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- must occupy the second place: and, judging of the ancient feet and quantities by what he found, or supposed he found, in the English imitations, and not by what the ancient prosodists say of them, yet knowing that the ancient and the modern Sapphics are in several respects unlike, he presented forms of scansion for both, which are not only peculiar to himself, but not well adapted to either. "We have," says he, "no established rule for this kind of verse, in our English compositions, which has been uniformly adhered to. The rule for which, in Greek and Latin verse, as far as I can ascertain, was this: ¯ ˘ \ ¯ ¯ ¯ \ ˘ ˘ \ ¯ ˘ \ ¯ ¯ a trochee, a moloss, a pyrrhic, a trochee, and [a] spondee; and sometimes, occasionally, a trochee, instead of a spondee, at the end. But as our language is not favourable to the use of the spondee and moloss, the moloss is seldom or never used in our English Sapphics; but, instead of which, some other trissyllable foot is used. Also, instead of the spondee, a trochee is commonly used; and sometimes a trochee instead of the pyrrhic, in the third place. As some prescribed rule, or model for imitation, may be necessary, in this case, I will cite a stanza from one of our best English poets, which may serve for a model.
'Whēn thĕ \ fiērce nōrth-wĭnd, \ wĭth hĭs \ āirў \ fōrcĕs [,]
Rēars ŭp \ thĕ Bāltĭc \ tŏ ă \ fōamĭng \ fūrў;
And thĕ \ rēd līghtnĭng \ wĭth ă \ stōrm ŏf \ hāil cŏmes
Rūshĭng \ ămāin dōwn.'—Watts."—Ib., p. 19. - In "the Works of George Canning," a small book published in 1829, there is a poetical dialogue of nine stanzas, entitled, "The Friend of Humanity and the Knife-Grinder," said to be "a burlesque on Mr. Southey's Sapphics." The metre appears to be near enough like to the foregoing. But these verses I divide, as I have divided the others, into trochees with initial dactyls. At the commencement, the luckier party salutes the other thus:
"'Needy knife\-grinder! \ whither \ are you \ going?
Rough is the \ road, your \ wheel is \ out of \ order—
Bleak blows the \ blast;—your \ hat has \ got a \ hole in't,
So have your \ breeches!'Weary knife\-grinder! \ little \ think the \ proud ones
Who in their \ coaches \ roll a\-long the \ turnpike—
Road, what hard \ work 'tis, \ crying \ all day, \ 'Knives and
Scissors to \ grind O!'"—P. 44. - Among the humorous poems of Thomas Green Fessenden, published under the sobriquet of Dr. Caustic, or "Christopher Caustic, M. D.," may be seen an other comical example of Sapphics, which extends to eleven stanzas. It describes a contra-dance, and is entitled, "Horace Surpassed." The conclusion is as follows:
"Willy Wagnimble dancing with Flirtilla,
Almost as light as air-balloon inflated,
Rigadoons around her, 'till the lady's heart is
Forced to surrender.Benny Bamboozle cuts the drollest capers,
Just like a camel, or a hippopot'mus;
Jolly Jack Jumble makes as big a rout as
Forty Dutch horses.See Angelina lead the mazy dance down;
Never did fairy trip it so fantastic;
How my heart flutters, while my tongue pronounces,
'Sweet little seraph!'Such are the joys that flow from contra-dancing,
Pure as the primal happiness of Eden,
Love, mirth, and music, kindle in accordance
Raptures extatic."—Poems, p. 208.
SECTION V.—ORAL EXERCISES.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE.
LESSON I.—RESTORE THE RHYTHM.
"The lion is laid down in his lair."—O. B. Peirce's Gram., p. 134.
[Formule.—Not proper, because the word "lion," here put for Cowper's word "beast" destroys the metre, and changes the line to prose. But, according to the definition given on p. 827, "Verse, in opposition to prose, is language arranged into metrical lines of some determinate length and rhythm—language so ordered as to produce harmony by a due succession of poetic feet." This line was composed of one iamb and two anapests; and, to such form, it should be restored, thus: "The beast is laid down in his lair."—Cowper's Poems, Vol. i, p. 201.]
"Where is thy true treasure? Gold says, not in me."
—Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 66.
"Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
—Frazee's Gram., 1845, p. 140.
"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 122.
"Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
—Ib., p. 195; Hiley, 132; Hart, 179.
"Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 153.
—Hallock's Gram., 1842, p. 66.
"Canst thou grow sad, thou sayest, as earth grows bright?"
—Frazee's Gram., 1845, p. 140.
"It must be so, Plato, thou reasonest well."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 122.
"Slow rises merit, when by poverty depressed."
—Ib., p. 195; Hiley, 132; Hart, 179.
"Rapt in future times, the bard begun."
—Wells's Gram., 1846, p. 153.
