Chapter IV (1)

THE ALLITERATIVE LINE IN ITS CONSERVATIVE
FORM DURING THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES

A. The alliterative verse without rhyme.

§ =52.= The progressive or free form of the alliterative line came to an end as early as the middle of the thirteenth century, when it broke up into short rhyming couplets. The stricter form was for nearly three centuries longer a very popular metre in English poetry, especially in the North-Western and Northern districts of England and in the adjacent lowlands of Scotland. The first traces, however, of its existence after the Norman Conquest are to be found in the South of England, where some poetical homilies and lives of saints were written at the end of the twelfth and in the beginning of the thirteenth century which are of the same character, both as to their subjects and to their metre, as the poetical paraphrases and homilies written by Ælfric. These poems are _Hali Meidenhad_ (a poetical homily), the legends of _St. Marharete_, _St. Juliana_, and _St. Katherine_. These poems have been edited for the Early English Text Society, Nos. 18, 13, 51, 80; the first three by Cockayne as prose-texts, the last by Dr. Einenkel, who printed it in short couplets regarded by him as having the same four-beat rhythm (Otfrid's metre) which he and his teacher, Prof. Trautmann, suppose to exist in Layamon and _King Horn_.[107] The Homilies have no rhymes.

The form of these homilies and legends occasionally exhibits real alliterative lines, but for the most part is nothing but rhythmical prose, altogether too irregular to call for an investigation here. Some remarks on passages written in a form more or less resembling alliterative verse may be found in our _Englische Metrik_, vol. i, § 94.

It is quite out of the question to suppose these Southern works, with their very irregular use of alliteration and metre, to have had any influence on the metrical form of the very numerous alliterative poems written in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the Midland and Northern districts of England. It is, however, not at all likely that alliterative poetry should have sprung up there without any medium of tradition, and that it should have returned to the strict forms of the Old English models. Nor can we assume that it was handed down by means of oral tradition only on the part of the minstrels from Old English times down to the fourteenth century. The channel of tradition of the genuine alliterative line must be sought for in documents which for the most part have been lost.

A few small remnants, however, have been preserved, viz. a charm in a MS. of the twelfth century (cf. Zupitza, _Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum_, xxxi. 49), a short poem, entitled 'Ten Abuses', belonging to the same period (E. E. T. S. 49, p. 184), a prophecy of five lines contained in the chronicle of Benedict of Peterborough (_Rerum Britannicarum Scriptores_, 49, ii. 139), finally a prophecy ascribed to Thomas of Erceldoune (E.E. T. S., vol. 61, xviii, _Thom. of Erc._, ed. by A. Brandl, p. 26). But these pieces, treated by Prof. Luick in Paul's _Grundriss_, ed. 2, II. ii, p. 160, are either too short or are too uncertain in text to admit of our making definite conclusions from them.

But from the middle of the fourteenth century onward we have a large number of poems composed in regular alliterative verse, e.g. _King Alisaunder_ (Als.) and _William of Palerne_ (W.), both in E. E. T. S., Extra-Ser. No. 1; _Joseph of Arimathie_ (J.A.), E. E.T. S. 44; _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_ (Gr.), E.E. T. S. 4; _Piers Plowman_ (P. P.), by W. Langland, E. E. T. S., Nos. 17, 28, 30, 38, 54; _Pierce the Plowman's Crede_ (P. P. Cr.), E. E. T. S. 30; _Richard the Redeles_ (R. R.), E. E. T. S. 54; _The Crowned King_ (Cr. K.), ibid.; _The Destruction of Troy_, E. E.T. S. 39, 56; _Morte Arthure_, E. E. T. S. 8; _Cleanness_ and _Patience_, E. E. T. S. 1; _The Chevalere Assigne_, E. E.T. S., Extra-Ser. 6; and others of the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth centuries: see Prof. W. W. Skeat's list in 'Bishop Percy's Folio MS.', London, 1867 (ed. Furnivall and Hales), vol. iii, p. xi, and many recent publications of the Early English Text Society.

On the =structure of this metre= the opinions of scholars differ a good deal less than on that of the progressive or free form of the alliterative line. Yet there are a few adherents of the four-beat theory who apply it to the alliterative line of this epoch, amongst others Rosenthal ('Die alliterierende englische Langzeile im 14. Jahrhundert,' _Anglia_, i. 414 ff.). The two-beat theory, on the other hand, has been upheld also for this form of the alliterative line by Prof. W. W. Skeat, _Essay on Alliterative Poetry_, Percy Folio MS. 1867 (ed. Furnivall and Hales), by the present writer in _Englische Metrik_, i, pp. 195-212, and by Prof. Luick, _Anglia_, xi, pp. 392-443 and 553-618, and subsequently in Paul's _Grundriss_, ed. 2, II. ii, pp. 161-3.

§ =53. The use and treatment of the words in the verse= is on the whole the same as in the Old English period. The chief divergence is, that in this period of the language the difference between long and short syllables was lost, in consequence of the lengthening of short vowels in open syllables which had taken place in the interval, and that consequently the substitution of a short accented syllable and an unaccented one for a long accented syllable (the so-called resolution) was no longer admissible. Otherwise syllables with a primary accent, syllables with a secondary accent, and unaccented syllables are treated just as in the Old English poetry. Accented syllables are as a rule placed in the arsis, as are also second parts of compounds. Other syllables with secondary accent (derivative and inflectional syllables) are only in exceptional cases placed in the arsis of a verse.

It is of special interest, however, to notice that words of Romanic origin which in the course of time had been introduced into the language are in many cases accented according to Germanic usage. Words of which the last syllable was accented in French have in their Middle-English form the chief accent thrown on a preceding, frequently on the first, syllable, and in consequence of this the originally fully accented syllable in trisyllabic words receives the secondary accent and is treated in the rhythm of the verse in the same way as syllables with a secondary accent in English words. The laws, too, which in Old English affect the subordination and position of the parts of speech in their relationship to the rhythm of the verse and to the alliteration, remain, generally speaking, in force. It is remarkable that 'if an attributive adjective is joined to a substantive, and a verb to a prepositional adverb, the first part of these groups of words still has the chief accent' (Luick). The relationship, on the other hand, of verse and sentence is changed. While in Old English poetry run-on-lines were very popular and new sentences therefore frequently began in the middle of a line, after the caesura, we find that in Middle English, as a rule, the end of the sentence coincides with the end of the line. Hence every line forms a unity by itself, and the chief pause falls at the end, not, as was frequently the case in Old English times, after the caesura.

