_The dífference 'twíxt | the cóvetous ánd the pródigal._ Staple of News, I. iii. 39.
These licences often give to his verse an uneven and rugged rhythm.
There are only slight differences from Shakespeare's usage with regard to the caesura, inversion of accent, &c. Run-on lines, as well as rhyme and the use of prose, are common in his plays; some of his comedies are almost entirely written in prose.
§ =174.= In =Fletcher=, on the contrary, run-on lines, rhymed verses, and prose are exceedingly rare.
Feminine and gliding endings, however (sometimes of three, and even of four supernumerary syllables), are often used; in some plays even more often than masculine ones. (For specimens cf. § 91.)
Feminine endings, combined with disyllabic or polysyllabic first thesis, are common; now and then we find epic caesuras or other theses in the interior of the line:
_They are too hígh a méat that wáy, | they rún to jelly._ Loyal Subj. I. i. 371.
_A cóach and four hórses | cánnot dráw me fróm it._ ib. III. ii. 361.
_Thís was hard fórtune; | but íf alíve and táken._ Hum. Lieut, I. i. 7.
_You máy surpríse them éasily; | they wéar no pístols._ Loyal Subj. I. ii. 314.
It deserves particular notice that in such feminine endings or epic caesuras, where the superfluous thesis consists of one monosyllabic word, this very often has something of a subordinate accent:
_And lét sóme létters | tó that énd be féign'd tòo._ Mad Lov. III. 268.
_That spírits háve no séxes, | I belíeve nòt._ ib. 272.
_You múst look wondrous sád tòo.-- | I néed not lóok sò._ ib. V. iii. 105.
The following passage from _The Maid's Tragedy_[165] shows the character of Fletcher's rhythms:
Mel. _Fórce my swoll'n héart no fúrther; | Í would sáve thee. Your gréat maintáiners áre not hére, | they dáre not: 'Wóuld they were áll, and árm'd! | I wóuld speak lóud; Here's óne should thúnder tó them! | will you téll me? Thou hást no hópe to 'scápe; | Hé that dares móst, And dámns awáy his sóul | to dó thee sérvice, Wíll sóoner fetch méat | fróm a húngry líon, Than cóme to réscue thée; | thou'st déath abóut thee. Who hás undóne thine hónour, | póison'd thy vírtue, Ánd, of a lóvely róse, | léft thee a cánker?_
Mel. _Dó, whose chíld thou wért, Whose hónour thóu hast múrder'd, | whose gráve open'd And só pull'd ón the góds, | thát in their jústice They múst restóre him | flésh agáin, | and lífe, And ráise his drý bònes | tó revénge his scándal._