Then we might expatiate largely about the value of Time, and of the propriety of taking him by the forelock—but for two reasons.
One of them is, that all this has been said long ago; the other, that it is nothing at all to the purpose.
We might also quote extensively from Dr. Culpeper’s Herbal, and from Linnæus and Jussieu; but the time we speak of, (although we hope it will be twigged by the reader,) is no plant; nevertheless it is a necessary ingredient in grammatical stuffing.
Time in prosody is the measure of the pronouncing of a syllable.
Like whist, it is divided into Long and Short. A long time is marked thus, as sūmēns, taking: a short time thus; as pĭlŭlă, a pill.
A foot is the placing together of two or more syllables, according to the certain observation of their time, the organ of which should be well developed for that purpose.
Ordinary feet are long feet, short feet, broad feet, splay feet, club feet, and bumble feet, to which may be added cloven feet in the case of certain animals, and an “old gentleman.”
There are several kinds of Latin feet; here, however, we shall only notice spondees and dactyls.
A spondee is a foot of two syllables, as īnfāns, an infant.
A dactyl is a foot of three syllables, as āngĕlŭs, an angel, pōrcŭlŭs, a little pig.