[21] After examining Arabic verses, written in the European manner, it cannot be difficult, even for persons unacquainted with the language, to form a sufficient idea of the influence which the monotonic rhymes of the Moors had on the old Castilian romances. See, for example, the following passage of the Koran: Va sciamsi, va dhohàha, Val Kamari eda talàha, Van nahari, eda giallàha, Val Laïli eda jagsciàha. But the Spanish ear required some variety, and accordingly preferred a predominant to a single unchanging rhyme. Thus in the romance:-- Media noche era por hilo; Los gallos querian _cantar_ Donde Claros con amores No podia _reposar_, Quanto muy grandes sospiros Que el amor se hazia _dar_, &c. &c. [22] Such _rimas asonantes_ as occur in the words _noble_ and _pone_, _dolor_ and _corazon_, are easily recognized. But from some old Spanish romances, it appears that the return of the same consonants sometimes supplies the place of an assonant rhyme; for example, when the words _baxo_, _crucifixo_, _enojo_, &c. follow each other at short intervals. [23] See what is stated by Sarmiento, p. 191, from an old letter of the Marquis of Santillana, of which more particular notice must soon be taken in this work. [24] The Spanish and Portuguese _versos de arte mayor_ very much resemble some of the English popular ballads, with regard to their measure. There is, however, in the rudest of the Spanish and Portuguese strophes of this kind, more real rhythmus, than even in the modern popular songs of the English. An old political song, by Juan de Mena, commences thus:-- Como, el, que duerme con la pesada, Que quiere y no puede jamas acordar, Mas si lo puede á la fin desechar, Queda la mente con el desvelada, &c. [25] Sarmiento has written at sufficient length on the origin of the Castilian romances, but the information he gives is more copious than satisfactory. It would require the most laborious investigation, joined to the highest critical sagacity, to penetrate the obscurity in which this part of the history of literature is involved. How indeed can it be ascertained to what age a ballad belongs, the author of which is unknown, and which, in the progressive improvement of the language and the national taste, has been, without scruple, altered by the singers? [26] These monuments of old Castilian rhyme were little known until rescued from oblivion in 1775 by the publication of D. Thomas Antonio Sanchez’s _Coleccion de Poesias Castellanas Anteriores al siglo XV._ a work which in respect to philology is certainly very meritorious. The collection, however, appears to terminate with the third volume, (Madrid, 1782), which contains the _Poema de Alexandra Magno_. The first volume contains the celebrated letter of the _Marquis de Santillana_ on the ancient Spanish poetry, which, for the first time, is printed in that volume, with a commentary by the publisher, full of philological learning.