Examples of the more numerous group formed by assonances are _tō: idōn_ 13801-2, _lond: gold_ 13959-60, _strong: lond_ 13969-70, and disyllabic assonances like _cníhten: kínges_ 13793-4, _wólden: londe_ 13821-2, &c. These are strictly parallel with instances like _wæf: læs_ El. 1238, _onlā́g: hād_ ib. 1246, or like _wrā́ðum: ā́rum_ Crist 595, _lýre: cýme_ Phoen. 53, _rǣ́dde: tǣ́hte_ By. 18, _flā́nes: genāme_ ib. 71, _hlḗorum: tḗarum_ Be Dōmes dæge 28, &c., and must, in our opinion, be metrically interpreted in exactly the same way. That is to say, the root-syllable must, not only in real assonances like _cníhten: kínges_, _lónde:strónge_, but also in consonances like _Péohtes: cníhtes_, _mónnen:ínnen_, be looked upon as the chief part of the rhyme, and the flexional endings, whether rhyming correctly or incorrectly, must be regarded as forming only an unessential, unaccented, indistinctly heard part of the rhyme, just as they admittedly do in the similar Old English assonances quoted above. Now, as it is inconsistent with the two-beat rhythm of the hemistich in Old English verse, to attribute a secondary accent to those endings, although they were in some cases more distinctly pronounced than the Middle English endings, it is impossible to suppose that the Middle English endings bore a secondary accent. A further objection is that although the syllables which, according to Luick's theory, are supposed to bear a secondary accent are of course usually preceded by a long root-syllable, it not unfrequently happens that a disyllabic word with long root-syllable rhymes with one having a short root-syllable, in which case the ending is not suited to bear a secondary accent at all, e.g. _flúȝen: únnifṓge_ 14043-4, _to-fóren: grḗten_ 14071-2, _sǣ́res: wólde_ 14215-16, _fáreð: iuḗren_ 14335-6, _icúmen: Þréoien_ 14337-8, _lágen_ (=_laws_)_: lónde_ 14339-40, _húnden: lúuien_ 14480-1, _scóme: sṓne_ 14604-5, _cúmen: hálden_ 14612-13, _scípe: brṓhte_ 14862-3, _fáder: unrǣ́des_ 14832-3, _fáder: rǣ́des_ 14910-11, _fṓten: biscópen_ 14821-2, _iwī́ten: scipen_ 14251-2, _wī́ten: wenden_ 15060-1, _gúme: bisī́den_ 15224-5, _fréondscìpe: séoluen_ 15226-7, _wúde: wéien-lǣ́len_ 15508-9, _ibóren: béarne_ 15670-1, _biȝáte: wéorlde-rī́che_ 15732-3, _scáðe: fólke_ 15784-5, _biswíken_ (pret. pl.): _cráften_ 29016-17, _aȝíuen: ȝélden_ 29052-3, _biuóren: fū̀sen_ 29114-15, _súne: pḗode_ 29175-6, _idríuen: kínerī́chen_ 29177-18, _grúpen_ (pret. pl.): _mū̀ȝen_ 29279-80, _stúden_ (=_places_)_: bérnen_ 29285-6, &c.