"pause-extra-syllable" rarely a monosyllable except in Henry VIII.
The extra syllable is very rarely a monosyllable, still more rarely an emphatic monosyllable. The reason is obvious. Since in English we have no enclitics, the least emphatic monosyllables will generally be prepositions and conjunctions. These carry the attention forward instead of backward, and are therefore inconsistent with a pause, and besides to some extent emphatic. The fact that in Henry VIII., and in no other play of Shakespeare's, constant exceptions are found to this rule, seems to me a sufficient proof that Shakespeare did not write that play. “Go gíve | 'em wél | come; yóu | can spéak | the Frénchtongue.” Hen. VIII. i. 4. 57. “Féll by | our sérv | ants, by | those mén | we lóv'd most.” Ib. ii. 1. 122. “Be súre | you bé | not lóose; | for thóse | you máke
friends.” Hen. VIII. ii. 1. 127. “To sí | lence én | vious tóngues. | Be júst | and feár not.” Ib. iii. 2. 447. So Hen. VIII. ii. 1. 67, 78, 97; and seven times in iii. 2. 442-451; eight times in iv. 2. 51-80. Even where the extra syllable is not a monosyllable it occurs so regularly, and in verses of such a measured cadence, as almost to give the effect of a trochaic1 line with an extra syllable at the beginning, thus: “In || áll my | míser | íes; but | thóu hast | fórced me
Out || óf (457a) thy | hónest | trúth to | pláy the | wóman.
Let's || drý our | éyes:and | thús far | héar me, | Crómwell:
And || whén 1 | ám for- | gótten, | ás I | sháll be,
And || sléep in | dúll cold | márble | whére no | méntion
Of || mé must | móre be | héard of, | sáy I | táught thee.
Say, || Wólsey, | thát once | tród the | wáys of | glóry
And || sóunded | áll the | dépths and | shóals of | hónour,
Found || thée a | wáy, out | óf (457 a) his | wréck, to | ríse in
A || súre and | sáfe one, | thóugh thy | máster | míssed it.” Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 430-9. It may be safely said that this is not Shakespearian. "Boy" is unaccented and almost redundant in “I párt | ly knów | the mán: | go cáll | him híther, boy.” (Folio) Rich. III. iv. 2. 41. (Hither, a monosyllable, see 189.) And even here the Globe is, perhaps, right in taking "Boy exit" to be a stage direction. In “Bíd him | make háste | and meét | me át | the Nórth
gate,” T. G. of V. iii. 1. 258. "gate" is an unemphatic syllable in "Nórthgate," like our "Néwgate." So “My mén | should cáll | me lórd: | I ám | yoúr good-man.” T. of Sh. Ind. 2. 107. “A hált | er grát | is: nó | thing élse, | for Gód's-sake.” M. of V. iv. 1. 379. "Parts," like "sides," is unemphatic, and "both" is strongly emphasized, in “Ráther | to shów | a nób | le gráce | to bóth parts.” Coriol. v. 3. 121. So "out" is emphatic in “We'll háve | a swásh | ing ánd | a márt | ial oútside.” A. Y. L. i. 3. 122. The 's for "is" is found at the end of a line in “Perceive I speak sincerely, and high note's
Ta'en of your many virtues.” Hen. VIII. ii. 3. 59.
