Of the metrical compositions common to the ancient Castilians and Portuguese, the most peculiarly national were the REDONDILLAS. All verses, consisting of four trochaic feet, appear to have been originally comprehended under the name of _redondillas_,[17] which, however, came at length to be, in preference, usually applied to one particular species of this description of verse. To a people so romantic and chivalrous, and at the same time so fond of their national poetry, as the Spaniards and Portuguese, nothing could be more agreeable than verses of this sort, which, in languages such as theirs, could be composed on the spur of the occasion, and which to the charm of simplicity add the beauty of a sonorous harmony.[18] It is difficult to suppose that the redondillas have been formed in imitation of bisected hexameters, as some Spanish authors have imagined.[19] They may, with more probability, be considered a relic of the songs of the Roman soldiers, which were doubtless often heard in these countries, and which must have left recollections, the impressions of which would be easily communicated by the romanized natives to their conquerors, the Visigoths.[20] In such verses, every individual could, without restraint, pour forth the feelings which love and gallantry dictated, accompanied by his guitar; as little attention was paid to correctness in the distinction of long and short syllables as in the rhyme. When one of the poetic narratives, distinguished by the name of Romances, was sung, line followed line without constraint, the expression flowing with careless freedom, as feeling gave it birth. When, however, romantic sentiments were to be clothed in a popular lyric dress, to exhibit the playful turns of the ideas under still more pleasing forms, it was found advantageous to introduce divisions and periods, which gave rise to regular strophes (_estancias_ and _coplas_). Lines were, for the sake of variety, shortened by halving them; and thus the tender and impressive melody of the rhythm was sometimes considerably heightened. Seduced by the example of the Arabs, something excellent was supposed to be accomplished when a single sonorous and unvarying rhyme was rendered prominent throughout all the verses of a long romance.[21] Through other romances, however, pairs of rhymeless verses were allowed to glide amidst a variety of rhymed ones. At length, at a later period, it was observed, that in point of elegance, the _redondilla_ was improved, rather than injured by the change which was produced; when, instead of perfect rhymes, imperfect ones, or sounds echoing vowels but not consonants, were heard in the terminating syllables. Hence arose the distinction between _consonant_ and _assonant_ verses, which has been cultivated into a rhythmical beauty unknown to other nations.[22] Thus varied, and yet ever simple, the redondilla has been still more valuable to Spanish and Portuguese