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 THE BASIS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLISH RHYTHM. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM THOMSON, B.A.(Lond.), 
 
 Headmaster of Hutchesons' Qirls* Grammar School, Glasgow. 
 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING NET. 
 
 
 & R. HOLMES, 3, 5, and 11 Dunlop St, Glasgow. 
 
REESE 
 

 ^v^ 
 
 SYNOPSIS. 
 
 SECTION 
 
 1. Syllabic movement, whether regular, that is Rhythmical, or 
 
 irregular, a blend of Accent and Quantity, distinct from 
 Meaning, "Quality," Pitch, Timbre, "Tempo," and 
 
 " Syllabic Burden," 1—2 
 
 2. Confusion arising from misconceptions regarding these techni- 
 
 cal terms, - - 3 — 4 
 
 3. Disregarded phenomena of ordinary English rhythm, especially 
 
 the principles of Quantitative Variation and Equal 
 
 Periodicity, 5 — 6 
 
 4. Basis of normal English rhythm found in Triple Time, with a 
 
 subordinate element of Common Time, Duple or Quadruple. 
 Examples of the latter in modern verse, with illustration 
 from other languages. Rhythm of normal verse, whether 
 
 dissyllabic or trisyllabic, based on Triple Time, - - - 7 — 9 
 
 5. Inadequacy of merely Accentual or Quantitative systems, - 10 — 12 
 
 6. Criticism of some of these systems, 13 — 17 
 
 7. Perversions of the musical notation, 18 — 22 
 
 8. Passages of Triple rhythm to illustrate variation, - ■ - 23 
 
 9. Miscellaneous passages, with notation, - - - • - 24 
 
 162450 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2007 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/basisofenglishrhOOthomrich 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 Any one who wishes to know the gist of what has been said 
 on the subject of the basis of rhythm, without the labour of 
 studying many volumes, will probably find this pamphlet useful. 
 To say that it fully agrees with none of its predecessors is no 
 disparagement of it, for no two of these agree with each other. 
 It at least contains a correct record of the rhythmical phenomena 
 of English speech as these present themselves to one who has 
 tried to cast aside all prepossessions and foregone conclusions, 
 and has simply listened to what he himself does and what he 
 hears. My chief aim has been to establish the basic facts of 
 English rhythm ; the task of elucidating the relation of our 
 rhythm and its variations, on the one hand, to thought, emotion 
 and the expressioli of these, on the other, lies above and beyond 
 my province, and it is doubtful, indeed, whether such a task 
 can be profitably undertaken without some preliminary agree- 
 ment as to the underlying facts. 
 
 The substance of the pamphlet was first put forward in 
 January, 1889, in a lecture delivered to the Philological Section 
 of the Philosophical Society of Glasgow. Since then many 
 works have appeared on the subject, but the only writer with 
 whom I have found myself in substantial agreement on the 
 main point is Mr. Sidney Lanier. As the reader will see, how- 
 ever, I have attempted to correct him in some essential respects. 
 So far as I can ascertain, nobody looks on his chief position 
 with suflacient favour to adopt it. Whether my emendations 
 will help on the process is doubtful. The ultimate test of the 
 musical notation, as I have used it, is whether a person ac- 
 quainted with the simpler rhythms of music can read the 
 passages notated as I mean them to be read. I believe my 
 notation will bear this test. 
 
 WILLIAM THOMSON. 
 Christmas, 1904. 
 
THE BASIS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLISH RHYTHM 
 
 1. If an ordinary melody is deprived of its variations of 
 pitch, and reproduced in monotone, it still retains its rhythmical 
 movement, consisting of a succession of tones of various lengths, 
 punctuated by accents of varying strength. A skeleton of this 
 movement can be tapped out on a drum, or with the fingers 
 on a table, and, if at all characteristic, is then easily identified 
 by any one well acquainted with the original melody, the lack- 
 ing continuity of tone being suitably filled in by a little exercise 
 of the imagination. As thus defined, the movement can be 
 represented and identified by means of the ordinary musical 
 notation, minus the stave. By a similar process it is possible 
 to reproduce the syllabic movement of those portions of speech 
 which present any regularity analogous to that found in music. 
 In this case the place of musical tones of various lengths is 
 taken by syllables of corresponding duration. That a syllable, 
 unlike a musical tone, is not vibrationally continuous in rate 
 from its beginning to its end, is not a property that afiects the 
 rhythm. Thus, although the singing voice is, in speech, re- 
 placed by the speaking voice, it will still be possible, by means 
 of the notational methods of music, to convey from one person 
 to another the movement of rhythmical speech. And as the 
 syllabic movement of a phrase is equally unaffected by the 
 different phonetic constitution of the various syllables, the 
 tapping test of rhythm may for practice and clearness be sup- 
 plemented by substituting any easily pronounced syllable — say 
 tah — for each of the real ones. It is proposed to apply the 
 process thus described to the syllabic movement of English 
 speech. The word " movement " will be used throughout in the 
 technical sense just indicated. The thing it represents can, 
 within certain limits of irregularity difficult to deal with, be 
 tapped out on a drum, provided the intervals are properly filled 
 in with speech sound. If a phrase have each of its syllables 
 replaced by the syllable tah, and the resulting series of tahs 
 be spoken with the same movement as the original phrase, we 
 can form a better mental picture of the movement itself. And 
 this picture is still further sharpened in its outlines by the 
 process of tapping — which represents, however, not the con- 
 tinuous sound of the syllables, but only their beginning. 
 
8 
 
 2. Now, which elements of speech are thus retained in syllabic 
 movement, and which are excluded? Those retained are length 
 and accent. With two corrections, these terms are used in the 
 ordinary senses m which they are applied in a pronouncing 
 dictionary. Dictionaries mark the supposed length of vowels 
 only, whereas what we are concerned with is the length of 
 syllables, whether due to length of vowels, or of consonants, or 
 of the two combined. Moreover, dictionaries give the quantity 
 of vowels as pronounced in isolated words, and under the two 
 rough categories of long and short, whereas, for our purpose, 
 the quantities or lengths of syllables in the full range of their 
 variety fall to be considered in their proper setting as parts of 
 organised speech. 
 
 The excluded elements of speech are pitch, including inflection, 
 quality, timbre, speed, and syllabic burden. " Pitch " indicates 
 that varying elevation of the voice which is due to varying rates 
 of vibration in the vocal chords. " Timbre " is the term used 
 when it is desired to distinguish one kind of voice from another. 
 " Speed " or '" tempo," which has nothing to do with " time," 
 distinguishes different rates of progression over the accents and 
 quantities of a phrase, but does not touch the lengths and 
 accents in their relations to one another. "Quality" — an un- 
 fortunate term — marks the differences between the individual 
 consonant or vowel sounds as determined by the positions of 
 the organs used in their production. " Syllabic burden " is here 
 employed to denote the varying amounts of speech-material 
 dealt with at one effort — that is, in each syllable. 
 
 3. From any and all of the five elements mentioned it is 
 necessary to distinguish clearly accent and quantity. The only 
 one with which accent is apt to be confounded is pitch. This 
 particular form of confusion arises from the common tendency 
 of strong accent and high pitch to occur together upon the 
 same syllable. The distinction is easily made in most cases, 
 but occasionally the process of disentanglement is rather a hard 
 one, and then the use of monotone is helpful. If " father " is 
 uttered first with a rising and then with a falling inflection on 
 the second syllable, there is no difficulty in hearing that the 
 accent remains on the first syllable. But if the question is 
 asked whether, in the sentence, " Take your own time, Annie," 
 the stronger accent is on " own " or on " time," the answers 
 are apt to be very uncertain. Whole volumes on rhythm are 
 vitiated by failure to discern the truth in such cases. Yet the 
 matter is very simple to a trained or an attentive ear. The 
 higher pitch is normally on "own," the stronger accent on "time." 
 This statement is easily put to the proof by the simple device 
 of placing the higher pitch and the stronger accent so markedly 
 
on " own " as to be unmistakable. It then clearly appears that 
 the sentence has acquired new meaning, and that Annie is now 
 cautioned against spending, on the work she has in hand, the 
 time, let us say, of her mistress. Reasoning of this kind is 
 sometimes convincing where there is a defect of ear. In 
 numberless phrases of the type, " a proud man," where the 
 higher pitch is on " proud," many persons, misled by the higher 
 pitch of the adjective, treat it as a case of stronger accent. 
 
 Quantity or duration requires even more care than accent for 
 its proper isolation. The quantities of vowels, consonants, and 
 syllables are seldom distinguished. Few contrast the short n 
 in " since " with the long 7i in " sins." " Man " is considered 
 a short syllable on account of its short vowel, and the long n 
 is ignored. Nobody seems to notice that monosyllables, which 
 are, in connected speech, accented, are often distinctly long. 
 " Bit " is regarded as short, and " bar " as long. Yet in " a 
 bar more," " a bit more," they are heard to occupy the same 
 interval of time. Similarly, " a tall man " and " a bad man " 
 are phrases of precisely the same duration. Again, quantity is 
 conventionally, but erroneously, inferred from quality. For 
 example, ti with its name sound is assumed to be long. Yet 
 the initial u in " unanimous " is pronounced in the same time 
 as the initial i in " inanimate," where the i is admittedly short. 
 " We " is conventionally a long syllable, but in " Whether we 
 will or not " — and, indeed, in all normal uses — it is as short as 
 any syllable in the language. Whole books are marred by misty 
 preconceptions about the length of vowels which would be at 
 once dispelled by an appeal to the ear and to ordinary observa- 
 tion. [See Bridgets'' " Milton's Prosody " and Stone's " Classical 
 Metres in English Verse."] Thirdly, quantity is vaguely con- 
 fused with syllabic burden. " Shouldst " is a heavier word than 
 " shut " — contains, indeed, twice the amount of consonantal 
 material — yet let the two words be taken in a suitable con- 
 nection, as in " If thou shouldst mark " and " to shut windows," 
 and it is at once manifest that " shut " occupies the longer time. 
 
 4. Worst fault of all, quantity is confounded with accent. 
 This error is, one may say, assiduously cultivated in the pro- 
 nunciation of Latin as taught in schools, and the effects seem 
 to be permanent in the shape of incapacity to deal with questions 
 pertaining to the rhythm of speech. Teachers are popularly 
 supposed to be perfect martinets in their demands for correct 
 quantities. Yet the Scottish student, in two consecutive words 
 like "elaboratum industria," rolls out with impunity no fewer 
 than six false quantities, which may be indicated thus — lUa- 
 bOrattum industria. He would put another on dust, and bring 
 the total in nine syllables up to seven, were it not that the 
 
10 
 
 accent and the weight of the consonantal group sir put the 
 drag on further flights of perversity. Besides this he is trained, 
 in learning the accidence, to put the chief accent on the last 
 syllable of every word, with disastrous consequences, not only 
 to his Latin pronunciation, but also to his capacity for dealing 
 with the properties of speech and the most elementary prin- 
 ciples of philology in any language. For dmds he says a masSj 
 two errors in two syllables, although the required movement 
 could be got from " did I ? " or from " coloured," as in " coloured 
 glass." Similarly, for "amavistis," a word of common but 
 troublesome type, he says "amavistis," though, by way of 
 many English phrases, such as " mothers weeping," " withered 
 branches," " scattered forces," he might come at the theoreti- 
 cally correct rhythm without fail. There is only one thing he 
 must never do. He must not put the accent on the penulti- 
 mate if it ought to be on the previous syllable, and vice versa. 
 To this rule for accent is paradoxically reduced the whole 
 question of quantity. It is plain that ideas of rhythm acquired 
 under such conditions are of the nature of obstructions, and 
 require to be swept away. To treat sound as addressed to the 
 eye is to injure the intelligence. 
 
 5. One more common misapprehension remains to be specified 
 and corrected before the ground can be said to be clear for a 
 start. A syllable is popularly supposed to be simply either 
 long or short. The existence of variations of length in both 
 long and short syllables — in the same syllable, indeed, accord- 
 ing to its setting — has generally not been suspected. That 
 such variations exist can be shown by a very simple experiment. 
 Starting with the phrase, " a long dress," one hears that the 
 adjective is, speaking in a general way, a long syllable. If we 
 substitute for " long " its comparative, thus obtaining the new 
 phrase, " a longer dress," we observe, by tapping the accents, 
 that the time elapsing between the sounds long and dress is 
 precisely what it was before the addition, which shows that 
 time has been deducted from the syllable long and transferred 
 to the suffix er. If we now prefix ad to dress, our phrase be- 
 comes " a longer address," which, we perceive, in spite of its 
 two additional syllables, to be of exactly the same duration as 
 the original phrase. In fact, the three syllables longer ad now 
 occupy the same period of time as the one syllable long did 
 at first, the time taken to the syllables er ad being given at 
 the expense of the syllable long. Thus it is clear that the 
 syllable long has at least three different lengths. Within 
 certain limits, therefore, the insertion or omission of unaccented 
 syllables does not affect the total duration of a phrase, and the 
 length of accented syllables varies according to the character 
 
y 
 
 ^ 
 
 11 
 
 and number of unaccented syllables intervening before the next 
 accent. If, as more prolonged investigation would show, this 
 principle is universal in the English language — as, indeed, in 
 all Teutonic languages — it is easy to understand that '" quantity," 
 as applied to the isolated words of a dictionary, is one thing, 
 and as applied to words forming a piece of organised speech, 
 quite another. We here obtain a glimpse of quantitative 
 variation, a neglected branch of phonetics, the importance and 
 bearing of which will appear further on. 
 
 6. A similar glimpse is obtained by observing the intervals 
 that elapse between the successive accents of any ordinary 
 phrase. Take the sentence, ''' A long meandering road led to 
 the river," and read it in a natural flowing way, tapping with 
 the finger on reaching the accented syllables long, and, road, 
 led, riv. It will be found that the taps and, therefore, the 
 accented syllables occur at equal intervals of time. Here we 
 have what is called the principle of equal periodicity. The 
 recurrence of strong accents at equal distances of time runs, 
 with trifling exceptions, through all verse, and is perpetually 
 asserting itself, in a more or less modified form, in the language 
 of prose and ordinary speech. In other words, practically all 
 verse and the bulk of prose is rhythmical. The only way to be 
 satisfied of this is to examine many passages. Here are two 
 chosen at random from Bacon and De Quincey, with the equal 
 groups printed in italics, and the first syllable of each marked 
 with an accent — 
 
 " It is wdrthy the observing, that there is no passion m the. mind of man 
 80 w4aic, but it mates and masters the fear of d^ath.'^ 
 
 "It is a sw6et morning in. June, and the fragrance of the roses is wafted 
 towards me as I mdve — for I am walking in a lawny meadow, still wet with 
 dew — and a wavering mist lies 6ver the distance." 
 
