§ =167.= The numerical proportion of what are called 'weak' and 'light' endings to the total number of verses in the different plays is similarly of importance. These are a separate subdivision of the masculine endings and are not to be confused with the feminine. They are formed by monosyllabic words, which are of subordinate importance in the syntactical structure of a sentence and therefore stand generally in thesis (sometimes even forming part of the feminine ending of a line), but which under the influence of the rhythm are used to carry the arsis. To the 'weak' endings belong the monosyllabic conjunctions and prepositions if used in this way: _and_, _as_, _at_, _but_ (_except_), _by_, _for_, _in_, _if_, _on_, _nor_, _than_, _that_, _to_, _with_; as e.g. in the three middle lines of the following passage taken from _Henry VIII_ (III. ii. 97-101): _What thóugh I knów her vértuous And wéll desérving? | Yét I knéw her fór A spléeny Lútheran, | ánd not whólsome tó Our cáuse, | that shé should lýe | i' th' bósom óf Our hárd-rul'd kíng._ The 'light' endings include a number of other monosyllabic words, viz. articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, that are used by Shakespeare in a similar way. These are, according to Ingram, _am_, _are_, _art_, _be_, _been_, _but_ (=_only_), _can_, _could_, _did_(2), _do_(2), _does_(2), _dost_(2), _ere_, _had_(2), _has_(2), _hast_(2), _have_(2), _he_, _how_(3), _I_, _into_, _is_, _like_, _may_, _might_, _shall_, _shalt_, _she_, _should_, _since_, _so_(4), _such_(4), _they_, _thou_, _though_, _through_, _till_, _upon_, _was_, _we_, _were_, _what_(3), _when_(3), _where_(3), _which_, _while_, _whilst_, _who_(3), _whom_(3), _why_(3), _will_, _would_, _yet_ (=_tamen_), _you_. According to Ingram, the words marked (2) are to be regarded as light endings 'only when used as auxiliaries'; those marked (3), 'when not directly interrogative'; those marked (4), 'when followed immediately by _as_.' _Such_ belongs to this class, 'when followed by a substantive with an indefinite article, as _Such a man_.' There are hardly any weak or light endings in the first and second periods of Shakespeare's work. In the third they occur now and then and become more frequent in the last period. So we have e.g. in _Antony and Cleopatra_ (1600) 3·53 per cent.; in _The Tempest_ (1610) 4·59 per cent.; in _Winter's Tale_ (1611) 5·48 per cent. In the application of this test we must chiefly keep in mind that these two groups of words are only to be considered as 'weak' and 'light' endings when they form the last arsis of the line, as is the case in the lines quoted from _Henry VIII_; but they are to be looked upon as part of a disyllabic or feminine ending if they form a supernumerary thesis following upon the last arsis: _Upón this groúnd; | and móre it woúld contént me._ Wint. II. i. 159.