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. Swa mec hyht-giefu heold]: hygle dryht | befeold]. 3:5ł. Rhiming Poem. Wente forth in here way] : with manly wise talles. P. Ploughman. Layamon. This was heore iheot] : ar heo | to Bathle com en. 37: 17. I was werly forwan|dred: wen te me | to reste. 31:3. P. Ploughman. Monly marvellus matler: nevler 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 I[delness]: first | of that company]. F. Q. 1. 4. 20. To gaze on earthly 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]. His seel schul nat | be sent to | dyssey've the peple. 5:5. 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 rarely-too rarely, it may be thought, to diversify the tameness and monotony of the metre. Of the fifteen verses which open the poem, fourteen belong to the present rhythm; yet, notwithstanding this iterated cadence, there is something very pleasing in their flow. Much of this, however, may arise from mere association. Of Albion's glorious isle : the wonders whilst | I write, Thou genius of the place!: this most renowned isle, : did swarm: with her | gigantic brood, Go thou before me still thy circling shores | about, Direct my course | so right: as with thy hand | to show Which way thy forests range : which way | thy rivers flow Wise genius! by | thy help that so I may | descry How thy fair mountains stand, and how thy vallies lie. Drayton's Poly-olbion. The lengthened verse was also common. So long as these | two arms were able to be wroken. F. Q. 1. 2. 7. . And drove away | the stound]: which mor tally | attack'd him. F. Q. 6. 3. 10. Oft furnishing our dames]: with India's rar'st | devices, And lentus gold | and pearl: rich silks | and dainty spices. Drayton. Verses beginning with the lenghtened section, were common till the end of the seventeenth century. Drayton, however, rejected them, and they were proscribed by Johnson. Some sparis now thir spiritual: spous|it wyffe | nor ant]. Gaw. Doug. Prol. Eneid, 8. A may ny of | rude villyans: made him for to blede. Skelton's Elegy. Whose semblance she | did carry: un|der feigned show|. F. Q. 1. 1. 46. But pin'd | away | in anguish and self-will'd | annoy]. : F. Q, 1. 6. 17. More ugly shape | yet never living creature saw. F. Q.1. 8. 48. And oft | to-beat | with billows: beating from | the main]. Whom unarm'd F. Q. 1. 12. 5. No strength of man], or fiercest: wild beast could withstand. And with paternal thunder: vindicates his throne]. Samson. Dryden. The last verse is the one specially objected to by Johnson. 51: 31. And werleden | tha rich|e: with | than stron❘ge Childrich e. Layamon. 51:5. like all those verses, which have a supernumerary syllable in the middle, was rarely used after the fifteenth century. It was, however, sometimes met with in our dramatists. Of drevilling and dremlys: what do ith to | endyte? Ful rude and ryot res ons: bath roun|dalis | and ryme]. Same. Na lau bour list | they luik | till: thare lufis are | burd lyme. : Same. Yet shamefully they slew | him that shame | mot them | Skelton's Elegy. befall. And furth | he wul de bug|en: and Bath[en al beliggen. Layamon. Ah swa | me helpen drihten thæ scop | thæs dailes lihten. ! Layamon. 1 Despise me if I do not: Three great | ones of | the city, In personal suit to make me his lieutenant, Oft capp'd to him. Othello, 1. 1. Verses beginning with the sections 6 and 61. are found in the old English alliterative metre. 6: 1. Quha sportis thame on | the spray]: spar|is for | na space]. Gaw. Doug. 6:61. As an cres and her metis: that holde hem in | here selles. P. Ploughman. That Nature ful no bilie]: annam|ilit fine | with flou|ris. 6:91. Dunbar. So glitterit as the gowd]: wer their glorious | gylt tresses. 61:5. Dunbar. Syth Charite hat | be chap|man: and chef | to schrive lord es. P. Ploughman. Unclosed the ken|el dore]: and cal|de hem | ther outle. Gaw. and the Green Knight. In the same metre may also be found verses beginning with the sections 7 and 7 7. 7:17. The brem e buk|kes also: wit | her brodle paumes. Gaw. and the Green Knight. By that ❘ that any day-liżt] lemled upon erthe. Gaw. and the Green Knight. I say a tour in a toft]: tryc|lyche | imaked. P. Ploughman. |