up spontaneously, from the natural cultivation of vernacular poetry, it is the Spanish. We are aware that Malcolm Laing, in his History of Scotland," has insisted, that the classic languages are so well adapted for rhyme, that it is more necessary to avoid, than to seek it: and he argues, from the variety of inflections, produced by their declensions and conjugations, that the command of materials for rhyme must be proportionably increased. It may be assumed as a general position, without any minute examination of final sounds, that if one language has twice as many words as another, it might be expected to have double the facilities for rhyme. But, after all, if in a language, having a smaller number of words, the terminations be fewer, in proportion, the advantage must be in favour of the limited language. If, for example, there be a greater number of words, as nouns, adjectives, and participles, ending in o, or a, in one language, than in another, the facility of rhyming is greater in that, than in this. Now, the terminations-"o, os," or "a, as," must necessarily occur more frequently in Spanish, than in Latin, because the noun, adjective, or participle undergoes but a single change, either in the masculine or feminine, viz. by adding s for the plural. These, therefore, can be more easily disposed of as rhymes, than if they experienced eight or ten different changes. Were it optional, which of the eight or ten we would use, then the facility would be so much enhanced; but if we are equally restricted by the same rules of syntax, then the facility is diminished; because we are compelled, as the word changes from case to case, to seek eight or ten, instead of simply two correspondent terminations. Is it not, in some measure, for this reason, that the Improvisatori and Improvisatrici of Italy are able to produce their extempore verse, with such incredible facility? And is it surprising that they should coin verse with a readiness, almost justifying the Arabic epithet for poetry, "La magie legitime," when we consider that a vast majority of the rhymes in Italian, (and it is equally so in Spanish) consist of final vowel sounds, whereas in the northern languages a very great proportion is formed by final consonants; or by mute final vowels; so that the facility of rhyme, in those compared with it in these, is somewhat in the inverse ratio of the number of vowels to the number of consonants.

If Laing's theory were correct, we ought to find in Virgil, for example, every tenth or twelfth line rhyming with its neighbour; whereas we may read page after page, without meeting

q Sir William Jones' French Dissert. on Oriental Poetry.

an instance. According to the same theory, the number of cases ought to be much greater in Greek, than in Latin; and yet Sismondi, (why it is not easy to comprehend) though he admits that rhyme occurs in the Latin writers, does not admit it as to the Greek. Rhyme, "inconnue aux Grecs, se trouve à la vérité quelquefois, dans les poésies Latines mêmes classiques. Il s'agit moins de marquer le vers, que de marquer le sens." We do not believe with Laing and Dufief, that rhyme was avoided by the classic poets; for we apprehend they never thought about it and perhaps the best proof is, that the modern writers of Latin verse, who might be supposed more upon their guard, from their familiarity with rhyme in their vernacular tongues, furnish as many instances as the ancient writers, in the same language. Hence, we conclude it to be matter of accident.

To illustrate our idea of the natural tendency of the Spanish language to rhyme, we would simply refer to the poem of the Conde de Norona, "La Muerte." This composition is obviously no more written with a view to rhyme, than Homer or Virgil: and yet every page is crowded with just such rhymes, as occur in the old romance of the Cid, though not arranged, of course, in any regular order. We have taken the trouble, by way of exemplifying our position, to ascertain the number of rhymes in the first eleven successive pages, and we find them to stand thus. Out of 342 lines, 144 rhyme in o, and these constantly occur in clusters of 2, 3, 4, 5—43 in a ; 63 in os; 18 in as; 28 in e; 22 in es; 9 in en; 9 in an; and a few scattered ones in il and on. Thus 215 out of 342, i. e. more than 5-9ths, end in the three vowels, o, a, and e-while 268 out of 342, that is nearly 4-5ths, end in o, os, a, as,' justifying the pleasantry of a wag, who said "que si l'on ôtoit les os et les as de la langue Espagnol, il ne lui resteroit que pour sifler et bailler." In further illustration, we would refer to the three odes of Lope de Vega Carpio, on the death of his wife; to the monostrophes of Estiban Manuel de Villegas, translated from Anacreon; to the Anacreontic Idyl of Ignacio de Luzan, on Hero and Leander, and to Juan de Jaurequi's translation of the Aminta of Tasso.

