There be berries for a queen,

Some be red some | be green). Fletcher's F. Sh, 1. 1.

In the last extract the verse rather pleases than offends, for the dreaminess of the reflection suits well with its associations. Indeed, the poet's whole landscape is mere fairy-land. In the following example, I am by no means sure that the line ought not to be read with three accents. But when we see the pronoun me accented in the seventh line; and remember the light imaginative style of the poetry; and above all, how deeply Milton had drunk in the rhythms of Fletcher; the balance will probably turn in favour of the four accents.

O'er the smooth enamell'd green,
Where no print of foot hath been,
Follow me as | I sing,

And touch the warbled string,
Under the shady roof

Of branching elm star-proof,

Follow me;

I will bring you where she sits, &c.

Arcades.

This is the only instance of the rhythm in Milton.

The verse 1:1 is rarely found lengthened; and then almost always in our old romances.

VOL. I.

In quoting from Anglo-Saxon poems, translated in the third book, no English version will be given. To make such version intelligible, it would often be necessary to quote long passages.

1:5. has been used in English poetry, for the last six centuries.

Haste thee nymph]: and bring with thee
Quips and cranks]: and wanton wiles],
Nods and becks: and wreathed smiles,
Such as hang on Heble's cheek], &c.
Les ser than Macbeth | and great|er.

:

L'Allegro.

Macbeth, 1.3.

Easy live, and quiet die.

Walter Scott.

* Lord is here a dyssyllable, Lawerd, A. S,

19. is occasionally found in our ballads and old ro

mances.

The queyne duelt thus in Kildromey,

And the king and his company]
Wandryt emang the hey mountains.

The Bruce, 2.763.

As the section 1. is rare in Anglo-Saxon verse, we have as yet met with few alliterative couplets; but many are found beginning with the lengthened section 1 1.

VERSES BEGINNING WITH SECTION 11.

17: 1. has for ages, been well-known to our poetry; when lengthened it forms one of the commonest couplets in our Anglo-Saxon poems.

And the milk maid: sing eth blithe
And the mower: wets | his scythe.

L'Allegro.

The Anglo-Saxon couplets will be classed according to the alliteration, beginning with one that rhimes all the four syllables. The number, ranged under each head, will give the reader some notion of the comparative frequency of their occurrence in Anglo-Saxon verse;

Sweartle swoglan: sæs | upstig on.

Cadmon.

17:2. is found in Anglo-Saxon, but very rarely in

Cæd.

Alf.

drigle stowe dug|otha hyrd|e.

mon na swithlost: man¦egra thiod|a.

Will he woo her? : ay | or I'll hang | her.

T. of the Shrew, 1. 2.

17: 5. was a well-known couplet in Anglo-Saxon. It was very common in our old romances, and was still flourishing as late as Elizabeth's reign. It must now be considered as obsolete;

Oht mid englum and or|leg nith|.

:

Æf en ærlest him arn | on last.

Cæd.

Cæd.

wrath um weorplan on wil|dra lic].

Alf.

Agamemnon se ealles weold.

Alf.

Than suld storyss: that suth|fast wer],
And thai war said in gud maner,
Haive doubill plesance in heryng ;
The first plesaunce is the carpyng,
And the tothir : the suth|fastnes
That schawys the thing right as it wes;
And such thing|is: that are | likand
Tyll mannys heryng are plesand.

Set me a new robe by an olde,

And coarse cop par : by duck|ate gold,
An ape unto an elephante,
Bruck|le byr all: by diamante,

Set | rich ruby to redd | emayle],
The raven's plume to peacoke's tayle,
There shall no less an oddes be seene
In myne, from everye other queene.
When I build castles in the air,
Void of sorrow and void of care.

The Bruce, 1. 1.

Putt. Parth. 15.

Verses beginning with 1 l. are occasionally met with, but chiefly in the tumbling verse; for instance 1: 1.;

With him man fully for | to fight.

:

M. for M. Flodd. Fielde, 2.

With such holiness: can | you do | it.

H 6, 2. 1.

It would be useless to mark down every variety, which has been stumbled upon by the writers of such licentious metre as the tumbling verse. Those verses only, which