tK ORTHOMETRY. ORTHOMETRY B treatise on THE ART OF VERSIFICATION AND THE TECHNICALITIES OF POETRY WITH A NEW AND COMPLETE RHYMING DICTIONARY R. F. BREWER, B.A. AUTHtTR'OF " MANUAL OF ENGLISH PROSODY. 11 a ntr on : CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO. 1893 {Entered at Stationers' Hall.'} PREFACE. THE chief aim of this book is to instruct. Those for whose use it is primarily designed, form that large and increasing number of the youth of both sexes, whose cultivated taste leads them to the study of our poets, and often, by original verse- making, to their imitation. Although numerous works on Versification have been published of late years, the subject is treated in them, for the most part, in fragmentary fashion, rather than as a complete whole. Canons are laid down without adequate illustration, and generally with no discussion of principles. Other works, again, are too scholarly for general use, and are, in some cases, devoted to the elaboration of a pet theory. No one work, as far as I am aware, has yet been issued which embraces full and accurate infor- mation respecting the technicalities of poetry and verse-making, such as the student requires ; and to obtain which he has hitherto had to search through a number of separate authors. viii PREFACE. In the preparation of this book, to impart sound and useful knowledge has been the aim rather than to parade originality, and therefore I have not scrupled, in some cases, to avail myself of the views, and even the expressions, of previous writers on the subject, whenever they seemed best suited to the purpose. Clear and simple exposition, logical arrangement, and copious illustration have been, used throughout, while the student's interest in the subject is stimulated and increased by the intrinsic beauty of the selected examples. Publishers of books and editors of serial literature have just cause of complaint at the onerous labour imposed upon them by the perusal of the mass of poetical composition continually submitted to them. The general public has no conception of the enor- mous quantity of material of this kind which is sentenced to oblivion every year by the high priests and princes of the Fourth Estate of the Realm, largely on account of the ignorance of the first principles of Orthometry displayed by the writers. If it were fully realised that the only sure passport to success is good work, this common dream of strug- gling into print by clinging to those whose very position compels them to sift the golden grain from the chaff, would cease to cause bitter disappoint- ment. Indeed, the various agencies which profess to introduce amateur writers to the notice of editors and publishers can exist only by reason of an PREFACE. IX almost incredible amount of ignorance, in this respect, on the part of the public. It can hardly be doubted that a correct knowledge of metrical laws, and the relative bearings and soundings of poetic breadth and depth, such as a careful perusal of a work of this kind affords, would tend to minimise this waste of effort, by diminish- ing the output, and improving the quality. It would, at least, accustom the beginner to the proper use of his feet before trusting himself to untried wings. As many an amateur actor has aspired to the role of Hamlet as his maiden effort, so the youthful poet oft dashes into the composition of an epic at the first motive impulse of the Muses. A preliminary course of Orthometry would doubt- less save him a world of disappointment, by induc- ing him to try his 'prentice hand upon a ballad, say. a rondeau, or a sonnet. While it is not given to more than a dozen men in a century to create a poem that will live ages after them, pleasing and graceful verses may be produced by anyone who has the requisite taste, knowledge, and patience. Again, I venture to look forward with expectancy to a more widespread appreciation of literary excellence in the near future. Culture is no longer the privilege of the wealthy. The study of our poets has now happily obtained a footing in the curriculum of nearly all our public schools and colleges ; while the millions who attend our elemen- X PREFACE. tary schools have suitable poetic passages indelibly impressed upon their memory in youth. All but pessimists anticipate the good results of this early training upon the tastes and recreative pleasures of young England of the twentieth century. The horizon is already aglow, here and there, with promising indications of a brighter day. I fully trust and believe that this universal acquaintance in early life, be it ever so superficial, with noble thoughts and generous sentiments, clothed in choice language, will contribute in no small degree to the moral and intellectual development of the young democracy. If by this treatise I have assisted, even to a slight degree, in the formation of a truer conception of good verse, fostered a liking for poetry generally, and enabled those who possess natural gifts for poetical composition to overcome the initial difficulties presented by the technicalities of their art, this * labour of love ' will not have been in vain. I have now only to express my indebtedness to Mr. Robert D. Blackman for his many valuable suggestions embodied in the work. R. F. B. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE POETRY AND PROSE i KINDS OF POETRY 6 (1) LYRIC POETRY . 7 (a) The Ode 7 ' (6) The .Ballad 8 (c ) The Hymn and Song ..... 8 (d) The Elegy 8 (2) EPIC OR HEROIC POETRY .... 9 (3) DRAMATIC POETRY 10 (4) DESCRIPTIVE POETRY 14 (5) DIDACTIC POETRY 14 (6) THE SONNET 15 (7) THE EPIGRAM 15 I'Lf.KMENTARY PARTS OF ENGLISH VERSE . 16 (i) SOUNDS 16 (a) Consonants 17 (b) Vowels . . . . . . 17 (c) Diphthongs 17 Xii TABLE OF CONTENTS. FAGK (2) SYLLABLES . . . -.' . ./' : . . . 20 (a) Accent . , . . ' . v . 21 (b) Quantity . . . ' . . . : ' .22 (3) FEET . . 27 (a) Dissyllabic. . . . :. ., . . 27 (6) Trisyllabic . .." . . ^ . ^'. ' .28 MEASURES OF VERSE . . .. ' ; V. . 30 (1) IAMBIC MEASURE .' ".-'.'-. . 30 (a) Iambic Monometer . . . .. ". . 31 (b) Iambic Dimeter. . . ... . 32 (c) Iambic Trimeter . .... . 33 (d) Iambic Tetrameter . . . . -34 (n whan | that they | were seeke.' I 114 OR THOME TR Y. To what has been said of the contraction and lengthening of words may be added, that there are some English words which are not allowed to pass in verse for two syllables, though in sound they are such, and cannot be pronounced in one. Of these the following is an account. " Our short ti, sounded as in but, is pronounced easiest of all the vowels, and therefore is a great favourite with my countrymen ; it is commonly inserted between e, z', o, u (when long), and r ; as in there, fire, more, pure, which we pronounce ther,y^r, mo?/r, &c. I think hire and dire have as fair a claim to be counted dissyllables as higher and dyer, though we will not allow them the same rank in verse.* If you repeat For high renown the heaven-born poets strive, Actors for higher (hire) in toils incessant live, a person may think you mean to reflect upon the players when you intend them a compliment. Or in describing a drunken quarrel, if you end with these lines : The blood that streamed from the gash profound, With scarlet dire distain'd their garments round, Sad scarlet dyer he who gave the wound. Should you, in reading them, transpose the dire, dyer, into each other's places, you would not per- * Crying that's good that's gone : our rash faults. Shakspere, " All's Well that Ends Well." In this line our stands for two syllables, which indeed it may fairly claim ; for the organs of speech, after sounding any long vowel or diphthong, cannot proceed to sound the letter r without being, in a position to sound the short M (sometimes, however, represented in writing by e), as higher. POETIC LICENCES. 115 ceive the change ; such is the force of custom and imagination to debauch the ear, that it does not know when one and one syllable make two."* Here we must introduce the consideration of the hiatus in verse, which has occupied the attention of writers on versification beyond its due importance. By it is meant the occurrence of a final vowel fol- lowed immediately by the initial vowel of another word without the suppression or elision of either by an apostrophe. It is admitted on all hands to be a fault, and though by some writers it is declared to be absolutely inadmissible into our verse, as it is in Italian, yet it is to be found in the works of all our poets. Perhaps the truth lies in regarding it as unavoidable, and the remedy in minimising its occurrence as much as possible. Pope exemplifies it in the line : Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire. " Essay on Criticism?* The vowels which he calls open are those that stand one at the end of a word, and the other at the beginning of the next, without any consonant between them. When vowels so meet they cause in the pronunciation a gaping, called after the Latin, an hiatus, which offends the ear in prose as well as in verse. Two of our own poets, most celebrated for their skill in versification, viz. Pope and Dryden, have repeatedly spoken of the hiatus as a fault ; but, as * Tucker's " Treatise on Vocal Sounds." I 1 6 OR THOME TR Y. they represent it to be of greater magnitude than I think it is in reality, I will here state their opinions respecting it, and their practice. Pope says, " the hiatus should be avoided with more care in poetry than in oratory ; and I would try to prevent it, unless where the cutting it off is more prejudicial to the sound than the hiatus itself." Dryden is still more averse to the hiatus. " There is not (says he in his dedication to the ^neid\ to the best of my remem- brance, one vowel gaping on another for want of a c&sura (i.e. a cutting off) in this whole poem ; but where a vowel ends a word, the next begins with a cotisonant, or what is its equivalent ; for our w and h aspirate, and our diphthongs are plainly such ; the greatest latitude I take is in the letter y y when it con- cludes a word, and the first syllable of the next begins with a vowel. Neither need I have called this a lati- tude which is only an explanation of the general rule; that no vowel can be cutoff before another, when we cannot sink the pronunciation of it, as he, she, me, I, &c." In another place he mentions the hiatus with extreme severity. " Since I have named the synalepha, which is cutting off one vowel immediately before another, I will give an example of it from Chapman's Homer. It is in the first line of the argu- ment to the first Iliad. Apollo's priest to th' Argive fleet doth bring. Here we see he makes it not the Argive, but th' Argive; to shun the shock of the two vowels im- mediately following each other; but in the same POETIC LICENCES. 1 1 7 page he gives a bad example of the quite contrary kind: Alpha the prayer of Chryses sings ; The army's plague, the strife of kings. In these words, the army's, the ending with a vowel, and army's beginning with another vowel, without cutting off the first (by which it had been, th' army's), there remains a most horrible ill-sound- ing gap betwixt those words. I cannot say that I have every way observed the rule of the synalepha in my translation : but wheresoever I have not, it is a fault in the sound."* As Dryden acknowledges that, in the verses to which this dedication is prefixed, he has sometimes admitted an hiatus, let us pass to his ^.neid y where he professes to have avoided it throughout ; only allowing himself a certain latitude. But, indeed, what he allows himself is nothing less than an ad- mission of the hiatus, as will appear by various instances. On every altar sacrifice renew. Book iv- line 76. He claims a latitude in the letter y ; but that letter is, here and everywhere else, at the end of a word as much a vowel as any in the alphabet. He says, " W aspirates." It does so at the beginning of a word, but at the end ifc is either silent or makes a diphthong : * Dedication to " Translations from Ovid's Metamorphoses." Il8 ORTHOMETRY. Or hid within the hollow earth to lie. Book xii. line 1293. Now low on earth the lofty chief is laid. Ibid, line 1346. She drew a length of sighs, nor more she said. Ibid, line 1280. He says further, " That no vowel can be cut off before another, when we cannot sink the pronunci- ation of it, as he, she, me, I, &c." This is very true ; but it does not follow that there is no hiatus where such a vowel is left. In each of these lines is an hiatus : Whoe'er you are, not unbeloved by Heaven. Book i. line 537. These walls he enter'd, and those words express'd. Book iv. line 515. False as thou art, and more than false, forsworn. Ibid, li&e 523. Weak as I am, can I, alas! contend ? Book xii. line 1262. So is there when the last consonants of a word are not sounded, as : One bough it bears ; but wond'rous to behold. Book vi. line 210. In all these, and many similar cases, which occur in every book of his sEneid, Dryden has left an hiatus, although he endeavours to explain it away. POETIC LICENCES. 119 Pope, in the poem where he stigmatizes the hiatus as a fault, has repeatedly committed the same fault, and done so in every one of those instances which he exhibits as faulty ; they are these : Though (i) oft the (ii) ear the (iii) open vowels tire. And these are his own faults : (i) Though each may feel increases and decays. " Ess. on Crit." 404. (ii) And praise the easy vigour of a line. Ib. 361. (iii) As on the land while here the ocean gains. /*. 54- As for their frequency, they recur sometimes as often as twice in one line : Unlucky as Fungosa in the piny. Ib. 328. Who, if once wrong, will needs be always so. Ib. 569. But taking the whole posm, there will be found, upon an average, an hiatus in every eleven lines ; and, except the ^Eneid above mentioned, the hiatus occurs nearly as often throughout all the poetry of Dryden and Pope. This observation is made, not to condemn their practice, but to show partly that the fault is not so great as they seem to represent 120 OR THOME TR Y. it, and partly that it is very difficult, if not imprac- ticable, to avoid it. In Milton's poetry, to compute from the fifty first and fifty last lines of Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes, there is an hiatus at every fifth. In his other poems, it may not be so frequent perhaps. It is hardly necessary to say more of the hiatus ; yet this may be added, that, whatever offence it may give will be less noted if it stands at a pause, as: Works without show, and without pomp presides. Pope. " Essay on Crit." 75. Nature, like liberty, is but restrained. Ib. 90. Immortal Vida ! on whose honour'd brow. Ib. 705. In these instances the hiatus is better managed than in the three quoted above from the same poem. On the other hand, the hiatus will be perceived most when the two vowels which mark it are such that the organs of speech, in pronouncing them, keep the same position. There is a different sort of hiatus, as it may be termed, which is made when a word or part of it stands for two syllables that might be contracted into one ; as, heaven, tower, violet, evening, &c. for then there is a gap, because the verse seems to want its full measure. The same want appears still plainer when such words as glorious, earlier, POETIC LICENCES. 12 have the two last syllables divided. But this ob- servation is not extended to verse of the anapestic kind ; for our language, being somewhat overstocked with consonants, does not readily- supply short syllables in the proportion which that verse requires. And therefore to divide syllables like those just mentioned is, in that species of verse, no licence at all. Many other instances of diverse opinions might be quoted upon the niceties of elision and synseresis, but instead of doing so further, we prefer to im- press upon the student the importance of cultivat- ing a refined taste and critical ear as the ultimate test of rhythmic appreciation. For instance, in the following verse of thirteen syllables, the ear instinc- tively sanctions their reduction to the normal ten, thus: And man | y a fro | zen, man | y a fi | ery Alp. Milton. While in the two examples that follow it at once declines to allow any elision in the feet that are marked off. Canst thou imagine where those spirits live, Which make such del | icate mu \ sic in the woods. Shelley. And multitu | dinous as \ the desert sands, Borne on the storm its millions shall advance. Ibid. 122 OR THOME TR Y. 3. METRICAL LICENCES. These embrace all deviations of whatever kind from the normal metre of the verse of which the poem is constructed. Thus the normal line of heroic verse, the iambic pentameter, is this : Any variation, therefore, from this standard is to be regarded as a metrical licence : and the same is the case with all other measures. We have already been obliged to anticipate to some extent the subject of metrical licences when dealing with the various kinds of metre in detail, and to trespass still further in the same direction in the chapter on mixed metres ; but we have only formally stated and inadequately illustrated the three fundamental principles which form the basis of all such licences, viz : (i) That an additional unaccented syllable, or even two, may be added to the end of a verse. (ii) That a syllable may be omitted or added at the beginning. (iii) That feet, other than those of the normal line, may be substituted in nearly any part of the verse. The application of these general principles, and the restrictions which the best poets have observed in their use, now claim a more detailed examina- tion. POETIC LICENCES. 123 And first, as regards the Iambic measure, which embraces the bulk of our poetry. The regular heroic line is common enough, if to have accented syllables in the even places be all that is required to form it : Achilles' wrath, to Greece the direful spring Of w6es unnumber'd, heavenly Goddess, sing; but if quantity be regarded together with accent ; if the syllables in a regular verse ought to be not only accented and unaccented, but also long and short, very few such will be found in our poetry. This line is of the sort : On hungry waves that howl around the fold. So are the following from a celebrated poem whose numbers are most highly polished : When o'er the blasted heath the day declined. But why prolong the tale ; his only child Rogers. The next approaches very near the same regu- larity : 'Twas all he gave, 'twas all he had to give. Ibid. It bears a strong resemblance to a line in Gray's Elegy which is perfect : He gained from heaven, 'twas all he wished, a friend. 124 ORTHOMETRY. It may surprise those who have been taught to depreciate the versification of our earlier poets, to be informed that such perfect verses as are here quoted are not so rare among them as among the moderns. Campion, in his " Art of English Poetry,'' has these three lines together : . The more secure, the more the stroke we feel Of unprevented harms ; so gloomy storms Appear the sterner if the day be clear. These he calls pure iambics; which, considering them according to quantity, they are: the accents too are placed on the even syllables throughout, except on tf y the sixth in the last verse. Such lines as want this perfection, he distinguishes by the name of licentiate iambics ; i.e. lines in which some other foot is substituted for an iambic ; to what extent this is allowable we now proceed to state. But first, be it remembered that in these feet the syllables are considered as accented or unac- cented, not as long or short : and that where quan- tity is to be noticed, it will be expressly pointed out. The pyrrhic foot (two unaccented syllables - *--) may supply the place of an iambic, and is substi- tuted for it oftener than any other foot. It may stand in any part of the verse, e.g. : In the \stfoot. Is he a churchman ? then he's fond of po wer. In the 2nd foot. A rebel to the very king he loves. POETIC LICENCES. 125 In the $rdfoot. Has made the father of a nameless race. In the \thfoot. But quite mistakes the scaffold for the pile. /// the $thfoot. The dull flat falsehood serves for policy. Pope. This foot may have place twice, or even three times in the same line : You lose it in the moment you detect. It is a crocket of a pinnacle. Ibid. But as unaccented feet weaken a line, this last has the utmost degree of weakness that is consistent with a verse, there being in it only two syllables accented, and for quantity, not one long. The spondee (two accented syllables - -) may be substituted for the iambic, and in as many places as the pyrrhic, e.g. : In the ist foot. Tom struts a soldier, open, bold and brave. In the 2nd foot. The plain rough hero turn a crafty knave. In the yd foot. When flattery glares all hate it in a quen. In the \thfoot. That gay freethinker, a fine talker 6ace. 126 ORTHOMETRY. In the ^th foot. Yet tames not this, it sticks to our last sand. Pope. This foot may be repeated, and the following line will show to what extent : More wise, m6re learn'd, more just, more everything. In Milton we have such a line as this : Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death. in which the first six syllables are all long, though the even ones alone bear the metrical accent. Such instances merely demonstrate that the mea- sure of a poem cannot be gathered from isolated verses, but is fixed by the prevalent foot throughout, and that in poems extending to thousands of lines, such exceedingly licentiaie verses form a pleasing break to the monotony rather than a blemish. The iambic verse admits likewise the trochee, but not in such abundance. Pope, who furnishes all the examples here given from a poem of 260 lines, has not, in that compass, any trochaic foot except in the beginning of a verse. For such ex- amples we must turn to a poem of a different struc- ture, and to a greater master of poetical numbers. Any foot of the heroic verse may be a trochee, except the last, e.g. : In the \stfoot. Here in the heart of hell to work in fire. POETIC LICENCES. 127 In the 2nd foot. Anon, out of the earth a fabric huge. In the ^rd foot. For one restraint, L6rds of the world besides. In the 4//* foot. Abject and lost lay these, covering the flood. Milton. The same verse will admit two trochaic feet, as : Hov'ring on wing under the cope of hell. Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire ; * Ibid. but not a greater number ; for the last foot cannot be a trochee ; neither can two trochees stand close together in one line ; but different feet, as the spon- dee and pyrrhic, may so stand ; and all the three may be introduced into the same line, instead of iambics. The beginning of the third book of the Paradise Lost will afford examples : Hail, h61y Oght ! 6ffspring of Heaven first-born ! May I express thee unblamed ? since G6d is light, * It is to be noted that in every one of these instances there is a pause immediately preceding the trochaic foot ; the introduction of it without such a pause is always harsh ; as Of Eve, whose eye | darted | contagious fire. Paradise Lost, In some places so much so as to destroy the metre ; and is therefore not to be approved, as Burnt after them to the | bottom | less pit. Ibid. Shoots in | visi | ble virtue ev'n to the deep. Ibid. 128 OR THOME TR Y. And never but in unapproached light Dwelt from eternity dwelt then in thee, Bright effluence of bright essence increate. Ibid. The licences here taken are so many that they exceed the number of iambic feet in these lines. Another kind of licence permitted to the heroic verse, is to have an additional syllable at the end, as : His wish and best endeavour, us asund | Cr. Paradise Lost. or even two, as : For solitude sometimes is best soci | 6ty. Ibid* But all such syllables must be unaccented ; for an accent upon the last syllable, when two are added, would make an A lexandrine y which is another species * This line is quoted because it has been called an A lexandrint : Mitford's " Essay on the Harmony of Language," p. 133, ist edition, where an Alexandrine is denned to be " a verse of the heroic cadence, and con- sisting of six feet." By heroic cadence is meant such measures (or feet) as an heroic verse is made of. It is true that an Alexandrine must contain six iambic feet ; but it is not true that every verse of six such feet, the last being unaccented, must be an Alexandrine. If it must, then it follows that a line of five such feet must be an heroic verse ; and these in Hudibras : She laid about in fight more busily, Than th' Amazonian dame Penthesile, P. i. c. 2 are not doggerel, as is commonly Supposed, but of a higher order, and may claim to be ranked with the heroics of Pope and Dryden. The line in Milton is exactly like the following in Othello : For sure he fills it up with great abil [ ity, With any strong or vehement importun | ity ; Act iii. sc. 3. and like numberless others that occur in our tragedies, which were never yet reckoned as Alexandrine, but as heroic verses with two redundant syllables. POETIC LICENCES. I 29 of verse ; and the addition of an accented syllable to the normal line would destroy any known mea- sure. Hypermetrical syllables should not occur often in serious poems, because the unaccented terminations have the lightness of the trochee and dactyl, which are unsuitable to pieces of a grave character. The drama, which claims greater liberty than any other form of composition, uses them more freely. The introduction of trisyllabic feet in iambic mea- sure is one of the favourite bones of contention with writers on versification, and much ingenuity and learning have been wasted on the matter. It is an undoubted fact that extra unaccented syllables are freely introduced by our standard poets into the body of iambic verse, and whether we attempt to deal with them as troublesome interlopers, or accept them in a friendly spirit as forming metrical feet of another kind, seems to us a mere verbal question of very little importance. Dr. Abbott takes the former view, which he elaborates in his "Shaksperean Grammar," 452 5 1 5, and in the " English Lessons for English People," 97 150 ; Mr. J. B. Mason, in his "Chapters on English Verse," takes the latter, and to us the more reasonable one. His summing up of the question leaves little more to be said. "Dactyls and Anapests being recognised feet, it is better to use them where they will serve to explain the metre of a verse, than to have recourse to extra metrical syllables, a licence which, except at the end of a line, is now unknown and not recognised by all, even in Shakspere." 130 . ORTHOMETRY. The same licences which are given to the heroic line are allowed to the other species of iambic measure; and, by observing upon what ground they stand, it will be seen how many of them may be taken in each species. From the account of the numerous licences which are permitted by substituting some other foot for that which is fundamental to this measure, the iambic, it will appear what a variety the English heroic verse is capable of exhibiting : much greater than the Latin or Greek hexameter can produce, whatever has been advanced to the con- trary. This is a point that does not rest upon opinion, it is a matter of computation ; neither is the variety such as is allowable only, and not in usage ; it is to be seen in all our poems of that measure; and it will not be foreign to our subject to establish these facts by evidence and proof. ' .The measures which enter into the composition of an hexameter are the dactyl and spondee, and no other; and the last foot of the verse being in- variably a spondee, there remains a line of five feet to receive all the varieties that can be made by two different measures. Now the first foot admits of two, and the second of the same number ; which, combined with the first, is four ; the third of twice four, viz. eight ; the fourth of twice eight, viz. six- teen ; the fifth of twice sixteen, viz. thirty-two. And this was precisely the number of varieties which the ancient grammarians recognised in the hexa- meter. But the English heroic verse admits of four different feet ; and according to the same rate of POETIC LICENCES. 131 combination, its varieties in the second foot would be four times four, viz. sixteen, and so on ; but because, as has been said, two trochees cannot stand together, nor two pyrrhics, the varieties will not be so many ; yet they will amount to a much greater number than those of an hexameter. And that this variety is not imaginary, but con- tinually employed by our poets, may be shown from any of their works. The same epistle of Pope, to which we have already had recourse, will afford the proof. The first two feet of each verse will be sufficient for the purpose, e.g. : Two Iambics. And yet | the fate | of all extremes is such. Line 9. Trochee and Iambic. Grant but | as ma [ ny sorts of mind as moss. Line i8V Spondee and Iambic. Quick whirls [ and shifting eddies of our minds. Line 24.. Pyrrhic and Iambic. And in | the cvin | ning truth itself's a lie. Line 68. Pyrrhic and Spondee. Nor will | life's stream | for observation stay. Line 7. Iambic and Spondee. We grow | more par | tial for the'observer's sake. Line 12. Trochee and Spondee. See the | same man | in vigour and the gout. Line 71. Iambic and Pyrrhic. His prin | ciple | of action once explore. Line 27. 132 OR THOME TR 3 '. In this example, taken from a poet who is more distinguished for the smoothness than the variety of his measures, the varieties in two feet amount to eight, which is double the number that the hexame- ter is capable of making within the same compass ; the varieties of our entire heroic line must therefore exceed those of the hexameter in a still greater pro- portion. Next with regard to Trochaic measure. There being some affinity between the trochaic and iam- bic measures, the licences permitted in each will be similar, as far as consists in the substitution of some other foot for that which is characteristic of the kind. But beside these, there is another licence ~v r ery generally extended to the trochaic ; viz. that of cutting off part of the concluding syllable. This is allowed in every species of the trochaic verse, whether of two, three, or four feet ; so that we have lines of three, five, and seven syllables, and many specimens of them have been given already. The pure trochaic line is composed of trochees without the intermixture of any other foot: thus the normal trochaic tetrameter line is this and if quantity concurs with accent to form the measure, it is then perfect ; as in the following example, where the accented syllables are all long and the unaccented all short : POETIC LICENCES. 133 Richly paint the vernal arbour. Gray. A perfect line is not oftener found in this kind than in the heroic verse. Now as to the licences which we will exemplify from lines of eight and seven syllables indiscri- minately. The first foot admits a pyrrhic, On a j rock, whose haughty brow ; Gray. or a spondee : No, blest | chiefs ! a hero's crown ; Sir W. Jones. or an iambus : To brisk | notes in cadence beating. Gray. The second foot admits a pyrrhic : Mute, but | to the | voice of anguish ; Gray. or spondee : Wakes thee | now, though | he inherit. Gray. The third foot admits the same. Pyrrhic : With Harmodius | shall re j pose ; spondee : Rome shall perish i write that j word. Cmcper. . . 134 ORTffOMETRY. In the line of eight syllables, the last foot is necessarily a trochee, and therefore the seventh syllable accented ; but in the line of seven, the last syllable may be short ; as: And with godlike Diomed. We do not find an iambic in the second or third foot of any authentic composition. In the first, it has obtained a place by the authority of Gray and others ; it- is nevertheless so harsh a violation of the regular foot as hardly to be approved of. Anap'estic verse allows but few licences. One is a redundant syllable at the end of a line ; another, an iambic, or spondee, in the first foot. And where the former of these is introduced, the other ought to be taken in the line next following, as in this example : To invite the gods hither they would have had rea ] son, And Jove | had descended each night in the season. Byrom. This rule, though but little attended to, is good and proper ; because the observance of it will keep the measure entire, which otherwise is sometimes over- loaded, and produces a bad effect on the ear. Prithee, pluck up a good resolution, To be cheerful and thankful in all. , _ Byrom. POETIC LICENCES. 135 The second line begins with an anapest ; and by the word to, the measure is broken ; omit it, and the whole will run smoothly and agreeably. Another licence claimed by some writers is that of dropping a syllable in the middle of the verse ; Swift takes it very often, as here : And now my dream's out ; for I was a dream'd That I saw a huge rat O dear how I scream' d ! But this licence is questionable at least ; it may be called unwarrantable, because it occasions such halting metre. , Diaeresis is a licence more suitable to this kind of verse than to the dissyllabic metres, i.e. to make a dissyllable into a trisyllable, a monosyllable into a dissyllable wherever possible, e.g. : Whose humour, as gay as the_/2 re- fly's light. Moore. Would feel herself happier here, By the nightingale warbling nigh. Cowper. Dray ton makes April three syllables. Such a division of syllables helps the line to move lightly, and is a reasonable indulgence to a measure which, more than others, is apt to suffer by the clogging of accented words and consonants! Any long or accented syllable, standing first or second in the foot, is a deviation from this measure ; but it is less offensive to the ear in the second place than in the first : 136 ORTHOMETRY. While a par | eel of verses the hawkers were hollowing. Wine the sov | ereign cordial of God and of man Far above | all the flowers of the field, When its leaves | are all dead | and its col | ours all lost. And while j a false nymph | was his theme, A willow supported his head. The licences taken in Dactylic verse are sometimes such that they disguise the measure and render it equivocal, as in this uncommon specimen : Oh ! what a pain is love ! How shall I bear it ? She will unconstant prove, I greatly fear it. Please her the best I may, She looks another way ; Alack and well-a-day, Phillida flouts me ! Ellis' s " Specimens." v. iii. p. 338. Every line of this stanza but the last is divisible into iambic feet, and they all make verses in that measure ; they are nevertheless designed for the dactylic, as appears by these next, which cannot be so divided without violence: Thou shalt eat curds and cream All the year I lasting ; And drink the crystal stream, Pleasant in tasting. POETIC LICENCES. 137 But this great confusion of measure is not often made. The allowed licences are to curtail the last foot, sometimes by one syllable, as in the lines quoted above, but more usually by two, which, as compositions of this kind are chiefly for music, makes a better close ; such is : Under the blossom that hangs on the | bough. It is allowed in the beginning of a line to sub- stitute for the proper foot a trochee, as : Songs of I shepherds and rustical roundelays. Old Ballad. Or a single accented syllable may stand for it, even for two feet together, as : Come, | see | rural felicity. The question of metrical licences as it affects the Heroic measure will be further considered when we come to deal with Blank verse (see p. 185). POETIC PAUSES. IT is perhaps necessary to insist again here that verse is rhythmic articulate speech, just as music in its broadest definition is rhythmic sound. A printed sheet of notes on a stave is no more music than is a page of poetry verse. We have to deal throughout with poems as read or recited ; with the body, not with the soul of poetic crea- tion. The rhythm or musical flow of verse depends not only upon the metrical arrangement of accented and unaccented syllables, but in no little degree upon breaks or pauses, which divide it into phrases of different lengths. These pauses are identical in many instances with the grammatical stops, but they are also independent of them, and occur where there are no stops at all. Metrical pauses must, therefore, be clearly distinguished from sen- tential stops at the outset of this enquiry. The one is as essential to the melody as the other is to the sense. With the latter we have no further concern. Metrical pauses are of two kinds, the one final at the end of a verse, the other cffsural, which cuts it into equal or unequal parts. POETIC PAUSES. 139 i. THE FINAL PAUSE. When the verse is rhymed the final pause is unmistakable, and is absolutely necessary to bring out the jingle of the rhymes ; but in blank verse, and especially in the dramatic form, it is not so clearly marked, and is often omitted entirely. A good reader, however, will hardly ever fail to mark the end of the lines, however slightly, in reciting two consecutive verses, and if one line ' is run into another here and there, the occurrence is never continuous. Sheridan, in his "Art of Reading," says that if the first thirteen lines of the Paradise Lost were printed as prose and read by some one who had never seen the pcem, they would be read as prose. We are certain that the judgment of most educated men would condemn this assertion. As well might we take the opinion of a Chinaman upon one of Beethoven's sonatas as of an illiterate person upon a question of verse and prose. We may safely conclude that verse which will not stand such a test as this is well deserving of being considered prose. 2. THE OESURAL PAUSE. Caesural pause is the rest or halt of the voice in reading verses aloud at other points than the end of the line. It is independent of the same, and may occur at almost any part of the line, and even in the middle of a foot. No precise rules can be laid down as to its position, although it is 1 40 OR THOMETR Y. generally found in one kind of verse, the heroic, for example, at one part of the line rather than at another. Sometimes there are two or even three metrical pauses in a line, one more marked than the other, and, occasionally, there are verses with no break in the middle at all. Here are a few examples of the diversity of their occurrence : Over them triumphant Death | his dart Shook, | but delayed to strike. The quality of mercy | is not strained. This | in a moment j brings me to an end. I'd rather be a kitten j and cry mew. Sweet | are the uses of adversity. Damn with faint praise, j assent with civil leer. Pleased with the danger | when the waves went high. A man to all succeeding ages curst. (None.) The pause is often preceded by the strongest accent of the line, and when both these are com- bined, and on the most important word, the emphasis thus produced gives as it were the key- note to the rhythm. When the occurrence of these is skilfully arranged to take place in different positions in succeeding verses, the monotonous melody of the measure is broken into something approaching harmony. Pope, whose verse is remarkable for smoothness POETIC PAUSES. 