Hijo hasta alli regalado
De la fortuna y el tiempo, etc.
Obras, Madrid, 1654, 4to, f. 83.
This rhyme is perfectly perceptible to any ear well accustomed to Spanish poetry, and it must be admitted, I think, that, when, as in the ballad cited, it embraces two of the concluding vowels of the line, and is continued through the whole poem, the effect, even upon a foreigner, is that of a graceful ornament, which satisfies without fatiguing. In English, however, where our vowels have such various powers, and where the consonants preponderate, the case is quite different. This is plain in the following translation of the preceding lines, made with spirit and truth, but failing to produce the effect of the Spanish. Indeed, the rhyme can hardly be said to be perceptible except to the eye, though the measure and its cadences are nicely managed.
“He the thunderbolt of battle,
He the first Alferez titled,
Who as courteous is as valiant,
And the noblest as the fiercest;
He who by our youth is envied,
Honored by our gravest ancients,