introductory cuarteta or redondilla. In the work of Sancha above mentioned, however, the introductory quatrain is found not only in the décimas, but in other compositions. From the "Cancionero de Montesino," for example, we find a popular composition on the Passion of Christ, — a series of octavas in octosyllabic metre, introduced by a cuarteta, and the last octava (called fin or "end").[1] The last verse of the introductory cuarteta is the same as the last of every octava, — a scheme followed in the case of the décimas also. On pp- 537-557 we find among the poesías of Damián de Vegas a large number of compositions with the introductory quatrain and two or more octavas. This introductory quatrain, therefore, developed as a fixed, conventional beginning in many of these compositions of décimas or octavas; and the repetition of the last verse of this quatrain in the subsequent strophes — whether octavas, décimas, or what not — also became a conventional rule.
The most perfect type of conventional décima, however, seems to be the type cuarteta or redondilla, plus four regular decima strophes, or type A of our Porto-Rican collection. This seems to have been a regularly developed type in the seventeenth century; and in the "Romancero y Cancionero Sagrados" above mentioned we have numerous décimas of this type. The religious décimas Nos. 812, 814, 816, 823, 827, 871, 875, 883, 885, 886, 888, and others, are of this type. Nos. 814, 816, 875, are from the famous "Pastores de Belén" of Lope de Vega; and this fact alone, I believe, is sufficient proof of their popularity. The language and general character, moreover, are popular, and show that such compositions were popular and abundant in the days of Lope. In these décimas, however, we do not have the final strophe called fin or cabo. It seems that in the seventeenth century the popular type of octosyllabic décima quatrain plus four regular décima strophes did not have the conventional final strophe or name. This is the type continued in the tradition of Porto Rico. Type A is exactly this type. In New Mexico and Chile, however, we may have an additional element, based also on Old-Spanish traditional models; namely, the development of the final strophe, called cabo or fin, as found in the "Cancionero" of Constantina. In New Mexico and Chile, however, it is not only a name for the last regular strophe of the series, but another strophe, — one which concludes the composition, and is called la despedida, a term also found in the Porto-Rican aguinaldos, meaning "farewell." The fixed conventional type of décima of the "Romancero y Cancionero Sagrados," and so abundant in the popular tradition of Porto Rico, lives also in full vigor in New
- ↑ See p. 437. Other series of octavas with the conventional quatrain, but lacking the name fin the last strophe, are also found on pp. 314-316.
