For a like reason, the medial pause likewise gives him freedom, and enables an additional syllable to be inserted with comparative ease. We may believe that, in old times, when poetry was recited by minstrels to large assemblies, the enunciation of it was slow and deliberate, and the pauses were longer than when we now read it to a friend or to ourselves. The importance attached to suffixes denoting inflexions tends to prove this. The minstrel's first business was to be understood. Many speakers speak too fast, and make too short pauses, till experience teaches them better. Hence there is _no need_ to elide a vowel at the caesura; it must therefore be sounded clearly. In A 2, the final _-e_ in _March-e_ should be fully pronounced. The fact is made much clearer by observing such instances as the following, all from the Cant. Tales, Group B:-- Or-['e]lles c['e]rt[:e]s | ye b['e]en to d['a]un.ger[`o]us (2129). |¯| ¯| . |¯ |¯ |¯ Which-th['a]t my-f['a]der | in-h['i]s prosp['e]r.it['e]e (3385). |¯ |¯| . |¯ |¯ |¯ That-g['o]d of-h['e]ven | had d['o]m.in['a].ci['o]un (3409). |¯ |¯| . |¯ |¯ |¯ To-M['e]des [`a]nd to-P['e]rses y['e]ven | quod-h['e] (3425). |¯| ¯ |¯| ¯| . |¯ O['u]t-of his-d['o]r[:e]s | an['o]n he-h['a]th him-d['i]ght (3719). ¯| |¯| . |¯ |¯ |¯ In the same way, the inflexional final _-e_ should be fully sounded in Group B, l. 102:-- If-th['o]u noon-['a]sk[:e] | with-n['e]d' art['o]w so-w['o]unded. |¯ |¯| . |¯ |¯ |¯| So also in B 1178:-- N['a]y-by my-f['a]der s['o]ul[:e] | that-sh['a]l he-n['a]t. ¯| |¯| ¯| . |¯ |¯ Similar examples abound. Thus we should fully pronounce _length-e_, B 8; _declar-e_, B 1672; _loud-e_, B 1803; _thought-e_, B 1852; _fynd-e_, B 3112; _raft-e_, B 3288; _hadd-e_, B 3309; _biraft-e_, B 3404; _son-e_, B 3413; _son-e_, B 3593; _shet-te_, B 3615; _wend-e_, B 3637. Notice some examples where the caesura necessarily preserves a final _-e_ from elision, as in B 3989; where _tal-e_ occurs before _al_. So also _ensamp-le_ in B 3281. Similar instances are rather numerous. s. 109. The student who has followed the explanation of Chaucer's scansion up to this point is now in a position to understand the whole mystery of additional syllables in other positions. According to the usual method of cutting up lines into 'feet,' such additional syllables make the line seem awkward; whereas, if properly handled, they are very acceptable.