“ His sov'ereign power, without' our aid,

Made" us of clay, and form'ed us men
And when', like wand'ring sheep, we strayed,

He brought us to his fold' again.

“We'll crowd thy gates' with thank'ful songs,

High''-as the heavens' our voic'es raise ;
And earth', with her ten thou'sand tongues,

Shall fill' thy courts with sound'ing praise.

“ Wide"-as the world' is thy command;

Vast”—as eter'nity thy love;
Firm"—as a rock' thy truth' shall stand,

While roll'ing years shall cease to move."

The trochees with which so many of the lines commence thus present the acts they are employed to express in a far bolder and more impressive attitude than they could have received had iambics been used, and give a vivacity and force to the modulation that brings it into harmony with them, and makes it as indicative almost of their vehemence as the emphatic monosyllables are by which they are so vividly depicted. On the other hand, the introduction of the first three lines in the last stanza with an emphatic trochee, renders the change to an iambic, and the enunciation of the fourth line, in the diminishing voice which the cadence requires, highly pleasing.

The same effect of the trochee is seen in the following hymn:

“Why' was I' made to hear thy voice,

And en'ter while there's room,
When thou'sands make a wretch'ed choice,

And rather starve' than come!

6 ST was the same love' that spread the feast

That sweetly forced us in ;
Else' we had still refused to taste,

And per’ished in our sin.

“Pi'ty the na'tions, 0 our God;
· Constrain' the earth to come;
Send' thy victorious word' abroad,

And bring' the strangers home.

“We long' to see thy church'es full;

That all the choʻsen race
May with one' voice, and heart, and soul',

Singe thy redeem'ing grace."

The frequent change throughout the hymn from an iambic to a trochee, and from a trochee to an iambic, thus adds greatly to the point and grace of the expression, and the spirit and beauty of the rhythm.

A spondee is sometimes used in place of a trochee, and with much the same effect, as in the third line of the following hymn:

“ With joy' the chor’us we repeat,

Glory' to God on high ;
Goodwill' and peace' are now complete,

Jesus" is born' to die."

The movement of seven syllable lines, formed of two trochees and an amphimacer, and with the accent usually thrown chiefly on two syllables, is very fine:

From thy wound'ed side' which flowed,
Be' of sin the dou'ble cure-
Savel from wrath, and make' me pure."

The modulation of the lines is sometimes rendered so expressive and vivacious, by the words of the feet of which they are constructed, that it is taken as the basis of the air that is composed for them, and made the vehicle of a most graphic representation of the acts they describe, and impassioned utterance of the sentiments they express. That was undoubtedly the origin of the spirited tune to which Moore's version of Miriam's song, consisting principally of anapests, is set:

If the tones in which the successive syllables of these lines are naturally uttered, when pronounced with emotion, are written on a musical staff, it will