Even where a final _-e_ is written in the above extract, it is wholly
silent. The words _ware_ (were), _are_ (are), _myne_, _thine_, _toke_,
_made_, _brede_, _hende_, _ende_, are all monosyllabic; and in fact
the large number of monosyllabic words is very striking. The words
_onesprute_, _forcome_, _foryhelde_ are, in like manner, dissyllabic.
The only suffixes that count in the scansion are _-en_, _-ed_, and
_-es_; as in _sam-en_, _skat'r-{`e}d_, _drev-{`e}d_, _hat-{`e}d_, etc.,
and _arw-{`e}s_, _well-{`e}s_, _watr-{`e}s_, etc. The curious form
_sal_, for "shall," is a Northern characteristic. So also is the
form _hende_ as the plural of "hand"; the Southern plural was often
_hond-en_, and the Midland form was _hond-{`e}s_ or _hand-{`e}s_. Note
also the characteristic long _a_; as in _swa_ for _swo_, so; _gast_,
ghost; _fra_, fro; _faas_, foes. It was pronounced like the _a_ in
_father_.
A much longer specimen of the _Metrical English Psalter_ will be
found in _Specimens of Early English_, ed. Morris and Skeat, Part II,
pp. 23-34, and is easily accessible. In the same volume, the Specimens
numbered VII, VIII, X, XI, and XVI are also in Northumbrian, and can
easily be examined.
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