The only thing to be said against this latter use is, that it demands a very skilful ear and hand to adjust the cadence." (_Life of Dryden_, in Men of Letters Series, pp. 172, 173.) B.--THE SEPTENARY The septenary, or seven-stress verse (sometimes called the _septenarius_, from the Latin form of the word) was a familiar measure of mediæval Latin poetry. There it was more commonly trochaic than iambic, as in the famous drinking song of the Goliards: "Meum est propositum in taberna mori: Vinum sit appositum morientis ori, Ut dicant cum venerint angelorum chori, 'Deus sit propitius huic potatori!'" (See the "Confessio Goliae," in _Latin Poems attributed to Walter Mapes_, ed. Wright, p. 71.) Another form of the measure is illustrated by some verses quoted by Schipper: "Fortunae rota volvitur, descendo minoratus, Alter in altum tollitur, nimis exaltatus." In English, naturally enough, the measure always tended to be iambic. In both Latin and English there was considerable freedom as to the number of light syllables. It will be noticed that in the specimens just quoted from the Latin there is rime not only between the ends of the verses but between the syllables just preceding the cesura. Where this was the case there was a tendency toward the breaking up of the verse into a quatrain of verses in four and three stresses, riming _abab_; such septenaries, indeed, were written at pleasure either in couplets or quatrains. We shall see the same phenomena in the English forms of the measure. But the seven-stress rhythm is not easily lost or mistaken, in whatever form it appears, and has a certain charm which at one time appealed very widely to metrical taste. The earliest appearance of the septenary in English is in the _Poema Morale_, dated about 1170 by Zupitza, by others somewhat later. For a specimen of this, see p. 127, above. Here there is only end-rime, and the individuality of the long line is well preserved. There is some freedom, however, as to the number of light syllables, and some variation between the iambic and trochaic rhythm. Blessed beo thu, lavedi, ful of hovene blisse, Swete flur of parais, moder of miltenisse; Thu praye Jhesu Crist thi sone that he me i-wisse, Thare a londe al swo ihc beo, that he me ne i-misse. (_Hymn to the Virgin_, in Mätzner's _Altenglische Sprachproben_, vol. i. p. 54.) Mätzner prints this poem in short lines of four and three stresses, the cesura making such a division natural enough. The next specimen is also frequently printed with the same division.