When fancy first fram'd our likings in love,
Sing all of greene willow;

and Walton's "Conversion of a piece of an old catch,"

Man's life is but vain, for 'tis subject to pain,
And sorrow, and short as a bubble. ⁵

The seventeenth century still considered triple rhythm only
for poems intended to be sung. There were a few popular
tunes current in triple measures to which rough ballads were
written. Dorset and Rochester wrote one or two songs in
good anapests that stand alone without the help of tunes.
Cleveland, and later Dryden made a few experiments in the
dactylic movement, but the uncertainty of them shows that
these poets were depending upon a tune to carry them
through. ⁶

Triple rhythm was not definitely established as a purely
poetic norm until Prior wrote his charming light anapests.
Since his time the rhythm has bad an important place in
English prosody.

For society verse anapestic continued to be a favorite
movement throughout the eighteenth century. Swift,
Byron, Shenstone, Goldsmith, all wrote amusing trifles
with a skilful handling of this tripping measure. At the
end of the century, with Scott Bonnie Dundee and Lochinvar,
it began to be used for other themes than those of society
verse. Byron used both the dactylic and anapestic move-

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