Únder his bélt he bár ful thríftilý.
Wél koude he drésse his tákel yémanlý; &c.
Chauc. Prol. ll. 101–6.
Rhyme-breaking may, of course, also take place in other metres, as e.g. in four-foot iambic verses:
Which hópe I kéep full súre in mé,
As hé, that áll my cómfort ís.
On yóu alone, which áre my blíss, &c.
Surrey, pp. 79–80.
Chapman, in his translation of Homer, often uses it in Septenary verses as well as in five-foot iambic verses. In certain stanzas rhyme-breaking at particular places is a strict rule, as e.g. in the Rhyme-Royal stanza (a b a b . b c c), in the ballade-stanza of eight lines (a b a b . b c b c), and also between the two quatrains of the regular Italian sonnet.
On the other hand this licence is rare in the works of the poets of the eighteenth century who wrote under French influence, and in modern times (especially at the present day) it seems to be rather avoided than intentionally admitted.