I have only to add that my special thanks are due to Sir F. Madden for his permission to make use of his valuable notes, glossary, and preface, and for his assistance; as also to Mr Ellis for his notes, which, however, reached me only at the last moment, when much alteration of the proofs was troublesome. There are many things probably which Mr Ellis does not much approve of in this short popular sketch of the metre, in which attention is drawn only to some of the _principal_ points. In particular, he disapproves of the term _slurring over_, though I believe that I mean precisely the same thing aa he does, viz. that these light syllables are really _fully pronounced_, and not in any way forcibly suppressed; but that, owing to their being light syllables, and occurring before vowel sounds, the full pronunciation of them does not cause the verse to halt, but merely imparts to it an agreeable vivacity. As I have already said elsewhere[46]-- “A poet’s business is, in fact, to take care that the syllables which _are_ to be rapidly pronounced are such as easily _can_ be so; and that the syllables which are to be heavily accented are naturally those that _ought_ to be. If he gives attention to this, it does not much matter whether each foot has _two_ or _three_ syllables in it.” [Footnote 45: _Riche_ being both A.S. and French, has the _e_ even when indefinite; a riche king, 841; a riche man, 373.] [Footnote 46: Preface to Mr Morris’s Genesis and Exodus, p. xxxviii.] EMENDATIONS, ETC. [Transcriber’s Note: This section is shown as printed. The editor’s corrections were variously handled. Minor changes to the primary text are shown in brackets; the more complicated or tentative emendations are given as supplementary footnotes in the form [5*]. Additions to the Glossary are shown as separate, bracketed paragraphs. The following paragraph is part of the original text.] Some emendations have been made in the text by inserting letters and words within square brackets. A few more may be noticed here. p. 2, l. 47. The MS. has _red_; but it should be _rede_. p. 3, l. 66. For the MS. reading _here_ Mr Garnett proposed to read _othere_, which is clearly right. p. 3, l. 74. For _his soule_ (as in the MS.) we should probably read _of his soule_. p. 3, l. 79. For _wo diden_ (as in the MS.) we should read _wo so dide_. p. 6, l. 177. _Read_-- “Bi [ihesu] crist,” &c, to fill up; but this is doubtful; see l. 1112. p. 18, l. 560. For _with_, Mr Garnett proposed to read _wilt_. p. 20, l. 640. For _ney_ (as in MS.) read _neye_, the adverbial form. p. 21, l. 660. Perhaps there should be a comma after _Slep_, making the sense to be _sleep, son_, not _sleep soon_. p. 23, l. 746. For _alle_, Mr Garnett proposed to read _shalle_. p. 24, l. 784. Perhaps we should, however, read _se-weren_, and the note on the line (p. 93) may be wrong. See _Weren_ in the Glossary.