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STUDIES IN ROMANCE PHILOLOGY
AND LITERATURE
DONA MARIA DE ZAYAS Y SOTOMAYOR
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
SALES AGENTS
NEW YORK
LEMCKE & BUECHNER
30-32 EAST 20TH STREET
LONDON
HUMPHREY MILFORD
AMEN CORNER, E.G.
SHANGHAI
EDWARD EVANS & SONS, LTD.
30 NORTH SZECHUEN ROAD
.
DONA MARIA DE ZAYAS Y SOTOMAYOR
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY
OF HER WORKS
BY
LENA E; V. SYLVANIA, PH.D
NEW YORK
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
1922
All Rights Reserved
Copyright, 1922
By COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Printed from type. Published May, 1922
PRESS OF
THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY
LANCASTER, PA.
TO
MY PARENTS
PREFACE
The following study is part of a work now in preparation on the
subject of the little-known writings of Dona Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor. This work contemplates a comparatively exhaustive
treatment of the author's short stories, her poetry, her play Traicion
en la amistad, and the relative importance of these in literature. It
will be accompanied in its completed form by as detailed a bibli-
ography as possible of the entire field. On a subject as extensive
as this, it has not been feasible to compress into these few pages
more than the discovered facts of the author's life, her salient ideas
as exposed in her works, a sketch of the general framework of her
short stories, and a study of two of them in particular El fardin
enganoso and El castigo de la miseria. That Dona Maria was an
ardent feminist is displayed throughout her stories; and this char-
acteristic trait I have stressed as being especially interesting and
significant.
I welcome this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to
Professor de Onis, who first interested me in Dona Maria de Zayas,
for his advice, criticism and assistance in the preparation of this
study ; to Professor H. A. Todd to whom I feel especially indebted
for his never-failing sympathetic encouragement, for his many val-
uable suggestions in connection with the work and for the painstak-
ing reading and revision of the manuscript ; to Professor Raymond
Weeks for his friendly interest and helpful ideas throughout my
course of study at Columbia ; and, lastly, to my friend Miss Elsa G.
Rust, whose confidence in my efforts has always been a source of
inspiration.
LENA E. V. SYLVANIA
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,
April 21, 1922.
vii
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. Introductory I
II. Feminism in the Works of Dona Maria 7
III. The Novelas 18
1. General Characterization 18
2. El Jardin enganoso 26
3. El Castigo de la miseria 35
DONA MARI'A DE ZAYAS Y SOTOMAYOR: A CONTRIBU-
TION TO THE STUDY OF HER WORKS
V
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
ERY little is known of the life of Doiia Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor and the little that has been gleaned through care-
ful and painstaking research in connection with the present study
is indeed too meagre to satisfy natural curiosity concerning a
woman whose loyal and sturdy advocacy of the rights of her sex
took a bold and fearless stand which may be considered unique for
the times in which she lived. In her writings she voiced the
protest that throughout the succeeding years has grown ever more
insistent, in its effort to readjust standards of morals and to assure
to women an attitude of fairness and justice on the part of the
opposite sex. This protest which, at that time and up to just a
few years ago, seemed so bizarre to some and so trivial to others,
has, by reason of organized effort, attained such importance that
it is one of the factors to be reckoned with in both the public and
private life of today. Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor can well
be classed with those who first braved public opinion to assert and
maintain, by force of argument, that women have certain rights and
that, as human beings, they are not inferior to men.
As the preface to her works proclaims, Dona Maria de Zayas
y Sotomayor was a native of Madrid in Spain. Furthermore, we
learn from church records that she was baptized in that city in the
parish of San Sebastian, on September 12, I59O. 1 Her father was
D. Fernando de Zayas y Sotomayor, born in Madrid and baptized
in the same parish, November 9, I566. 2 He was the son of D.
1 Apuntes para una Biblioteca de Escritoras Espanolas: Manuel Serrano y
Sanz, Madrid, MCMIII. 2 vols. Vol. ii, p. 584.
2 Hijos de Madrid, Illustres en Santidad, Dignidades, Armas, Ciendas y
Artes: D. Joseph Antonio Alvarez y Baena. Madrid, MDCCLXXXIX. 4 vols.
In vol. id, p. 48, Baena expresses the opinion that, in view of the date at which
i
2 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
Francisco de Zayas, a resident of 'Madrid, although born in Villa
de los Santos de Maimona (situated near Zafra, in Extremadura),
and his mother was Dona Luisa de Zayas of Madrid. His grand-
parents on his father's side were Alonso de Zayas, born in Zafra
and a resident of Madrid, and Ines Sanchez of Los Santos. On
his mother's side his grandparents were D. Antonio de Sotomayor
and Dona Catalina de Zayas, both of Madrid. D. Fernando de
Zayas was a military man, holding the position of Captain of
Infantry. In 1628 he was admitted to the Order of Santiago, for
which organization he filled the office of " Corregidor de la en-
comienda" of Jerez from August 5, 1638 to November 5, 1642. 3
Of his wife, we know almost nothing. We are simply told in the
baptismal record of her daughter that she was Dona Maria de
Barasa. 4
It seems probable that Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor lived
in Madrid during the greater part of her life, if not the whole of it.
The fact that her novels were first published in Zaragoza 5 is not
sufficient reason to conclude that she necessarily lived at any time
in that city, although this seems to have remained a question in the
minds of some authorities on Spanish literature. 6 The place of
the author flourished in her literary work, she was doubtless the daughter of D.
Fernando de Sayas y Sotomayor. His supposition is confirmed by the researches
of Manuel Serrano y Sanz, who discovered the baptismal records. [Wherever
early texts are quoted the intention has been to preserve the original orthog-
raphy, punctuation and use of accents.]
3 Apuntes: Manuel Serrano y Sanz. Vol. ii, p. 584.
4 The baptismal record as given in the Apuntes, vol. ii, p. 585, is as follows:
Maria de Cayas. En doce dias del mes de Septiembre de mill y quinientos
y noventa afios, yo el bachiller Altamirano, theniente de cura baptice a Maria,
hija de don Fernando de Cayas y de dona Maria de Barasa su muger. Pad-
rinos don Diego de Santoyo y dona Juana de Cardona su muger; testigos
Bernabe Gonzales y Alonso Garcia- Altamirano (Madrid, Parroquia de San
Sebastian. Libro tres de bautismos, folio 213).
