Thus the new form opens not with Ibn Gabirol, but with Samuel ibn Nagrela. He was Vizier of the Khalif, and Nagid, or Prince, of the Jews, in the eleventh century in Spain, and, besides Synagogue hymns and Talmudic treatises, he wrote love lyrics. The earlier hymns of Kalir have, indeed, a strong emotional undertone, but the Spanish school may justly claim to have created a new form. And this new form opens with Samuel the Nagid's pretty verses on his "Stammering Love," who means to deny, but stammers out assent. I cite the metrical German version of Dr. Egers, because I have found it impossible to reproduce (Dr. Egers is not very precise or happy in his attempt to reproduce) the puns of the original. The sense, however, is clear. The stammering maid's words, being mumbled, convey an invitation, when they were intended to repulse her loving admirer. Wo ist mein stammelnd Lieb? Wo sie, die wuerz'ge, blieb? Verdunkelt der Mond der Sterne Licht, Ueberstrahlt den Mond ihr Angesicht! Wie Schwalbe, wie Kranich, die Bei ihrer Ankunft girren, Vertraut auf ihren Gott auch sie In ihrer Zunge Irren. Mir schmollend rief sie "Erzdieb," Hervor doch haucht sie "Herzdieb"-- Hin springe ich zum Herzlieb. "Ehrloser!" statt zu wehren, "Her, Loser!" laesst sie hoeren; Nur rascher dem Begehren Folgt' ich mit ihr zu kosen, Die lieblich ist wie Rosen. This poem deserves attention, as it is one of the first, if not actually the very first, of its kind. The Hebrew poet is forsaking the manner of the Bible for the manner of the Arabs. One point of resemblance between the new Hebrew and the Arabic love poetry is obscured in the translation. In the Hebrew of Samuel the Nagid the terms of endearment, applied though they are to a girl, are all in the masculine gender. This, as Dr. Egers observes, is a common feature of the Arabic and Persian love poetry of ancient and modern times. An Arab poet will praise his fair one's face as "bearded" with garlands of lilies. Hafiz describes a girl's cheeks as roses within a net of violets, the net referring to the beard. Jehudah Halevi uses this selfsame image, and Moses ibn Ezra and the rest also employ manly figures of speech in portraying beautiful women. All this goes to show how much, besides rhyme and versification, medieval Hebrew love poetry owed to Arabic models. Here, for instance, is an Arabic poem, whose author, Radhi Billah, died in 940, that is, before the Spanish Jewish poets began to write of love. To an Arabic poet Laila replaces the Lesbia of Catullus and the Chloe of the Elizabethans. This tenth century Arabic poem runs thus: Laila, whene'er I gaze on thee, My altered cheeks turn pale; While upon thine, sweet maid, I see A deep'ning blush prevail. Laila, shall I the cause impart Why such a change takes place?-- The crimson stream deserts my heart To mantle on thy face.