and thus closely resembles the third of the above lines, being denoted by the same formula.
[§ 103]. When we come to apply a similar system of scansion to Chaucer, we find that he differs from Goldsmith in FOUR important particulars. This is because he followed, more immediately, the rules of verse as exhibited in the Old French metres. I quote the following from P. Toynbee's Specimens of Old French, p. liii:—
'In ten-syllabled lines [i.e. in lines of five accents] the pause or caesura is after the fourth syllable:—
Mors est Rollanz, | Deus en ad Panme es cielz.
At the caesura, and also at the end of the line, a feminine syllable [i.e. a weak or light additional syllable] is admissible,
which does not count, even if it is not elided. It is thus possible to have no less than four different forms of ten-syllabled epic lines, all equally correct; viz.
(a) Plurent lur filz | lur frerës, lur nevulz.
(b) Encuntre terre | se pasment li plusur.
(c) A lur chevals | unt toleitës les selës.
(d) Cons fut de Romë | del mielz qui donc i erët.'