334 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [July 
Any one of the lines may be doubled. The first line instead of the third is 
doubled in the following :— 
I wandered in a lonely glade. 
Where, issuing from the forest shade, 
A little mountain stream 
Along the winding valley play’d, 
Beneath the morning beam. 
This form is not so common as the one where the third line is doubled ; 
usually, when the first is doubled, the third is doubled also :— 
This mayden in a morne betime 
.Went forth, when May was in her prime, 
To get sweet cetywall, 
The honeysuckle, the harlocke, 
The lilly and the lady-smock, 
To deck her summer hall. 
Here the five-lined stanza, by an extra doubling, becomes six-lined—quite 
a different stanza from the Ballad six quoted above. The doubling of 
the fourth line, whilst not so commonly met, is yet familiar, chiefly 
through a song by Suckling :— 
Why so pale and wan, fond lover, 
Prithee why so pale ? 
Will, when looking well can’t move her, , 
Looking ill prevail ? 
Prithee why so pale ? 
It is not necessary to quote more: it will readily be seen that the 
doubling of one, two, or three lines in this way is productive of quite a 
variety of stanzas, all springing from the simple four-lined stanza. And, 
once one is familiar with the idea of the lines being doubled, one is not 
so startled to find them trebled :— 
Old Chaucer doth of Topas tell, 
And Rabelais of Pantagruel, 
A later third of Dowsabel 
With such like trifles playing ; 
Others the like have laboured at, 
Some of this thing and some of that, 
And many of that they, know not what, 
But that they must be saying. 
Here the breath is given a chance, if desired. The trebling has resulted 
in a couplet followed by a Ballad verse, and a breath may be taken after 
the couplet. It will be found, however, that the verse runs better if the 
four lines are taken in one breath ; and this can quite easily be done, 
for the ordinary verse, whilst an average, is a very low average. Will 
it now cause surprise if it is said that the line may be quadrupled ? 
It is done, but rarely. In the following the first line is trebled, the 
third quadrupled 
Soon did they meet a joyful throng, 
Their gay companions blithe and young ; 
Each joins the dance, each joins the song, 
To hail the happy pair. 
What two were e’er so fond as they ? 
All bless the kind propitious day, 
The smiling morn and blooming May, 
When lovely Jenny ran away 
With Jockey to the fair. 
