If we take the first quarto of _Friar Bacon_ as we find it, we shall
see that some of the peculiarities in verse structure are mannerisms
with which every student of contemporary drama is familiar, and that
others may be justified as intended for rhythmical and dramatic
expressiveness. These considerations convince me that it is best to
leave the versification--and consequently most of the text--as it was
in 1594.
=A. Accent.=--1. Greene makes frequent use of the _stress-syllable
opening_.--Sometimes for emphasis as in
ii. 49. Bów to the fórce of his pentágerón; and in vi. 28, 35, 45, 58.
Sometimes for the tripping effect, as in many of the lines assigned to
Margaret, _e.g._ iii. 10, 13, 15, 21, 30, 31; and in lines expressive
of the blithe, or the beautiful, such as i. 14, 15, 56, 60, 75, 81.
Such stress-syllable openings are frequently counterbalanced by an
anapæstic second or third foot; occasionally by two anapæsts, as in
vi. 58. Lácie, love mákes no excéption of a friend;
xii. 56. Híe thee to Frésingfield and bring hóme the lásse.
2. The stress syllable is used also to open the verse-section after the
pause, _e.g._:--
i. 78. She túrned her smócke | óver her lilly ármes; and in iii. 7.
But 'over,' 'safely,' might be read with the hovering accent. So xvi.
21 ('prìncès'). Methods (1) and (2) appear to be combined in
iii. 79. Máke but a stép | ínto the keépers lódge; and in iii. 81,
iv. 5, vi. 138.
3. The extra syllable is adroitly used before the verse-section (the
_epic cæsura_) as a compensation for the stress-syllable opening:--
ii. 156. Maíster Búrd_en_ | whèn shàll we sée you at Hénley?
xiv. 47. (Pégg_ie_ | thy daúghter, etc.), and vi. 58 as above
(Lác_ie_ | lòve màkes).