ames, who setting
forth from the first goale, one giueth the start speedely & perhaps before
he come half way to th'other goale, decayeth his pace, as a man weary &
fainting: another is slow at the start, but by amending his pace keepes
euen with his fellow or perchance gets before him: another one while gets
ground, another while loseth it again, either in the beginning, or middle
of his race, and so proceedes vnegally sometimes swift somtimes slow as
his breath or forces serue him: another sort there be that plod on, & will
neuer change their pace, whether they win or lose the game: in this maner
doth the Greeke _dactilus_ begin slowly and keepe on swifter till th'end,
for his race being deuided into three parts, he spends one, & that is the
first slowly, the other twaine swiftly: the _anapestus_ his two first
parts swiftly, his last slowly: the _Molossus_ spends all three parts of
his race slowly and egally _Bacchius_ his first part swiftly, & two last
parts slowly. The _tribrachus_ all his three parts swiftly: the
_antibacchius_ his two first partes slowly, his last & third swiftly: the
_amphimacer_, his first & last part slowly & his middle part swiftly: the
_amphibracus_ his first and last parts swiftly but his midle part slowly,
& so of others by like proportion. This was a pretie phantasticall
obseruation of them, & yet brought their meetres to haue a maruelous good
grace, which was in Greeke called [Greek: rithmos]: whence we haue deriued
this word ryme, but improperly & not wel because we haue no such feete or
times or stirres in our meeters, by whose _simpathie_, or pleasant
conueniencie with th'eare, we could take any delight: this _rithmus_ of
theirs, is not therfore our rime, but a certaine musicall numerositie in
vtterance, and not a bare number as that of the Arithmeticall computation
is, which therefore is not called _rithmus_ but _arithmus_. Take this away
from them, I meane the running of their feete, there is nothing of
curiositie among them more then with vs nor yet so much.

_CHAP. III._

_How many sorts of measures we use in our vulgar._

To returne from rime to our measure againe, it hath bene sayd that
according to the number of the sillables contained in euery verse, the
same is sayd a long or short meeter, and his shortest proportion is of
foure sillables, and his longest of twelue, they that vse it aboue, passe
the bounds of good proportion. And euery meeter may be aswel in the odd