Prosody. To his ancestors restored; Like a reappearing star, Like a glory from afar, Spondaic. First shall head the flock of war." WORDSWORTH. The odd lines of the following piece are of four trochees each; the even, of three trochees and a syllable over :— "Though the torrents | from their | fountains, | Roar down many a | craggy | steep; | Yet they find among the mountains Resting places calm and deep." WORDSWORTH. The trochaic verse admits the spondee occa sionally : "Though the sea-horse | in the ocean | Own no dear domestic cave; Yet he slumbers without motion On the calm and silent wave." WORDSWORTH. Spondaic. This verse is seldom found alone. Spondaic lines are often inserted in the other measures to give slowness or solemnity to them, as in the following: "These equal syllables alone require, And ten low words | oft creep | in one | dull line." | POPE. Prosody. "When Ajax strives | some rock's | vast weight | to Spondaic. throw, The line, too, la bours, and the words | move slow."-POPE. "With how sad steps, | O moon, | thou climb'st | the sky." |-SIR PHILIP SYDNEY. It is evident from the above, that to produce a spondaic line, as many monosyllables as possible should be used; since dissyllables and longer words, only carrying one accent each as a general rule, would not afford the close position of the accent that spondees require. Dactylics. This verse is seldom used. The Dactylics. subjoined is a specimen of it : |" "Talk not of genius | baffled; | Genius, | master of man; | Genius does what it must, and | talent | does what it can." —O. MEREDITH. The dactylic foot, however, is often used to give quickness and life to the iambic metre. Anapasts.-This verse usually consists of Anapæsts. either two, three, or four anapæsts in each line: I "See the furies arise; | I See the snakes that they rear, How they hiss in their hair, Of two feet. | And the spark | les that flash | from their eyes !" | Of three. DRYDEN. Prosody. Anapests of "O ye woods, | spread your branch | es apace, three feet. Of four. Cæsura. "At the corner of Wood | Street when day | light | There's a thrush | that sings loud, it has sung | Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard, This verse often admits a spondee or iambic, especially at the beginning; as, "Green pastures she views in the midst of the 1 dale, | Down which she so often has tripped | with her pail, | And a simple small cottage, a nest like a dove's, | The one one | only dwelling on earth that she loves." | WORDSWORTH. Casura (a cutting, Lat.) is the pause or rest of the voice in reading a verse. The position of the cæsura varies with the different kinds of measures, but in general it is placed as near the middle of the line as possible. Its position is marked thus, ||; as, "And now | I see || with eye | serene, serene," | etc. "Now the hungry || lion | roars," | etc. | "A per | fect wo | man, || no | bly planned,” | etc. Prosody. After 2-feet. After 2 feet. | " King, fá | ther, Roy | al Dane: || O an | swer me." | After 3 feet. The position of the cæsura is variable with each line, within the above limits; and the grace and dignity of verses depend very much on a proper management of this pause. Its position is greatly varied in the following consecutive lines from "Paradise Lost :" "When straight behold the throne Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread The consort of his reign; || and by them stood Orcus and Ades, || and the dreaded name Of Demo-gorgon! || Rumour next, and Chance And Discord || with a thousand various mouths." Bk. ii. The subjoined advice for versifiers is taken from POPE'S Essay on Criticism :— "True ease in writing comes from art, not chance, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surprise, And bid alternate passions fall and rise; L Prosody. Punctuation. Comma. Semicolon. Colon. Full Stop. Interrogation, excla dash. While at each change the son of Libyan Jove PUNCTUATION. Punctuation (punctum a point, Lat.) treats of the division of words into sentences, or parts of sentences, by means of stops, in order to show the logical connection between them. The stops used in English are the Comma, the Semicolon, the Colon, and the Full Stop. The Comma (that which is cut off, Greek) is the shortest stop, and is marked (,). The Semicolon (half a limb, Lat., Greek) is the next greater stop after the comma, and is marked (;). The Colon (a limb, Greek) is twice as great a pause as the semicolon, and is written (:). The Full Stop, or Period (a circuit, Greek), is the longest stop, and is written (). Besides these stops, the Note of Interrogation, mation, and written (?), is used at the end of a direct question; the Note of Exclamation (!), to point out surprise; and the Dash (-), to mark a sudden transition. Rule I. RULE I. The subject, predicate, and simple adjuncts of a sentence are not separated from one another by any stop; as, "The thought of our past years in me doth breed |