Strange to say, in spite of the baptismal record, Manuel Serrano y Sanz
tells us in his comment that Catalina de Barrasa was the mother's name.
This is the name given by certain other authorities also.
5 Novelas amorosas exevnplares, compuestas por Dona Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor; Zaragoza, 1637. Primera y Segunda Parte de las Novelas Amo-
rosas y Exemplares, compuestas por Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor : Zara-
goza, 1647.
6 Biblioteca de Autores Espanoles: Novelistas posteriores a Cervantes,
Tomo 2, con un bosquejo historico sobre la novela espafiola, escrito por D.
Eustaquid Fernandez de Navarrete. Madrid 1854. M. Rivadeneyra, Ed.
Introductory 3
publication may have been merely a matter of convenience, as will
appear from the following considerations. It must be remembered
that after the Court was established in a permanent manner at
Madrid in 1561, a rapid development along social, economic and
intellectual lines characterized the city. One of the manifestations
of intellectual development at this time was the increased activity
in the writing of books. The establishment of printing in the
capital in 1566 stimulated to such an extent the publication of these
literary efforts that the presses were unable to cope with the de-
mands made upon them. Moreover, court business, including the
publication of documents, records and official correspondence sub-
mitted for printing, added to the difficulties and burden of work
imposed on the press. The situation, instead of becoming better,
grew worse. 9 Authors and booksellers alike clamored in vain for
more speed and less delay. It was natural that they should look else-
where for better service if such were to be had. The formalities con-
nected with the issuance of a book, such as the details of examina-
tion, censure, license and special privileges, had to be transacted at
Madrid, 10 but there was nothing to prevent its actual publication
elsewhere. Accordingly, it was no unusual custom to resort to the
presses outside the city of Madrid where the pressure was not so
great, and where the work could be accomplished far more ex-
peditiously. It is a fact that the publishers and booksellers in cities
such as Zaragoza, Valencia and especially Barcelona worked so
quickly that they often reprinted popular books and introduced
them into Castile before the first Madrid edition of the same was
exhausted. 11 Might this not have been the case with the works of
Dona Maria de Zayas ?
9 Bibliografia Madrilena: Cristobal Perez Pastor, Madrid 1891, vol. i, p.
xvii.
10 Bibliografia Madrilena: C. Perez Pastor. Madrid 1891. Vol. i, p. xiv.
" Por orden de Felipe II de 7 de Septiembre de 1558 se manda en el articulo
3 que no se imprima ningun libro en Esparia sin licencia del Consejo Real."
P. xv. Another law, in 1592: "... las licencias que se dieren para imprimir
de nuevo algunos libros de cualquier condicion que scan se den por el Presi-
dente y los del nuestro Consejo, y no en otras partes."
11 Bibliografia Madrilena: C. Perez Pastor. Vol. i, p. xlii.
" Zaragoza parece que logro la buena suerte en aquel tiempo de ser pueblo
elegido para la impresion de libros de entretenimiento." Bibl. de Aut. Esp. :
Novelistas post, a Cervantes; Preface.
4 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
Whether Dona Maria was married or not, we do not know.
There is no discovered document, notice or reference in or out of
her works to establish this point. 12 D. Manuel Serrano y Sanz, 13
who has gleaned, thus far, more information on our author than
any other investigator, confesses that he has been unable to unearth
anything definite concerning the personal life of the Dona Maria de
Zayas in question. The greatest difficulty encountered in such an
investigation is that during the seventeenth century the name of
Maria de Zayas was a very common one. In the death notices of
ladies bearing this name there is nothing to identify any one of them
as the author of the " Novelas." She was doubtless a lady of the
Court, aristocratic to her finger tips, well educated and surrounded
with friends of similar station and similar tastes. The fact that
she followed her bent and indulged her taste for publishing what
she wrote indicates that she must necessarily have been well endowed
with the goods of this world, for then as now the Muses were
strangely blind to mundane needs. 14 The pursuit of happiness in
their name is indeed a labor of love. The poets and other authors
of her day held her in high esteem, inserting in their verses and
prose writings warm praise of her achievements. Foremost among
these were Lope de Vega and Juan Perez de Montalvan.
In his Laurel de Apolo Lope de Vega addresses these verses to
Dona Maria de Zayas :
O dulces Hipocrenides hermosas,
Los espinos Pangeos
Aprisa desnudad, y de las rosas
Texed ricas guirnaldas y trofeos
A la inmortal Dona Maria de Zayas;
Que sin pasar a Lesbos, ni a las playas
12 D. Eustaquid Fernandez de Navarrete says: " iResidia en ella (Zaragosa)
Dona Maria, y habia en ella contraido uno de esos dulces lazos que fijan la
suerto de las criaturas? Ne se sabe." Cf. Bibl de Aut, Esp.: Novelistas post,
a Cervantes.
13 Apuntes, Vol. ii, p. 583.
14 A Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor sus apellidos la califican de persona
de nacimiento distinguido y de clase acomodada. Solo de este modo pudo tener
espacio y desahoga para dedicarse a las letras, porque en Espafia, entonces
como ahora, pocos adeptos de las musas podian vivir de las ofrendas que el
publico rendia en sus altares." Cf. Bibl de Aut. Esp.: Novelistas Post, a Cer-
vantes.
Introductory 5
Del vasto mar Egeo,
Que hoy llora el negro velo de Teseo,
A Sapho gozara Mitilenea,
Quien ver milagros de muger desea:
Porque su ingenio, vivamente claro,
Estan unico y raro,
Que ella sola pudiera,
No solo pretender la verde rama,
Pero sola ser sol de tu ribera;
Y tu por ella conseguir mas fama,
Que Napoles por Claudia, por Cornelia
La sacra Roma, y Tebas por Targelia.
Juan Perez de Montalvan in his turn was unstinting in his tribute
which appeared in the form of a sonnet in the preliminary pages
of the first part of Dona Maria's Novelets:
Dulce Sirena, que la voz sonora
Apolo te presto desde su esfera,
De la Accidalia diosa, verdadera
Imagen, por quien Marte tierno llora.
Luz destos valles, que qual blanca Aurora
Fertilizas su verde Primavera,
Cuya eloquencia aficionar pudiera
Al Rubio amante, que un Laurel adora.
