not unknown in English, especially in popular or folk verse; but we generally regard it as a faulty rime. Thus in the British national anthem we read:

Send him victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the king!

"Over us" plainly assonates, rather than rimes, with "glorious," but this is dangerously close to doggerel. Assonance is unsuited to the genius of any language possessed of a rich vowel-system. This is evident to any one who has read Archbishop Trench's attempt to render Calderon's verse into English assonance.

STROPHES

I shall not attempt to list the innumerable verse-forms to be found in Spanish poetry, but shall only indicate the forms used by Espronceda in the selections contained in this volume. Some of these are fixed and conventional, and others are of his own contrivance. Spanish uses the terms estrofa and copla to designate an arrangement of verses in a stanza. Copla must not be confused with English "couplet." These are general terms; most verse-forms are designated by special names. The following verse-forms are found in the selections contained in this book:

"EL ESTUDIANTE DE SALAMANCA"

Lines 1-40. Ballad meter or verso de romance (8 syllables) with assonance in é-a.

Lines 41-48. Verso de romance with assonance in ó.

Lines 49-63. Irregular 3-syllable meter with assonance in ó occurring irregularly; lines 53 and 55 rime, and 59 and 61 assonate in é-a.

Lines 64-75. Verso de romance with assonance in ó.

Lines 76-99. Quatrains or cuartetas of 12-syllable verse; rime-scheme abab (this arrangement of the rime is called rima cruzada); alternation of masculine and feminine rime.

Lines 100-139. Octavillas italianas (8-syllable verse); lines 2 and 3, 6 and 7, 4 and 8 rime; lines 1 and 5 either assonate or are blank (sueltos).

Lines 140-179. Octavas reales (11-syllable verse); 

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