The Arte of English Poesie Part 7

The most excellent of all the figures Geometrical is the round for his many perfections. First because he is euen & smooth, without any angle, or interruption, most voluble and apt to turne, and to continue motion, which is the author of life: he conteyneth in him the commodious description of euery other figure, & for his ample capacitie doth resemble the world or uniuers, & for his indefiniteness hauing no speciall place of beginning nor end, beareth a similitude with G.o.d and eternitie. This figure hath three princ.i.p.all partes in his nature and vse much considerable: the circle, the beame, and the center. The circle is his largest compa.s.se or circ.u.mference: the center is his middle and indiuisible point: the beame is a line stretching directly from the circle to the center, & contrariwise from the center to the circle. By this description our maker may fas.h.i.+on his meetre in Roundel, either with the circ.u.mference, and that is circlewise, or from the circ.u.mference, that is, like a beame, or by the circ.u.mference, and that is ouerthwart and dyametrally from one side of the circle to the other.

_A generall resemblance of the Roundell to G.o.d, the world and the Queene._

_All and whole, and euer, and one, Single, simple, eche where, alone, These be counted as Clerkes can tell, True properties, of the Roundell.

His still turning by consequence And change, doe breede both life and sense.

Time, measure of stirre and rest.

Is also by his course exprest.

How swift the circle stirre aboue, His center point, doeth neuer moue: All things that euer were or be, Are closde in his concauitie.

And though he be, still turnde and tost, No roome there wants nor none is lost.

The Roundell hath no bonch or angle, Which may his course stay or entangle.

The furthest part of all his spheare, Is equally both farre and neare.

So doth none other figure fare Where natures chattels closed are: And beyond his wide compa.s.se, There is no body nor no place, Nor any wit that comprehends, Where it begins, or where it ends: And therefore all men doe agree, That it purports eternitie.

G.o.d aboue the heauens so hie Is this Roundell, in world the skie, Vpon earth she, who beares the bell Of maydes and Queenes, is this Roundell: All and whole and euer alone, Single, sans peere, simple, and one._

A speciall and particular resemblance of her Maiestie to the Roundell.

_First her authoritie regall Is the circle compa.s.sing all: The dominion great and large Which G.o.d hath geuen to her charge: Whithin which most spatious bound She enuirons her people round, Retaining them by oth and liegeance.

Whithin the pale of true obeysance: Holding imparked as it were, Her people like to heards of deere.

Sitting among them in the middes Where foe allowes and bannes and bids In what fas.h.i.+on she list and when, The seruices of all her men.

Out of her breast as from an eye, Issue the rayes incessantly Of her iustice, bountie and might Spreading abroad their beams so bright And reflect not, till they attaine The fardest part of her domaine.

And makes eche subiect clearley see, What he is bounden for to be To G.o.d his Prince and common wealth, His neighbour, kinred and to himselfe.

The same centre and middle p.r.i.c.ke, Whereto our deedes are drest so thicke, From all the parts and outmost side Of her Monarchie large and wide, Also fro whence reflect these rayes, Twentie hundred maner of wayes Where her will is them to conuey Within the circle of her suruey.

So is the Queene of Briton ground, Beame, circle, center of all my round._

_ Of the square or quadrangle equilater._

The square is of all other accompted the figure of most folliditie and stedfastnesse, and for his owne stay and firmitie requireth none other base then himselfe, and therefore as the roundell or Spheare is appropriat to the heauens, the Spire to the element of the fire: the Triangle to the ayre, and the Lozange to the water: so is the square for his inconcussable steadinesse likened to the earth, which perchaunce might be the reason that the Prince of Philosophers in his first booke of the _Ethicks_, termeth a constant minded man, euen egal and direct on all sides, and not easily ouerthrowne by euery little aduersitie, _hominem quadratum_, a square man. Into this figure may ye reduce your ditties by vsing no moe verses then your verse is of sillables, which will make him fall out square, if ye go aboue it wil grow into the figure _Trapezion_, which is some portion longer then square. I neede not giue you any example, by cause in good arte all your ditties, Odes & Epigrammes should keepe & not exceede the nomber of twelue verses, and the longest verse to be of twelue sillables & not aboue, but vnder that number as much as ye will.

