P. 268. In the references to Bulwer, _for_ p. 227 _read_ p. 147; _for_ p. 217 _read_ p. 140; _for_ p. 71 _read_ p. 45; _for_ p. 115 _read_ p. 73. P. 315, l. 14. _For_ p. 123 _read_ p. 78. P. 340, l. 34. _For_ p. 273 _read_ p. 72. P. 353, l. 15. _For_ 89 _read_ 5. P. 381, l. 12. _For_ ii. 137-40 _read Poetical Works_, London, 1891, pp. 330-32. BOOK I. THE LINE PART I. THE NATIVE METRE CHAPTER I GENERAL INTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF METRE AND THE STRUCTURE OF VERSE § =1.= The study of English Metre is an integral part of English Philology. It is indispensable to the investigator of the history of the language, since it supplies sometimes the only (or at all events the surest) means of restoring the older pronunciation of word-stems, and of inflexional terminations. In many cases, indeed, the very existence of such terminations can be proved only by the ascertained requirements of metre. As an aid to the study of English literature in its aesthetic aspects the science of metre is no less important. It exhibits the gradual development of the artistic forms of poetical composition, explains the conditions under which they took their rise, and by formulating the laws of their structure affords valuable help in the textual criticism of poems which have been transmitted in a corrupt or imperfect condition. § =2.= The object of the science of metre is to describe and analyse the various rhythmical forms of speech that are characteristic of poetry in contradistinction to prose.