Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

G. Gregory Smith, ed. Elizabethan Critical Essays. 1904.

George Puttenham (1529–1590)

The Arte of English Poesie. 1589. The Second Booke. Of Proportion Poetical

IT is said by such as professe the Mathematicall sciences, that all things stand by proportion, and that without it nothing could stand to be good or beautiful. The Doctors of our Theologie to the same effect, but in other termes, say that God made the world by number, measure and weight; some for weight say tune, and peraduenture better. For weight is a kind of measure or of much conueniencie with it; and therefore in their descriptions be alwayes coupled together statica et metrica, weight and measures. Hereupon it seemeth the Philosopher gathers a triple proportion, to wit, the Arithmeticall, the Geometricall, and the Musicall. And by one of these three is euery other proportion guided of the things that haue conueniencie by relation, as the visible by light colour and shadow; the audible by stirres, times and accents; the odorable by smelles of sundry temperaments; the tastible by sauours to the rate; the tangible by his obiectes in this or that regard. Of all which we leaue to speake, returning to our poeticall proportion, which holdeth of the Musical, because, as we sayd before, Poesie is a skill to speake & write harmonically: and verses or rime be a kind of Musicall vtterance, by reason of a certaine congruitie in sounds pleasing the eare, though not perchance so exquisitely as the harmonicall concents of the artificial Musicke, consisting in strained tunes, as is the vocall Musike, or that of melodious instruments, as Lutes, Harpes, Regals, Records and such like. And this our proportion Poeticall resteth in fiue points: Staffe, Measure, Concord, Scituation, and Figure, all which shall be spoken of in their places.

Staffe in our vulgare Poesie I know not why it should be so called, vnlesse it be for that we vnderstand it for a bearer or supporter of a song or ballad, not vnlike the old weake bodie that is stayed vp by his staffe, and were not otherwise able to walke or to stand vpright. The Italian called it Stanza, as if we should say a resting place: and if we consider well the forme of this Poeticall staffe, we shall finde it to be a certaine number of verses allowed to go altogether and ioyne without any intermission, and doe or should finish vp all the sentences of the same with a full period, vnlesse it be in som special cases, & there to stay till another staffe follow of like sort: and the shortest staffe conteineth not vnder foure verses, nor the longest aboue ten; if it passe that number it is rather a whole ditty then properly a staffe. Also for the more part the staues stand rather vpon the euen nomber of verses then the odde, though there be of both sorts. The first proportion then of a staffe is by quadrein or foure verses. The second of fiue verses, and is seldome vsed. The third by sizeine or sixe verses, and is not only most vsual, but also very pleasant to th’eare. The fourth is in seuen verses, & is the chiefe of our ancient proportions vsed by any rimer writing any thing of historical or graue poeme, as ye may see in Chaucer and Lidgate, th’one writing the loues of Troylus and Cresseida, th’other of the fall of Princes: both by them translated, not deuised. The first proportion is of eight verses very stately and Heroicke, and which I like better then that of seuen, because it receaueth better band. The sixt is of nine verses, rare but very graue. The seuenth proportion is of tenne verses, very stately, but in many mens opinion too long; neuerthelesse of very good grace & much grauitie. Of eleuen and twelue I find none ordinary staues vsed in any vulgar language, neither doth it serue well to continue any historicall report and ballade or other song, but is a dittie of it self, and no staffe; yet some moderne writers haue vsed it, but very seldome. Then last of all haue ye a proportion to be vsed in the number of your staues, as to a caroll and a ballade, to a song, & a round, or virelay. For to an historicall poeme no certain number is limited, but as the matter fals out: also a distick or couple of verses is not to be accompted a staffe, but serues for a continuance, as we see in Elegie, Epitaph, Epigramme, or such meetres, of plaine concord, not harmonically entertangled as some other songs of more delicate musick be.

A staffe of foure verses containeth in it selfe matter sufficient to make a full periode or complement of sence, though it doe not alwayes so, and therefore may go by diuisions.

A staffe of fiue verses is not much vsed, because he that can not comprehend his periode in foure verses will rather driue it into six then leaue it in fiue, for that the euen number is more agreable to the eare then the odde is.

A staffe of sixe verses, is very pleasant to the eare, and also serueth for a greater complement then the inferiour staues, which maketh him more commonly to be vsed.

A staffe of seuen verses, most vsuall with our auncient makers, also the staffe of eight, nine, and ten of larger complement then the rest, are onely vsed by the later makers, &, vnlesse they go with very good bande, do not so well as the inferiour staues. Therefore, if ye make your staffe of eight by two fowers not entertangled, it is not a huitaine or a staffe of eight, but two quadreins: so is it in ten verses; not being entertangled, they be but two staues of fiue.