_The figure Ouall._

This figure taketh his name of an egge, and also as it is thought his first origine, and is as it were a b.a.s.t.a.r.d or imperfect rounde declining toward a longitude, and yet keeping within one line for his periferie or compa.s.se as the rounde, and it seemeth that he receiueth this forme not as an imperfection but any impediment vnnaturally hindring his rotunditie, but by the wisedome and prouidence of nature for the commoditie of generation in such of her creatures as bring not forth a liuely body (as do foure footed beasts) but in stead thereof a certaine quant.i.tie of shapelesse matter contained in a vessell, which after it is sequestred from the dames body receiueth life and perfection, as in the egges of birdes, fishes, and serpents: for the matter being of some quant.i.tie, and to issue out at a narrow place, for the easie pa.s.sage thereof, it must of necessitie beare such shape as might not be sharpe and greeuous to pa.s.se at an angle, nor so large or obtuse as might not essay some issue out with one part moe then other as the rounde, therefore it must be slenderer in some part, & yet not without a rotunditie & smoothnesse to giue the rest an easie deliuerie. Such is the figure Ouall whom for his antiquitie, dignitie and vse, I place among the rest of the figures to embellish our proportions: of this sort are diuers of _Anacreons_ ditties, and those other of the Grecian Liricks, who wrate wanton amorous deuises, to solace their witts with all, and many times they would (to giue it right shape of an egg) deuide a word in the midst, and peece out the next verse with the other halfe, as ye may see by perusing their meetres.

When I wrate of these deuices, I smiled with myselfe, thinking that the readers would do so to, and many of them say, that such trifles as these might well haue bene spared, considering the world is full inough of them, and that it is pitie mens heades should be fedde with such vanities as are to none edification nor instruction, either of morall vertue, or otherwise behooffull for the common wealth, to whose seruice (say they) we are all borne, and not to fill and replenish a whole world full of idle toyes. To which sort of reprehendours, being either all holy and mortified to the world, and therefore esteeming nothing that fauoureth not of Theologie, or altogether graue and worldy, and therefore caring for nothing but matters of pollicie, & discourses of estate, or all giuen to thrift and pa.s.sing for none art that is not gainefull and lucratiue, as the sciences of the Law, Phisicke and marchaundise: to these I will giue none other aunswere then referre them to the many trifling poemes of _Homer, Ouid, Virgill, Catullus_ and other notable writers of former ages, which were not of any grauitie or seriousnesse, and many of them full of impudicitie and ribaudrie, as are not these of ours, nor for any good in the world should haue bene: and yet those trifles are come from many former siecles vnto our times, vncontrolled or condemned or supprest by any Pope or Patriarch or other seuere censor of the ciuill maners of men, but haue bene in all ages permitted as the conuenient solaces and recreations of mans wit. And as I can not denie but these conceits of mine be trifles: no lesse in very deede be all the most serious studies of man, if we shall measure grauitie and lightnesse by the wise mans ballance who after he had considered of all the profoundest artes and studies among men, in th'ende cryed out with this Epyphoneme, _Vanitas vanitatum & omnia vanitas_. Whose authoritie if it were not sufficient to make me beleeue so, I could be content with _Democritus_ rather to condemne the vanities of our life by derision, then as _Herac.l.i.tus_ with teares, saying with that merrie Greeke thus, _Omnia sunt risus, sunt puluis, & omnia nil sunt.

Res hominum cunctae, nam ratione carent._ Thus Englished, _All is but a iest, all daft, all not worth two peason: For why in mans matters is neither rime nor reason._

Now pa.s.sing from these courtly trifles, let vs talke of our scholastical toyes, that is of the Grammaticall versifying of the Greeks and Latines and see whether it might be reduced into our English arte or no.

