Chapter IV: Versification

FALSE PROSODY, OR ERRORS OF METRE, CORRECTED.

LESSON I.--RHYTHM RESTORED.

"Where thy true treasure? Gold says, 'Not in me.'"
--_Young_.

"Canst thou grow sad, thou _say'st_, as earth grows bright."
--_Dana_.

"It must be so;--Plato, thou _reason'st_ well"
--CATO: _Enfield_, p. 321.

"Slow rises _worth_ by poverty depressed."
--_Wells's Gram., Late Ed._, p. 211.

"Rapt _into_ future times, the bard begun."
--POPE.--_Ib._, p. 165.

"Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens
To wash it white as snow? _Whereto_ serves mercy
But to confront the visage of offence?"
--_Shak., Hamlet_.

"Look! in this place ran _Cassius_' dagger through."
--_Id., J. Cæsar_.

"_And_ when they list, their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw."
--_Milton, Lycidas_.

"Did not great Julius bleed for _justice'_ sake?"
--_Dodd and Shak. cor._

"May I _express thee' unblam'd? since_ God is light"
--_Milton_, B. iii, l. 3.

"Or _hear'st_ thou rather pure ethereal stream?"
--_Id._, B. iii, l. 7.

"Republics, kingdoms, empires, may decay;
_Great_ princes, heroes, sages, sink to nought."
--_Peirce or La-Rue cor._

"Thou _bringst_, gay creature as thou art,
A solemn image to my heart."
--_Hallock cor._

"Know _then_ thyself, presume not God to scan;
The proper study of mankind is Man."
--_Pope, on Man_, Ep. ii, l. 1.

"Raised on _pilasters high_ of _burnished_ gold."
--_Dr. S. Butler cor._

"Love in _Adalgise_' breast has fixed his sting."
--_Id._

"Thirty days _each have_ September,
April, June, and _old_ November;
_Each_ of the rest _has_ thirty-one,
Bating February alone,
Which has twenty-eight in fine,
Till leap-year gives it twenty-nine."
--_Dean Colet cor._

LESSON II.--RHYTHM RESTORED.

"'Twas not the fame of what he once had been,
Or tales in _records old_ and annals seen."
--_Rowe cor._

"And Asia now and Afric are explored
For high-priced dainties and _the_ citron board."
--_Rowe cor._

"Who knows not how the trembling judge beheld
The peaceful court with _arm~ed_ legions fill'd?"
--_Rowe cor._

"With thee the Scythian wilds we'll wander o'er,
With thee _the_ burning Libyan sands explore."
--_Rowe cor._

"Hasty and headlong, different paths they tread,
As _impulse blind_ and wild distraction lead."
--_Rowe cor._

"But Fate reserv'd _him_ to perform its doom,
And be the minister of wrath to Rome."
--_Rowe cor._

"Thus spoke the youth. When Cato thus _express'd_
The sacred counsels of his inmost breast."
--_Rowe cor._

"These were the _rigid_ manners of the man,
This _was_ the stubborn course in which they ran;
The golden mean unchanging to pursue,
Constant to keep the _purpos'd_ end in view."
--_Rowe cor._

"What greater grief can _on_ a Roman seize,
Than to be forced to live on terms like these!"
--_Rowe cor._

"He views the naked town with joyful eyes,
While from his rage an _arm~ed_ people flies."
--_Rowe cor._

"For planks and beams, he ravages the wood,
And the tough _oak_ extends across the flood."
--_Rowe cor._

"A narrow pass the horn~ed mole divides.
Narrow as that where _strong Euripus_' tides
Beat on Euboean Chalcis' rocky sides."
--_Rowe cor._

"No force, no fears their hands _unarm~ed_ bear,"--or,
"No force, no fears their hands unarm'd _now_ bear,
But looks of peace and gentleness they wear."
--_Rowe cor._

"The ready warriors all aboard them ride,
And wait return of the retiring tide."
--_Rowe cor._

"He saw those troops that long had faithful stood,
Friends to his cause, and enemies to good,
Grown weary of their chief, and _satiate_ with blood."
--_Rowe cor._

END OF THE KEY.