londe etc. This is the reason why E verses are wanting in Otfrid and Lagamon (§ 108). It has been already stated (§ 108) that in Lazamon anacrusis before A verses is commoner than in OE., and that the four beats sometimes have practically the same strength, being separated by unstressed syllables e.g. ónd bijwón þa | æđela | bóc. An exact metrical examination of Lagamon's Brut is unfortunately still wanting. § 115. The Proverbs of Alfred. We find practically the same kinds of verse here as in the Brut alliterating, riming and rimingalliterating. (Last edition by W. Skeat, Oxford 1907.) An extract is sufficient, v. 118 ff. bus quep Alured: Wyb-vte wysdome is weole wel vnwurp; bute-if hit hauep wis § 116. King Horn. mon? This poem can be looked on as the last example of the old alliterative verse. It is written in short rimed couplets. Although the poem belongs to the end of the thirteenth century, it may be discussed now. Alliteration as a means of connecting the two verses has fully vanished. The rime is consistent and fairly correct. The two short verses, which are united by rime to form a couplet, are independent and have a like rhythmical structure. The old types of the alliterative verse appear dimly, but only verses with like endings can be united owing to the rime, thus A with A, C or D1 (feminine or gliding ending) and B with B or D2 (masculine ending). E verses and the shortened C and D1 verses are, of course, wanting. On the other hand verses with about equally stressed beats and, therefore, with a rhythm of equal bars, are much more common than in Lagamon. NOTE. In the following extract the feet of two and of three members are shown by accents. Alle | beon he | blíbe bat to my song | lýbè. a sang ihc | schal zou | síngè 4 of Múrrỳ þe | kíngè|. 7 Gódhìld | het his | quen, fairer ne | migte | non | ben. he hadde a sone | bat het | Horn 10 fairer ne migte | non beo | born. 13 fairer | nis non | bane he | was, he was brigt | so be glas, 15 he was whit | so pe | flur, alle | riche | mannes | sones ... § 117. Rhythmical Structure of the Verse When we closely examine these verses we see that most verses with masculine ending (8-10, 13-16, 29 f.) fall into four members with about the same stress and 'filling'. The same is true of the 'disyllabic masculine' (two short syllables ) verse-endings (21f.). When the verse-ending is feminine (x), however, the last two members of the verse are united to form a foot of two members, as in Brut and in OE. verse; cf. blípè 1, lýpè 2, singè 3, kíngè 4, further vv. 18, 19, 20, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40. Occasionally, especially in names, this happens at the beginning of a verse, e.g. Múrrỳ 4, 31, Gódhild 7, Sárazins 40. At the end of a verse three members may be united to form a foot, e.g. fif-tènè 39, sé-sìdè 33, kingerìchè 17. Thus when the verse has feminine ending it is much like the old type A with stronger 'filling' of the first two members, e.g. | Alle beon he | blipe | a | sang ihc schal zou | singe |-- of | Murry þe| kinge | etc. The gliding endings (with three members) answer to C or D1, e.g. in none || kingeriche || bi pe || se-side || — þat to my || song lype || || - shipes | fiftene. Masculine endings are like B or D2, e.g. he was | brist so pe | glas he was whit so pe flur etc. But in verses with masculine endings the four members are more or less like, and the rhythm approaches the later verse of four bars (§ 123), e.g. he hádde a sóne | þát het | Hórn álle | ríche | mánnes | sónes and álle hi | wére | fáire | gómes Hit | wás upón a | sómeres | dáy etc. We must, therefore, look on the verse of King Horn as a verse of four members, of which at the end of the verse, as in OE. and in Lagamon, two or three members may be united to form feet whilst at the beginning of and within the verse feet of two members seldom occur. The verse of King Horn is about at the same stage of development as that of Otfrid. We find sometimes a disyllabic word with a long root-syllable (x) also at the end of a verse, which seems to be used as one member, e.g. 645 f.: Amoreze | bo be | dai gan | springe 883 f.: To king him | rod an | hun tínge depe | he hem | alle | bróuzte, 879 f.: Horn | and his compai nýe Gunne after hem wel | swipe | híze, but MSS. L 645 f.: be and O have the correct reading: O 803 f.: To | depe | he hem | brówtè], and the couplet 879 f. is wanting in both L and O. Evidently in these overloaded verses the scribe of C has made alterations or additions. § 118. The Views of Wissmann, Luick and Schipper on the Verse of King Horn. Wissmann, King Horn. Untersuchungen zur mittelenglischen Sprach- und Kulturgeschichte. QF. 16, Strassburg 1876 and Das Lied von King Horn. Mit Einleitung, Anmerkungen und Glossar ed. Wissmann, QF. 45, Strassburg 1881, assumes four beats for the verse of King Horn. So too Luick (Pauls Grdr., 2 ed. Metrik p. 154 ff.), whilst Schipper (Engl. Metr. 1, 180 ff. and Grdr. 71 ff.) holds the opinion that in King Horn there is a mixture of three and four beats. Such an irregular mixture of couplets with three or four beats does not elsewhere occur. We can, as seen above, divide all verses in King Horn into four members. § 119. The Regular Short Rimed Couplet: a) The Latin Hymn-verse. From the freer rimed couplet, derived from OE. alliterative verse, which we have seen in Brut, Proverbs of Alfred and King Horn must be distinguished the regular short rimed couplet, con |