 If we search for passages containing a maximum of irregularity 
 or uncertainty, we may come upon something like these — 
 
 " In Frankfort Everybody wdars clean clothes, and I think we ndticed that 
 thi'i was the case in Hamburg tdo, and in the villages aldng the road.'' 
 
 "We lived to find dnt that that guide had de'^erted us as soon as he had 
 placed a half-mile between himself ajid its." 
 
 7. But rhythm, or the regular recurrence of accent, may 
 take on different characters according to the varying distribu- 
 tion of speech sounds between the accents. And it is here 
 that we come into contact with the distinctive basis of Teutonic 
 rhythm. The distribution of time over the syllables between 
 the accents might be quite irregular, and referable to no simple 
 
12 
 
 principle. But attentive observation shows that this is not the 
 case. On the contrary, the syllabic distribution of time within 
 the intervals admits of rational and simple measurement. Each 
 interval is felt to be occupied by sound-material, which, how- 
 ever variously divided into syllables, is exactly three times the 
 length of one syllable taken as unit. That is to say, we are 
 in presence of what the musician calls Triple Time. It will 
 be seen afterwards that there is a subordinate element of 
 Common Time, but Triple Time in its many forms is so widely 
 diffused that it must be considered as the real basis of English 
 rhythm. As these forms must become familiar to the student 
 who is not already acquainted with them, and as this is best 
 effected in connection with the musical notation, the forms are 
 here given for practice. The erect lines are called bars, and 
 divide the notes representing sound into feet or measures, of 
 which the first note receives the accent. The unit of reference, 
 or beat, is represented by i., called a quaver or eighth-note, and 
 the other notes in most frequent use are the semiquaver ^, the 
 dotted quaver = |. 5, the crotchet or fourth-note i = ^ n, and the 
 dotted crotchet = I n. Silence is indicated by *] ( = ^) and 
 r (=1 ), called Rests, but, if the counting of beats is for the 
 moment suspended, by /rs, called a Pause. 
 
 Triple Measures used in English speech. 
 
 l.Trisyllabic:-|5JJ| J-5J|5J-J||'55 
 
 2. Dissyllabic :— | | i^ | ^ | | ^. ^ 1 | 1 ^ ^ | ^ [/ | . 
 — the last really a Duple foot, and signifying two beats in the 
 time of three. 
 
 3. Monosyllabic: — | ** I i* "^ I ^ *1 1 I, the last of which 
 hardly occurs in English. 
 
 4. Quadrisyllabic : — 
 
 I f f 5 5 I ^ 5 5 f i 5 5 f r I f'5 5 5 ! 5 f-5 5 ! f fV f I 
 
 \ > / ^ ^ \ ■/ C ^ / \ > ^ / / \ / C ^ ^ \ ^ > ^ > \ / / / / \ 
 
 — the last really a Quadruple foot, and signifying four beats in 
 the time of three. 
 
 5. Five-syllabled:- 1 * g J 5 5 I %%\^%% I' ^^• 
 
 All these varieties of Triple Rhythm must be tapped out, and 
 reproduced on the syllable tah, till the ear is perfectly familiar- 
 ised with them, so that when any variety is heard its notation 
 
13 
 
 can be immediately supplied. Before the duple and quadruple 
 measures are attempted, Common Time has to be learned, and 
 in passing from Triple into Duple or Quadruple only the accents 
 should be tapped. One reason for this is that the normal rate 
 is rather fast — about 240 to 270 beats, or 80 to 90 accents to 
 the minute. This peculiarity, coupled with the facts that a 
 speech-sound, unlike a musical sound, is not continuous on the 
 same pitch throughout it« whole duration and that the structure 
 of the measure is so variable, is probably the reason why the 
 principle of Triple Time has escaped notice, though acceleration, 
 retardation, intrusion of Common Time, rests, pauses, and many 
 other accidents also play a part as obscuring influences. Mr. 
 Sidney Lanier discerned the Triple Time in English poetry, but, 
 singularly enough, did not make clear that it could hardly have 
 been there unless it were also a characteristic of English prose. 
 The question is often asked how verse differs from prose. That 
 is a large and high question, but from the humble point of view 
 of rhythm, as the term is here used, it is easy to answer. The 
 following dialogue will cast some light on the point : — 
 
 Servant — " Please, Mr. Winter has called for the taxes." 
 
 Theodore Hook — " Then give Mr. Winter whatever he axes. 
 
 Mr. Winter's a man who'll stand no kind of flummery, 
 His name may be Winter, his process is summary." 
 
 In poetry, variation within the foot is limited; in prose it is 
 free. Metre may occur in prose, but it must not be perceptible, 
 as it is in verse. 
 
 8. While Triple Time is the basis of English rhythm as a 
 whole, it has to be admitted that there are exceptions — parts 
 that seem to be doubtful, irregular, unanalyzable, incommuni- 
 cable with certainty from individual to individual, and therefore 
 not admitting of sure imitation. But there is one important 
 exception which falls into quite a different category, and is 
 susceptible of rational treatment. This is the occasional in- 
 trusion of Common Time. It may be Duple, represented in its 
 simplest form by u n , or Quadruple, similarly represented 
 by ^ ^ I. N 1. it constitutes only a small fraction of the 
 normal rhythm of verse and prose, but gives rise to special 
 types of verse, sometimes ludicrous or childish in character, and 
 mostly the borrowings of modern poets ransacking the realm 
 of music for novel effects. To understand the rhythmical struc- 
 ture of this verse, the notation for some of the varieties of 
 Common Time must be mastered. 
 
14 
 
 Common Time Rhythm. 
 
 Duple, dissyllabic and monosyllabic : — ^ ^ I 
 
 Quadruple, quadrisyllabic :— | ' J * J|**5 * JIJ J **5I'*^*^' 
 trisyllabic. &c. : — 
 
 ir''i'jp^ipprirripjiiir^ii 
 
 various : — 
 
 In Quadruple Time it must be noted that, in addition to the 
 usual strong accent on the beat immediately to the right of the 
 bar, there is a subordinate accent introducing the second half 
 of each measure. 
 
 Common Time, as has been said, usually occurs as a casual 
 interruption of Triple Time, and many examples of this will be 
 exhibited further on, but whole phrases may be found in which 
 there is not even an admixture of the Triple element. For 
 example, " She's a pretty little girl," " She's a fine little girl," 
 " And little wonder was it that he did," are represented 
 rhythmically by — 
 
 A setting of strongly marked Triple Time generally compels a 
 merely passing group of normally Common Time to become 
 Triple also. Thus, the rhythm of " his tresses gray " by itself 
 is J 1. r I , but of " his withered cheeks and tresses gray," 
 P|f*|*f|J'|';of ''Mother dear" \^^\ |, but of "I 
 neither hear nor see them, mother dear," kL Ji ^u uCi | 
 Similarly, Common Time, which it requires considerable selective 
 skill to produce in bulk at all, can by deft manipulation be 
 made to bring normally Triple Time round to keep step in the 
 Quadruple march, two Triple feet being compressed to form 
 one Quadruple foot. The combinations that lend themselves 
 most readily to Common Time are unaccented monosyllables, 
 such as " a," " the ; " long monosyllables refractory to depriva- 
 tion of accent, such as " five," " brave," " coast ; " dissyllables 
 with both syllables unmistakably short, such as " bitter," " lover," 
 " mother," or unmistakably long, such as " life-long," " rock- 
 bound ; " trisyllables with all three unmistakably short, such as 
 " mariner," " rivulet," or unmistakably long, such as " rock- 
 bound coast," " world-wide fame." Of all these varieties the 
 
15 
 
 dissyllables have the greatest potency in concussing combina- 
 tions otherwise unsuitable to fall into line. Illustrations of this 
 principle occur everywhere. It will be observed that in the 
 following examples of Common Time in verse selected from 
 Campbell, Mackay, Browning, Mrs. Browning, Tennyson, Meredith, 
 Murray, Kipling, Gilbert, " Punch," and various nursery rhymes, 
 there is nothing earlier than the passage from Campbell. Apart 
 from songs probably never intended to be r^ad, all the older 
 poetry — all Shakespeare, Milton, and Chaucer, for example — is 
 in Triple Time:— 
 
 Common Time in Verse. 
 "' Will you walk into my parlour?' said the spider to the fly." 
 
 • MP ? p MP ::'\:^:' 
 
 Five little pussy-cats invited 
 
 out to tea. ' 
 
 
 
 I 1 1 
 
 When she was good, she was very, very 
 
 I r ' PI r ' n ? ? ' J 
 
 good, 
 
 I 
 
 \ 1 
 
 But when she was bad, she was horrid." 
 
 n r f n r f n ? p 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 1 1I 
 
 'Like le- 
 
 5 5 
 
 Lay their 
 
 ^ 'v 
 
 While the 
 
 J • 
 
 On the 
 
 5 5 
 
 It was 
 
 5 P 
 
 As they 
 
 P P 
 
 There was 
 
 ? P 
 
 And the 
 
 ; • 
 
 viathans a- 
 
 P P * ^ 
 
 V V V V 
 
 bulwarks on the 
 
 r r • r 
 
 V V y V 
 
 sign of battle 
 
 5 5 J J 
 
 lofty British 
 
 J f f P 
 
 ten of April 
 
 
 
 V V V '/ 
 
 drifted on their 
 
 
 
 \/ V V V 
 
 silence deep as 
 
 ? ? P J 
 
 boldest held his 
 
 P P P • 
 
 float 
 
 
 I 
 
 brine, 
 
 
 
 I 
 flew 
 
 
 
 I 
 line, 
 
 
 
 I 
 morn by the chime 
 
 
 ' ^ ' 
 
 1111 
 
 path, 
 
 
 I 
 death, 
 
 
 
 breath For a time. 
 
 
 I 
 
 r p p 
 
 1 1 1 1 
 
 L 
 
u 
 
 This has been called " iambic with free anapaestic substitu- 
 tion." The student should try to come to an independent find- 
 ing on this point. Notice that five repetitions of four measures 
 constitute this stanza, the third and fifth consisting of lines made, 
 up by rests to double the length of the other lines. The " iambic 
 with free anapaestic substitution " theory knows nothing of rests. 
 
 *' Cheer, bovs, cheer, no more of idle sorrow." 
 
 Savage I was sitting in my house, late, lone. 
 
 1^ f ? ;ip 5 • 'ir rir ^ ^ 
 
 Drearv, weary with the long day's work." 
 
 I r "M I p 5 p n r r I r ^ ^ 
 
 Do ye hear the children calling, my brothers ? " 
 
 #3, 
 
 For "hear the" some would say T'^C- This movement has 
 been described as " three-foot anapaestic with internal feminine 
 ending." 
 
 Here are three difficult lines from the same poem: — 
 
 "Will you 
 
 stand, to move the 
 
 world, on a child's 
 
 heart ? 
 
 
 ? : 
 
 r^ r;p 
 
 C55r 
 
 r 1^ 
 
 *1 1 
 
 Stifle 
 
 down with a mailed 
 
 Im4 its pal pi - 
 
 tation." 
 
 
 
 P M f • 
 
 # # # # 
 
 V V V V 
 
 r f ^ ^ 
 
 1 1 
 
 "But the 
 
 child's sob in the 
 
 silence curses 
 
 deeper." 
 
 
 : 'v 
 
 f P 5 5 
 
 ^ * ' ^ 
 
 V V \^ V 
 
 ;: p 1 1 
 
 1 1 
 
 Mindful were the shepherds, as now the noon severe 
 Bent a burning eye-brow to brown eve-tide." 
 
 I p ? p M r • • I f r I r Ti 1 
 
 In some cases J J might be replaced by ^' g or, less abruptly 
 
 . #3# 
 
 by I ^ 
 
17 
 
 "All along the valley, where the waters flow, 
 
 I f p p n f M 1 1 ?• 5 J n r 1 
 
 I walked with one I loved two and thirty years ago. " 
 "Loud sang the souls of the jolly, jolly mariners." 
 
 I r P • I r J • I • ■? J n f ? • ^ I 
 
 "Could I take me to some cavern for mine hiding." 
 
 Curiously enough the passage from which this line is taken is 
 mostly consistent with the rare rhythm, t-irv^.^^ <a. o>^<.^->^w>Ag ) 
 
 3'^ I P ^ P P I 9 9 9 9 I 9 9 
 
 " Ah, dear Idleness, how shall I bedeck thee ? 
 
 r9 \ 9 9 9 19 9 9 9 \ 9 9 \ 
 
 Dear tired playmate',dreaming in the shade ! " 
 
 I r r I r r I f f f M r r I 
 
 " I have been laughing, I hare been carousing, 
 
 I r • n p J r I J J 5 n r m ■ 
 
 Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies ; 
 
 I p p r I f p r I ? J ? n • • M 
 
 All, all are gone, the old familiar faces." 
 
 "A- 
 
 waiting the sen- 
 
 sation of a 
 
 short, sharp 
 
 shock, 
 
 ? 
 
 9 9 9 9 
 
 V V V V 
 
 9 9 9 9 
 
 V V V V 
 
 9 9 
 
 r 
 
 rom a 
 
 cheap and chippy 
 
 chopper on a 
 
 big, black 
 
 block." 
 
 P P 
 
 :^'v: 
 
 f f f f 
 
 y y y > 
 
 9 9 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 The unit here, short as it is, may, in the comic style, be sub- 
 divided into two equal parts, giving exceedingly rapid rhythm 
 — so rapid, indeed, that the pace or tempo must be somewhat 
 slackened, the metre, however, being the usual tetrameter. 
 
18 
 
 "A 
 
 
 British tar is a 
 
 J r- • 5 5 
 
 soaring soul, 
 
 • • f 
 
 As 
 
 free as a mountain 
 
 bird; 
 
 r ^ 
 
 His 
 
 f 
 
 energetic fist should be 
 
 ready to resist 
 
 5 5 5 5 P 
 
 A 
 
 # 
 
 dicta - torial 
 
 5 f f J 
 
 word." 
 
 r 
 
 " Why, 
 
 # 
 
 what a particularly 
 
 :)rave young man this 
 
 ; f p J 
 
 
 brave young man must 
 
 f f f J 
 
 be." 
 
 r 
 
 Why, 
 
 what a very singularly 
 
 rich old man this 
 f f f f 
 
 y V V V 
 
 
 r 
 
 ich old man must 
 f P f ' 
 
 be." 
 
