B. Quantity.—1. A syllable is broken into a dissyllable, or prolonged by way of emphasis, in such cases as i. 168 (your̈ heart's), ii. 18 (of āll ⋀ this), ii. 170 (Ā-men), ix. 116 (haile, or hāile), vi. 17, xii. 43 (fair̈e), xiii. 38 (hour̈e). In names like Marg(a)ret, Erm(e)sbie, diæresis or dialysis often occurs. For Elizabethan usage, see Schipper, Neuengl. Metrik, 1: § 53, and Knaut, Metrik R. Greene's (Halle, 1890).
2. In vi. 4, 171, vii. 25, etc., such words as devil, spirit, are contracted by synæresis or slurring. In x. 55, xiii. 3, xiii. 38 (while I've; he'd; thou'st), we find elision or apocope, as, also, in xiv. 79, vi. 162, xiii. 37 ('n if she bé; 'n if your hónour; there'll bé). In vig'r, El'nor, fri'r, pow'r, fi'ry, syncope. In vi. 135, ix 129 (To⌒avoid; no⌒unlesse), synalœpha. Evidently the dramatist has in mind the spoken sentence, in which slurring and rapid pronunciation are more likely to occur than omission of syllables.
C. Lacking Syllables.—1. Compensation for one syllable is made by a rhetorical pause, or by lengthening or emphasizing the next syllable, e.g.,
(a) In the first foot, for an absent thesis:—
vi. 17. ⋀ Thát this fai-r coúrteous coúntrie swaíne;
vi. 130. ⋀ Made me thinke the shádows súbstàncès;
unless we read with hovering accent, sc. "Màde mè ⋀ thínke," which wouýld accumulate the emphasis upon 'thinke.' Do., Dy., W., gratuitously insert 'to' before 'thinke.'
vi. 161. ⋀ Whý stànds frìer Búngay só amázed?
Another acephalous line. The suppression of the light syllable accentuates the arsis 'Why.' For similar suppression in questions see i. 20, ii. 156.
xiv. 77. ⋀ Whý,—then Màrgret wíll be shórne a nún?
Accumulated emphasis of surprise. So, in iii. 4: (⋀ Thómas, maids when they cóme), etc.; and in