Let nót the wórld contínue thús | in láughing mé to scórn.
Mádam, if Í be hé, | to whóm you ónce were bént,
With whóm to spénd your tíme | sometíme you wére content:
If ány hópe be léft, | if ány récompénse
Be áble tó recóver thís | forpássed négligénce,
O, hélp me nów poor wrétch | in thís most héavy plíght,
And fúrnish mé yet ónce agáin | with Tédiousnéss to fíght.
§ 146. In other passages in this drama, e.g. in the speech of Wit, p. 359, this combination (Alexandrine with Septenary following) occurs in a sequence of some length. It existed, however, before Redford’s time, as a favourite form of stave, in lyrical as well as in narrative poetry, and was well known to the first Tudor English prosodists under the name of The Poulter’s Measure.[148]
The opening lines of Surrey’s Complaint of a dying Lover (p. 24) present an example of its cadence:
In wínter’s just retúrn, | when Bóreas gán his réign,