Prevengate la fama mil Altares,
Su guirnalda te de el senor de Delo,
Quede tu nombre en bronzes esculpido,
El Laurel merecido
Te de, Amarilis, la parlera fama,
Que ya por fin igual tu lyra llama.
Another friend who lived on intimate terms with her was Dona
Ana Caro Mallen de Soto, who was also a poet and deeply interested
in the field of letters. Decimas by her appear in the above-men-
tioned edition of the Novelas and reveal the high admiration she
felt for the intellectual attainments of her brilliant contemporary
and friend :
Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
Crezca la Gloria Espanola,
insigne dona Maria,
por ti sola, pues podria
gloriarse Espana en ti sola:
nueva Sapho, nueva Pola
Argentaria, honor adquieres
a Madrid, y te prefieres
con soberanos renombres,
nuevo prodigio a los hobres,
nuevo assobro a las mugeres.
A inmortal region anhelas
quado el aplauso te aclama,
y al imperio de tu fama
en sus mismas alas buelas :
novedades, y novelas
tu pluma escrive, tu cantas
triunfo alegre, dichas tantas,
pues ya tan gloriosa vives,
q' admiras con lo q' escrives,
con lo que cantas encantas.
Tu entender esclarecido,
gran Sibila Mantuana,
te miente al velo de humana,
emula al comun olvido ;
y del tiempo desmentido
lo caduco, a las historias,
hara eternas tus memorias,
rindiendole siempre fieles,
a tu eloquencia, laureles,
a tu erudicion, vitorias.
CHAPTER II
FEMINISM IN THE WORKS OF DONA MARIA
Dona Maria was a woman of advanced ideas, advocating gen-
eral education for women, recognition of the equal rights of both
sexes, and respect for women in the eyes of men. To understand
her point of view, to comprehend how noble were her aims and
how justified her protest against the position of women in Spain
at the time, it is necessary to have a correct perspective of the age,
especially as regards woman. Not until this view has been attained
can \ve judge how well or how inadequately she succeeded in por-
traying, through her works, the manners and customs, the tend-
encies, and the abuses of the period. As a general thing education
for women, however elevated their station might be, was rare.
No opportunity was offered for any but a domestic career, to say
nothing of a literary one. Instruction in household arts and in
the amenities of social life was thought to be sufficient for women.
It was a question in many minds as to whether they were capable
of assimilating knowledge of any other sort. Women were sup-
posed to live secluded, protected and conventional lives, leaving to
men the knowledge of the affairs of the world, the transaction of
business and the pursuit of wisdom. To the majority of women, it
must be said, this was entirely satisfactory, for they were so ac-
customed to have the men decide and dispose for them in all matters
outside their private and narrow lives, that any attempt to throw
off their shackles, to soar into the spheres of literature and art,
seemed strange and unfamiliar to their natures.
But that in the seventeenth century in Spain there were women
who felt the injustice of the limitations imposed upon themjby a
man-made world and who yearned for greater spiritual and mental
development, we have only to study the career of Dona Maria de
Zayas y Sotomayor to be rendered certain. Some of these, sure of
their latent potentialities, had the moral courage, not only to protest
against, but to break away from, the conventional routine and to
7
8 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
pursue the bent of their respective talents. Dona Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor was among the number. In the preface to the first part
of her novels, 1 she gives utterance to the challenge that still rings
through the ages, gradually becoming more confident, and promising
to overcome all obstacles. It is a most personal touch from this
author, who demands by what right men claim to be so wise and
learned, and presume that women cannot be so too ? 2 She condemns
the wickedness and tyranny that insist on keeping women locked
up and under repression, that will not give them teachers nor
instruction.
" The real reason why women are not learned," she says, " is not
because they lack mentality, but because they are not given the op-
portunity to apply themselves to study. If, in childhood, they gave
us books and masters instead of lace-making and fine embroidery,
we should be just as well prepared for positions of state and for
professorships as are the men, and perhaps we should have more
discernment, being more dispassionate in our temperaments. Oui
repartee is quicker, we are more carefully deliberate in our decep-
tions, and whatever is done with cleverness, although it be not
virtue, shows creative faculty."
Little wonder that Dona Maria thought women capable of meddling
in politics !
She continues :
" 3 And, if these reasons are not convincing and to our credit,
then there will stand us in good stead the testimony of history in
1 Novelas Amorosas y Ejemplares: Compuestas por Dona Maria de Zayas
y Sotomayor. Zaragoga, 1637.
2 " . . . q' razon ay para que ellos sea sabios, y presuman que nosotras no
podemos serlo? esto no tiene, a mi parecer, mas respuesta q' su impiedad, o
tirania en encerrarnos, y no darnos maestros : y, assi la verdadera causa de no
ser las mugeres doctas, no es defeto del caudal, sino fata [sic] de la aplicacion,
porque si en nuestra crianga, como nos ponen el cambray en las almohadillas,
y los dibuxos en el bastidor, nos dieran libros, y preceptores, fueramos tan aptas
para los puestos, y para las Catedras, como los hobres, y quiga mas agudas, por
ser de narural [sic] mas frio, por consistir en humedad el entendimiento,
como se ve en las respuestas de repente, y en los engafios de pensado, que todo
lo que se haze con mafia, aunque no sea virtud, es ingenio."
3 " . . . y quando no valga esta razon para nuestro credito, valga la ex-
periencia de las historias, y veremos por ellos lo q' hizieron las mugeres que
trataron de buenas letras. De Argentaria esposa del Poeta Lucano, refiere ei
mismo, que le ayudo en la correccion de los tres libros de la Farsalia, y le
Feminism 9
regard to what women have done in the field of letters. We are
told by the poet Lucan himself that his wife Argentaria helped him
correct the three books of the Pharsalia, and composed many verses
for him which were palmed off as his own. Themistoclea, sister of
Pythagoras, wrote a most learned book of maxims. Diotima was
held in great respect by Socrates. Aspasia gave many critical lec-
tures in the Academias. Eudoxa left a book written on political
science; Zenobia, an epitome of Oriental history; and Cornelia,
wife of Africanus, a collection of intimate correspondence written
in most elegant style. There is an infinite number of others, of
antiquity and of our own times, which I pass over in silence. . . .
