PART VI.

ON THE PROSODY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

[§ 630]. Prosody deals with metre; and with accent, quantity and the articulate sounds, as subordinate to metre. For these the reader is referred to Part III. Chapters 1. 6. 7.

Metre is a general term for the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected.

Syllables may be similarly affected: 1. in respect to their quantities; 2. in respect to their accents; 3. in respect to their articulations.

Pălāi kўnægĕtoūntă kāi mĕtroūmĕnōn.

Πᾰλᾱι κῠνη̄γε̆τοῡντᾰ κᾱι με̆τροῡμε̆νο̄ν.—Soph. Ajax, 3.

Here there is the recurrence of similar quantities.

The wáy was lóng, the wínd was cóld.

Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Here there is the recurrence of similar accents.

The way was long, the wind was cold,

The minstrel was infirm and old.—Ditto.

Here, besides the recurrence of similar accents, there is a recurrence of the same articulate sounds; viz. of o + ld.

[§ 631]. Metres founded upon the periodic recurrence of similar articulations are of two sorts.

1. Alliterative metres.—In alliterative metres a certain

number of words, within a certain period, must begin with a similar articulation.

In Caines cynne

þone cwealm gewræc.

Cædmon.

Alliteration is the general character of all the early Gothic metres. (See Rask's Anglo-Saxon Grammar, Rask, On the Icelandic Prosody, and Conybeare, On Anglo-Saxon Poetry.)

2. Assonant metres.—In assonant metres a certain number of words, within a certain period, must end with a similar articulation. All rhymes and all approaches to rhyme, form the assonant metres. The word assonant has a limited as well as a general sense.

[§ 632]. All metre goes by the name of poetry, although all poetry is not metrical. The Hebrew poetry (see Lowth, De Sacra Poesi Hebræorum) is characterized by the recurrence of similar ideas.

[§ 633]. The metres of the classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities; accent also playing a part. The incompatibility of the classical metres with the English prosody lies in the fact (stated at p. [166]), that the classic writer measures quantity by the length of the syllable taken altogether, while the Englishman measures it by the length of the vowel alone.

[§ 634]. The English metres consist essentially of the recurrence of similar accents; the recurrence of similar articulations being sometimes (as in all rhyming poetry) superadded.

[§ 635]. In the specimen of alliteration lately quoted the only articulation that occurred was the letter c. It is very evident that the two, the three, or the four first letters, or even the whole syllable, might have coincided. Such is the case with the following lines from Lord Byron:

Already doubled is the cape, the bay

Receives the prow, that proudly spurns the spray.

Alliteration, as an ornament, must be distinguished from alliteration as the essential character of metre. Alliteration, as an ornament, is liable to many varieties.

[§ 636]. Rhyme.—In English versification, rhyme is, next to accent, the most important element. The true nature of a rhyme may best be exhibited after the analysis of a syllable, and the exhibition of certain recurrent combinations, that look like rhyme without being so.

Let the syllable told be taken to pieces. For metrical purposes it consists of three parts or elements: 1, the vowel (o); 2, the part preceding the vowel (t); 3, the part following the vowel (ld). The same may be done with the word bold. The two words can now be compared with each other. The comparison shows that the vowel is in each the same (o); that the part following the vowel (ld) is the same; and, finally, that the part preceding the vowel is different (t and b). This difference between the part preceding the vowel is essential.

Told, compared with itself (told), is no rhyme, but an homœoteleuton (ὁμοῖος, homoios=like, and τελεύτη, teleutæ=end) or like-ending. It differs from a rhyme in having the parts preceding the vowel alike. Absolute identity of termination is not recognized in English poetry, except so far as it is mistaken for rhyme.

The soft-flowing outline that steals from the eye,

Who threw o'er the surface? did you or did I?

Whitehead.

Here the difference in spelling simulates a difference in sound, and a homœoteleuton takes the appearance of a rhyme.

Bold and note.—As compared with each other, these words have two of the elements of a rhyme: viz. the identity of the vowel, and the difference of the parts preceding it. They want, however, the third essential, or the identity of the parts following; ld being different from t. The coincidence, however, as far as it goes, constitutes a point in metre. The words in question are assonances in the limited sense of the term; and because the identity lies in the vowels, they may be named vowel assonances. Vowel assonances are recognized in (amongst others) the Spanish and Scandinavian metrical systems. In English they occur only when they pass as rhymes.

Bold and mild.—Here also are two of the elements of a rhyme, viz., the identity of the parts following the vowel (ld), and the difference of the parts preceding (b and m). The identity of the vowel (o being different from i) is, however, wanting. The words in question are assonances in the limited sense of the term, and consonantal assonances. Recognized in the Scandinavian, they occur in English only when they pass as rhymes.

Rhymes may consist of a single syllable, as told, bold, of two syllables, as water, daughter; of three, as cheerily, wearily. Now, the rhyme begins where the dissimilarity of parts immediately before the main vowel begins. Then follows the vowel; and, lastly, the parts after the vowel. All the parts after the vowel must be absolutely identical. Mere similarity is insufficient.

Then come ere a minute's gone,

For the long summer day

Puts its wings, swift as linnets' on,

For flying away.—Clare.[^[68]]

In the lines just quoted there is no rhyme, but an assonance. The identity of the parts after the main syllable is destroyed by the single sound of g in gone.

