to all students of Virgil is that in which he describes the slow, heavy motion of the Cyclops at work on the anvil:

|ōll' in ter sē sē māg|nā vī | brāchiă | tōllūnt. |

Mixed Verse in English.-Some attempts have been made in English to write continued poems in this kind of mixed verse. The most conspicuous example is Longfellow's Evangeline, which may be described as a poem in blank verse, hexameter, and prevailingly dactylic, but with a free intermixture of iambuses, trochees, anapæsts, and spondees. The following lines will serve to illustrate the point:

This is the fōrěst prí|mēvăl. Thě | můrmůring | pines and thě | hēmlocks, | | Bearded with | mōss and in | garments | green, Indistinct in the | twilight, | | Stand like | Druids Ŏf | ōld, with | võices | sad ănd pro|phetic. |

Of Doubtful Success. Even the genius of Longfellow, who is one of the best rhythmists known to our literature, has not yet quite reconciled the English ear to this kind of verse. Our syllables and accents are not sufficiently fixed and determinate to enable ordinary readers to perceive the rhythmus without that conscious effort which of itself mars the pleasure.

A Successful Specimen.- Perhaps the most successful specimen ever produced, of English verse constructed on the model of the Latin hexameter, is the following:

| Clearly the rest Ĭ bě|hōld of thě | dark-eyed | sōns of æchãiă; |

| Known to mě | well ǎre thě | faces of | all; their | names I remember; |
Twō, twōōnlỹ rě main, whom I see not ǎ mōng the commanders, |
Castor fleet in the car, Polydeuces brave with the cestus-
Own dear brethren of mine,- one parent loved us as infants.
Are they not here in the host, from the shores of loved Lacedaemon,
Or, though they came with the rest in the ships that bound through the waters,
Dare they not enter the fight or stand in the council of heroes,
All for fear of the shame and the taunts my crime has awakened?
So said she;-they long since in Earth's soft arms were reposing
There, in their own dear land, their fatherland, Lacedaemon.-Hawtrey.

Condition of Success.- Mixed verse seems to succeed best when combined with rhyme, and when the lines are comparatively short. A fine example of this occurs in Longfellow's Golden Legend. It is the soliloquy of Friar Claus in the wine-cellar of the convent.

I always enter this sacred place |

| With ǎ thought | ful, sõl|ěmn, ănd rẽv|ěrĕnt păce, |

| Pausing long ěnough on each stair |

To breathe | ăn ějác|úlătō|rš prayer, |

| And ǎ bénédiction ōn | the vines |

| Which produce | thèse vā|ríõus sõrts | Ŏf wines. |

Another equally signal example is found in Boker's Ivory-Carver.

| Silently sat the artist ǎllone,

| Carving ǎ | Christ from thě | ivory | bōne.

| Little by littlě, ❘ with tōil | ǎnd pain, |

He won his way through the sight less grăin, |

| That held | ǎnd yet hid | the thing | he sought, |
Till the work | stood up, | ǎ growing thought. |

Sheridan's Ride, by Read, and Barbara Frietchie, by Whittier, are familiar examples of the same peculiarity.

Up from the | South ǎt | break of day,

| Bringing to | Winchěstěr | fresh dis|mãy,

The affright|ĕd air | with ǎ shūd děr bōre, |

| Like ǎ her ǎld în häste, | to the chieftain's door, |

The terrible grūm|blě, ănd rūm|blě, ănd rōar, |

| Telling the battlě | wǎs ōn | Ŏnce mōre, |

| And Sheridan twenty miles | ǎway. |

Up from the meadows | rich with | cōrn,

| Clear in thě | cool Sěp/tēmber | mōrn,

| The cluster'd spires of Fred ĕrick stand, |

| Green-wall'd | by the hills | Ŏf Mār|ỹland. |

V. STANZAS.

A Stanza is a number of lines taken together, and so adjusted to each other as to form one whole.

A stanza may consist of almost any number of lines, from two upwards. In the formation of stanzas, our poets have an unlimited license, which they have used freely, and not always with entire discretion. Some particular stanzas have acquired historical celebrity.

Rhythm-Royal.-The Rhythm-Royal, or seven-line stanza, invented by Chaucer, is one of these. It is in iambic pentameter. Here is an example from Shakespeare:

Construction of the Stanza.In this stanza, as will be seen by the diagram, the first four lines make an ordinary quatrain, the lines rhyming alternately; the fifth line repeats the rhyme of the fourth, and the last two form a couplet.

Spenserian Stanza.-Another still more celebrated stanza is that invented by Spenser, and known as the Spenserian Stanza. It is the stanza in which the Faerie Queene was written. The following is the first stanze of that poem.

