5 MARCH 1948, Page 14

Rhythmic Lapses A distinguished don has amused himself at intervals

by discovering unconscious verses in the most prosaic quarters. One of his latest should interest farmers. The account of a newly discovered drug that strangely affects the much cow ends with the delightful blank-verse line: " Induce lactation in the virgin cow." Are agricultural themes peculiarly subject to such rhythm ? Blank verse lines are especially frequent, I seem to remember, in the account in Lorna Doone of the saving of the sheep from the snow. As for my experience, many a journey used to be made irritating by the spondaic lack of caesura in the hexameter "These racks are provided for light articles only," and the endeavour to create a pentameter out of the following words!