THE RIMES IN THE AUTHENTIC POEMS OF WILLIAM DUNBAR. 



647 



sound of some kind, and not an t-sound. It is not, indeed, at all necessary to suppose 

 that ene and ane indicated identical sounds, for there is always, even in good modern 

 verse, a tendency to a certain licence with such terminal syllables, which have only a 

 secondary accent. Thus a modern poet will rime a word like infinite with light, or 

 with it, and expect the reader to pronounce the word accordingly. But if ene already 

 meant an i-sound, it could not be used as anything like equivalent to ane. My 

 position then is this, that before n, and probably me, the OE. e had, so to speak, lagged 

 behind e + r, etc., and thus had still in all probability an e-sound, and that later, through 

 the influence of the other words from OE. e-sound, it was brought into line with them. 

 A confirmation of this view is to be found in the fact that Dunbar rimes words like 

 quene, grene, etc., etc. with sustene and contene, from OF. e, which never acquire the i 

 sound at all. My position is then to some extent intermediate between that of Dr 

 Curtis (§ 129) and Dr Gerken (§ X. 1). 



§ 41. We have 92, 15, a false rime between heme and quene, which shows that the 

 passage is corrupt (see Introduction). 



General OE. or ON. e = WGrmc. e, and S, (lengthened). 



§42. Not before g, rimes with 



a) itself. 



he : me, 82, 8. etc. 

 me : 50, 233, 33. 

 „ : we, 290, 100. 



b) e mut. of 0. See § 39. 



c) Ang. e. = WS. ss (see § 47). 



d) OE. eo. 



3e :fle, 139, 15. 

 „ : se, 140, 23. 

 „ : hie, 139, 3. 

 „ : thre, 140, 27. 

 he : see, 125, 49. 

 „ : fre, 214, 73. 

 me : tre, 82, 13. 

 he : fe, 214, 77. 

 me : le, 82, 23. 



„ : fre, 82, 28. 

 heir : steir, 34, 15. 



„ : deir, 77, 20. 

 me : thre, 83, 63. etc., etc. 



„ : se, 121, 21, etc., etc. 



„ : fle, 233, 232. 87, 35. 

 she : se (see) : 97, 103. 



the : kne, 97, 100. 



e) Ang e = WS. ea + gutt (see§ 49). 

 he : E (NE. eye), 214, 79. 



f) Ang e = WS. ae WGrmc. a (see § 47). 



g) ON. oe (see § 95). 



3e : slie, ON. slcegr, 140, 31. 



he : „ 204, 27. 



me : „ 285, 8. 288, 40. 

 h) OF. e. 



3e : dignitie : agilitie, 139, 7. 



„ : supple : cumtre, 140, 39. 



heir : prisoneir, 114, 16. 115, 64, and numerous 

 others. 



heir : cleir, 140, 38. 

 „ : cheir, 33, 3. 196, 131, and others. 



me : cuntrie, 83, 48. 287, 55. 



leir : frere, 80, 46. 



seir : speir (sphere), 368, 12. 



feir (OE. gefer) : cheir, 97, 94. 

 j) ON. eyja. 



de : we, 77, 7. 



the : de, 295, 79. 



Such rimes as 3e : hie, 3e : slie, dignitie, agilitie. me : countrie, seem also to point 

 to an 1 sound for final e, but not conclusively. 



3 43. 2) Before g, rimes with 

 a) =0E. ecg. 



| say : sway, 73, 2. 