 Assuming a dactyl, represented by T T J, to have a strong 
 accent on the first syllable, and a subordinate accent on the 
 second — in other words, assuming a dactyl to be represented 
 by I 1> C U and a spondee similarly to be represented by 
 III I, jumble hexameters of classical type could be pieced 
 together from the foregoing quotations. For example — 
 
 "Cheer, boys, cheer," "in a dull, dark," " Loud sang the 
 
 I r r I r ^ m r r i r ; n 
 
 souls of the" "eyebrow." 
 
 ir ; Mr f I 
 
 Ah, dear Freedom," " dear tired playmate," " how shall I deck thee ? ■ 
 
 r r 
 
 I I 
 
 r p M r r 
 
 But English and other Teutonic hexameters, whatever devices, 
 short of the destruction of native rhythm, have been resorted to 
 
19 
 
 for the purpose of imparting to them a fictitious resemblance to 
 Latin hexameters, are really in Triple Time. For example — 
 "First the rivers shall cease to re uav their floods to the ocean" 
 
 tir 'I' • fir 5 gir n r 5 MP • T I 
 
 "Such in her stature and eyes, and the broad white 
 
 tip- I M • p Mr I 5 1 r M 
 
 light of her fore-head." 
 
 I •• 5 MP • T I 
 
 "Im Hexameter steigt des Springquells fliissige Sanle." 
 
 tir PIP P Pir PiP^pip p pir PI 
 
 "O, wie fiihl' ich in Rom mich so froh, sredenk' ich der Zeiten." 
 
 1 1 r p I p p p I p p p I r p I p p p I r p I 
 
 "Jack was a poor widow's heir, ^ and he lived like a 
 
 1 1 p p p I p p p I r II p p I p p p I 
 
 drone in a bee-hive." 
 
 I P P P I P^P I 
 
 The author of this last example is, however, probably an ex- 
 ception, and really meant it to be read in Common Time, thus — 
 
 t ll kk I i P P I I k P I I P k ll 1/ P I I I I 
 
 for we find, later on, lines like the following, which hardly lend 
 
 themselves to TrijDle Time : — 
 
 "Seeing a huge beanstalk, many leaves, many pods, many flowers.' 
 
 I r P p I r r I r p p I r p p I r p p I r r I 
 
 "Bridge like this long pod stretch'd out, and touched f)n an island." 
 
 ir nr r If r I r r ir p pir r i 
 
 "Basted a young elephant (Jack's namesake shriekd and turned it)." 
 
 I I 1/ i/ I I ^ 1/ I I I I I I I I I I I I I 
 
 "Toasted a constrictor, which rolled in vast revolutions." 
 
 I i V \^\\ III I ii I I r k ^ 1 1 I I 
 
20 
 
 No doubt, by a frequent use of the form n n, the whole could 
 be represented in Triple Time. The violations— of— natural 
 rjiythm are numerous on either theory, but the bulk of the 
 eVidence points to Common Time and the real Latin Hexameter. 
 The last examples show what a grave mistake it is to exclude 
 rhythm from the sphere of Phonetics. French and Italian might 
 furnish more, for of their rhythm we are very ignorant. Com- 
 pare the syllabic movement of '' I told the boy to put the penny 
 in his pocket " — 
 
 # I m I #.### I ##4## I ## 
 
 '/\\ v\'/iil\vvvv\vv 
 
 with that imparted to the same sentence by a Frenchman who 
 has not yet acquired the rhythm of our language — 
 
 n5'i''i'n'n-5'f 
 
 Consider also that most of us, however hard we may labour to 
 reproduce isolated French sounds correctly, could not, if our lives 
 depended upon it, read a simple French poem with true French 
 rhythm. It eludes us. It seems to be no rhythm at all. Com- 
 mon Time, in its Duple form, certainly seems to predominate, 
 varied here and there by Triple Time, as in the following 
 examples : — 
 
 " Est-ce que tu t'appelles Elisabeth ? " 
 
 \v l\v v\v V\\/ V 
 
 f 
 
 Maintenant je sais comment vous vous appelez." 
 
 V '^\v i\^ ^\> >]> v\> 
 
 "Au banquet de la vie 
 
 in - fortu - ne convive" 
 
 8 1/ 
 
 Oui, je viens dans son temple adorer I'Eternel 
 
 Ml M J p • I p rn J f 
 
 There are frequent Triple lines in these Alexandrines. Their 
 predominance, coupled with the non-elision of mute e, imparts 
 to the following lines from Racine a melody wonderfully soft 
 and flowing : — 
 
 " Croyez-moi, ch^re Esther, ce sceptre, cet empire, 
 
21 
 
 Et ces profoiids respects que la terreur inspire, 
 
 h f • n? :\:U t MP Mr 
 
 A leur pompeux eclat m^lent peu de douceur, 
 
 h • P • i 5 J i 5 1 P- 5 P J M r 
 
 Et fatigue souvent leur triste possesse«fv 
 
 ? n p- 5 • I r II n ?• 5 p n r 
 
 Je ne trouve qu'cn vous je ne sais quelle gr^ce 
 Qui me charme toujours et jamais ue me lasse. 
 De I'aimable vertu doux et puissants attraits ! 
 
 p ; I ?• 5 M ? II ?• 5 ; I r n r 
 
 Tout respire en Esther I'innocence et la paix. 
 Du chagrin le plus noir elle ecarte les ombres, 
 
 V \/\v V V w/Wv v\> i v\\ 
 
 Et fait des jours sereins de mes jours les plus sombres." 
 
 nj • :>i\m np ^ jir 
 
 Similarly, boldness and energy are secured in the following 
 extract from Corneille by ringing the changes on Common Time 
 and eliding the mute e: — 
 
 "Si vous m'aimez, Seigneur, nos mers et nos montagnes 
 
 h J ; n J ' I r f • 1 5 ^ • n r 
 
 Doivent borner vos vceiix, ainsi que nos Espagnes. 
 
 1 J- 5 n • • I r 1? M • J p n r 
 
 Nous pouvons nous v faire un assez beau destin, 
 
 J J I • P i: I r iM ? • • I f • I p 
 
 Sans chercher d'autre gloire au pied de I'Aventin. 
 
 5 n • •• 5 1 r II n p • f n • 
 
22 
 AflFranchissons le Tage, et laissons faire au Tibre. 
 
 n p p n p • I r ih f J n 5 n r 
 
 La liberte n'est rien quand tout le monde est libre ; 
 
 h f • • I •? PI r f 1 c J- s I p n r 
 
 Mais il est beau de I'etre, et voir tout I'univers 
 
 h • • n ?• 5 1 r i! 5 1 p J p n r 
 
 Soupirer sons le joug et gemir dans les fers ; 
 
 . 5 5IJ p firilj MP p Plf 
 
 II est beau d'^taler cette prerogative 
 
 Aux yeux du Rhone eaclave et de Rome captive," 
 I ^ # # p \ # I # 11 # \ 0, \ 
 
 In both these passages rhythm is broken at every turn, and 
 it must be admitted that the notation even fails to bring out 
 that equality of rhyming lines which Coquelin aine would insist 
 upon. Usage seems to vary from time to time and according to 
 individual ta«te. Following Littre's rules, " Effronte comma un 
 page " should be Triple, thus — 5 5 1515 11*' ^^* ^^^ ^^^w 
 hears — ^\yy\^^\\- '^^® trochee = | * J | , so common 
 in Italian, seems to be wholly alien to French rhythm. 
 
 9. With these examples we dismiss Common Time, and devote 
 the rest of our space to Triple Time. The notations here given 
 are, it must be understood, not to be regarded as absolutely 
 correct, but only as possible. What is maintained is that those 
 who cannot accept them as normal will still find in the musical 
 notation a means of expressing the rhythm they prefer. 
 
 Triple Rhythm in Pkose. 
 *'It is worthy the observing that there is no passion in the 
 
 n 1 5- 5 5 5 i r p H 5 5 5 1 r- 1 5 ? 5 5 1 
 
 mind of man so weak but it mates and masters the fear of death." 
 
 1 r n r n r 55 1 r n • p • I r n r 
 
23 
 
 "It is a sweet morning in June, and the frajirance of the roses is 
 
 wafted towards me as I move— for I am walking in a lawny 
 
 ^1 f- g g I g g I g I r li g 5 5ig g 5 Mr gi 
 
 meadow, still wet with dew — and a wavering mist lies 
 
 I g g 1 1 r- 1 r g I r K 5 5 1 g g g I r M 
 
 over the distance." {fflffflf^Tl 'u l^ I 
 
 |g g g|g g *Vl\^^^\^ H 
 
 "Hook, finding himself without a farthing to pay for a cab, where- 
 
 I r 1 1 g g g I g- 5 5 M p p n r n I r g I 
 
 in he had ridden five miles, jumped out at the house of a 
 
 I g g g 1 1 g g I f I r f t r I g g g I r M I 
 
 famous accoucheur which was not far from his own." 
 
 ig g*g gir gig^gir 5 5ir ■ 
 
 "Something has been done to p»*epare for the passage of the Scottish Edu- 
 
 I g r' gig-5gir5 5ig gggig gjggi 
 
 cation Bill by the scheme for the training of teachers which has been an- 
 
 ig^gir|g gi r 5 5ig g g!g^gii5 1 1 1\ 
 
 nounced to-night by the Education Department. That scheme pro- 
 
 I r gig-^ 5 5irgigg gig^gfr ir gi 
 
 vides an organization which, I believe, it is the in- 
 
 ig 55 5 5igg T I g-^ ni r 11 n yi 
 
 tention of the Government to..." 
 
 Ig g 5 5 I 5 5 g g I 
 
 Whilst this was passing through the press I learnt from a lecture de- 
 livered in Glasgow by Dr. M'Cormiek, of Edinburgh, that the existence of 
 Triple Time in prose is no new discovery, Joshua Steele having given, in his 
 
24 
 
 10. Contenting ourselves with these specimens of Triple 
 rhythm in prose, we pass on to discuss the same rhythm in 
 verse, where the evidence, for several reasons, is much more 
 striking and convincing. In the first place, there are fewer 
 irregularities to distract the attention, i^eet of complex struc- 
 ture are avoided, and Common Time is rare. Furthermore, 
 as the subject has been much studied and written about for 
 hundreds of years, there are ample materials for the purposes 
 of comparison and judgment. These will, on examination, be 
 
 "Prosoclia Rationalis" (1779), a description of it as he heard it in the 
 ]<]ngUsh of his day. I subjoin a passage with Steele's reading above and 
 my own underneath : — 
 
 
 c 
 
 r - r 
 
 ^ ^ ^ 
 
 z z z 
 
 z z 
 
 I I 
 
 r ' 
 
 But 
 
 a 
 
 regular 
 
 rhytlimus was 
 
 reckoued 
 
 such a 
 
 fault in 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 c z z 
 
 r r ii r 
 
 k^ ^ II U" 
 
 r r 
 
 r c 
 
 m m 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 U 1 
 
 1 U 
 
 ZlZl\'l'«. 
 
 oratory by the 
 
 \i Z Z % I I 
 
 u I I 
 
 antients 
 
 z\\\ 
 
 that 
 
 r r r I 
 ^ ^ ^ \ 
 
 Cicero 
 
 I I I 
 
 m m 
 
 z r 
 
 •< U l^ 
 
 and Quin- 
 
 tilian 
 
 ^ I s 
 
 z r 
 
 '.i^i 
 
 \l 
 
 look upon a 
 
 single 
 
 ••• ,• ,• 5 
 
 m » 
 
 U liJ ^ !J 
 
 \ ^ 
 
 I ^ 
 
 veree 
 
 I'll 
 
 ILL 
 
 u u u 
 
 blemish in 
 
 prose 
 
 and an 
 
 r r 
 
 m- m m m 
 
 emphasis re- 
 
 m m m' m 
 
 l< '^ L k 
 
 m* Ki* »*• 
 curring at 
 
 z- 
 
 equal 
 
 m' mm 
 
 L tf L 
 
 intervals 
 
 z z z 
 
 - z z 
 
 must be 
 
 -' z z 
 
 tiresome 
 
 m m 
 
 m 
 not 
 
 -z%i 
 
 and disa- 
 
 I I z 
 
 \.ZZ 
 
 seem to ad- 
 
 CSC 
 
 greeable. 
 
 I- 1 f 1 
 
 :c II 
 
 mit a di- 
 
 z z z 
 
 z^ 
 
 C'C- 
 
 r^ 
 
 ^r 
 
 Therefore 
 
 prose 
 
 does 
 
 ru 
 
 r^ 
 
 r - 
 
 III 
 
 vision by 
 
 z z z 
 
 zzz 
 
 CT 
 
 arsis and 
 
 thesis." 
 
 CuC 
 
 VZ 
 
 It will be observed that Steele shows no break in absolute regularity, 
 whereas I make use of the "Pause," By | ^ I | he means the same as 
 
 my I r ^ L L but neither | |*" ^* | nor | (^ 'J I* J I would be considered 
 by the musician as legitimate unless with the prefix ^^. It seems to me 
 
25 
 
 found to strengthen the case for Triple Time and for the musical 
 notation, and it is proposed to use them here for this express 
 purpose. For obvious reasons, also, those examples will be 
 preferred which have already been treated by others. 
 
 Systems of scansion may be divided into three great varieties 
 ■ — (1) those which have regard to accent only, (2) those which 
 have regard to quantity only, and (3) those which have regard 
 to both. Only the last variety can possibly represent the rhythm, 
 for accents without intervening quantities are unthinkable, and 
 a succession of accentless quantities, in tones or in syllables, 
 however producible by an automatic machine, are to the human 
 tongue, governed as it is by the human ear, simply impossible. 
 Although purely accentual and purely quantitative systems are 
 thus ruled out from the very start, it may not be amiss to 
 glance at the principles on which these systems proceed, if only 
 to bring out into strong relief the adequacy of a system like 
 the musical notation, which, in recording the facts, treats the 
 intimate combination of accent and quantity as a unity, and as 
 an absolutely essential element of all movement in speech as in 
 melody. 
 
 11. According to any merely quantitative system, verse is 
 built up of feet, the simplest of which receive the names of 
 spondee, iambus, trochee, pyrrhic, dactyl, anapaest, and amphi- 
 brach. Unfortunately, none~~of~these terms is so defined in the 
 text-books as to indicate the syllabic movement. For example, 
 the term " spondee," which is defined as two long syllables, would 
 apply equally well to " long, straight," i T , to " way- 
 worn," I r r L and to "waylaid," i I i , that is, to three 
 combinations of quite distinct syllabic movement. The best 
 test of similarity or dissimilarity in the movement of two 
 phrases is thoroughly to impress on the ear the movement of 
 the one, and then apply it to the other. Apply, as described, 
 the movement of " waylaid " to " long, straight," and the dis- 
 parity becomes obvious. Similarly, two phrases so different as 
 " the way," C | T j and " withered," I U» I | ? are, by defini- 
 
 also, that yielding to a tendency always hard to avoid, he has in other 
 ways forced a greater regularity upon certain phrases and breaks than was 
 probably warranted by the current habits of speech of his time. There is 
 something to be said for the opinion of the "antients." The important 
 point, however, is that one can be certain of being able to read the passage 
 exactly as Steele himself did nearly 150 years ago. It is amazing that his 
 modern successors do not seem even to have subjected his discovery to 
 criticism. I confess to deriving a certain satisfaction from the thought 
 that, working on solitary and independent lines, I find myself in so close 
 agreement with Steele, separated from me by three half centuries of time, 
 and with Lanier, between whose investigations and mine there lay three 
 thousand miles of space. 
 
