"The bard on Ett -rick's moun tain green In Na -ture's bo -som nursed had been, And oft had marked in for -est lone Her beau -ties on her moun -tain throne; Had seen her deck the wild -wood tree, And star with snow -y gems the lea; In love _-li~est c=ol_ -ours paint the plain, And sow the moor with pur -ple grain; By gold -en mead and moun -tain sheer, Had viewed the Ett -rick wav -ing clear, Where shad _-=ow=y fl=ocks_ of pur -est snow Seemed graz -ing in a world below."
JAMES HOGG: _The Queen's Wake_, p. 76.
_Example III.--Two Stanzas from Eighteen, Addressed to the Ettrick Shepherd_.
"O Shep -herd! since 'tis thine to boast The fas -cinat -ing pow'rs of song, Far, far above the count -less host, Who swell the Mus -es' sup -_pli~ant throng_,
The GIFT OF GOD distrust no more, His in -spira -tion be thy guide; Be heard thy harp from shore to shore, Thy song's reward thy coun -try's pride."
B. BARTON: _Verses prefixed to the Queen's Wake_.
_Example IV.--"Elegiac Stanzas," in Iambics of Four feet and Three_.
"O for a dirge! But why complain?
Ask rath -er a trium -phal strain When FER MOR'S race is run; A gar -land of immor -tal boughs To bind around the Chris -tian's brows, Whose glo _-rious work_ is done.
We pay a high and ho -ly debt; No tears of pas -sionate regret Shall stain this vo -tive lay; Ill-wor -thy, Beau -mont! were the grief That flings itself on wild relief When Saints have passed away."
W. WORDSWORTH: _Poetical Works_, First complete Amer. Ed., p. 208.
This line, the iambic tetrameter, is a favourite one, with many writers of English verse, and has been much used, both in couplets and in stanzas.
Butler's Hudibras, Gay's Fables, and many allegories, most of Scott's poetical works, and some of Byron's, are written in couplets of this measure. It is liable to the same diversifications as the preceding metre.
The frequent admission of an additional short syllable, forming double rhyme, seems admirably to adapt it to a familiar, humorous, or burlesque style. The following may suffice for an example:--
"First, this large par -cel brings you _tidings_ Of our good Dean's eter -nal _chidings_; Of Nel -ly's pert -ness, Rob -in's _leasings_, And Sher -idan's perpet -ual _teasings_.
This box is cramm'd on ev -ery side With Stel -la's mag -iste -rial pride."
DEAN SWIFT: _British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 334.
The following lines have _ten syllables_ in each, yet the measure is not iambic of five feet, but that of four with hypermeter:--
"There was ~an =an -cient sage phi_losopher_, Who had read Al -exan -der _Ross over_."--_Butler's Hudibras_.
"I'll make them serve for per -pen_diculars_, As true as e'er were us'd by _bricklayers_."
--_Ib._, Part ii, C. iii, l. 1020.
MEASURE VI.--IAMBIC OF THREE FEET, OR TRIMETER.
_Example.--To Evening_.
"Now teach me, maid compos'd To breathe some soft -en'd strain."--_Collins_, p. 39.
This short measure has seldom, if ever, been used alone in many successive couplets; but it is often found in stanzas, sometimes without other lengths, but most commonly with them. The following are a few examples:--
_Example I.--Two ancient Stanzas, out of Many_,
"This while we are abroad, Shall we not touch our lyre?
Shall we not sing an ode?
Shall now that ho -ly fire, In us, that strong -ly glow'd, In this cold air, expire?
Though in the ut -most peak, A while we do remain, Amongst the moun -tains bleak, Expos'd to sleet and rain, No sport our hours shall break, To ex -ercise our vein."
DRAYTON: _Dr. Johnson's Gram._, p. 13; _John Burn's_, p. 244.
_Example II.--Acis and Galatea_.
"For us the zeph -yr blows, For us distils the dew, For us unfolds the rose, And flow'rs display their hue;
For us the win -ters rain, For us the sum -mers shine, Spring swells for us the grain, And au -tumn bleeds the vine."
JOHN GAY: _British Poets_, Vol. vii, p. 376.
_Example III.--"Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin_."
"The king was on his throne, The sa -traps thronged the hall; A thou -sand bright lamps shone O'er that high fes -tival.
A thou -sand cups of gold, In Ju -dah deemed divine-- Jeho -vah's ves -sels, hold The god -less Hea -then's wine!
In that same hour and hall, The fin -gers of a hand Came forth against the wall, And wrote as if on sand: The fin -gers of a man,-- A sol -ita -ry hand Along the let -ters ran, And traced them like a wand."
LORD BYRON: _Vision of Belshazzar_.
_Example IV.--Lyric Stanzas_.
"Descend, celes -tial fire, And seize me from above, Melt me in flames of pure desire, A sac -rifice to love.
Let joy and wor -ship spend The rem -nant of my days, And to my God, my soul ascend, In sweet perfumes of praise."
WATTS: _Poems sacred to Devotion_, p. 50.
_Example V.--Lyric Stanzas_.
"I would begin the mu -sic here, And so my soul should rise: O for some heav'n -ly notes to bear My spir -it to the skies!
There, ye that love my say -iour, sit, There I would fain have place Amongst your thrones or at your feet, So I might see his face."
WATTS: _Same work_, "_Horae Lyricae_," p. 71.
_Example VI.--England's Dead_.
"The hur -ricane hath might Along the In -dian shore, And far, by Gan -ges' banks at night, Is heard the ti -ger's roar.
But let the sound roll on!
It hath no tone of dread For those that from their toils are gone;-- _There_ slum -ber Eng -land's dead."
HEMANS: _Poetical Works_, Vol. ii, p. 61.
The following examples have some of the common diversifications already noticed under the longer measures:--
_Example I.--"Languedocian Air_."
"_L=ove ~is_ a hunt -er boy, Who makes young hearts his prey; _And in_ his nets of joy Ensnares them night and day.
In vain conceal'd they lie, Love tracks them ev' -ry where; In vain aloft they fly, Love shoots them fly -ing there.
But 'tis his joy most sweet, At earl -y dawn to trace The print of Beau -ty's feet, And give the trem -bler chase.
And most he loves through snow To track those foot -steps fair, For then the boy doth know, None track'd before him there."
MOORE'S _Melodies and National Airs_, p. 274.