is there thy rest; and shalt thou take is rather an anapæst

In the third verse of this passage both feet are, strictly speaking, amphimacers, for wild and the second syllable of anew are accented. But the dactylic rhythm of the whole passage gives so much more force to the accents on wake and voice that the others shrink into insignificance. This remark applies also to the irregular feet in the preceding extract.

Here is an example of dactylic verses of two feet, unmixed with others.

The remarks made on the irregularities of the two passages quoted above apply also to the second foot of the first of these four lines, and to the first foot of the third.

Another form of dactylic verse in English poetry is that consisting of three dactyls followed by a trochee, or by a single accented syllable. This measure is never, or

rarely, used, except when mixed with shorter verses in lyrical poetry, as in the following example.

Hail to the chief who in | tríumph ad|vánces!
Honoured and blessed be the | évergreen | píne!
Lóng may the trée, in his | bánner that | glánces,
Flourish, the shelter and | gráce of our | líne !
Heaven send it happy dew,

Earth lend it | sáp anew,

Gáily to bóurgeon, and | bróadly to | grów,
While every | Highland glen

Sénds our shout | back again,

Róderigh Vich | Alpine dhu, | hó! ie róe!"

SCOTT.

Dactylic verses of four feet are rare. example is taken from Southey.

THE SOLDIER'S WIFE

The following

Wéary way-wanderer, | lánguid and | síck at heart,
Travelling páinfully | óver the rúgged road,

Wild-visaged wanderer! | Gód help thee, | wretched one!

Sórely thy little one | drágs by thee | báre-footed,

Cóld is the

Méagre and

Wóe-begone

As óver thy
Bleakly the

báby that hángs at thy | bénding back,
livid, and screaming for | misery.

móther, half | ánger, half | ágony,

shoulder thou | lóokest to | húsh the babe, blinding snow | béats in thy | hággard face.

Thy húsband will | néver re túrn from the | wár again,
Cóld is thy | hópeless heart | éven as | chárity

Cóld are thy children. - Now | Gód be thy | cómforter!

The verse beginning by as over thy shoulder is irregular. So is that beginning by Thy husband. In each of these verses the first regular dactyl is preceded by a superfluous unaccented syllable.

The feet sick at heart, rugged road, bending back, hush the base, blinding snow, and haggard face are, strictly speaking, amphimacers, if taken by themselves; but in the position they occupy in the verse, the effect of the rhythm is such that the first syllable of each foot is much more strongly accented than the third, and it is difficult to read all these feet otherwise than as dactyls.

The longest form of dactylic verse in English poetry consists of five dactyls followed by an accented syllable or a trochee, as in the subjoined specimen.

Hándful of ❘ mén as we | wére, we were | English in | héart and in

| limb.

Strong with the | strength of the ráce to com|mánd, to o|béy, to en dúre, Each of us | fought as if | hópe for the | gárrison | húng but on |

Still

hím; could we watch at all | póints? we werc évery day | féwer and féwer. There was a whisper a móng us, but | ónly a | whisper that | pássed: "Children and wives-if the | tígers leap | into the ❘ fóld una | wáres— Évery man | díe at his | póst- and the | fóe may out lives at | lást Bétter to fall by the | hands that they love, than to | fáll into | théirs!" TENNYSON, The Defence of Lusknow.

VII

THE CESURA

Lord Kames has written at some length on what is called the cæsura, or pause, in English verse. His critical observations on the passages quoted by him from the English poe's are ingenious and interesting, and will amply repay the student for an attentive perusal; but they do not give very satisfactory proof that the cæsura necessarily exists in English.

It is, however, true that a pause almost always divides the English iambic verse of six feet, or alexandrine, into two hemistichs, or half-verses, of three feet, as in the following verses :

Darkness more dread than night was poured upon the ground. SHELLEY.

Direct my course so right, as with thy hand to show

Which way thy forests range, | which way thy rivers flow;
Wise genius, by thy help that so I may descry

How thy fair mountains stand, | and how thy valleys lie;
From those clear pearly cliffs

which see the morning's pride,
And check the surly imps of Neptune when they chide,
Unto the big-swoln waves | in the Iberian stream,
Where Titan still unyokes | his fiery-hoofèd team,

And oft his flaming locks | in luscious nectar steeps,
When from Olympus' top | he plungeth in the deeps:
That from the Armotic sands |, on surging Neptune's leas,
Through the Hibernic gulf, those rough Vergivian seas,
My verse with wings of skill | may fly a lofty gait,
As Amphitrite clips | this island fortunate,
Till through the sleepy main to Thule I have gone,
And seen the frozen isles, the cold Deucalidon.

DRAYTON.

This pause is analogous to that which is obligatory in the French alexandrine. Drayton's alexandrines in his 'Polyolbion,' from which the above passage is taken, nearly all conform to the French rule. Here are a few more examples of this

pause.

Did ever mortal eye | behold such heavenly grace?

SPENSER.

All night she thinks too long, and often looks for light.

SPENSER.

Yet all these sounds yblent | inclined all to sleep.

THOMSON.

The murmuring main was heard, and scarcely heard, to flow.

THOMSON.

But even in the alexandrine, this pause, dividing the verse into two equal hemistichs, can hardly be considered obligatory. Although exceptions are rare, yet there are exceptions, as in the following verses,

Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale.

THOMSON.

Of fancy, reason, virtue, nought can me bereave.

THOMSON.