Chapter 3

“_Through_ bush, _through_ briar—

_Through_ flood, _through fire_—”

What a noble pair of ears this worthy Theobald must have had! The eight amphimacers or cretics,—

“Ovĕr hīll, ōvĕr dāle, Thōrŏ’ būsh, thōrŏ’ brīar, Ovĕr pārk, ōvĕr pāle, Thrōrŏ’ flōōd, thōrŏ’ fīre”—

have a delightful effect on the ear in their sweet transition to the trochaic,—

“I dŏ wāndĕr ēv’ry whērĕ Swīftĕr thān thĕ mōōnĕs sphērĕ,” &c.

The last words, as sustaining the rhyme, must be considered, as in fact they are, trochees in time.

It may be worth while to give some correct examples in English of the principle metrical feet:—

Pyrrhic or Dibrach, u u = _bŏdy_, _spĭrĭt_. Tribrach, u u u = _nŏbŏdy_, hastily pronounced. Iambus, u - = _dĕlīght_. Trochee, - u = _līghtlȳ_. Spondee, - - = _Gōd spāke_.

The paucity of spondees in single words in English, and indeed in the modern languages in general, makes perhaps the greatest distinction, metrically considered, between them and the Greek and Latin.

Dactyl, - u u = _mērrĭlȳ_. Anapæst, u u - = _ă prŏpōs_, or the first three syllables of _cĕrĕmōny_. Amphibrachys, u - u = _dĕlīghtfŭl_. Amphimacer, - u - = _ōvĕr hīll_. Antibacchius, u - = _thĕ Lōrd Gōd_. Bacchius, - - u = _Hēlvēllȳn_. Molossus, - - - = _Jōhn Jāmes Jōnes_.

These simple feet may suffice for understanding the metres of Shakespeare, for the greater part at least;—but Milton cannot be made harmoniously intelligible without the composite feet, the Ionics, Pæons, and Epitrites.

_Ib._ sc. 2. Titania’s speech (Theobald, adopting Warburton’s reading):—

“Which she, with pretty and with swimming gate _Follying_ (her womb then rich with my young squire) Would imitate,” &c.

Oh! oh! Heaven have mercy on poor Shakespeare, and also on Mr. Warburton’s mind’s eye!