_For mány a mán | so hárd is óf his hérte._ Chauc. Prol. 229.
_Nowhér so bísy a mán | as hé ther nás._ ib. 321.
_Wél coude she cárie a mórsel | ánd wel képe._ ib. 130.
_With múchel glórie | and grét solémpnitée._ id. Kn. T. 12.
_Oh! háppy are théy | that háve forgíveness gótt._ Wyatt 211.
_My kíng, my cóuntry I séek, | for whóm I líve._ ib. 173.
_Sórry am Í | to héar what Í have héard._ Shakesp. 2 Henry VI, II. i. 193.
In cases like these it cannot be supposed that there is actual elision of a syllable, by which _many a_, _busy a_, _carie a_, _glorie and_, _happy are_, _country I_, _sorry am_, would be reduced to regular disyllabic feet. In several of the instances such an assumption is forbidden not only by the indistinctness of pronunciation which it would involve, but also by the caesura.
Further, we find both in Middle and in Modern English poetry many examples of similar sequences in which there is neither elision nor slurring, the syllable ending with a vowel forming the thesis, and the following syllable beginning with a vowel forming the arsis. Hiatus of this kind has always been perfectly admissible in English verse.
_And yít he wás but ésy óf dispénse._ Chaucer, Prol. 441.
_Mówbray's síns so héavy ín his bósom._ Shakesp. Rich. II, I. ii. 50.
§ =109.= The second possibility, viz. complete amalgamation of two syllables, may occur if a word with an initial vowel or _h_ is preceded by a monosyllabic word, standing in thesis, e.g. _th'estat_, _th'array_ Chauc. Prol. 716; _th'ascendent_ ib. 117; _t'allege_ (_to allege_) Kn. T. 2142; _nys_ (_ne ys_) ib. 43. Even in Modern English poetry such contractions occur rather frequently: _Th'altar_ Sur. 118; _t'assay_ Wyatt 157; _N'other_ ib. 21; often also the words are written in full, although the first vowel is metrically slurred or elided: _the<->ónly darling_ Shakesp. All's Well, II. i. 110. Yet in all such cases the entire loss of the syllable must not be assumed unless the distinctness of the pronunciation--which must be the only guide in such matters, not the silent reading with the eyes--be sufficiently preserved.[137]
Accordingly words like _the_, _to_ are not so often contracted with the following word, as _ne_, the amalgamation of which, with the verb to which it belongs, is in accordance with normal Middle English usage: _nas_ = _ne was_, _nil_ = _ne wil_, _nolde_ = _ne wolde_, _noot_ = _ne woot_, _niste_ = _ne wiste_, e.g.: