §§ 481 — 484, 
 
LOGICAL A-PBIORISM. 87 
 
 and 486 ; and I think that, in the instances which follow, it was 
 the desire for regularity of accentuation which prompted the 
 .scansion adopted, or at any rate allowed, by Dr Abbott ; e.g. in 
 the line 
 
 How in I my strength | you please | for yo|u Ed|mvmd, 
 you is divided unnecessarily to escape a final trochee. 
 
 To fajil in the | dispo|sing of | these chan|ces. 
 
 Here, in order to avoid an unaccented second iooi,fail is made 
 disyllabic, and a supernumerary unaccented syllable is assigned 
 to the second foot. 
 
 Doth com|fort thfe in | thy sle|ap live ] and flou|rish. 
 
 The second foot should end with thee, thy is emphatic, con-> 
 trasting the sleep of Henry with the troubled dreams of 
 Richard. 
 
 Full fif|teen hundred | besi|de3 com|mon men |. 
 Besides is made trisyllabic to avoid an unaccented third foot. 
 
 Go t6 the I creating | a wh6|le tribe 1 of f6ps |. 
 
 Here the third foot is properly unaccented, the second is an 
 anapaest ending with the second syllable of creating. 
 
 But could I be willing | to ma|rch on | to Cal|ais. 
 March made disyllabic, to avoid unaccented third foot. 
 
 Of Lion|el Duke | of Clarence | the thi|rd son |. 
 Third made disyllabic, to avoid unaccented fourth foot, 
 
 Y6u and | your cr4|fts y6u | have craft|ed fair. 
 [The line (Gor. iv. 6. 118) is incomplete; it should run: 
 
 You and | your crafts | you've craft|ed fair | you've brought.] 
 
 The Go|ds not | the patric|ians make | it and | 
 Oods made disyllabic, to avoid the trochee in the second 
 place. 
 
 With Ti|tus Laroiua | a mo|st val|iant Eo|man. 
 
 Most made disyllabic, to avoid an unaccented third foot. 
 
 It is needless to point out the extreme harshness of 
 rhythm which follows from this attempt to ignore the simple 
 
38 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 ■fact that it is not necessary for all the feet to have what is 
 called in the Lessons the emphatic accent, what I should rather 
 call simply the accent, on the second syllable of the foot. 
 But it will be noticed that in some of the lines quoted, the 
 fiction of the regular metrical accent is abandoned : thus in 
 
 More needs she | the divine | th&n the | physiclian|, 
 the accent of the fourth foot is placed on the former syllable 
 than instead of on the. This irregularity comes under the head 
 of Dr Abbott's License of trochee, of which he gives the following 
 account {Lessons, § 138). " In the initial foot and after a pause, 
 " in iambic metre, a trochee instead of an iainb is allowed. A 
 " very slight pause in the dramatic and free iambic metres 
 "justifies a trochee ; even a long syllable, with the slight pause 
 " necessary for its distinct pronunciation, is sufficient. But' some 
 " slight pause is necessary, and hence it may be laid down as a 
 " rule in iambic metre that one trochee cannot follow another. 
 " Milton's line 
 
 Uniu4rsal reproach far w6rse to heir, 
 
 " would be a monstrosity if read with the usual accents. It is 
 " far more likely that Milton pronounced the word universdl, 
 "perhaps influenced by the fact that the i is long in Latin'." 
 
 1 As Milton uses the word 'uni- Ag. 175), which, if taken by itself, 
 versal' in twenty other passages and might tolerate the long i, but taken in 
 always with the present pronunciation, connexion with the preceding lines, it 
 I cannot think it at all Ukely that he is evident that the metre is anapaestic, 
 follows the Latin quantity in this pas- requiring short i, 
 sage. There is only one verse (in S. 
 
 For him | I reok|on not | in high | estate | iamb. 5 
 
 Whom long | descent | of birth | iamb. 3 
 
 Or the sphere | of for|tune rais|es; anap. 3 
 
 But thee | whose strength | while vir|tue was | her mate | iamb. 5 
 Might have | subdued | the earth | iamb. 3 
 
 Univerlsally crowned | with high] est prai|ses. anap. 4 
 
 As I have shown below, the double the 3rd foot being an anapaest. But, 
 
 trochee is a known peculiarity of after all, it makes no difference in the 
 
 Milton's verse, borrowed by him from reading. Whether we call the 1st foot 
 
 the Italian. If however anyone finds a trochee or not, we can only make 
 
 it intolerable, I have no objection to it rhythmical by pausing on the 1st 
 
 treat it as a case of initial truncation. syllable and giving a very strong em- 
 
 Thus scanned the line would run phasis to the 3rd. 
 U|niver|sal reproach | 
 
LOGICAL A-PEIORISM. 39 
 
 Another riile is that " a trochee in the middle of a verse must- 
 uot follow an unemphatic accent," as it does in Milton's lines 
 
 Burned a/f|ter them | to the | bottom|less pit|. 
 Light from | above | from the [ fountain | of light |. 
 
 The first remark which suggests itself on this, is that the 
 principle of fictitious accentuation is here abandoned. The 
 accent of the foot is declared to be reversed when the emphasis 
 falls on the first instead of the second syllable. But if the 
 metrical accent is to be determined by the real or natural stress 
 given to each sylla,ble by a good reader, it will be found necessary 
 to admit other licences besides that of the trochee. The so-called 
 unemphatic accent is no accent at all in this sense of the term, so 
 that we shall find ourselves compelled to admit pyrrhics on the 
 one hand, and on the other hand, since two emphatic syllables 
 may come together in verse as well as prose, we shall find that 
 there are natural spondees just as there are natural trochees*. 
 It may be granted that the use of the trochee is generally con- 
 fined within the limits specified, though I should have worded 
 
 ^ To test the frequency of these these 31 follow trochees, 75 follow 
 irregular feet in Shakespeare, I have ' pyrrhics, 40 come after a pause, and 29 
 
 been carefully through Macbeth, and I are continuous after a long syllable, 
 
 find there 175 spondees in all, distri- As examples of what I caU spondees, I 
 
 buted as follows : 20 in the first foot, would mention the foot made up of 
 
 60 in the second, 19 in the third, 23 in the last syllable of an iamb and the 
 
 the fourth, and 53 iri the fifth. Of first of a trochee, c. 17. 
 
 Would ore\ate eoZ|diers make | our womjen fight | 
 
 that made up of an emphatic monosyllable and the first syllable of a trochee, 
 
 e.g. 
 
 Sit, i»oj-|thy friends | my lord | is of|ten thus | 
 Promised | no less | to them| . That tTOs(|ed home 
 
 or of two emphatic monosyllables. 
 
 Why do I you show | me this? | a fourth! Start, eyes! f 
 
 espepially where the emphasis is required to give the right sense, as 
 
 But screw \ your cou|rage to | the stickling place | 
 
 Who wrought \ with them | and all | things else | that might | 
 
 Making | the green | one red, 
 
 or for the sake of antithesis, e.g. 
 
 That which | hath made | them drunk \ hath made | me hold \ 
 Lest our | old robes \ sit easjier than | our new | . 
 
40 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 the rule about the pause differently, and said that, the trochee 
 was admissible everywhere, but was naturally preceded by a 
 little pause to take breath before pronouncing a strongly 
 emphatic syllable ; but there is no such stringent and absolute 
 law as to constitute any exception a 'monstrosity.' Indeed, the 
 double -trochee can scarcely be called a rarity in Milton, c£ 
 
 Pr&ent | this to | his Son [ aiidi|Hy spake | P. L. vil. 518. 
 6ver I ffsh of | the sea | and fowl | of thd air | P. L. vii. 533. 
 By the | waters | of- life | -where'er | they sat | P. L. xi. 77. 
 
 It is also found in Spenser, as in the beautiful line praised 
 by Leigh Hunt 
 
 i.s the 1. g6d of I my life |. Why hath | he me ] abhorred | ? 
 
 F. Q, I. 3. 7. 
 
 - So Tennyson in. the Coming of Arthur: 
 
 rat the I hght of I her eyes |- into | his life |. 
 
 For other instances I may refer to Dr Abbott himself (S: 0. 
 § 453) and to Dr Guest's English Ehythms, pp. 238, 240. Dr 
 Guest even treats the verse commencing with the double trochee 
 as a recognized variety of the ten-syllable iambic\ Authority 
 apart, it seems to me that the rhythm of such lines as the 
 following is satisfactory to the ear, and would not be improved 
 by the alternative given in italics : 
 
 brdvest, greatest, and best; a king of men. 
 the brave, the great, the good; a king of men. 
 fodless s(5rrow, eternity of woe. 
 undying pain, eternity of woe. 
 
 Besides the theoretical objections which have been stated to 
 Dr Abbott's view of accentuation, a practical difficulty arises in 
 applying it to educational purposes. In the Preface to English 
 Lessons it is said that the object of the chapters on Metre is 
 practical utility, to teach the pupil how to read a versfe so as to 
 mark the metre, without converting the metrical line into 
 monotonous doggrel. If the pupil's metrical exercise were con- 
 fined to dividing a line into feet and marking the emphatic and 
 unemphatic syllables, neglecting the metrical-accent altogether, 
 
 ^ See also below, ch. v. p. 79. 
 
IGGICAL A-PEIORISM. 41 
 
 the task is simple. But the admission of the trochee compli- 
 cates matters. Even Dr Abbott hesitates {E. L. p. 159) whether 
 in the line 
 
 The lone | couch of | his ev|erlas]ting sleep | 
 
 the second foot shall be called a trochee, or an iambus con- 
 sisting of a long emphatic unaccented syllable followed by a 
 short unemphatic accented syllable. So in p. 157 we have the 
 line, 
 
 Proud to I catch cold | at a | Vene|tian door | 
 
 in which it is said to be doubtful whether at a should be 
 considered a trochee or iambus. And many other instances 
 occur. 
 
 The quantity of syllables seems to introduce a still further 
 complication, as we are told {E. L. p. 168) that, though it has 
 quite a secondary position in English metre, yet Shakespeare, 
 Milton, &c., are fond of giving a special character to their 
 rhythm by the introduction of long monosyllables without the 
 metrical-accent, e.g. 
 
 O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or rare. 
 With head, hands, wings, or feet pursues his way. 
 
 Here rough and hands are treated by Dr Abbott simply as long 
 syllables, but surely it is plain that their rhythmical weight is 
 owing to their emphasis, and to the stop which follows them ; 
 otherwise rough in itself is no longer than of. However, I note 
 this merely to point out that the pupil has here a fourth sort of 
 stress to add to the three (emphasis and the two accents) before 
 considered. 
 
 We go on now to the syllabic license in disyllabic verse. 
 The license of defect, monosyllabic for disyllabic foot, is on the 
 whole well treated in 8. 0. § 479 foil., except that, as we have 
 seen, monosyllables are often unnecessarily disyllabized, in 
 order to escape transference or omission of accent.. 
 
 The syllabic license of excess may consist either in syllables 
 supernumerary, not counted in the feet ; or in syllables within 
 the feet, which may be either more or less slurred, or dis- 
 tinctly pronounced. Of the first we read, S.O. § 454, "An 
 extra syllable is frequently added before a pause, especially 
 
.42 ,0N ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 at the end of a lin0,,but also at the end of the second', and, 
 less frequently, , of the third foot ; rarely at the end of the 
 fourth." And § 458, "Two extra syllables are sometimes 
 allowed before a pause, especially at the end of a line." 
 
 It will be observed that these rules do not justify such 
 scanning as we have had in the lines 
 
 To fe|t7 in the | dispos|mg of | these chanc|e3. 
 Oo t6 the I creating \ a wlio|le tribe | of fops |. 
 
 where the superfluous syllable appears without a pause, and 
 (in the second line) at the close of the first as well as of the 
 second foot. As to the general principle, while I am disposed 
 to allow that an extra syllable is sometimes found at the close 
 of the first section of a line which naturally divides into two 
 sections, I see no reason for admitting it elsewhere, as for in- 
 stance after the fourth foot. Dr Abbott gives two examples 
 of the last from the Tempest, in which the trisyllabic foot is 
 very common. 
 
 With all I my hon|ours on | my brothw | whereon|. 
 So dear ] the love | my peo|ple bore me \ nor set|. 
 
 Is there any objection to regarding both as final anapaests ? 
 
 The account of trisyllabic metre in the Lessons § 143 foil, 
 seems to me satisfactory so far as it goes, but I think confusion is 
 caused in the Grammar by mixing up proper dactyls and 
 
 1 The example given seems to me very doubtful, 
 
 But mine [ own s5,fetie3 | . Tou may | be n'ght|lyi(ist|. 
 
 Eead with the context, it is evident that you is emphatic, and Mr A. J. EUis 
 .would divide 
 
 But mine | own saie|tieB. Ymi \ may be right|ly just | 
 Whatevler I \ shall think I . 
 
 It is possible however that the initial iut ought to be appended to the previous 
 line, thus 
 
 . - Without I leave ta|]dng. I | pray you | let not | 
 
 My jeal|ousies | be your | dishonlours, but | 
 Mine own | safeties | . Tou may | be right|ly just I. 
 
 So I had taken it in my paper read before the Philological Society, and 
 X find Mr Koby scans it in the same way. Both the 2nd and 3rd feet would then 
 be trochees. 
 
J.OGICAL A^PKIOmSM. 43 
 
 anapaests with what would Cttmiiaorily be den&ininated ampAt- 
 hrachs, but which Dr Abbott describes as iambs with a super- 
 fluous unaccented syllable which has to be dropped or slurred in 
 sound {S.G. § 456). I do pot deny that words are often so 
 rapidly pronounced in, Shakespeare as to lose their full comple- 
 ment of syllables, e.g. the words Prospero, parallel and being 
 may be so read in the following lines from the Tempest i. 2. 72, 
 
 And Pros^pero the | prime diike | heing so | repu|ted 
 
 In diglnity [ and for 1 the lib|eral arts | 
 
 Without I a, par\allel, those | being all | my stud|y. 
 
 Dr Abbott has given a very full list of words which he thinks 
 were so pronounced. But I do not think such a device helps 
 much in the line already cited 
 
 Go to the I creating | a who|le tribe | of fops|. 
 
 So divided, the second foot could be nothing but an amphibrach. 
 On the other hand in the Tempest i. 2. 301, 
 
 Go make | thyself | like a nymph \ o' the sea | be subject 
 To no sight \ but thine | and mine| 
 
 and in 1 Henry VI. I. 1. 95, 
 
 The duke | of Alen\qon fli|eth to | his side |, 
 
 the italicized feet can only be described as anapaests. In the 
 Lessons § 136 Dr Abbott has no difficulty in allowing this 
 in the case of Tennyson's 
 
 The sound | of man|y a ]ieav\Uy gall\oping hoof\ 
 
 and, as he says in the same passage, that modern blank verse 
 is, for the most part, more strict than that of Milton, and Milton 
 is more strict than Shakespeare, in limiting himself to ten 
 syllables in a line, whj' should he deny to Shakespeare the 
 liberty he allows to the moderns ? Why should he take such 
 pains to get rid of anapaests and dactyls in the elder poet 
 by elision, contraction, extra- metrical syllables and other expe- 
 dients, which are plainly inapplicable in modern poetry ? He 
 does indeed, though with a groan, admit one anapaest of 
 portentous harshness, which I think we are not bound to ret^n. 
 
 Which most gih\\n^j \ ungravelly he | did fashjion Cor. ii. 3. 233. 
 
44 ON ENGLISH MKTBE. 
 
 I stould prefer to divide this and the preceding line as 
 follows : 
 
 Th' apprehen|sion of | his pres|ent port|ance which 1 
 Moat gi|bingly | ungrave|ly he | did fash|ion 
 
 The sequence dactyl-iamb (and a fortiori dactyl-anapaest) 
 which Dr Guest, as we have seen, repudiates in Milton's line 
 Ominous \ conjeo|ture on | the whole | success | 
 
 is equally opposed to Dr Abbott's rule that " we cannot have 
 three consecutive clearly pronounced syllables without a 
 metrical accent." Yet it is by no means uncommon in 
 Tennyson, cf. 
 
 Oalloping \ of Ao>-|ses o|ver the gras|sy plain |. 
 Petulant \ she spoke \ and at | herself | she laughed |. 
 Modulate \ me soul \ of min|cing mi|micry |. 
 Hammering \ and'clinh\ing chat|tering sto|ny names |. 
 Olorify\ing clown \ and -sat|yi? whence | they need |. 
 TimA)rous\ly and as \ the lea|der of [ the herd |. 
 
 Perhaps the principle of slurring is carried a little too far, 
 especially in the attempt to get rid of Alexandrines {8.G. 
 § 495 ff.). No doubt Dr Abbott has succeeded in showing 
 that many apparent Alexandrines are to be read as ten- 
 syllable iambics, but I see no reason for objecting to the 
 following, for instance : --C 
 
 That seemling to | be most | which we | indeed | least are | 
 Acquire | too high | a fame | when him | we serve's | away| 
 Besides | I like | you not |. If you | will know | my house | 
 
 Nor do I quite understand why such a line as the following 
 should be called a trimeter couplet, rather than an Alexandrine, 
 
 , Why ring | not out | the bells | aloud | throughout | the town |. 
 
 I shall not carry further my examination of Dr Abbott's 
 system. As a critic of Shakespeare he seems to me to be 
 too anxious to reduce every line to the normal shape. No 
 doubt he allows many broken lines; but I think he goes too 
 far in endeavouring to raise the following, for instance, to the 
 full number of syllables by disyllabizing will and /are ; 
 Why then [ I wi|ll. Fajrewell | old Gaunt |. 
 
LOGICAL A-PKIORISM. 45 
 
 Surely it is better to suppose the actor to supply the want of 
 the missing syllable, or syllables, by the pause which marks the 
 change of subject, than to dwell on such a monosyllable as mil. 
 Again, as regards the heroic verse generally, I think Dr Abbott 
 is too anxious to liniit and regulate any departure from the 
 normal accentuation, and that, in treating of syllabic license, he 
 is too much disposed to disguise or explain away examples of 
 trisyllabic feet by the various devices already referred to, and 
 especially by, what seems to me, the somewhat desperate remedy 
 of allowing extra-metrical syllables in any part of the line. If 
 the superfluous syllable is ever allowed within the line, it must 
 be after the section or hemistich, because we know that it was 
 the law of the Old English and French poetiy, with which our 
 modern heroic is historically connected, to admit the feminine 
 ending in the middle, as well as at the end of the line\ Yet 
 even in Shakespeare it is very difficult to find an indisputable 
 instance of this. Dr Abbott sends me the following, but it is 
 quite possible to divide them so as to ignore the section alto- 
 gether, giving an anapaest in the 3rd foot of the former and the 
 4th foot of the latter, thus 
 
 To lack I discret|ion. Come, go | we to | the King |- 
 
 Hamlet ll. 1. 117. 
 
 To feed | and clothe | thee. Why | should the poor [ be flat|tered \ 
 
 Hamlet in. 1. 64. 
 
 My own feeling is that, dactyls and anapaests being recognized 
 English feet, and both undoubtedly employed in the place of 
 iambs by our poets of all ages, it is wiser to use them, where 
 they wiU serve, to explain the metre of a verse, rather than to 
 have recourse to extra-metrical syllables, a license which, except 
 at the end of the line, is now unknown, and is not recognized 
 by all even in Shakespeare. On the same ground I should be 
 very chary of admitting the amphibrach, as the substitute for 
 an iamb, because it is never, as far as I know, made the basis of 
 any English poem, and, though I see no objection to its use, I 
 cannot call to mind any instance of a heroic line which may 
 not be explained without it. 
 
 ^ See Appendix at the end of the chapter. 
 
46 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 I must not however close my remarks on Dr Abbott without 
 bearing my witness to the great services which he has rendered 
 to all students of English poetry. There is plenty of room for 
 diversity of opinion in dealing with the refinements and subtle- 
 ties of a subject so hard to fix as metre, but none can dispute 
 the judgment, the acuteness and the laborious industry ex- 
 hibited in the two volumes on which I have been commenting. 
 
 [Dr Abbott has kindly looked through this chapter and 
 authorizes me to say that, while retaining his old view as to 
 the not unfrequent disyllabization of such words as year, fire, 
 say, pale, in Shakespeare, he finds himself in general agreement 
 with me as to the scansion of the particular lines quoted. The 
 scansions given were in some cases suggested by him as pos^ 
 sibilities which he is now disposed to reject. In regard to an 
 accented 'the', he would wish to limit himself to the statement, 
 that the metrically accented ' the ' usually precedes a mono- 
 syllable which is long, in other words, precedes a spondee. He 
 has no objection to recognize dactyls and anapaests, but con- 
 siders that they are for the most part restricted to certain 
 collocations of syllables, or pauses.] 
 
 Appendix by Mr H. Nicol on the Old French 
 Decasyllabic Metre. 
 
 JSxtract from M. Gaston Paris's edition of La Vie de Saint 
 Aleccis, poeme du XP siecle (Paris, 1872), p. 131 -.-^ 
 
 " Le vers a dix syllabes au minimum ; il pent en avoir onze 
 ou douze si I'h^mistiche' et le vers ont une terminaison feminine. 
 II y a done quatre types : 1° vers de dix syllables, masculins a 
 I'h^mistiche et k la rime : || Ja mdis | n'iert Uls || com f4,t \ as 
 an\ceis6rs \\ ; 2° vers de onze syllabes, masculins k I'h^mistiche, 
 feminins k la rime : || Sor toz \ ses p4rs || Vamdt \ li em\perddre \\ ; 
 3° vers de onze syllabes, feminins a I'h^mistiche, masculins It la 
 
 1 "Cette dfinomination est admise, bien qa'k la riguenr elle soit inexaote." 
 
LOGICAL A-PEIORISM. 47 
 
 rime : || Enfdnt \ nos d6nh \\ qui s6it | a ton | talent \\ ; 4° vers de 
 douze syllabes, f^minins k rh^mistiche et k la rime : || Bone li \ 
 remdnibret \\ de son \ seindr | ceMste \\. Le vers est done un de- 
 casyllahe, pouvant avoir une syllabe de plus, n^cessairement 
 atone, apres la quatrieme et apres la dixifeme... Le d^- 
 casyllabe apparait pour la premiere fois dans le pofeme de 
 Bofece, ou il a exactement le m^me caractere que dans le 
 ndtre ; c'est aussi le vers du Roland et de la plupart des 
 anciennes chansons de geste. Le vers est toujours tr^s- 
 exactement fait, et toutes les syllabes comptent:...pour savoir 
 ...la juste mesure il faut tenir compte des cas oti se produit 
 Vilision.'' 
 
 I have marked the feet and hemistich ; and put an acute 
 over the accented words and syllables, a grave over the extra 
 unaccented syllable. M. Paris does not state — it being generally 
 known — that the second syllable of the second and fifth feet 
 must be accented. Words ending in a syllable with unaccented 
 e have the accent on the one before it ; all others on the last. 
 The accents in the other feet (always disyllabic) are not fixed ; 
 the cesura is always after the second foot. 
 
 The poem on Boethius is of the tenth century, and is the 
 oldest Provencal work of which a fragment has been preserved ; 
 here are two lines (from Bartsch's Chrestomathie Provenqale, 
 2« Edition, Elberfeld, 1868, p. 1) : - 
 
 Pro non | es g4igrfe||, si pe|neddn | za 'n pren||. 
 No cre|d^t d^u|| lo n6s|tre cre|ator||. 
 
 There are no feminine rhymes ; in the first example the e of en 
 is elided after the preceding a. 
 
 The Chanson de Roland is eleventh century, rather later 
 than the Alexis, and its versification is just the same (Th. MuUer's 
 edition of the Oxford MS., Gottingen, 1863, p. 1, 2) : 
 
 Cdrles | li r^is||, n6stre em|per^|re m4gnfe||. 
 II en I apfl6t|| e ses | ddx e | ses ciintfes||. 
 Blancan|drins fiit|| des plus | skives | pai&s||. 
 De vas|selAgfe|| fut | a,\s6z clie|val^r||. 
 
 The first of these has the unaccented e of nostre elided before 
 the following vowel, as usual. 
 
48 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 [Prof. Paul Meyer of Paris has most kindly sent me the fol- 
 lowing remarks in reference to some queries made as to. the 
 above. 
 
 " The short paragraph of G. Paris, with H. Nicol's additionSj 
 does not profess to give a complete idea of the French decasyl- 
 labic verse, but is correct, so far as it goes. In French versifi- 
 cation there is no fixed place for the accent except at the end 
 of the line and, in long verses, about the middle of the line. 
 There are three distinct forms of the decasyllabic verse, (1) that 
 in which the accents fall on the 4th and 10th syllables, (2) that 
 in which they fall on the 5th and 10th, (3) that in. which they 
 fall on the 6th and 10th. These forms are never found coxur 
 bined in one poem, as they are in the Italian, where the hende- 
 casyllable may have the middle accent on the 4th or on the 6th 
 syllable indifferently in the same poem. . The Alexandrine 
 verse has always the accent on the 6th and 12th syllables. In 
 lines under ten syllables no accent has a fis;ed place but the 
 one which marks the end of the.^ verse, always admitting an 
 unaccented syllable after it (the feminine rime). Very ancient 
 French poetry does however admit generally an accent on the 
 4th syllable in octosyllabic verse (see G. Paris in Romania i. 
 294). But this accent on the 4th syllable of the octosyllabic 
 verse does not require a pause after it, as would be the case in 
 longer verses. 
 
 " That Shakespeare's verse has its origin in the French deca- 
 syllabic verse was proved long ago by Zamcke, the Leipzig pro- 
 fessor, in his essay Ueber den fimffiossiger Iambus mit besonderer 
 Rucksicht auf seine Behandlung durch Lesdng, Schiller und 
 Goethe (Leipzig, 1865)."] 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AESTHETIC INTUITIVISM. 
 Mr J. A. Symonds. 
 
 I HAVE spoken of the mischief arising from the confusion 
 between the aesthetic and the scientific views of metre. Each 
 is good in its place, but they should be kept distinct, and the 
 scientific examination should come first. Otherwise metrical 
 analysis shares in all the difficulties of aesthetic analysis, and is 
 in danger of becoming to a great extent a matter of individual 
 feeling. As an example of this aesthetic or intuitivist way of 
 regarding metrical questions, I will take an article on the Blank 
 Verse of Milton written by Mr J. A. Symonds, which appeared 
 in the Fortnightly for Dec. 1874. I give his system in his own 
 words slightly condensed. "English blank verse consists of 
 " periods of lines, each one of which is made up normally of ten 
 " syllables, so disposed that five beats occur at regular intervals, 
 " giving the effect of an iambic rhythm. Johnson was wrong 
 "in condemning deviation from this ideal structure as inhar- 
 " monious. It is precisely such deviation that constitutes the 
 " beauty of blank verse. A verse may often have more than ten 
 ■' syllables, and more or less than five accents, but it must carry 
 "so much sound as shall be a satisfactory equivalent for ten 
 " syllables, and must have its accents arranged so as to content 
 "an ear prepared for five." 
 
 So far we may say all metrists, with perhaps the single 
 
 exception of Dr Guest, would be agreed : the question is how 
 
 we are to interpret the vague phrase "satisfactory equivalent," 
 
 but we shall seek in vain for anything more definite in the 
 
 M. M. 4 
 
50 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 course of Mr Symonds' article. We have a good deal of 
 eloquent declamation about the "balance and proportion of 
 syllables," "the massing of sounds so as to produce a whole 
 harmonious to the ear, but beyond the reach of analysis by 
 feet." We are told that in order to understand the rhythm of 
 the line — 
 
 'Tis true, I am that spirit unfortunate — 
 
 "it was necessary to have heard and seen the fiend as Milton 
 " heard and saw him. Johnson, with eyes fixed on the ground, 
 " searching for iambs, had not gazed on the fallen archangel's 
 " face, nor heard the low slow accents of the first two syllables, 
 " the proud emphasis upon the fourth, the stately and melancholy 
 " music-roll which closed the line." [With equal justice Mr 
 Symonds might protest against the profanation of attempt- 
 ing to give a grammatical or rhetorical analysis of a speech 
 of Demosthenes.] Again, "spasms of intense emotion have 
 " to be imagined in order to give its metrical value to the 
 " verse, — 
 
 Me, me only, just object of his ire," 
 and so on. 
 
 In fact Mr Symonds distinctly asserts what I should call 
 the principle of aesthetic intuitivism in the words "the one 
 " sound rule for readers is — Attend strictly to the sense and the 
 "pauses: the lines will then be perfectly melodious; but if you 
 " attempt to scan the lines on any preconceived metrical system, 
 "you will violate the sense and vitiate the music." I need 
 not repeat the objections to this view, which have been already 
 fully stated in my introductory chapter. Sufiice it to say that 
 it renders impossible the classification and comparison of metrical 
 effects, and encourages the delusion that poetry is subject to no 
 rules and admits of no science. If nothing more were wanted 
 than that the casual reader should be satisfied or gratified by his 
 own recitation of a poem, what security should we have against 
 misprints and false readings being treated as rhythmical, as in 
 the instances quoted from Dr Guest's book in a former chapter ? 
 What is there to prevent Milton's heroic 
 
 Universal reproach far worse to bear 
 
AESTHETIC INTUITIVISM. SI 
 
 from being read as a four-foot iambic commencing with two 
 anapaests ? Or why should Mr Symonds take the trouble to 
 argue that certain lines containing twelve syllables ought not 
 to be regarded as Alexandrines, if the line will be perfectly 
 melodious when read according to the sense and the pauses 
 without any preconceived metrical system? The same con- 
 fusion between- the scientific and the aesthetic view appears in 
 the assumption that those who maintain the value of metrical 
 analysis, i.e. of scansion, would also maintain that the reading of 
 the line should be determined merely by its scansion, and not 
 by its meaning. And apparently the writer thinks that this was 
 the case with classical versification. He allows that ''such terms 
 as trochee and amphibrach may be usefully employed between 
 students employed in metrical analysis," that "our daily speech 
 is larded with trochees and cretics and so forth:" on the other 
 hand, "since quantity forms no part of our prosody, and since 
 the licenses of quantity in blank verse can never have been 
 determined, it is plainly not much to the purpose to talk about 
 choriambs in Milton — though they are undoubtedly to be found 
 there — but these names of classic feet do not explain the secret 
 of the varied melody of Milton;" " they do not solve the problem 
 of blank verse." 
 
 It is difficult to deal with the mass of inconsistencies in 
 these lines : . first it is stated that trochees, etc., exist in English, 
 and that the terms may be usefully employed by students for 
 the purpose of analyzing English metre, and then again we are 
 told that since quantity does not enter into our prosody, there- 
 fore it is useless to talk of choi'iambs and classic feet in Milton, 
 though he has them. Not to dwell upon this, the writer is 
 evidently contrasting quantitative and accentual metre, and 
 deprecates the use of classical terms as not explaining the 
 secret of the varied melody of the latter. But who ever asserted 
 or supposed that Virgil's melody was explained by the mere 
 naming of the feet or the scanning of the lines ? Even a school- 
 boy in saying his lines is corrected if he scans them instead of 
 reciting them with the proper accent and emphasis ; even a 
 schoolboy in writing his Latin verses knows that it is only a. 
 small portion of his task to produce lines that will construe and 
 
 4—2 
 
52 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 scan. Lines may construe and scan, and yet be utterly inad- 
 missible, and even when he has learnt to produce a decent line, 
 he is told that he is to notice how Virgil varies his rhythm by 
 the position of the caesura, by the prevalence of spondees or 
 dactyls, by the length of the clauses and periods. Mr Symonds 
 seems to think it an objection to the scanning of English verse, 
 that the metrical feet will not always coincide with the natural 
 pauses in the sense, but so far from this being an objection in 
 Latin poetry, it is the actual rule that they should not in general 
 coincide. No doubt the scanning of Virgil is an easy thing, and 
 the scanning of Shakespeare and Milton is a hard thing, but I see 
 no reason for saying that scanning is more necessary or useful in 
 the case of the one .than of the other, unless we are prepared to 
 maintain that there is absolutely no rule at all observed in the 
 English heroic. The scanning of Plautus is just as hard as that 
 of Virgil is easy, and hard for the same reason as the scanning of 
 English verse is hard, because syllables may be slurred in rapid 
 pronunciation, because the metrical value of many of the 
 syllables is not fixed, as it was in later Latin, and because the 
 alternative feet are so numerous. Thus the place of an iambus 
 may be taken by a trochee, a tribrach, a spondee, an anapaest, a 
 dactyl, Wagner would say, even a proceleusmatic (see his Intro- 
 duction to the Anlularia). But no one on this account thinks 
 scanning superfluous in Plautus. On the contrary, whilst the 
 scanning of Virgil is left to those who are commencing their 
 studies in Latin verse, the scansion of Plautus has occupied the 
 attention of the ablest scholars from Bentley to Ritschl ; and the 
 result is that a metre, of which even Cicero confessed that he 
 could make nothing, is now intelligible to any ordinary reader. 
 This is a case in which the scientific metrical analysis preceded 
 and rendered possible the aesthetic analysis, and so I believe it 
 has been and will be in other cases. 
 
 We found an inconsistency just now between the statement 
 that the classical terminology might be usefully employed in 
 reference to English metre by students accustomed to metrical 
 analysis, and the subsequent statement that, since quantity 
 formed no part of our prosody, these classical names were only 
 misleading. Further on we ScVQ told that, in English blank 
 
AESTHETIC INTUITIVISir. 53 
 
 verse, "scansion by time takes the place of scansion by metrical 
 feet; the bars of the musical composer, where different values 
 from the breve to the demi-semi-quaver find their place, suggest 
 a truer basis of measurement than the longs and shorts of classic 
 feet." If this is to be taken literally, while every foot should 
 occupy the same time to pronounce, it may consist of any 
 number of syllables from one to thirty-two. Getting rid of 
 hyperbole, let us say, from one to four, and consider what 
 degree of truth there is in the statement. It is difficult to 
 see what connexion there can be between such a metre as this 
 and those with which Milton's verse is historically connected, 
 the later metre of Dryden, and the earlier metre of Surrey, 
 Sackville, Greene, and Peele, who are said to have shown "great 
 hesitation as to any departure from iambic regularity'." It is 
 difficult also to see how such terms as "trochee and amphibrach 
 can be usefully employed by students engaged in the analysis" 
 of such a metre. But leaving this, is it true that each foot 
 occupies the same time ; e.g. in what Mr Symonds calls the 
 ponderous 
 
 Showers, hails, snows, frosts, and two-edged winds that prime 
 
 and in what he calls the light and rapid 
 
 Athens, the eye of Greece, mother of arts 
 
 is it not palpable that the spondee 'showers, hails,' takes longer 
 to pronounce than the trochee 'Athens'? Again, is it true that 
 we ever find a foot corresponding to a breve in which the whole 
 time is occupied with one syllable ? I should say that in cases 
 where one syllable stands for the foot, it corresponds rather to 
 the semibreve with a pause. The syllable by itself only supplies 
 half the foot. Is it true that there may be more than three 
 syllables in a foot? This too I should deny. If there is any 
 apparent case of such a thing, I should saj' that one or more 
 syllables have suffered elision or slurring, tlie apoggiatura of 
 music. And lastly is it, as seems to be implied, a matter of 
 indifference on which syllable in the bar or foot the accent 
 falls ? If there are three syllables, is it the same thing 
 
 1 How little this is true of Siuroy will appear below in ch. viii. 
 
54 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 whether the accent falls on the first, second, or third of these ? 
 I cannot think we shall gain much from 'this scansion by time.' 
 There stUl remain two points for consideration, the one the 
 inconsistent results obtained by the old metrists, the other the 
 challenge offered to explain certain lines of Milton by the ordi- 
 nary scanning. To show the inconsistencies of the old metrists 
 we are told that in the line 
 
 Partakers, and uncropt falls to the ground 
 
 the last four syllables were made a choriambic by Todd and a 
 dactyl with a demifoot by Brydges. I am not concerned to 
 defend either, and in fact both have gone beyond the limits of 
 scientific metrical analysis, through a wish to suggest the 
 general rhythmical effect. The first business of the metrist is 
 to give the bare fact that we have in this line an accented 
 seventh followed by an unaccented eighth syllable, making 
 what is commonly called a trochee, and again an unaccented 
 ninth followed by an accented tenth, commonly called an iamb. 
 Todd is not wrong in saying that the two together constitute a 
 choriamb, only that, to be consistent, he should very much 
 enlarge his terminologj' and have a name ready for any possible 
 collocation of two feet. Brydges, on the other hand, is alto- 
 gether on the wrong tack, and opens the door to any sort of 
 license. 
 
 We come now to the lines which are said to be beyond the 
 reach of analysis by feet. I give what I consider the true 
 scanniiig of each. 
 
 Euining | along | the illimlitab|le inane| 
 
 First dactyl, second iamb, third slurred iamb, or anapaest, 
 according to the pleasure of the reader, fourth iamb, fifth same 
 as the third. 
 
 The one wind|ing the oth|er straight | and left | between | 
 
 First slurred spondee, second slurred iamb, the rest iambs. 
 
 See where | Christ's blood | streams in | the fir|mament | 
 
 First trochee, second spondee, third trochee, fourth and fifth 
 iambs. The third foot is said to be "illegitimate according' 
 
AESTHETIC INTUITIVISM. 55 
 
 to iambic scansion," but this is so only according to narrow 
 a priori systems such as Johnson's. The limit of trochaic varia- 
 tion will be discussed further on. 
 
 'Tis true | I am | that spirit | unfor|tunate | 
 
 First, second, fourth, fifth iambs, third slurred iamb, or if 
 the reader pleases to pronounce both syllables of 'spirit' 
 distinctly, the last syllable would make the fourth foot an 
 anapaest 
 
 Me me | only | just ob|ject of | his ire | 
 
 First spondee, second trochee, third spondee, fourth pyrrhic, 
 fifth iamb. Of this line it is said, "It is obvious here that 
 scansion by feet will be of little use, but the line is understood 
 as soon as we allow the time of two whole syllables to the first 
 emphatic 'me,' and bring over the next words 'me only' in the 
 time of another two syllables." If it is meant that scansion by 
 feet will not of itself tell us how to read the line, of course, I 
 agree ; but if it is implied that whenever the second syllable of 
 the line is joined closely in sense with what follows it is to be 
 reckoned as forming part of the second foot, then I say that we 
 destroy the foundation of metre. Nor do I recognize any given 
 time for two syllables. I do not see why a reader should not 
 give as much time to the first 'me' as to the four last syllables 
 of the line. 
 
 Mr Symonds continues, "The truth of this method is still 
 more evident when we take for analysis a line at first singularly 
 inharmonious. 
 
 Submiss | he reared | me and whom | thou soughtest | I am | 
 
 Try to scan this line, and it seems a confusion of uncertain feet." 
 The feet are all iambs but the third, which may be read either 
 as slurred iamb or as anapaest. 
 
 To avoid any possible misconception, I repeat again that 
 I find no fault with Mr Symonds for what he has done, 
 but for what he has failed to do, and condemned others for 
 doing. His aesthetic analysis may be excellent in itself, but 
 it cannot take the place of the scientific analysis, nor is there 
 the least inconsistency between them. By all means let Mr 
 
56 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 Syinonds 'gaze on the archangel's face and hear his stately 
 and melancholy music-roll/ but why should that interfere 
 with Johnson's humble search for iambs ? I venture to say that, 
 as a rule, the ear which has been, first purged by listening for 
 iambs will be better prepared to receive those higher aesthetic 
 pleasures of which Mr Symonds discourses so eloquently. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 NATURAL OR A- POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 
 Me a. J. Ellis. Mr Masson. Mr Keightley. 
 
 Intermediate between the rigid a priori systems of Dr 
 Guest and Dr Abbott, and the anarchical no-system of the 
 Intuitivists, comes what I should call the natural or a posteriori 
 system of which Mr A. J. Ellis may be regarded as a repre- 
 sentative. I am glad to be able to give Mr Ellis' theory of the 
 heroic verse in his own words slightly abbreviated from a paper 
 read before the Philological Society in June 1876. He com- 
 mences with a quotation from the Essentials of Phonetics, p. 76, 
 published by him in 1848 but long out of print. 
 
 "An English heroic verse is usually stated to consist of 
 ten syllables. It is better divided into five groups, [what we 
 commonly call feet, what Mr Ellis prefers to call measures] each 
 of which theoretically consists of two syllables, of which the 
 second only is accented. The theoretical English verse is 
 therefore 01, 01, 01, 01, 01 (0 = absence, 1= presence of stress); 
 but this normal form is very seldom found. Practically, many 
 of the groups are allowed to consist of three syllables, two of 
 them being unaccented; but in these cases the syllable im- 
 mediately preceding is very strongly accented. The number of 
 syllables may therefore be greater than ten, while the accents 
 may be, and most generally are, less than five. It is necessary 
 for an English verse of this description, that there should be an 
 accent at the end of the third and fifth group, or at the end of 
 the second and fourth; and if either of these requisites is com- 
 plied with, other accents may be distributed almost at pleasure. 
 
58 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 The last group may also have one or two unaccented syllables 
 after its last accent. Much of the beauty of a verse arises from, 
 the proper distribution of the pauses between the words, and 
 also of the groups of accents among the groups of words. Thus 
 the second or third group, or measure, must in general be 
 divided, that is, must be distributed between two words, or the 
 effect on the ear will not be harmonious." 
 
 Mr Ellis then gives the first sixteen lines of Paradise Lost, 
 denoting the degree of stress laid on each syllable by the 
 figures 2, 1, written underneath, the divisions of the feet 
 being marked by commas. 
 
 1. Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 
 
 2, 1 0, 2, 0, 2 
 
 2. Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 
 
 1, 2, 1, 2, 2 
 
 3. Brought death into the world, and all our woe 
 
 1 2, 0, 2, 1, 2 
 
 4. With loss of Eden, till one greater man 
 
 1, 2, 0, 2, 2 
 
 5. Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, 
 
 2, 0, 2, 2, 2 
 
 6. Sing, heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top 
 
 2 2, 2, 1 0, 2, 1 
 
 7. Of Horeb or of Sinai, didst inspire 
 
 2, 0, 2, 1, 2 
 
 8. That shepherd, who first taught the chosen seed 
 
 1 2, 0, 2 2, 2, 2 
 
 9. In the beginning, how the heavens and earth 
 
 0, 2, 1, 2, 2 
 
 10. Eose out of chaos. Or, if Zion hill 
 
 2 0, 2, 1, 2, 2 
 
 11. Delight thee more ; and Siloa's brook that flows 
 
 2, 2, 2.0 2, 2 
 
 12. Fast by the oracles of God, I thence 
 
 2 0, 2,0 0, 2, 1 2 
 
 13. Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song : 
 
 2, 2, 0, 2, 2 
 
 14. That with no middle flight intends to soar 
 
 0, 2 2, 2, 2, 2 
 
 15. Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues 
 
 1, 2,0 2, 2 0, 2 
 
 16. Things unattempted yet, in prose or rhyme 
 
 2 0, 2, 1, 2, 2 
 
 "In these sixteen lines, there is not one with a superfluous 
 syllable at the end of the line, but lines 1, 6, 7, 9, 11 and 13 
 have eleven syllables, and line 15 has as many as twelve 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 59 
 
 syllables. There are several groups, therefore, of more than 
 two syllables, some groups of two, and one (in the first line) of 
 three unaccented syllables. Sometimes a group has two ac- 
 cents, as in lines 6, 8, 14. Lines 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 15, owe their 
 rhythm to accents at the end of the third and fifth groups; 
 lines 2, 4, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, to accents at the end of the second 
 and fourth groups; and both characteristics are united in lines 
 11, 14. The mode in which these necessary conditions arc 
 diversified, by the. introduction of other and unexpected 
 accents, or by the omission of accents, is very remarkable, and 
 shews the art and rhythmical feeling of the poet. So far from 
 the theoretical standard, 01, 01, 01, 01, 01, being of constant 
 recurrence, we only find one line (the second) in which it is 
 strictly observed; and even then we have to assume that sub- 
 accents have the same effect on the ear as primary accents, 
 which is far from being the case. Line 11, in spite of the three 
 syllables in the fourth group, approaches the theoretical 
 standard nearer than any other verse, and it is immediately 
 succeeded by line 12, which, as a contrast, goes miles away from 
 the standard form. 
 