A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall on syllables equally accented.—To make sky and the last syllable of merrily serve as rhymes, is to couple an accented syllable with an unaccented one.

A rhyme, to be perfect, must fall upon syllables absolutely accented.—To make the last syllables of words like flighty and merrily serve as rhymes, is to couple together two unaccented syllables.

Hence there may be (as in the case of blank verse) accent without rhyme; but there cannot be rhyme without accent.

A rhyme consists in the combination of like and unlike sounds.—Words like I and eye (homœoteleuta), ease and cease (vowel assonances), love and grove (consonantal assonances), are printers' rhymes; or mere combinations of like and unlike letters.

A rhyme, moreover, consists in the combination of like and unlike articulate sounds. Hit and it are not rhymes, but identical endings; the h being no articulation. To my ear, at least, the pair of words, hit and it, comes under a different class from the pair hit (or it) and pit.

[§ 637]. A full and perfect rhyme (the term being stringently defined) consists in the recurrence of one or more final syllables equally and absolutely accented, wherein the vowel and the part following the vowel shall be identical, whilst the part preceding the vowel shall be different. It is also necessary that the part preceding the vowel be articulate.[^[69]]

The deviations from the above-given rule, so common in the poetry of all languages, constitute not rhymes, but assonances, &c., that, by poetic licence, are recognized as equivalents to rhymes.

[§ 638]. Measure.—In lines like the following, the accent occurs on every second syllable; in other words, every accented syllable is accompanied by an unaccented one.

The wáy was lóng, the wínd was cóld.

This accented syllable and its accompanying unaccented one constitute a measure. The number of the syllables being two, the measure in question is dissyllabic.

[§ 639]. In lines like the following the accent falls on every third syllable, so that the number of syllables to the measure is three, and the measure is trisyllabic.

At the clóse of the dáy when the hámlet is stíll.—Beattie.

The primary division of the English measures is into the dissyllabic and the trisyllabic.

[§ 640]. Dissyllabic measures.—The words týrant and presúme are equally dissyllabic measures; in one, however, the accent falls on the first, in the other on the second syllable. This leads us to a farther division of the English measures.

A measure like presúme (where the accent lies on the second syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

Then fáre thee wéll mine ówn dear lóve;

The wórld has nów for ús

No gréater gríef, no paín abóve,

The páin of párting thús.—Moore.

Here the accent falls on the second syllable of the measure.

A measure like týrant (where the accent lies on the first syllable) may be repeated throughout a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

Héed! O héed, my fátal stóry;

Í am Hósier's ínjured ghóst;

Cóme to séek for fáme and glóry,

Fór the glóry Í have lóst.—Glover.

The number of dissyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to two.

[§ 641]. Trisyllabic measures.—The words mérrily, disáble, cavaliér, are equally trisyllabic, but not similarly accented. Each constitutes a separate measure, which may be continued through a whole verse, or a whole series of verses; as,

Mérrily, mérrily, sháll I live nów,

Únder the blóssom that hángs on the bóugh.

Tempest.

But váinly thou wárrest;

For thís is alóne in

Thy pówer to decláre:

That ín the dim fórest

Thou heárd'st a low moáning,

And sáw'st a bright lády surpássingly faír.

Christabel.

There's a beáuty for éver unfádingly bríght;

Like the lóng ruddy lápse of a súmmer-day's níght.

Lalla Rookh.

The number of trisyllabic measures is, of necessity, limited to three.

[§ 642]. The nature of measures may, as we have already seen, be determined by the proportion of the accented and unaccented syllables. It may also be determined by the proportion of the long and short syllables.—In the one case we measure by the accent, in the other by the quantity. Measures determined by the quantity are called feet. The word foot being thus defined, we have no feet in the English metres; since in English we determine our measures by accent only.

The classical grammarians express their feet by symbols; [ˉ] denoting length, [˘] shortness. Forms like [˘ˉ ˉ˘ ˉ˘˘ ˘ˉ˘ ˘˘ˉ] &c., are the symbolical representations of the classical feet.

The classical grammarians have names for their feet; e.g., iambic is the name of [˘ˉ], trochee of [ˉ˘], dactyle of [ˉ˘˘], amphibrachys of [˘ˉ˘], Anapæst of [˘˘ˉ], &c.

The English grammarians have no symbols for their feet: since they have no form for expressing the absence of the accent. Sometimes they borrow the classical forms [˘] and [ˉ]. These, however, being originally meant for the expression of quantity, confusion arises from the use of them.

Neither have the English grammarians names for their measures. Sometimes, they borrow the classical terms iambic, trochee, &c. These, however, being meant for the expression of quantity, confusion arises from the use of them.

As symbols for the English measures, I indicate the use of a as denoting an accented, x an unaccented syllable; or else that of + as denoting an accented, - an unaccented syllable. Finally, ´ may denote the accent, ¨ the absence of it.

