dactylic verses rarely. The other kinds of feet enumerated above are never used exclusively to compose even very short poems, but are mixed with other feet in different kinds of verse.

II

ADAPTATION OF WORDS TO METRE

It will be well in this place to notice certain expedients that English poets have recourse to, in order to adapt to their verse appropriate words which could not otherwise be used.

If, in the following line of Cowper,

Hárk! 'tis the twánging hórn o'er yónder bridge,

no contractions were made; if it were written thus :

Hárk! it is the twánging hórn óver yónder bridge,

the first foot would be a dactyl, and the fourth an amphimacer; and the line would read like prose. To remedy this, the two syllables it is are contracted into one, 'tis, by the suppression of the i in it; and over is shortened into o'er by the suppression of the conso

nant v.

In like manner the contractions, used in colloquial language, of the auxiliaries after pronouns, I'll for I will, I'm for I am, he'll for he will, they'd for they would, he's for he is, you 're for you are; and of pronouns after auxiliaries, as let's, for let us; and others of the same

nature, are freely admitted into familiar verse, but rarely tolerated when the poet assumes a more elevated tone, except sometimes in dramatic verse. Here are a few examples.

One moment! I'll be with you straight.

This gallant which thou seest

Was in the wreck; and, but he's something stained

With grief, that's beauty's canker, thou might'st call him

A goodly person.

Let's talk of graves, of worms and epitaphs;
Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes
Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth.
Let's choose executors and talk of wills.

SHAKESPEARE.

The adverbs even, ever, never, and the preposition over are rendered monosyllabic by suppressing the consonant between the two vowels, as e'en, e'er (1), ne'er (2),

o'er (1). The participle taken is sometimes contracted in the same manner into ta'en (2).

In arguing too the parson owned his skill,
For e'en though vanquished, he could argue still.

GOLDSMITH.

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave.

Ne'er for his lip the purpling cup they fill,
That goblet passes him untasted still.

GRAY.

BYRON.

O'er rough and smooth she trips along.

WORDSWORTH.

Brutus is ta'en, Brutus is ta'en, my Lord.

SHAKESPEARE.

Sometimes the first syllable of a word is suppressed, and above, against, alarum, among, begin, beneath, escape, unless, are curtailed into 'bove, 'gainst, 'larum, 'mong, 'gin, 'neath, 'scape, 'less.

He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear
His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear.

Hence, loathed Melancholy,

Of Cerberus and blackest midnight born,

In Stygian cave forlorn,

'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy.

The noon was shady, and soft airs

Swept Ouse's silent tide,

When, 'scaped from literary cares,

MILTON.

I wandered on his side.

COWPER.

And the mute silence hist along,

'Less Philomel will deign a song.

MILTON.

Sometimes the final syllable of a word is suppressed, as in oft for often, ope for open.

Oft have I dreamed of thee! whose glorious name
Who knows not, knows not man's divinest lore.

BYRON.

Unnumbered treasures ope at once, and here
The various offerings of the world appear.

РОРЕ.

Of the, in the are sometimes contracted into o'the, i'the, or even o'th', by Shakespeare and by some of the older poets.

There was a time when all the body's members

Rebelled against the belly; thus accused it :

That only like a gulf it did remain

I'the midst o'the body, idle and unactive.

I'm made

A shade,

And laid

I'th' grave.

SHAKESPEARE.

HERRICK.