2 DECEMBER 1922, Page 45

DACTYLIC VERSE IN ENGLISH. [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]

SIR,—May I point out that the first six lines of The Bride of Abydos supply what is wanted in fuller measure than the two lines quoted by Mr. Omond from Dryden's Albion and Albanius ? They run thus :— "Know ye the land where the cypress and myrtle

• Ave emblems of deeds that are done in their clime, Where the rage of the vulture and love of the turtle Now melt into sorrow, now madden to crime Know ye the land of the cedar and vine, Where the flowers ever blossom, the beams ever shine ? "

But the need of " catalectic effect" apparently defeats Byron's original scheme for the stanza at the end of the fourth line, and after the seventh line it is no longer traceable.

Bath.