26 
 
 tion, iambuses. A dactyl is a long and two shorts; so are 
 " wine-bibber," | f * J | . " ill-fitted," | f | * * | » and" " far 
 from fit," I f * I ' (as in "far from fitted for the task," 
 
 ll ^k^i^i^ll *^ \)' ^^* nobody could take syllabic 
 combinations so diverse in movement as these three for one 
 and the same thing. By definition, " butterfly," I S C f I , 
 " delivered," ^ ^ I L and " buccaneer," ^ 1/ I I > are ana- 
 paests, but they are also, in spite of parallelism in the lengths 
 of their syllables, combinations of quite different syllabic move- 
 ment. Mr. Sidney Lanier, though his practice goes right in the 
 teeth of his theory, maintains that the oflB.ce of accent cannot 
 begin till rhythm is established; that quantity is the sole and 
 sufficient basis of rhythm; that, in fact, quantity or duration, 
 alike in speech and in music, establishes rhythm. This theory 
 cuts at the very root of the position defended in these pages. 
 Let us put it to the test. Here are six notes — T C !> '/ U ^. 
 According to Mr. Lanier, these are already rhythmical. But 
 what is the rhythm? Isit|ffJJ|JJJ|,or|PP|''|J*|, 
 or ^ I ^ ^, 1^ I 1^ 1^, or ,^ I ^ ^ I ^ ^ I 1^, or ^ ^ I ^ ^ ^ I 1^, 
 
 \ \ \ \ \ \ 
 
 or I ^ ^ P ^/ I ^ I/, or ^ ^ I ^ ^ ^ ^ |, or ,^ I 1^ ^ ^ ^ I 1^, 
 or JJJ I C5C*1 |jOr something else 1 There is no answer. 
 Or take the five notes i i^ n i i . The rhythm is already there, 
 we are told. Let us select phrases of which the syllables are, 
 taken in order, of the required length. Do the notes give the 
 rhythm of " ' Twenty,' she answered," or of " Now for the false 
 ones," or of " Wept bitter salt tears," or of " Some butterfly- 
 shaped," or of '•' Why was he waylaid," or of " Calling ' Whither 
 now ' ? " These phrases all have the proper sequence of longs 
 and shorts, yet observe, by the aid of the test previously de- 
 scribed, how vastly they differ in rhythm. That the difference 
 extends also to their musical aspect is evident from the following 
 list of correspondences : — 
 
 :ttf' 
 
 " Twenty," she answered. 
 
 r^M 11 
 
 Now for the false ones. 
 
 
 
 1 kl/| 1 
 
 Wept bitter salt tears. 
 
 
 
 1 '•H 1 
 
 Some butterfly-shaped. 
 
 r\^r\ r - 
 
 Why was he waylaid % 
 
 rj jr r - 
 
 Calling •' Whither now % 
 
27 
 
 The conclusion is that a mere succession of sound-durations 
 or quantities is, as rhythm, absolutely meaningless, and that 
 accent and quantity form, in speech, an indissoluble unity. 
 Quantities are dead, intractable matter till vivified and rational- 
 ized by accent. If the names of the classical feet do not connote 
 any accent, they are, so far as recording syllabic movement is 
 concerned, quite useless. 
 
 But we may go farther, and say that a series of quantities 
 may be so disposed as not even to be susceptible of any rational 
 accentual treatment, and therefore not capable of any intelligible 
 rhythm. Laying aside technical terms, let us examine a succes- 
 sion of quantities that theoretically constitute a complete line 
 of a certain kind of Latin verse. Here is one, with the notation 
 of its quantities: — 
 
 "Jam satis terris iiivis atque dirae " 
 
 I ^ I I r ^ k I k I I 
 
 Now this, from the musician's point of view, that is, from the 
 point of view of rhythm, is a purely irrational series of symbols. 
 By no distribution of accents, either those of the words them- 
 selves or any others, could he make it intelligible to himself, 
 far less to other people. By a tour de force not possible to the 
 uninitiated he could, no doubt, grind out like a mechanism a 
 series of tones of the proper length, but every tone would stand 
 isolated and out of relation to every other. The quantities, 
 transferred to speech, would have no significance for the human 
 ear. Yet Latin scholars and their followers and pupils do not 
 hesitate to read the kind of verse in question after one fashion 
 or another. What they really do is to rationalize, unconsciously 
 it may be, the quantities to suit their own taste or the conven- 
 tion of their particular college. And these are some of the 
 results : — 
 
 Eightfeet, ... iT'ir-iMn'rirnriri 
 
 Fivefeet, ... | f ^ T ' 1 f I 5 5 I f ' I ^ 
 Fourfeet, ... i f ' H f ' I P J ?• 5 i ' f I 
 or, with no pretence at observing quantity, 
 
 Six feet, ... I r r?n f n f n f n ^n 
 
 All which shows no appreciation of the nature of the problem 
 raised. We are told in words that the quantities of " Maecenas 
 
 atavis edite regibus "are j | | | | J p | || | ^ ^ I I P 1^ 
 
 and of " Aequam memento rebus in arduis "*| "| f"["^ 
 
^6 
 
 but we get no hint that nobody does or can read the lines to 
 movements so unintelligible. And if some reader thinks these 
 might be rationalized thus : — 
 
 r ! r J i ' ^ J I J' 5 k I r J I r II' '"^ ^""^ ^®®^' 
 
 there is no recognised medium of communication whereby he 
 may compare notes with others. Hence writings on the subject 
 run to mere erudition. The same kind of criticism applies to 
 prose. Take for example the phrase already used in a previous 
 section, " elaboratum industria." The theoretical syllabic move- 
 ment of this is rCrrCrrji*' which, considered as 
 rhythm, is irrational. Any attempt to rationalize it will either 
 
 result in -g- I I J [* 1 C f* I I ^1*1' ^^*^ *^® chief 
 accents gradually rising in strength, or in some similar rhythm 
 departing still more materially from the presumed original. 
 Yet the theory goes its triumphant way unabashed by any 
 practical consideration. In the light of the chaos that envelopes 
 questions of the rhythm of modern speech, it will be prudent 
 to discount all contemporary or other descriptions of ancient 
 rhythm till it can be shown that the authors of these were 
 acquainted with the principles of musical rhythm as now under- 
 stood. 
 
 12. Accentual systems take the quantities for granted; which 
 they are quite entitled to do, provided they do not profess to 
 reproduce the syllabic movement or the rhythm. They count 
 the syllables, but do not attempt to measure them. If they do 
 not deny that fundamental aspect of rhythm which is called 
 Equal Periodicity, they ignore it. And, ignoring equal period- 
 icity, there is, of course, no call upon them to investigate the 
 quantitative structure of the foot or measure. A very simple 
 test suffices to show the inadequacy of any merely accentual 
 system to represent syllabic movement. Consider the words, 
 "father, mother, way-worn, withered." To say that these are 
 all accented on the first syllable is to tell us very little. It 
 places them all in the same category. Yet the syllabic move- 
 ment of each is different from all the rest. If we try to pro- 
 nounce any one with the syllabic movement of any other, the 
 incongruity is apparent. Contrast all this confusion with the 
 simple accuracy of the musical notation : — 
 
 father, I f J h mother, I C J I ; way-worn, I | f 1 5 withered, C f | 
 
29 
 
 13. The inadequate character of accentual systems having 
 been shown by reference to fundamental principles, let us now 
 look at the chief ones in some detail. For the old quantitative 
 use of the classical feet many substitute the accentual use. For 
 long syllables in the definitions they substitute accented syllables. 
 In this way a spondee has two accents, a trochee one on the first 
 syllable, an iambus one on the second, and a pyrrhic none at all. 
 Passing over the assumption, which is contrary to the facts, 
 that syllables do not vary in length, let us examine this notation, 
 of which Prof. Mayor is the most precise and voluminous 
 exponent. The feet themselves being insufficient for his purpose, 
 he recognizes accents of two degrees of strength, the greater 
 degree marked 2, the less 1. Here, then, is a line with his 
 notation : — 
 
 'Upon 
 
 1 
 
 iambus 
 
 my 
 
 pyrrhic 
 
 cure hour 
 
 thy un- 
 
 iambus 
 
 cle stole " 
 1 
 iambus 
 
 spondee 
 
 Here the bars mark feet. But what is a foot? Evidently it 
 has nothing to do with quantity or with equal periodicity, for 
 " -cure hour " lasts at least twice as long as " my se-," nor with 
 accent, for three feet have each one accent, one has two, and 
 the other has none. Even on Prof. Mayor's own system he is 
 astray, for " -cure " is marked with a stronger accent than 
 " hour," which, as it would suggest a wrong idea, is the reverse 
 of the truth. Thus the only correct and intelligible thing about 
 the accents is their number and position. The number is five, 
 as indeed is implied in the first half of the word pentameter, 
 the name of the line. But this is accidental, for Prof. Mayor 
 indicates plainly enough in other pentameters that he considers 
 the number of accents quite immaterial. Sometimes he assigns 
 four, sometimes six, and even seven or eight. For example, 
 this pentameter has seven accents : — 
 
 I *'*How he I went down,' I said Ga- I reth, *as|a false knight.'" I 
 I 2 I 1 2 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 
 
 But if this is read with the seven accents as marked — 
 
 irMnrnrnrnr-iri 
 
 what becomes of the pentameter? What shall we say of a 
 system which ignores quantity altogether, and, with an accentual 
 basis of rhythm, puts into a pentameter seven accents? The 
 question answers itself. Observe that though the accent on 
 " knight " is stronger than that on " false," Prof Mayor, as 
 frequently, when he does not reverse the accents, makes the two 
 alike. Observe also the final foot, which violates his own 
 definition of an anapaest as three syllables accented on the third. 
 He is perpetually reduced by his system to shifts of this 
 
30 
 
 patently artificial kind. The truth is that both lines are equally 
 pentameters, with accents occurring at equal intervals, and their 
 peculiarities^are easily exhibited to the eye, as follows : — 
 
 "Up. 
 
 on my se- 
 
 f J J 
 
 How be went 
 » P * 
 
 r- 
 
 down,' said 
 
 r 
 
 hour thy 
 
 r p 
 
 Gareth, 'as 
 # # # # 
 
 uncle 
 
 stole." 
 
 • P 
 
 r 1 
 
 false 
 
 knight.' " 
 
 r- 
 
 r 1 
 
 ered cheeks 
 
 and tres- 
 
 ses gray 
 
 X a 
 
 cc a 
 
 X a 
 
 have known 
 
 a bet- 
 
 ter day." 
 
 X a 
 
 ic a 
 
 X a 
 
 14. Let us turn to a more innocent notation, that of Latham. 
 Here an accented syllable is denoted by a, an unaccented syl- 
 lable by X, and the working feet are four, namely, xa, ax, 
 xxa, and axx. The following two lines may be used to put this 
 notation to the test: — 
 "His with- 
 
 X a 
 
 Seemed to 
 
 a X 
 
 The notation shows variety only at one point, at the beginning 
 of the second line, where we have that well-known device, the 
 so-called trochee. This trochee deserves the closest attention. 
 The first thing the student should notice is that the eight 
 accents occur at equal intervals; the next, that between the 
 final accented syllable " gray " and the initial accented syllable 
 " seemed " the usual unaccented syllable is lacking — that, in 
 fact, there is to hearing a blank space, a space which could 
 be filled up by the word " tliey " without affecting in the 
 smallest degree the duration of any other syllable or of the 
 whole. A glance at the notation shows that if this is a fact to 
 the ear it has no counterpart in the representation of the feet. 
 These might be amended thus : — 
 
 xxa 1 X a I X a \ 
 
 which, following musical notation, would be better written 
 \ a X X I ax I ax \ a ; and here, if we could accept ax as 
 representing two combinations so dissimilar as " known a " and 
 " better," we have the basis of a simple scansion suitable for 
 children — giving, indeed, little indication of quantity, but at 
 least suggesting true ideas about equal periodicity. Prosodists, 
 however, shun this simple way of bringing sound and notation 
 into harmony. They look with suspicion on a syllable standing 
 by itself, or filling an entire foot, and they will resort to any 
 device, however irrational, to escape such a dilemma. Contrast, 
 again, all this confusion with the accuracy of the musical nota- 
 tion, which shows the trochaic beginning to be what it really 
 
31 
 
 is, part of an ordinary trisyllabic Triple foot, and recognizes 
 accent and quantity as a unity of which the constituents can be 
 distinguished, but not separated without destruction to both : — 
 
 His 
 
 withered 
 
 cheeks and 
 
 tresses 
 
 J r 
 
 r p 
 
 5 r 
 
 Seemed to have 
 
 known a 
 
 better 
 
 V I V 
 
 r p 
 
 : ' 
 
 gray 
 
 day. 
 
 15. The next notation to be considered is the invention of 
 Mr. J. W. Blake, the author of a book on Rhythm published 
 anonymously in 1888. Mr. Blake has a theory of " Mono- 
 pressures," according to which not more than two unaccented 
 syllables can come together at all, and when they do, the first 
 goes with the previous accented syllable as the tapering off of 
 its " pressure," and the second similarly along with the next 
 accent, to the " pressure " of which it leads up. The notation 
 
 consists of the four elements I II _L, where the horizontal 
 
 lines represent unaccented syllables and the perpendiculars 
 accented syllables. This system will bear even less investiga- 
 tion than the last. Numberless phrases of the type " in a 
 moment " supply two unaccented syllables leading up to an 
 accented one. These are direct contraventions of the " Mono- 
 pressure " theory ; yet they exist. Take a more complex case, 
 with the author's notation : — 
 
 " Surely there is a vein for the silver, ... | I ^^ I I 
 
 and a place for the gold where they fine it," ... I ^^ I _J i _L 
 
 Now, if we construct in accordance with his principles the 
 
 notation for " Jonathan answered Saul," we obtain I ^1 1^ 
 
 that is, the same notation as for " Surely there is a vein." But 
 the rhythms of the two are palpably different, as will strongly 
 appear if the one is read with the rhythm of the other. In 
 other words, the notation fails to express radical differences of 
 rhythm. Not so the musical notation : — 
 
 rit 
 
 " Surely there is a vein," ... I C 5 K 5 5 ll 
 
 ''Jonathan answered Saul," ... \^ \^ V \\ V\\ 
 
 If one is conscious of a dragging effect in the former caused by 
 the unusual amount of material between the two accents on 
 " sure " and " vein," this may be indicated by the musical term 
 ritarda7ido. 
 
