come to be written _tiel_, as _Mir._ 6685; _clere_, _pere_, rhyming with _maniere_, _adversiere_, &c., might be written _cliere_, _piere_, as in _Mir._ 193 ff., merely for the sake of uniformity, and similarly _nef_ when in rhyme with _ch(i)ef_, _relief_, &c., sometimes might take the form _nief_; and finally these spellings might become established independently, at least as alternatives, so that it was indifferent whether _labourer_, _seculer_, _bier_, or _labourier_, _seculier_, _ber_, stood as a rhyme sequence, whether _clere_, _appere_ was written or _cliere_, _appiere_. It may be noted that _pere_, _mere_, _frere_, belonged to this class and were rhymed with _ẹ_. They are absolutely separated in rhyme from _terre_, _guerre_, _enquere_, _affere_, _contrere_, &c. The adjective ending _-el_ rhymes with _-iel_ and often appears as _-iel_: so in 3733 ff. we have the rhymes _mortiel_, _Michel_, _fraternel_, _viel_, in 6685 ff., _desnaturel_, _ciel_, _fiel_, _espiritiel_, and in 14547 ff. _celestiel_, _mortiel_, _ciel_, _temporiel_, &c. Questions have been raised about the quality of the _e_ in this termination generally[F], but the evidence here is decidedly in favour of _ẹ_, and the rhymes _bel_, _apell_, _flaiell_, are kept apart from this class. It must be observed however that _fel_ (adj.), spelt also _feel_, appears in both classes, 4773, 5052. The variation _-al_, which, as might be expected, is extremely common, is of course from Latin and gives no evidence as to the sound of _-el_, from which it is quite separate in rhyme. Before a nasal in verbs like _vient_, _tient_, _ie_ is regularly retained in writing, and these words and their compounds rhyme among one another and with _crient_, _ghient_, _nient_, _fient_, &c. Naturally they are separated from the _ę_ of _aprent_, _commencement_, _sagement_, &c. The forms _ben_, _men_, _ren_, which occur for example in the _Vie de S. Grégoire_ for _bien_, _mien_, _rien_, are not found in Gower. Finally it may be noticed that beside _fiere_, _appiere_, _compiere_, from _ferir_, _apparer_, &c., we have _fere_, _appere_, _compere_, which in rhyme are as absolutely separated from _fere_ (= _faire_), _terre_, _requere_ (inf.), as _fiert_, _piert_, _quiert_, &c., are from _apert_, _overt_, _pert_. More will have to be said on the subject of this _ie_ when we are confronted with Gower’s use of it in English. ii. French _ai_ in tonic syllables.