2.10. A more particular declaration of the metricall feete of the auncient Poets Greeke and Latine and chiefly of the feete of two times.
Their Grammarians made a great multitude of feete. I wot not to what huge
number, and of so many sizes and their wordes
were of length, namely sixe sizes, whereas in deede, the metricall feete are
but twelue in number, whereof foure only be of two times, and eight of three
times, the rest compounds of the premised two sorts, euen 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 receiued with vs, I
say all the whole twelue, for first for the foote
spondeus of two long
times ye haue these English wordes
morning, midnight, mischaunce,
and a number moe whose ortographie may direct your iudgement in this
point: for your
Trocheus of a long and short ye haue these wordes
maner, broken, taken, bodie, member, and a great many moe if their
last sillables abut not vpon the consonant in the beginning of another word,
and in these whether they do abut or no
wittie, dittie, sorrow,
morrow, & such like, which end in a vowell for your
Iambus of
a short and a long, ye haue these wordes [
restore] [
remorse]
[
desire] [
endure] and a thousand besides. For your foote
pirrichius or of two short silables ye haue these words [
manie]
[
money] [
penie] [
silie] and others of that constitution or
the like: for your feete of three times and first your
dactill, ye haue
these wordes & a number moe
patience, temperance, womanhead,
iolitie, daungerous, duetifull & others. For your
mollosus, of
all three long, ye haue a member of wordes also and specially most of your
participles actiue, as
persisting, despoiling, endenting, and such like
in ortographie: for your
anapestus of two short and a long ye haue
these words but not many moe, as
manifold, monilesse, remanent,
holinesse. For your foote
tribracchus of all three short, ye haue
very few
trisillables, because the sharpe accent will always make one
of them long by pronunciation, which els would be by ortographie short as
[
merily] [
minion] & such like. For your foote
bacchius of a short & two long ye haue these and the like words
trisillables [
lamenting] [
requesting] [
renouncing]
[
repentance] [
entering]. For your foote
antibacchius, of
two long and a short ye haue these wordes [
forsaken]
[
impugned] and others many: for your
amphimacer that is a long
a short and a long ye haue these wordes and many moe [
excellent]
[
iminent] and specially such as be propre names of persons or townes
or other things and namely Welsh wordes: for your foote
amphibracchus, of a short, a long and a short, ye haue these wordes
and
many like to these [
resisted] [
delightfull] [
reprisall]
[
inaunter] [
enamill] 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 quantitie 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 obserueth 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 passe from the mouth. And the vowell is
alwayes more easily deliuered then the consonant: and of consonants, the
liquide more then 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 four
bisillables [
remnant]
[
remaine] [
render] [
renet] 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.
[
remanens]. Take this word [
remaine] because the last sillable
beares the sharpe accent, he is long in the eare, and [
re] being the
first sillable, passing 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 sharp accent vpon [
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 [
renet] hauing both
sillables sliding and slipper make the foote
Pirrichius, because if he
be truly vttered, he beares in maner no sharper accent vpon the one then the
other sillable, but he 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 vsed 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
bisillables 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 sharp vpon euery second word rather then contrariwise, as this of Sir
Thomas Wiats.
I finde no peace and yet mie warre is done,
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, wish thy friend or foes harme
Try but, trust not, all that speake thee so faire.
And some verses make of monosillables and bisillables
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 bisillables and others all of
trisillables, and others of polisillables egally increasing and of
diuers quantities, and sundry situations, as in this of our owne, made to
daunt the insolence of a beautifull woman.
Brittle beauty blossome daily fading
Morne, noon, and eue in age and eke in eld
Dangerous disdainefull 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 bisillables and of the foot
trocheus. The second all of monosillables, and all of the foote
Iambus, the third all of trisillables, and all of the foote
dactilus, your fourth of one bisillable, and two
monosillables interlarded, the fift of one monosillable and two
bisillables enterlaced, and the rest of other sortes and scituations,
some by degrees encreasing, some diminishing: which example I haue set
downe to let you perceiue what pleasant numerosity in the measure and
disposition of your words in a meetre by curious wits & these with
other like were the obseruations of the Greeke and Latine versifiers.