141 and polish, has been greatly censured for arrang- ing his pauses in the same, or very nearly the same, position for many lines in succession. Thus, in the following example from his Rape of the Lock, it occurs at the end of the second foot in each line : The busy sylphs | surround their darling care, Those set the head | and these divide the* hair ; Some fold the sleeve, | while others plait the gown, And Beauty's praised for labours not her own. The swing of hundreds of lines such as these becomes sleepily wearisome. He seldom varies it beyond the fourth, fifth, or sixth syllable. Here is an instance, very rare with him, where it occurs at the end of (he third : Offend her | and she knows not to forgive, Oblige her | and she'll hate you while you live. Dryden, whose heroic measures are somewhat less polished but more vigorous than Pope's, varies the position of his pauses more, and correspond- ingly diversifies his rhythm, e.g. : A man so various that he seemed to be (None.) \ Not one | but all mankind's epitome : Still in opinions | always in the wrong. Was everything by starts j and nothing long : But in the course of one revolving moon, (None.) Was chemist, | fiddler, | statesman, [ and buffoon. It is blank verse, however, as has been already said, whose rhythm is most diversified by the varying position of the pauses. Milton uses them 142 OR THOME TR Y. with great skill, seldom placing them in the same position in any three or four consecutive lines. They occur with him very frequently after the second and third syllable. Here are two examples from Paradise Lost^ and one from the Sonnets : From branch to branch the smaller birds | with song Solaced the woods | and spread their painted wings Till even : | nor then the solemn nightingale Ceased warb \ ling, but all night tuned her soft lays : | Others | on silver lakes and rivers | bathed Their snowy breasts. ; Now morn | her rosy steps in Eastern clime Advancing sowed the Earth with orient pearl, | When Adam waked | so customed J for his sleep Was airy light | from pure digestion bred j And temperate vapours bland. In thy book record their groans | Who were thy sheep, | and in their ancient fold j Slain by the bloody Piedmontese | that rolled : Mother with infant down the rocks, j Their moans The poles redoubled to the hills | and they To heaven. With Shakspere the pauses are still more irre- gularly distributed throughout the lines, the result being a still greater mobility to the rhythm. They are to be met with in his work after every syllable of the verse, even immediately before the fifth accent, which is very rare, e.g. : And so his peers upon this evidence Have found him guilty of high treason. | Much He spoke and learnedly for life. "Henry VIII." POETIC PAUSES. 143 Alas ! alas ! Why, | all the souls that were | were forfeit once ; | And He | that might the vantage best have took | Found out the remedy, j How would you be If He | who is the top of judgment | should But judge you as you are ? | O think of that, | And mercy, then, | will breathe within your lips, j Like man new made. ' ' Measure for Measure. ' ' From his cradle He was a scholar, | and a ripe and good one ; | Exceeding wise, | fair spoken, | and persuading ; | Lofty and sour | to them that loved him not, | But to those men that sought him, | sweet as summer. ! And though he was unsatisfied in getting, | Which was a sin, j yet in bestowing, | madam, | He was most princely. "Henry VIII." In an Alexandrine verse the pause should always occur at the end of the sixth syllable, or after the seventh if that syllable is strongly accented. In any other position the long majestic march of the measure is broken. Rarely the pause may take the place of a syllable, e.g. : Spreads his | light wings I and | in a mo | ment flies. A few examples from our modern poets are added : He heard it | but he heeded not ; | his eyes Were with his heart, | and that was far away ; j He recked not of the life he lost, | nor prize, | But where his rude hut by the Danube lay ; I 144 ORTHOMETRY. There | were his young barbarians all at play, | There | was their Dacian mother he, their sire, Butchered | to make a Roman holiday. | All this rushed with his blood. Shall he expire, And unavenged ? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire ! Byron. "Childe Harold." They never fail who die In a great cause : | the block may soak their gore ; | Their heads | may sodden in the sun ; | their limbs Be strung to city gates and castle walls | But still their spirit walks abroad. | Though years Elapse, ! and others share as dark a doom, | They but augment | the deep and sweeping thoughts Which overpower all others, | and conduct The world | at last to freedom. Byron. Small service is true service, | while it lasts : Of friends, however humble, | scorn not one The daisy \ by the shadow ftiat it casts, j Protects | the lingering dew-drop | from the sun. Wordsworth. Yet think not | that I come to urge thy crimes : j I do not come to curse thee, I Guinevere, | I, I whose vast pity al | most makes me die To see thee laying there | thy golden head, | My pride in happier summers, | at my feet* | The wrath j which forced my thoughts on that fierce law, The doom of treason | and of flaming death, | (When first I learnt thee hidden here) is past, | The pang, I which while I weighed thy heart with one | Too wholly true | to dream untruth in thee, j POETIC PAUSES. 145 Made my tears burn | is also past, | in part : | And all is past, the sin is sinned, j and I, j Lo ! | I forgive thee, | as Eternal God Forgives : | do thou for thine own soul | the rest. Tennysjn. " Guinevere." The third line is best scanned, perhaps, in this way I j whose vast j pity al | most makes | me die. | RHYME. HAVING considered the essentials of verse, and the chief variations and combinations thereof, we have now to enquire into the accidents which largely enter into its composition as ornaments to its melody. The chief of these is rhyme, or rime, as the word was formerly, and more cor- rectly, spelled. Rhyme may be defined as a similarity of sound in the final syllable or syllables of two or more verses, or, as Milton speaks of it, as the "jingling sound of like endings." In words that rh3 r me there must be difference as well as simi- larity of sounds. Words that are identical in sound, however different their appearance may be, do not form rhyme in English poetry, though we occasionally find them there on account of the fewness of rhyming words in our tongue. For instance, such words as I, eye ; hie, high ; oar, ore, o'er, are assonances^ not rhymes. On the other hand, however unlike each other words may look, if their sounds be similar without being identical, they form perfectly good rhymes, of which the following are examples girl, pearl, curl; box, locks ; cow, bough, frau. In order to arrive at a clear conception of the elements which make up RHYME. 147 a good rhyme we will take the three words nose, toes, rose. In each of these we have the same vowel sound, the open o, followed by the same sibillant consonant, but preceded by the different consonant sounds of ;/, /, r. Now, as these words rhyme correctly we can gather from this brief examination of their constituent parts what is essential to a perfect rhyme. This is (i) Identity in the vowel sound. (ii) Identity in the consonant sound that fol- lows it, if any. (iii) Difference in the consonant sounds that precede ; and to these must be added similarity in accent ; e.g. si/ig rhymes with ring, but not well with thinking. When confined to one syllable, rhymes are called single, as: swing, bring; when embracing two, double, as : duty, beauty ; when extended to- three, triple, as : slenderly, tenderly. In double rhymes the last syllable is unaccented, and in triple the last two. Rhymes may be classed as perfect, imperfect, and false or bad, each of which kinds requires de- tailed consideration. i. PERFECT RHYMES. Faultless rhymes are (i) Such as have an exact agreement in sound in the vowel and the consonants, if any, that follow, e.g. : 148 OR THOME TR Y. Did God set His fountain of light in the sky, That man should look up with the tear in his eye ? Did God make this earth so beauteous and fair, That man should look down with a groan of despair ? J. C. Prince. (ii) Such as have a marked and sensible differ- ence between the consonants preceding the vowel ; that is, consonants not of the same class, like these, b, p; d, t\ c, g; f, v ; s, z ; which would rhyme in bit, pit ; den, ten ; come, gum ; fan, van ; seal, zeal. Such rhymes differ, indeed, in the sound pre- ceding the vowel, and therefore, strictly taken, are regular; but the difference is so slight that they are not to be commended. The want of sufficient difference is likewise per- ceptible in such rhymes as bled, bed ; pray, pay, where the second consonant is dropped, and both words begin with the same letter; but the rhymes bled, led ; pray, ray, are perfectly good, because the consonants with which they begin are different.* (iii) Such as are made by syllables that are long and full-sounding, in preference to their opposites ; among which last are the terminations of polysyllabic words. Compounds do not rhyme well with their simples, as, resound with sound. The greater variety also * Dr. Johnson, in one of his poems, has used a very uncommon rhyme : Such bribes the rapid Greek o'er Asia whirl'd, For such the steady Roman shook the world. " Vanity of Human Wishes." One of these words is aspirated and the other not ; so that here is a dif- ference ; but they make the nearest approach to identity that can be allowed, or, indeed, that can be uttered. RHYME. 149 in the length of the rhyming ' words the better, as hound with rebound. The observations of Mitford on this topic of good rhymes are worthy of attention. He says: "Ac- cording to our preceding definitions, euphony and cacophony, in language, mean sound, pleasing and unpleasing. English speech has rarely any mate- rial cacophony in the middle of words, but in terminations it too certainly abounds. A well- eared poet will avoid cacophony in rhymes, and in the conspicuous parts, especially the last syllable, of any verse. Pope has had generally credit for what are called rich poems ; though his higher respect, justly directed to that powerful closeness of phrase, in which he singularly excels, has led him to admit some rhymes rather cacophonous. The word king is certainly not euphonous, nor of dignified sound ; the vowel is short and close, and the following consonant, one consonant expressed by two characters, the most cacophonous in our pronunciation. Whether it was for the dignity of the idea conveyed, or for the opposite quality of the sound, that Pope chose it for the first rhyme of his Essay on Man, with cacophony doubled by an added s, appears doubtful. He has, indeed, not scrupled to use the same ing for the first rhyme of his translation of the Iliad ; but the ex- ample is not to be recommended. Terminations in a long vowel, or a liquid consonant, preceded by a long vowel, will be most euphonous. The termination in a liquid consonant preceded by a short vowel, though less rich, will make a plea- 1 50 OR THOME TR Y. sant variety. That of a mute preceded by along vowel will be wholly unobjectionable, rich without any cacophony, if a vowel begin the following word, as in the first verse of Paradise Lost. These/ however, would, in our language, be limits too narrow for the poet; and the ear practised in our versification will take no offence at the conclusion of the second line of Paradise Lost, where a long vowel is followed by two consonants within the same syllable, and two consonants begin .the next verse. The judicious poet, however, will be spar- ing of such accumulation of consonants." We are not to expect that such good and approved rhymes as are here advocated should constitute the major part in any composition. The difficulty of rhyming well, and the propriety of sacrificing what is merely ornamental to what is more important, must always plead for as much indulgence as can be granted. 2. IMPERFECT RHYMES. We now proceed to pass in -review imperfect rhymes, viz., such as are admissible into verse, but are not of the best quality. These form a most extensive class; they are found in the works of all our poets, and into some of them they enter very largely. They are admissible, but they gener- ally labour under some defect ; either they want the proper correspondence of sound, of they are made of little insignificant words, or they are stale RHYME. 151 and hackneyed. Examples will be given of all these. According to what has been already said of rhyme, it is evident that a word may fail of making an exact one, in three parts : (i) In the letters which go before the vowel. (ii) In the vowel itself. (iii) In the letters (if any) that follow it. By failing in the first part, viz. by making no difference before the vowel, the rhyme will be in- admissible, because it will form an assonance. A failure in either of the other parts may yet give a rhyme which is passable, though defective. And as it is this particular defect, more than any other imperfection, that mars our poetry, as far as rhyme goes, it will not be unfit to enlarge thereon. By a broad computation of the possible rhyming com- bination of our vowels, diphthongs, and conso- nants, it has been ascertained that there are upwards of six hundred of them at the rhymester's disposal. Yet, notwithstanding this ample field for choice and variety, there will not be found one, among all our poets, who within the compass of thirty rhymes, does not usually make some repetition upon an average taken of the whole of his works in rhyme. In support of this assertion, which perhaps may surprise some readers, we will exhibit a specific account of such repetitions, and also of imperfect rhymes, taken from a considerable number of poets, from Dryden to Goldsmith. These have been pitched upon for two reasons ; one, to obviate what otherwise might be objected, that such 152 OR THOMETR Y. faults do not occur in our best versifiers ; the other, to prevent young 1 writers from being misled by examples of such high and deserved authority. The table subjoined shows the number of re- peated rhymes, and of those which are imperfect, in the works of the authors whose names are in the margin, taken from the first sixty rhymes of the pieces there specified. Authors. Translations. Rhymes Rhymes repeated, imperfect. Dryden . Translation of Homer's Iliad, B. i 18 . 9 Pope ,, ,, . 24 . 6 Dryden . ,, Virgil's ^Eneid, B. i 19 .10 Originals. Pope . Moral Essays, Epist. . . 19 . 9 Swift . Baucis and Philemon . . 10 . 2 Prior . Solomon . . . . .18.11 Goldsmith Traveller . . . . . 26 . 2 Cowper . Retirement . . . . 15 . 2 This selection has been made from pieces written in couplets, because, in such pieces, the rhymes being unconnected with other rhymes or lines, the versifier is less restricted in his choice than he would be if composing in any kind of stanza. The repetitions are, nevertheless, very frequent. In stating the imperfections, the smallest have been taken into account. They are, generally, a differ- ence in the vowel-sound ; which, in most cases, is less offensive to the ear than a difference in the consonants. The imperfect rhymes in the extract from Pope's original piece are these : gross, moss ; view, do ; desert, heart ; charron, buffoon ; RHYME. 153 revere, star ; impell'd, field ; breast, east ; retreat, great ; and one identical, known, none. Some of these imperfections are very slight, and none of them less tolerable than this in the consonants : For Britain's Empire, boundless as the main, Will guard at once domestic ease, And awe th' aspiring nations into peace. - When there is a double imperfection, and the vowel-sound and consonant are both different, as in this couplet, the rhyme is bad : Nor did your crutch give battle to your duns, And hold it out where you had built a sconce. Butler. From a review of the extract given above, it will appear that in the points under consideration, our later versifiers, to speak of them generally, have improved upon their predecessors, with an exception to Swift alone, who as a correct rhymer has never been excelled by any. The introduction of little insignificant words to make rhyme is a blemish which is not often chargeable on our modern poets. It was very common before the beginning of the last century; nor do such rhymes appear to have been con- sidered then as any imperfection. The instances are numerous : Who with his word commanded all to be, And all obeyed him, for that word was he ; Only he spoke, and everything that is From out the womb of fertile Nothing ris'. Cowley. 154 ORTHOMETRY. A frequent rhyme in Waller is the word so, which has been noted and censured by Johnson : Thy skilful hand contributes to our woe, And whets those arrows which confound us so : A thousand Cupids in those curls do sit, Those curious nets thy slender fingers knit. " Verses to Saccharissds Maid " Who, naming me, doth warm his courage so, Shows for my sake what his bold hand would do. " Verses for Drinking Healths" We find in Dryden rhymes of the same class. The Panther smiled at this, " and when," said she, " Were those first councils disallow'd by me ? 'Tis dangerous climbing; to your sons and you I leave the ladder, and its omen too. Why all these wars to win the book, if we Must not interpret for ourselves, but she ? " Hind and Panther." They occur more frequently in his prologues and epilogues ; but examples enough have been given ; for they are not introduced for the purpose of cen- sure, but only to show what, in the present day, ought to be avoided. Another defect in this part of versification is the employment of such rhymes as are become hack- neyed by overmuch use. What these rhymes are, is described and exemplified by Pope ; he calls them "the sure returns of still-expected rhymes ; " as in this couplet : RHYME. 155 Where'er you find the cooling western breeze, In the next line it whispers through the trees. " Essay on Criticism" His own verses, however, sometimes fall under this censure, as is shown in the following : Her fate is whisper' d by the gentle breeze, And told in sighs to all the trembling trees. In some still evening, when the whispering breeze Pants on the leaves, and dies upon the trees. "Fourth Pastoral." The dying gales that pant upon the trees, The lakes that quiver to the curling breeze. "Eioisa to Abelard.'' There are some rhymes, and also some ends of verses, so hackneyed that we might, at the first recital of them, do in the same manner as Deme- trius Phalerus informs us the Athenians did some- times towards those orators who composed their speeches in studied and artificial periods. " The hearers were disgusted," says he, " and being well aware how the sentence would end, they would often forestall the speaker, and utter it aloud." Many subjects for verse have these common rhymes accompanying, and, as it were, belonging to them. For example, in prologues and epilo- gues it is perhaps necessary to mention the stage ; this, being a very easy word to rhyme with, is readily taken ; and then its partner shall be age or rage, and stand with it after this manner : 156 OR THOME TR F. The plays that take on our corrupted stage, Methinks, resemble the distracted age. While you turn players on the world's great stage, And act yourselves the force of your own age. Dryden. In his prologues and epilogues, which are about forty, these two words rhyme above a dozen times. In the same pieces the term play occurs as natur- ally as stage, and is made as serviceable ; for its termination in ay affords as many rhymes as any in the language. Pope's Prologue to Cato is another instance in point. It consists of twenty-three couplets, in which we find these rhymes : stage, age ; stage, rage ; fate, state ; great, state ; draws, was ; cause, laws ; laws, cause. Here are a few specimens of commonly recurring imperfect rhymes : war wound arms ease river shore ground warms increase ever returned mourned prove love thought wrote come tomb pass face hear pair face rays flood brood increase breathe peace piece 3. BAD RHYMES. Of rhymes that are classed as bad very little need be said beyond quoting a few typical exam- ples, and pleading the difficulty of rhyming in Eng- RHYME. 157 lish, as compared with some other tongues, as ground for indulgence. Of such are those that are widely different in the vowel sound, as : Beauty and youth, and wealth and luxury, And sprightly hope, and short-enduring joy. Dry den. Or which are different, both in the vowel-sound and in the consonants which follow it, as : All trades of death that deal in steel for gains Were there ; the butcher, armourer, and sm///;, Who forges sharpen'd falchions or the scythe. Dry den. Or those in which the consonants preceding the vowel are of the same sound, as : But this bold lord, with manly strength endued, She with one finger and a thumb subdued. Pope. The last is an instance of pure assonance, which is not admissible into modern poetry, though it was common enough with our earlier writers, and is still allowable in French verse. Another gross violation of the requirements of rhyme is where the preceding consonants have the same sound, and the vowel and what follows it different ones, as in attempting to make a rhyme of scenes and sense. 158 OR THOME TR Y. 4. DOUBLE AND TREPLE RHYMES. Under the name of Double and Triple rhymes are comprehended all those which are made by more than one syllable, of how many syllables soever they may consist. And they may consist of as many syllables as follow the last accented syllable of a word, together with that syllable, as glory, story : beautiful, dutiful ; censurable, commensurable. As in single rhymes it is required that all which follows the vowel shall be identical in sound; so in double rhymes all which follow the last accented vowel, both consonants and syllables, should in sound be identical, as in the examples above. Double rhymes are but sparingly used in our serious poetry ; the reason may be that they are considered as having too sprightly a character to accord with it, the rhyme of two syllables forming a trochee, and that of three, a dactyl; but in ear- lier times this unfitness was either not perceived or not regarded. The double rhymes in Shaks- pere's Rape of Lticrece sometimes occupy an entire stanza, as this : / Besides, the life and feeling of her passion She hoards, to spend when he is by to hear her : When sighs, and groans, and tears may grace the fashion Of her disgrace, the better so to clear her From that suspicion which the world might bear her. To shun this blot, she would not blot the letter With words, till action might become them better. The rules or custom of a more correct age RHYME. 1 59 abridged, in serious poems, this large use of double rhymes ; and what was still allowed, was under certain limitations : as, first, that the rhyme should not consist of more than two syllables ; and second that it should not, like some in the stanza above, be made of two words. Under these restraints the double rhyme often appears, and not without grace, in our lyric poetry, as here : O lyre divine ! what daring spirit Wakes thee now ? though he inherit Nor the pride, nor ample pinion, That the Theban eagle bear, Sailing with supreme dominion Through the azure deep of air. Gray. A fine example of double rhyming is to be seen in Shelley's Cloud. But the most suitable place for the exhibition of double rhymes is where ludicrous subjects are treated of in a burlesque style, as in Butler's Hudibras, Hood's IVhims and Oddities, or Gilbert's Bab Ballads, in which numerous examples of double and triple rhymes may be found, as in the following stanzas taken at random from the latter : For Burglars, Thieves, and Co., Indeed I'm no apologist, But I, some years ago, Assisted a Wild croquet Hooper banned, And all the sports of Mammon He warred with cribbage, and He exorcised I 60 OR THOME TR Y. In verses of this class, the rhyming syllables may be as many as follow the last accented syllable of a verse, including that syllable. We mean here that verse which ends with polysyl- lablai Our language has not many polysyl- lables where the accent is thrown farther back than the antepenultimate ; and therefore we have but few rhymes of four s}'llables, and these are only met with in whimsical and far-fetched expressions. When more words than one are taken to make up the rhyme, it gives opportunity, by the combi- nation, to frame new rhymes, the novelty of which is pleasing, as in the following by Butler : The oyster-women lock'd their fish up, And trudg'd away, to cry No Bishop. Hudibras. And again You have said my eyes are blue ; There may be a fairer hue, Perhaps and yet It is surely not a sin If I keep my secrets in Violet. Mortimer Collins. To produce this novelty is a species of wit, though of an inferior order, yet such as cannot be exercised without great facility in composition and command of language. There are poems of a very modern date which will prove this assertion, whence we conclude that our contemporaries, some of them RHYME. l6l at least, are superior in these points to the gener- ality of former writers. The following verses of Swift, upon the ancient dramatic authors, exhibit this faculty in a remarkable degree. He had supe- rior abilities in rhyming, and he appears to have set himself down to this piece merely for the pur- pose of exerting them : I went in vain to look for Eupolis, Down in the Strand, just where the new pole is ; For I can tell you one thing, that I can, You will not find it in the Vatican. He and Cratinus used, as Horace says, To take his greatest grandees for asses. Poets, in those days, used to venture high ; But these are lost full many a century. Thus you may see, dear friend, ex fade hence, My judgment of the old comedians. Proceed to tragics : first, Euripides (An author where I sometimes dip a' days) Is rightly censured by the Stagirite, Who says his numbers do not fadge aright. A friend of mine that author despises So much, he swears the very best piece is, For aught he knows, as bad as Thespis's ; And that a woman, in these tragedies, Commonly speaking, but a sad jade is. At least, I'm well assured, that no folk lays The weight on him they do on Sophocles. But, above all, I prefer Eschylus, Whose moving touches, when they please, kill us And now I find my muse but ill able To hold out longer in trisyllable. ' ' To Dr. Sheridan . ' ' Here follow a few instances of whimsical combi- 1 6 2 OR THOME TR Y. nations in the way of rhyming, mostly by modern writers : Just so romances are, for what else Is in them all but love and battles. Butler. And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic, Beat with fist instead of d stick. Butler. Sun, moon, and thou, vain world, adieu, That kings and priests are plotting in ; Here, doomed to starve on water gru el, never shall I see the U niversity of Gottingen Diversity of Gottingen. Gifford. But, oh ! ye lords of ladies intellectual ! Inform us truly, have they not henpecked you all ? Byron. May no rude hand deface it, And its forlorn hie jacet. Wordsworth. I hate all critics ; may they burn all, From Bentley to the Grub-street Journal. Fielding. Some say, compared to Bonnocini, That Mynheer Handel's but a ninny ; Others aver, that he to Handel Is scarcely fit to hold a candle. Strange all this difference should be 'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Byrom. RHYME. 163 An hour they sat in Council ; At length the Mayor broke silence : For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell, I wish I were a mile hence. Browning. Having reached the summit, and managed to cross it, Jie Rolled down the hill with uncommon velocity. Bar ham. Grown blind, alas ! he'd Some prussic acid, And that put him out of his pain. Barham. Careless rhymer, it is true That my favourite colour's blue; But am I To be made a victim, sir, If to puddings I prefer Cambridge if. Mortimer Collins- Here are some stanzas from an amusing satire- which rhymes throughout on the long e : Says ' My Lord' to our Captain, " Now, Captain," says he, " On my life, I was never before at sea, But, hang it ! that's not at all necessaree For the very First Lord of the Admiraltee." We sailed to the eastward but miles two or three, When somehow ' My Lord ' took as ill as could be : " If you take me much further, now steward," cries he, " I shall throw up my post at the Admiraltee." 164 OR THOME TR Y. " Bout ship ! ; ' shouts the Captain, immediatelee, "And bear the ' First Lord ' to his own countree ; If our vessel went down, no matter to we, But what would become of the Admiraltee !'' A.?. We shall conclude this subject of double rhymes with laying before the reader what Dryden has said upon it. "The double rhyme (a necessary com- panion of burlesque writing) is not so proper for manly satire ; for it turns earnest too much to jest, and gives us a boyish kind of pleasure. It tickles awkwardly, with a kind of pain to the best sort of readers ; we are pleased ungratefully, and, if I may say so, against our liking. He (Butler, of whom he is writing) might have left that task to others, who, not being able to put it in thought, can only make us grin with the excrescence of a word of two or three syllables in the close. It is, indeed, below so great a master to make use of such a little in- strument. But his good sense is perpetually shining through all he writes ; it affords us not the time for finding faults. We pass through the levity of his rhyme, and are immediately carried to some admirable, useful thought." 5. FAULTS IN RHYMING. The faults in rhyming, which have hitherto been noticed, arise from some imperfection in the rhymes themselves ; but there are other usages deserving censure, which are independent of any such imper- RHYME. 165 fections. Of these, some may be attributed to the inadvertence or negligence of the writer. Of this sort is the recurrence of the same rhymes at short distances. By the same rhymes is meant, all those which rhyme together, though consisting of different words, as bay, day ; lay, may ; pay, say. Our age was cultivated thus at length, But what we gain'd in skill we lost in strength : Our builders were with want of genius curst ; The second temple was not like the first ; Till you, the best Vitruvius, come at length, Our beauties equal, but excel our strength. Dry den. Here the same rhymes occur, and are even made by the same words, separated by one couplet only. A fault similar to this is the frequent repetition of the same rhymes, as in this example : Shall funeral eloquence her colours spread, And scatter roses on the wealthy dead ? Shall authors smile on such illustrious days, And satirise with nothing but their firaise ? Why slumbers Pope, who leads the tuneful train, Nor hears that virtue, which he loves, complain ? Donne, Dorset, Dryden, Rochester, are dead, And guilt's chief foe, in Addison, is fled ; Congreve, who, crown'd with laurels, fairly won, Sits smiling at the goal, while others run : He will not write ; and (more provoking still !) Ye gods ! he will not write, and Maevius will. Doubly distrest, what author shall we find, Discreetly daring, and severely kind, The courtly Roman's shining path to tread, And sharply smile prevailing folly dead ? I 66 OR THOME TR J " Will no superior genius snatch the quill, And save me, on the brink, from writing ill ? Though vain the strife, I'll strive my voice to raise ; What will not men attempt for sacred praise ? Young. Here, within the distance of ten couplets, are two rhymes twice repeated, and one three times. Again : For when the tender rinds of trees disclose Their shooting gems, a swelling knot there grows : Just in that space a narrow slit we make, Then other buds from bearing trees we take : Inserted thus, the wounded rind we close, In whose moist womb th' admitted infant grows. But when the smoother bole from knots is free, We make a deep incision in the tree ; And in the solid wood the slip enclose; The battening bastard shoots again and grows. Dry den. The fault is still greater when two couplets together have the same rhyme, as : With soothing words to Venus she begun : High praises, endless honours you have won, And mighty trophies with your worthy son : Two gods a silly woman have \\i\do?ie. Dryden. Nor is the fault much less when the rhymes, though not the same, are so near as to differ only by a single letter, as in this instance : The lofty skies at once come pouring down, The promised crop and golden labours drown. RHYME. 167 The dikes are fill'd, and with a roaring sound] The rising rivers float the nether ground. Dry den. The following couplets in Pope's Rape of the Lock are very remarkable : The doubtful beam long nods from side to side ; At length the wits mount up, the hairs subside. See, fierce Belinda on the Baron flies, With more than usual lightning in her eyes : Nor fear'd the chief th' unequal fight to try, Who sought no more than on his foe to die. But the bold lord, with manly strength endued, She with one finger and a thumb subdued. Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew, A pinch of snuff the wily virgin threw : Canto 5. The first three couplets have nearly the same rhymes, so have the two others ; and to mark the poet's negligence in this passage, the rhymes of the first and fourth couplets have the additional fault of being identical. These are faults which, though not inexcusable in a long work, are by no means to be allowed in short pieces ; for in such, to be correct and polished makes a considerable part of their merit. This frequent repetition of rhymes may be perhaps allowed or at least will not be severely con- demned in lyric compositions, where the return of the regular stanza lays the author under a greater restraint. An instance of such repetition occurs in Gray : 1 6 8 OR THOME TR Y. Ambition this shall tempt to rise, Then whirl the wretch from high, To bitter Scorn a sacrifice, And grinning Infamy. The stings of Falsehood these shall try, And hard Unkindness' alter'd eye. " Ode on the Prospect of Eton Coll." Another fault to be mentioned here is the intro- duction of words merely for the sake of rhyme. This is done in various ways first, by making use of unnecessary and superfluous words, as : Rome, the terror of the world, At length shall sink, in ruin htirled. Again : So, when a smooth expanse receives impressed Galm Nature's image on its watery breast. That is, when a smooth piece of water reflects natural objects. Now in both these instances the rhymes are made by words that had better been omitted ; and the last not only clogs the sentence, but gives a false idea ; for the objects which are reflected by a mirror are not impressed upon it. This arises sometimes when a rhyme is wanted for a word that has but few rhymes to it in the lan- guage. The term world is one of these ; there are not above five that will pair with it ; two of which are furled and hurled, and these being more pliable than the others, are therefore often worked up into some distorted phrase to furnish a rhyme ; for ex- ample : RHYME. 169 Let Envy in a whirlwind's bosom hurled, Outrageous, search the corners of the world. In him He all things with strange order hurled ; In him, that full abridgment of the world. Another form of this blemish is, by pitching upon some rhyme, to which all the rest of the sentence is to be held subservient ; and then, for want of a proper word to match with the rhyme already deter- mined, the poet is often obliged to substitute such as he can get. Butler ridicules this in the couplet : But those that write in rhyme still make The one verse for another's sake. A couplet from the Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard will explain and exemplify what we mean. Pope had to express in rhyme and measure this sen- tence: "I would rather be the mistress of the man I love, than the empress of Caesar." Of this he took the strong energetic part for his close, " Make me mistress to the man I love," and having thus fixed his rhyme, he sacrifices the other line to it ; for, as the sentence afforded him no second word to match with the rhyme he had taken, he was driven to make out the sense as well as he could by some substitute. He therefore substituted the termprove as an equivalent to be ; and the ardent sentiment of Eloisa was enfeebled by these expressions : Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove ; * No, make me mistress to the man I love. Pope. * All who have dabbled in amatory verse must have felt the want of more words to rhyme with love. I 7 O OR THOMETR Y. The notice taken of this imperfection leads to the mention of another very similar to it. Our versifiers, for the most part, are well acquainted with poetical language, and possess a store of terms and phrases which are very fit and proper to be employed in the composition of verse; but they often commit mistakes in the application of them. Among their errors one arises from this : that they consider certain words to be synony- mous which are only partially so. For instance, a head of hair and tresses frequently mean the same thing ; but we cannot properly give the name of tresses to every head of hair. Again, waves and water are the same : every wave is water ; but water in every situation and quantity is not to be called a wave. The misapplication of such terms as these, and the indifferent use of one for the other, as if they had the same signification in all cases, is a blemish in our poetry, and it deserves anim- adversion. It is admitted, sometimes for the purpose of supposed poetical ornament, and some- times for the more urgent purpose of supplying a rhyme. Tyros in the art of versifying are the worst offenders in this respect, yet traces of it are to be seen in writers of a much higher order. In Pope's Windsor Forest the river Thames is described thus : In that blest moment from his oozy bed Old Father Thames advanced his reverend head. His tresses dropp'd with dews, and o'er the stream His shining horns diffused a golden gleam. Tresses are braided hair, and the term is gen- RHYME. I 7 I erally, if not always, used to signify the hair of a female head. They would make an incongruous appearance in the head-dress of a reverend old man, but they are here put for hair of the head in general, which is a misuse of the word. Milton had occasion to Use this word when describing Adam and Eve in Paradise ; and he marks, by many distinguishing circumstances, the .wide dif- ference between the male and female head of hair in those whom he represents as perfect models of . human beauty. His hyacinthine locks Round from his parted forelock manly hung Clustering, but not beneath his shoulders broad : She, as a veil, down to the slender waist, Her unadorned golden tresses wore Dishevell'd, but in wanton ringlets waved, As the vine curls her tendrils. Besides these faults it has been reckoned another to make the great majority of rhymes with mono- syllables. Goldsmith has been censured for this, and Gray, in his remarks on the poems of Lydgate, says : " We (the English) are almost reduced to find our rhymes among the monosyllables, in which our tongue too much abounds. In Pope's Ethic epistles (that to Lord Burlington), I find, in the compass of forty lines, only seven words at the end of a verse which are not monosyllables. That it is undesirable to rhyme with such mono- syllables as are trifling and insignificant words, is acknowledged, as has been already observed ; but to object to monosyllables for rhymes, merely 172 ORTHOMETRY. because they are so, is fastidious, nor can the objec- tion, as applied to our language, be justified." 