_CHAP. XII._

_How if all maner of sodaine innouatians were not very scandalous, specially in the lawes of any langage or arte, the use of the Greeke and Latine feete might be brought into our vulgar Poesie, and with good grace enough._

Now neuerthelesse albeit we haue before alledged that our vulgar _Saxon English_ standing most vpon wordes _monosillable_, and little vpon _polysillables_ doth hardly admit the vse of those fine inuented feete of the Greeks & Latines, and that for the most part wise and graue men doe naturally mislike with all sodaine innouations specially of lawes (and this the law of our auncient English Poesie) and therefore lately before we imputed it to a nice & scholasticall curiositie in such makers as haue fought to bring into our vulgar Poesie some of the auncient feete, to wit the _Dactile_ into verses _exameters_, as he that translated certaine bookes of _Virgils Eneydos_ in such measures & not vncommendably: if I should now say otherwise it would make me seeme contradictorie to my selfe, yet for the information of our yong makers, and pleasure of all others who be delighted in noueltie, and to th'intent we may not seeme by ignorance or ouersight to omit any point of subtillitie, materiall or necessarie to our vulgar arte, we will in this present chapter & by our own idle obseruations shew how one may easily and commodiously lead all those feete of the auncients into our vulgar language. And if mens eares were not perchaunce to daintie, or their iudgementes ouer partiall, would peraduenture nothing at all misbecome our arte, but make in our meetres a more pleasant numerositie then now is. Thus farre therefore we will aduenture and not beyond, to th'intent to shew some singularitie in our arte that euery man hath not heretofore obserued, and (her maiesty good liking always had) whether we make the common readers to laugh or to lowre, all is a matter, since our intent is not so exactlie to prosecute the purpose, nor so earnestly, as to thinke it should by authority of our owne iudgement be generally applauded at to the discredit of our forefathers maner of vulgar Poesie, or to the alteration or peraduenture totall destruction of the same, which could not stand with any good discretion or curtesie in vs to attempt, but thus much I say, that by some leasurable trauell it were no hard matter to induce all their auncient feete into vse with vs, and that it should proue very agreable to the eare and well according with our ordinary times and p.r.o.nunciation, which no man could then iustly mislike, and that is to allow euery world _polisillable_ one long time of necessitie, which should be where his sharpe accent falls in our owne _ydiome_ most aptly and naturally, wherein we would not follow the license of the Greeks and Latines, who made not their sharpe accent any necessary prolongation of their tunes, but vsed such sillable sometimes long sometimes short at their pleasure. The other sillables of any word where the sharpe accent fell not, to be accompted of such time and quant.i.tie as his _ortographie_ would best beare hauing regard to himselfe, or to his next neighbour word, bounding him on either side, namely to the smoothnes & hardnesse of the sillable in his vtterance, which is occasioned altogether by his _ortographie_ & situation as in this word [_dayly_] the first sillable for his vsuall and sharpe accentes sake to be always long, the second for his flat accents sake to be alwayes shoft, and the rather for his _ortographie_, bycause if he goe before another word commencing with a vowell not letting him to be eclipsed, his vtterance is easie & currant, in this trissilable [_dau-nge'ro'us_] the first to be long, th'other two short for the same causes. In this word [_da-nge'rou'sne-sse_] the first & last to be both long, bycause they receiue both of them the sharpe accent, and the two middlemost to be short, in these words [_remedie_] & [_remedilesse_] the time to follow also the accent, so as if it please better to set the sharpe accent vpon [_re_] then vpon [_dye_] that sillable should be made long and _e conuerso_, but in this word [_remedilesse_] bycause many like better to accent the sillable [_me_] then the sillable [_les_] therefore I leaue him for a common sillable to be able to receiue both a long and a short time as occasion shall serue. The like law I set in these wordes [_reuocable_][_recouerable_] [_irreuocable_][_irrecouerable_] for sometimes it sounds better to say _re-uo'ca-ble_ then _re'uo-ca'ble', re-coue'rable_ then _reco-ue'ra'ble_ for this one thing ye must alwayes marke that if your time fall either by reason of his sharpe accent or otherwise vpon the _penultima_, ye shal finde many other words to rime with him, bycause such terminations are not geazon, but if the long time fall vpon the _antepenultima_ ye shall not finde many wordes to match him in his termination, which is the cause of his concord or rime, but if you would let your long time by his sharpe accent fall aboue the _antepenultima_ as to say [_co-ue'ra'ble_] ye shall seldome or perchance neuer find one to make vp rime with him vnlesse it be badly and by abuse, and therefore in all such long _polisillables_ ye doe commonly giue two sharpe accents, and thereby reduce him into two feete as in this word [_re-mu'nera'ti'on_] which makes a couple of good _Dactils_, and in this word [_contribu-ti'o'n_] which makes a good _spo-ndeus_ & a good _dactill_, and in this word [_reca-pi'tu'la-tio'n_] it makes two _dactills_ and a sillable ouerplus to annexe to the word precedent to helpe peece vp another foote. But for wordes _monosillables_ (as be most of ours) because in p.r.o.nouncing them they do of necessitie retaine a sharpe accent, ye may iustly allow then to be all long if they will so best serue your turne, and if they be tailed one to another, or th'one to a _dissillable_ or _polyssillable_ ye ought to allow them that time that best serues your purpose and pleaseth your eare most, and truliest aunsweres the nature of the _ortographie_ in which I would as neare as I could obserue and keepe the lawes of the Greeke and Latine versifiers, that is to prolong the sillable which is written with double consonants or by dipthong or with finale consonants that run hard and harshly vpon the toung: and to shorten all sillables that stand vpon vowels, if there were no cause of _elision_ and single consonants & such of them as are most flowing and slipper vpon the toung as _n.r.t.d.l._ for this purpose to take away all aspirations, and many times the last consonant of a word as the Latine Poetes vsed to do, specially _Lucretius_ and _Ennnius_ to say [_finibu_] for [_finibus_] and so would not I stick to say thus [delite]

