Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/875

 orders and metres both,&mdash;) will, I think, retain but little resemblance in rhythm to the foregoing, though the actual sequence of quantities long and short is the same. If this be so, the particular measure or correspondent length of lines is more essential to the character of a poetic strain than some have supposed. The first four lines of the following extract are an example relevant to this point:

Ariel's Song. "Cōme ŭn\-tō´ thĕse \ yēllŏw \ sānds,   And thēn \ tăke hānds:    Court'sied \ when you \ have and \ kiss'd,    (The wild \ waves whist,)    Foot it \ featly \ here and \ there;    And, sweet \ sprites, the \ burden \ bear." : Tempest, Act i, Sc. 2.

MEASURE IV.&mdash;TROCHAIC OF FIVE FEET, OR PENTAMETER
Example I.&mdash;Double Rhymes and Single, Alternated. "Mountain \ winds! oh! \ whither \ do ye \ call me?     Vainly, \ vainly, \ would my \ steps pur\-sue:    Chains of \ care to \ lower \ earth en\-thrall me,      Wherefore \ thus my \ weary \ spirit \ woo?

Oh! the \ strife of \ this di\-vided \ being! Is there \ peace where \ ye are \ borne, on \ high? Could we \ soar to \ your proud \ eyries \ fleeing, In our \ hearts, would \ haunting \ mēmŏrĭes \ die?"      : "To the Mountain Winds:" Everet's Versif., p. 95. Example II&mdash;Rhymes Otherwise Arranged.   "Then, me\-thought, I \ heard a \ hollow \ sound, Gāthĕrĭng \ up from \ all the lower \ ground: Nārrŏwĭng \ in to \ where they \ sat as\-sembled, Low vo \-lŭptŭoŭs \ music, \ winding, \ trembled."      : Frazee's Improved Gram., p. 184; Fowler's, 657.

This measure, whether with the final short syllable or without it, is said, by Murray, Everett, and others, to be "very uncommon." Dr. Johnson, and the other old prosodists named with him above, knew nothing of it. Two couplets, exemplifying it, now to be found in sundry grammars, and erroneously reckoned to differ as to the number of their feet, were either selected or composed by Murray, for his Grammar, at its origin&mdash;or, if not then, at its first reprint, in 1796. They are these: (1.)

"All that \ walk on \ foot or \ ride in \ chariots,   All that \ dwell in \ pala\-ces or \ garrets." L. Murray's Gram., 12mo, 175; 8vo, 257; Chandler's, 196; Churchill's, 187; Hiley's, 126; et al. (2.)

"Idle \ after \ dinner, \ in his \ chair,   Sat a \ farmer, \ ruddy, \ fat, and \ fair." Murray, same places; N. Butler's Gr., p. 193; Hallock's, 244; Hart's, 187; Weld's, 211; et al.

Richard Hiley most absurdly scans this last couplet, and all verse like it, into "the Heroic measure," or a form of our iambic pentameter; saying, "Sometimes a syllable is cut off from the first foot; as,   Ī\-dlĕ āf\-tĕr dīnn\-nĕr īn \ hĭs chāir [,]    Sāt \ ă fār\-mĕr [,] rūd\-dý, fāt, \ ānd fāir." Hiley's English Grammar, Third Edition, p. 125. J. S. Hart, who, like many others, has mistaken the metre of this last example for "Trochaic Tetrameter," with a surplus "syllable," after repeating the current though rather questionable assertion, that, "this measure is very uncommon," proceeds with our "Trochaic Pentameter," thus: "This species is likewise uncommon. It is composed of five trochees; as,   Īn thĕ \ dārk ănd \ grēen ănd \ glōomў \ vāllĕy,    Sātўrs \ bȳ thĕ \ brōoklĕt \ lōve tŏ \ dāllў." And again: ☞ "The with an  accented syllable; as,    Whēre thĕ \ wōod ĭs \ wāvĭng \grēen ănd \hīgh,    Fāuns ănd \ Drȳăds \ wātch thĕ \ stārrў \ sky." Hart's English Grammar, First Edition, p. 187. These examples appear to have been made for the occasion; and the latter, together with its introduction, made unskillfully. The lines are of five feet, and so are those about the ruddy farmer; but there is nothing "additional" in either case; for, as pentameter, they are all catalectic, the final short syllable being dispensed with, and a cæsura preferred, for the sake of single rhyme, otherwise not attainable. "Five trochees" and a rhyming "syllable" will make trochaic hexameter, a measure perhaps more pleasant than this. See examples above.