A:s'DBESEN. — Clofiiiiiicatio}! of Verse. 



531 



In " Katlierine Janfarie," out of twenty-two stanzas, seven stanzas have 

 verse-endings in vowels, seven have verse-endings in open consonants, 

 eight in closed consonants, and one in a feminine. The following table 

 will give an approximate idea of the proportion of these verse-endings : — 



Table IV. 



This gives the high average of 376 units ending with a vowel or open con- 

 sonant, as against 70 units ending with a closed consonant or a feminine, 

 in 446 units. The tendency appears in favour of units ending on the stressed 

 vowel, but a much more extended table would have to be prepared before an 

 absolutelv definite statement could be made. It has already been noted 

 that the time-duration of most feminine endings is less than the mere con- 

 sonantal ending of many syllables, as in example (21) of this section, where 

 it is contended that the tM'o-syllabled word " nature " takes less time in 

 enimciation than the one-syllabled word '" breasts," yet the former is said 

 to make a feminine, the latter an ordinary ending. 



16. Bearing in mind the last statement of the preceding section, it may 

 perhaps be less difficult to accoimt for the apparent anomaly of a feminine 

 ending following the last unit of a romance verse — that is, a ballad verse 

 of eight stresses. The following is an example : — 



(42.) Go fetch/ to me/ a pint/ o' wine/, 

 And fill/ it in/ a sil/ver tas/(s('e,) 

 That 1/ may drink/ before/ I go/ 

 A ser/vice to /my bon/nie las/(sie .') 



(Burns, " The Silver Tassie," part st. 1.) 



In each verse but the last it may, of course, be held that a triple unit is pro- 

 duced, as in the middle of the verses quoted in (33a) above ; "but in this 

 instance it means, not that a triple unit occurs in the middle of a verse, 

 but at the beginning of the following verse. Considering that the rhythmic 

 pause at the end oif romance verse may be taken as part of the first unit, 

 that first unit may well be held to be equal to a triple unit, easily capable 

 of containing the small feminine syllable. In the last verse, however, there 



