620 Transactions. 



by comparing No. (35r<) 1 with No. (35o) 3. This pause is further reduced 

 in the third verse of No. (35) :— 



356. Then/ I name thee/, claim thee/ for our jia/tron, coe/qual in praise/ 

 and the verse is still fuller in — 



(3;>f.) 1. Ay, with Zeus the Defender, with Her of the aegis and spear ! ^ 

 2. Now, henceforth and forever, — latest to whom I upraise 

 A new variation is developed in these two verses : — 



(35rf. ) 1. Archons of Athens, topped by the tettix, see, I return ! 

 2. Now, henceforth and forever, — O latest to whom I upraise 

 Compare this with No. (16) h, a Nibelmigen verse — 



(35e.) 1. Now/, henceforth/ and fore/ver, — / la/ test to whom/ I upraise/ 

 2. Fair/ without/ a ble/mish, / her gra/cious bo/dy_ was/, 

 — and it is at once seen that Browning's verse is a triple Nibelungen verse, 

 the pause in the middle showing where a stressed syllable has been dropped. 

 Again, couple No. (35e) 1 with the verse immediately following in the 

 quotation— 



(35/.) Now/, henceforth/ and fore/ver, — / la/test to whom/ I upraise/ 



Hand/ and heart/ and voice !/ / For A/thens leave pa/sture and flock !/ 



— and a paused triple Alexandrine is seen following the Nibelungen, as in 

 No. (26) h. Again, couple together the third and fourth verses of the third 

 stanza : — 



(35(7.) Razed/ to the ground/ is Ere/tria — / but A/thens, shall A/thens sink/, 

 Drop/ into dust/ and die/ — the flowei*/ of Hel/las ut/terly die/. 



Here the pause in the second verse is not due to a dropped syllable as in 

 the first ; so that whereas the first verse is Nibelungen, the second is not 

 Alexandrine, but full Ballad. Were the pause supposed to represent a 

 dropped unit the result would be — 



(35/*.) Drop/ into dust/ and die/— / the flower/ of Hel/las ut/terly die/, 



— a verse of eight units. Read the third stanza to its conclusion, and any 

 doubt of the verse being full Ballad at once vanishes : — 



(35/.) Drop/ into dust/ and die/ — the flower/ of Hel/las ut/terly die/. 



Die/ with the wide/ world spit/ting at Spar/ta, the stu/pid, the stan/der-by ?/ 

 An/swer me quick/, what help/, what hand/ do vou stretch/ o'er destruc/tion's 



brink ?/ 

 How/, — when ?/ No care/ for my limbs !/ — 4thei"e's light/ning in all/ and 



some/ — 



It is evident that the sweep of the Ballad measure has been with the poet 

 throughout : the poem is in Alexandrines, and the natural, and conse- 

 quently more musical, manner of reading it will consist in observing the 

 mid-pause of each verse ; for the rest, the metre will assert itself : — 



(35/.) First I salute this soil of the blessed, river and rock ! 



Gods of my birthplace, daemons and heroes, honour to all ! 

 Then I name thee, claim thee for our patron, coequal in praise-- 

 Ay, with Zeus the Defender, with Her of the aegis and spear ! 

 Also ye of the bow and the buskin, praised be your peer, 

 Now, henceforth and forever, — latest to whom I upraise 

 Hand and heart and voice ! For Athens, leave pasture and flock ! 

 Present to help, potent to save, Pan — patron I call ! 



The pause is merely a sustaining of the sound of the word preceding that 

 pause ; it need be but slight, yet it works a magical change, making of 



