Neither in Middle English nor in Modern English poetry, however, is there any compulsion to use such contractions for the purpose of avoiding the _hiatus_, which never was prohibited. They merely serve the momentary need of the poet. Forms like _min_ and _thin_, it is true, are regularly used by Middle English poets before vowels, and _my_ and _thy_ before consonants, and Chaucer applies--according to ten Brink--_from_, _oon_, _noon_, _an_, _-lych_, _-lyche_ before vowels, and _fro_, _a_, _o_, _no_, _-ly_ before consonants. But many examples of epic caesura show that ten Brink goes too far in maintaining that hiatus was strictly avoided, e.g.: _Whan théy were wónnë; | and ín the Gréete sée_ Prol. 59. This is still more clearly shown by verses in which the final _-e_ forms a necessary thesis before a vowel, e.g.: _Fro the senténcë | óf this trétis lýte._ Sir Thopas 2153. _Than hád yóur tálë | ál be tóld in váyn._ N. Pr. Prol. 3983. § =110.= Slurring or contraction is still more frequently the result of indistinct pronunciation or entire elision of a vowel in the interior of a word. This is especially the case with e (or another vowel) in the sequence: conson. + _e_ + _r_ + vowel or _h_, where _e_ is slurred over or syncopated: e.g. _And báthed év(e)ry véin_ Chauc. Prol. 3; _Thy sóv(e)rein témple wól I móst honóuren_ Kn. T. 1549; and _év(e)ry trée_ Sur. 9; _the bóist(e)rous wínds_ Sur. 21; _if ám(o)rous fáith_ Wyatt 15; _a dáng(e)rous cáse_ Sur. 4, &c. The full pronunciation is, of course, here also possible: _and dángeróus distréss_ Sur. 150. Slurring of a vowel is also caused by this combination of sounds formed by two successive words: _a bétre envýned mán_ Chauc. Prol. 342; _Forgétter of páin_ Wyatt 33. Other words of the same kind are _adder_, _after_, _anger_, _beggar_, _chamber_, _silver_, _water_, &c.[138] The same rule applies to the group _e_ + _l_ + vowel or _h_ (also _l_ + _e_ + vowel or _h_): _hire wýmpel ͡ipynched was_ Chauc. Prol. 151; _At mány a nóble ͡arríve_ ib. 60; _nóble ͡and hígh_ Wyatt 55; _the néedle his fínger prícks_ Shak. Lucrece 319. If a consonant takes the place of the vowel or _h_ at the end of such a group of sounds, we have a disyllabic thesis instead of slurring: _With hórrible féar as óne that gréatly dréadeth_ Wyatt 149; _The cómmon péople by númbers swárm to ús_ Shak. 3 Hen. VI, IV. ii. 2. Similar slurrings are to be found--although more seldom and mainly in Modern English poetry--with other groups of sounds, e.g.: _én'mies sword_ Sur. 137; _théat'ner_ ib. 162; _prís'ners_ ib. 12. The vowel _i_, also, is sometimes slurred; _Incónt(i)nent_ Wyatt, 110; _dést(i)ny_ ib. 8, &c. In all these cases we must of course recognize only slurring, not syncopation of the vowel; and in general these words are used with their full syllabic value in the rhythm of a verse.