In lines of a shorter type we constantly find a similar variation. There are a large number of 'clipped' lines in the House of Fame. Practically, their first foot consists of a single syllable, and they may be scanned accordingly, by marking off that syllable at the beginning. Thus, ll. 2117-2120 run thus:-- 'And leet | hem gon. Ther might' I seen Weng | ed wondres faste fleen, Twent | ty thousand in a route, As E | olus hem blew aboute.' This variation is still admissible, and is, of course, common enough in such poems as Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso. It is considered a beauty. The introduction of two more syllables in lines of the above type gives us a similar variation in the longer line. If, for example, after the word _thousand_ in the third of the above lines, we introduce the word _freres_ (dissyllabic), we obtain the line:-- 'Twen | ty thousand freres in a route.' It is a remarkable fact, that this very line actually occurs in the Canterbury Tales (Group D, 1695); as I have pointed out in the note to l. 2119 of the House of Fame, at p. 286 below. Persistent efforts have often been made to deny this fact, to declare it 'impossible,' and to deride me for having pointed it out (as I did in 1866, in Morris's edition of Chaucer, i. 174); but I believe that the fact is now pretty generally admitted. It is none the less necessary to say here, that there is rather a large number of such lines in the Legend of Good Women; precisely as we might expect to find in a metre which was, in fact, a new experiment. As it is advisable to present the evidence rather fully, I here cite several of these lines, marking off the first syllable in the right way:-- 'That | of all' the flour-es in the med-e'; 41. 'Suf | fisaunt this flour to preys' aright'; 67. 'Of | this flour, when that it shuld unclos-e'; 111. 'Mad' | her lyk a daisie for to sen-e'; 224. 'Half | hir beautee shulde men nat fynd-e'; 245. 'With | the whyt-e coroun, clad in gren-e'; 303. 'Mai | dens been y-kept, for Ielosy-e'; 722. 'For | to met' in o plac' at o tyd-e'; 783. 'With | her fac' y-wimpled subtilly'; 797. 'Both | e with her hert' and with her y-ën'; 859. 'Bet | ing with his hel-es on the ground-e'; 863. 'We | that wer-en whylom children your-e'; 901. 'Been | as trew' and loving as a man'; 911. 'Had | den in this temple been ov'r-al'; 1024. 'We | that wer-en in prosperitee'; 1030. 'Lyk | ed him the bet, as, god do bot-e'; 1076. 'Lov' | wol lov', for no wight wol hit wond-e'; 1187. 'Send' | her lettres, tokens, broches, ring-es'; 1275. 'Mer | cy, lord! hav' pitè in your thoght'; 1324. 'Twen | ty tym' y-swowned hath she than-ne'; 1342. 'With | her meynee, end-e-long the strond-e'; 1498. 'Yift | es gret', and to her officeres'; 1551. 'Fad | er, moder, husbond, al y-fer-e'; 1828. 'Fight | en with this fend, and him defend-e'; 1996. 'Tell | en al his doing to and fro'; 2471. 'Y | permistra, yongest of hem all-e'; 2575.