METRE 



METTERNICH 



163 



the same measure as in heroics, but the rhymes 

 are alternate, and divide the poem into quatrains 

 or stanzas of four lines, as in Gray's Elegy. The 

 Spenserian stanza, popularised by Spenser in the 

 Faerie Qiteene, and much used by Byron, differs from 

 common heroics only in the arrangement of the 

 rhymes, and in concluding with an Alexandrine 

 which gives it a sonorous cadence particularly 

 pleasing to the ear. The Chaucerian heptastich is 

 a seven-line decasyllabic stanza called also rime 

 royal, having three rhymes, one connecting the 

 first and third ; another, the second, fourth, and 

 fifth ; and the third, the sixth and seventh. 



The octosyllabic quatrain, the quatrain in eights 

 and sixes, and the quatrain in sixes, with the third 

 line octosyllabic, are commonly called long measure, 

 common measure, and short measure. The second 

 has been also called service metre, being the form 

 of versification adopted in the metrical Psalms, in 

 many hymns, and other lyrical pieces. From being 

 frequently employed in old romances and ballads, 

 this metre is also called ballad metre. A familiar 

 example is Chaucer's Rime of Sir Thopas. The 

 first and third lines often rhyme, as well as the 

 second and fourth. 



In triple measures the most important are the 

 quatrain, the six-line and the eigrit-line stanzas. 

 Each may be dactylic, anaporatic, or amphiambic, 

 but the last is the most common ; of the first an 

 example is Byron's Song of Saul before his last 

 Battle ; of tha second, Wolfe's Burial of Sir John 

 Moore ; of the third, in many ballads and songs, 

 as in the line : 



I saw* from I the beach' when I the morn'ing I was shining. 

 The nnrhymed metres are hexameters, blank 

 verse, and choral metres, sometimes, as in Queen 

 Mab, iambic ; in the Strayed Reveller, trochaic. 



Such are some of the more usual and definite 

 forms of versification. In many poems, especially 

 the more recent ones, so much licence is assumed 

 that it is difficult to trace any regular recurrence or 

 other law determining the changes of metre, or the 

 lengths of the lines ; the poet seeks to suit the 

 modulation at every turn to the varying sentiments. 

 But it may be questioned whether much of this 

 refinement of art is not thrown away, upon ordinary 

 readers at least, who, failing to perceive any special 

 suitableness, are inclined to look upon those violent 

 departures from accustomed regularity as the results 

 of caprice. 



See also the special articles in this work on ACCENT, 

 ALLITERATION, BLANK VERSE, HEXAMETER, LTBIC, ODE, 

 POETRY, KHYME, SONO, and SONHET-, Guest's Hisivry 

 of Knijlish Rhythm* (2d ed. revised by Prof. Skeat, 

 1882); Prof. J. B. Mayor's Chapter! on Emjlith Metre 

 (1H86); I>r Gummere's Handbook of Poetict (Boston); 

 and Prof. Sclnpper's Entjlitche Metrik ( Bonn, 1881-89). 



Mfctre, the basis of the ' metrical ' or modern 

 French system of weights and measures, and the 

 unit of length. The first suggestion of a change on 

 the previous system dates as far hack as the time 

 of Philip the Fair ; but up till 1790 no important 

 change had been effected. On the 8th May 1790 

 pro])sals were made by the French government to 

 the British, for the meeting of an equal number of 

 members from the Academy of Sciences and the 

 Royal Society of London, to determine the length 

 of the simple pendulum vibrating seconds in N. lat. 