32 
 
 16. Mr. T. S. Omond,^ in his " Study of Metre," characterises 
 normal verse as Duple, and gives the time-structure and ac- 
 centuation of, e.g. J the " Heroic " line in this form : — 
 
 The particular symbols are of no consequence, he says, the point 
 being that they must be of equal length. Here, of course, we 
 join issue with him, not as to the eq\ial periods, but in regard 
 to the division of each into two equal parts. Let the student 
 get into his ear the rhythm given above, which is the same as 
 
 r I r r I r r I r r i r r I f' ^^^ ^ppiy a to the une, 
 
 " The curfew tolls the knell of parting day." He will assuredly 
 feel convinced that no one ever read the line in this way. 
 Mr. Omond does not mean to assert that the spaces are always 
 necessarily filled up, but he maintains that his scheme gives 
 the normal underlying rhythm. He seems, however, to give his 
 whole case away when he adds that the line, " The sun, the moon, 
 the stars, the seas, the hills, and the plains," would be Duple, but 
 for the presence of the " and," which reveals the whole to be Triple. 
 His position here is difficult to understand. If a musician, on 
 hearing four equal notes produced in succession, with accents 
 on the first and third, were asked whether the Time were 
 I I I I j r or r * r* j ' I • , he would naturally 
 confess his inability to tell, and invite the performer to con- 
 tinue. If in the succeeding bars the long notes were broken 
 up into components such as C C J, T C he would at once 
 conclude for Triple Time, whereas if they were replaced by J n 
 he would at once recognise the Time as Common. But there is 
 nothing analogous to this in Mr. Omond's scheme. In pro- 
 nouncing the words " tolls the knell," a certain time elapses 
 between the two accents. If the word "the" begins exactly 
 mid-way the Time is Duple, if at two-thirds of the interval the 
 Time is Triple, if at three-fourths. Quadruple, if at no simple 
 specifiable point, musical Time is not present at all. Thus the 
 Time is already fixed and known before the " and " above- 
 mentioned is reached at all, and the line in which it occurs is 
 Triple whether with or without the conjunction. The difference 
 is simply the difference between I T C I and I C f f L and 
 may be expressed in its proper connection thus : — 
 
 •irnrnrnr^ 
 
 r p 
 
 *A11 students of the subject should obtain Mr. Omond's "English 
 Metrists," a valuable bibliography. 
 
33 
 
 This error, which pervades Mr. Omond's entire work, appears 
 in Raymond's " Rhythm and Harmony " in an exaggerated form, 
 for the author of this treatise thinks three syllables necessary 
 to a triple measure. Similarly, Dr. Guest, in his " History of 
 English Rhythms," calls rhythm Common Measure when accent 
 is separated from accent by one syllable. Triple Measure when 
 separated by two. 
 
 17. We now come to a writer — Mr. Bridges, himself a poet — 
 who admits the desirability of noting both accent and quantity, 
 but who is lamentably weighted by preconceptions of length as 
 based on the quantity of syllables considered apart from their 
 setting. His treatment of a hexameter will illustrate this 
 statement : — 
 
 " AM they rode sl6wly al6ng through the w6ods conversing together." 
 
 It is impossible to gather from this notation how the line is 
 read. That is the first and a manifest objection. If " and " is 
 properly accented it must almost certainly be long, and then 
 the first foot consists of three long syllables, the second and 
 fifth of one long and two shorts, the third of two longs and 
 one short, the fourth of two longs, and the sixth of two shorts. 
 Assuming the longs to be each equal to two shorts, the six feet 
 show variations of length represented roughly by the ratios of 
 the numbers 6, 5, 4, 2. In other words, the rhythm or equal 
 periodicity is utterly destroyed. On the other hand, if we 
 maintain rhythm by the natural device of accenting every long 
 syllable, or even sotne of them, the number of accents will be 
 raised to ten, or some other number greater than six — a result 
 ruinous to the hexameter. That the hexameter is regular and 
 normal is, as usual, clearly brought out by the musical 
 notation : — 
 
 Mr. Stone must be pronounced to be, in all that concerns 
 rhythm, in even a worse plight than his friend, Mr. Bridges. 
 According to him, English has no accents at all, but should be 
 treated wholly on the principle of quantity, varied by pitch, as 
 in the classical tongues. And in regard to quantity, he proceeds 
 wholly upon the basis of the lengths of vowels in isolated words. 
 
 Mr. Ellis has a scheme too complicated to be exemplified or 
 criticised here. Even on its own ground it would afford room 
 for endless differences of opinion. As quantity is treated quite 
 apart from setting, Mr. Ellis finds no place for the principle of 
 equal periodicity, far less for that of Triple Time. If these 
 principles are well grounded, details must on the whole be con- 
 sistent with them. The details of Mr. Ellis's scheme have no 
 reference to any comprehensive principle at all, 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 18. Of rhythmologists who employ the musical notation, Mr. 
 Chapman, Ruskin, Mr. Lanier, Mr. Dabney, and Mr. Liddell are 
 perhaps the best known. Four of these either use the notation 
 in a perverted way, or else their own rhythm is very peculiar. 
 The reader need not accept this statement. Examples will be 
 given which speak for themselves. Mr. Chapman, whose book 
 on " The Music of Language " appeared in the early part of last 
 century, would represent the rhythm of " The way was long, the 
 wind was cold" in this fashion: — ^ | 1* ^ I I ' M I r I I ' 
 a rhythm which elderly people may recognise as having heard 
 it in their youth from some elocutionists and from the pulpit, 
 but which is now obsolete. Mr. Dabne/s notation for the same 
 line is r I r r I I* r I r r I I , representing a rhythm which 
 we may be assured never existed. With these rhythms, both in 
 Common Time, the one Duple, the other Quadruple, contrast the 
 current natural rhythm: — 
 
 nrnrnrnr 
 
 It will be observed that Mr. Dabney's mistake is the same as 
 Mr. Omond's, with whom he also agrees in attributing to a 
 single three-syllabled foot the potency of revealing that a line 
 otherwise Duple in rhythm is in reality Triple. No doubt, Mr. 
 Omond would insist that his notation differs from Mr. t)abney's 
 in so far as it only marks the underlying rhythm, but there 
 does not appear to be much in his contention, for, in a sense, 
 this is all that can be claimed for any application of the musical 
 notation. The times corresponding to notes may sometimes not 
 be played throughout the whole duration these signify. The 
 main point is that they must be struck at the proper time. 
 There must be no room for doubt as between, for example, 
 
 \n\\> irrir -•^ irnr- 
 
 19. Mr. Mark Liddell fortunately does not give many speci- 
 mens of notation. The merits of his valuable work lie, like those 
 of several mentioned in these pages, in quite a different direc- 
 tion. He represents the sequence of quantities in " Sonorous 
 metal blowing martial sounds "by f T* S S S T C T C T. 
 Although, from the musical point of view, this is a wholly 
 irrational collection of symbols, insusceptible of division into 
 measures by bars, and therefore devoid of rhythm, the student 
 need not be deterred from attempting to apply its movement 
 to the words. Even if he happens to be an expert musician, 
 however, he will probably have to confess his utter failure. 
 
35 
 
 And no wonder. The real rhythm is something much more 
 simple and intelligible, probably this: — 
 
 Mr. Liddell has another notation to represent what he happily 
 enough calls wave-groups, consisting of a combination of hori- 
 zontal, perpendicular, and wavy lines, good as far as it goes, 
 but failing, just as his use of the musical notation would lead 
 us to expect, to indicate the equal measures between the accents. 
 
 20. When Ruskin, whom one has learnt to revere in certain 
 fields of his own, comes to the region of rhythm, we expect 
 something of special excellence, but he is absolutely beyond 
 comprehension. Musicians must stare in amazement at his 
 applications of the notation they think they have got to under- 
 stand. Look first at one example, where he shows himself 
 perverse, indeed, but at least intelligible: — 
 
 Ah, the 
 
 r 1 'v 
 
 Ah, the 
 
 r 1 ? 
 
 This for the simpler underlying rhythm : — 
 
 Here is a second specimen : — 
 '• If she love me — this believe— I will die, 
 
 dreary, 
 
 dreary 
 
 moorland, 
 
 r 5 T 
 
 r ^ 1 
 
 r p ^ 
 
 barren, 
 
 barren 
 
 shore ! " 
 
 m 
 
 r f 1 
 
 r 
 
 ere she shall grieve. 
 
 ^r\i nr nr^ 
 
 I 
 
 As this wholly fearful and grotesque assemblage of musical 
 signs would baffle the most skilful experts in "Time," the 
 student of modest equipment may spare himself the effort of 
 trying to reproduce their movement — for they have no rhythm 
 — or to compass their meaning. Wliatever he may think of the 
 accuracy of the Triple Time notation, he will at all events find 
 it easier: — 
 
 irnr^frnrffrnriinrMr 
 
 Ruskin performs, in his rhythmical loopings of the loop, still 
 more wonderful and dazzling flights, but the two examples given 
 may suffice. He says he has been unable to interest any of his 
 musical friends in constructing for him pure music, which should 
 fit verses, note to syllable. They were incredulous or disdainful 
 
36 
 
 of the propriety of such correspondence. They were " bent 
 unanimously upon establishing a code of abstract sound which 
 should be entirely independent of meaning." The reader will 
 have noticed that this pamphlet is liable to the same reproach, 
 for it has treated for the most part of phenomena which could 
 be investigated and recorded by a Chinaman who does not 
 know a word of our language, but does understand something 
 of the nature of musical rhythm, such as could be beat out in 
 the universal language of the drum. 
 
 21. At last we reach a real inquirer who hears equal periods 
 and Triple Time, not in prose perhaps, but in most English verse. 
 This is Mr. Sidney Lanier, whose idea that quantity is the sole 
 and sufficient basis of rhythm has already been shown to be 
 untenable. It is strange, however, that the true nature of so 
 simple a phenomenon as the so-called initial trochee should have 
 escaped him. He was not only a poet himself— though that 
 was not necessarily in his favour by any means — but he is said 
 to have been an accomplished musician. Yet here is his treat- 
 ment of " Who would believe me ? " : — 
 
 ifrifrip 
 
 where, according to his system of barring, the crotchets im- 
 mediately preceding the bars carry the natural accents, and 
 " who " has a special abnormal accent to itself. Re-written in 
 
 the usual way, the phrase becomes | | T '/ T C |- ^* i^ 
 difficult to see how the initial note can bear an accent in its 
 present position without causing the whole phrase to consist of 
 three instead of two feet. In short, to be consistent with facts 
 and with Mr. Lanier's own principles, the notation must be 
 rationalized and become T* | f C T C ' which is a 
 violation of the measure in which the line is written. Why 
 Mr. Lanier should so gratuitously violate his own principle of 
 equal periodicity it is difficult to guess, unless we suppose that 
 even to him a remnant of the old conventions still clings too 
 closely to be cast off. There is nothing peculiar about the 
 rhythm of "Who would believe "^^^^ " | C' ^ C | f ff I , 
 except, possibly, a slight feeling of dragging, which is provided 
 
 rit 
 
 for in the musical notation thus : — C C C I C I • " Who 
 would be- " is an ordinary Triple trisyllabic foot, such as may 
 be found in abundance in any piece like " The moon's on the 
 lake and the mist's on the brae " Had Mr. Lanier or Mr. Omond 
 met '■' Who would believe " or " Seemed to have known " in 
 Browning's " Kentish Sir Byng stood for the king " they would 
 
37 
 
 have had no doubt at all of its Triple character. Indeed, Mr. 
 Lanier's rhythm for "would that my tongue," the very same 
 thing, is I 5' § 5 I f- "^^10 would believe," "would that 
 my tongue," " seemed to have known," and " Kentish Sir Byiig " 
 have all the same underlying rhythm, and it is important that 
 this fact should find expression either in any description or in 
 any notation of their movement. Before generalizations come 
 facts. First it is essential to see at a glance the facts of the 
 rhythm, and* this the musical notation, properly applied, enables 
 us to do. When the stage for generalization arrives, the 
 " initial trochee " will be seen taking its departure in a numerous 
 company. 
 
 Mr. Lanier having put a trochee where, properly speaking, 
 there is none, next proceeds to miss one where it frequently is, 
 namely, at the end of pentameters. For the italicized parts of 
 the phrases, " over tlie waters^' " midnight dreary ^^ when they 
 occur in a certain type of verse, he writes, correctly enough, 
 I I 5 I J but for the identical thing in " that is the question" 
 " outrageous fortune" " cannot climb it" he writes C* 5« 
 
 And why? Because he has a theory that, saving in the presence 
 of run-on lines, there must be, at the close of a pentameter, 
 room for a " rest." He has not thought of the " pause " and 
 its application, not at the ends of lines alone, but at any point 
 whatever where the sense calls for it. To a musical ear there 
 is no breach of metre involved in a suspension of undefined 
 duration. Though there are no fewer than five " pauses " in 
 " To die, to sleep ; To sleep : perchance to dream : ay, there's 
 the rub," this quotation is equally felt to consist of seven 
 measures, Avhether read — 
 
 nrfnrjfnrjlnrnrffrii 'irifo- 
 
 #|##|##|##|##l#2#|##|# 
 
 M I '/ I I M I k I I M ^ ^ I I M I 
 
 It is also from failure to notice this that Mr. Lanier gets 
 embarrassed in his treatment of "Was't a friend's part." In 
 order to get room for a " rest " after " part," he assigns this 
 phrase three feet, thus of set purpose turning a pentameter 
 
 into a hexameter. The natural reading, i C ! C ^ C lb saves 
 the pentameter, yet violates no recognised principle. Mr. Lanier 
 gives, for " friend's part," | T , which will hardly bear investi- 
 gation, for " part " is a word that requires time for its utterance ; 
 it is hardly possible under any circumstances to compress it into 
 the time of, e.g., the ly in " friendly " — that is, into the time 
 of the normal unit, T. 
 
38 
 
 If Mr. Lanier's beginnings and endings are so often insecure, 
 his representations of internal rhythm occasionally lag behind 
 the facts. The form ] J f |» though he has frequent oppor- 
 tunities of using it, does not occur in his book. " These excuses," 
 
 I f J I N f I , is to him the same as " Who excuses ? " | | ^ | | p | . 
 He makes no distinction between 
 
 p r 
 
 r ^ 
 
 and 
 
 r : 
 
 r .? 
 
 honovir 
 
 called him 
 
 rather 
 
 called him 
 
 cannot 
 
 climb it 
 
 
 dare not 
 
 climb it 
 
 Still less does Mr. Lanier find room for so common a form a« 
 I 55" J |. (Seep. 41). 
 
