Contractions of another kind--partly to be explained by negligent colloquial pronunciation--are: _ta'en_ (=_taken_) Wyatt 182; _I'll_ (=_I will_) Shak. Tempest, II. ii. 419; _carry 'em_ (=_carry them_) id. 2 Hen. VI, I. iv. 76, &c.; _Ma(d)am_ id. Gent. II. i. 6; _in's_ (=_in his_), _doff_ (=_do off_), _dout_ (=_do out_), _o' the_ (=_of the_), _w'us_ (=_with us_), _let's_ (=_let us_), _thou'rt_ (=_thou art_), &c., &c.
Finally, we have to mention the apocopation, for metrical reasons, of unaccented prefixes, as _'bove_ (_above_), _'cause_ (_because_), _'longs_ (_belongs_), &c., which on the whole cannot easily be misunderstood.[139]
§ =112=. A contrast to these various forms of shortening is presented by the =lengthening= of words for metrical purposes, which we have already in part discussed in the preceding chapter (see for examples § 87). Disyllabic words are made trisyllabic by inserting an _e_ (or rarely _i_) between mute and liquid, e.g., _wond_(_e_)_rous_, _pilg_(_e_)_rim_, _count_(_e_)_ry_, _breth_(_e_)_ren_, _ent_(_e_)_rance_, _child(e)ren_, _Eng_(_e_)_land_, _troub_(_e_)_lous_, _light_(_e_)_ning_, _short_(_e_)_ly_, _jugg_(_e_)_ler_, &c.[140]
Among the monosyllabic words or accented endings of words which admit of a disyllabic pronunciation for the sake of metre we have mainly to consider such as have a diphthong in their root, as _our_, _sour_, _devour_, _hour_, _desire_, _fire_, _ire_, _sire_, _hire_, _squire_, _inquire_, &c., or such as approach diphthongal pronunciation and therefore admit of being treated as disyllables, e.g., _dear_, _fear_, _hear_, _near_, _tear_, _clear_, _year_. The disyllabic use of words of the latter class is very rare, though a striking example is afforded by the rhyme _see her: clear_ Mrs. Browning, iii, p. 57. Some other words, phonetically analogous to these, but popularly apprehended as containing a simple long vowel, as _fair_, _fare_, _are_, _here_, _there_, _rare_, _sphere_, _were_, _more_, _door_, _your_, are added to the list by Abbott, but with doubtful correctness (cf. _Metrik_, ii. 115-17).
[133] In the reading of the Bible and Liturgy the older syllabic pronunciation of certain endings is still common, and it is occasionally heard in sermons, where a more elevated and poetical kind of diction is admissible than would be used in secular oratory.