§ =54. Alliteration.= On the whole, the same laws regarding the position of the alliterative sounds are still in force as before; it is indeed remarkable that they are sometimes even more strictly observed. In the _Destruction of Troy_, e.g. triple alliteration according to the formula _a a a x_ is employed throughout.

_Now of =T=róy forto =t=élle | is myn en=t=ént euyn,
Of the =st=óure and þe =st=rýfe, | when it di=st=róyet wás._
Prol. 27-8.

Alongside of this order of alliteration we find in most of the other poems the other schemes of alliteration popular in Old English times, e.g. _a x a x, x a a x, a b a b, a b b a_:

_In þe =f=órmest yére, | that he =f=írst réigned._ Als. 40.

_Þénne gonne I =m=éeten | a =m=érvelous svévene._ P. P. Prol. 11.

_I had =m=índe on my =s=lépe | by =m=éting of =s=wéuen._ Als. 969.

_And =f=ónd as þe =m=éssageres | hade =m=únged be=f=óre._ W. 4847.

Irregularities, however, in the position of the alliteration are frequently met with, e.g. parallel alliteration: _a a, b b_:

_What þis =m=óuntein be=m=éneþ | and þis =d=érke =d=ále._ P. P. i. 1;

or the chief alliterative sound (the 'head-stave') may be placed in the last accented syllable (_a a x a_):

_'Now be =C=ríst,' quod the =k=íng, | 'ȝif I míhte =c=hácche._
ib. ii. 167;

or it may be wanting entirely, especially in _William of Palerne_:

_Sche =k=ólled it ful =k=índly | and áskes is náme._ W. 69;

and there are even found a certain number of verses without any alliteration at all in _Joseph of Arimathie_:

_Whan Jóseph hérde þer-of, | he bád hem not demáyȝen._ J. A. 31.

In such cases it may sometimes be noticed that a line which has no internal alliteration is linked by alliteration with a preceding or with a following line, in the same way as was to be observed already in the last century of the Old English period (cf. p. 50):

_Bot on the =C=ristynmes dáye, | whene they were álle =s=émblyde,
That =c=ómliche =c=ónquerour | =c=ómmaundez hym =s=elvyne._
Morte Arth. 70-1.

Again an excess of alliteration is found, which happens in different ways, either by admitting four alliterative sounds in one line (_a a a a_) as was sometimes done even in Old English:

_In a =s=ómer =s=éson | when =s=ófte was þe =s=ónne._ P. P. Prol. 1;

or by retaining the same alliterative sound in several consecutive lines, e.g.:

_þenne was =C=ónscience i=c=léþet | to =c=ómen and apéeren_
_tofore the =k=ýng and his =c=óunsel, | =c=lérkes and óþure._
_=k=néolynge =C=ónscience | to the =k=ýng lóutede._
ib. iii. 109-11;

or, finally, by allowing the somewhat more strongly accented syllables of the theses to participate in the alliteration:

_and was a =b=íg =b=old =b=árn | and =b=réme of his áge._ W. 18.

By the increasing use of this kind of alliteration it ultimately degenerated so much that the real nature of it was completely forgotten. This is evident from the general advice which King James VI gives in his _Revlis and Cavtelis to be observit and eschewit in Scottis Poesie_ (Arber's Reprint, p. 63):

Let all your verse be _Literall_, sa far as may be, quhatsumeuer kynde
they be of, but speciallie _Tumbling_ verse [evidently the
alliterative line] for flyting. Be _Literall_ I meane, that the maist
pairt of your lyne sall rynne vpon a letter, as this tumbling lyne
rynnis vpon F.

_Fetching fade for to feid it fast furth of the Farie._[108]

He then gives a description of this kind of verse which makes it evident that he looked upon 'tumbling verse' as a rhythm of two beats in each hemistich or four beats in the full line, for he says:

Ȝe man observe that thir Tumbling verse flowis not on that fassoun
as vtheris dois. For all vtheris keipis the reule quhilk I gave
before, to wit the first fute short the secound lang and sa furth.
Quhair as thir hes twa short and are lang throuch all the lyne quhen
they keip ordour, albeit the maist pairt of thame be out of ordour
and keipis na kynde nor reule of Flowing and for that cause are
callit Tumbling verse.

King James VI was a contemporary of the last poets who wrote in alliterative lines in the North and therefore undoubtedly had heard such poems read by reciters who had kept up the true tradition of their scansion. We have here then the very best proof we can desire not only of the four-beat rhythm of the line, but also of the fact that unaccented words, although they may alliterate intentionally, as they do often in poems of the fifteenth century, or unintentionally, as earlier, do not get a full accent in consequence of the alliteration, as some scholars have thought, but remain unaccented.[109]

As to the quality of the alliteration the same laws on the whole still prevail as in Old English poetry, but are less strictly observed. Thus frequently voiced and unvoiced sounds alliterate together, and the aspiration is neglected; _f_ alliterates with _v_, _v_ with _w_, _w_ with _wh_, _s_ with _sh_ or with combinations of _s_ and other consonants, _g_ with _k_, _h_ with _ch_:

_=h=értes and =h=índes | and =ó=þer bestes mánye._ W. 389.

_of =f=álsnesse and =f=ásting | and =v=óuwes ibróken._
P. P. Prol. 68.

_bat he =w=íst =w=íterly | it was the =v=óis of a childe._ W. 40.

_to a=c=órde wiþ þe =k=íng | and =g=ráunte his wílle._ ib. 3657.

_I =s=áyle now in þe =s=ée | as =sch=íp boute mást._ ib. 567.

_such =ch=ástite withouten =ch=árite | worþ =cl=áymed in hélle!_
P. P. i. 168.

On the other hand, sometimes (as e.g. in the _Alisaunder_ fragments) greater strictness may be noticed in regard to alliteration of vowels, as only the same vowels[110] are allowed to alliterate:

_wiþ þé =é=rldam of =É=nuye | =é=uer forto láste._ P. P. ii. 63.

Later on, in the fifteenth century, vocalic alliteration in general falls into disuse more and more.

§ =55. Comparison of Middle English and Old English alliterative verse.= With regard to the rhythmic structure of the verse the Middle English alliterative line is not very different from the corresponding Old English metre. Two beats in each hemistich are, of course, the rule, and it has been shown by Dr. K. Luick, in a very valuable paper on the English alliterative line in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries,[111] that all the different types which Prof. Sievers has discovered for the two sections of the Old English alliterative line occur here again, but with certain modifications.

The modifications which the five chief types have undergone originated in the tendency to simplify their many varieties exactly in the same way as the Old English inflexional forms of the language were simplified and generalized in the Middle English period.

