“It was | a dream | of earl | -y years, | the long | -est and
| the last,
And still | it ling | -ers bright | and lone | amid | the drear
| -y past;
When I | was sick | and sad | at heart | and faint | with grief
| and care,
It threw | its ra | -diant smile | athwart | the shad | -ows of
| despair: 
And still | when falls | the hour | of gloom | upon | this way
| -ward breast,
Unto | THE FAR, | FAR EAST | I turn | for sol | -ace and | for rest.”
Edinburgh Journal; and The Examiner,

Example V.—­“Lament of the Slave.”—­Eight Lines from thirty-four.

“Behold | the sun | which gilds | yon heaven,  how love | -ly it
| appears! 
And must | it shine | to light | a world | of war | -fare and
| of tears? 
Shall hu | -man pas | -sion ev | -er sway | this glo | _-rious world_
| of God,
And beau | -ty, wis | -dom, hap | -piness, | sleep with | the tram
| -pled sod? 
Shall peace | ne’er lift | her ban | -ner up, | shall truth | and rea
| -son cry,
And men | oppress | them down | with worse | than an | -cient tyr
| -anny? 
Shall all | the les | -sons time | has taught, | be so | long taught
| in vain;
And earth | be steeped | in hu | -man tears, | and groan | with hu
| -man pain?”
ALONZO LEWIS:  Freedom’s Amulet, Dec. 6, 1848.

Example VI.—­“Greek Funeral Chant.”—­First four of sixty-four Lines.

“A wail | was heard | around | the bed, | the death | -bed of
| the young;
Amidst | her tears, | the Fu | _-neral Chant_ | a mourn | -ful moth
| -er sung. 
’I-an | -this dost | thou sleep?—­ | Thou sleepst!—­ | but this
| is not | the rest,
The breath | -ing, warm, | and ros | -y calm, | I’ve pil | -low’d on
| my breast!’”
FELICIA HEMANS:  Poetical Works, Vol. ii, p. 37.

Everett observes, “The Iliad was translated into this measure by CHAPMAN, and the AEneid by PHAER.”—­Eng.  Versif., p. 68.  Prior, who has a ballad of one hundred and eighty such lines, intimates in a note the great antiquity of the verse.  Measures of this length, though not very uncommon, are much less frequently used than shorter ones.  A practice has long prevailed of dividing this kind of verse into alternate lines of four and of three feet, thus:—­

   “To such | as fear | thy ho | -ly name,
      myself | I close | -ly join;
    To all | who their | obe | -dient wills
      to thy | commands | resign.”
        Psalms with Com.  Prayer:  Psalm cxix, 63.

This, according to the critics, is the most soft and pleasing of our lyric measures.  With the slight change of setting a capital at the head of each line, it becomes the regular ballad-metre of our language.  Being also adapted to hymns, as well as to lighter songs, and, more particularly, to quaint details of no great length, this stanza, or a similar one more ornamented with rhymes, is found in many choice pieces of English poetry.  The following are a few popular examples:—­