In the same way, when rapid final syllables such as _-el_, _-er_, _-ere_, &c., are slurred over, it will _generally_ be found _that a vowel or_ h _follows them_. Examples: lit_el_, 6, won_eth_, 105, bed_els_, 266, bod_i_, 345, deu_el_, 446, hung_er_, 449. Compare ou_er_al, 38, 54. There are many other peculiarities which it would take long to enumerate, such as, that _sworn_ is pronounced _sworen_, 204; that the final _-e_ is sometimes preserved before a vowel, as in _dedë am_, 167; that the word _ne_ is very frequently not counted, as it were, in the scansion, as in 57, 113, 220, 419, the second _ne_ in l. 547, and in several other places. But it must suffice to state merely, that when the above rules (with allowance of a few exceptions) are carefully observed, it will be found that the metre of Havelok is _very regular_, and _valuable on account of its regularity_. It would therefore be easy to correct the text in many places by help of an exact analysis of the rhythm. But this, except in a very few places, has not been attempted, because the imperfect, but unique, MS. copy is more instructive as it stands. In l. 19, e.g. _wit_ should be _wite_; in l. 47, _red_ should be _rede_; in l. 74, _his soule_ should be _of his soule_, &c. The importance of attending to the final _-e_ may be exemplified by the lines-- Allë greten swiþë sore, 236; But sonë dedë hirë fetë, 317; þinë cherlës, þinë hinë, 620; Grimës sonës allë þre, 1399; Hisë sistres herë lif, 2395. Mr Ellis writes-- “These final examples suggested to me to compose the following German epitaph, which contains just as many final _e_’s, and which I think no German would find to have anything peculiar in the versification: GRABSCHRIFT. Diese alte reiche Frau Hasste jede eitle Schau, Preiste Gottes gute Gabe, Mehrte stets die eig’ne Habe, Liegt hier unbeweint im Grabe. I think Havelok may be well compared with Goethe’s ballad, Es war ein Kön_ig in Thu_le, Gar treu bis an das Grab, Dem, sterbend, seine Buhle _Einen gold_enen Becher gab. Es ging ihm nichts darüber, Er leert’ ihn jeden Schmaus, Die Augen gin_gen ihm ü_ber So oft er trank daraus. Und als er kam zu sterben, Zählt’ er _seine Städt’_ im Reich, Gönnt’ alles seinem Erben, Den Becher nicht zugleich:-- and the end:-- Die Augen thä_ten ihm sin_ken, Trank nie _einen Trop_fen mehr. The _italicised_ trisyllabic measures are fine. Observe also the elisions of final _-e_ before a following vowel (_Städt’_ being very unusual), and the omission of the dative _-e_ in _im Reich_, to rhyme with _zugleich_.”