Meeter and measure is all one, for what the Greeks call [metron], the Latines call Mensura, and is but the quantitie of a verse, either long or short. This quantitie with them consisteth in the number of their feete: & with vs in the number of sillables, which are comprehended in euery verse, not regarding his feete, otherwise then that we allow, in scanning our verse, two sillables to make one short portion (suppose it a foote) in euery verse. And after that sort ye may say we haue feete in our vulgare rymes, but that is improperly; for a foote by his sence naturall is a member of office and function, and serueth to three purposes, that is to say, to go, to runne, & to stand still; so as he must be sometimes swift, sometimes slow, sometime vnegally marching or peraduenture steddy. And if our feete Poeticall want these qualities it can not be sayd a foote in sence translatiue as here. And this commeth to passe, by reason of the euident motion and stirre which is perceiued in the sounding of our wordes not alwayes egall, for some aske longer, some shorter time to be vttered in, & so, by the Philosophers definition, stirre is the true measure of time. The Greekes & Latines, because their wordes hapned to be of many sillables, and very few of one sillable, it fell out right with them to conceiue and also to perceiue a notable diuersitie of motion and times in the pronuntiation of their wordes, and therefore to euery bissillable they allowed two times, & to a trissillable three times, & to euery polisillable more, according to his quantitie, & their times were some long, some short, according as their motions were slow or swift. For the sound of some sillable stayd the eare a great while, and others slid away so quickly, as if they had not bene pronounced; then euery sillable being allowed one time, either short or long, it fell out that euery tetrasillable had foure times, euery trissillable three, and the bissillable two, by which obseruation euery word, not vnder that sise, as he ranne or stood in a verse, was called by them a foote of such and so many times, namely the bissillable was either of two long times, as the spondeus, or two short, as the pir[ri]chius, or of a long & a short as the trocheus, or of a short and a long as the iambus; the like rule did they set vpon the word trissillable, calling him a foote of three times, as the dactilus of a long and two short, the molossus of three long, the tribracchus of three short, the amphibracchus of two long and a short, the amphimacer of two short and a long. The word of foure sillables they called a foote of foure times, some or all of them, either long or short: and yet, not so content, they mounted higher, and, because their wordes serued well thereto, they made feete of sixe times; but this proceeded more of curiositie then otherwise, for whatsoeuer foote passe the trissillable is compounded of his inferiour, as euery number Arithmeticall aboue three is compounded of the inferiour number, as twise two make foure, but the three is made of one number, videl. of two and an vnitie. Now because our naturall & primitiue language of the Saxon English beares not any wordes (at least very few) of moe sillables then one (for whatsoeuer we see exceede commeth to vs by the alterations of our language growen vpon many conquestes and otherwise), there could be no such obseruation of times in the sound of our wordes, & for that cause we could not haue the feete which the Greeks and Latines haue in their meetres. But of this stirre & motion of their deuised feete nothing can better shew the qualitie then these runners at common games, who setting forth from the first goale, one giueth the start speedely, & perhaps before he come half way to th’other goale decayeth his pace, as a man weary & fainting; another is slow at the start, but by amending his pace keepes euen with his fellow or perchance gets before him; another one while gets ground, another while loseth it again, either in the beginning or middle of his race, and so proceedes vnegally, sometimes swift, somtimes slow, as his breath or forces serue him; another sort there be that plod on & will neuer change their pace, whether they win or lose the game: in this maner doth the Greeke dactilus begin slowly and keepe on swifter till th’end, for his race being deuided into three parts, he spends one, & that is the first slowly, the other twaine swiftly; the anapestus his first two parts swiftly, his last slowly: the Molossus spends all three parts of his race slowly and egally; Bacchius his first part swiftly, & two last parts slowly; the tribrachus all his three parts swiftly; the antibacchius his two first partes slowly, his last & third swiftly; the amphimacer his first & last part slowly & his middle part swiftly; the amphibracus his first and last parts swiftly, but his midle part slowly, & so of others by like proportion. This was a pretie phantasticall obseruation of them, and yet brought their meetres to haue a maruelous good grace, which was in Greeke called [rihmos]; whence we haue deriued this word ryme, but improperly & not wel, because we haue no such feete or times or stirres in our meeters, by whose simpathie, or pleasant conueniencie with th’eare, we could take any delight: this rithmus of theirs is not therfore our rime, but a certaine musicall numerositie in vtterance, and not a bare number as that of the Arithmeticall computation is, which therefore is not called rithmus but arithmus. Take this away from them, I meane the running of their feete, there is nothing of curiositie among them more then with vs, nor yet so much.

To returne from rime to our measure againe, it hath bene sayd that, according to the number of the sillables contained in euery verse, the same is sayd a long or short meeter, and his shortest proportion is of foure sillables, and his longest of twelue; they that vse it aboue passe the bounds of good proportion. And euery meeter may be aswel in the odde as in the euen sillable, but better in the euen, and one verse may begin in the euen, & another follow in the odde, and so keepe a commendable proportion. The verse that containeth but two silables, which may be in one word, is not vsuall: therefore many do deny him to be a verse, saying that it is but a foot, and that a meeter can haue no lesse then two feete at the least; but I find it otherwise, aswell among the best Italian Poets as also with our vulgar makers, and that two sillables serue wel for a short measure in the first place, and midle, and end of a staffe, and also in diuerse scituations and by sundry distances, and is very passionate and of good grace, as shalbe declared more at large in the Chapter of proportion by scituation.

The next measure is of two feete or of foure sillables, and then one word tetrasillable diuided in the middest makes vp the whole meeter, as thus Rurntli; or a trisillable and one monosillable, thus, Soueraine God; or two bisillables, and that is plesant, thus, Restore againe; or with foure monosillables, and that is best of all, thus, When I doe thinke. I finde no fauour in a meetre of three sillables, nor in effect in any odde; but they may be vsed for varietie sake, and specially, being enterlaced with others, the meetre of six sillables is very sweete and delicate, as thus,

The meter of seuen sillables is not vsual, no more is that of nine and eleuen; yet if they be well composed, that is, their Cesure well appointed, and their last accent which makes the concord, they are commendable inough, as in this ditty, where one verse is of eight, an other is of seuen, and in the one the accent vpon the last, in the other vpon the last saue on.

