Note 76 — Chapter II · FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER—DISORGANISATION AND RECONSTRUCTION
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Litheth and lesteneth · and herkeneth aright, And ye schulle here a talking · of a doughty knight; Sire Johan of Boundys · was his righte name, He cowde of norture enough · and mochil of game. Thre sones the knight hadde · that with his body he wan; The eldest was a moche shrewe · and sone he bigan. His bretheren loved wel here fader · and of him were agast, The eldest deserved his father's curse · and had it at the last. The goode knight his fader · livede so yore, That deth was comen him to and handled him full sore. The goode knight cared sore · syk ther he lay, How his children scholde · liven after his day. He hadde ben wyde-wher · but no housband he was, Al the lond that he hadde · it was verrey purchas. Fayn he wolde it were · dressed among hem alle, That ech of hem hadde his part · as it might falle.
(Gamelyn, 1-16.)
(Here l. 8, with the almost certain crasis of "theldest," is a pure iambic fourteener. Elsewhere there are monosyllabic beginnings, contractions of whole or half feet, and great apparent "irregularity," but at the same time nearer and nearer approach to the anapæstic dimeter, which was to become so popular.)