Xxiv. Early Continuous Anapæsts

(a) Tusser (1st ed. 1557; complete, 1573):

Now leeks | are in sea|son for pot|tage full good, And spar|eth the milch | cow and purg|eth the blood: These hav|ing with pea|son for pot|tage in Lent, Thou spar|est both oat|meal and bread | to be spent.

(Perfectly good, though not very euphonious.)

(b) Gifford, H. (1580):

If I | should write rash|ly what comes | in my train It might | be such mat|ter as likes | you not best, And ra|ther I would | great sor|row sustain Than not | to fulfil | your law|ful request.

(c) Mary Ambree (c. 1584):

[When] cap|tains coura|geous whom death | could [not] daunt [Did march | to the siege of] the ci|ty of Gaunt, They mus|tered their sol|diers by two | and by three, And the fore|most in bat|tle was Ma|ry Ambree.

(Percy patched the bracketed words (his copy being evidently corrupt) in lines 1 and 2. But 3 and 4 are exactly as in the folio; and their anapæstic base is quite clear. At the same time, it is worth remarking that these early lines are apt, frequently though not regularly, to buttress their start on a dissyllabic foot.)