And all the reason why these meeters in all sillable are alowable is, for that the sharpe accent falles vpon the penultima or last saue one sillable of the verse, which doth so drowne the last, as he seemeth to passe away in maner vnpronounced, & so make the verse seeme euen: but if the accent fall vpon the last and leaue two flat to finish the verse, it will not seeme so; for the odnes will more notoriously appeare, as for example in the last verse before recited, Not loue, but still be sweruing, say thus, Loue it is a maruelous thing. Both verses be of egall quantitie, vidz. seauen sillables a peece, and yet the first seemes shorter then the later, who shewes a more odnesse then the former by reason of his sharpe accent which is vpon the last sillable, and makes him more audible then if he had slid away with a flat accent, as the word swéruing.

Your ordinarie rimers vse very much their measures in the odde, as nine and eleuen, and the sharpe accent vpon the last sillable, which therefore makes him go ill fauouredly and like a minstrels musicke. Thus sayd one in a meeter of eleven very harshly in mine eare, whether it be for lacke of good rime or of good reason, or of both I wot not.

This sort of composition in the odde I like not, vnlesse it be holpen by the Cesure or by the accent, as I sayd before.

The meeter of eight is no lesse pleasant then that of sixe, and the Cesure fals iust in the middle, as this of the Earle of Surreyes.

The meeter of ten sillables is very stately and Heroicall, and must haue his Cesure fall vpon the fourth sillable, and leaue sixe behind him, thus,

This meeter of twelue sillables the French man calleth a verse Alexandrine, and is with our moderne rimers most vsuall; with the auncient makers it was not so. For before Sir Thomas Wiats time they were not vsed in our vulgar; they be for graue and stately matters fitter than for any other ditty of pleasure. Some makers write in verses of foureteene sillables, giuing the Cesure at the first eight; which proportion is tedious, for the length of the verse kepeth the eare too long from his delight, which is to heare the cadence or the tuneable accent in the ende of the verse. Neuerthelesse that of twelue, if his Cesure be iust in the middle, and that ye suffer him to runne at full length, and do not as the common rimers do, or their Printer for sparing of paper, cut them of in the middest, wherin they make in two verses but halfe rime, they do very wel, as wrote the Earle of Surrey, translating the booke of the preacher,

This verse is a very good Alexandrine, but perchaunce woulde haue sounded more musically if the first word had bene a dissillable or two monosillables, and not a trissillable: hauing his sharpe accent vppon the Antepenultima as it hath, by which occasion it runnes like a Dactill, and carries the two later sillables away so speedily as it seemes but one foote in our vulgar measure, and by that meanes makes the verse seeme but of eleuen sillables, which odnesse is nothing pleasant to the eare. Iudge some body whether it would haue done better if it might haue bene sayd thus,

letting the sharpe accent fall vpon bo; or thus,For now the sharpe accent falles vpon bo, and so doth it vpon the last in restóre, which was not in th’other verse. But because we haue seemed to make mention of Cesure, and to appoint his place in euery measure, it shall not be amisse to say somewhat more of it, & also of such pauses as are vsed in vtterance, and what commoditie or delectation they bring either to the speakers or to the hearers.

There is no greater difference betwixt a ciuill and brutish vtteraunce then cleare distinction of voices; and the most laudable languages are alwaies most plaine and distinct, and the barbarous most confuse and indistinct: it is therefore requisit that leasure be taken in pronuntiation, such as may make our wordes plaine & most audible and agreable to the eare; also the breath asketh to be now and then releeued with some pause or stay more or lesse; besides that the very nature of speach (because it goeth by clauses of seuerall construction & sence) requireth some space betwixt them with intermission of sound, to th’end they may not huddle one vpon another so rudly & so fast that th’eare may not perceiue their difference. For these respectes the auncient reformers of language inuented three maner of pauses, one of lesse leasure then another, and such seuerall intermissions of sound to serue (besides easment to the breath) for a treble distinction of sentences or parts of speach, as they happened to be more or lesse perfect in sence. The shortest pause or intermission they called comma, as who would say a peece of a speach cut of. The second they called colon, not a peece, but as it were a member for his larger length, because it occupied twise as much time as the comma. The third they called periodus, for a complement or full pause, and as a resting place and perfection of so much former speach as had bene vttered, and from whence they needed not to passe any further, vnles it were to renew more matter to enlarge the tale. This cannot be better represented then by example of these common trauailers by the hie ways, where they seeme to allow themselues three maner of staies or easements: one a horsebacke calling perchaunce for a cup of beere or wine, and, hauing dronken it vp, rides away and neuer lights; about noone he commeth to his Inne, & there baites him selfe and his horse an houre or more; at night, when he can conueniently trauaile no further, he taketh vp his lodging, and rests him selfe till the morrow; from whence he followeth the course of a further voyage, if his businesse be such. Euen so our Poet when he hath made one verse, hath as it were finished one dayes iourney, & the while easeth him selfe with one baite at the least, which is a Comma or Cesure in the mid way, if the verse be euen and not odde, otherwise in some other place, and not iust in the middle. If there be no Cesure at all, and the verse long, the lesse is the makers skill and hearers delight. Therefore in a verse of twelue sillables the Cesure ought to fall right vpon the sixt sillable; in a verse of eleuen vpon the sixt also, leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of ten vpon the fourth, leaving sixe to follow. In a verse of nine vpon the fourth, leauing fiue to follow. In a verse of eight iust in the middest, that is, vpon the fourth. In a verse of seauen, either vpon the fourth or none at all, the meeter very ill brooking any pause. In a verse of sixe sillables and vnder is needefull no Cesure at all, because the breath asketh no reliefe: yet if ye giue any Comma, it is to make distinction of sense more then for any thing else; and such Cesure must neuer be made in the middest of any word, if it be well appointed. So may you see that the vse of these pawses or distinctions is not generally with the vulgar Poet as it is with the Prose writer, because the Poetes cheife Musicke lying in his rime or concorde to heare the Simphonie, he maketh all the hast he can to be at an end of his verse, and delights not in many stayes by the way, and therefore giueth but one Cesure to any verse: and thus much for the sounding of a meetre. Neuerthelesse, he may vse in any verse both his comma, colon, and interrogatiue point, as well as in prose. But our auncient rymers, as Chaucer, Lydgate, & others, vsed these Cesures either very seldome, or not at all, or else very licentiously, and many times made their meetres (they called them riding ryme) of such vnshapely wordes as would allow no conuenient Cesure, and therefore did let their rymes runne out at length, and neuer stayd till they came to the end: which maner though it were not to be misliked in some sort of meetre, yet in euery long verse the Cesure ought to be kept precisely, if it were but to serue as a law to correct the licentiousnesse of rymers, besides that it pleaseth the eare better, & sheweth more cunning in the maker by following the rule of his restraint. For a rymer that will be tyed to no rules at all, but range as he list, may easily vtter what he will: but such maner of Poesie is called, in our vulgar, ryme dogrell, with which rebuke we will in no case our maker should be touched. Therfore before all other things let his ryme and concordes be true, cleare, and audible, with no lesse delight then almost the strayned note of a Musicians mouth, and not darke or wrenched by wrong writing, as many doe to patch vp their meetres, and so follow in their arte neither rule, reason, nor ryme. Much more might be sayd for the vse of your three pauses, comma, colon, & periode, for perchance it be not all a matter to vse many commas, and few, nor colons likewise, or long or short periodes for it is diuersly vsed by diuers good writers. But because it apperteineth more to the oratour or writer in prose then in verse, I will say no more in it then thus, that they be vsed for a commodious and sensible distinction of clauses in prose, since euery verse is as it were a clause of it selfe, and limited with a Cesure howsoeuer the sence beare, perfect or imperfect, which difference is obseruable betwixt the prose and the meeter.

