Andersen. — The Verse-unit. 629 



billing with the next verse. Take example No. (11), in which are combined 

 two full Ballad verses. As read, this stanza is divided by the pause : — 



(ll'(.) A voice/ from Sci/o's isle/ — / a voice/ of song/, a voice/ of old/ 



Swept far/ as cloud/ on bil/low rolled/, and earth/ was hushed/ the while/. / 



The first three stresses are isolated, and the rest of the stanza is knit into a 

 perfect whole. The heavy half of the Ballad verse refuses to follow — it 

 will lead, as does the heavy head of the arrow — and a new combination 

 results. Let two stanzas be quoted : — 



(11?).) A voice from Scio's isle — 



A voice of song, a voice of old 

 Swept far as cloud on bUlow rolled, 

 And earth was hushed the while. 



The souls of nations woke ! 

 Where lies the land, whose hills among 

 That voice of victory hath not rung 



As if a trumpet spoke ? 



In both stanzas, and in every stanza of the poem, the first line of three 

 accents is separated from the rest of the stanza by a pause ; the rime is its 

 sole connection, from a metrical point of view. Omit the first line of the 

 two stanzas quoted : — 



(lie.) A voice of song, a voice of old 



Swept far as cloud on billow rolled. 



And earth was hushed the while. 

 Where lies the land, whose hills among 

 The voice of victory hath not rung 



As if a trumpet spoke ?* 



Substitute for " And earth was hushed the while," " Nor earth the 

 silence broke," and the " Dowsabel " stanza is the result. Or if the pause 

 isolating the first line be filled — 



(lie?.) A voice from Scio's isle, 'tis told, 

 A voice of song, a voice of old 

 Swept far as cloud on billow rolled, 

 And earth was hushed the while 



The souls of nations woke and sung. 

 Where lies the land, whoso hills among 

 That voice of victory hath not rung 

 As if a trumpet spoke ? 



— the stanza of " Helen of Kirkconnel " results, this stanza being a com- 

 bination of a Romance with a Ballad verse, as the former is the " tele- 

 scoping " of those two verses. 



5. Another possible origin may be conjectured. Bishop Percy, in his 

 Reliques, has fortunately preserved an unpolished piece of work from the 

 stithy of the poet's brain. He prints the first stanza of " A, Robyn, Jolly 

 Robyn " : — 



(12.) "A, Robyn, 



Jolly Robyn, 

 Tell me how thy leman doeth, 

 And thou shalt know of myn." 



* Reference might be made to the remarks by Professor Saintsbury on what has in 

 this paper been called the Dowsabel form of verse, in "History of English Prosody," 

 vol. i., pp. 92, 93. 



