Odd rhymes are frequently employed to aid memory. Few persons understand the use of " Shall" and "Will." The following stanza memorized will be of use to every one :

"In the first person simply Shäll företells;
In Will ǎ threat or else å prōmise dwells;
Shåll in the second or the third dŏth threat

Will simply then foretells the future feat."

This quatrain is also useful to enable one to remember the formation of Latin verbs:

"From Ō åre fōrmed ām ănd ēm;
From I, răm, rim, rõ, sẽ, ănd sẽm.
Ů, ūs, and rūs åre fōrmed from ūm ;
Åll ōther parts from Rẽ do côme.”

Another quaint stanza enables us to remember the days of the month :

"Thirty days hǎth September,
April, June and November;

All the rest have thirty-one,

Săve February ǎlōne,

Which has but twenty-eight in fine

Till leap year gives it twenty-nine."

CENTO VERSES.

Still another curious form of poetry is denominated

"Cento Verses or Patch Work."

"Ŏne kiss, dear māid," I said ănd sighed,

Out of those lips unshōrn;

She shook her ringlets rōund her head,
And laughed in merry scōrn.

Ring out, wild bēlls, to the wild sky,
You heard them, Ŏ my heart;

'Tis twelve ǎt night by thẻ căstlě clock,
“Bělōvěd, wē mūst pārt.”

"Come back, come back!" he cried în grief,

55

Coleridge.

Longfellow.

Stoddard. Tennyson.

Tennyson. Alice Carey.

Coleridge. Alice Carey.

Campbell. Bayard Taylor. Osgood. T. S. Perry.

ACROSTIC.

The acrostic is a form of odd rhyme. Below we give one, written by the Lady Frances Manners, daughter of the Earl of Rutland, and wife of Henry, Lord Bergavenny. She was the author of "Precious Pearls of Perfect Godliness" and "The Monument of Matrons," written in 1582, at the end of which is this acrostic of her own name :

From sinfulness prèsērve mě, Lōrd,
Renew my spirit in my hārt;

And let my tongue therewith accōrd,
Uttering åll goōdness fōr his pārt.
No thōught let there ǎrise în me
Contrairĭe to thy precepts tēn;
Ever lět mě most mindful be
Still för to praise thỹ name. Åmēn.
As of my soul, so ōf mỹ bōdiě,
Bě thōu my guidĕr, Ō mỹ Gōd!
Untō thee only dō Ì crie,

Remove from mẽ thy fūrioŭs rōd.
Grăunt that my head may still devise
All things that pleasing bẽ to thee.
Untō mine ears, ănd tō mine eies,
Ever let there ǎ watch set beē.

None ill that they may hear and see ;—
No wickěd deēde lět mỹ hand do,
Yn thy goöd pāths lět mỹ feět gõ.

Willis Gaylord-"Lines Written in an Album."

Åh me!

Am I the swain,

Thăt, late from sōrrow free,

Did all the cares on earth disdain?

And still untouched, ås at some safĕr gāmes

Played with the burning cōals of love and beauty's flames?
Wǎs't I could drive and sound each passion's secret depth ǎt will,
And from those huge Ŏ'erwhelmings rise by help of reason still?
And am I nōw, Ŏ hēavĕns ! för trying this în vain,
So sunk that I shall never rise again?

Then let despair sēt sōrrow's string
For strains that dōleful be,
And I will sing

CHAPTER VIII.

Něvěr the verse approve or hōld ǎs good,

Till many ǎ day ănd many å blōt has wrought
The polished wōrk, and chāstěned every thōught
By tenfold labor tō perfection brought.

SELECTION OF WORDS.

Horace.

The beauty of the poem consists in the perfection of its rhythm, and the aptness of the words selected which constitutes the rhyme.

Perfect rhythm and rhyme make a perfect poem where reason and sound sense are at the bottom of the theme. The resources of our language are such that we are entitled to receive from the poet the most rigid work of perfection. Imperfect or what are termed allowable rhymes should no longer be tolerated.

Rhyme is merely the dress with which our thoughts are clothed in rhythmic verse. Rhyme without reason and good sense is insufferable. Formerly many rhymes were allowable that at the present time would not be endured.

Thus Pēgăsūs, ǎ nēarĕr wãy tŏ tāke,

May bōldly deviate from the common track.

Pope.

Here "take" and "track" are made to rhyme by one of the most fastidious of all poets. Pegasus is here permitted to deviate from the common track.