for [delight] [hye] for [high] and such like, & doth nothing at all impugne the rule I gaue before against the wresting of wordes by false _ortographie_ to make vp rime, which may not be falsified. But this omission of letters in the middest of a meetre to make him the more slipper, helpes the numerositie and hinders not the rime. But generally the shortning or prolonging of the _monosillables_ dependes much vpon the nature or their _ortographie_ which the Latin Grammariens call the rule of position, as for example if I shall say thus.

_No-t ma'ni'e daye-s pa-st_. Twentie dayes after, This makes a good _Dactill_ and a good _spondeus_, but if ye turne them backward it would not do so, as.

_Many dayes, not past_.

And the _distick_ made all of _monosillables_.

_Bu-t no-ne o-f u-s tru-e me-n a-nd fre-e, Could finde so great good lucke as he_.

Which words serue well to make the verse all _spondiacke_ or _iambicke_, but not in _dactil_, as other words or the same otherwise placed would do, for it were at illfauored _dactil_ to say.

_Bu-t no'ne o'f, u-s a'll tre'we._

Therefore whensoeuer your words will not make a smooth _dactil_, ye must alter them or their situations or else turne them to other feete that may better beare their maner of sound and orthographie: or if the word be _polysillable_ to deuide him, and to make him serue by peeces, that he could not do whole and entierly. And no doubt by like consideration did the Greeke & Latine versifiers fas.h.i.+on all their feete at the first to be of sundry times, and the selfe same sillable to be sometime long and sometime short for the eares better satisfaction as hath bene before remembred. Now also wheras I said before that our old Saxon English for his many _monosillables_ did not naturally admit the vse of the ancient feete in our vulgar measures so aptly as in those languages which stood most vpon _polisillables_, I sayd it in a sort truly, but now I must recant and confesse that our Normane English which hath growen since _William_ the Conquerour doth admit any of the auncient feete, by reason of the many _polysillables_ euen to sixe and seauen in one word, which we at this day vse in our most ordinarie language: and which corruption hath bene occasioned chiefly by the peeuish affectation not of the Normans them selues, but of clerks and scholars or secretaries long since, who not content with the vsual Normane or Saxon word, would conuert the very Latine and Greeke word into vulgar French, as to say innumerable for innombrable, reuocable, irreuocable, irradiation, depopulation & such like, which are not naturall Normane nor yet French, but altered Latines, and without any imitation at all: which therefore were long time despised for inkehorne termes, and now be reputed the best & most delicat of any other. Of which & many other causes of corruption of our speach we haue in another place more amply discoursed, but by this meane we may at this day very well receiue the auncient feete _metricall_ of the Greeks and Latines sauing those that be superfluous as be all the feete aboue the _trissillable_, which the old Grammarians idly inuented and distinguisht by speciall names, whereas in deede the same do stand compounded with the inferiour feete, and therefore some of them were called by the names of _didactilus_, _dispondeus_, and _disiambus:_ which feete as I say we may be allowed to vse with good discretion & precise choise of wordes and with the fauorable approbation of readers, and so shall our plat in this one point be larger and much surmount that which _Stamhurst_ first tooke in hand by his _exameters dactilicke_ and _spondaicke_ in the translation of _Virgills Eneidos_, and such as for a great number of them my stomacke can hardly digest for the ill shapen sound of many of his wordes _polisillable_ and also his copulation of _monosillables_ supplying the quant.i.tie of a _trissillable_ to his intent. And right so in promoting this deuise of ours being (I feare me) much more nyce and affected, and therefore more misliked then his, we are to bespeake fauour, first of the delicate eares, then of the rigorous and seuere dispositions, lastly to craue pardon of the learned & auncient makers in our vulgar, for if we should seeke in euery point to egall our speach with the Greeke and Latin in their _metricall_ observations it could not possible be by vs perfourmed, because their sillables came to be timed some of them long, some of them short not by reason of any euident or apparant cause in writing or sounde remaining vpon one more then another, for many times they shortned the sillable of sharpe accent and made long that of the flat, & therefore we must needes say, it was in many of their wordes done by preelection in the first Poetes, not hauing regard altogether to the _ortographie_, and hardnesse or softnesse of a sillable, consonant, vowell or dipthong, but at their pleasure, or as it fell out: so as he that first put in a verse this word [_Penelope_] which might be _Homer_ or some other of his antiquitie, where he made [_pe-_] in both places long and [_ne'_]

