to unfit this metre for serious subjects, and to adapt it only to what is meant to be burlesque, humorous, or satiric. The example above does not confirm this opinion, yet the rule, as a general one, may still be just. Ballad verse may in some degree imitate the language of a simpleton, and become popular by clownishness, more than by elegance: as,
"Father \ and I \ went down \ to the camp
Along \ with cap\-tain Goodwin,
And there \ we saw \ the men \ and boys
As thick \ as hast\-y pudding;
And there \ we saw \ a thun\-dering gun,—
It took \ a horn \ of powder,—
It made \ a noise \ like fa\-ther's gun,
Only \ a na\-tion louder."
Original Song of Yankee Doodle.
Even the line of seven feet may still be lengthened a little by a double rhyme: as,
How gay\-ly, o\-ver fell \ and fen, \ yon sports\-man light \ is dashing!
And gay\-ly, in \ the sun\-beams bright, \ the mow \—er's blade \ is flashing!
Of this length, T. O. Churchill reckons the following couplet; but by the general usage of the day, the final ed is not made a separate syllable:
"With hic \ and hoec, \ as Pris\-cian tells, \ sacer\-dos was \ decli\-nĕd;
But now \ its gen\-der by \ the pope \ far bet\-ter is \ defi\-nĕd."
Churchill's New Grammar, p. 188.
MEASURE III.—IAMBIC OF SIX FEET, OR HEXAMETER.
Example I.—A Couplet.
"Sŏ vā\-rўĭng still \ thĕir mōods, \ ŏbsērv\-ĭng ȳet \ ĭn āll
Their quan\-tities, \ their rests, \ their cen\-sures met\-rical."
MICHAEL DRAYTON: Johnson's Quarto Dict., w. Quantity.
Example II.—From a Description of a Stag-Hunt.
"And through \ the cumb\-rous thicks, \ as fear\-fully \ he makes,
He with \ his branch\-ed head \ the ten\-der sap\-lings shakes,
That sprink\-ling their \ moist pearl \ do seem \ for him \ to weep;
When aft\-er goes \ the cry, \ with yell\-ings loud \ and deep,
That all \ the for\-est rings, \ and ev\-ery neigh\-bouring place:
And there \ is not \ a hound \ but fall\-eth to \ the chase."
DRAYTON: Three Couplets from twenty-three,
in Everett's Versif., p. 66.
Example III.—An Extract from Shakespeare.
"If love \ make me \ forsworn, \ how shall \ I swear \ to love?
O, nev\-er faith \ could hold, \ if not \ to beau\-ty vow'd:
Though to \ myself \ forsworn, \ to thee \ I'll con\-stant prove;
Those thoughts, \ to me \ like oaks, \ to thee \ like o\-siers bow'd.
Stūdў \ his bi\-as leaves, \ and makes \ his book \ thine eyes,
Where all \ those pleas\-ures live, \ that art \ can com\-prehend.
If knowl\-edge be \ the mark, \ to know \ thee shall \ suffice;
Well learn\-ed is \ that tongue \ that well \ can thee \ commend;
All ig\-norant \ that soul \ that sees \ thee with' \ oŭt wonder;
Which is \ to me \ some praise, \ that I \ thy parts \ admire:
Thine eye \ Jove's light\-ning seems, \ thy voice \ his dread\-ful thunder,
Which (not \ to an\-ger bent) \ is mu\-sic and \ sweet fire.
Celes\-tial as \ thou art, \ O, do \ not love \ that wrong,
To sing \ the heav\-ens' praise \ with such \ an earth\-ly tongue."
The Passionate Pilgrim, Stanza IX;
Singer's Shak., Vol. ii, p. 594.
Example IV.—The Ten Commandments Versified.
"Adore \ no God \ besides \ me, to \ provoke \ mine eyes;
Nor wor\-ship me \ in shapes \ and forms \ that men \ devise;
With rev \ 'rence use \ my name, \ nor turn \ my words \ to jest;
Observe \ my sab\-bath well, \ nor dare \ profane \ my rest;
Honor \ and due \ obe\-dience to \ thy pa\-rents give;
Nor spill \ the guilt\-less blood, \ nor let \ the guilt\-y live;[1]
Preserve \ thy bod\-y chaste, \ and flee \ th' unlaw\-ful bed;
Nor steal \ thy neigh\-bor's gold, \ his gar\-ment, or \ his bread;
Forbear \ to blast \ his name \ with false\-hood or deceit;
Nor let \ thy wish\-es loose \ upon \ his large \ estate."
Dr. Isaac Watts: Lyric Poems, p. 46.
This verse, consisting, when entirely regular, of twelve syllables in six iambs, is the Alexandrine; said to have been so named because it was "first used in a poem called Alexander."—Worcester's Dict. Such metre has sometimes been written, with little diversity, through an entire
- ↑ [507] The opponents of capital punishment will hardly take this for a fair version of the sixth commandment.—G. B.
