492 TransacUons. 



in which, it is capable of appearing. Thus it is that the following lines- 

 from " Thomas the Rhymer " are congruous and harmonious : — 



(13.) Alas, he seyd, ful wo is me, 



I trow ray dedes will werke nie care, 

 Jesu. my sole tak to ye, 



Whedir so euyr my bodj' sal fare. 



(Appendix to " Thomas the Rhynier," Scott's Minstrelsy.) 



5. Mr. T. S. Omond, in his " Study of Metre " (p. 54), quotes the following 



vers© 



(14.) The sun, the moon, the stars, the seas, the hills 



• — and says concerning il, " No one, reading it, would doubt its iambic struc- 

 ture . . . Yet, if we turn to Tennyson's poem ' The Higher Pantheism,' 

 we shall find the words in the first line, followed by other three : ' and the 

 plains.' This addition works a notable change . . '. the time under- 

 lying the whole poem is triple." If this be so, then surely the time under- 

 lying all duple verse may be considered as triple, for all duple units have the 

 latent power of amplification to triple ; and in this light the identification 

 of British with classic iambs may not, after all, be altogether erroneous. 

 But, employing similar argument as with Tennyson's verse, should not 

 Shelley's " Indian Serenade " be in triple time ? — for we find in almost 

 every line a triple unit in the most important position, the opening — 



(15.) / arise from dreams of thee 



In the first sweet sleep of night. 

 When the winds are breathing lo\^-, 

 And the stars are shining hiight. 



— yet who will hold that this poem is in triple rather than in duple time ? 

 If, again, quotation (14) is in triple time simply because it is followed by a 

 triple unit, what is to be said of Milton's ver? e ? — 



(16.) And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies : 

 ^ ! (RL., ii, 950.) 



This verse, from " Paradise Lost," is undoubtedly duple. If, then, Tenny- 

 son's verse is triple, though exactly similar in construction, is that fact not 

 a proof of the triple potentiality of duple verse ? Take the opening of a 

 Song, by Miss Bryant : — 



(17.) Ah ! friend beloved, in the cold earth fading, 

 By every fragile mind forgot ; 



A first reading would make this duple : — 



(17«.) Ah ! friend/ belo/ved in/ the cold/ earth fa/ding. 

 By e/\'ery fra/gile mind/ forgot/ ; 



but on the addition of the following verse quite another grouping of the 

 syllables starts up : — 



(17?'.) Ah ! friend beloved in the cold earth fading. 

 By everjr fragile mind forgot ; 

 Like a di'ooping tree a dead How'ret shading. 

 My form still bends o'er thy re.sting spot. 



The metre has become triple. Again, take Drayton's " Battle of Agin- 



court 



(18.) Fair stood the wind for France, 

 Wheii we our sails advance, 

 Nor now to prove our chance 



Longer will tarry, 

 Biit i)utting to tlie main 

 At Kaux the mouth of Seine, 

 With all his martial train 



Landed King Harry. 



