But it is well known that this view is not the view commonly taken of the syllables see (in seeing) and sits. It is well known, that, in the eyes of a classical scholar, the see (in seeing) is short, and that in the word sits the i is long. The classic differs from the Englishman thus,-He measures his quantity, not by the length of the vowel, but by the length of the syllable taken altogether. The perception of this distinction. enables us to comprehend the following statements.

I. That vowels long by nature may appear to become short by position, and vice versa.

II. That, by a laxity of language, the vowel may be said to have changed its quantity, whilst it is the syllable alone that has been altered.

III. That, if one person measures his quantities by the vowels, and another by the syllables, what is short to the one, shall be long to the other, and vice versa. The same is the case with nations.

IV. That one of the most essential differences between the English and the classical languages is that the quantities (as far as they go) of the first are measured by the vowel, those of the latter by the syllable. To a Roman the word monument consists of two short syllables and one long one; to an Englishman it contains three short syllables.

CHAPTER III.

ALLITERATIVE METRES.

§ 558. THE following is an extract from a poem in the Swedish, written according to the alliterative system of the old Norse literature. It is foreign to the language as now spoken, but it is given because it is more truly alliterative than any older specimen. It is given as an extreme form, in order to serve as an illustration.

Without comparing the recurrence of the accent with the recurrence of the alliteration so closely as we have done in the previous chapter, we may remark that all the alliterative syllables are also accentuate,—this being another proof of the extent to which accent plays a part in metres generally considered to be based on alliteration.

The following are samples of the alliterative metre as it was actually written in (1) the Anglo-Saxon, (2) the Old Saxon, (3) the Old Norse, (4) the Old High-German. The alliteration is more obscure here. It loses, however, much of this obscurity when we know,

1. That the number of alliterative syllables within a certain space need not be more than two.

2. That all the vowels are considered, for the purposes of alliteration, as a single letter.

1.

ANGLO-SAXON.

OPENING OF BEOWULF.

Edited and translated by J. M. Kemble.

HWET we Gár-Dena,

hýran scolde,

gomban gyldan-
wa's gód cyning-
Sæm eafera wæ's
æfer cenned,

geong in geardum,
þone gód sende
folce to frófre;
fyren-pearfe on-geat,
híe æ'r drugon,
aldor-(le)áse.
lange hwíle,
him þæs líf-freá,
wuldres wealdend,
worold-áre for-geaf—
Beó-wulf wæ's breme,
blæ'd wíde sprang,
Scyldes eafera,
Scede-landum in.

FROM THE HILDEBRAND AND HATHUBRAND.

“IH gihorta that seggen, that sie urhetton ænon muotin
Hildibraht enti Hathubrant untar heriuntuem,

Sunu fatar ungo; iro saro rihtun,

Garutun se iro guthhamun, gurtun sih iro suert ana,

Helidos, ubar ringa, do sie to dero hiltu ritun.

Hiltibraht gimahalta, Heribrantes sunu, her was heroro man,

Ferahes frotoro, her fragen gistuont,

Fohem wortum: wer sin fater wari;

Fires in folche, eddo weliches cnuosles du sis?

Ibu du mi aenan sages, ik mideo are-wet,

Chind in chuninchriche, chud ist min al irmindeot.

Hadubraht gimahalti Hiltibrantes sunu: Dat sagetun mi
Usere liuti alte anti frote, dea, erhina warun,

Dat Hilbrant haetti min fater ïh heittu Hadubrant.
Forn her ostar gihueit, floh her Otachres nid
Hina miti Theotriche enti sinero degano filu;
Her furlach in lante luttila sitten
Prut in bure; barn unwahsan,
Arbeolosa heraet, ostar hina det,

Sid delriche darba gistuontum, fatereres mines,
Dat was so friuntlaos man her was Otachre ummettirri,
Degano dechisto, unti Deotriche darba gistontum;
Her was eo folches at ente, imo was eo feheta ti leop.

Chud was her chonnem mannuma, ni wanin ih, in lib habbe.

Mit Eliase pâgan.

Der warch ist kiwâfanit;

Dennewirdit untar in wîk arhapan;
Khensun sind so kreftic,
Diri kosa ist so mihhil.
Elias strîtît

Pî den ewigon lîp,
Wili den rehtkernon
Daz rîhhi kistarkan ;
Pidiu scal imo halfan
Der himiles kiwaltit.
Der Anticristo stêt
Pî dem Altfiante

Stêt pî demo Satanase,
Der inan farsenkan scal;

Pidiu scal er in der wîcsteti

Wunt pivallan,

Enti in demo sinde

Sigalos werdan.

Doh wânit des vila gotmanno,

Daz Elias in demo wîge arwartit

§ 559. The system of alliteration has hitherto been explained in the most general way possible; all that has been attempted being the exhibition of the principle upon which such extracts as the preceding can be understood to be metrical; and that this their metrical character is by no means transparently clear, may be collected from the fact that many of the old alliterational compositions were treated by the earlier scholars as prose.

As a general rule all early German poetry is alliterative; though it by no means follows that alliteration was equally general in all the German forms of speech.