Well then, if these things are true what reason is there why we
may not show aptitude for books ? "
Dona Maria de Zayas had an inquiring mind, alive to current
events and interested in progress. She says, "Whenever I see
a book, new or old, I leave my lace-making and do not rest until
I have read it through. From this inclination of mine was born
the knowledge I have, and from this knowledge a sense of good
taste." 4
Throughout her writings there is ever present a defensive note
in condemnation of man in respect to his attitude toward woman.
But this is not surprising nor undeserved, for the position of
woman in the eyes of man at this particular time was not an
elevated nor an enviable one. Navarrete 5 contrasts this period with
the time of Queen Isabel, when women were most ambitious, and,
following the example of the Queen who gave lessons to princes in
the " Art of Ruling," they delved into the realm of study and were
respected by the men for their learning and accomplishments.
Then the University of Alcala, recently founded and enlarged by
hizo muchos versos, que passaron por suyos. Temistoclea hermana de Pita-
goras, escrivio un libro doctissimo de varias sentencias. Diotimia fue venerada
de Socrates por eminente. Aspano hizo muchas leciones de opinio en las
Academias. Eudoxa dexo escrito un libro de cosejos politicos. Cenovia un
epitome de la historia Oriental. Y Cornelia muger de Africano, unas epistolas
familiares, con suma elegancia. Y otras infinitas de la antiguedad, y de nuestros
tiempos, que passo en silencio. . . . Pues si esto es verdad, q' razon ay para que
no tengamos prontitud para los libros." Ed. 1637, Zaragoga.
4 " ... en viendo qualquiera nuevo, o antiguo, dexo la almohadilla, y no
sossiego hasta que le passo. Desta inclinacion nacio la noticia, de la noticia el
buen gusto."
5 Bibl. de Aut. Esp.: Novelistas post, a Cervantes.
io Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
Cardinal Cisneros, was at its height and had as its leader and
professor in Philosophy and Rhetoric, Antonia Nebrija. Similar
posts in other universities were filled by women, but, instead of
steadily gaining in popularity, literary careers for women began
to fall into disfavor, and gradually women were not tolerated in the
universities. Emilia Pardo Bazan 6 speaks of this unfavorable
change as a " descent which began with the last of the Austrian
rulers and was wholly consummated under the rule of the Bour-
bons. With the corruption and decadence that fell upon Spain, the
position of women was lowered an infallible sign of the retro-
gression of a nation."
To what extent woman herself brought on this state of affairs,
we cannot say, but it is a fact that during the first half of the
seventeenth century there was an alarming laxness of morals
throughout Spain, but especially at Court. The women assumed
a freedom of manner, of dress and of living that was indeed de-
plorable. A study of contemporary writings and a perusal of
accounts by foreigners who visited the country assure us on this
point. One of these writers, a Frenchman, 7 attributed the impend-
ing ruin of many of the greatest houses in Spain to the license
prevalent at the time, when every man prided himself on the num-
ber of paramours he had. He was particularly impressed by the
boldness and lack of reserve displayed by the women who, by their
effrontery, provoked insulting remarks from the men they met. We
are told that they thronged the streets at all times, flaunting their
supposed charms and decked extravagantly in the most outlandish
costumes made expressly to attract attention. The majority of
them were not beautiful, but sought to hide their defects by the
lavish use of false hair and cosmetics, often indeed in an effort to
cover the ravages of small-pox. 8 So unsafe did the streets become
6 Biblioteca de la Mujer, dirigida por Emilia Pardo Bazan. Tomo III.
Novelas de Dona Maria de Zayas, p. 16.
7 Voyage d'Espagne: by Antoine de Brunei. Edited by Charles Claverie
in the Revue Hispanique, vol. 30 (1914).
8 Journal du Voyage d'Espagne: by Frangois Bertaut. Re-edite par S.
Cassan. Revue Hispanique, vol. 47 (1919). Francisco A. De Icaza has touched
upon this phase of social life in this period in Las Novelas Ejemplares de Cer-
vantes. Sus criticos . . . Sus modelos literarios, etc. Madrid, 1915, p. 214 et
seq.
Feminism 1 1
that any woman, however modest and honest in her intentions, if
she appeared without a male escort was open to all kinds of ad-
vances and molestation. Consequently, the women of quality who
conducted themselves with propriety went abroad only in carriages
or else stayed at home, hearing mass in their own chapels and
thus avoiding the annoyance and embarrassment often suffered by
women in the churches then the common meeting places of all
classes and the favorite rendez-vous of gallants with the objects
of their attentions. Husbands who wished to keep their wives from
danger and away from this pernicious influence, assumed the role
of absolute tyrants, forbidding them any liberties whatsoever, and
treating them sometimes as if they were slaves, servants or mere
children. 9 Small wonder that there was little encouragement for
mental growth for women, and that they naturally fell into the
way of believing, even they themselves, that anything beyond the
purely mundane was far above their intelligence.
Although Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor fortified herself
with arguments and examples from antiquity, yet she realized that
in the publication of her novels she would meet with much adverse
criticism and incur the censure of those opposed to radical and un-
accustomed ventures ; for a literary career for women, as has been
said before, was most unusual at the time. Boldly she faces her
public in her note to the reader. " I have no doubt whatsoever that
you will be astonished that a woman has the audacity not only to
write a book, but to have it printed. . . . Who doubts, I repeat,
that there will be many who attribute to sheer lunacy this justifiable
hardihood of revealing to the public my scrawls, because I am a
woman which, in the opinion of some ignorant persons, is equiv-
9 " Au reste, les maris qui veulent que leurs femmes vivent bien, s'en rendent
d'abord si absolus, qu'ils les traitent presque en esclaves, de peur qu'ils ont
qu'une honneste liberte ne les fasse emanciper au dela des loix de la pudicite,
qui sont fort peu connues et mal observees parmy ce sexe. On m'a asseure qu'en
Andalousie, les maris les traitent comme des enfants ou comme des servantes.
Car quand ils prennent leur repas, s'ils les font approcher de la table, ce n'est
pas pour y manger avec eux, mais pour les servir, et s'ils ne leur donnent pas
cette permission, et qu'ils veuillent les tenir dans un degre de sujetion plus
honneste, ils leur donnent a manger de leur table a terre, ou elles sont assises
sur des tapis, ou sur des carreaux a la mode des Turcs." Voyage d'Espagne:
Antoine de Brunei. Ed. by Charles Claverie: Revue Hispanique, vol. 30, p. 157.
