English Hexameters. By T. G. Omond. (D. Douglas, Edinburgh )
—We find little to object to and something to commend in Mr. Omond's essay, but when we come to examine his "specimen" we cannot see that he has done better than his predecessors. Here is a sample taken at random :— "Thus then the goddess spike; but mighty Odysseus answered, Doubting sorely, 'Lady, I dread thy secret purpose. One thing thou gayest, another concealed in thy breast abitieth, Bidding use thus embark in a raft on the wale's endless, Where even mighty ships fall oft are evilly handled. Willingly never would I thus fare o'er perilous coma. Save with a mighty oath thou swear and truly as‘nre me Nothing of ill thou deem'st or of secret mischief toward me."
What would any one reader, of ordinary culture but not specially acquainted with the experiments made in writing hexameters, make of this verse ? But for a few inversions, which do not, after all, add appreciably to the melody, he would not recognise it as verse at all.
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