§ =146.= In other passages in this drama, e.g. in the speech of _Wit_, p. 359, this combination (Alexandrine with Septenary following) occurs in a sequence of some length. It existed, however, before Redford's time, as a favourite form of stave, in lyrical as well as in narrative poetry, and was well known to the first Tudor English prosodists under the name of _The Poulter's Measure_.[148] The opening lines of Surrey's _Complaint of a dying Lover_ (p. 24) present an example of its cadence: _In wínter's just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign, And évery trée unclóthed fást, | as Náture táught them pláin: In místy mórning dárk, | as shéep are thén in hóld, I híed me fást, it sát me ón, | my shéep for tó unfóld._ Brooke's narrative poem _Romeus and Juliet_, utilized by Shakespeare for his drama of the same name, is in this metre. Probably the strict iambic cadence and the fixed position of the caesura caused this metre to appear especially adapted for cultured poetry, at a time when rising and falling rhythms were first sharply distinguished. It was, however, not long popular, though isolated examples are found in modern poets, as, for instance, Cowper and Watts. Thackeray uses it for comic poems, for which it appears especially suitable, sometimes using the two kinds of verse promiscuously, as Dean Swift had done before him, and sometimes employing the Alexandrine and Septenary in regular alternation. § =147. The Alexandrine= runs more smoothly than the Septenary. The Middle English Alexandrine is a six-foot iambic line with a caesura after the third foot. This caesura, like the end of the line, may be either masculine or feminine. This metre was probably employed for the first time in Robert Mannyng's translation of Peter Langtoft's rhythmical Chronicle, partly composed in French Alexandrines. The four metrical types of the model mentioned above (p. 198) naturally also make their appearance here. _a. Méssengérs he sent | þórghout Ínglónd_ _b. Untó the Ínglis kýnges | þat hád it ín þer hónd._ p. 2, ll. 3-4. _c. Áfter Éthelbért | com Élfríth his bróther,_ _d. Þát was Égbrihtes sónne, | and ȝít þer wás an óþer;_ p. 21, ll. 7-8. The Germanic licences incidental to even-beat rhythm are strikingly perceptible throughout. In the first line we have to note in both hemistichs suppression of the anacrusis, in the second either the omission of an unaccented syllable or lengthening of a word (_Ing(e)lond_). The second line has a regular structure: in the third the suppression of the anacrusis is to be noted and the absence of an unaccented syllable in the second hemistich. The last line has the regular number of syllables, but double inversion of accent in the first hemistich. A disyllabic thesis at the beginning or in the middle of the line also frequently occurs.