` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ And never the two shall meet, ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ Till earth and sky stand presently, ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ` `´ ` ´ ` ´ ` ´ At God's great judgment seat. ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ` ´ ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ´ But there is neither east nor west, ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ `´ ` ` ´ ` ´ Border, nor breed, nor birth, ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ` ´ `´ `´ ` ´ ` ´ When two strong men stand face to face, ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ˘ ¯ ` ` ´ ` ` ´ ` ` ´ Though they come from the ends of the earth. ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ ˘ ˘ ¯ KIPLING. It is either the iambic (˘¯) or the anapest (˘˘¯). Of course, these vary to some extent in conformity with the reader's intonation, but the spirit of the language is always from weakness to strength, in place of from strength to weakness, as with the German. It is always the waves approaching the shore and then _breaking_ against it, as against the wind _coming up suddenly_ and then dying away. This is the reason why a serenade or lullaby in English can never be rendered with the same effect as in German, the English voice rising at the end instead of falling. Wherever a verse commences with a stress, it must be considered that a fall of the voice or an inspiration has preceded it; this, though unaccompanied by sound, being really the case. I have thus marked the beginning of Longfellow's beautiful lines: ` ´ `´ ` ´ Falls----as----from. Mr. Lunn, in his _Philosophy of Voice_, has the following: "How many Englishmen _dare_ utter loudly a word beginning with a vowel? If attempted, either it would not be done, or, in spite of the speaker, owing to the weakness of the muscles which draw the cords together [_sic_], an aspirate would precede the vowel." This is right, as far as his observation is concerned, but he does not seem to know that this very weakness he complains of is really the strength of the English language, the lull before the storm, the concentration before the explosion; and that "thus the idiosyncrasy of our people's speech" is _not_ "deadness, weakness, and general feebleness," but, on the contrary, a strength and a virility not surpassed by any other tongue. This finds illustration in Kipling's `´ `´ `´ `´ Oh east is east, etc.