Only three of the five old types, viz. those with an even number of members (A, B, C), are preserved in the second section of the verse, and those not in their original forms. They show further a certain tendency to assimilate to each other.

In types B and C the variations with disyllabic anacrusis occurred most frequently, as was also the case in type A, and verses of this kind now become predominant. Furthermore, in the Old English alliterative line, endings consisting of an accented and an unaccented syllable (feminine endings) prevailed; and type B was the only one of the symmetrical types ending with an accented syllable. In Middle English the use of feminine endings goes so far that the original type B has disappeared altogether and given place to a new type with an unaccented last syllable corresponding to the form × × –́ × –́ ×.

Prof. Luick very properly calls this type BC, holding that it originated from the variations × × –́ × ⏑́͜× and × × ⏑́͜× –́ × of the old types B and C in consequence of the lengthening of the originally short accented syllable. Verse-ends with two unaccented syllables, which might have arisen in the same way from –́ × = ⏑́͜× ×, did not become popular; and verse-ends with one unaccented syllable predominated. Lastly, an important feature of the later verse-technique deserves notice, that a monosyllabic anacrusis (an initial unaccented syllable) is generally allowed in types where it was not permitted in the Old English alliterative line. The consequence of these changes is that the rhythm of the verse which was in Old English a descending rhythm, becomes in Middle English ascending, and is brought into line with the rhythm of the contemporary even-beat metres.

This is the state of development presented by the Middle English alliterative line in one of the earliest poems of this group, viz. in the fragments of _King Alisaunder_, the versification of which, as a rule, is very correct.

Here the three types only which we have mentioned occur in the second hemistich.

Type A is most common, corresponding to the formula (×)–́ × × –́ ×:

_=l=órdes and óoþer_ 1, _=d=éedes of ármes_ 5, _=k=íd in his tíme_
11, _=t=érme of his lífe_ 16,

or with anacrusis:

_or =st=érne was hólden_ 10, _and =s=óne beráfter_ 25.

More than two unaccented syllables may occur _after_ the first accented syllable. These two peculiarities seldom occur together in one and the same second hemistich (though frequently in the first hemistich); but there are some examples:

_is =t=úrned too him álse_ 165, _and =p=ríkeden abóute_ 382, _hee
=f=áred òn in háste_ 79;

in this last example with a secondary accent on the word _òn_ as also in the verse: _þe =m=éssengères þei cámme_ 1126.

Type C, (×) × × –́ –́ ×:

_was þe mán hóten_ 13, _þat his =k=íth ásketh_ 65, _as a =k=íng
shólde_ 17, _withoute =m=íscháunce_ 1179.

Type BC, (×) × × –́ × –́ ×:

_or it =t=ýme wére_ 30, _in his =f=áders life_ 46, _of þis =m=éry
tále_ 45, _þat þei no =c=ómme þáre_ 507.

The same types occur in the first hemistich; but type C disappears almost entirely, and in the other two the last syllable not unfrequently is accented, especially if a considerable number of unaccented syllables occur in the middle of the hemistich; such verses may be looked upon as remnants of types B and E:

_þo was =c=róuned =k=íng_ 28, _hee made a =u=éry =u=ów_ 281, _and
=w=édded þat =w=íght_ 225, _þe =b=érn couth þerbý_ 632, &c.

Type D also seems to occur sometimes:

_=m=óuth =m=éete þertò_ 184, _what =d=éath =d=rý[e] thou shàlt_ 1067.

Besides these types the first hemistich has, as in Old English times, some forms of its own. The succession of syllables –́ × × –́ × (type A) is extended either by several unaccented syllables before the first accented one (polysyllabic anacrusis) or by the insertion of a secondary accent between the two main accented syllables, or after the second accented syllable, with a considerable number of medial unaccented syllables.

(_a_) _That ever =st=éede be=st=róde_ 10,
_Hee brought his ménne to þe =b=órowe_ 259.

(_b_) _And =ch=éued fòrthe with þe =ch=ílde_ 78,
_Þe =c=ómpanìe was =c=árefull_ 359.

(_c_) α. _=G=lísiande as =g=óldwìre_ 180,
_Þei =c=raked þe =c=ournales_ 295.

β. _Hue =l=óued so =l=écherìe_ 35,
_And =Ph=ílip þe =f=érse kìng_ 276.

γ. _=St=ónes =st=írred þei þò_ 293,
_Þe =f=ólke too =f=áre with hìm_ 158.

The examples under (_a_) show the tendency noticeable already in the first hemistich of the Old English alliterative line to admit anacrusis. The examples under (_b_) and (_c_) may be looked upon as extended forms of types E and D.

§ =56.= Several poems of somewhat later date deviate more frequently from these types than the _Alisaunder_ fragments, chiefly in the following points:

The end of the hemistich sometimes consists of an accented syllable instead of an unaccented one; the thesis is sometimes monosyllabic instead of polysyllabic, especially in A, or the anacrusis may be polysyllabic instead of monosyllabic. Secondary accents are introduced more frequently into the second hemistich also, but by poets whose technique is careful they are admitted only between the two accented syllables. Owing to these licences, and to the introduction of polysyllabic theses, the rhythm of the verse sometimes becomes very heavy.

Belonging to this group are _William of Palerne_, _Joseph of Arimathie_, both belonging to the middle of the fourteenth century, the three editions of William Langland's _Vision concerning Piers Plowman_, of somewhat later date, and a few minor poems. The _Romance of the Chevelere Assigne_, written in the East Midland district, at the end of the fourteenth century, and the works of the Gawain-poet, viz. _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_, _Cleanness_, _Patience_, and the _Legend of St. Erkenwald_ (Horstmann, _Altengl. Legenden_, 1881, p. 265), form the transition to another group of poems belonging to the North of England, but differing somewhat from the preceding with regard to their metre.

The most important amongst these is Langland's great work, but it is at the same time most unequal in respect to its versification. In many passages, especially in the beginning of the several Passus, as they are called, the flow of the verses is very regular; in other passages the theses are frequently of such great length, and the arsis stands out so indistinctly, that the rhythm of the verse can only be made out with difficulty. Some examples taken from the B-text (c. 1377) may serve to illustrate this:

Extended second hemistich (Type A):

_To =b=óres and to =b=róckes | þat =b=réketh adòwn myne hégges._
vi. 31.

_And so I =t=rówe =t=réwly | by þat men =t=élleth of chárite._
xv. 158.

_Ac ȝut in =m=ány mo =m=áneres | =m=én offènden þe hóligòste._
xvii. 280.

Extended first hemistich (Type A):

_=L=éue him nòuȝt, for he is =l=écherous | and =l=íkerous of tónge._
vi. 268.

