In English the borrowed ottava rima has had strange vicissitudes. Transferred to our literature, along with other Italian metrical forms, by Wyatt and Surrey, it was managed by them crudely, but still with some success. At least nineteen short poems by Wyatt are in this stanza. A typical illustration of its state at this period may be examined in Surrey’s _To His Mistresse_. In Elizabethan days the octave had a sporadic popularity. Although Spenser made choice of his own invented stanza for his _Faerie Queen_, he tried ottava rima in _Virgil’s Gnat_. Daniel in _The Civille Warres_ and Drayton in _The Barrons’ Warres_ associated it with tedium and dulness. It was, of course, natural that Fairfax, in his fine version of Tasso, should adopt the stanza of his original; and Harington translated Ariosto in the same measure, giving it, probably for the first time in English, a little of the burlesque tone which was typical of the Italians. Milton, in the epilogue to _Lycidas_, used the octave with reserved stateliness; while Gay, in _Mr. Pope’s Welcome from Greece_, made it a vehicle for quiet merriment. During the eighteenth century the predominance of the heroic couplet hindered the spread of exotic verse forms--and the octave was still exotic. In 1812, William Tennant (1786–1846), an obscure Scotch schoolmaster, revived it in his burlesque epic, _Anster Fair_, modifying the structure by changing the last line to an alexandrine. Then came Merivale, Byron, Rose, Procter, and Keats, who settled the measure as a standard form in modern English literature. [188] For a detailed comparison of the versification of _Beppo_ with that of _The Monks, and the Giants_, see Eichler’s _Frere_, 170–184. [189] _The Monks, and the Giants_, Introduction, 1. [190] _The Monks, and the Giants_ I., 9. [191] Dr. Eichler has neglected to notice the important fact that at the time of the composition of _Beppo_, Byron could have been familiar with only the first two cantos of _The Monks, and the Giants_. A brief comparison of dates will establish this point. Cantos I. and II. of Frere’s poem were published in 1817; _Beppo_, written in the autumn of 1817 (_Letters_, iv., 172), was sent to Murray on January 19, 1818 (_Letters_, iv., 193), and given out for sale on February 28 of the same year. Not until later in 1818 were the last two cantos of Frere’s work printed, and the full edition of four cantos came out some months later. On July 17, 1818, Byron wrote Murray, “I shall be glad of Whistlecraft,” referring doubtless to the newly issued complete edition of _The Monks, and the Giants_. [192] Only 36 of the 99 stanzas in _Beppo_ are devoted entirely to the plot. The greater portion of the poem is occupied with digressions upon many subjects, containing some personal satire, some comment on political and literary topics, and much discursive chat upon social life and morals. The plot serves only as a frame for the satire. [193] See _Memoir of Frere_, i., 166.