O. E. =ǣ=. This, when representing West-Germanic _ā_, Gothic _ē_, appeared as _ē_ in the Old Anglian and Kentish dialects, and might naturally be expected to be sometimes close _e_ in the language of Chaucer and Gower. It is well known that Chaucer uses many of the words which have this vowel in a variable manner. The same is true to some extent also in words where the original _ǣ_ corresponds to Germanic _ai_, and in which we find Old Kentish _ē_. Of these _leden_, _clene_, _menen_, _leeren_ appear in Chaucer sometimes with _ẹ̄_ (and _evere_, _nevere_ always). For these and some other cases see ten Brink, _Chaucers Sprache_, § 25. When we compare Chaucer’s usage with that which we find in our author, we find what our former experience has prepared us to expect, viz. a greater strictness and regularity of usage in Gower. The examples of fluctuation between the two sounds are comparatively few. Taking first the words in which _ē_ is from _ǣ_ corresponding to West-Germanic _ā_, we find the following with _ę̄_: _bede_ (pret. pl.), from _bǣdon_, (_dede_ : _bede_, i. 2047 f.). _breth_ (: _deth_, i. 119, 2127, &c.). _fere_, ‘fear,’ (: _ere_, i. 462, ii. 46). _her_, ‘hair,’ (_heres_ : _teres_, i. 2999). _lete_, from _lǣtan_, (: _grete_, i. 3365, &c.). _lewed_ (: _thewed_, i. 274, _beschrewed_, iii. 479). _sete_, pret. pl., (_sete_ : _grete_, iv. 1309), but _siete_ (not in rhyme), v. 3339. _strete_ (: _grete_, i. 938, _bete_, i. 1156). _there_ (: _ere_, i. 499, 558, &c.), but also _there_ : _swere_ (neck), iv. 859, and _hiere_ (adv.) : _there_, _Praise of Peace_, 178. _were_, from _wǣron_, (: _ere_, Prol. 235, i. 2808, &c.), but also _ẹ̄_ in a few instances, as _hiere_ (verb) : _were_, i. 2741 f., _hiere_ (adv.): _were_, v. 747 f. _where_ (e.g. _elleswhere_ : _eere_, Prol. 9), but _here_ (adv.): _elleswhere_, v. 361 f. The substantive and verb _red_, _rede_ rhyme about equally with _ẹ̄_ and _ę̄_, the latter cases being almost all with _ded_, _dede_ (dead, sing. and pl.), as i. 1446, iv. 1940, 1960, &c. On the other hand, _rede_ : _hiede_, i. 447 f., _rede_ : _spede_, i. 1293 f., ii. 103 f., &c., _red_ : _sped_, iii. 1991 f. The following words of this class have as a rule _ẹ̄_: _cheke_ (_chieke_) (: _mieke_, v. 2471, _eke_, v. 3019). _dede_, ‘deed,’ (: _fede_, Prol. 465, _mede_, i. 1553, &c., _spede_, i. 2653, &c., _ȝede_, ii. 855, _forbiede_, iii. 1122), but _dede_ (dead) : _dede_, i. 1037 f. _drede_ (: _nede_, i. 1987, 2240[U], : _spede_, iv. 629, : _hiede_, iv. 1448, &c.), but _dede_ (dead) : _drede_, ii. 3405 f., _drede_ : _rede_ (from _rēad_), iv. 185 f. _leche_ (: _seche_, ii. 3220, _beseche_, iii. 413). _meete_, ‘dream,’ (: _meete_, from _mētan_, iii. 51). _mete_ (_unmete_), adj. (: _mete_, from _mētan_, ii. 458, iii. 1100).