University of Virginia Library

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.

And some verses where the sharpe accent falles vpon the first and third, and so make the verse wholly Trochaicke, as thus,

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.

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.