Ȝe man observe that thir Tumbling verse flowis not on that fassoun as vtheris dois. For all vtheris keipis the reule quhilk I gave before, to wit the first fute short the secound lang and sa furth. Quhair as thir hes twa short and are lang throuch all the lyne quhen they keip ordour, albeit the maist pairt of thame be out of ordour and keipis na kynde nor reule of Flowing and for that cause are callit Tumbling verse.
King James VI was a contemporary of the last poets who wrote in alliterative lines in the North and therefore undoubtedly had heard such poems read by reciters who had kept up the true tradition of their scansion. We have here then the very best proof we can desire not only of the four-beat rhythm of the line, but also of the fact that unaccented words, although they may alliterate intentionally, as they do often in poems of the fifteenth century, or unintentionally, as earlier, do not get a full accent in consequence of the alliteration, as some scholars have thought, but remain unaccented.[109] As to the quality of the alliteration the same laws on the whole still prevail as in Old English poetry, but are less strictly observed. Thus frequently voiced and unvoiced sounds alliterate together, and the aspiration is neglected; f alliterates with v, v with w, w with wh, s with sh or with combinations of s and other consonants, g with k, h with ch:
hértes and híndes | and óþer bestes mánye. W. 389.
of fálsnesse and fásting | and vóuwes ibróken. P. P. Prol. 68.
bat he wíst wíterly | it was the vóis of a childe. W. 40.
to acórde wiþ þe kíng | and gráunte his wílle. ib. 3657.
I sáyle now in þe sée | as schíp boute mást. ib. 567.
such chástite withouten chárite | worþ cláymed in hélle! P. P. i. 168.
On the other hand, sometimes (as e.g. in the Alisaunder fragments) greater strictness may be noticed in regard to alliteration of vowels, as only the same vowels[110] are allowed to alliterate:
wiþ þé érldam of Énuye | éuer forto láste.P. P. ii. 63.