ficiently rhythmical to support themselves without the aid of rhime. His "Iambics," or the metre selected for "triumphs of princes and stern tragedies," are nothing more than our modern blank verse. Goe numbers, boldly passe, stay not for ayde, His "Dimeters," as he calls them, were recommended for the "Chorus in a tragedy." Raving warre, begot In the thirstye sands. Of the Lybian iles, Wastes our emptye fields, &c. His "Trochaic,"*"Anacreontic," and "Elegiac" + metres have been already noticed. The rhythm of the last is peculiar, and might, perhaps, in some few cases, be used to advantage. Campion sometimes aimed at novelty by breaking his verses. As the broken stave (of which we shall have to speak hereafter) had been already introduced into our poetry, there was little originality in the attempt; but it may be well to notice one or two of the results. His "Sapphic" verses have for their subject " a triumph at Whitehall." Loe they sound, the knights in order armed * Vol. i. p. 239. † Ibid. p. 186. Ibid. p. 258. Their plum'd pomp the vulgar heaps detaineth, The following song is written in numbers "fit to expresse any amorous conceite." It appears to me extremely beautiful. Rose-cheek't Lawra come! Sing thou smoothly with thy beauties Sweetely gracing. Lovely forms do flowe From concent deninely framed, Heau'n is musick, and thy beawties Burth is heauenly. These dull notes we sing Discords neede for helps to grace them; Knowes no discorde; But still moue's delight, Like cleare springs renu'd by flowing, Of all the experiments, made in our versification during the sixteenth century, those depending on the sectional pause now strike the ear as most singular. Some of these have been already noticed in the first volume. In the song written by Sir Philip Sidney, every verse takes the pause, but the situation of the pause is not regulated by any well-defined law. In Shakespeare's song,† its place is fixed. This appears to have * Vol. i. p. 155. VOL. II. + Ibid. p. 156. T been the more usual mode of introducing it, and is certainly the safest. When the reader is thus forewarned and prepared for its occurrence, the pause may sometimes be made to answer very valuable purposes. The peculiar character which it imparts to the rhythm, may often be used advantageously, to mark the divisions of a stave; and this was one of the chief uses to which it was formerly put. The old Scotch song "aganis the Ladyes," may serve for an example. Thair belts, thair broches, and thair rings Mak biggings bair at hame, Thair hudes, their chymours, thair garnyshings For to augment thair fame. Scho sall thairfoir be calt Madame, Botand the laird maid knycht, Grit | grit is thair grace, Howbeit thair rents be slicht, &c. Later writers have seldom ventured on these experiments. It is true, they sometimes give a marked character to their rhythm, but one, in the language of Bede, 66 non artifici moderatione servatam, sed sono et ipsâ modulatione ducente." Thus, in his melodies, Moore sometimes makes his rhythm oscillate round the verse 61:6. of five accents. They slander thee sorely who say thy vows are frail, Hadst thou been a false one: thy cheek had been less pale, They say too so long; thou hast worn these ling'ring chains, That deep in thy heart: they have planted their servile stains, Oh! do not believe them: no chain could that soul subdue Where shineth thy spirit: there liberty shineth too. Before we close the chapter, it may be well to notice an opinion that has prevailed on the subject of our heroic verse, the investigation of which may open views of the general capabilities of English metre. Many of our poets have considered our heroic verse as subjected to stricter laws, and as imposing greater difficulties on those who wrote it, than the heroic verse of classical literature. As the latter admitted a dactyle or foot of three syllables in five places, and our heroic verse only in two, the greater facility of the former was looked upon as settled, At the present day it will hardly be necessary to combat this notion, or to show how much more rhythmical is the verse, which has not only all its feet equivalent in respect to quantity, but has even its accented or sharp-toned syllables regulated by rule. As, however, opinions seldom last long, unless they contain some truth, it may be worth while inquiring how much of it has sufficed to give currency to notions, certainly on the whole erro neous. Verse is distinguished from prose by its metre, or in other words by the selection of its rhythms. The law, which limits the selection, may be more or less comprehensive, but when once adopted should be scrupulously observed. If the poem be short, and contain little change of feeling or of sentiment, a confined rhythm is not always a disadvantage; if it contain variety of sentiment, there should be corresponding variety in the rhythm. In all cases, however, the law of the metre should be clear and definite. Now the excellence of the hexameter consisted in the union of two very different qualities-its metre was at once definite and comprehensive. Though governed by laws most strictly scientific, its cadence was allowed a variety of flow, that easily adapted itself to every change of subject. Our heroic verse was fashioned on that of five accents and ten syllables. A metre so confined, that even Gaskoyne felt the thraldom, was ill-suited to the genius or the temper of Milton; and he struggled hard for freedom. He varied the flow of the rhythm, and lengthened the sections, these were legitimate alterations; he split the sections, and overlaid the pauses, and the law of his metre was broken, the science of his versification gone. The giant put on the habiliments of the dwarf-could he do otherwise than rend them? The inferiority of our heroic verse, as a means of poetical expression, must be acknowledged; but its facility, in point of versification, is no less clear. Its rhythm is so obvious, that we often use it when writing prose; and one author, who makes the same remark, illustrates it (all unconsciously it would seem) by his own example, "such verse we make | when we are writing prose— we make such verse | in common conversation." It may be asked, has our language no metre which may satisfy the demands alike of science and of genius? Can it furnish no well-defined system of rhythm, fit to embody the conceptions of a man like Milton? Is accentual rhythm (for the question ultimately resolves itself into this) so inferior to the temporal, that, to be definite, it must be crippled and confined; to be comprehensive, it must be vague and desultory? Whether any of our poets have used such a metre, is a question that may raise a doubt; that our language could have furnished it, admits of none. Suppose a metre to consist of verses of five accents, rejecting the sectional pause; here we have a very simple and definite law, admitting of a varied rhythm, which might satisfy even a Milton's |