§ =33. Quality of the Alliteration.= It is an all but invariable rule that the correspondence of sounds must be exact and not merely approximate. A _g_ must alliterate to a _g_, not to a _c_, a _d_ to a _d_, not to a _t_, and so on. There is, however, one remarkable exception, namely, that no distinction is made between the guttural _c_ (as in _cūðe_) and the palatal _c_ (as in _cēosan_), nor between the guttural _g_ (as in _god_) and the palatal _g_ (as in _gierede_), not even when the latter represents Germanic _j_ (as in _geong_, _gēar_). With exceptions hereafter to be noted, a consonant followed by a vowel may alliterate with itself followed by another consonant: thus _cūðe_ alliterates not only with words like _cyning_, but with words like _cræft_, _cwellan_; and _hūs_ alliterates not only with _heofon_ but with _hlēapan_, _hnǣgan_, &c. The fact that different vowels, as _ī_, _ū_, and _æ_ in _īsig ond ūtfūs æðelinges fær_ Beow. 33, alliterate together is only an apparent exception to the strictness of the rule, as it is really the glottal catch or _spiritus lenis_[80] before all vowels which alliterates here. Wherever a vowel seems to alliterate with an _h_ we are justified in assuming a corruption of the text, as in _óretmecgas æfter hǽleðum frægn_ Beow. 332, where Grein improves both sense and metre by substituting _æðelum_ for _hæleðum_; other examples are Beow. 499, 1542, 2095, 2930. In some cases where foreign names beginning with _h_ occur we occasionally find instances of this inexact alliteration, as _Hólofernus únlyfigendes_ Jud. 180 and 7, 21, 46, contrasted with _Hólofernus hógedon āninga_ 250; in later works as in Ælfric's _Metrical Homilies_ we find alliteration of _h_ with a vowel not only in foreign names but with native words, as _and he =ǣ́=fre his fýrde þam =hǣ́=lende betǣ́hte._ Ælfr. Judges[81] 417. and _h_ before consonants (viz. _r, l, w_) is disregarded as _and hē hig āhrédde of þām =r=ḗðan þḗowte._ Ælfr. Judges 16. _on h=w=ám his stréngð wæs and his =w=úndorlī̀ce míht_. ibid. 306. It is important to observe that the combinations _st_, _sc_, _sp_ are not allowed to alliterate with each other or with words beginning with _s_ not followed by a consonant, but _st_ can alliterate only with _st_, _sc_ only with _sc_, _sp_ only with _sp_; thus _spere_ and _scyld_, _stillan_ and _springan_, _sǣ_ and _styrman_ do not count as alliterations. The invariable practice is seen in the following lines:-- _hēt =st=rḗamfare =st=íllan, =st=órmas réstan._ An. 1578. _he =sc=ḗaf þā mid þam =sc=ýlde, þæt se =sc=éatt tōbǽrst and þæt =sp=ére =sp=réngde, þæt hit =sp=ráng ongḗan._ Byrhtnoth 136-7.