162 METHYLATED SPIRIT 



METRE 



Beside* the above, methyl enters into the con- 

 Kiiiutimi of many ethereal "salts and amines, such 

 a* methyl chloride, acetate, and salicylate, as 

 well as methyl aiiiine, dimethyl amine. \c. (see 

 AMINES). The salicylate, fU,C r H 5 O^ U interacting 

 as being the ethereiil oil of Until theria procumbent, 

 from which pure methyl alcohol and pure salicylic 

 acid can both be made. For Methyl Violet, see 

 !>YKiX(i ; and for Methylene, see ANESTHESIA. 



Methylated Spirit consists of a mixture of 

 9 part* of alcohol, of specific gravity 0-920, with 

 1 part of 1'yroxylic (q.v.) or wood -spirit. This 

 addition of wood-spirit renders it unlit for drinking, 

 although it scarcely interferes with its )>ower as a 

 solvent. It U allowed by the excise to be sold 

 duty-free for manufacturing purposes, and for pre- 

 serving specimens in museums. 



Metonic Cycle. See CHRONOLOGY, GOLDEN 

 NUMBER. 



Metope. See ENTABLATURE. 



Metre is that regulated succession of certain 

 groups of syllables in which Poetry (o.v.) is usually 

 written. A greater or less number of groups forms 

 a line or verie, anil in modern languages tin- verses 

 usually rhyme with one another ; hut this is not 

 at all essential to the notion of metre. In the 

 classic languages metre depended u|x>n the way 

 in which long and short syllables were made to 

 succeed one another. English metre depends, not 

 upon the distinction of long and short, but upon 

 that of accented and unaccented syllables. Thus, in 

 the lines, 



The car' I few tolli / 1 the knell' | of put' I Ing day' 



Wu'riora and | chiefs', should the | shaft' or the | sword' 

 the accents occur at regular intervals ; and the 

 group* of syllables thus formed constitute each a 

 metre or measure. The groups of long and short 

 syllables composing the metres of classic verse 

 were called feet, each foot having a distinctive 

 name. The same names are sometimes applied to 

 English measures, an accented syllable in English 

 being held to IN- equivalent to a long syllable in 

 Latin or Greek, and an onftMNBtad syllable to a 

 short. Even' metre in English contains one accented 

 syllable and ril her one or two unaccented syllables. 

 As the accent may be on the first, second, or third 

 syllable of the group, there thus arrive live distinct 

 measure*, two dissyllabic and three trisyllabic, as 

 Keen in the words 1, com 'fort (corresponding to 

 the classic Trochee); 2, agree' (Iambus); 3, 

 iiiiir'miiriiigf Dactyl); 4, confu'sion ( Amphibrach); 

 5, colonnade' (Anapirst). These measures are 

 arranged in line* or vertet, varying in length in 

 different pieces, and often in the same piece. T 

 ending measure of a line is frequently incomplete, 

 or has a supernumerary syllable ; and sometime* 

 one measure is substituted for another. All that 

 U necessary is that some one measure be so pre- 

 dominant as to give a character to the verse. 

 Constant recurrence of the same measure produces 

 ii'iii'it'iny. The following lines exemplify the five 

 measures : 



(1) Itlrh' the | trraVure. 



Bcftcr | lx'ty| yean-of | Eu'rope | than'a | cjr'ele | of' Calth*)' 



(I) Aloft' | In aW ( fill tat*'. 



The prop* er tod' | j of \ mankind' I li man'. 



(I) Bird' of UM I wH'dernen. 



Dright'mt tod | besf of the | KM*' of th | morning. 



(4) The dew* of I the monTlng. 



O young' Loch ilnrar haa | come out' of | the wot'. 

 (I) As they rW 1 on the shore 1 . 



The Asjrr p |ia CUM down' | like wolf | on the fold'. 



It is instinctively felt that some of these measures 

 are better suited for particular subject* than other*. 



