§ =50.= The evidence of the metre of this poem, showing its affinity to the alliterative line and its historical origin from it, is so cogent that it is unnecessary to discuss the theories of Prof. Trautmann and the late Dr. Wissmann, both of whom, although from different points of view, agree in ascribing a four-beat rhythm to this metre.[106] The frequent use again in this poem of the types of line occurring in Layamon's _Brut_, as pointed out by Prof. Luick (l. c.), puts the close connexion of the metre of _King Horn_ with that form of the alliterative line beyond doubt. We cannot, however, in conformity with the view we have taken of Layamon's verse, agree with Prof. Luick in assigning a secondary accent to the last syllable of the feminine ending of the ordinary three-beat verse, in which the greater part of _King Horn_ is written. Prof. Luick himself does not insist upon that particular point so strongly for this poem as he did for the earlier poems written in a similar metre. The following examples serve to show that the same extended types of line which were found to be the commonest in Layamon's _Brut_ (cp. p. 77) recur as the most usual types also in this poem: A + C: _Álle bèon he blíþe | þat tò my sóng lýþe!_ 1-2. A + A: _A sáng ihc schàl ȝou sínge | of Múrrȳ̀ þè kínge._ 2-3. A + A: _He fónd bì þe strónde, | aríued òn his lónde_, 35-6. B + C: _Àll þe dáy and àl þe nī́ȝt, | tìl hit spráng dái lìȝt._ 123-4. B + B: _Fàirer nis nón þàne he wás, | hè was bríȝt sò þe glás._ 13-14. C + C: _Bì þe sé síde, | ase hè was, wóned ( ⏑́ ×) ríde._ 33-4. C + A: _Of þìne méstére, | of wúde and òf rivére._ 229-30. D + A: _Schípes fíftène | with sárazìn[e]s kéne._ 37-8. C + A: _Þe chìld him ánswérde, | sóne so hè hit hérde._ 199-200. B + E: _Hè was whít sò þe flúr, | róse-rèd was hìs colúr._ 15-16. In most cases we see that identical or similar types of verse are connected here so as to form a couplet (printed by us as one long line). Even where this is not so, however, the two chief accents in each short line serve to make all the different forms and types of verse occurring in this poem sound homogeneous. This admits of a ready explanation, as the poem, in which no stanzaic arrangement can be detected, although styled a 'song' (line 2), was certainly never meant to be sung to a regular tune. On the contrary, it was undoubtedly recited like the 'Song' of Beowulf--probably not without a proper musical accompaniment--by the minstrels. At all events the treatment of the words with regard to their rhythmic use in this poem does not deviate from that of Layamon.