_Ha, há, now Lúst and Líking is my náme. Í am =f=résh as =f=lówers in Máy, Í am =s=émly-=s=hápen ín =s=áme, And =p=róudly a=pp=áreled in =g=árments =g=áy: My =l=óoks been full =l=óvely to a =l=ády's eye, And in =l=óve-=l=ónging my héart is sore sét. Might I =f=índ a =f=óode that were =f=áir and =f=rée To lie in héll till dómsday for =l=óve I would not =l=ét, My =l=óve for to wín, All =g=áme and =g=lée, All =m=írth and =m=élody, All rével and ríot, And of =b=óast will I never =b=lín_, &c.
In Skelton's _Magnificence_ the short lines rhyme in couplets like those of _King Horn_, in a passage taken from p. 257 (part of which may be quoted here):
_Nowe lét me se abóut, In áll this rówte, Yf I cán fynde óut So sémely a snówte Amónge this prése: Éven a hole mése-- Péase, man, péase! I réde, we séase. So farly fáyre as it lókys, And her bécke so comely crókys, Her naylys shárpe as tenter hókys! I haue not képt her yet thre wókys And howe stýll she dothe sýt!_ &c., &c.
In other poems Skelton uses short lines of two beats, but rhyming in a varied order under the influence, it would seem, of the strophic system of the virelay, which rhymes in the order _a a a b b b b c c c c d_. But the succession of rhymes is more irregular in the Skeltonic metre, as e. g. in the passage:
_What cán it auáyle To drýue fórth a snáyle, Or to máke a sáyle Of an hérynges táyle; To rýme or to ráyle, To wrýte or to endýte, Eyther for delýte, Or élles for despýte; Or bókes to compýle Of dívers maner stýle_, &c. Colin Cloute (i. 311).
In other cases short bob-lines of one beat only interchange with two-beat rhythms, as e.g. in Skelton's poem _Caudatos Anglos_ (i. 193):
_Gup, Scót, Ye blót: Laudáte Caudáte, Sét in bétter Thy péntaméter. This Dúndás, This Scóttishe ás, He rýmes and ráyles That Énglishman have táyles. Skeltónus laureátus, Ánglicus nátus, Próvocat Músas Cóntra Dúndas Spurcíssimum Scótum Úndique nótum_, &c.
The mingling of Latin and English lines, as in this passage, is one of the characteristic features of the Skeltonic verse.
In some passages, as e.g. in the humorous poems _Phyllyp Sparowe_ and _Elinour Rummyng_, the three-beat rhythm seems to prevail. In such cases it probably developed out of the two-beat rhythm in the same way as in _King Horn_.