(Trisyllabic rhythm either dactylic[7] or anapaestic[8] as may be on general principles preferred.) And this may have occurred to him even with the first as thus:
When ¦ as the | night¦ingale | chan¦ted her | ves¦pers.
Now which of these is to be preferred? and which did the author mean? (two questions which are not so identical as they may seem). My own answer, which I have already given elsewhere,[9] is that both are uncertain, and that he probably had each of the rhythms in his head, but confusedly.[10]
'Square Cap' is much less doubtful, or not doubtful at all, and it may be thought to prove the anapaestic-dactylic scansion, especially the anapaestic of 'Mark Antony'. For it will be observed that, even from the first two verses, you can get no iambic run, except of the most tumbling character, on the line here.
Come hith|er, Apoll|o's bounc|ing girl,
And in | a whole hip|pocrene | of sherry
Let 's drink | a round | till our brains | do whirl,
Tu|ning our pipes | to make | ourselves merry.
A Cam|bridge lass, Ve|nus-like born | of the froth