Þiss boc iss nemmnedd Orrmulum, forr þi þatt Orrm itt wrohhte, annd itt iss wrohht off quaþþrigan, off goddspellbokess fowwre, off quaþþrigan Amminadab, off Cristess goddspellbokess; forr Crist maȝȝ þurh Amminadab rihht full wel ben bitacnedd; forr Crist toc dæþ o rodetre all wiþþ hiss fulle wille; annd forrþi þatt Amminadab o latin spæche iss nemmnedd o latin boc spontaneus annd onn ennglisshe spæche þatt weppmann, þatt summ dede doþ wiþþ all hiss fulle wille, forþi maȝȝ Crist full wel ben þurrh Amminadab bitacnedd. (_The Ormulum_, ll. 1-9. ab. 1200.) In this specimen we have the septenary without rime, a rare form. Orm's septenaries are also the most regular of the Middle English period, preserving an almost painful accuracy throughout the 20,000 extant lines of the poem. In general the measure appears in this period in combination with alexandrines and other measures, and with much irregularity. Like the alexandrine, it was sometimes confused with the long four-stress line. In the well-known poem called "A Little Soth Sermun" the first line is an unquestionable septenary ("Herkneth alle gode men and stylle sitteth a-dun"), but presently we find verse of six stresses, and even short four-stress couplets. Torne we aȝen in tour sawes, and speke we atte frome of erld Olyver and his felawes, þat Sarazyns habbeþ ynome. þe Sarazyns prykaþ faste away, as harde as þay may hye, and ledeþ wiþ hymen þat riche pray, þe flour of chyvalrye. (_Sir Fyrumbras_, ll. 1104-1107. In Zupitza'S _Alt- und Mittelenglisches Übungsbuch_, p. 107. ab. 1380.) In this specimen--from a popular romance--we have the use of cesural rime as well as end-rime, just as in the Latin specimens cited above. I tell of things done long ago, Of many things in few: And chiefly of this clime of ours The accidents pursue. Thou high director of the same, Assist mine artless pen, To write the gests of Britons stout, And acts of English men. (WILLIAM WARNER: _Albion's England_, ll. 1-8. 1586.) Here we have the measure in its "resolved" or divided form, printed as short four-stress and three-stress lines, although with rime only at the seventh stress. Compare the "common metre" of modern hymns: "Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?"