They occur, on the other hand, very frequently in Modern English, especially with parallel rhymes on the scheme a a a a4 B C2 in The Old and Young Courtier (Percy’s Rel. II. iii. 8):
An old song made by an aged-old pate,
Of an old worshipful gentleman, who had a greate estate,
That kept a brave old house at a bountiful rate,
And an old porter to relieve the poor at his gate;
Like an old courtier of the queen’s,
And the queen’s old courtier.
For specimens of other stanzas, the rhymes of which are arranged in a similar way (according to a5 a a b b4 b5, or with partly enclosing rhymes, as a5 b b b b3 a5, a a b b b4 a2, a a4 b b b a2, &c.), see Metrik, ii, § 340.
Forms based upon the tail-rhyme stanza are very popular; of great importance is the entwined form on a Provençal model (cf. Bartsch, Provenzalisches Lesebuch, p. 46) which was imitated in Middle English poetry. It corresponds to the scheme a a a4 b3 a4 b3 and gives the impression, according to Wolf in his book, Über die Lais, &c., p. 230, note 67, that the second part of a common tail-rhyme stanza is inserted into the first, though it is also possible that it may have been formed from the extended tail-rhyme stanza a a a4 b3 a a a4 b3 by shortening the second part by two chief verses. The first stanza of a poem in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 94, may serve as a specimen:
Ase y me rod þis ender day,