eir wordes
hapned to be of many sillables, and very few of one sillable, it fell out
right with them to conceiue and also to perceiue, a notable diuersitie of
motion and times in the pronuntiation of their wordes, and therefore to
euery _bissillable_ they allowed two times, & to a _trissillable_ three
times, & to euery _polisillable_ more, according to his quantitie, & their
times were some long, some short according as their motions were slow or
swift. For the sound of some sillable stayd the eare a great while, and
others slid away so quickly, as if they had not bene pronounced, then
euery sillable being allowed one time, either short or long, it fell out
that euery _tetrasillable_ had foure times, euery _trissillable_ three,
and the _bissillable_ two by which obseruation euery word, not vnder that
sise, as he ranne or stood in a verse, was called by them a foote of such
and so many times, namely the _bissillable_ was either of two long times
as the _spondeus_, or two short, as the _pirchius_, or of a long & a short
as the _trocheus_, or of a short and a long as the _iambus_: the like rule
did they set vpon the word _trissillable_, calling him a foote of three
times: as the _dactilus_ of a long and two short: the _mollossus_ of three
long, the _tribracchus_ of three short, the _amphibracchus_ of two long
and a short, the _amphimacer_ of two short and a long. The word of foure
sillables they called a foote of foure times, some or all of them, either
long or short: and yet not so content they mounted higher, and because
their wordes serued well thereto, they made feete of sixe times: but this
proceeded more of curiositie, then otherwise: for whatsoeuer foote passe
the _trissillable_ is compounded of his inferiour as euery number
Arithmeticall aboue three, is compounded of the inferiour numbers as twise
two make foure, but the three is made of one number, videl. of two and an
vnitie. Now because our naturall & primitiue language of the _Saxon
English_, beares not any wordes (at least very few) of moe sillables then
one (for whatsoeuer we see exceede, commeth to vs by the alterations of
our language growen vpon many conquestes and otherwise) there could be no
such obseruation of times in the sound of our wordes, & for that cause we
could not haue the feete which the Greeks and Latines haue in their
meetres: but of this stirre & motion of their deuised feete, nothing can
better shew the qualitie then these runners at common g