As names for the English measures I have nothing to offer. At times it is convenient to suppose that they have a definite order of arrangement, and to call words like týrant the first measure, and words like presúme the second measure. In like manner, mérrily is measure 3; disáble, 4; and cavaliér, 5. As the number of measures is (from the necessity of the case) limited, this can be done conveniently. The classical

names are never used with impunity. Their adoption invariably engenders confusion. It is very true that, mutatis mutandis (i. e., accent being substituted for quantity), words like týrant and presúme are trochees and iambics; but it is also true that, with the common nomenclature, the full extent of the change is rarely appreciated.

Symbolically expressed, the following forms denote the following measures:

1. + -	, or ´ ¨	, or a x	= týrant.
2. - +	, or ¨ ´	, or x a	= presúme.
3. + - -	, or ´ ¨ ¨	, or a x x	= mérrily.
4. - + -	, or ¨ ´ ¨	, or x a x	= disáble.
5. - - +	, or ¨ ¨ ´	, or x x a	= cavaliér.

On these measures the following general assertions may be made; viz.

That the dissyllabic measures are, in English, commoner than the trisyllabic.

That, of the dissyllabic measures, the second is commoner than the first.

That of the trisyllabic measures, No. 3 is the least common.

That however much one measure may predominate in a series of verses, it is rarely unmixed with others. In

Týrants swim sáfest in a púrple floód—

Marlowe—

the measure a x appears in the place of x a. This is but a single example of a very general fact, and of a subject liable to a multiplicity of rules.

[§ 643]. Grouped together according to certain rules, measures constitute lines or verses; and grouped together according to certain rules, lines constitute couplets, triplets, stanzas, &c.

The absence or the presence of rhyme constitutes blank verse, or rhyming verse.

The succession, or periodic return, of rhymes constitutes stanzas, or continuous metre as the case may be.

The quantity of rhymes in succession constitutes couplets, or triplets.

The quantity of accents in a line constitutes the nature of the verse, taken by itself.

The succession, or periodic return, of verses of the same length has the same effect with the succession, or periodic return, of rhymes; viz., it constitutes stanzas, or continuous metre, as the case may be.

This leads to the nomenclature of the English metres. Of these, none in any of the trisyllabic measures have recognized and technical names; neither have any that are referable to the measure a x.

[§ 644]. Taking, however, those that are named, we have the following list of terms.

1. Octosyllabics.—Four measures x a, and (unless the rhyme be double) eight syllables. Common in Sir W. Scott's poetry.

The way was long the wind was cold.

Lay of the Last Minstrel.

2. Heroics.—Five measures x a. This is the common measure in narrative and didactic poetry.

To err is human, to forgive divine.

3. Alexandrines.—Six measures x a. This name is said to be taken from the early romances on the deeds of Alexander the Great.

He lifted up his hand | that back againe did start.—Spenser.

4. Service metre.—Seven measures x a. This is the common metre of the psalm-versions. Thence its name.

But one request I made to him | that sits the skies above,

That I were freely out of debt | as I were out of love.

Sir John Suckling.

[§ 645]. Such are the names of certain lines or verses taken by themselves. Combined or divided they form—

1. Heroic couplets.—Heroics, in rhyming couplets, successive.—

'Tis hard to say if greater want of skill

Appear in writing or in judging ill.

Essay on Criticism.

The heroic couplet is called also riding rhyme; it being the metre wherein Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (told by a party riding to Canterbury) are chiefly written.

2. Heroic triplets.—Same as the preceding, except that three rhymes come in succession.

3. Blank verse.—Heroics without rhyme.

4. Elegiacs.—The metre of Gray's Elegy. Heroics in four-line stanzas with alternate rhymes.

5. Rhyme royal.—Seven lines of heroics, with the last two rhymes successive, and the first five recurring at intervals. Sometimes the last line is an Alexandrine. There are varieties in this metre according to the intervals of the first five rhymes:—

This Troilus in gift of curtesie

With hauke on hond, and with a huge rout

Of knights, rode and did her companie

Passing all the valey far without,

And ferther would have ridden out of doubt,

Full faine, and wo was him to gone so sone,

And tourne he must, and it was eke to doen.

Chaucer's Troilus.

6. Ottava rima.—The metre in Italian for narrative poetry. Eight lines of heroics; the first six rhyming alternately, the last two in succession.—Byron's Don Juan in English, Orlando Furioso, &c., in Italian.

7. Spenserian stanza.—Eight lines of heroics closed by an Alexandrine. There are varieties of this metre according to the interval of the rhymes.

8. Terza rima.—Taken from the Italian, where it is the metre of Dante's Divina Commedia. Heroics with three rhymes recurring at intervals.—Lord Byron's Prophecy of Dante.

9. Poulterer's measure.—Alexandrines and service measures alternately. Found in the poetry of Henry the Eighth's time.

10. Ballad metre.—Stanzas of four lines; the first and third having four, the second and fourth having three measures each. Rhymes alternate.

Turn, gentle hermit of the dale,

And guide thy lonely way,

To where yon taper cheers the vale

With hospitable ray.

Edwin and Angelina.

[§ 646]. Scansion.—Let the stanza just quoted be read as two lines, and it will be seen that a couplet of ballad metre is equivalent to a line of service metre. Such, indeed, was the origin of the ballad metre. Observe also the pause (marked |) both in the Alexandrine and the service metres. This indicates a question as to where lines end; in other words, how can we distinguish one long line from two short ones.