12 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
alent to a thing absolutely incompetent." 10 She seizes every oppor-
tunity to defend her sex, admitting no inferiority nor inequality,
although her writings bear witness that she was not insensible to
the existing conditions of things. She seeks to point out that how-
ever blameworthy a woman may be, she is nevertheless still an equal
of man:
" Anyone who is a gentleman will not consider this [book] a
novelty, nor will he censure it as folly, because, whether this stuff
of which both men and women are made be an evolution of fire and
clay or rather a composition of spirit and clod, still it is of no
nobler texture in men than in women . . . even our souls are alike,
for souls have no gender . . . Toward women there should be no
discrimination; he who does not esteem them is wicked, because
they are necessary to him, and he who insults them is an ingrate,
for he forgets the hospitality shown him in the early years of his
life." "
Throughout her works there is an underlying tendency that
seeks every occasion to vindicate woman against the misapprehend-
ing judgment of man. If there were no bad men there would be
no erring women, and for every iniquitous woman there are a
hundred that are good. Woman is ignorant of the ways and evils
of the world by reason of her upbringing. From the very begin-
ning her weakness is fostered, she is made dependent, no avenue
is open to her that leads to self-expression, independence and ade-
quate knowledge. Men take full account of this, for by reason of
these limitations they are able to maintain their ascendancy and
10 " Quien duda, lector mio, que te causara admiracion q'una muger tenga
despejo, no solo para escrivir tin libro, sino para darle a la estapa. . . . Quien
duda, digo otra vez, q'avra muchos que atribuyan a locura esta virtuosa ossadia
de sacar a luz mis borrones, siendo muger, que en opinion de algunos necios,
es lo mismo que una cosa incapaz."
11 " ... pero qual quiera [libro], como sea no mas de buen Cortesano, ni
lo tendra por novedad, ni lo murmurara por desatino, porque si esta materia
de que nos coponemos los hSbres, y las mugeres, ya sea una trabagon de fuego,
y barro, o ya una massa de espiritus, y terrenes, no tiene mas nobleza en ellos,
q'en nosotras, si es una misma la sangre, los sentidos, las potencias, y los
organos, por donde se obran sus efetos, son unos mismos, la misma alma que
ellos, por que las almas ni son hombres, ni mugeres. . . . Con mugeres no ay
competencias : quien no las estima es necio, porque las a menester, y quiga las
ultraja ingrato, pues falta al reconocimiento del hospedaje que le hizieron en la
primer Jornada."
Feminism 1 3
prestige. They are the victors, and can afford to be magnanimous
to the weaker ally. But are they so? Far from it! Ascendancy
seems but one more weapon in their able hands. They take advan-
tage of the frailty of woman, leading her on to trust their very
deceitfulness. Woe unto the woman who places her faith in so
insecure a vessel, for she shall indeed reap the unjust reward of her
love ! With music, with billets doux, with promises and presents
the very powers of Evil are out-rivaled in strategy her favor is
sought, and trustingly she accepts all, believing implicitly in the
generous giver and insistent petitioner. Most earnestly does Dona
Maria exhort women to be firm, to hold much in reserve, to re-
member that to give too freely is but to court a broken heart,
broken vows and neglect.
The second part of the Novelas was written of set purpose to
warn women against the mistakes which through ignorance they
so often make, by revealing the pitfalls that jeopardize their happi-
ness. She writes not to protect the willing and contented sinner,
undeserving the name of woman, but to point out the snares and
ambushes laid along the way for the unsuspecting victim x>f good
intentions. She asserts that the good woman is far more unfairly
treated than the irresponsible woman who does not stand by a man
long enough to have him tire of her, and she emphasizes the fact
that men do tire of women easily, seeking ever new conquests, never
hesitating to abandon the old love for the new, with little care for
the duties left unfulfilled. They are incapable of loving as deeply
as does a woman. A woman's love is so great and unselfish that it
stands all tests, enabling her to suffer insults, ingratitude and the
sacrifice of her own good name.
Thus does Dona Maria excuse the frailties of woman, and thus
does she enjoy depicting her. Let it be said, however, that in her
zeal to present to a sympathetic public a loving and unsuspecting
martyr she sometimes falls into the error of portraying a simpleton
whose stupid blindness is altogether ridiculous. Sowing his wild
oats, on the other hand, is no excuse for a young man's failings. Her
warning is that if he does not start right, he will probably not end
right. One has only to look around to be convinced that no amount
of reforming after marriage will avail to change habits established
14 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
in youth. Pessimistically she exclaims : " Who is the silly fool who
wishes to marry, with so many pitiful examples facing her at every
step?"
Men feel that women are without a fundamental moral sense,
are fickle, and, as such, are not to be trusted. Whether with or
without justification men are suspicious of women ; and it is difficult,
if not impossible, to convince them of the fact that a fine, noble
woman will not stoop to deceit and baseness. Doiia Maria tells us
that so great is this prejudice that even the plays and books of the
day reflect the tendency. Men's greatest amusement seems to lie in
perpetrating disparaging remarks on women's infidelity. She in-
geniously suggests that men are jealous and assume this attitude
because secretly, in their hearts, they know that women are clever,
and, if given the opportunity, might prove formidable rivals in
their own fields. For this reason they want them kept stupid and
( pliable. In her novel, El prevenido enganado, she develops this
idea by portraying her hero as losing faith in all women because one
woman has been false to him. He believes that the more sophis-
ticated a woman is, the better is she prepared to deceive, and con-
sequently he goes through the world seeking a wife who shall be
virtuous, good to look upon, of gentle birth (tho not necessarily
rich), but whose knowledge shall not extend beyond that requisite
to the care of a home, the upbringing of children and the protection
of her husband's name. Otherwise altho we are not told so in
so many words she is to be a mere clod stupid, dull and unin-
teresting. He fears the well-informed, bright, intelligent woman
more than he does death itself. Through the Duchess, to whom
D. Fadrique discloses his views, we hear the author herself argue in
favor of the intelligent woman, wise to the ways of the world, versus
the stupid and ignorant fool who would never be clever enough
to extricate herself from any predicament, nor quick-witted enough
to save her husband's honor. What satisfaction could there be in
a love founded on so shallow a foundation, for a stupid person is
incapable of deep and sustained sentiment. The author cunningly
arranges that the hero shall undergo an experience which changes
his opinion and convinces him of the truth of this argument.
