Yet again (i. 390) he accuses Gower of a false rime in his Confessio Amantis, iii. 320, because he rimes _enemy_ with _envy-e_. This is a serious charge; but an examination of the passage explains the riddle. The answer is that, in this particular passage, the right reading is _enemy-e_, because the word is feminine, as it refers to a woman. The distinction between O.F. _enemi_ (Lat. _inimicum_) and _enemi[:e]_ (Lat. _inimica_) is clear enough in O.F. poetry, as Gower knew very well; and there is no reason why he should not have used his knowledge. The noticeable point is, that every charge of this character, when it comes to be explained, tells precisely the other way. The attempt to prove Chaucer wrong, where he happens to be precisely right, does him more good than harm. s. 52. METRES AND FORMS OF VERSE. In the List of Chaucer's Works in vol. i. p. lxii, the various forms of his metre are noticed. It is certain that he adapted most of them from French, especially from Guillaume de Machault, though he no doubt improved the general structure of his lines by the study of Italian models. He nowhere employs Boccaccio's _ottava rima_, and only once attempted a short piece in Dante's _terza rima_, in the Compleint to his Lady. However, this attempt is of unique interest, as Dante's verse was never again imitated till about 1540, when Sir Thomas Wiat wrote his Three Satires. s. 53. OLD VERSE-FORMS. Chaucer was but little indebted to the forms of English verse used by his predecessors. He doubtless adopted the line of four accents for his translation of The Romaunt of the Rose, because such was the metre of the original. Still, this metre was in use long before his time. It was employed by Wace and Gaimar, and we have an excellent specimen of it in English in the Lay of Havelok, written before A.D. 1300; as well as a long example in the Cursor Mundi. It is also the metre employed by Barbour in his 'Bruce,' and by Gower in his 'Confessio Amantis.' Chaucer employed it in his translation of the Romaunt; in his Ceys and Alcioun, portions of which survive in the Book of the Duchesse; in the Book of the Duchesse itself; and in the House of Fame. Very likely he employed it also in the lost Book of the Lion, as Machault's Dit du Lion is in this metre. The ballad-metre which appears, in varying forms, in Sir Thopas, was also older than Chaucer's time; it is obvious that this poem is a burlesque. The four-line stanza employed in the 'Proverbs' was also already known: see, for example, 'The Five Joys of the Virgin,' in An Old Eng. Miscellany, ed. Morris, p. 87.