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"I wish I were where Helen lies;
Night and day on me she cries;
O! that I were where Helen lies
On fair Kirconnel lea.

Curst be the head that thought the thought,
Curst be the hand that shot the shot,

When in my arms burd Helen dropt

And died to succour me."

Even on a reading, the effects of these pieces is widely different, and would be felt ten times more were they sung. The best music is ever cast away on involved phraseology; and herein lies, in fact, the main reason for simplicity of construction in songs.

With these hints on the Art of composing Songs, most of the suggestions before given respecting the selection of words of peculiar sounds, may also be kept in mind. Burns forgot them not. Observe his Wandering Willie:—

"Rest, ye wild winds, in the caves of your slumbers,

How your dread howling a lover alarms."

But let all the most admired songs of Burns, and of Moore also, be examined attentively, and the skilful adaptation of the words to the sentiment, the position, and the purpose will appear clearly. What language, for example, could be more artistically suited to an exquisitely soft air than the following by Moore?

"Tis the last rose of summer,

Left blooming alone,

All its lovely companions

Are faded and gone."

If these lines were written in a dialect utterly strange to the hearer, he still could not but feel their admirable melodiousness, so appropriate to the melodious music. In the case, therefore, of song-writing generally-whether to known or unknown music-the purpose of the composition must ever be kept in mind. A song, if not satisfactorily fitted for vocal utterance, and intelligible on the hearing of a moment, neither deserves, nor will receive, popular appreciation and acceptance. Where true poetry is interfused, as in the productions of Burns and Moore, then, indeed, is mastership in the art of song-writing really shown. Of all classes of writers, the song-writer is perhaps the most truly an artist.

OBSERVATIONS EXPLANATORY

OF THE

DICTIONARY OF RHYMES.

THE Rhymes, or Rhyming Words, contained in the present Dictionary, have been arranged in the mode first adopted by Bysshe in his Art of Poetry-a very useful publication of the beginning of last century. At the same time, to render the collection complete, use has been made of the numerous additional examples to be found in the later work of John Walker, the well-known author of other excellent lexicographical productions. The rhymes, then, will here be found disposed in consecutive sections, each of them containing, respectively, all such as are of the same precise formation, or as accord with one another accurately in Spelling and Sound. Those rhymes, again, which are of different literal construction, and yet agree in sound completely, or nearly so, with the preceding class, have been ranged immediately after these, in every separate instance. Though rhymes of the first class only may be strictly entitled to such an appellation, yet the name of "Perfect Rhymes" has been bestowed here, as in Walker, on those of the second class, at once to indicate that they are used as perfect by the best poets, and to distinguish them from yet a third class, usually styled "Allowable Rhymes." These appear after the second class, or those termed perfect rhymes, in this arrangement; or, it should rather be said, examples merely of both classes are presented. To offer more than simple examples, would have been a waste of time and space, since the said classes of rhymes necessarily appear in full detail elsewhere. This matter may be made clear by a case in point. The following are ordinary

rhymes of the kind identical in sound and spelling:-but, cut, hut, glut, nut, and shut. A "perfect" rhyme to these, though differently spelled, is soot. "Allowable" rhymes, again, in this instance, are boot, hoot, lute, and dispute. Now, it would be needless to increase the list of permissible rhymes like these under the head ut, because, in the several columns specially headed oot and ute, the words so ending will all be found in their own proper places, and discernible at a glance.

Regarding what is "the proper place" of any set of rhymes in the present lexicon, a word of explanation must be given. The open and accented vowel, in the last syllable of words, constitutes the basis of all Single Rhymes. Under the six alphabetic vowels, accordingly, A, E, I, O, U, Y, are arranged separately, and in the order of the alphabet, all the various rhymes of which they compose respectively the chief elements; and the order of arrangement under each vowel, again, is regulated by the place in the alphabet of the consonant immediately following the vowel. Thus the rhymes under A begin with those in AB, ACE, ACH, ACK, and ACT; after which AD and ADE occur; and so on to the end of the consonantial series. Where an omission is observed, as of AC here, the reader will find himself directed to where it is given, which is at ACK in this case. The discovery of any particular rhyme is therefore easy. Nor is it rendered at all more difficult by the fact, that one vowel and one consonant do not close the majority of rhyming words. There may be a vowel alone; in which case turn, of course, to the vowel. There may be two consonants, as in hand, rapt, and the like. Still the guidance lies in the vowel and the following consonant, which here will lead to AND and APT. There may be, again, three closing letters, as in marsh, thatch. AR and AT will lead to these. Or there may be a diphthong termination, as gain, in which case the first or emphatic vowel still directs the search, and the word will be found at AIN. However, as the English language permits of even three vowels running together in diphthong fashion, the rhyme will there be found to rest where the emphasis rests, as on the AIN in acquaint. Of similar vowel-combinations, as EOU and IOU, a word will be said afterwards. In the case of a diphthong without a sequent consonant, as in subdue, the U,