Because we vse the word rime (though by maner of abusion), yet to helpe that fault againe we apply it in our vulgar Poesie another way very commendably & curiously. For wanting the currantnesse of the Greeke and Latine feete, in stead thereof we make in th’ ends of our verses a certaine tunable sound: which anon after with another verse reasonably distant we accord together in the last fall or cadence, the eare taking pleasure to heare the like tune reported and to feel his returne. And for this purpose serue the monosillables of our English Saxons excellently well, because they do naturally and indifferently receiue any accent, & in them, if they finish the verse, resteth the shrill accent of necessitie, and so doth it not in the last of euery bissillable, nor of euery polisillable word. But to the purpose, ryme is a borrowed word from the Greeks by the Latines and French, from them by vs Saxon angles, and by abusion as hath bene sayd, and therefore it shall not do amisse to tell what this rithmos was with the Greekes, for what is it with vs hath bene already sayd. There is an accomptable number which we call arithmeticall (arithmos) as one. two. three. There is also a musicall or audible number, fashioned by stirring of tunes & their sundry times in the vtterance of our wordes, as when the voice goeth high or low, or sharpe or flat, or swift or slow: & this is called rithmos or numerositie, that is to say, a certaine flowing vtteraunce by slipper words and sillables, such as the toung easily vtters, and the eare with pleasure receiueth, and which flowing of words with much volubilitie smoothly proceeding from the mouth is in some sort harmonicall and breedeth to th’eare a great compassion. This point grew by the smooth and delicate running of their feete, which we haue not in our vulgare, though we vse as much as may be the most flowing words & slippery sillables that we can picke out: yet do not we call that by the name of ryme, as the Greekes did, but do giue the name of ryme onely to our concordes, or tunable consentes in the latter end of our verses, and which concordes the Greekes nor Latines neuer vsed in their Poesie till by the barbarous souldiers out of the campe it was brought into the Court and thence to the schoole, as hath bene before remembred; and yet the Greekes and Latines both vsed a maner of speach by clauses of like termination, which they called [homoeoteleuton], and was the nearest that they approched to our ryme, but is not our right concord; so as we in abusing this terme (ryme) be neuerthelesse excusable applying it to another point in Poesie no lesse curious then their rithme or numerositie, which in deede passed the whole verse throughout, whereas our concordes keepe but the latter end of euery verse, or perchaunce the middle and the end in meetres that be long.

Nowe because we haue spoken of accent, time, and stirre or motion in wordes, we will set you downe more at large what they be. The auncient Greekes and Latines by reason their speech fell out originally to be fashioned with words of many sillables for the most part, it was of necessity that they could not vtter euery sillable with one like and egall sounde, nor in like space of time, nor with like motion or agility, but that one must be more suddenly and quickely forsaken, or longer pawsed vpon then another, or sounded with a higher note & clearer voyce then another; and of necessitie this diuersitie of sound must fall either vpon the last sillable, or vpon the last saue one, or vpon the third, and could not reach higher to make any notable difference. It caused them to giue vnto three different sounds three seuerall names: to that which was highest lift vp and most eleuate or shrillest in the eare they gaue the name of the sharpe accent; to the lowest and most base, because it seemed to fall downe rather then to rise vp, they gaue the name of the heauy accent; and that other which seemed in part to lift vp and in part to fall downe they called the circumflex, or compast accent, and, if new termes were not odious, we might very properly call him the windabout, for so is the Greek word. Then bycause euery thing that by nature fals down is said heauy, & whatsoeuer naturally mounts vpward is said light, it gaue occasion to say that there were diuersities in the motion of the voice, as swift & slow, which motion also presupposes time, bycause time is mensura motus by the Philosopher. So haue you the causes of their primitiue inuention and vse in our arte of Poesie. All this by good obseruation we may perceiue in our vulgar wordes if they be of mo sillables then one, but specially if they be trissillables; as, for example, in these wordes altitude and heauinesse the sharpe accent falles vpon al & he which be the antepenultimaes, the other two fall away speedily as if they were scarse sounded; in this trissilable forsaken the sharp accent fals vpon sa, which is the penultima, and in the other two is heauie and obscure. Againe, in these bissillables, endúre, vnsúre, demúre, aspíre, desíre, retíre, your sharpe accent falles vpon the last sillable; but in words monosillable, which be for the more part our naturall Saxon English, the accent is indifferent, and may be vsed for sharp or flat and heauy at our pleasure. I say Saxon English, for our Normane English alloweth vs very many bissillables, and also trissillables, as, reuerence, diligence, amorous, desirous, and such like.