 "At a later period, in my Early English Pronunciation, Part 
 I., 1869, pp. 333 — 5, I made some passing remarks on Chaucer's 
 rhythm as different from the modern, and I laid down my 
 modern tests with a few variations, thus: 
 
 "In the modern verse of five measures, there must be a 
 principal stress on the last syllable of the second and fourth 
 measures; or of the first and fourth measures; or of the third 
 and some other measure. There is also generally a stress upon 
 the last syllable of the fifth measure; but if any one of the 
 three conditions above stated is satisfied, the verse, so fax as 
 stress is concerned, is complete, no matter what other syllables 
 have a greater or less stress or length. The length of syllables 
 has much to do with the force and character of a verse, but 
 does not form part of its rhythmical laws. It is a mistake to 
 suppose that there are commonly or regularly five stresses, one 
 to each measure. Take, for example, the first six lines of Lord 
 Byron's Corsair, marking the even measures by italics, and the 
 relative amount of stress by 0, 1, 2, we have — 
 
60 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 1. O'er the glad waters of the dark blue sea 
 
 1 0, 1 2, 0, 2, 12 
 
 2. Our thoughts as houndless and our soids as free, 
 
 1 1, 2, 0, 2, 2 
 
 3. Far as the breeze can bear, the Siflows foam, 
 
 2 0, 1, 2, 1, 2 
 
 4. Survey our empire, and behold our home ! 
 
 1, 2, 0, 2, 2 
 
 5. These are our realms, no limits to their sway — 
 
 2 0, 1, 2 1, 0, 2 
 
 6. Our flag the sceptie all who meet obey 
 
 1 2, 2, 1, 1 2, 2 
 
 "The distribution of stress is seen to be very varied, but the 
 action of the rules given in the text is well marked. Different 
 readers would probably differ in the ratios 1 and 2, in some 
 lines, and others might think that it would be sufficient to mark' 
 stress and no stress. The last line most nearly approaches to 
 having five principal stresses. 
 
 "Our English verse, though based on alterations of force, is 
 materially governed by length and pause, is seldom or never un- 
 accompanied by variety of pitch unknown in prose, and is more 
 than all perhaps governed by weight, which is due to expression 
 and mental conceptions of importance, and is distinct from force, 
 length, pitch, and pause or silence; but results partly from ex- 
 pression in delivery (a very different thing from mere emphasis), 
 produced by quality of tone and gliding pitch, with often actual 
 weakness of tone, and partly from the mental effect of the con- 
 structional predominance of conceptions, as of substantives over 
 adjectives, and verbs over adverbs, even when the greater force 
 or emphasis is given to the lighter words. Weight is a very 
 complex phenomenon, therefore, which certainly affects English 
 rhythm in a remarkable manner at times, entirely crossing the 
 rules of force or strength. We want, therefore, a nomenclature 
 which shall distinguish degrees of force, length, pitch, and 
 weight in syllables, and in groups of syllables so affected, and 
 of degrees of duration of silence. Our rhythms are thus greatly 
 more complicated than the classical, so far as we can appreciate 
 them, except the ditbyrambic and the comic, which as Cicero 
 felt, required music. (Orator. § 183-4, quos cum cantii spo- 
 liaveris nuda paene remanet oratio.) 
 
NATURAL Or A-POSTEEIORI SYSTEM. 61 
 
 "I have elaborated a series of expressions for degrees of 
 force, length, pitch, weight, and silence, which will in some 
 way avoid the great ambiguities, and indeed contradictions, 
 which occur in the use of the words accent and emphasis among 
 writers on rhythm. These are as follows. Nine degrees are 
 distinguished, representable by the numbers 1, the smallest, to 
 9, the greatest. But of these three are principal, each having a 
 super- and sub-form. 
 
 rOKCE. LENGTH. PITCH. WEIGHT. SILENCE. 
 
 9. Buperstrong snpeiiong superhigh superheavy supergreat 
 8. — strong — long — high — heavy — great 
 7. substrong sublong subhigh subheavy subgreat 
 
 6. supermean supermedial supermiddle supermoderate siipermedium 
 5. — mean — medial — middle — moderate — msdium 
 4. submean submedial submiddle submoderate submedium 
 
 3. superweak supershort superlow superlight supersmall 
 
 2. — weak — short — low — light — small 
 
 1. subweak subshort sublow sublight subsmall 
 
 "For all practical purposes the three principal degrees suf- 
 fice, but fewer will not serve. I have found it of great practical 
 advantage to be able to speak of a strong syllable, quite inde- 
 pendently of the origin of its strength, which may arise from its 
 position as an accented syllable in polysyllables, or from its em- 
 phatic pronunciation in a monosyllable. Thus we may say that 
 English rhythm is primarily governed by alterations and groups 
 of strong and weak syllables, and that it is materially influenced 
 by alternations and groups of long and short, high and low, 
 heavy and light syllables, and great and small pauses. The 
 names of these groups would require great care to be suf- 
 ficiently intelligible, and I have not yet attempted to work 
 them out. As English verse would have, however, to be 
 studied in reference to all of them, it is very easy to express a 
 group of syllables by the initials F, L, P, W, S, and the corre- 
 sponding figures. Thus what used to be called an accentual 
 iambus will assume any of the forms F 19, 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 
 79, 89; or F 18, 28, 38, 48, 58, 68, 78; or F 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 
 67; or F 16, 26, 36, 46, 56; or F 15, 25, 35, 45; or F 14, 24, 
 34; or F 13, 23; or F 12; and very subtle ears might be ready 
 
62 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 to appreciate all these forms, although the forms F 28, 58, 25 
 would be all that might be generally reckoned. But in such 
 groups we might also have L 28, 58, 25; P 28, 58, 25; and W 
 28, 58, 25. Thus F 28 + W 28, and F 28 + W 58, would have 
 very different effects, and new effects would be introduced by 
 the distribution of the syllables in a group among different 
 words and the length of the corresponding silences, if any, no 
 silence not being marked. It will be found not easy to take 
 note of all these peculiarities in reading a piece of poetry. 
 Joshua Steele and James Rush tried much this way, see my 
 paper on Accent and Emphasis, Philological Transactions 
 1873—4, pp. 129—132. Steele attended to length and silence 
 in one, under the name of time, and distributed them so as to 
 divide speech, in prose or verse, into equal intervals of time, 
 answering to musical bars; he especially noted pitch, and also 
 force, not however as here employed, but as part of expression, 
 and hence forming part of weight, and corresponding to the 
 crescendos and diminuendos of music, and in fact the whole 
 apparatus of oratory. What is here meant by force he calls 
 weight, and makes it agree so completely with the beating of a 
 conductor of music, that he assigns weight to silences. 
 
 "When merely two grades are necessary, the long vowel, 
 implying a long syllable, has the long mark, as seat; the long 
 syllable with a short vowel may have the short mark over the 
 vowel, as strength; short vowels and syllables are unmarked. 
 Strong syllables have a turned period (■) after a long vowel, as 
 re'gion, or the consonant following a short vowel, as wretcked; 
 weak syllables are unmarked. High syllables have an acute 
 accent over the short vowel in short syllables, as cdno, or 
 after the vowel bearing the long or short mark in long syllables, 
 as cano, canto. The glide down from a high pitch to a low one, 
 always on a long vowel, is marked by the circumflex, as silme. 
 The glide up from a low pitch to a high one, also always on a 
 long vowel, is marked by a grave accent on the vowel followed 
 by an acute accent after it, as Norwegian dd!g. The low pitch 
 is unmarked. But a grave accent marks a still lower pitch. 
 Heavy syllables are in italics, light syllables unmarked. Em- 
 phasis as affecting a whole word is represented by (■) placed 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 63 
 
 before the whole word, and will mark any peculiarity of ex- 
 pression by which it is indicated in speech. Silence, when not 
 marked by the usual points or dashes, or in addition to these, 
 is denoted by (o), a turned mark of degrees, for small, and (q), 
 a turned zero, for long silences. Odd measures end with | , 
 and even measures with ]. By this means all the principal 
 points of rhythm can be easily marked by ordinary types. 
 
 "From the above it will be seen how minute are my own 
 notions of rhythm as actually practised by poets in a developed 
 state of literature, not those who had to struggle with singsong 
 doggrel, as in much of our oldest rhymes. This also shews in 
 what sense I consider the old classical terms "misleading" 
 — principally, as now used, in studying classical metres with 
 modern prepossessions, — and also as utterly insufficient for 
 English purposes. 
 
 "I will conclude by appending a few lines which I have put 
 together for the sole purpose of contrasting irregularities with 
 regularities. Lines in strange rhythms would never be so ac- 
 cumulated and contrasted in practice. I mark them for force 
 only below, but roughly for length, pitch, weight, silence, and 
 measure, in the text, and add remarks. 
 
 In the I blSck" siy'J glfm'mSrs | the pa'-le] cold moo 
 
 22 6 8, 8 2, 26 6 8 
 
 8 
 
 2. S3,d' gho'st I of m'ght,^ and the sta'Ts I twlwhl^ arou'nd 
 
 6 6, 2 6, 2 2 8, 7 2, 2 6 
 
 or, 2 S, 7 8, 2 2 6 
 
 3. Trgm'bling | span'gUs'^ set' in | her da'-rk] gau'ze vevl 
 
 6 2, 5 2, 6 2, 2 6, 7 8 
 
 4. Pa'le quee-n, I pflTe oMce'm,] dii'll' quee'n, I forlo'Tn] quee'n ; a'yeo 
 
 56, 5 6, 7 S, 58 8 9 
 
 5. Give me | the so'']cial glo'w, | the hrl'ght] cod-l^, theo 
 
 7 2, 2, 8, 2 7, 2 7, 8 2 
 
 6. Fit'ful|ly g§']nial_/?a'7rae,o | li'ghting] ea-oh ohee'k, 
 
 6 2, 2 7, 2 2 7, 8 6, 5 8, 
 
 V. Qll'ding I each smvle], brl'-ghtsome I acc5m']paniment 
 
 8 5, 6 8, 8 3 28 122 
 
 8. Of brl-ghtlsome meZ-jocfy rl ng-|ing from bri'ght]some heaTts. 
 
 2 8, 3 8, 3 2 8, 8 2 8, 3 8 
 
 9. The rig-id 1 ll'-ne] enca'sed I in rig-]id rtf 'les^, 
 
 2 7, 2 7, 2 7, 1 7, 2 7 
 
 10. As dii'll' I as stig-Jnant u<a\ter,o du'lls] the mi'nd 
 
 18, 1 8, 1 7, 1 8, 2 7 
 
 11. That long's \ to free'-] itself-, | from ha'Tsh] contro-l^ 
 
 1 8, 1 8, 2 r, 1 7, 2 8 
 
64 ON ENGLISH METRE, 
 
 12. Andj, in | the va'lried rhy'tMm of hEa''rt] and sou''l 
 
 3 1, 1 7, 2 7, 1 1 7, 1 8 
 
 13. Fee' 'Is the | sun'-ow'c?-,] true' jBO'lesys'] true'- king- 
 
 7 1, 8 7, 78127 8 
 
 It will be at once evident that force is here very insufficient 
 for marking the rhythm, and that length, weight and silence 
 have much effect. The only regular lines are 9, 10, 11, and 
 they have a singularly dull effect among the others. Some of 
 the lines set all ordinary rules at naught, and some readers 
 may take them, as Goethe's mother took Klopstock's Messiah, 
 for "prose run mad." Line 1, an ordinary form, begins with 
 two short and weak syllables, followed by two strong and long 
 ones, of which the first, "black'," has a short vowel and an 
 ordinary pitch, and the second, "sky''," has a long diphthong, 
 and with a higher pitch. The next two measures are of the 
 form strong-weak weak-strong, very usual at the commence- 
 ment or on beginning the third or fourth measure. The third 
 measure, "glim'mers," has a short strong high first syllable, and 
 a long weak low second syllable, which is also very common. 
 The three long strong syllables which close the line are very 
 common as an ending, the first is high, and the other two 
 descend, but the voice must not drop to "moo''n," as the 
 sentence does not end. The weight of the last word makes the 
 metre secure. In line 2 there are three long and rather strong 
 syllables, but the pitch is low, and the weight unimportant. 
 These are relieved by the trissyllabic third measure, in which 
 the first two syllables are extremely light short and weak. 
 The pitch rises on the long and strong "sta''rs," but higher yet 
 on its verb (and hence heavy) "twin'kle," in which the first 
 syllable is short and strong, but the second long and weak, the 
 le standing for the long I only. Line 3 does not satisfy any 
 one of my three tests, for it is only the fourth and fifth 
 measures which end with a strong syllable. On examination it 
 will be seen that the line consists of two sections; the first, 
 "trSm'bling span'gles," of two measures with the strong and 
 long syllable first, and the last ending with a long syllable ; and 
 the second, "set' in her da''rk gau'ze vev^l" of three measures, 
 of which the first two are common initial and post-pausal 
 measures (strong-weak -f- weak-strong), and it is this arrange- 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIOKI SYSTEM. 65 
 
 ment which saves the line; the last three syllables are all 
 strong, but the last is the heaviest, and this makes the line 
 complete. It would be easy to alter the line to 
 
 Set' in I her da''rk] gau'ze veH \ like trem-jbling span-gles, 
 or to 
 
 Trgm'bling | like sp3,'n']glSs in | her da-rk] gau'ze veiH, 
 or 
 
 Like spS'n'Igles trSm']bling in | her da'rk] gau'ze vei'l. 
 
 But all these would be far more commonplace both in rhythm 
 and poetry. At present, the beginning of the line typifies the 
 feeling of the trembling starlight, while the three strong final 
 syllables contrast this with the dark expanse of the heavens. 
 
 "Line 4, with its nine strong syllables, is strange. The fifth 
 syllable, 'dull,' has decidedly more force than the sixth, 'queen,' 
 because the word forms a climax, but the 'queen' throughout 
 has much weight from grammatical reasons, which restores the 
 balance of rhythm. The slight pause in the fifth measure 
 raises the 'queen' in force, and also requires the pitch to be 
 sustained, that the ear may be prepared for the 'a''ye,' which 
 not only rises in force, but much more in pitch, and must be 
 followed by a much longer silence, ready for the burst in the 
 next line (5), where the first words, "give me the,' will be very 
 short, though 'give' will be distinctly emphasised, and with a 
 much lower pitch than the preceding 'a''ye.' The chief force 
 comes on 'so'"cial,' which will lengthen its first syllable and 
 rise in pitch, whereas 'glow' will be nearly as strong, much 
 heavier, but lower. The last four syllables seem to knock 
 verse on the head, but the nearly equal force of 'bright' and 
 'coal,' with heavier weight and higher pitch of 'coal,' allow 
 the slight pause after it; the weak but lengthened 'the' 
 (which must have a perceptible pause after it, without dropping 
 the voice to the lowest pitch, to fill up the last measure), pre- 
 pares the mind to contrast the steady brightness of the glowing 
 coal with the jerking darting flame — typified in the whole two 
 lines 6 and 7, first by the three-fold recurrence of the group 
 strong- weak + weak-strong (the first united with another of the 
 form weak- weak-strong, having the weak syllables- almost sub- 
 M. M. o 
 
66 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 weak and sub-short, and the two others, complete in themselves, 
 with the weak syllables rising to medium force and medial 
 length), and next in the curious form of the last two measures 
 of line 7, 'accom'paniment,' which must retain all its five 
 syllables. The gushing of the 'melody' is indicated in a 
 similar manner by the two trissy liable measures in line 8 ; the 
 effect may be readily seen by avoiding them thus — 
 
 Of brl'gMsome no'tes, rlng'ing from brrghtsome hea' -rta, 
 or, worse far, but restoring regularity — 
 
 Of brl-'ghtsome no-Hes, that rl'ng- from brfghtsome bea'-rts, 
 
 where I have marked the regular singsong pitch. One can 
 fancy Pope 'correcting' to this form ! 
 
 "After the three very dull regular lines 9, 10, 11, the ear is 
 greatly relieved by the line 12, beginning with three weak 
 syllables, rising to a climax of weight and pitch in 'rhythm,' 
 and introducing a trissyllabic fourth measure, with sustained 
 pitch on the last syllable of the fifth measure to mark the 
 parenthetical clause, and lead on to the last line 13, with its 
 heavy lengthy rhythm, marked especially by the word 'sun- 
 god,' which has most force on the first syllable, 'sun,' but 
 higher pitch and heavier weight on the second, 'god.' The 
 last three measures of this line, with four long, strong, and 
 heavy syllables, is relieved by distributing them into two 
 groups of two, separated by a very light weak measure with a 
 last syllable of medial length, which saves the line from ponde- 
 rosity without detracting from its majesty. 
 
 "These observations on my own lines, patched together for 
 the mere purpose of exemplification, will serve to shew the 
 method in which, if I could bestow the requisite time upon 
 them, I should study the rhythms of real poets, and the great 
 complexity of English rhythms in the state they have reached 
 since the beginning of the seventeenth century, when Shakspere 
 had learned to be daring in metre as well as poetry. But each 
 poet would have to be considered in relation to his antecedents 
 and his contemporaries, and the state of our language at the 
 time, as shewn by its pronunciation, and its prose manipulation. 
 Each poet, worthy of being so called, bears his own individual 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 67 
 
 rhythmical stamp, as well as that of his age. We must not 
 judge Chaucer's rhythms by Browning's or Swinburne's, any 
 more than we must judge the unison music of the Greeks by 
 the choral music of Handel and Bach." 
 
 Mr Ellis remarks subsequently that the above rules are 
 defective in not paying sufficient regard to the fifth measure, 
 which, striking the ear last, like a cadence in music, is often 
 typical. With respect to this fifth measure, the general condi- 
 tion, although circumstances sometimes arise which induce the 
 poet to violate it, is that the last syllable should not be weaker 
 than the preceding syllable or syllables, and that, when it is 
 actually weaker, it should be at least longer or heavier. The 
 usual form of the fifth measure is weak-strong. 
 
 "In looking through the first book of Paradise Lost, I find 
 this usual form in a decided majority of instances. It occurs in 
 fifteen out of the first sixteen lines already quoted (p. 58). 
 Even in the exception (line 12), the fifth measure is at most 
 mean-strong. In a few instances I have noted weak -weak- 
 strong; but then the weak is usually sub weak, as: ethere-al 
 sky, fie-ry gulf, tempestu-ous fire, mutu-al league, perpetu-al 
 king, sulphu-rous hail, fie-ry waves, Stygi-an flood, oblivi-ous 
 pool, superi-or friend, ponde-rous shield, cho-sen this place, 
 popu-lous North, barba-rous sons, fie-ry couch, tem-ple of God, 
 border-ing flood, gener-al names, Isra-el 'scape, spi-rit more 
 lewd (where the second weak syllable is almost sub-mean, but 
 sprite may have been said), counten-ance cast, foUow-ers rather 
 (with a superfluous syllable also), spir-it that fell. A very com- 
 mon variety is simply weak- weak, as: ar-gument, prov-idence, 
 vis-ible, en-emy, suprem-acy, es-sences, mis-ery, mis-erable, 
 (with a superfluous syllable, which is not usual after a fifth 
 measure of this kind), calam-ity, circum-ference, chiv-alry, car- 
 casses, invis-ible, etc. 
 
 "The most important deviation, however, consists in having 
 fifth measures of the form strong-superstrong, or mean-strong, 
 or even strong-strong or strong-heavy. I subjoin all cases of 
 this kind which occur in the first book of Paradise Lost, quoting 
 the whole line, and italicising those other measures, which, 
 instead of being weak-strong, have any other form, as weak- 
 
68 
 
 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 weak, mean-strong, strong-strong, strong-mean, strong-weak, or 
 trisyllabic. The figures prefixed shew all the measures in 
 which the last syllable predominates over the others, and a 
 glance at them will shew that, whatever other measures satisfy 
 this condition, we have always either the third and fifth, or the 
 second and fourth, that most frequently only four measures 
 satisfy this condition, and that when all the five measures have 
 the principal force on the last syllable (which occurs in seven 
 cases), one at least of these measures is varied by strengthen- 
 ing or lengthening the preceding syllable, or trisyllabising a 
 measure, and thus avoiding the monotony — in fact only one 
 ("By ancient Tarsus") does not treat at least two measures in 
 this way. 
 
 1 345 Wast pre\sent, and] with might|y wings] out-spread 
 
 123 5 Say first \ for Heav'n] hides noth\ing froml thy view 
 
 2345 Nor the \ deep tract] of Hell; | say first] what cause 
 
 23 5 Favowi'd \ of Heav'n] so high|?y to] fall off 
 
 123 5 The infer]p3!i ser]pent; he | it was,] whose guile 
 
 2345 Mix^d with \ obdu]rate pride | and stead]fast hate 
 
 12 45 A dun|geon hor]?'i6Ze | on all] sides round 
 
 123 5 As one | great fwPp.aK,e, flam'd; | yet from those flames 
 
 2345 Regiom \ of sor]row, dole|ful shades,] where peace 
 
 123 5 That comes | to all ;] but i<x\ture witK\o\A, end 
 
 2 45 There the \ compan]ioMs of \ his fall] o'erwhelm'd 
 
 123 5 And thence | in Heav'n] calVd Sat\an, with] bold words 
 
 12345 If thou I heest he;] but O, | howfaU'n/] how chang'd 
 
 23 5 Cloth'd with \ transcend]ent bright|ness, didst \ outshine 
 
 12345 Though chang'd | in out]ward lus|tre that] fix'd mind 
 
 2 45 Who from \ the terjrowr of \ this arm] so late 
 
 2 45 Irreo|oncile]a&Ze .| to our] grand foe 
 
 2345 Out of I our e]vil seek | to bring] forth good 
 
 12345 By an|oient Tars]us held ; | or that] sea-beast 
 
 2 45 Moors by \ his side] under \ the lee,] while night 
 
 12345 So stretch' d \ out huge] in length | the arch]-fiend lay 
 
 2 45 £lvil I to oth]ers; and \ enrag'd,] might see 
 
 123 5 How all \ his mal]ice serv'd | but to] bring forth 
 
 123 5 That felt | vamjsual weight; \ till on] dry land 
 
 123 5 Oi mi\blest feet]. Him fol\low'd his] next m&te 
 
 23 5 In this | unhap]py iaa.n\sion; or] once more 
 
 2 45 Hung on | his should]ers like \ the moon, | whose orb 
 
 2 45 Or in \ Valdar]Mo to \ descry] new lands 
 
 12345 Hath vex'd | the Red] Sea coast, | whose waves] o'erthrew 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. G9 
 
 2345 Roaming \ to seek] their prey | on earth,] durst fix 
 
 12345 By that | uxo]noM« hing, \ whose heart] though large 
 
 123 5 Of Tham|muz year]ly wo;md|ec?; the\ love-tale 
 
 123 5 Infect|ed Si]on's daughtlers witK\ like heat 
 
 1 345 Of a|Ztereci]ted Ju|dah. Next] came one 
 
 2345 Maim'd his \ brute m]age, head | and hands] lopt off 
 
 1 345 From mor|toZ or] immor\tal minds.] Thus they 
 
 123 5 That fought | at Thebes] and I\\ium, on] each side 
 
 123 5 That all | these pu]issant le\gions whose | exile 
 
 1 345 He spake, | and, to] confirm] his words | out-flew 
 
 13 5 In vi|sio?i 6e]atiflic; by] him first 
 
 12345 To manly a row] of pipes | the sound-]board breathes 
 
 Nevertheless, even with this supplementary caution respecting 
 the constitution of the fifth measure, my rules do not form, as 
 I thought, the sole conditions of rhythmical verse. A really 
 rhythmical line can be contrived (as line 3 of my own, p. 63), 
 which does not follow my rules, but owes its rhythmical 
 character to other considerations, which I have partly noticed 
 on p. 64." 
 
 In the above remarks of Mr Ellis I cordially agree, (1) as to 
 the general statement of the law of the heroic metre, (2) as to 
 the greater or less intensity of the metrical stress even in what 
 would be usually treated as regular iambic feet. I also agree, 
 to a considerable extent, in what he says (3) as to the limits of 
 trisyllabic and trochaic substitution. But whilst I admire, I 
 with difficulty repress a shudder at the elaborate apparatus he 
 has provided for registering the minutest variations of metrical 
 stress. Not only does he distinguish nine different degrees of 
 force, but there are the same number of degrees of length, 
 pitch, silence, and weight, making altogether forty-five varieties 
 of stress at the disposal of the metrist. The first observation 
 which occurs upon this is that, here as elsewhere, the better is 
 the enemy of the good. If the analysis of rhythm is so terribly 
 complicated, let us rush into the arms of the intuitivists and 
 trust to our ears only, for life is not long enough to admit of 
 characterizing lines when there are forty-five expressions for 
 each syllable to be considered. But leaving this: there is no 
 difficulty in understanding what is meant by force, pitch, length 
 and silence, and I allow that all of them have an influence on 
 
70 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 English rhythm, though the first alone determines its general 
 character. But what is meant by "weight"? Mr Ellis calls it 
 "a very complex phenomenon," which "is, more than all, the 
 governing principle of English verse," and "is due to expression 
 and mental conceptions of importance, resulting partly from 
 expression in delivery, produced by quality of tone and gliding 
 pitch, and partly from the mental effect of the constructional 
 predominance of conceptions." I cannot think that what is 
 thus described has any right to be classed along with those 
 very definite accidents or conditions of sound, force, pitch, 
 length and silence. Feeling and thought may be expressed by 
 any one of these, as well as by the regularity or irregularity of 
 successive sounds. Weight therefore cannot be defined as ex- 
 pressiveness; or if it is, it is something which cannot exist 
 separately, but only manifests itself through the medium of one 
 of the others^. Nor do I find the difficulty cleared up by 
 looking at Mr Ellis's examples. In his own lines he tells us 
 (p. 64) that " moon," at the end of the first, has weight, but in 
 the second, "sad ghost of night," though "long and strong," is 
 "unimportant in weight": "twinkle" is heavy as being a verb, 
 and also "glow" and "coal" further on. I confess I fail to see 
 any ground for these distinctions; to insist upon them as 
 essential to the appreciation of rhythm seems to me to be 
 putting an unnecessary burden on all students of poetry. The 
 one thing to attend to is the variation oi force, arising either 
 from emphasis, in the case of monosyllables, or from the word- 
 accent in polysyllables. When this is thoroughly grasped it 
 may be well to notice how the rhythm thus obtained receives a 
 further colouring from pitch, length, or silence, from allitera- 
 tion, and in various other ways, but all these are secondary. 
 
 I proceed now to consider the limitation which Mr Ellis 
 puts upon the general rule that every foot admits of the in- 
 version of the accent. In the remarks above quoted he gives 
 
 1 On this Mr Ellis -writes "respect- discovery of the laws of rhythm. The 
 
 ing ' weight,' I am afraid I cannot go other considerations are only required 
 
 into further particulars. I do not in- for the complete estimation of the 
 
 sist on the appreciation of weight, or poet's march within those laws, and 
 
 pitch, or quality, or length, or any- this march differs materially from 
 
 thing but variety of force for the mere poet to poet." 
 
NATTTRAL OB A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 71 
 
 two views, not quite consistent with each other, one of which 
 appeared for the first time in 1848, and the other in 1869. 
 According to the former, "it is necessary that there should be 
 an accent on the last syllable, either of the third and fifth 
 measures, or of the second and fourth. If either of these 
 requisites is complied with, other accents may be distributed 
 almost at pleasure." According to the latter view, "there must 
 be a principal stress on the last syllable of the second and 
 fourth measures; or of the first and fourth; or of the third and 
 some other. If any one of these three conditions is satisfied, 
 the verse, so far as stress is concerned, is complete." Yet else- 
 where Mr Ellis confesses that even this later and freer view 
 is only applicable in oases in which "the feeling of the rhythm 
 is still preserved, not in a case in which the initial syllables 
 of all the other measures had the stress;" and that "rhyth- 
 mical lines can be written which do not observe these rules, 
 though their observance creates rhythmical lines." But how 
 can it be said that "their observance creates rhythmical lines," 
 when it has just been acknowledged that it will not do so, 
 if the initial syllables of all the other measures have the 
 stress? I am unable to understand the value of a rule, the ob- 
 servance of which does not necessarily make the line rhythmical, 
 and the breach of which does not necessarily make it un- 
 rhythmical. Of the latter we have more than one example in 
 the lines quoted by Mr Ellis himself. Thus his own line, 
 Trembling spangles s^t in her dirk gauze vffl, 
 
 has the final stress only in the fourth and fifth measures. 
 
 We will now try the effect of an accent on the last syllable 
 of the second and fourth feet, which is all that is required, ac- 
 cording to both of Mr Ellis' statements, to complete the verse, 
 as far as stress is concerned. 
 
 Hdrk there | is heard | soiind as | of man | groaning |. 
 
 I cannot say that this rhythm is at all satisfactory to my ear, 
 and I should doubt very much whether a parallel could be 
 found for it from any iambic passage by a recognized poet. It 
 seems to me that a better rhythm is produced by the iamb in 
 the second and the fifth place; e.g. 
 
72 ON ENGLISH MBTEE. 
 
 SoTind the | alarm | soiind the | triimpet | of war|. 
 In fact, as Mr Ellis acknowledges in his subsequent statement, 
 the final iamb is almost as characteristic in English as in 
 Greek ; if it is inverted, the rest of the line must be strongly 
 iambic, not to lose its proper rhythmical character. I should 
 be inclined to say that the limit of trochaic substitution was 
 three out of five, provided that the final foot remained iambic, 
 otherwise two out of five (see however below on Hamlet). We 
 have tried a line with trochees in all but the second and fifth, 
 we will now give specimens of iambs in the other feet. 
 
 First and fifth — The din | thickens | sound the | trumpet | of war|. 
 Third and fifth — Hark the | chorus | is heard | sweetly | they sing|. 
 
 Perhaps one should except also the line which has the two 
 iambs close together (fourth and fifth), as 
 
 Hark how 1 loud the | chorus | of joy | they siugl, 
 
 unless there is a decided break in the sense so as to make a 
 pause after the first two feet, as in Mr Ellis' line 
 
 Trembling | spangles | set in | her dark | gauze veil |. 
 
 I think however, it is a mistake to pick out a certain position 
 of the accents, as Mr Ellis has done in p. 59, and speak of the 
 rhythm of a line as owing to accents so placed, when the line 
 has other accents which are of themselves capable of sustaining 
 the rhythm. 
 
 With regard to the other accentual irregularities, excess of 
 accent, i.e. the spondee, is allowable in any position, and I am 
 inclined to think that the limit of this substitution is wider 
 than those which we have been considering, that in fact there 
 might be four spondees in the line, supposing that the fourth or 
 fifth foot remains iambic; that we might have, for instance. 
 
 Eocks caves, | lakes fens, | bogs dens, 
 
 shades dire | ofdeath | 
 
 death's re|gion all | 
 
 where dark | death reigns| i. 
 
 1 Since the above was ■written I have had my attention drawn to Milton's 
 line containing four spondees, the solitary iamb occurring in the 2nd foot, 
 
 Say Muse I their names I then known I who first I who last I 
 2 1 1 11 1111 
 
NATURAl, OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 73 
 
 Defect of accent, the pyrrhic, may also be found in any position, 
 but it is rare for two pyrrhics to come together, and perhaps 
 impossible without a secondary accent falling on one of the 
 syllables, e.g. on the last syllable of mansionry. 
 
 By his I loved man|sionry | that the | heaven's breath|. 
 
 Perhaps this line would be better scanned with a trisyllabic 
 fourth foot, but we might replace 'heaven's breath' by 'sweet 
 south,' without destroying the rhythm. If not more than two 
 pyrrhics can come together, it follows that the limit to this 
 substitution will be three out of five, and as a rule the other 
 feet would be spondees rather than iambs. 
 
 As to trisyllabic substitution it is plain that, if we set no 
 limit to this, the character of the metre is changed, and that, 
 if we were to meet, say, such a line as the following in a heroic 
 passage descriptive of the sphinx. 
 
 Terrible | her approach | with a hid|eous yel|ling and scream | 
 
 we could only describe it as an intrusion of trisyllabic metre. 
 On the other hand, we might say, without destroying the iambic 
 character of the line 
 
 Terrible | their approach | with on|set huge | of war | 
 (or) with hi|deous din | of war | 
 
 (but not, I think) with hi|deous yel|ling and scream]. 
 
 That is, I think the limit of trisyllabic substitution is three out 
 of five. I should be surprised to find more than this in any 
 serious poetry, and if it did occur, I think the true scientific 
 account {i.e. the scanning) of the line would be, to call it an 
 anapaestic verse inserted by a freak of the poet in the midst 
 of a passage of a different nature'. 
 
 We must distinguish, however, between the different kinds 
 of trisyllabic feet. The anapaest, which may be considered an 
 
 1 Mr Swinburne however has a heroic line which contains four anapaests 
 and yet satisfies the ear : 
 
 Thou art oldjer and cold|er of spijrit and blood | than 1 1 
 
 Mar. Fal. A. 3. Sc. 1. 
 No doubt the syllables run very smoothly, so that the anapaests are not far 
 removed from slurred iambs. 
 
74 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 extension of the iamb, is the most common; the dactyl, which 
 is similarly an extension of the trochee, is only allowable, I 
 think, in the first and either the third or fourth foot; e.g. we 
 may say 
 
 Terrible | their approach | terrible | the clash | of war | 
 or 
 
 Terrible | the clash | of war | terrible | the din|. 
 
 Whether amphibrachys, i.e. iamb followed by an unac- 
 cented syllable, could be allowed in any place, except, of course, 
 in cases of feminine rhythm, is perhaps doubtful. I cannot 
 remember any parallel to a heroic line such as the following, 
 but I see no objection to it : 
 
 Eebounding | from the rock | the an|gry break|ers roared |. 
 
 A similar doubt may be raised with regard to the tribrach, 
 i.e. a foot consisting of three unaccented syllables. Mr Ellis 
 finds a tribrach in the fourth place of the following line, 
 Of man's I first dislobeldience and I the fruit I . 
 
 02 1002000 2 
 
 But I should prefer to divide as follows, making the last foot 
 an anapaest 
 
 Of man's | first dis|obe|dience | and the fruit |. 
 
 The question will be further considered in reference to Mr 
 Masson's remarks on Milton's versification, to which I now 
 proceed. 
 
 His views are given in an Essay on Versification prefixed 
 to his edition of Milton, Vol. i. pp. cvii — cxxxii. The general 
 formula of Milton's blank verse being xa (where x stands for an 
 unaccented, a for an accented syllable), he explains this formula 
 to mean that " each line delivers into the ear a general 5xa 
 effect ; the ways of producing this effect being various. What 
 the ways are, can only be ascertained by carefully reading and 
 scanning a suflScient number of specimens of approved blank 
 verse." "On the whole it is best to assume that strictly 
 metrical effects are pretty permanent, that what was agreeable 
 to the English metrical sense in former generations, is agreeable 
 now, and that, even in verse as old as Chaucer's, one of the 
 
NiWURAL OR A-POSTEEIORI SYSTEM. 75 
 
 tests of the right metrical reading of, any line is that it shall 
 satisfy the present ear." " What combinations of the disyllabic 
 groups xa, ax, xx, aa, can produce a blank verse which shall be 
 good to the ear, is not a matter for arithmetical computation, 
 but for experience'." Sometimes a line will be found satisfac- 
 tory to the ear, though only one, or not even one of its feet 
 is of the normal type, e.g. 
 
 Scanda|lous or | forbid|den in | our law|. 
 
 axxxxaxx a a 
 
 Hail ! Son | of the | Most High | heir of | both worlds |. 
 
 a a X X a a a x a a 
 
 " I perpetually find in Milton a foot for which 'spondee' is 
 the best name." '' English blank verse admits a trochee, spon- 
 dee, or tribrach in almost any place in the line." " There are 
 four spondees in the line 
 
 Say Muse, | their names | then known | who first, | who last]". 
 
 The number of accents in a line varies from three to eight. 
 In seventy lines, containing trisyllabic feet, Mr Masson finds 
 eighteen anapaests, occurring in any place; six dactyls, occur- 
 ring in the first, second, and fourth feet ; six tribrachs in the 
 first, second, and third ; three antibacchius, occurring in the 
 second and third; two cretics in the first and fourth; thirty- 
 five amphibrachs, occurring in any foot but the last : in some 
 lines there are two trisyllabic feet. He refuses to get rid of 
 
 1 This is in somewhat amusing con- or 324. The possible varieties of the 
 
 trast with Dr Guest's a priori caloula- verse with iive accents is 1296, to wit, 
 
 tion of the possible varieties of the 648 when the first section has two 
 
 heroic line. Beginning with the sec- accents, and the like number when it 
 
 tiou of two accents, he says, " this, has three. Of this vast number by far 
 
 when it begins abruptly, is capable the larger portion has never yet been 
 
 only of two forms ^M and .4 66J; but, applied to the purposes of verse, 
 
 as these may be lengthened and doubly There are doubtless many oombina- 
 
 lengthened, they produce six varieties. tions, as yet untried, which would 
 
 It is capable of six other varieties satisfy the ear, and it is matter of 
 
 when it begins with one unaccented surprise, at a time when novelty has 
 
 syllable, and of the like number when been sought after with so much zeal, 
 
 it begins with two. Hence the whole and often to the sacrifice of the highest 
 
 number of possible varieties is 18. principles, that a path so promising 
 
 The verse of four accents, being made should have been adventured upon so 
 
 up of two sections of two accents each, seldom." English Rhythmt p. 160. 
 will give 18 multiplied by 18 varieties. 
 
76 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 syllables by the process of elision or slurring. As the line has 
 frequently more than ten syllables, so it has occasionally less. 
 
 Mr Masson quotes largely in proof of his theory, but it seems 
 to me that in many cases the line is wrongly scanned. Thus to 
 show that a line may have no more than nine syllables he quotes 
 (from Comus, 596) 
 
 Self -fed and self-consum'd : if this fail. 
 
 But though the e of 'consumed' is omitted in the standard 
 editions, we are not bound to consider that this represents the 
 pronunciation, any more than that 'rott'hess' in the next line 
 is a disyllable. If we read ' consumed' as a trisyllable, the line 
 is perfectly regular. Another instance of a nine-syllable line 
 has still less to say for itself. In Pickering's edition it reads 
 thus (P. L. iii. 216)— 
 
 Dwells in | all heajven char|ity | so deare|, 
 
 which is of course perfectly regular. 
 
 The question of elision and slurring will be considered fur- 
 ther on. If, as I believe, Milton practised both, this would very 
 much weaken, if not entirely destroy, the evidence in favour of 
 such feet as the antibacchius, cretic and amphibrach. As ex- 
 amples of the first we find 
 
 If true I here only | and of | deli|cious taste | 
 Not this I rock only | his om|nipres|ence fiUs | 
 Thy pun|ishment | then justly | is at | his wiU | 
 
 In these lines the y of only and justly may be either slurred 
 before the following vowel, or it may be taken with the follow- 
 ing foot and change that into an anapaest. For cretics we have 
 the lines 
 
 Each to oth|er like | more than | on earth | is thought | . 
 
 I must I not suf |fer this | yet 'tis hut | the lees | Com. 809. 
 
 In the former I should be disposed to slur to, making the first 
 foot a spondee ; compare 
 
 The '^ one wind|ing, the'^oth|er straight | and left | between]. 
 
 P. R. III. 256. 
 
 The one sweet|ly flatlters, the oth|er fearjeth harm|. 
 
 Rape of Lucrece 172. 
 
NATURAL OR A-POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 77 
 
 In the latter it might be contended, on other than metrical 
 grounds, that yet had been foisted into the text by mistake. 
 " 'Tis but the lees" would then give the reason for "I must not 
 suffer this." If the ' yet' is genuine, it implies that, though the 
 lady has committed a punishable offence, yet Comus considering 
 it to be merely owing to the •' settlings of a melancholy blood," 
 requires nothing more than that she should drink the contents 
 of the magic glass. In this case, ' yet' should be scanned with 
 the preceding foot, which would then be an anapaest. 
 
 As regards the examples of amphibrach, many disappear if 
 we allow of slurring and elision, as 
 
 Whom reason | hath e|qualled force | hath made | supreme | 
 which becomes regular if we read reas'n ; 
 
 Of rainbows | and star|ry eyes | the wa|ters thus | 
 which should be divided as follows, slurring y before eyes : 
 Of rain|bows and ] starry eyes | the wa|ters thus | 
 
 In the lines which follow, "pursuers' and 'the highest' may 
 either be taken as slurred iambs or the last syllable in each 
 case should go with the following foot, making it an anapaest. 
 
 Of their | pursuers | and o|vercame | by flight | 
 
 Aim at | the highest | without | the highest \ attained | 
 
 In other cases the line may be read with an anapaest instead of 
 an amphibrach 
 
 Fled and | puirsued | transverse | the reso|nant fugue | 
 where the last two feet may be divided 
 
 I the res|onant fugue | . 
 
 [In the lines which follow I italicise Mr Masson's amphi- 
 brachs, but divide, as I should scan them myself, with ana- 
 paests.] 
 
 The i«|<ncate wards | and ev|ery bolt | and bar | 
 In pi\eby thus ( and pure | devo|tion | 
 Ridic\u\oTiB I and the work | Confu|sion named | 
 Thdr ci\ty his tem|ple and | their ho|ly ark | 
 Mirac\u\o\xa yet | remain|ing in | those looks | 
 This in|«olence oth|er kind | of an|swer fits|. 
 Of mas|sy ir\on or sol|id rock | with ease | 
 
78 ON ENGLISH METKE. 
 
 Ca,nia,\tion pur\ple az|ure or speckt | with gold | 
 Out, out I hyae\na these | are thy won|ted arts | 
 Tongue-dough|<y gi\ant how | dost thou prove | me these | 
 To quench j the drought | of Phoe\bus which | as they taste | 
 But for I that damn'd | magio\ian let | him be girt | 
 Crams and | blasphemes | his fee\der shall | I go on | 
 Made god|dess of | the riv\er stm | she retains | 
 
 I need not go through the whole list. All may be treated 
 in the same way ; I can see no reason why Mi*-Masson should 
 have found amphibrachs in them any more than in the fol- 
 lowing line, which he himself reads with an anapaest, not as 
 might have been expected, with an initial amphibrach. 
 
 Afford I me, as3as|sina|ted and | betrayed]. S. Ag. 1109. 
 
