INTRODUCTION

xliv
INTRODUCTION
conuin 2 ntornl tilg or a summing up of tht genc1'31 drift of
t~ lWUa.
Tho , ...., is strictly syllabit
accent mttre which the later Anglo-Norm2n writcn JOmetimes
odopled •fter English models, eonstructing theor octooylbble
in two h:a.l ..-es with 3 distinct break bttwetn them, e2ch half·
vnse h.:a\'.ng two a«entS but :tn uncertain number of sylbblcs.
1his O.ppe3rS to h:tve been the idea or the metre in the mind
of such writers as Fantosme a.nd William of Wttddington. Here
however 311 is ns regular in thnt respect n' nn be dc::sircd. Indeed
the fn.cr that in nil lhese thousa.nds or lines there nrc not lnorc
than 31Jout :1 score which even suggert the idell of mctrie:ll
inc::orrccln~ alter due a llowance for the nd•"lucd licences of
which we have t..'\ken note, is a ttlrHdng testimony not only of
the accuracy in tbis rtspea of the author, but ttlso to the correetn~s
or the copy which we possess or his worltion:
•16- • De u part pald'l~t a·n;on .'
391 ' Ly dcable pniClfteat a'rtjolt'
• 142. • P~ Cit:~. Rtttd, 1-tcnth.c-."
~Moo • So7 1DOIDCS n.T dcllVftr'
31 a6.. • Q'avoil leur prcdkadoua Ok,"
3t6o. • Si rune est m.slt, l'a.utre ~ Pf:"UK ..
4 7 4~ • Moll phuaoude1llent I• blftt word.
With all this 'correctness,' howevv, the ,.ers« of the ,Jr,;.,,.
~,..,an unmist>k.lbly English rhythm and rru~y e.uily be dis­
~ngurshed from ~·reneh verse or lhe Continent aod from t~t or
~e earlier AngJo..Normotn writers. One of lhe: reasons for lhis
,. thot the VJOrse is in •