As the smoothnesse of your words and sillables running vpon feete of sundrie quantities make with the Greekes and Latines the body of their verses numerous or Rithmicall, so in our vulgar Poesie, and of all other nations at this day, your verses answering eche other by couples, or at larger distances in good cadence, is it that maketh your meeter symphonicall. This cadence is the fal of a verse in euery last word with a certaine tunable sound, which, being matched with another of like sound, do make a concord. And the whole cadence is contained sometime in one sillable, sometime in two, or in three at the most: for aboue the antepenultima there reacheth no accent (which is chiefe cause of the cadence), vnlesse it be vsurpation in some English words, to which we giue a sharpe accent vpon the fourth, as Hónorable, mátrimonie, pátrimonie, míserable, and such other as would neither make a sweete cadence, nor easily find any word of like quantitie to match them. And the accented sillable with all the rest vnder him make the cadence, and no sillable aboue, as in these words, Agíllitie, facíllitie, subiéction, diréction, and these bissilables, Ténder, slénder, trústie, lústie; but alwayes the cadence which falleth vpon the last sillable of a verse is sweetest and most commendable; that vpon the penultima more light, and not so pleasant; but falling vpon the antepenultima is most vnpleasant of all, because they make your meeter too light and triuiall, and are fitter for the Epigrammatist or Comicall Poet then for the Lyrick and Elegiack, which are accompted the sweeter Musickes. But though we haue sayd that (to make good concord) your seuerall verses should haue their cadences like, yet must there be some difference in their orthographie, though not in their sound, as if one cadence be constraíne, the next restraíne, or one aspíre, another respíre, this maketh no good concord, because they are all one; but if ye will exchange both these consonants of the accented sillable, or voyde but one of them away, then will your cadences be good and your concord to, as to say, restraine, refraine, remaine; aspire, desire, retire; which rule neuerthelesse is not well obserued by many makers, for lacke of good iudgement and delicate eare. And this may suffise to shew the vse and nature of your cadences, which are in effect all the sweetnesse and cunning in our vulgar Poesie.

Now there can not be in a maker a fowler fault then to falsifie his accent to serue his cadence, or by vntrue orthographie to wrench his words to helpe his rime, for it is a signe that such a maker is not copious in his owne language, or (as they are wont to say) not halfe his crafts maister: as for example, if one should rime to this word Restore, he may not match him with Doore or Poore, for neither of both are of like terminant, either by good orthography or in naturall sound, therfore such rime is strained; so is it to this word Ram to say came, or to Beane, Den, for they sound not nor be written a like; & many other like cadences which were superfluous to recite, and are vsuall with rude rimers who obserue not precisely the rules of prosidie; neuerthelesse in all such cases (if necessitie constrained) it is somewhat more tollerable to help the rime by false orthographie then to leaue an vnplesant dissonance to the eare by keeping trewe orthographie and loosing the rime, as for example it is better to rime Dore with Restore then his truer orthographie, which is Doore, and to this word Desire to say Fier then fyre, though it be otherwise better written fire. For since the cheife grace of our vulgar Poesie consisteth in the Symphonie, as hath bene already sayd, our maker must not be too licentious in his concords, but see that they go euen, iust, and melodious in the eare, and right so in the numerositie or currantnesse of the whole body of his verse, and in euery other of his proportions. For a licentious maker is in truth but a bungler and not a Poet. Such men were in effect the most part of all your old rimers, and specially Gower, who to make vp his rime would for the most part write his terminant sillable with false orthographie, and many times not sticke to put in a plaine French word for an English; & so, by your leaue, do many of our common rimers at this day, as he that by all likelyhood hauing no word at hand to rime to this word ioy, he made his other verse ende in Roy, saying very impudently thus,Which word was neuer yet receiued in our language for an English word. Such extreme licentiousnesse is vtterly to be banished from our schoole, and better it might haue bene borne with in old riming writers, bycause they liued in a barbarous age, & were graue morall men but very homely Poets, such also as made most of their workes by translation out of the Latine and French toung, & few or none of their owne engine, as may easely be knowen to them that list to looke vpon the Poemes of both languages.

Finally, as ye may ryme with wordes of all sortes, be they of many sillables or few, so neuerthelesse is there a choise by which to make your cadence (before remembred) most commendable, for some wordes of exceeding great length, which haue bene fetched from the Latine inkhorne or borrowed of strangers, the vse of them in ryme is nothing pleasant, sauing perchaunce to the common people, who reioyse much to be at playes and enterludes, and, besides their naturall ignoraunce, haue at all such times their eares so attentiue to the matter, and their eyes vpon the shewes of the stage, that they take little heede to the cunning of the rime, and therefore be as well satisfied with that which is grosse, as with any other finer and more delicate.