 While agreeing with Mr Masson in finding dactyls, ana- 
 paests and trochees in Milton's blank verse, I cannot accept his 
 scanning of the following lines, which I have divided, so as to 
 show what I believe to be the real feet, italicizing Mr Masson's 
 dactyls. 
 
 Little I SM«pic|ious to anly king | but now | 
 
 Shook {he ar\senal \ and thun|dered,o|ver Greece | 
 
 From us | his foes | pronounced | glory | lie exacts | 
 
 Next comes the question of the tribrach, of which the 
 following examples are cited. As before, I italicize the supposed 
 tribrachs, while giving my own scanning. 
 
 Epic\ure\3!a. and | the Stoic ] severe | 
 Curios|% I inquis|itive im|portune | 
 
 [Mr Masson considers that the last line consists of anapaest, 
 tribrach, trochee and two iambs. I read it as anapaest, two 
 iambs, anapaest, iamb, supposing the accent of ' importune ' to 
 be the same as in P. L. ix. 610 ; if it is accented as in P. iJ. 
 II. 404, the 4th foot would be an iamb, and the line would 
 have a feminine ending.] 
 
 So he I with d!i£\fiaul\ty and la|bour hard | 
 To a I feU aA\versa\ry his hate | and name | 
 The throne | hered|ite|n/ and bound | his reign |. 
 
 On the whole I do not find any instance among those cited 
 by Mr Masson, which requires us to admit that Milton used 
 
NATURAL OR A- POSTERIORI SYSTEM. 79 
 
 either the tribrach or the amphibrach. I think all the lines 
 raay be more easily explained by the supposition of an anapaest 
 in some other foot. Without absolutely denying the possibility 
 of a tribrach in the heroic metre, I should certainly expect to 
 find a gradation of stress in the group of three short syllables, 
 which would entitle it to be treated as either dactyl or ana- 
 paest, rather than tribrach. See however below on Hamlet. 
 
 It may be worth while to compare with Mr Masson's ac- 
 count of the Miltonic line, the remarks on the same subject 
 by Mr Keightley in his interesting volume on the Life, 
 Opinions and Writings of Milton. He considers that English 
 blank verse is derived from the Italian ; that it admits hyper- 
 metric syllables both after the caesura (or section) and at the 
 end of the line ; that Milton further borrowed from the Italian 
 poets the double trochee at the beginning of the line, as well 
 as after the caesura, and a freer use of the anapaest, though 
 abstaining from one peculiarity of Italian verse, viz. the se- 
 quence iamb-trochee at the beginning of the line'. As to the 
 last however Mr Keightley himself cites immediately afterwards 
 two verses in which this sequence occurs 
 
 Inclines I here to 1 continlue and build I up here I P. L. 2. 313 
 
 01 10 0100 1 01 
 
 Among I daughters 1 of men I the failrest found I P. R. 2. 154. 
 
 01 1 01010 1 
 
 and we have already noticed other examples in treating of 
 Dr. Guest's 'pausing section.' 
 
 Of the initial double trochee Mr Keightley gives twenty 
 examples from Milton (one or two of which might be dif- 
 ferently scanned, but, several might be added in their place) 
 and shows how common the sequence is in Italian by quo- 
 
 ' Conipare R. W. Evans Versifica- indiscriminately as in P. L. 
 
 tion p. 84 "the trochee is admitted by Shoots in\visi\hle Tir|tue e'en | to the 
 
 the Italian into every foot hut the last, deep | in. 587. 
 
 and even two are allowed to stand In the | visions \ of God | . It was | 
 
 together, as in the very first line of a hiU | xi. 377. 
 
 Tasso's epic. Milton, who was deeply Thy ling|ering, or | with one | stroke 
 
 imbued with Italian poetry and had a of | his dart | ii. 702." 
 pedantic turn, accordingly admits it 
 
80 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 tations from the beginning of the Gerusalemme Liberata. I 
 have already touched on this in reference to the line 
 
 Uni|versal | reproach | far worse | to bear|. 
 Of double trochee after caesura we have such examples as 
 
 Crea|ted thee | in the | image I of God | P. L. 7. 427 
 
 10 2 
 
 And dust | shalt eat | all the | days of | thy life | P. L. 10. 178 
 Cast wanjton eyes | on the | daughters I of men I P. R. 2. 180. 
 
 10 2 
 
 Dante and Petrarch are cited as using the same sequence 
 in Italian. Of the hypermetric syllable at the caesura the 
 following examples are given. I have divided them so as to 
 show that they may be scanned without this. 
 
 Before | thy fel|lows, am|bitious | to win | P. L. 6. 160 
 
 2 
 
 With their | bright lu|minaries |, that set | and rose | P. L. 7. 385. 
 
 1 
 
 Thy conldescenlsion, and I shall be honloured evler. P. L. 8. 649. 
 
 1 2 
 
 That cru|el serlpent. On me I exerlcise not | P. L. 10; 927 
 
 2 10 
 
 Seemed their | petit|ion, than when | that an|cient pair I P.L. 11.10 
 
 1 
 
 For in | those days j might on|ly shall be | admired | ib. 689. 
 
 Mr Keightley even admits a hypermetric syllable at the 
 semicaesura, as 
 
 On Lem|nos | the Aeg&e|an iale|. Thus they | relate | P. L. 1. 746. 
 
 which is usually and, I think, correctly scanned 
 
 On Lem|nos th' Ae|gean isle | thus they | relate |. 
 
 His second example is even less appropriate. I scan it 
 
 Who sees I thee? and what I is one? I who should'st I be seen I P. Z. 9. 546. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 
 
 Those who have paid little attention to the subject of metre 
 will probably think it a very easy matter to settle off-hand 
 the metre of any verse which is submitted to them. Starting 
 with the four simple metres, they are apt to assume that, if 
 a verse commences with an accented followed by an unaccented 
 syllable, it must be trochaic; if it commences with an unac- 
 cented followed by an accented syllable, iambic; if with an 
 accented followed by two unaccented syllables, dactylic ; if 
 with two unaccented syllables followed by an accented syllable, 
 anapaestic. But the most cursory examination of any dozen 
 lines of a poem written in some recognized metre, such as 
 Paradise Lost, would be sufficient to pi'ove their error. Take 
 for instance such a line as P. Z. i. 12 
 
 Fast by the oracle of God. I thence 
 
 this seems to begin with two dactyls; why should it not be 
 called dactylic ? Because we know that the poem from 
 which it is taken is written in five-foot iambic ; and therefore 
 this line must be iambic, and must contain five feet. Dividing 
 it into five pairs of syllables, we find that instead of beginning 
 with two dactyls, it begins with a trochee followed by an iamb. 
 And a little further examination will show that this is no 
 isolated case, that somewhere about one-sixth of Milton's 
 iambic lines commence with a trochee. A smaller number 
 commence with a dactyl, as i. 87 
 
 Myriad.s I though bright | , if he | whom mu|tual league | 
 M. jr. 6 
 
82 ON ENGLISH MKTKE. 
 
 and a still smaller with anapaest as 
 
 P. L. IV 2 The Apoc]alypse | , heard cry | in Heaven | aloud | 
 P. R. II 234 No advan|tage, and | his strength ] as oft | assay | 
 P. L. II 880 With impet|uous | recoil | and jar|ring sound | ; 
 
 unless we consider this last to begin with a trochee and dactyl, 
 which perhaps gives a more telling rhythm. 
 
 It is plain therefore that the position of the accent in the 
 first three syllables is no criterion as to the metre of the line. 
 The inference which might be drawn from the 1st foot has 
 to be corrected by our knowledge of the general metre of the 
 poem. It is not even safe to judge of the metre from the first 
 two feet, for (as we have seen in p. 38), some iambic lines 
 begin with two trochees. Nor again can we rely upon the 
 close of the line as giving an infallible criterion of the metre. 
 The line is not necessarily trochaic because it ends with an 
 accented followed by an unaccented syllable, nor iambic be- 
 cause it ends with an unaccented followed by an accented 
 syllable. On the contrary, one very common species of the 
 iambic line has the feminine ending, that is, closes with a hyper- 
 metrical unaccented syllable. And thus we find iambic lines 
 which might be said both to begin and end with a trochee, 
 as P. L. I. 263 
 
 Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. 
 
 Or take such a line as 
 
 Beautiful Paris, evil-hearted Paris. 
 
 Here every foot seems to be a trochee except the 1st, which is 
 a dactyl or extended trochee, bearing the same relation to the 
 trochee proper as the anapaest to the iamb. Yet none of us 
 would hesitate to call it iambic and divide accordingly, 
 
 Beauti|ful Par|is e|vil-hear|ted Par|is, 
 
 because it occurs in a well-known heroic poem. 
 
 Conversely the commonest species of trochaic drops its final 
 syllable, that is, suffers truncation, as in 
 
 Hark the | herald | angels | sing | . 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 83 
 
 Beside the feminine iambic, we find specimens of the mas- 
 culine form closing with a trochee (like the classical scazon), 
 as in the following from Morris' Jason, 
 
 III 54 About I this keel | that ye | are now | lacking | 
 
 III 292 With whom I Alcmelna played | but nought | witting | 
 
 1 
 
 III 549 Anothler sun | shine on | this fair | city | 
 
 1 
 
 II 641 Still flew I on toward | the east I no wit | heeding I 
 
 1 
 
 I 153 And put 1 the child | before | him but | Cheiron | 
 
 1 
 
 Conversely we find specimens of a trochaic line beginning with 
 an iamb in Tennyson's Dirge, 
 
 The frail | bluebell | peereth | over ( 
 
 1 2010 10 
 
 Shelley's Euganean Hills, 
 
 The frail | bark of | this lone | being | 
 
 Skylark, 
 
 Invocation, 
 
 The blue | deep thou | wingest 
 
 1 2 2 
 
 The pale I purple | even | 
 
 1 2 2 
 
 The fresh I earth in I new leaves I drest i 
 
 1 2 2 1 2 
 
 We have seen that an unaccented syllable may be added 
 at the end of an iambic line or cut off from the end of a 
 trochaic line. Does the beginning of the line admit of the 
 same licenses? We are told that it is so in Chaucer. Prof. 
 Skeat (in his edition of the Prioresses' Tale &c. p. LXiii) cites 
 the following example of initial truncation, making a mono- 
 syllabic 1st foot : 
 
 Bi/ I a may|de lyk | to her ] statu|r6 
 Til I wel ny | the day | bigan | to sprin|gfe 
 Ziff/U\ly for | to play | and walk | on fo|t6 
 But I a gov|ernour | wyly ] and wys | 
 
 And Dr Morris (in his edition of the Prologue &c. p. XLlli) 
 
 cites 
 
 In I a gowne | of fal|dyng to | the kne | 
 A^ow I it schy|neth now | it reyjneth fast | 
 
 6—2 
 
84 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Other examples may be found in Schipper's Englische Metrik, 
 p. 462. 
 
 This license is found in the heroic metre as late as Marlowe, 
 compare Tamburlaine (Djce, Vol. ii. p. 48) 
 
 ^ar|barous | and blood|y Tam|burlaine | 
 p. 189 Co»|quer sack | and utjterly | consume | 
 
 and see below, p. 140. 
 
 The truncation just spoken of is, I think, now obsolete in the 
 five-foot iambic ; but it is not uncommon in shorter iambic lines. 
 Take for instance Marlowe's Gome live with me. This is a poem 
 in four- foot iambic, and regular, with the exception of the 
 second line in the following verse, 
 
 There will | I make | thee beds | of ro|ses 
 And I a thou|sand fra|grant po]sies 
 A cap I of flow|ers and | a kirt|le 
 Embroi|dered all I with leaves ] of myr|tle. 
 
 In The Passions of Collins, a four-foot iambic poem of 118 
 lines, there are 12 which suffer truncation. In Wordsworth's 
 great Ode, out of 200 iambic and anapaestic lines of varying 
 length, there are 5 which are trochaic in form, i.e. which suffer 
 initial truncation. 
 
 Tennyson's Lady Clara Vere de Vere is in eight-line stanzas 
 of four-foot iambic, perfectly regular with the exception of the 
 1st line of the stanza, which only once has the full number of 
 syllables 
 
 I know I you Cla|ra Vere | de Vere | , 
 
 suffering initial truncation in the other stanzas, as 
 
 Trust I me Cla|ra Vere | de Vere | . 
 
 The same poet's Arabian Nights consists of fourteen stanzas 
 of ten lines in four-foot iambic, followed by a three-foot feminine 
 refrain 
 
 Of good I Haroim | Alras]chid 
 
 One line, and I think one line only in the whole, suffers initial 
 truncation 
 
 Black I the gar|den bowers | and grots | 
 Slumbered | the sol|emn palms | were ranged | 
 Above I unwoo'd | of sumjmer wind I . 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 85 
 
 The Lay of the Last Minstrel is in the same metre with frequent 
 anapaestic substitution. In Canto i, Stanza 5, the 3rd and 5th 
 lines are truncated : 
 
 Ten squires | ten yeo|men mail-|clad men | 
 Waited | the beck | of the war|ders ten | 
 Thir\iy steeds | both fleet | and white | 
 Stood sad|dled in stab|le day | and night | 
 Barbed \ with front|let of steel | I trow | 
 
 Also in Stanza 29, 
 
 JVev\er heav|ier man | and horse | 
 Stemm'd | a mid|night tor|rent's force | 
 The war|rior's ver|y plume | I say | 
 Was daglgled by | the dash|ing spray | 
 
 Milton's Hymn on the Nativity is written in iambic lines con- 
 taining from three to six feet. Occasionally we find a mono- 
 syllabic first-foot. 
 
 Full lit|tle thought | they then | 
 
 That I the migh|ty Pan | 
 
 Was kind|ly come | to live | with them | below | . 
 
 When I such mu|sio sweet | 
 
 Their hearts | and ears | did greet ( 
 
 As ne|ver was | by mor|tal fin|ger strook | . 
 
 And then | at last | our bliss | 
 
 FiM I and per|fect is | . 
 
 Nor all I the Gods | beside | 
 
 Long\sv dare | abide | , 
 
 So Shirley {Golden Treasury, p. 59), 
 
 Devour|ing Fam|ine, Plague, | and War | 
 Each a|bl6 to | undo | mankind | 
 Death's ser|vil6 e|missa|ries are | 
 Nor I to these | alone | confined | . 
 
 Fair Helen (G. T. p. 87), 
 
 I wish I I were | where Hel|en lies | 
 Night I and day | on me | she cries | 
 O that I I were | where Hel|en lies | 
 On fair | Kircon|nel lea | . 
 
 Cowper's Royal George, 
 
 Weigh \ the ves|sel up | 
 Once dread|ed by | our foes | 
 
 And min|gle with | the cup \ 
 The tear | that Eng|land owes | . 
 
86 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Christabel is written in four-foot iambic and anapaestic lines, 
 both of which suffer initial truncation. Thus 
 
 Sir Le|oline | the Bar|oii rich | 
 
 Eath \ a tooth|less mas|tiff bitch | 
 
 From I her ken|nel beneath | the rock | 
 
 She ma|keth ans|wer to | the clock | 
 
 Four I for the quar|ters and twelve | for the hour | 
 
 £v\er and aye | by sun | and shower | . 
 
 Is I the night | chilly | and dark | 
 
 The night | is chil|ly but j not dark | 
 
 They steal | their way | from stair | to stair | 
 
 Jfow I in glini|mer and now | in gloom | . 
 
 The cham|ber carved | so cur|iously | 
 
 Carved | with fig|ures strange | and sweet | 
 
 All I made out | of the car|ver's brain | . 
 
 It may be asked, however, why the 'lines classed as truncated 
 iambic should not be treated either as anapaestic or as truncated 
 trochaic. If we met with the following lines apart from the 
 context we should naturally scan them as anapaests ; why not 
 adhere to this more natural scansion ? e.g. 
 
 That the migh]ty Pan | . 
 
 When such mu|sic sweet | . 
 
 Hath a tooth|less mas|tifE' bitch | 
 
 From her ken|nel beneath | the rock | . 
 
 The answer is that Milton's poem is not anapaestic nor in any 
 way irregular. It is composed in verses of eight lines, the 
 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th lines consisting of two iambic feet, 
 the 3rd and 6th of five, the 7th of four, and the 8th of six. 
 Even if we called the two lines just cited anapaestic, we should 
 hardly venture to say the same of 
 
 Long|er dare | abide | . 
 Christabel no doubt admits lines of which the rhythm is 
 trisyllabic ; but, as Coleridge himself tells us that the accents 
 are four, though the syllables vary from seven to twelve, this 
 prevents us from scanning the lines quoted as anapaestic. lu 
 any case it would be difScult to make an anapaestic line out of 
 Is I the night I chilly I and dark I . 
 
 1 1 2 1 
 
 But, if they cannot be treated as anapaestic, why should they 
 not be called truncated trochaics ? Why may not the poet 
 
METBICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 87 
 
 have chosen to vary his iambic lines with an occasional trochaic ? 
 No doubt this is a possible explanation in some of the instances, 
 
 such as 
 
 And a | thousand | vagrant | posies | 
 Thirty | steeds both | fleet and | white | ; 
 
 These read naturally as trochaics. But take 
 
 Now in I glimmer and | now in | gloom | 
 Barbed with | frontlet of | steel I | trow | 
 la the night chilly and dark 
 
 the two former would give iis a dactyl in the 2nd foot, which 
 is rare in trochaic metre, and the last simply refuses to be 
 treated as a trochaic at all. 
 
 Far more common however is the omission of one or both 
 of the unaccented syllables of the anapaest. Iamb for anapaest 
 is usual in all the feet of an anapaestic line, but in the 1st foot 
 a monosyllable is also allowed. Thus in the follo\Ving verses 
 from the Burial of Sir John Moore, consisting of four anapaests 
 with alternate masculine and feminine endings, there are two 
 monosyllabic feet and four iambs, which I have printed in 
 italics. 
 
 Few I and short \ were the prayers | we said | 
 
 And we spoke | not a word | of sor\row 
 But we steadjfastly gazed | on the face | of the dead | 
 
 And we bit|terly thought | of the mor|row. 
 Zicfht\\j they'll talk | of the spi|rit that's gone | 
 
 And o'er | his cold ash|ea upbraid | him. 
 But Ut\t\e he'll wreck | if they let | him sleep on | 
 In the grave | where a Brit|on has laid | him. 
 
 So in Byron, 
 
 Thou I who art bear|ing my buck|ler and bow | 
 Should the sol|diers of Saul | look away | from the foe | 
 Stretch | me that mo|ment in blood | at thy feet | 
 Mine \ be the doom | which they dared | not to meet | . 
 And Swinburne (Erechtheus), 
 1. 139 Fair fort|ress and fost|ress of sons | born free | 
 
 Who stand | in her sight | and in thine | O sun | 
 Slaves I of no I man sub|ject of none | 
 1. 95 Sun I that hast light|ened and loosed | by thy might | 
 ■0|cean and earth | from the lord|ship of night | 
 Quiok\emng with vis|ion his eye | that was veiled ( 
 Fresh\enmg the force | in her heart | that had failed | 
 
88 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 That sis|ter fet|tered and blind|ed broth|er 
 
 Should have sight | by thy grace | and delight | of each oth|er. 
 
 Matthew Arnold {Heine s Grave), 
 
 That I was Heijne and we | 
 i^r|iads who Uve | who have died | 
 What I are we all | but a mood | 
 A singjle mood | of the life | 
 Of the Be|ing in whom | we exist | . 
 
 Elliott {Lament for Flodden), 
 
 I've heard | them liljting at our | ewe-milk|ing 
 
 Zass\es a' lil|ting before | dawn of day | 
 But now I they are moan|ing on il|ka green loan|ing 
 The Flowers | of the For] est are a' | wede away | . 
 
 Other examples will be found in the chapters on Classifi- 
 cation of Metres. 
 
 Corresponding to the initial truncation of the anapaestic 
 line is the final truncation of the dactylic line, as in 
 Take her up | tenderly | 
 Lift her with | care 
 Fashioned so | slenderly | 
 Young and so [fair. 
 Pibroch of | Donuil Dhu | 
 
 Pibroch of | Donuil 
 Wake thy wild | voice anew [ 
 Summon Clan | Conwil. 
 Brightest and | best of the | sons of the | morning 
 
 Dawn on our | darkness and | lend us thine | aid 
 Star of the | east the hor|izon 3A\orning 
 Guide where the | infant Rejdeemer is | laid. 
 
 It may be asked what reason have we for classifying as 
 anapaestic such a line as 
 
 Bright I be the place | of thy soul | 
 and as dactylic 
 
 Lift her with | care | 
 since it is plain that the former might be regarded as made up 
 of two dactyls and a long syllable (truncated dactylic) and the 
 latter of a long syllable followed by an anapaest (truncated 
 anapaestic). The answer is that these ambiguous or meta- 
 morphous lines must be interpreted by others in the same 
 poem, where the strict law of the metre is observed, such as 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 89 
 
 In the orbs | of the bles|sed to shine | . 
 Take her up | tenderly | . 
 
 There are no doubt poems composed in a mixed metre, in 
 which the rhythmical effect is produced by the juxtaposition 
 of contrasted metres, say, trochaic and anapaestic ; but none 
 could say there 'was this contrasted effect in the poems above 
 cited. The rhythm is felt to be the same throughout. 
 
 But truncation is not only practised at the beginning of the 
 iambic and anapaestic line, and at the end of the trochaic and 
 dactylic ; it is also found in the interior of the line itself. Thus 
 Break, Break, Break is a somewhat irregular poem, the pre- 
 vailing rhythm of which is three-foot anapaest, but in two 
 verses, the three anapaests are represented by these three long 
 accented syllables. 
 
 Kingsley has internal truncation in his 4-foot anapaestic 
 
 Clear \ and cool | dear \ and cool | 
 By laugh]ing shal|low and dream|ing pool | . 
 
 Dank I and foul | dank | and foul | 
 By the smo|ky town | in its mur|ky cowl | . 
 
 Strong | and free | strong \ and free | 
 The flood | gates are o|pen away | to the sea | 
 
 And Shelley in his Address to Night, the metre of which is 
 anapaestic with iambic substitution, as in 
 
 And the wea|ry day | turned to | his rest | 
 Ling|ering Uke | an un|loved guest | 
 
 but, in the line which follows, the 3rd foot is truncated 
 
 Thy broth|er Death | came \ and cried | 
 
 Wouldst I thou me | ? 
 The sweet | child Sleep \ the fll|my-eyed j 
 
 I take the three next examples from Dr Guest. The first is 
 truncated trochaic, which undergoes internal, as well as final 
 truncation, in the 2nd and 7th lines. 
 
 On the I ground | 
 Sleep I sound | 
 I'll aplply I 
 To your j eye | 
 Gentle | lover | reme|dy | . 
 
90 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 When thou | wak'st | 
 Thou I tak'st I 
 True de|light | 
 In the I sight | 
 Of thy I former | lady's | eye | 
 
 The second, from Burns, is four-foot iambic; it suffers in- 
 ternal truncation in the 1st and 3rd lines. 
 
 The sun | blinks blithe | on yon | town \ 
 And on | yon bon|nie braes | of Ayr | 
 But my I delight | in yon | town \ 
 And dea|rest bliss | is Lu|cy fair | . 
 
 The third is from Moore, written in four-foot and two-foot 
 iamhic. Internal truncation will be found in the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 
 6th and 8th lines. 
 
 The day | had sunk | in dim | showers \ 
 
 But mid|night now | with lus|tre meek \ 
 Illu|mined all | the pale \ flowers | 
 Like hope | upon | a mour|ner's cheek | . 
 
 I said I while | 
 
 The moon's | smile | 
 Played o'er | a stream | in dimp|ling bliss | 
 
 The moon | looks | 
 
 On ma|ny brooks | 
 The brook | can see | no moon | but this i . 
 
 We may add the following from Shakespeare : 
 
 For love | is crow|ned with | the prime | 
 
 In spring | time \ 
 The on|ly pret]ty ring | time \ 
 
 "When birds | do sing | 
 
 Hey ding | a ding | 
 Sweet lov|ers love | the spring | . 
 
 and this from Scott, 
 
 March, \ march, \ Ettrick and j Teviotdale, | 
 
 Why the deil | dinna ye march | forward in | order 
 
 where the corresponding lines of the next verse 
 
 Come from the | hiUs where your | hirsels are | grazing | 
 Come from the | glen of the | buck and the | roe | 
 
 show that the monosyllables march march represent dactyls, and 
 also that Teviotdale and dinna ye march must be contracted 
 into trisyllables. 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 91 
 
 But the first foot is not only liable to truncation of unaccented 
 syllables, when such precede the accent according to the law of 
 the metre, as in iambic and anapaestic poems; it may also admit 
 anacrusis, i.e. have an unaccented syllable prefixed to the accent, 
 where that should naturally come first, as in trochaic and 
 dactylic poems. Thus, in Keats' Realm of Fancy, a four-foot 
 trochaic poem of 94 lines, there are 7 which begin with a 
 hypermetrical unaccented syllable, as 
 
 Thou shalt | at one | glance be|hold | 
 The) daisy | and the | mary|gold | 
 
 In his Ode on the Poets .out of 42 lines there are 3 which 
 have the anacrusis. 
 
 In Shelley's Skylark the prevailing metre is trochaic, but we 
 find 
 
 What thou I art we | know not | 
 
 What is I most like | thee | 
 From) rainbow | clouds there | flow not | 
 
 Drops so I bright to | see | 
 
 So in Duncan Gray, 
 
 Something | in her | bosom | wrings | 
 
 For re|lief a | sigh she | brings | 
 
 And) her | een they | spak sic | things | . 
 
 and Tennyson's Lilian, 
 
 Praying | all I | can | 
 If) prayers | will not | hush thee ] 
 
 Airy | Lili|an | 
 Like a | rose-leaf | I will | crush thee | 
 Fairy | Lili|an | . 
 
 It is evident that, when the common truncated trochaic has a 
 hypermetrical syllable prefixed,it becomes undistinguishable from 
 a complete iambic line, just as a truncated iambic, particularly if 
 it has a feminine ending, takes the form of a trochaic. Since 
 from either side then the one can so easily pass into the other, it 
 is no wonder that we find poems consisting in nearly equal pro- 
 portions of iambic and trochaic lines, in which probably neither 
 the poet nor the reader is conscious of a change of metre. Such 
 poems are L' Allegro and Penseroso. Starting with the regular 
 metre in line 11 of the former, we have, in the next fifty lines, 
 an equal number of trochaic and iambic lines. It is to be 
 
92 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 noticed also that the iambic line often either begins with an 
 accented, or ends with an unaccented syllable, as 
 
 And at | my win|dow bids | good mor|row 
 Scatters | the rear | of dark|ness thin | . 
 
 The hypermetrical syllable in trochaic metre is thus always 
 capable of being explained away as an intentional change to 
 iambic, but a similar explanation would be very harsh in dac- 
 tylic metre, such as the following, 
 
 Come away | come away | 
 
 Hark to the | summons | 
 Come in your | war array | 
 
 Gentles and | commons. | 
 
 Come from deep | glen and | 
 
 From) mountain so | rocky | 
 The) war-pipe and | pennon | 
 
 Are) at Inver|lochy | . 
 
 There are many examples in Kingsley's Longheard' s Saga.' 
 
 White were the | moorlands | 
 
 And) frozen be|fore her | 
 
 Green were the | moorlands | 
 
 And) blooming be|hind her | . 
 
 Shaking the | southwind | 
 
 ^)round in the | birches | 
 
 ^) waking the | throstles | . 
 
 This) day at the | Wendel's hands | 
 
 Eagles must | tear them | 
 
 Their) mother thraU|-weary | 
 
 Must) grind for the | Wendels | . 
 
 High in Val|halla | 
 
 A) window stands | open | 
 
 Its) sill is the | snowpeaks | 
 
 Its) posts are the | waterspouts I 
 
 Storm wrack its | lintel | . 
 
 It will be observed that, where a line begins with the hypermetri- 
 cal syllable, the preceding line frequently ends with a trochee for 
 dactyl, so that the effect is simply to complete the dactylic 
 rhythm. This is not however the case in the foUowipg passage 
 from Christabel, where !two dactylic lines are interposed between 
 anapaests, 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 93 
 
 And foundst | a bright la|dy surpass|ingly fair | 
 And) didst bring her | home with thee | ^ 
 In) love and in | charity | 
 
 To shield | her and sheljter her from | the night air | 
 
 nor in the following from Hood's Bridge of Sighs, where in two 
 of the lines anacrusis follows a complete dactyl at the end of 
 the previous line. 
 
 .4)las for the [ rarity | 
 Of) Christian | charity | 
 Under the | sun | 
 O it was I pitiful | 
 Near a whole | city full | 
 Home there was | none | 
 Dreadfully | staring | 
 Thro) muddy im|purity | 
 As) when with the | daring | 
 Last) look of des|pairing | 
 Fixed on fu|turity | . 
 
 Sometimes we find even two hypermetrical syllables, when 
 the final dactyl of the preceding line is represented by a long 
 syllable, thus passing into anapaestic rhythm, unless we are to 
 regard this as a case of ' scriptorial disguise ' treated of below. 
 
 The) bleak wind of | March | 
 Made her) tremble and | shiver \ 
 But) not the dark | arch | 
 JVor the) black flowing | river | 
 
 So in the 3rd verse of Pibroch of Bonuil Bhu the dactylic 
 rhythm of the other verses is changed into the anapaestic, 
 
 Leave untend|ed the herd j 
 
 The flock | without sheljter 
 Leave the corpse | uninterr'd | 
 
 The bride | at the al|tar. 
 
 I presume without any deliberate intention on the part of the 
 poet. 
 
 To take now a general view of the licences or irregularities 
 admitted, we find, in trochaic, addition of an unaccented syllable 
 
 1 This and the followirig line are just as much as the short lines pre- 
 nsually printed together, but the rhyme ceding, ' But vainly thou warrest. For 
 shows that they should be separated, this is alone in, ' &c. 
 
94! ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 at the beginning, dropping of an unaccented syllable at the end, 
 and substitution of iamb or dactyl in the first foot, rarely in 
 others, giving rise to lines of pure iambic form, as " but let them 
 rave," or of strong dactylic colouring, as " half invisible to the 
 view." On the other hand, in iambic, we find addition of an 
 unaccented syllable at the end, dropping of an unaccented syl- 
 lable at the beginning, with trochaic and anapaestic substitution, 
 giving rise to lines of pure trochaic form, as "Up there came a 
 flower/' or the anapaestic " In there came old Alice the nurse." 
 So in anapaestic we have dropping of unaccented syllables at 
 the beginning, and addition of an unaccented syllable at the 
 end, with iambic substitution ; in dactylic, dropping of un- 
 accented syllables at the end, and addition of an unaccented 
 syllable at the beginning, with trochaic substitution. The 
 general principle may be thus laid down, that one or two un- 
 accented syllables preceding the initial accent or following the 
 final accent of the line are non-essential to the rhythm, and may 
 be added or omitted without necessarily changing the metre. 
 
 So far we have considered cases in which one of the four 
 principal metres has assumed the appearance of another. We 
 will now proceed to examine cases in which the disguise assumed 
 is that of the amphibrach. Dr Abbott (English Lessons, p. 212) 
 reads Browning's line as an amphibrach. 
 
 Dirok galloped | I galloped | we galloped | all three | 
 
 Prof. Bain {Eng. Gomp. p. 239) does the same with 
 
 There came to | the shore a j poor exile | of Erin | 
 
 and Mr Higginson [Eng. GramTn. p. 164) with 
 
 Distracted \ with care | 
 
 For Phyllis | the fair | 
 
 Since nothing | coiild move her | 
 
 Poor Damon | her lover | . 
 
 Probably most readers would on a first reading pronounce the 
 same of the following lines from Ghristabel, 
 
 That in the | dim forest | 
 Thou heardst a | low moaning | 
 And foundst a | bright lady | surpassing|ly fair | 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 95 
 
 and from Southey's Lodore, 
 
 Collecting | projecting | 
 
 Receding | and speeding | 
 Dividing | and gliding | and sliding | 
 Eetreating | and beating | and meeting | and sheeting | . 
 
 But a more careful examination "will, I think, in each case 
 show that the normal metre is anapaestic. It would evidently 
 be impossible to read other lines from Browning's Good News 
 from Ghent as amphibrachs, e.g. 
 
 Not a word | to each oth|er we kept | the great pace | 
 Neck by neck | stride by stride | never chang|ing our place | 
 
 Hence the apparent amphibrach must be divided as follows 
 Dirck gal|loped I gal|loped we gal|loped all three | 
 
 making anap. 4 instead of ainphib. 4. The fact is, wherever 
 there is a complete anapaestic line, with iambic substitution in 
 the first foot, it will be possible to read it as an amphibrach 
 truncated at the end. In the same way we should divide 
 There came | to the shore | a poor ex|ile of E|rin. 
 
 The lines beginning ' Distracted with care ' are shown to be 
 anapaestic by those which follow almost immediately. 
 
 To a pre|cipice goes | 
 Where a leap | from above | 
 Would soon fin|ish his woes | . 
 
 The lines from Ghristabel are preceded by the manifestly 
 anapaestic 
 
 In the touch | of this bo|som there lur|keth a spell 
 Which is lord | of thy ut|terance, Chris|tabel | . 
 
 As to Lodore, the general rhythm is undoubtedly anapaestic ; 
 thus in the 1st stanza we have lines like 
 
 With its rush | and its roar j 
 
 As man|y a time | 
 
 They had seen | it before | . 
 
 in the 2nd 
 
 It runs I and it creeps i 
 For a while | tiU it sleeps 
 In its own | little lake | . 
 
96 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 And thence | at depar|ting 
 Awake|ning and star|ting 
 It runs I through the reeds- 1 
 And away | it proceeds | 
 
 where the two middle lines might also be read as amphibrachs. 
 In the 3rd stanza we have 
 
 Ei|sing and leap|ing 
 Sink|ing and creep|ing 
 
 * * * 
 
 Around | and around I 
 With end|less rebound | 
 
 * # * 
 
 Diz|zying and deaf |ening the ear | with its sound | . 
 and the last stanza ends 
 
 And so I never end|ing but al|ways descend|ing 
 Sounds and mo|tions for ev|er and ev|er are blend|ing, 
 All at once | and all o'er ] with a migh|ty uproar | 
 And this | way the -waiter comes down | at Lodore | . 
 
 I think therefore that it is natural to scan the ambiguous lines 
 as anapaests with feminine ending, thus 
 
 Collect|ing projeot|ing. Anap. 2 
 
 Divi|ding and gli|ding and sli|ding. Anap. 3. 
 
 Perhaps the following lines from Shakespeare have as much 
 right to be called amphibrachs as any we can find ; ■ 
 
 Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly ; 
 Then, heigh ho ! the holly ! 
 This life is most jolly. 
 
 but looking at the preceding line, which I should divide 
 
 Heigh ho | ! sing heigh ho | ! unto | the green hol|ly. 
 
 I think it is best to treat all as anapaestic. 
 
 There remains one other method of disguising metre, which 
 I may call the scriptorial, when either verse is written as prose,, 
 of which Dickens supplies the most marked examples (see 
 Abbott Lessons, § 61), or prose as verse, of which plentiful 
 examples may be found in Walt Whitman ; or again when. 
 
METRICAL METAMORPHOSIS. 97 
 
 though verse is printed as verse, the lines are not divided 
 in accordance with the actual metre employed, as in the 4th line 
 of the following (G. T. p. 226) which properly begins with 
 ' delves.' 
 
 iamb. 3. Who makes | the bri|dal bed | 
 dact. 2 - Birdie say | truly | ? 
 
 iamb. 3. The gray|-headed sex|ton: 
 dact. 2 - . That) delves the grave | duly. 
 
 That the true metrical division requires 'that' to be trans- 
 ferred to the previous line, is evident from the corresponding 
 lines in the earlier verses of the same poem. 
 
 Sweet E.ob|in sits on | the bush | 
 Singing so | rarely. 
 
 When six | braw gent|lemen | 
 Kirkward shall | carry ye | . 
 
 We have had an instance of similar mis-division in Cole- 
 ridge's Ghristabel (see above p. 93). Compare also what is said 
 below (p. 132) on the line usually printed 
 
 Singing to welcome the pilgrims of the night. 
 
 The signs + and - may be conveniently used to denote the addition or 
 omission of unaccented syllables whether at the beginning or the end of the 
 verse. Thus the feminine heroic 
 
 Cromwell | I charge | thee fling | away | ambi|tion 
 
 which shows an extra syllable after the last bar, would be classed as iamb. 5 + . 
 The truncated trochaic 
 
 Come not | here A 
 
 may be marked with a caret after the last accent, and classed as troch. 2 - . 
 
 A hypermetrical syllable at the beginning of the verse may be marked with a 
 curved line following, as in the line from Lilian 
 
 She) looking | through and | through me | 
 
 which would be classed as troch. + 3 ; while that from the Deserted House 
 would receive both marks, 
 
 So) frequent | on its | hinge bejforeA 
 
 M. M. 7 
 
98 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 and be classed as troch. + 4 - . Conversely an iambic verse, which suffers 
 truncation at the beginning and has a feminine ending, would be thus 
 written 
 
 A Sub|tle-thought|ed myr|iad mindjed 
 
 and described as iamh. - 4 + . 
 
 In the trisyllabic metres, where there is often a loss of two unaccented 
 syllables, it would be necessary to double the mark ; thus the verses 
 
 A A Pew I and short | were the prayers | we said | 
 And we spoke | not a word | of sor|row 
 
 would be described as Anap. = 4 and 3 + . 
 
 Dawn on our | darkness and | lend us thine | aid A A 
 
 would be described as Dact. 4 = . 
 
 Verses with hypermetrical syllables may be conveniently divided into prae- 
 hypermetrical and post-hypermetrical, aooording as the extra syllable comes at 
 the beginning or end; but as the latter are generally known as feminine lines, I 
 shall use hypermetrical in a special sense, of a verse which has the extra syllable 
 at the beginning. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 
 
 Illustrated from Tennyson's Poems. 
 
 I PROPOSE in this chapter to test our metrical analysis upon 
 a writer who furnishes examples of a great variety of rhythms, 
 and as to whose readings and pronunciation there is no question, 
 so that one may argue securely on the facts. Metrical writers 
 are almost as much divided in regard to the general theory of 
 metre and the scansion and naming of particular metres, as 
 they are on the admissible varieties of the five-foot iambic ; nor 
 do I know of any one who has given an altogether consistent 
 and satisfactory account of the matter. The best, I think, is 
 that by Dr Abbott in English Lessons, but it is incomplete on 
 the trisyllabic metres, and he errs, as we have seen, in the 
 direction of a mechanical regularity. 
 
 Before classifying Tennyson's trochaic metres according to 
 the number of feet employed, I must mention a variety which is 
 common to them all, produced by the omission of the last 
 unaccented syllable, thus giving rise to the truncated trochaic, 
 the converse of the feminine iambic. We find examples of the 
 two-foot trochaic, both complete and truncated, in combination 
 with longer metres ; of complete in The Poet, 
 
 In the I middle | leaps a | fountain | (4) 
 
 Like sheet | lightning | (2) 
 
 Ever I brightening | (2) 
 
 With a I low me|lodious | thunder | (4) 
 
 and of the truncated in The Millers Daughter — 
 
 Love the | gift is | love the | debt A (4 - ) 
 
 Even I so A (2-) 
 
 7—2 
 
100 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Deserted House— 
 
 Life and | thought have | gone a|wayA (4-) 
 
 Sideby|sideA (2-) 
 Poet— 
 
 Hollow I smile and | frozen | sneer /\ (4-) 
 
 Come not | here a (2 - ) 
 
 I do not think Tennyson has any example of the complete 
 
 three-foot trochaic, such as we find in Baring Gould's hymn for 
 children — 
 
 Now the I day is | over | (3) 
 
 Night is I drawing | nigh A (3 — ) 
 
 Shadows | of the | evening | (3) 
 
 Steal a|cross the | sky a (3 — ) 
 
 But the truncated form is common in combination with longer 
 metres, as in Lilian — 
 
 When my | passion | seeks a 
 
 Pleasance | in love | sighs A 
 
 Then a|way she | flies A 
 
 Fairy | Lili|anA 
 
 and the Deserted House — 
 
 Careless |- tenants | they A 
 Here no | longer | dwell. A 
 
 In Maud xvii. we find twenty-eight consecutive lines in this 
 metre, beginning " Go not | happy | day." In Lilian we have 
 specimens of a variation of the complete three-foot trochaic 
 formed by the prefixing of a hypermetrical syllable or anacrusis, 
 analogous to the feminine rhythm in the iambic metre — 
 
 She) looking | through and | through me | 
 If) prayers | will not | hush thee | 
 
 The four-foot trochaic is by far the commonest, as in Lilian — 
 
 When I I ask her | if she | love me | 
 Claps her | tiny | hands a|bove me | 
 
 The Poets Mind— 
 
 Clear and | bright it | should be | ever | 
 Flowing I like a | crystal | river | 
 
 Lady of Shalott — 
 
 Willows I whiten | aspens | quiver | 
 Little I breezes I dusk and I shiver 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METEES. 101 
 
 Usually, however, it alternates with the truncated form, as in 
 Lord of Burleigh — 
 
 Deeply | mourned the | lord of | Burleigh | 
 Burleigh | house by | Stamford | town a. 
 
 This is the common 8s 7s of the hymn-books, like — 
 
 Through the | day thy | love has | spared us | 
 Now we 1 lay us | down to | rest A 
 
 Written as one line we know it as truncated eight-foot, the 
 metre of Locksley Hall — 
 
 Comrades | leave me | here a | little | while as [ yet 'tis | early | dawn. 
 
 The truncated four-foot is the metre of the song in the Vision 
 of Sin — 
 
 Wrinkled | ostler | grim and | thin A 
 
 It is the 7s of hymn-books, the metre of 
 
 Hark the | herald | angels | sing A 
 
 Deserted House is in the same metre with anacrusis in three of 
 
 the lines. 
 
 So) frequent | on its | hinge be|foreA 
 
 Or) through the | windows | we shall | see A 
 
 The) nakedjness | and vacanjcyA 
 
 The complete four-foot is rarely used alone in hymns, as in one 
 of the translations of the Dies Irae — 
 
 Day of I wrath, | day of | mourning | 
 See once | more the | cross re|turning | 
 Heaven and | earth in | ashes | burning | 
 
 Five-foot trochaic is rare in either the complete or truncated 
 form. We find examples of the former in the Vision of Sin — 
 
 Narrowing | into | where they | sat as|sembled \ 
 Low vo|luptuous I music | winding | trembled | 
 
 and in Wellington — 
 
 He shall | find the | stubborn | thistle | bursting | 
 Into I glossy | purples | which out|redden | 
 
 The rhythm ha;s rather a tendency to run into Canning's Needy 
 Knife Grinder, which indeed only differs from it by the insertion 
 
102 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 of an unimportant syllable, changing the initial troche§ into a 
 
 dactyl, 
 
 Stoiy I 'bless you | I have | none to | tell Sir 1 
 
 In both the poems just mentioned the truncated form is mixed 
 
 ■with the other, e.g. in the Vision of Sin— 
 
 Then melthought I | heard a | mellow | sound a 
 Gathering | up from | all the | lower | ground A 
 
 and in Wellington — 
 
 Once the | weight and | fate of | Europe | hung A 
 
 He that | ever | following | her com|mands A 
 
 On with I toil of | heart and | knees and | hands A 
 
 Six-foot is also rare. We find in the Vision of Sin the com- 
 plete form — 
 
 Purple I gauzes | golden | hazes | liquid [ mazes | 
 
 and in Wellington the truncated 
 
 Who is I he that | oometh | like an | honoured | guest A 
 
 also in Gauteretz — 
 
 All a|long the | valley ( stream that | flashest | white A 
 
 I am not aware that Tennyson has any example of the com- 
 plete seven-foot trochaic, though it has to my ear an easier and 
 more natural rhythm than the five and six-foot trochaics, e.g. 
 In the I glowing | autumn | sunset | in the | golden | autumn | 
 
 but we find the truncated form in the Lotus Eaters- — 
 
 We have | had e|nough of | action | and of | motion | we A 
 
 and 
 
 Like a | tale of | little | meaning ] though the | words be | strong A 
 
 Locksley Hall supplies examples of the eight-foot trochaic, 
 both in the complete form, as 
 
 Slowly I comes a | hungry | people | as a | Uon | creeping | nigher | 
 
 and in the truncated form. 
 
