Glad Mars sent by Mercury orders express,
To summon the deities all to a treat:
Blithe Comus was plac’d
And freely declar’d there was choice of good cheer;
Yet vow’d to his thinking,
For exquisite drinking,
Their nectar was nothing to Newcastle beer.
For examples of many similar forms, e.g. a b a b c c d e e4 d3, a5 b b4 a5 c c d e e d3, a b a b4 c c2 d4 e ~ e ~2 d4, a b a b4 c c2 d3 e e2 d3, a b a b3 c ~ c ~1 d3 e ~ e ~1 d2, see Metrik, ii, § 431
§ 281. Stanzas of this kind with an anisometrical first part occur in the Middle English period: e.g. in Wright’s Spec. of Lyr. Poetry, p. 83, on the scheme a4 b ~3 a4 b ~3 c c4 d ~3 e e4 d ~3: