and Trochaic feet are interchanged; and a similar remark may be made with respect to feet of three syllables. The elision of a syllable from the beginning of an Anapæstic verse and the addition of one to the end, is sufficient to change the line into an Amphibrach; and this again, may as easily be formed into a series of Dactyls. The Casura, indeed, always tends to divide the verse into equal hemistichs, and thereby often checks such transformations. There is, besides, a slight pause which naturally takes place at the end of every foot; and which the poet, who attends to harmony, contrives to accommodate to the oratorical effect of the thought. These circumstances alone preserve the measure from capricious variations; for, otherwise, these treble-time feet have one principle in common,the conjunction of two short syllables and one long,-differing solely in the order of succession. With respect to accentuation, great liberties are taken; for, in rigid scanning, we often see syllables which must be pronounced as short although they are always long in prose. This is the case, more or less, in every poem of any length; but especially so when the poet does not possess a delicate ear. The reader, in order to preserve the chant, is compelled to sacrifice the accent, which, like a false note in music, is

slurred over as he best can. The following verse may be read as made up of four pure Amphibrachs ( u ).

-

"Twǎs summěr | ǎnd softly | thě breezěs | wěre blowing;

and, with a little management, the same number of syllables may be formed into Dactyls (UU):

Fáir wăs thẻ | flōw'rět ănd | rūde wăs thě | wintĕr-blåst.

Concluding Dactyls, however, are only fitted for blank verse; because, otherwise, they would require triple consonances; but the Trochee (which terminates the Amphibrach) is frequently employed in these sorts of versification, which indulge in Double Rhymes.

The six-syllable lines are hemistichs of the twelve; and are generally accommodated with rhymes at the middle pause so as to form complete quatrains. The following is a peculiar variety:

"But if she appear

Where verdures invite her,

The fountains run clear

And the flowers smell the sweeter:

"Tis heaven to be by

When her wit is a-flowing;

Her smiles and bright eye

Set my spirits a-glowing."

Shenstone's Ballads are in the nine-syllable

measure:

"I have found out a gift for my fair;

I have found where the wood-pigeons breed:
But, let me that plunder forbear;

She will say, 'twas a barbarous deed."

The three-syllable feet are chiefly confined to songs, or other small pieces. They do not appear in any lengthened work; and, in the southern part of the Island, seem to be of no great antiquity. They are generally characterized as quick and lively; but this, perhaps, arises from the general association of ideas: for examples might be produced in which they are, appropriately, expressive of the tender and melancholy feelings. We believe, it will be found, on examination, that it is the thought and not the measure which renders the stanza grave, or gay. Some of the old Scotch Ballads, in which the three-syllable feet prevails, are peculiarly plaintive:

The Moans of the Forest, after the Battle of Flodden-field.
I have heard a lilting,* at the ewes milking,

A' the lasses lilting before break of day;
But now there's a moaning, in ilka green loaning,
Since the flowers of the forest are weeded away.

* “Lilting. Singing cheerfully, with a brisk lively air, in a style peculiar to the Scots; whose music, being com

At bughts in the morning, nae blythe lads are scorning,
Our lasses are lonely, and dowie, and wae:
Nae daffing, nae gabbing, but sighing and sobbing,
Ilk lass lifts her leglin, and hies her away.

In har'st at the shearing, nae swankies are jeering,
Our bansters are wrinkled, and lyard, and grey:
At a fair, or a preaching, nae wooing, nor fleeching,
Since the flowers of the forest are weeded away.

At e'en in the gloaming, nae youngsters are roaming 'Bout stacks with the lasses at boggles to play; But ilk lass sits dreary, lamenting her deary,

Since the flowers of the forest are weeded away.

Dool and wae fa' the order,-sent our lads to the border! The English for ance by a guile won the day:

The flowers of the forest, that shone aye the foremost, The pride of our land now lie cauld in the clay!

We'll ha' nae mair lilting, at the ewes milking,

Our women and bairns now sit dowie and wae; There's nought heard but moaning, in ilka green loaning, Since the flowers of the forest are weeded away.

posed for the bag-pipe, jumps over the discordant notes of the second and seventh, in order to prevent the jarring which it would otherwise produce with the drone or bass, which constantly sounds an octave to the key-note. Hence this kind of composition is commonly styled a Scotch Lilt."-Herbert Croft.

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CHAPTER XV.

OF LYRIC POETRY.

We have, hitherto, attended only to the general Rules of regular versification. In long poems the writer, with few exceptions, chuses his Stanza, continuing in the same strain to the close; and this is generally one of the species already described; but in Lyric Poetry, which is understood to be written to accompany the tones of a Lyre, or other musical instrument, the versification is often united in fanciful combinations, in correspondence with the strain for which it is composed.

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The Lyric Poetry of the Grecians was not only sung, but composed to the chords of the lyre. This was at first the characteristic distinction of all that was called Lyric Poetry by the Romans, and their descendants and imitators in later times. The Poet was a musician: he called upon the God of verse, and animated himself with a prelude. He fixed upon the tune, the movement, and the musical period; the melody gave birth to the verse, and thence was