 22. Now that, by the process of eliminating error, some 
 amount of light has been let in upon the subject of rhythm, 
 it may be well to summarize the results established up to this 
 point. Assuming the musical notation to be understood, accent 
 is that which is marked by standing to the right of a bar ( | ) ^ 
 quantity is indicated by the signs rj^ i ^ 5^ or by their rests 
 *1> r. 3 with or without the dot that adds fifty per cent, to 
 the length of each; rhythm, meaning fundamentally equal 
 periodicity, but covering, by extension, every detail of syllabic 
 movement, accentual and quantitative, consistent with equal 
 periodicity, is indicated first by the bars, which signify, not 
 only the position of the accents, but also the equal duration of 
 the sum of the intervening quantities, and, second, by the 
 internal structure of each measure or foot. The nature of this 
 internal structure is described by means of the other technical 
 terms. Rhythm may either be of Triple Time, the chief mark 
 of which is the frequent occurrence of the forms, j C L 
 
 C C ^ j ; or of Common Time, in its Duple variety repre- 
 sented by p N , or in its Quadruple variety represented 
 mostly by j p J J J|, j T ' f |, or | f f |, with a 
 secondary accent in the middle. Sometimes more than one line 
 of verse must be read in order to determine whether trisyllabic 
 feet are in Triple or Quadruple Time. In all of these forms 
 the unit of measurement or beat is represented by n. The 
 first question one should ask in regard to the rhythm of a 
 passage is whether it is Triple or Common, and if Common, 
 whether Duple or Quadruple. The next question is whether the 
 rhythm is mainly dissyllabic, or mainly trisyllabic, or mixed. 
 It is not sufficient, as many imagine, to say that a certain foot 
 
39 
 
 is trisyllabic, for it might still be either Triple or Quadruple, 
 and the difference of effect between these is very wide. " Wilder- 
 ness " is Triple ( C 5 5 ) i " souls of the," naturally Triple, is 
 determined by the succeeding " jolly, jolly," to be Quadruple 
 (T P 5)- ^^® third most important thing to observe about 
 the rhythm of a phrase is whether or not it begins with one of 
 these weak forms, T L y ^ \ — *^^^ ^®» ^^^^ ^^ without one 
 or two unaccented syllables. The difference of effect is often 
 very marked under the different conditions. So also is it with 
 the conclusion of a phrase, or of a line of poetry, according 
 as it consists of one or other of these endings: — i , I p> 
 I C C C I • Disputes as to whether verse is trochaic or iambic 
 are thus averted, and instead we simply specify the proportion 
 of lines with a weak beginning and with a weak ending. So 
 also the terms anapaestic, ampliibrachic, dactyllic, disappear 
 with their ambiguities, and it is sufficient to say that a given 
 line begins or ends with one or with two weak syllables. The 
 movement I C might be called a trochaic beginning, 
 1. j I an iambic, J U ! I an anapsestic. I i T ^ a dactyllic, 
 provided everybody knew in what sense the words were used, 
 and did not apply them to beginnings and endings represented 
 
 ^y \^:% \:-iti i^rir. irrir. irri. 
 
 all of which occur. 
 
 There is another important point. Nearly all writers think 
 it immaterial whether a foot, say a trisyllabic foot, is repre- 
 sented with the accent at the beginning, in the middle, or at 
 
 the end; that is, whether T n T is taken to mean C C C, 
 
 * J * > or J J •, or, in the ordinary notation, | J f J | , 
 
 C I J 5 *1 I > OJ^ ^ C I C *1 1 > which may be expressed in 
 words as accentual dactyls, amphibrachs, and anapaests. This is 
 quite a mistake. Apply these forms successively to the phrase 
 " the hills and the plains." According to the first — that is, to 
 the normal musical notation — the rhythm of the phrase stands 
 
 thus : — C I C 5 5 I ' ^ according to the second I L* C C I 5 I \'y 
 
 according to the third J J j C C C ! Cj that is, the word 
 "plains" is represented as divided between two feet, which is 
 absurd. Try another example, " the withered leaves." Normally 
 
 this is P I J r j I ; in the second notation j C C C I C ' |> 
 that is again a long syllable, "-thered," occupying a portion of 
 
40 
 
 
 two feet, which is absurd; in the third notation C C ! T C j J, 
 which again is absurd. Or, again, take the complete line, " Of 
 man's first disobedience and the fruit." Its normal notation, 
 which we may assume to be — 
 
 i 1 
 
 (1) f I r- 1 r 5 5 i r n r ? 
 
 becomes, under the other two assumptions, 
 
 (2) i?rTfri55riJri;ri 
 
 where we have no fewer than five syllables each divided between 
 two feet. It should now be plain that not only is the musician's 
 application of musical symbols the rational one, but that it 
 corresponds best with the facts and with the usage of the poets. 
 When we know whether the interior of a line of verse — that is, 
 the line stripped of its character-giving beginning or ending — 
 is Triple, or Duple, or Quadruple, also whether the feet are 
 monosyllabic, dissyllabic, or trisyllabic, we know the essential 
 characteristics of the rhythm. And if from the musical nota- 
 tion you remove the stave, the medium thus left supplies a com- 
 plete visual representation of rhythm in all its details of quantity 
 and accentuation, a perfectly definite picture, translatable into 
 sound. The term metre is equally definite. Rhythm implies 
 one or more measures, and metre simply specifies the number 
 of these in a given group, such as a line of verse. The unity to 
 the ear of such a group or line, based, as it is, on the sense, is 
 determined not merely by accent, rest or pause, but mainly by 
 inflection, and therefore the audible cause of that unity does not 
 in its full extent concern us here. 
 
 23. We will now look at some illustrations of the essentials 
 of rhythm just referred to, and also at other variations which 
 belong to a complete survey. The rhythm of Common Time, 
 as a special variety, having already been treated at sufficient 
 length, looking to the subordinate place it holds in English 
 speech, the examples will deal oixly with Triple Time, intro- 
 ducing only such cases of Duple and Quadruple as are casual 
 or incidental. One caution is necessary. The examples are 
 chosen, not for their easiness and regularity, but rather as 
 illustrating exceptional and difficult variations from normal 
 rhythm. 
 
41 
 Variations of Triple Rhythm in Yerse. 
 I. — Variation within the measure, or " Primary Rhythm. 
 1. Monosyllabic feet — 
 
 Dews 
 
 fall. 
 
 I J 1 1 I, common in French, is alien to the Teutonic 
 languages, except in verse, where the final rhythmic accent some- 
 times falls on the last syllable of a word like " agony." 
 
 2. Dissyllabic 
 
 feet- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Tender 
 
 ripples 
 
 of a 
 
 breeze-kissed 
 
 river. 
 
 
 n 
 
 # 
 
 V 1 
 
 i^' 
 
 r P 
 
 f n 
 
 3. Trisyllabic feet — 
 
 
 **The 
 
 eloquent 
 
 blood 
 
 told an in- 
 
 eflfabletale." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 J- 
 
 5f 
 
 
 
 j" Silence, ye 
 
 troubled waves, and thou, deep peace.' 
 
 * Whether 'tis 
 Shivered to 
 
 5 ^ k 
 
 nobler in the mind to suffer." 
 atoms. 
 
 The 
 
 thoughts that a- 
 
 r II 
 
 rise m me. 
 
 "What, have you given him 
 
 any hard 
 # # 4 # 
 
 "Half a league. 
 
 words of late ? " 
 half a league.'* 
 
 Most Triple verse consists of dissyllabic feet, interspersed with 
 trisyllabic feet; a certain fraction is trisyllabic throughout; and 
 in much modern verse the two are mingled in varying pro- 
 portions. 
 
42 
 
 4. Quadrisyllable feef^- 
 
 I' the 
 
 quagmire of his 
 
 
 > V ^ s 
 
 own tricks, cheats, and lies. 
 
 " All in the 
 "Irre- 
 
 The rosesA 
 
 valley of death 
 coverably 
 
 rosier, and 
 Many are the 
 
 5 5 J- 5 
 
 Rode the six hundred." 
 dark, total eclipse." 
 
 bluer the " 
 thoughts that" 
 
 She 
 
 revels in a 
 • Many are the 
 
 region of sighs.' 
 thoughts that " 
 
 ' ' Desperately 
 
 fighting. What does he confess" 
 
 * Of polysyllabic feet either rare or impossible in verse the following 
 prose groups oflFer examples : — 
 
 " Now that it o'erflowed its banks " 
 
 > ^ > 
 
 r M I 
 
 '' Nor was he waylaid, as others affirmed ' 
 
 s s ^ 
 
 1^ 1^ 1^ 
 
 cir 
 
 "With a moderate and beseeming share" 
 
 m m \ m m m 'm m \ m m \ m 
 
 'i^ ^ r^ '^ ^ 1^ !^ 1 1 UN 
 
 " The long avenues of a boundless wood " 
 
 m \ m. \ m » m m m \ m m \ m 
 
 Ull lis'^l^lssill i^h 
 
 Considering that he had toiled so long and faithfully " 
 
 2 
 
 i# i# l# !« 
 
 ^ ^ b! 's: li! b 
 
 ir i\ 
 
 L ' I 
 
 The crowded bar would be divided into two in deliberate speech. 
 
43 
 
 II. — Variation outside the initial measure, including under this 
 term any measure following upon a " pause." Syllables, or 
 their representative notes, in such a position, are not neces- 
 sarily reckoned as beats. There can be no more measures 
 than there are main accents. Every main accent counts for 
 itself and for a measure. The largest possible number of 
 unaccented syllables, either leading up to or down from an 
 accent, is three, or possibly four, but it is doubtful whether 
 so many ever occur in poetry. Before and after a " pause," 
 there can occur as many unaccented syllables, within the 
 limits mentioned, as accord with the author's sense of beauty. 
 
 But I how of I Cawdor? || Hie \ thane of | Cawdor | lives. 
 
 I 
 
 1 I " Hail, I holy | Light ! Offspring of Heaven first-born ! " 
 
 
 ■ The I air is | delicate. || See, \ see our \ honoured | hostess." 
 
 Tttfce your \ own | time, | Annie, || take your \ own | time." | 
 
 'Of a \ fallen I palace. I Mother I let not I aught " 
 'I am I sorry 1 that with | better | heed and | judgment' 
 
 'In I measure- 1 less con- | tent. |1 Being | unpre- 1 pared " 
 
 5 
 
 ^ I " And each \ flower and | herb on | earth's dark | breast " | 
 
 I " Worse ?— II In each \ human | heart | terror sur- | vives ' 
 "Are I nobly | under- 1 gone |1 and most \ poor | matters" | 
 
 tH 
 
 " The 1 queen, my | lord, is | dead. || She should have | died here- 1 after." 
 
 Against this last reading there is the absence of a true initial 
 trisyllabic group serving the same purpose. The omission of 
 all extra-metrical groups gives the trochaic beginning, sometimes 
 real, as in " Hark the hollow woods resounding," sometimes so- 
 called, as in " Under the green wood tree," the former represented 
 by I • P I , the latter by | * J ^ | . 
 
44 
 
 III. — Variation by increase or decrease of a normal number of 
 syllables; the former generally effected by the substitution 
 of trisyllabic or quadrisyllable for dissyllabic feet, sometimes 
 by the extra-metrical variation already exemplified; the 
 latter, by resort to monosyllabic feet or to " rests." 
 
 "Oh, Keith of Eavelston." 
 
 2 less, i.e., 6, | f * I T J I T M f H ' 
 
 ** Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks, rage, blow ! " 
 
 3 less, i.e., 8, | f J' g | ^ H f 1 ! T 1 I f II 
 
 *' Than the soft myrtle; but man, proud man," 
 1 less, i.e., i), 5 5 I f- I f J f 5 I ^ I f II r-lf- 
 
 "Of wave ruining on wave, and blast on blast." 
 
 1 more, i.e., 11» p | *' | p f * J J | f J ] f f | f || 
 
 "Irrecoverably dark, total eclipse." 
 
 I # « I 004.00 \ \ 0, \ ^ \ 
 
 * * I'll come to you anon. We are resolved, my lord ! " 
 
 2 more, i.e., \^, ^ \ \ ^\\ ^\\\\lll \ \ ^ \ \ -y] 
 
 " Tweaks me by the nose, gives me the lie i' the throat." 
 
 \ 0. 000\0, \\0 00\000\0^\ 
 
 ' ' At last the hearty welcome. Thanks to your majesty ! " 
 
 2 more, i.e., 13, P|f ^\^ ^\^ ^^\^' lv\^^^\ 
 
 "I had not quoted him ; I f ear'd he did but trifle." 
 
 fir PI' r'u\n\\'\\ :\ 
 
 " The queen, my lord, is dead. She should have died here-after." 
 
 3 more, i.e., "^^^ ^ \ \ ^^ \ \ ^^\^ \l % l\^ ^\\ v\ 
 
 '* Satiates the listening wind, continuous, vast." 
 
 ifrp'if f Pirn j^nrii 
 
 " You have made me, my dear Olivia, the very happiest of fathers." 
 
 3more,i.e.,16,g5|P5nr-|5fn'riPPnrf 
 
45 
 
 IV. — Variation by casual transition into Common Time. 
 
 1. Preserving the " Secondary Rhythm," or equal periodicity- 
 2 beats in the time of 3 — 
 
 " To tell sad stories of my own mis 
 •* And each flower and herb on earth's dark breast." 
 
 5 M r M r n r M r 1 1 
 
 " The mistress which I ser>re quickens what's dead." 
 
 4 beats in the time of 3 — 
 
 *' Dews, vapours, and the melody of birds." 
 
 "What's Hecuba to him, or he to Hecuba?" 
 
 2. Shortening the measure, with consequent acceleration — 
 
 " The snow-drop and then the violet." 
 
 I chanced to see at break of day The soUtary child." 
 
 n r n r • I r n r M t ; M J n r f 
 
 "Dllmitable, insuperable, infinite." 
 
 3. Lengthening the measure, with consequent retardation — 
 " Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of death." 
 
 *i ii I li iitipirMMi 
 
46 
 
 It is possible, though rare, to have a series of measures of 
 Common Time interrupting the normal Triple, such as — 
 
 "O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or 
 
 rare, 
 
 i ' r r r II r r r r r 
 
 r II 
 
 With heads, hands, wings, or feet pursues his 
 
 way. 
 
 # 0^0 ^00 
 
 1 11 11 1 1/ t 1 ^ 
 
 •I 
 
 And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies." 
 
 
 i \ \ \ r r r r r r r f^ i 
 
 
 Other parts of this might revert to Triple Time, but Common 
 Time enhances an effect of dogged pushing on through all 
 obstacles which is wholly in place. 
 
