[§ 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—