When  this  accident  goes  unnoted,  when  to  the  ear  the  line  retains  the
metre  of  prose  and  melts  into  the  common  music  of  the  whole,  it  has  no  dis-
cordant effect  But  the  moment  it  is  pointed  out  it  distinctly  jars  on  the  ear.
Coleridge  therefore  made  a  mistake  in  dwelling  on  the  hexametrical  rhythm
of  these  passages  in  Isaiah  :

Hear,  O  heavens,  and  give  ear,  |  O  earth  :  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken.
I  have  nourished  and  brought  up  children,  |  and  they  have  rebelled  against  me

The  ox  knoweth  his  owner.  |  and  the  ass  his  master  s  crib :

But  Israel  doth  not  know,  [  my  people  doth  not  consider.
And  an  equal  evil  has  been  done  by  other  cario-hunters  who  have  gone  to

76*


9o6


HANDY-BOOK  OP


the  pains  of  scanning  the  following  passages,  the  first  three  being  from  the

Psalms,  the  three  latter  from  the  New  Testament :

Gdd  dme  I  up  with  i  {  shout :  our  |  L5rd  wTth  the  |  sound  5f  i  |  trumpet.
There  Is  i  |  rivCr  the  |  flSwIng  whCre-  I  of  shill  |  gliddto  thC  |  citj^.
Hilld  I  lOiih  the  I  cit^  5f  I  God !  Je- 1  hdvih  hftth  |  blest  her.
Art  thdu  he  I  that  shduld  I  cdme,  5r  |  do  we  I  look  ifa  S-  |  n5ther?
HOsbinds,  |  love  your  |  wives,  Snd  |  be  not  [  bitter  i*  |  gSinst  them.
Bless'd  ire  the  |  poor  in  |  spirit,  Hk  |  theirs  Is  the  |  kingdSm  fif  |  beavgn.