_=L=áboreres þat haue no =l=ánde | to =l=ýue on but her hándes._
ib. 309.

_'Now, by þe =p=éril of my soúle!' quod Pieres, | 'I shal a=p=éyre
ȝou álle!'_
vi. 173.

Such verses obviously contain only two beats in each hemistich, although at the same time some of the syllables forming the thesis may have a somewhat stronger accent than others. For as a rule such extended verses are succeeded by a normal line, clearly bringing out again the general four-beat rhythm, as is the case with the line (A + A) following immediately upon the last-mentioned example:

_And =h=óuped after =h=únger | þat =h=érd hym atte fírste._
vi. 174.

Type A is in _Piers Plowman_ the usual one, but the types C and BC frequently occur. In the following examples we have type C in the second hemistich:

_And hadden =l=éue to =l=ye | al here =l=ýf áfter._ Prol. 49.

_I seigh =s=ómme that =s=éiden | þei had y=s=óuȝt =s=éyntes_.
ib. 50;

in the first hemistich it occurs rarely:

_Ac on a =M=áy =m=órnynge | on =M=áluerne húlles._ ib. 5.

Type B C is frequently to be met with in both hemistichs; e.g. in the first:

_In a =s=ómer =s=éson, | whan =s=óft was the =s=ónne._ ib. 1.

_And as I =l=áy and =l=éned | and =l=óked in þe wáteres._ ib. 9;

in the second:

_=B=ídders and =b=éggeres | fast a=b=óute ȝéde._ ib. 40.

_=W=énten to =W=álsyngham, | and here =w=énches áfter._ ib. 54.

Masculine endings, however (originating from the dropping of the final _-e_ in the last words of the types A and C, as e.g. in _and =d=rédful of síght_ Prol. 16, _=c=ristened þe =k=ýnge_ xv. 437, _as þe kýng híght_ iii. 9), occur very rarely here. They are, on the other hand, characteristic forms in another group of alliterative poems.

§ =57.= These belong to the =North of England= and the adjacent parts of the Midlands.

In these districts the final _e_ had by this time become silent, or was in the course of becoming so. Thus many verses of West-Midland poems were shortened in the North by omitting the final _-e_, and then these forms were imitated there. Hence the middle of the line was much less modified than the end of it.

Types A, C, B C, therefore, occur not only in the ordinary forms with unaccented syllables at the end, but also, although more rarely, with accented ones, viz. corresponding to the schemes:

A1, (×) –́ × × –́, C1, (×) × × –́ –́, BC1, (×) × × –́ × –́.

These forms of the hemistich first occur in the _Destruction of Troy_, a poem written in a West-Midland dialect very like to the Northern dialect, and in the North-English poems, _Morte Arthure_ and _The Wars of Alexander_ (E. E. T. S., Extra-Ser. 47). Examples of these types (taken from the first-mentioned poem) are: of type A1 in the second hemistich, _for =l=érning of ús_ 32, _þat =ó=nest were =á=y_ 48; with a polysyllabic thesis, _and =l=ympit of the sóthe_ 36; with a secondary accent, _with =c=léne mèn of wít_ 790; without anacrusis,[112] _=l=émond as góld_ 459, _=b=léssid were Í_ 473; in the first hemistich, with disyllabic anacrusis, _þat ben =d=répit with =d=éth_ 9, _þat with the =G=rékys was =g=rét_ 40; without anacrusis, _=B=ýg y-noghe vnto =b=éd_ 397, _=T=rýed men þat were =t=áken_ 258, &c.; examples for C1 (only occurring in the second hemistich), _þat he =f=óre with_ 44, _into your =l=ond hóme_ 611, _ye have =s=áid well_ 1122, _þat ho =b=órne wás_ 1388, _of my =c=órs hás_ 1865; examples for B C1, in the second hemistich (of rare occurrence), _when it de=st=róyet wás_ 28, _and to =s=órow bróght_ 1497, _þere þe =c=ítie wás_ 1534.

The same modification of types took place later in other parts of the Midlands, as appears from two works of the early sixteenth century, _Scottish Field_ and _Death and Life_ (Bishop Percy's Folio MS., edited by Furnivall and Hales, i. 199 and iii. 49). The last North-English or rather Scottish poem, on the other hand, written in alliterative lines without rhyme, Dunbar's well-known Satire, _The twa mariit wemen and the wedo_, has, apart from the normal types occurring in the North-English poems, many variants, chiefly in the first hemistich, which are characterized by lengthy unaccented parts both at the beginning of the line, before the second arsis, and after it; frequently too syllables forming the thesis have a secondary accent and even take part in the alliteration, as e.g. in the following examples:

_=Ȝ=aip and =ȝ=íng, in the =ȝ=ók | ane =ȝ=éir for to dráw._ 79.

_Is =b=àir of =b=lís and =b=áilfull, | and greit =b=árrat wírkis_.
51.

Sometimes the second hemistich participates in this cumulation of alliterating words, which not unfrequently extends over several, even as many as six or seven consecutive lines:

_He =g=ráythit me in =g=áy silk | and =g=údlie arráyis,
In =g=ównis of in=g=ránit clayth | and =g=reit =g=óldin chénȝeis._
365-6.

This explains how King James VI came to formulate the metrical rule mentioned above (p. 89) from the misuse of alliteration by the last poets who used the alliterative line, or the alliterative rhyming line to be discussed in the next paragraph, which shares the same peculiarity.

B. The alliterative line combined with rhyme.

§ =58.= In spite of the great popularity which the regular alliterative line enjoyed down to the beginning of the Modern English period, numerous and important rivals had arisen in the meantime, viz. the many even-beat rhymed kinds of verse formed on foreign models; and these soon began to influence the alliterative line. The first mark of this influence was that end-rhyme and strophic formation was forced upon many alliterative poems. In a further stage the alliterative line was compelled to accommodate its free rhythm of four accents bit by bit to that of the even-beat metres, especially to the closely-related four-foot iambic line, and thus to transform itself into a more or less regular iambic-anapaestic metre. The alliterative line, on the other hand, exercised a counter influence on the newer forms of verse, inasmuch as alliteration, which was formerly peculiar to native versification, took possession in course of time to a considerable extent of the even-beat metres, especially of the four-foot iambic verse. But by this reciprocal influence of the two forms of verse the blending of the four-beat alliterative line with that of four equal measures and the ultimate predominance of the even-beat metres was brought about more easily and naturally.

Alliterative-rhymed lines, the connexion of which into stanzas or staves will be treated of in the second part of this work under the heading of the 'Bob-wheel-stanza', were used during the Middle English period alike in lyric, epic, and dramatic poetry.