But this ye must obserue withall, that bycause your concordes containe the chief part of Musicke in your meetre, their distaunces may not be too wide or farre a sunder, lest th’eare should loose the tune and be defrauded of his delight; and whensoeuer ye see any maker vse large and extraordinary distaunces, ye must thinke he doth intende to shew himselfe more artificiall then popular, and yet therein is not to be discommended, for respects that shalbe remembred in some other place of this booke.

Note also that rime or concorde is not commendably vsed both in the end and middle of a verse, vnlesse it be in toyes and trifling Poesies, for it sheweth a certaine lightnesse either of the matter or of the makers head, albeit these common rimers vse it much, for, as I sayd before, like as the Symphonie in a verse of great length is, as it were, lost by looking after him, and yet may the meetre be very graue and stately, so on the other side doth the ouer busie and too speedy returne of one maner of tune too much annoy &, as it were, glut the eare, vnlesse it be in small & popular Musickes song by these Cantabanqui vpon benches and barrels heads, where they haue none other audience then boys or countrey fellowes that passe by them in the streete, or else by blind harpers or such like tauerne minstrels that giue a fit of mirth for a groat, & their matters being for the most part stories of old time, as the tale of Sir Topas, the reportes of Beuis of Southampton, Guy of Warwicke, Adam Bell, and Clymme of the Clough, & such other old Romances or historicall rimes, made purposely for recreation of the common people at Christmasse diners & brideales, and in tauernes & alehouses, and such other places of base resort; also they be vsed in Carols and rounds and such light or lasciuious Poemes, which are commonly more commodiously vttered by these buffons or vices in playes then by any other person. Such were the rimes of Skelton, vsurping the name of a Poet Laureat, being in deede but a rude rayling rimer & all his doings ridiculous: he vsed both short distaunces and short measures, pleasing onely the popular eare: in our courtly maker we banish them vtterly. Now also haue ye in euery song or ditty concorde by compasse & concorde entertangled and a mixt of both: what that is and how they be vsed shalbe declared in the chapter of proportion by scituation.

This proportion consisteth in placing of euery verse in a staffe or ditty by such reasonable distaunces as may best serue the eare for delight, and also to shew the Poets art and variety of Musick. And the proportion is double: one by marshalling the meetres, and limiting their distaunces, hauing regard to the rime or concorde how they go and returne; another by placing euery verse, hauing a regard to his measure and quantitie onely, and not to his concorde, as to set one short meetre to three long, or foure short and two long, or a short measure and a long, or of diuers lengthes with relation one to another, which maner of Situation, euen without respect of the rime, doth alter the nature of the Poesie, and make it either lighter or grauer, or more merry, or mournfull, and many wayes passionate to the eare and hart of the hearer, seeming for this point that our maker by his measures and concordes of sundry proportions doth counterfait the harmonicall tunes of the vocall and instrumentall Musickes. As the Dorien, because his falls, sallyes, and compasse be diuers from those of the Phrigien, the Phrygien likewise from the Lydien, and all three from the Eolien, Miolidien, and Ionien, mounting the falling from note to note such as be to them peculiar, and with more or lesse leasure or precip[it]ation; euen so by diuersitie of placing and scituation of your measures and concords, a short with a long, and by narrow or wide distances, or thicker or thinner bestowing of them, your proportions differ, and breedeth a variable and strange harmonie not onely in the eare, but also in the conceit of them that heare it; whereof this may be an ocular example.Where ye see the concord or rime in the third distance, and the measure in the fourth, sixth, or second distaunces, whereof ye may deuise as many other as ye list, so the staffe be able to beare it. And I set you downe an occular example, because ye may the better conceiue it. Likewise it so falleth out most times your occular proportion doeth declare the nature of the audible; for if it please the eare well, the same represented by delineation to the view pleaseth the eye well, and e conuerso; and this is by a naturall simpathie, betweene the eare and the eye, and betweene tunes & colours, even as there is the like betweene the other sences and their obiects, of which it appeteineth not here to speake.

Now for the distances vsually obserued in our vulgar Poesie. They be in the first, second, third, and fourth verse, or, if the verse be very short, in the fift and sixt, and in some maner of Musickes farre aboue.

And the first distance for the most part goeth all by distick or couples of verses agreeing in one cadence, and do passe so speedily away and so often returne agayne, as their tunes are neuer lost nor out of the eare, one couple supplying another so nye and so suddenly: and this is the most vulgar proportion of distance or situation, such as vsed Chaucer in his Canterbury tales, and Gower in all his workes.

Second distance is when ye passe ouer one verse, and ioyne the first and the third, and so continue on till an other like distance fall in, and this is also vsuall and common, as

Third distaunce is when your rime falleth vpon the first and fourth verse, ouerleaping two: this maner is not so common, but pleasant and allowable inough. In which case the two verses ye leaue out are ready to receiue their concordes by the same distaunce or any other ye like better.

The fourth distaunce is by ouerskipping three verses and lighting upon the fift: this maner is rare and more artificiall then popular, vnlesse it be in some speciall case, as when the meetres be so little and short as they make no shew of any great delay before they returne. Ye shall haue example of both. And these ten litle meeters make but one Exameter at length.

There be larger distances also, as when the first concord falleth vpon the sixt verse, & is very pleasant if they be ioyned with other distances not so large, as

There be also of the seuenth, eight, tenth, and twe[l]fth distance, but then they may not go thicke; but two or three such distances serue to proportion a whole song, and all betweene must be of other lesse distances, and these wide distaunces serue for coupling of staues, or for to declare high and passionate or graue matter, and also for art: Petrarch hath giuen vs examples hereof in his Canzoni, and we by lines of sundry lengths and distances, as followeth:

And all that can be obiected against this wide distance is to say that the eare by loosing his concord is not satisfied. So is in deede the rude and popular eare, but not the learned; and therefore the Poet must know to whose eare he maketh his rime, and accommodate himselfe thereto, and not giue such musicke to the rude and barbarous, as he would to the learned and delicate eare.

