13
A METRICAL ACCIDENT
Curious instance of casual metre and rhyme in a prose narrative (The Life of Jerome of Prague). The metre is Amphibrach dimeter Catalectic ˘ ¯ ˘ | ˘ ¯, and the rhymes antistrophic.
Then Jerome did call a
From his flame-pointed Fence; b
Which under he trod, c
As upward to mount d
From the fiery flood,—e
'I summon you all, a
A hundred years hence, b
To appear before God, c
To give an account d
Of my innocent blood!' e
July 7, 1826. Now first published from an MS.