"First-born of Chaos! who so fair didst come From the old Negro's darksome Womb: Which, when it saw the lovely Child, The melancholy Mass put on kind Looks and smil'd."
But these stanzas are generally in alternate rhyme, and the verses either consist of ten syllables; as,
"She ne'er saw Courts, but Courts could have undone With untaught Looks and an unpractis'd Heart: Her nets the most prepar'd could never shun; For Nature spread them in the scorn of Art."—_Davenant._
"Had Echo with so sweet a Grace, Narcissus loud Complaint return'd: Not for Reflection of his Face, But of his Voice the Boy had burn'd."—_Waller._
Or of ten and eight, that is to say, the first and third of ten, the second and fourth of eight; as,
"Love from Time's Wings has stol'n the Feathers sure He has, and put them to his own: For Hours of late as long as Days endure, And very Minutes Hours are grown."—_Cowley._
Or of eight and six in the like manner; as,
"Then ask not Bodies doom'd to die, To what Abode they go: Since Knowledge is but Sorrow's Spy, 'Tis better not to know."—_Davenant._
"Not the silver Doves that fly, Yoak'd in Cythera's Car; Nor the Wings that lift so high, And convey her Son so far, Are so lovely sweet and fair, Or do more ennoble Love; Are so choicely match'd a Pair, Or with more consent do move."—_Waller._
_Note._—That it is absolutely necessary that both the construction and sense should end with the stanza, and not fall into the beginning of the following one as it does in the last example, which is a fault wholly to be avoided.
SECTION III.—_Of the stanzas of six verses._
The stanzas of six verses are generally only one of the before-mentioned quadrans or stanzas of four verses, with two verses at the end, that rhyme to one another; as,
"A rural Judge dispos'd of Beauty's Prize, A simple Shepherd was preferr'd to Jove: Down to the Mountains from the Partial Skies, Came Juno, Pallas, and, the Queen of Love, To plead for that which was so justly giv'n, To the bright Carlisle of the Courts of Heaven."
Where the four first verses are only a quadran, and consist of ten syllables, each in alternate rhyme.
The following stanza, in like manner, is composed of a quadran, whose verses consist of eight syllables, and to which two verses that rhyme to one another are added to the end; as,