In some instances the short form of imperative seems to be used as 3rd pers., e.g. ‘hold clos the ston,’ v. 3573, for ‘let him hold,’ ‘tak in his minde,’ viii. 1128, for ‘let him take,’ cp. viii. 1420. The singular and plural forms are often used without distinction, as v. 2333 ff., ‘_Ches_ ... and _witeth_ ... _ches_ and _tak_ ... _goth_ ... _taketh_,’ v. 3986, ‘So _help_ me nou, I you beseche,’ with ‘_Helpeth_,’ just above, several persons being addressed, and so ‘_taketh_ hiede And _kep_ conseil,’ viii. 1509 f., to one person. In the interchange of speech between the Confessor and the Lover, while sometimes the distinction is preserved, the Confessor saying _tak_, _tell_, _understond_, and the Lover _telleth_, _axeth_ (e.g. i. 1395, 1875), at other times the Lover says _lest_, _say_, _tell_, _lef_, &c. (i. 1942, 1972, ii. 2074, iii. 841, &c.)[AA]. =Present Participle.= The form of the present participle is the most characteristic part of Gower’s verb inflexion as compared (for example) with Chaucer’s. Chaucer seems regularly to have used the form in _-inge_ (often with apocope _-ing_): Gower uses ordinarily the form _-ende_, and normally with the accent thrown on the termination, as i. 204, ‘To me _spekende_ thus began,’ 236, ‘Whos Prest I am _touchende_ of love,’ 428, ‘_Stondende_ as Stones hiere and there,’ 633, ‘So that _semende_ of liht thei werke,’ 1379 f., ‘That for I se no sped _comende_,... _compleignende_,’ 1682, ‘_Hangende_ doun unto the chin.’ Sometimes the same form is used with accent on the preceding syllable, and in this case the _-e_ is systematically elided, e.g. Prol. 11, ‘In tyme _comende_ after this,’ 259, ‘_Belongende_ unto the presthode,’ i. 296, ‘As _touchende_ of my wittes fyve’ (cp. 334, 742), 3025, ‘And _wailende_ in his bestly stevene.’ In a relatively small number of instances the form _-inge_ occurs either in rhyme, as i. 524, ‘So whan thei comen forth seilinge,’ in rhyme with ‘singe,’ i. 1710, ‘And liveth, as who seith, _deyinge_,’ in rhyme with ‘likynge’ (subst.), or with the accent thrown back, as i. 115, ‘_Wisshinge_ and _wepinge_ al myn one,’ v. 518, ‘_Abidinge_ in hir compaignie,’ vi. 717, ‘I mai go _fastinge_ everemo’; rarely out of rhyme and with accent, as i. 2721, ‘Mi fader, as _touchinge_ of al.’ The final _e_ is never lost in writing, but when the accent is thrown back it is always elided. =Past Participle.= The _-id_ termination of weak past participles is very rarely found in the Fairfax MS., except in the concluding passage, which is copied in a different hand from the rest. It occurs commonly in the _Praise of Peace_. Examples found elsewhere in F are _weddid_, iv. 650, _medlid_, iv. 1475.