songs. St. Dunstan also was a harper; and one charge against him was, that he had learnt the vain songs of his nation. A joculator or bard was an officer belonging to the household of William the Conqueror. The harper, indeed, appears to have been a part of the national establishment among the northern tribes, whether in their emigrant state, in England, France, Spain and Italy; or in their native state, in Germany and Scandinavia. Does it not seem obvious then, that the character of the harper, or professed singer and musician, has arisen in all countries and in all ages, not from an imitation of neighbouring examples, but from the intimate union of music with war and religion, in the rude state of society of every people? This intimate union is found in the old and the new world; among the voluptuous Asiatics and the barbarous Africans; among the stern and hardy Europeans of the North, and their refined neighbours of the South. Is it not then clear, that Andrès has assigned as a cause, that state of things among the Arabians, which is only a collateral, yet concurrent and independent testimony of a common origin, in the character of human nature, and in a primitive state of society, anterior to the very existence of the poet and musician of the Saracens or Provençals?

5. The fifth resemblance, relied on by Andrès, is, that Provençal versification bears a closer resemblance to the Arabic, than to the Greek and Latin. In assigning this state of facts as an argument for the derivation of Provençal from Moorish poetry, it appears to us, that Andrès has committed an error, somewhat similar to that, which we have already considered. The Abbé does not refer to the use of rhyme; for he says, "Oltre la rima de' versi moderni, la meccanica loro struttura ha essa pure maggiore somiglianza colla composizione degli Arabici, che non con quella de' Greci e de' Latini." In page 202, he tells us, that there is scarcely a circumstance in the construction of Provençal poetry, which is not found in the Arabic poets. But, if we except the circumstance of rhyme, it must be obvious to every one, that the principles of versification, especially if simple and natural, must be very much the same in all languages, which resemble each other, although there may have been no actual intercourse between the nations, who speak them. Poetry and music are found, though very rude, in every early state of society. Poetry, at first, is only a measured prose, more or less regular: and, in every primitive state of society, is inseparable from music. Both are then independent of rhyme, or classic feet, or the peculiar rhythm of ancient or modern poetry. But, as society advances, we find in all counk Vol. ii. p. 204.

tries, the character of the poet divorced from that of the musician: and in the progress towards this separation, some system of versification must necessarily have arisen. This, in languages of a recent, common origin, such as the Provençal, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and even in the French, must, in a great measure, rest upon similar principles. Accordingly, notwithstanding the variety of forms, in which their poetry appears, we find a very exact correspondence in their principles of versification, when compared with ancient verse. There is the same affinity be tween the languages of the north of Europe: and as these resem→ ble those of the south, far more than either class resembles the Arabian, it is perfectly natural to suppose, that the cultivation of each would, without any intercourse, lead necessarily to a similar prosody. As the Saracens despised the Greek poetry, they never attempted the accommodation of their language to the rules of classic verse; but proceeded to fashion a native prosody for themselves, or rather adhered to and improved that, which already existed. The like has been done in all the languages of modern Europe; and we apprehend the same course would have been taken, though the Saracens had never settled in Europe, or had emulated Plato, in banishing poetry from their Spanish dominions. It has occurred to us, that perhaps we could not accommodate to our modern languages, whether in their present forms, or in their rude state, nine hundred years ago, the rules of Arabic versification. We found this opinion chiefly on the fact, that our languages abound in monosyllables, while they are not only very rare in Arabic, but words of three, four, and five syllables appear to be almost innumerable. In a spirit of literary curiosity, we have examined the ten lines of Provençal poetry by the Emperor Frederick I, "Plas me cavalier Francès," and found in them twenty-four monosyllables, whilst fifty lines of Amriolkais yield only twenty-five: sixty-six of Zohair twenty-five; and one hundred and fourteen of Lebeid, twenty-six monosyllables.

