of the German and Arabic guttural, which is unknown to all the other languages in which Latin roots predominate.

The ancient Castilian poetry was closely allied to the Portuguese and Galician, but distinctly separated from the Limosin or Catalan. The troubadours, it is true, chanted their lays at the court of Castile; but the national taste preferred different accents and other metrical combinations: in short, it was accustomed to another species of poetry of its own creation. The old Castilian poetry was more popular and strictly national than either the Provençal or the Italian. It was not made for recitation in courtly circles, in the presence of lords and ladies; but it arose amidst the clang of arms, it was taught by mothers to their children, and was fostered by constantly-repeated narrations of warlike feats and love adventures. The poems called romances took their name from the national language; and it is probable that this designation was at first given to all kinds of amatory and heroic ballads. But though the Castilians did not mark with critical precision the limits of different species of poetry, they very carefully distinguished several kinds of measure and forms of rhyme widely different from the Provençal and Limosin.

The redondilla was the most peculiarly national metre in use among them. This verse consists of four trochaic feet, and as no great attention was paid either to the rhyme or the distinction between long and short syllables, almost any one could compose ballads of this sort. Every one, therefore, who either witnessed or shared an adventure, endeavoured to give it traditional circulation in verse. Line followed line without constraint; the expression of gallantry or heroism flowing with careless freedom, as feeling gave it birth. But when romantic sentiments were to be clothed in a popular lyrical dress, it was deemed better to introduce divisions and periods, in order to exhibit the playful turns of thought under more pleasing forms. This gave rise to regular strophes or coplas.

In

In the earliest specimens of Castilian poetry there is a manifest preference for a single sonorous and unvarying rhyme appearing prominently throughout all the verses of a long romance. some compositions, pairs of rhymeless verses glide amidst a variety of rhymed ones. But at a later period, it was considered an improvement to substitute imperfect for perfect rhymes; that is, sounds echoing the same vowel, but not the same final consonant in the terminating syllables. This was called assonance, in opposition to consonance. It is quite peculiar to the Peninsula, and seems to have been even more pleasing to the Spaniards than the perfect jingle, though not satisfactory to the English ear. The following is a Moorish romance in redondillas, with the assonance i and e in most of the final syllables :

'He the thunderbolt of battle,
He the first Alferez titled,
Who as courteous is as valiant,
And the noblest as the fiercest;
He who by our youths is envied,
Honoured by our ancient maidens,
By our youths, by crowds distinguished,
By a thousand pointed fingers;
He beloved by fairest damsels
For discretion and politeness;
Cherished son of time and fortune,
Bearing all their gifts divinest;
He, who garlanded Mezquitas
With the trophies of the vanquished;
He, who peopled our Mazmorras *
With such crowds of Christian prisoners,
Who already twice has armed him
Less with steel than courage girded,
And his country from its perils
Has already twice delivered;
He, the proud Abenzulema
To his distant exile driven,
There invited by his monarch,
Or perchance by love invited;
For the Moor adored a Mooress,
One for whom the king had sighed,
Far beyond idea lovely,

And discreet beyond idea.

Some few flowers the lady gave him,
Flowers to him the sweetest, brightest,
But for the too-jealous monarch
They were fruits of poisonous virtue,
And that poison worked within him.
From his court the Moor is driven,
His fidelity is questioned—
But the king's dishonour hidden.
Forth the noble Moor is coming
On a steed, the proudest, whitest;
He has drunk of Guadalquivir,
And upon its banks has idled,
Covered o'er with splendid trappings,
Moorish work the fairest, richest,
All adorned with gorgeous labour;
Black and gold the costly bridle,
And the steed stepped forth so proudly,
Pride and grace so well commingled,
That at every trace he measured
From the ground up to the girdle.

* Mazmorra-the subterranean dungeon of the Moors.

O'er his raven Moorish garment
His albornoz white is circled,
For they are becoming emblems,
Innocence and grief united;

Thousand lance-heads skirt the border,
Round his upper garment, written

In the 'language of Arabia,

"For my errors was inscribed.

On his head a dark-blue turban
Hanging o'er the side sinister,

Three black plumes towered proudly o'er him
In a precious jewel fixed.

Plumes, he mounted to betoken

That his fond desires were winged;
In the wind they still are waving,
Though from glory disunited;
Now he bears but his good sabre
By Toledo's monarch given.
Thus the valiant Moor departed;
Valiant and unbending still he
Journeyed then with Marmolejo's
And Arjona's swain Alcaides.
Many a knight is gathered round him,
All the people near him mingled;
And the ladies, as he journeyed,
Gave him looks the friendliest, kindest;
Many a briny tear is falling

From those eyes of beauty lighted;
Showers of fragrance fall upon him,
From the balconies then sprinkled;
Then the loveliest Balaxa,
Mourning in her deep retirement
O'er the monarch's desperate folly,
Her fair tresses strangely wildered,
Hearing such a loud confusion,
Sought the balcony, and listened;
Then in melancholy muteness
Uttered with a tongue of silence:
"Go in peace! thou'rt not abandoned;
Blessings still shall walk beside thee;
He who drives thee now from Jaen,
From my bosom cannot drive thee,
And against the monarch's baseness
In thy truth I will confide me."
Then he hastened on his journey,
Fixed his eyes upon the maiden,
Stole a hundred-thousand glances,
And to Andujar meekly hied he.'

