purpose, ryme is a borrowed word from the Greeks by the Latines and French, from them by vs Saxon angles and by abusion as hath bene sayd, and therefore it shall not do amisse to tell what this rithmos was with the Greekes, for what is it with vs hath bene already sayd.  There is an accomptable number which we call arithmeticall (arithmos) as one, two, three.  There is also a musicall or audible number, fashioned by stirring of tunes & their sundry times in the vtterance of our wordes, as when the voice goeth high or low, or sharpe or flat, or swift or slow:  & this is called rithmos or numerositie, that is to say, a certaine flowing vtteraunce by slipper words and sillables, such as the toung easily vtters, and the eare with pleasure receiueth, and which flowing of wordes with much volubilitie smoothly proceeding from the mouth is in some sort harmonicall and breedeth to th’eare a great compasiion.  This point grew by the smooth and delicate running of their feete, which we haue not in our vulgare, though we use as much as may be the most flowing words & slippery sillables, that we can picke out:  yet do not we call that by the name of ryme, as the Greekes did:  but do give the name of ryme onely to our concordes, or tunable consentes in the latter end of our verses, and which concords the Greekes nor Latines neuer vsed in their Poesie till by the barbarous souldiers out of the campe, it was brought into the Court and thence to the schoole, as hath bene before remembred:  and yet the Greekes and Latines both vsed a maner of speach, by clauses of like termination, which they called [Greek:  illegible] and was the nearest that they approched to our ryme:  but is not our right concord:  so as we in abusing this terme (ryme) be neuertheless excusable applying it to another point in Poesie no lesse curious then their rithme or numerositie which in deede passed the whole verse throughout, whereas our concordes keepe but the latter end of euery verse, or perchaunce the middle and the end in metres that be long.

  CHAP.  VI.

Of accent, time and stir perceiued euidently in the distinction of mans voice, and which makes the flowing of a meeter.

Nowe because we haue spoken of accent, time and stirre or motion in wordes, we will set you downe more at large what they be.  The auncient Greekes and Latines by reason their speech fell out originally to be fashioned with words of many syllables for the most part, it was of necessity that they could not vtter euery sillable with one like and egall sounde, nor in like space of time, nor with like motion or agility:  but that one must be more suddenly and quickely forsaken, or longer pawsed vpon then another:  or sounded with a higher note & clearer voyce then another, and of necessitie this diuersitie of sound, must fall either vpon the last sillable, or vpon the last saue one, or vpon the third and could not reach higher to make any notable difference; it caused them