We class the French with the dialects of the south of Europe; because the popular versification of a language grows up in it, as a spoken and not as a written language. Now, the French as a spoken language, bears a great affinity to the southern tongues, because of the prevalence of the vowel sounds. It is obvious, indeed, that without this feature, it never could have merited, as it still does, the praise of Charles V. when he characterised it as the language of conversation, by reason of its vivacity and ease. But, as a written language, the French is essentially a northern dialect, on account of the excess of consonants, great numbers of which disappear in pronunciation. But, we have only to compare the verses of Tasso or Garcilaso, with the lines of Racine or Voltaire, to be convinced, that if the French shall ever become a dead language, no man of taste will be able to comprehend how a language so full of consonants, compared to Spanish or Italian, could ever have surpassed them in the sprightliness, delicacy and ease, which distinguish the French as a colloquial dialect.

The reason why no attempt was made to adopt into the vulgar tongues, the rules of classic versification, was not, because these were unknown; for there was no period from Boethius to Petrarch, when Latin verse, in imitation of the classic poetry, was not written in every part of Roman Europe. But those who thus wrote, took no part (one or two instances excepted) in the composition of verse, in their vernacular languages. Hence, these were as little affected by the rules of art, which prevailed in the Greek and Latin school, as the Arabic itself. As soon, therefore, as the poetry of the vulgar tongues had passed from the rude inartificial forms, which belonged to it, as the trade of the scop or professional poet of a semi-barbarous age, it began to assume something of the dignity of art, and of the order of science. Now, we comprehend perfectly, how the modern versification arose out of the elements of the modern languages, without any aid from the Arabic, just as the Arabic itself arose at a much earlier day; and this we believe every scholar will readily admit, to have been the natural, probable course of events. It would seem then, after the review heretofore taken of the history, language, people, and literature of Spain, that Andrès must furnish vastly superior evidence to any as yet known, to convince us that this fifth resemblance is not a mere imagination, impressed into the service of his theory.

6. Our learned Abbé has found in the subjects of Arabic and Provençal poetry, a sixth feature of similarity. He has forgotten, however, that he has shown no resemblance between the subjects of Spanish and Moorish poets; although he supposes these to have taught those, and those to have fashioned the Troubadours. But how could he alledge any such likeness, after his own admissions, and after the remarks already made on the Cid and Alexander the Great? When Andrès tells us' that the subjects treated, "le materie trattate," are a point of resemblance, we look back with some surprise, to his opinion, at page 183. "Egli è vero, che nelle composizioni de' provenzali, non si scorge vestigio d' Arabica erudizione, ni v'è segno alcuno d' essersi formati i provenzali poeti, su le poesiè degli Arabi." If now the Provençal poets bear no marks of having ever studied Arabian poetry, or of having had even the slightest acquaintance with it, of what avail is it to point out similarities, which belong to the essential character of the respective languages, of man himself, and of the state of society? The poetry of the Troubadours is chiefly amatory* or elegiac, panegyrical

1 Vol. ii. p. 202.

La Harpe tells us, "Les Troubadours, qui professaient la science gaie (el gaî saber 1 Sism. 90) cést ainsi qu'ils l'appelloient, et qui couraient le monde, en

or heroic. And do not the same characteristics, with few exceptions, belong to the poetry of every age and every country, however rude, or however polished? Indeed, when we consider that the only artificial resemblances, as to materials, were more probably derived from the Crusades, than from any intercourse with the Moors of Spain, we feel that the theory of Andrès is still less worthy of our credence. The result then of our examination of the six points of resemblance, between Arabic and Provençal poetry, relied on by the Abbé, is, that not one of them furnishes any legitimate ground of argument, in favour of the imitation of the first by the last, and still less of any resemblance between the intermediate depository, Spanish literature. After all then, we return to the mere fact, that the verse of the Troubadour and of the Saracen bard was distinguished by rhyme. Now, we hesitate not to say, that the very mode, in which rhyme arose in Arabic poetry, before the Hegira, is the mode, mutatis mutandis, in which it came to give a new character to modern verse, as the natural growth of our modern languages, in their transition from gross barbarism to something like regularity and artificial arrangement. Let us lay aside Arabic literature, and we see at once, that the only two points of resemblance, rhyme and oriental fiction are traceable to sources entirely independent of Saracen Spain: viz. the first to the character of the northern languages, whether in their Romanic dialects, or in their primitive combinations, and the second to the Greek book of popular legends already noticed, and to the Crusades.

