As such I lik’d, as such caress’d,

She still was constant when possess’d,

She could do more for no man.

For examples of other similar stanzas (a4 b3 a4 b3 c c b3, a4 b3 a4 b3 C C3 C5, a3 b4 a3 b4 c c c4, a4 b ~2 a4 b ~2 c c a4, &c.) see Metrik, ii, §§ 404–6.

§ 276. Eight-lined stanzas of various kinds are also very popular. They rarely occur, however, with an isometrical frons, composed of rhyming couplets (a a b b c c d5 d3, a ~ a ~ b ~ b ~4 C ~ C ~2 d ~ d ~4, a a b b c c d4 d5; cf. Metrik, ii, §§ 408, 410); or with enclosing rhymes in the cauda (a a b b c d d4 c5, a a b b4 c d4 d2 c4, ib. § 409); or of an anisometrical structure with parallel rhymes in both parts (ib. § 411).

The usual forms show crossed rhymes; either throughout the whole stanza (in which case the first part is isometrical), or in the first part only. The first form is represented by the following elegant stanza (a b a b5 c4 d ~3 c4 d ~3) in the second of Drayton’s Eclogues (Poets, iii. 590):

Upon a bank with roses set about,

Where turtles oft sit joining bill to bill,

And gentle springs steal softly murm’ring out,