It may, perhaps, partake of the nature of a metrical fiction to consider that (in all rhyming poetry) the length of the verse is determined by the occurrence of the rhyme. Nevertheless, as the matter cannot be left to the printer only, and as some definition is requisite, the one in point is attended by as few inconveniences as any other. It must not, however, be concealed that lines as short as

It screamed and growled, | and cracked and howled—

it treats as two; and that lines as long as

Where Virtue wants and Vice abounds,

And Wealth is but a baited hook—

it reduces to a single verse.

[§ 647]. In metres of measure a x, the number of syllables is double the number of accents, unless the final rhyme be single; in which case the syllables are the fewest.

In metres of measure x a the number of syllables is double the number of accents, unless the rhyme be double (or treble); in which case the syllables are the most numerous.

Now this view (which may be carried throughout the whole five measures) of the proportion between the accents and the syllables, taken with the fact that it is determined by the nature of the final syllable, indicates a division of our metres into symmetrical (where the number of the syllables is the multiple of the number of accents), and unsymmetrical (where it is not so).

For practical purposes, however, the length of the last measure may be considered as indifferent, and the terms indicated may be reserved for the forthcoming class of metres.

[§ 648]. Of the metres in question, Coleridge's Christabel and Byron's Siege of Corinth are the current specimens. In the latter we have the couplet:

He sát him dówn at a píllar's báse,

And dréw his hánd athwárt his fáce.

In the second of these lines, the accents and the syllables are symmetrical; which is not the case with the first. Now to every, or any, accent in the second line an additional unaccented syllable may be added, and the movement be still preserved. It is the fact of the accents and syllables (irrespective of the latitude allowed to the final measure) being here unsymmetrical (or, if symmetrical, only so by accident) that gives to the metres in question their peculiar character. Added to this, the change from x x a, to x a x, and a x x, is more frequent than elsewhere. One point respecting them must be borne in mind; viz., that they are essentially trisyllabic metres from which unaccented syllables are withdrawn, rather than dissyllabic ones wherein unaccented syllables are inserted.

[§ 649]. Of measures of one, and of measures of four syllables the occurrence is rare, and perhaps equivocal.

[§ 650]. The majority of English words are of the form a x; that is, words like týrant are commoner than words like presúme.

The majority of English metres are of the form x a; that is, lines like

The wáy was lóng, the wínd was cóld

are commoner than lines like

Qúeen and húntress cháste and fáir.

The multitude of unaccentuated words like the, from, &c., taken along with the fact that they precede the words with which they agree, or which they govern, accounts for the apparent antagonism between the formulæ of our words and the formulæ of our metres. The contrast between a Swedish line of the form a x, and its literal English version (x a),

shows this. In Swedish, the secondary part of the construction follows, in English it precedes, the main word:—

Swedish. Váren kómmer; fúglen qvittrar; skóven lófvas;

sólen lér.

English. The spríng is cóme; the bírd is blýthe; the wóod is gréen;

the sún is bríght.

This is quoted for the sake of showing the bearing of the etymology and syntax of a language upon its prosody.

[§ 651]. The classical metres as read by Englishmen.—In p. [500] it is stated that "the metres of the classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities; accent playing a part." Now there are reasons for investigating the facts involved in this statement more closely than has hitherto been done; since the following circumstances make some inquiry into the extent of the differences between the English and the classical systems of metre, an appropriate element of a work upon the English language.

1. The classical poets are authors preeminently familiarized to the educated English reader.

2. The notions imbibed from a study of the classical prosodies have been unduly mixed up with those which should have been derived more especially from the poetry of the Gothic nations.

3. The attempt to introduce (so-called) Latin and Greek metres into the Gothic tongues, has been partially successful on the Continent, and not unattempted in Great Britain.

[§ 652]. The first of these statements requires no comment.

The second, viz., "that the notions imbibed, &c." will bear some illustration; an illustration which verifies the assertion made in p. [505], that the English grammarians "sometimes borrow the classical terms iambic, trochee," &c., and apply them to their own metres.

How is this done? In two ways, one of which is wholly incorrect, the other partially correct, but inconvenient.

To imagine that we have in English, for the practical purposes of prosody, syllables long in quantity or short in quantity, syllables capable of being arranged in groups

constituting feet, and feet adapted for the construction of hexametres, pentametres, sapphics, and alcaics, just as the Latins and Greeks had, is wholly incorrect. The English system of versification is founded, not upon the periodic recurrence of similar quantities, but upon the periodic recurrence of similar accents.

The less incorrect method consists in giving up all ideas of the existence of quantity, in the proper sense of the word, as an essential element in English metre; whilst we admit accent as its equivalent; in which case the presence of an accent is supposed to have the same import as the lengthening and the absence of one, as the shortening of a syllable; so that, mutatis mutandis, a is the equivalent to [ˉ], and x to [˘].