A gentle Knight was pricking on the plain,
Ycladd in mightie armes and silver shielde,
Wherein old dints of deepe woundes did remaine,
The cruel markes of many a bloody fielde;
Yet armes till that time did he never wield:
His angry steede did chide his foaming bitt,
As much disdayning to the curbe to yielde:
Full jolly knight he seemed, and faire did sitt,
As one for knightly giusts and fierce encounters fitt.

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3

5

8

Construction of the Stanza.-The Spenserian Stanza, as will be seen from the foregoing diagram, consists of nine lines, all iambic pentameter, except the last, which is hexameter.

In respect to the rhyme, the construction of the stanza is as follows: First, there are two ordinary quatrains, with lines rhyming alternately. These quatrains are then tied together by the last line of the first quatrain rhyming with the first line of the second quatrain. After the two quatrains are thus completed, a ninth line is added, rhyming with the eighth. This ninth line has a peculiar and very pleasing effect. It seems to come in as a supplementary harmony,—a sort of "linked sweetness long drawn out," on which the ear loves to linger.

Its Uses. This stanza has been found to be peculiarly suited to long poems. The most successful cultivator of it among recent poets is Byron, a large part of whose poetry is written in it.

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Sonnet Stanza. Of all the stanzas that bear a recognized and welldefined character, none is more elaborate in its construction than that appropriated to the Sonnet.

Its Construction.- The Sonnet stanza consists of fourteen lines, iambic pentameter. It is divided into two distinct portions, called the Major and the Minor. The Major division consists of eight lines, called an Octave, and has but two rhymes. The Minor division consists of six lines, called the Sestette, and has

sometimes three rhymes, sometimes two. The Octave is composed of two quatrains; in each quatrain, the first and fourth lines form one rhyme, the second and third form the other. Furthermore, the rhyme of the first and fourth in one quatrain is the same as the rhyme of the first and fourth in the other; also, that of the second and third in one is the same as that of the second and third in the other. Thus the whole Octave is thoroughly compacted and knit together, while each of the two parts has an organization of its own. The Sestette is not so fixed and rigid in its structure. One of its most common forms is contained in the following Sonnet from Milton. In this there are three rhymes; the first line rhymes to the fourth, the second to the fifth, and the third to the sixth. Thus the Sestette, equally with the Octave, is thoroughly knit together and compacted in itself. Unity of the Whole.-To prevent the two parts from swaying apart, care is usually taken that there shall be no grammatical break in passing from the one to the other, and thus the whole structure is made one.*

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9

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present

My true account, lest he, returning chide;
"Doth God exact day-labor, light denied?"

I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent

That murmur, soon replies, "God doth not need

Either man's work, or his own gifts. Who best

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3

4

10

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2

Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state 3

Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed,

And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."

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5

6

Psalm and Hymn Stanzas.-The variety of stanzas in successful use is almost endless. It would be impossible in a work like this to describe, or even enumerate them. It may be proper, however, to notice briefly those most commonly used in psalms and hymns for public worship. The three most common of all are those known severally as Long, Short, and Common Metre. These are all quatrains, and all in iambic metre; so far they agree. But the Long Metre stanza consists of tetrameters; the Common Metre has its first and third lines tetrameter, and its second and fourth trimeter; the Short Metre has the first, second, and fourth lines trimeter, while its third is tetrameter.

The following formula exhibits to the eye the construction of these three familiar stanzas:

*See the "Book of the Sonnet," by Leigh Hunt and S. Adams Lee (Roberts Brothers) for an exhaustive discussion of everything pertaining to the history and structure of the Sonnet.

In respect to rhyme, the stanzas vary. Sometimes the lines rhyme together in couplets, the first rhyming to the second, and the third rhyming to the fourth. Thus:

Lord, thou hast searched and seen me through;

Thine eye commands with piercing view

My rising and my resting hours,

My heart and flesh, with all their powers.

Sometimes the rhyme alternates, the first responding to the third, and the second to the fourth.

Before Jehovah's awful throne,

Ye nations bow with sacred joy:
Know that the Lord is God alone:
He can create, and he destroy.

Frequently also the first and third are without rhyme.

Almighty God, thy word is cast,

Like seed, upon the ground;

Now let the dew of heaven descend,

And righteous fruits abound.

Long Particular Metre. - One stanza, in which a few of our hymns are written, is called Long Particular Metre. It is in iambic metre, and consists of six lines, all tetrameter, the third and sixth rhyming together, and the others rhyming in couplets. The effect