Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 



239 



xbxbxbxbxcxc. 



As regards the alliteration, — in three cases, one syllable in the first 

 half-verse, two in second, of full septenar line ; in one case all three 

 syllables in second half-verse. This is probably due to the difficulty 

 of preserving both leonine rime and alliteration in the first half-verse. 

 In one verse, the first of the closing couplet, there is no alliteration. 



The above example was an ambitious attempt at leonine rime by 

 an author who had apparently found no model for a complicated 

 stanzaic structure. Such a type was perfected by other poets, the 

 earliest and most radical divergence appearing, so far as we know, 

 in the Northern ' Evangelium Nicodemi.' ^ 



u — 



u 



= 



VJ 



— u 



oo 



(J 





U 



— u 



= 







= 



U 



:=: 









= 



u 







= 







= 



u 













= 











c» 







««• 



u 

 



— 









— 







— 









= 







= 









=r 



u 













= 



u 







= ^ — <-»= ^ ababababcdcd. 



In this the double quatrain with masculine rimes, an important 

 modification of Ex. 15, is established, and the 3-stress quatrain cauda 

 appears. This form of cauda is one distinguishing feature of the 

 Northern stanza, but we refrain from discussing the stanza until it 

 appears in its full development. 



This, the typical stanza of the North, is reached by the substitu- 

 tion of 4-stress lines for the 3-stress lines of the double quatrain of 

 Ex. 17. 



1 Evangelium Nicodemi, Archiv fCir ncuere Sprachen, 1874-5, Nos. 53, 54. 