No punishment is too drastic for the man who wrongs a woman.
Feminism 1 5
Her attitude is implacable on this point. She lauds the courage of
the woman who avenges her honor by slaying the man who deceives
her, and sincerely wishes that such justice might oftener be meted out,
that men might take heed and beware of trifling with women's affec-
tions. In the novela El imposible vencido a married man who seeks J
to press his unwelcome attentions upon a respectable widow by a
trick of walking through her house at night disguised as a ghost,
is discovered, arrested, and condemned to die for his misdemeanor.
The author's comment is simply that it is what he deserved. In
spite of this apparently uncompromising attitude, we still find,
depicted in the Novelas, some very good men who chivalrously
redress the wrongs of women, who love truly, and who are faithful
through all viscissitudes.
There is no sweeter love-story than that in El desenganado
amado of the patient, generous and ideal lover D. Sancho, and
Dona Clara, an example of a virtuous and long-suffering wife,
to whom he is later married after the death of her husband. Al-
though deserted by an unfaithful husband, still she remained true
to him, maintaining that as God had given him to her through the
vows of the church she would cleave to him and to him alone as long
as he lived. D. Sancho accepts with resignation her determination,
but nevertheless continues to wait patiently, watching tenderly over
her from afar until the death of the husband gives him the right to
renew his petition.
In all her literary work, Dona Maria reveals herself as an
ardent Christian, to whom a religious life represents the perfect
state. In her novels, after passing through the trials and tribula-
tions of this world, it is not unusual to find the heroine entering a
convent in order to escape the persecution and ill-treatment of man.
There, at last, she finds true happiness and peace, and is content
to remain in the shelter of the church for the remainder of her
natural life.
In Al Fin se paga todo, the friendly protector of Dona HipolitaJ
places her in a convent as a temporary measure, and she decides,
after tasting the pleasures of a sequestered life, to remain there,
refusing to return to her husband.
C
/~
1 6 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
La Fuerza, del amor gives us another example of a disillusioned
woman taking the veil to serve God, the only true lover, who, unlike
man, is ever grateful and appreciative of the love and devotion
rendered him.
In El Desenganado Amado, when Dona Juana, who is not lead-
ing an exemplary life, is warned by the ghost of a dead lover that
her soul is doomed, she immediately repents, happily rejoicing in
the opportunity offered her to insure for herself salvation and
eternal peace. Throughout her writings, in any case of dangerous
illness, the soul receives first attention, in preparation for meeting
its Maker; then, when this is accomplished, the Church makes way
for the physicians, who minister to the body. The spiritual needs,
the duty of man towards his Creator, and the preparation through-
out this life for the life to come all these things are constantly
emphasized. Unlike so many writers of similar tales, never does
she direct a breath of unfavorable criticism against the clergy,
rather are their lives and deeds extolled and magnified. Dona
Maria de Zayas believed in a just retribution for transgressors, not
only in the future life, but even the present one. Al fin se paga
todo was written expressly to demonstrate that the wicked are not
immune from punishment in this world, but that before they leave
it they must begin to pay for their crimes and misdeeds.
Her faith in the efficacy of prayer is illustrated by many in-
stances in her novels, where the apparently impossible is brought
to pass through the medium of earnest prayer.
The Moors formed so romantic an element in the Spain of her
day that, like most writers of the period, she could not resist the
temptation to introduce incidents wherein figure Moorish captives,
Moorish princes, Moorish slaves and Moorish adventurers. Many
of these are represented as kindly, chivalrous, just and altogether
humane and attractive. Yet, at times, her staunch Catholic con-
science troubles her, and we are amused to find her inventing ex-
cuses for these sheep without the fold whom she was loath to
condemn. We find them about to become Christians, or open
to conviction, ready to change their faith at the opportune moment.
This religious attitude in the Novelas, together with their lofty
purpose of defending the rights of woman, infuses into their ex-
Feminism 1 7
treme realism a spirit of idealism which raises them above the novels
of this type current at the time.
These stories have unquestionable value in that they reflect, as
in a mirror, the tendencies of the age. In the elaborate and detailed
descriptions of social entertainments, artistic decorations and dress,
we are better able to penetrate into the customs, the tastes and the
foibles of a period which has ever been replete with interest, and,
as we read, we are gradually aware that unconsciously the author
wove into her narrative the spirit and atmosphere of the society in
which she moved.
CHAPTER III
THE NOVELAS
i. General Characterisation
In spite of her adaptability, skill and manifest success in the
realm of verse, the fame of Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor rests
almost wholly on her short stories. The suggestion has already
been made that, notwithstanding her fearlessness, she was still un-
certain as to the reception of her work by the public. Her preface
to the Novelas is almost an apology, and is fortified in the earlier
editions by a " word " from one who claims to be impartial and
unbiased in his judgment. His espousal of the book is not signed,
so we have no definite idea as to who this person can be, but the
text of his warm recommendation would lead one to believe that the
bookseller had collaborated in its rather extravagant praise. He can-
not imagine anyone disliking the book or doubting in any way the
marvelous and stupendous genius revealed in its pages. He is sure
that the book will go down through the ages as unique of its kind
and adds that even then it is the wonder of all living beings. (Is
this an example of conservative advertising in the seventeenth
century?) He continues in this strain, with the assurance that
Genius welcomes the author with the applause due to a most re-
markable woman, who stands as the Glory of Manzanares and an
honor to Spain. In the Academias of Madrid she has been lauded
as a phenix of learning! Concerning her book, the eulogist feels
very strongly that the reader should not only read it but should
own it. He should not borrow it, nor should he furtively read it in
the book-stalls to save buying it, for that is no way to read a good
book, and a very easy way to miss the good it contains. Thus a
great wrong is sometimes done to both the author and the bookseller
through ill-considered criticism. It is also unfair to impose on the
kindness of the bookseller by borrowing it over night, to return the
next day, probably in poor condition. Prospective buyers see it
18
The Novelas 19
has been returned, are suspicious of its value, and do not buy.
(Could any but the bookseller have presented his case so earnestly?)
