ENGLISH ANAPiESTIC METRES.

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR:1

SIR,—I observe that Mr. Palgrave speaks of the metre of his Elegy to Lord Strangford as "anapaestic or dactylic." May I venture to ask whether any real anapaestic metre exists in English, and whether the movement we so often call anaprestic is not really always dactylic ?

Take, for instance, Heber's,—

" Brightest and I best of the I sons of the I morning, Dawn on our I darkness and I lend us thine I aid,"

—this is clearly dactylic. Now, take Byron's,—

" The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, And his cohorts wore gleaming in purple and gold."

This, I believe, is always called an anapaestic poem, but it appears to me undoubtedly dactylic. Were it otherwise, there

must be a constant pause, indicating the close of the anapaest, at the first syllable of the dissyllabic words. How unmusical this is we can readily see by scanning the two lines as anapaests, — while, if we scan them as dactyls the movement becomes at once natural and graceful. It is true that in the latter mode of scanning we must allow for half-formed feet at the beginning and end of the lines, but this is immaterial; and, indeed, we may almost consider the final long syllable as carrying on the metre to the two short syllables of the following line. Here is the anapaestic scanning,

" The Assy j rian came down I like a wolf [ on the fold , And his co I hertz were gles. I ming in pur I plc and gold I ; " and here is the dactylic reading,— " The As I Syrian came I down like a I wolf on the I fold, And his I cohorts were I gleaming in I purple and gold."

Surely there can be no doubt about which is the proper metre? The same objection to anapaestic scansion holds good, I suspect, in every case. Take an example from Mr. Palgrave's Elegy :—

" While the year from its cradle comes lusty and gay:' Here again, if read as anapaest, there comes the unnatural break of the metre at the first syllable of " cradle" and " lusty ;" and so in many of the other lines.

Probably among your readers there are several who can confirm, or possibly dispute, my view as to there being no truly anapestic metre in English.

Let me add that Mr. Palgrave seems to me to have made what in Latin versification we should call " false quantities" in several of his lines :—

" Our place will vacant be I , one seat kept I for him."

We presume these are dactyls, and that we scan them aright ; but in what possible way can "place," "seat," "kept" be coaxed into short syllables?—I am, Sir, &c., H. A. B. [Surely "The Burial of Sir John _Moore" is an anapaestic metre (mixed with trochees and iambics), if ever there were one ?—

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note.

As his curse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot. On the grave where our hero was buried.'

Accent, surely, and not pause, defines the metre? but after many of these anapaests there is a natural pause too.—En. Spectator.]