In this case the metrical notation for—

The wáy was lóng, the wínd was cóld—

Mérrily, mérrily, sháll I live nów—

would be, not—

x a, x a, x a, x a,

a x x, a x x, a x x, a

respectively, but—

[˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˉ]

[ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ]

Again—

As they splásh in the blóod of the slíppery streét,

is not—

x x a, x x a, x x a, x x a,

but

[˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ]

[§ 653]. With this view there are a certain number of classical feet, with their syllables affected in the way of quantity, to which they are equivalent English measures with their syllables affected in the way of accent. Thus if the formula

A, [ˉ ˘]	be a classical,	the formula	a x	is an English	trochee.
B, [˘ ˉ]	,,	,,	x a	,,	iambus.
C, [ˉ ˘ ˘]	,,	,,	a x x	,,	dactyle.
D, [˘ ˉ ˘]	,,	,,	x a x	,,	amphibrachys.
E, [˘ ˘ ˉ]	,,	,,	x x a	,,	anapæst.

And so on in respect to the larger groups of similarly affected syllables which constitute whole lines and stanzas; verses like

A. Cóme to séek for fáme and glóry—

B. The wáy was lóng, the wínd was cóld—

C. Mérrily, mérrily sháll I live nów—

D. But váinly thou wárrest—

E. At the clóse of the dáy when the hámlet is stíll—

are (A), trochaic; (B), iambic; (C), dactylic; (D), amphibrachych; and (E), anapæstic, respectively.

And so, with the exception of the word amphibrachych (which I do not remember to have seen) the terms have been used. And so, with the same exception, systems of versification have been classified.

[§ 654]. Reasons against the classical nomenclature as applied to English metres.—These lie in the two following facts:—

1. Certain English metres have often a very different character from their supposed classical analogues.

2. Certain classical feet have no English equivalents.

[§ 655]. Certain English metres have often a very different metrical character, &c.—Compare such a so-called English anapæst as—

As they splásh in the blóod of the slíppery stréet—

with

Δεκατον μεν ετος τοδ' επει Πριαμου.

For the latter line to have the same movement as the former, it must be read thus—

Dekatón men etós to d' epéi Priamóu.

Now we well know that, whatever may be any English scholar's notions of the Greek accents, this is not the way in which he reads Greek anapæsts.

Again the trochaic movement of the iambic senarius is a point upon which the most exclusive Greek metrists have insisted; urging the necessity of reading (for example) the first line in the Hecuba—

Hǽko nékron keuthmóna kai skótou pýlas.

rather than—

Hækó nekrón keuthmóna kai skotóu pylás.

[§ 656]. I have said that certain English metres have often a very different metrical character, &c. I can strengthen the reasons against the use of classical terms in English prosody, by enlarging upon the word often. The frequency of the occurrence of a difference of character between classical and English metres similarly named is not a matter of accident, but is, in many cases, a necessity arising out of the structure of the English language as compared with that of the Greek and Latin—especially the Greek.

With the exception of the so-called second futures, there is no word in Greek whereof the last syllable is accented. Hence, no English line ending with an accented syllable can have a Greek equivalent. Accent for accent—

GREEK.	LATIN.		ENGLISH.
Týpto,	Vóco	=	Týrant,
Týptomen,	Scríbere	=	Mérrily,
Keuthmóna,	Vidístis	=	Disáble,

but no Greek word (with the exception of the so-called second futures like νεμῶ=nemô) and (probably) no Latin word at all, is accented like presúme and cavalíer.

From this it follows that although the first three measures of such so-called English anapæsts as—

As they splásh in the blóod of the slíppery stréet,

may be represented by Greek equivalents (i. e., equivalents in the way of accent)—

Ep' omóisi feroúsi ta kleína—

a parallel to the last measure (-ery stréet) can only be got at by one of two methods; i. e., by making the verse end in a so-called second future, or else in a vowel preceded by an accented syllable, and cut off—

Ep' omóisi feróusi ta kleína nemó—

or,

Ep' omóisi feróusi ta kleína prosóp'.[^[70]]

Now it is clear that when, over and above the fact of certain Greek metres having a different movement from their supposed English equivalents, there is the additional circumstance of such an incompatibility being less an accident than a necessary effect of difference of character in the two languages, the use of terms suggestive of a closer likeness than either does or ever can exist is to be condemned; and this is the case with the words, dactylic, trochaic, iambic, anapæstic, as applied to English versification.

[§ 657]. Certain classical feet have no English equivalents.—Whoever has considered the principles of English prosody, must have realized the important fact that, ex vi termini, no English measure can have either more or less than one accented syllable.

On the other hand, the classical metrists have several measures in both predicaments. Thus to go no farther than the trisyllabic feet, we have the pyrrhic ([˘ ˘]) and tribrach ([˘ ˘ ˘]) without a long syllable at all, and the spondee ([ˉ ˉ]), amphimacer ([ˉ ˘ ˉ]), and molossus ([ˉ ˉ ˉ]) with more than one long syllable. It follows, then that (even mutatis mutandis, i.e., with the accent considered as the equivalent to the long syllable) English pyrrhics, English tribrachs, English amphimacers, English spondees, and English molossi are, each and all, prosodial impossibilities.

It is submitted to the reader that the latter reason (based wholly upon the limitations that arise out of the structure of language) strengthens the objections of the previous section.

[§ 658]. The classical metres metrical even to English readers. The attention of the reader is directed to the difficulty involved in the following (apparently or partially) contradictory facts.

