These lines are naturally trisyllabic; from any measure of which one of the unaccented syllables may be ejected. Where they are symmetrical they are so by accident. A metrical fiction, that conveniently illustrates their structure, is the doctrine that they are lines formed upon measure xax, for which either x x a or a x x may be substituted, and from which either a x or xa may be formed by ejection of either the first or last unaccented syllable. § 579. Convertible Metres.-Such a line as Ere her faithless sons betray'd her may be read in two ways. We may either lay full stress upon the word ere, and read E're her faithless sóns betray'd her; or we may lay little or no stress upon either ere or her, reserving the full accentuation for the syllable faith- in faithless, in which case the reading would be Ere her faíthless sóns betray'd her. Lines of this sort may be called examples of convertible metres, since, by changing the accent, a dissyllabic line may be converted into one partially trisyllabic, and vice versa. This property of convertibility is explained by the fact of accentuation being a relative quality. In the example before us ere is sufficiently strongly accented to stand in contrast to her, but it is not sufficiently strongly accented to stand upon a par with the faith- in faithless if decidedly pronounced. The real character of convertible lines is determined from the character of the lines with which they are associated. That the second mode of reading the line in question is the proper one, may be shown by reference to the stanza wherein it occurs. Let E'rin remémber her days of old, Again, such a line as For the glory I have lost, would be read improperly. The stanza wherein it occurs is essentially dissyllabic (a x). Heed, oh heéd my fátal stóry! I' am Hósier's injured ghost, § 580. Metrical and Grammatical Combinations.-Words, or parts of words, that are combined as measures, are words, or parts of words, combined metrically, or in metrical combination. Syllables combined as words, or words combined as portions of a sentence, are syllables and words grammatically combined, or in grammatical combination. The syllables ere her faith- form a metrical combination. The words her faithless sons form a grammatical combination. When the syllables contained in the same measure (or connected metrically) are also contained in the same construction (or connected grammatically), the metrical and the grammatical combinations coincide. Such is the case with the line Remember the glóries | of Brían | the Bráve; where the same division separates both the measure and the subdivisions of the sense, inasmuch as the word the is connected with the word glories equally in grammar and in metre, in syntax and in prosody. So is of with Brian, and the with Brave. Contrast with this such a line as A chieftain to the Highlands bound. Here the metrical division is one thing, the grammatical division another, and there is no coincidence. Metrical, A chieftain tó | the High | lands bound. Grammatical, A chieftain | to the Highlands | bound. In the following stanza the coincidence of the metrical and grammatical combination is nearly complete: In To árms! to árms! The sérfs, they róam O'ér híll, and dále, and glén: The king is dead, and tíme is cóme To choose a chiéf agáin. Warriors or chiéfs, should the shaft or the swórd Heéd not the corpse, though a kíng's in your páth, there is a non-coincidence equally complete. § 581. Rhythm.-The character of a metre is marked and prominent in proportion as the metrical and the grammatical combinations coincide. The extent to which the measure a x x is the basis of the stanza last quoted is concealed by the antagonism of the metre and the construction. If it were not for the axiom, that every metre is to be considered uniform until there is proof to the contrary, the lines might be divided thus : The variety which arises in versification from the different degrees between the coincidence and the non-coincidence between the metrical and grammatical combinations may be called Rhythm. § 582. The majority of English words are of the form a x; that is, words like týrant are commoner than words like presúme. The majority of English metres are of the form x a; that is, lines like The way was long, the wind was cold, are commoner than lines like Queen and húntress cháste and fáir. The multitude of unaccentuated words like the, from, &c., taken along with the fact that they precede the words with which they agree, or which they govern, accounts for the apparent antagonism between the formulæ of our words and the formulæ of our metres. The contrast between a Swedish line of the form a x, and its literal English version in x a, shows this. In Swedish the secondary part of the construction follows, in English it precedes the main word. Swedish. Váren kómmer, fúglen quíttrar, skóven lö’fvas, sólen lér. English. The spring is come, the bird is blythe, the wood is green, the sun is bright. In this way Syntax affects Prosody. CHAPTER VIII. ENGLISH IMITATIONS OF THE CLASSICAL METRES. § 583. The Classical Metres as read by Englishmen.—The metres of the classical languages consist essentially in the recurrence of similar quantities; accent playing a part.-Now there are reasons for investigating the facts involved in this statement more closely than has hitherto been done; since the following circumstances make some inquiry into the extent of the differences between the English and the classical systems of metre, an appropriate element of a work upon the English language. 1. The classical poets are authors pre-eminently familiarized to the educated English reader. 2. The notions imbibed from a study of the classical prosodies have been unduly mixed up with those which should have been derived more especially from the poetry of the German nations. 3. The attempt to introduce (so-called) Latin and Greek metres into the German tongues, has been partially successful on the Continent, and not unattempted in Great Britain. The first of these statements requires no comment. The second will bear some illustration. The English grammarians sometimes borrow the classical terms, iambic, trochee, &c., and apply them to their own metres. How is this done? In two ways, one of which is wholly incorrect, the other partially correct, but inconvenient. To imagine that we have in English, for the practical purposes of prosody, syllables long in quantity or short in quantity, syllables capable of being arranged in groups constituting feet, and feet adapted for the construction of hexa |