INDEX OF ALTERED FIRST LINES. What if death my sleep invade Interval of grateful shade What though downy slumbers flee When from the depths of woe When my love to God grows weak While thee, Unsearchable, I set Thou, true and only God, lead'st forth Young souls, so strong the race to run Iv HOW THE METRES ARE MARKED. THE familiar Long, Common, and Short metres are denoted by the abbreviations L. M., C. M., S. M., respectively. If the stanzas have 8 lines instead of 4, the letter D (Double) is added. In distinguishing metres it is not enough to count the syllables in each line: the fall of the accent among the syllables must also be noticed; e. g. whether it be on the odd, or on the even, syllables. In the notation of this volume, both facts are marked, by combining the letter M. (Metre) with a figure which counts the syllables, and assigning to it always the unaccented place. Thus, M. 6 denotes that the lines have 6 syllables each, with the even syllables accented; 6 M. the same, with the odd syllables accented: the first is exemplified in My Gód, thy súp | pliant héar | (464) the second in Sáfe across the | wáters | (427) If the lines are of different lengths, alternating with each other, a second figure is needed, to count the even lines; without disturbing the M. from its unaccented place. Thus M. 7 & 6 describes Rejoice, though stórms | assáil | thee; while 8 & 7 M. describes On the déwy | breath of | éven Thousand ódours | míngling | ríse (579) The lines, however, often vary in length at greater intervals; the shorter ones entering at the 3rd and 6th places, or at other less symmetrical distances. In such case, it is easy to write, under each counting figure, a list of the lines for which it serves. Thus, in the following stanza of hymn 324, Dear Lord and Fáth | er óf | mankind, | the second and fifth lines have six syllables; the others, 8; the even syllables being accented throughout. These facts are ex I. 3. 4. 2. 5. The notation equally speaks for itself, when the case is further complicated by the accent changing its fall in some of the lines, so as really to blend two metres in the same stanza. hymn 377, Sée the Lord, thy | Kéeper, | stánd Ló! he holds thee | by the | hand, Shadows with his | wings thy | head, Guárds from áll im | pénding | hárms; Round thee and be | néath are | spread Thus in the second, fourth, and eighth lines differ from the rest, not only by their shortness, but by being Iambic (-), while the rest are Trochaic (v). This is expressed by giving a different relative position to the M in the two cases: 7 M. M. 6 I. 3. 5. 6. 7. 2. 4. 8. Where the second half of a stanza only repeats the metrical arrangement of the first, it is sufficient to describe one of them, adding the letter D. to show that it is doubled; as in hymn M. 8 521, D. Where a stanza, elsewhere uniform, has one or two lines of different length from the others, it is sufficient to register the exceptional lines under their proper figure, and let it be under HOW THE METRES ARE MARKED. lix stood that the remaining figure applies to all the rest as, in M. 9 hymn 382, M. 8. I. 3. M. 6 M. 4 The combination is generally known as Hallelujah 1-4 5-8 metre. It is indicated by the abbreviation H. M.: e. g. hymns 628, 629. Anapæstic metres are indicated by printing an anapæst (-) at the head; and are measured by a figure prefixed, which tells the number of feet in a line: See e. g. hymn 433. In hymn 59, a spondee (- -) precedes the anapæst in each line. This is marked by printing both, . The same method is adopted with dactylic metres: See e. g. hymn 265. Metres too complicated for clear notation are marked as Peculiar by the letters P. M. |