23 DECEMBER 1922, Page 18

" DACTYLIC " VERSE IN ENGLISH.

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have not noticed so good a specimen quoted by any of your correspondents as " The Lark," by James Hogg. The first six lines are as follows Bird of the wilderness, Blithesome and cumberless, Sweet are thy matins o'er woodland and lea ; Emblem of happiness, Blest is thy dwelling-place, Oh to abide in the desert with thee l " I do not trouble you with more of the poem, which is readily accessible. There are twenty-four lines in all, and equal regularity of scansion is observed throughout, with a possible slight exception in the twelfth line, where there is a re- dundant short syllable in the first foot.—I am, Sir, Ace., S. G. WARNER.

" Elmside," Wandsworth Common, S.W. 11.