 4. Complicating the " Time " of " Primary Rhythm "— 
 
 " This my mean task " is a type of phrase, not uncommon, 
 which is difficult to read, and of which it is still harder to analyse 
 the rhythm. The easiest way would be to make " This my 
 mean " a Triple foot, and to indicate the dragging on " mean " by 
 the letters dr., thus : — 
 
 " This my mean task." 
 
 I 0, 0'lr. I 
 
 but a more accurate analysis is possible in certain cases. First 
 observe that if the reader puts " mean " exactly mid-way — this 
 must be tested by tapping, as usual — between " This " and 
 " task," the time is not Triple, but that form of incidental 
 ' Common here indicated by j C ^ L I • The remainder of the 
 problem then is to divide the first J into two parts representing 
 " This " and " my." If the reader pronounces these in equal 
 times, the result may be written I 5 5 ^ T I , but if he reverts, 
 in the division, to normal Triple Time, his reading will be 
 symbolised by the more complicated form — 
 
 2 
 
 \ 3 \ 
 
 w^here the small 3 signifies 3 5 's in the time of 2 — that is, in 
 the time of T . Those who feel the time in this way unduly 
 compressed have it in their option to break through the rhythm 
 and lengthen the bar, keeping the relations of duration otherwise 
 
47 
 
 as stated. The formulae would then take on this appearance :- 
 The former of these appears in — 
 
 2 f 
 
 4 I 
 
 ?r 
 
 God is 
 
 one supreme essence, 
 
 one pure essence 
 
 irnt' jrifpr iir'i^'ii 
 
 If " one supreme " is not lengthened its notation would take the 
 form C C * I I ) which preserves " Equal Periodicity." 
 Another example of the latter is found in — 
 
 And make his bold waves tremble. Yea, his dread 
 
 trident shake." 
 
 /7\ 
 
 V\\v\VV\^V\i\ V \ \i\ V\\ W 
 
 The '' Secondary Rhythm " is here broken through, for the time 
 that elapses between " Yea " and " tri- " is greater than the 
 interval between this syllable and ''shake." The same difficult 
 measure is frequent in Shelley and Byron, e.g., 
 
 " Her hair 
 Dark, the dim brain whirls dizzy with delight " 
 
 " Leaps the live thunder. Not from one lone cloud " 
 
 V. — Variation by compounding " Time." [Those who do not 
 hear or make the strong accents stronger at the beginning 
 of the double measures can double the number of measures 
 by dividing each into two, and preserving all the rests as 
 they are. This, of course, means the rejection of " Com- 
 pound Time."] 
 
 ' He had 
 
 ^: 
 
 And he 
 
 "Mindful were the 
 
 r p r P 
 
 shepherds, as 
 
 : ^ ^ :^ 
 
 Bent a burning 
 
 • • r f 
 
 eye- brow to 
 
 •• r P 
 
 only a hundred 
 
 pf p r ; 
 
 seamen to 
 
 ^ : r '^ 
 
 sailed away from 
 
 Flores till the 
 # # # # 
 
 1 k 1 P 
 
 now the noon se- 
 
 brown 
 
 I 
 
 eve- 
 
 #. 
 
 i 
 
 work the ship and to 
 
 r ' ' f P 
 
 Spaniard came in 
 
 in 
 
 tide. 
 
 fin 
 
 fight, 
 
 f 1 1 
 sight." 
 
 r 1 1I 
 
48 
 
 1 
 
 I've 
 "A- 
 
 A- 
 And pro- 
 
 Thy 
 
 " Odds bobs 
 
 r- r- 
 
 hammer 
 
 and tongs, 
 
 p r- 
 
 long as I've been to 
 
 sea, 
 
 fir 
 
 fought 'gainst 
 
 f- r- 
 
 every odds,— aind I've 
 
 gained the victo- 
 
 ry." 
 
 way ! the 
 
 r- r J 
 
 moor 
 
 r- 
 
 is 
 
 dark beneath the 
 
 r f r J 
 
 moon, 
 
 Rapid clouds have 
 
 P » ' ^ 
 
 V \ \ V 
 
 drank 
 1 
 
 the 
 
 last pale beam of 
 
 P - P ' f 
 
 even ; 
 
 way, the gathering 
 
 winds 
 
 will 
 
 call the darkness 
 
 r p r ? 
 
 soon, 
 
 foundest midnight 
 
 V V V 
 
 shroud 
 
 #. 
 1 
 
 the se- 
 
 If J 
 
 rene light of 
 
 r- f J 
 
 heaven. 
 
 Pause not ! the time is 
 
 past! 
 
 
 Ev'iy voice cries a- 
 
 way, 
 
 I t = 5 r P 
 
 1 
 
 r 1 
 
 f pTr J 
 
 fi ri 
 
 Tempt not with one last 
 
 \0 V V V V 
 
 tear 
 
 1 
 
 thy 
 
 friend's ungentle 
 ' P ^ P 
 
 V 1 ? 
 
 mood; 
 
 lover's eye so 
 
 glazed and cold 
 
 dares not entreat thy 
 
 stay ; 
 
 f f ^ f 
 
 1/ 1 1 k 
 
 r c 
 
 r 1 
 
 H 5 r 5 
 
 fi n 
 
 Duty and dere- 
 ^ ^ f f f 
 
 liction 
 
 r ? 
 
 guide thee 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 back to soli- 
 
 r 5 rp 
 
 tude." 
 
 fi ri 
 
 This last passage from Shelley, expressed as a combination of 
 Duple and Triple Time, affords an excellent example of the 
 value of the notation, both as an instrument for the expression 
 of very complex verse and as a touchstone to aid in testing 
 passages of obscure and doubtful rhythm. Ordinary methods 
 of scansion would wholly fail here. Where they would find the 
 number of feet varying from five to seven, the notation given 
 shows, in every line from beginning to end, four double-feet or 
 eight half-feet, the first line, at first sight a pentameter, being 
 correctly read only if spread out as much as the others by the 
 device of two silent feet, the one after " way," the other after 
 " moor." Here, if anywhere, is conviction as to tEe virtue of 
 the notation likely to be produced. 
 
49 
 
 VI. — Variation by departure from natural or prose rhythm. 
 
 There are three distinguishable levels on which rhythm may 
 be treated. On the mid level, it is regarded as addressed to 
 the intelligence. A passage is read so as simply to be under- 
 stood, not so as to express or stir any emotion. If we are 
 engaged upon a piece of verse, this intelligent apprehension 
 must extend to the metre and to the character of the rhythm. 
 And the test of intelligent reading and apprehension is the 
 ability of the listener to write down from dictation the passage 
 as it stands written by the author. All the passages hitherto 
 notated here are treated from this purely rational point of view. 
 It involves, in verse, the elevation to the dignity of accented syl- 
 lables many which, in prose, are unaccented. Thus, if the phrase 
 " follies of the wise " were read, as in prose, I CCS? I I , 
 the rhythm and metre of the whole line would be misunderstood. 
 Of the pentameter " Fears of the brave and follies of the wise," 
 we should be making a tetrameter. Similarly, if " It was the 
 schooner Hesperus " is read S^fli C|C*SC|»i^ ^"^^ 
 feet, we lose the proper rhythm, U \ \ \j \ \ Cl ^1^ 
 which presents the line as a tetrameter. And this in spite of 
 the obvious objection that nobody is denying the identity of 
 "the vessel. No doubt the accents on the naturally unaccented 
 syllables must be gently dealt with. But they must be there. 
 There must be at least a compromise between pure prose read- 
 ing and strict adherence to the verse scheme. All this is directly 
 in the teeth of modern practice. Professional elocutionists lay 
 down the simple rule — Read verse as prose; and the same rule, 
 indicating, it is to be feared, a general indifference to poetic 
 rhjrthm, seems to be universally followed by the stage. Penta- 
 meters are read as trimeters, tetrameters, and hexameters. 
 For example — 
 
 "A man is master of his liberty" 
 
 ** The sea waxed calm and we discovered " 
 
 " Had but a moderate and beseeming share " 
 
 *' I bought and brought up to attend my sons " 
 
50 
 
 ' And piteous plainings of the pretty babes ' 
 
 '*So I to find a mother and a brother" 
 "Men, more divine, the masters of all these" 
 
 
 "If every just man that now pines in want" 
 
 V\\/ V V\\ llMI 11 ^'ll 
 
 If Marlowe meant — 
 
 " Oh ! thou art fairer than the evening air 
 Clad in the beauty of a thousand stars " 
 
 to be read as tetrameters, thus : — 
 
 why, assuming the long feet to be permissible in tetrameters, 
 did he never include them unmistakably in any pentameter? 
 No answer can be given to this question," and the inference is, 
 pending better knowledge, that Marlowe meant his pentameters 
 to be read as such. Again, if Shakespeare intended " Beg thou 
 or borrow to make up the sum. And live" — that is one whole 
 line with two syllables of the next — to be read as a pentameter, 
 thus : — 
 
 why did he not, as a variation from the monotony of normal 
 pentameters, write pentameters with this unusual variation of 
 full feet rather than tetrameters with such feet? Is not a 
 packed pentameter at least as good a variation as a packed 
 tetrameter? Perhaps the real reason why such questions are 
 never answered is that, owing to preconceptions as to the nature 
 of English rhythm, they are never asked. The value of the 
 notation comes out here again, for, plainly, it would enable two 
 writers at a distance from each other to discuss points similar 
 to the one here raised, with a moderate expectation of being 
 mutually intelligible. 
 
 The object of the foregoing digression was to show that the 
 understanding of a poem read so as to address the intelligence 
 only must include a correct apprehension also of the rhythm and 
 the metre. And rhythm, so treated, is said to be treated on the 
 
51 
 
 mid level, because there is an extreme on either side of this 
 mean. On the low level, rhythm is treated mechanically as a 
 scheme of sound rather than of sense. This is the rhythm that 
 appeals to children and savages, to the heels rather than to the 
 head, what Shakespeare calls the " right butterwoman's rank 
 to market." Examples : — 
 
 "If a hart do lack a hind, So be sure does Rosalind" 
 
 I r n r n r J 1 r- i r p ! r f I r • i r- 1 
 
 " The queen was in her parlour eating bread and honey " 
 
 M r • I r f i r I r- 1 r • I r ; I • • T I r 
 
 The erudite call this a six-foot trochee, with hypermetrical 
 syllable. Children who have read in the previous line how 
 " The king was in his counting-house counting out his money " 
 know better, and read it as an eight-foot line, including one foot 
 of silence, just as they read ordinary ballads or the Common 
 Metre psalms. If the " queen " had been eating bread and jam, 
 instead of bread and honey, the line narrating this part of her 
 history would apparently have been raised to the dignity of 
 iambic verse. The children, however, would have read the 
 line just as before, noticing no difference except the declension 
 to a homelier fare. Unfortunately, children often read as 
 " heel " rhythm what is not addressed to that end. They give 
 C ! r C I ^ 5 I r 5 I r for ^'' I to the hills will lift mine 
 eyes," instead of j T 5 g j | , (fee. 
 
 So much for the low level of rhythm. 
 
 The high level, the other extreme, is that on which the 
 emotions are addressed. Its appeal is to the heart more than 
 to the head. To what extent this appeal is entitled to affect 
 the rhythm is a difficult question. To its utter destruction say 
 the majority, including the stage. The view taken here is that, 
 underneath all passion that is not torn to very rags, there must 
 be felt the underlying rhythm and metre. To express the 
 passion of rhythm necessarily draws upon every resource of 
 musical expression. Here is a mere suggestion : — 
 
 " To be, or not to be ! — That is the question." 
 
 "Heel" rhythm, J]f ^\^ t\^ PlT^ 
 "Head" rhythm, [Jjf '\^^\\'^\' J* 
 
 /^ acrel. and dim. ^7S •O. 
 
 "Heart" rhythm, J | f || f j f H f' II f II 5 5 
 
 If f Mr? 
 
 i '/ 
 
 # # 
 
52 
 
 While simple reading to the intelligence would give for 
 " Whether 'tis nobler," | p f J j f f | » an iinderswell of any 
 passion would probably modify this to I S 5* 5 I f 5* 
 In the same way, if we were dealing with " Coloured with 
 smooth excuses," the change from I C C C I f C I 5 f I 
 ^^ \ > y ^ \ \ r \ r f \ ^^^^ signify the transition from 
 indifference to scorn. 
 
 VII. — Variation of speed or " tempo " in music is indicated by 
 the words accelerando and ritardando. In dealing with 
 speech accelerato and ritardato would in some cases be 
 more appropriate. Sometimes a single syllable is dragged, 
 
 Ht. 
 
 as in "Read it, great Caesar," I C* S C i f C L though 
 probably the rhythm here is more accurately represented by 
 I f f ^ P f I f f f I . All interruptions in f " Time " 
 involve an accelerato, just as those in ^ involve a ritardato. 
 The latter is very marked in — 
 
 "Flashing thick flames, wheel within wheel in-drawn " 
 
 VIII. — Variation in strength of accent. 
 
 An unusually strong accent is sometimes called rinforzando, 
 and represented by A placed over the affected note. A gradual 
 rise in strength is called cremendo, sometimes marked -=nii; ; 
 a gradual decrease, diminuendo, marked ^Il==-. Examples : — 
 
 '* Illimitable, insuperable, infinite " 
 
 A 
 
 " That is the question" 
 
 ** That man hath perfect blessedness " 
 
 Normally — though no one else notices it — there seems to be 
 a gentle crescendo in nearly every unbroken line of verse, and it 
 is partly by the position of the strongest accent that the end 
 is recognised as such by the ear. The student may test the 
 truth of this on " The weight of all the hopes of half the world " 
 and " The thane of Cawdor lives." In any case the common 
 device of marking only two degrees of accent is quite inadequate. 
 Prof. Mayor, deceived probably by the fall in pitch, hears a 
 diminuendo in " dens, and shades of death," where we invite 
 
53 
 
 the student to hear a crescendo. Prof. Mayor also assigns equal 
 accents to " shades " and " death," therein violating, as is 
 common with him, the logic of the thought. English speech- 
 sounds, rightly produced, always give accentual effect to this 
 inner logical force, pitch being more appropriate for expressing 
 the subjective moods of the soul. All sorts of moods can be 
 conveyed by " Why don't you go % " if uttered with various 
 inflections according to the emotional attitude of the questioner ; 
 but, if the idea of " going " is new matter, " go " must in every 
 case receive a stronger accent than " why." If Prof. Mayor had 
 given his attention to this aspect of accentuation, he could not 
 have treated this line of Milton's as the numbers indicate : — 
 
 " Say, muse, their names then known, who first, who last" 
 2 1 1112 12 1 
 
 Three words making sense like " names then known " could not 
 be uttered with equal accents by any one thinking oi their 
 meaning. To mark " who " with a stronger accent than " first " 
 and " last " is worse than merely to hear amiss ; it is to mis- 
 understand the meaning of the words. It would be easy to 
 reason this out, but perhaps it is sufficient to invite attention 
 to the fact. Then " first " and " last " are assigned equal accents 
 — again a logical impossibility. Evidently grave difficulties 
 attend the disentanglement of varying degrees of accent. The 
 notation for the line under criticism might have helped Prof. 
 Mayor : — 
 
 iJ'T-iir'inifir'ir 
 
 but unless a " Time " phrase like this is admitted to imply a 
 gentle increase of strength from beginning to end, there is still 
 something to be settled. The result is expressible in terms of 
 crescendo and diminuendo. 
 