1. Accent and quantity differ; and the metrical systems founded upon them differ also.

2. The classical systems are founded upon quantity.

3. The English upon accent.

4. Nevertheless, notwithstanding the difference of the principle upon which they are constructed, the classical metres, even as read by Englishmen, and read accentually, are metrical to English ears.

[§ 659]. Preliminary to the investigation of the problem in question it is necessary to remark—

1. That, the correctness or incorrectness of the English pronunciation of the dead languages has nothing to do with the matter. Whether we read Homer exactly, as Homer would read his own immortal poems, or whether we read them in such a way as would be unintelligible to Homer reappearing upon earth, is perfectly indifferent.

2. That whether, as was indicated by the author of Μέτρον ἄριστον, we pronounce the anapæst pătŭlæ, precisely as we pronounce the dactyle Tītўrĕ, or draw a distinction between them is also indifferent. However much, as is done in some of the schools, we may say scri-bere rather than scrib-ere, or am-or, rather than a-mor, under the notion that we are lengthening or shortening certain syllables, one unsurmountable dilemma still remains, viz., that the shorter we pronounce the vowel, the more we suggest the notion of the consonant which follows it being doubled; whilst double consonants lengthen the vowel which precedes them. Hence, whilst it is certain that patulæ and Tityre may be pronounced (and that without hurting the metre) so as to be both of the same quantity, it is doubtful what that quantity is. Sound for sound Tĭtyre may be as short as pătulæ. Sound for sound pāttulæ may be as long as Tīttyre.

Hence, the only assumptions requisite are—

a. That Englishmen do not read the classical metres according to their quantities.

b. That, nevertheless, they find metre in them.

[§ 660]. Why are the classical metres metrical to English readers?—Notwithstanding the extent to which quantity differs from accent, there is no metre so exclusively founded upon the former as to be without a certain amount of the

latter; and in the majority (at least) of the classical (and probably other) metres there is a sufficient amount of accentual elements to constitute metre; even independent of the quantitative ones.

[§ 661]. Latitude in respect to the periodicity of the recurrence of similarly accented syllables in English.—Metre (as stated in p. [499]), "is the recurrence, within certain intervals, of syllables similarly affected."

The particular way in which syllables are affected in English metre is that of accent.

The more regular the period at which similar accents recur the more typical the metre.

Nevertheless absolute regularity is not requisite.

This leads to the difference between symmetrical and unsymmetrical metres.

[§ 662]. Symmetrical metres.—Allowing for indifference of the number of syllables in the last measure, it is evident that in all lines where the measures are dissyllabic the syllables will be a multiple of the accents, i. e., they will be twice as numerous. Hence, with three accents there are six syllables; with four accents, eight syllables, &c.

Similarly, in all lines where the measures are trisyllabic the syllables will also be multiples of the accents, i. e., they will be thrice as numerous. Hence, with three accents there will be nine syllables, with four accents, twelve syllables, and with seven accents, twenty-one syllables.

Lines of this sort may be called symmetrical.

[§ 663]. Unsymmetrical metres.—Lines, where the syllables are not a multiple of the accents, may be called unsymmetrical. Occasional specimens of such lines occur interspersed amongst others of symmetrical character. Where this occurs the general character of the versification may be considered as symmetrical also.

The case, however, is different where the whole character of the versification is unsymmetrical, as it is in the greater part of Coleridge's Christabel, and Byron's Siege of Corinth.

In the yéar since Jésus diéd for mén,

Eíghteen húndred yeárs and tén,

Wé were a gállant cómpaný,

Ríding o'er lánd and sáiling o'er séa.

Óh! but wé went mérrilý!

We fórded the ríver, and clómb the high híll,

Néver our steéds for a dáy stood stíll.

Whéther we láy in the cáve or the shéd,

Our sleép fell sóft on the hárdest béd;

Whéther we cóuch'd on our róugh capóte,

Or the róugher plánk of our glíding bóat;

Or strétch'd on the beách or our sáddles spréad

As a píllow beneáth the résting héad,

Frésh we wóke upón the mórrow.

Áll our thóughts and wórds had scópe,

Wé had héalth and wé had hópe,

Tóil and trável, bút no sórrow.

[§ 664]. Many (perhaps all) classical metres on a level with the unsymmetrical English ones.—The following is the notation of the extract in the preceding section.

x x a x a x a x a

a x a x a x a

a x x a x a x a

a x x a x a x x a

a x a x a x x

x a x x a x x a x x a

a x x a x x a x a

a x x a x x a x x a

x a x a x x a x a

a x x a x x a x a

x x a x a x x a x a

x a x x a x x a x a

x x a x x a x a x a

a x a x a x a x

a x a x a x a

a x a x a x a x

Now many Latin metres present a recurrence of accent little more irregular than the quotation just analysed. The following is the accentual formula of the first two stanzas of the second ode of the first Book of Horace.

Accentual Formula of the Latin Sapphic.

a a x a x	a x a x a x
a x x a x	a x a x a x
a x x a x	a x a x a x
	a x x a x

a x x a x	a x a x a x
a x x a x	a x a x a x
a x x a x	a x a x a x
	a x x a x

Latin Asclepiad.

