_ou_ and _u_ sounds, observe _couþe, mouþe_, 112; _yow, now_, 160; _wolde, fulde_, 354; _yw, nou_, 453; _bounden, wnden_, 545; _sowel, couel_, 767; _low, ynow_, 903; _sowen, lowe_, 957; _strout, but_, 1039; _þou, nou_, 1283; _doun, tun_, 1630; _crus, hous_, 1966; _wounde, grunde_, 1978; _bowr, tour_, 2072; _spuse, huse_, 2912. _Lowe_, 1291, 2431, 2471, should rather be _lawe_, as in l. 2767. These hints will probably suffice for the guidance of those who wish to follow up the subject. It is evident that full dependence cannot be placed upon the _exactness_ of the rimes. [Footnote 37: “This _four accents_ I consider to be a wrong way of stating the fact. . . The metre consists of four measures, each generally, not always, of _two_ syllables, the first often _one_ syllable, the others often of _three_ syllables, and each measure has generally more stress on the last than on any other, but the accents or principal stresses in the verse are usually 2, sometimes 3, perhaps never 4.” --A. J. Ellis. I need hardly add that such a statement is more exact, and that I here merely use the word _accent_ in the loose sense it often bears, viz. as denoting the “stress,” more or less heavy, and sometimes imperceptible, which is popularly supposed to belong to the last syllable in a measure. I must request the reader to remember that this present sketch of the metre is very slight and imperfect, and worded in the usual not very correct popular language. For more strict and careful statements the reader is referred to Mr A. J. Ellis’s work on Early English Pronunciation. Until readers have made themselves acquainted with that work, they will readily understand what I _here_ mean by “accents;” afterwards, they can easily adopt a stricter idea of its meaning.] [Footnote 38: “You cannot scan this line in any way. This method of doing it is quite impossible; it is a mere chopping to make a verse like this. The line is corrupt. Omit _þat_, and you have Of | a tal’ | ich you | wile telle or better, Of | a tal’ | ich wil|e telle.” --Ellis.] [Footnote 39: The number is that of the _first_ line of the pair.] [Footnote 40: “You have omitted the curious _harde, krakede_, 567, here; it is only an assonance, not a mistake, I believe.” --Ellis. But see note to l. 567.] [Footnote 41: “On _i, e_ rhymes, see p. 271, last line and following, of my Chap. IV. The _o, a_ depend on a provincialism, and this applies to _sawe_, _wowe_; _beþe_, _rede_; _knaue_, _plawe_; _sawe_, _hawe_; &c. _Bouth, oft_ is a case of assonance, _bouth_ being _bought_, where properly the _ugh_ is the voiced sound of Scotch _quh_, and easily passes into _f_. The assonance is therefore nearly a rhyme. _Plattinde, gangande_ is probably a scribal error. _Eir, toþer_ is certainly a mistake; read