-Retrospective Review.

The invention of redondillas was nearly contemporaneous with that of the dactylic stanza, called 'versos de arte mayor,' because it was considered an art of superior order. The attention paid to purity in the rhythm of the dactyls was even less than in that of the redondillas, and eleven or twelve syllables were dealt out with little regard to their respective lengths. With the improvement of poetic taste, however, these half-dancing, half-hobbling verses fell into disuse, while the redondillas maintained their popularity.

Besides the above, the sonnet form was known in Spain long before the imitation of Italian poetry was thought of. It was acquired probably through the Provençal poets, but it never became popular. Nor less adverse to the national taste was the long protracted Alexandrine, introduced by the monks in the thirteenth or perhaps even the twelfth century. It also soon sunk into disesteem.

POEM OF THE CID.

1150 A.D.

The Cid has long been received as the most ancient poetical monument of the Castilian language. The precise date of its composition, as well as the name of its author, is unknown; but it is generally attributed to the middle of the twelfth century, which is about fifty years after the death of the hero whose exploits it celebrates. If admitted as a fair specimen of the language of that period, it proves that though the Castilian was then in a very rude and ungrammatical state, it yet had its peculiar terminations, its flexions, its idioms; that it was easily recognisable as a dialect distinct from the Catalan and Galician, and that it was considered capable of serving as a literary vehicle.

The Cid, if allowed the name of an epic, is certainly the oldest to be found in any of the Romance languages, being 150 years anterior to the work of Dante. Besides being venerable for its antiquity, it is highly interesting on account of the faithful picture it presents of manners and character in the eleventh century. The blind obedience to kingly authority, the influence of the priests, the disorganized state of society, are strikingly developed; while over all there is thrown a spirit of rude devotion, manifesting itself in constant appeals to the Heavenly Creator, Holy Mary, Jesus, and the saints. Here is great vigour of language, a perpetual current of imposing events, a frequent display of bold and lively, though unpolished, portraits of individuals, and some pas

sages of touching interest. At the same time, it is universally admitted that this composition has little claim to the distinguishing features of poetry. The events are related in historic order; and scarcely a mark of invention, or anything like a flight of imagination, occurs in the whole. In this respect it differs strikingly from the poetry of the Arabs; while in its versification, which is barbarous in the extreme, it is equally unlike the songs of the troubadours. The author was evidently quite ignorant of prosody, and therefore composed his lines of fourteen, fifteen, or eighteen syllables as suited his purpose, without any anxiety to adapt his expressions to his metre. The rhyme also, wherever it occurs, is totally different from that of the Provençal poets, and presents us with that assonance or semi-rhyme which we have mentioned as peculiar to Spanish poetry. The assonants in the Cid, however, are very incomplete, and often unsatisfactory to the ear; and instead of the ever-changing and complex rhymes of the Provençals, the Spanish poet not unfrequently continues the same vowel through fifteen, twenty, or even through thirty lines, till, finding no more suitable words, he seeks a new sound, to share the same fate in its turn.

Besides the poem, or rather the rhyming chronicle of the Cid, there is a very ancient account of the same hero in prose, and above a hundred romances founded on different passages of his life. His name stands in the foreground of the early history and poetry of Spain; and the ancient Castilian tragedies, comedies, romances, and songs, have each in turn made him their subject. His memory is indeed so sacredly dear to the Spanish nation, that to say, 'à fe de Rodrigo '-(' by the faith of Rodrigo ')-is still considered the strongest vow of loyalty.

He was born, as is supposed, about the year 1026, in the reign of Sancho III., surnamed the Great. His name was Don Rodrigo Laynez, the son of Diego; but he received the abbreviated appellation of Ruy Diaz; besides which, he was called by the Spaniards 'El Campeador'-the Champion; and by the Moors Es-Said-the lord or prince; whence the name of The Cid had its origin. The castle of Vivar, two leagues from Burgos, was probably the place of his birth, which was derived on the female side from the Counts of Castile. The military career of Don Rodrigo was commenced under the banners of Ferdinand of Castile, the son of Sancho the Great, and continued in the successive reigns of his sons-Sancho the Strong, and Alphonso VI. It is said that on the accession of the latter, the Cid obliged him to take a solemn oath, in presence of the assembled nobles, that he had in no way been accessary to the death of his brother Sancho, to whom Don Rodrigo had been fondly attached. Alphonso could never forgive

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