Charles Davidson — English Mystery Plays. 243 



The direction of the deterioration is evident. All stressed sylla- 

 bles but two, and four unstressed syllables, have alliteration in this 

 stanza. Such overloading with alliterative sounds destroyed all 

 sense of their proper function. The first half-verses have passed the 

 bounds of anapaestic movement. The voice naturally places a stress 

 upon the first unstressed syllable, thus transforming the verse into 

 a 5-stress line and destroying the stanza. It is significant that this 

 quasi 5-stress line was considered the most suitable for royal person- 

 ages. Many instances might be cited of this anticij)ation of 'Mar- 

 lowe's mighty line.' 



XIX. 

 CERTAIN STANZAS OF THE MYSTERY PLAYS. 



The later forms of the septenar stanza do not particularly concern 

 us, as they lie outside of the Mystery Plays. I will therefore pass 

 over them rapidly, giving the stanzaic schemes for completeness of 

 view and for comparison with the Southern stanza toward which 

 they gravitated. 



Ex. 22. Prologue to the Eighth Book of the ^neid by Gawain 

 Douglas, date 1513.^ Last stanza. 



vjuu (jun uuu u<J 



U ==uOOiJ-=rOOiiO=:OOU 



O ( / UU =:U"U4/= O0 = 



^ (nntt I )i (J — OU = 



UitU O (jt\ij Hit 



fit JO O /IM () ^=rOO = 



O OO U-^s= U II u — OO ■=i 



U nun UP II O 00:= 



u u uuo — 



O O O y — 



■u — u 



Lines 4 and 5 have the same alliterative letter, the letter s. 

 Ex. 23. The Howlate of Holland, date 1450-54.' Stanza 2. 



1 Schipper, vol. 1, p. 221. 



2 In the tirst line, the macrons (— ) should each be read as double macrons (=), and 

 another one should be inserted just before the caesura. 



3 Pinkerton, vol. 3, p. 147. 



ababababcdddc.2 