 IX. — Variation by " pauses," " rests," silent measures, end-stopped 
 and run-on lines. 
 
 Run-on lines are those which, ending with the first portion of 
 a Triple measure of any one of the forms given in Section 7, 
 go on without a break to the completion of this measure in the 
 following line. End-stopped lines are of three kinds, according 
 as they end (1) in an unaccented rest, (2) in an accented rest 
 or silent measure, (3) in a " pause." When a line or a portion of 
 one ends in a " pause " — that is, a presumed suspension of time, 
 either on sound or silence — the previous measure, or what is 
 left of it, added to the unaccented syllables leading up to the 
 next measure, may be either equal to or greater than one 
 
54 
 
 complete measure, without producing on the ear any effect of 
 excess. The following examples of the several variations are 
 added by way of supplement to the many already given : — 
 
 *' A thing of beauty is a joy for ever " 
 
 ' ' Of man's first disobedience and the fruit " 
 
 n r- 1 r n I •• 5 M 1 p M r II 
 
 " Break, break, break, On thy cold gray stones, 
 
 iriiriirihi5 5ir rir r 
 
 or if^p irf 
 
 ** I to the hills will lift mine eyes, 
 From whence doth come mine aid. My safety, &c. " 
 
 Mr fir nr^irnr n 
 
 When the place of these rests is filled up, as in — 
 " He makes me down to lie In pastures green " 
 
 there is, of course, a serious rupture of metre. 
 
 r II 
 
 " Drinking the bluid red wine. 
 
 whaur ' 
 
 f f Nrp 
 
 ir^irp 
 
 rii 
 
 When the " grave-digger " sings " A pick- axe and a spade, 
 a spade," he is not adding a foot to the original trimeter, 
 " A pick-axe and a spade," but filling the last empty measure 
 of a tetrameter. There seems, however, to be no reason why 
 trimeters should not in some cases be treated purely as such; 
 it would only be repeating on the large scale the rhythm of 
 the Triple measure. Examples are seen in SAvinburne's " Baby, 
 baby dear," and in Shelley's " To a sky-lark." Here is a dimeter 
 that apparently admits of being read as a trimeter with a silent 
 accent : — 
 
 " Like a summer-dried fountain. 
 
 When our need was the sorest " 
 
55 
 
 According to Coventry Patmore we have here to choose between 
 two alternatives — either to read the pairs of feet in close suc- 
 cession, crushing " fountain " and " When our " into one foot, 
 or to have two blank feet in every line; that is, our only choice 
 is between a dimeter and a tetrameter. Perhaps the best solu- 
 tion lies in a dimeter closed with the indefinite " Pause." There 
 is always a danger, however, of the " Pause " being unconsciously 
 made equal to a bar, or, in Common Time, to some multiple of 
 half a bar. 
 
 Some maintain that pentameters are properly read as hexa- 
 meters with a final measure of silence, and certainly some penta- 
 meters lend themselves to such treatment ; but it seems preferable 
 to preserve the five measures by substituting for rests of definite 
 duration the indefinite " Pause." If the student wishes to discern 
 the true character of any final break, he will do well to watch, 
 not his own practice, but the usage of others who labour under 
 no consciousness of being observed. 
 
 *• Since what I am to say must be but that 
 
 nrnr nrfnr nr 
 
 Which contradicts my accusation, and 
 
 The testimony on my part no other 
 
 But what comes from myself, it scarce shall boot me " 
 
 M r- 1 r 5 5 1 r II M r • i j ? 1 1 
 
 ' ' Do you hear me ? 
 
 If Mr ff 
 
 Believe or no, I care not. You have lost 
 
 nr nr nr Jif nr 
 
 The ear of the king. I have it. My lord Paramount, 
 
 n 5 f M r j! f I J p I n r- 1 5 5 p 
 
 Our great High-Priest, will not your Holiness 
 
 '\r: I rii'ir nr Mr 
 
 Vouchsafe a gracious answer to your queen ? " 
 
 Mr Mr nr MMMni 
 
56 
 
 Phrasing or grouping, here marked by 1 1 , is perhaps mostly 
 a question of inflection, but to some extent it is also a question 
 of rhythm pure and simple. Thus, although the rhythm in the 
 two following cases is substantially the same, the difference of 
 phrasing is easily represented by a slight variation in the nota- 
 tion of sound : — 
 
 "Mother, where is that radiant shore?" 
 "Mother Clare was a genial soul." 
 
 15 rir 5 5ip-5nrii 
 
 Ever so little pinched off tlie length of a syllable, for example, 
 
 I I 5 n ' ' ^^^^^^^ ^^ r P r ^^^^ serve the purpose, and 
 the procedure might quite well be covered by j I* J 11. No 
 liberties of phrasing should obscure the measure, or render it 
 a matter of doubt where the line ends. The sense need not be 
 lost in poetry, though the movement may vary from that of 
 prose ; it may even acquire a new dignity and significance. 
 
 X. — Variations which seem to defy analysis, except as prose. 
 " Blackened about us, bats wheeled, and owls whooped " 
 
 ^ j5 p n; mr-ir nr-irii 
 
 This is marked as read in prose, giving six feet instead of five, 
 and no other reading seems possible, without doing violence to 
 the English language. The following lines, suj^posed to be 
 pentameters, are in a similar position : — 
 
 •' Beat; merrily blowing shrilled the martial fife " 
 " One calls the square round, t'other the round square " 
 " To stop song, loosen flower, and leave path : Law " 
 " Lies to God, lies to man, every way lies " 
 
 24. We devote the last section to a miscellaneous collection 
 of passages, with their notation. From these the average ratio 
 of Triple to Common Time in all normal English verse may be 
 fairly inferred. 
 
 *'Nu brother Walter, brother min, after the flaesches kinde, 
 
 :\; rir piR nrii? p nr pir c\r 
 
 And brother min i Cristendom thurh fulluht and thurh trowthe " 
 
 MS nr nr nr n^ nr nr nr 
 
57 
 
 "England his a well god lond ich wene ech londe best 
 
 ir nr 'If fir ;ir nr nr^ir 
 
 I- set in the on ende of the worldeas al in the west.'' 
 
 HP : nrnr nr ;ir-ir nr^iri 
 
 ** It sate me wel bet, ay in a cave 
 
 n r n r n r 1 1 p f n r 
 
 To bidde and rede on holy seintes lives ! 
 
 f I r ^ r n r n r n rrf 
 
 Lat maydens gon to daunce and yonge wives ! " 
 
 nr nr nr nr 'ircii 
 
 "Our plesance heir is all vane glory 
 This fals world is bot transitory, 
 The flesche is brukle, the Fend is sle, 
 Timor mortis conturbat me." 
 
 ** Was this the face that launched a thousand ships 
 
 PIT nr N r nr nr 
 
 And burned the topless towers of Ilium ? 
 
 nr nr nr nr nn 
 
 Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss ! " 
 
 M^ 'li* J nr 'ir nr 
 
58 
 "Thus like the sad presaging raven that tolls 
 
 I I ;J^!l l/iTHk^kir 
 
 The sick man's passport in her hollow beak, 
 And in the shadow of the silent night 
 
 r n 1 5 r 1 r • I r • i r 
 
 Doth shake contagion from her sable wings ; " 
 
 , n r n r p I r n r f I r 
 
 "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought" 
 
 I ;• 5 • I p J n r- 1 f 5 1 r 
 
 " Suns of the world may stain when heaven's sun staineth " 
 
 "How all occasions do inform against me, 
 And. spur my dull revenge ! What is a man " 
 
 nr Jir nrlr i sir 
 
 "It is not growing like a tree 
 
 y \ > / \ \^ \ \ I y \ \ 
 
 In bulk, doth make man better be." 
 
 > \ \ II k I 1/ > \ / \ \ \ 
 
 "In small proportion we just beauties see; 
 And in short measures life may perfect be " 
 
 n i r- 1 f r II r n r n r 
 
59 
 
 "If by your art, my dearest father, you have 
 Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. 
 The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch. 
 But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek, 
 
 \ \ 0, \ \ '2 ' ^ \ 
 
 Dashes the fire out. O, I have sufifered 
 
 J J- Sir^lir-ir n^ ?• 
 -i?riir55ip c 
 
 With those that I saw suffer ! a brave vessel 
 Dashed all to pieces. the cry did knock 
 
 nr '}' 'fir fir nr 
 
 Against my very heart ! Poor souls, they perished 
 
 c\H :\' pii Itnr t\t rli 
 
 Had I been any god of power, I would 
 
 Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere 
 
 rir fir *ir '\\M\\ 
 
 It should the good ship so have swallowed and 
 The freighting souls within her. " 
 
60 
 
 "if 'twere a kibe, 
 
 'Twould put me to my slipper ; but I feel not 
 
 •it* HP ?iP jlipir'ir 
 
 This deity in my bosom : twenty consciences 
 
 Hf^nr nr Pfr 'iP p :l 
 
 That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied be thej'. 
 
 And melt, ere they molest ! Here lies your brother 
 
 n r 1 i r 5 5 1 r I J p- 5 1 J 5 1 1 
 
 No better than the earth he lies upon, 
 
 r I k ^ ^^ M I i^ 1 1- ^ 1 1 
 
 If he were that which now hes like, that's dead ; 
 
 MI ^1 I > \ \ kl I II I I I II 
 
 Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it, 
 
 nrin sir nriir-i* r^ f 11 
 
 Can lay to bed for ever." 
 
 M r • I r • I p p 11 
 
 "They'll take suggestion, 
 
 cat laps milk 
 
 They'll tell the clock to any business that 
 
 # I \ \ \ \ ^ \ 
 
 We say befits the hour." 
 
 1 5 p- 5 1 r • I r II 
 
 *' All the infections that the sun sucks up 
 
 l# # €l* fll^' \ \ 
 
 From bogs, fens, fiats on Prosper fall and make him 
 
 #|#2#|##|##|# \ 0, 
 
 v\\/ v\\ v\\ i/!i '/\v V 
 
 By inch-meal a disease ! his spirits hear me." 
 
 9 \ 0\0^\\^0\0 \ #1? 
 
 ^\V V '1> ^\\ ^iKi/lkl ll l/ll 
 
61 
 ** There be some sports are painful, and their labour 
 
 I 5 1 r- 1 r n r n 1 f n p J- 
 
 Delight in them sets off : some kinds of baseness 
 
 Slip n? nrlltp p- i\v i 
 
 Are nobly undergone and most poor matters 
 
 n r M r M r H rn r- 1 f r I 
 
 Point to rich ends. This my mean task 
 
 ir nrirffr^j rurii 
 
 Would be as heavy to me as odious, but 
 
 The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead, 
 And makes my labours pleasures. " 
 
 n r n r n J r f 
 
 "It fell about the Martinmas tyde, 
 
 J I r n r n J- 5 n r 
 
 When our Border steeds get corn and hay, 
 
 n I r n r n r n r 
 
 The Captain of Bewcastle hath bound him to ryde, 
 And he's ower to Tividale to drive a prey. " 
 
 5 5 1 r n n ?• 5 1 r n r ^ i? 
 
 "Hence, loathed Melancholy, 
 
 Of Cerberus and blackest midnight born, 
 
 nr n^-^np rirnr 
 
 In Stygian cave forlorn, 
 
 n J- 5 M r J I r II 
 
 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks and sights unholy." 
 
 r I f r I r m r n r n r ni 
 
62 
 
 ' ' As thick and numberless 
 
 nr 'If 'ir 
 
 As the gay motes that people the sun-beams." 
 
 *' Heaven from all ages has reserved for you 
 
 ! f I I i r M r n r • i r 
 
 I 2 f 3 # f I 3 f f I 2 f f I 3 f f I # 
 |4| |/||8| Hsf-l/lsl ^ll 
 
 That happy clime which venom never knew." 
 
 n ^ n r fi p riJ nrf 
 
 " Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, 
 
 rit.. 
 
 i p-5 fi? nr nr nrii 
 
 I 2. ' 3 # #1 
 I 4 I / II 
 
 Lie in three words — Health, Peace, and Competence." 
 
 i ■ f I I ! r ^ i r- 1 r n ? • p \ 
 
 viv^. rir I r i r 'it; n^ ff 
 
 Here sense, rhyme, and rhythm are all at odds. 
 " England, with all thy faults I love thee still " 
 
 "I loved, I love you, for this love have lost 
 state, station, heaven, mankind's, my own esteem." 
 
 f I r M r f r ! f n r p I r f 
 
63 
 
 Judging by these passages, about 85 per cent, of measures 
 are in Triple Time, and 15 per cent, in Common Time; 70 per 
 cent, of the measures are dissyllabic, 20 trisyllabic, and the 
 remainder are about equally monosyllabic and quadrisyllabic ; 
 and of dissyllabic feet about 10 per cent, take the form | C [ j • 
 
 The examples accumulated up to this point probably furnish 
 all the main varieties of measure to be found in the English 
 language. Names for some of them are available in certain 
 classical feet, if these are defined as having the accent on the first 
 syllable. Thus in Triple Time we have the trochee and the 
 tribrach, I J J J I ; in Common Time, the spondee, the dactyl, 
 the pyrrhic, and the proceleusmaticus, C C ^ C l' ^^^ Qyen in 
 Compound Time, the ditrochee. Names for the other measures 
 are lacking. The terms iambus and anapaest, as descriptive of 
 feet, are impossible, since they only confuse what is already 
 covered by trochee and dactyl; they could be used to express 
 the groups f I f, C C ' f' J^^^ ^^ ^^ might be convenient to 
 have names for groups like J ^ i ^ 5 5 5 | • ^^^ ^^® notation 
 itself is the best form of nomenclature. As one last example of 
 its efficacy as a vehicle for distinctions hardly otherwise com- 
 municable, take the phrase " The way to pay old debts." This 
 might be four feet, n I f M f * | '* j p, as in ordinary speech; 
 or three feet, f | f f j p ^ f [ f ' suitable for verse ; or, after 
 the comic manner of Gilbert, two feet, f C * | f | | | • ^Y 
 what other medium could so great a variety of rhythmical facts 
 and of suggestions towards a theory of rhythm be so accurately 
 conveyed from mind to mind 1 
 
R. ANDERSON, GLASGOW. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
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