Farwél, || for Í ne máy | no lénger dwélle. Kn. T. 1496.
O régne, || that wólt no félawe | hán with thé. ib. 766.
Now cértes, || Í wol dó | my díligénce. Prioresse T. 1729.
Is ín this lárge | wórlde ysprád || —quod shé. ib. 1644.
To Médes ánd | to Pérses yíuen || quod hé. Monkes T. 3425.
And sófte untó himsélf | he séyde | : Fý. Kn. T. 915.
By the various combinations of such principal and subordinate caesuras the number of the varieties of this metre is increased to an almost unlimited extent. Many lines also are devoid of the caesura completely, or, at most, admit, under the influence of the general rhythm, a light metrical caesura without any strict logical need, as, for instance, when it occurs after a conjunction or a preposition, as in the verses:
By fórward ánd | by cómposícióun. Prol. 848.
That Í was óf | here félaweschípe anón. ib. 32
§ 155. The end also of the line may be either masculine or feminine. Both kinds occur side by side on a perfectly equal footing, the feminine endings probably somewhat oftener in Chaucer’s verse owing to the numerous terminations consisting of e or e + consonant which were still pronounced at his time. Besides the variety in the caesura and the end of the verse, the well-known licences of even-beat rhythm play a considerable part; as, for instance, inversion of accent, ordinary and rhetorical, at the beginning of the verse and after the caesura: rédy to wénden Prol. 21; Sýngynge he wás ib. 91; Schórt was his góune ib. 93; Tróuthe and honóur, frédom and cóurteisíe ib. 46.