6. ARRANGEMENT OF RHYMES. Before closing the chapter on rhymes, some remarks appear necessary as to their arrangement in verse, and as to the kinds of poetry to which their, introduction seems suitable and necessary. Rhymes are arranged either : (i) Consecutively in couplets and rarely in triplets, or (ii) Alternately, as in the elegiac stanza and ballad metre, or (iii) At irregular intervals, or crossed, of which numerous examples will be found in " Combina- tions of Verse," and the "Sonnet." Puttenham, in his " Art of Poetry," adopted an elaborate system of angular and wavy lines to illustrate such arrangements, a plan which we decline to adopt as unnecessary and disfiguring to verse presenta- tion. The student, who is accustomed to read with pencil in hand, will know how and when to mark the points on which his attention should rest. By arrangement is to be understood the order in which rhymes ought to stand to produce the best effect, i.e. to satisfy the ear ; for the ear will be better pleased with the rhymes that are perfect, if they stand in one order rather than another, and a skilful managment in ordering those that are imperfect will render them less displeasing. The quick return of the same sound, however RHYME. 1 73 pleasing to the ear and suitable to the nature of the lighter kinds of verse, is inconsistent with the gravity and sublimity that characterise the higher forms of poetic expression. At the same time if the interval that separates the rhyming words be too great, their correspondence on the ear, which is the main purpose of rhyme, would be lost. When three heroic lines intervene, they seem to be set as far asunder as can be allowed with pro- priety. No definite rules bearing upon the sub- ject can be deduced from the writings of our best poets, and little more can be said with certainty beyond the two broad principles stated above. The remarks that are made as to the disposition of rhymes in the pure Italian form of the sonnet, and in the Spenserian stanza, may be appropriately referred to here. In the case of imperfect rhymes, if the broader and longer vowel sound be arranged to come before the corresponding shorter one, and a hard consonant sound precede the corresponding soft sound, the discordance between them is not so disagreeable as when this order is reversed. And the same applies to a word of many syllables, the last, of course, being unaccented, rhyming with a monosyllable, the light ending should always come last. Rhyme is a non-essential element in verse. Minstrels poured forth their lays of war and lova long before the chiming of similar sounds had been thought of. In our own language traces of it are to be found as far back as the tenth century, and although Chaucer may be said to have popularised 174 OR THOME TR Y. it in his Canterbury Tales towards the end of the fourteenth century, and all succeeding poets have made use of it more or less, it was long looked down upon as a barbarous innovation, and is still regarded by some as a meretricious aid to " poesie divine." All the very greatest poems in all languages are fhymeless. The additional restrictions that it im- poses upon the freedom of the poet have caused 'it to be discarded in all the masterpieces of poetic art. Some few noble and lengthy poems, like Spenser's Fairie Queen and Byron's Childe Harold, no doubt owe much of their charm to its em- bellishments, but its use seems more suitably re- stricted to lyrical pieces of all kinds, as well as to verse of a descriptive and humorous kind. ALLITERATION. ALLITERATION is the frequent recurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of words in a verse, forming a kind of initial rhyme, e.g. : Carking care, Green-eyed grief, and dull despair. Kirke White. It was an essential element in Anglo-Saxon and Old English poetry, which, for the most part, consists of short couplets containing three or four accented syllables, linked together by alliterative consonance.* Here is a specimen from the open- ing lines of Piers the Plffivman's Vision, written by Willam Langlande about 1362 : In a somer seson, When softe was the sonne, I shope me in shrubbes As I a shepe were ; In habit as an hermit, Unholy of workes. Again, from the same poem : There preached a pardoner, As he a prieste were ; Brought forth a bull With many bishops' seals. * See Development of Versification, p. 256. 176 OR THOMETR Y. When Chaucer began to reform our versification, and introduced the regular rhythmic flow of ac- cented syllables and the new element of rhyme, alliteration ceased to be an essential to English verse, but it has always retained its hold as an aid and embellishment to its melody. The Eliza- bethan poets evinced a marked fondness for its " artful aid," and used it with great taste and skill, as for example : Sitting by a river's side, Where a silent stream did glide, Muse I did of many things That the mind in quiet brings. Greene. Repining courage yields No foot to foe : the flashing fire flies As from a forge. Spenser. In the fashionable craze called Euphuism* of Queen Elizabeth's reign, alliteration was carried to a ridiculous excess, which furnished occasion for * Ephuism takes its name from Euphies, or the Anatomy of Wit by John Lily, a minor dramatist of Elizabeth's reign (1554-1600). It was written in a ridiculously ornate style, abounding in conceits, classical allusions, forced antitheses, and alliterations. It took the popular fancy of the time, and became much in vogue with the wits and dandies of Elizabeth's Court. Sir Walter Scott parodies its use in the Monastery in the person of Sir Percie Shaiton ; here is an example : "And now having wished to my fairest Discretion those pleasant dreams which wave their pinions around the couch of sleeping beauty, and to this comely damsel the beauties of Morpheus, and to all others the common good night, I will crave your leave to depart to my place of rest." Euphuism should not be confounded with Euphemism, which is an expression in which the offensiveness of a thought is somewhat hidden : e.g., " He has gone to that other world which is not heaven." ALLITERA TIOX. I 7 7 Shakspere's mock imitation of it in Love's Labour's Lost. Holofernes, the pedantic pedagogue, writes some verses which he calls " An Extemporal Epi- taph on the Death of the Deer : " they run : The praiseful princess pierced and pricked a pretty Pleasing pricket ; Some say, a sore ; but not a sore till now made Sore with shooting. He ridicules the excessive use of it again in the bombastic words of Bottom : Whereat, with blade, with bloody, blameful blade, He bravely broached his boiling, bloody breast. "Midsummer Night' ' s Dream.''' Nevertheless he avails himself of this simple ornament with rare felicity throughout his entire works. This precious stone set in a silver sea. "Richard 77." . Our dreadful marches to delightful measures. "Richard III :' He capers nimbly in his lady's chamber To the lascivious pleasing of a lute. " Richard 777." Myself could else out-frown false fortune's frown. " King Lear " , Whose influence, like a wreath of radiant fire, On flickering Phoebus front. " King Lear.' 1 N 178 OR THOME TR Y. Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are, That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm. " King Lear" I'll look to like, if looking liking move. " Romeo and Juliet" Jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops. " Romeo and Juliet." His virtues Will plead, like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking oft. "Macbeth." But now I'm cabin'd, cribb'd, confined. 11 Macbeth." After life's fitful fever he sleeps well. "Macbeth." Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale, Vexing the dull ear of a dying man. " King John." My story being done, She gave me for my pains a world of sighs : She swore in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange, 'Twas pitiful, 'twas wondrous pitiful. " Othello." Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel, And shining morning face, creeping like snail, Unwillingly to school. "As You Like It." They are not a pipe for Fortune's finger To sound what stop she please. "Hamlet." AL LITER A TION. I 7 9 Make thy two eyes like stars start from their spheres. " Hamlet" Milton's use of alliteration is not so marked in his epics as in the minor poems. He also em- ploys various devices to tone down the alliterative effect by (i) employing it with unaccented syl- lables ; (2) with syllables other than the initial one ; and (3) by the use of consonants similar but not identical in sound, as 3, /, /, &c. His exquisite skill in the choice of words for all the purposes of picturesque and melodic effect is unsurpassed by any of our poets. The very sound of many of his verses, even apart from the sense, has a distinct pleasurable effect. Deep on his front engraven Deliberation sat, and public care. " Paradise Lost" The rising wind of waters, dark and deep. "Paradise Lost" That soil may best Deserve the precious bane .... " Paradise Lost." Moping melancholy, And moon-struck madness. " Paradise Lost" t Perhaps some cold bank is her bolster now. " Comus." Or 'gainst the rugged bark of some broad elm. " Comus" I o OR THOMETR Y. Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense. " Comus" Sweetest Shakspere, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild. "L' Allegro." Lap me in soft Lydian airs, Married to immortal verse. " L' Allegro." Sweet bird, that shunn'st the noise of folly, Most musical, most melancholy. " II Penseroso." Sometimes we have instances of vowel allitera- tion, e.g. : Where awful arches make a noonday night. Pope. Tho' oft the ear the open vowels tire. Pope. With sudden adoration and blank awe. Milton. Sleep on, thou mighty dead, A glorious tomb they've found thee, The broad blue sky above thee spread, The boundless ocean round thee. Lyte. Dryden and Pope both avail themselves freely of this poetic ornament ; the latter seems specially to have taken care to make the consonance less obvious by separating the words more than usual : A L LITER A TION. 1 8 1 Deep in a dungeon was the captive cast, Deprived of day, and held in fetters fast. Dry den. So, speechless, for a little space he lay. Dry den. One laced the helm, another held the lance. Dryden. The bookful blockhead, ignorantly read, With loads of learned lumber in his head. Pope. Speed the soft intercourse from soul to soul, And waft a sigh from Indus to the Pole. Pope. Soft as the slumbers of a saint forgiven. Pope. Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? Pope. We conquered France, but felt our captive's charms. Pope. In the following verse Pope employs it skilfully in an elaborate onomatopeia : Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone. Alliteration enters largely as a melodic element into all our modern poetry, but for the most part its effect is more artfully concealed. No doubt it is often employed unconsciously, for in the choice of words association as well as sound affects the 1 8 2 OR THOME TR Y. taste in selection. Here follows a selection from our nineteenth-century poets : Back to the struggle, baffled in the strife. Byron. Beneath its base are heroes' ashes hid. Byron. There is a pleasure in the pathless woods. Byron. Foiled, bleeding, breathless, furious to the last, Full in the centre stands the bull at bay. Byron. Drank the last life drop of his bleeding breast. Byron. Sounds sweet as if a sister's voice reproved. Byron. Like a glow-worm golden In a dell of dew. Shelley. Our sincerest laughter With some pain is fraught : Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought. Shelley. The lustre of the long convolvuleses. Tennyson. Havelock baffled, or beaten, or butchered, for all that we knew. This truth came borne with bier and pall, I felt it when I sorrowed most, 'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have loved at all. Tennyson. A L LITER A TION. \ 8 3 Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase !) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, Leigh Hunt. Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea. Coleridge. The fair breeze blew ; the white foam flew, The furrow followed free. Coleridge. The sentinel stars set their watch in the sky. Campbell. BLANK VERSE. THIS term, although it includes all unrhymed measures, is generally restricted to Heroic verse, or Iambic pentameter. In it are embalmed the masterpieces of English poetry, Milton's epics and Shakspere's dramas. It was first employed in English verse by the Earl of Surrey, who also in- troduced the sonnet, during the reign of Henry VIII., in a translation which he made of the second and fourth books of the jtEneid, the opening lines of which are as follows : They whisted all, with fixed face attent, When Prince ^Eneas from the royal seat Thus 'gan to speak : O Queen, it is thy will I should renew a woe cannot be told. These lines are not an unfavourable specimen of the kind of verse ; they run smoothly, and the pause is varied in fact they would bear comparison with the blank verse of all but the greatest masters. Blank verse is less trammelled by artificial restrictions, and its rhythm is improved by the in- troduction of a greater number of deviations from normal regularity than 'any other measure in Eng- lish, or indeed of any other language, ancient or BLANK VERSE. 185 modern. It admits into its composition a free use of at least five different kinds of feet, whereas in the most commonly used classical measure, the hexameter, only two kinds, dactyls and spondees, find place. The simplicity of its structure, and the almost infinite variety of rhythmic effect of which it is capable, render it the noblest vehicle of poetic expression which the melodic instincts of mankind have conceived. Each great poet that has employed it to any extent has given to it a dis- tinctive character, which even an untrained ear would readily detect. Read aloud, for instance, a passage from Words worth' ^Excursion, or Cowper's Task, and follow it by a full-mouthed piece from Milton, and then by some verses of Shakspere's, free and mellifluent as a summer breeze ; the marked contrast in the rhythmic flow is unmistakable. i. LICENCES. The chief licences allowable in standard blank verse have already been enumerated and illustrated, p. 122, but it will be as well here, for the sake of completeness, to recapitulate and supplement what has there been said. (i) A pyrrhic foot ( ~) may take the place of an iambus in any part of the line, though rarely in the fifth foot ; two, and (very rarely) three, such substitutions may occur in the same verse, but then the approach to prose is dangerously close. (ii) Spondees (- -) may also find place in any part of the line, though the metrical accent is only 1 8 6 OR THOME TR Y. given to the second syllable of each. Two spondees often occur together, and occasionally as many as three or four. (iii) Trochees (- } are occasionally admissible, but much more sparingly than either of the former, as their run from strong to weak breaks the regular iambic flow weak to strong. Two trochees should never occur together, and not more than two in the same line. They are to be found frequently in the first foot, occasionally in the third and fourth, but rarely in the second and fifth. (iv) Trisyllabic feet are also frequently used for iambic, especially anapests ( -), which have the same rhythmic run from weak to strong ; the utmost limit of such substitution is three to five. (v) An additional unaccented syllable is fre- quently found at the end of a verse, and occasion- ally a twelfth syllable is added, but there must be no sixth accent. This liberty is mostly confined to dramatic verse. The canons here concisely laid down have been carefully deduced from the usage of our best poets, and are in agreement with the views of the most recent authorities on our versification. Mr. Ellis says,* " The number of syllables may therefore be greater than ten, and the accents may be, and gener- ally are, less than five. If there be accent at the end of the third and fifth group, or at the end of the second and fourth, other accents maybe distributed almost at pleasure." Dr. Abbottf states that about one * Ellis, " Essentials of Phonetics," p. 77. f Abbott, " Shaksperian Grammar," p. 453. BLANK VERSE, 187 line in threehas the full number of emphatic accents, about two in four have four, and one out of fifteen three. Mr. Convvay* has drawn out with elaborate pre- cision a table in which he gives thirty- five different arrangements of the accents found in heroic lines of approved authors, seven with the full number of five, fifteen with four, eleven with three, and ten with two. Now, if to all these allowable variations in the arrangement of the accented syllables we add the practically limitless change that may be made in the position of the pauses in successive lines, we shall at once realise the boundless capabilities of rhythmical variety that this measure presents. Well may it be selected as the most suitable form of verse for lofty and continuous poetical utterance. 2. EPIC OR HEROIC BLANK VERSE. MILTON. The singular excellence of Milton's blank verse. being generally admitted, we will here point out some of its causes, or at least some of those quali- ties which are most apparent and eminent in his versification. He has availed himself of the use of mixed metre to the utmost possible extent, such as these : Draw after him the third | part of [ Heaven's host. Deliberate valour breath'd j firm and | unmoved. * Gilbert Conway, " Treatise on Versification," p. 24. (Longmans. London, 1878.) 1 8 8 OR THOME TR Y. Of Eve, whose eye | darted | contagious fire. How art thou lost ! how on | a sudden lost ! Uni | versal j reproach, far worse to bear. Anon, | out of J the earth, a fabric huge. Better | to reign in hell than serve in heaven. These licences are all of one kind ; viz. the sub- stitution of the trochaic for the iambic foot, and it is this which offends the ear in some of Milton's lines, as in this : Yet fell ; remember, and | fear to | transgress. But it offends only because there is no pause before it ; the following, which has exactly the same feet, is a musical line : In wood or wilderness, | forSst | or den. This trochaic substitution being the direct oppo- site to the fundamental measure of the heroic line should be used most sparingly, and never occur in the last foot, though a pyrrhic or spondee may so stand, as in the two following lines : Till even, nor then the solemn night | Ingale Ceased warbling, but all night tuned her | soft lays. Here are examples of other substituted feet in Milton's verse : And the j shrill sounds I ran echoing through the wood, BLAXK VERSE. 189 Murmuring, | and with him fled the shades of night, Innu | merable | before th' Almighty's throne. Gambolled | before | tjiem ; thC | unwieldy el \ ephant. All beasts | of the earth | since wild, | and of | all chase. Through man | y a dark | and dreary vale They passed, and man | y a re | gion do | lorous, O'er man | y a fro | zen, man | y a fl | ery Alp, Rocks, coves, [ lakes, fens, | bogs, dens, | and shades of death. Xext to the variety of feet may be noticed the variety of pauses with respect to their position in the line. Here again Milton's excellence appears : However, some tradition they dispersed Among the heathen, of their purchase got, And fabled how the serpent, whom they call'd Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide- Encroaching Eve, perhaps, had first the rule Of hi^h Olympus, thence by Saturn driven And Ops, e'er yet Dicta^an Jove was born. In this passage the pause is so varied that no two lines together have it in the same place ; and within the compass of seven lines it stands in six different places. This is by no means a singular instance ; a variety, similar if not so great, is one characteristic of this poem. Millions of spirits for his fault amerced Of heaven, and from eternal splendours flung For his revolt ; yet faithful how they stood, Their glory wither'd : as when heaven's fire 190 ORTHOMETRY. Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. Here, from the second line to the sixth, there are as many different pauses as lines. When a pause falls on the third, or fifth, or seventh syllable of a verse, the foot in which it stands will generally be a pyrrhic, because the connecting words of our language, as conjunctions, &c., are all unaccented ; it would therefore be a weak foot, which is sometimes to be guarded against, in order to preserve what Pope calls *' the full resounding line, the majestic march," of the heroic measure. To this Milton has attended in many passages ; for example : T6rments | him, round | he throws | his bale | ful eyes. For these | rebell | ious, here | their prison | ordain'd. Breaking | the horrid silence, thus began. When Je | sus, son of Ma | ry, second Eve. Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs, Demoniac phrensy, moping melancholy, And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence. In every line here, except the last, the syllable following the pause is accented ; this makes the foot an iambic, and gives a fulness to the measure. No modern poet would venture to construct a pas- sage such as the last one. BLANK VERSE. 191 Another circumstance remarkable in Milton's versification is his use of elisions. The practice of cutting off a vowel at the end of a word was not introduced by him into our poetry, but he revived it when it had become obsolete ; so that his manner appeared as a novelty, and was indeed clearly different from that of other poets, and even from his own earlier productions. In his Comus there occur no elisions like these : His temple right against the temple' of God Anguish, and doubt, and fear, and sorrow", and pain Abominable', unutterable', and worse. The length of periods, occasionally and judiciously introduced, is another distinguishing feature. Such is the following : Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning, how the heavens and earth Rose out of chaos. To these may be added the frequent inversions, as this, which is most remarkable : God, from the Mount of Sinai, whose gray top Shall tremble, he descending, shall himself, In thunder, lightning, and loud trumpet's sound, Ordain them laws. But in Milton's versification nothing is more remarkable than the skilful manner by which his I 9 2 OR THOlfETR J '. lines are connected and run one into another. This is done by ending the line in that part of a sentence where there is no sensible pause. But to explain this it will be necessary to consider how, for this purpose, a sentence may be divided, and also what makes a pause. And first to mention what, in a simple sentence, will produce a pause. Take a sentence in its natural order of words: viz. ist, the article ; 2nd, the nominative case, and what may be joined with it, as adjective or genitive cass; 3rd, the verb ; 4th, the noun, or other word governed by it, e.g. : The affable archangel had forewarn'd Adam. Whatever disturbs this natural order creates a pause, as : (i) Transposition ; i.e. any change of that order, e.g. : The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcases. Ahaz his sottish conqueror, whom he drew God's altar to disparage. (ii) The insertion of any phrase, or word, not necessary to make out the sentence : the selfsame place where he First lighted from his wing. my sudden hand Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds. BLANK VERSE. 193 On a sudden open fly With impetuous recoil and jarring sound The infernal doors. on each hand the flames Driven backward, slope their pointing spires. (iii) Apposition, or the introduction of a second word having the same signification as the former; this differs but little from the preceding, e.g. : or that sea-beast Leviathan, which God of all his works yea, often placed Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, Abominations, and with cursed things. Hid Amalthea, and her florid son, Voting Bacchus, from his step-dame Rhea's eye. By any of these means a pause is made, even in a simple sentence. Dramatic writers sometimes end a line with such words as would hardly be allowed in other kinds of serious poetry ; such are the articles, the ad- jective pronouns,and conjunctions. Now there is no pause between the article and its noun, nor between the pronoun adjective and its substantive ; on the contrary, these have too close a connexion to be separated. But verses may be made to run into one another by dividing a sentence in other parts, where yet there is no pause. (1) Between two substantives. (2) Between the nominative case and the verb. 194 OR THOME TR F. (3) Between the verb and the accusative case. (4) Between two verbs. These breaks are of the most frequent occurrence, but there are others, as (5) Between the adjective and its substantive. (6) Between certain pronouns and the verb. (7) Between some prepositions and the word governed by them. The following instances are subjoined to show Milton's use of these divisions : (i.) Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree. (2.) whose mortal taste Brought death into the world. (3.) Sing, heavenly muse that didst inspire That shepherd. (4.) He now prepared To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend. (5.) God their creator and th' invisible Glory of him that made them to transform. the gray Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danced. (6.) And feel thy sovran vital lamp ; but thou Revisit'st not these eyes. that thou art naked, who Hath told thee ? hast thou eaten of the tree ? BLANK VERSE. 195 (7.) That were an ignominy and shame beneath This downfall. Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond Compare above all living creatures dear. These prepositions are dissyllables ; the smaller seldom, if ever, occur at the end of a line. We find, but very rarely, the auxiliary separated from its verb: That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation. And once a compound epithet is divided at the end of a verse : Ophion, with Eurynome, the wide- Encroaching Eve perhaps. All these qualities enumerated above appear throughout Milton's versification, which indeed he himself has described in his note prefixed to the Paradise Lost, in these words, " True musical delight consists only in apt numbers, fit quantity of sylla- bles, and the sense variously drawn out from one verse into another." Such, according to his judg- ment, are the essential elements to good verse, and by due attention to what he here laid down he attained to his distinguished eminence in this, which is the highest species of English versifica- tion. 196 OR THOME TR Y. 3. DRAMATIC BLANK VERSE. SHAKSPERE. With respect to dramatic verse very little con- sideration of what is requisite for effective stage representation is necessary to show that the utmost freedom and variety of treatment must be allowed in this species of composition. The verse is not the language of the poet, but of the char- acters whom he introduces upon the stage. Words of the deepest passion and pathos have to be altered at times, but without causing incongruity with the everyday surroundings of life. The poet sinks his own individuality altogether, while his puppets speak and act as real men and women do on the great world's stage. The dialogue, elevated and heroic as it must sometimes be, should also be natural and easily comprehended ; hence in- volved constructions, and unusual inversions, and stilted diction are out of place. The natural order of words in a sentence ought not to be violated for the sake of metre beyond what would be deemed suitable in rhetorical oratory. The audience must readily grasp the sense of the words as they are uttered there is no time for reflection. To accomplish all this the dramatist avails himself freely of every kind of poetic licence, already enumerated and illustrated, and, in true Bohemian spirit, trespasses the conventionalities of versifica- tion still further, whenever it suits his purpose. Such as : BLANK VERSE. 1 97 (i) The free use of one or two hypermetrical syllables : Thou marshal'st me the way that I was go Ing. "Macbeth." To-day | he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow bios | sums, And bears his blushing honours thick upon | him. " Henry VIII." He were much goodlier ; is't not a handsome gen | tinman ? " AlPs Well that Ends Well: ' Your honour and your goodness is so ev | fde"nt. " Winter's Tale" The use of these additional syllables increases in Shakspere's later plays. (ii) The use of extra mid- syllables [before the caesural pause, which also becomes more marked in the latter plays of Shakspere : This is his Majesty ; say your mind to him. "AWs Well." Then when I feel and see her, no further trust her. "Winter's Tale* And first-fruits of my body, from his presence I am barred. "Winters Tale." The marigold, that goes to bed wi' the sun, And with him rises weeping ; these are flowers Of middle summer. "Winter's Tale." 198 OR 7 HO ME TR Y. There is no more such masters : I may wonder. " Cymbeline" (iii) Imperfect lines are admissible, i.e. verses of only one, two, or three feet rarely four. When these hetnistichs, as they are called, come together, they require to be scanned as a continuous line : Ophelia. I prny you now receive them. Hamlet. No, not I ; I never gave her aught. "Hamlet." Of but a sickly part of one true sense Could not so mope. O shame, where is thy blush ? " Hamlet:'' Occasionally, Alexandrines are blended with the five-foot verse : Hamlet. Honeying and making love Over the nasty sty, Queen. O, speak to me no more ! "Hamlet:* (iv) What are known as " light " and " weak " endings are freely used, especially in the choicest specimens of Shakspere's verse. By the former is meant the termination of a line with personal or relative pronouns, or auxiliary verbs, that admit but a very slight pause ; by the latter the verse is ended by prepositions or conjunctions which allow of no break whatever ; the line is forced to run BLANK VERSE. igg both in sound and sense into the closest connec- tion with the opening words of the succeeding verse, e.g^ : The power I serve Laughs at your happy Araby, or the Elysian shades. Massinger. If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waves in this roar, allay them. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or e'er I should the good ship so have swallowed, and The frighting souls within her. " Tempest:' At this point the versification of Shakspcre claims our special attention, beyond what has already been said upon blank verse generally and dra- matic verse in particular, he being the acknow- ledged master of poetic art both as regards matter and form. His unrivalled series of dramas thirty -seven in all the pride of our mother tongue, are not only an inexhaustible source of pleasure to the successive generations of English-speaking people all the world over, but they furnish a field of ever-increasing interest and enquiry into the methods of his art and the development of his genius. The attempt to fix the chronological order of his plays has, of late years, led Shaksperean students to pay special attention to his versification, and their united labours have resulted in such an arrangement of 200 OR THOME TR Y. his works in the order of their production, as further enquiry will, in all probability, never alter. If we take 3. number of passages from the known works of his 'prentice hand, the early comedies, such, for instance, as Love's Labour's Lost, The Comedy of Errors, The Two Gentle- men of Verona, and compare them with selections from the great tragedies of his matured powers, like Hamlet, Lear, and Macbeth, and again with others from The Tempest and The Winter's Tale, creations of the calm sunset of his life, a clearly marked change will be observable in the nature and rhythmic movement of the verses. In the first set the numbers flow with a smoothness approaching the monotony of rhymed heroics; extra syllables rarely occur, the tenth usually has an emphatic accent, and the pause comes regularly at the end of the line : the verses a.reend-stopt, as they have been appropriately called. In the other selections we shall find this regularity gradually disappearing. Light and weak endings and extra syllables occur in increasing numbers ; the pauses are, for the most part, removed from the end, and find place in any part of the line, even varying ; the sense as well as the sound is continuous from one line to the next ; the verse is run-on, as it is called, to distinguish it from the former kind. These marked characteristics are clearly discernible in the following selections : The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns ; The current, that with gentle murmur glides BLANK VERSE. 2OI Thou know'st, being stopped, impatiently doth rage ; But when his fair course is not hindered, He makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge He overtaketh in his pilgrimage ; And so, by many winding nooks he strays, With willing sport to the wild oce-an. " Two Gentlemen of Verona'' The air is full of noises, Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. Sometimes a thousand twanging instruments Will hum about mine ears ; and sometimes voices, That, if I then had waked after long sleep, Will make me sleep again ; and then, in dreaming, The clouds, methought, would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me : that, when I waked, I cried to dream again. " Tempest." 1 O Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frighted, thou lett'st fall From Dis's waggon ! daffodils That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty ; violets dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno's eyes, Or Cytherea's breath ; pale primroses, That die unmarried ere they can behold Bright Phoebus in his strength, a malady Most incident to maids ; bold oxlips, and The crown imperial ; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one ! " Winter s Tale.'* The proportion of run-on to end-stopt lines has been ascertained by Mr. Furnival to be one in eighteen in Loves Labour's Losf, and to gradually 202 OR THOME TR Y. increase to one in two in Cymbeline and The Winter s Tale. According to Professor Ingram there is no single light or weak ending in the Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Comedy of Errors, and only one in Midsummer -Night's Dream. They begin to appear plentifully in Macbeth, and in the later plays they amount to from five to seven per cent, of the whole number of endings. Again, in his early plays the youthful poet made free use of rhyme, but gradually discarded it as his skill in rhythmic melody grew. In Love's Labour s Lost there are two rhymed lines to each one without ; but in the Tempest there is only one couplet throughout, and in Winter s Tale not one. The blank verse of Shakspere's latest plays, we thus see, is the result of careful labour and ripened judgment, directed by an instinctive sense and faculty divine for beauty and melod} r . His choicest efforts are inimitable, and remain unique in our literature, for they defy analysis ; their beauty must be felt rather than reasoned out. The clear sweet ring of his lyrics is perhaps equalled by some of his contemporaries, and nearly approached by Burns and Shelley, but the grace and ever-varying music of his rhythmic numbers must be regarded as a lost art. THE SONNET. THE sonnet, being a distinct kind of poem, demands separate treatment, and is therefore not dealt with here as a mere fourteen-line stanza. Besides, its nature and construction are so complex, and it occupies at the present time such an important and popular part in our poetic literature, that a more detailed account of its position in verse seems desirable. The form of the sonnet is of Italian origin, and came into use in the fifteenth century, towards the end of which its construction was perfected, and its utmost melodious sweetness attained in the verse of Petrarch and Dante. In the perfect Italian type it consists of fourteen decasyllabic line", which are divided into two unequal groups of eight and six lines, the former the octave, the latter the sestet. The octave is made up of two quatrains, and the sestet of two tercets. The rhymes through- out are unequally blended, and in the normal type are rigidly adhered to, their arrangement being based upon well-tested laws of melody. In the octave only two rhymes are admissible, one for the first, fourth, fifth and eighth lines, the other for the second, third, sixth, and seventh. The tercet 204 OR THOME TR Y. admits of three pairs of rhyme, the first and fourth lines, the second and fifth, and the third and sixth. This arrangement may be illustrated as follows, the letters a, b, c, d, e representing the rhymes in succession : Octave a, b, b, a a, b, b, a. Sestet c, d, e -c, d, e. The subject matter of the poem should consist of one idea, or one emotion elaborately and con- tinuously wrought out throughout, and complete in itself. The principal idea should be stated in the first quatrain, and illustrated and elaborated in the second ; then follows a pause. In each of the two tercets it should be again treated differ- ently, and brought to a close with a dignity fully equal to the opening note, combined with epigra- matic force. The following example is constructed on the pure Petrarchan model, and is an ingenious and amus- ing illustration of the build of the sonnet itself. It is an English version of Lope de Vega's Sonnet on the Sonnet, by Mr. James Y. Gibson : To write a sonnet doth Julia press me ; I've never found me in such stress or pain ; A sonnet numbers fourteen lines, 'tis plain, And three are gone ere I can say, God bless me ! I thought that spinning lines would sore oppress me, Yet here I'm midway in the last quatrain : And if the foremost tercet I begin, The quatrains need not any more distress me. THE SONNET. 