and [_lo'_] short, he might haue made them otherwise and with as good reason, nothing in the world appearing that might moue them to make such (preelection) more in th'one sillable then in the other for _pe_, _ne_, and _lo_, being sillables vocals be egally smoth and currant vpon the toung, and might beare aswel the long as the short time, but it pleased the Poet otherwise: so he that first shortned, _ca_, in this word _cano_, and made long _tro_, in _troia_, and _o_, in _oris_, might haue aswell done the contrary, but because he that first put them into a verse, found as it is to be supposed a more sweetnesse in his owne eare to haue them so tymed, therefore all other Poets who followed, were fayne to doe the like, which made that _Virgill_ who came many yeares after the first reception of wordes in their seuerall times, was driuen of neceisiitie to accept them in such quant.i.ties as they were left him and therefore said.

_a-rma' ni' ru-mqu-e ca'ro- tro- ie- qui- pri-mu's a'bo-ris._

Neither truely doe I see any other reason in that lawe (though in other rules of shortning and prolonging a sillable there may be reason) but that it stands vpon bare tradition. Such as the _Cabalists_ auouch in their mysticall constructions Theologicall and others, saying that they receaued the same from hand to hand from the first parent _Adam, Abraham_ and others, which I will giue them leaue alone both to say and beleeue for me, thinking rather that they haue bene the idle occupations, or perchaunce the malitious and craftie constructions of the _Talmudists_ and others of the Hebrue clerks to bring the world into admiration of their lawes and Religion. Now peraduenture with vs Englishmen it be somewhat too late to admit a new inuention of feet and times that our forefathers neuer vused nor neuer observed till this day, either in their measures or in their p.r.o.nuntiation, and perchaunce will seeme in vs a presumptuous part to attempt, considering also it would be hard to find many men to like of one mans choise in the limitation of times and quant.i.ties of words, with which not one, but euery eare is to be pleased and made a particular iudge, being most truly sayd, that a mult.i.tude or comminaltie is hard to please and easie to offend, and therefore I intend not to proceed any further in this curiositie then to shew some small subtillitie that any other hath not yet done, and not by imitation but by obseruation, nor to th'intent to haue it put in execution in our vulgar Poesie, but to be pleasantly scanned vpon, as are all nouelties so friuolous and ridiculous as it.

_CHAP. XIII._

_A more particular declaration of the metricall feete of the ancient Poets Greeke and Latine and chiefly of the feete of two times_.