 Smote the | chord of | self that | trembling | past in | music | out of | 
 sight A 
 
The naming and classification of metres. 103 
 
 So the Lotus Eaters 
 
 EoUed to I starboard | rolled to | larboard | when the | surge was | seeth- 
 ing I free A 
 
 In this metre the line is usually divided into two sections after 
 the fourth foot, which I have marked with the double bar, e.g. 
 Comrades | leave me | here a | little |j while as | yet 'tis | early | dawn a 
 
 In 194 lines of Lockshy Hall we find this rule observed in 
 all but forty-two, and in fifteen of these the fourth foot ends 
 with ' and,' which softens the effect, as in 
 
 Saw the | vision | of the | world and || all the | wonder ( which should | be 
 Love took ] up the | glass of 1 time and || turned it | in his | glowing | 
 hands 
 
 otherwise it has a heavy dragging sound, as in 
 
 Many a | night from | yonder | ivied || casement | ere I | sunk to | rest 
 What is I fine with|in thee | growing {| coarse to | sympa|thize with | clay 
 Glares at | one that j nods and J winks be||hind a | slowly | dying j fire 
 
 In one line we find both sections truncated — 
 
 As I have | seen the | rosy | red || flushing | in the | northern | night 
 
 Some have maintained that the basis of the metre is a double 
 trochee with a weaker stress on the first syllable and stronger on 
 the third. There seems no ground for this. If we have 
 In the I spring a ] fuller ] crimson | comes up|on the j robin's [ breast 
 
 we have also 
 
 Mdny a | night from | yonder | ivied | casement | ere I | sank to | rest 
 
 The rationale of the two sections is of course that the line arose 
 from the juxtaposition of a complete and truncated four-foot 
 trochaic, as 
 
 Pilgrims | here on | earth and | strangers ]| Dwelling | in the | midst of | 
 foes 
 
 In rhythmical effect it resembles the Greek trochaic tetrameter 
 catalectic. 
 
 Having thus classified the various trochaic lines to be found 
 in Tennyson, it remains for us to observe how they are com- 
 bined into poems, and with what irregularities, either accentual 
 
104 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 or syllabic, they are used. One of these irregularities I have 
 already referred to, the anacrusis. It may be well here to give 
 reasons in support of such an explanation of an unaccented 
 syllable at the beginning of the line. Why should not a line 
 beginning thus be regarded as an iambic line ? We will take 
 Lilian. This is a poem of thirty lines, all but four of which are 
 manifestly trochaic. Why should we wish to assign a distinct 
 rhythm to these four, because they have an iambic beginning, 
 more than we do to iambic lines which have a trochaic ending ? 
 Similarly in A Dirge we have forty-nine lines, all but, four 
 plainly trochaic, and one of these is formed simply by prefixing 
 'but' to the refrain, "let them rave." In the Lotus Eaters, 
 after a number of long trochaic lines, we come to 
 
 Than) labour | in the | deep mid | ocean | wind and | wave and | oar A 
 Oh) rest ye | brother | mari|ners we | will not | wander | more a 
 
 I should certainly prefer to call these trochaic. The Valley of 
 Cauteretz and the Ode on the Duke of Wellington present several 
 examples of the same kind. No doubt there is a remarkable 
 mixture of the iambic and trochaic rhythms in the latter ; but, 
 taking the last eleven lines beginning, 
 
 He is I gone who | seemed so | great a 
 
 it seems to me better to treat the exceptional lines 
 
 Than) any | wreath that | man can | weave him | 
 But) speak no | more of | his re|nown a 
 And) in the | vast cath|edral | leave him | 
 
 as examples of anacrusis rather than as iambics. So in the 
 longer lines of stanza vi. 
 
 Who is I he that | cometh || like au | honoured | guest 
 
 With) banner | and with | music || with) soldier | and with | priest a 
 
 I should treat the second as a truncated six-foot trochaic, with 
 anacrusis at the beginning of both sections. The line that 
 follows 
 
 With a I nation | weeping || and) breaking | on my | rest a 
 
 has anacrusis at the beginning of the second section only. Cau- 
 teretz is six-foot truncated, 
 
 ■ All a|long the | valley || stream that | flashest | white A 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 105 
 
 but anacrusis is freely used at the beginning of either or both 
 sections, as in the first — 
 
 For) all a|long the | valley || down thy | rocky | bed a 
 in the second — 
 
 Deepen|mg thy | voice with || the) deepening | of the | night a 
 in both — 
 
 The) two and | thirty | years were || a) mist that | rolls a|wayA 
 
 and even with two short syllables prefixed to the second 
 section in 
 
 Thy) living | voice to | me was || as the) voice | of the | dead 
 
 This last might of course be treated as a case of iambic in- 
 trusion ; in either case the second ' voice' is disyllabic. Dr 
 Abbott gives the historical explanation of anacrusis in English 
 Lessons, p. 189 : "In early English poets syllables which precede 
 the accented syllable are not necessary to the scansion." He 
 gives to such syllables the name of the " catch." 
 
 The next irregularity which I will speak of is the substitu- 
 tion of the dactyl in the place of the trochee. Dr Abbott con- 
 fines this licence to the first foot, and it is, no doubt, most 
 frequent in that position, as in 
 
 Thoroughly | to un|do me | 
 
 Wearieth | me May | Lili|anA 
 
 Shadowy | dreaming | Ade|lineA 
 
 But in a | city | glori|ousA 
 
 Many a | chance the | years be|getA 
 
 but it is also found in other places, especially in long lines, as In 
 
 the Lotus Eaters — 
 
 Where the | wallowing | monster | spouted | his foam | fountains | in the | 
 sea A 
 
 Wellington — 
 
 He that | ever | following | her com|mand A 
 
 and the Vision of Sin — 
 
 Moved with [ violence | changed in | hue^ 
 Caught each | other with | wild gri|maces | 
 Half in|visible | to the | view A 
 Wheeling | with pre|cipitate | paces | 
 To the ! melody | till they | flew A 
 
106 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 This is, however, a very irregular poem, and we should perhaps 
 class the passage among those in which there is an intentional 
 mixture of rhythms, the trochaic and dactylic. 
 
 The inversion of the accent is less common than in the 
 iambic metre, but is occasionally found in the first foot, e.g. 
 
 The gold-|eyed | kingcups | fine A 
 The frail | blue beU | peereth | over | 
 From deep | thought him|self he | rouses | 
 
 To speak now of the combination of trochaic lines. We find 
 poems made up of the truncated three-foot, as the seventeenth 
 stanza of Maud, but this is I think a solitary instance. The 
 truncated four-foot is common, e.g. The Owl, Adeline (though in 
 this we find anacrusis freely employed, giving an iambic colour- 
 ing), the song in the Miller's Daughter ; also the alternation of the 
 complete and truncated four-foot, as in Lord of Burleigh. The 
 truncated four-foot is often varied by the intermixture of longer 
 and shorter lines, as in Lilian we find it associated with com- 
 plete four and truncated or hypermetrical three-foot ; in Deserted 
 House with truncated three and truncated two; in The Dirge 
 with hypermetrical four, truncated two and complete four; in 
 Lochsley Hall we have truncated eight-foot varied by the oc- 
 casional insertion of a complete line. I reserve the more diffi- 
 cult combinations till we have got the analysis of the trisyllabic 
 metres. 
 
 Of the ascending disyllabic, or iambic, metre we find the 
 following varieties in Tennyson : two-foot, as in the Poet — 
 
 The love | of love | 
 three-foot — 
 
 The la|dy of | Shalott | 
 
 three-foot with feminine ending — 
 
 In days | of old | Amphi|on 
 four-foot — 
 
 had I I lived | when song | was great | 
 four-foot feminine — 
 
 She on|ly said | my life | is wea]ry 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 107 
 
 five-foot — 
 
 The inel|low ref|lex of | a winlter moon | 
 
 five-foot feminine — 
 
 The vex|ed ed|dies of | its waylward bro|ther 
 
 six-foot — 
 
 Give us I long rest | or death | dark death | or dream|ful ease | 
 It is I the last | new year | that I [ shall ev|er see | 
 
 seven-foot (usually divided into four-foot and three-foot) — 
 I thought I to pass | away | before | but yet | alive | I am | 
 
 These are combined into poems as follows : we find three-foot 
 masculine and feminine indiscriminately with anapaestic varia- 
 tions in Claribel — 
 
 Where Clalribel | low li|eth 
 The bree|zes pause | and die | 
 But the sol|emn oak | tree sigh|eth 
 
 Four- foot alternating with three-foot is very common, as in 
 the Talking Oab — 
 
 Once more | the gate | behind | me falls | 
 Once more | before | my face | 
 
 It is known in the hymn-books as 'common metre.' Sometimes 
 we have stanzas of 4-4-4-3, as 
 
 Of old I sat free|dom on | the heights | 
 The thun|ders break|ing at | her feet | 
 
 Above I her shook | the star|ry lights | 
 She heard | the tor|rentB meet | 
 
 And there are other combinations, as in Sir Galahad, etc. In 
 Amphion and the Brook we have four-foot masculine alter- 
 nating with three-foot feminine. It has usually a light playful 
 touch — 
 
 My fat|her left | a park | to me ] 
 
 But it I is wild I and bar|ren 
 A gar|den too ] with scarce | a tree ] 
 
 And was|ter than | a war|ren 
 
 And out I again | I curve | and flow | 
 
 To join I the brim|ming ri|ver 
 For men | may come | and men | may go | 
 
 But I I go on ! for ev|er 
 
108 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Will Waterproof is in eight-line stanzas, the first half of 
 the stanza being in four and three masculine ; the latter half 
 in four masculine and three feminine. The four or eight-line 
 stanza of four feet (the 'long metre' of hymn-books) is the com- 
 monest of all. It is used in Lady Clara Vere de Vere, Day 
 Dream, Love thou thy Land, which, last, as well as the whole 
 of In Memoriam, takes a peculiar character from the rhyming 
 of the first and fourth and second and third lines. The five- 
 foot line is found in combination with others, as in Bream of 
 Fair Women, where we have a four-line stanza of 5-5-5-3 — 
 
 I read | before | my eye|lids dropt | their shade | 
 
 The leg|end of | good wom|en long | ago | 
 Sung by | the morn|ing star | of song | who made | 
 
 His mus|ic heard | below | 
 
 In the beautiful Requiescat we find it in combination with four 
 
 and three — 
 
 Fair is | her cot|tage in | its place | 
 Where yon | broad wa|ter sweet|ly slow|ly glides | 
 
 The May Queen is composed of six and seven-foot lines. 
 
 The first irregularity I shall mention is the use of the mono- 
 syllabic first foot (as in Chaucer), what I have distinguished as 
 initial truncation, in opposition to the final truncation of the 
 trochaic line. Usually it is found in poems where anapaestic 
 substitution is common; as in the lines quoted in the last 
 chapter from the Arabian Nights and Lady Clara Vere de Vere. 
 Compare also 
 
 Ode to Memory — 
 
 AStreng|then me | enligh|ten me | 
 A Sub|tle-though|ted, my|riad-mind|ed 
 
 Lady Clare — 
 
 I trow I they did | not part | in scorn | 
 ALov|ers long | betrothed | were they | 
 AFalse|ly false|ly have | ye done | 
 mo|ther she said | if this | be true | 
 A Dropt I her head | in the mai|den's hand | 
 
 The Sailor Boy — 
 
 A Fool I he ans|wered death | is sure | 
 
 To those I that stay | and those | that roam | 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 109 
 
 The poem in which truncation occurs most frequently is the 
 Flower, which is so irregular that it should perhaps be reckoned 
 among the examples of anapaestic rhythm — 
 
 A Up I there came | a flower | 
 The peop|le said | a weed | 
 But thieves | from o'er | the wall | 
 
 A Stole I the seed | by night | 
 
 The second irregularity is that of feminine rhythm, of which 
 I need say nothing. The third, substitution of anapaest for 
 iambic, as in the Sailor Boy — 
 
 They are all | to blame | thet/ are all \ to blame | 
 A Bedication — 
 
 Dearer | and near|er as | the rap|i(f of life \ 
 
 The fourth, substitution of trochee (and even dactyl in the first 
 foot) for iamb. Example of dactyl in Arabian Nights — 
 
 Serene | with ar|gent-lid|ded eyes | 
 Amorous | and lash|es like | to rays | 
 
 So Wordsworth's exquisite line — 
 
 Murmuring \ from Gla|rama|ra's in|most caves | 
 
 The trochee is sometimes found in the middle of the line — 
 
 Of all I the glad | new year | Mother | the mad|dest mer|riest day | 
 
 It is hardly worth while to mention here pyrrhic and spondaic 
 substitution. 
 
 Trisyllabic metre is either ascending like the iambic, 
 which we know as anapaestic, or descending like the trochee, 
 which we know as dactylic. We find examples of anapaestic 
 lines, consisting of one foot, in the Song beginning "A spirit 
 haunts" — 
 
 At his work | you may hear | him sob | and sigh | 4 
 
 In the walks | 1 
 
 At the moist | rich smell { of the rot|ting leaves | 4 
 
 And the breath | 1 
 
 In the same poem we have the two-foot anapaest — 
 Of the moul|dering flowers | 
 
110 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 We find the three-foot line in Maud — 
 
 In the mead|ow un|der the hall | 
 
 To the death | for their na|tive land | 
 
 The four-foot in the Song — 
 
 For at elventide lis|tening ear|nestly J 
 
 and in the Poet's Mind— 
 
 In the heart 1 of the gar|den the mer|ry bird chants | 
 
 The five-foot in Maud — - 
 
 Till I well I could weep | for a time | so sor|did and mean | 
 
 And also the six-foot — 
 
 Did he fling | himself down | who knows | for a vast | specula|tion had 
 failed | 
 
 which is the metre of the NortJiem Farmer — 
 
 "The Amoigh|ty's a taa|kin of you | to 'issen | my frieiid" | a said | 
 
 The seven-foot in Sea Fairies — 
 
 A AWhith|er away | from the high | green field | and the hap|py 
 bloss|oming shore | 
 
 The eight-foot in the same — 
 
 A AWhith|er away | lis|ten and stay | mar|iner mar|iner fly | no more | 
 
 In this the first, third, and fifth feet are monosyllabic, a 
 licence of which I shall speak directly. 
 
 The variations are (1) the iamb, of which all th^ longer lines 
 quoted afford instances, even in the last foot, where Dr Abbott 
 denies its use (Lessons, p. 211). Sometimes a line is made up of 
 these without a single anapaest, as in the Song— 
 
 A spir|it haunts | the year's | last hours | 
 The iamb may, of course, be represented by a spondee, as — 
 
 And the year's | last r5se | 
 
 But (2) at the beginning of the line the anapaest may be 
 represented by a monosyllable, the two unaccented syllables 
 disappearing without altering the character of the verse. 
 Thus the line 
 
 I would kiss I them of|ten un|der the sea | 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. Ill 
 
 is repeated in the form 
 
 And kiss ] them again j till they | kissed me | 
 
 Leave out ' and ' and the rhythm is unaltered. This law of the 
 anapaestic metre is not, I think, noticed by Dr Abbott, yet 
 examples of such initial truncation are innumerable. The 
 truncated two-foot is found in the Merman — 
 
 A A Who I would be | 
 
 A A mer | man bold | 
 A ASit|ting alone | 
 A A Singling alone | 
 A AUn|der the sea | 
 With a crown | of gold | 
 A A On I a throne | 
 
 truncated three-foot in Maud — 
 
 Maud I with her ex|quisite face | 
 
 truncated four-foot in the same — 
 
 .Singling alone | in the morn|ing of life j 
 
 truncated five-foot — 
 
 Knew I that the death|white cur|tain meant j but sleep | 
 
 truncated six-foot — 
 
 Why I do they prate | of 'the bless|ings of peace | who have made | them a 
 curse I 
 
 Glo|ry of war|rior glo|ry of or|atop glo|ry of song | 
 
 It may be asked what reason is there for calling these 
 lines ' metamprphous anapaestic,' rather than ' metamorphous 
 dactylic '? The answer has been already given in the preceding 
 chapter ; it is that the rhythm of the lines must be interpreted 
 by the general rhythm of the piece, and all the lines quoted 
 come from passages, which are either distinctly anapaestic, or 
 which at any rate contain lines which can only be explained as 
 anapaestic, while they have no lines which must necessarily be 
 taken as dactylic. Thus the last line, taken alone, would 
 naturally be classed, as -truncated dactylic; but in the same 
 poem (Wages) we find the. indisputable anapaest 
 
 The wa|g6S of sin j is death | if the wajges of virltue be dust i 
 She desires [ no isles | of the blest j no quijet seats j of the just | . 
 
112 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 So in Byron we have 
 
 Bright I be the place | of thy soul | ( = 3) 
 
 No love|lier spir|it than thine | (-3) 
 
 E'er burst | from its mor|tal control [ (-3) 
 
 In the orbs [ of the bless|ed to shine | (3) 
 
 Verses like these were long a puzzle to me. Their melody- 
 was indubitable, but I could not see what was the scientific 
 account of the rhythm till I was struck by the analogy with 
 the old monosyllabic initial foot in the iambic line. 
 
 Besides these main variations, we find the use of feminine 
 rhythm ; as in Maud — 
 
 Ah what I shall I be | at fif|ty 
 If I find I the world | so bit|ter. 
 
 And she knows | it not | oh if | she knew | it 
 To know I her beaulty might half | undo | it. 
 
 The anapaestic rhythm is a great favourite with Tennyson, 
 especially in his later poems. It is used with much freedom 
 as regards the number of feet employed. One of the most 
 uniform in this respect is the Welcome to Alexandra, written 
 in the four-foot anapaest. Initial truncation is very common : 
 in fact there is only one line which commences with the pure 
 anapaest — 
 
 We are each | all Dane j in our wel|come of thee [ 
 
 In one line we have initial and sectional truncation — 
 
 EoU I and rejoice | ju|bilant voice | 
 
 BoU I as a ground|swell dashed | on the strand | 
 
 The two-foot trochaic ' Alexandra' forms a refrain. 
 
 The six-foot anapaest is used in many important poems, as 
 the two Northern Farmers, the Grandmother, the Higher Pan- 
 theism, Wages, a good deal of Maud, Rizpah, First Quarrel, 
 Northern Gobbler, Entail, Children's Hospital, Maeldune, and 
 the very irregular Revenge. I will notice here a few pe- 
 culiarities in the use of the metre. In the Grandm,other we 
 have two lines which would naturally be read as instances of 
 the seven-foot anapaest — 
 
 Seventy years | -ago | my dar|ling se|venty years | ago 1 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 113" 
 
 but this may be reduced to six by reading the first 'seventy' 
 as a disyllable. In the other, a seven-foot line could only be 
 avoided by the heroic remedy of giving four syllables to the 
 first foot — 
 
 And whit whit whit | in the bush | beside | me chir|rupt the night|ingale | 
 
 The first four sections of Maud are in six-foot anapaest. There, 
 is a considerable variety in the use of the metre. In section 
 iii. almost every line suffers initial truncation, which is rare in 
 section i. In section iv. we find the usual break in the middle 
 of the line disregarded, e.g. 
 
 Half lost I in the li|quid a|zure bloom | of a cres|cent of sea | 
 The si|lent sap|phire-spang|led mar|riage ring | of the law | 
 
 The normal line of the Revenge is also six-foot anapaest, as 
 
 He had on|ly a hun]dred sea|men to work | the ship | and to fight | 
 Sir Eichjard spoke | and he laughed | and we roared | a hurrah | and so | 
 
 This is occasionally divided into ^ two sections, sometimes 
 rhyming, as _ ' 
 
 And the half | my men | are sick ||. I must fly | but fol|low quick | 
 
 and admitting a superfluous syllable after either section, or 
 both, as 
 
 Then sware | Lord Thom|a3 How|ard || : 'Fore God | I am | no cow|ard 
 By their moun|tain-like | San Phil|ip || that of fifjteen hun[dred guns | 
 
 We sometimes find initial truncation giving rise to a 
 trochaic rhythm in the first half of the line, as 
 
 AThou|sands of | their sol|diers || looked down | from their decks | and 
 laughed | 
 
 It admits also lines varying in length from two to seven 
 feet, as 
 
 A7iap. 2. And a day | less or more | 
 At sea I or ashore | 
 
 sometimes truncated 
 
 A Long I and loud | 
 Anap. 3; So they watched | what the end |- would be | 
 Anap. 4. But Sir Rich|ard cried | in his Engllish pride | 
 
 M. M. 8 
 
114 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 In two instances a pyrrhic takes the place of an anapaest, 
 unless we give four syllables to one foot, 
 
 But he rose | ttp8n | their decks | and he cried | 
 And he fell | upon | their decks | and he died | 
 Anap. 5. And a wave | like the wave | that is raised | by an earth|-quake 
 
 grew I 
 7. And the sun | went down | and the stars | came out | far o|ver the 
 sum|mer sea | 
 
 Truncated in 
 
 A God I of bat|tles, was ev|er a bat|tle like this | in the world | before | 
 
 The three-foot anapaest is usually combined with others ; 
 thus in Maud (sections v. and vi.) it is joined with four-foot and 
 occasional five-foot lines. In vii. we have the three-foot pre- 
 served throughout, sometimes with feminine rhythm, except for 
 two four-foot lines ; viii. is a mixture of three-foot and four- 
 foot; ix. joins two, three, and four-foot. In x. the first three 
 stanzas are of four feet, the fourth and fifth mixed of three and 
 four ; xi. is three-foot throughout ; xii. is mainly three-foot, but 
 has occasional four-foot lines, and is disguised by prevalent 
 truncation and feminine rhythm ; xiii. is almost entirely four- 
 foot, with only three lines of three feet ; xiv. is mainly three- 
 foot, but rises into four and even five-foot ; xv. is four-foot, with 
 one line of two-foot ; xvi. mainly four varied with three and 
 two. In xvii. and xviii. the feeling changes to a tone of more 
 assured. happiness, and we have a corresponding change in the 
 rhythm, xvii. consisting of truncated three-foot trochaic, and 
 xviii. (perhaps the most perfect example of the flowing richness 
 of Tennyson's rhythm) consisting of iambic with anapaestic 
 variation, in lines varying from two to six feet. The four which 
 follow are three and four-foot anapaests. The more passionate 
 movement of xxiii. (Pt. II 1 in new arrangement) shows itself 
 in three, four, and five-foot anapaestic lines, with occasional 
 iambic variation ; xxiv. (Pt. Ii 2) is three and four-foot ana- 
 paest, with marked initial truncation ; xxv. (Pt. II 3) and xxvi. 
 (Pt. II 4) three and four-foot anapaest, with iambic variation, 
 the latter also with feminine ending ; xxvii. (Pt. Ii 5), as suits 
 its subject, is the most violent in rhythm of any, consisting 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 115 
 
 of anapaestic lines, varying from two to five feet in length, and 
 showing examples not only of initial truncation, as in 
 
 Dead | long dead | 
 but of monosyllabic feet in other parts of the verse, e.g. 
 
 Long I dead | 
 And the hoofs | of the hor|ses beat | beat | 
 
 The last section of Maud is regular five-foot anapaest. 
 
 In " Break, break, break," we have three-foot anapaest ar- 
 ranged in verses of four lines. In three verses the third line 
 contains four feet, and in two the first line is represented by 
 the three monosyllables " Break, break, break." The Poets 
 Song is mainly four-foot, but is varied by several three-foot 
 lines. In the Song "A spirit haunts," the metre is variously 
 four, two, and one-foot. The song in Sea Fairies varies from 
 three to eight-foot, and truncation, as I mentioned above, is 
 very freely used : thus we have 
 
 Whi|ther away || whit|her away || whit|her away || fly | no more || 
 
 the line being divided into four sections, admits of four mono- 
 syllabic feet. In the Islet the four-foot anapaest prevails — 
 
 Whitlher whit|her love | shall we go | 
 
 varied with three-foot — 
 
 That it makes | one wea|ry to hear | 
 
 truncated two-foot — 
 
 No I love no | 
 
 and complete five-foot running into pure iambic — 
 
 With ma|ny a riv|ulet high | against | the sun | 
 The fa|cets of | the glor|ious mounjtain flash | 
 
 The Flower has been treated above as a specimen of iambic, but 
 it might be viewed as a three-foot anapaest, broken by one four- 
 foot, and with prevailing disyllabic substitution — 
 
 Once I in a gold|en hour | 
 I cast I to earth I a seed 
 
 ?— 2 
 
116 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 The Victim is mainly four-foot, with disyllabic substitution— 
 
 A plague I upon | the peop|le fell | 
 
 The prieat | in hor|ror about | his alt|ar 
 
 To Thor I and 0|din lift|ed a hand | 
 
 The ino|ther said | they have tajken the child | 
 
 Sud|denly from | him breaks | his wife | 
 
 But some of the verses are followed by lines of two feet, forming 
 groups equivalent to eight-foot lines in rhythm, e.g. 
 
 Help I us from fa|mine And plague ) and strife || What | would you have | 
 of us ? Hu|man life | 
 
 But, it may be said, is it not easier to take these as dac- 
 tylic, dividing as follows 
 
 Help us from | famine And | plague and | strife a a 
 What would you | have of us? | Human | life a a 
 
 the two last dactyls being represented by trochee and long 
 syllable V The answer is that in either case the metre will be 
 metamorphous or disguised, and that we shall best preserve the 
 unity of the poem by interpreting the disguise so as to agree 
 with the undisguised corresponding lines in other stanzas, e.g. 
 
 They have ta|ken our son | They will have | his hfe | 
 Is he I your dear|est Or I | the wife | ? 
 
 The same question arises about the metre of Lucknow, 
 which may be generally represented by the following scheme 
 
 Is this to be treated as anapaestic or dactylic ? That is, at 
 which end of the line must the inevitable truncation be placed? 
 Are we to regard the first syllable as representing an ana- 
 paest, or the last as representing a dactyl ? The pauses some- 
 times seem to suit the one, sometimes the other. If the ques- 
 tion had to be settled for each line taken separately, we should, 
 I think, naturally scan the first of the two which follow as a 
 dactyl, and the second as an anapaest; as marked by the bars ; 
 
 Bullets would | sing by our | foreheads and \ buUeta would | rain at our | 
 feet A A 
 
 A A Mine? | yes a mine | Countermine | . Down, down | and creep | 
 through the hole | 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 117 
 
 There is no ' difficulty however in scanning the first as ana- 
 paestic, while it is almost impossible to scan the second as 
 dactylic ; and the refrain 
 
 . And ev|er upon | the top|most roof | our ban|ner of Eng|land blew [ 
 
 (thus schematized ^-y^yj-^j-^-^-^y^-^j-) is more easily 
 divided into seven iambs or anapaests than into seven dactyls 
 with anacrusis and final truncation. 
 
 The dactylic metre is much more rarely used than the ana- 
 paest. There is, I think, only one example of the pure dactyl, 
 viz. the Light Brigade. The essential point of course is that the 
 stress is not on the last syllable — 
 
 Half a league | half a league | 
 Half a league | onward | 
 
 The metre is two-foot, with frequent substitution of the trochee 
 for the second foot. Sometimes the. rhythmical stress is opposed 
 to the verbal accent, as in 
 
 While horse and | hero fell | 
 
 We do not find in Tennyson the monosyllable for the dactyl, 
 as in Hood's 
 
 Take her up | tenderly ( 
 Lift her with | care A A 
 
 In Heber's hymn — 
 
 Brightest and | best of the | sons of the | morning A 
 Dawn on our | darkness and [ lend us thine | aid A A 
 
 we have the last foot represented alternately by a monosyllable 
 •and a trochee. 
 
 The last line of the alcaic stanza might be described as a 
 four-foot dactyl with trochaic substitution in the last two feet — 
 
 Milton a | name to re[sound for | ages | 
 
 Since the different metres are thus capable of interchange 
 and transmutation, it is easy to understand how a poem com- 
 mencing in one metre will run into another. Thus Madeline 
 begins with two iambic lines (4 + and 4), the third line is trun- 
 cated four-foot trochaic; the fourth again is four-foot iambic ; fifth 
 
118 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 trochaic truncated ; sixth and seventh iambic ; and so, through- 
 out, the two rhythms alternate. The Deserted House is one in 
 which trochaic rhythm passes into iambic. In Oriana the 
 second and third verses have a predominant trochaic rhythm, 
 while the others are iambic with the trochaic refrain. The 
 Lady of Shalott begins with iambic, but there are many pure 
 trochaic stanzas. Eleanore is mainly iambic, with anapaestic 
 variation — 
 
 "With the hum ] of swar|ming bees | 
 
 Into dreamlM slumb|er lulled | 
 
 but in stanza iv. changes to trochaic, e.g. 
 
 How may | full-sailed | verse ex|press/^ 
 How may | measured | words ad|oreA 
 
 The Choric Song in Lotus Eaters begins with iambic, of length 
 varying from three to six feet. In the third stanza we find 
 frequent trochaic substitution, e.g. 
 
 Nightly [ dew-fed | and tur|ning yelllow 
 and initial truncation, 
 
 Palls I and floats | adown | the air | 
 which prepares us for the trochaic commencement of iv.. 
 Hateful I is the | dark-blue | sky 
 Vaulted \ o'er the | dark-blue | sea 
 
 and for the series of long trochaics (seven and eight-foot) which 
 end the piece. In the Vision of Sin the rhythms are appro- 
 priated to separate sections of the poem, and express different 
 tones of thought. In the Ode on Wellington we have anapaestic 
 rhythm in the first and fifth stanzas, iambic in third, fourth, 
 and seventh, trochaic mixed in sixth, eighth, and ninth. 
 
 Iambic is found mixed with anapaest, sometimes irregularly, 
 sometimes according to a fixed law. Thus Mariana in the 
 South is regular four-foot iambic, but the last two lines have 
 invariably the trisyllabic rhythm — 
 
 And ah | she sang | to be all | alone | 
 To live I forgot|ten and die | forlorn | 
 
 Similarly, The Sisters, which is in regular four-foot iambic, is 
 broken by the trisyllabic refrain 
 
 The wind | is how|ling in tur|ret and tree | 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 119 
 
 In The Daisy the stanza consists of four four-foot iambic lines, 
 the third with feminine rhythm, and the fourth with anapaestic 
 substitution in third place — 
 
 I stood I among | the sil|ent stat|ue3 
 And stat|ued pin|nacles mute | as they | 
 
 In the Verses to Maurice the first three lines are the same 
 as in the Daisy, but the fourth has anapaestic substitution in 
 the second place as well as the third, and the first foot is a 
 monosyllable ; with which the superfluous syllable of the pre- 
 ceding line naturally connects itself — 
 
 And fur]ther on | the hoar|y chan|nel 
 Tumb|les a break|er on chalk | and sand | 
 
 Of course it is possible to treat the fourth line as dactylic, with 
 the substitution of a trochee for the third and a monosyllable 
 for the fourth dactyl. In that case the last two lines of the 
 verse would be a slight modification of the alcaic 
 
 God-gifted organ voice of England 
 Milton a name to resound for ages 
 
 this latter having two trochees at the end of the fourth line. 
 
 Of irregular mixture we have many examples. The Dying 
 Swan begins with four-foot varied by three-foot iambic: the 
 third line suffers initial truncation : anapaestic substitution is 
 frequent — 
 
 With an in|ner voice | the riv|er ran | 
 Adown I it float|ed a dy|ing swan | 
 
 In the second stanza the anapaestic character becomes more 
 marked, and in the third it becomes pure anapaestic. The May 
 Queen commences with seven-foot iambic, with free anapaestic 
 substitution, as in 
 
 And the wild | marsh mar|igold shines | like fire | in swamps | and 
 
 hol|lows gray | 
 And the riv|ulet in [ the flow|ery dale | will mer]rily dance | and play | 
 
 Occasionally we have six-foot iambics, e.g. 
 
 If you do I not call ] me loud | when the day | begins | to break | 
 As I I came up | the val|Iey || whom think | ye should | I see | 
 
120 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 We have one example of initial truncation, accompanied by 
 feminine caesura, 
 
 All I the val|ley mojther || will be fresh .| and green | and still | 
 
 One line appears to have eight feet, unless we compress four 
 
 syllables into the first, or make ' so ' extra-metrical — 
 
 So you I must wake | and call | me ear|ly call | me ear|ly mo|ther dear | 
 
 There is some difiSculty in the rhythm of the following — 
 
 For I would see the sun rise upon the glad new year. 
 To-night I saw the sun set ; he set and left behind. 
 
 In each there is a superfluous syllable at the end of the third 
 foot, which it is hardly possible to connect with what follows 
 as the first syllable of an anapaest, because the word itself 
 requires some stress, and in the second line is followed by a 
 decided pause. I am inclined to think we must treat rise and 
 set as monosyllabic feet.' 
 
 Death of the Old Year is mainly three or four-foot iambic, 
 but we find it diversified with anapaests as marked as 
 
 He gave | me a friend | and a true | true love | 
 And the new | year will take | 'em away | 
 
 Some lines show initial truncation, e.g. 
 
 Toll I ye the church-|bell sad | and slow | 
 And I tread soft|ly and | speak low [ 
 Ev|ery one | for his own | 
 
 Lady Clare is in four-line stanzas of four-foot iambics, 
 diversified with three-foot. Some verses are regular, but in 
 most there is a strong anapaestic colouring, e.g. 
 
 Are ye out | of your mind | my nurse | my nurse | 
 Said La|dy Clare | that ye speak | so wild | 
 
 There are several examples of initial truncation, as 
 
 Dropt I her head | in the maid [en's hand | 
 
 The Flower has been already mentioned. The Ringlet is 
 
 1 Mr Eoby compares the 73rd line of the Atys 
 
 jam jam dolet quod egi, jam jamque poenitet 
 and refers to his School Lat. Gr. § 934. 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METBES. 121 
 
 about equally divided between iambic and anapaestic. Be- 
 ginning with the feminine anapaest — 
 
 Your ring|lets your ring|lets 
 
 it proceeds with five regular iambics, and then bursts into 
 the strong anapaests — 
 
 And then | shall I know | it is aU | true gold | 
 To flame | and spark|le and stream | as of old | 
 
 falling back into the quiet iambic — 
 
 And all | her stars | decay | 
 
 It contains three examples of initial truncation — 
 
 I I that took I you for | true gold | 
 
 She I that gave | you's bought | and sold 1 
 
 Burn I you glos|sy her|etic bum | 
 
 and the refrain consists in two instances of monosyllabic feet — 
 
 Sold, sold, 
 Burn, bum. 
 
 as may be seen by comparing the intermediate refrain — 
 
 You gollden lie | 
 
 The Victim begins with regular four-foot iambic, breaking 
 into anapaestic towards the end of each eight-line stanza, as 
 
 The priest | in hor|ror about | his al|tar 
 
 To Thor I and 0|din lif|ted a hand | 
 He caught | her away | with a sud|den cry | 
 
 Maud contains several instances of mixed iambic and ana- 
 paestic, cf xi., xviii., xxiii. 
 
 I proceed now to mixed trochaic metres. The mixture of 
 trochaic and iambic has been already treated of. Trochaic, 
 varied by the intermixture of dactyls according to a fixed 
 law, is found in Boadicea, which is mainly eight-foot trochaic, 
 sometimes complete, but usually truncated, with one or more 
 dactyls in the last three feet — 
 
 While a|bout the | shore of | Mona || those Ne|ronian | legiona|ries | 
 Girt by ] half the | tribes of | Britain || near the | colony | Camulo|dune 
 
 In the following we have four consecutive dactyls — 
 
 There the | hive of | Roman | liars || worship a | gluttonous | emperor | idiot | 
 
122 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 I think the rhythm would have been improved by omitting 
 emperor, thus making a truncated eight-foot : but the final 
 dactyl, giving eight complete feet, is also found in 
 
 Hear it | gods the | gods have | heard it || O I|ceiiian | Cori|tanian | 
 Tho' the I Roman | eagle | shadow thee || though the | gathering | enemy | 
 
 narrow thee | 
 Up my I Britons | on my | chariot || on my | chargers | trample them 
 
 under us | 
 
 In one line we find three dactyls in the first half — 
 Bloodily | bloodily | fall the | battle-axe || unex|hausted in|exora|ble 
 
 There is only one line in which the dactylic substitution is not 
 found in the last three feet — 
 
 There they | dwelt and | there they | rioted || there | there they | dwell no | 
 more 
 
 The metre is in length and in trisyllabic final rhythm an 
 imitation of the A tys of Catullus, of which the type is 
 
 Phrygium nemus citato || cupide | pede te|tigit | 
 
 As might be expected, a pyrrhic often represents the trochee. 
 The Poet's Mind begins with four and three-foot trochaic, 
 but passes by a rather unusual combination into anapaestic — 
 
 Holy I water | will I | pour | 
 Into I every | spicy | flower | 
 Of the lau|rel shrubs | that hedge ] it around | 
 In your eye | there is death | 
 There is frost | in your breath | 
 
 The hendecasyllabic is a five-foot trochaic, in which the second 
 foot is a dactyl — 
 
 Look I I come to the | test a | tiny | poem | 
 All com|posed in a | metre [ of Ca|tullus | 
 
 I think I have now noticed all the metres which occur in 
 Tennyson, except his alcaics. These being, like the hendeca- 
 syllabics, pure imitation from a foreign source, might be 
 omitted in an examination of English metres ; but they admit 
 of simple analysis in the terms which I have employed. The 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 123 
 
 first two lines are made up of five iambs, the fourth of which 
 suffers anapaestic substitution \ 
 
 mightly mouthed ] inven|tor of harlmonies | 
 
 The final iambic is usually pyrrhic, so as to give the impres- 
 sion of a double dactyl at the end, and we might if we pleased 
 describe the line as consisting of two sections, the first a two- 
 foot iambic with feminine ending, the second two dactyls. 
 The third line is four-foot feminine — 
 
 God-gift|ed or|gaii voice | of Eng|land 
 The fourth, two dactyls followed by two trochees — 
 
 Milton a | name to re|soimd for | ages | 
 
 It has been observed that Tennyson's classical metres are 
 conformed to the law of quantitative, as well as of accentual 
 rhythm. 
 
 ' On the aloaio metre Mr Eoby refers to his School Gr. § 936 and p. 366 b. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 
 
 Illustrated from the Hymn-Book. 
 
 I PROCEED now to test our metrical analysis on the hymns 
 contained in the ordinary collections, such as Hymnal Compa- 
 nion and Hymns Ancient and Modern. In old-fashioned hymn- 
 books each hymn is marked with certain mystic signs, which 
 serve as guide-posts to the corresponding tunes. Sometimes 
 these marks are references to psalms of the same metre in 
 the old version by Sternhold and Hopkins; thus 'ps. 104' 
 denotes an eight-line stanza of anap. 2 
 
 Oh w6r|sliip the Kfng |] All-gl61riou3 ab6ve | 
 
 ' ps. 148' denotes an eight-line stanza, four lines consisting of 
 3 iambs, and four of 2 iambs, as 
 
 Ye boiind|less re&kna | of j6y {| Exdlt | your MAjker's n4me | 
 His praise ] your song | employ |{ Above | the star|ry frame | 
 Your voi|ces raise | Ye cher|ubim [ 
 
 And ser|aphim | To sing | his praise | 
 
 Sometimes they denote the number of syllables in each line ; 
 thus 8s 7s stands for a stanza of alternate troch. 4 and troch. 3, 
 as in 
 
 Thrdugh the | Aij thy | I6ve has | spired us | 
 Now we I lay us | down to | rest A 
 
 7s 6s stands for alternate iamb 3 + and iamb 3, as 
 
 From Grednjland's f|cy mo\in|tains 
 From In|dia's cor|al strand ] 
 
 It is evident that the same figures might have been used for 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 125 
 
 the converse rhythms, thus 8s 7s might have stood for an 
 iambic stanza of 4 and 3 + feet alternately, such as 
 
 The L6rd | of mfght | on Sl|nai's brdw | 
 Gave forth | his voice | of thun|der 
 
 But the great majority are marked LM, SM, cm, pm, denoting 
 respectively Long, Short, Common, and Peculiar Measures. The 
 first three are four-line iambic stanzas ; in LM all the lines con- 
 tain 4 iambs; in SM the third line has 4, the rest 3 iambs; in 
 CM the first and third have 4, the alternate lines 3 iambs. Pe- 
 culiar Measure is the general receptacle for all hymns that do 
 not come under any of the other heads. 
 
 We will begin by classifying all under their genera, Iambic, 
 Trochaic, Dactylic, Anapaestic, and Mixed ; subdividing them 
 into species according to the number of feet, and mentioning 
 any particular varieties -which are found in each species. 
 
 Iambic. Stanzas of not more than four lines\ 
 3.2.3.3 The sun is sinking fast, The dayhght dies. 
 3.3.3.3 We love the place O Lord, Wherein thine honour dwells. 
 3 + .3.3 + .3 Brief life is here our portion, Brief sorrow, short-lived 
 care. 
 var. There's a friend for little children Above the bright blue 
 sky. 
 
 [Here an anapaest is substituted for the first iamb in every 
 stanza.] 
 
 3.3.4.2 The God of Abraham praise. Who reigns enthroned above. 
 Ancient of everlasting days, And God of love. 
 
 3.3.4.3 (sm) My soul repeat his praise. 
 
 4.3.4.2 Our bless'd Redeemer ere He breathed. 
 
 4.3.4.3 (cm) God moves in a mysterious way. 
 
 3 + .3. 4. 3 I want to be like Jesus, So lowly and so meek; 
 
 For no one marked an angry word. That ever heard him 
 speak. 
 4 . 3 + . 4 . 3 + The King of love my Shepherd is, 
 
 Whose goodness faileth never. 
 4.4.4.-2 Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep, 
 Watch did thine anxious servants keep, 
 But thou I wast wrapped | in dream|less sleep | 
 A Calm I and stiU | 
 
 1 I include under this all stanzas, though they may contain more than four 
 lines, which merely repeat the metre. 
 
126 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 4.4.4.2 My God, my Father, while I stray. 
 
 4.4.4.3 Just as I am without one plea. 
 
 4.4.4.4 (lm) Before Jehovah's awful throne. 
 var. Come Holy Ghost our souls inspire. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 That through the ages all along 
 ATMs may be our endless song; 
 A Praise to thy eternal merit. 
 
