Again we have _ete_, _gete_ (inf. and partic.), _begete_, _forȝete_, _mete_ (meat), _sete_ (past partic.), kept apart from _grete_ (great), _bete_ (beaten), _strete_, _tete_, _lete_ (_lǣtan_), _swete_ (verb, = sweat), _threte_, _whete_, &c. It may be noted that _beȝete_ (subst.) belongs to the class _grete_, _bete_, &c. There is every reason to suppose that the same distinction would hold with other endings, in the case of which no sufficient rhyme-test is forthcoming, as _breke_, _speke_ (inf.), _wreke_ (inf. and past partic.), which have no other words with _ę̄_ with which they could be rhymed, _eke_, _seke_, _meke_, &c., all having _ẹ̄_. On the whole we may say that this distinction is very carefully kept in Gower’s rhymes, and must certainly indicate a difference of pronunciation. The adverb _wel_, also written _wiel_, has a double sound, as in Chaucer, either _ę̄_ or _ẹ̄_, rhyming with _del_ (_diel_), _stiel_, _whiel_, &c., and also with _naturel_, _Daniel_, and the substantive _wel_ for _wele_. _eg_ forms _ei_, which is often interchangeable with _ai_, as _seie_, _leie_, _weie_, _aȝein_. O. E. =i=. There is nothing in Gower’s rhymes to lend support to the theory that _i_ from O. E. _ĭ_ in open syllables (i.e. before a single consonant followed by a vowel), as in the past participles _write_, _drive_, _schrive_, and the infinitives _ȝive_, _wite_, is of doubtful quantity. The past participle and plural preterite _write_ have _ĭ_ and rhyme with _wite_ (know), while the infinitive _wryte_ rhymes with _wyte_ (blame), verb and substantive: the infinitives _live_, _ȝive_, _forȝive_ and the participles _drive_, _ȝive_, _schrive_, &c. rhyme among themselves and not with _schryve_ (inf.), _alyve_, _fyve_: the short vowel words _wile_ (verb), _skile_, _bile_ are separate from _wyle_ (subst.), _whyle_, _ile_, &c. This would not be worth mentioning but for ten Brink’s argument (_Chaucers Sprache_, §§ 35, 325), based on the very smallest positive evidence. _hire_ (_hir_) is used regularly for the personal and possessive pronoun of the third person sing. fem. (= her), and never _here_, as is Chaucer’s usage in rhyme. _cherche_ is Gower’s regular form from _cirice_, but _chirche_ is common in the orthography of the _Praise of Peace_, e.g. 197, 210, 225, &c., beside _cherche_, 232, 254.