Their Grammarians made a great mult.i.tude of feete, I wot not to what huge number, and of so many sizes as their wordes were of length, namely sixe sizes, whereas indeede, the metricall feete are but twelve in number, wherof foure only be of two times, and eight of three times, the rest compounds of the premised two sorts, even as the Arithmeticall numbers aboue three are made of two and three. And if ye will know how many of these feete will be commodiously received with vs, I say all the whole twelve, for first for the foote, _spondeus_ of two long times ye haue these English words _mo-rni-ng, mi-dni-ght, mi-scha-unce_, and a number moe whose ortographie may direct your iudgement in this point: for your _Trocheus_ of a long and short ye haue these words _ma-ne'r, bro-ke'n, ta-ke'n, bo-die', me-mbe'r_, and a great many moe if there last sillables abut not vpon the consonant in the beginning of another word, and in these whether they do abut or no _wi-tti'e, di-tti'e, so-rro'w, mo-rro'w_, & such like, which end in a vowell for your _Iambus_ of a short and a long, ye haue these words [_re'sto-re_] [_re'mo-rse_] [_de'si-re_] [_e'ndu-re_]

and a thousand besides. For your foote _pirrichius_ or of two short silables ye haue these words [_ma'ni'e_] [_mo'ne'y_] [_pe'ni'e_]

[_si'lie'_] and others of that construction or the like: for your feete of three times and first your _dactill_, ye haue these words & a number moe _pa-ti'e'nce, te-mpe'ra'nce, wo-ma'nhea'd, io-li'ti'e, dau-nge'ro'us, du-eti'fu'll_ & others. For your _molossus_, of all three long, ye haue a member of wordes also and specially most of your participles actiue, as _pe-rsi-sti-ng, de-spo-ili-ng, e-nde-nti-ng_, and such like in ortographie: for your _anapestus_ of two short and a long ye haue these words but not many moe, as _ma'ni'fo-ld, mo'ni'le-sse, re'ma'ne-nt, ho'li'ne-sse_. For your foote _tribracchus_ of all three short, ye haue very few _trissillables_, because the sharpe accent will aways make one of them long by p.r.o.nunciation, which els would be by ortographie short as, [me'ri'ly'] [minion] & such like. For your foote _bacchius_ of a short & two long ye haue these and the like words _trissillables_ [_la'me-nti-ng_]

[_re'que-sti-ng_] [_re'nou-nci-ng_] [_re'pe-nta-nce_] [_e'nu-ri-ng_]. For your foote _antibacchius_, of two long and a short ye haue these words [_fo-rsa-ke'n_] [_i-mpu-gne'd_] and others many: For your _amphimacer_ that is a long, a short and a long ye haue these words and many more [_e-xce'lle-nt_] [_i-mi'ne-nt_] and specially such as be propre names of persons or townes or other things and namely Welsh words; for your foote _amphibracchus_, of a short, a long and a short, ye haue these words and many like to these [_re'si-ste'd_] [_de'li-ghtfu'll_] [_re'pri-sa'll_]

[_i'nau-nte'r_] [_e'na-mi'll_] so as for want of English wordes if your eare be not to daintie and your rules to precise, ye neede not be without the _metricall_ feete of the ancient Poets such as be most pertinent and not superfluous. This is (ye will perchaunce say) my singular opinion: then ye shall see how well I can maintaine it. First the quant.i.tie of a word comes either by (preelection) without reason or force as hath bene alledged, and as the auncient Greekes and Latines did in many wordes, but not in all, or by (election) with reason as they did in some, and not a few. And a sound is drawen at length either by the infirmitie of the toung, because the word or sillable is of such letters as hangs long in the palate or lippes ere he will come forth, or because he is accented and tuned hier and sharper then another, whereby he somewhat obscureth the other sillables in the same word that be not accented so high, in both these cases we will establish our sillable long, contrariwise the shortning of a sillable is, when his sounde or accent happens to be heauy and flat, that is to fall away speedily, and as it were inaudible, or when he is made of such letters as be by nature slipper & voluble and smoothly pa.s.se from the mouth. And the vowell is alwayes more easily deliuered then the consonant: and of consonants, the liquide more than the mute, & a single consonant more then a double, and one more then twayne coupled together: all which points were obserued by the Greekes and Latines, and allowed for _maximes_ in versifying. Now if ye will examine these foure _bissillables_ [_re-mna-nt_] [_re'ma-ine_] [_re-nde'r_] [_re'ne't_]

for an example by which ye may make a generall rule, and ye shall finde, that they aunswere our first resolution. First in [_remnant_] [_rem_]

bearing the sharpe accent and hauing his consonant abbut vpon another, soundes long. The sillable [_nant_] being written with two consonants must needs be accompted the same, besides that [_nant_] by his Latin originall is long, viz. [_remane-ns._] Take this word [_remaine_] because the last sillable beares the sharpe accent, he is long in the eare, and [_re_]

