FRENCH VERSE.

French verse, as found in the classical writers, consists of lines in
which the principal factor is the number of syllables (loosely called
_pieds_ in French, as well as _syllabes_), and not, as in English, the
number of accents.


METRE.

The "heroic verse," or _grand vers_ in French, is the _hexamètre_, or
_vers alexandrin_: the former name being due to the fact that this line
consists of two halves or _hémistiches_ of six syllables each; the
latter a name derived from the poet Alexandre de Bernay, who, in the
latter half of the twelfth century, first used this metre in his
celebrated epic of "_Alexandre_."

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2 3 4 5 6
E.g., Esth. l. 2.: _Que béni soit le ciel || qui te rend à mes voeux_!

Lyric poetry may have lines of any number of syllables.

E.g., Esth. l. 1241: _Rompez vos fers_ 4 sylls.
l. 970: _Ses criminels attentats_ 7 "
l. 722: _En un moment s'est-il évanoui_ 10 "

All syllables, mute or otherwise, are counted except, (1) when a 'mute
e' is elided before a word beginning with a vowel or 'mute h,' e.g.,