Practical Guide to English Versification / With a Compendious Dictionary of Rhymes, an Examination / of Classical Measures, and Comments Upon Burlesque and / Comic Verse, Vers de Société, and Song-writing

by Tom Hood

Thou hadst a Being ere the World was made, }

And (well fix'd) art alone of ending not afraid."—Rochester. }

Or else they consist of eight syllables; as these of Waller, "Of a fair lady playing with a snake,"

"Strange that such Horror and such Grace }

Should dwell together in one Place, }

A Fairy's Arm, an Angel's Face." }

Nor do the verses of the stanzas always contain a like number of syllables; for the first and third may have ten, the second but eight; as,

"Men without Love have oft so cunning grown, }

That something like it they have shown, }

But none who had it, ever seem'd t'have none." }