205 To the first tercet I have got at last, And travel through it with such right goodwill, That with this line I've finished it, I ween : I'm in the second now, and see how fast , The thirteenth line comes tripping from my quill : Hurrah ! 'tis done ! Count if there be fourteen. It was during the early part of the sixteenth century that the Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, \vho had imbibed a taste for the glowing poetry of Italy during residence there, first at- tempted the sonnet, structure in English verse. They found the difficulty of transplanting this choice exotic from the musical Italian tongue into the comparatively rough and rhymeless English so great, that many liberties had to be taken with it before it could be well adapted to the sterner English soil. Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Drayton, and others experimented with the new toy, and introduced a variety of changes in the arrangement of the rhymes, carrying the same jingle from the octave into the sestet, thus abolish- ing the central pause, and they closed the poem with a couplet. Out of these attempts to acclima- tise the stranger to the altered conditions of our speech attempts which demonstrated the necessity of freedom from the flowery chains of Italian tyranny grew the English sonnet, for which some writers have claimed an indigenous production. In the following example from Spenser, note that three rhymes are admitted into the quatrain, the last of which is carried into the first tercet, and that the poem ends with a couplet : 206 ORTHOMETRY. Like as the culver on the bared bough Sits musing for the absence of her mate, And in her songs sends many a wishful vow For his return that seems to linger late : So I alone, now left disconsolate, Moan to myself the absence of my Love, And, wandering here and there all desolate, Seek with my plaints to match that mournful dove; Ne joy of ought that under heaven doth hove, Can comfort me, but her own joyous sight ; Whose sweet aspect both God and man can move, In her unspotted pleasance to delight. Day by day, whiles her fair light I miss, And dead my life that wants such lively bliss. Spenser. In the next example, entitled Sleepy by Daniel, it will be noticed that six rhymes are admitted, the last two forming a couplet, though the break between the two halves is observed : Care-charmer Sleep, son of the sable Night, Brother to Death, in silent darkness born, Relieve my languish, and restore the light ; With dark forgetting of my care return, And let the day be time enough to mourn The shipwreck of my ill-adventured youth. Let waking eyes suffice to wail their scorn Without the torments of night's untruth. Cease, dreams, the images of day's desires, To model forth the passions of the morrow ; Never let the rising sun approve you liars, To add more grief to aggravate my sorrow. Still let me sleep embracing clouds in vain, And never wake to feel the day's disdain. Daniel. The following, from Drayton, in the exact model THE SONNET. 20 7 of the Shaksperian sonnet, is worthy of quotation, not only for its intrinsic beauty, but as illustrating the early development of the English form : Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part ; Nay, I have done, you get no more of me ; And 1 am glad, yes, glad with all my heart, That thus, so clearly, I myself can free. Shake hands for ever cancel all our vows- And when we meet at any time again, Be it not seen in either of our brows, That we one jot of former love retain. Now at the last gasp of Love's latest breath, When, his pulse failing, Passion speechless lies, When Faith is kneeling by his bed of death, And Innocence is closing up his eyes, Now, if thou wouldst, when all have given him over, From death to life thou might'st him yet recover. In the hands of Shakspere the sonnet became the vehicle of poetic expression, differing in almost every respect from the Italian type. While con- sisting of fourteen lines only, and maintaining the principle of unity of thought, the distinction of quatrain and sestet is altogether ignored, and the arrangement of the rhymes is entirely different. The Shaksperian sonnet is made up of three deca- syllabic quatrains, rhyming alternately, followed and concluded by a couplet ; thus : ace b d f g a c e g b d f However critics may differ as to the superior melodic sweetness of the pure Italian form, there 2 O 8 OR THOME TR Y. can be no question that this poetic gem, in the hands of our great master, was wrought into a degree of perfection that has never been surpassed in our own or any other tongue. There is an abiding interest in the one hundred and fifty-four short poems of this kind that Shakspere wrote, which is ever attracting the fancy and ingenuity of new students of his genius, inasmuch as it is generally admitted that they embody the real feelings and experiences of the man himself; that in them he lays bare the joys and sorrows and inner workings of his own marvellous personality.* * Shakspere's Sonnets were published in 1609 by T. T. (Thomas Thorpe) and, like the plays that were published in 410 during his life- time, without the poet's knowledge. The Dedication of them runs " To the only begetter of these ensuing Sonnets, Mr. W. H." Who this W. H. was has given rise to many conjectures, and to much ingenious special pleading, but the truth will probably never be known with certainty. The most plausible conjectures are that the initials stand for (i) Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the poet's junior by nine years, who is known to have been his early patron, and to whom he dedicated Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece; and (2) William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, to whom Heminge and Condell dedicated the first folio in 1623. It is obviously impossible to discriminate to what extent the deeper utterances of a poet are purely subjective, or are the outcome of his objective experience. The sustained, passionate depth of emotion, how- ever, that is clearly perceptible throughout the sonnets, lead almost con- clusively to the belief that they embody the poet's own feelings, and portray, though dimly, a series of real occurrences. Mr. Archibald Brown's hypothesis as to the story they tell, modified by Professor Dowden, seems the most natural and reasonable one that has been suggested, and is in accordance with the later developments of the poet's genius. It is to the effect that Sonnets i to 127 were addressed to a young man, and that the rest were written to, or about, a " dark lady," imperious, gifted, and fascinating, but unfaithful, who was for a time Shakspere's mistress. The young friend had wealth, rank, great beauty of person and mind, and the poet entertained for him an inordinate affection. They gradually became estranged, however; the younger suc- cumbs to the seductions of the dark lady, and this double faithlessness plunges the poet into profound darkness and sorrow. The bitterness, however, in time passes out of his heart, the friends become reconciled and bound together by a love that is now purged from all earthly dross. An attempt has been made of late to identify this mysterious lady as Mary Fitton, of Gawsworth, Cheshire, at one time maid of honour to Queen Elizabeth. THE SONNET. 2OQ This innate attraction, however, is altogether apart from the illustration of metrical laws with which we are concerned, though it furnishes an instance if instances were required of the fascination of the materials with which we are dealing. Here follow two choice specimens of his work, the latter of which is regarded by many as the finest sonnet ever written : When to the sessions of sweet silent thought I summon up remembrance of things past, I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought, And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste. Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow, For precious friends hid in death's dateless night, And weep afresh love's long-since-cancelled woe, And moan the expense of many a vanished sight. Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan, Which I new pay as if not paid before. But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, All losses are restored and sorrows end. Shaksfiere (39). The expense of spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action ; and till action, lust Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust ; Enjoyed no sooner but despised straight ; Past reason hunted ; and no sooner had, Past reason hated, as a swallowed bait On purpose laid to make the taker mad : Mad in pursuit, and in possession so ; Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme ; A bliss, in proof, and proved, a very woe ; Before, a joy proposed ; behind, a dream. 2 I O OR THOMETR Y. All this the world knows well ; yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell. Shakspere (129). In his use of the sonnet form Milton departed alto- gether from the Shaksperian model, and reverted to the Italian type. He was well read in the litera- ture of Italy, and, recognising the melodious beauty of the sonnets of Petrarch and Dante, he adopted their arrangement of the rhymes in the quatrain, while varying it slightly in the sestet. He also departed from the archetype by allowing no break in the melody between the two halves of the poem, which gives to his productions a majestic sonority pre-eminently grand. In the two fine examples quoted below the rhymes of the sestet in the first vary from the original <:, . aConnell. Of late years the cultivation of this species of poetic composition has greatly spread both in this country and in America ; our magazines and reviews furnish an ever-increasing crop, and much of this fugitive verse is being collected, and deservedly so, in permanent form. A fashion has also sprung up amongst the minor poets of the day and literary ama- teurs, for verse construction upon the models of the old Proven9al poets of France ; and it speaks well for the spread of culture and taste amongst us, that so much interest is taken in a refined amusement of this kind. This new fashion is certainly not much more than a quarter of a century old in this country, and already quite an imposing anthology of this kind of verse has been formed, many of the speci- mens being extremely beautiful.* The restrictions as to the number of lines, the number and arrange- ment of rhymes, and recurrence of refrains imposed by these quaint models are even greater than in the sonnet, and therefore afford ample scope for the taste, judgment, and patience of the versifier. We * " Ballades and Rondeaus, &c." Selected, wirh a chapter on the various forms, by Gleeson White. The Canterbury Poets. (Walter Scott, Lond. 1887.) 240 OR THOME TR Y. proceed to explain the build, and to give specimens of the chief varieties. i. THE BALLADE. The Ballade consists of three stanzas of eight or ten lines, concluding with an envoy* of four or five lines. There must be only three rhymes in each stanza, and the same three, and in the same order, must obtain throughout ; and each stanza as well as the envoy has the same refrain. FOR ME THE BLITHE BALLADE. Of all the songs that dwell Where softest speech doth flow, Some love the sweet rondel, And some the bright rondeau, With rhymes that tripping go In mirthful measures clad ; But would I choose them ? no, For me the blithe ballade ! O'er some, the villanelle, That sets the heart aglow, Doth its enchanting spell With lines recurring throw ; Some weighed with wasting woe, Gay triolets make them glad ; But would I choose them ? RO, For me the blithe ballade ! * The envoi is a kind of invocation or dedication of the poem, and used to commence with the title of the person to whom it was addressed Sire, or Princess. It forms the peroration or climax to the verses, and should more clearly express the sentiment or feeling embodied in the poem. POETIC TRIFLES. 241 On chant of stately swell, With measured feet and slow, As grave as minster bell, As vesper tolling low, Do some their praise bestow ;' Some on sestinas sad ; But would I choose them ? no, For me the blithe ballade ! Envoi. Prince, to these songs a-row The Muse might endless add ; But would I choose them ? no, For me the blithe ballade ! Clinton Scollard. BALLADE. O Love, whom I have never seen, Yet ever hope to see ; The memory that might have been, The hope that yet may be ; The passion that persistently Makes all my pulses beat With unassuaged desire that we Some day may come to meet : This August night outspread serene, The scent of flower and tree, The fall of water that unseen Moans on incessantly, That line of fire, where breaks the sea In ripples at my feet ; What mean they all, if not that we Some day may come to meet ? About your window bowered in green The night wind wanders free, While out into the night you lean, And dream, but not of me, 242 OR THOME TR Y. As now I dream of you who flee Before my dream complete The shadow of the day when we Some day may come to meet. Envoi. Princess, while yet on lawn and lea The harvest moon is sweet, Ere August die, who knows but we Some day may come to meet. "Love in Idleness.' GRANDMOTHER. Another new gown, as I declare ! How many more is it going to be ? And your forehead all hid in a cloud of hair 'Tis nothing but folly, that I can see ! The maidens of nowadays make too free ; To right and to left is the money flung ; We used to dress as became our degree But things have altered since I was young. Stuff, in my time, was made to wear ; Gowns we had never but two or three ; Did we fancy them spoilt, if they chanced to tear ? And shrink from a patch or a darn ? not we ! For pleasure, a gossiping dish of tea, Or a mushroom hunt, while the dew yet hung, And no need, next day, for the doctor's fee But things have altered since I was young. The yellow gig, and a drive to the fair ; A keepsake bought in a booth on the lea; A sixpence, perhaps, to break and share That's how your grandfather courted me. Did your grandmother blush, do you think not she ! When he found her, the churn and the pails among ? Or your grandfather like her the less ? not he ! But things have altered since I was young. POETIC 1 RIFLES. 243 Envoi. Child ! you pout, and you urge your plea Better it were that you held your tongue ! Maids should learn at their elders' knee- But things have altered since I was young-. May Probyii. 2. THE RONDKL. The Rondel is the old form of the more popular rondeau into which it ultimately grew. It was much used as far back as the fourteenth century. It consisted originally of two four or five line stanzas, with only two rhymes, but in the hands of Charles d'Orleans (1391-1466) its form was changed, as in the specimen below. THE WANDERER. Love comes back to his vacant dwelling, The old, old Love that we knew of yore ; We see him stand by the open door, With his great eyes sad, and his bosom swelling. He makes as though in our arms repelling, He fain would lie as he lay before ; Love comes back to his vacant dwelling, The old, old Love that we knew of yore ! Ah i who shall help us from overspelling, That sweet forgotten, forbidden lore ! E'en as we doubt in our hearts once more, With a rush of tears to our eyelids welling, Love comes back to his vacant dwelling. Austin Dobsoii. 244 OR THOME TR Y. RONDEL. How is it you and I Are always meeting so ? I see you passing by Whichever way I go. I cannot say I know The spell that draws us nigh, How is it you and I Are always meeting so ? Still thoughts to thoughts reply, And whispers ebb and flow ; I say it with a sigh But half confessed and low, How is it you and I Are always meeting so ? John Cameron Grant. RONDELETS. " Which way he went ? " I know not how should I go spy Which way he went ? I only know him gone. " Relent ? " He never will unless I die ! And then, what will it signify Which way he went ? Say what you please, But know, I shall not change my mind ! Say what you please, Even, if you wish it, on your knees And, when you hear me next defined As something lighter than the wind, Say what you please ! May Probyn. POETIC TRIFLES. 245 3. THE RONDEAU. The Rondeau has gradually grown out of the older form given above, and became popularised by Voltaire, who wrote many charming specimens of it. The first example we quote is a clever adaptation of one of the great Frenchman's best. The poem consists of thirteen octosyllabic lines, arranged in three stanzas of five, three, and five verses each, with two rhymes only throughout, and a refrain recurring at the end of the second and third group. RON DBA U. You bid me try, Blue-eyes, to write A Rondeau. What ! forthwith ? To-night ? Reflect. Some skill I have, 'tis true ; But thirteen lines ! and rhymed on two! " Refrain," as well. Ah, hapless plight ! Still there are five lines ranged aright. These Gallic bonds, I feared, would fright My easy Muse. They did, till you You bid me try ! " That makes them eight. The port's in sight : 'Tis all because your eyes are bright ! Now just a pair to end in ' oo,' When maids command, what can't we do ! Behold ! The Rondeau tasteful, light You bid me try ! " " WITHOUT ONE KISS." Without one kiss she's gone away, And stol'n the brightness out of day ; With scornful lips and haughty brow She's left me melancholy now, In spite of all that I could say. 2 46 OR THOMETR Y. And so, to guess as best I may What angered her, awhile I stay Beneath this blown acacia bough, Without one kiss ; Yet all my wildered brain can pay , My questioning, is but to pray Persuasion may my speech endow, And Love may never more allow My injured sweet to sail away Without one kiss. Charles G. D. Roberts. CARPE DIEM. To-day, what is there in the air That makes December seem sweet May ? There are no swallows anywhere, Nor crocuses to crown your hair, And hail you down my garden way. Last night the full moon's frozen stare Struck me, perhaps ; of did you say Really, you'd come, sweet friend and fair ! To-day ? To-day is here : come ! crown to-day With Spring's delight or Spring's despair, Love cannot bide old Time's delay : Down my glad gardens light winds play, And my whole life shall bloom and bear To-day. Theo. Marzials. IN ROTTEN ROW. In Rotten Row a cigarette I sat and smoked, with no regret For all the tumult that had been. The distances were still and green, POE'lIC TRIFLES. 247 And streaked with shadows cool and wet. Two sweethearts on a bench were set, Two birds among the boughs were met ; So love and song were heard and seen In Rotten Row. A horse or two there was to fret The soundless sand ; but work and debt, Fair flowers and falling leaves between, While clocks are chiming clear and keen, A man may very well forget In Rotten Row. W. E. Henley. 4. THE ROUNDEL. The Roundel is a variation of the rondeau, con- sisting of three stanzas of three lines .each, linked together with but two rhymes, and a refrain at the end of the first and third group, THE ROUNDEL. A Roundel is wrought as a ring or a starbright sphere, With craft of delight and with cunning of sound unsought, That the heart of the hearer may smile if to pleasure his ear A roundel is wrought. Its jewel of music is carven of all or of aught Love, laughter, or mourning remembrance of rapture or fear That fancy may fashion to hang in the ear of thought. As a bird's quick song runs round, and the hearts in us hear Pause answers to pause, and again the same strain caught, So moves the device whence, round as a pearl or tear, A roundel is wrought. Algernon Charles Swinburne. 248 OR THOME TRY. NOTHING SO SWEET. Nothing so sweet in all the world there is Than this to stand apart in Love's retreat And gaze at Love. There is as that, ywis, Nothing so sweet. Yet surely God hath placed before our feet Some sweeter sweetness and completer bliss, And something that shall prove more truly meet. Soothly I know not : when the live lips kiss There is no more that our prayers shall entreat, Save only Death. Perhaps there is as this Nothing so sweet. Charles Sayle. A RON DELAY. Man is for woman made, And woman made for man : As the spur is for the jade, As the scabbard for the blade. As for liquor is the can, So man's for woman made, And woman made for man. As the sceptre to be sway'd, As to night the serenade, As for pudding is the pan, As to cool us is the fan, So man's for woman made, And woman made for man. Be she widow, wife, or maid, Be she wanton, be she staid, Be she well or ill arrayed, * * * * So man's for woman made, And woman made for man. POETIC TRIFLES. 249 5. THE SESTINA. The Sestina dates from the thirteenth century, and was in vogue in Italy as well as France, being used by Dante and Petrarch. Some writers claim for it the supreme place in poems of fixed form above the sonnet even. It is made up of six six-line stanzas and one of three lines. There are only two rhymes throughout, and the terminal words of each stanza are the same all through, though in different order. Here is a beautiful specimen by Mr. Swinburne : SESTINA. I saw my soul at rest upon a day, As a bird sleeping in the nest of night, Among soft leaves that give the straight way To touch its wings but not its eyes with light ; So that it knew, as one in visions may, And knew not as men waking, of delight. This was the measure of my soul's delight ; It had no power of joy to fly by day, Nor part in the large lordship of the light ; But in a secret moon-beholden way Had all its will of dreams and pleasant night, And all the love and life that sleepers may. But such life's triumph as men waking may It might not have to feed its faint delight Between the stars by night and sun by day, Shut up with green leaves and a little light ; Because its way was as a lost star's way, A world's not wholly known of day or night. 250 OR THOME TR Y. All loves and dreams and sounds and gleams of night Made it all music that such minstrels may, And all they had they gave it of delight ; But in the full face of the fire of day What place shall be for any starry light, What part of heaven in all the wide sun's way ? Yet the soul woke not, sleeping by the way. Watched as a nursling of the large eyed night, And sought nor strength nor knowledge of the day, Nor closer touch conclusive of delight, Nor mightier joy nor truer than dreamers may, Nor more of song than they, nor more of light. For who sleeps once and sees the secret light Whereby sleep shows the soul a fairer way Between the rise and rest of day and night, Shall care no more to fare as all men may, But be his place of pain or of delight, There shall he dwell, beholding night as day. Song, have thy day and take thy fill of light Before the night be fallen across thy way ; Sing while he may, man hath no long delight. Algernon Charles Swinbzirne. 6. THE TRIOLET, The Triolet is, indeed, a poetic morsel, with rigid - rules and very little room to expand even a single thought. It is an eight-line stanza with two rhymes. The first line is repeated as the fourth and seventh, and the second and the eighth are alike : When first we met, we did not guess That Love would prove so hard a master ; Of more than common friendliness POETIC TRIFLES. 251 When first we met we did not guess Who could foretell the sore distress, The inevitable disaster, When first we met ? we did not guess That Love would prove so hard a master. R. Bridges. I intended an Ode, And it turned out a Sonnet, It began a la mode, I intended an Ode ; But Rose crossed the road In her latest new bonnet. I intended an Ode, And it turned out a Sonnet. Austin Dobs on. Under the sun There's nothing new ; Poem or pun, Under the sun, Said Solomon, And he said true. Under the sun There's nothing new. " Love in Idleness."" 7. -THE VILLANELLE. The Villanelle consists of five three-line stanzas and one of four, with only two rhymes throughout, the two refrains occurring in eight of the nineteen lines : VILLANELLE. The daffodils are on the lea Come out, sweetheart, and bless the sun ! The birds are glad, and so are we. 252 OR THOME TR Y. This morn a throstle piped to me, " 'Tis time that mates were wooed and \von- The daffodils are on the lea." Come out, sweetheart, their gold to see, And building- of the nests begun The birds are glad, and so are we. You said, bethink you ! " It shall be When, yellow smocked, and winter done, The daffodils are on the lea." Yet, an' you will, to change be free ! How sigh you ? " Changes need we none The birds are glad and so are we ? " Come out, sweetheart ! the signs agree, The marriage tokens March has spun The daffodils are on the lea ; The birds are glad and so are we ! May Probyn. WHEN I SAW YOU LAST, ROSE. When I saw you last, Rose, You were only so high ; How fast the time goes ! Like a bud ere it blows, You just peeped at the sky, When I saw you last, Rose ! Now your petals unclose, Now your May-time is nigh ;- How fast the time goes ! And a life, how it grows ! You were scarcely so shy, When I saw you last, Rose. POETIC TRIFLES. 253 In your bosom it shows There's a guest on the sly ; How fast the time goes ! Is it Cupid ? Who knows ! Yet you used not to sigh, When I saw you last, Rose ; How fast the time goes ! A us fin Dobson. DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. THE progress of art, unlike that of science, does not present an almost unbroken triumphal march from the earliest times to the present day. The achievements of the "maker" in one age are not the starting-points of advance in the next. No poet commences his song with the accumulated knowledge and mastery of forces achieved by his predecessors, as the man of science begins his work. The discovery of nature's laws and the application of her forces to the physical needs of humanity may be regarded as practically illimitable, but it is not so with respect to the requirements and aspirations of the aesthetic side of human nature. Ideals of sensuous beauty of eye and ear, and of the loftier conceptions of our intellectual and emotional nature have already been attained and embodied in con- crete forms which satisfy our finite capacities. The divinely gifted masters who have appeared in the world at rare intervals, have produced models of perfection beyond which we dare not hope to advance nor even emulate. What artist in marble, colours, or sound nowadays dreams of rivalling the beauty of a mediaeval cathedral, or the Madonna of a master-hand, or a symphony by Beethoven f DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. 255 And so it is in word-composition also. Milton's sublime melody, Shakspere's mellifluous rhyth- mic flow, and the silvery ring of the Elizabethan lyric, remain for all times standards of excellence which succeeding songsters can only attempt to imitate and combine into new varieties. To try to analyse the methods of genius, or to frame rules for the production of a work of art like a poem, is, on the face of it, absurd ; all we aim at here is to trace briefly the process of smoothing the harsh elements of our tongue, and the grafting upon it of the various embellishments necessary to the production of melodious verse. Our mother tongue was brought over from the lowlands of North Germany by our Teutonic fore- fathers when they conquered and dispersed the Celts of South Britain, and settled there, from A.D. 450 to 600. They were a fierce, warlike, and heathen race, but they had within them those sterling cha- racteristics which have enabled them to develop into the foremost nation of modern times. Their language was as rugged and harsh as their habits, but, like most semi-barbarous people, they strung together in it and sang rude verses in praise of their warriors and gods. We learn this of them as soon as history records their existence. They em- braced Christianity in the seventh century, and readily began to settle down to peaceful and civi- lised modes of life. Their crude verses, though still full of deeds of daring and prowess,began to mellow into softness by the admission into them of the sentiment of patriotism, love of home and its sur- 256 OR1HOMETRY. roundings, and the elevating influences of religion. Metrical versions of Biblical narratives began to take the place of descriptions of strife and blood- shed, and improvements in the form as well as in the matter of the verses gradually become percept- ible. The structure of Anglo-Saxon verse is peculiar. Each line is broken up into two short sections by a pause, and contains four accented syllables, the number of the unaccented ones not being counted at first. The two half-verses are connected together by alliteration, the same inititial sound occurring in two emphatic words of the first half, and in one in the second half. There is a marked rhythm, there- fore, which rings out, as has been said, " like the sharp blows of a hammer upon an anvil." Metaphor and striking compounds are freely used, and there is a good deal of faak parallelism which is so marked a feature in Hebrew poetry, in which the thought in the first case is repeated in the second with slight modification. Gradually we find one or two addi- tional accented syllables introduced, and the unac- cented ones arranged with greater regularity, and occasionally towards the end of the period the verses are made to rhyme together. This is the form of Anglo-Saxon and Early English verse from the sixth to the fourteenth century, and even later ; for although the influence of the French Trouveres is discernible in the poetry of the thirteenth century, all the peculiarities of the old verse are preserved in Piers the Plowman's Vision, written by Lang- lande as late as 1362. In the following extract DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. 257 from this poem some idea may be formed of the language and verse under consideration : I was zveori of wandringe, And went me to reste Undur a rod anke Bi a bourne syde ; And as I /ay and /eonede And /okede on the watres, I jlutnberde in a jlepynge Hit jownede so murie. (11. 13 20.) In the first period of our literature, from A.D. 600 to 1066, which is known as Anglo-Saxon, the chief poetical compositions, all of which were upon the model described above, are as follows : (i) Fragments of Gleemeris Songs, sung by wan- dering minstrels, who seem to have been true Bohemians, from warnings issued to the clergy against them by King Edgar. (ii) The Deeds of Bevivulfy an epic of some five thousand lines. It was probably written in detached odes in the fifth century, prior to the conquest of Britain, and afterwards wrought into the form that has come down to us, with the Christian element introduced about the eighth century. (iii) Caedmaris metrical version of parts of the Old and New Testament history, 670. This is the first native-born poem in the language. Bede says of it, that all who heard it recited thought it was divinely given. (iv) A fragment of the story of Judith and Holofernes, from the Apocrypha. 258 OR THOME TR Y. (v) The story of King Lear and his Daughters. (vi) The Consolations of Boethius, attributed to King Alfred. (vii) Many sea and battle pieces.* When the Normans subdued our forefathers at Hastings, 1066, and made themselves lords of Angle-land, amongst the many changes introduced by the new masters, there was a deliberate attempt made to supersede the old tongue of the conquered people, and to substitute Norman-French in its stead. The latter was made the language of the court, the universities, and the courts of law, while Latin was the tongue of the Church, and of all foreign intercourse; but although this effort was persisted in for two hundred years, and brought about great changes in the vocabulary and infla- tion of the Old English speech, it remained at the end of that time substantially as Teutonic, in all its main features, as at the beginning. The mightiest conqueror can no more change the speech of a people than can an Act of Parliament make them moral. Macaulay has pointed out that King John was probably the first monarch after the Conquest that conversed in the vernacular, and that the severance of the French possessions from the English Crown, which took place in his reign, was an unmixed blessing to the English nation, inas- * Great attention has been given by scholars of late years to our early poetry. No fewer than six different versions of Beowulf have appeared since the one by Kemble in 1837, the last being by Professor Earle in 1892. Copious extracts from the poems mentioned above, as well as other fragments, are to be found in the works of Kemble, Turner, Thorpe, Conybeare, and Ellis. An exhaustive treatise on our early poetry, down to the accession of Alfred, by Stopford A. Brooke, was issued Dec., 1892. DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. 259 much as it greatly contributed to the . blending of the two races. It may, however, with certainty be said that by the middle of the fourteenth century the various causes that had long been at work in fostering a common interest, had succeeded in amal gamating the conquerors and the conquered into one great nation, speaking that marvellous com- posite English tongue that is now the medium of communication in every part of the civilised world.* During this semi-Saxon period, 1066- 1400,. a time of unrest and turmoil, there was a dearth of poetic composition, but such of it as there was is native born, and is marked by all the characteris- tics mentioned above ; the foreign influences that were at work hardly affected it at all. The chief poems of this time are (i) Layamoris "Brut" written about A.D. 1200. Although it is a metrical adaptation from the French of Wace, a Norman trouvere of the legendary his- tory of the early British kings, it has not more than sixty non-Saxon words in all its thirty thou- sand short lines. It is in the old alliterative metre, with four accents and occasional rhymes. (ii) The Ormulum y a metrical version of parts of the Gospels, written about 1215 in seven-accent metre, unrhymed. In the portion of it that exists,. * This is not the place to enter into details respecting the growth and development of the Queen's English. During the transition period we are now considering, our native tongue became differentiated into three clearly marked dialects, the Northern, the Southern, and the Midland while the upper classes spoke and wrote in Latin and French. These operated in a variety of ways upon the harsh, uncouth vernacular, and when in the long run the masters were obliged to adopt the speech of their serfs, it was the Midland dialect that they assisted in polishing into modern English. (See Oliphant's Standard English.) 2 60 OR THOMETR Y. about twenty thousand lines, there are a few newly introduced Latin ecclesiastical terms, but not more than five French words, and the arrangement of the words is not very unlike the English of to-day. (iii) Piers Plowman's Vision, 1362, alluded to above, is an allegory of deep religious feeling and sentiment, which produced a profound impression at the time, as it appeared while the country was devastated by the terrible " Black Death." There are a large number of French words in its thirty thousand lines, but it adheres to the Anglo-Saxon inflections, which had already begun to give way, and preserves the old alliterative form of verse. It is the earliest great original poem that we possess in English. Besides these three important poems of the period, important mainly from a philological point of view, there were numerous translations from the French romantic poetry which dealt chiefly with the legends of King Arthur and Charlemagne. In these we find plainly discernible the influence of the speech of the upper classes upon the vernacular. Many of the harsh-sounding Saxon words began to drop out of use, and more euphonious Romance words took their place. Alliteration gradually gave way to the sweetness of rhyme, and as this required words with accent at the end, French words took the place of Saxon ones that bore the accent on the earlier syllables. In translating these French romances the rhyming words were ready to hand, and on this account alone, hundreds of Romance words were grafted upon the Teutonic framework DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. 261 of the language. In proof of the mixture of lan- guages in use about the middle of the fourteenth century, Gaiver (1328 1408), the immediate pre- decessor of Chaucer, wrote his three important poems, one in French, one in Latin, and the Con- fessio A mantis in English. Our native tongue was in this transition state when Wiclif and Chaucer found it ; the former's prose Translation of the New Testament, 1384, did much to fix it in its present form, but it was the latter' s masterly hand that polished and stamped it with the marks of perma- nency. By his judicious selection of conflicting grammatical forms, and the blending of foreign and native words, he moulded and stereotyped our tongue into that English which, with slight modi- fications, we speak and write to-day. Chaucer (1328 or 40 1400), the prince of story- tellers in verse and the ' Father of English poetry/ was well fitted to weld the varied elements of our mediaeval tongue into harmonious unity. Fully con- versant with the literature of Rome, Italy, and France, he was, moreover, a typical Englishman of the middle class, and a man of the world. His matchless Canterbury Tales remained for two hun- dred years the one great poem of the language, and is still unique in portraiture of character, simple descriptive beauty, and metrical sweetness. Nearly all the tales are composed in rhymed heroics, i.e. in iambic pentameter arranged in continuous couplets.