The quhílk gaif sápience tó king Sálomóne. 249.
Be tháy contént, mak réverence tó the rést. 36.
In a similar way adjectives ending in -able and verbs ending in -ice, -ye adapt themselves to the disyllabic rhythm, and likewise verbs ending in -ine (Old French -iner); only it must be noticed that in the preterite and in the past participle verbs of the latter class tend to throw the accents on the antepenultimate and last syllables, e.g. enlúminéd, emprísonéd. Words of five syllables almost without exception have an iambic rhythm of themselves and are used accordingly in even-beat verses, as e.g. expériénce; the same is the case with words which have Germanic endings, like -ing, -inge, -nesse, e.g. discónfytýnge.
The rhythmic accentuation of foreign proper names both in disyllables and in polysyllables varies. Thus we may notice the accentuations Junó, Plató, Venús, and, on the other hand, Júno, Pláto, Vénus; Arcíte, Athénes, and Árcíte, Áthenes; Antónie and Ántoníe. Wherever in such cases level stress may help to smooth the rhythm it certainly is to be assumed in reading.
II. Word-accent in Modern English
§ 121. Modern English accentuation deviates little from that of the Old English and Middle English; the inflexional endings, however, play a much less important part; further, in many cases the Romanic accentuation of Middle English is still in existence, or at least has influence, in words of French or Latin origin. This is evident from many deviations in the rhythmic accentuation of such words from the modern accentuation which we here regard as normal, though it is to be noted that in the beginning of the Modern English epoch, i.e. in the sixteenth century, the actual accentuation in many cases was still in conformity with the earlier conditions.
Only these real and apparent anomalies are noticed here. We have first to consider the Romanic endings -ace, -age, -ail, -el, -ain, -al, -ance, -ence, -ant, -ent, -er, -ess (Old French -esse), -ice, -ile, -in, -on, -or, -our, -une, -ure, -y(e) (in disyllabic words). As the final e has become mute, all these endings are monosyllabic.
In the works of the earlier Modern English poets some words ending in these syllables are only exceptionally used with the accent on the last syllable according to the Old French or Middle English accentuation, the Modern English accentuation being the usual one; others are employed more frequently or even exclusively with the earlier accentuation, e.g. paláce Sur. 174, bondáge Wyatt 224, traváil Sur. 82, Wyatt 19, certáin ib. 179, mountáin Sur. 37, chieftáin ib. 112, cristál Wyatt 156, presénce ib. 81, grievánce ib. 55, penánce ib. 209, balánce ib. 173, pleasánt ib. 130, tormént (subst.) ib. 72, fevér, fervóur ib. 210, mistréss ib. 109, richés ib. 209, justíce ib. 229, servíce ib. 177, engíne Sur. 130, seasón ib. 149, honóur ib. 166, armóur 148, colóur: therefóre Wyatt 6, terrór: succóur ib. 210, &c., fortúne: tune ib. 152, Sur. 115, measúre Wyatt 125, natúre: unsúre ib. 144, glorý: mercý ib. 208.
In almost all these cases and in many other words with the same endings this accentuation seems to be due to the requirements of the rhythm, in which case level stress must be assumed.