Sox | Biographical Sketch of the Author. 
2. His omissions and elliptical phrases, such as_ [while] 
plough-cattle [are] a-batting (85/2); thy market [having been] 
despatched, 57/45; a small [income] 65/11; in the mottoes of 
the months, [work] forgotten [in the] month past; and in such 
expressions as ‘“ fault known” 47/22, “that done” 55/2, ‘‘ who 
living” 26/1, etc. 
3. Peculiarities of rime. Tusser appears to have attributed far 
more importance to the ou/ward appearance of his riming words, 
than to the realty of the rimes. So long as they appeared to 
rime, it seems to have mattered little that in pronunciation they 
were widely different. We thus find them constantly (a) changing 
the spelling of words in order to make them Jook Jike others ; 
and again (4) using as rimes words which, though similarly 
spelt, are totally unlike in pronunciation. The following examples 
will suffice. In alterations of orthography we find wezgh/ (for 
wait) to rime with emght; raves (for raise); mutch to rime with 
hutch ; thease to rime with ease ; zse (for ice) to rime with device ; 
fio (for flow) to rime with /vo; feere (for fire or fier) to rime 
with faniveere; tought (for taught) to rime with thought; cace 
(for case) to rime with lace; waight (for wait) to rime with 
straight ; bilde, to rime with childe; thoes (for those) to rime with 
sloes, etc. 
On the other hand, we find such rimes as the following: 
plough, rough; shew, few; have, save; have, crave; feat, great ; 
overthwart, part; shal, fal; and a very curious instance in 
Chapter 69, stanza 1, where /hrive is made to rime with a/chive. 
If the number of editions through which an author’s works 
pass be a proof of merit, as it certainly is of popularity, few 