These precautions and fears were however needless, for the Novelas
were eagerly bought and read and became very popular. In the
second part of her work, published about ten years later, Dona
Maria speaks proudly of the success of her earlier venture and of
the jealousy displayed by other authors at the welcome accorded
these writings from the pen of a woman. 1
The first part of the Novelas amorosas y ejemplares was orig-
inally published about the year 1637 at Zaragoza, and contains the
following tales: Aventurarse perdiendo; La burlada Aminta; El
castigo de la miseria; El prevenido enganado; La fuerza del amor;
El desenganado amado; Al fin se paga to do; El imposible vencido;
El juez de su causa; El jardin enganoso. There is an edition of
1635 mentioned by Brunet 2 and one of 1636 mentioned by Ochoa, 3
but research seems to disprove these dates, and to justify the sug-
gestion that these two authorities respectively mistook for the date
of publication the dates of two successive Ecclesiastical Approvals
one of 1635 and the other of 1636 both of which appear in the
first edition of 1637. Furthermore, the edition of 1638 and nearly
all subsequent editions are advertised as "corrected and amended''
but the edition of 1637,* copies of which are still extant, bears no
such notice.
1 " Que trabajos del entendimiento, el que sabe lo que es lo estima, y el que
no lo sabe, su ignorancia le disculpa ; como sucedio en la primera parte de
este sarao, que si unos le desestimaron, ciento le aplaudieron y todos le bus-
caron, y le buscan, y ha gozado de tres impresiones, dos naturales, y una hur-
tada." Novelas amorosas y ejemplares. Paris 1847. La Inocencia castigada,
P- 234.
2 Manuel du Libraire et de 1'Amateur de Livres ; par Jacques-Charles
Brunet. 6 vols. Paris, 1864, p. 1530, vol. v.
In Scarron Inconnu, by Henri Chardon, Paris 1903, the date of 1634 is
given as that of the publication of the first and second parts of the work of
Dona Maria de Zayas at Barcelona. Needless to say, this is an error, for the
author herself speaks of the separate publication of the two parts of the No-
relas, the first antedating the second by a number of years.
3 Tesoro de Novelistas Esp. antiguos y modernos. Paris, 1847.
4 Novelas \ Amorosas, y\ Ejemplares \ Compuestas por Dona | Maria de
Zayas y Sotomayor, na- | tural de Madrid. | Con Licencia, | En Zaragoga, En
el Hospital Real, y Gnl de N. Senora de Gracia, Ano 1637. | A costa de
Pedro Esquer, Mercader de libros. | 8. Aprovacion de Maestro Joseph de Val-
divielso, Madrid a 2 de Junio de 1636. Licencia del Doctor Juan de Mendieta :
2O Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
The library of the Hispanic Society of America in New York
possesses, besides the edition of 1637, several editions of the
Novelas published at Zaragoza in 1638, and one at Barcelona in
1648. In the editions thus far mentioned, only the First Part of
the Novelas appears. In the introducion to the third novel of the
Second Part of her work, Dona Maria states that the First Part of
the novels had undergone three printings, two of these legitimate
and one stolen. Leaving out of consideration the possible editions
of 1635 an d 1636, the authenticity of which seems dubious, we are
confronted with the extant edition of 1637, two editions of 1638
all three of the foregoing printed in Zaragoza by the same book-
seller and one of 1646, printed in Barcelona. Did the author
consider the two editions of 1638 as constituting one reprinting,
and then that of Barcelona as the one unauthorized ? 5
The second part together with the first part of the novels ap-
peared for the first time in 1647, according to Nicolas Antonio. 6
The novels contained in the second part are La esclava de su
amante; La mas infame venganza; La inocencia castigada; El
verdugo de su esposa; Tarde llega el desengano; Amar solo por
veneer; Mai presagio casar lejos; El traidor contra su sangre; La
perseguida triunfante; Estragos que causa el vicio. Manuel Serrano
y Sanz mentions an edition of 1649 not indicated elsewhere con-
taining only the second part of the Novelas. No note is made as
to where the book is to be found.
Madrid a 4 de Junio de 1626 [sic]. Aprovacion y licencia del Doctor D. Juan
Domingo Briz, Zaragoga de Mayo de 1635. A Doiia Maria de Zayas, Decimas,
el Dr. Joseph Adrian de Angaiz. Decimas de Maria Caro de Mallen. Redon-
dillas de Dona Isabel Tintor, natural de Madrid. Soneto de Doctor luan Perez
de Montaluan. Soneto de D. Alonso de Castillo Solorgano. Soneto de Fran-
cisco de Aguirre Vaca. Decima de D. Alonso Bernardo de Quiros. Soneto de
Diego de Pereira en portugues. Soneto de Dona Ana Ines Victoria de Mires
y Arguillur. Soneto de D. Victorian Joseph de Esmir y Casanate. Al que
leyere. Prologo de vn desapassionado.
A copy of this edition may be found in the Library of the Hispanic So-
ciety of America, and in the Ticknor Collection, Boston Public Library.
5 C. Perez Pastor tells us that the printers and booksellers paid vet y little
attention to the wishes or copyright privileges of the authors. Bibl. Madrilena,
vol. i, p. xlii.
6 I have not succeeded in locating this edition in the catalogue or on the
shelves of any library or museum.
The Novelets 21
With this exception, all the editions published after 1647 contain
both the first and second parts. They are as follows: 1648, Bar-
celona (to be found in the British Museum) ; 1659, Madrid (His-
panic Society) ; 1664, Madrid (British Museum) ; 1705, Barcelona
(British Museum) ; 1724 and 1729, Madrid (mentioned by Serrano
y Sanz); 1734, Barcelona (Hispanic Society); 1748, Madrid and
1752, Barcelona (mentioned by Brunet; I can find no other mention
of this edition) ; 1764, Barcelona (British Museum) ; 1786, Madrid
(Hispanic Society) ; 1795, Madrid (British Museum) ; 1814,
Madrid (Hispanic Society); 1847, Paris (Hispanic Society).
Some of the Novelas have appeared in collections which are
easily accessible. There is the Tesoro de Novelistas Espanoles
Antiguos y Mo demos, con una introduction y noticias de Eugenio
de Ochoa, published in Paris, 1847, which contains four of the
Novelas: El Castigo de la miseria; La Fuerza del Amor; El ]uez
de su causa; Tarde llega el desengafio.