3. We should say, without any very special examination of the Provençal, Italian, and Portuguese poetry, that much the same state of facts exists in each of those languages. We refer, in confirmation of our opinion, to the first specimen at hand, Guarini's prologue to the Pastor Fido. The terminations of the 150 lines are four vowel sounds. Of these 150 final sounds, 37 are in a; 49 in e; 25 in i; and 41 in o. Indeed, the authors of

r Vol. i.

p.

99.

s Del de l'Esp. et. du Port. Tom. 5. p. 874.

the Dictionnaire des Sciences say-"Dans la contexture du vers, comme dans celle de la prose, les Italiens ont plus de peine fuir la rime, qu 'a la chercher." If any one, though unacquainted with Portuguese, will open the Lusiad of Camoens, he will find the prevailing rhymes to be the vowel sounds, o, a, e. Let him bear also in mind, that the orthographical consonant terminations in n and m-such as-"trabalhavan, acabassem, perguntavam," having the sounds of such terminations in French, partake far more of the vowel than of the consonant, and are, perhaps, like the suppressed Spanish d, in "verdad, merced," the relics of French influence, even before 1200. It has been said of the Spanish, French, and Italian, with equal felicity and truth, as Ovid' says of the Nereids,

66

-Facies non omnibus una,

"Nec diversa tamen, qualem decet esse sororum."

And though we might, perhaps, suppose unthinkingly, that this was only true of those languages in our day; yet, their perfect identity, even in the thirteenth century, appears from the fact, that Rambaldo Vacheiras conceived the idea of a poem, composed entirely of Spanish, Italian, Provençal, Gascon, and French couplets, alternated successively.

Sir William Jones says, in his French Dissertation on Oriental poetry,-"Dans les vers Asiatiques, elle (la rime) n'enchaine point le sens, comme dans les vers Européens; les idiomes de ces peuples étant très abondans en mots d'une même terminaison. But it was said by Dante, "che mai rima nol trasse à dire altro, che quello, che avia en su proponimento,"-doubtless for the reason assigned by Sir William Jones-and we feel assured, that Ercilla and Camoens might have said the same, with equal propriety and truth. It appears to us then, quite unnecessary, to resort to a foreign cause, very questionable as to it's opportunities, mode, and time of operation, when we behold inherent in these languages, the natural elements of rhymed versification, requiring no example of the Arabians' to kindle the dawn of a native literature, much less to develope and apply in the form of rhyme, that prolific similarity of final sounds, so remarkable in the vowel languages of Southern Europe.

After so ample a review of the claims of Arabian literature, to be regarded as the fountain of modern rhyme, through the medium of the Spanish language; we might, perhaps, dispense with any remarks on Provençal and Italian Literature. But, as the reflections suggested by them, confirm the opinions we have already expressed, it may not be amiss to survey them also. We shall first dispose of Italian literature, which Andrès ↑ Vol. iv. Supp. p. 650. s 2 Met. v. 13. t2 Andres, p, 137.

D

concedes to be younger than the Provençal." This, according to the same author, had a great effect on that, as well as on Spanish, French, German, and English literature: and Dryden, (Pref. to his Fables) says, that Chaucer drank deeply at the fountains of Troubadour poetry. Denina, in his Revolutions of Literature, denies that the Italian was polished and enriched from the Provençal; although it is certain, that many of the early writers of Italy, (such as Brunetto Latini, the Master of Daute) wrote in Provençal: and Bembo, Tiraboschi, Gravina, and Crescimbeni admit that the Italians borrowed largely from the Troubadours. Charles I. of Anjou, (son-in-law of Raymond IV. Count of Provence, renowned for princely virtues and poetical taste) conquered Naples, A. D. 1283, and introduced a taste for Provençal literature at Florence; where he and his successors reigned: while the Emperor Frederick II. King of Sicily, (who spoke fourteen languages) A. D. 1250, kindled the dawn of Italian literature, and his son Manfredi followed his example.

