482 Transactions. 



triplet in music : that is, the foot is iambic, with a triple efect. 



So in the second line of quotation 5 : — 



The head | and the fejders of ryche ] rede golde, | in Lng|londe is | none lyke. | 



Here the second and third feet have three syllables each ; but 

 the effect is only to make the line appear more rapid in move- 

 ment : the normal tempo is unaltered. Again, the fourth 

 foot, whilst still containing two syllables, has both accented. 

 In quotation 6 the effect is still more marked : — 



For ye | have scar|let and grene, | mayster, and many a ryche | aray, | 

 There is | no marjchaunt in meiry Englonde | so ryche, 1 1 dare | well saye. | 



Here each line has two feet containing three syllables ; and 

 whilst the whole reads faster, the beat is still iambic. 



As has been said, the later ballads become more and more 

 trisyllabic. The following lines (date 1751) are alternately purely 

 trisyllabic and purely iambic : — 



As blithe | as the linjnet sings in | the green wood, | 



So blithe | we'll wake | the morn ; | 

 And thro' | the wide f 6 [rest of mer|ry Sherwood | 



We'll wind | the bug|le horn. | 



but the trisyllabic line gives a decided trisyllabic effect even 

 to the iambic. In quotation 16 the effect becomes still more 

 pronounced : — 



Altho' | g od R6|bin would | full fain | of his wrath ] aven|ged be, | 



Ho smil'd | to see | his mer|ry young men | had got|ten a taste | of the tree. | 



and in quotation 17, trisyllables are altogether predominant : — 



Good mor|rowe, good fel^owe, said R6|byn so fayr«-, | good mor|rowe, good 



fel|lowe, quo' he; j 

 Methinks | by this bowe | thou bears | in thy hand, | a good | arohere thou | 



shouldst be. | 



Were the lines of the two last quotations given to a syllabic 

 prosodist, he could not with certainty say if they were in duple 

 or triple measure. Another example will illustrate his diffi- 

 culty :— • 



Know ye the | land where the | cypress and | myrjtle 



Are emblems | of de< ds that | are done in j their clime ? | 

 Wliere the rage | of the vuljture, the love | of the tur tie 



These have been quoted by prosodists as an example where 

 the trisyllabic metre is used in its three forms, the first line 

 being composed of dactyls, the second of amphibrachs, and third 

 of anapests. Poe was the first to point out that the measure 

 is unchanged when the lines are run on without linear division ; 

 all three are in so-called dactyls if judged from the opening 

 lect, anapests by the closing. What, then, is to be said of the 

 lines just previously quoted ? They begin like the second 

 of the three above ; the first line sustains the amphibrachic 