Thus, the first has a brisk, abrupt, energetic char- 

 acter, agreeing well with lively and gay subject*, 

 and also with the intensity of such pieces a* Scott 

 rti<i ha'e. The second is by far the most usual 

 metre in English poetry ; it occurs, in fact, most 

 Vequently in the ordinary prose-movement of the 

 anguoge. It U smooth, graceful, and stately ; 

 readily adapting it-elf to easy narrative, ami the 

 expression of the gentler feelings, or to the treat- 

 ment of severe and sublime subject*. The trisyl- 

 labic metres, owing to the BBBMar of unaccented 

 syllables in them, are rat>i>l in their movement, 

 with a tripping lightness tnat suggests the analogy 

 of music in triple time. They are all less regular 

 and monotonous than the dissyllabic metres. One 

 of them is frequently sutatitnted for another, as in 

 the opening of Byron's Bride ofAbydot: 



Know* ye the I land' where the I cy'press and I myr'tle 



Are em'blemi I of deeds' that I are done' in I t hrir clime' ; 

 Where the tmge' | of the vul' I ture, the love' | of the tui' I tie 



where each of the three lines is in a different metre, 

 the first dactylic, the second ainphibrachie, the 

 third anapteatic. In addition to this irregularity, 

 one of the unaccented syllables is often wanting ; 

 as in Mrs Hemans' poem, The Voice of Spring : 



I coma', | I come' ! | ye have called' I me long 1 ; 



I come 1 | o'er the moon' i tains with lighf | and song" 



the first line has only one measure of three syl- 

 lables, although the general character of the 

 versification is trisyllabic. 



In a kind of verse introduced by Coleridge, and 

 used occasionally by Byron and others, the un- 

 accented syllables are altogether left out of account , 

 and the versification is made to depend upon having 

 a regular number of accents in the line : 



There !' not wind' enough' to twirl' 



The one" red leaf, the last' of iu clan'. 



That danc'ea as often as dance' it can 



Un the top'mnst twig 1 that looks up' at the sky*. 



Here there are four accents in each line, but the 

 number of syllables varies from eight to eleven. 



The variety of combinations of metres and rhymes 

 that may le" formed is endless ; but a few of the 

 more usual forms of English versification have 

 received special names, and these we may briefly 

 notice. 



Octosyllabict are verses made up each of four 

 measures of the second kind of metre, and therefore 

 containing eight syllables : 



With fruit' t leas la' ibour, Cla'i ra bound' 



AIM! Htmve' | to stanch' I the gunh'llng wound'. 



Scott's and Byron's romantic poems (save Lara and 

 the Coriair) are mostly in octosyllabics, and so 

 are Hudibrat, Lalla lliinl.li, and many other piece*. 

 Heroic is a term applied to verses containing./!!'* 

 metres of the second kind, or ten syllables. Heroic* 

 either rhyme in couplet*, or are' without rhymes, 

 constituting blank verse. Many of the chief 

 narrative and didactic poems in the r'.nglish 

 language are in rhvining heroics; as thos< 

 I>ryden. 1'ope, Cowper, \c. .Milton's two great 

 IMM-IIIV Young's \ !<//,/ TnON^Afo.Thomson 

 Cowper'g Task, Wordsworth's /,'./ //,/<, and many 

 others arc written in blank heroics. Metrical 

 drama* are almost always in blank verse ; in which 

 case there is frequentlv a supernumerary syllable, 

 or even two, at the end of the line : 



T" IK-. I "r not tn be, I that I* | the qnelo*: 

 Whether | 'tis no I blcr In | the mind | to suf \fer. 



Two trochaic measures are in use in English, 

 the fifteen-syllable and the seven-syllable. Of the 

 former the'liest example is Tennyson's Cwtofaf 

 Hull : the latter was a favourite form with Keate, 

 as in the Ode on the Poett and Mermaid Tavern, and 

 of Shelley, a* in the Linen Written in the Euganean 

 UMt. 



In Elegiacs the lines are of the same length and 