and not the E, is to be turned to on the same general principles. If not found at UE, the proper place will be pointed to, which is here made at EW, to save repetitions. It is to be observed, that in all cases where there occurs a mute E at the close of words, the preceding consonant and the penultimate vowel, or the preceding vowel (which may be another E, as in bee), must be looked to in consulting the lexicon.

It would be a work of supererogation wholly to give, or attempt to give, any actual list of double rhymes. An immense majority of these are formed simply by the Participles, Perfect and Present, of verbs, as also by the Nouns, Adjective and Substantive, springing from the same sources, and by the terminations proper to certain Tenses of verbs. In general, therefore, when it is desired to find double rhymes, verbs closing similarly in the infinitive mood need but be referred to; and, as their respective derivatives almost always have the same terminations, what is sought for will readily be found. As remarked in the preliminary essay, the most perfect double rhymes are such as terminate "in unaccented syllables, of exactly the same spelling, preceded by single rhymes of the most perfect class," or those regarding which it was stated, that their perfectness lay in the consonants preceding the rhyming or accented vowels being different in the mutually rhyming words. Now, the most common terminations to double rhymes, in the English language, are ED, ER, ES, EST, ING, and LY; and it follows, by the rule laid down, that tended, vended, dancer, lancer, teaches, reaches, hearest, neurest, paining, raining, purely, and surely, are complete examples of the most perfect order of double rhymes. Most of these words, it will be seen, are direct derivatives from verbs, and verbs that rhyme perfectly to one another (in pairs) in their primitives. As nearly all derivatives preserve the accent as well as spelling of their primitives, it will prove then to be a general rule, as already stated, that wherever you have two or more single-rhyming primitives, you will find deducible thence as many double-rhyming derivatives. By keeping this in view, the present Dictionary of Single Rhymes may be made serviceable in indicating any amount, almost, of double rhymes. Symphonic infinitives have but to be looked for, and the supply will be ample.

On looking detailedly into these points, it will be found that the perfect participles of all verbs ending in D and T, or in mute E preceded by D and T, give double rhymes in ED; and so also, generally speaking, do the imperfect tenses (indicative mood) of the same verbs. Those verbs which terminate in any other consonants, in the infinitive, do not form proper double-rhymed derivatives; and the same thing may be said of verbs ending in mute E, unpreceded by D or T. Hail, rain, dine, race, and the like, exemplify this rule, the E being usually mute in hail'd, rain'd, din'd, and rac'd. But our older poets, and also our very latest ones, have used considerable freedoms in this respect. Indeed, Chaucer accents the ed so often, where it has of late been silenced, that the mode in his day must be held to have been unsettled. Shakspere also introduced the ed not infrequently, but only, it is clear, for the sake of variety, and when he speaks with more than common loftiness. Thus, the participial ed is sounded oft in the lines of "Richard II.," " King John," and others of his plays of peculiarly swelling diction. Kept mute, for the most part, during the Gallic or mid era of English poetry, the sounding of the terminative ed has been revived partially by Wordsworth, and largely by Keats and Tennyson, who. have carried the practice, in truth, almost to affectation. However, some minor moderns have gone far beyond them, adhering to the peculiarity uniformly and through long poems, upon what they have called "strict grammatical principles." Their works and they have gone alike to oblivion. As to the real propriety or impropriety of accenting the ed in verse, where in prose and speech it is kept mute, all that need be said here is, that Shakspere and Wordsworth may very safely be taken as models for imitation. They used it, and made it even a beauty; but it was mainly by using it sparingly and exceptionally.

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Many of the double rhymes in ER are formed by adding ER or merely R, to the infinitives of verbs, as teacher from teach, and dancer from dance. The comparatives of adjectives, also, form many double rhymes, as plainer from plain, whiter from white, and so forth. Double rhymes, ending in ES, consist of the third persons-singular (present of the indicative) of such verbs, as also of the plurals of such nouns, as terminate in CE, CH, GE, S, SE, SH, X, and ZE.

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