* During the next hundred years, embracing the whole of the fifteenth century the period of the * See the opening lines of the Prologue, p. 113. 262 OR THOMETR Y. French wars, and the Wars of the Roses no poet of note arose in England, though north of the Tweed several writers kept alive the roll of Eng- lish verse ; the Robin Hood ballads, and Chevy Chase are the chief native productions. In the early part of the sixteenth century the revival of classical learn- ing and the study of Italian models rekindled the poetic instincts of young England, just awakening into intellectual vigour. The Earl of Surrey enlarged the field of versification by the introduction of the Sonnet* form, which soon became a general favourite, and by composition in Blank verse, f which was quickly developed into the highest form of poetic expression. Sackville at once introduced it into the drama, Marlowe improved it, while Shak- spere and Milton used it with a perfection never since equalled. By the time of Shakspere the vocabulary of our language had greatly changed and increased. About one-fifth of the old English words had become obsolete, but the eight or ten thousand words that constituted our speech at the end of the fourteenth century had grown to thirty thousand. Of these our great dramatist, to express his all-embracing thoughts, makes use of about fifteen thousand, though it should be remarked that many of these, chiefly of Latin origin, occur not more than once or twice. No succeeding poet has approached this exuberance of utterance. The minor poets of the age of Shakspere and * For a full account of the Sonnet, see p. 203. f See p. 184. DEVELOPMENT OF VERSIFICATION. 263 Milton, in their lyrical efforts may be said to have rung all the changes of metrical combinations pos- sible, and to have well-nigh exhausted the varieties of rhythm and poetic embellishment of which our language is capable, leaving to their successors little more than imitation as far as the form of verse goes. . Dryden and Pope smoothed and polished the Heroic measure to the verge of mono- tony, and since their time but little originality has been possible in the art of versification beyond the experiments made with the classic metres.* * See p. 264. Coleridge, in his beautiful fragment, Christabel, made use of what he terms a new principle, the verse consisting of lines varying in length from seven to twelve syllables, but always having four accents. There is nothing strikingly new in this beyond the carrying of it out systematically. CLASSICAL METRES. THE verse of the Latin and Greek poets is based upon quantity, and its structure is regulated by rules much more rigorous than the easy canons of English rhythm. In English verse time is an accessory merely, and all attempts to string to- gether English words upon that basis only have resulted in what is neither verse nor English, for the words have to lose their proper pronuncia- tion. Here are three lines of English words arranged on the principle of the Latin hexameter by Sir Philip Sidney : That to my | advance | ment their | wisdoms have me" a | ! based | . Well may a | pastor plain ; but a las ! his | plaints b not | esteemed | . Oppress'd ] with rum | ous con [ ceits by the" | aid of an | | outcry | . ... Spenser made similar experiments, and with like results. William Webbe, who wrote a "Dis- course on English Poetry" in 1586, translated Virgil's First Georgic into hexameters, but with this important and necessary difference, he sub- stituted accent for quantity. If this be done some approach to metrical effect may be attained, as CLASSICAL METRES. 265 will be seen later on. An hexameter verse consists of six feet, dactyls and spondees intermixed, and no others ; the number of syllables varies from seventeen to thirteen, and the beats are six, though one may be weak. A Latin word may have two, three, or four consecutive long syllables, whereas English words have very rarely more than one syllable accented. It is therefore a difficult thing to construct a succession of perfect hexameter lines of English words without the skilful use of monosyllables. And when lines so constructed are read aloud all trace of quantity disappears, and the metrical accent is given to such of the long syllables as subserve the rhythmic effect, i.e. the spondees are turned into iambs or trochees at will. Of our modern poets Cowper and Southey were the first to experiment with the Classic metres of course on the basis of accent, not quantity and Coleridge, Arnold, Whewell, and Tennyson have amused themselves by making English hexameters and pentameters. Kingsley's Andromeda, a poem of some five hundred lines, is in hexameters, and so are -Longfellow's Evangelinc, and Courtship of Miles Standish. Evangeline is the only really suc- cessful production of the kind. Dr. Whewell has translated some of Schiller's poems into Elegiacs, in imitation of Ovid, and Longfellow has framed original verses in the same measure. Cowper, Southey, and Canning have imitated Horace's Sapphics, while Tennyson has tried his hand upon Alcaics and Hendecasyllabics. It would be well, 266 . ORTHOMETRY. however, to regard all such attempts to introduce exotics like these into our verse as mere literary amusements and curiosities. Here are the schemes of these various metres, with examples of each. i. HEXAMETERS. Fair was she | to be j hold, that maiden of | seventeen | | summers ; Black were her | eyes as the | berry that [ grows on the | thorn by the | wayside Black, yet how j softly they | gleamed be | neath the brown | | shade of her ] tresses ! Sweet was her | breath as the | breath of | kine that | feed in the | meadows. Evangeline. Fasting in | sackcloth and | ashes they | came, both the j king and his | people, Came to the | mountain of | oaks, to the | house of the ] terrible | sea gods. Andromeda. 2. PENTAMETERS. These lame | hexam | eters the | strong winged | music of | Homer! No but a | most bur | lesque || barbarous | experi | ment. When was a | harsher | sound ever | heard, ye | Muses of England ? When did a | frog coarser | croak || upon | our Heli | con ? Tennyson. CLASSICAL METRES. 267 Come, all ye | weary and | worn, ye | heavily laden and [ | sighing Come ye, oh, j come ye to | Christ II Saviour, ] Comforter, [ I King. F. B. R. 3. SAPPHICS. Thrice repeated, followed by Man disa | vows and | Dei | ty dis | owns me ; Hell might | afford | my miser | ies a | shelter, Therefore | hell keeps | her ever | hungry | mouths all Bolted a [ gainst me. Cowfier. Cold was the night wind, | drifting | fast the snow fell, Wide were the | downs and | shelter j less and j naked, When a poor j wand'rer | struggled | on her | journey Weary and | way sore. Southey. " The Widow." The two following stanzas are from the Anti- Jacobin, in parody of Southey's matter and manner : Needy | knife grind | er, 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. * The dactyl and trochee in the first and third foot respectively would be inadmissible in classic verse. The specimens are scanned in such a manner as to give them every chance of being considered rhythmical. 268 OR THOME TR Y. I give | thee six ] pence ! I will | see thee | hanged first, Wretch whom | no sense | of wrongs can j rouse to | | vengeance, Sordid, | unfeel ] ing, repro | bate, de | graded, Spiritless outcast ! Canning. 4. ALCAICS. I _ ; _ I i _ 111 ! Repeated and followed by O might | y mouth'd | in | ventor of | harmonies, O skilled j to sing | of | Time or E | ternity, God gift | ed or | gan voice | of Eng | land, Milton a | name to re | sound to | ages. Tennyson. IMITATIVE HARMONY. True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, As those move easiest who have learned to dance. 'Tis not enough no harshness gives offence ; The sound must seem an echo to the sense. Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows, And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows ; But when loud surges lash the sounding shore, The hoarse rough verse should like the torrent roar. When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours, and the words move slow ; Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. IN this oft-quoted passage from the Essay on Criticism Pope sounds the note of, and attempts to illustrate, what is known as " Imitative Harmony " in language, by which is meant a resemblance, real or fancied, that the sounds of words bear to the sense they convey. The Onomatopoetic, or " Bow-wow " theory of the origin of language, is no longer seriously held by any philological authority, but at the same time the mimetic origin of a large number of words is undoubted. Such forms, for instance, as coo, hiss, bump, thud, smash, pop, bang, crash, whizz, buzz, stun, tingle, chatter, squeak, murmur, scream, gurgle, howl, 270 OR THOME TR Y. bubble, and a host of others, exhibit a correspond- ence between sound and sense which is unmis- takable. As language is made up of sounds which are more or less expressive of actions and things, we need not wonder that poets especially, whose chief concern is with the form and dress of their thoughts, should avail themselves of any such correspondence between their ideas and expres- sions as could enhance the impressiveness of their verses. Much has been written upon this subject both in ancient and modern times, and many fruit- less attempts have been made to show that there may be an actual resemblance between the rhythm of verse and the things described ; but it will be found, after a careful examination of the most noted experiments that have been made, that a general suitableness of diction, and a pleasing assistance which the similarity of sound gives to the sense, are all that have been really accom- plished. This, however, is quite enough to induce writers of verse to avail themselves of such limited embellishment as this Imitative Harmony affords. Two famous examples of this sound and sense resemblance have often been quoted, the one from Homer: 'siriira iriSovSt KV\ivStro Aaag ' the other from Virgil : Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula Campum : the first describing a heavy stone rolling down a mountain side ; the second, the hoofs of a horse IMITATIVE HARMONY. 271 galloping over a hardened plain. Now the sounds of these two movements would be, of course, quite dissimilar, yet the rhythm of the verses, which is supposed to imitate them, is exactly the same. If, then, the one is to be praised for its imitative truth- fulness, what can we say of the other? Pope's adaptation of the Greek passage describing the labour of Sisyphus is well worth quoting : With many a weary step, and many a groan, Up the high hill he heaves a huge round stone ; The huge round stone resulting with a bound, Thunders impetuous down, and smokes along the ground. Up to the middle of the third line we have the slow laboured motion upward imitated, and then the rapid, impetuous downward roll. In the well-known couplet from the passage at the beginning of this chapter : When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw, The line too labours and the words move slow, we have slowness of motion expressed by a slow succession of syllables, each of the two lines having six accents, one more than the usual number ; but when we come to consider the next couplet : Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main. we are somewhat disappointed in what is intended to represent swift and rapid motion ; for, in fact, we have the full number of accents and rather 272 OR THOM TRY. . v more than the usual number of long syllables. Dr. Johnson is rather severe upon this and other instances of a similar character: he says, "The desire of discovering frequent adaptations of the sound to the sense has produced, in my opinion, many wild conceits and imaginary beauties." And then he adds, "When Pope had enjoyed for thirty years the praise of Camilla's lightness of foot, he tried another experiment upon sense and sound, and produced this memorable triplet : ' Waller was smooth, but Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.' Here are the swiftness of the rapid pace, and the march of slow-paced majesty exhibited by the same poet in the same sequence of syllables, except that the exact prosodist will find the line of swift- ness by one time longer than that of tardiness."* What he here criticises in Pope, he praises un- grudgingly in a passage from Cowley : He who defers his work from day to day, Does on a river's bank expecting stay Till the whole stream that stopp'd shall be gone, Which runs, and as it runs, for ever shall run on. He declares the last line to be "an example of representative versification which perhaps no other English line can equal." Enough has perhaps been said to show that the actual correspondence between sense and sound, * Johnson's " Life of Pope." IMITATIVE HARMONY. 273 in even the most noted examples of it, is more fanciful than real. Still there can be no question that the skilful grouping and management of sounds in poetry may greatly contribute to the sensuousness of description and the appropriate- ness of the rhythm. This is plainly discernible in some at least of the following examples. In Hamlet (v. 2), the Prince conjures his friend Horatio, who was desirous of dying with him, still to live. His words are : If ever them didst hold me in thine heart, Absent thee from felicity awhile, And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story. The composition of the third line is remarkable, for it is clogged with consonants, and the aspirate, and the 1 hissing s ; and all the syllables but one are long, either by quantity or position ; i.e. two consonants following the vowel. By this artificial structure, the utterance of the verse is made to resemble the sense, for it does not admit of a quick or easy pronunciation. In Henry IV., part I. iii. i, Glendower translates his daughter's wishes to her husband Mortimer in these words : She bids you Upon the wanton rushes lay you down, And rest your gentle head upon her lap, And she will sing the song that pleaseth you, And on your eyelids crown the god of sleep, Charming your blood with pleasing heaviness, 274 OR THOME TR Y. Making such difference betwixt wake and sleep, As is the difference betwixt day and night, The hour before the heavenly-harness'd team Begins his golden progress in the east. The most obvious character of these lines is their monotonous flow, which, if they had been upon a different subject, would have been a fault ; but in this case it was designed. They were framed to run evenly and uniformly along ; that being the most proper movement to accompany and express their meaning, which is an invitation to rest and sleep. The author, to attain his purpose, has separated all the lines, except the eighth, by a stop at the end of each. This alone was enough to produce monotony ; but beside this, the single pause which he has admitted into every line is generally in, or near, the middle of it : then, the feet are all such as contribute to smooth versification. There is not one foot of two accented syllables ; on the contrary, some are unaccented ; but by far the greatest number are regular; i.e. accented on the second syllable. By these means the verses have the expression which Shakspere undoubtedly designed to give them. In Dryden's tragedy of Edipus there is a verse which we look upon as expressing very happily the sense by the measure : but whether so or not, the verse is eminently beautiful. The speaker announces the death of a person whose days had run on to a great length, Till, like a clock, worn out with eating time, The wheels of weary life at last stood still. IMITATIVE HARMONY. 275 The first four feet of this line, being pure iambics, proceed regularly and evenly on till they are con- trasted by the fifth, which is admirably composed to represent, by its consonants, short vowels, and accents, the stop and ceasing of the motion. Change the order of words thus : The wheels of weary life stood still at last, and the expression is lost ; so it would be if the vowels in the last foot were long. The contrast, in Milton's description, of the opening of the gates of Heaven and of Hell is very remarkable : Heaven opened wide Her ever-during gates, harmonious sound, On golden hinges turning. On a sudden open fly, With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, The infernal doors ; and on their hinges grate Harsh thunder. Keats describes the gliding motion of the clouds by the use of liquid consonants : And let the clouds of even and of morn Float in voluptuous fleeces o'er the hills. And the soothing nature of a lullaby is expressed by Shakspere in a similar way : Philomel with melody Sing in one sweet lullaby ; Lulla, lulla, lullaby. 276 ORTHOMETRY. The sound of battle in the old modes of warfare is represented thus : Arms, on armour clashing 1 , brayed Horrible discord; and the maddening wheels Of brazen fury raged. Unwieldy bulk and shape is depicted by Milton in these words : O'er all the dreary coasts So stretched out, huge in length, the arch-fiend lay. But ended foul, in many a scaly fold, Voluminous and vast. Pope imitated heaven's artillery by the skilful use of two words : If nature thundered in our opening ears And stunned us with the music of the spheres. Here are further instances of this attempted sound word-painting : Disparting towers, Tumbling all precipitate down-dashed, Rattling around, loud thundering to the moon. . Dyer, Deep echoing groan the thickets brown Rustling, crackling, crashing, thunder down. The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around, It cracked and growled, and roared and howled Like noises in a swound. Coleridge. No modern poet is more conspicuously ingenious in this kind of word-painting than Tennyson. He IMITATIVE HARMONY. 277 pictures the roaring of the seas by the reiteration of the letter r : Those wild eyes that watch the wave, In roarings round the coral reef ; the sense of chill cheerlessness by such harsh rhythm as : And ghastly through the drizzling rain On the bald street breaks the bleak day. The effect of varied sounds and movements is picturesquely given in two stanzas from the Dream of Fair Women : Her slow full words sank thro' the silence drear, As thunder drops fall on a sleeping sea ; Sudden I heard a voice that cried, " Come here, That I may look on thee." ***** She locked her lips ; she left me where I stood : " Glory to God," she sang, and past afar, Thridding the sombre boskage of the wood, Toward the morning star. The description of Arthur leaving Guinevere pre- sents a picture of such a masterly adaptation of word and figure to the sense as cannot be surpassed in the whole range of English poetry : And more and more, The moony vapour rolling round the king Who seemed the phantom of a giant in it, Enwound him fold by fold, and made him gray And grayer, till himself became a mist Before her, moving ghostlike to his doom. Tennyson. "Idylls of the King." 278 OR THOME TR Y. The subject may be fittingly closed by examples from Southey's How the Water comes down at Lodore and Poe's Bells. And thumping and plumping, and bumping and jumping, And dashing and flashing, and splashing and clashing, And so never ending, And always descending, Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending, All at once and all o'er With a mighty uproar ; And this way the water comes down at Lodore. Southey. Hear the sledges with the bells Silver bells ! What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, In the icy air of night ! While the stars that oversprinkle All the heavens seem to twinkle With a crystalline delight ; Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. * * * ' # * Hear the loud alarum bells Brazen bells ! What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells ! In the startled ear of night How they scream out their affright ! Too much horrified to speak, They can only shriek, shriek, Out of tune, IMITATIVE HARMONY. 2JQ In a clamorous appealing to the mercy of the fire, In a mad expostulation with the deaf and frantic fire, Leaping higher, higher, higher, With a desperate desire, And a resolute endeavour, Now now to sit or never By the side of the pale-faced moon. Oh the bells ; bells, bells, What a tale their terror tells Of despair ! How they clang, and clash, and roar ! What a horror they outpour On the bosom of the palpitating air. Yet the ear it fully knows, By the twanging, And the clanging, How the danger ebbs and flows ; Yet the ear distinctly tells, In the jangling, And the wrangling, How the danger sinks and swells, By the sinking or the swelling in the anger of the bells ; Of the bells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells, bells, In the clamour and the clangour of the bells. Poe. BIBLIOGRAPHY. WORKS ON VERSIFICATION. IN this chapter the attention of the student will be directed to what has been written upon the subject of verse and poetic criticism, since the rise of .the Gay Science towards the end of the sixteenth cen- tury. It does not aim at furnishing an exhaustive list of such works, but it will be found sufficiently comprehensive to guide the reader who wishes to advance beyond an elementary knowledge of the subject. And as the older works are difficult of access, more copious extracts from them are given, although many of the views there expressed have long since been abandoned. The first English writer* that occurs to notice is William Webbe, who published a Discourse of English Poetry in 1586. It was written "to stirre up some other of meete abilitie to bestow travell on the matter." In that discourse, after treating of poetry in general, he singles out Spenser from the English poets for his especial commendation , and takes the Shepherd's Calendar published about * Our King James I. published in Scotland, in 1584, " Ane schort Treatise, containing some reulis and cautelis to be observit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie." BIBLIOGRAPHY. 281 seven years before (but which, it seems, had not been owned by him), for the subject of his remarks on English Versification. He says, " Of the kinds of English verses which differ in number of sylla- bles, there are almost infinite. To avoid therefore tediousness, I will repeat only the different sorts of verses out of the Shepherd's Calendar, which may well serve to bear authority in this matter. "There are in this work twelve or thirteen sundry sorts of verses, which differ either in length, or rhyme, or distinction of the staves." Having quoted several passages to prove this assertion, he adds, " I shall avoid the tedious rehearsal of all the kinds which are used, which I think would have been impossible, seeing they may be altered to as many forms as the poets please : neither is there any tune or stroke which may be sung or played on instruments, which hath not some poetical ditties framed according to the numbers thereof." But notwithstanding this abundant variety, our author was one of those who fancied that English poetry would be greatly improved by adopting Greek and Latin measures, and composing in hexameter, pentameter, sapphic, and other ancient forms. It was a project that had already been set on foot by some of high literary reputation ; and he endeavoured to advance it by his advice and example. He was aware, indeed, of the objection " that our words are nothing resemblant in nature to theirs, and therefore not possible to be framed with any good grace after their use ;" but this he 282 OR THOME TR Y. proposed to surmount, by " excepting against the observance of position, and certain other of their rules." Still there remained various difficulties; and it is amusing to hear him relate his distress, when composing in the new fashion, "he found most of our monosyllables to be long," when, to serve his purpose, they should have been short : he wanted " some direction for such words as fall not within the compass of Greek or Latin rules, and thereof he had great miss." He was forced " to omit the best words, and such as would naturally become the speech best," to avoid breaking his Latin rules. Under all these discouragements, however, he translated two of Virgil's Eclogues into English hexameters, and transformed a part of the Shepherd's Calendar into sapphics ; and these pieces make a conspicuous portion of his book. The next was George Gascoigne, an eminent poet of the same age. He included Certain Notes of Instruction concerning the making of Verse or Rhyme in English in an edition of his works published in 1575, and again in 1587. This sensible treatise, by one who was a poet himself, is certainly one of the earliest attempts in our language to establish fixed rules for the modulation of verse. It is con- cise ; the conclusions are neither singular nor forced, and though from the dates the whole might be expected to have acquired an obsolete character, it still retains such a just proportion of fact with the precepts forming a close alliance to the natural order of our language, that while we hesitate to BIBLIOGRAPHY. 283 recommend anything shaped like trammels for genius, the reading of these notes may be suggested as instructive, if not of advantage to poetical com- position. The more remarkable passages in Gascoigne's work are these. He speaks of no other feet, as entering into- verse, than those of two syllables ; of which, says he, " the first is depressed, or short ; the second, elevate, or long." He gives rules for rhyming and for finding a rhyme. Concerning the admission of polysyllables into verse, he gives this direction " I warn you that you thrust as few words of many syllables into your verse as may be ; and hereunto I might allege many reasons : first, the most ancient English words are of one syllable ; so that the more monosyllables you use, the truer English you shall seem, and the less you shall smell of the inkhorn. Also, words of many syllables do cloy averse, and make it unpleasant."* Respecting the caesura, or pause in a verse, he observes that " in lines of eight syllables it is best in the middle, as : Amid my bale | I bathe in bliss. In lines of ten syllables, after the fourth, as : I. smile sometimes, | although my grief be great. In those of twelve syllables, in the middle ; and in those of fourteen, after the eighth, as : * There are two critics of later times who have given their judgment upon the use of polysyllables in English verse, to which allusion has already been made. Of these, one is directly opposed to Gascoigne, the other agrees with him, and, upon the whole, appears to be right. 2 84 OR THOMETR Y. Divorce me now, good death, ] from love and lingering life ; That one hath been my concubine, | that other was my wife.* " Lines of twelve and fourteen syllables alter- nate," says he (i.e. such as the last here quoted), " is the commonest sort of verse which we use now- adays." But a more celebrated work on the subject, was a regular treatise, on the Art of English Poesy , published in 1589, but written some time before, by Puttenham. . He says he writes it " to help the courtiers and the gentlewomen of the court to write good poetry, that the art may become vulgar for all Englishmen's use." This author was of a different opinion from Webbe in respect to the introduction of Greek and Latin measures into English poetry ; and he says, with good judgment, thus : " Peradventure with us Englishmen it may be somewhat too late to admit a new invention of feet and times that our forefathers never used, nor never observed till this day, either in their mea- sures or their pronunciation : and perchance will seem in us a presumptuous part to attempt ; con- sidering also it would be hard to find many men to like of one man's choice in the limitation of times and quantities of words ; with which not one, but every ear is to be pleased and made a particular judge ; it being most truly said, that a multitude or commonalty is hard to please, and easy to offend." In conclusion, he condemns this sort of versification as a frivolous and ridiculous novelty. But, although in this particular he mani- * These examples are taken from his own poems. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 285 fested his good sense, in some other points he fell in with the whimsical fancies of his time ; such as making poems in -the shape of altars, pyramids, and the like. He who shall peruse Puttenham may collect from him some information concerning the state of poetry in his day ; and may understand what kind of verse was censured or praised, and what degree of estimation former English poets were then held in, but he must not expect much instruc- tion upon the art itself. Warton* says of this book, that it remained long as a rule of criticism. Another work was published in 1602, with this title, " Observations in the Art of English Pdeste, by Thomas Campion. Wherein it is demonstratively proved, and by example confirmed, that the English tongue will receive eight several kinds of numbers proper to itself; which are all in this book set forth, and were never before this time, by any man, attempted." Campion was a poet and physician during part of the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James : he was also a composer of music, and his acquaintance with the latter art appears by some remarkable passages in his book. The eight several kinds of numbers which he mentions are to be understood, not of feet, nor yet altogether of verses taken singly, but, some of them, of com- binations of verses and stanzas. He has, indeed, a chapter on " English numbers in general," by which he means the feet admissible into English * Warton's " History of English Poetry," vol. ii. 10. 2 86 OR THOMETR Y. poetry; and he reduces them to two, as being essential, and giving character and name to two different species of verse, viz. the iambic and the trochee, of which he gives this strange account, that it " is but an iambic turned over and over." Campion might have shown, even from his own poetry, that our language can receive other num- bers than he has enumerated ; but his book con- tains little that is new or extraordinary, except that the poetical part is all in blank verse, and that he wishes to discard entirely from our poetry what he is pleased to call " the fatness of rhyme ;" which brought forth an answer from a writer of a superior order to Campion, both in verse and prose. This was Samuel Daniel, who, in 1603, wrote a Defence of Rhyme, against Campion's " Observa- tions," " wherein is demonstratively proved, that rhyme is the fittest harmony of words that comports with our language." This is, indeed, asserted; but in proofs and demonstration, he falls as short as his antagonist. Of him he says : " This detractor is a man of fair parts, and good reputation, and therefore the reproach forcibly cast from such a hand may throw down more at once than the labours of many shall in long time build up again. We could well have allowed of his numbers, if he had not disgraced our rhyme, which both custom and nature doth most powerfully defend ; custom that is above all law, nature that is above all art. Our rhyme is likewise number and harmony of words, consisting of an agreeing .sound in the last syllables of several verses, giving both to the ear BIBLIOGRAPHY. 287 an echo of a delightful report, and to the memory a deeper impression of what is delivered therein ; for as Greek and Latin verse consists ot the number and quantity of syllables, so doth the English verse of measure and accent ; and though it doth not strictly observe long and short syllables, yet it most religiously respects the accent ; and as the short and the long make number, so the acute and grave accent yield harmony, and harmony is likewise number : so that the English verse then hath number, measure, and harmony, in the best proportion of music. But be the verse never so good, never so full, it seems not to satisfy nor breed that delight, as when it is met and com- bined with a like sounding accent ; which seems as the jointure, without which it hangs loose, and cannot subsist, but runs wildly on, like a tedious fancy, without a close." Having thus defended the use of rhyme, he proceeds in a similar strain against the rest of Campion's book, asserting "that of all his eight several kinds of new promised numbers, we have only what was our own before ;" such as have ever been familiarly used among us ; and the like of his other positions. He expresses a wish, however, " that there were not that multiplicity of rhymes as is used by many in sonnets ;" he acknowledges, " that to his own ear, those continual cadences of couplets used in long and continued poems are very tiresome and unpleasing ;" and he confesses that his " adversary had wrought so much upon him, as to think a tragedy would best comport with a blank verse, 288 OR THOME TR Y. and dispense with rhyme, saving in the chorus^ or where a sentence shall require a couplet." He says too, that he thinks it wrong to mix uncertainly feminine rhymes with masculine;* which, ever since he was warned of that deformity by a kind friend, he had always so avoided, as that there are not above two couplets in that kind in all his poem of the Civil Wars ; that he " held feminine rhymes to be fittest for ditties, and either to be certain, or set by themselves." The opinions of Daniel are more particularly noticed here, because his versifi- cation is equal to the best of his times. Another poet, who valued himself upon his skill in numbers, viz. Cowley, may be joined with these authors ; not indeed for any formal work upon the subject, but for certain notes made by him upon his own verses. The purport of those notes is to inform his readers that the verses are intended and framed to represent the things described by their imitative harmony. In his preface he expresses himself thus respecting the odes which he calls pindaric : " The numbers are various and irregular, and sometimes (especially some of the long ones) seem harsh and uncouth, if the just measures and cadences be not observed in the pronunciation. So that almost all their sweetness and numerosity * The terms masculine and feminine, as applied to verse, are taken from the French, and signify the first, rhymes of one syllable the other, of two, which we now call double rhymes ; and of which this character of King John, from the First Book of his Civil Wars, is an example : A tyrant loath'd, a homicide con vented, Poison'd he dies, disgraced, and unlamented. By rhymes uncertainly mixed, he means introduced irregularly; not recurring in the stanzas at set distances, which he calls certain. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 289 (which is to be found, if I mistake not, in the roughest, if rightly repeated) lies in a manner wholly at the mercy of the reader. I have briefly described the nature of these verses in the ode entitled The Resurrection ; * and though the liberty of them may incline a man to believe them easy to be composed, yet the undertaker will find it other- wise. In 1679, Samuel Woodford, D.D., published a Paraphrase on the Canticles, and Hymns ; and in the preface made certain observations on the structure of English verse, which are mentioned, not so much for anything remarkable in his criti- cism, as for his high commendation, at the period, of Milton's Paradise Lost ; though he would rather " it had been composed in rhyme " ! About the same time another work came out, comprising some principles of versification, together with an assistance towards making English verse. The title was the English Parnassus^ or a Help to English Poesie ; containing a collection of all the rhyming monosyllables, the choicest epithets and phrases, with some general forms upon all occa- * The passage in the Ode on the Resurrection, to which he refers, is this : Stop, stop, my Muse, allay thy vigorous heat, Kindled at a hint so great; Hold thy Pindaric Pegasus closely in. Which does to rage begin, And this steep hill would gallop up with violent course : "Tis an unruly and a hard-mouth'd horse, Fierce and unbroken yet, Impatient of the spur or bit : Now prances stately, and anon flies o'er the place ; Disdains the servile law of any settled pace ; Conscious and proud of his own natural force : 'Twill no unskilful touch endure, But flings writer and reader too that sits not sure. U 2QQ ORTHOMETRY. sions, subjects and themes, alphabetically digested ; together with a short institution to English Poesie, by way of preface. The author was Joshua Poole, M.A., of Clare Hall, Cambridge ; but it was a posthumous publication. The preface is subscribed J. D. ; it contains no matter worthy of particular notice ; and for the book itself, it is sufficiently detailed by the title. This work appears to have been the foundation of another, built on the same plan, but considerably enlarged. The author was Edward Bysshe, who, in 1702, published an Art of English Poetry. The part relating to prosody is contained in three chapters, under these heads : " Of the structure of English verses. Of rhyme. Of the several sorts of poems and compositions in verse." His manner of treating these topics is plain, but neither metho- dical nor comprehensive ; it presents, however, some useful information, and though perhaps no versifier of the present day may seek from this author u Rules for making English Verse" (for so he entitles this portion of his volume), it continued for above half a century to be a popular book. It also provided a further help to verse-makers, by a plentiful magazine, or Dictionary of Rhymes. The bulk of his performance was made up of a " Col- lection of the most natural, agreeable, and noble Thoughts, &c. that are to be found in the best English poets " ; but if the execution of this part be compared with the promise of its title, he will be found to deserve little commendation. The number of poets from whom he professes to have formed BIBLIOGRAPHY. 