Quere-so-euer I iugged gemmes gaye,
I sette hyr sengeley in synglure:
Allas! I leste hyr in on erbere,
Thurh gresse to grounde hit fro me yot;
I dewyne for-dolked of luf daungere,
Of that pryuy perle with-outen spot.

Here it will be observed that the Norman mode--that of rhymes--is
employed, and that there is a far more careful measure in the line that
is found in the poem last quoted. But the rhyming is carried to such an
excess as to involve the necessity of constant invention of phrase to
meet its requirements--a fertile source of obscurity. The most difficult
form of stanza in respect of rhyme now in use is the Spenserian, in
which, consisting of nine lines, four words rhyme together, three words,
and two words. But the stanza in the poem before us consists of twelve
lines, six of which, two of which, four of which, rhyme together. This we
should count hard enough; but it does not nearly exhaust the tyranny of
the problem the author has undertaken. I have already said that one of
the essentials of the poetic form in Anglo-Saxon was the commencement of
three or more words in the line with the same sound: this peculiarity he
has exaggerated: every line has as many words as possible commencing with
the same sound. In the first line, for instance,--and it must be
remembered that the author's line is much shorter than the Anglo-Saxon
line,--there are four words beginning with _p_; in the second, three
beginning with _cl_, and so on. This, of course, necessitates much not
merely of circumlocution, but of contrivance, involving endless
obscurity.

He has gone on to exaggerate the peculiarities of Norman verse as well;
but I think it better not to run the risk of wearying my reader by