§ =59. Lyrical stanzas.= The earliest stanzas written in alliterative rhyming lines were lyrical.

We must distinguish between isometric and anisometric stanza forms. In the former the whole stanza consists of four-beat alliterative lines, commonly rhyming according to a very simple scheme (either _a a a a_ or _a b a b_). In the latter four-beat long lines as a rule are combined with isolated lines of one measure only and with several of two measures to form the stanza. The two-beat verses frequently have a somewhat lengthened structure (to be discussed further on sections on the epic stanzas), in consequence of which many of them having theses with secondary accents can be read either as even-beat verses of three measures or as three-beat verses on the model of those in _King Horn_. The four-beat alliterative lines, on the other hand, are mostly of more regular structure, the distances between the first and second arsis not being so unequal and the theses as a rule being disyllabic. The anacrusis too in these verses admits of a somewhat free treatment. The difference, however, between the first and second hemistich is less conspicuous than it was in those forms of the Middle English alliterative line before mentioned. Alliteration, on the other hand, is abundantly used.

The main rhythmic character of the verse is again indicated here by the frequent occurrence of the types A and A1. The types BC, BC1, C, C1, however, likewise occur pretty often, and the two last types present serious obstacles to the assumption that the lines of these poems were ever recited with an even beat. But how exactly these poems were recited or to what sort of musical accompaniment can hardly be definitely decided in the absence of external evidence.

The first verses of a West-Midland poem of the end of the thirteenth century (Wright's _Political Songs_, p. 149) may serve as a specimen:

_Ich herde =m=én vpo =m=óld | =m=áke muche =m=ón,
Hou hé beþ i=t=éned | of here =t=ílýnge:
=G=óde ȝeres and córn | bóþe beþ a=g=ón,
Ne képeþ here no =s=áwe | ne no =s=óng =s=ýnge._

The second hemistichs in ll. 2 and 4 belong to type C. In other poems also, with lines of more regular rhythm (chiefly type A), this type may be met with now and then, e.g. in a poem published in Wright's _Specimens of Lyric Poetry_, p. 25, especially in the second hemistich, e.g. _haueþ þis =m=ái =m=ére_, line 9, _and þe =g=ýlófre_, line 40, _þat þe =b=ór =b=éde_, line 44.

It is not difficult to distinguish such rhymed four-beat alliterative lines from those of four measures which have fairly regular alliteration, for the long line of the native metre always has a somewhat looser fabric, not the even-beat rhythmic cadence peculiar to the iambic verse of four measures, and, secondly, it always has a caesura after the first hemistich, whereas the even-beat verse of four measures may either lack distinct caesura or the caesura may occur in other places in the verse as well as after the second arsis. This will be evident by comparing the following four-beat verses of the last stanza of a poem in Wright's _Spec. of Lyr. Poetry_, p. 31:

_=R=íchard | =r=óte of =r=ésoun =r=ýght,
=r=ýkeníng of =r=ým ant =r=ón,
Of =m=áidnes =m=éke þóu hast =m=ýht,
on =m=ólde y hólde þe =m=úrgest =m=ón;_

with the following first four-beat alliterative lines of another poem (ibid. p. 25):

_Ichot a =b=úrde in a =b=óure, | ase =b=éryl so =b=rýght,
Ase =s=áphir in =s=élver | =s=émly on =s=ýht,
Ase =i=áspe þe =g=éntil, | þat =l=émeþ wiþ =l=ýht,
Ase =g=érnet in =g=ólde, | and =r=úby wel =r=ýht._

In similar lines are written several other poems, as _=M=on in þe =m=one_ (ibid. p. 110); _Of =r=ibaudz y =r=yme_ (Wright's _Pol. Songs_, p. 237); and five songs by Laurence Minot (nos. ii, v, ix, x, xi), written in the middle of the fourteenth century.

§ =60.= In other poems the four-beat long lines used in the main part of the stanza are followed by shorter lines forming the cauda, which in part are of a variable rhythmic cadence either of three beats (or three measures) or of two beats, as e.g. in the well-known poem in Percy's _Reliques_, ii, p. 1.[113] The first stanza may be quoted here:

_Sitteþ alle stílle | and hérkneþ to mé:
Þe kýng of Alemáigne, | bi mi léauté,
Þrítti þousent pound | áskede hé
Forte máke þe pées | in þé countré,
Ant só he dùde móre.
Ríchard,
þah þou be éuer tríchard,
Trícchen shàlt þou néuer mòre._

In the following stanzas of this poem the four-beat rhythm, although rarely marked by regular alliteration, is (in the main part or 'frons') still more distinctly recognizable, in spite of several rhythmically incorrect lines.

Second hemistichs of the type C1 are not infrequent, e.g. _opon swývýng_ 9, _sire Édwárd_ 46, _o þy lýárd_ 47. Lines 5 and 7 are of a two-beat rhythm, l. 8 probably as well (cf. our scansion).

There is a decided similarity in regard to structure and versification between this stanza and that of a poem in Wright's _Pol. Songs_, p. 153, although the long lines are divided in the middle by interlaced rhyme. This may be illustrated by its second stanza:

_Nou haþ =p=rúde þe =p=rís | in éuervche =p=láwe,
By mony =w=ýmmon o=w=ís | y =s=úgge mi =s=áwe.
For ȝef a =l=ády =l=ýue ìs | =l=éid after =l=áwe,
Vch a strúmpet þat þer ís | such =d=ráhtes wol dráwe.
In prúde
Vch a =s=créwe wol hire =sh=rúde,
Þoh he nábbe nout a smók | hire fóule ers to húde._

There is no line here corresponding to l. 5 of the preceding poem. Otherwise, however, the _cauda_ of this poem is of a similar structure to that of the preceding one, at least in this and possibly in the following stanzas, whereas the last line of the first stanza has a two-beat rhythm, and in the others the last lines probably are to be scanned with three beats. The second line of the _cauda_ of the first stanza of this poem belongs to type C. Another poem (Wright's _Polit. Songs_, p. 155; Böddeker, _P.L._ no. iv) shows a very artificial form of stanza, either corresponding to the formula _a a₄ b₂ c c₄ b₂ d d₄ b₂ e e₄ b₂ f f g g g f₂_ (if we look upon the verses as four-beat and two-beat lines, which the poet probably intended), or corresponding to the formula _a a₄ b₃ c c₄ b₃ d d₄ b₃ e e₄ b₃ f f g g g f₂_ (if we look upon the _frons_ as consisting of ordinary tail-rhyme-stanza lines of four and three even-beat measures).

