Andeksen. — Metre. 473 



ally breaking up and changing, in England, the rugged lines 

 marked only by alliterative divisions, such as are seen in " Piers 

 Plowman." In this sixteen-syllabled metre were told the lives 

 of the saints, and other religious subjects, which formed the 

 literary staple of the people. It was no wonder, therefore, 

 that when the people took to creating their own tales they 

 took the metre which was most familiar to them ; the more 

 readily, too, that it was — though unknown to them — the natural 

 metre. But its evolution was not complete, as was indicated 

 by the fact that the second half of the sixteen-syllabled line 

 showed a constant tendency to shorten itself when spoken ; 

 and, as the metre became more and more used by the people, 

 it slowly but surely assumed the fourteen-syllabled form, which 

 has remained unchanged to this day, and is the most attractive 

 of all metres. Metre had, in fact, evolved to the natural type. 



In the Index to the Church of England Hymns, A. and M., 

 of the first hundred hymns, eighty-one are in ballad-measure. 

 The strict measure, fourteen-syllabled, is in the index called 

 " common measure " ; sixteen-syllabled is " long measure " ; 

 and twelve-syllabled, " short measure." The confirmation of 

 the measure comes in this : Minims are used as the basic note, 

 and in every measure (common, short, or long) each line is sung 

 to sixteen syllables ; in long measure each line ends with a minim ; 

 in common and short the six-syllabled lines are eked out to eight 

 syllables with a dotted semibreve. What is yet more sug- 

 gestive is that in still shorter measures the sixteen syllables are 

 obtained : for instance, in Hymn 306, whose lines contain six 

 and five syllables alternately, the six-syllabled lines end with two 

 semibreves, the five-syllabled with a breve, making the sixteen 

 syllables in all. The last remark premises the statement that 

 of the nineteen hymns in the hundred which are not ballad- 

 metre to the eye — that is, they contain less than six-syllabled 

 lines — the music makes them pure ballad ; so that it is not 

 too much to say that at least 90 per cent, of the Church hymns 

 are in ballad- measure. The exceptions are mostly hymns of 

 late composition, such as "Lead Kindly Light"; though even 

 some of these later hymns, such as " Hark, hark, my Soul," 

 though of eleven- and ten-syllabled fines alternately, are by the 

 music made sixteen-syllabled. This is, metrically, an extra- 

 ordinary fact, and shows how deeply the measure is imbedded 

 in man's rhythmic nature. Here the conservative nature of 

 the Church is of unexpected assistance in showing the primal 

 and constant nature of the ballad-measure — the measure whose 

 magic Sir Philip Sidney declared stirred his heart like a trumpet. 

 In these later days, though the ear is attracted by the artificial 

 forms of poetry that have been brought to perfection by men 