There is another sort of proportion vsed by Petrarche called the Seizino, not riming as other songs do, but by chusing sixe wordes out of which all the whole dittie is made, euery of those sixe commencing and ending his verse by course, which restraint to make the dittie sensible will try the makers cunning, as thus:

Besides all this there is in Situation of the concords two other points, one that it go by plaine and cleere compasse not intangled, another by enterweauing one with another by knots, or, as it were, by band, which is more or lesse busie and curious, all as the maker will double or redouble his rime or concords, and set his distances farre or nigh, of all which I will giue you ocular examples, as thus:

And first in a Quadreine there are but two proportions, for foure verses in this last sort coupled are but two Disticks, and not a staffe quadreine or of foure.

The staffe of fiue hath seuen proportions, as

whereof some of them be harsher and vnpleasaunter to the eare then other some be.

The Sixaine or staffe of sixe hath ten proportions, whereof some be vsuall, some not vsuall, and not so sweet one as another.

The staffe of seuen verses hath seuen proportions, whereof one onely is the vsuall of our vulgar, and kept by our old Poets Chaucer and other in their historicall reports and other ditties: as in the last part of them that follow next.

The huitain, or staffe of eight verses, hath eight proportions such as the former staffe, and because he is longer, he hath one more then the settaine.

The staffe of nine verses hath yet moe then the eight, and the staffe of ten more then the ninth, and the twelfth, if such were allowable in ditties, more then any of them all, by reason of his largenesse receiuing moe compasses and enterweauings, alwayes considered that the very large distances be more artificiall then popularly pleasant, and yet do giue great grace and grauitie, and moue passion and affections more vehemently, as it is well to be obserued by Petrarcha his Canzoni.

Now ye may perceiue by these proportions before described, that there is a band to be giuen euery verse in a staffe, so as none fall out alone or vncoupled, and this band maketh that the staffe is sayd fast and not loose; euen as ye see in buildings of stone or bricke the mason giueth a band, that is a length to two breadths, & vpon necessitie diuers other sorts of bands to hold in the worke fast and maintaine the perpendicularitie of the wall: so, in any staffe of seuen or eight or more verses, the coupling of the moe meeters by rime or concord is the faster band, the fewer the looser band, and therfore in a huiteine he that putteth foure verses in one concord and foure in another concord, and in a dizaine fiue, sheweth him selfe more cunning, and also more copious in his owne language. For he that can find two words of concord can not find foure or fiue or sixe, vnlesse he haue his owne language at will. Sometime also ye are driuen of necessitie to close and make band more then ye would, left otherwise the staffe should fall asunder and seeme two staues: and this is in a staffe of eight and ten verses: whereas without a band in the middle, it would seeme two quadreins or two quintaines, which is an error that many makers slide away with. Yet Chaucer and others in the staffe of seuen and sixe do almost as much a misse, for they shut vp the staffe with a disticke, concording with none other verse that went before, and maketh but a loose rime, and yet, bycause of the double cadence in the last two verses, serue the eare well inough. And as there is in euery staffe band giuen to the verses by concord more or lesse busie, so is there in some cases a band giuen to euery staffe, and that is by one whole verse running alone throughout the ditty or ballade, either in the middle or end of euery staffe. The Greekes called such vncoupled verse Epimonie, the Latines Versus intercalaris. Now touching the situation of measures, there are as manie or more proportions of them which I referre to the makers phantasie and choise, contented with two or three ocular examples and no moe.

Which maner of proportion by situation of measures giueth more efficacie to the matter oftentimes then the concords them selues, and both proportions concurring together as they needes must, it is of much more beautie and force to the hearers mind.

To finish the learning of this diuision, I will set you downe one example of a dittie written extempore with this deuise, shewing not onely much promptnesse of wit in the maker, but also great arte and a notable memorie. Make me, saith this writer to one of the companie, so many strokes or lines with your pen as ye would haue your song containe verses; and let euery line beare his seuerall length, euen as ye would haue your verse of measure. Suppose of foure, fiue, sixe, or eight, or more sillables, and set a figure of euerie number at th’ end of the line, whereby ye may knowe his measure. Then where you will haue your rime or concord to fall, marke it with a compast stroke or semicircle passing ouer those lines, be they farre or neare in distance, as ye haue seene before described. And bycause ye shall not thinke the maker hath premeditated beforehand any such fashioned ditty, do ye your selfe make one verse, whether it be of perfect or imperfect sense, and giue it him for a theame to make all the rest vpon. If ye shall perceiue the maker do keepe the measures and rime as ye haue appointed him, and besides do make his dittie sensible and ensuant to the first verse in good reason, then may ye say he is his crafts maister. For, if he were not of a plentiful discourse, he could not vpon the sudden shape an entire dittie vpon your imperfect theame or proposition in one verse. And, if he were not copious in his language, he could not haue such store of wordes at commaundement as should supply your concords. And, if he were not of a maruelous good memory, he could not obserue the rime and measures after the distances of your limitation, keeping with all grauitie and good sense in the whole dittie.

