Gif | me motilas ten that lif | a mire breosten. Ther lai the Kaiserle and Colgrim his | ivere. Hized to the hiz❘e : bot het|erly | they were. Layamon. Layamon. Gaw. and the Green Knight. In a som er ses on when softe was the sun ne. P. Ploughman. Verses, which begin with the sections 2. and 27. have been widely used in English poetry. Some of their varieties have survived in modern usage. 2: 1. is found in our dramatists. Was not that no bly done ay | and wisely too. Macb. 3. 6. How long should I be, ere I should put off This young Prince had the ordering B. Jon. 3. 9. (To crown his father's hopes) of all the army— Fashion'd and drew | em up but alas so poorly, So raggedly and loosely, so unsoldier'd, The good Duke blush'd. Fletcher. Loy. Subj. 1. 1. If there can be virtue, if that name Be any thing but name, and empty title, If it be so as fools have been pleas'd | to feign it, A pow'r that can preserve us after ashes 2: 2. is still common. Fletcher. Valentinian, 1. 2. Both for her no ble blood and | for her ten der youth. : F. Q. 1. 1. 50. Throw out our eyes for brave Othello, Ev'n | till we make | the main| and | the aerial blue : An indistinct regard. Othello, 2. 2. The verse 2: 5, like the last, is used even at the present day. And by his only ayde] : preserv'de | our princes right. M. for M. Flodd. Fielde, 24. Banlish'd from living wights]: our wearly days | we waste. F. Q. 1. 2. 42. Whither the souls | do fly of men | that live | amiss. F. Q. 1. 2. 19. Where they should live | in woe and die | in wretchedness]. : : F. Q. 1. 5. 46. Then by main force | pull'd up and on his shoulders bore The gates of Azza. Samson Agon. Knych tis ar cow hybyis] : and com ons pluk kis crawis. Gaw. Doug. Prol. to 8 Eneid. So did that squire | his foes] : disperse | and drive | asunder. F. Q. 6. 5. 19. Yet were her words | but wind and all | her tears | but wat er. F. Q. 6. 6. 42. Upon the British coast, what ship yet ever came, Drayton's Poly-olbion. The verse which follows appears to be doubly lengthened; We have this hour a constant wish to publish May be prevented now: the princ|es France | and Bur'gundy Lear, 1. 1. VERSES BEGINNING WITH THE SECTION 21. Johnson has given it as his opinion that the Alexandrine "invariably requires a break at the sixth syllable." This, he tells us, is a rule which the modern French poets never violate; and he censures Dryden's negligence in having so ill observed it. But the French and English Alexandrines have little in common save the name, and to reason from the properties of the one to the properties of the other, is very unsafe criticism. The former may have four, five, or six accents; the latter never has less than six. In the number of their syllables they approach more nearly to each other; but their pauses are regulated by very different laws. The English pause* divides the accents equally, but the French pause has frequently two on one side, and three on the other. Again, in French the pause must divide the syllables equally, but not necessarily so in English. Johnson's acquaintance with the English Alexandrine seems to have been very limited; in one place he even represents it as the invention of Spenser. Dryden only followed the last mentioned poet, in using Alexandrines beginning with a lengthened section. Such verses are also found in every page of our dramatists; and are full as common in the works of our earlier poets. Pope seems to have imitated Drayton in rejecting them; and as Johnson formed all his notions of rhythmical proportion in the school of Pope, we have an easy clue to the criticism, which gave rise to these observations. 21: 1. hwæt | sceal ic win nan cwæth | he nis me wih|te thearf. : Rapt in eternal silence far | from enemies]. Cad. F. Q. 1. 1. 41. Up to the hill by Hebron seat of giants old). 21:51. Samson Agon. Lista and tha|ra la|ra: he let | heo that | land bulan. Cad. * This observation does not apply to those verses of six accents, which contain a compound section; see ch. 7. But such rhythms have long since been obsolete. The sections 3. and 3 l. but seldom open an English verse, whatever be the number of its accents. When there are six accents, such a verse is rarely, if ever, met with after the 15th century. 3:1. Swamec hyht-giefu heold]: hyg|e dryht | befeold. 3:51. Rhiming Poem. Wen te forth in here way with manly wise talles. P. Ploughman. This was heore iheot] : ar heo | to Bathle com en. 37:17. I was werly forwan dred: wen te me to reste. 31:3. Layamon. P. Ploughman. Monly marvellus mat er never mark|it nor ment. : Gaw. Doug. Prol. to Eneid. He nom alle tha lon des ni | to tha|re sa stron|de. : Layamon. Verses beginning with the sections 5. and 5 l. are by far the most common of our modern Alexandrines. They are also well known in old English poetry, but are rare in Anglo-Saxon. 5: 1. I know you're man | enough: mould | it to | just ends. 5:2. Fletch. Loy. Subj. 1. 3. Such one was Idelness]: first | of that company. F. Q. 1. 4. 20. To gaze on earth|ly wight]: that | with the night | durst ride]. F. Q. 1. 5. 32. Then gins her grieved ghost: thus | to lament | and mourn]. Or by the girdle grasp'd they practice with the hip, : Drayton. Which men | enjoying sight oft without cause | complain. Samson Agon. This and much more, much more than twice all this Condemns you to the death]: see | them deliver'd over To execution. The dominations, royalties, and rights R. 2, 3. 2. Of this oppressed boy: This | is thy eldest son's | son 5: 3 is only found in old English. K. John, 2. 1. I muvit furth | alane]: qhen | as mid nicht wes past. : Dunbar's Midsummer Eve. Quod he and drew | me down derne | in delf | by ane dyke]. Gaw. Doug. Prol. to Eneid 8. His seel schul nat | be sent to | dyssey|ve the peple. 5:5. P. Ploughman. O who does know the bent of woman's fantasy| ? : F. Q. 1. 4. 24. In shape and life | more like a monster than | a man. He cast | about | and search'd his bale ful books | again. And helmets hew en deep: shew marks | of eithers might. F. Q. 1.5.7. This is the verse, which Drayton used in the Polyolbion. Other varieties are occasionally introduced, but |