The regular introduction of rime was, no doubt, attended by the gradual loss of alliteration, which would cease to be significant as marking the verse accent, since it could hardly be made to fall regularly on the same syllable with the rime, and would hence be merely an unorganic adornment of the verse. As the position of the two verse accents came to be a fixed one, there seems to have been a tendency by raising some of the syllables bearing merely a logical stress, to rhythmic importance, thus to bring about a verse with regular measure.
The most natural products of this development are the two types: (1) with three accents and feminine rime, the natural product of the OE. A, D, and C metrical types, (2) with four accents and masculine rime, the natural product of the OE. B and E types. These forms of verse were very similar, as Schipper has pointed out (as above, § 39), to two popular Romance forms of verse--namely: the first form, three accents with feminine ending, to the half verses of the Alexandrine; and the second form, four accents with masculine ending, to the verses of the short riming couplets and to the first member of the septenar. The development toward regular measure, which had its origin as explained above, was furthered by the influence of the Romance and Mediæval Latin forms of verse. In certain ME. poems, notably the _Bestiary_, there are to be found verses constructed regularly after Romance or Mediæval Latin models along with native forms in all the stages of development:
1. His muð is yet wel unkuð Wið _pater noster_ and crede; Faren he norð, er fare he suð Leren he sal his nede. vv. 112-15.
2. Ðe mire muneð us Mete to tilen, Longe liuenoðe, ðis little wile. vv. 273-6. Ðe leun stant on hille And he man hunten here. vv. 1-2.
The native forms must have been influenced by this close association with foreign forms.
To these conditions and to this course of development we must probably attribute the origin of the versification in King Horn. The rime has become a regular and essential element, the alliteration, a rare and unessential element in the verse. The forms mark a transitional stage in development, but are more closely related to the new than to the old. There has been a half-hearted attempt to introduce regularity of measure, but the rhythm of the OE. types has still influenced the ear of the composer. The most frequent verse form is the one with three accents and feminine rime, about 1300 verses (Schipper). This is developed from the OE. through a stronger accent on one of the original theses; e.g., _king he was biweste so longe so hit laste_, vv. 5, 6 C, where the measure has been developed from the OE. #A.# type through stronger stress on _was_ and _so_ respectively. Sometimes the original OE. #A.# type is preserved; e.g., _Hi slóȝen and fúȝten þe níȝt and þe úȝten_, 1473-4 C. But that this was not considered normal is shown by the fact that the other two texts, #L# and #H#, have made these two verses quoted, fit into the new normal form, by adding a new syllable in each verse, so that we have in MS. L, _He smýten ánd he foúten þe nýȝt and éke þe oúȝten_, vv. 1473-4 L. Cf. also H. The next most frequent type is the one with four accents and masculine rime; e.g., _Here sone hauede to name horn; Feyrer child ne micte ben born_, 9, 10 L. Less frequent types are; that with three accents and masculine ending, e.g., _þu art gret and strong, Fair and euene long_, 99-100 C; and that with four accents and feminine rime, e.g., _To deþe he hem alle broȝte, His fader deþ wel dere hi boȝte_, 951-2 C (but cf. #L# and #H#, which have more normal forms).