§ =273.= As mentioned before (§ 267) the anisometrical stanzas of the tripartite class, being older, might have been dealt with before the isometrical stanzas. This chronological order of treatment, however, would have been somewhat inconvenient in practice, as it would have involved the necessity of discussing many of the more complicated stanzas before the shorter and simpler ones, most of which do not occur in Middle English, but in Modern poetry only. Moreover, the absence of certain simple and short forms of stanza constructed in accordance with the principles which were generally adopted in the Middle English period is a purely accidental circumstance, which is liable at any moment to be altered by the discovery of new texts. In the following paragraphs, therefore, the stanzas belonging to this chapter are discussed according to their arrangement of rhymes and to the length of the lines of which they are composed. We begin with certain =stanzas of six lines=, the first part (the _frons_ or 'upsong') of which is isometrical, the arrangement of rhymes being parallel. A pretty stanza with the scheme _a a b b₃ c c₄_ presents itself in the song _The Fairy Queen_ (Percy's _Rel_. III. ii. 26): _Come, follow, follow me, You, fairy elves that be: Which circle on the greene, Come, follow Mab, your queene, Hand in hand let's dance around, For this place is fairye ground._ For similar stanzas conforming to the schemes _a a b b₄ c c₅_, _a a b b c₄ c₅_, _a a b b c ~ c ~₅_, _a a b b₆ c ~ c ~₅_, _a a b b c₄ c₃_ (in Moore, _The Wandering Bard_), &c., see _Metrik_, ii, § 389. Another group is represented by stanzas of six rhyming couplets of unequal length, as _a₅ a₄ b₅ b₄ c₅ c₄_ (Sidney, _Psalm XXXIX_), _a₆ a₃ b₆ b₃ c₆ c₃_ (id. _Psalm II_); or _a₅ a₂ b₅ b₂ c c₅_, _a₄ a₅ b₄ b₅ c c₄_, frequently used by Herbert and Cowley, or _a₅ a₄ b b₃ c₅ c₄_, _a a b₄ b₃ c c₄_ (in Moore, _St. Senanus and the Lady_), the two _pedes_ enclosing the _cauda_ (cf. _Metrik_, ii, §§ 390-2). Similar stanzas with crossed rhymes occur pretty often, especially stanzas of three Septenary verses broken up by inserted rhyme, according to the formula _a₄ b ~₃ a₄ b ~₃ a₄ b ~₃_, as in Moore, _The Gazelle_: _Dost thou not hear the silver bell, Thro' yonder lime-trees ringing? 'Tis my lady's light gazelle, To me her love-thoughts bringing,-- All the while that silver bell Around his dark neck ringing_. For other specimens see _Metrik_, ii, § 393. § =274.= More popular are stanzas of a more distinctly tripartite character, formed on the scheme _a b a b c c_ (which occurs also in the isometrical group). These stanzas are used in many various forms, as e. g. one in Cowper, _Olney Hymns_ (p. 25), like _a b a b₃ c c₄_: