Rhyme is a likeness or uniformity of sound in the terminations of two words. I say of sound, not of letters; for the office of rhyme being to content and please the ear, and not the eye, the sound only is to be regarded, not the writing: thus maid and persuade, laugh and quaff, though they differ in writing, rhyme very well: but plough and cough, though their terminations are written alike, rhyme not at all.
In our versification we may observe three several sorts of rhyme: single, double, and treble.
The single rhyme is of two sorts: one, of the words that are accented on the last syllable; another, of those that have their accent on the last save two.
The words accented on the last syllable, if they end in a consonant, or mute e, oblige the rhyme to begin at the vowel that precedes their last consonant, and to continue to the end of the word. In a consonant; as,
"Here might be seen, the Beauty, Wealth, and Wit,
And Prowess, to the Pow'r of Love submit."
—Dryden.
In mute e; as,
"A Spark of Virtue, by the deepest Shade
Of sad Adversity, is fairer made."