being the first sillable, pa.s.sing obscurely away with a flat accent is short, besides that [_re_] by his Latine originall and also by his ortographie is short. This word [_render_] bearing the sharpe accent upon [_ren_] makes it long, the sillable [_der_] falling away swiftly & being also written with a single consonant or liquide is short and makes the _trocheus._ This word [_re'ne't_] hauing both syllables sliding and slipper make the foote _Pirrichius_, because if he be truly vttered, he beares in maner no sharper accent upon the one then the other sillable, but be in effect egall in time and tune, as is also the _Spondeus._ And because they be not written with any hard or harsh consonants, I do allow them both for short sillables, or to be used for common, according as their situation and place with other words shall be: and as I haue named to you but onely foure words for an example, so may ye find out by diligent obseruation foure hundred if ye will. But of all your words _bissillables_ the most part naturally do make the foot _Iambus_, many the _Trocheus_, fewer the _Spondeus_, fewest of all the _Pirrichius_, because in him the sharpe accent (if ye follow the rules of your accent as we haue presupposed) doth make a litle oddes: and ye shall find verses made all of _monosillables_, and do very well, but lightly they be _Iambickes_, bycause for the more part the accent falles sharpe vpon euery second word rather then contrariwise, as this of Sir _Thomas Wiats_.

_I fi-nde no' pea-ce a'nd ye-t mi'e wa-rre i's do-ne, I feare and hope, and burne and freese like ise._

And some verses where the sharpe accent falles vpon the first and third, and so make the verse wholly _Trochaicke_, as thus, _Worke not, no nor, with thy friend or foes harme Try but, trust not, all that speake thee so faire._

And some verses made of _monosillables_ and _bissillables_ enterlaced as this of th'Earles, _When raging loue with extreme paine_ And this _A fairer beast of fresher hue beheld I neuer none._

And some verses made all of _bissillables_ and others all of _trissillables_, and others of _polisillables_ egally increasing and of diuers quant.i.ties, and sundry situations, as in this of our owne, made to daunt the insolence of a beautifull woman.

_Brittle beauty blossome daily fading Morne, noone, and eue in age and eke in eld Dangerous disdaine full pleasantly perswading Easie to gripe but combrous to weld.

For slender bottome hard and heauy lading Gay for a while, but little while durable Suspicious, incertaine, irreuocable, O since thou art by triall not to trust Wisedome it is, and it is also iust To sound the stemme before the tree be feld That is, since death will driue us all to dust To leaue thy loue ere that we be compeld._

In which ye haue your first verse all of _bissillables_ and of the foot _trocheus._ The second all of _monosillables_, and all of the foote _Iambus_, the third all of _trissillables_, and all of the foote _dactilus_, your fourth of one _bissillable_, and two _monosillables_ interlarded, the fift of one _monosillable_ and two _bissillables_ enterlaced, and the rest of other sortes and scituations, some by degrees encreasing, some diminis.h.i.+ng: which example I haue set downe to let you perceiue what pleasant numerosity in the measure and disposition of your words in a meetre may be contriued by curious wits & these with other like were the obseruations of the Greeke and Latine versifiers.

_CHAP. XIIII_.

_Of your feet of three times, and first of the Dactil._

Your feete of three times by prescription of the Latine Grammariens are of eight sundry proportions, for some notable difference appearing in euery sillable of three falling in a word of that size: but because aboue the _antepenultima_ there was (among the Latines) none accent audible in any long word, therfore to deuise any foote of longer measure then of three times was to them but superfluous: because all aboue the number of three are but compounded of their inferiours. Omitting therefore to speake of these larger feete, we say that of all your feete of three times the _Dactill_ is most usuall and fit for our vulgar meeter, & most agreeable to the eare, specially if ye ouerlade not your verse with too many of them but here and there enterlace a _Iambus_ or some other foote of two times to giue him grauitie and stay, as in this _quadrein Trimeter_ or of three measures.

_Rende'r a'gai-ne mi'e li-be'rti'e a'nd se-t yo'ur ca-pti'ue fre-e Glo-ri'ou's i's the' vi-cto'ri'e Co-nque'ro'urs u-se wi'th le-ni'ti'e_