7. The A.S. _[=e]o_ and _[=e]_ (if arising from mutation of _[=o]_) produced M.E. close _[=e]_. 8. In words such as A.S. _ges[=y]ne_, Mercian _ges[=e]ne_, visible, the M.E. _y-s[=e]ne_ had an _[=e]_ which rimed with open _[=e]_ in Kentish, and a close _[=e]_ in Midland, giving Chaucer a choice of forms. s. 35. It will be now easily understood, that Chaucer's general rule, of avoiding the riming of close _[=e]_ with open _[=e]_, admits of a considerable number of exceptions, in which the _[=e]_ is really of a doubtful or unstable character. It is clear that, in considering Chaucer's forms, we must set aside, as UNSTABLE, all words in which long _e_ corresponds either to a Germanic _[=ae]_ (Gothic _[=e]_, German _[=a]_), or otherwise to A.S. unstable _[=y]_ (Mercian _[=e]_). I proceed to enumerate the chief of these, as occurring, first of all, in TROILUS. Words ending in -ECHE. The verb _[=e]che_, to eke, answers to A.S. _[=y]can_. _Leche_, a leech, is allied to Goth. _l[=e]keis_, a physician. _Speche_, speech, is from the stem seen in _spr[=ae]c-on_, they spoke, with the same vowel, originally, as in Goth. _br[=e]kun_, they broke. All these words have unstable e. -EDE. _Dede_, deed; A.S. _d[=ae]d_, Goth. _gad[=e]ds_. _Drede_, to dread, A.S. _on-dr[=ae]dan_, O.H.G. _tr[=a]tan_. From V. 1654-7, it is difficult to draw any clear inference; _brede_ should have open _[=e]_ (cf. A.S. _br[=a]d_, Goth. _braids_); _hede_, heed, goes with A.S. _h[=y]dan_, and its vowel is unstable; and _Diomede_, though the _e_ should be close, is at proper name, and needs no exact treatment. -EKE. Besides the correct form _[`e][`e]k_ (A.S. _[=e]ac_), Chaucer has a form _eke_, with unoriginal final _e_; he probably connected it with the verb _eche_, to eke, in which the _e_ is unstable, as it arose from mutation. _Cheke_ answers to A.S. _c[=e]ace_, Anglian _c[=e]ce_, mod. E. _cheek_; but here the _[=e]a_ is not the usual A.S. _[=e]a_, being merely due to the initial _c_, and the West-Germanic type is _*k[=a]k[=a]_ (New E. Dict.), answering to Germanic _*k[=ae]k[=a]_; whence the A.S. original form _*c[=ae]ce_; so that the _e_ is unstable, by the rule above given. -ELE; -ENE. Rimes in _-[=e]le_ and _-[=e]ne_ are all regular. So also in -EME, -EMETH. The rimes in _[=e]men_ are imperfect. -EPE. _Slepe_ has unstable _e_; cf. Goth. _sl[=e]pan_. -ERE. Unstable _e_ occurs in _fere_, fire, as explained above; also in _here_, to hear, A.S. _h[=y]ran_, _h[=e]ran_; and again, in _dere_, dear, A.S. _d[=y]re_ (as well as _d[=e]ore_). Also in _yere_, year, because the _[=e]a_ in A.S. _g[=e]ar_ is not the usual diphthong _[=e]a_, but due to the preceding _g_; the Goth. form is _j[=e]r_, so that the M.E. is unstable, by the rule. _Bere_, a bier, is from the verbal stem _b[=ae]r-on_, corresponding to Goth, _b[=e]run_; hence the _e_ is unstable.