we take the accented syllable and its corresponding unaccented syllable, and, grouping the two together, deal with the pair at once. Now a Group of syllables, taken together, is called a MEASURE or a Foot. Thus, hast thou (x a) is one measure, a charm (x a) another, and so on throughout. The line itself consists of five measures. Measures, being the same as musical bars, received the name of Feet, because their time was regulated by the foot of the Corypheus or director of the Greek choirs. This action was called beating time.

A foot or measure composed of an unaccented and an accented syllable (x a) is an Iambus. A foot composed of an accented and an unaccented syllable (a x) is a Trochee. A foot composed of two accented syllables (a a) is called a Spondee. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables (xx) is called a Pyrrhic. A foot composed of one accented and two unaccented syllables (a x x) is a Dactyl. A foot composed of one unaccented syllable and one accented and one unaccented (x a x) is an Amphibrach. A foot composed of two unaccented syllables and one accented (x x a) is an Anapest.

DISSYLLABIC MEASURES.

1. The following is composed of Iambics, according to the formula xa:—

"Sweet Thir'/sa! wak'/ing as' / in sleep',

Thou art'/ but now' / a love'/ly dream';
A star/ that trem'/bled o'er' the deep',
Then turned' from earth' / its ten'/der beam':

But he' / who through' / life's drear'/y way'

Must pass'/when heaven' / is veiled' / in wrath',

Will long/lament' / the van'/ished ray'

That scat'/tered glad'/ness o'er' / his path'."-BYRON.

2. The following is composed of Trochees. The accented syllable comes first, the unaccented one follows, the formula being a x:—

"Lay' thy/bow' of pearl' a/part',
And' thy/silver / shin'ing/quiv'er;

Give' un/to' the /fly'ing / hart'

Time' to breathe' how / short' so/ev'er;
Thou' that/mak'st' a/ day' of /night',

God'dess!/ex'quis/ite'ly / bright'."-BEN JONSON.

TRISYLLABIC MEASURES.

The number of these is limited to three, the Dactyl, the Amphibrach, the Anapest.

1. The first of these, the Dactyl, is exhibited in the word merrily (α x x).

"Mer'rily, /mer'rily / shall' I live / now',

Un'der the/blos'som that /hangs' on the / bough'."-SHAKESPEARE.

2. The second, the Amphibrach, is exhibited in the word disable (x a x).

"But vain'ly / thou war'rest:

For this' is/ alone' in

Thy power/to/ declare',

That in' the dim for'est

Thou heard'st' a low moan'ing,

And saw'st' a bright la'dy / surpass'ing/ly fair'."-COLERIDGE.

3. The third, the Anapest, is exhibited in the word cavalier

(x x α).

"There's a beau'/ty forev'/er unfad'/ingly bright',

Like the long sunny lapse' / of a sum'/mer day's light':
Shining on', / shining on', / by no shad'/ow made ten'/der,

Till love' falls asleep' / in the same'/ness of splen'/dour."-MOORE.

A CESURA is a pause in a verse.

"Warms in the sun, || refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, || and blossoms in the trees."-POPE.

SECTION DCXXIII.-RHYME.

RHYME has been defined as the correspondence which exists between syllables containing sounds similarly modified.

It is not a mere ornament: it marks and defines the accent, and thereby strengthens and supports the rhythm. Its advantages have been felt so strongly, that no people have ever adopted an accented rhythm without also adopting rhyme.

"The moon is in her summer glow,

But hoarse and high the breezes blow;
And, racking o'er her face, the cloud

Varies the tincture of her shroud."-SCOTT.

Here the last syllables of each line in the two couplets are said to rhyme with each other.

"Fair queen! I will not blame thee now,

As once by Greta's fairy side;

Each little cloud that dimm'd thy brow
Did then an angel's beauty hide.”—Rokeby.

Here the rhyming lines come alternately.

"What is grandeur? what is power?
Heavier toil, superior pain.

What the bright reward we gain ?
The grateful memory of the good.

Sweet is the breath of vernal shower;

The bee's collected treasure's sweet;

Sweet music's melting fall; but sweeter yet
The still, small voice of gratitude."-GRAY.

Here the rhymes occur at wider intervals.

For two or more words to rhyme with each other, it is necessary, 1. That the vowel be the same in both.

2. That the parts following the vowel be the same.

3. That the parts preceding the vowel be different.

Beyond this, it is necessary that the syllables, to form a full and perfect rhyme, should be accented syllables. Sky and lie form good rhymes, but sky and merrily bad ones, and merrily and silly worse. See LATHAM.

SECTION DCXXIV.-IMPERFECT RHYMES.

1. None and own are better rhymes than none and man, because there are degrees in amount to which vowels differ from one another, and the sounds of the o in none and o in own are more alike than the sounds of o in none and the a in man. In like manner, breathe and teeth are nearer to rhymes than breathe and tease; and breathe and tease are more alike in sound than breathe and teal. All this is because the sound of th in teeth is more allied to that of th in breathe than that of s in tease; and the s in tease is more allied to the same sound (th) than the in teal. This shows that in imperfect rhymes there are degrees, and that some approach the nature of true rhymes more than others.