The Arabians conquered Naples in 836, and held it to 896; but their possession of sixty years could not have produced any greater effect, than the possession of Sicily for the same period by the Goths: and Swinburne estimates their influence at nothing. Thus far then, we must consider Italian as originating from Provençal literature: and Tiraboschi, in his History of Italian Literature, speaks of the rhyme, and of the different species of composition, which the former borrowed from the latter.

But a claim upon Italian literature has been advanced by the Sicilians, who insist that they are its authors: and Castelvetro, Petrarch and Muratori say, that the modern species of verse (dependent, not on syllables long and short, but on the disposition and effect of the acute accent) owes its origin to the Sicilians; that they communicated it to the Provençals, and not these to those. We cannot, however, but remark, that the mode, in which Provence produced an effect upon Sicily, is perfectly natural and obvious, as we shall presently shew; whereas no such correspondent influence is discoverable in favour of Sicily. It is said, that the Sicilians cultivated the fine arts as early as the ninth or tenth century; but the earliest specimens extant are the verses of a few obscure Sicilian poets, about the beginning of the thirteenth century; whilst the earliest relics of Troubadour poetry extant, are a hundred years older. It is also said, that they imbibed from the Saracens, during their possession of the island for 211 years, (from 827 to 1038) a taste for that species of versification, which the Moors are supposed by Andrès to have u 2 Andr. p. 161. ≈ 2 Ib. 179. x Denina. p. 86.

w p, 82.

communicated to the Spaniards. But the two hundred years of Saracen dominion in Sicily, left, unquestionably, as few traces in the island, in point of literature and language, as in Spain. And, assuredly, if two centuries of sole, undisputed sovereignty, amidst a Greek and Latin population, (scarcely, if at all, affected by the Goths,) left the language as decidedly Latin, as any other dialect of Italian, the influence of the Saracens must have been always inconsiderable, and must have perished utterly under the Norman sway, from 1072 to 1298. Nor must we forget, that the Normans spoke a French, and not a Scandinavian dialect; and, of course, assimilated their own the more readily to the language of the Sicilians. If, however, their tongue had been such, as the Goths carried into Spain, the experience of that country, and of all the Latin countries subdued by the northern barbarians, testifies, that the victors were vanquished in turn, by the language and manners of the conquered. The Christians, says Swinburne," "may be presumed to have retained the language of their forefathers," notwithstanding the Saracen dominion; yet "they certainly abandoned it very speedily after the arrival of the Normans."

Is it not more natural to look for the origin of Sicilian literature in the influence of the Troubadour King (Frederick 1st, as King of Sicily, and 2d, as Emperor of Germany) and of his son Manfredi, both of them men of genius and learning, poets and encouragers of learning? The Sicilians still preserve the verses of Frederick, of his son Euzo, King of Sardinia, and of his Secretary of State, Pier delle Vigne. If Frederick had not been one of the German Troubadours, but had studied the art of poetry in Sicily, we might have supposed that he had borrowed from the Arabians through the Sicilians; but as the matter stands, it is obvious that Sicily borrowed from Provence, through him. It is worthy of notice also, that this island was the rendezvous of the French and English armies, and of the French and English courts, both of them Norman in language, from September 1190 to April 1191, under Richard I. himself a poet, surrounded by Troubadours and Jongleurs.* Let us

y Vol. iii. p. 397.

* Warton tells us, (vol. i. p. 111) that "The ancient chronicles of France men. tion Legions de Poetes as embarking in this wonderful enterprise." (The Crusades.) The Troubadours of Provence, (p. 110) an idle and unsettled race of men, took up arms, and followed their barons, in prodigious multitudes, to the conquest of Jerusalem. They made a considerable part of the household of the nobility of France. Lewis VII. King of France, not only entertained them at his Court very liberally, but commanded a considerable number of them into his retinue, when he took ship for Palestine." Here is an error, for which Velley is cited, Hist. France, sub. An. 1178. But Lewis went to the Holy Land only once, viz. in 1147, (Daniel's History of France, vol. ii. pp. 51-52) and then he went by land. He intended to go again in 1178; but did not. (Gifford's History of France, vol. i. pp. 373--374.)