Yet endless pretexts, ever fresh prefers,
Perverts her senses, revels when she errs,
Sneers when she weeps, regrets, repents she fell;
When deep revenged, reseeks the nether hell!”
“That is not alliteration, exactly,” observed Marcus, “as the words do not begin with the same letter. I should call it a sort of ‘task poetry.’ By the way, Kate, did you ever see a little task poem that old George Herbert wrote?” and taking down a volume from the book-case, he turned to the following lines, in which it will be seen, the rhyming words are obtained by dropping a letter from the last word of the preceding line:
“Inclose me still, for fear I start,
Be to me rather sharp and tart,
Than let me want thy hand and art.
“Such sharpness shows the sweetest friend,
Such cuttings rather heal than rend,