2gl his selection, are forty-three. Of these, more than a third part are either men of no name, as Stone- street, Stafford, Harvey, or of no distinguished reputation in poetry, as Walsh, Tate, Stepney, Dennis, and others. Then the selection is made so unequally, that three of his number, viz. Cowley, Butler's Hudibras, and Dryden, have furnished him with at least three-fifths of the whole. Indeed he appears to have had very little knowledge of our poets, even of those who lived and wrote but fourscore years before himself. Ellis, in his Speci- mens of the Early English Poets, has given extracts from upwards of forty authors in the reigns of Charies the First and Second, not one of whom is mentioned in Bysshe's catalogue. Here is another proof of the same : he affirms that " we have no entire works composed in verses of twelve sylla- bles ;" he must therefore have been unacquainted with Dray ton. Not long after Glover's Leonidas appeared, Dr. Pemberton, a great friend of the author, published Observations on Poetry, especially epic, occasioned by the late poem on Leonidas, 1738. The versifi- cation of that poem is very regular : and the design of the observations, in part, is to justify and extol that regularity ; which, in an instance or two, is done without foundation. The sixth section of the Observations is upon the principles of verse ; and here his singular notions, and the severe rules he would establish, might startle and discourage a young poet. He disallows all licence, all irregu- larity. He asserts that no irregular composition 292 OR THOME TR Y. of feet is by any means necessary towards that variety which is required in the longest work. With the same rigour he pronounces upon the last syllables of verses : and commends Glover for closing his lines with a firm and stable syllable, which, he says, is necessary to support the dignity of the verse, and which Milton designedly neglected. The lines he means are, in Glover, such as these : Rehearse, O Muse, the deeds and glorious death Of that fam'd Spartan, who withstood the power. Leon. b. i. And of the contrary sort, in Milton, such as this : Here swallow' d up in endless misery. Paradise Lost, b. i. A close of the line, which, had he thought it negligent, or wanting dignity, he would not have admitted so frequently, much less three times to- gether, as in this instance : And all who since, baptized or infidel, Jousted in Aspramont, or Montalban, Damasco, or Morocco, or Trebisond. Paradise Lost, b. i. The foregoing censure on Milton may warrant the mention here (though not exactly in chrono- logical order) of Tyrwhitt's Essay on the Versifica- tion of Chaucer, which contains much learned re- search into the nature and origin of our poetical measures ; but which, in regard to the structure of our verse, advances some positions that are very questionable, to say the least of them ; as in this passage : " on the tenth or rhyming syllable, a BIBLIOGRAPHY. 293 strong accent is in all cases indispensably re- quired ; and in order to make the line tolerably harmonious, it seems necessary that at least two more of the even syllables should be accented, the fourth being (almost always) one of them. Milton, however, has not subjected his verse even to these rules ; and particularly, either by negligence or design, he has frequently put an unaccented syl- lable in the fourth place." * To make this state- ment respecting Milton is to show very little atten- tion to his manner of versification ; and to put it as a doubt whether he did not, through negligence, set an unaccented syllable in the fourth place of his line, is to doubt whether he was not grossly negligent in that point throughout his poem ; since he has done so no less than three times within the first seven lines : Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, heavenly Muse, that on the secret top Of Oreb, 5r of Sinai, &c. Again, to affirm that " a strong accent is in all cases indispensably required on the rhyming syl- lable," is to condemn the practice of our most correct and approved authors. Pope, without scruple, admitted an unaccented syllable to rhyme : for instance, * See Paradise Lost, book iii. 36, 586 ; book v. 413, 750, 874. Essay, p. 62. 2 94 OR THOMETR Y. Useless, unseen, as lamps in sepulchres. "Elegy on an Unfortunate Lady." And swell the pomp of dreadful sacrifice. " Eloisa to Abelard" That guilt is doomed to sink in infamy. "Essay on Satire" .So that, should we submit to Tyrwhitt's authority, we must renounce some of the most established and allowed licences, if they are so to be called, in English versification. Foster, in his celebrated Essay on Accent and Quantity, wrote two chapters on English prosody ; and the mention of them is introduced here, not for any material information which they will afford to the reader, but rather to caution him against trusting to what is there said upon the subject. The treatise on Painting and Poetry -, by Webbe, deserves notice, as well for some judicious remarks on our poetical measures, as for directing the public attention to Shakspere's skill and excel- lence in them. To the end of the last century there still remain a few, whom it will be sufficient to specify by their names and the titles of their books. These are Tucker (under the name of Edward Search) on Vocal Sounds, 1773; Walker's Rhyming Diction- ary, 1775; Steel's Prosodia Rationalis, 1779; Dr. Trussler's Dictionary of Rhymes, 1783. The same subject has employed the pens of certain writers in the northern part of our island, BIBLIOGRAPHY. 295 who are by no means to be omitted ; for they are all men of high rank, and (with one exception) would form a catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors. They are King James the Sixth of Scotland ; the lords Kaimes and Monboddo ; Dr. Beattie ; and Lord Glenbervie : not that they challenge our notice by their rank, but by the merit of their writings. The first, by his " Reulis aijd Cautelis to be observit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie ;" the second, by his Elements of Criticism ; the third, by his volumes on the Origin and Pro- gress of Language ; Dr. Beattie by his Essays ; and lastly, Lord Glenbervie, by the Notes on his spirited translation of the Poem of Ricciardetto. During the present century, and especially within the last thirty years, the study of the art of versi- fication and of poetry generally has vastly in- creased, and has attracted the attention of some of the first scholars of the day. New editions of all our chief poets aro produced year after year, and find increasing demand. Societies have been formed to advance the study of Chaucer, Shakspere, Shelley and the early English writers, and at length English poetry is a recognised subject of study and repetition in every course of national instruction. A list of the chief writers upon the subject during the present century, here given, will fitly conclude this treatise. Mitford, " Enquiry into the Principles of Harmony in Language and of the Mechanism of Verse" (1804); Okell, " Essay on the Elements, Accents, and Prosody of the English Language "( 1805) ; Haslewood, "Art of English Poesy" 296 ORTHOMETRY. (1815) ; Carey, " Practical English Prosody and Versification" (1816) ; Crowe, "Treatise on English Versification" (1827); Dr. Guest, "History of English Rhythms"* (1838); A. J. Ellis, " Essentials of Phonetics " (1847) > A - J- Elli s, " Early English Pronunciation," Part III. (1869); W. Sydney Walker, "Versification of Shakspere" (1854); Marsh, "Lectures on the English Language" (Murray, 1863); Bain, "English Composition and Rhetoric " (Longmans, 1866 ; enlarged edition, 1888); R. F. Brewer, "Manual of English Prosody" (Longmans, 1869); E. Wadham, "English Versification" (Longmans, 1869); Dr. Abbott, " Shaksperian Grammar" (Macmillan) ; Abbott and Seeley, " English Lessons for English People " (Parts II. and III.) ; J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., " The Laws of Verse, or Principles of Versification, Exem- plified in Metrical Translations " (Longmans, 1870) ; Dr. Longmuir, Preface to the Later Editions of Walker's "Rhyming Dictionary"; Tom Hood, "Rules of Rhyme, a Guide to Versification, with a compendious Dictionary of Rhymes" (1877); Dowden, "Shakspere Primer" (Mac- millan, 1877) ; Angus, " Handbook of English Literature and of the English Tongue " ; Gilbert Conway, " Treatise on Versification " t (Longmans, 1878); Ruskin, "Elements of English Prosody," for use in St. George's School (1880); Sydney Lanier, " The Science of English Verse" (New York, 1880); Dr. Schipper, " Englische Metrik" (Bonn, 1882) ; Canon Daniel, " Grammar, &c., of the English Language," Part IV., (1883); " Geo. H. Brown, "Notes on Shakspere's Versifi- cation" (Boston, 1884); C. Witcomb, "The Structure of English Verse " (1884); J. B. Mayor, "Chapters on English Metre " t (1886) ; E. C. Stedman, " The Nature and Elements of Poetry" (Cent. Mag., Mar.-Oct., 1892). * A work of great research and a storehouse of examples, but his theories as to the structure of modern verse are erroneous and im- practicable. f A scholarly and original work, but lacking method and arrange- ment. The notes fill up as much space as the text. \ A masterly argumentative treatise on the subject of metre, in which the d priori theories of Dr. Guest and Dr. Abbott are successfully demolished, and what "may be called the common-sense method of scanning is vindicated. A RHYMING DICTIONARY. INTRODUCTION. THE lists of words comprising the Rhyming Dictionary annexed have been compiled with care and method. They are not a reprint, slightly altered, of any existing work of the same kind, but the result of a new and comprehensive overhauling of our English vocabulary, with a view to the selection of nearly all words suitable for Verse-Making at the end of the nineteenth century. The collection will be found to be more complete and varied than any that the compiler has been able to consult ; while its improved arrangement will tend to facilitate reference. Rhyme depends upon similarity of sotind only, the spelling of the words being of no consequence : thus, curl, pearl, whirl, rhyme perfectly, as do also laugh, staff, photograph ; whereas bough, cough, dough, stand in no harmonious relation to each other whatever. The words in this dictionary, therefore, are classed together as to their ending sounds only, and must be looked for under the letters that most plainly represent the sound : e.g. labour and saviour will be found under OR ; pious, harmonious, and the like, under US ; coalesce, effervesce, under ES, &c. Copious references, 300 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. however, are given throughout to lists that nearly cor- respond with each other. Under each heading the list of words printed in ordinary type, which has been made as complete and suggestive as possible, rhyme perfectly, or very nearly so, with each other; and they are arranged alphabetically, and in the order of the number of their syllables. At the end of these, printed in italics, a few typical words are given which rhyme more or less imperfectly with the normal sound of the heading ; but no attempt has been made to assist the student to find words that he ought to do his utmost to avoid. Examples of licences in rhyme taken by our standard poets are introduced here and there; but these should be regarded by the modern versifier as models to shun, for the most part, rather than to imitate. These, when given, will be found amongst the foot-notes. Single rhymes only are given ; the inclusion of double and triple rhymes would have swelled this part of the volume out beyond due limits, without corresponding advantage. Besides, double rhymes can be easily constructed from the single ones, inasmuch as they are nearly all derivative words formed from nouns, verbs, and adjectives by the suffixes er, es, est, ing, less, ness, and ly. The same remark applies to most words which end in e mute, preceded by the liquid /, i.e. to words in ble, cle, and die, and also to that numerous class of nouns ending in ion, very few of which find place here. Other omissions, which have been made to keep the book within reasonable limits, may be pointed out, such as the phirals of nouns, the participles and gerunds of verbs, and all tmempliatic monosyllables which ought never to conclude a rhyming verse. Instead INTR OD UCTION. 3 O I of lists of such words, their fitness is indicated by the phrase "also the preterites of verbs in ick" &c. No word is repeated on account of its several acceptations ; but in those few cases in which a word has two different sounds as well as different meanings, as bow, for shooting, bow, a salutation, it is given in each list. Proper names* both of persons and places, are omitted for obvious reasons. It has, however, been deemed desirable, in a few cases, to discriminate, with greater precision than usual, between sounds that closely assimilate ; hence double lists of words in EW, OW, IVE, OVE,' and Y, &c. are given. Some few obsolete and provincial words, as well as a sprinkling of slang terms that are current and unobjection- able, have been inserted, as English rhymesters can ill afford to reject any material that is at all suitable to their purpose. In many such cases, however, it has been deemed fit to add short notes of explanation, or credentials of respectability. Space has been found also for a limited * The vagaries of pronunciation, troublesome enough in ordinary words, become absolutely bewildering in proper names, a few instances of which are subjoined : Beauchamp (beecham). Dillwyn (dillon). Belvoir (bever}. Knollys (nowls). Caius (kees). Leveson (lewson). Cholmondeley (chumley). St. John (sinjon). Colquhoun (cohoon). Wemyss (weems). It seems to be an inalienable right in every man to pronounce his name as he likes. If Mr. Smith wishes to call himself Smythe, there is no power on earth to prevent him. In fact, he can go much farther than this and change his name altogether with very little trouble as a Mr. Bug did some years ago by advertising in The Times that henceforth he desired to be known as Mr. Norfolk-Howard ! A curious instance of the uncertainty of the sound of proper names is furnished by the word Ralph. Not very long ago a lady visitor at Aldworth, Tennyson's seat, had occasion to use the word several times, and pronounced is as rhyming with safe. Tenny- son insisted, with some vigour, that it should be sounded as half. " But why," a gentleman of that name might ask, " should I be done out of my I?" 302 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. number of technical and foreign words with which most Englishmen are familiar.* * Mr. W. S. Gilbert, writing some time ago in a humorous letter to the Dramatic Review on the paucity of rhymes in our tongue, says, " I should like to suggest that any inventor who is in need of a name for his invention would confer a boon on all rhymsters, and at the same time ensure him- self many gratuitous advertisements if he were to select a word that rhymes to one of the many words in common use that have very few rhymes or none at all. A few more words rhyming to love are greatly wanted. Revenge and avenge have no rhyme but Penge and Stonehenge; coif has no rhyme at all. Starve has no rhyme except (O irony ! ) carve. Scarf has no rhyme, though I fully expect to be told that laugh, calf and half are admissible which they certainly are not. Scalp has no rhyme but A Ip ; false has none valse is near it, but the French accent disqualifies it; waltz is also near it, but the t spoils it. Gamboge has no rhyme but rouge. Tube would be rhymeless but for cube and jujube. Fugue has no rhyme at all, nor has gulf, unless we fall back on Cardinal Pandulph, and Ulf the minstrel. Azimuth has only doth." DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. A compare ER, OR asthma comma dogma drama era gala hydra polka sofa stanza stigma strata villa vista agenda algebra area arcana armada aroma aurora chimera cupola dahlia dilemma duenna flotilla formula fuchsia gondola gorilla iota madonna nebula orchestra regatta sepia siesta sonata umbrella veranda ambrosia anathema camelia cyclopedia dyspepsia effluvia euthanasia extravaganza fantasia hysteria inertia influenza blab cab crab dab neuralgia panacea panorama parabola paraphernalia paranomasia phenomena regalia sciatica taffeta terracotta walhalla AB drab gab knabf scab * This has become almost a vulgarism, but has been employed by some of our best writers. The secret man heareth many confessions ; for who will open himself to a blab or babbler ? Bacon. Sorrow nor joy can be disguised by art ; Our foreheads blab the secrets of our heart. Dryden. When my tongue blabs, then let my eyes not see. Shakspere. f An obsolete form of nab, to gnaw, seize with the teeth. I had much rather lie knabbing crusts, without fear, than be mistress of the world with cares. L'Estrange. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. slab stab tab back black brach f brack \ clack crack hack knack lac lack pack plaque quack habnab * babe AC, ACK rack sac sack slack smack snack || stack tack thwack track whack wrack arrack attack lilac nick-nack almanac cardiac celiac iliac maniac zodiac demoniac elegiac ace base brace case symposiac aphrodisiac dypsomaniac hypocondriac salammoniac opaque break take neck speak ACE chase dace face grace * A vulgarism, contracted from hap-ne-hap, let it happen or not ; at all risks ; at the mercy of chance. Cursed be they that build their hopes on haps. Sidney. f A bitch hound still current in the Eastern counties. Truth's a dog that must to kennel ; he must be whipped out, while Lady, the brach, may stand by the fire and stink. Shakspere. I Obsolete. A flaw, a crack. A brack in the stuff. Beaumont and Fletcher. In addition to the many ordinary meanings of this word, it is used vulgarly for wreck, in the phrase rack and ruin ; and is also cognate with reek, vapour, mist. The clouds above which we call the rack. Bacon. Leave not a rack behind. Shakspere. || A colloquialism from snatch, a slight hasty meal; a share; to go shares, to go snacks. IT A vulgarism. With many a stiff thwack, many a bang, Hard crab-tree and old iron rang. Hudibras. We'll thwack him hence with distaffs. Shakspere. ** Then gladly turning sought his ancient place, And passed a life of piety and peace. Parnell. By a stream side, on the grass : On her shining hair and face. E. B. Browning. All its allotted length of days, I The flower ripens in its place. Tennyson. From belt to belt of crimson seas A hundred spirits whisper, " Peace." Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 305 lace mace pace place plaice race space trace abase aggrace * apace birthplace debase deface disgrace displace efface embrace grimace horserace misplace . necklace outface outpace replace retrace solace surface terrace unlace interlace populace grass cease less daze scarce \ ACT batch catch hatch latch match patch ratch scratch smatch ACH, ATCH snatch swatch thatch attach despatch detach watch wretch botch act impact fact infract fract protract pact react tact refract tract retract attract diffract co-act subact compact subtract contact transact contract cataphract J detract cataract abstract counteract distract incompact enact precontract epact re-enact exact bak'd extract rak'd, &>c. Also the preterites of verbs in ack, as tack'd AD add plaid bad quad^f brad rad cad sad clad shad dad || wad fad dryad gad footpad glad monad had salad lad fade mad red pad sod ACHE (see ARE) * Antiquated : favour, kindness. Used by Spenser. f This word has no exact rhyme. J Now uncommon, but frequently employed in Feudal times ; a species of armour used to defend the breast or whole body ; a horseman in complete armour; one armed cap-a-pie. Archers and slingers, cataphracts and spears. Milton. From cadet, a younger son, aminor; hence a dependent, a mean fellow. || A pet name for father, like mam for mother ; both words no doubt representing the earliest articulate sounds of an infant ma-ma, da-da. IT The metal spaces used by compositors are called quads. The word is used by Gower in the sense of evil, bad : as a slang term it stands for prison, x DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. ADE aid bade blade braid cade dadef fade glade grade hade \ jade lade made maid raid shade slade spade trade vade || abraid ^[ afraid arcade blockade brigade brocade cascade chamade cockade crusade decade degrade dissuade evade fagade gambade** grenade invade milkmaid parade persuade pervade relaid tirade unlade upbraid accolade ambuscade barricade bastinade cannonade cavalcade centigrade colonnade esplanade Also the ay, ey, eigh, as badge cadge fusilade gasconade lemonade marmalade masquerade overlade palisade pasquinade renegade retrograde serenade bad bead head preterites of verbs in prey'd, sleigh'd. ADGE fadge ft * In genial spring beneath the quivering shade, Where curling vapours breathe along the mead. Pope. Since when a boy, he plied his trade, Till on his life the sickness weigh'd. R. Browning. Then to the still small voice I said; Let me not cast to endless shade, What is so wonderfully made. Tennyson. f Obsolete. To lead, as a child just learning to walk ; to walk slowly or unsteadily, as a child just beginning to go alone. No sooner taught to dade, than from their mother trip. Drayton. I Obsolete. The descent of a hill. On the lower lees, as on the higher hades, The dainty clover grows. Drayton. Obsolete. A flat low piece of ground ; a dale ; a valley. Employed by Drayton. |j Obsolete. To vanish ; to pass away ; to go hastily or rapidly. Em- ployed by Spenser. IT Obsolete. To arouse ; to awake. Employed by Spenser. K * Obsolete. From gambado, a leather case attached to a stirrup; a cover for the leg worn over other clothing ; a gaiter, ft Obsolete. To be suitable; to suit; to fit. Clothes I must get ; this fashion will not fadge with me. Beaumont and Fletcher. To live in concord or amity ; to agree. They shall be made, spite of antipathy, to fadge together. Milton. In Scotland it is still sometimes used, and is applied to a bundle of sticks; a covering of rough leather; a bannock. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 307 AFE* AG chafe vouchsafe bag quag naif leaf brag rag safe deaf cag sag waif laugh crag scrag unsafe dag || shag drag slag AFF, ALF fag snag IT flag stag chaff f riff-raff gag swag draff tipstaff hag tag gaff cenotaph jag wag grafff epitaph knag tag-rag laugh paragraph lag zig-zag naff quarter-staff nag quaff staff calf half AGE, compare IDGE carafe safe age boskage ft distaff dwarf cage cabbage giraffe gage corsage gauge cortege AFT page courage aft raft rage cribbage craft shaft sage dotage daft waft stage * * engage draft abaft suage ' enrage draught graft ingraft handicraft swage wage hostage marriage . haft adage manage Also the preterites of verbs in assuage menage aff, augh, as quaff d. baggage message * And authors think their reputation safe, Which lives as long as fools are pleased to laugh. Pope. f Note the distinction in sound between the narrow a of the North and its broader sound, for the most part, in the South, as in chaff, chaff. (chaf-charf). ; Obsolete. To graft. Now let me graff my pears and prune the vine. Dryden. A provincialism. Silly; stupid. The Scotch meaning is playful; frolicsome. || A dagger; a slip : to form dew ; drizzle. *\ A protuberance ; a knot ; a shoot : also, to hew roughly ; to wreck probably derived from snack, snatch. '* Obsolete. Now written assuage. Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage With solemn touches, troubled thoughts. Milton. ft A grove ; foliage. Thridding the sombre boskage of the wood. Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. mirage foliage wail impale mortgage heritage wale prevail passage hermitage whale regale peerage parentage assail retail potage parsonage avail wassail * presage pasturage blackmail wholesale salvage patronage bewail aventail sausage percentage curtail countervail scutage personage detail farthingale village pilgrimage entail nightingale wreckage villanage exhale seal appanage concubinage female sell appendage edge disengage equipage siege ridge aim AIM AMEf acclaim AID (see ADE) blame came became declaim AIL ALE claim dame defame disclaim ale pail fame exclaim bail pale flame inflame bale quail frame misname brail rail game nickname dale sail lame proclaim fail sale maim reclaim flail scale name surname frail shale frame overcame gale snail same ham grail stale shame hem hail swale tame dream hale tail jail mail tale trail AIN ANEf male vale bane brain Jiail veil blain cane song. A.S., viaes had, health be to you ; a toast, a drinking bout, a convivial Have you done your wassail 1 Beaumont and Fletcher. f Even here I sing, when Pope supplies ths theme, Show my own love, though not increase his fame. Parnell. J Thus in the sc.ile of life and sense 'tis plain, There must be somewhere such a rank as man. Pope. And black misfortune's baleful train \ Ah, tell them they are men. Gray. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 309 chain crane deign drain fain fane feign gain grain lain lane main mane pain pane plain plane rain reign rein sane skein slain sprain stain strain swain thane train twain vain vane vein wain wane abstain faint feint amain quaint constraint arraign saint distraint attain taint restraint campaign acquaint rant champagne attaint rent complain complaint constrain contain AIR ARE t curtain air tear (verb) detain bare there disdain bear ware distrain care wear domain chair where enchain dare yare explain e'er affair henbane ere armchair maintain fair aware murrain fare beware obtain 11 are coheir ordain gare compare pertain glair declare profane glare despair refrain hair elsewhere regain hare ensnare remain heir forbear restrain lair forswear retain mare howe'er sustain ne'er impair appertain pair prepare entertain pare repair hurricane pear whate'er mean scare whene'er scene share where'er pan snare debonnair tien spare howsoe'er square millionaire AINT * stair car stare her mayn't swear were plaint tare hear * When in the sultry glebe I faint, Or on the thirsty mountain pant. Addison. \ To sing those honours you deserve to wear, And add new lustre to her silver star. Pope. There was no motion in the dumb dead air, Gross darkness of the inner sepulchre. Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. AIRS ARES irate desolate theirs unawares migrate narrate desperate dislocate And the plurals of nouns and the third persons singular of verbs in are, air. eir ; as mares, repairs. prostrate rebate dissipate educate relate elevate sedate emigrate AISE AZE translate emulate blaze rajse abdicate estimate craze raze abrogate extricate daze amaze accurate formulate gaze glaze graze cross- ways paraphrase ease adequate advocate aggravate fornicate fortunate generate maze ^f>t7:f agitate hesitate phrase keys praise has Also the plurals of nouns and third person singular of verbs in alienate animate annotate antedate hibernate imitate immolate impetrate ay, ey, eigh ; as lays, obeys, weighs. apostate imprecate arbitrate innovate AIT ATE * arrogate instigate aspirate intimate bait slate cachinate intricate bate straight calculate irritate date strait candidate inundate eight wait captivate magistrate fate abate castigate meditate gait await celebrate micturate gate belate celibate mitigate grate collate circulate moderate great create congregate nominate hate cremate consecrate obstinate late debate contemplate oscillate mate dilate cultivate passionate pate elate dedicate penetrate plate estate delegate perforate prate frustrate delicate perpetrate rate ingrate deprecate personate sate innate derogate potentate Beauty is seldom fortunate when great, A vast estate, but overcharged with debt. Drvden. If thirst of knowledge shall not then abate Then like one who with the weight, &-c. Shelley. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. predicate confederate inveterate prognosticate profligate congratulate inviolate recriminate propagate considerate legitimate regenerate regulate contaminate matriculate reiterate reprobate co-operate necessitate reverberate ruminate corroborate participate subordinate rusticate debilitate precipitate unfortunate separate degenerate predestinate weight stipulate deliberate predominate height subjugate denominate premeditate heat suffocate depopulate prevaricate bet syndicate disconsolate procrastinate terminate discriminate tete-a-tete effeminate titivate elaborate tolerate emancipate AITH, ATH (see EATH) triturate emasculate vindicate equivocate violate eradicate AKE * compare EAK abominate evaporate ache take accelerate exaggerate bake wake accentuate exasperate brake awake accommodate expectorate break bespake accumulate expostulate cake betake adulterate exterminate drake corn-crake affectionate facilitate fake forsake annihilate illiterate flake keepsake anticipate illuminate hake mandrake articulate immoderate lake mistake assassinate importunate make namesake capacitate inanimate quake partake capitulate initiate rake overtake chalybeate insatiate sake snowflake coagulate intemperate shake undertake commemorate intimidate snake rack commiserate intoxicate spake neck communicate invalidate stake weak compassionate investigate steak check Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek; Wi' heart-struck anxious care, enquires his name, While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak ; Weel pleased the mother hears, it's nae wild worthless rake. Burns. There in two sable ringlets taught to break, One gave new beauties to the snowy neck. Pope. DICTIONAR Y OF RHYMES. AL* principal imperial mall f pal shall cabal canal cymbal dismal dual equal feudal final formal legal loyal capital cardinal carnival comical conjugal cordial corporal criminal critical decimal festival funeral general genial prodigal intellectual rational original seneschal poetical several political sepulchral problematical temporal prophetical terminal reciprocal tragical rhetorical whimsical satirical colloquial sempiternal dogmatical schismatical equinoctial tyrannical equivocal all hymeneal ale martial hospital medal inimical ALD metal mettle initial interval bald piebald scald emerald mortal naval liberal literal Also the preterites of verbs in all, awl ; as call'd, bawl'd. partial littoral pedal portal madrigal magical ALE (see AIL) rival medical regal mineral ALF (see AFF) royal municipal rural total musical mystical ALK AUK compare ORK trivial natural auk stalk admiral nocturnal balk talk animal octagonal baulk walk annual pastoral calk tomahawk arsenal pedestal chalk soak autumnal personal hawk catafalque cannibal physical mawk * Unfinished things one knows not what to call, Their generations so equivocal. Pope. ( A wooden hammer, a mallet ; also the blow struck by one. And give that reverend head a mall, Or two or three, against a wall. Butler. Note that the walk in St. James's Park is pronounced The Mull, whereas the neighbouring street Pali-Mall is sounded pell-mell. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. ALL awl small ball sprawl bawl squall brawl stall call tall caul thrall crawl trawl drawl wall fall appal gall enthral hall -football haul install mall waterfall pall windfall scrawl cabal shawl ALM (see ARM) ALT fault halt malt salt vault asphalt assault default exalt dolt thought ALVE calve salve halve valve AM cam bedlam clam beldam cram madam dam quondam damn wigwam dram anagram Mam * amalgam ham diagram jamb diaphragm kam f epigram lamb monogram pam \ oriflamb ram telegram sham parallelogram swam dame AME (see AIM) AMP camp stamp champ swamp clamp. vamp cramp decamp damp encamp lamp pomp scamp * Obsolete. A freak, whim, illusion, deceit. Cant and cheat, flam and delusion. South. f Obsolete. Crooked, awry. This is clean kam. Shakspere. J Pam from palm, as trump from triumph. Johnson. Used by Pope for the knave of clubs. Anagram, a word or sentence formed by transposing the letters of another word or sentence : e.g. William Noy (attorney-general to Charles I.) / may I in law ; Horatio Nelson Honor est a Nilo. Live, i-ile, and evil have the selfsame letters; They live but vile whom evil holds in fetters. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. AN * consonance temperance countenance utterance ban V trepan defiance vigilance bran unman dissonance deliverance can artisan ignorance exorbitance clan .r _ barracan importance extravagance fan caravan maintenance exuberance man charlatan ordinance inheritance pan plan Christian courtesan purveyance intemperance sufferance hence ran musician sustenance pretence scan oppidan span ortolan swan ottoman ANCH tan van wan began divan partisan pelican publican cosmopolitan attitudinarian blanch paunch branch ranche ganch stanch haunch carte-blanche foreran latitudinarian launch organ platitudinarian orphan on AND pagan won sedan fain band command bland demand brand disband ANCE gland expand grand withstand chance expanse hand contraband dance intrance land countermand glance mischance randf deodand lance romance sand reprimand prance seance stand understand trance ambulance strand stained advance arrogance wand send askance circumstance balance complaisance enhance concordance^ ANE (see AIN) * To give my counsels all in one, The tuneful flame still careful fan ; Preserve the dignity of man. Burns. f Obsolete. A border, seam, shred. To cut me into rands. Beaumont and Fletcher. Also, with cordwainers, a thin inner sole, as of cork. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 315 AXG bang clang fang gang hang pang rang sang change grange range strange arrange bank blank slang stang * swang tang f twang harangue long ANGE estrange exchange interchange revenge AXK brank clank crank rank dank drank shank slank frank hank spank stank lank || thank plank prank disrank mountebank ANSE (see ANCE) ANT H ant aslant aunt cant displant enchant chant grant pant plant rant slant gallant implant merchant mordant rampant recant * Obsolete. A measure of land, a perch, a long pole, shaft. Riding the stang was a rude outcome of popular indignation against wife beaters and such-like offenders, which was prevalent in Yorkshire some forty or fifty years ago. The youth of a neighbourhood would assemble, and mount one of their number upon a pole borne upon the shoulders of others. Gathering a noisy crowd they would go round the district denouncing the evil-doer in a strange rigmarole of imprecations, which they brought to a climax in front of the offender's house. t Probably from sting : a strong flavour, a piercing sound, a twang. The least fang of misery. Scott. She had a tongue with a tang, Would cry to a sailor, go hang. Shakspere. I Obsolete. A bridle, an instrument formerly used for punishing scolds. (Halliwell). Damp, wet, moisture. Folds his dank wing beneath the ivy shade. Heber. The dank of winter. Marston. (I Thin, empty, languid. My body lank and lean. Gascoigne. A lank purse. Barrow. He, piteous of her woes, reared her lank head. Milton. f No nightingale did ever chant, More welcome notes to weary bands Of travellers, in some shady haunt. Wordsworth. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. remnant miscreant enwrap top servant petulant mishap heap supplant poignant tape tenant protestant transplant recreant APF adamant recusant fXJL J - arrogant combatant complaisant ruminant termagant vigilant ape scape cape scrape chape shape consonant visitant crape tape conversant exorbitant drape trape cormorant extravagant grape escape covenant disputant dissonant inhabitant predominant significant jape heap nape sleep rape dominant want JT elegant fofit elephant can't APH (see AFF) ignorant ^tpo1i't jubilant faint lieutenant tent APSE militant haunt lapse capes elapse trapse perhaps heaps AP relapse Also the plurals of nouns, and cap pap the third person singular of verbs in chap rap ap ; as maps, raps. clap sap dap scrap APT fap* ' slap flap snap apt ap'd gap strap adapt escaped hap tap Also the preterites of verbs in knapf trap ap ; as rapp'd. lap wrap map aff rap J nap entrap AQUE (see ACK) * Obsolete. Fuddled, drunk; used by Shakspere^ f To break short, to gnash. Knapped ginger. Shakspere.. { Obsolete. To strike down. Affrap the warlike rider. Spenser. Obsolete. To loiter, to trapse : used by Swift. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 317 are bar car char far jar mar pa par scar spar star tar war afar bazaar briar cellar catarrh cigar collar debar durbar felspar friar guitar barb garb AR* ARCE ARSE hookah farce sarse f hussar parse sparse liar mortar ARCH compare ARK & ARSH nectar unbar angular arch larch march starch countermarch church avatar calendar parch search caviare cinnabar ARD popular bard dastard regular card discard secular scimitar singular titular guard hard lard nard dotard drunkard leopard niggard vinegar particular perpendicular pard J shard sward petard regard renard bare ward retard wear yard vineyard ear bastard wizard sailor saviour blackguard blizzard disregard interlard bombard reward charade lord costard aboard ARB coward restored custard rhubarb Also the preterites of verbs in herb ar ; as barr'd, * Late as I ranged the crystal fields of air, In the clear mirror of thy ruling star. Pope. When tempests war And the pale dalesmen watch with eager ear. Shelley. f Obsolete. A sieve, to sift. J Leopard or panther in poetry. Bearded like a pard. Shakspere. A kind of apple, the head. Take him over the costard with the hilt of thy sword. Shakspere. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. ARF (see AFF) harm disarm palm gendarme psalm salaam ARGE qualm swarm barge charge o'ercharge surcharge alarm becalm storm large verge marge urge ARN discharge forge barn warn enlarge darn horn tarn pawn ARK yarn earn arc spark ARP ark stark bark embark carp counterscarp cark monarch harp warp clerk remark sharp thorp* dark hierarch lark mark heresiarch fork ARSH (see also ARCH) park lurk harsh march shark marsh ARL ART t carl gnarl marl 1 . snarl curl girl art cart dart hart braggart depart dispart impart pane heart counterpart mart quart ARM part port smart dirt arm calm start hurt balm charm tart court barm farm apart * A hamlet. By thirty hills to hurry down, By twenty thorps, a little town. Tennyson. f The Power, incens'd the pageant will desert, But haply, in some cottage far apart. Burns. Thou friend whose presence on my wintry hsart, How beautiful and calm and free thou wert. Shelley. