The arte of English poesie Contriued into three bookes: the first of poets and poesie, the second of proportion, the third of ornament.

CHAP. III.

How many sorts of measures we vse in our vulgar.

TO returne from rime to our measure againe, it hath bene sayd that according to the number of the sillables contained in euery verse, the same is sayd a long or short meeter, and his shor∣test proportion is of foure sillables, and his longest of twelue, they that vse it aboue, passe the bounds of good proportion. And euery meeter may be aswel in the odde as in the euen sillable, but better in the euen, and one verse may begin in the euen, & another follow in the odde, and so keepe a commendable proportion. The verse that containeth but two silables, which may be in one word, is not vsuall: therefore many do deny him to be a verse, saying that it is but a foot, and that a meeter can haue no lesse then two feete at the least, but I find it otherwise aswell among the best Italian Poets, as also with our vulgar makers, and that two sillables serue wel for a short measure in the first place, and midle, and end of a staffe: and also in diuerse scituations and by sundry distances, and is very pas∣sionate and of good grace, as shalbe declared more at large in the Chapter of proportion by scituation.

The next measure is of two feete or of foure sillables, and then one word tetrasillable diuided in the middest makes vp the whole meeter, as thus

Rēuē rēntlīe

Or a trissillable and one monosillable thus. Soueraine God, or two bissillables and that is plesant thus, Restore againe, or with foure monossillables, and that is best of all thus, When I doe thinke, I finde no sauour in a meetre of three sillables nor in effect in any odde, but they may be vsed for varietie sake, and specially being enterla∣ced with others the meetre of six sillables is very sweete and dili∣cate as thus.

O God vvhen I behold This bright heauen so hye By thine ovvne hands of old Contriud so cunningly.

The meter of seuen sillables is not vsual, no more is that of nine and eleuen, yet if they be well composed, that is, their Cesure well appointed, and their last accent which makes the concord, they

are cōmendable inough, as in this ditty where one verse is of eight an other is of seuen, and in the one the accent vpon the last, in the other vpon the last saue on.

The smoakie sighes, the bitter teares That I in vaine haue wasted The broken sleepes, the woe and feares That long in me haue lasted Will be my death, all by thy guilt And not by my deseruing Since so inconstantly thou wilt Not loue but still be sweruing.

And all the reason why these meeters in all sillable are alowable is, for that the sharpe accent falles vpon the penultima or last saue one sillable of the verse, which doth so drowne the last, as he see∣meth to passe away in maner vnpronounced, & so make the verse seeme euen: but if the accent fall vpon the last and leaue two flat to finish the verse, it will not seeme so: for the odnes will more notoriously appeare, as for example in the last verse before recited Not loue but still be sweruing, say thus Loue it is a maruelous thing. Both verses be of egall quantitie, vidz. seauen sillables a peece, and yet the first seemes shorter then the later, who shewes a more od∣nesse then the former by reason of his sharpe accent which is vpō the last sillable, and makes him more audible then if he had slid a∣way with a flat accent, as the word swéruing.

Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde as nine and eleuen, and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable, which therefore makes him go ill fauouredly and like a minstrels musicke. Thus sayd one in a meeter of eleuen very harshly in mine eare, whether it be for lacke of good rime or of good reason, or of both I wot not.

Now sucke childe and sleepe childe, thy mothers owne ioy Her only sweete comfort, to drowne all annoy For beauty surpassing the azured skie I loue thee my darling, as ball of mine eye.

This sort of compotition in the odde I like not, vnlesse it be holpen by the Cesure or by the accent as I sayd before.

The meeter of eight is no lesse pleasant then that of sixe, and

the Cesure fals iust in the middle, as this of the Earle of Surreyes.

When raging loue, with extreme payne.

The meeeter of ten sillables is very stately and Heroicall, and must haue his Cesure fall vpon the fourth sillable, and leaue sixe behinde him thus.

I serue at ease, and gouerne all with woe.

This meeter of twelue sillables the French man calleth a verse Alexandrine, and is with our moderne rimers most vsuall: with the auncient makers it was not so. For before Sir Thomas Wiats time they were not vsed in our vulgar, they be for graue and stately matters fitter than for any other ditty of pleasure. Some makers write in verses of foureteene sillables giuing the Cesure at the first eight, which proportion is tedious, for the length of the verse ke∣peth the eare too long from his delight, which is to heare the ca∣dence or the tuneable accent in the ende of the verse. Neuerthelesse that of twelue if his Cesure be iust in the middle, and that ye suffer him to runne at full length, and do not as the common rimers do, or their Printer for sparing of paper, cut them of in the middest, wherin they make in two verses but halfe rime. They do very wel as wrote the Earle of Surrey translating the booke of the preacher.

Salomon Dauids sonne, king of Ierusalem.

This verse is a very good Alexandrine, but perchaunce woulde haue sounded more musically, if the first word had bene a dissilla∣ble, or two monosillables and not a trissillable: hauing his sharpe accent vppon the Antepenultima as it hath, by which occasion it runnes like a Dactill, and carries the two later sillables away so speedily as it seemes but one foote in our vulgar measure, and by that meanes makes the verse seeme but of eleuen sillables, which odnesse is nothing pleasant to the eare. Iudge some body whether it would haue done better (if it might) haue bene sayd thus,

Robóham Dauids sonne king of Ierusalem.

Letting the sharpe accent fall vpon bo, or thus

Restóre king Dáuids sonne vntó Ierúsalém

For now the sharpe accent falles vpon bo, and so doth it vpon the last in restóre, which was not in th'other verse. But because we haue seemed to make mention of Cesure, and to appoint his place in euery measure, it shall not be amisse to say somewhat more of it,

& also of such pauses as are vsed in vtterance, & what commoditie or delectation they bring either to the speakers or to the hearers.