and of the latter class :

or these:

"Whò glared/ùpón/mè and/wènt súr/ly' by!
Without/an'noy/in's mé/"

"O`f brò/thèrs' tém/pèr, dó/rèceive/yòu in/
With áll/kind love/góòd thoughts/an'd/rev/èren'ce/."
(Act III. Sc. i. 175.)

In the earlier plays both light and weak endings are almost unknown; in the later ones they become ever more frequent the nearer Shakespeare came to the end of his career.

Unstopped Blank Verse.—Another characteristic of the Shakespearian measures is what is called Unstopped Blank Verse. If there occurs any pause in the sense, however slight, the line so distinguished is termed "stopped" or "end stopped." In Shakespeare's early plays, the sense, so to speak, was brought to a "pause" at the end of each line. -as in the following

But Shakespeare, as his art became more untrammelled, and he attained greater control over the materials wherewith he worked, indulged more and more in unstopped blank verse. This (as is remarked by the editor of The Tempest in this series) implies that the sense passing over from the one line into the other, carries the rhythm along with it. The pauses, instead of always falling at the end of the line, fall upon other parts of it. This is particularly the case when the final word of an unstopped line chances to be either a light ending or a weak ending. As an example of unstopped blank verse, let us take the following from Julius Cæsar :

"Thou shalt not back till I have borne this corse

Into the market-place; there shall I try

In my oration how the people take

The cruel issue of these bloody men."

(Act III. Sc. i. 291.)

The Rhymed Couplet.-Another departure from the Normal Shakespearian Metre is in the use of the Rhymed Couplet. This generally is employed to end a scene or some great declamatory passage, though in the Two Gentlemen of Verona and the earlier plays it appears in other connections, and very much more frequently than was the case later. The couplet must be studied in close association with unstopped blank verse, because one result of this mode was that it practically. insisted there should be a 66 pause" of the sense, if not at the end of the first line of the couplet, certainly at the end of the second. Take he following:

"And after this let Cæsar seat him sure;

For we will shake him or worse days endure."

(Act I. Sc. ii. 324-325.)

In order that the pupil may have these rules in a conveniently condensed form, we reprint here the summary of them contained in the introduction to The Tempest in this same series.

1. If Rhyme is present in a marked degree, the play probably has been written early in Shakespeare's life.

2. If Rhyme is little present or almost absent, the date of composition is likely to have been late.

3. A Stopped Line or Couplet is one where the sense and the rhythm are wholly contained within that line or couplet.

4. An Unstopped Line or Couplet is one where the sense is not wholly contained in that line or couplet, but runs over into the next or succeeding lines.

5. The presence, in any abundance, of Stopped Lines and Couplets in a play constitutes an argument in favour of the play being of early date; while the presence of Unstopped Lines and Couplets, or, in other words, when the sense overruns the limits. of the line or couplet, creates the presumption that the play is of

late date.

6. Light Endings or monosyllables on which the voice rests slightly, are also a sign of an early date of composition.

7. Weak Endings or monosyllables whereon the voice can find no place to rest, are evidence of a late date.

8. The presence of Double or Feminine Endings, in other words of an extra foot at the end of the line, is strong presumption of late date.

SCENE: Rome; the neighbourhood of Sardis; the neighbourhood of Philippi.

The Tragedy of Julius Cæsar.

ACT FIRST.

Scene I.

Rome. A street.

Enter Flavius, Marullus, and certain Commoners.

Flav. Hence! home, you idle creatures, get you home:
Is this a holiday? what! know you not,
Being mechanical, you ought not walk
Upon a labouring day without the sign.

Of your profession? Speak, what trade art thou? First Com. Why, sir, a carpenter.

Mar. Where is thy leather apron and thy rule?
What dost thou with thy best apparel on?
You, sir, what trade are you

Sec. Com. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman,
I am but, as you would say, a cobbler.
Mar. But what trade art thou? answer me directly.
Sec. Com. A trade, sir, that, I hope, I may use with a
safe conscience; which is indeed, sir, a mender

of bad soles.

ΙΟ

Mar. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what

trade?

Sec. Com. Nay, I beseech you, sir, be not out with me: (yet, if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Mar. What meanest thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow!

20

Sec. Com. Why, sir, cobble you.

Flav. Thou art a cobbler, art thou?

Sec. Com. (Truly, sir, all that I live by is with the awl): I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor women's matters, but with awl. I am indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neats-leather have gone upon my handiwork.

Flav. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day?

Why dost thou lead these men about the streets? Sec. Com. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But indeed, sir, we make holiday, to see Cæsar and to rejoice in his triumph.

30

Mar. Wherefore rejoice? What conquest brings he home?

What tributaries follow him to Rome,

To grace in captive bonds his chariot-wheels?

You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless
things!

O you hard hearts, you cruel men of Rome,
Knew you not Pompey? Many a time and oft
Have you climb'd up to walls and battlements,
To towers and windows, yea, to chimney-tops,
Your infants in your arms, and there have sat
The live-long day, with patient expectation,
To see great Pompey pass the streets of Rome:
And when you saw his chariot but appear,
Have you not made an universal shout,
That Tiber trembled underneath her banks
To hear the replication of your sounds

40

50