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 319 ARTH (see EARTH) ASK ask flask ARVE bask hask cask mask carve nerve starve fc - . . , ASM A<^ * chasm cataplasm .fiO spasm enthusiasm ass morass miasm protoplasm brass repass phantasm theism class surpass sarcasm euphemism crass coup de grace grass embarrass ASP lass mass erysipelas has asp hasp pass mace clasp rasp alas base gasp wasp amass toss grasp wisp cuirass was harass ASS (see AS) ASE (see ACE) blast ASTf bombast cast forecast ASH caste repast ash bash brash pash plash rash fast mast last outcast overcast enthusiast cash sash past iconoclast clash crash dash slash smash thrash vast aghast avast cost taste placed flash trash Also the preterites of verbs in gash abash ass ; as mass'd. gnash hash wash bosh ASTE lash quash baste haste mash chaste paste Let them pass, Is not so much more glorious than it was, Shelley. f And lay thy glories waste, Unconscious of the blast. Beattie. 320 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. taste $ast waist rest waste dress'd distaste Also the preterites of verbs in ace, ase ; as lac'd, chas'd. AT bat brat cat chat fat flat gnat hat mat pat rat sat spot sprat tat that vat cravat cushat polecat acrobat what not hate ATCH (see ACH) ATE (see AIT) ATH (see EATH) ATHE (see EATHE) AUB (see OB) AUD bawd applaud broad defraud fraud . ode laud load abroad old And the preterites of verbs in aw; as caw'd. AUGH (see AFF) AUGHT (see AFT ORT) AUK (see ALK) AUN (see AWN) AUNT compare ANT daunt vaunt gaunt avaunt haunt ant jaunt carft taunt AUSE AUZE cause applause clause because gauze was pause Also the plurals of nouns and the third person singular of verbs in aw ; as laws, caws. AVE brave cave crave gave grave knave lave nave pave rave save shave slave stave wave behave deprave engrave forgave margrave outbrave architrave have DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 321 AW chaw saw aye f claw squaw bray craw straw clay daw thaw day draw flaw foresaw cat's-paw j y dray eh? gnaw guffaw fay haw hawhaw flay jaw jackdaw J fray law withdraw J maw overawe grey paw usquebaugh o J hay raw jay lay AWL (see ALL) may nay AWN compare ORN neigh pay awn pawn play brawn prawn pray dawn spawn prey drawn yawn ray fawn withdrawn say lawn slay spray stay AX stray axe flax poll-tax nicknacks sway they lax relax tray tax thorax tway wax borax parallax cakes way weigh climax takes whey gimcracks Also the plurals of nouns, and affray allay the third person singular of verbs array in ak ; as backs, lacks. astray AY away ballet belay betray bewray convey decay defray delay denay dismay display essay gainsay horseplay hurrah inlay inveigh levee obey portray purvey relay repay soiree subway survey tramway dejeuner disarray disobey matinee roundelay stowaway runaway cabriolet tea fee * Th' ethereal coursers bounding from the sea, From out their flaming nostrils breath'd the day. Dryden. f- Aye ever, is pronounced as ay in day. Ay, aye, the affirmative, as the word eye, as in " The ayes have it." V 522 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. AZE (see AISE) EAGUE league renege CRE, CHRE (see ER) teague fatigue vague beg intrigue E, EA (see EE) EAK f compare AKE EACE, EASE* Words in eek may be allowed to pass as almost perfect rhymes with cease decease beak. geese decrease beak sneak grease increase fleece release bleak cheek speak squeak lease surcease clique streak niece frontispiece peace less creak creek teak tweak \ r. - piece lace eke weak apiece miss caprice lees freak leak leek week wreak antique meek bezique EACH peak bespeak beach reach bleach teach breach impeach each beech peach etch pique reek seek sheik shriek sleek critique oblique break brake thick preach EAL, EEL EAD (see EDE and EED) deal deil heal heel eel keel EAF (see IEF) feel kneel Lest we rust in ease, We all are changed by still degrees. Tennyson. f The wreathed serpent who did ever seek Upon his enemy's heart a mortal wound to wreak. Shelley. J To pull rudely, pinch. Who calls me villain, breaks my pate across, Tweaks me by the nose. Shakspere. Or, as Ixion fix'd, the wretch shall feel The giddy motion of the whirling mill. Pope. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES, 323 leal meal peal peel reel seal squeal steal steel teal veal weal elm helm realm health stealth beam bream cream deem dream gleam wheal team extreme wheel teem misdeem zeal theme redeem anneal beseem supreme appeal beteem * him conceal blaspheme ethm congeal esteem name repeal reveal * / r EAMT EMPT tell tale dreamt contempt till tempt exempt attempt EALM ELM whelm EAN f EEN overwhelm Words in een may be allowed to film pass as almost perfect rhymes to : .-.: | . EALTH bean sheen clean seen wealth dean skein commonwealth e'en spleen glean teen EAM EEM green wean keen ween ream lean yean scheme mean between scream mien canteen seam quean J careen seem queen convene stream screen demean Obsolete : to bestow, permit, suffer. So loving to my mother. That he might not beteem the winds of heaven Visit her face too roughly. Shakspere, f A sordid god, down from his hoary chin A length of beard descends, uncomb'd, unclean, Dryden, J A worthless woman, a strumpet. A witch, a quean, an old cozening' quean. Skaksfiere. In Scotland the word is used not in a bad sens e : O, she was a dainty quean. Old Song, To bring forth young, to lamb. Used by Dryden, 324 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. demesne foreseen machine obscene routine serene terrene * unclean aniline crinoline guillotine intervene margarine nicotine quarantine submarine tambourine vaseline velveteen bane ban been bin EANT (see ENT) EAP cheap sleep creep steep deep sweep heap weep keep asleep neap beweep peep ship sheep shape EARf beer clear cheer dear deer ear fear fleer gear hear here jeer leer mere near peer queer rear sear seer sheer smear sneer spear sphere steer tier veer year adhere appear austere besmear career cohere compeer endear revere severe sincere veneer auctioneer bandolier buccaneer chandelier chanticleer chiffonier disappear domineer engineer gondolier hemisphere interfere mountaineer muleteer musketeer mutineer persevere pioneer privateer charioteer dare fair her * An adjective from terra, the earth. Advanced in honour and terrene power. Hooker. Milton uses it as a noun : The length of this terrene. f Where I may oft outwatch the Bear With thrice-great Hermes, or unsphcre The spirit ot Plato. Milton. Of man what see we but his station here, From which to reason, or to which refer. Pope. Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear : Remember Tarn O'Shanter's mare. Burns. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 325 EARCH (see ERCH) EARD (see ERD) EARL (see URL) EARN (see ERN) EART (see ART) EARTH ERTH * berth birth dearth earth mirth worth swarth hearth breath north EASTf beast priest east best feast list least hiss'd Also the preterites of verbs in ease ; as ceas'd. EAT, EETf Words in eet may be allowed to pass as almost perfect rhymes to beat. beat complete bleat conceit cheat concrete eat deceit feat defeat feet discreet fleet discrete greet entreat greit escheat heat estreat meat replete meet retreat mete obsolete neat plebiscite seat bate sheet gait sleet great street bet sweet sweat treat hit wheat EATH, ETH || baith death breath faith * Far from all resort of mirth Save the cricket on the hearth. Milton. The holly round the Christmas hearth, A rainy cloud possessed the earth. Tennyson. f- And sometimes casts an eye upon the east, And sometimes looks on the forbidden west. Addison. J With his morning-winged feet, Whose bright print is gleaming yet. Shelley. Provincial: generally spelt greet, to weep. What gars thee greit ? Spenser. |j Greet her with applausive breath: In her right a civic wreath. Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. heath hath ECK neath wrath wraith rath * beck reck J wreath teeth underneath cometh 7i/r/A check deck fleck spec speck wreck oat ti And the archaic third person singular of verbs. geek neck i bake beak peck EATHE ECT breathe bathe seethe scathe sect project sheathe swathe affect protect wreathe wreath aspect reflect bequeathe collect reject correct respect EAVE deject direct select subject cleave conceive dissect suspect eave deceive detect architect eve unweave effect circumspect grieve perceive eject disaffect heave receive elect disrespect leave relieve erect indirect sleeve reprieve expect intellect thieve disbelieve infect incorrect weave interleave inspect recollect achieve interweave neglect retrospect aggrieve live object leakd believe lave Also the preterites of verbs in bereave eck ; as henpeck'd. EB, EBB ED bleb web bed bred ebb babe bled dead neb f g^be bread dread Or rathe, early, before the time. The adverb rather is the regularly formed comparative of it. The rath primrose that forsaken dies. Milton. f Nose, beak : also a euphonic contraction for Ebenezer. J To regard, take care of. I reck as little what betideth me.-^-Shakspere. Recks not his own rede. Shakspere. Little he'll reck. Wolfe. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 327 fed tread see devotee fled wed she disagree head abed spree filigree lead behead tea jubilee read homestead thee jeu d'esprit red instead three mortgagee said misled tree . nominee shed o'erspread agree peccavi shred filead bawbee pedigree sped blade decree recipe spread maid degree referee stead obey'd foresee repartee thread fusee simile grandee vis-a-vis houri animalculae EDE (see BED) lessee con amore on dit extempore rupee felo de se EDGE compare AGE, IDGE trustee fac simile edge fledge hedge kedge wedge allege knowledge age calipee hyperbole cap-a-pie lapsus linguae committee sotto voce coterie agapemone ledge pledge privilege -porridge Words ending in y short; as merry, symmetry. sedge EECE (see EACE) EE* (see Y, second list} bee dree f key knee EECH (see EACH) flea lea flee lee EED, EDEJ free me glee ne bead creed gree plea bleed deed he se'a breed feed ' Poets, a race long unconfin'd and free, Still fond and proud of savage liberty. f Cognate with dry long, tedious. Pope. In genial spring beneath the quiv'ring shade, Where cooling vapours breathe along the mead. Pope. 328 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. heed knead exceed impede EET (see EAT) lead mead indeed linseed EF (see IEF) meed precede need proceed EFT plead recede read succeed cleft bereft rede* stampede left lift seed intercede theft whiffed speed supersede weft laugKd steed velocipede weed made T* f~* concede bed EG decreed bid beg seg egg philabeg EEF (see IEF) leg keg league vague Peg EEK (see EAR) EGM (see EM) EEL (see EAL) EIGN (see AIN) EEM (see EAM) EEN (see EAN) EIN (see AIN) EESE, EEZE EINT (see AINT) breeze cheese these wheeze EIT (see EAT) ease appease freeze disease EL please displease seize dives bell . hell sneeze images belle knell squeeze soliloquies cell mell tease place dwell quell Also the plurals of nouns in ee, ell sell ea ; as fees, seas. fell shell Provincial. Advice, to advise Recks not his own rede. Shakspere. I rede you tent it. Burns. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 329 smell petrel spell rebel swell repel tell g sorrel well towel yell vowel befell yokel compel asphodel dispel calomel excel citadel expel doggerel foretell infidel gazelle muscatel hotel parallel hovel sentinel impel pole laurel peal libel < peel mongrel ELD eld geld held beheld upheld withheld heard hail ' d Also the preterites of verbs in ell; as swell'd. ELF delf elf pelf elk kelk help kelp self shelf himself ELK whelk milk ELM (see EALM) ELP whelp- yelp ELT belt melt dealt dwelt pelt smelt felt welt. gelt hilt ELVE delve shelve helve twelve EM gem hem kemb anadem apothegm diadem phlegm stem them requiem stratagem tame anthem team condemn theme contemn EME (see EAM) EMPT dreamt tempt attempt contempt exempt unkempt prompt EN den cozen fen dozen hen foemen ken frozen men hyphen pen omen ten then open oxen wren seamen amen semen 330 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. sharpen syren vixen warden acumen citizen denizen oxygen bane bean been ENCE , ENSE* cense silence dense fence suspense abstinence hence conference pence confidence sense thence consequence continence whence difference commence diffidence condense defence dispense expense" immense diligence eloquence eminence evidence excellence incense frankincense intense inference nonsense offence pretence prepense prudence impotence impudence indigence indolence innocence negligence penitence preference providence recompense reference residence reverence vehemence violence benevolence circumference concupiscence indifference intelligence incontinence impenitence impertinence improvidence magnificence munificence omnipotence dance cleanse dens scents bench blench f clench drench quench stench bend blend end fend friend ENCH tench trench wench J wrench intrench retrench END lend mend rend send spend * Can ye listen in your silence ? Can your mystic voices tell us Where ye hide ? In floating islands. E. B. Browning. f Or blanch, to grow white, to flinch. I'll observe his looks ; I'll tent him to the quick : if he but blench I know my course. Shakspere. I A maid, a girl, a strumpet. A royal wench. Shakspere. A wench went and told them. II. Samuel xvii. 17. I am a gentlewoman and no wench. Chaucer. Now, the word is provincial and vulgar. To keep off, exclude, to fold, To fend the bitter cold. Dry den. He fends his flock. Phillips. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 331 tend offend brent f vend obtend hent | amend portend lent ascend pretend pent attend protend meant befriend suspend rent commend transcend scent contend unbend sent defend apprehend shent depend comprehend spent descend condescend tent distend dividend vent expend recommend went extend reprehend absent forefend reverend ascent impend wean'd assent misspend fiend attent || Also the en ; as kenn'd preterites of verbs in augment cement consent ENE (see EAN) content crescent ENGE descent avenge revenge dissent extent ENGTH ferment foment length strength frequent indent ENt intent bent blent * invent lament misspent o'erspent ostent present prevent relent repent resent rodent sergeant solvent strident student tangent torment torrent unbent abasement accident aliment argument banishment battlement blandishment chastisement circumvent concurrent competent complement compliment Blended. 'Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on. Shakspere. f Obsolete. From bren to burn. Used by Spenser J Obsolete. From Jiend to lay hold of. Used by Skakspere. Obsolete. From shend, to blame, injure. I am shent for speaking to you. Shakspere. That knight should knighthood ever so have shent. Spenser. || Obsolete. Intent, attentive. Season your admiration for a while With an attent ear. Shakspere. Spenser uses the word as a noun. 332 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. condiment nourishment arbitrament indifferent confident nutriment armipotent incandescent continent Occident astonishment incompetent corpulent opulent belligerent incontinent detriment ornament bellipotent intelligent different parliament benevolent irreverent diligent penitent disparagement lineament discontent permanent embellishment magnificent document pertinent establishment malevolent element precedent equivalent mendicament eloquent president experiment omnipotent eminent prevalent impenitent temperament evident provident imprisonment -paint excellent punishment improvident pant excrement ravishment exigent facculent redolent regiment ENTS (see ENCE) firmanent represent flatulent resident EP fraudulent reticent fundament reverent nep demirep government rudiment rep reap imminent sacrament step rape impertinent sediment skep implement sentiment impotent settlement EPT impudent subsequent incident succulent crept adept indictment supplement kept except indigent tenement sept intercept indolent testament slept reap'd innocent tournament wept peep'd insolent turbulent accept instrument underwent languishment ligament vehement violent ER,* ERR compare OR, UR malcontent virulent blur fir management accomplishment burr fur monument ackno wledgment cur her negligent admonishment err myrrh * The vulgar thus by imitation err, As oft the learn'd by being singular. Pope. It was no reason then for her To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour, Milton. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 333 pun- pepper forerunner sorcerer sir pilfer gardener terrier slur prefer grasshopper theatre spur plunger harbinger thunderer stir rambler islander traveller whirr robber lavender usurer aver rooster lawgiver villager barber rover loiterer victualler blister scatter lucifer voyager brother simper mariner waggoner cadger singer massacre wanderer caper sinner messenger administer cipher sister minister adulterer cloister skipper murderer artificer clover slope r officer astronomer codger smatter passenger astrologer coster smuggler pillager filibuster cruiser soldier presbyter idolater dapper sombre prisoner interpreter daughter spinster provender philosopher dempster stammer register amphitheatre deter steamer reveller precentor differ stopper sepulchre sugar douceur stutter slanderer fear foster summer sophister ginger temper Also the comparative of adjectives, heifer toper and nouns formed from verbs in y ; hunger trapper as higher, buyer. inter transfer lawyer trooper ERCE (see ERSE) leather whisper ledger arbiter ERCH leper armiger lobster barrister church ', smirch lover bespatter lurch research lubber canister perch -preach. martyr character search parch master chorister miller conjurer FRD miser cottager XjX !_/ mitre cucumber bird bard murmur cylinder heard feared nadir dowager herd weird ogre flatterer sherd oyster forager Also the preterites of verbs in pauper foreigner er, ur ; as err'd, purr'd. 334 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. ERF scurf serf surt dirge gurge* merge purge scourge serge surge firm term worm turf half ERGE urge verge diverge emerge immerge barge forge ERM affirm confirm harm ERNt learn quern spurn stern tern turn urn yearn adjourn concern discern return curse hearse nurse purse terse verse worse accurse adverse amerce asperse averse coerce converse blurt curt dirt flirt hurt sojourn overturn yarn mourn born ERSE f commerce disperse immerse perverse rehearse reverse traverse intersperse reimburse universe fierce farce course ERT pert shirt skirt spurt squirt * A whirlpool, abyss. A black bituminous gurge. Milton. f Ye twinkling sentries bright, My Matthew mourn ; For through your orbs he's ta'en his flight Never to return. Burns. In its palaces Sits lust alone, while o'er the land is borne Her voice, whose awful sweetness doth repress All evil, and her foes relenting turn And cast the voice of love in hope's abandoned urn. Shelley. \ Married to immortal verse Such as the melting soul may pierce. Milton. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 335 vert divert duress repress wert exert express sadness wort expert excess seamstress advert inert fortress sickness assert insert fruitless spotless avert invert gladness success concert pervert guileless tigress convert subvert guiltless transgress culvert controvert hopeless acquiesce desert part impress adultress dessert port largess bashfulness madness coalesce ERTH (see EARTH) oppress possess effervesce pennyless FRVF princess foolhardiness J_> IX V i - profess pass curve disserve recess place nerve observe redress serve preserve And numerous compounds in swerve reserve less and ness. conserve subserve deserve carve ESE (see EESE) ES, ESS ESH bless actress flesh thresh cess address fresh afresh chess artless mesh refresh cress assess nesh* mash dress caress guess compress ESK less mess press confess congress countess desk burlesque arabesque picturesque stress countless grotesque ask tress depress moresque risk yes abbess digress distress ESTf abscess duchess best . . chest access breast crest * Provincialism: soft, tender, delicate, easily hurt, f Rosy is the west, Rosy is the south, Roses are her cheeks,- And a rose her mouth. Tennyson. 336 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. guest divest regret coronet jest infest rosette epaulette lest inquest roulette epithet nest invest sestet etiquette pest molest serviette floweret quest obtest signet marionette rest protest streamlet martinet test request target mignonette vest suggest ticket minaret west unrest toilet minuet abreast interest triplet novelette arrest manifest upset omelette attest overdrest vignette parapet bequest palimpsest alphabet parroquet contest -past amulet pirouette detest -paste anchoret rivulet digest beast basinet violet Also the preterites of verbs in bayonet wagonette ess ; as express'd. castinet bate cigarette beat ET, ETTE bet cadet ETCH debt carpet fetch wretch fret coquet sketch patch get coquette stretcli peach jet corset let met couplet cricket ETH (see EATH) net cygnet set diet ETE (see EAT) sweat dulcet threat wet fidget forget EVE (see EAVE) whet gazette yet hamlet EUD (see UDE) abet leaflet banquet basket magnet pamphlet EUM (see UME) beget beset picket piquette EW * compare OO blanket quiet cue few bracelet quartet dew hew brunette quintet due hue As a virtue golden through and through, And prove its worth at a moment's view. R. Browning. Jew knew mew new pew sue view yew adieu anew askew bedew bellevue curfew emew endue ensue eschew imbue sex vex annex DICTION AR I mildew nephew perdue purlieu pursue renew review statue subdue avenue impromptu interview parvenu residue retinue revenue flew coo EX perplex reflex vortex circumflex wax takes likes OF RHYMES. EY (see AY) I (see Y first list} IB bib crib drib* glib nib rib squib bribe IBE bribe kibef scribe tribe ascribe describe imbibe inscribe prescribe proscribe subscribe transcribe diatribe superscribe 1C (see ICK) ICEt compare ISE dice ice mice nice price slice spice splice rice thrice trice 337 apex codex complex convex index Also the plurals of nouns and the preterites of verbs in eck; as decks, recks. * Cognate with dribble, drip, drop. With daily lies she dribs thee into cost. Dryden. Rhymes retailed in dribs. Swift. f A chap, chilblain. If a man's brains were in his heels, were't not in danger of kibes;. Shahspere. J The critics of less judgment than caprice, Curious, not knowing, not exact, but nice. Pope. A wretched fall : uplift thy charmed voice, Pour on those evil men the love that lies, &c. Shelley. Ye to yourselves suffice Without its flatteries. E. B. Browning. A small portion, an instant, a trine. In this trice of time. Shakspere. He could raise scruples dark and nice And after solve them in a trice. Butler. 338 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. vice sacrifice prognostic dyspeptic advice jaundice quixotic eccentric concise edifice realistic epidemic device kiss rhetoric hieroglyphic entice demise romantic idiomatic precise size schismatic morganatic suffice fleece splenetic paleocrystic paradise antiseptic panegyric antagonistic peripatetic arithmetic prognostic ICH (see ITCH) beatific like cabalistic leak 1CK brick catholic chick choleric ICT kick lick nick pick quick sick didactic dogmatic domestic dramatic electric emetic strict addict afflict convict conflict inflict relict contradict UKd leak'd stick emphatic Also the ick ; as kick'd preterites of verbs in thick erratic tick euphonic trick exotic .attic forensic ID arctic heretic antic iambic bid foetid caustic fantastic chid forbid chronic lunatic grid frigid colic lymphatic hid hybrid comic magnetic kid morbid critic majestic lid orchid cynic mechanic quid placid drastic mimetic rid rabid hectic memphitic slid solid physic narcotic squid sordid picnic nomadic acid torpid plastic pacific amid turgid rustic pathetic arid bide acrostic phlegmatic bestrid bead agnostic aquatic plethoric poetic eyelid florid free'd artistic bucolic politic prophetic Also the preterites of verbs in ry ; as married, buried. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 339 IJJii bide beside 1UST didst ritfst bride bestride midst read'st chide collide amidst glide confide Also the second person singular gride * decide of verbs in id ; as bidd'st. guide deride hide divide nide f misguide IE (see Y) pied | preside pride provide IEF ride reside side subside beef thief slide parricide brief belief stride regicide tide subdivide chief relief fief . deaf wide suicide grief clef abide . infanticide lief chef aside bead sheaf leaf astride bid reef cliff betide Also the preterites of verbs in IEGE ie, y ; as died, defied, and sigh'd. liege assiege IDES siege besiege Ides beads IELD besides bids Also the plurals of nouns and field afield the preterites of verbs in ide ; as shield heaVd tides, rides. weald weald wield gild IDGE compare AGE yield bridge steerage Also the preterites of verbs in eel; as wheel'd. fidge privilege midge sacrilege ridge age IEN (see EAN) abridge edge college IEND (see END) * Obsolete. To smite, pierce. Through his thigh the mortal steel did gride. Spenser, \ Nest, or brood. A nide of pheasants. Johnson. J Of different colours, variegated. Meadows trim, with daisies pied. Milton. ,34 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. IERCE (see SREE) sift thrift adrift snowdrift tiff'd spendthrift IES (see IS, ISE) whiff 't IG IEST (see EAST) big dig snig sprig IEVE (see EAVE) gig cfnj? swig twig whig cliff skiff IF, IFF caliph dandriff 112T pgr rig wig whirligig league fatigue sniff midwife stiff plaintiff tiff sheriff whiff hieroglyph caitiff fife oblige (no rhyme) IGE siege IGH (see Y, first list] IFE* fife strife IGHT (see ITE) knife wife life rife cliff leaf IGN (see INE) IGUE (see EAGUE) IFT drift rift IKEt gift lift shift shrift f dike glike like pike * The memories of an ante-natal life Made this, where now he dwelt, a penal hell ; And others said that such mysterious grief, &c. Shelley. J- Confession ; from shrive. Compare Shrove Tuesday. J If straight thy track, or if oblique. Thou knowest not. Shadows thou dost strike. Embracing cloud, Ixion-like. Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES, 341 shrike spike strike alike dislike leak antique lick ILD child gild mild build wild fill'd Also the preterites of verbs in He; as smil'd, revil'd. ILE Words terminating in He with the accent on the penultimate have the final i short generally; as hostile (hostil). The following are ex- ceptions : edile, exile, gentile, pensile, profile. When the accent is on the antepenultimate the same rule gen- erally holds good ; as in juvenile, puerile : exceptions camomile, re- concile. Both sounds, however, form passable rhymes. In reading poetry, it is advisable to give the long sound to i in all such words, except when rhyme demands the short one ; e.g. " fertile vales," wind for wind. aisle bile chyle file guile isle mile pile smile stile style tile vile while awhile beguile compile defile edile ere while exile gentile pensile revile crocodile reconcile bibliophile bill boil ILL * compare ILE bill chill drill fill frill gill grill hill ill kill mill pill quill rill shrill skill spill still swill thrill till trill will distil fulfil idyll instil missile pencil peril Sibyl codicil daffodil deshabille utensil file feel peal Also many words in He accented on the penultimate or antepenulti. mate syllable ; as fertile, juvenile- (See note under ILE.) bilk f milk built gilt guilt ILK silk ILT hilt jilt , milt * Thy stone, O Sisyphus, stands still; Ixion rests upon his wheel. Dry den, f Vulgar, to cheat, deceive. But be sure, says he, you don't bilk me. Addison. 342 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. quilt stilt IMP spilt tilt gimp limp ILTH imp pimp jimp filth spilth * tilth IMPSE IM glimpse limps brim skim dim slim IN compare INE glim t trim grim whim bin griffin him pilgrim hymn pseudonym limb synonym chin din fin margin maudlin muffin limn time gin raisin prim team grin ruin rim inn sanguine TTVfT? kin satin llvlr. lin tiffin chime rhyme pin tocsin climb slime shin virgin clime time sin urchin crime thyme skin welkin grime sublime spin cannakin lime maritime thin javelin mime t overtime tin kilderkin prime him twin mandolin whin manikin IMES win origin betimes beams akin palanquin sometimes swims begin violin Also the plurals of nouns, and the third person singular of verbs in ime ; as times, rhymes. buskin chagrin codlin dine dean machine * Nearly obsolete. From spill, used by Shakspere and Browning, f Nautical. Alight. " Dowse the glim." { One who mimics, a buffoon, a farce. " Scaliger defines a mime to be a poem imitating any action to stir up laughter." Milton. Death forerunneth love, to win Sweetest eyes were ever seen. E. B. Browning. |! And let me the canakin clink : A soldier's a man, A life's but a span, Why then, let the soldier drink. Shakspere. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 343 INCE prince quince clinch finch inch link'd tinct distinct extinct since wince convince evince INCH pinch winch INCT instinct precinct succinct IND* bind wind blind behind find remind grind unkind kind rescind mind join'd rind Also the preterites of verbs in ine ; as twin'd. INE compare EAN There is no certain rule as to the letter i in the suffix ine being long or short, but in either case words so ending form passable rhymes. It is long in feline, confine, crystalline, turpentine, &c. ; short in genuine, heroine, jessamine, medicine, &c. ; in such words as alkaline, uterine, custom is unsettled. brine chine dine eyne t fine entwine kine incline linee indign min opine nine recline pine refine shine repine sign saline sine supine shrine alkaline syne brigantine thine columbine trine concubine twine countermine vine crystalline whine incarnadine wine interline assign leonine combine porcupine condign superfine confine turpentine consign undermine decline tin define genuine design heroine divine adamantine enshrine loin ING bring string cling swing g in g thing fling wing king wring ring darling sing foundling sling starling spring sterling sting stripling * Best seemed the thing he was, and joined And native growth of noble mind. Tennyson. \ This archaic plural cf eye is formed regularly by the old suffix en; as in oxen, eyen, eyne. 344 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. suckling underling IP yearling Also the present participles of verbs, and participial adjectives in ing ; as drinking, laughing. chip whip clip courtship dip cowslip drip equip INGE hip friendship lip gossip cringe tinge dinge twinge fringe lozenge hinge infringe singe orange nip hardship rip horsewhip pip landslip scrip township ship tulip springe syringe swinge sip turnip skip worship slip fellowship INK snip workmanship strip wipe blink sink tip weep brink skink trip chink slink clink stink IPE drink swink ink think gripe wipe link wink pipe archetype pink zinc ripe prototype rink bethink snipe stereotype shrink forethink stripe tip type weep INT dint quint flint squint hint tint lint asquint IPSE Eclipse rhymes with the plurals of nouns, and the third person singular of verbs in ip ; as nips, clips. mint imprint print pipes wipes INTH IQUE (see EAK) absinthe hyacinth plinth labyrinth IR (see ER) INX IRCH (see URCH) jinks sphinx minx 'IRD (see URD) DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 345 IRE compare AR, ER dire aspire fire attire gyre conspire hire desire ire entire lyre expire mire inspire pyre inquire quire require sire retire spire satire squire transpire tire umpire wire friar acquire prior admire satyr I RGB (see ERGE) IRK burke murk dirk perk* firk quirk f jerk smirk kirk stirk lurk work IRL (see URL) IRM chirm. affirm firm confirm term infirm worm IRST (see URST) IRT (see ERT) birth dearth earth mirth worth north IS, IZ his whiz fizz breeches phiz rise Also the plurals of many nouns in cy, sy ; as mercies. * From perch, to set up, pert, proud. To be perked up in glistering grief. Shakespere. Pert as a peacock. Spenser. f A jerk, twist, quick stroke, quibble, retort. Iv'e felt so many quirks of joy and grief. Shakspere. I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me. Shakspere. Like quirks of music, broken and uneven. Pope, J Or when the deep green-mantled Earth Warm-cherish'd every flow'ret's birth, And joy and music pouring forth In every grove. Burns. Dissolve me into ecstasies, And bring all heaven before mine eyes. Milton. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. bliss hiss kiss miss spiss this wis abyss amis axis chalice crisis dais dismiss gratis jaundice lattice lettuce notice novice phthisis remiss guise prize rise size wise ss* devise exercise disguise idolise service thesis analysis antithesis artifice chrysalis emphasis paralysis prejudice prolapsis synthesis verdigris excise premise revise supplies surmise surprise agonise authorise canonise catechise circumcise civilise pulverise realise improvise sacrifise signalise solemnise summarise sympathise tyrannise immortalise systematise ice amanuensis criticise hiss aposiopesis diagnosis metamorphosis metempsychosis enterprise Also the of verbs in y ; third person singular as cries, tries. metropolis necropolis parenthesis ISH nice lease cuish J parish dish perish 1*h/TV*> T(~*P* fish radish t-jJCl. Ac; 1 \^> d pish relish advise banish squeamish assize cherish rubbish chastise finish astonish comprise flourish demolish despise nourish * When beneath the palace lattice, You ride slow as you have done, And you see a face there that is Not the old familiar one. E. B. Browning. J- If all was good and fair we met, This earth had been the Paradise It never looked to human eyes Since our first sun arose and set. Tennyson. \ Or cuisse : the armour for the thigh. I saw young Harry with his bearer on, His cuishes on his thigh, gallantly armed, Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury. Shakspere. DICTION AR Y OF RHYMES. 347 ISK persist pessimist brisk disc frisk risk whisk basilisk obelisk odalisque tamarisk resist sophist subsist alchemist amethyst annalist pianist pugilist rhapsodist ritualist satirist socialist analyst vocalist ISM bigamist anatomist dogmatist antagonist chrism nepotism eucharist diplomatist prism organism exorcist evangelist schism occultism herbalist rationalist abysm optimism humourist ic'd altruism pantheism oculist sited baptism pessimism optimist lac j d deism plagiarism organist theism radicalism Also the preterites of verbs in truism realism iss ; as hiss'd aphorism socialism barbarism solecism IT cataclysm criticism stoicism syllogism bit commit egotism euphemism euphuism heroism vandalism vulgarism cn 't witticism anachronism emit forfeit hermit minute hypnotism mesmerism malthusianism chasm grit hit omit outwit mysticism knit pit orbit permit quit pewit ISP sit rabbit split refit crisp wisp twit remit lisp whit submit wit transmit 1ST writ . benefit acquit Jesuit fist chemist admit perquisite list consist biscuit beat mist desist bowsprit bite twist dentist whist exist ITCH wrist insist assist linguist bitch fitch artist papist ditch flitch DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. hitch which incite disunite itch witch indict appetite niche bewitch indite coenobite stitch enrich invite dynamite switch etch midnight expedite pitch hatch moonlight oversight rich botch polite parasite twitch recite proselyte requite reunite ITE * twilight satellite unite stalactite In the suffix ite the i is long in the great majority of words, as it is in all proper adjectives, like Puseyite. In the following it is short : respite, granite, favourite, infinite, hypocrite, apposite, requisite, &c. upright zoophyte aconite acolyte anchorite sybarite archimandrite wit fa-vozirite eight bite slight blight smite ITHJ bright spite cite sprite frith sith dight f tight fight trite kith pith smith zenith flight white with fright wight (this word has no perfect rhyme) height write kite accite knight affright 1THE light alight blithe tithe mite aright hithe writhe night bedight lithe with pight benight scythe plight contrite quite delight right despite IVE (as in dive) rite excite dive five s ght foresight drive gyve * Nor lose for that malignant dull delight, The generous pleasure to be charmed with wit. Pope. f Obsolete : to dress, deck. Storied windows richly dight, Casting a dim, religious light. Milton, J From the noontide zenith ; Named as fancy weeneth, E. B. Browning. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 349 hive connive mechanics mathematics rive contrive hydrostatics rheumatics shrive deprive Also the plurals of nouns in icks strive derive as bricks. thrive revive alive survive IZE (see ISE) arrive IVE* (as in give) O give live sieve active forgive perspective positive punitive purgative relative ago beau dough foe fro photo plateau polo quarto rondeau furtive sensitive solo massive subjective stingo motive talkative zero native affirmative apropos outlive contemplative calico passive pensive restive demonstrative diminutive distributive UIl roe sloe cameo comme il faut domino suasive votive fugitive laxative imaginative inquisitive prerogative submissive though throe woe ago de novo embryo falsetto fandango narrative objective restorative banjo bureau chapeau folio indigo in petto TY chateau libretto 1-A. cocoa mistletoe fix onyx dado mulatto six prefix depot octavo mix statics echo piano nix transfix grotto portmanteau affix crucifix gusto sirocco matrix intermix negro soprano We lived a day as we were wont to live, But Nature had a robe of glory on, And the bright air o'er every shape did weave Intenser hues. Shelley. Wasps in a bottle, frogs in a sieve, Worms in a carcase, fleas in a. sleeve. R. Browning. 