In the introduction to his 'Select Plays of Calderon' Norman Maccoll gives a clear explanation of the various sorts of verse that Lope mentions here:--_Romances_ are "octo-syllabic trochaics--the customary measure of the Spanish ballads. As in the ballads, these trochaics are sometimes rimed and sometimes assonant. _Redondillas_ are arranged in strophes of four lines each. Strong endings and weak endings are both employed. The first and fourth lines rime together, and so do the second and third. This is the simplest of the riming measures in common use.... _Quintillas_ are arranged in strophes of five lines each. The only rule observed in the riming is that the same rime must not occur in more than two successive lines.... The _Decima_ is a combination of two _quintillas_ in one strophe of ten lines. The arrangement of rimes is as follows: the first five are disposed ... a, b, b, a, a, and the second five are arranged c, c, d, d, c.... Three other forms of iambic verse are borrowed from the Italians, the _Terceto_ (the _terza rima_ of the Italians), the _Octava_ (or _ottava rima_) and the Sonnet." Maccoll in his turn renders several of Lope's lines into English rimes: In _décimas_ finds voice the mourner's wail; The sonnet's fitted for the action's stay; _Romances_ serve to tell the player's tale. Yet octaves well can stirring news convey; While deed of high import in _terzas_ shines, And _redondillas_ are the lover's lines. The incessant employment of these various lyric measures is evidence, were any needed, of the prevailing lyrical quality of the dialog of the Spanish drama when Lope and Calderon were its chiefs. It may be noted that in 'Prunella, a Fantasy in Three Acts,' by Lawrence Hausman and Granville Barker, the authors emphasize the lyrical element in their rococo story by scattering riming stanzas at irregular intervals thruout the dialog.