his | clouds with | blessings | swell,
And they | break a | brimming | shell
On the | air;
There the | shower | hath its | charms,
Sweet and | welcome | to the | farms
As they | listen | to its | voice,
And re | -joice!"
Rev. RALPH HOYT'S _Poems: The Examiner_, Nov. 6, 1847.

_Example VI.--"A Good Name?"--Two Beautiful Little Stanzas_.

1.

"Children, | choose it,
Don't re | -fuse it,
'Tis a | precious | dia | -dem;
Highly | prize it,
Don't de | -spise it,
You will | need it | when you're | men.

2.

Love and | cherish,
Keep and | nourish,
'Tis more | precious | far than | gold;
Watch and | guard it,
Don't dis | -card it,
You will | need it | when you're | old."
_The Family Christian Almanac, for 1850_, p. 20.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--Trochaics of two feet, like those of three, are, more frequently
than otherwise, found in connexion with longer lines, as in some of the
examples above cited. The trochaic line of three syllables, which our
prosodists in general describe as consisting, not of two feet; but "of one
Trochee and a long syllable," may, when it stands alone, be supposed to
consist of one _amphimac_; but, since this species of foot is not admitted
by all, and is reckoned a secondary one by those who do admit it, the
better practice is, to divide even the three syllables into two feet, as
above.

OBS. 2.--Murray, Hart, Weld, and many others, erroneously affirm, that,
"The _shortest_ Trochaic verse in our language, consists of one Trochee and
a long syllable."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 256; _Hart's, First Edition_, p.
186; _Weld's, Second Edition_, p. 210. The error of this will be shown by
examples below--examples of _true "Trochaic Monometer_," and not of Dimeter
mistaken for it, like Weld's, Hart's, or Murray's.

OBS. 3.--These authors also aver, that, "This measure is _defective in
dignity_, and can seldom be used on serious occasions."--_Same places_.
"Trochaic of _two feet_--is likewise so _brief_, that," in their opinion,
"it is rarely used for any very serious purpose."--_Same places_. Whether
the expression of love, or of its disappointment, is "any very serious
purpose" or not, I leave to the decision of the reader. What lack of
dignity or seriousness there is, in several of the foregoing examples,
especially the last two, I think it not easy to discover.

MEA