T-Are any of the words in your example contracted in order to form the feet?

H.-Yes, Sir, ethereal, a word of four syllables, is contracted to three, and heaven, to one.

T-Are we to regard such contractions in reading and reciting, so that we should always make the feet distinct?

I.—No, Sir, no more than we are to substitute scanning for divisions of sense; e'er, ne'er and o'er, I think, are the only exceptions spoken of: but, in our attempts to preserve the melody of verse, the syllables need not be brought out so full as in prose.

T-Now, Master H., write your example in proper divisions of sense, separated by bars, where it is needed, and marked with the inflections.

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blúe ethereal sky,

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And spangled heavens, a shining fráme,
Their great original | proclaim.

T-What other kinds of verse are written in this measure ?

J. From that of one Iambus up to seven or eight; as, The Lord descen'děd from above, and bowed the heav'ĕns high: but this kind, though formerly written in one line, is now broken into two; e. g.,

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O blind to each indulgent aim
Of power supreme'ly wise,
Who fan'cy hap'piness in aught
The hand of heaven

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denies !

The Epic or heroic, as it has been said, composed of five lambs to a line, with or without rhyme, sometimes takes a syllable over, or a Redundant; as,

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Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow; The rest is all but leath'er or prunel'lo.

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T-Does the Heroic ever admit an additional foot; and what is the line called, when formed of six Iambs? K.-An Alexandrine, as in the second line of this couplet :

A need'less Al'exan'drine ends the song,

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That like a wound'ed snake,' drags its slow length '

along.

T.-Give an example of the Trochaic, and tell the varieties of that kind of verse.

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L.-Nōw I lay me down to ' sleep-is a good example of the Trochaic, with a Redundant. The varieties of this verse are the same as those of the Iambic; e. g.

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On ǎ mountain stretched bě'neath a hōary' willow Lay ǎ shepherd' swain, ănd' viewed the rōlling

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billŏw.

T.—Give an example of the Anapæstic verse.

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A.-May I gōv'ern my pas'sions with ab'solute sway, And grow wi'sĕr and bet'ter as life wears away. Verses in this measure include one, two, three or four feet; and sometimes take a Redundant; as,

On the warm | cheek of youth, | smiles and rōs'es ǎre blen'ding.

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Byron's Sennacherib is Anapæstic verse. T.-Give an example of the Dactylic. C.-Bōys will ǎn'tīcăpăte, lavish ǎnd dissipǎte All that your busy pǎte hōarded with care; And, in their foolishness, passion and mulĭshness, Charge you with | churlishness, | spurning your |

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prayer.

The feet in this stanza are all Dactyls; and one of the rhymes is formed of two Redundants. This measure in the English is very difficult and rare.

T-Can you give some examples in which the Pyrrhic and Spondee are mingled in the same verse, and the Iambus is changed for the Trochee, and the Trochee for the Iambus ?

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D. And to the dead my wil'ling feet shall gō. In this verse, the first foot is a Pyrrhic, the rest are Iambs.

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Forbear, great man, în arms renowned forbear. Here the second foot is a Spondee, the rest are Iambs. Tyrǎnt and slave, those names of hāte and fear. In this, the first is a Trochee, the rest are Iambs.

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T-Give an example of the Anapæstic.

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E.—I have fōund out ǎ gift
I have found where the wood
But let me that plūn'dĕr forbeār;

She will say
For he ne'er
Who would rōb

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for my fair;

!

pigeons breed;

'twas ǎ bār'bărŏus dēed.

could be true she ǎverred,

ǎ poor bird of Its yōung;

her the more when I heard

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And I loved
Such ten'děrněss fall from her tongue.

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In these two stanzas, all are Anapæsts, except the first foot in the third line, which is an Iambus, and the first in the last, which is a Spondee.

T.-Such changes in Anapæstic verse are not uncommon; nor is it uncommon in Iambic and Trochaic, to use one foot for the other; nor to mingle, as you have shown, the Pyrrhic and the Spondee: they serve to make a pleasing variety, and so to enliven the verse. Do you recollect any other distinction in the structure of Epic verse, and that of reading it?

G. Yes, Sir, I remember you told us that a good poet always gave to his lines a pleasing variety by the skilful distribution of long and short syllables; and varying the place of the cæsural pause, so as to make it different on almost every succeeding line. The Casura is a Latin word derived from cædo to cut; and it cuts the line into two parts: this pause in good poetry, is sufficiently indicated by the sense; but if not, no attempt should be made to embellish the reading with that kind of melody.

T-Very well, Sir, I am gratified to see my remarks have found so good a lodgment. Can you repeat the lines I then used to illustrate what you have just said?

G. They were the beginning of Pope's Essay on Man: I wrote them down, and I have applied the marks of quantity, I think, just as you exhibited them, and some of the principal accents also.

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1 Awāke, 1 my Sāínt | Jõhn, lēave all mēan'ĕr things 2 To low ǎmbi'tion, and the pride of kings.

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căn lit'tle mōre supply,

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about us, and

to die) o'er all this scene of man;

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3 Let us (since life 4 Thăn just to look 5 Expā'tiate free

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6 A migh'ty maze ! but nōt withōut | ǎ plān;

7 A wild, where weeds and flowers promis'cuous

shoot,

8 Or gar'den, tem'pting with

forbid'den fruit.

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9 Togeth'ĕr lētus beat this am'ple field,
10 Try what the ōp'en, what the cōv'ĕrt yield;
11 The la'těnt tracts, the gid'dy heights explōre
12 Of all who blind'ly creep, or sight'ly sōar.
13 Eye Na'ture's walks, shoot Fōl'ly as it flies,
14 And catch the man'nĕrs living, as they rise:
15 Laugh where we must, bě can'did where
16 But vin'dicate the ways of Gōd to man.

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wě căn;

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T-Very well again: you are right, as far as I can see, in every particular. Here is perfection in forming poetic lines; both as it regards the mingling of long and short syllables, and varying the place of the cæsura; so that in reading, the sense and the melody are both preserved. We observe the same varying change of the cæsural pause in Latin and Greek Hexameters: and none can read them well unless they give the cæsura a constant and marked attention. But why do you put an accent with long quantity on St. or Saint in the first line, rather than John-the common way of reading it?

G.-Because the first way preserves the measure and the sense; and the other destroys them both. If we put the accent on John, we make it mean the St. John of the Gospel; but it is the family name of his friend to whom the poet addressed his poem: and it was so