416 Transactiom. 



(32.) F?ir/ stood the wind/ for Fi'poUce, when/ we our sails/ advance, 

 nor/ now to prove/ our chance iong/er we tar/ry. 



(34.) My/ dear Mis/tress has/ a heart/, soft/ as tliose/ kind looks/ 

 she gave/ me. 



(35.) Howl/ not, ye winds/, o'er the tomb/ of the brave/ ; roai'/ not, 

 ye waves/, at the foot/ of the monn/tain. 



(3G. ) 1/ will an/swer. These/ discov/er what faint/ing hopes/ are in/ 

 a lov/er. 



There are several intermediate forms, of w^hicli entire poems are composed, 

 and it might be found advisable to make divisions for their insertion. For 

 example, the following form the scheme of well-known poems : — 



Between (1) and (2), — 



0, young/ Lochinvaa-/ is come out/ of the West/ : through all/ the 

 wide Bor/dor his steed/ was the best/ ; 



Between (12) and (13),— 



Oh, say/ not, sweet Anne/, that the Fates/ have decreed/ the heart/ 

 which adores/you should wish/ to dissev/er ; 



Between (24) and (25),— 



Bright/est and best/ of the sons/ of the morn/ing 1 dawn/ on our 

 dark/ness and lend/ us thine aid/ ; 



Between (31) and (32),— 



Where/ shall the lov/er rest, whom/ the fates sev/er from/ his true 

 maid/en's breast/, parted for ev/er ? 



There are fitrther irregular variations, as when Romance Metre mixes with 

 Ballad or Alexandrine. Ballad with Alexandrine or Nibelungen, &c. The 

 table shows only regular forms ; the irregular, whilst they could be classified, 

 are hardly of sufficient importance to warrant more than one general sub- 

 division. Poems in regular structure vastly predominate, and it is, indeed, 

 only because this is so that it has been found possible to compile the table. 



Each of the other Ballad forms — Ordinary, Nibelungen, and Alexandrine 

 — vary in the same wav, though not to the same extent, as the Romance 

 Metre. 



The stanza form has not been taken as a standard of classification, as 

 it varies in a manner altogether arbitrary : the line formations follow a 

 definite law, and their variations from this law can readily be perceived. 

 The stanza, on the other hand, appears to follow no fixed law, though it is 

 a curious fact that the normal stanza of. all the Ballad metres is composed 

 of eight half-lines, and the parent Ballad line of eight stresses. The forma- 

 tion of the line is primarily rhythmical, then syntactical ; the formation cf 

 the stanza appears to be primarily syntactical. 



A few normal stanzas are quoted, to show the variation of form that may 

 take place within the same metrical scheme : — 



Variation (1). 



Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon, 



How can ye bloom sae fresh and fair ? 

 How can ye chant, ye little birds. 



An' I sae wea,ry, fu' o' care ? 

 Thou' It break my heart, thou warbling bird. 



That wantons thro' the flowering thorn : 

 Thou minds me o' departed joys, 



Departed, — never to return. 



(Burn«, " The Banks o' Doon.") 