350 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. stiletto braggadocio OAT (see OTE) tobacco imbroglio tomato magnifico tornado innuendo OATH (see OTH) torpedo oratorio virago peccadillo volcano seraglio OB adagio generalissimo duodecimo quid pro quo bob cob sob squab fob swab OACH hob throb broach encroach brooch reproach coach fiorch loach notch lob knob mob nob rob cabob hobnob nabob orb oJnbp poach much givu abroach church approach QBE OAD (see ODE) globe lobe conglobe rob probe rub OAF (see OFF) robe -. OAK (see OKE) OCE (see OSE) OAL (see OLE) OCK block stock OAM (see OME) brock toque cock rock OAN (see ONE) clock crock bannock bullock dock havoc OAP (see OPE) flock haycock frock hillock OAR (see ORE) hough knock padlock peacock lock pibroch OARD (see ORD) lough mock shamrock oak shock look OAST (see OST) sock buck DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 351 OCX ODGE decoct cooked bodge lodge concoct yoHd dodge podge Also the preterites of verbs in ock ; as shock'd. OFF cod clod God hod OD* rod shod sod tod cough doff off scoff trough loaf roof rough nod trod odd wad OFT plod ode 1 pod ow'd croft soft quad blood cough'd scofFd quod oft aloft ODEf OG, OGUE bode commode code corrode bog shog goad explode clog agog load- forebode cog prologue mode a-la-mode dog catalogue node episode grogt demagogue ode incommode hog dialogue road ow'd fog epilogue rode hood frog pedagogue toad hod jog synagogue woad fraud log rogue abode prog prorogue * " An honest man's the nobl'st work of God " ; And certes in fair virtue's heavenly road The cottage leaves the palace far behind : What is a lordling's pomp ? a cumbrous load. Burns. Eight times emerging from the flood, She mew'd* to every watery God. Cowper. f In vain the barns expect their promis'd load, Nor barns at home, nor ricks are heaped abroad. Dryden. I " Old Grog " was a nickname for Admiral Vernon of the seventeenth century, on account of remarkable gogram overalls he wore in bad weather. It was then applied to a mixture of hot spirits, which he was the first to introduce. 35? DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. OICE* compare OISE choice vice voice wise rejoice toys DID amyloid cycloid spheroid bide void avoid devoid asteroid alkaloid Also the preterites of verbs in oy ; as buoy'd. boil coil foil moil oil soil spoil toil com foin groin join loin OILf dsepoil embroil recoil turmoil mile cole while OIN proin quoin adjoin disjoin enjoin purloin rejoin subjoin sirloin joint oint point anoint appoint fine thine sign OINT aroynt \ disjoint counterpoint disappoint pint OISE compare OICE noise wise poise sighs counterpoise tries equipoise voice Also the plurals ot nouns, and the preterite of verbs in oy ; as toys, employs. foist hoist moist coit doit || quoit GIST rejoic'd splic'd on adroit exploit dacoit And sits among his boys ; He hears the parson pray and preach ; He hears his daughter's voice. Longfellow. f Some soothe the lab'rer's weary toil For humble gains, And make his cottage scenes beguile His cares and pains. Burns. t Plague on you ! Begone ! a Aroynt thee, witch, aroynt thee! Shakspere. When ripen'd fields and azure skies, Call'd forth the reaper's rustling noise. Burns. || Through the French doigt, finger. " As much brass as can be covered with the tip of the finger "; a small Dutch and Scotch coin ; any small piece. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay put ten to see a dead Indian. Shakspere. He slept, poor dog ! and lost it (purse of gold) to a doit. Pope. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 353 broke cloak croak folk joke oak poke smoke soak spoke stroke doll loll poll carol extol OKH * yoke yolk awoke bespoke invoke revoke artichoke rook work walk OL alcohol capitol droll hole all OLEf compare OWL bole coal dole droll foal goal hole jole mole pole role shoal sole stole stol'n whole cajole condole console Creole parole pistole aureole girandole girasole bowl owl full 'fool OLN swol'n OLT OLD bold behold cold cuckold fold enfold gold hold foretold freehold mould unfold old scold uphold withhold sold manifold told wold marigold pttird Also the oil, ole, owl ; preterites of verbs in as roll'd, bowl'd. bolt colt dolt holt solve absolve convolve devolve OLVE dissolve involve resolve revolve OM see UM * So strong they struck, There seemed less force required to fell an oak. Dry den. \ The lightnings flash from pole to pole, Near and more near the thunders roll. Bruce. This foot once planted on the goal, This glory-garland round my soul. K. Browning. 354 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. OMB see OOM OME compare OOM dome tome foam hiim home come loam dumb mome tomb roam OMP pomp romp swamp ON * compare UN con pardon don parson gone poison swan prison anon reason arson season bonbon squadron canon tendon cannon amazon colon battalion felon cinnamon iron clarion lemon dies non jargon environ mammon halcyon * See ! the lightnings yawn Deluging heaven with fire, and the lash'd deeps Glitter and boil beneath : it rages on, One mighty stream, whirlwind and waves vpthrown. Shelley. Like whirlpools of fire-flowing iron, With splendour and terror the black ship environ Shelley That low man goes on adding one to one ; That high man aiming at a million. R. Browning. f I heard, alone, The pity and the love of every tone : But to the snake those accents sweet were known but winding on. Shelley. horizon criterion lexicon million myrmidon \ diapason phenomerron sine qua non orison run pro et con simpleton automaton won own ONCE (see UNCE) OND bond conn'd despond second donn'd fond correspond diamond pond abscond vagabond stunrid almond moarfd beyond ONEt compare OWN bone moan cone drone prone stone groan hone tone throne loan zone lone alone DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 355 atone undertone rue cuckoo dethrone own screw- debut enthrone dawn shrew imbrue postpone moon monotone dun slew threw shampoo taboo telephone through tattoo 1 too undo ONG * true withdrew long among prong belong two who yahoo billet-doux song ding-dong strong prolong thong bon-vivant woo you accrue entre nous cockatoo kangaroo throng hung wrong tongue along ado bamboo bas-blue knew hue Z canoe ONK (see UNK) OODf compare UI), UDK ONSE (see UNCE) brood woo'd brew'd fettd ONT compare UNT ont don't coo'd food mcod attitude good cud want wont rude front OO compare E\V OOF blew crew blue drew hoof behoof brew glue oofj disproof chew grew proof reproof clue coup roof rujjF coo fou woof enough loo canoe aloof off " * When youthful love, warm-blushing, strong, Keen-shiv'ring shot thy nerves along, Those accents grateful to thy tongue, &c. Burns. f When mankind doth strive With its oppressors in a strife of blood, Or when free thoughts, like lightnings, are alive ; And in each bosom of the multitude Justice and truth, with Custom's hydra brood, Wuge silent war. Shelley. * Slang ; coin, " the needful." 356 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. OOK compare UCK* soon poltroon book shook brook took cook betook crook forsook fluke mistook hook undertook spoon pontoon swoon quadroon balloon shalloon basoon simoon buffoon typhoon cartoon honeymoon cocoon octoroon look buck rook broke dragoon pantaloon festoon tune lagoon hewn OOL compare ULE lampoon dun monsoon moan buhl tool cool befool fool cesspool OOP pool pule rule pull school pole coop stoop droop stoup spool role stool group troop hoop whoop loop nincompoop poop dupe OOM compare UME t scoop hope bloom tomb sloop hop doom whom soup gloom womb groom entomb OOR compare ORE, URE loom spume plume home boor detour rheum comb moor paramour room thumb poor bore sure door spoom tour pure OON compare UNE your power amour tower boon noon contour croon prune moon shoon \ OOSE (see UCE) * The mother cow must wear a low'ring look, Sour-headed, strongly neck'd, to bear the yoke. Dry den. \ Alas ! regardless of their doom, The little victims play ! No sense have they of ills to come. Grc.y. + Provincialism. Plural of shoe. DICTIONARY Ol- RHYMES. 357 c OT compare UTE bishop develop boot soot * collop envelop coot flute hoot cheroot uproot vote gallop scallop trollop cope cup coop loot coat moot foot OPE root got shoot *j cope elope hope antelope OOTH t grope mope envelope heliotrope booth youth smooth Irnth ope pope horoscope interlope soothe uncouth rope kaleidoscope tooth both soap microscope scope misanthrope OOVE (see OVE) slope trope telescope ll()(}f) aslope hop OOZE (see USE) OR{ com pan- ER, ORE OP corps flavour chop prop tor horror crop shop war honour drop slop abhor labour flop strop anchor mirror fop sop author motor hop stop doctor parlour mop swop donor prior pop top hector sailor * This word may rhyme with boot or but. \ Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth ? Curse on his perjured arts ! dissembling smooth. Burns. And all hearts pray, " God love her ! " Ay, and certes, in good sooth, We may all be sure He doth." E. B. Browning. \ Would I had been some maiden coarse and poor ' O me, that I should ever see the light ! Those dragon eyes of anger'd Eleanor Do haunt me day and night. Tennyson. I will look out to his future, Should he ever be a suitor. K. Ii.' Browning. O.j DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. sculptor metaphor floor adore stupor orator foer afore suitor saviour gore ashore tailor senator lore claymore tenor warrior more deplore traitor alligator oar encore tutor ambassador o'er explore vendor competitor ore forebore victor conspirator pore foreswore ancestor excelsior pour implore auditor progenitor roar restore bachelor solicitor score albicore chancellor awe shore hellebore conqueror caw snore heretofore creator bore soar sycamore creditor hoar sore troubadour counsellor ^out- store poor emperor err swore tour governor sir tore hour whore power ORCE (see ORSE) wore tower yore ORCH ORGE porch march scorch lurch forge regorge torch birch gorge urge disgorge diri>\' ORD board aboard OKK coin pare ALK cord ford hoard horde lord accord afford implor'd record word cork fork ork pork stork ivalk work coke roar"d bird sword stirr'd abhorr'd code ORM form transform ORE compare OOR storm conform misinform multiform O H 1"" deform uniform \} i\ i_- inform arm boar core perform worm bore door reform DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 359 ORN compare AWN retort taut * born borne , ought foresworn caught forlorn hurt shirt corn lovelorn horn suborn ORTH lorn Capricorn forth worth morn chloroform fourth earth scorn multiform north mirth shorn overborne j wrat } l sorn thunderstorm sworn unicorn OS (see OSS) thorn uniform torn bourn OSE, OZE t worn mourn adorn urn chose expose foreborne concern close (verb) foreclose doze impose i foes oppose ORSE, ORCE froze goes propose repose coarse endorse gjj 5 * suppose transpose corse course force horse morse . remorse unhorse worse hearse purse nose pose prose rose those discompose interpose presuppose recompose- gross torse toes dose arose jocose ORT compare OUGHT compose depose morose bellicose court wart : disclose choose fort cohort dispose lose mort consort enclose glows port distort short exhort OSS snort extort sort report boss doss tort resort cross dross * Nautical term : tight (Dana). t Yet all beneath the unrivall'd rose The lovely daisy sweetly blows. Burns J To flatter, wheedle, gloss over. So glased the tempter. Milton. 3 Go loss moss across bathos chaos emboss cost frost lost . toss'd accost holocaust blot clot cot got grot hot jot knot lot DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. albatross asbestos close dose tts OST* exhaust ghost toast mrist roost OTf not plot pot quat rot shot sot spot squat trot yacht allot ballot bigot boycot complot forgot apricot blotch botch crotch bloat boat coat dotej float goat gloat groat lote moat counterplot idiot melilot polyglot vote qtiote but ought OTCH notch watch such OTE mote note quote rote smote throat tote vote \\rote As silent as a ghost With solemn speed, and stunning music cross'd. Shelley. I feel it when I sorrow most : Tis better to have loved and lost, Than never to have loved at all. Tennyson. t For many a beast to dead she shot, And perish'd mony a bonnie boat. Burns. And mercy, encouraging thought ! Gives even affliction a grace, And reconciles man to his lot. Cowper. Still moving after truth long sought, Will learn new things when I am not. Tennyson. J To rave, to drivel, be overfond. I never knew a woman, so dote upon a man. Shakspere. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 361 afloat antidote OUGH denote devote lifeboat misquote asymptote petticoat table d'h6te flout This much abused combination of letters the terror of foreigners who try to speak our tongue has no fewer than nine different sounds. promote cot as enumerated below. remote anecdote boot cough as in off chough . rough 1 DTH slough > ,, stuff \J J. J.J. sough \ broth troth tough / cloth wrath bough ) froth oath plough f " moth sloth growth doth hough ) , , lough | " lock hiccough ,, cup : slough ,, slow OTHE (see OOTH) through ,, too dough I clothe sooth though } " loathe smooth ought ) thought J " awe OU (see OO and OW) OUGHT compare ORT aught taught OUCH bought thought brought wrought couch vouch caught besought crouch avouch fought bethought ouch barouche fraught forethought pouch coach naught methought slouch such nought knot ought yacht sought note OUD cloud enshroud OUL (see OLE, OWL) crowd o'ercloud loud proud o'ershroud flowed OULU (see OLD, UD) shroud flood aloud mud OUNCE Also the preterites of some bounce ounce verbs in ote/; as bow'd. flounce pounce 362 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. denounce renounce OURN (see ORN, URN) pronounce OUND* OURS bound around ours ores found compound moors , stirs frown'd confound cures ground expound hound profound mound propound The plurals of nouns and the third person singular of verbs in our, ower; as hours, towers, devours. pound rebound round resound OURSE (see ORSE) sound surround wound (to wind) wound (woond) OUS (see US) abound moaifd aground OUSE compare OVVSK OUNT chouse nous f count miscount fount remount dowse rouse grouse spouse house use mount surmount account want louse noose amount punt mouse discount don't O.UTJ dismount . bout stout OUP (see OOP) clout tout doubt trout OUR compare OOR, ORE drought about gout devout bower tower grout misdoubt dower deflower out redoubt cower devour pout throughout flour mower rout without hour four scout boat lour poor shout vote power pure snout lute scour her spout boot sour sprout * Hope that blessed me, bliss that crowned, Love, that left me with a wound, Life itself, that turneth round. E. B. Browning. f The Greek word for mind, understanding ; expressively used to imply common sense, tact, gumption. J His ears alone pricked out: Each one pointing to his throat. E. B. Browning,' DICTIONARY O/-~ RHYMES. 363 OUTH * OWf compare OO drouth truth As in LOW mouth south youth smooth blow bow trow below mouth crow bestow (the verb, which has no rhyme) flow billow glow callow OVE f grow fallow Asm LOVE know foreknow dove glove shove above low mow owe pillow sallow shallow love row swallow As in PROVE sew wallow . move disprove sow willow groove disapprove show window prove improve j slough winnow approve reprove , slow yellow As in WOVE; snow outgrow clove strove stow overflow drove throve strow overthrow throw grove wove hove alcove As in NOW rove behove bough brow stove interwove bow * The low cares of the mouth, The trouble uncouth. R. Browning. t And such is Nature's law divine, that those Who grow together cannot choose but love, If faith or custom do not interpose, Or common slavery mar what else might move All gentlest thoughts, as in the sacred grove, &c. Shelley. J That mocks the tear it forced to flow- Amid severest woe. Gray. To paint with Thomson's landscape glow, Or wake thy bosom-melting throe With Shenstone's art. Burns. 1 know not yet was it a dream or no, In hues which, when through memory's waste they flow, Make their divided streams more bright and rapid now. Shelley. The shadows flicker to and fro, The cricket chirps, the light burns low. Tennyson. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. cow sow OWSE frau thou blowze t trouse how vow browse carouse now allow plough avow house (verb) espouse rouse hose prow endow row disallow spouse those touse * Also the plurals of some nouns OWL compare OLE and the 3rd person singular of verbs The sounds of owl in bowl and in ow ', as, brows, allows. howl, and of ole in hole are so similar as to be allowed to pass as almost OX perfect rhymes. box paradox bowl scowl fox heterodox cowl soul ox oaks fowl toll equinox sucks ghoul troll orthodox growl control Also the plurals of nouns, and howl enrol the 3rd person singular of verbs in owl patrol ock ; as, cocks, mocks. poll hole nv prowl dull \j i roll fool boy annoy buoy convoy OWN * compare ONE cloy decoy coy destroy The sounds of own in bloK'ti and frown, and of one in stone are so similar as to be allowed to pass as joy employ toy enjoy almost perfect rhymes. alloy sepoy blown shown brown strewn OZI-: (seeOSE) clown thrown U (see EW) crown town down adown drown embrown Perhaps no one of our vowels is so frequently mispronounced as the 11, especially in the north of frown renown England. The rapid repetition of gown tone such a short list of words as put, but. mown dawn pulpit, sugar, understood, will be found to be almost an invariable noun noon shibboleth for the detection of York- own shire and Lancashire men. * When I contemplate all alone To which thy crescent would hzvegroivn. Tennyson. f Cognate with blush : a ruddy, fat-faced wench. Sweet blowze, you are a beauteous blossom, sure. Shakspere. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 365 UB UCK chub shrub buck suck club slub duck truck cub snub luck tuck drub tub muck book dub hubbub* pluck dnke grub beelzebub struck hub tube rub rob UCT UBE suck'd obstruct cube jujube conduct duck'd aqueduct viaduct tube tub deduct hook'd instruct pitted UCE deuce induce UD f goose misuse blood rud juice moose obtuse produce bud could wood would puce sluice spruce truce use (noun) abuse obstruse conduce deduce propose recluse reduce seduce traduce introduce noose news dose cud flood good hood mud scud should stood oil Which time thus make-, for the devouring tomb. Shelley. Mumm. to mask, to act or sport in disguise; hence, mummer, mummerv. Mum, silent, and silence. "Mum's the word." The citizens are mum. Shaksfcre. 368 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. plum millennium lump stump scum minimum plump thump slum opium pump trump sum overcome rump swum pendulum thrum thumb quarrelsome solatium UN compare ON * become troublesome done tun gruesome auditorium j dun won gypsum crematorium gun begun handsome delirium none boatswain hansom gymnasium nun coxswain humdrum encomium one undone laudanum interregnum pun comparison phantom memorandum run garrison succumb opprobrium shun onion winsome palladium son skeleton asylum pandemonium spun union burdensome residuum stun don cumbersome symposium sun time frolicsome fume ton tone humoursome rheum mausoleum tomb maximum hecatomb UNCE unce sconce UME compart OOM once fume plume resume velume UNCH assume doom bunch munch consume tomb crunch punch deplume comb hunch scrunch perfume come lunch presume ' UND UMP fund refund bump frump shunn d moribund clump jump stunn'd hoztfid When thus, not rising from his lofty throne, In state unmov'd, the king of men begun. Dryden. But no power to seek or shun, He is ever drifted on. Shelley. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 369 UNE compare OON UP hewn importune cup stirrup tune soon dup syrup jejune sun pup soap untune sup group UNO hiccough dupe bung stung clung sung UPT dung flung hung swung tongue wrung abrupt corrupt supp'd interrupt rung slung young among UR (see ER) sprung unsung strung song URB curb disturb UNGE herb suburb lunge sponge verb orb plunge expunge URCH (see ERCH) UNK bunk shrunk URD chunk skunk bird referred drunk slunk curd broad funk* spunk f gird cord hunk stunk stirr'd cur'd junk sunk word injur'd monk trunk absurd punk URE UNT cure skewer blunt hunt dure abjure brunt runt \ ewer adjure front wont lure allure grunt pure azure * Stench, to emit a stink. Also, as slang, to turn coward. t Rotten wood, tinder. Also spirit, mettle, pluck (vulgar). * A small or stunted bullock or other animal. In Scotland, a little old woman. Dup, to do up ; as don, to do on ; doff, to do off; to open, used by Shakspere. BB 370 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. brochure epicure conjure forfeiture girl twirl hurl uncurl demure immature pearl unfurl endure miniature purlf immure overture inure portraiture URLD manure sinecure mature investiture world obscure temperature The preterites of verbs in url; ordure primogeniture as, furl'd, hurl'd. procure oor secure sure calenture cur URN (see ERN) coverture furniture cynosure * URP URF chirp extirp scurf surf discerp usurp serf turf URSE (see ERSE) URGE (see ERGE) URK (see IRK) URST burst worst URL curst accurst durst vers'd churl earl first dispers'd curl furl thrist immers'd * Literally, a dog's tail. A name of the constellation Ursa minor, which contains, in the tail, the Pole star, hence a centre of attraction. As seamen that are run Far northward find long winters to be light, And in the cynosure adore the sun. Davenant, Where perhaps some beauty lies, The cynosure of neighbouring eyes. Milton. f Contracted from purfle: an embroidered, puckered border; a drink made of hot beer, gin, &c. Also to flow, to murmur, to ripple. A purling stream. Pope. From his lips did fly Thin winding breath, which purled up to the sky. Shakspere. DICTIONARY OF RHYMKS. 371 URT (see ERT) tyrannous indigenous valorous libidinous T T C* /*"\T Tf venomous oleaginous US, OUS vigorous magnanimous buss bus thus glutinous gluttonous hazardous villainous miraculous adventurous necessitous adulteress obstreperous truss hideous ambiguous odoriferous us humorous calamitous omnivorous bulbous bumptious callous impetuous incubus infamous cadaverous pachydermatous calcareous ridiculous cantankerous solicitous caucus lecherous diaphanous somniferous cautious libellous fortuitous thaumaturgus circus crocus litigious luminous gratuitous victorious harmonious viviparous discuss marvellous hilarious vociferous focus mischievous hocus-pocus ubiquitous gracious grievous mountainous mutinous idolatrous unanimous ignis fatuus ungenerous heinous numerous impecunious use litmus odious impetuous loose mucus odorous ignoramus dose nervous ominous incredulous house nimbus omnibus pious overplus porous perilous rebus poisonous vicious ponderous USE amorous populous arquebuse prosperous booze diffuse bibulous pugnacious bruise disuse (verb) blasphemous ravenous choose excuse boisterous rigorous lose infuse clamorous riotous muse misuse credulous ruinous noose peruse curious scandalous ooze refuse dangerous scrupulous ruse suffuse delicious sedulous shoes transfuse dolorous serious use (verb) dose emulous slanderous abuse does fabulous sonorous accuse buzz frivolous stimulus amuse foes garrulous timorous Also the plurals of nouns and generous glorious traitorous treacherous the third person singular of verbs in ew and tie ; as dews, sues. 372 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. USH UTCH blush hush clutch such brush lush crutch touch bush push hutch retouch crush rush much flush thrush frush tush gush UTE* compare GOT USK bruit refute brusque musk brute repute lusk tusk cute salute husk flute absolute fruit attribute UST lute constitute bust crust dust discuss'd disgust distrust mute newt suit contribute destitute dissolute just lust must focuss'd locust intrust acute compute confute execute institute parachute rust mistrust depute persecute thrust trust adjust robust unjust dilute dispute impute mfnute prosecute resolute substitute boot pollute boat UT recruit but butt soot cut strut glut abut gut gamut UX hut catgut jut englut crux reflux nut rebut dux oaks rut walnut flux jokes scut foot lux cooks shut slut boot lute Also the plurals of nouns and the third person singular of verbs in smut uck ; as trucks, sucks. She glanced upwardly mute : " My own wife ! " he said, and fell stark at her foot. E. B. Browning. DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. 373 As an end letter y has two sounds, the long 7, as in mile, and the short f, as in mill, the former rhyming perfectly with such words as die, sigh, the latter allowably with he, see, &c. Both, however, are used indiscriminately by all our poets ; but for convenience' sake, lists of words of the two sounds are given separately. Y long, as in eye. ay sigh buy sky cry sly die spy dry sty eye thigh fie tie fry try hie vie high why lie ally nigh apply pie awry ply belie pry comply rye decry ; defy mortify deny multiply descry pacify imply petrify espy prophesy ! outvie purify outfly putrefy rely qualify reply ramify supply rarefy untie ratify amplify rectify beautify sanctify certify satisfy crucify scarify deify signify dignify simplify edify specify falsify stupefy fortify terrify fructify testify gratify verify glorify villify horrify vivify justify indemnify magnify intensify modify lullaby mollify solidify Here shall he see No enemy, But winter and rough weather. Shakspere. And in thy right hand lead with thee, The mountain nymph, sweet Liberty. Milton. Suddenly She would arise, and like the secret bird, Whom sunset wakens, fill the shore and sky With her sweet accents a wild melody ! Shelley. Dissolved the mystery Of folded sleep. The captain of my dreams Ruled in the eastern sky. Tennyson. And thou, perchance, art more than 7, And yet I spare them sympathy. Tennyson. 374 DICTIONARY OF RHYMES. Y short, as ty in diity beauty kindly bonnie kingly brandy knightly busy lady comely lastly cosy lonely crazy lordly crusty lovely curly manly daily marry dainty meanly dally merry dandy misty doubly mouldy dreamy nasty duly neatly dusk nearly duty nobly empty noisy filly orgie gaily palmy gaudy palfrey ghastly paltry glory party gory parsley greedy pastry grumpy petty guilty pigmy happy poorly haughty portly hearty posy heavy pretty homely princely honey proudly hourly pulley humbly purely hungry queenly hurry quickly jaunty racy jetty rally jerky rarely jockey rosy jury rocky justly roughly lily ruby ruddy canopy rudely cavalry saintly charity saucy chastity scurvy chemistry singly chivalry simply clemency sleepy colony snappy comedy sorry company sunny constancy steady cosily strophe contrary study courtesy sweetly cruelty tally daintily tardy dairy thirsty decency trophy destiny truly diary trusty dignity twenty drapery ugly drollery vainly drudgery vary ecstasy wary elegy weary embassy wealthy enemy whisky energy worthy equity academy eulogy agony euphony amity factory anarchy family apathy fallacy artery fealty augury fecundity battery finery beggary flattery bigamy foolery bigotry foolishly blasphemy gaiety botany gallantry bravery gallery bribery galaxy brevity granary calumny gravity DICTION AR Y OF RHYMES. 375 haughtily poesy victory democracy history poetry villainy discovery honesty policy votary dishonesty idolatry potency watery dexterity industry poverty wearily disparity injury primary wantonly diversity infamy privacy womanly divinity infancy prodigy worthily dormitory infantry progeny absurdity doxology jollity prosody activity duplicity knavery purity adversity electricity laity quality affability emergency laxity quantity affinity enormity legacy raillery agility equanimity leprosy rectory alacrity eternity lethargy regency allegory etymology levity remedy ambiguity extempore liberty ribaldry anatomy extraordinary library rivalry animosity extremity livery robbery antiquity familiarity lottery royalty anxiety fatality loyalty salary apostasy fecundity lunacy sanctity apostrophe felicity majesty secrecy aristocracy ferocity malady simony astronomy fertility melody slavery austerity fidelity memory sorcery authority freemasonry misery strawberry auxiliary frivolity modesty subsidy aviary frugality monarchy surgery brevity futurity mummery symmetry calamity generosity mutiny sympathy capacity geography mystery symphony captivity geometry nicety tapestry catastrophe genealogy noisily tragedy complexity gravity novelty treachery concavity gratuity nunnery treasury confederacy hostility nursery trinity conformity hospitality penalty trumpery congruity humanity penury tyranny conspiracy humility perfidy urgency cosmography hypocrisy perjury unity credulity idiosyncrasy piety usury curiosity imaginary pillory vacancy customary immensity piracy vanity declivity immorality pleurisy verily deformity immortality 376 DICTION AR Y OF RHYMES. immaturity immutability impartiality impecuniosity impetuosity impiety impossibility importunity impurity inability inaccuracy incapacity incivility inclemency incongruity inconsistency inconstancy indemnity inequality infidelity infinity infirmary inflexibility insanity instability integrity intensity liberality loquacity luminosity magnanimity malignity maturity mediocrity mendacity minatory minority monastery mortality municipality mutability nationality namby-pamby nativity necessary necromancy neutrality nobility nonconformity obesity obscurity opportunity partiality perfunctory perpetuity perplexity philosophy polyandry polygamy pomposity preliminary priority probability prodigality profanity profundity propensity prosperity radically rapidly rascality reality reciprocity rotundity rudimentary satiety security seniority sensibility sensuality severity simplicity sincerity sobriety society solemnity solidity soliloquy sovereignty 1 sublimity supremacy stupidity shilly-shally tautology tenacity temerity temporary theology theosophy timidity tranquillity transparency trigonometry unanimity ubiquity uncertainty uniformity university unparliamentary vacuity validity variety veracity verbosity vicinity virginity visibility vivacity volubility * Affected, finical. 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It is by no means an ordinary work of reference. It holds the flcld amidst a host of similarly well-intentioned but inadequate volumes." rA Saturday Review. " We are greatly indebted to the industry and care with which this Supplement has been put together." The Spectator. "The Biographical notices appear to be at once accurate and succinct. ... As for the critical extracts, they have been selected, for the most part, from the weekly Reviews, and generally with discrimination. . . It is invaluable for purposes of rousti-aml-ready criticism." The Athenaeum. . t LONDON: CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON &' CO. The only Authorised and Unabridged "Worcester." New and Enlarged Library Edition, Royal Quarto, Half Calf, Price ,2 : 2 : O WORCESTER'S STANDARD DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH WOODCUTS. PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED WITH WOODCUTS. " WORCESTER'S DICTIONARY may be considered the best existing English Lexicon." Athenceum. LONDON: CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO. Now Ready, New and Enlarged Edition, Crown 8vo, Superior Cloth binding, price 10s. 6d. ELEMENTS OF MODERN CHEMISTRY BY ADOLPHE WURTZ, SENATOR. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT THE ECOLE DE MEDECIXE, PARIS. MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE, ETC. TRANSLATED AXD EDITED WITH THE APPROBATION" OF THE AUTHOR FROM THE FIFTH FRENCH EDITION BY DR. WILLIAM H. GREENE. ILLUSTBATED WITH 132 WOODCUTS. ' It is clear and simple, and the author s name is illustrious. DR. GREENE, who is an excellent trans- lator, has done well to give us an English edition, adding thereby one more good elementary text-book to several which we already possess." The Lancet. " PROFESSOR WURTZ is one of the recognised leaders of Modern Chemistry, and a text-book from his pen is sure to be hailed with interest and pleasure. Notwithstanding that within less than 700 pages there is given an account of the leading properties of all the more important substances known to chemistry, the book is nevertheless exceedingly interesting and eminently readable. The work is well printed and the illustrations distinct." Nature. LONDON : CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO. Now Ready, Crown 8w, Superior Cloth binding, price 5s. - AN INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE BY EDWARD HULL, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S. WITH NUMEROUS COLOURED PLATES AND ILLUSTRATIONS- DRAWN BY THE AUTHOR. " A capital book of the kind, singularly free from errors." Athenaeum. "An excellent text-book : there is hardly a line which does not teach something useful." Morning Post. "PROFESSOR HULL has used the extended definition of ' Physiography ' in its very widest sense, and we think he is right. The volume is all that is wanted or necessary." Spectator. LONDON: CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO. February, 1892. SELECTED > Books cmb Hen? (Sbitions PUBLISHED BY CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO. Synchronolonical Chart of Universal History, printed in TWELVE Colours in the highest style of Lithographic Art, com- prising a COMPLETE PICTORIAL, GRAPHIC and DESCRIPTIVE outline of the HISTORY OF MANKIND from the Creation to the present day embracing ALL NATIONS and PEOPLES in BIBLICAL, ANCIENT, MEDLEVAL and MODERN TIMES and Vividly, and Synchronologically portraying the EVOLUTION of HUMAN CIVILIZATION and the RISE and PROGRESS of LITERATURE, SCIENCE and ART. Profusely embellished with MAPS, PORTRAITS, ENQRA VINOS and DIAGRAMS, illustrating or elucidating SCRIPTURAL GENKALOGIES, ANCIENT MYTHOLOGIES, MONUMENTAL RECORDS, HIEROGLYPHICS, CITIES of PAST AGES, THE WORLD'S GREAT EMPIRES, INVENTIONS, DISCOVERIES, etc., etc., accompanied by a Coloured Diagram of the EARTH'S CRUST, drawn by PROFESSOR HULL, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S Imperial Folio. The Chart, which is 22 inches in width, and when fully extended iyj FEET in length, it published in the following stylet : PORTFOLIO LIBRARY EDITION, elegantly and artistically bound, half Morocco extra, and mounted on linen throughout Price 330 PORTFOLIO POPULAR EDITION, Bound cloth extra, full gilt and sub stantially mounted throughout . . . . . . Price i 1 1 6 ROLLER LIBRARY EDITION, mounted on linen throughout, bound silk edges, mahogany rollers Price 3 3 o ROLLER POPULAR EDITION, substantially mounted throughout, plain edges, stained wood rollers . . . . . . Price i u 6 Apart from the many notices in the Press, all of which have been in praise of the Chart, its contents, plan and execution, the publishers have received numerous expressions of personal opinion on the subject of the merits of the work. These testimonials emai.ate from men and women who bear some of the most distinguished names in Art, Science, Letters, Arms and Politics, among which are the following: The Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, D.C.L., LL.D., P.C., The late Archbishop of York (Rt. Hon. and Most Rv. Wm. Thomson, P.C., D.D., F.R.S., Ac.), The Rt. Hon. Lord Coleridge, P.C., D.C.L., Ac., Lord Chief Justice of England. The Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Dnfferin and Ava, G.C.B., K.P., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., P.C., The late Rt. Hon. the Kurl of Lytton, P.O., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., C.I.E., The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, P.C., LL.D., F.R.8., General the Rt. Hon. Viscount Wolseley, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.M.G., P.C., D.C.L., LL.D., Ac., The Rt. Hon. Lord Tennyson, D.C.L., The Rt. Hon. Lord Aberdare, G.C.B., P.C., F.R.8., Ac., President of the Royal Historical Society, The Lord Bishop of Oxford (Rt. Rev. Wm. Stnbbs, D.D.. LL.D., Ac.), The Rt. Rev. Mandell Creighton, D.C.L., LL.D., Bishop of Peterborough, late Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Cambridge University, The Ven. Archdeacon Farrar, D.D., F.R.S., Ac., Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen, and Chaplain to the House of Commons, The Rt. Hon. Lord Randolph Churchill, M.A., LL.D., P.C., Sir Edward Clarke, Q.C., M.P., Her Majesty's Solicitor General, J. R. Seeley, Esq., M.A., Professor of Modem History, Cambridge University, Oscar Browning, Esq., M.A., Chairman of the Council of the Royal Historical Society, Miss Anne J. Clungh, Principal of Newnhara College, Cambridge, Mi>s K. WcUh, Mistress of Girtoii College, Cambridge, The Rev. Canon Daniel, M.A., Principal of Battersea Training College, The Chairman of the London School Board (Joseph R. Diggle, Esq., M.A.), Henry Irving, Esq., Ac., Ac., Ac. Geological History, by PROFESSOR HULL, is the Natural History of the Earth and of its Pre-human Inhabitants, and deals with the Globe before the animal Man made his appearance on the scene. Crown 8vo., price 3/6. " Dr. Hull has aimed at the production of a sketch which shall contain the various epochs and their noteworthy fossils, and at the same time enable a student to apprehend that most suggestive and interesting subject contemporary history of geologic change. Written in a clear, forcible style, its convenient size should render it popular." Spectator. Ancient History, by PROFESSOR BAWLJNSON, relates the history of the various Nations and States of the earth in a series of parallel narratives, from the beginning of the World to the destruction of the Roman Empire in the West by the Barbarians, A.D. 476. Crown Qvo., price 7/6. "Professor Rawlinson presents in comparatively few pages a summary of all that has yet been discovered concerning the most ancient rmmurcliii'* of the world. His sketches of Grecian and Roman history are skilfully written." fintiinlttii /.VnVir. 3ediceval History, by PROFESSOR STOKES, deals with the Middle Ages, from the death of Theodosius the Great, A.D. 395, to the fall of Constantinople, 1453, and gives the chief facts of the Eastern and Western Empires, the Gothic and Lombardic Kingdoms, the early history of England, Ireland and Scotland, the Carlovingian Empire, the Saracenic or Mahommedan Empire, with references to Russia, Poland, Spain, China, &c., l 800., half Calf, price^tl^ [Just issued. IDOtkS, in preparation :- 1. ORTHOMETRY : THE ART OF VERSIFICATION, a Practical Guide to Englisk Verse-making, with a complete Rhyming Dictionary. Crown 8vo. t price A. 2. VOICE, SPEECH and GESTURE : A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK to the ELOCUTIONARY ART, for the Public Speaker, Reader, and Dramatic Reciter, with a new and extensive collection of Readings and Recitations both in Prose and Verse. Profusely Illustrated with Explanatory Wood- cuts and Diagrams. Crown 8vo., price 5/-. 3. MEDICAL SPECIALISTS and their WORK : A HANDBOOK for GENERAL PRACTITIONERS, PATIENTS and INVALIDS. Crown Svo., price 3/6. Descriptive Catalogue, with Testimonials and Press Opinions, post free. ALL BOOKS DELIVERED FREE, CARRIAGE PAID. %* It is respectfully requested that all orders be accompanied by a remittance. Cheques nd P. 0. Orders should be made payable to C. W. DEACON & Co., and crossed " London and County Bank." A remittance must accompany Foreign Orders and include cost of carriage. CHARLES WILLIAM DEACON & CO., CHARING CROSS CHAMBERS, DDKE STREET, ADELPHI, LONDON, W.C. Telegraphic Address: "HANDBOOK, LONDON." X' 1 -- ^^^H ,/f 3?