 [In the last line we have feminine ending, and both in it 
 and in the preceding there is initial truncation.] 
 
 44-. 4. 4 + . 4 Bread of | the world | in mer|cy bro|ken 
 Wine of | the soul | in merjcy shed | 
 
 5.5.5.5 Abide with me, fast falls the eventide. 
 var. (couplet) Come take by faith the body of your Lord. 
 
 (triplet) For all the saints who from their labours rest. 
 5 + . 3 . 5 + . 3 A voice is heard on earth of kinsfolk weeping 
 
 The loss of one they love. 
 5 + .5 + .5 + .2+ Lord of ] our life | and God | of our | salva|tion, 
 * * * * 
 
 Lord God | Alniigh|ty 
 5 + .5.5 + .5 O for the peace which floweth as a river 
 
 Making earth's desert places bloom and smile. 
 
 Iambic. Stanzas of more than four lines. 
 
 3.3.3.3.2.2.2.2 (148th ps.) Ye boxmdless realms of joy. 
 
 [Not unfrequently the last four lines are thrown into two, 
 as in 
 
 Hills of the North rejoice, 
 
 River and mountain spring. 
 Hark to the Advent voice, 
 
 Valley and lowland sing: 
 Though absent long, your Lord is nigh ; 
 He judgment brings and victory. 
 
 A peculiar effect is given in this specimen by the initial 
 trochaic substitution in most of the short lines.] 
 
 3.3.2.3.3.3.2 (God save the Queen) Thou, whose Almighty word. 
 3.2.3.2.3.3. 2 Nearer my God to thee. 
 
 [trochaic substitiition in first foot.] 
 
 3.2.3.2.3.3.3.2 There is a happy land. 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 127 
 
 [There is a dactylic ring about these verses, and the sixth Hue 
 in each stanza is irregular. In the second and third stanzas it 
 seems to begin with an anapaest ('when from sin,' ' be a crown') : 
 in the first with a dactyl ('worthy is'). I think however that 
 the line 'And bright | above | the sun|' is too decisively iambic 
 to allow of the hymn being assigned to any other genus.] 
 
 3.3 + .3.3 + .3.3.3.3 Now thank we all our God 
 
 With heart and hands and voices. 
 3 + . 3.3 + . 3. 4. 4 The day is past and over, All thanks Lord to thee. 
 3 + .3 + .2.2.3+ (twice) Head of the church triumphant. 
 We joyfully adore thee ; 
 Till thou appear, 
 Thy members here 
 Shall sing Uke those in glory. 
 4.3.4.3.3.3.3.3 O Paradise, O Paradise, 
 
 Who doth not crave for rest. 
 4.3.4.3.4.4 Lord of my life whose tender care. 
 4.4.3.4.4.3 O Lord how happy should we be 
 If we could cast our care on thee 
 If we from self could rest. 
 4. 4.3 + . 4. 4. 4. 3+ -Por ever to behold him shine 
 For evermore to call him mine 
 And see him still before me. 
 •4.3.4.4.3 Eight days amid this world of woe 
 
 The holy Babe had been. 
 
 4.3.4.3.4.3 var. Father I know that all my life. 
 [Frequent anapaestic substitution in the first foot.] 
 
 4.4.4.4.2.2.4 Lord of the harvest, thee we hail. 
 
 3.3.4.3.4.4 Change is our portion here. 
 
 4.3 + .4. 3 + .4. 3 + .4.3 + .4.4 Eock of Ages, since on thee 
 
 By grace my feet are planted. 
 4.2.4.2.4.2 My God I thank thee, who hast made 
 
 The earth so bright. 
 4.3 + . 4.3 + . 4. 4. 3+ (Luther's Hymn) 
 
 Great God what do I see and hear. 
 3 + . 3 (four times repeated) var. The sands of time are sinking. 
 [The eighth line of each stanza seems to be iamb — 3, thus 
 
 A In I Emmanluel's land | ] 
 4. 3. 4. 3. 4. 3.3 + . 3 var. Brother thou art gone before us. 
 
128 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 [In this very irregular hymn of Milman's, the normal verse 
 is shown to be iambic by such lines as 
 
 The toilsome way thou'st travelled o'er 
 And borne the heavy load; 
 
 biit there is frequent anapaestic substitution in the first foot ; 
 the first line of the first stanza and the sixth line regularly have 
 a feminine ending ; and several lines suffer initial truncation, as 
 
 A Earth | to earth | and dust | to dust | 
 A Sin I can ne|ver taint | thee now] 
 2.5.5.5.2 Come labour on, 
 
 Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain. 
 5.2.5.2.5.2 O Lord my God, do thou thy holy will. 
 
 I will He still. 
 5 + . 5.5 + . 5. 5. 5 Thou knowest, Lord, the weariness and sorrow 
 Of the sad heart that comes to thee for rest. 
 5.2.5.2.5.5 
 Lead kindly Light amid the incircling gloom, Lead thou me on. 
 
 Teochaic. Stanzas of not more than four lines. 
 
 3 . 3 - . 3 . 3 - Now the | day is | over | 
 
 Night is I drawing | nigh A 
 3.3.3.3 Jesu meek and lowly. 
 
 4 . 3 - . 4 . 2 - Art thou weary, art thou languid. 
 
 Art thou sore distrest ? 
 4-.4 — .4-.3- Three in One and One in Three. 
 4 — .4 — .4 — .2- Christian seek not yet repose. 
 4-.4 — .4-.4- ('Vs') Hark the herald angels sing. 
 
 (triplet) Lord in this thy mercy's day. 
 4 - . 4 . 4 - . 4 Jesus lives ; no longer now 
 
 Can thy terrors, death, appal us. 
 
 4.4 — .4.4- Jesus calls us o'er the tumult 
 
 Of our life's wild restless sea. 
 4.4.4 (triplet) Day of wrath, O day of mourning. 
 
 Trochaic. Stanzas of more than four lines. 
 
 3-. 3-. 4. 4. 3-. 3- Jesus still lead on 
 
 Till our rest be won. 
 4. 4-. 4. 4-. 2. 4- Lo! He comes with clouds descending. 
 4.4 — .4.4 — .2.2.4- Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us. 
 4.4 — .4. 4-. 4-. 4- Who are these like stars appearing. 
 4. 4-. 4. 4-. 4. 4 Once in royal David's city. 
 4. 4-. 4. 4. 4— the bitter shame and sorrow. 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 129 
 
 4-. 4-. 4-. 4-. 4. 4 Now the labourer's task is o'er. 
 4-. 4. 4-. 4. 4-. 4- Gentle shepherd thou hast stilled. 
 4-.2 — .4-.4 — .2- 0, they've reached the simny shore 
 
 Over there. 
 4. 4-. 4. 4. 4-. 4-. 4-. 4-. 4- Thou art coming my Saviour. 
 
 Dactylic. 
 
 2-.2=.2-.2= Best of the I weary A 
 
 Joy of the | sad ^ ^ 
 2 . 2 - . 2 . 2 - (twice) Breast the wave | Christian | 
 
 When it is | strongest A 
 
 [The sixth line begins with anacrusis and ends with a trochee 
 (dact. + 2 -) 
 
 The) rest that re|niainethA] 
 2.2= (four times) Fierce was the | wild biUow | 
 
 Dark was the | night A A 
 2 . 2 = . 2 . 2 = . 2.2.2.2= No not des|pairingly | 
 
 Come I to I thee A A 
 2. 2.2 = . 2. 2. 2. 2= Father of | heaven above | 
 
 Dwelhng in | light and love | 
 Ancient of | days A A 
 4 — .4 = . 4-. 4= Brightest and | best of the | sons of the | morning A 
 Dawn on our | darkness and | lend us thine | aid A A 
 4=.4=.4=.4= Eaise the tris|agion | ever and | aye A A 
 
 Anapaestic. 
 
 2.2.2.2 (twice) A 0, worjship the King | 
 
 A All glor|ious above ] 
 
 [The two lines are often printed as one; usually, the first 
 foot is an iamb.J 
 
 3.3.3.3 A We speak | of the realms | of the blest | 
 [Iambic substitution common in first foot.] 
 
 var. A One sweet|ly sol|emn thought | 
 A A Comes 1 to me o'er | and o'er | 
 
 I am near|er my home | today | 
 Than I ev|er have been | before | . 
 
 [Iambic substitution common in all the feet. First foot often 
 represented by monosyllable.] 
 
 M. M. 9 
 
130 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 4.3 4.3 A I think |wheii I read | that sweet sto|ry of old | 
 A When Je|sus was here | among men | 
 var. A A Christ | is gone up | with a joy|ful sound | 
 He is gone | to his bright | abode | 
 
 • [Monosyllabic substitution common in iirst foot, iambic in 
 first and last. J 
 
 4.4.4.4 Thou ) that dwell'st | in the heav|ens high | 
 Above I yon stars | and within | yon sky | 
 
 [Iambic substitution common in all the feet.] 
 
 4.3.4.3.4.4 There were nine|ty and nine | that safe|ly lay | 
 In the shel|ter of | the fold | 
 
 [Iambic substitution common in all the feet, and monosyllabic 
 in first foot.] 
 
 4+.4.4+.4 
 Thou art gone | to the grave | but we will | not deplore | thee 
 Though sor|rows and dark|ness encom|pass the tomb | 
 
 [Iambic substitution in first foot.] 
 
 Mixed. Iambic and trochaic. 
 
 Alternate iamb. 3, troch. 3 — (thrice). 
 
 We close | the wea|ry eye | 
 
 Saviour | ever | near A 
 We lift I our souls | on high | 
 
 Through the | darkness | drear A 
 
 Alt. troch. 4 -, iamb. 3 (four times, except iamb. 4 in sixth 
 line). Printing two lines in one, we may describe this as troch. 
 7-7-8-7-. 
 
 God of I my sal|vation | hear a 
 
 And help | me to believe | 
 Simply I do I I now draw | near A 
 
 Thy bleslsing to | receive | 
 Dust and | ashes | is my | name A 
 
 My all I is sin | and mis|ery | 
 Friend of | sinners | spotless | Lamb A 
 » Thy blood | was shed | for me | 
 
 [This hymn is by C. Wesley, who has another in the same 
 metre beginning 
 
 Lamb of | God whose | bleeding | love A] 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METRES. 131 
 
 Troch. 6. 7 - . 6, iamb. 5. 
 
 Holy I holy | holy | aU the | saints a|dore thee | 
 Casting | down their ] golden | crowns a|roitnd the | glassy | sea A 
 Cheru|bim and | seraphim ] falling | down belfore thee | 
 Which wert | and art | and ev|ermore | shalt be | 
 
 Pn the third line ' seraphim' is a dactyl for trochee. In the 
 lines which follow we must disyllabize ' Lord' and ' our' to pre- 
 serve the metre, unless we think that the solemnity of the 
 subject justifies a monosyllabic foot in the former case. 
 
 Holy I holy | holy | Lord | God Al|mighty | 
 
 Early | in the | morning | our | song shall | rise to | thee A] 
 
 Troch. 4, iamb. 2, troch. 4, iamb. 2, troch. 4.4.4, iamb. 2. 
 
 God that I madest | earth and | heaven | 
 
 Darkness | and light | 
 Who the I day for | toil hast | given | 
 
 For rest | the night | 
 May thine | angel | guards de|fend us | 
 Slumber | sweet thy | mercy | send us | 
 Holy I dreams and | hopes at|tend us | 
 
 This Uvejlong night | 
 
 Iambic SM with trochaic refrain 2.4 — . 
 
 From E|gypt's bon|dage come | 
 
 Where death | and darkjness reign | 
 We seek | our new | our bet|ter home | 
 
 Where we | our rest | shall gain | 
 HaUe|lujah | 
 
 We are | on our | way to | God A 
 
 Troch. 4 — . 4 — , iamb. 3, trochaic refrain 3.3.3.4 — . 
 
 Here we | suffer | grief and | pain A 
 Here we | meet to | part a|gainA 
 
 In heaven | we part | no more | 
 that I wiU be | joyful | 
 Joyful I joyful | joyful | 
 that I will be I joyful | 
 When we | meet to | part no | more A 
 
 [The ranting tune makes the refrain dactylic, turning and 
 joyful into trisyllables.] 
 
 9—2 
 
132 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 The long irregular hymn beginning " The strain upraise," 
 consists of iambic lines varying from 3.3 + .4.5.5+ to 7 feet, 
 and closes with troch. 4 — . A few lines are given as specimens. 
 
 iamb. 5+ Here let | the mouii|tains thun|der forth | sono|rous 
 iamb. 7 This is | the strain | the eter|nal strain | the Lord | of aU | 
 
 things loves | 
 trooh. 4- Now from | all men | be out|po\iredA 
 
 Iambic with dactylic refrain. 
 
 Iamb. 5 + . 5 . 5 + . 5, dact. 2 - . 2 = . 2 - , iamb. 3. 
 
 Hark, hark | mj soul | angel|ic songs | are swel|ling 
 
 O'er earth's | green fields | and o|cean's wave|beat shore | 
 * * # * 
 
 Angels of I Jesus A 
 
 Angels of | light A A 
 Singing to | welcome A 
 
 The pil|grims of | the night | 
 
 I cannot help thinking that the metre of the last line must 
 have been intended to be dactylic, and that 'the' before ' night' 
 either crept in by mistake, or that we should read o' th' 
 Its metrical index would then be dact. + 2 =. 
 
 Iambic with anapaestic refrain. 
 
 Iamb. 3 + . 3 (four times). 
 
 When his | salvajtion bring|ing 
 To Zi|on Je|sus came | 
 
 refrain, anap. 3. 
 
 AHosan|na to Je|sus they sang | 
 
 Trochaic and dactylic. 
 
 Dact. 2. 2. 3-. 2-. 2-, troch. 4-. 
 
 O most I merciful | 
 
 O most I bountiful | 
 God the I Father Al|mightyA 
 
 By the Ee|deemer'sA 
 
 Sweet inter|cession A 
 Hear us | help us | when we | cry A 
 
THE NAMING AND CLASSIFICATION OF METEES. 133 
 
 Trochaic and anapaestic. 
 
 Troch. 4i.4t-AA-.4s, anap. 3 + . 3 + . 3. 
 
 Shall we | gather | at the | river | 
 Where bright | angel | feet have | trod A 
 
 * * * * 
 
 * * * 4f- 
 Yes we'll | gather | at the | river | 
 
 A The beau|tiful beau|tifiil riv|er 
 
 Gather with | the saints | at the riv|er 
 A That flows I by the throne | of God | 
 
 A Riddle. 
 
 It seems at first sight impossible to reduce to rule Oakley's 
 translation of Adeste Fideles. What common scheme will suit 
 the two following stanzas ? 
 
 O c6me, all ye faithful, 
 J6yfiil and triiimphant, 
 O c6me ye, O c6me ye to Bdthleh^m ; 
 C6me and beh61d him 
 Bdm the King of Sngels: 
 
 G6d of G(5d, 
 Light of Light, 
 L6 he abh6rs not the Virgin's w6mb ; 
 V^ry G6d, 
 Begdtten n6t created. 
 
 It looks as though there were no more regularity of rhythm 
 in them than in the words of a chanted psalm, where the 
 number and accent of the syllables bear no fixed relation to the 
 musical notes ; and certainly the translator in his desire to re- 
 produce the literal sense, has been much more erratic in his 
 metre than the original. In the Latin, the first line of the 
 second verse, Dev/m de Deo, is only one syllable short of Adeste 
 fideles, the first line of the first verse, and, in singing, the first 
 syllable of Deum occupies the same time as the two first of 
 adeste, while the English is three syllables short. We may ob- 
 serve that even in the English, the accents correspond, and I 
 think by comparing the different verses and picking out the more 
 regular lines we may make out a common scheme, and explain 
 the variations, thus 
 
134 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 daot. 2 - Sfng choirs of | Angels A 
 
 troch. 3 Sfng in | dxtil|t4tion | 
 
 dact. 2 - , iamb. 2 L6 he ab|h6rs not | the Vlr|gin's wdmb | 
 
 daot. 2- W6rd of the | FWherA 
 
 troch. 3 N6w in | fldsh ap|peS,ring | 
 
 refrain, iamb. 3 + . 3 + . 5 
 
 O come I let us | adore | him 
 come I let us | adore | him 
 O come I let us | adore | him, Christ | the Lord | 
 
 If this is the correct scheme, the first verse departs from it 
 hy anacrusis in the 1st and 3rd lines, and the second verse re- 
 presents the two dactyls of the 1st and 4th lines by a trochee 
 and monosyllable, and has anacrusis in the 5th line. Its 2nd 
 line departs furthest both from the normal line and from the 
 Latin lumen de lumine, as it has only two trochees (troch. 2 — ) 
 where there ought to be three. The third verse also varies in 
 its 3rd, 4th, and 5th lines. 
 
 dact. 2, iamb. 2 Sing all ye | citizens ( of heaven | above | 
 dact. 2= Glory to | God A A 
 
 troch. 2 In the | highest | 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 Blank Verse of Sdreet and Marlowe. 
 
 The earliest specimen of English blank verse, that is, of the 
 unrhyming five-foot iamhic, is found in the translation of the 
 second and fourth books of the Aeneid by the Earl of Surrey, 
 beheaded Jan. 1547, in the 30th year of his age. In the 
 edition by Mr Bell it is said (p. 141), that 'the dexterity with 
 which he manages his metre prevents it from falling with 
 monotony on the ear', ' he mixes the iambic and trochaic feet 
 so skilfully, that his constancy to the measure escapes observa- 
 tion in the pleasure derived from the music with which he fills 
 it'; yet ' crudenesses of sundry kinds are by no means in- 
 frequent' ; ' the ear is sometimes wounded by such lines as 
 these 
 
 By the divine science of Minerva.' 
 
 Mr Symonds on the other hand, as we have seen above (p. 53), 
 joins him with Sackville, Greene and Peele as being very 
 averse 'to any departure from iambic regularity'. We will 
 endeavour to give a more exact account of the matter. The 
 initial trochee is as common in Surrey as in Milton. It is 
 often found in combination with a trochee in the third foot, as 
 
 p. 152. He with. I his hands I strave to I unloose I the knots I 
 
 20 01 2001 01 
 
 156. Then the I Greeks' faith I then their I deceit I appeared I 
 
 2 2 2 2 10 1 
 
 158. Finding | himself I chanced I amid | his foes I 
 
 20 01 200102 
 
136 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 Trochee in the second foot is not uncommon, and is sometimes 
 preceded or followed by another trochee, as 
 
 p. 148. Yea, and I either [ Atride | would buy | it dear | 
 
 2 12001 101 
 
 156. Wherewith I Panthus I scaped from I the Greeklish darts I 
 
 01 20 2 0101 
 
 158. Holding I always 1 the chief I street of I the town I 
 10^100 -1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 
 
 160. Of the I virgin I from them I so resloued I 
 
 10 20 1 1201 
 
 161. The gilt I spars and | the beams | then threw I they down I 
 
 01 2002 01 01 
 
 165. Which relpulsed from I the brass I where it I gave dint I 
 
 1 02 1101 2 
 
 173. Till we I came to I the hiU 1 whereas I there stood I 
 
 10 2001 01 1 
 
 The old I temple I dedilcate to I Ceres I 
 
 1 20 2010 20 
 
 174. Holding I backward 1 the steps I where we I had come I 
 
 10 20 01 0101 
 
 1Y5. Long to I furrow | large space | of stor|my seas | 
 186. And the I hope of I lullus' seed I mine heir I 
 
 10 20 010 1 1 
 
 199. From the I bounds of I his kingldom far I exiled I 
 
 1 2 0010101 
 
 193. Blowing I now from I this quarlter now I from that I 
 
 20 2 2 1020 2 
 
 197. Shall I I wait ? or I board I them with I mv power I 
 
 1 ' 2 1 ' 1 1 ^ 1 ' 
 
 [The rhythm is harsher if we take hoard as one syllable 
 forming the first part of a trochee. The fifth foot would then 
 be the trochee power.] 
 
 Without I taste of I such cares ? I is there I no faith I 
 
 01 20 1 1021 
 
 For examples of trochee in the fourth place compare 
 
 p. 144. And where|of no I small part I fell to I my share I 
 
 101 2 1 1021 
 
 145. In the I dark bulk I they closed | bodies I of men I 
 
 10 1 1 12001 
 
 147. What news I he brought I what hope I made him I to yield I 
 
 1 1 1 ' 1 11 1 ' 
 
 Into I his band I young and I near of I his blood I 
 
 10 1202 00 1 
 
 149. With blood I likewise I ye must I seek your I return I 
 
 2 10 11001 
 
 And that | that cost 1 each one 1 dread to I himself I 
 
 01 01 10 2001 
 
 156. Toward I the tower I our hearts I brent with I desire I 
 
 01 1 12 001 
 
BLANK VERSE OF SUERET AND MARLOWE. 137 
 
 158. Edch pallace and I sacred I porch of I the gods I 
 
 10 10 2 001 
 
 158. And plenlty of I grisly I pictures I of death I 
 
 10020 20 1 
 
 [Here perhaps the 2nd foot should be taken as an anapaest, 
 grisly being pronounced with three syllables, as seemingly in 
 p. 196, 
 
 Erebus I the grilsly I and Chalos huge I 1 
 10 ' 1 'oi ' 10 1 ' •■ 
 
 p. 159. And the I rich arms I of his I shield did I he on I 
 
 00 21 00 2 101 
 
 We went | and gave | many | onsets | that night | 
 
 01 01 1010 1 
 
 To hope I or aught I against I will of I the gods I 
 
 01 1 01 2001 
 
 From that | high seat I which we I razed and I threw down I 
 
 01 11 0120 1 
 
 183. Whom our I mother I the earth I tempted I by wrath I 
 1 ' 1 ' 1 ' 2 '^ ' 1 ' 
 
 202. And her I dying I she clepes I thus by I her name I 
 
 1 ' i' 0® ' 0- 1^ '2 0"^ ' 1 ' 
 
 The black I swart gore I wiping I dry with I her hands I 
 
 01 11202001 
 196. Bent for I to die I calls the I gods to I record I 
 
 2001 20 2001 
 
 And if I there were I any I god that I had care I 
 01 12020 01 
 
 For trochee in fifth place compare 
 
 p. 160, The fell | Ajax I and eilther Altrides 1 
 01 20 010010 
 
 163. I saw I Pyrrhus I and eilther Altrides I 
 01 10 010010 
 
 165. Esoalped from I the slaughlter of I Pyrrhus I 
 0100 100 10 
 
 192. Nor cinlders of 1 his falther An|chises | 
 100 010 010 
 
 192. I with I the Greeks I within I the port | Auhde | 
 10 1 01 01 10 
 
 168. Nor blalmed Pajris yet | but the | gods' wrath | 
 
 1 ' 1 ' ■^i ' 1 ' ^ 2 1 ' 
 
 165. Without I sound hung | vainly I in the I shield's boss I 
 1 ' 1 1 ® ' 2 ' ' 2 1 ' 
 
 171. With sudlden noise I thundered I on the I left hand I 
 
 0101 20 0021 
 
 172. Worship | was done I to Celres the | goddess | 
 
 10 1 0100 10 
 
 173. The old | temple I dedilcate to I Ceres | 
 
 01 20201020 
 175. Unto I the son | of Ve|nus the | goddess | 
 
 10 01 0100 10 
 181. Before I her go I with gladlsome Ilulus I 
 01 01 1 0010 
 
138 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 184. That now I in Carlthage loiltereth I reckless | 
 
 1010101 20 
 
 187. And that I the feastlM night I of Ci|theron | 
 
 1 10 1 0010 
 
 Doth call I her forth I with no|ise of | dancing | 
 
 0101 010010 
 
 192. So hard I to ovlertreat I ? whither | whirls he | 
 
 01 0101 20 2 
 
 196. Stood near I the al|tar, bare | of the | one foot | 
 
 1 010 100 21 
 
 199. What said I I ? but I where am | I ? what | phrensy | 
 
 1101 1201 20 
 
 201. With wai|ling great | and wo|men's shrill | yelling | 
 
 010 1 010 1 20 
 
 145. By the | divine | science | of Min|erva | 
 
 00 01 20 0010 
 
 The rhythm in some of these lines is so harsh, that we 
 might be disposed to think Surreys pronunciation must have 
 differed from ours, but in almost every case it might be shown 
 that he has elsewhere used the same word with the common 
 accent. It would almost seem as if he were satisfied with the 
 metre, so long as he got ten syllables into the line. I do not 
 think he has any example of truncation, like Chaucer before 
 him or Marlowe afterwards. He admits however trisyllabic 
 feet, as 
 
 p. 146. Or this | an enlgine is | to annoy \ our wells | 
 
 150. The al]tor and sword \ quoth he | that I | have scaped | 
 
 153. O na|tive land | Uion \ and of | the gods | 
 
 Four times | it stopt | in the en\txy of | our gates | 
 
 157. As fu|ry gui|c?ec? me and \ whereas | / had heard \ 
 
 162. Like to | the ad|c?er with ven\omous Aer|bes fed | 
 
 163. There He|cuba | I saw | with a AMrajdred mo 1 
 
 167. To revenge \ my town | unto | such ru|in wrought | 
 
 168. Doth GreU\a& live | and Aa\canius \ thy son | 
 199. Infer|nal fu|ries eke | , ye wreak|era of wrong \ 
 174. In the void \ porches | Phcenix | Ulys|ses eke | 
 
 184. A wo\man that ica?i|dering in | our coasts | hath brought | 
 
 Surrey pays as little regard to Dr Guest's rules in regard to 
 the pauses, as in regard to the accent and number of syllables. 
 As often as not, he has no middle pause. Sometimes the end 
 of the line separates closely connected words, as 
 
 p. 174. The rich|es he|re set | , reft from | the brent | 
 Temples | of Troy | . 
 
BLANK VEESE OP SURREY AND MARLOWE. 139 
 
 He puts a stop after the ninth syllable, as 
 
 p. 151. His tale | with us | did pur|cliase cred|it ; some | 
 Trapt by | deceit | ; some, for|ced by | his tears | 
 
 While his most common pause is after the fourth syllable, we 
 sometimes find a pause after the first and second syllables, even 
 though the latter is unaccented, and also after the third, occa- 
 sionally with very harsh effect, as in 
 
 p. 160. And, by | sound, our | disoor|ding voice | they knew | 
 
 161. The gilt | spars, and | the beams | then throw | they down | 
 
 165. Without I sound, hung | vainly | in the | shield's boss | 
 
 168. Anchi|ses, thy | father | fordone | with age | 
 
 196. The fields j whist, beasts | and fowls | of di|vers hue | 
 
 197. Shall I I wait? or | board them | with my | power | 
 
 198. Follow I thee, and | all bhthe | obey | thy call | 
 
 One of the least pleasant pauses is that in the middle of the 
 third foot, when it is a trochee or spondee, as 
 
 p. 203. Commandled I I reave ; and I thy spirlit unloose | 
 
 01012 01001 
 
 164. An old | laurel | tree, bow|ing therejunto | 
 
 Surrey sometimes uses the feminine ending, as in 
 
 p. 196. Him she | requires | of jus|tice to | remem|ber. 
 196. And three | faces | of Di|ana | the vir|gin 
 
 He generally imitates Virgil's broken lines. The only other 
 unfinished line I have observed is the third below, 
 
 p. 184. His fair | mother | behight | him not | to us | 
 
 Such one | to be | , we there|fore twice | him saved | 
 From Greekjish arms | , but such | a one | 
 As might, &c. 
 
 where probably we should insert to he before sv^h. 
 Occasionally we meet with Alexandrines, as 
 
 p. 196. Her cares | redoub|le ; love | doth rise j and rage | again | 
 200. But faU I before | his time | ungraved | , amid | the sands | 
 
 Not to confine myself to specimens of eccentricity, I add the 
 following passage as a favourable example of his ordinary metre. 
 
 p. 201. Sweet spoils | ,' whiles God | and des|tinies | it would, | 
 Receive | this sprite | , and rid | me of | these cares : | 
 I lived I and ran | the course | fortune | did grant; | 
 
140 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 And im|der earth | my great | ghost now | shall wend : | 
 A good|ly town | I bviilt | and saw | my walls; | 
 Happy I , alas | , too hap|py, if | these coasts | 
 The Troy|an ships | had nev|er touch|ed aye. 
 
 Before going on to Marlowe, it may be worth while to give 
 Gascoigne's rule of metre contained in his Instruction concern- 
 ing the making of verse in English, which was first published in 
 1575. There he tells us (p. 36, Arber) that 'there are certain 
 pauses or rests in a verse, which may be called Caesures, whereof 
 I should be loth to stand long, since it is at the discretion of the 
 writer, and they have been first devised, as should seem, by the 
 musicians ; but yet thus much I will adventure to write that, 
 in mine opinion, in a verse of eight syllables the pause will 
 stand best in the midst, in a verse of ten it will be best placed 
 at the end of the first four syllables.... In Rhithm Royall (which 
 he afterwards explains to be a seven-line rhyming stanza, each 
 line containing ten syllables) it is at the writer's discretion, and 
 forcetb not where the pause be until the end of the line.' He 
 further says (p. 33) that 'nowadays in English rimes we use 
 none other order but a foot of two syllables, whereof the first is 
 depressed or made short, and the second elevate or made long,' 
 whereas in former poets, such as Chaucer, there was much 
 greater liberty in regard to the number of syllables. In observ- 
 ing the rule of alternating accented and unaccented syllables, 
 we are to remember to keep " the natural and usual sound of 
 the word." 
 
 The rhythm of Marlowe (d. 1593) is very different from that 
 of Surrey. It is much more regular in accentuation, but, if the 
 text is correct, it occasionally admits of initial truncation, 
 leaving only nine syllables in the line. I have noted the fol- 
 lowing instances : the pages are Dyce's ed. 1850. 
 
 Vol. I. p. 48. Bar|barous | and bloo|dy Tam|burlaine | 
 Treaoh|erous | and false | Therid|amas | 
 
 49. Blood|y and | insa|tiate Tam|burlaine | 
 
 51. Long I live Tam|burlaine | and reign | in A|sia 
 
 145. Arm | dread sov|ereign and | my no|ble lords | 
 164. Now I my boys | what think | you of | a wound I 
 
 146. Trai|tors vil|lains dam|ned Chris|tians | 
 
BLANK VEUSE OF SURREY AND MARLOWE. 141 
 
 and almost in the same words in pp. 178, 203. 
 
 Vill|ain trai|tor dam|ned fu|gitive | 
 Vill|ains cow|ards trai|tors to | our state | 
 
 181. Bro|ther ho | what giv|en so much | to sleep | 
 
 189. Conlquer sack | and ut|terly | consume | 
 
 198. Save | your ho|nours 'twere | but time | indeed | 
 
 199. Let I us not | be id|le then | my lord | 
 63. Kings | of Fez | Moroo|co and | Argier | 
 
 83. Cap|oline | hast thou | surveyed | our powers | 
 98. "What I is beau|ty, saith | my suf |ferings then | 
 18. Duke I of Af|rica and | Alba|nia | 
 
 I am doubtful about the last, because Marlowe is so capricious 
 in his pronunciation of proper names. If Africa were pro- 
 nounced Africa or Affarica, the line would be regular. I find in 
 three several passages Euphrates, viz.* : 
 
 p. 110. As vast I a deep | as Euph|rates | or Nile | 
 157. That touch | the end | of fam|ous Euph|rates | 
 212. Of Euph|rates | and Tig|ris 8wift|ly run | 
 
 So in pp. 139, 71, we find Gibralter — 
 
 We kept I the nar|row strait | of Gibr|alter | 
 And thence | unto | the straits | of Gib|ralter | 
 
 In the latter passage some editions spell it Jubaltar. In 85 we 
 have Bajazeth long — 
 
 And now | Baja|zeth hast | thou an|y atom|ach 
 
 There are three other passages in which Affarica would set the 
 rhythm right — 
 
 p. 209. A cit|adel | that aU | AflFa|rica | 
 14. Create | him pro|rex of | AfFa|rica | 
 20. To safe | conduct | us through | Affa|rica | 
 
 It should be mentioned, however, that in the last two lines the 
 Svo. of 1592 has a different reading, inserting in one all, in the 
 other changing through into thorough. 
 
 1 So in Green's Friar Bacon, p. 214 (Dyce) — 
 
 Circled | with Gi{hou and | first Eujphrates { 
 Shabspeare's Antony and Cleopatra, I. 2. 105 — 
 
 Exteud|ed Ajsia { from Eu|phrates I 
 
142 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 The monosyllabic foot is more frequent in Tamburlaine than 
 in Marlowe's other plays, but I think examples may be found in 
 all. The following are taken from Edward II. — 
 Vol. II. p. 177. No I but we'll | lift Gav|eston | from hence | 
 (This would be regular if we read ' we will.') 
 
 p. 219. Lanjcaster | why talk'st | thou to | the slave | 
 252. Mor|timer | who talks | of Mor|timer | 
 
 (Here it would be easy to prefix an ' of.') 
 
 p. 273. Where|fore stay | we? On | sirs to | the coast | 
 277. Mor|timer | I did | he is | our king | 
 
 (Here ' aye' might naturally precede.) 
 
 In Faustus we find 
 
 p. 8. Jer|ome's bi|ble, Faus|tus ; view | it well | 
 19. Now I Faustus | what wouldst | thou have | me do | 
 36. Faus|tus thou | art damn'd | ; then swords | and knives | 
 
 It is doubtful, however, how far we can trust our text of 
 Marlowe, as the metre frequently halts in other feet besides 
 the first, e.g. in Edward II. 
 
 p. 174, 'Tis true, the bishop is in the Tower. 
 180. Lay hands on that traitor Mortimer. 
 
 (where probably we should read upon). 
 
 p. 188. Plead for him that will, I am resolved 
 (where we should probably insert he before that). 
 
 p. 193. Diablo, what passions call you these? 
 (where perhaps we should read diavolo). 
 
 p. 207. 'Twas in your wars ; you should ransom him. 
 (perhaps and should be inserted before you). 
 
 p. 211. Pardon me sweet; I forgot myself, 
 (perhaps / had forgot or did forget). 
 
 p. 227. And Spenser spare them not, lay it on. 
 (we might insert hut before lay). 
 
 p. 255. "Well that shall be, shall be : part we must. 
 (probably that should be doubled). 
 
 p. 257. Should drink his blood, mounts up to the air. 
 (perhaps we should read into for to). 
 
BLANK VERSE OF SUREEY AND MAELOWE. 143 
 
 p. 269. Sister, Edward is my charge ; redeem him. 
 (which would make better sense if we read thus, 
 
 Sister, Edward's my charge ; let me redeem him.) 
 
 p. 281. To murder you, my most gracious Lord, 
 (where perhaps nay should be inserted before my). 
 
 Sometimes a missing syllable may be accounted for by the 
 presence of the letter r as in 
 
 p. 172. Eai-l I of Com|wall king | and lord | of Man | 
 231. Earl | of Gloc|ester and | Lord Chamjberlain | 
 287. Because | I think | scorn | to be | accused | 
 
 (though it would be easy to insert so before accused) 
 
 p. 168. Were sw6|fn to | your mi|cle at | his death | 
 
 Here the r precedes a consonant, but the same effect is pro- 
 duced where it follows a long vowel, as in fire, sure, assure, or 
 a consonant, as in hundred, entrails, nostril, monstrous, e.g. 
 As mons|trous | as Gor|gon prince | of hell | 
 
 So we find in Edward II. Mowbray, Pembroke, gentry, frustrate, 
 secret, thrust. The letter I sometimes has the same effect, as 
 
 I. 47. Resolve | I hope | we are | resem|bied | II. 173, chaplain, 
 251, deeply. 
 
 We also have priest, hear, despair, and even Ediiard twice, pp. 
 234, 269. 
 
 Feminine rhythm is more frequent in Marlowe than in 
 Surrey. We even find two superfluous syllables at the end of 
 the line, unless we are to reckon as Alexandrines verses like 
 the following from vol. ii. (Dyce, ed. 1850.) 
 
 p. 13. Faustus I these books | thy wit | and our | expe|rience 
 
 12. Yet not | yoiir words | only | but mine | own fan|tasy 
 
 21. What is | great Meph|istoph|ihs | so pas|sionate 
 
 28. And Faus|tus hath | bequeathed | his soul | to Lu|cifer 
 
 Anapaests are common in any part of the Hne, e.g. 
 
 p. 7. Bid ecoB|omy | farewell | and Ga|len come | 
 
 9. Are but | obeyed | in their s&o\eral ^oi>|inces | 
 
 28. Alreadly Faus|ijis hath haz\a/rded that \ for me | 
 
 32. Speak Faus|tus do | you deliv\w this | as yov/r deed \ 
 
 75. Sweet Hel|en make | me tm»ior|tal with | a kiss | 
 
 289. And with | the rest | accoml^aray him \ to his grave \ 
 
144 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 And we occasionally meet with dactyls, as 
 
 p. 9. Shall be | at my | command | emperors \ and kings | 
 
 13. Shadowing | more beau|ty in | their air|y brows | 
 233. Edward | with fire | and sword | follows at \ thy heels | 
 
 Trochees are common in the first foot, and in the third and 
 fourth after a stop. 
 
 p. 245. Gallop I apace I bright Ph(B|biis through | the sky | 
 
 2 
 
 231. Let them I not unlreveng'd | murder | your friends | 
 
 10 2 
 
 Examples such as the following are much rarer in Marlowe than 
 in Surrey : 
 
 p. 199. I am | none of | these com|mon ped|ants I | 
 
 10 10 
 
 269. Brother i Edmund I strive not I we are I his friends I 
 
 10 10 1110 
 
 255. And hags I howl for | my death | at Cha|ron's shore | 
 
 2 
 
 270. My lord I be not I pensive | we are | your friends | 
 
 10 2 
 
 193. Kepealed | ; the news | is too | sweet to | be true ] 
 
 1 
 
 36. Why should | I die | then or | basely | despair | 
 
 2 
 
 269. Hence wiU | I haste | to Kil|Ungworth | castle | 
 
 1 
 
 51. Caro|lus the ( fifth at I whose pallaoe now I 
 
 1000 10 101 
 
 (The last line is not worse than several in Surrey, but I think it 
 is impossible in Marlowe. I suspect that an epithet such as 
 high has been lost before palace, making the 1st foot a dactyl.) 
 
 As to the pauses, most lines have only the final pause. An 
 internal pause is most commonly found after the fourth or sixth 
 syllable, but it is also found after the second, as 
 
 p. 261. Take it. What, are you moVd? pity you me 
 and the third, as 
 
 p. 261. Eeceive it ? no, these innocent hands of mine 
 
 239. Noble minds contemn 
 
 Despa|ir. Will | your grace | with me | to Hain|ault ? 
 
 270. Therefore, come ; dalhance dangereth our lives 
 278. Art thou king? must 1 die at thy command? 
 
 The last two verses are rendered harsher by the accent falling 
 
BLANK VEBSE OF SUREEY AND MARLOWE. 145 
 
 on the first syllable of the second foot. We also find the same 
 effect in the third foot, as 
 
 p. 198. A vel|vet-caped | cloak, faced | before | with serge | 
 Or ma|king low | legs to | a nob|leman | 
 199. And being | like pins' | heads, blame | me for | the bus|iness 
 
 But, making all allowance for occasional harshness, there can 
 be no question of the great superiority of Marlowe to Surrey in 
 point of rhythm. Such a passage as the following fully justifies 
 Ben Jonson's praise of ' Marlowe's mighty line,' 
 
 p. 257. The griefs of private men are soon allay'd ; 
 
 But not of kings. The forest deer, being struck, 
 Euns to an herb that closeth up the wounds: 
 But when the imperial lion's flesh is gor'd. 
 He rends and tears it with his wrathful paw, 
 And, highly scorning that the lowly earth 
 Should drink his blood, mounts up mto the air. 
 
 M. M. 10 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 
 Macbeth. 
 
 I PROCEED now to the examination of Shakespeare's rhythm 
 as seen in the play of Macbeth^, limiting myself to the two 
 kinds of variation before mentioned, viz. that through the num- 
 ber of syllables and that through the number or position of 
 accents. Variation in the number of syllables may be either by 
 way of defect (A.), or of excess (B.). 
 
 A. — A line which is defective may be plainly fragmentary, 
 wanting either the beginning or the end (/.), or it may be a 
 skeleton line wanting some of its internal syllables (//.). The 
 latter I shall call specially ' defective/ the former ' fragmentary.' 
 
 I. 1. — Of fragmentary lines, which are still rhythmical, the 
 majority are brief sentences occurring in rapid dialogue. These 
 frequently combine to make up regular lines, as 
 
 Zen. Good- morrow, noble sir. Mac. Good-morrow both. 
 
 But they are also irregularly combined, the metre being ob- 
 scured by the division of parts, and in this way they give 
 rise to Alexandrines which ate otherwise rare in Shakespeare 
 {a), and to what Dr Abbott has called ' amphibious sections ' — 
 a more business-like name might be ' common sections ' — where 
 an intermediate sentence does double work, supplying the close 
 
 1 It was in lecturing on this play the different ways in which Shake- 
 that my attention was first drawn to speaie gives variety to the regular iam- 
 what appeared to me to be defects in bio line, not with any view of tracing 
 the existing treatises on English me- the historical development of his own 
 tre. I have used it here to illustrate metre. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VEESE. 147 
 
 of a preceding fragmentary line, and also the commencement of 
 a following fragmentary line (&), e.g. 
 
 IV. 3. 219. Maod. At one | fell swoop | . Male. Dispute | it like | a man {. 
 
 [Dispute I it like | a man | .] Macd. I shall | do so | . 
 
 There are many examples in Macbeth both of the common 
 section and of Alexandrines formed by the union of two frag- 
 mentary lines. Examples of the latter will be given further on. 
 
 /. 2. — Fragmentary lines are also found at the beginning, 
 middle, and end of longer speeches. 
 
 (a) Those at the beginning are frequently short introduc- 
 tory phrases, as V. 5. 30, Gracious my lord; III. 2. 26, Come on; 
 II. 3. 86, What's the business (which becomes rhythmical if we 
 either read ' what is ' for ' what's ' or pronounce ' business ' as a 
 trisyllable, of which Walker gives examples). Most commonly 
 such a broken line is the second half of a preceding broken line; 
 as Lady Macbeth's "What beast was't then" follows on Mac- 
 beth's "Who dares do more is none.'' So III. 4. 99, "What 
 man dare I dare," seems to take up the fragmentary line 
 which ends Macbeth's previous speech " which thou dost 
 glare with," no notice being taken of Lady Macbeth's inter- 
 mediate address to the guests. Sometimes it becomes metrical 
 by treating a portion of a preceding regular line as a common 
 section, e.g. 
 
 II. 4. 33. Macd. To be | invest|ed. Ross. Where | is Dun|can's bo|dy ? 
 [Where's Dun|can's bo|dy] Macd. Car|ried to Colme|kill. 
 
 III. 2. 12. L. Mac. Should be | without | regard | ; what's done | is done | . 
 [What's done | is done.] Mach. We've scotched | the snake | not killed | it. 
 
 V. 8. 23. And break | it to | our hope | ! I'll not | fight with | thee 
 [I will I not fight I with thee.] Macd. Then yield | thee, cow|ard. 
 
 V. 3. 34. Macb. Give me | my ar|mour. Sct/. 'Tis | not need|ed yet | . 
 [It is I not need|ed yet.] Macb. I'll put | it on | . 
 