 45 at the level of the sea, with the view of making 

 this the unit of a new system of measures. The 

 British government, however, did not give this 

 proposal a favourable reception, and it fell to the 

 ground. The French government, impatient to 

 effect a reform, obtained the appointment by the 

 Academy of Sciences of a commission composed of 

 Borda, Lagrange, Laplace, Monge, and Condorcet, 

 to choose from the following three, the length of 

 the pendulum, the fourth part of the equator, and 



the fourth part of the meridian, the one best fitted 

 for their purpose. The commission decided in 

 favour of the last resolving that the uraAnnsuth 

 of a quadrant of the Meridian (q.v. ) be taken for 

 the basis of the new system, and be called a 

 'metre.' Delambre and Mechain were immedi- 

 ately charged with the measurement of the meri- 

 dian between Dunkerque and Barcelona ; and the 

 result of their labours was referred to a committee 

 of twenty members, nine of whom were French, the 

 rest having been deputed by the governments of 

 Holland, Savoy, Denmark, Spain, Tuscany, and 

 the Roman, Cisalpine, Ligurian, and Helvetic 

 republics. By this committee the length of the 

 metre was found to be 443 '296 Parisian lines, or 

 39-3707904 English inches ; and standards of it and 

 of the kilogramme (see GRAMME) were constructed, 

 and deposited among the archives of France, where 

 they still remain. If we call the metre 3 feet 3| 

 inches our error will be y\t inch only. The ' met- 

 rical system' received legal sanction 2d November 

 1801. The following are the fractions and multiples 

 of the metre : 



EoglUh Inchn. 



Millimetre, '0303707904 



Centimetre, -39370790* 



Decimetre, 8-93707904 English Feet. Engllih Yard* 



Mfcrr.R, 89-3707904 = 32808992= 1 '093033 



Decametre, 893-707904 = 82808992 = 10'93(i33 



Hectometre, 3937 07904 = 328OS992 = 109-3633 



Kilometre, 393707004 = 3280'8992 = 1093-633 



Myriametre, 393707-904 = 82s08-92 = 10936'SS 



The term ' metric system ' is also extended to the 

 French square measure based on the Are (q.v.), 

 which is a square the side of which is ten metres ; 

 to the measure of weight based on the Gramme 

 (q.v.), which is the weight of a cubic centimetre of 

 distilled water ; to the measure of capacity based 

 on the Litre (q.v.), the volume of a cubic deci- 

 metre ; and to the cubic measurement based on the 

 Stere (q.v.), which is a cubic metre. See DECIMAL 

 SYSTEM. 



Metronome, a small machine for indicating 

 the correct time or speed at which a musical com- 

 position should be played. It is essentially an 

 inverted pendulum moved by clockwork. The 

 time is regulated by a weight which can be pushed 

 up and down the pendulum rod, on which is a 

 graduated scale. The metronome as we have it 

 was patented by Miilzel in 1816, but was really 

 invented by Winkel of Amsterdam. 



Metropolitan. See ARCHBISHOP, COLONY. 



Metternfeh, CLEMENS WENZEL NEPOMUK 

 LOTHAR, Prince von Metternich and Duke of 

 Pontella, an eminent Austrian diplomatist, was 

 born at Coblenz, 15th May 1773. His ancestors 

 had obtained distinction in the wars of the empire 

 against the Turks ; his family had supplied more 

 than one elector to the archbishoprics of Mainz 

 and Treves; and his father, Franz Georg Karl, 

 Count von Metternich, had secured a high reputa- 

 tion as a diplomatist and as the associate of 

 Kaunitz. Young Metternich therefore entered 

 the service of his country under the most favour- 

 able auspices, of which he was not slow in taking 

 advantage. At the age of fifteen he matriculated 

 at the university of Strasburg, where he had for his 

 fellow-student Benjamin Constant, and from which 

 he removed, two years afterwards, to Mainz to 

 complete his education. In 1794, after a short 

 visit to England, he was attached to the Austrian 

 embassy at the Hague, in the following year marry- 

 ing the granddaughter and heiress of bis fathers 

 friend Kannitz. He first came into notice at the 

 congress of Rastadt, where he represented the 

 Westphalian nobility, after which he accompanied 

 Count Stadion to St" Petersburg. From this point 

 his rise was very rapid, as he added to the advan- 

 tages of his birth and connections a more than 



