Both kýng with crówne | and bárons of bírthe,
That rádly wylle równe, | many gréatt gríthe
Shalle be hápp;
Take ténderly intént
What sóndes ar sént,
Els hármes shall ye hént
And lóthes you to lap.
In this form of stanza the different groups of lines or even single lines are frequently, as e.g. in the so-called Processus Noe (the Play of the Flood), very skilfully divided between several persons taking part in the dialogue. The interlaced rhyme in the long lines connects it with the stanza form of the lyric poem quoted above ([p. 100]), and the form of the ‘cauda’ relates it to that of the lyric poem quoted ([p. 101]), and in this respect is identical with that of The Pistill of Susan.
The rhythmic treatment of the verses is, both with regard to the relation between rhyme and the remnants of alliteration and to the use of the Middle English types of verse, on the whole the same as was described in §§ 62–4 treating of this form of verse in narrative poetry. The types A and A1, B C and B C1, are chiefly met with; now and then, however, type C1 also occurs in the second hemistich, as e.g. in the verses that wold vówch sáyf 172, of the tént máyne 487, wille com agáne sóne 488, of the Play of the Flood mentioned above.
But in the ‘cauda’ the difference explained in § 65 between first and second short lines forming the close of a stanza is often very regularly observed.