The four- and two-beat cadence of the verses comes out still more clearly in the stanzas of another poem (Wright's _Pol. Songs_, p. 187; Ritson, _Anc. Songs_, i. 51; Böddeker, _P.L._ no. v), the rhymes of which follow the scheme _a a a₄ b₂ c c c₄ b₂_ (extended tail-rhyme-stanzas). Some of its long lines, it is true, admit of being read as even-beat verses of three measures, e.g. _and béo huere chéuentéyn_ 20, _and móni anóþer swéyn_ 24, but the true scansion in all probability is _and béo huere chéuenteȳ̀n_ (or _chèuentéyn_): _ant móni anòþer swéyn_, in conformity with the scansion of the following lines _to cóme to parís: þourh þe flóur de lís_ 52-6, or _wiþ éorl and wiþ knýht: with húem forte fýht_ 124-8.

As a first step to the epic forms of stanza to be considered in the next paragraph a poem of the early fourteenth century (Wright's _Pol. Songs_, p. 212; Ritson, _Anc. Songs_, p. 28; Böddeker, _P.L._ no. vi) may be quoted:

_=L=ýstne, =L=órdinges, | a newe sóng ichulle bigýnne
Of þe =t=ráytours of Scótland, | þat =t=áke beþ wyþ gýnne.
Món þat loveþ fálsnesse, | and nule néuer blýnne,
Sóre may him dréde | þe lýf þat he is ýnne,_

_Ich vnderstónde:
Sélde wes he glád,
Þat néuer nes asád
Of nýþe ant of ónde._

The fifth line has one arsis only (as appears more clearly from that in the second stanza: _wiþ Lóue_), thus corresponding to the above-mentioned poems (pp. 99, 100); the other lines of the _cauda_ have two stresses.

Prof. Luick[114] looks upon the long lines of this poem and of several others (e.g. Wright's _Pol. Songs_, pp. 69 and 187) as doubled native verses of the progressive or Layamon form, but rhyming only as long lines. This can hardly be, as the rhythmic structure of these verses does not differ from that of the other poems quoted above, which belong, according to Prof. Luick himself, to the class of the normal, lyric rhyming-alliterative lines.

§ =61. Narrative verse.= Alliterative-rhyming verses occur in their purest form in narrative poetry, especially in a number of poems composed during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in stanzas of thirteen lines, and republished recently in a collective edition by the Scottish Text Society in vol. 27 under the title _Scottish Alliterative Poems_ (ed. by F.J. Amours, Edinburgh, 1892). The poems contained in this collection are _Golagras and Gawane_ (also in _Anglia_, ii. 395), _The Book of the Howlat_ by Holland, _Rauf Coilȝear_ (also in E. E. T. S., Extr.-Ser. vol. xxxix), _The Awntyrs off Arthure at the Terne Wathelyne_, _The Pistill of Susan_ (also in _Anglia_, i. 93). Douglas's _Prologue_ to the Eighth Book of his translation of the _Aeneid_ (although written in the beginning of the sixteenth century) likewise belongs to this group, as do also the poems of John Audelay, composed in Shropshire in the fifteenth century (Percy Soc. xiv, p. 10 ff.), and a poem _Of Sayne John the Euaungelist_ (E. E. T. S. 26, p. 87) written in stanzas of fourteen lines in the North of England. The stanzas of all these poems--generally speaking--consist of two unequal parts, the _frons_ written in alliterative lines, rhyming according to the formula _a b a b a b a b_, and the _cauda_ which contains five or six lines, the first of which may either be a long line as in the _frons_, or, as in _The Pistill of Susan_, a short one-beat one, with four two-beat sectional verses following. Only in the last-mentioned poem does the _cauda_ consist of six two-beat sectional verses.

The rhythm of this alliterative-rhyming metre may first be illustrated by the opening lines of _Golagras and Gawane_:

I.

_In the =t=ýme of Árthur, | as =t=réw men me =t=áld,
The king =t=úrnit on ane =t=ýde | =t=ówart =T=úskane,
Hym to =s=éik our the =s=éy, | that =s=áiklese wes =s=áld,
The =s=ýre that =s=èndis all =s=éill, | =s=úthly to =s=áne;
With =b=ánrentes, =b=árounis, | and =b=érnis full =b=áld,
=B=ìggast of =b=áne and =b=lúde | =b=réd in =B=rítàne.
Thei =w=álit out =w=érryouris | with =w=ápinnis to =w=áld,
The =g=àyest =g=rúmys on =g=rúnd, | with =g=éir that myght =g=áne;
=D=úkis and =d=ígne lòrdis, | =d=óuchty and =d=éir,
=S=émbillit to his =s=úmmòvne,
=R=énkis of grete =r=énòvne,
=C=ùmly =k=íngis with =c=róvne
Of góld that wes cléir._

II.

_Thus the =r=óyale can remóve, | with his =R=óund Tábill,
Of all =r=íches maist =r=íke, | in =r=íall a=rr=áy.
Wes neuer =f=úndun on =f=óld, | but =f=énȝeing or =f=ábill,
Ane =f=àyrar =f=lóure on ane =f=éild | of =f=résche men, in fáy;_ &c.

Lines like the four last quoted illustrate the normal structure of the rhyming-alliterative verse, especially the relationship of rhyme and alliteration to each other in monosyllabic and disyllabic words. It will be seen that the rhyming syllable, as a rule the root-syllable, or at least the accented syllable of the word, at the same time carries the fourth accent of the line, and in consequence the fourth alliterative sound. In all other respects the rhymed-alliterative verse is structurally similar to that without rhyme, and it is therefore evident that rhyme exercises no decisive influence on the rhythm of the verse. In this comparatively pure form--if we do not take into account the secondary accents occurring in the first hemistichs of the stanza in the later poem--are written the great majority of the lines in the earliest of poems mentioned above, viz. _The Awntyrs off Arthure_.

§ =62.= The relation, however, between rhyme and alliteration and consequently the relation of the rhythmic accentuation of the words to their natural accentuation is less clear in the first stanza quoted above. The following verses rhyming together may serve to elucidate this:

_Than schir =G=áwyne the =g=áy, | =g=úde and =g=ráciùs....
=J=óly and =g=éntill, | and full =ch=éuailrús._
Gol. 389, 391.