Let us close this review of the question, as to the Arabic origin of rhyme, with a few general remarks.

chantant l'amour et les dames, furent honorés et recherchés." (Vol. iv. Cours de Lit. p. 210.) And yet, notwithstanding the influence which Andrès supposes the Spaniards to have exercised over the Troubadours, and the re-active influence of these upon those, the proper æra of love-poetry in Spain was not until the fifteenth century. (1 Schleg. p. 300.) The Provençal poets, therefore, whose verse was dedicated more to the praise of woman and to love, than to any other subject, and who had passed away before the year 1300, (4 Hall. p. 397) could not possibly in respect of amatory poetry, perhaps the essential feature of their occupation-the very life blood of their whole character-have received from their southern neigh bours this quality, or have imparted it to them. We are incredulous of this Spanish influence, which Andrès would have us believe to have been, in very deed,

But, if we look to the North East, we behold in Germany, a long line of imitators of Provençal poetry, in the sonnets of one hundred and forty poets, discovered by the Baron Zurlanben, in the King's library. (Pref. to Lit. Hy. Troub. p. 23.) And if we turn our eyes to the South East, we behold the Italians, Dante, Petrarch, Boccacio, and others, borrowing extensively from the Troubadours, as Bembo, Tassoni, Tiraboschi, Redi, &c. have testified. In France also, the poetry of the langue d'oc, (the Provençal south of the Loire) could not but have exerted a large share of influence on the langue d' oil, (or French, North of the Loire.)

1. The very different characters of Arabian and European poetry induce us to believe, that the rhyme of the former was not the model of the same quality in the latter. The prevailing verse among the Arabians was marked by three features, not one of which is found, except perhaps very rarely, in any known poetry of the European languages, viz: 1st. the division into independent distichs, not merely into our couplets; 2d. the second line of each having the same rhyme throughout the poem; 3d. the first line of each having no rhyme at all; besides which the rhymes employed consist in consonants as well as vowels, and not merely in the latter. But, the poetry of the European nations has been distinguished by very different features. 1st. According to Sismondi, the assonant rhyme characterised the early poetry of the south, though the Spaniards only reduced it to rules. 2d. The couplet rhymes of our modern poetry are a prevailing feature of the early poetry of Europe, and such is also the fact with rhymed quatrains. 3d. The monkish latin verse, whether rhyming by hemistichs or couplets, whether in hexameters only, or in these and pentameters combined, or in neither, is the prevailing species, in what may be called the scholastic department of poetry, in the middle ages. 4th. Among the northern nations, a leading feature of their poetry, prior to the introduction of rhyme, was alliteration, or the repetition of the same consonant several times in the same line-as in Gray's Elegy,

"Nor cast one longing, lingering look behind:" and in Rogers' Pleasures of Memory—,

"The few, fine flushes of departing day."

"Aussi "l' alliteration," says Sismondi," qui est la renetition des consonnes, est elle l'ornement des langues du Nord." Warton and Turner, mention it also, and Turner speaks of a peculiar species of alliteration as characteristic of Welch poetry, whilst Ellis considers alliteration as introduced by the Danes, Now, the very practice of thus repeating the same initial sounds in the same line, would very probably lead of itself, in time, to the repetition of the same final sounds, and to their substitution for the iteration of letters merely.

2. Our second remark relates to the Spanish language: and is principally confined to that; because Andrès considers it as a vehicle for the passage of rhyme from Arabian to Provençal poetry. The idea, which strikes us with great force, is, that the Spanish language is so happily fitted for rhyme, that if there be any one, above the rest, in which it might be expected to grow Vol. i. p. 101. o 1 Wart. pp. 26. 28. 33. p 2 Turn. Angl. Sax. p. 330. q Vol. i. Specim. p. 11.

VOL. 1.—NO. 1.

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