Horace, Od. I. i., 1-6.

x a x a x x	a x x a x x
a x x a x x	a x a x a x
a x a x a x x	a x x a x x
a x a x a x	a x x a x x
a x a x a x	a x x a x x
x a x a x x	a x x a x a x

Latin Hexameter.

Æn. i., 1-5.

a x x a x a x a x x a x x a x

x a x x a x a x x x a x x a x

a x x x a x a x x x a x x a x

x a x x a x a x x x a x x a x.

A longer list of examples would show us that, throughout the whole of the classical metres the same accents recur, sometimes with less, and sometimes with but very little more irregularity than they recur in the unsymmetrical metres of our own language.

[§ 665]. Conversion of English into classical metres.—In the preface to his Translation of Aristophanes, Mr. Walsh has shown (and, I believe, for the first time), that, by a different distribution of lines, very fair hexameters may be made out of the well-known lines on the Burial of Sir John Moore:—

Not a drum was

Heard, not a funeral note as his corse to the rampart we hurried,

Not a soldier dis-

Charged his farewell shot o'er the grave where our hero we buried.

We buried him

Darkly at dead of night, the sods with our bayonets turning;

By the struggling

Moonbeams' misty light and the lantern dimly burning.

Lightly they'll

Talk of the spirit that's gone, and o'er his cold ashes upbraid him,

But little he'll

Reck if they let him sleep on in the grave where a Briton has laid him.

[§ 666]. Again, such lines as Coleridge's—

1. Make réady my gráve clothes to-mórrow;

or Shelly's—

2. Líquid Péneus was flówing,

are the exact analogues of lines like—

1. Jam lácte depúlsum leónem,

and

2. Gráto Pýrrha sub ántro.

[§ 667]. The rationale of so remarkable a phænomenon as regularity of accent in verses considered to have been composed with a view to quantity only has yet to be investigated. That it was necessary to the structure of the metres in question is certain.

[§ 668]. Cæsura.—The cæsura of the classical metrists is the result of—

1. The necessity in the classical metres (as just indicated) of an accented syllable in certain parts of the verses.

2. The nearly total absence in the classical languages of words with an accent on the last syllable.

From the joint effect of these two causes, it follows that in certain parts of a verse no final syllable can occur, or (changing the expression) no word can terminate.

Thus, in a language consisting chiefly of dissyllables, of which the first alone was accented, and in a metre which required the sixth syllable to be accented, the fifth and seventh would each be at end of words, and that simply because the sixth was not.

Whilst in a language consisting chiefly of either dissyllables or trisyllables, and in a metre of the same sort as before,

if the fifth were not final, the seventh would be so, or vice versa.

[§ 669]. Cæsura means cutting. In a language destitute of words accented on the last syllable, and in a metre requiring the sixth syllable to be accented, a measure (foot) of either the formula x a, or x x a (i. e., a measure with the accent at the end), except in the case of words of four or more syllables, must always be either itself divided, or else cause the division of the following measures—division meaning the distribution of the syllables of the measure (foot) over two or more words. Thus—

a. If the accented syllable (the sixth) be the first of a word of any length, the preceding one (the fifth) must be the final one of the word which went before; in which case the first and last parts belong to different words, and the measure (foot) is divided or cut.

b. If the accented syllable (the sixth) be the second of a word of three syllables, the succeeding one which is at the end of the word, is the first part of the measure which follows; in which case the first and last parts of the measure (foot) which follows the accented syllable is divided or cut.

As the cæsura, or the necessity for dividing certain measures between two words, arises out of the structure of language, it only occurs in tongues where there is a notable absence of words accented on the last syllable. Consequently there is no cæsura[^[71]] in the English.

[§ 670]. As far as accent is concerned, the classical poets write in measures rather than feet. See p. [505].

[§ 671]. Although the idea of writing English hexameters, &c., on the principle of an accent in a measure taking the place of the long syllables in a foot, is chimerical; it is perfectly practicable to write English verses upon the same

principle which the classics themselves have written on, i.e., with accents recurring within certain limits; in which case the so-called classical metre is merely an unsymmetrical verse of a new kind. This may be either blank verse or rhyme.

[§ 672]. The chief reason against the naturalization of metres of the sort in question (over and above the practical one of our having another kind in use already), lies in the fact of their being perplexing to the readers who have not been

trained to classical cadences, whilst they suggest and violate the idea of quantity to those who have.

Why his idea of quantity is violated may be seen in p. [165].

[§ 673]. Convertible metres.—Such a line as—

Ere her faithless sons betray'd her,

may be read in two ways. We may either lay full stress upon the word ere, and read—

Ére her faíthless sóns betráy'd her;

or we may lay little or no stress upon either ere or her, reserving the full accentuation for the syllable faith- in faithless, in which case the reading would be

Ere her faíthless sóns betráy'd her.

Lines of this sort may be called examples of convertible metres, since by changing the accent a dissyllabic line may be converted into one partially trisyllabic, and vice versâ.

This property of convertibility is explained by the fact of accentuation being a relative quality. In the example before us ere is sufficiently strongly accented to stand in contrast to her, but it is not sufficiently strongly accented to stand upon a par with the faith- in faithless if decidedly pronounced.

The real character of convertible lines is determined from the character of the lines with which they are associated.