2. In matters of rhyme the letter h counts as nothing. High and I, hair and air, are imperfect rhymes, because h (being no articulate sound) counts for nothing, and so the parts before the vowels i and a are not different (as they ought to be), but identical.

"Whose generous children narrow'd not their hearts

With commerce, given alone to arms and arts."—-BYRON.

3. Words where the letters coincide, but the sounds differ, are only rhymes to the eye: breathe and beneath are in this predicament; so also are cease and ease (eaze).

"In the fat age of pleasure, wealth, and ease,

Sprang the rank weed, and thrived with large increase."-Pope.

4. If the sounds coincide, the difference of the letters is unimportant.

"They talk of principles, but notions prize;

And all to one loved folly sacrifice.”—POPE.

SECTION DCXXV.-DOUBLE AND TRIPLE RHYMES.

An accented syllable standing by itself, and coming under the conditions given above, constitutes a SINGLE RHYME. An accented syllable followed by an unaccented one, coming under the conditions given above, constitutes a DOUBLE RHYME.

"When Love came first to earth, the SPRING

Spread rose-buds to receive lim;

And back, he vow'd, his flight he'd wing
To heaven, if she should leave him.
"But Spring departing, saw his faith
Pledged to the next new-comer;
He revell'd in the warmer breath.
And richer bowers of SUMMER.

"The sportive AUTUMN claim'd by rights
An Archer for her lover;

And even in WINTER's dark, cold nights,
A charm he could discover.

"Her routs, and balls, and fireside joy,
For this time were his reasons;

In short, Young Love's a gallant boy

That likes all times and seasons."---CAMPBELL.

An accented syllable, followed by two unaccented ones, and coming under the conditions stated above, constitutes a TREBLE RHYME.

"Oh ye immortal gods! what is theogony?

Oh thou, too, immortal man! what is philanthropy?
Oh world that was and is! what is cosmogony?
Some people have accused me of misanthropy,
And yet I know no more than the mahogany

That forms this desk of what they mean: lycanthropy

I comprehend; for, without transformation,

Men become wolves on any slight occasion."-BYRON.

SECTION DCXXVI.-MIDDLE RHYME.

MIDDLE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllables of the two sections of a line.

"Happy, ye sons of busy life,

Who, equal to the bustling strife,
No other view regard,

Ev'n when the wish'd end's denied;
Yet, when the busy means are plied,
They bring their own reward:
While I, a hope-abandon'd wight,
Unfitted with an aim,

Meet every sad returning night

And joyless morn the same!
You, bustling and jostling,

Forget each care and pain!
I, listless yet restless,

Find every prospect vain!"-BURNS.

"And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold;

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:

It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd,

Like noises in a swound."-COLERIDGE.

SECTION DCXXVII.-SECTIONAL RHYME.

SECTIONAL RHYME is that which exists between syllables contained in the same section.

"Will stoode for skill, and law obeyed lust;

Might trode down right; / of king there was no feare."-FERRERS.

SECTION DCXXVIII.-INVERSE RHYME.

INVERSE RHYME is that which exists between the last accented syllable of the first section and the first accented syllable of the second.

"The piper loud and louder blew ;

The dancers quick and quicker flew."-BURNS.

"These steps both reach, and teach thee shall
To come by thrift, to shift withal."-TUSSER.

SECTION DCXXIX.-WORD-MATCHING.

"There is in Eastern poetry a kind of word-rhyming or wordmatching, in which every word of a line is answered by another of the same measure and rhyme in the other line of the distich."

"She drove her flock o'er mountains,

By grove, or rock, or fountains."

"Now, O now, I needs must part,
Parting though I absent mourn;
Absence can no joy impart,

Joy once fled can ne'er return."

SECTION DCXXX.-ALLITERATION.

ALLITERATION is the repetition of the same letter at the commencement of two or more words, or at short intervals; as,

"Who often, but without success, have pray'd
For åpt alliteration's artful aid."

Alliteration is the distinctive characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon, and, indeed, of all the Gothic metres.

The high king's 'hest, around him was holy light.

"On last legdun, lathum leodum."-Brunanburgh War Song.

At foot they laid on the loathed bonds.

"As one that runnes beyond his race and rows beyond his reach."-BOURCHER.

"When bound to some bay

In the billowy ocean,

O'er sea rolling surges

The sailors are steering,

God weighs on his waters

Their wandering bark,

And wafts them with winds

On their watery way."

SECTION DCXXXI.-TASK POETRY.

The following is a task poem of George Herbert's. The task is, that the last words of the latter two lines of each verse are formed by dropping letters from the last words of the former ones:—

"Inclose me still, for fear I start,

Be to me rather sharp and tart,

Than let me want thy hand and art.

Such sharpness shows the sweetest friend,
Such cuttings rather heal than rend,
And such beginnings' touch their end."

The following task distich is formed of three lines of the fragments