_Ouer heor =h=édes gon =h=ýng
Þe =w=ínce and þe =w=éderlȳ̀ng._
Susan, 101-2;

or the verses _Gol._ 648, 650, 654:

_Thus =é=ndit the =á=uynantis | with mékil h=ó=nòur;
Thair =b=ódeis wes =b=éryit | =b=áith in ane hòur,
Ane =ú=thir heght =É=dmond, | that =p=róuit =p=áramòur._

In the first couplet the last syllable of the word _gráciùs_, although bearing only a secondary accent and forming the last thesis of the verse, rhymes with the last syllable of the word _=ch=éuailrús_, which likewise in ordinary speech has a secondary accent, but here is the bearer of the fourth metrical accent of the verse. In the second couplet the syllable _lyng_ of the word _wéderlỳng_, which has a secondary accent and forms part of the thesis, rhymes with the word _hyng_ which has the rhythmical accent. In the last group of verses the last syllable of the words _paramour_, _honour_ having secondary accents rhymes with the word _hour_, the bearer of the last rhythmical accent. Similar rhymes occur even in Modern English poetry, e.g. in the works of Thomas Moore: _Váin were its mélodỳ, Róse, without thée_ or _Whát would the Róse bè Únsung by thée?_[115]

It also frequently happens that all the rhyming syllables, which have a secondary accent and occur in the thesis of a verse, belong to trisyllabic words, while the accented syllables in the arsis, whether alliterating or not, do not take part in the rhyme, e.g.:

_Þou brak gódes Comáundement,
To slé such an Ínnocent
With ény fals júggement._ Susan, 321-3.

Similar unaccented rhymes are also met with in disyllabic words:

_'In fáith,' said Schir Rólland,
'That is fúll euill wýn land
To háue quhill thow ar léuand.'_ Rauf Coilȝear, 917-19.

Other rhymes of the same kind are _sémbland: léuand_, _conséntand: endúrand_, Gol. 428 ff., &c.

In all such cases the natural accentuation of the words is not interfered with by the rhythm of the verse.

The kind of irregular rhyme most frequently occurring, however, is that which is formed by the unaccented syllable of a disyllabic word (the first syllable of which alliterates and bears the last arsis of the verse) rhyming with a monosyllabic word which likewise bears the fourth rhythmical accent of another alliterative line (or the second of a short line forming part of the cauda) and takes part in the alliteration as well, as e.g. in the rhymes _=T=úskane: sane: =B=rítane: gane_ and _=s=úmmovne: =r=énovne: =c=rovne_ of the above-mentioned stanza of the poem _Golagras and Gawane_.

It is not likely that a complete shifting of accent in favour of the rhyming syllable ever took place, as the first syllables of the words usually take part in the alliteration, and therefore have a strongly marked accent. Sometimes, it is true, in the poems of this epoch, unaccented syllables do participate in the alliteration, and in the case of the words _Tuskane_, _Britane_, _summovne_, _renovne_ their Romance origin would explain the accent on the last syllable; but these words, both as to their position and as to their treatment in the line, are exactly on a par with the Germanic rhyme-words in ll. 870-2:

_For he wes =b=ýrsit and =b=éft, | and =b=ráithly =b=lédand ...
And wáld that he nane =h=árm hynt | with =h=árt and with =h=ánd._

In both cases we thus have 'accented-unaccented rhymes' (cf. Chapter I in Book II), which probably were uttered in oral recitation with a certain level stress. This is probable for several reasons. First it is to be borne in mind that Germanic words in even-beat rhythms of earlier and contemporary poems were used in the same way, e.g.:

_Quhen thái of Lórne has séne the kíng
Set ín hymsélff sa grét helpíng._ Barbour, Bruce, iii. 147-8.

_And bád thame wénd intó Scotlánd
And sét a sége with stálward hánd._ ib. iv. 79-80.

Only in these cases the rhythmical accent supersedes the word accent which has to accommodate itself to the former, while in the uneven-beat rhythm of the four-beat alliterative line the word-accent still predominates. In the even-beat lines, therefore, the rhythmical accent rests on the last syllable of a disyllabic rhyme-word, but in the alliterative lines it rests on the penultimate. In the case of words of Romance origin, however, which during this period of the language could be used either with Germanic or with Romanic accentuation, the displacement of the word-accent by the rhythmic accent in non-alliterative words may in these cases have been somewhat more extensive; cf. e.g. rhymes like _rage: curáge: suáge_ Gol. 826-8; _day: gay: journáy_ ib. 787-9; _assáill: mettáill: battáil_ R. Coilȝear, 826-8, &c. (but _ȝone =b=érne in the =b=áttale_ Gol. 806).

As a rule, however, for these too the same level-stress accentuation must be assumed as for the rhyme-words of the first stanza of _Golagras_ quoted above (p. 102).

§ =63.= This is all the more probable because, in these alliterative-rhyming poems, there are many sectional verses corresponding to the old types C and C1, these answering best the combined requirements of alliteration and of end-rhyme, for which frequently one and the same Germanic or Romanic word had to suffice in the second hemistich, as e.g. in the following sectional verses rhyming together:--_What is þi góod réde: for his =k=níȝthéde: (by =cr=ósse and by =cr=éde)_ Awnt. of Arth. 93-7; (_and =b=láke to þe =b=óne): as a =w=ómáne_ ib. 105-7; _en=c=lósed with a =c=rowne: of the =t=résóne_ ib. 287-91; _of ane fáir =w=éll: =t=éirfull to =t=éll: with ane =c=ástéll: =k=éne and =c=rúèll_, or, as Prof. Luick scans, _kéne and cruéll_ (but l. 92 _=c=rúel and =k=éne_) Gol. 40-6; _at the mýddáy: (=w=ént thai thar wáy)_ Howl. 665-7. &c.

Also in the even-beat metres the influence of this type is still perceptible; cf. rhymes like

_Súmwhat óf his clóþíng
Fór þe lóue of héuene kýng._ Rob. Mannyng, Handl. Sinne, 5703-4.

which are of frequent occurrence.

For the rest both in these alliterative-rhyming poems and in the poems with alliteration only the types A and A1, B C and B C1 are frequent. These alliterative-rhyming lines have this feature in common with the pure alliterative lines, that the first hemistich differs materially from the second in having often an anacrusis of several syllables (initial theses) and somewhat lengthened theses in the middle of the line, and in permitting such theses with only a secondary accent to take part in the alliteration. All this tends to give a somewhat heavy rhythmic cadence to the whole line.