That the second mode of reading the line in question is the proper one, may be shown by reference to the stanza wherein it occurs.

Let Érin remémber her dáys of óld,

Ere her faíthless sóns betráy'd her,

When Málachi wóre the cóllar of góld,

Which he wón from the próud inváder.

Again, such a line as

For the glory I have lost,

although it may be read

For the glóry I have lóst,

would be read improperly. The stanza wherein it occurs is essentially dissyllabic (a x).

Heéd, oh heéd my fátal stóry!

Í am Hósier's ínjured ghóst,

Cóme to seék for fáme and glóry—

Fór the glóry Í have lóst.

[§ 674]. Metrical and grammatical combinations.—Words, or parts of words, that are combined as measures, are words, or parts of words, combined metrically, or in metrical combination.

Syllables combined as words, or words combined as portions of a sentence, are syllables and words grammatically combined, or in grammatical combination.

The syllables ere her faith- form a metrical combination.

The words her faithless sons form a grammatical combination.

When the syllables contained in the same measure (or connected metrically) are also contained in the same construction (or connected grammatically), the metrical and the grammatical combinations coincide. Such is the case with the line

Remémber | the glóries | of Brían | the Bráve;

where the same division separates both the measure and the subdivisions of the sense, inasmuch as the word the is connected with the word glories equally in grammar and in metre, in syntax and in prosody. So is of with Brian, and the with Brave.

Contrast with this such a line as

A chieftain to the Highlands bound.

Here the metrical division is one thing, the grammatical division another, and there is no coincidence.

Metrical,

A chíef | tain tó | the Hígh | lands bóund.

Grammatical,

A chieftain | to the Highlands | bound.

In the following stanza the coincidence of the metrical and grammatical combination is nearly complete:—

To árms! to árms! The sérfs, they róam

O'er híll, and dále, and glén:

The kíng is deád, and tíme is cóme

To choóse a chiéf agáin.

Wárriors or chiéfs, should the sháft or the swórd

Piérce me in léading the hóst of the Lórd,

Heéd not the córse, though a kíng's in your páth,

Búry your stéel in the bósoms of Gáth.—Byron.

there is a non-coincidence equally complete.

[§ 675]. Rhythm.—The character of a metre is marked and prominent in proportion as the metrical and the grammatical

combinations coincide. The extent to which the measure a x x is the basis of the stanza last quoted is concealed by the antagonism of the metre and the construction. If it were not for the axiom, that every metre is to be considered uniform until there is proof to the contrary, the lines might be divided thus:—

a x, x a, x x a, x x a,

a x, x a x, x a x, x a,

a x, x a, x x a, x x a,

a x, x a x, x a x, x a.

The variety which arises in versification from the different degrees of the coincidence and non-coincidence between the metrical and grammatical combinations may be called rhythm.

[§ 676]. Constant and inconstant parts of a rhythm.—See [§ 636]. Of the three parts or elements of a rhyme, the vowel and the part which follows the vowel are constant, i.e., they cannot be changed without changing or destroying the rhyme. In told and bold, plunder, blunder, both the o or u on one side, and the -ld or -nder on the other are immutable.

Of the three parts, or elements, of a rhyme the part which precedes the vowel is inconstant, i.e, it must be changed in order to effect the rhyme. Thus, old and old, told and told, bold and bold, do not rhyme with each other; although old, bold, told, scold, &c. do.

Rule 1. In two or more syllables that rhyme with each other, neither the vowel nor the sounds which follow it can be different.

Rule 2. In two or more syllables that rhyme with each other, the sounds which precede the vowel cannot be alike.

Now the number of sounds which can precede a vowel is limited: it is that of the consonants and consonantal combinations; of which a list can be made a priori.

p	pl	pr	b	bl	br
f	fl	fr	v	vl	vr
t	tl	tr	d	dl	dr
th	thl	thr	dh	dhl	dhr
k	kl	kr	g	gl	gr
s	sp	sf	st	sth,	&c.

and so on, the combinations of s being the most complex.

This gives us the following method (or receipt) for the discovery of rhymes:—

1. Divide the word to which a rhyme is required, into its constant and inconstant elements.

2. Make up the inconstant element by the different consonants and consonantal combinations until they are exhausted.

3. In the list of words so formed, mark off those which have an existence in the language; these will all rhyme with each other; and if the list of combinations be exhaustive, there are no other words which will do so.

Example.—From the word told, separate the o and -ld, which are constant.

Instead of the inconstant element t, write successively, p, pl, pr, b, bl, br, &c.: so that you have the following list:—t-old, p-old, pl-old, pr-old, b-old, bl-old, br-old, &c.

Of these plold, blold, and brold, have no existence in the language; the rest, however, are rhymes.

[§ 677]. All words have the same number of possible, but not the same number of actual rhymes. Thus, silver is a word amenable to the same process as told—pilver, plilver, prilver, bilver, &c.; yet silver is a word without a corresponding rhyme. This is because the combinations which answer to it do not constitute words, or combinations of words in the English language.

This has been written, not for the sake of showing poets how to manufacture rhymes, but in order to prove that a result which apparently depends on the ingenuity of writers, is reducible to a very humble mechanical process, founded upon the nature of rhyme and the limits to the combinations of consonants.