§ 56. The chief appreciable difference between the two poems is that F. was probably written considerably earlier than A. This appears from the more frequent use of the final _-e_, which the authoress occasionally uses as an archaic embellishment, though she frequently forgets all about it for many stanzas together. In the former poem (F.) there seem to be about 50 examples, whilst in the latter (A.) there are hardly 10[25]. In almost every case, it is correctly used, owing, no doubt, to tradition or to a perusal of older poetry. The most important cases are the abundant ones in which a final _e_ is omitted where Chaucer would inevitably have inserted it. For example, such a line as F. 195--From the same grove, where the ladyes come out--would become, in Chaucer--From the sam-ë grov-ë wher the ladyes come out--giving at least twelve syllables in the line. The examples of the omission of final _-e_, where such omission makes a difference to the scansion, are not very numerous, because many such come before a vowel (where they might be elided) or at the cæsura (where they might be tolerated). Still we may note such a case as _green_ in l. 109 where Chaucer would have written _gren-e_, giving _a fresh gren-ë laurer-tree_, to the ruin of the scansion. Similar offences against Chaucer's usage are _herd_ for _herd-e_, 128 (cf. 191); _spek'_ for _spek-e_, 140; _al_ for _all-e_, plural, 165; _sight_ for _sight-e_, 174; _lyf_ for _lyv-e_, 182; _sam'_ for _sam-e_, 195; _the tenth_ for _the tenth-e_, 203; _gret_ for _gret-e_, plural, 214, 225; _red_ for _red-e_, 242; _the worst_ for _the worst-e_, 255; _yed'_ for _yed-e_, 295, 301; _fast_ for _fast-e_, 304; _rejoice_ for _rejoy-se_, 313; _noise_ for _nois-e_, 353; _sonn'_ for _son-ne_, 355, 408; _hir fresh_ for _hir fres-she_, 357; _laft_ for _laft-e_, pt. t., 364; _their greet_ for _hir gret-e_, 377; _sick_ for _sek-e_, 410; _about_ for _about-e_, 411; _to soup_ for _to soup-e_, 417; _without_ for _without-e_, 423, 549; _the hool_ for _the hol-e_, 437; _to know_ for _to know-e_, 453; _past_ for _pass-ede_ or _past-e_, 465; _My fair_ for _My fair-e_, vocative, 467, 500; _to tel_ for _to tell-e_, 495; _nin(e)_ for _nyn-e_, 502; _imagin(e)_ for _imagin-en_, 525; _they last_ for _they last-e_, 562; _thy rud(e)_ for _thy rud-e_, 595. Those who believe that The Flower and the Leaf was written by Chaucer will have to explain away every one of these cases; and when they have done so, there is more to be said.