 It will be noticed that in three of these examples the common 
 section is of greater rhythmical importance in one of the two 
 lines, owing either to feminine rhythm or to contraction, Til for 
 / will, 'tis for it is. Some may perhaps doubt the applicability 
 of the principle in these cases, or even deny its use altogether ; 
 but whoever will go through any play, noting every fragmentary 
 line, as I have done in Macbeth, will, I think, be surprised to 
 
 10—2 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
150 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 arising from difference of pronunciation (1), or it may be real, 
 but supplied by a pause (2), or by a compensative lengthening 
 of some long syllable (3). 
 
 (1). — The most common case of what we pronounce as a 
 monosyllable being treated as a disyllable, is where the letter r 
 occurs either following a long vowel (a), as in I. 2. 45, 
 
 Who comes | here | ? The wor|thy thane | of Eoss | 
 
 unless (which I should prefer) we adopt Pope's reading and 
 prefix a ' but ' to the beginning of the line. ' But ' is wanted, 
 and who and here would then get their right emphasis. More- 
 over, the phrase ' but who comes here ' is common in Shake- 
 speare. Abbott quotes four examples of it in p. 414 
 
 I. 6. 6. Smells woo|ingly | here | : no jut | ty freeze | . 
 
 II. 3. 128. What should | be spo|ken he|re, where | our fate | . 
 
 I. 6. 30. And shall | conti|nue 6|ur gra|ces towards | him. 
 
 II. 1. 20. I dreamt | last night | of the | three we|ird sis|ters. 
 
 IV. 3. 111. Died ev|ery day | she lived | Fare | thee well | . 
 
 [so better than by dividing ' liv|ed ']. 
 
 Also where r follows a consonant (b), as ent(e)rance I. 5. 40, 
 rememb(e)rance III. 2. 30, monst(e)rous III. 6. 8, child(e)ren iv. 3. 
 172 ; and even where it precedes a consonant, as in ill. 1. 102, 
 
 Not in I the wor|(e)st rank | of man|hood say | it. 
 
 Examples will be found in Walker's Versification, p. 32, and in 
 Abbott. So Burns (quoted by Guest, vol. i. p. 57) has — 
 
 "Ye'll try | the wa|rld soon | my lad | . 
 "On ev|ry blade | the pea|rls hung | ." 
 
 Other examples of words pronounced with more syllables than 
 we should now give to them are sergeant I. 1. 3, cap(i)tains 
 I. 1. Si, prayers in. 6. 49. Mr Wagner, in his edition, goes too 
 far, when he tells us, on I. 2. 5, 
 
 'Gainst my | captiv|ity. | Hail | brave friend | 
 
 "brave zu sprechen wie bra-ave." And Dr Abbott is almost as 
 daring in making 'hail' a disyllable (S.G. § 484). 
 
 (2) and (3).— It will be best to consider together all the 
 cases of really defective lines, as they are usually capable of 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VEESE. 151 
 
 being explained either on the principle of the pause or of the 
 lengthened syllable. The former explanation is the one which 
 commends itself the most to myself In many cases indeed I 
 should treat the defective line as consisting of a final and initial 
 fragmentary line. Thus in I. 2. 5, " 'gainst my captivity " is the 
 end of the speech to the king ; " hail, brave friend," is the com- 
 mencement of the speech to the sergeant; and the pause 
 between the two takes the place of the omitted syllable. In 
 I. 4. 14, "an absolute trust" ends Duncan's address to Malcolm; 
 " worthiest cousin " begins the address to Macbeth, the pause, 
 occasioned by the entrance of the latter, occupying the place of 
 two syllables. In l. 5. 41 , " under my battlements " closes Lady 
 Macbeth's reflections on the hoarse messenger, and then, after a 
 pause, begins the invocation of the powers of evil, " come, you 
 spirits." In II. 3. 83, " the great doom's image. Malcolm ! 
 Banquo !" we have a final fragmentary line followed by a pause 
 and an extra-metrical exclamation. The pause will also suffi- 
 ciently explain I. 4. 35, " In drops of sorrow. Sons, kinsmen, 
 thanes;" II. 1. 19, "which else should free have wrought. Banq. 
 All's well " (this line, which consists properly of two fragments, 
 is reduced to regularity by Dr Abbott, who reads ' all is,' and 
 disyllabizes 'wrought'); ii. 4. 29, "Thine own life's means! 
 Then 'tis most like" (here too Dr Abbott obtains a regular line 
 by reading 'it is' and disyllabizing ' means'); I. 2. 7, "As thou 
 didst leave it. Doubtful it stood" (but I should prefer here 
 to read 'doubtfully'); iv. 3. 218, "did you say all? O hell-kite! 
 all?" (though, if it were desired, the cry expressed by the 
 conventional symbol might fill the space of three syllables), 
 and V. 7. 22, "seems bruited. Let me find him fortune," though 
 I confess I should prefer to read with Steevens, ' let me but find 
 him fortune,' not only as more rhythmical, but as more ex- 
 pressive. In the famous line — 
 
 I. 7. 28. And falls | on the o|ther. | How now | what news | ? 
 
 the loss of a syllable is quite accounted for by the pause, but I 
 should prefer to insert 'side.' It seems to me more probable 
 that we have here a piece of carelessness on the part of the 
 printer, of which there is such abundant evidence throughout, 
 
152 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 rather than that Shakespeare was guilty of what I should be 
 disposed to call the affectation of expressing surprise by the 
 cutting short of one little word. Other passages in which the 
 pause is perhaps a less satisfactory expedient are the following : 
 II. 1. 51, "The curtained sleep: witchcraft celebrates," where 
 the pause after ' sleep' is scarcely sufficient to justify the omis- 
 sion of a syllable. Dr Abbott would make ' sleep' a disyllabic, 
 supporting this by Richard III., V. 3. 130, which he divides 
 thus — 
 
 Doth com|fort thee in | thy sle|ep : live | and flou|rish. 
 
 [The true scanning has been given in a former chapter.] 
 In the line before us I should prefer to read ' sleeper ' as more 
 suited to the definite article. In IV. 1. 122, " Horrible sight ! 
 Now I see 'tis true," there is a decided pause, but the rhythm is 
 so harsh that I am inclined to think that an exclamation must 
 have dropped out of the text. Such a cry would be very natural 
 on catching sight of Banquo's ghost. Dr Abbott disyllabizes 
 ' sight' In IV. 3. 44, " Of goodly thousands : but, for all this," 
 there is a pause both before and after 'but' ; not enough, however, 
 to account for the rhythm. Dr Abbott disyllabizes 'but.' I 
 should be rather disposed, if the line is correct, to give a 
 disyllabic weight to ' all' with its long vowel and final liquid. 
 
 B. — Where there is excess in the number of syllables, the 
 extra syllables may be either outside the feet, producing what 
 is called the feminine ending (Z), or they may be included in 
 the feet (17.). 
 
 /. — The first kind of superfluous syllable is frequently found 
 at the end of the line, and its presence or absence has been used 
 as a test for determining the genuineness or the age of the 
 Shakespearian Plays, the prevalent taste in the end of Elizabeth's 
 reign inclining more and more to a broken rhythm, just as we 
 find in Euripides a growing tendency to the use of trisyllabic 
 feet. Sometimes we find two such unaccented syllables, which 
 generally admit of being slurred, as in ' conference.' Examples 
 will be given further on under the head of apparent Alexandrines. 
 As I am not now treating of specialities of rhythm, but merely 
 illustrating the general manner of its variation, I shall say 
 
shakespeaee's blank verse. 153 
 
 nothing more of this (a), but go on to the rarer use of the 
 superfluous syllable at the close of the second or third foot (6). 
 This is acknowledged by Dr Guest and Dr Abbott, but Mr Ellis 
 would treat all such cases under the head of trisyllabic feet. I 
 observe in the passage from M. Gaston Paris, printed p. 46, that 
 two of the four types of the old French decasyllabic metre are 
 what he calls feminine at the hemistich. I make twenty-five 
 lines in Macbeth with the superfluous syllable after the second 
 foot, and thirty-two with it after the third foot. In almost all 
 there is a full stop after the superfluous syllable, which makes 
 it more difficult to join it with what follows, so as to form a 
 trisyllabic foot. In several instances, however, it would be 
 possible to get rid of the superfluous syllable on the principle of 
 slurring, of which I shall shortly speak. Thus several end 
 in r and s, which have a tendency to obscure the sound of a 
 preceding vowel, e.g. 
 
 I. 7. 26. Of his I own ohamb'r | and used | their ve|ry dag|gers. 
 II. 3. 138. Of trea|s'nous marce | . And so | do I | . So all | . 
 
 Sometimes we find the double feminine ending, both after the 
 second and after the last foot, e.g. 
 
 I. 3. 43. That man | may ques|tion | You seem | to un|derstand | me. 
 
 I. 7. 10. To plague | the inven|tor | This ev|en-hand|ed just|ice. 
 
 Superfluous after second foot : 
 
 I. 3. 72. But how I of Caw|dor | ? The thane | of Caw|dor lives | 
 I. 3. 150. With things | forgot|ten | . Kind gen|tlemen | your pains ( 
 
 I. 4. 42. On all | deserv|ers | . From hence | to In|vemess | 
 
 II. 2. 53. Give me | the dag|gers | : the sleep|ing and | the dead | 
 
 II. 2. 66. At the | south en|try | : retire | we to | our cham|ber. 
 
 [Though here we might divide | at the south i entry |, and 
 there is a further explanation in the repeated re.] 
 
 II. 3. 109. Upon I their pil|lows | : they stared | and were | distrac|ted. 
 II. 3. 147. The near|er blood|y | . This mur|d'rous shaft | that's shot | . 
 
 III. 1. 26. 'Twixt this | and sup|per | . Go not | my horse | the bet|ter. 
 III. 1. 35. Graving | us joint|ly | . Hie you | to horse | , adieu | . 
 
 III. 1. 80. In our | last con|fefenGe | , passed in | proba|tion with | youl 
 III. 1. 84. Say thus | did Ban|quo | . You made | it known | to us | . 
 III. 1. 128. Your spirits | shine through | you | . Within | this hour | 
 at most I . 
 
154 ON ENGLISH METKE. 
 
 IV. 2. 17. The fits | of the sea|son | , I dare | not speak | much fur|ther. 
 IV. 2. 35. Why should | I, mojther | . Poor birds | they are | not set | 
 for. 
 
 III. 2. 19. That shake | us mght|ly | . Better | be with | the dead | . 
 
 IV. 3. 220. Convert | to an|ger j . Blunt not | the heart \ enrage | it. 
 ni. 2. 22. In rest|less ecs|t'sy | . Duncan | is in | his grave | . 
 
 III. 4. 36. 'Tis given | with wel|come | . To feed I were best | at home | . 
 III. 4. 87. To those | that know | me | . Come love | and health | to 
 all I . 
 
 III. 4. 103. Shall ne|ver trem|ble | : or be | aUve | again | . 
 
 V. 6. 4. Lead our | first bat|tle | . Worthy | Macduff | and we | . 
 
 Superfluous after third foot : 
 
 V. 3. 7. Shall e'er | have power ( upon | thee j . Then fly | false 
 
 thanes | . 
 V. 3. 4. Was he | not bom | of wom|an | ? The sprites | that know | . 
 V. 4. 3. What wood | is this | before | us |? The wood | of Bir|nam. 
 V. 2. 11. Protest | their first | of man|hood | . What does ] the ty|rant ? 
 V. 1. 65. Do breed | unnat|ural troub|les | . Infect|ed minds | . 
 
 IV. 3. 223. That were | most pre|oious to | me | . Did heaven | look on | 
 rv. 3. 156. The heal|ing ben|ediot|ion | . With this | strange vir|tue. 
 
 IV. 3. 177. Each mijnute teems | a new | one | . How does | my wife 1 1 
 IV. 3. 117. To thy | good truth | and hon|our | . Devilish | Macbeth | . 
 rv. 3. 33. For good|ness dare | not check | thee | . Wear thou | thy 
 
 wrongs I . 
 IV. 2. 77. Account|ed dang|'rous fol|ly | : why then | alas | . 
 IV. 2. 14. So runs | against | all rea|son | . My dear|est coz | . 
 III. 6. 43. That clogs | me with | this ans|wer | . And that | well might |. 
 III. 6. 44. Advise | him to | a cau|tion | , to hold | what dia|tance. 
 III. 4. 110. With most | admired | disor|der | . Can such | things be | . 
 III. 4. 112. Without I our spejcial won|der | ? You make | me strange | . 
 m. 4. 84. Your no|ble friends | do lack | you | . I do | forget | . 
 
 That might | appal | the de|vil | . O pro|per stuff | . 
 
 For sim|diry weight|y reajsons | . We shall | my lord | . 
 
 Which in | his death | were per|fect | . I'm one | my Hege | 
 
 Mark An|tony was | by Cae|sar | . He chid | the sis|ters. 
 113. With hid|den help | and van|tage | , or that | with both | . 
 
 It is I a ban|quet to | me | . Let's af |ter him | . 
 
 Unto I our gen|tle sens|es | . This guest | of sum(mer. 
 
 It shall I make hon|our for | you | . So I | lose none | . 
 
 Look on't I again | I dare | not | . Infirm | of pur|pose. 
 
 That fears | a pain|ted dev|il | . If he | do bleed | . 
 
 Wake Dun|can with | thy knock|ing | . I would | thou 
 couldst I . 
 ni. 6. 2. Which can | inter|pret fur|ther | . Only | I say | . 
 
 in. 
 
 4. 
 
 60. 
 
 ni. 
 
 1. 
 
 126. 
 
 III. 
 
 1. 
 
 107. 
 
 III. 
 
 1. 
 
 57. 
 
 I. 
 
 3. 
 
 113 
 
 I. 
 
 4. 
 
 56. 
 
 I. 
 
 6. 
 
 3. 
 
 II. 
 
 1. 
 
 26. 
 
 II. 
 
 2. 
 
 52. 
 
 n. 
 
 2. 
 
 54 
 
 n. 
 
 2. 
 
 74. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 155 
 
 II. 2. 23. That they | did wake | each o|ther | . I stood | and heard | 
 
 them. 
 V. 8. 6. With blood | of thine | alrea|dy | . I have | no words | . 
 V. 8. 27. Here may | you see | the ty|rant | . I will | not yield | . 
 
 //. — Extra syllables within the feet may either disappear 
 through elision (a) or slurring (b), or they may be distinctly 
 perceptible and form trisyllabic feet (c), or finally they may 
 form an extra foot, giving rise to an Alexandrine (d). 
 
 (a) As regards the mark of elision, there seems to have 
 been no principle in the First Folio, and not much in later 
 editions. I have by me a complete collation of the elisions 
 in the Folio and in the Clarendon edition, and in several 
 cases syllables essential to the metre are cut out, e.g. 'let's 
 away' in 
 
 II. 3. 129. Let us | away | our tears | are not | yet brewed | . 
 
 In others, syllables are unelided, the absence of which would 
 certainly improve the rhythm, e.g. I should prefer 'gan and 
 'would, to 'began' and 'I would' in the following 
 
 I. 2. 53. The thane | of Caw|dor 'gan | a dis|mal oon|flict. 
 
 II. 2. 73. Wake Dun|can with | thy knoc|king. 'Would | thou oouldst | . 
 
 So I should prefer thou'rt and I'm to thou art and / am in 
 
 I. 4. 16. Was heav|y on | me. Thou'rt | so far | before | . 
 
 III. 1. 168. Which in | his death | were perf |ect | . I'm one | my Hege | . 
 
 Perhaps the sign of elision should only be used where there 
 is a complete disappearance of the syllable. There are three 
 degrees of evanescence, (1) where the syllable is distinctly pro- 
 nounced, but is metrically superfluous (as in a trisyllabic foot), 
 (2) where it is slurred, blending more or less with a preceding 
 or succeeding sound, (3) where it is entirely inaudible. It will 
 depend very much on the taste of the individual reader what 
 view he will take of any particular syllable, and I doubt whether 
 it is possible to arrive at any certainty with regard to the usage 
 in Shakespeare's time. Perhaps as the is constantly printed as 
 th in the Elizabethan writers, even in prose and before con- 
 sonants, we may assume that its vowel was entirely lost before 
 vowels, where we should make a glide or slur it. 
 
156 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 The commonest elisions in the First Folio are 'd for ed in 
 the preterite and past participle, even where the present ends 
 with e, as 'fac'd/ 'carv'd': th' for the, as 'to th' chops/ 'o' th' 
 milk,' ' th' utterance.' Not unfrequently this elision is wrongly 
 given where the syllable is required for the metre : e.g. III. 
 4. 101, 
 
 The armed | rhino|oeros or | the Hyrjcan ti|ger. 
 
 is better than ' th' Hyrcan ' of the Folio. And there can be no 
 doubt that ' th' expedition ' and ' th' Tiger ' are wrong in 
 
 II. 3. 92. The ex|pedi|tion of | my Ti|olent love | . 
 I. 3. 7. Her hus|band's to | Alep|po gone | master | o' the Ti|ger. 
 
 Equally common with these is the elision of 's for is. ' When 
 the battle's lost and won.' 
 
 's also stands for ms, ' betray 's' in i. 8. 125 (unnecessarily, 
 though the Clarendon adopts it). 
 
 Win us I with hon|est trif|les to | betray | us. 
 
 So in 'let's' (several times), 'upon's' (unnecessarily, though 
 adopted by Clarendon) in 
 
 III. 1. 36. Ay, my | good lord | : our time | does call | upon | us. 
 And V. 6. 5. 
 
 's for his. II. 2. 22, 'in's sleep.' ii. 3. 99, 'make's love 
 known.' 
 
 Another very common elision is st for est, e.g. cam'st, antici- 
 pat'st, got'st, kind'st, stern'st, near'st, secret'st, dear'st. 
 'II for luill. I'll (always He in the Folio), we'll, you'll. 
 'Id for would ; thou'ldst, we'ld, I'ld, yoa'ld. 
 'It for wilt, thou'lt. 
 
 'dst for hadst ' thou'dst rather hear it.' 
 'rt for art, ' thou'rt mad.' 
 't for it, prefixed, 'twas, 'twere, 'tis, 'twould. 
 
 suffixed, is't, was't, were't, may't, please't, done't, be't, 
 
 heart, goes't, take't, pull't, deny't, on't, in't, 
 
 fort, to't, before't, under't, if't, ant. This is 
 
 adopted by Clarendon. 
 
 t' for to, t'hold III. 6. 44, t'appease iv. 3. 18. Not adopted by 
 
 Clarendon. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 157 
 
 o'er for over, o'erleap, o'erbear, o'erfraught. 
 
 ne'er, for never. 
 
 o' for of, o' th', 6 that, adopted by Clarendon. 
 
 i' for in, i' faith once, i' th' many times, adopted by Clarendon. 
 
 'em for them several times, adopted by Clarendon. 
 
 Surd vowel omitted in murth'ring I. 5. 47, temp'rate II. 3. 90, 
 mock'ry iii. 4. 106, vap'rous iii 5, 24, med'cine iv. 3. 210, and 
 V. 2, whisp'rings v. 1, not adopted by Clarendon ; of course, if 
 employed at all, it ought to be used in very many more 
 instances. 
 
 Loss of initial short syllable : 'gainst for against, 'hove for 
 above, 'twixt for betwixt, 'gin for begin, adopted by Clarendon, 
 which also reads 'scape, 'cause, for escape, because, where the 
 Folio gave the abbreviation without mark of elision. 
 
 The Clarendon edition also gives the apostrophe after 
 highness', used for the genitive, where there is none in the 
 Folio. 
 
 Two special words, god'ild, sev'night, complete the list of 
 elisions contained in the Folio. 
 
 It has already been seen that some of these are incorrect. 
 The other errors which I have noticed are as follows : I. 3. 18, 
 " I'll drain him dry as hay," corrected in C. 
 
 II. 3. 102, Fol. and C. 
 
 What is I amiss | ? You are | and do | not know 't | . 
 the elision of it is quite unnecessary. 
 
 III. 1. 102. Not in I the wor|st rank | of man|hood say | it. 
 F. and C. read say't, i', and F. gives th'. 
 
 ni. 4. 89. I drink | to the gen|eral joy | of the | whole ta|ble. 
 F. gives th' for the and o' for of; C. only the latter. 
 
 IV. 3. 180. Be not | a nig|gard of | your speech | : how goes | it 1 
 
 F. and 0. unnecessarily elide it. 
 
 I will lastly give a list of passages in which a necessary 
 elision is unmarked. 
 
 It is singular that with the exception of thou'dst for thou 
 hadst, F. never contracts have. Otherwise I've, we've, they've, 
 
Missing Page 
 
Missing Page 
 
160 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 (c) It is difficult to find examples of undoubted trisyllabic 
 feet; what would at first sight be taken for such being so 
 often capable of other explanation, either on the principle of 
 
 III. 4. 89. I diini: to the general joy o' the whole table. 
 
 III. 4. 55. The fit is momentary; upon a thought. 
 
 III. 1. 79. In our last conference ; passed in probation with you. 
 
 IV. 3. 59. Sudden, voluptuous, smacking of every sin. 
 
 II. 3. 123. The near|er blood|y | . This mur|derous shaft | that's shot | . 
 
 I. 7. 76. Of his own chamber, and used their very daggers. 
 
 III. 1. 87. Your patience so predominant in your nature. 
 
 ni. 1. 105. Whose execution takes your enemy off. 
 
 III. 2. 81. Present him eminence both with eye and tongue. 
 
 III. 6. 40. He did, and with an absolute ' Sir, not I. ' 
 
 [cf. 1. 4. 14. An ablsolute trust | . . | worth|iest cou|sin.] 
 
 III. 1. 117. To thy I good truth | and hon|our | . Devilish | Macbeth ] . 
 V. 7. 8. The devil himself could not pronounce a title. 
 
 [cf. III. 4. 60, II. 2. 54.] 
 
 IV. 3. 182. "WMoh I have heavily borne, there ran a rumour. 
 IV. 3. 57. In evils to top Macbeth. I grant Mm bloody. 
 
 V. 3. 40. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased. 
 [ef. V. 3. 46, 1. 5. 49.] 
 III. 4. 86. I have a strange infirmity which is nothing. 
 
 III. 2. 45. Be innocent of the knowledge, dearest chuck, 
 [of. I. 5. 63, II. 2. 36.] 
 
 IV. 3. 64. AU continent impediments would o'erbear. 
 
 V. 4. 19. Thoughts speculative their unsure hopes relate. 
 IV. 2. 17. The fits | o' the sea|son | . I dare | not speak | much fur|ther. 
 rv. 1. 152. His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls. 
 III. 4. 36. 'Tis given | with wel|oome | : to feed | were best | at home | . 
 III. 1. 68. Given to the common enemy of man. 
 [here given may be a trochee, making the next foot an anapaest.] 
 
 rv. 3. 223. That were | most pre|ciou3 to | me | . Did heaven | look on | . 
 The multitudinous seas incarnadine. 
 Mark An|tony's was | by Cae|sar | . He chid | the sis|ters. 
 We learn no other but the confident tyrant. 
 Excite the mortified man. Near Birnam wood. 
 Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day. 
 The doors are open and the surfeited grooms. 
 1. 3. 140. My thought | whose mur|der yet | is but | fantas|tical. 
 II. 4. 14. And Duncan's horses, a thing most strange and certain, 
 ['horses' probably one syllable, as Abbott, § 471.] 
 III. 2. 48. And with thy bloody and invisible hand. 
 V. 8. 41. The which no sooner had his prowess confirmed. 
 II. 3. 114. Who can | be wise | , amazed | , temperate | , and fur|ious. 
 [' temperate ' and ' furious ' both disyllabie.] 
 
 II. 1. 12. He hath | been in | unulsual plea|sure and | . 
 
 n. 
 
 2. 
 
 62. 
 
 III. 
 
 1. 
 
 57, 
 
 V. 
 
 4. 
 
 8. 
 
 V. 
 
 2. 
 
 5. 
 
 m. 
 
 2. 
 
 47. 
 
 II. 
 
 2. 
 
 5. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. IGl 
 
 feminine rhythm or of slurring. The following seem to me the 
 most probable : 
 
 I. 7. 22. Striding | the blast | or heav|en's che|rubimi horsed | . 
 II. 3. 121. Unman|nerly breeched | with gore, | who could | refrain | . 
 I. 5. 17. What thou | art pro|imsed. Yet | do I fear | thy na|ture. 
 I. 2. 45. What a haste | looks through | his eyes | ! So should | he 
 look I . 
 
 (d) Alexandrines are most commonly found in lines divided 
 between different speakers after the 3rd foot, e.g. 
 
 III. 1. 139. I'll come | to you | anon | — We are | resolved | my lord | . 
 I. 2. 58. The vict|ory fell | on us | —Great hap|piness | —That now | . 
 II. 1. 3. And she | goes- down [ at twelve | —I tak't, | 'tis later | Sir | . 
 
 III. 3. 11. Alread|y are in | the court | — His hor|ses go | about | . 
 
 IV. 2. 30. I take | my leave | at once | — Sirrah | your fa|ther's dead | . 
 III. 4. 121. Attend | his maj|esty | — A kind | good-night | to all | . 
 
 [though this may be read as an ordinary line by disyllabizing 
 ' majesty.'] 
 
 The following have the feminine rhythm at the end. 
 
 I. 6. 10. The air | is del|icate | — See, see | our hon|oured hos|tess. 
 II. 3. 79. The Steeplers of | the house | — Speak, speak | — O gent|lo 
 
 laldy. 
 V. 5. 17. The queen | my lord | is dead | — She should | have died | 
 hereaf|ter. 
 
 II. 1. 17. In mea|sureless | content | . Being un|prepared | . 
 II. 3. 62. And pro|phesying | with aolcenta ter|rible | . 
 V. 5. 28. Signi]fying no|thiug | . Thou comest j to use | thy tongue | . 
 II. 3. 121. Unmannerly breeched with gore ; who could refrain. 
 I. 4. 45. I'll be myself the harbinger and make joyful. 
 [Abbott (§ 468) considers messenger and passenger to be disyllabic, and so 
 perhaps harbinger here. ] 
 
 I. 3. 129. Of the imperial theme. I thank you, gentlemen. 
 [See Abbott (§ 461) for the pronunciation of gentlemen.'\ 
 
 IV. 3. 239. Put on their instruments. Receive what cheer you may. 
 III. 1. 81. How you were borne in hand, how crossed, the instruments. 
 [We escape an Alexandrine by making instruments disyllabic. See Abbott, 
 § 468.] 
 
 1. 3. 111. Which he deserves to lose. Whether he was combined. 
 V. 7. 18. Are hired to bear their staves : either thou Macbeth. 
 III. 6. 29. Takes from his high respect : thither Macduff's gone. 
 [On the shortening of whether, either, thither, in pronunciation, see Abbott, 
 § 466.] 
 
 ' The u of ' cherubim ' is always short in Shakespeare. 
 M. M. 11 
 
162 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 IV. 1. 89. And top | of sov'|reigiity | — Listen | but speak | not to | it. 
 in. 6. 49. Under | a hand | accursed | — I'll send \ my pray|ers witli | him. 
 
 [As the emphasis is on with rather than him, it seems best to 
 divide it thus.] 
 
 III. 4. 73. Shall be | the maws | of kites | — What quite | unmanned | in 
 fol|ly. 
 
 In the following instances the division is after the 1st, 2nd or 
 4th foot, or in the middle of the 4th. 
 
 III. 2. 4. For a | few words | — Madam | I wiU | — Nought's had | all's 
 
 . spent I . 
 
 III. 3. 15. Stand to't | — It will | be rain | to-night | — Let it | come down | . 
 
 III. 6. 39. Prepare | for some | attempt | of war | — Sent he | to Mac|duff. 
 
 V. 3. 37. How does | your pa|tient, doc|tor ? — Not | so sick | my lord ] . 
 
 III. 4. 38. Meeting | were bare | without | it — Sweet | remem|brancer | 
 
 IV. 2. 72. I dare | abide | no lon|ger — Whit|her should | I fly | . 
 
 V. 7. 11. I'll prove | the he | thou speak|est — Thou | wast bom | of 
 
 wom|an. 
 
 [If we read speaFst as in the Clarendon, we should compress 
 
 thou'st, making a regular line.] 
 
 III. 4. 2. And last | the hear|ty wel|come — Thanks | to your ma|jesty | . 
 
 [or the line may be divided into five feet if we slur the last part 
 of majesty ; it will then have a double feminine ending.] 
 
 The following Alexandrines have an extra syllable at the 
 hemistich : 
 
 II. 2. 30. When they | did say | God bless | us ] — Consid|er it not | so 
 deepjly. 
 
 II. 3. 58. For 'tis | my limjited ser|vice | — Goes the | king hence | to- 
 day I . 
 
 V. 3. 8. Like syl|lable | of dol|our | —What I | beheve \ I'll wail ] . 
 I. 3. 85. That takes | the reas|on pris|oner | — Your chil|dren shall | 
 be kings | . 
 
 Where the lines are not thus divided between two speakers, 
 it is often possible to explain away apparent Alexandrines, 
 either as containing trisyllabic feet, or by hypermetric syllables 
 at the end or before the caesura, or, if we follow Dr Abbott, 
 on the principle of slurring, as — 
 
 III. 1. 80. In our | last con|f'rono6 | ; passed in | probat|ion with | you. 
 I. 3. 140. My thought | whose mur|der yet | is but | fantast|ical. 
 
Shakespeare's blank verse. 163 
 
 I. 3. 129. Of the I imper|ial theme | , I thank | you gen|tlemen. 
 
 III. 1. 81. How you I were borne | in hand | , how crossed, | the iust|ru- 
 
 ments. 
 
 IV. 3. 239. Put on | their inst'|ments | . Eeoeive | what cheer | you may | . 
 in. 2. 22. In rest|less ecjst'sy. | Duncan | is in | his grave | . 
 
 I. 3. 111. Which he | deserves | to lose | whether he | was combined | . 
 IV. 3. 97. Acting | it ma|ny ways | . Nay 'd I power 1 1 should | . 
 
 Sometimes the Alexandrine is due to wrong arrangement of 
 lines. I have already mentioned that it seems tetter to treat 
 the first two words of the following as a broken line ; 
 
 III. 2. 15. But let I the frame | of things | disjoint | both the | worlds 
 trem|ble. 
 
 The only remaining Alexandrines in Macbeth are, I believe, 
 the following, some of which seem to me corrupt : 
 
 I. 4. 26. Which do | but what | they should | by do|ing ev|erything | . 
 
 This line which is followed by the obscure 'safe toward your 
 love and honour,' is so feeble in rhythm that it can hardly 
 be genuine. Is it possible to contract ' every ' into a mono- 
 syllable ? 
 
 IV. 3. 20. In an | imper|ial charge | . But I | shall crave | your 
 par|don. 
 
 Here there is a decided pause, and I should take the line 
 "as made up of two fragments, and therefore to be classed 
 with what Dr. Abbott calls the trimeter couplet, of which we 
 spoke before. 
 
 III. 2. 11. With them | they think | on ? Things | without | all rem|edy |. 
 
 Should be without regard, what's done is done. 
 
 In the former line, I think all is an interpolation ; it injures the 
 antithesis ' without remedy ' — ' without regard,' and gives a 
 feeble dragging rhythm. In the same way, in I. 2, 66, 
 
 Our bos|om inte|rest. Go | pronounce | his pre|sent death | , 
 And with | his for|mer ti|tle greet | Macbeth | 
 
 'present' seems to me interpolated, like 'all,' with the view of 
 giving more force. 
 
 IV. 1, 153. That trace | him in | liis line | . Ko boast|iug like | a fool. 
 
 This deed | I'll do | before | this pur'pose cool. 
 
 11—2 
 
164 ON ENGLISH METKE. 
 
 Here too I should wish to reduce the former line to the same 
 length as that with which it rhymes, hy omitting ' him in.' 
 I. 3. 102. Only | to her|ald thee | into | his sight | , not pay | thee. 
 Here I should prefer to read ' to ' for ' into.' 
 
 It remains for me now to say a word or two on the variation 
 produced by means of accentuation. This may arise either 
 from defect of accent (the pyrrhic), from excess of accent (the 
 spondee), or from inversion of accent (the trochee). They are 
 all extremely common, and it will not be worth while to do 
 more than give an example of each, 
 
 n. 2. 1. What hath I quenched them I hath given | me fire | 
 11 11 
 
 hark ! peace | . 
 1 1 
 
 Spondee in second, fourth, and fifth. 
 
 Thy letlters have I transporlted me I beyond. 
 
 
 
 Pyrrhic in second and fourth. 
 
 With regard to trochees, I have only looked for such as 
 would be excluded by Dr. Abbott's rule, that the trochee is 
 inadmissible except in the first foot or after a stop. Of these 
 I have found about twenty-five. 
 Trochee in second place. 
 
 I. 4. 52. The eye | wink at | the hand | yet let | that be | . 
 
 Trochee in third place. 
 
 II. 4. 7. And yet | dark night | strangles | the trav|elling lamp | . 
 
 Trochee in fourth place. 
 
 III. 6. 41. The olouldy meslsenger I turns me I his back I . 
 
 2 
 
 It is rare to find a trochee in the last place. I have only 
 two examples. 
 
 IV. 2. 4. Our fears | do make | us trai|tors. You | know not. 
 
 2 1 
 
 and 
 
 V. 5. 32. But know | not how | to do | it. Well | say, Sir | . 
 
 1 
 
Shakespeare's blank veese. 165 
 
 Mr Ellis kindly allows me to reprint from the Proceedings 
 of the Philological Society his remarks on the preceding analysis 
 of Shakespeare's metre as exhibited in Macheth. 
 
 "Lines which cannot be naturally divided into measures 
 readily acknowledged by the ear when read, need not be noticed. 
 No poet, I believe, ever writes such lines. When we find them 
 in Shakspeare, we are bound to assume that we have not the 
 whole or the correct version of the poet's words before us. 
 Such lines may be exercises for ingenuity in correction ; but 
 they are at any rate not suited to become a basis for a 
 metrical theory. This observation at once disposes of some 
 of Dr Abbott's certainly original, but as I cannot help thinking, 
 impossible scansions. 
 
 " If we were determining Shakspeare's own rhythmical habit 
 as opposed to that of other writers, — a research now carefully 
 pursued by many members of the New Shakspeare Society, — 
 then we should have at once to reject from consideration all 
 lines about which critics are yet doubtful as to whether they 
 are Shakspeare's or not. It is evident that no theory should be 
 founded except on undoubted instances. But we are not dealing 
 with this investigation. Any line not rejected as defective or 
 erroneous, or doubtful, or as simply a modern or possible emend- 
 ation, is sufficient for our present purpose, whether Shakspeare 
 wrote it or not. 
 
 " In considering the rhythm of any single line, we should also, 
 as I have already said, remember that it is part of a passage, 
 and that the poet rhythmises whole passages, not single lines — 
 except at a very early stage of his art. This is more particularly 
 the case in dramatic poetry, where the author will even change 
 the metre, by reducing or extending the number of his measures, 
 to produce an emotional effect. And this leads to the difficult 
 question how far the dramatic poet intended his actors to give 
 oral effect to his rhythms, how far he intended them to dis- 
 tinguish his verse from measured prose, and how far he himself 
 felt the transition from verse to prose. It would take too much 
 time to consider this, and I therefore content myself with indi- 
 cating the point. In the mean time I shall assume, as the 
 basis of a rhythmical inquiry, that a poet always means to be 
 
166 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 rhythmical, whether he writes prose or verse ; but, as Dionysius 
 and Cicero well put it, verse is in rhythm, and prose is merely 
 rhythmical, that is, verse follows a conscious and mainly enunci- 
 able law in the juxtaposition of syllables of different kinds (long 
 and short in Sanscrit, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian ; strong and 
 weak in Modem Greek, Italian, Spanish, German, English), and 
 prose follows a subjective and mainly non-enunciable feeling. 
 
 "Now I will endeavour to notice the principal points in 
 Professor Mayor's notes on Macbeth in his own order. 
 
 "A. I. — Lines in defect, that is, having fewer than the nor- 
 mal five measures, are not necessarily defective. These may be 
 called " short lines," and are common enough in conclusions and 
 in parts of dialogue, but they also occur in the body of a speech, 
 as in the following examples, where I mark the odd and even 
 measures as I previously proposed. 
 
 I. 2. 20. Till he faced | the slave]. 
 
 I. 2. 51. And fan | our peojple cold | . 
 
 I. 5. 60. Shall sun | that morjrow see | . 
 
 II. 1. 41. As this I which now] I draw I . 
 
 III. 2. 32. Unsafe | the while] that we | . 
 
 III. 2. 51. Makes wing | to the rook]y wood ] . 
 
 IV. 3. 217. Did you | say aU2] O hell|kite ! all?]. 
 
 " So many speeches end and begin with such short-measured 
 lines, that when there is an "amphibious section," as Dr Abbott 
 strangely calls it, the break of the sense must determine to 
 which one of the two short lines, that it is able to complete into 
 a full line, the poet meant it to be joined. To assume that it 
 was intended to be part of both, seems almost ludicrous. Using 
 this test I should divide 
 
 IV. 3. 219. At one | feU swoop]. [short] 
 
 Dispute I it like] a man. ] — I shall] do so | . 
 V. 3. 18. The En|glish force] so please | you. [short] 
 
 Take thy | face hence] Seyton ! | I'm sick] at heart | . 
 II. 4. 33. To be I investjed. [short] 
 
 AVhere is Dun|can's bod]y? Car|ried to] Colmekill | . 
 III. 2. 12. Should be | without] regard, | what's done] is done | . 
 
 We've scotched | the snake] not kill'd | it. [short] 
 
 V. 3. 34. Give me | my ar]mour. 'Tis | not need]ed yet | . 
 
 I'll put I it on.] [short] 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 167 
 
 V. 8. 23. And break | it to] our hope | . [short] 
 
 I will I not fight] with thee ! | — Then yield] thee cow|ard. 
 
 " Observe tliat in "I will not fight witli thee," the utter tone- 
 lessness of the speech takes it almost beyond the bounds of 
 rhythm. There is scarcely a strong syllable in the phrase, as I 
 read it ; the strongest is not, and the / will would be naturally 
 contracted to I'll. Still it is possible to read : 
 
 I will I not fight] with thee \ . 
 
 " There seems no reason anxiously to avoid these short lines. 
 Thus, why not read ? 
 
 III. 1. 44. Sirrah | a word] with you | . 
 
 Attend | these men] our pleas|ure. 
 
 " No thought of an Alexandrine need occur. Yet, as the 
 omission of "Sirrah" or "with you," would produce a regular 
 line, no certainty is possible — or of consequence. 
 
 "In III. 2. 15, "but let the frame of things disjoint, both the 
 worlds suffer," there is no such reason as in i. 2. 37 (" So they") 
 to make one line of one measure, and another of five measures. 
 Such a division is, I think, really unusual. Considered as one 
 line, although there are six measures, there is no Alexandrine 
 rhythm. The conclusion, " both the worlds suffer," is that of a 
 regular five-measure line, with a pause at " disjoint," where the 
 Folios divide the line. There is possibly some error. The 
 initial " but" is not required, and is rather prosy. By omitting 
 it, and making an initial trisyllabic measure, regularity is 
 restored : 
 
 Let the frame | of things] disjoint : | both the] worlds suf|fer. 
 
 It is therefore a line from which we can conclude nothing. 
 
 "I also cannot accept the scansion of IV. 3. 28, given by 
 Professor Mayor on p. 149. It seems to me entirely unlike the 
 rhythm of the rest of Macbeth, especially in ending a line with 
 " but" after a comma, that is, the " weak ending," and in the 
 two initial measures of the strong weak form. I would rather 
 divide 
 
 Without I leave ta]king. [short, pause] 
 
 I pray | you, [short, initial] 
 
168 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Let not I my jealjousies | be your] dishon|ours, 
 
 But mine | own safe]ties. You \ may be rightjly just, 
 
 Whatevler I] shall think | . — Bleed, bleed,] poor coun|try. 
 
 " But I strongly suspect the genuineness of the text through- 
 out this scene; and here the words, "I pray you,'' which are 
 quite unnecessary, may be a mere insertion, or part of a player's 
 " cut." 
 
 "A. II. — "Lines defective in their internal structure," for 
 reasons already explained, may be omitted. Each requires a 
 separate critical examination, either on the ground of pronuncia- 
 tion or alteration, which takes it out of the present investigation. 
 
 "B. I. — A superfluous syllable at the end of a line, or even 
 two such, when both are very weak, must be admitted as common 
 in heroic rhythm, especially when dramatic. The greater or 
 less liking for it by particular poets is altogether another inquiry. 
 But as to the existence of such syllables at the end of the second 
 or third measure, after a pause, or closing a speech. Professor 
 Mayor is right in supposing that I should treat them in almost 
 every case as cases of trisyllabic measures. And for this reason : 
 the continuation may or may not begin with a weak syllable ; 
 when it does not, the final syllable of the preceding section is 
 evidently effective, that is, not superfluous. Why should it not 
 be so in other cases, when it merely introduces a regular variety, 
 namely a trisyllabic measure. Thus in 
 
 I. 4. 11. As 'twere j a care]less tri|fle. — There's] no art | 
 
 the last syllable of " trifle " acts in the usual way. But read 
 " there is\ no artj," with an emphasis (which the passage allows), 
 and we have a trisyllabic fourth measure. There is, therefore, 
 no reason for considering "-fle" a superfluous syllable in this 
 case rather than the other. 
 
 I. 4. 27. Safe toward | your love] and hon|our. — Weljoome hith|er. 
 
 Here "-our" is effective. Had the reading been "Thou'rt 
 weljcome hith|er," would "-our" have ceased to be effective? 
 I find no need for such a supposition. 
 I. 5. 36. Than would | make up] his mes|sage. — Give] him tend|ing. 
 
 Here "-sage" is effective, why then not "-stant" in 
 
 I. 5. 57. The fii|ture in] the in|stant. — ily dear|est love? 
 
shakespeaee's blank verse. 169 
 
 Might we not omit " my," without the slightest influence on the 
 rhythm of the first section ? But then "-stant" must he effective, 
 not superfluous. Without considering every line, I will mark 
 the measures in a few, where this "superfluous" syllable is not 
 part of the trisyllabic measure which it introduces. Generally 
 it will be seen that when this weak syllable is followed by a 
 strong one, we have a regular weak-strong measure. But 
 the final weak syllable of the first section may be followed by 
 another weak one, making a weak-weak measure ; though it 
 is then more commonly part of a trisyllabic measure of the 
 weak-weak-strong class, and even a weak-weak-weak measure 
 is possible. 
 
 III. 1. 25. 'Twixt this | and supjper : go | not my horse] the bet|ter. 
 
 III. 1. 34. Craving | us jointjly. Hie | you to horse :] adieu | 
 
 III. 1. 79. In our | last conjference, passed | in probajtion with | you. 
 
 III. 2. 19. That shake | us nightjly. Bet|ter be with] the dead. 
 
 IV. 3. 229. Convert | to an]ger. Blunt | not the heart,] enrage | it. 
 V. 6. 4. Lead our | first bat]tle. Worth|y MaodulFJ and we | 
 
 IV. 3. 117. To thy I good truth] and hon|our. Dev'|Ksh Macbeth | . 
 
 [Read "dev'lish" in two syllables, it is not once necessarily of 
 three syllables in Shakspeare, even at the end of a line, as in 
 Rich. III., I. 4. 265, 
 
 Not to I relent] is beast|ly sav]age dev'|lish.] 
 IV. 3. 33. For good|ness dare] not check | thee. Wear] thou thy wrongs | . 
 
