súme hi man bénde | súme hi man blénde. Chron. 1036. 4.
þát he nam be wíhte | and mid mýcelan unríhte. ib. 1087. 4.
wiþ póuere and wiþ ríche | wiþ álle monne ilýche. Prov. 375–6.
ne míhte we bilǽve | for líve ne for dǽþe. Lay. 13875–6.
If those syllables which have the strongest accent in the unaccented parts of these verses are uttered a little more loudly than was usual in the alliterative line the rhythm becomes exactly the same as in the corresponding verses of King Horn, where the three-beat rhythm already has become the rule.
This rule, however, is by no means without exceptions, and even the old two-beat rhythm (which may have been the original rhythm) is, in the oldest form of the poem, sometimes clearly perceptible, rarely, it is true, in both hemistichs, as e.g. in the following line:
Hi slóȝen and fúȝten | þe níȝt and þe úȝten. 1375–6,
but somewhat oftener in one of them, as in the following:
Hi wénden to wísse | of hère líf to mísse. 121–2.
So schál þi náme sprínge | from kínge to kínge. 211–12.