See also ll. 321, 503, 505, 656, etc.; and compare the line from "Christabel:" "That shá | dowy in | the moon | light shone ||" ~~~~ The syllables thus most frequently _slurred over_—the term _elided_ is but weak and improper, explaining nothing—are the final syllables _-en_, _-er_, _-et_, etc., as in ll. 96 and 116:— Ál | abú | ten ðis wálk | ne sént || ~~~~~~~ Was wá | ter and érðe | o ſún | der ſád || ~~~~~~~ Some lines—and these sound rather harshly—require a little _forcing_ to make them conform to the strict type; as, _e.g._, l. 66, which, to make it agree with the rest, must be written, Ín | to ðis ðhíſ | terneſſe hér | bi-néðen || ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~ 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. A man is master of his art when he can write— Come in | to the gar | den, Maud || For the black | bat, night, | has flown || And the wood | bine spi | ces are waf | ted abroad || And the musk | of the rose | is blown || With respect to the final _-en_, it should be further noted— (1) That it is sometimes fully pronounced, as in ll. 87 and 91— fró | ðat tíme | we tél | len áy || ðo gán | hem dá | gen wél | iwíſſe || (2) That it is sometimes rapidly slurred over, as in l. 96, already cited; and (3) That (especially after an _r_) it is often so pronounced as to be incorporated with the syllable preceding it, so that the whole word, supposing it a dissyllable in appearance, becomes monosyllabic in pronunciation; as in l. 514— Matú | ſalé | was bóren | iſ ſúne || and, again, in l. 655— Wóren | ſtalwúr | ði bóren | bi tále || Thus, we may find the same word written and pronounced as a dissyllable— Wó | ren ðáne | don ſóne | a-nón || l. 3591; and, in another place, written and pronounced as a monosyllable— In geu | eléngðh | e wórn | it mád || l. 147. Thus, the _n_ must have been _very slightly_ touched, as is shewn also by the riming of _e_ and _en_. Examples, ll. 11, 12; 363, 364, etc. As to the final _-e_, it may be observed that it is most frequently pronounced just when it is most essential, viz., when it marks a grammatical inflexion, or an adverbial form, as, _e.g._:— Til ihé | sus béð | on Ró | dè dón || l. 386; and, Wél | he ſeí | den and ſwí | ðè wél || l. 1645. In the second place, it is very liable to be slurred over before a vowel following, as in l. 148— In Ré | ke-fíl | le on ſún | der ſhád || ~~~~~ and, thirdly, it is frequently added to words without cause, and is therefore mute, as in l. 60— ðat éu | ere ſpróng | in wérld | wíd ||