 [Perhaps " thou " is erroneous, as it is quite superfluous.] 
 
 III. 6. 2. Which can | inter]pret fur|ther. On]ly, I say, | 
 V. 8. 27. Here may | you see] the ty(rant. I'll | not yield | . 
 
 [Read I'll and emphasise not, saving the rhythm by the weight 
 of yieldi\ 
 
 III. 4. 86. I have | a strange] infir|mity, which] is noth|ing 
 
 To those I that know] me. [short line, decided pause] 
 
 Come, love | and health] to all ; | then I'll] sit down | . 
 Give me | some wine !] fill full ! | [short, order] 
 
 I drink | to the gen]eral joy | o' the] whole ta|ble. 
 
 [This might be divided thus, if the text is correct — ^Pope 
 omits " come" in v. 88, but it seem.s better left in.] 
 
170 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 "B. II. — Mucli of the so-called "slnrriDg," and almost all the 
 " elision," when not ixsual in common conversation, I find un- 
 necessary, that is, I see no reason for not reading the words 
 fully, with a natural pronunciation. As to Alexandrines divided 
 among two speakers, there is always a doubt, because only two 
 short lines may have been intended. These lines, therefore, lie 
 out of my present province. When a five-measure line ends 
 with two light superfluous syllables, it does not become an 
 Alexandrine to the feeling of the reader, and there is no occasion 
 to suppose one of these light syllables to be elided. The words 
 " fantastical, gentlemen, instruments," give rise to such termina- 
 tions. In the middle of lines they simply produce trisyllabic 
 feet, as 
 
 III. 2. 22. In rest|less ecjstasy. Dun|can is in] his grave | . 
 
 IV. 3. 239 may be divided thus 
 
 Put on I their injstruments. [short, pause] 
 
 Receive | what cheer | you may, [short, initial] 
 
 The night | is long] that nev|er finds] the day. 
 
 I suspect, however, some error in "receive." A monosyllable, 
 such as "have," would suit the rhythm, and occurs with "cheer" 
 in other passages, Itich. III., V. 3. 74 : "I have not that alacrity 
 of spirit. Nor cheer of mind," and All's Well, ill. 2. 67: "I 
 prithee, lady, have a better cheer." Whereas " receive cheer " 
 is not used elsewhere. Certainly an Alexandrine would be very 
 much out of place as the first line of a final rhyming couplet, 
 and even the break, with short lines, is not what we should 
 expect. But this enters into the region of conjecture and 
 criticism which I wish to avoid. I pass over all the other lines 
 where Professor Mayor suspects errors. And the rest of his 
 remarks referring to the measures strong-strong and strong-weak, 
 (which he calls spondees and trochees), in place of the theoreti- 
 cal weak-strong, merely bear out my own observations. 
 
 "In reading through Macbeth afresh for this purpose, the 
 general impression made on me is that the character of five- 
 measure lines is well preserved. The fifth measure of each verse 
 ends strongly, with often one, and occasionally two additional 
 very weak syllables. I have not observed any so-called " weak- 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 171 
 
 endings." Sometimes, not often, the fifth measure has two 
 weak syllables. But two weak syllables^ are also allowed to 
 form a measure elsewhere, as the second in 
 
 iti. 1. 96. Distin|guishes] the swift | the slow] the sub|tle. 
 III. 1. 97. Aocor|ding to] the gift | which bount]eous nature. 
 
 "Trisyllabic measures are common enough, perhaps more com- 
 mon than our present utterance shews. The lines are generally 
 vigorous, and rhythm varied. But there are probably numerous 
 errors of the printer and copyist, as indeed the Cambridge editors 
 allow, "especially as regards metre," to use their own words.. 
 This makes the selection of this play rather unsuitable for the 
 determination of Shakspeare's metres, and, as Professor Mayor 
 states, it was not purposely so selected. There are a very large 
 number of short lines, especially when ending and beginning 
 speeches. Whether this was intentional, or is to be reckoned 
 among errors, or arose from players' "cuts," cannot be deter- 
 mined. Generally they do not produce a bad effect. Long 
 lines, especially real Alexandrines, are not numerous, and perhaps 
 were never intentional." 
 
 ' See aljove, p. 39. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VEESE— coni!i'«MecZ. 
 Hamlet. 
 
 As Mr Ellis doubts whether Macbeth was a good play to choose 
 for the purpose of determining the rhythm used by Shakespeare 
 in his prime, I give the results of a similar study of Hamlet, so 
 far as they seem to be of interest in the way of confirming, 
 correcting or adding to the results already obtained. 
 
 To speak first of the accent. Excess and defect of accent, 
 the spondee and the pyrrhic, are common alike in all the feet. 
 As examples we may take 
 
 I. 2. 82. Togethler with. | all forms | , moorls, shapes | of grief | 
 
 010021 1 1 01 
 
 III. 2. 225. ThougMs black I , hands apt I , drugs fit | , and time | 
 
 1 1 111101 
 
 1 
 
 IV. 5. 190. His means I of death | , his ob|scure fulneral I 
 
 1 01 002201 
 
 I. 5. 61. Upon I my se|cure hour | thy un|cle stole | 
 
 01 002 1 010 1 
 
 I. 1. 18. Disaslters in I the sun | ; and the | moist star I 
 
 010001 00 1 1 
 
 Inversion of accent (trochee) is most commonly found in the 
 1st foot, sometimes giving the effect of a choriambas at the 
 beginning of the verse, or after the middle pause or caesura, 
 of which latter we may take the following as examples 
 
 I. 1. 2. Nay, anslwer me | : stand, and | unfold | yourself I 
 
 1101 2 01 01 
 
 I. 1. 13. The rijvals of I my watch | : bid them I make haste I 
 
 01000 1 20 1 
 
 But we also find it in the other feet without any preceding 
 pause, sometimes giving the effect of an antispastus, as 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VEESE. 173 
 
 I. 3. 56. The wind I sits in I the shoul|der of I your sail | 
 
 01 10010001 
 
 II. 2. 573. Been struck I so to I the soul | , that preslently | 
 
 1 2001 0201 
 
 I. 5. 166. There are I more things | in heaven I and earth | Horajtio 
 
 00 2 101 01 01 
 
 Than are | dreamt of I in your I philoslophy | 
 
 2 110 0101 
 
 (taking 'your' ia a contemptuous sense). 
 I. 2. 13. In e|qual scale I weighing I delight i and dole | 
 
 010 1 2002 1 
 
 I. 3. 38. Virtue I itself I scapes not I calum|mous strokes | 
 
 20 01 1 0100 1 
 
 I. 4. 42. Be thy I intents I wicked | or char|itab|le 
 
 10 01 200 201 
 
 I. 5. 15. Till the | foul crimes I done in I my days | of na|ture 
 
 10 2 1 100101 
 
 IV. 3. 3. Yet must | not we 1 put the I strong law | upon | him 
 
 02 Olio 1 101 
 
 I. 4. 46. Why thy I canon|ized bones I hearsed I in death | * 
 
 20 010 1 2001 
 
 II. 1. 81. Pale as I his shirt I ; his knees I knocking | each oth|er 
 
 2001 01 20 01 
 
 III. 2. 55. No ! let I the canldied tongue I lick ablsurd pomp | 
 
 21010 1 201 1 
 
 IV. 5. 84. And, as | the world I were now I but to | begin | 
 
 110 1 1 1001 
 
 I. 2. 37. To busliness with 1 the king 1 more than | the scope | 
 
 0100 01 20 01 
 
 I. 2. 222. And we I did think I it writ I down in I our du|ty 
 
 0101 01 1001 
 
 I. 3. 64. Of each I new-hatch'd | unfledg'd I comrade | . Beware | 
 
 01 12 12 10 01 
 
 (I keep the usual accentuation of comrade, as in Lear ii. 4. 213.) 
 
 I. 4. 88. Let's folllow ; 'tis I not fit I thus to I obey | him 
 
 10 1 02 2001 
 
 I. 5. 139. For your I desire I to know | what is | between | us 
 
 1 0101 2001 
 
 I. 1. 93. Had he I been vanlquisher ; as | by the same | cov'nant I 
 
 010 1 00100 1 10 
 
 (here we might make the 4th foot a pyrrhic, putting same into 
 the last foot, -which would then have a superfluous syllable). 
 
 I. 2. 58. He hath I my lord i wrung from ! me my i slow leave I 
 
 0101 2 1 00 2 1 
 
 I. 3. 4. But let I me hear | from you | . 
 
 10 1 1 
 
 Do you I doubt that I 
 
 2 1 
 
 I. 4. 65. I do I not set 1 my life I at a | pin's fee | 
 
 0101 1 00 2 1 
 
 * In Shakespeare candnize regulai-ly has the accent on the 2nd syllable. 
 
174 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 II. 1. 86. But tru|ly I | do fear | it. 
 
 10 1 
 
 What I said he I 
 
 1 10 
 
 (the stress seems to lie on said, in contrast with the appearance 
 of Hamlet described before, not on he). 
 in. 4. 15. Have you I forgot | me? 
 
 2 
 
 No I by the rood | , not so I 
 
 2 1 2 1 
 
 We next take examples of irregularity in the number of 
 syllables; and (A) by way of excess ; 
 
 (a) Superfluous syllable at the end (feminine ending). 
 
 This, as is well known, is rare in the early plays, such as 
 Love's Labour Lost, where it occurs only twice in the first .50 
 lines of the 1st Act, and only once in the first 50 of the 
 2nd Act. On the contrary in the King's speech {Hamlet I. 2. 
 1 — 39) we find 12 examples, i.e. nearly 1 in 3, and in the same 
 scene (87 — 102) 10 examples in 16 lines, and in Hamlet's speech 
 in the same scene (146 — ^153) 6 examples in 7 lines, a proportion 
 only exceeded in the un-Shakspeariau portions of Henry VIII. 
 
 Taking Mr Fleay's figures as given in p. 15 of the New 
 Shakspeare Soc. Trans, for 1874^ we obtain the following general 
 averages. 
 
 Double 
 Blank Verse. Endings. Proportion. 
 
 L. L. L. 579 one in 64^. 
 
 Rom. and Jul. 2111 118 one in less than 18 
 
 Hamlet 2490 508 one in less than 5 
 
 Gymbeline 2585 726 one in little more than S|-. 
 
 But Dr Abbott has pointed out {N. 8. Soc, ib. p. 76) that 
 though we may trace on the whole a steady increase in the use 
 of the feminine ending, as we pass from the earlier to the later 
 plays, yet such double endings are very unequally distributed 
 through the scenes of the same play. Thus he contrasts Rich. 
 II. Act I. So. 1, which he calls ' a spirited scene with a sort 
 of trumpet sound about it,' and in which there is free use of 
 the extra syllable (24 in 146 lines), with Act v. Sc. 5 containing 
 
 1 Eeprinted in bis Shakeipcare Manual, p. 135. 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 175 
 
 Richard's soliloquy in prison, where the extra syllable occurs 
 only once in 119 lines. And he thus states the occasions on 
 which it is used, 'in moments of passion and excitement, in 
 questions, in quarrel, seldom in quiet dialogue and narrative, 
 and seldom in any serious or pathetic passage.' The phrase 
 ' trumpet sound ' does not commend itself to mo as applicable 
 here, but otherwise Dr Abbott's remarks agree fairly with my 
 observations in Hamlet, except that I should add ' especially in 
 the light and airy conversation of polite society.' Thus to take 
 the extremes of the use of the feminine ending in Hamlet, we 
 find it most freely used in 
 
 IV. 5. 76 — 96. The King to the Queen; average almost 
 one in 2. 
 
 V. 2. 237 — 276. Dialogue between Hamlet and Laertes ; 
 average the same. 
 
 I. 3. 91 — 133. Polonius to Ophelia (omitting Ophelia's 
 replies) ; average one out of 2|. 
 
 The average is one in less than 3, in the King's speech to 
 the Ambassadors and Laertes (l. 2. 1 — 56), and in the King's 
 speech to Hamlet (i. 2. 87—117). 
 
 If we examine these scenes, we find that in the conversa- 
 tion between Hamlet and Laertes there is on both sides a 
 straining after excessive courtesy, partly because they are about 
 to enter into a contest of personal prowess, but even more from 
 the wish, on Hamlet's part, to atone for previous rudeness, and, 
 on the part of Laertes, to hide his murderous intention. By 
 the use of the feminine ending the poet endeavours to reproduce 
 the easy tone of ordinary life ; and this no doubt explains its 
 frequency in Fletcher, the poet of society. There is felt to be 
 something formal, stilted, high-flown, poetic, in the regular 
 iambic metre. Three of the other scenes contain speeches by 
 the King. Now the King, we know from Hamlet, is a ' smiling 
 villain'; he affects affability and ease; there is nothing strong 
 or straightforward in his character, but he carries his point by 
 cunning subtilty, ' with witchcraft of his wit.' The same expla- 
 nation will account for the prevalence of feminine rhythm in 
 the speech of the worldly-wise Polonius. 
 
176 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Consider now the opposite extreme. 
 
 I. 1. 112 — 125. Horatio's speech, average one in 14. 
 
 III. 4. 31 — 87. Hamlet's speech to his mother, one in 9. 
 „ 140—216 „ „ one in 6. 
 
 IV. 4. 82 — 66. Hamlet's soliloquy, one in 7. 
 III. 1. 66—88. „ „ one in 7. 
 
 I. 5. 10 — 91. Ghost's speech, one in less than 7. 
 
 II. 2. 473 — 540. Old play (The rngged Pyrrhus), one in 6^. 
 
 III. 3. 73 — 96. Hamlet (seeing his uncle praying), one in 5^. 
 
 36 — 71. King's soliloquy, one in 5. 
 
 Horatio's speech commencing 'A mote it is to trouble the 
 mind's eye,' is a piece of fine imaginative poetry, standing in 
 strong contrast with his preceding rapid business-like statement 
 about the claim of Fortinbras. In place of the rough, broken 
 rhythm of the former speech, we have here some four or five of 
 the most musically varied lines in Shakespeare, marked by slow 
 movement, long vowels and alliteration. It is only as Horatio 
 descends to earth again, that we have the double ending in 
 1. 124. In Hamlet's speech to his mother, he appears as a stern 
 preacher, obeying ,the command received from his murdered 
 father. Plainly there is no place here for ease and politeness. 
 The same may be said of the ghost's speech, only that it has an 
 added solemnity. The old play is necessarily regular and formal. 
 Soliloquies, if quietly meditative, or the outpouring of a pleasing 
 emotion, will naturally take the regular poetic form : if agitated , 
 or vehemently argumentative they will be irregular, marked by 
 the use of sudden pauses, feminine ending and trisyllabic feet, as 
 we see in i. 2. 129 — 160 ' that this too too solid flesh would 
 melt,' &c. This is remarkably shewn in the speech beginning 
 ' To be or not to be ', where we find five double endings in the 
 first 8 lines, these being perplexed and argumentative ; but in 
 the next 20 lines there is not a single feminine ending, as 
 these are merely the pathetic expression of a single current of 
 thought. Then in 1. 83 follow reflections of a more prosaic 
 turn, and we again have two double endings. It may be noticed 
 that in the soliloquies III. 3. 36 — 96, six of the twelve double 
 endings consist of the word heaven or prayers, which are hardly 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VEESE. 177 
 
 to be distinguislied from monosyllables. One other instance 
 may be quoted to illustrate Shakespeare's use of the feminine 
 ending. In i. 1. 165 Horatio says 
 
 So have [ I heard | and do | in part | believe | it. 
 But, look I , the morn | in rus|set man|tle clad | , 
 Walks o'er | the dew | of yon | high east|ward hill [ . 
 
 The 1st line is conversational, the two others imaginative with- 
 out passion, only with a joyful welcome of the calm, bright, 
 healthy dawn after the troubled, spectral night ; and we have a 
 corresponding change in the rhythm. 
 
 I think Dr Abbott goes too far in saying (S. ft § 455) that 
 the extra syllable is very rarely a monosyllable. No doubt it 
 is very rarely an ' emphatic monosyllable,' but pronouns such as 
 you, it, him, them, &c. are common enough, e.g. 
 
 I. 1. 104. So by I his fath|er lost | : and this 1 I take | it 
 cf. I. 1. 165, 172, 1. 5. 119, 121 ; 
 
 I. 2. 234. Nay ve|ry pale | . 
 
 And fixed | his eyes | upon | you 
 
 of. I. 3. 24, 95, 1. 5. 129, 138, 180, 183, 185 ; 
 
 I. 3. 57. And you | are stayed | for. There | , my bles|sing with | thee 
 I. 3. 103. Do you | believe | his ten|ders as | you call | them 
 
 cf. I. 4. 24 ; 
 I. 4. 39. Angels | and min|isters | of grace | defend | us 
 
 of. I. 5. 139 ; 
 
 I. 4. 84. By heaven | I'll make | a ghost | of him | that lets [ me 
 
 cf 11. 2. 125 ; 
 
 ' I. 4. 87. Let's fol|low ; 'tis | not me6t | thus to | obey | him 
 
 qf. I. 5.113, II. 1. 13,19,29; 
 
 II. 2. 143. This must | not be | and then | I pre|oepts gave | her. 
 We also find not in I. 1. 67 ; 
 
 In what I partic|ular thought | to work | I know | not. 
 M. M. 12 
 
178 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Sometimes the line ends with two superfluous syllables, more or 
 less slurred, e.g. 
 I. 2. 57. Have you | your fa|ther's leave? | What says |.Polo|niu8 
 119. I pray | thee stay | with us | ; go not | to Witltenberg 
 176. My lord | I came | to see | your fa|ther's fu|neral 
 n. 2. 459. The' un|nerved fa|ther falls | . Then sense|less I|lium 
 II. 2. 91. And ted|iousness | the limbs | and out|ward flour|ishes 
 II. 2. 70. To give | the assay | of arms | against | your maj|esty 
 
 cf. III. 1. 22, 
 II. 2. 539. What's He|cuba | to him | or he | to Hec|uba 
 
 (6) Superfluous syllable in tbe middle of the line (feminine 
 section or caesura). 
 
 I think Mr Ellis has succeeded in shewing that the assump- 
 tion of the ' section' is not essential to the scanning of any line ; 
 and the fact that there is so little trace of it in Surrey and 
 Marlowe is not in favour of Dr Guest's idea, that it was still 
 felt to be obligatory in Shakespeare's time. Shakespeare how- 
 ever would seem to have perceived the gain to the heroic rhythm, 
 which would arise from making more use of the caesura ; and I 
 think that the extra syllable which so often precedes the caesura 
 in his verse, must have been felt by him to be analogous to the 
 feminine ending. It is a difficult point to prove; but the 
 following facts are in accordance with such a supposition: 
 (1) the frequent use of a trochee in the 3rd or 4th foot, when 
 a pause has preceded, corresponding to the trocbee in the 1st 
 foot; (2) the large proportion of cases in which an unaccented 
 syllable preceding the caesura is non-effective, i.e. not needed 
 for the metre. In the first two scenes of Hamlet we have 46 
 lines with such a syllable, in 21 of which it is superfluous ; (3) 
 the fact that short or broken lines often end with a superfluous 
 syllable, which in them, at any rate, must be regarded as a 
 feminine ending, and the further fact that many of the lines, in 
 which the feminine caesura occurs, are really made up of two 
 broken lines, e.g. 
 
 'i. 1. 17. Who hath | relieved | you ? 
 
 Bernar[do hath | my place | 
 I. 2 160. Hail to | your lord|ship. 
 
 I'm glad I to see | you well | 
 
shakespeaee's blank verse. 179 
 
 I. 2. 167. I'm ve|ry glad | to see | you. 
 
 Good ev|en Sir | 
 V. 2. 332. To teU | my sto|ry. 
 
 What war] like noise | is this | . 
 
 In such lines it seems a little absurd to keep the un- 
 accented syllable in suspension, as it were, through a lengthened 
 pause, until the latter part of the anapaest is forthcoming. (4) 
 If we compare with the trisyllabic feet, which are produced by 
 treating the extra syllable as metrically effective, those tri- 
 syllabic feet which are unconnected with the caesura, we find 
 many more of the former; thus, in the first two scenes of 
 Hamlet, I find 16 of what, I may call, the true or independent 
 trisyllabic feet, and 21 of the apparent trisyllabic feet, which 
 make use of the extra syllable of the caesura. (5) Sometimes 
 we find two superfluous unaccented syllables before the middle 
 pause, which can only be made metrically efi'ective by changing 
 the line into an Alexandrine, as 
 
 I. 5. 162. A wor|thy pi|o»eer. Once more | remove | good friends | 
 II. 1. 112. I had I not quo|<ec? him : I feared | he did | but tri|fle 
 
 (c) True anapaests are found in all the feet ; dactyls rarely, 
 except in the 1st foot. 
 II. 1. 25. Ay, or drinkling, fenlcing, swearling, quarlrelling | 
 
 1 
 
 III. 1. 154. The obserVd | of all | obser|vers, quite | , quite down | 
 
 1 
 
 V. 1. 241. To o'ertop | old Pel|ion or ] the sky|ish head | 
 1 
 
 IV. 5. 13. Twere good | she were spojken with | ; for she | may strew | 
 
 1 
 
 II. 2. 554. Tweaks me I by the nose I , gives me | the lie | i' the throat I 
 
 2 0001 10 0100 1 
 
 I. 2. 93. Of implious stublbornness ; 'tis | unman|ly grief | 
 
 10 1 
 
 I. 2. 157. With such I dexterlity I to incea|tuous sheets | 
 
 00 10 1 
 
 I. 1. 86. Did slay I this Fortlinbras, who | by a seal'd | compact I 
 
 001001 01 
 
 I. 1. 114. A litltle ere I the mighltiest Jullius fell I 
 
 10 1 
 
 The graves I stood tenlantless | and the sheetled dead I 
 
 1 1200 00102 
 
 II. 1. 107. What, have I you given I him aniy hard words I of late | 
 
 1 00 1 0100 1 01 
 
 I. 1. 83. Thereto I prick'd on | by a I most em|ulate pride | 
 
 1 
 
 I. 2. 83. That can I denote 1 me trully : these I indeed seem I 
 
 2 
 
 12—2 
 
180 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 (or we might treat this as a case of feminine caesura and 
 divide the last two feet 
 
 these inldeed seem | ) 
 
 2 1 2 
 
 I. 4. 31. Carrying i I say | the stamp | of one | defect | 
 
 10 
 
 IV. 4. 40. Bestial I obliv|ion or | some cra|ven scru|ple 
 
 10 1 
 
 IV. 5. 13. Dangerous I conjeo|tures in | ill-breed|ing minds | 
 
 10 
 
 I. 5. 133. I'm sor|ry they | offend | you, hear|tily | ; 
 Yes, faith I , heartily I . 
 
 2 1 10 
 
 There's no | offence | my lord. 
 
 (d) Lines of six feet (Alexandrines) are very rare, except 
 when they are divided between two speakers. What seem to 
 be undivided Alexandrines are sometimes lines with two super- 
 fluous syllables, or they are possibly corrupt, or admit of other 
 explanations, as follows. 
 
 I. 2. 2. The mem|ory | be green | , and that I it ua | befit|ted. 
 
 I incline to omit that it with Steevens. It is a cumbrous 
 phrase, apparently inserted to facilitate the construction. 
 
 I. 3. 24. Whereof | he is | the head | . Then, if | he says | he loves | you 
 
 I think Pope is right in omitting the. 
 I. 5. 13. Are burnt | and purged | away | . But that | I am | forbid | 
 
 I should read I'm and make the 4th foot an anapaest. 
 
 I. 5. 187. God wil|ling, shall | not lack | . Let us | go in | toget|her 
 
 I think Hanmer is right in omitting together, which may 
 have been inserted from below. 
 
 II. 1. 57. Or then | , or then | , with such | , or such | , and, as | you say | 
 
 Pope omits the 2nd or then. I think it is better to consider 
 this a line of prose, like I 5, 176, 7 (As 'well, well, we know,' &c.) 
 
 II. 1. 112. I had I not quo|ted him | : I fear'd | he did | but tri|fle 
 
 And meant | to wreck | thee ; but | beshrew | my jeal|ousy | 
 
 The former line should, I think, be read with two super- 
 fluous syllables at the hemistich : in the latter I should omit 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S BLANK VERSE. 181 
 
 but, which is not wanted here, and may perhaps have slipt in 
 from the previous line. 
 
 II. 2. 564. Fie up|on't ! foh ! | About | , my brain | ! Hum, I | have heard ] 
 
 I have no doubt that the first three words at any rate should 
 be joined to the previous broken line. They continue in the 
 same strain of self-disgust; while a new start is taken with 
 ' About my brain/ which might well be preceded and followed 
 by a pause. 
 
 HI. 2. 373. Conta|gion to | this world | : now could | I driak | hot blood | 
 
 The Quarto of 1637 has the for this, which is both more natural 
 in itself, and has the further advantage of reducing the line to 
 the ordinary number of feet. 
 
 IV. 3. 7. But nev|er the | offence | . To bear | all smooth | and e|veu 
 
 Here we might take never as one syllable (ne'er), like ever and 
 over, but I see no objection to supposing that we have here two 
 broken lines, separated by a pause. 
 
 IV. 5. 79. For good | Polon|ius' death | ; and we | have done | but green|ly 
 
 I should omit and with Pope. The clause, which it in- 
 troduces, is not one of the series of sorrows named, but a 
 parenthetical regret, suggested by one of them, viz. the discon- 
 tent of the people. 
 
 IV. 5. 137. Of your | dear fa|ther's death | , is't writ | in your | revenge | 
 
 This seems more like a true Alexandrine than any other line 
 in the Play, but the word dear may easily have been inserted, 
 and perhaps it is more in harmony with the lofty tone assumed 
 by the king, to a.bstain from the use of any coaxing word, until 
 Laertes recedes from his personal threats. 
 
 IV. 7. 182. Unto j that el|ement | : but long | it could | not be | 
 
 Here I think we have two superfluous syllables at the he- 
 mistich. 
 
 I. 2. 90. That fa|ther lost | lost his | , and the | survi|vor bound | 
 
 Both metre and construction lead one to suspect error here, 
 but no satisfactory emendation has been proposed. 
 
182 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 V. 2. 68 
 
 — is't I not per|fect con|soience 
 To quit I him with | this arm | 2 And is't | not to | be damn'd | 
 
 I think Hanmer is right in omitting and. . If any word were 
 wanted, it should rather be nay. 
 
 B. Syllabic defect. 
 
 I do not know that I need add anything to what has been said 
 on Fragmentary Lines, except in reference to Mr Ellis's remark, 
 that it seems ludicrous to suppose a ' common section ' to be 
 intended to complete two broken lines. I do not of course 
 suppose it to be actually repeated, but the remembrance of 
 the rhythm to affect and, as it were, justify the following 
 rhythm. At any rate it seems to me a fact that, when we have 
 three broken lines in succession, the 2nd as a rule fits into the 
 1st, and the 3rd into the 2nd, so that, to the ear, three halves 
 seem to constitute two wholes. Thus in I. 2. 226 foil. I think 
 the effect to the ear is as follows : 
 
 Armed say | you? Armed | my lord | . From top | to toe | ? 
 
 [From top | to toe] My lord | from head | to foot | 
 
 Then saw | you not | his face | 1 0, yes | my lord | 
 
 [0, yes I my lord] he wore | his bea|ver up | . 
 
 What ; looked | he frown|ingly | ? A count|enance more | 
 
 In sor|row than | in an|ger. Pale | or red | 1 
 
 Thus arranged we see the reason for the rhythm of the last 
 three words, which are generally printed by themselves, as a 
 short line. Otherwise, to make them rhythmical, we should 
 have to treat pale as a monosyllabic first foot. Of the few 
 Defective Lines in Hamlet, one or two are plainly corrupt, as 
 
 III. 4. 169. And ei|ther a | the devil | or throw | him out | 
 
 IV. 1. 40. And what's | untime|ly done | a 
 
 and in others it is at any rate probable that a word has been 
 lost, as in 
 
 II. 1. 83. To speak | of hor|rors, | he comes | before | me 
 where Pope inserts tJius before he. 
 
 II. 1. 91. As he I would draw | it. | Long stayed | he so | 
 where Pope inserts time after long. 
 
Shakespeare's blank verse. 183 
 
 III. 3. 38. A broth|er's mur|der. | Pray can | I not | 
 
 Here Hanmer reads Pray, alas, I cannot, tut the pause after 
 murder may perhaps supply the place of a syllable. 
 
 IV. 4. 17. Truly | to speak | and | with, no | addit|ion 
 
 Pope improves both metre and construction by the insertion 
 of it after speah. 
 
 IV. 4 65. To hide | the slain 1 . O | from this \ time forth | 
 
 Pope inserts then after 0, but the exclamation may easily cover 
 the two syllables. 
 
 I. 3. 8. Forward | not per|manent | , sweet | not last|ing 
 
 Capell inserts hut after sweet. Possibly the pause and the 
 length of the word may be considered to make up for the 
 missing syllable. 
 
 I. 1. 50. Stay ! speak, speak ! I charge thee, speak ! 
 
 Here it would seem that each of the first three words stands 
 for a foot. 
 
 III. 4. 177. One word more, good lady. 
 
 What shall I do? 
 
 Here it is possible to get the proper number of feet by giving 
 two syllables either to word or more. 
 
 IV. 7. 60. Will you be ruled by me ? 
 
 Ay, my lord. 
 
 Walker inserts good before lord, but we may perhaps di- 
 syllabise a,y, as in iv. 3. 45. 
 
 For Eng|land. For Eng|land ? A|y Ham|let. Good \ 
 
 and 
 
 II. 1. 36. Wherefore | should you | do this | ? Ay | my lord | 
 
 Of Fragmentary Lines occurring at the beginning, middle, 
 or end of longer speeches, and not supplemented by other short 
 lines, I find 66, of which 3 consist of one syllable, as ' Swear'; 9 
 of two, as ' Mark you,' ' Yet I ' ; 8 of three, as ' Speak to me,' 
 ' I have sworn't,' ' a scullion ' ; 14 of four, as ' Last night of all ' ; 
 12 of five, as 'Thou know'st already'; 13 of six, as 'To hear 
 him so inclined ' ; 7 of seven, as 'What is the cause, Laertes V 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MODERN BLANK VERSE, 
 
 Tennyson and Browning. 
 
 We have seen (p. 14 foil.) that Dr Guest condemns the free- 
 dom of Milton's versification as licentious, and that Dr Abbott 
 to some extent shares his view in so far as regards Milton's use 
 of trochees and trisyllabic feet (p. 38 foil.). It may be well 
 therefore to begin with an analysis of the Miltonic rhythm in 
 order to appreciate better the license practised by the poets of 
 our own time, both in respect of pauses and of the substitution 
 of other feet in place of the iamb. I have accordingly taken 
 sections of 200 lines each from the poems of Milton, Tennyson 
 and Browning, with a view to ascertain the comparative fre- 
 quency of the occurrence of such irregularities. Though it is 
 probable that no two persons would agree precisely as to the 
 pauses and the feet to be found in a passage of some length, 
 yet for the purpose of comparison, this will not make very much 
 difference. As a rule I have followed the printed stopping, 
 except when it appeared to me that this had reference rather to 
 the grammatical construction than to the actual reading of the 
 verse. 
 
 The passages selected are Milton (a) Par. Reg. I 1 — 200, 
 (;S) ib. 201 — 400; Tennyson Oenone, Gardener's Daughter, 
 
MODERN BLANK VEESE. 185 
 
 Enoch Arden, Lucretius, Gareth, Balin, Sisters, Sir John Old- 
 castle; Browning Aristophanes, Ring and Book iv. I have 
 analyzed the 1st at length, and contented myself with tabulating 
 the results of the others. 
 
 Par. Reg. 1 1—200. 
 
 Pauses. Lines with final pause only, 53, or a little over 
 1 in 4. 
 
 Lines with internal pause only, 71, or a little over 
 1 in 3. 
 
 Lines without any pause, 30, or a little over 1 in 7. 
 
 Pause after 1st syllable, 1 in 200'. 
 
 after IJ syllables^ 2 in 200 or 1 in 100. 
 after 2 „ ', 10, or 1 in 20. 
 after 3 „ 10, or 1 in 20. 
 after 4 „ 28, or 1 in about 7. 
 after 5 „ 15, or 1 in 1.3|. 
 after 6 „ 38, or 1 in about 5{. 
 after 7 „ 14, or 1 in about 14 J. 
 after 8 „ 12, or 1 in 16|. 
 after 9 „ 1 in 200. 
 Feminine Ending*. 12, or 1 in 16|. 
 
 Substitution of other feet in place of the iamb. 
 
 Pyrrhic. 58 out of 200, or 1 in a little over 3| lines. 
 Spondee. 69, or 1 in less than 3. 
 Trochee. 48, or 1 in 4yV 
 
 (of which 12 are not initial, or 1 in 16|). 
 Anapaest. 42, or 1 in a little over 5. 
 Dactyl. 2, or 1 in 100. 
 
 1 Of course a line with two or more throughout, the even numbers denote 
 
 internal pauses is reckoned more than the end, the odd the middle of a foot, 
 
 once in this list. the figures being suited to the pure 
 
 ,, 2 By this I mean pause after initial iambic line, 
 
 trochee. ' In reckoning feminine endings and 
 
 ' By this I mean a pause after the trisyllabic feet I have given the full 
 
 1st foot when it is iamb, spondee, number of syllables to doubtful words, 
 
 pyrrhic, dactyl or anapaest ; and so, such as power, heaven. 
 
186 
 
 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 
 Milton 
 
 Tennyson 
 
 Browning! 
 
 a 
 
 P 
 
 1 
 
 
 5 
 
 ■^ 
 
 1 
 » 
 
 M 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 Pauses 
 Final only- 
 
 53 
 
 39 
 
 53 
 
 51 
 
 75 
 
 49 
 
 48 
 
 * 
 
 
 42 
 
 53 
 
 49 
 
 Internal only 
 
 71 
 
 77 
 
 65 
 
 59 
 
 45 
 
 75 
 
 57 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 45 
 
 45 
 
 None 
 
 80 
 
 19 
 
 17 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 29 
 
 29 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 19 
 
 35 
 
 After 1st syU. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 13 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 7 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 5 
 
 9 
 
 11 
 
 13 
 
 14 
 
 18 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 3 
 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 14 
 
 14 
 
 13 
 
 22 
 
 12 
 
 16 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 27 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 28 
 
 21 
 
 23 
 
 40 
 
 21 
 
 81 
 
 39 
 
 34 
 
 29 
 
 50 
 
 27 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 16 
 
 12 
 
 44 
 
 15 
 
 19 
 
 22 
 
 25 
 
 12 
 
 26 
 
 20 
 
 30 
 
 25 
 
 6 
 
 38 
 
 45 
 
 26 
 
 32 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 30 
 
 29 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 21 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 20 
 
 19 
 
 26 
 
 31 
 
 28 
 
 22 
 
 14 
 
 27 
 
 18 
 
 32 
 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 3 
 
 29 
 
 11 
 
 17 
 
 22 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 6 
 
 16 
 
 7 
 
 14 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 2 
 
 Feminine ending 
 
 12 
 
 10 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 5 
 
 13 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 151 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 Sulstitution 
 Pyrrhic 
 
 58 
 
 49 
 
 66 
 
 48 
 
 66 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 31 
 
 
 Spondee 
 
 69 
 
 75 
 
 45 
 
 61 
 
 51 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 80 
 
 
 Troohee 
 (initial) 
 
 36 
 
 33 
 
 48 
 
 33 
 
 46 
 
 37 
 
 26 
 
 44 
 
 30 
 
 34 
 
 65 
 
 
 (not initial) 
 
 12 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 11 
 
 7 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 12 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 Anapaest 
 
 42 
 
 30 
 
 25 
 
 15 
 
 21 
 
 45 
 
 33 
 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 48 
 
 27 
 
 88 
 
 Dactyl 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 * I have left blanks where I thought it was unimportant to ascertain the 
 numbers. 
 
 + Two of which are double, having two superfluous syllables. 
 
MODEEN BLANK VEESE. 187 
 
 Though the precediBg table shows that the poets are far 
 from practising a monotonous uniformity, yet I think we may 
 gather from it that Tennyson and Browning are not more ob- 
 servant of the a-priori laws of the metrists than Milton is. 
 They have on the whole more lines with final, but without 
 internal pause; somewhat fewer with internal, but without 
 final pause; about the same without any pause at all. As 
 to the forbidden internal pauses, they use the pause after 
 the 1st, 3rd, and 9th syllables more frequently than Milton, 
 and do not differ much from him in their use of the pause 
 after 1^, 2, 8. With regard to the middle pauses, those which 
 divide the feet, coming after the 5th or 7th syllable, are 
 more favoured by the moderns than by Milton, whose com- 
 monest pause is after the 6th syllable, and then longo intervallb 
 after the 4th. In Oenone the pause after the 5th syllable pre- 
 vails, but taking all the passages together the pause after the 
 4th seems to be Tennyson's favourite, while Browning seems to 
 prefer the 6th and 7th. This last also abounds in Swinburne. 
 In his Erechtheus it comes twice as often as any other pause. 
 Feminine ending is very rare in Browning, b,ut in Tennyson 
 is hardly less frequent than in Milton. Nor is there any 
 marked difference as regards substitution of feet, except that 
 the non-initial trochee is more common in Milton than in 
 the others. In two passages of Tennyson the anapaest is 
 found more often than in Milton ; in one passage of Browning 
 it occurs more than twice as often. 
 
 My reason for selecting Tennyson and Browning as repre- 
 sentatives of Modern English verse is not merely that they 
 stand highest in general estimation at the present time, but 
 that they are so sharply contrasted, the one naturally inclining 
 to a strong and masculine realism, apparently careless of sound, 
 and only too happy to startle and shock and puzzle his readers ; 
 the other richly ornate, with an almost feminine refinement, 
 and a natural delight in 'linked sweetness long drawn out,' 
 'deep-chested music, hollow oes and aes,' such as we find ih 
 the Morte d' Arthur and Oenone. It is thus a matter of great 
 interest to observe the different ways in which novelty of 
 rhythm is ■ sought after by each. One which seems to bo 
 
188 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 peculiarly Tennysonian is the opposition of the metrical to 
 the verbal division, by which I mean making the words end 
 in the middle of the feet, as in 
 
 With ro|sy slen|der fin|gers back|ward drew | . 
 We might describe this as trochaic or feminine rhythm in 
 opposition to the markedly iambic or masculine rhythm of 
 
 Puts forth I an arm | and creeps | from pine | to pine | . 
 Other variations from the normal line will be seen in the lines 
 cited below. It will be noticed that examples of the double 
 trochee, which was condemned as a monstrosity in Milton, are 
 to be found occasionally even in Tennyson and are common 
 enough in Browning. 
 Oareth. His horse i thereon I stumbled I ay, for I I saw | it. 
 
 1 ' 1 ' 2 ' 1 ' ' 1 ' 
 
 What ! shall I the shield I of Mark I stand almong these 1 I 
 
 2 1 022 002 
 
 — stood 
 Beauti|ful a|mong lights, I and waiving to I him 
 
 20000 1 101 
 
 White hands and courtesy — 
 Arden. The lit|tle in|noc6nt soul I flitted I away. I 
 
 10100 1 20 01 
 
 DoT^^n at I the far I end of I an avlenue, I 
 
 1 01 20 0101 
 
 Just where I the prone I edge of I the wood I began. I 
 
 1 1 20 101 
 
 Take your i own time, 1 Annie, I take your I own time. I 
 
 1 2 1 10 102 1 
 
 (a line which, according to my reading, is made up of five 
 trochees.) 
 
 'Then for I God's sake', I he anslwered, 'both I our sakes'. I 
 
 10 2 010 201 
 
 He, not I for his I own self I caring, I but her I 
 
 11 01 2 1 2002 
 
 Balin. I thought I the great I tower would I crash down I on both I 
 
 01 01 2 1 101 
 
 Princess. Strove to I buffet I to land I in vain. 1 A tree I . 
 
 1 2001 01 01 
 
 Palpiltated, I her hand I shook, and I we heard I . 
 
 2010 1 2 00 1 
 
 Down the I low turlret stairs, I palpiltating I 
 1 ' 1 2 'o 1 ' ' 2 'i 0^ ' 
 
 (The expressive rhythm of the last line is destroyed by the 
 
 scansion suggested in English Lessons § 138 
 
 Down the | low tur|ret sta|irs pal|pita|ting.) 
 Balin. Rolling | back up|on Ba|lin crushed | the man | . 
 
MODERN BLANK VERSE. 189^ 
 
 Examples of trisyllabic substitution. 
 Gareth. Camelot, I a cilty of shadlbwy pallaces. I 
 
 200 0100 1 00 101 
 
 Southward I they set I their falces. The I birds made I 
 
 2 01 010 02 1 
 
 Melody I on branch I and mellody in I mid air. | 
 
 200 1 2000 11 
 
 Princess. Myriads I of rivlnlets hurlrying thro' I the lawn. | 
 
 200 0100 100 1 1 
 
 Fluotualted as flowlers in storm, I some red I some pale I 
 
 20100100 1 1 2 1 2 
 
 Harold. Sanguelac, I Sanguelac, I the arlrow, the arlrow ! away ! I 
 
 200 200 010 010 01 
 
 Oareth. And there I were none I but few I goodlier I than he. 1 
 
 1 01 200 01 
 
 Oenone. And lisltened, the I fuU-flowling rivler of speech. [ 
 
 010 110200 1 
 
 Rests like I a shadlow, and I the cicalla sleeps. I 
 
 2 0100 0010 1 
 
 Oareth. The hoof I of his horse I slipt in I the stream, I the stream I 
 
 01001 200 1 01 
 
 Descended — 
 Arden. Then, aflter a I long tumlble about I the Cape I 
 
 1100 1 2001 1 
 
 Harold v. 2. — We should have a hand 
 
 To grasp ( the world | with, and ] a foot | to stamp | it 
 Flat. Praise I the Saints. I It is o|ver. No I more blood. I 
 
 2 1 01 00101 1 
 
 Gareth. Bearing I all down I iu thy I preciplitanoy. I 
 
 10 1 1 00 01001 
 
 A yet I warm corpse I and yet I unbur|iable. | 
 
 01 1 1 01 0100 1 
 
 For thou I hast evler anslwered cour|teously. I 
 
 1 0101 1001 
 
 Imming|led with | heaven's az|ure wa|veringly | 
 
 010 1 101001 
 
 Guinevere. To whom I the litltle novlice garlrulously I 
 
 10 10 10 1001 
 
 (Tennyson has a peculiar affection for a final anapaest forming 
 part of a word of four or more syllables.) 
 
 Gareth. How he I went down, I said Ga|reth, as | a false knight I 
 
 201 2 010 101 2 
 
 (If this' is the proper scansion, it is a remarkable instance of an 
 anapaest in iambic metre with an accent on the 2nd syllable. 
 In anapaestic metre the accent is often overridden. See p. 117.) 
 
