n as part of a stanza, and in connexion with longer verses. The initial
accent and triple rhyme make it necessary to have something else with it.
Hence this short measure is much less common than the others, which are
accented differently. Besides, the line of three syllables, as was noticed
in the observations on Anapestic Monometer, is often peculiarly uncertain
in regard to the measure which it should make. A little difference in the
laying of emphasis or accent may, in many instances, change it from one
species of verse to an other. Even what seems to be dactylic of two feet,
if the last syllable be sufficiently lengthened to admit of single rhyme
with the full metre, becomes somewhat doubtful in its scansion; because, in
such case, the last foot maybe reckoned an _amphimac_, or _amphimacer_. Of
this, the following stanzas from Barton's lines "to the Gallic Eagle," (or
to Bonaparte on St. Helena,) though different from all the rest of the
piece, may serve as a specimen:--

"Far from the | _battle's shock_,
Fate hath fast | bound thee;
Chain'd to the | _rugged rock_,
Waves warring | round thee.

[Now, for] the | _trumpet's sound_,
Sea-birds are | shrieking;
Hoarse on thy | _rampart's bound_,
Billows are | breaking."

OBS. 2.--This may be regarded as verse of the Composite Order; and,
perhaps, more properly so, than as Dactylic with mere incidental
variations. Lines like those in which the questionable foot is here
Italicized, may be united with longer dactylics, and thus produce a stanza
of great beauty and harmony. The following is a specimen. It is a song,
written by I know not whom, but set to music by Dempster. The twelfth line
is varied to a different measure.

"ADDRESS TO THE SKYLARK."

"Bird of the | wilderness,
Blithesome and | cumberless,
Light be thy | matin o'er | moorland and | lea;
Emblem of | happiness,
Blest is thy | dwelling-place;
O! to a |-bide in the | desert with | thee!

"Wild is thy | lay, and loud,
Far on the | downy cloud;
Love gives it | energy, | love gave it | birth:
Where, on thy | dewy wing,
Where art thou | journeying?
Thy lay | is in heav |-en, thy love | is on earth.

"O'er moor and | mountain green,
O'er fell and | fountain sheen,
O'er the red | streamer that | heralds the | day;
Over the | cloudlet dim,
Over the |