616 Transactions. 



h. To mor/row af/ter ser/mon-time/ to Nor/retown/ I go/. 



From mo/ther".s sis/ter learn/ing / to cro/chet laco/ and sew/ ; 

 If you/, my best/ Johan/, / will thi/ther walk/ with me/, 



Kis/sos 1/ will give/ 3'ou, / it may/ bo two/, or three/. 



(Johan og Lise, st. 10.) 



c. The voice/ cried loud/ly, " Pe/ter Hald !/ ere ear/ly day/ shall break/, 

 Arise/, your bo/dy clothe/, / your shel/tered home/ forsake !/ 

 Where ti-olds/ have dwelt/ in hol/low oak/ a trea/sure glim/mers bright/^ 

 Your for/tune if/ my war/ning / you scorn/ not / this night/. 



(Christen og Lene, st. 7.) 



d. She po/lishes/ her bed/, / nor snow/ could brigh/ter be/, 

 Upon/ the mill-/door comes/ a tap/ping, — one/, two/, three !/ 

 In steps/ Sir Lyk/ke's ser/vant, / he lifts/ his cap/, polite/, 



" And will/ ye spare/ a space/ / for my/ sack here/ to-night ? "/ 



(Svend og Inger, st. 21.) 



Viewing these examples, and many isolated examples in British verse, 

 there can be no donbt that the Alexandrine proper is divided by a mid- 

 pause into two equal parts — that it is, in fact, no more than a variation of 

 the Romance metre. 



14. A well-known stanza may for a moment be examined : — 



(27.) What objects are the foiuitains 

 Of thy happy strain ? 

 What fields, or waves, or mountains ? 

 What shapes of sky or plain ?. 

 What love of thine own kind ? What ignorance of pain ? 



This will now be seen to fall readily into two Nibelungen verses and one 

 Alexandrine :■ — 



(27rt.j What ob/jects are/ the foun/tains / of/ thy ha/ppy strain ?/ 



What fields/, or waves/, or moun/ tains ? / What shapes/ of sky/ or plain ?/ 

 What love/ of thine/ own kind ?/ / What ig/norance/ of pain ?/ 



Again, take the version of Psalm viii by the Earl of Surrey : — 



(28.) But yet among all these I ask, " What thing is man ? " 



Whose turn to serve in his poor need this work Thou first began. 



Or what is Adam's son that bears his father's mark ? 



For whose delight and comfort eke Thou has wrought all this work. 



I see Thou mind'st him much, that dost reward him so : 



Being but earth, to rule the earth, whereon himself doth go. 



From angels' substance eke Thou mad'st him differ small ; 



Save one doth change his life awhile ; the other not at all. 



The sun and moon also Thou mad'st to give him light ; 



And each one of the wandering stars to twinlde sparkles bright . 



The air to give him breath ; the water for his health ; 



The earth to bring forth grain and fruit, for to increase his wealth. 



This quotation is taken from " Preliminary Remarks on the Ohiey Hymns " 

 in the Rev. T. S. Grimshawe's 1851 edition of Cowper, where it is followed 

 by the ominous remark, " Sir Thomas Wyatt versified the seven Penitential 

 Psalms, and died in 1542." On first reading the above example the end- 

 construction of the first verse causes a stumble ; and it will be re-read either 



as^ — 



(28a.) But yet/ among/ all these/ I ask/, '" What/ thing/ is man ? ""/ 

 or 



(286.) But yet/ among/ all these/ I ask/, " Wliat thing/ is/ man ? "/ 



making it of the same type as Moore's verse — 



But there's no/thing half/ so sweet/ in life/ as love"s/ young/ dream/. 