§ =64.= The same difference is perceptible, as Prof. Luick was the first to show (_Anglia_, xii, pp. 438 ff.), in the single two-beat lines of the _cauda_, the three first (ll. 10-12 of the whole stanza) having the looser structure of the extended first hemistichs of the long lines, while the last two-beat line (line 13 of the whole stanza) has the normal structure (commonly type A, A1, as e.g. _Birnand =th=rétty and =th=ré_ Gol. 247; _Of góld that wes cléir_ ib. 1) of second sections of the long line, as is evident from the first stanza of _Golagras and Gawane_ quoted above (p. 102). In this concluding line, however, other types of verse peculiar to the second hemistich of long lines may also be met with, as e.g. C, C1, BC, BC1, e.g.: _For thi mánhéde_ Awnt. of Arth. 350; _Withoutin dístánce_ Gol. 1362; _As I am tréw kníght_ Gol. 169; _Couth na léid sáy_ ib. 920; _In ony ríche réime_ ib. 1258, _Quhen he wes líghtit dóun_ ib. 130.

In other poems the group of short lines rhyming according to the scheme _a a a b_ and forming part of the _cauda_ is preceded neither by a long alliterative line nor by a one-beat half section of it (as in _Susan_), but by a complete two-beat sectional verse, which then, in the same way as the last verse rhyming with it, corresponds in its structure to that of the second hemistich of the long line; as e.g. in _The Tournament of Tottenham_ (Ritson's _Ancient Songs_, i. 85-94), rhyming on the scheme _A A A A b c c c b_ (the capitals signifying the long lines), and in _The Ballad of Kynd Kittok_, possibly by W. Dunbar (Laing, ii. 35, 36; Small, i. 52, 53; Schipper, 70).

In _Sayne John the Euaungelist_ the 'cauda' has the structure of a complete tail-rhyme-stanza, the order of rhymes of the whole stanza being _A B A B A B A B c c d c c d_.

§ =65.= In connexion with this it is particularly interesting to note that such two-beat sections of the alliterative line are also used by themselves for whole poems written in tail-rhyme-stanzas (as was first shown by Prof. Luick, _Anglia_, xii, pp. 440 ff.); cf. e.g. the translation of the _Disticha Catonis_ (E.E.T.S. 68), the two first stanzas of which may be quoted here:

_If þóu be made wíttenèsse,
For to =s=áy þat =s=óþ ìs,
=S=áue þine honóur,
Als míkil, as þou may fra bláme,
Lame þi fréndis sháme,
And sáue fra dishonóur._

_For-sóþ =f=lípers,
And alle =f=áls =f=láters
I réde, sone, þou =f=lé;
For þen sálle na gode mán,
Þat any góde lare cán,
Þár-fore blame þé._

In the same stanza _The Feest_ (Hazlitt, _Remains_, iii. 93) is written.

Still more frequently such lines were used for extended tail-rhyme-stanzas rhyming on the scheme _a a a b c c c b d d d b e e e b_, as e.g. in a poem, _The Enemies of Mankind_, of the beginning of the fourteenth century, published by Kölbing (_Engl. Studien_, ix. 440 ff.).

The first stanza runs as follows:

_Þe =s=ìker =s=óþe who so =s=éys,
Wiþ =d=ìol =d=réye we our =d=áys
And =w=àlk máni =w=il =w=áys
As =w=ándrand =w=íȝtes.
Al our =g=ámes ous a=g=ás,
So mani =t=énes on =t=ás
Þurch =f=ónding of =f=ele =f=ás,
Þat =f=ást wiþ ous =f=íȝtes.
Our =f=lèsche is =f=óuled wiþ þe =f=énd;
Þer we =f=índe a =f=als =f=rénde:
Þei þai =h=éuen vp her =h=énde,
Þai no =h=óld nouȝt her =h=íȝtes.
Þis er =þ=ré, þat er =þ=rá,
Ȝete þe =f=érþ is our =f=á,
=D=èþ, þat =d=érieþ ous swá
And =d=íolely ous =d=íȝtes._

Here, again, the difference between the lines on the pattern of the first hemistich of the long line, which form the body of the stanza (_a a a, b b b, c c c, d d d_), and those on the pattern of the second hemistich used as tail-rhyme lines (_b, b, b, b_) is plainly recognizable.

The same is the case in other poems written in this form of stanza, as e.g. in the Metrical Romances, _Sir Perceval_, _Sir Degrevant_ (Halliwell, _Thornton Romances_, Camden Society, 1844, pp. 1, 177) and others; cf. Luick, _Anglia_, xii, pp. 440ff., and Paul's _Grundriss_, ii a, p. 1016. But in these later works, one of the latest of which probably is the poem _The Droichis Part of the Play_, possibly by Dunbar (Laing, ii. 37; Small, ii. 314; Schipper, 190), the two-beat lines are frequently intermingled and blended with even-beat lines, which from the beginning of the fifth stanza onward completely take the place of the two-beat lines in the last-mentioned poem. Likewise in the 'Bob-wheel-staves', i.e. stanzas of the structure of those sixteenth-century stanzas quoted above (§§ 60, 61), the _cauda_, as is expressly stated by King James VI in his _Revlis and Cavtelis_, is written in even-beat lines of four and three measures, though the main part of the stanza (the _frons_) is composed in four-beat rhyming-alliterative lines (cf. Luick, _Anglia_, xii, P. 444).

§ =66.= In the contemporary =Dramatic Poetry= this mixture of four-beat (or two-beat) alliterative lines with lines of even measures is still more frequent, and may be used either strophically or otherwise.

In the first place, we must note that in the earlier collections of Mystery Plays (_Towneley Mysteries_, _York Plays_, and _Ludus Coventriae_) the rhyming alliterative long line, popular, as we have seen, in lyric and in narrative poetry, is also used in the same or cognate forms of stanzas.

But the form of verse in these Mysteries, owing to the loss of regular alliteration, cannot with propriety be described as the four-beat alliterative long line, but only as the four-beat long line. In many instances, however, the remnants of alliteration decidedly point to the four-beat character of this rhythm, as e.g. in the following stanza of the _Towneley Mysteries_ (p. 140):

_Moste =m=ýghty =M=áhòwne | =m=éng you with =m=ýrthe,
Both of búrgh and of tówne | by =f=éllys and by =f=ýrthe;
Both =k=ýng with =c=równe | and =b=árons of =b=írthe,
That =r=ádly wylle =r=ówne, | many =g=réatt =g=ríthe
Shalle be hápp;
Take =t=énderly in=t=ént
What =s=óndes ar =s=ént,
Els =h=ármes shall ye =h=ént
And =l=óthes you to =l=ap._

In this form of stanza the different groups of lines or even single lines are frequently, as e.g. in the so-called _Processus Noe_ (the _Play of the Flood_), very skilfully divided between several persons taking part in the dialogue. The interlaced rhyme in the long lines connects it with the stanza form of the lyric poem quoted above (p. 100), and the form of the 'cauda' relates it to that of the lyric poem quoted (p. 101), and in this respect is identical with that of _The Pistill of Susan_.