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

CHAP. V.

Of Proportion in Concord, called Symphonie or rime.

BEcause we vse the word rime (though by maner of abusion) yet to helpe that fault againe we apply it in our vulgar Poesie an∣other way very commendably & curiously. For wanting the cur∣rantnesse of the Greeke and Latine feete, in stead thereof we make in th'ends of our verses a certaine tunable sound: which anon af∣ter with another verse reasonably distant we accord together in the last fall or cadence: the eare taking pleasure to heare the like tune reported, and to feele his returne. And for this purpose serue the monosillables of our English Saxons excellently well, because they do naturally and indifferently receiue any accent, & in them if they finish the verse, resteth the shrill accent of necessitie, and so doth it not in the last of euery bissillable, nor of euery polisillable word: but to the purpose, ryme is a borrowed word frō the Greeks by the Latines and French, from them by vs Saxon angles and by abusion as hath bene sayd, and therefore it shall not do amisse to tell what this rithmos was with the Greekes, for what is it with vs hath bene already sayd. There is an accōptable number which we call arithmeticall (arithmos) as one, two, three. There is also a musi∣call

or audible number, fashioned by stirring of tunes & their sun∣dry times in the vtterance of our wordes, as when the voice goeth high or low, or sharpe or flat, or swift or slow: & this is called rith∣mos or numerositie, that is to say, a certaine flowing vtteraunce by slipper words and sillables such as the toung easily vtters, and the eare with pleasure receiueth, and which flowing of wordes with much volubilitie smoothly proceeding from the mouth is in some sort harmonicall and breedeth to th'eare a great compassion. This point grew by the smooth and delicate running of their feete, which we haue not in our vulgare, though we vse as much as may be the most flowing words & slippery sillables, that we can picke out: yet do not we call that by the name of ryme, as the Greekes did: but do giue the name of ryme onely to our concordes, or tunable consentes in the latter end of our verses, and which con∣cordes the Greekes nor Latines neuer vsed in their Poesie till by the barbarous souldiers out of the campe, it was brought into the Court and thence to the schoole, as hath bene before remembred: and yet the Greekes and Latines both vsed a maner of speach, by clauses of like termination, which they called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and was the nearest that they approched to our ryme: but is not our right concord: so as we in abusing this terme (ryme) be neuerthelesse ex∣cusable applying it to another point in Poesie no lesse curious then their rithme or numerositie which in deede passed the whole verse throughout, whereas our concordes keepe but the latter end of euery verse, or perchaunce the middle and the end in meetres that be long.