_Example II--Rhymes Otherwise Arranged._
"Then, me -thought, I heard a hollow sound, _G=ath~er~ing_ up from all the lower ground: _N=arr~ow~ing_ in to where they sat as -sembled, Low vo _-l~upt~uo~us_ music, winding, trembled."
ALFRED TENNYSON: _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--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,
=I -dl~e =af -t~er d=inn -n~er =in h~is ch=air [,]
S=at ~a f=ar -m~er [,] r=ud -d, f=at, =and f=air."
_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,
=In th~e d=ark ~and gr=een ~and gl=oom~y v=all~ey, S=at~yrs b=y th~e br=ookl~et l=ove t~o d=all~y."
And again: [[Fist]] "_The SAME with an ADDITIONAL accented syllable_; as,
Wh=ere th~e w=ood ~is w=av~ing gr=een ~and _h=igh_, F=auns ~and Dr=y~ads w=atch th~e st=arr~y _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 caesura 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.
MEASURE V.--TROCHAIC OF FOUR FEET, OR TETRAMETER.
_Example I.--A Mournful Song_.
1.
"Raving winds a -round her blowing, Yellow leaves the woodlands strewing, By a river hoarsely roaring, Isa -bella strayed de -ploring.
'Farewell hours that late did measure Sunshine days of joy and pleasure; Hail, thou gloomy night of sorrow, Cheerless night that knows no morrow.
2.
O'er the past too fondly _wandering_, On the hopeless future _pondering_, Chilly grief my life-blood freezes, Fell de -spair my fancy seizes.
Life, thou soul of _every_ blessing, Load to _misery_ most dis -tressing, O how gladly I'd re -sign thee, And to dark ob _-livion_ join thee.'"
ROBERT BURNS: _Select Works_, Vol. ii, p. 131
_Example II.--A Song Petitionary_.
"_Powers ce_ -lestial, whose pro -tection Ever guards the _virtuous_ fair, While in distant climes I wander, Let my Mary be your care: Let her form so fair and faultless, Fair and faultless as your own; Let my Mary's kindred spirit Draw your choicest _influence_ down.
Make the gales you waft a -round her Soft and peaceful as her breast; Breathing in the breeze that fans her, Soothe her bosom into rest: _Guardian_ angels, O pro -tect her, When in distant lands I roam; _To realms_ _unknown_ _while fate_ _exiles me_, Make her bosom still my home."
BURNS'S SONGS, Same Volume, p. 165.
_Example III.--Song of Juno and Ceres_.
_Ju_. "Honour, riches, marriage -blessing, Long con _-tinuance_, and in -creasing, Hourly joys be still up -on you!
Juno sings her blessings on you."
_Cer_. "Earth's in -crease, and foison plenty; Barns and garners never empty; Vines with clust'ring bunches growing; Plants with goodly burden bowing; Spring come to you, at the farthest, In the very end of harvest!
Scarci -ty and want shall shun you; Ceres' blessing so is on you."
SHAKSPEARE: _Tempest_, Act iv, Sc. 1.
_Example IV.--On the Vowels_.
"We are little airy creatures, All of diff'rent voice and features; One of us in glass is set, One of us you'll find in jet;
T'other you may see in tin, And the fourth a box with -in; If the fifth you should pur -sue, It can never fly from you."
SWIFT: _Johnson's British Poets_, Vol. v, p. 343.
_Example V.--Use Time for Good_.
"Life is short, and time is swift; Roses fade, and shadows shift; But the ocean and the river Rise and fall and flow for ever;
Bard! not vainly heaves the ocean; Bard! not vainly flows the river; Be thy song, then, like their motion, Blessing now, and blessing ever."
EBENEZER ELLIOT: _From a Newspaper_.
_Example IV.[sic for VI--KTH]--"The Turkish Lady"--First Four Stanzas_.
1.
"'Twas the hour when rites un -holy Called each Paynim voice to pray'r, And the star that faded slowly, Left to dews the freshened air.
2.
Day her sultry fires had wasted, Calm and sweet the moonlight rose; E'en a captive's spirit tasted Half ob -livion of his woes.
3.
Then 'twas from an Emir's palace Came an eastern lady bright; She, in spite of tyrants jealous, Saw and loved an English knight.
4.
'Tell me, captive, why in anguish Foes have dragged thee here to dwell Where poor Christians, as they languish.
Hear no sound of sabbath bell?'"
THOMAS CAMPBELL: _Poetical Works_, p. 115.
_Example VII.--The Palmer's Morning Hymn_.