 At times I the sumlmit of | the high cit|y flashed I 
 
 1 01000010 2 
 
190 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 In tte lines which follow I think it must be admitted that 
 the trisyllabic feet are more naturally described as tribrachs 
 than as anapaests. 
 
 Oareth. Paralbles ! Hear I a parlable of | the knave. | 
 
 200 1 01000 1 
 
 Down the I long avienues of I a boundlless wood | 
 
 1 0110000 1 1 
 
 Of thine I obeldience and I thy love | to me | 
 
 1 0100 1 01 
 
 Thou art I the kinglliest of I all kitlohen-knaves | 
 
 1 00 1000 110 1 
 
 Oenone. And shoullder ; from I the vi|olet her | light foot ( 
 
 10 1 01000 1 1 
 
 The feminine ending very often consists of a monosyllable 
 
 Oareth. But where|fore would | ye men | should won|der at | you 
 Oenone. Crouoh'd faw|ning in | the weed. | Most lov|ing is | she? 
 
 sometimes it is a tetrasyllable as 
 
 Have all | his pret|ty young | ones ed|uca|ted. 
 In sai|lor fash|ion rough|ly ser[moni|zing. 
 
 It is rare to have two superfluous syllables at the end of the 
 line, as 
 
 Princess. And lit|tle-foot|ed Chi|na, touched | on Ma|homet. 
 
 But love I and na|ture, these \ are two | more ter|rible. 
 
 We find an Alexandrine in Harold 
 
 From child | to child, | from Pope | to Pope, | from age | to age. | 
 
 It has been mentioned that modern poets are fond of placing 
 the pause after the uneven syllables. When the preceding 
 syllable is accented, this very much changes the character of 
 the metre, and in Mr and Mrs Browning has the effect at times 
 of a sharp discord, not always resolved by the succeeding 
 harmony. I give here specimens from Tennyson, italicizing the 
 irregular accent. 
 
 Princess. Till the I sun drop 1 dead, from I the signs. I Her voice I 
 
 0021 20 01 01 
 
 Choked, and I her forelhead sank I upon I her hands. 1 
 
 2 010 1 010 1 
 
 Blackened I about I us, bats I wheeled, and I owls whooped. I 
 
 200102 1 2 1 
 
 Oareth. The Laldy of I the Lake I stood: all I her dress I 
 
 01000 1 2 101 
 
MODERN BLANK VEHSE. 191 
 
 Wept from I her sides, I as waiter flowling away. | 
 
 2 1 0101001 
 
 A star I shot: 'Lo' I , said Galreth, 'the I foe falls'. I 
 
 012 1 10 021 
 
 An owl I whoopt : ' Hark I the vicltor pealHng there.' | 
 
 01 2 1 01010 1 
 
 Guinevere. Clung to I the dead I earth, and I the land i was still. | 
 
 2002 100101 
 
 One reason for the irregularity shown in the lines I have 
 quoted, is doubtless the simple love of novelty and variety ; but 
 no attentive reader can have failed to observe that in most 
 instances there is a special appropriateness of the rhythm to 
 the thought, and that the expressiveness of the rhythm is often 
 much assisted by the selection of vowel and consonant sounds, 
 as in 
 
 Princess. — the river sloped 
 
 To plunge I in catlaract shat|tering on | black blocks 1 
 
 2 0200 2000 2 2 
 
 A breadth of thunder — 
 
 Morte cSArthw. Dry clashed | his har|ness in | the i|cy caves | 
 And bar|ren chas|ms, and all | to left | and right | 
 The bare | black cHflF | clanged round | him, as | he based | 
 His feet | on juts | of sUplpery crag, | that rang | 
 Sharp-sniit|ten with | the dint | of arm|ed heels: | 
 And on | a sud|den, lo ! | the lev|el lake, | 
 And the | long glo|ries of | the win|ter moon. | 
 
 Oareth. Her hand | dwelt Ungleringlly on I the latch. I 
 
 1 1 20100 1 
 
 Linger I with vaclillalting obe|dience | 
 
 20 2010 0101 
 
 Princess. — the drum 
 
 Beat ; merlrily blowling shrilled | the mar|tial fife, | 
 
 2 10 10 2 01001 
 
 And, in I the blast I and bray I of the I long horn I 
 
 010 10 1 00 1 1 
 
 And serlpent-throalted buglle, unldulalted 
 
 10 10 10 201 
 
 The banner — 
 
 — as when a boat 
 Tacks, and I the slacklened sail I flaps, all I her voice I 
 
 200 10 1 2 1 1 
 
 Faltering I and flutltering in I her throat, I she cried 
 
 1000 1000 1 1 
 
 My brother — 
 
 Sometimes the effect of the line, as read, though not the metre 
 itself, might be more exactly given by employing the classical 
 terms for compound metres. Thus 
 
192 ON ENGLISH METEE. 
 
 Guinevere. Ready I to spring : I waiting I a chance : | for this [ - 
 
 1001 10 1 01 
 
 might be described as made up of two choriambs and an iamb 
 
 (— V ^-' — I — ^ ^ ^ I ^—j. 
 
 Arden. The dead 1 weight of I the dead I leaf bore I it down | 
 
 1200 1 12 01 
 
 bacchius, ionic a minore, cretic (•^ — | v^ v^ — | - ^ -). 
 Then down I the long I street havling slowlly stollen 
 
 1 101 1 10 101 
 
 spondee, bacchius, three trochees ( — | ^ — | - v^ | - .^ I - >^)- 
 
 And glorlies of I the broad I belt of 1 the world I 
 1000 1 20 _o 1 
 
 amphibrach, ionic a minore, anapaest (^ - v^ | <-> v^ — | « v^ — ). 
 
 Oenone. A fire I dances I before I her, and I a sound | 
 
 0210 01 01 
 
 iamb, trochee, amphibrach, anapaest (v^ - | - w | w - ^ | ^ « -). 
 
 The only other point which needs illustration is the un- 
 stopped line, of which the following may be taken as examples. 
 
 Ouinevere. And saw the queen who sat between her best 
 
 Enid, and lissome Vivien, of her court 
 
 The wiliest — 
 Gwreth. — what stick ye round 
 
 The pasty? 
 Sisters. — I heard 
 
 Wheels, and a noise of welcome at the doors. 
 
 I proceed to give examples of similar irregularities from 
 Browning. 
 
 Ring and Booh. 
 
 IV. 180. Tracked her I home to I her house-ltop, nolted too I 
 
 1 100 1 0101 
 
 IV. 830. Help a I case the I Arohbishlop woiild I not help I 
 
 2010 0101 01 
 
 868. Bless the I fools ! and I 'tis just I this way I they are blessed I 
 
 20 2 01 11 00 1 
 
 VI. 942. God and 1 man, and I what dulty I I owe both I 
 
 20 20 010112 
 
 VI. 1048. Hating I lies, let I not her I believe i a lie I 
 
 20 2 101 02 01 
 
 VI. 1443. Matultinal, I busy I with book I so soon I 
 
 1010 10 1 1 
 
 VI. 1603. Leap to | life of | the pale I elecltric sword I 
 
 2 200 1 010 1 
 
MODERN BLANK VERSE. 193 
 
 VI. 1643. Noted | down in | the book | there, turn | and see I 
 
 10 1001 1 2 01 
 
 VI. 1915. One by I one at I all honlest forms I of life I 
 
 20 20100 1 01 
 
 VI. 1952. Foes or I friends, but I indis|solublly bound | 
 
 20 2 01010 1 
 
 VI. 2078. She and | I are | mere stranlgers now : | but priests | 
 
 2020 201 1 
 
 Should study passion — 
 IV. 36. One calls I the square I round, t'othler the I round square I 
 
 1102 2 100 2 2 
 
 IV. 303. It all I comes of I God givling her I a child I 
 
 01 1 1 10 001 
 
 IV. 307. Why, thou I exact I prince, is I it a pearl I or no ? I 
 
 1 01 1 100 101 
 
 IV. 869. And the I world wags I still, beloause fools I are sure I 
 
 00 2 1 101 201 
 
 VI. 917. Would that | prove the I first lyling tale I was true? | 
 
 1 2 0110101 
 
 VI. 1319. That I I liked, that I was the I best thing I she said I 
 
 20 2 2 001 1 01 
 
 VI. 1642. I heard I charge, and I bore quesltion and I told tale I 
 
 012 1100 11 
 
 VI. 1876. And silk | mask in | the pock|et of | the gown | 
 
 1 100 1000 1 
 
 IV. 880. With that I fine can|dour on|ly forthlcoming | 
 
 1 22010120 
 
 VI. 820. And the way I to end I dreams is I to break I them, stand, I 
 
 00102 1001 2 
 
 Walk, go: I then help I me to I stand, walk I and go. I 
 
 22 12002 1 01 
 
 VI. 1244. — Much more if stranger men 
 
 Laugh or I frown, — just I as that I were much 1 to bear I 
 
 101 101 0101 
 
 VI. 1859. — I saved his wife 
 
 Against I law : algainst law I he slays I her now I 
 
 01 201 2 1101 
 
 VI. 427. Hallo, I there's Guildo, the I black, mean, I and small 1 
 
 11 1 
 
 VI. 481. —'Lent 
 
 Ended,' I I told I friends 'I I shall go | to Rome' | 
 
 1001 1 10101 
 
 VI. 5. And know I it again. I Answer I you 1 Then I that means I 
 
 1001 10 1 1 
 
 VI. 8. Fronting I you same I three in I this verly room I 
 
 100 1 1 01 101 
 
 VI. 12. Laughter, I no levlity, nothling indeclorous, lords I 
 
 101 100 1 0100 1 
 
 (We have the same pronunciation of ' indecorous' in 
 
 Arist. 135. More de|cent yet | indeo|orous | enough | .) 
 
 VI. 136. In good | part. Betlter late I than nevler, law ! I 
 
 01 1 101 0101 
 
 VI. 185. In the I way he | called love. | He is the I fool there I 
 
 10 02 1 -1 200 2 1 
 
 M. M. 13 
 
194 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 Ti. 223. Oldest | now, greatlest once, | in my | birth-town | 
 
 20 1 201 00 2 1 
 
 Arez|zo, I reclognize | no ejqual there. | 
 
 10 1 
 
 VI. 383. Heads that I wag, eyes I that twink|le mod|ified mirth | 
 
 1 01 1 10100 1 
 
 VI. 92. I held | so; you | deoi|ded oth|erwise, | 
 
 Saw no I such per|il, there|fore no | such need | 
 
 To stop I song, loos|en flower | and leave I path : Law, | 
 
 01 1101 01 1 2 
 
 Law was | aware | and watch|ing — 
 VI. 1786. For a wink | of the owl-|eyes of | you. How | miss then | 
 
 001 001110 1 2 
 
 VI. 1800. r the quaglmire of | his own | tricks, cheats, | and lies | 
 
 0010001 2 1 01 
 
 VI. 120. Do I speak | ambig|uously ? | the glo|ry, I say, I 
 
 00 1 01001 2001 
 
 And the beaulty, I say, I and splenldour, still I say I, | 
 
 002001 2 1 01 
 
 Who, a I priest, trained I to live I my whole I life long I 
 
 102 1 010111 
 
 On beaujty and splen|dour, sole|ly at | their source, | 
 God — have I thus recognized my food — ■ 
 
 2 11 
 
 Sometimes the effect to the ear might be indicated, as 
 before, by a Reference to the more complex classical measures, 
 e.g. 
 
 IV. 216. Lies to I God, lies ] to man, | every I way hes | 
 
 20 1201 10 02 
 
 cretic, cretic, dactyl, long syllable, (-w- [ -v^-| -w^ | -). 
 VI. 1783. You blind | guides, who i must needs 1 lead eyes I that see I 
 
 01 10011101 
 
 bacchius, ionic a minore, cretic (w — | v^o — | -v^— ). 
 
 VI. 1083. — Some paces thence 
 
 An inn I stands; cross I to it; I I shall I be there I 
 
 01 1 1 00 100 1 
 
 bacchius, dactyl, choriamb (v^ — | -v.-w | -y^^-). 
 
 The extreme harshness of many of these lines is almost a 
 match for anything in Surrey, only what in Surrey is helpless- 
 ness seems the perversity of strength in Browning. The nearest 
 approach to it in any modern verse is, I think, to be found in 
 Aurora Leigh. The quotations are from the 2nd edition, 1857. 
 
 p. 16. Partic|ular worth ] and gen|eral misslionariness I 
 
 0100 1 100 1 001 
 
MODERN BLANK VERSE. 195 
 
 (The 
 
 Srd syllable 
 
 in the last word is slurred.) 
 
 
 
 
 p. 25. 
 
 As a 
 
 1 
 
 1 soul from 1 the bod|y, out | of doors | 
 
 2 00 101 1 
 
 
 
 
 p. 27. 
 
 You 
 1 
 
 olap 1 hands — ' a | fair day ' — | you cheer | 
 
 2 1 2 1 1 
 
 him 
 
 
 
 on 
 1 
 
 
 p. 29. 
 
 
 — mount 
 
 
 
 
 Step by 1 step. Sight | goes fast|er; that 1 still 
 
 10 1 2 0101 1 
 
 ray | 
 
 
 
 
 Goes 
 
 straight — 
 
 
 
 But though the Aristophanic vein in Browning is continually- 
 leading him to trample under foot the dignity of verse and to 
 shock the uninitiated reader by colloquial familiarities, "thumps 
 upon the back," such as the poet Cowper resented ; yet no one 
 can be more impressive than he is when he surrenders himself 
 to the pure spirit of poetry, and flows onwards in a stream of 
 glorious music, such as that in which Balaustion pictures Athens 
 overwhelmed by an advance of the sea {Aristophanes' Apology, 
 p. 2). 
 
 What if thy watery plural vastitude, 
 
 Boiling unanimous advance, had rushed, 
 
 Might upon might, a moment, — stood, one stare, 
 
 Sea-face to city-face, thy glaucous wave 
 
 Glassing that marbled last magnificence, — 
 
 Till fate's pale tremulous foam-flower tipped the grey, 
 
 And when wave broke and overswarmed and, sucked 
 
 To bounds back, multitudinously ceased. 
 
 And land again breathed unconfused with sea, 
 
 Attik6 was, Athenai was not now ! 
 
 And a little below on the hope of immortality : 
 
 Why should despair be? Since, distinct above 
 Man's wickedness and foUy, flies the wind 
 And floats the cloud, free transport for our soul 
 Out of its fleshly durance dim and low, — 
 Since disembodied soul anticipates 
 (Thought-borne as now, in rapturous unrestraint) 
 Above all crowding, crystal silentness, 
 Above all noise, a silver solitude : — 
 * * * * 
 
 nothing doubt, Philemon ! Greed and strife, 
 Hatred and cark and care, what place have they 
 In yon blue liberality of heaven ? 
 
 13—2 
 
196 ON ENGLISH METRE. 
 
 I hardly know whether it is fancy or not, but to me there is 
 no poetry which has such an instantaneous solemnizing power 
 as that of Browning. We seem to be in the company of some 
 rough rollicking Silenus, and all of a sudden the spirit descends 
 upon him, the tone of his voice changes, and he pours out 
 strains of sublimest prophecy. To use his own figure, a sudden 
 breeze disperses the smoky haze of the crowded city, and in 
 a moment we are conscious of the ' crystal silentness ' of snow- 
 crowned Alps towering over our heads. I will close with the 
 concluding lines of a poem which has always seemed to me 
 to have this effect in a remarkable degree, The strange expe- 
 rience of Karshish, the Arab physician. 
 
 The very God ! think Abib ; dost thou think ? 
 
 So the All-great were the All-loving too, 
 
 So, through the thunder, comes a human voice 
 
 Saying, '0 heart I made, a heart beats here: 
 
 Face, My hands fashioned, see it in Myself. 
 
 Thou hast no power, nor ma/st conceive of Mine ; 
 
 But love I gave thee, with Myself to love, 
 
 And thou must love Me, who have died for thee.' 
 
POSTSCKIPT. 
 
 Zarncke on the 5-foot iambic in German poetry. 
 
 I HOPED to have been able to add something on modern 
 trisyllabic metre, the English hexameter, Tennyson's use of 
 the metre of In Memoriam and other topics, but want of leisure 
 compels me to stop here. Perhaps I have done enough for my 
 immediate purpose, which was to point out defects in our 
 present metrical systems and to give illustrations of what 
 seemed to me a truer and more natural system, not of course to 
 attempt to exhaust an inexhaustible subject. It may however 
 be of interest to some of my readers if I insert here a short 
 abstract of Zarncke's tract on the five-foot iambic, referred to 
 by Prof. Paul Meyer (p. 48 above). The essay is now out of 
 print, and, as far as I know, the copy which has come into my 
 hands, since the preceding chapters were written, is the only 
 one to be seen in England. At any rate it is not in the British 
 Museum or in the Cambridge University Library. It is of 
 importance as giving the views of one of the most competent of 
 German metrists on the origin of the heroic line, together with 
 a specimen of his metrical analysis as applied to the poetry of 
 Lessing and Schiller. The German title adds vmd Goethe, but 
 the metre of the last is only just touched on in the concluding 
 pages (88—93). 
 
 Zarncke begins by lamenting the indifference shown by 
 German scholars in regard to the metres employed by their 
 greatest poets. Germans have done much to illustrate the 
 metres of the ancients, but Koberstein, he says, is almost the 
 only historian of literature, who has paid any attention to their 
 
198 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 own verse. To judge aright of the blank verse of Lessing, 
 Schiller and Goethe we must have some knowledge of the 
 previous history of the 5-foot iambic. The earliest specimen of 
 this is a Proven9al poem on Boethius belonging to the 1st half 
 of the 10th century. We have no ground for tracing the 
 metre back either to the Greek 5-foot iambic or 5-foot trochaic 
 with anacrusis, nor to the Latin hendecasyllabic, which is quite 
 opposed to it in rhythm. We can say no more of it than that 
 it was in all probability the ordinary metre of the Romance 
 epic and spread from France into other countries^. The best 
 account of it is that by Diez in his Altrom. Sprcwhdenkmalen, 
 Bonn 1846. The oldest form has always the masculine ending, 
 the caesura after the 2nd foot, and a decided pause both at the 
 caesura and at the end of the line. Very frequently the caesura 
 is feminine (i.e. the 1st section ends with a superfluous syllable) 
 and the initial unaccented syllable of the 2nd section is omitted. 
 Thus we obtain the following scheme ^ — v^-(v.')||(v./)-v./ — v^- 
 giving rise to four different kinds of verse, according as the 
 caesura is masculine or feminine, and the 2nd section complete 
 or truncated''. 
 
 EnfAnts I en dies || fordn | omd | fell6 | 
 Qu'el 6|ra o6ms || A m61t | onrdz | e rfx | 
 Nos j6|ve 6m|iie || quandiiis | que n6s | est&m | 
 Donz fd I Bod|cis || A c6rps | ag b6 | e pr6 | 
 
 In the Alexius and Song of Roland, dating from the 11th 
 century, we meet with examples of feminine ending, as 
 
 Paitds I la gu&|re || cum v6s | I'avdz | empri|se 
 
 though this is rarely found in conjunction with feminine caesura 
 or sectional truncation, sufiScient variety being produced by the 
 superfluous syllable at the end. 
 
 In other poems of the same date we find the caesura, 
 masculine and feminine, after the 3rd foot. From about the 
 middle of the 12th century, the 5-foot verse gave place to the 
 4-foot and 6-foot (Alexandrine), but was still retained for lyric 
 poetry, undergoing however two changes : (1) the caesura, which 
 
 ' See however my preface, p. viii. 
 
 " For the sake of brevity I have used here my own symbols and terminology. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 199 
 
 occurs regularly after the 4tli syllable, was treated simply as a 
 metrical, not a logical pause, (2) the preceding accent was often 
 thrown back or inverted, making the 2nd foot a trochee, as 
 
 Bona I d6miia || per cui | plane e ] sospir | 
 
 Diez calls this the 'lyrical' caesura, in contrast to the earlier 
 ' epic ' caesura. 
 
 Later on, all the accents, except the last, became liable to 
 inversion, as 
 
 B^lha I ddmna || vdlham | v6atra | val6rs | 
 
 thus giving the following scheme 
 
 From 1500 the feminine caesura disappears altogether owing 
 to the growing weakness of the final e. The more regular form 
 of the 5-foot iambic became known as the vers commun and was 
 employed by Ronsard for epic and by Jodelle for tragedy. By 
 the end of the 16th century, however, there was a reaction in 
 favour of the Alexandrine, the stiff monotony of the rhyming 
 5-foot with its fixed pauses after the 4th and 10th syllables 
 being felt to be unsuitable for the more animated styles of 
 poetry \ 
 
 The Italian hendecasyllabic metre had been developed out 
 of the Proven9al lyric poetry long before it was made famous by 
 Dante. It differs from the French in the constant feminine 
 ending (a), the freedom of the caesura which may be either 
 masculine or feminine, and either after the 2nd or 3rd foot (6), 
 the use of enjambement, i.e. the absence of a final pause, so as 
 to allow one verse to run on into another (c), the transposition of 
 the accent in any foot except the last, but especially in the 4th 
 foot (d), as 
 
 Le Don|ne i | Cavalier || 1' clrme | gli amo|re 
 
 This freedom of rhythm is accompanied by greater freedom 
 in the rhyme, so as to connect together not merely two con- 
 secutive lines but whole stanzas. 
 
 ' See Kbert Entwicklungsgeschich'.e der franzosischen Tragodie, Gotha 1856. 
 
200 POSTSCEIPT. 
 
 In England the 5-foot iambic has played a more important 
 part than in any other country. Introduced probably by Chaucer 
 from France at the beginning of the 15th century, by the 
 middle of the 16th it succeeded in throwing off the fetters of 
 rhyme, and became the blank verse of the English drama and 
 epic. The use of the feminine ending and of transposition of 
 accent was however more restricted than in Italy. 
 
 In Germany we find examples of the 5-foot iambic closing 
 a four-foot stanza as early as the 12th century'. It was pro- 
 bably borrowed from the Proven9al, but is much freer as to the 
 use of the caesura, which sometimes disappears altogether. 
 This freedom continued in spite of the growing influence of 
 French poetry during the 16 th century, till Martin Opitz (d. 
 1639) laid down the law that there must always be a caesura 
 after the 4th syllable. Gottsched, writing in 1737, is very 
 severe on those who break this law, and ' place the caesura any- 
 where or no where', probably said in reference to such poems as 
 Bodmer's translations from Thomson. The Anglicized form 
 however continued to grow in popularity; thus J. H. Schlegel 
 (1757) announces his intention to adopt the licenses allowed in 
 English, and while distinguishing three caesuras (after the 4th, 
 5th and 6th syllables) says it is not necessary for every line to 
 have the caesura. Wieland (1762) was the first to substitute 
 anapaests and trochees for the iamb. Klopstock in the preface to 
 his Salomo says he has interspersed 6-foot and hendecasyllabic 
 lines among the regular 5-foot, that he substitutes anapaest for 
 iamb wherever he finds it convenient, and that he often ends 
 a line with an ionic, 3rd paean or pyrrhic. Herder wrote in 
 favour of the use of the English metre for the drama in 1768, 
 and Lessing employed it in his Nathan in 1778. He inter- 
 sperses freely 6-foot and 4-foot lines, makes the superfluous 
 syllable of the 'feminine ending' equal in weight to the preceding 
 accented syllable, elides short final e before a vowel or h, some- 
 times before a consonant as ohn dieses, nehm' sich, and even at 
 the end of the line, as und bring' \ Ihn her. More important 
 are the changes he introduced in regard to the length of his 
 periods and the use of the caesura. At first, as still in France, 
 1 See Lachmann's Preface to his edition of Wolfram, p. xxviii. 
 
POSTSCRIPT. 201 
 
 each 5-foot line was complete in itself, but the Italians and still 
 more the English had led the way in connecting lines by en- 
 jambement and building them up into long periods. In Nathan 
 we meet with periods extending over as many as 27 lines. 
 These are artfully combined with shorter periods, and the verses 
 are marked by the antagonism between the sense (logic) and 
 metre, and by the boldness of the enjambement. Thus the end 
 of the line comes between subject and predicate, as in Babylon \ 
 1st von Jerusalem — sagt | Der Patriarch ; between adjective or 
 article and noun, as die strengstev | Entsohlusse — mein \ Ge- 
 wissen — dei- \ Bescheidne Bitter — ich im | Begriff war; between 
 preposition and noun, as durch \ Das Feuer — von \ Each; and 
 other closely related words as, Pilger zu \ Geleiten — so \ Unendlich 
 viel — zu stiirmen und \ Zu schirmen — er wandelt wieder auf \ 
 Und ah — ganz \ Gewiss — will \ Ihm danken — sagt wie \ Gefdllt 
 euch. Besides this, Lessing takes pains to break the rhythm of 
 the individual line by a pause shortly after the beginning or 
 before the end, as 
 
 — wie ? weil 
 Es ganz natiirlich ; ganz alltaglich klange. 
 
 —1st 
 Ein alter Eindruck ein verloruer ? Wirkt 
 Das Nehmliohe nicht mehr das Nehmliche? 
 
 Um lieber etwas noch unglaublichers 
 Zu glauben — 
 
 Sometimes the latter section of a preceding line joins with the 
 earlier section of the following line to make a perfect .5-foot, as 
 
 — Dass doch 
 Die Einfalt immer Eeclat behalt ! Ihr diirft 
 Mir dooh auch wohl vertrauen — 
 
 The line is also frequently broken by being divided between 
 different persons. It is only at the end of the period that the 
 antagonism of logic and metre is reconciled. 
 
 The caesura is needed to give variety to a line which is com- 
 plete in itself, but may be dispensed with in a line so much 
 varied as Lessing's. We are not therefore surprised to meet 
 with lines of his, which have no caesura or pause of any kind. 
 
202 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 Schiller at first wrote his plays in prose, but in 1786 hegan 
 to employ the 5-foot iambic as modified by Lessing, thus 
 
 loh driick' aB meine Seele dich. Ich fiilile 
 Die deinige allmachtig an mir sohlagen. 
 O jetzt ist alles wieder gut. In dieser 
 TJmarmung ist mein krankes Herz genesen. 
 
 He often uses 4-foot and 6-foot lines and occasionally 7-foot. 
 He is even bolder than Lessing in his use of the monosyllable 
 in feminine ending, as Fre'&nd mehr, wariim nicht. Elision is 
 rare, except where a monosyllabic pronoun follows the verb, 
 when it occurs even at the end of a line, as was wollt' \ Ich denn. 
 In length of period and enjamhement he follows Lessing. As 
 examples of the latter we may take du hist | Gerettet — ich \ Ver- 
 gesse — er | Verachtet es—mein games \ Verdienst — im linken 
 Flugel des \ Palastes. He neglects the caesura and divides the 
 line between different speakers. In Wallenstein (1798) we find 
 further freedom in the length of the line, varying from 7-foot 
 to 1-foot, and in the use of anapaests and trochees, the former 
 in all the feet but especially in the last, the latter only in the 
 1st foot. Slurring is also employed. As examples of harshness 
 in the use of feminine ending and of enjamhement may be cited 
 vorm Feind liegt — zu mir drang — Kein W6rt mehr — ; es war 
 der drei | Und zwamigste des Mai's — -wenn, der Nachtisch av,f-\ 
 gesetzt — eh' die Glilcks-lGestalt mir wieder wegflieht. The lines 
 however preserve their individuality better than in Lessing, and 
 are less often divided between different speakers. 
 
 In Marie Stuart and Jungfrau von Orleans anapaestic sub- 
 stitution is very frequent, but enjamhement and feminine ending 
 are less used ; rhyme is more common, the verbal and metrical 
 accents are often opposed. In Schiller's two last dramas Braut 
 von Messina and Wilhelm Tell the characteristic feature is the 
 extended use of the trochee, not merely at the beginning but in 
 the middle of the line, as 
 
 Und du I bist falsch | wie sie ! | zwlnge | mich nioht | . 
 
 The duke Carl August complains of this license in a letter to 
 Goethe. In other respects however these latest plays are more 
 regular than the earlier. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abbott, Dr 84 foil., cited 8, 25, 27, 28, 
 32, 96, 99—110, 146, 150, 151, 152, 
 158—166, 174, 175, 177, 184, 188. 
 
 accent 30, 49, 56, 74, 75; verbal, me- 
 trical, empliatic 35 foil. ; in the verse 
 of the ancients Pr«/. p. vii. ; in Bo- 
 mance p. 198; defect of accent, see 
 Pyrrhic; exeeas, aee Spondee; inver- 
 sion, see Trochee. 
 
 adeste fideles 133. 
 
 aesthetic view of metre 3, 49 foil. 
 
 aloaic 117, 119, 122, 123. 
 
 Alexandrine, mistaken 27; in Shakes- 
 peare 44, 161, 167, 180 ; divided be- 
 tween speakers 161, with feminine 
 caesura 163; in Tennyson 190; in 
 French 198, 199; German 200—202. 
 
 amphibious section, see 'common'. 
 
 amphibrach, is it used in English 
 verse? 94 foil., may it be substituted 
 for an iamb? 43, 45, 74 foil.; rhyth- 
 mical not metrical 192. 
 
 anacrusis 8, 91 foU. 104, 105, 129, 134. 
 
 analysis, metrical, its use 2, elaborate 
 of Mr A. J. Ellis 61. 
 
 anapaest 4, 32, 87, 88, 89, 93, 94, 109 
 foU. 129 foil.; for iamb 22, 43, 44, 
 54, 67, 73, 75 foil. 107, 125, 127, 128, 
 137, 138, 143, 161, 169, 179, 185 
 foil., in German poetry 200, 202; 
 anapaestic or dactylic? 116. See 
 Metre. 
 
 antibacohius 75. 
 
 antispastus, rythmical 172. 
 
 appoggiatura in Milton 23, 53. 
 
 a-priorism, antiquarian 12 foil., logical 
 34 foil. 
 
 Arnold, M. cited 88. 
 
 baochius, rhythmical 191, 194. 
 Bain 94. 
 
 blank verse, how varied 9, 49, 57 foil., 
 see Metamorphosis; of Surrey 133 
 foil., of Marlowe 140 foil., of Shakes- 
 peare 146 — 183, of Tennyson and 
 Browning 185 — 196, of Lessing and 
 SchiUer 200 foil.; history 197 foil., 
 Pref. viii. 
 
 Browning, E. 94, 95, 185 foil. 
 
 Browning, Mrs 194. 
 
 Brydges on metre 54. 
 
 Burns cited 90, 150. 
 
 Byron cited 24, 60, 87. 
 
 caesura in old French 46 foU. 198 foil., 
 in German 200 — 202; lyrical and 
 epical 199. See hemistich. 
 
 Chaucer 12, 140, practises initial trun- 
 cation 83, 138. 
 
 choriambus rhythmical 172, 191, 194. 
 
 classical terminology defended 5 ; used 
 for rhythmical effects 191. 
 
 Coleridge 25, 86, 95. 
 
 Collins 84. 
 
 common section 146 foil., 166, 182. 
 
 Cowper 86. 
 
 cretic, isit usedfor iamb? 75; rythmi- 
 cal 191, 194. 
 
 dactyl, for iamb 44, 73, 74, 78, 81, 109, 
 127, 144, 179, 180, 185, 186, 188, 189; 
 for trochee 105; dactylic metre in 
 Tennyson 117, in Hymnbook 129. 
 See Metre. 
 
 Dante 80, 199. 
 
 defective, distinguished from fragmen- 
 tary lines 149 foil., 182, 183. 
 
 Diez 198, 199. 
 
 disyUabization of monosyllables, legiti- 
 mate and illegitimate 36 foil., 44, 
 143, 150 foil., 183. 
 
 Dryden 17, 19. 
 
204 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 elision 22, 76, 170 ; wrongly marked in 
 editions of Shakespeare 155 foil. 
 
 Ellis, A. J., objects to classical termin- 
 ology and routine scansion 5, 7; 
 does not admit feminine caesura 21, 
 168, 169, 170, 178; his metrical sys- 
 tem 57 foU., illustrated in original 
 examples 63; criticized 69 foU., 178; 
 on Macbeth 165 foil. 
 
 ending, unstopped (enjamhement) 14, 
 in Surrey 138, in Tennyson 192, in 
 Italian and German 199 foil. See 
 feminine. 
 
 Evans, R. W. cited 79. 
 
 extra-metrical syllable only found at 
 the end of the line or the caesura 
 41, 42, 80; at the end often a mono- 
 syllable, in Shakespeare 177, in 
 Tennyson 190, in German 202. See 
 feminine and hemistich. 
 
 iamb for trochee 83, 106; for anapaest 
 
 110, 129, 130. 
 iambic metre 4, how varied 9, 10, 63 
 
 foil., see Blank verse; subdivision 
 
 of 106 foil., 125 foil.; passing into 
 
 trochaic 91. See Metre, 
 intuitivism 1 — 3, 49 — 56. 
 Italian iambic 199, imitated by Milton 
 
 79. 
 
 Johnson, Dr 28, 49, 50. 
 Jonson, Ben 16, 30. 
 
 Keats uses anacrusis in 4-foot trochaic 
 
 91. 
 Keightley on Milton 79. 
 Kiugsley cited 89, 92. 
 Klopstock 200. 
 
 feminine ending 8, 82 ; in Surrey 139, 
 Marlowe 143, Shakespeare 169, 174 
 foil., in Bomance and German 
 poetry 198 foil. ; double 143, 178, 
 190. See hemistich. 
 
 Fleay on Shakespeare's use of the 
 feminine ending 175. 
 
 Fletcher 31, 175. 
 
 foot, the basis of metre 6, 34. 
 
 force, metrical 61. 
 
 fragmentary lines in Surrey 139, in 
 Shakespeare 147 foil., 166, 183. 
 
 French, old decasyllabic metre 46 foil., 
 197 foil. 
 
 Gaseoigne 140. 
 
 Guest, Dr 3, 12 foil., his calculation of 
 the possible varieties of the heroic 
 line 75 ; cited 138, 150, 178, 184. 
 
 Hanmer, emendations of Shakespeare 
 180, 183. 
 
 Heber 117. 
 
 hemistich, extra syllable after (femi- 
 nine caesura), admitted by Guest 21, 
 Abbott 45, Keightley 80; denied by 
 Ellis 21, 168; reasons in favour of 
 178, 179; exx. from Macbeth after 
 2nd foot 153, after 3rd foot 154; in 
 Alexanclrine 163; two extra syUa- 
 
 . bles 179. 
 
 hendecasyllable (trochaic) 122; (iam- 
 bic) in ItaUan 199, in Latin ^re/. viii. 
 
 Hood 88, 93, 117. 
 
 hymn-book, metres classified pp. 124 — 
 134. 
 
 hypermetrical 98, see extra-metrical. 
 
 Lessing 200 foil. 
 
 limitation of metrical substitution 70. 
 
 Marlowe 10, 54, 84, 140—145. 
 
 Masson on Milton 74 foU., his scan- 
 sion questioned 76 — 79. 
 
 measure ( = foot) 7, common 14, triple 
 14. 
 
 metamorphosis, metrical 81 — 98, 111, 
 116. See Substitution. 
 
 metre, kinds of, olassifled 4, 8, 94 — 
 134, general view of irregularities 
 93; mixed 117—123, 130—134. 
 
 Meyer, P. on old French metre 48. 
 
 Milton, his metre condemned by Guest 
 14 foil. ; he neglects final and middle 
 pauses 15 ; does not use hypermetri- 
 cal caesura 25; anapaestic lines in 
 Sams. Ag. 32 ; his use of trochee for 
 iamb 38 — 40; Hymn on the Nativity 
 85, 86; mixed trochaic and iambic 
 4-foot 91, 92; metrical analysis of 
 58, 67, 68, 184, 185; Masson and 
 Keightley upon 76—79. 
 
 modern blank verse 184 — 196. 
 
 monosyllabic feet 109, erroneously ad- 
 mitted by Dr Guest 20, 24, 26, 29, 
 and disyllabized by Dr Abbott 36 
 foil.; see Truncation. 
 
 Morris, E. cited 83. 
 
 Morris, W. uses the scazon 83. 
 
 Munro jpref. 
 
 musical bars compared to metrical feet 
 53, 62. 
 
 Niool, H. on old French metre 46. 
 normal line 9. 
 
-INDEX. 
 
 205 
 
 Paris, G. on old French metre 46 — 48. 
 
 pause, final, middle and sectional 13 
 foil. ; in Shakespeare 17, Swinburne 
 18; comparative view of pauses in 
 Milton, Pope, Tennyson, Browning 
 16, 185, 186 ; in Lessing and Schil- 
 ler 201 ; harsh in Surrey 138, Mar- 
 lowe 144, Tennyson 190, Browning 
 192. 
 
 Pope neglects middle pause 17, uses 
 sectional pause 18, trisyllabic feet 
 23, 30, pyrrhic for iamb 31, admits 
 sequence iamb-troohee29 ; contrasted 
 with Milton 19; emendations of 
 Shakespeare 180 — 183. 
 
 pronunciation of proper names in 
 Marlowe and Shakespeare 141. 
 
 prosody, use of 1, 3, 10, 50. 
 
 pyrrhic for iamb 30, 31, 35, 59, 60, 68, 
 73, 75, 164, 172. 
 
 reading of poetry not determined sole- 
 ly by scansion 10, 51 foil., 191 foil. 
 Bush on accent 62. 
 Buskin cited 6. 
 
 scansion, objected to 2, 50 foil.; rou- 
 tine 5; of Plautus 51; is only ohe 
 element in the reading of poetry 51 ; 
 question as to that of Dr Guest 22, 
 23, 26, 27, of Dr Abbott 36 foil., Mr 
 Symonds 54, 55, Mr Masson 76—79, 
 Mr Keightley 80. 
 
 Bcazon used by W. Morris 83. 
 
 SchiUer 202. 
 
 Sohipper Englische Metrik 13, 84. 
 
 Scott 84, 88, 90, 92, 93, 97. 
 
 scriptorial disguise 93, 97. 
 
 section of Anglo-Saxon inapplicable to 
 modern verse 7, 13 foil. ; abrupt 20, 
 pausing 20; of eight-foot trochaic 
 103 ; see Common, Pause, Hemistich. 
 
 Shakespeare, his pauses 15, 17; con- 
 traction of two syllables into one 
 22, 43; expansion of one into two 
 25, 37, 44, 150 foil.; use of spondee 
 for iamb 39 ; trisyllabic feet 42, 43, 
 161, 179 ; Alexandrines 44, 161, 167, 
 180; feminine caesura, see Hemi- 
 stich; first folio, elisions in 156; 
 Macbeth 146—171, Hamlet 171— 
 183. 
 
 Shelley cited 35, 83, 89, 91. 
 
 Skeat (ed. of Guest) cited 12, 24, 26, 
 28; (of Chaucer) 83. 
 
 slurring 41, 43, 44, 54, 55, 76, 77, 113, 
 114, 120, 155, 158—163, 170, pref. v. 
 
 Southey Lodore 95,96. 
 
 , spondee for iamb 28, 39, 72, 75, 110, 
 172. 
 
 Steele on metre 62. 
 
 Steevens 151, 180. 
 
 substitution of one foot for another 70 
 — 74. See Metamorpliosis. 
 
 Surrey 53, 135—140. 
 
 Swinburne, heroic line containing four 
 anapaests 73 ; pause after 1st sylla- 
 ble 18, after 7th 187; truncated ana- 
 paests 87. 
 
 symbols, metrical 97. 
 
 Symonds 4, 49—56, 135. 
 
 Tennyson, his metres classified 99 — 
 123 ; fondness for trisyllabic metres 
 112 ; his blank verse analyzed 186 — 
 192; compared with Browning 187; 
 uses dactyl, anapaest and tribrach 
 for iamb 44, 107, 108, 109, 118, 188 
 foil.; trochee for iamb 40, 109, 188; 
 example of iambic line made up of 
 5 trochees 188; monosyllabic feet, 
 initial in 4-foot iambic 84, 108, in 
 6-foot iambic 120, in anapaestic 111, 
 113; internal in anapaestic 115, in 
 trochaic 103, in iambic 120, 121; 
 final in trochaic 99 foil.; iamb for 
 trochee 83, 106; pauses 16, 186 foil.; 
 anacrusis 91; feminine ending 190; 
 feminine caesura in 6-foot anapaest 
 113; feminine rhythm 187; final 
 anapaest 189; Arden 186, Balin 186, 
 Boadicea 121, Gauteretz 104, Gardi- 
 ner's D. 17, 186, Gareth 186, Harold 
 189, Lucknow 116, Lricretius 186, 
 Maud 114, May Queen 119, (Enone 
 186, Oldcastle 186, Princess 188, 
 Revenge 113, Sea Fairies 110, Sisters 
 186, Victim 116, 121, Vision of Sin 
 105, Wellington 104, 118. 
 
 ThelwaU 23. 
 
 Todd 54. 
 
 tribrach for iamb 74, 78, 189, pref. v. 
 
 trisyllabic feet in iambic metre ques- 
 tioned by Guest 22, and Abbott 43, 
 defended by Skeats 24. See Ana- 
 paest, Dactyl, Tribrach. 
 
 trochee 4; in 5-foot iambic, initial 26, 
 38, internal 38, 54, 63 foU. 172, 173, 
 final 82, 67, 71, 72, 83, 136, 137, 
 144, 164, 188, 190, 193, doubled in 
 Milton 24, 25, 38, 79, 80, Spenser 
 40, Tennyson 40, 188, Browning 
 192; limit of trochaic substitution 
 70 foil. cf. 188. Trochaic metres 
 99—106, 128, 129. 
 
 Truncation 9; final of trochee 82, 99 
 foil., of dactyl 88, 117, 129; initial 
 of iamb in heroic 13 (Chaucer), 84, 
 
206 INDEX. 
 
 140 foU. (Marlowe), in 4-foot 84, 85, Wagner 150. 
 
 108, 109, of anapaest 87, 110; inter- Walker 150. 
 
 nal 89, 90. See Monosyllabic. weight metrical 61, 70. 
 
 Tyrwliitt 23. Wolfe, Burial of Sir J. Moore 87. 
 
 unstopped line, see Ending. 
 
 Zamcke on the origin of the 5-foot 
 variety, how obtained 9, 10, 59 foil. iambic 197 foil. pref. viii. 
 
 187. See Metamorphosis. 
 
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 " No one can say that the Old Testament is point in English exegesis of the Old Testa- 
 
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 illustration surpasses anything to which we can Academy, Sept. lo, 1881. 
 
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 — Spectator. 
 
 THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA'S COMMENTARY 
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 "In dem oben verzeichneten Buche liegt handschriften . . . sind vortreffliche photo- 
 
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THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 9 
 
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 needed a small library, and all this instruction Sophocles the mind of the present generation." 
 
 and assistance given, not in a dull and pedantic — The Saturday Review, 
 way. but in a style of singular clearness and 
 
 AESCHYLI FABULAE.— IKETIAES XOH<I)OPOI IN 
 
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 A SELECTION OF GREEK INSCRIPTIONS, with 
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 '• I acknowledge expressly the warm enthu- very valuable contribution towards a more 
 
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 volume, and the sharp eye Dr Waldstein has The Academy. 
 
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 M. TULLI CICERONIS AD. M. BRUTUM ORATOR. 
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THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 13 
 
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 LAW. 
 
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 AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF JUS- 
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24 PUBLICATIONS OF 
 
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 I. GREEK. 
 
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THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS. 25 
 
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