| -d=ore
th~ee."--_Heber_.

3. "And th~e br=eath | ~of th~e D=e | -~it~y c=ir | -cl~ed th~e
ro=om."--_Hunt_.

4. "H=ail t~o th~e | chi=ef wh~o ~in | tr=i~umph ~ad |-v=anc~es!"--_Scott_.

EXPLANATIONS AND DEFINITIONS.

Poetic feet being arbitrary combinations, contrived merely for the
measuring of verses, and the ready ascertainment of the syllables that suit
each rhythm, there is among prosodists a perplexing diversity of opinion,
as to the _number_ which we ought to recognize in our language. Some will
have only two or three; others, four; others, eight; others, twelve. The
dozen are all that can be made of two syllables and of three. Latinists
sometimes make feet of four syllables, and admit sixteen more of these,
acknowledging and naming twenty-eight in all. The _principal_ English feet
are the _Iambus_, the _Trochee_, the _Anapest_, and the _Dactyl_.

1. The _Iambus_, or _Iamb_, is a poetic foot consisting of a short syllable
and a long one; as, _b~etr=ay, c~onf=ess, d~em=and, ~intent, d~egr=ee_.

2. The _Trochee_, or _Choree_, is a poetic foot consisting of a long
syllable and a short one; as, _h=atef~ul, p=ett~ish, l=eg~al, m=eas~ure,
h=ol~y_.

3. The _Anapest_ is a poetic foot consisting of two short syllables and one
long one; as, _c~ontr~av=ene, ~acqu~i=esce, ~imp~ort=une_.

4. The _Dactyl_ is a poetic foot consisting of one long syllable and two
short ones; as, _l=ab~our~er, p=oss~ibl~e, w=ond~erf~ul_.

These are our principal feet, not only because they are oftenest used, but
because each kind, with little or no mixture, forms a distinct order of
numbers, having a peculiar rhythm. Of verse, or poetic measure, we have,
accordingly, four principal kinds, or orders; namely, _Iambic, Trochaic,
Anapestic_, and _Dactylic_; as in the four lines cited above.

The more pure these several kinds are preserved, the more exact and
complete is the chime of the verse. But exactness being difficult, and its
sameness sometimes irksome, the poets generally indulge some variety; not
so much, however, as to confound the drift of the rhythmical pulsations:
or, if ever these be not made obvious to the reader, there is a grave fault
in the versification.

The _secondary_ feet, if admitted at all, are to be admitted only, or
chiefly, as occasional diversifications. Of this class of feet, many
grammarians adopt four; but they la