At the same time it must be noted (as in the case of the infinitive) that with some of these forms there is an occasional tendency to drop the _-e_ before a vowel at the beginning of the next word (that is, where elision would take place), and the agreement of the best MSS., especially F and S, makes it certain this was sometimes done by the author. It is impossible to trace any system, but the number of verbs affected is not large, and in nearly every case the instances of this kind of elision-apocope are largely outnumbered by the examples of normal inflexion in the same verb[Y]. The following is a tolerably full list of references for these preterite forms, which are given in alphabetical order: ‘_Beraft_ hire,’ v. 5647, ‘it _betidd_ upon the cas,’ vii. 4381, ‘Sche _cast_ on me,’ i. 152, ‘_cast_ up hire lok,’ v. 5436, ‘he _cast_ his lok,’ vi. 1035, ‘_dorst_ he,’ ii. 1633, ‘_drad_ him,’ viii. 1368, ‘And _felt_ it’ (subj.), viii. 2165, ‘so _ferd_ I,’ viii. 2445, ‘_had_ herd hem,’ v. 5865, ‘Hir bodi _hent_ up,’ v. 5702, ‘_herd_ he noght sein,’ iii. 2082, ‘And _kept_ hire,’ ii. 181, ‘Sche _kept_ al doun,’ v. 1495, ‘he _kest_ him,’ vi. 1746, ‘And _kist_ him,’ v. 3777, 5592, ‘and _knet_ it,’ v. 6866, ‘he _kut_ it,’ vii. 4525, ‘what him _list_ he tok,’ iii. 2446, ‘Sche _lost_ al,’ ii. 2290, cp. v. 3465, ‘That _mad_ hem,’ ii. 310, and so also v. 986, 3393, 3822, ‘ne _myht_ I,’ i. 1280, ‘_miht_ eschuie,’ iii. 1356, and so also iii. 1440, vii. 4285, ‘_Put_ under,’ Prol. 683, ‘Wan and _put_ under,’ Prol. 718, ‘He _put_ hem into,’ i. 1013, ‘Sche _put_ hire hand,’ i. 1807, and so also ii. 3267, v. 3045, 4088, 5326, 6409, vi. 2062, vii. 4402, viii. 2702, ‘thei _putt_ hem,’ v. 7417, ‘Of ous, that _schold_ ous,’ Prol. 543 (so SF), ‘_schold_ every wys man,’ ii. 578, ‘And _seid_ hir,’ i. 3188, ‘_Seid_ ek,’ v. 4309, ‘And _set_ hire,’ ii. 2220, ‘He _set_ him,’ v. 3691, ‘he _set_ an essamplaire,’ vii. 4262, ‘And _tawht_ hem so’ (‘tawhte’ S), iii. 176, ‘_told_ him,’ i. 3187, ii. 803, 2865 (‘tolde’ S), vii. 4688, _told_ hem,’ v. 3883, viii. 1555, ‘he _told_ out,’ ii. 884, ‘every man _went_ on his syde,’ v. 7403, ‘And _went_ hem out’ (pl.), v. 7533, ‘sche _wist_ it,’ ii. 2010, ‘thanne _wold_ I,’ i. 183, ‘and _wold_ have,’ v. 4217, ‘I _wold_ stele,’ v. 7137, ‘_wold_ I,’ viii. 2298, to which we may add ‘_myht_ obeie,’ and ‘_behight_ him’ from the _Praise of Peace_, 39, 41.