Your last proportion is that of figure, so called for that it yelds an ocular representation, your meeters being by good symmetrie reduced into certaine Geometricall figures, whereby the maker is restrained to keepe him within his bounds, and sheweth not onely more art, but serueth also much better for briefenesse and subtiltie of deuice; and for the same respect are also fittest for the pretie amourets in Court to entertaine their seruants and the time withall, their delicate wits requiring some commendable exercise to keepe them from idlenesse. I find not of this proportion vsed by any of the Greeke or Latine Poets, or in any vulgar writer, sauing of that one forme which they cal Anacreons egge. But being in Italie conuersant with a certaine gentleman who had long trauailed the Orientall parts of the world and seene the Courts of the great Princes of China and Tartarie, I being very inquisitiue to know of the subtillities of those countreyes, and especially in matter of learning and of their vulgar Poesie, he told me that they are in all their inuentions most wittie, and haue the vse of Poesie or riming, but do not delight so much as we do in long tedious descriptions, and therefore when they will vtter any pretie conceit, they reduce it into metricall feet, and put it in forme of a Lozange or square, or such other figure; and so engrauen in gold, siluer, or iuorie, and sometimes with letters of ametist, rubie, emeralde, or topas curiousely cemented and peeced together, they sende them in chaines, bracelets, collars, and girdles to their mistresses to weare for a remembrance. Some fewe measures composed in this sort this gentleman gaue me, which I translated word for word, and as neere as I could followed both the phrase and the figure, which is somewhat hard to performe, because of the restraint of the figure from which ye may not digresse. At the beginning they wil seeme nothing pleasant to an English eare, but time and vsage wil make them acceptable inough, as it doth in all other new guises, be it for wearing of apparell or otherwise. The formes of your Geometricall figures be hereunder represented.

The Lozange is a most beautifull figure, & fit for this purpose, being in his kind a quadrangle reuerst, with his point vpward like to a quarrell of glasse. The Greekes and Latines both call it Rombus, which may be the cause, as I suppose, why they also gaue that name to the fish commonly called the Turbot, who beareth iustly that figure. It ought not to containe aboue thirteene or fifteene or one & twentie meetres, & the longest furnisheth the middle angle, the rest passe vpward and downward, still abating their lengthes by one or two sillables till they come to the point. The Fuzie is of the same nature but that he is sharper and slenderer. I will giue you an example or two of those which my Italian friend bestowed vpon me, which as neare as I could I translated into the same figure, obseruing the phrase of the Orientall speach word for word.

A great Emperor in Tartary whom they cal Can, for his good fortune in the wars & many notable conquests he had made, was surnamed Temir Cutzclewe. This man loued the Lady Kermesine, who presented him returning from the conquest of Corasoon (a great kingdom adioyning) with this Lozange made in letters of rubies & diamants entermingled thus:

To which Can Temir answered in Fuzie, with letters of Emeralds and Ametists artificially cut and entermingled, thus:

The Triangle is an halfe square, Lozange, or Fuzie parted vpon the crosse angles; and so, his base being brode and his top narrow, it receaueth meetres of many sizes, one shorter then another: and ye may vse this figure standing or reuersed, as thus.

A certaine great Sultan of Persia called Ribuska, entertaynes in loue the Lady Selamour, sent her this triquet reue[r]st pitiously bemoning his estate, all set in merquetry, with letters of blew Saphire and Topas artificially cut and entermingled.

To which Selamour, to make the match egall, and the figure entire, answered in a standing Triquet, richly engrauen with letters of like stuffe.

This condition seeming to Sultan Ribuska very hard to performe, and cruell to be enioyned him, doeth by another figure in Taper, signifying hope, answere the Lady Selamour, which dittie for lack of time I translate not.

The Taper is the longest and sharpest triangle that is, & while he mounts vpward he waxeth continually more slender, taking both his figure and name of the fire, whose flame, if ye marke it, is alwaies pointed, and naturally by his forme couets to clymbe: the Greekes call him Pyramis, of [pur]. The Latines, in use of Architecture, called him Obeliscus. It holdeth the altitude of six ordinary triangles, and in metrifying his base can not well be larger then a meetre of six; therefore in his altitude he wil require diuers rabates to hold so many sizes of meetres as shall serue for his composition, for neare the toppe there wilbe roome litle inough for a meetre of two sillables, and sometimes of one to finish the point. I haue set you downe one or two examples to try how ye can disgest the maner of the deuise.

The Piller is a figure among all the rest of the Geometricall most beawtifull, in respect that he is tall and vpright and of one bignesse from the bottom to the toppe. In Architecture he is considered with two accessarie parts, a pedestall or base, and a chapter or head; the body is the shaft. By this figure is signified stay, support, rest, state, and magnificence. Your dittie then being reduced into the forme of the Piller, his base will require to beare the brea[d]th of a meetre of six or seuen or eight sillables; the shaft of foure; the chapter egall with the base. Of this proportion I will giue you one or two examples, which may suffise.

The most excellent of all the figures Geometrical is the Round, for his many perfections. First, because he is euen & smooth, without any angle or interruption, most voluble and apt to turne, and to continue motion, which is the author of life: he conteyneth in him the commodious description of euery other figure, & for his ample capacitie doth resemble the world or vniuers, & for his indefinitenesse, hauing no speciall place of beginning nor end, beareth a similitude with God and eternitie. This figure hath three principall partes in his nature and vse much considerable: the circle, the beame, and the center. The circle is his largest compasse or circumference; the center is his middle and indiuisible point; the beame is a line stretching directly from the circle to the center, & contrariwise from the center to the circle. By this description our maker may fashion his meetre in Roundel, either with the circumference, and that is circlewise, or from the circumference, that is like a beame, or by the circumference, and that is ouerthwart and dyametrally from one side of the circle to the other.