consists evidently of a frons and a cauda, of three lines each. The fourth verse does not belong to either, and its rhyme is not to be found in the same stanza; therefore it is to be called a clavis. But nevertheless it is of use for the purpose of connecting the frons with the cauda; for, by considering it as a kind of centre, and going from it to the beginning and to the end of the stanza, the reader will see that the two parts exactly agree as regards the length of the verses, and even their feminine rhyme. In the eleventh chapter of his ‘De Vulgari Eloquentia’ Dante speaks of the relations between the parts of a stanza so far as the number and length of the lines are concerned. He enumerates and explains no less than nine different cases. For the present purpose, however, these are scarcely of any importance; for the rules given by him cannot be traced to the poems of the troubadours. In this respect the Provençal poets seem to have exercised great liberty, being protected against choosing bad proportions by their refined sense of harmony. It still remains to mention a form of Provençal poetry, of which the essence cannot be explained nor the rules defined without the aid of Dante’s statements. This is the tornada, a kind of postlude or envoi to the stanza, in which the poem is dedicated to the lady-love or the protector of the troubadour, who is generally introduced under a senhal or pseudonym to keep the real name secret. Peire Vidal always calls the beautiful Azalais ‘Vierna,’ while the senhal ‘Bels Castiatz’ designates his noble protector Sir Aimeric de Monrial. The ‘Leys d’Amors’ says that, as a rule, there ought to be two tornadas, the first of them containing the senhal. This, however, is not confirmed by the majority of Provençal poems, which contain many examples of a single tornada. In another respect also the ‘Leys d’Amors’ is very inaccurate. It says that the tornada must be identical in form with the latter half of the stanza, if this consists of an even number of lines, adding or leaving out one line where the number of the verses cannot be divided by two. But this applies only to those stanzas where no division is to be found. Where there is a diesis the rule is quite different, and can be learned only from Dante, who speaks of the tornada in the ‘Convito,’ where he derives the word from tornar, owing to a part of the oda returning in it. Accordingly the rule in the divided stanza is that the first tornada repeats the metrical form and rhyme of that part of the stanza—cauda or versus—which stands after the volta. Where there is a second tornada it generally agrees with the first, being, however, always the shorter of the two. All this, of course, the author of the ‘Leys d’Amors’ could not know, because he was ignorant of the metrical and musical formation of the stanza; but it is of the highest importance for the study of Provençal versification, and shows again the great value of Dante’s work in that respect. The