The Biblioteca de la Mujer is a collection of selected works by
various authors, edited by Emilia Pardo Bazan, for the purpose of
presenting to women a library on scientific, historical and phil-
osophical subjects best suited for the expansion of knowledge. The
third volume of this series contains eight of the short stories by
Dona Maria de Zayas. They are: Aventurarse perdiendo; El
castigo de la miseria; La juerza del amor; El desenganado amado;
La mocencia castigada; El verdugo de su esposa; El traidor contra
su sangre; Estragos que causa el vicio.
There are two collections of translations of some of the short
stories into French. One appeared as early as 1656, containing six
of the tales, bearing the title : Les Nouvelles amoureuses et exem-
plaires per cette merveille de son siecle, Dona Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor, traduites de I'espagnol par Ant. de Methel (D'Ouville) ;
Paris, de Luynes 1656, in-8. 7 The stories included in this collec-
tion are : La Precaution inutile; S'aventurer en perdant; La Belle
invisible, ou la Constance eprouve (La Fuerza del amor} ; L' Amour
7 Brunet lists this collection as containing only five of the tales, but Henri
Chardon in Scarron Inconnu quotes D'Ouville as dedicating to Mademoiselle
de Mancini six stories translated from the works of Dona Maria de Zayas, giv-
ing titles.
22 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
se paie avec I' amour (El juez de su causa) ; La Vengeance d'Aminte
affrontee (La burlada Amintd) ; A la fin tout se paye.
The second collection is entitled Nouvelles de Dona Maria
Dezayas, traduites de 1'Espagnol, Paris; G. Quinet, 1680. 3 torn,
in 24. Tr. by C. Vanel. 8 The table of contents reads: t. I :
L'heureux desespoir; Amint trahie, ou L'honneur vange; L'avare
puny. Tome 2 : La precaution inutile; La force de I'amour;
L' amour desabuse, ou La recompense de la Vertu; Un bienfait n'est
jamais perdu.
A German translation is mentioned in the Catalogue of the
British Museum under the title, "Die lehrreichen Erz'dhlungen und
Liebesgeschichten der Donna M. de Z. und S" It is by Sophie
Brentano in two volumes and published in Penig in i8o6. 9
In English, there seems to be only a single translation of one
of the Novelas, and that is The Miser Chastised to be found in the
Spanish Novelists, vol. ii, by T. Roscoe, 1832.
These are the acknowledged translations ; there are others, how-
ever, introduced in the works of certain writers, the credit for
.which is not given to the original author. They appear ostensibly
as the product of the translator. A comparison of the Precaution
inutile by Scarron 10 with the Prevenido enganado by Dona Maria
de Zayas shows that the two are identical, and is an instance illus-
trative of the unscrupulous practice of some authors.
The first part of the Novelas consists of a series of ten short
stories purporting to be told respectively by five young men and
five young women, gathered together for the Christmas holidays
at the home of one of the young ladies, who is recovering from an
8 This description is taken from the Catalogue of the Library of Congress.
The notice given by Manuel Serrano y Sanz of the same book indicates that
there are 5 vols. in 12, with the date MDCLXXX. Brunet describes this
work thus : " 5 part, in-12, qui se relient ordinairement en 2 vols. Cette traduc-
tion est anonyme. Barbier 1'attribue a D'Ouville, en la confondant avec la pre-
cedente de 1656, qui porte le nom de Le Methel, ou de Methel; mais elle est
de Vanel, ainsi que celui-ci nous Tapprend dans la dedicace de sa traduction
des Alivios de Casandra, impr. a Paris, 1683, 3 torn, en i vol. in-12."
9 Tresor de Livres Rares et Precleux: par Jean George Theodore Graesse.
Dresde, 1867, vol. vi, p. 508.
10 Les Nouvelles tragi-comiques de M. Scarron. Tome premier, Paris.
(Ed. of 1731 consulted).
The Novelas 23
illness and is in need of entertainment. The second part of the
Novelas, also consisting of ten stories, is a continuation of the first
part in the sense that it is concerned with the same party of young
people, gathered to celebrate the pre-marriage festivities of two of
their number. There is a difference, however; for here only the
young women narrate, and the ten tales are all occupied with relat-
ing incidents showing how women are misjudged and, in conse-
quence, most unfairly treated by men.
There is, of course, nothing original in this manner of bringing
together a number of disconnected tales by a thread of narrative.
It is obviously an imitation of the method of Boccaccio in his
Decameron. Emilia Pardo Bazan calls it a " felicitous imitation "
of the great Italian novelist; and it is not surprising that Dona
Maria de Zayas should have adopted this method, since it has
always been popular, and has continued in vogue from the I4th
century down to the present time. As is well known, the Italian
influence was felt very early in Spain. There was always a connec-
tion with Italy through commerce and through a certain homogene-
ous current of sympathetic understanding. Boccaccio's writings
were eagerly welcomed by the Spanish, and his tales copied wholly or
in part. His influence was extensive and not in the least short
lived. Dr. Bourland, in her valuable treatise 1021 on the Decameron
in Spain, says: "To the Spanish moralists of the I5th century,
Boccaccio is an authority; through Sannazaro, whose Arcadia goes
back to Boccaccio's Ameto, he is the founder of the Pastoral Novel
in Spain, while the Spanish Sentimental Novel springs directly
from him." At first, Boccaccio was better known in Spain through
his works other than the Decameron, such as the Fiammeta, the
Corbaccio, Caida de Principes, etc. These exercised a certain lit-
erary influence, but the Decameron later surpassed them all in its
deeper and more far-reaching effects. Although this work was
translated into Spanish as early as 1496 (edition of Sevilla), yet
its influence was not strongly felt until the middle of the sixteenth
century in the Coloquios Satiricos of Antonio de Torquemada
( : 553) an d the Patranuelo of Juan de Timoneda (1566) an in-
fluence which reached its apogee in the seventeenth century. In
re-telling and imitating these Italian tales the Spanish adapted them
24 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
to their new surroundings, infused into them the Spanish atmosphere
and made them far more romantic and adventurous than the orig-
inals. At the same time, the idea of the framework used in the
Decameron was closely followed, but with just enough variation to
distinguish the adaptations from the original.
Among the illustrations of this influence the following may be
noted. Lucas Hidalgo in his Carnestolendas de Castilla (1605)
has interwoven his tales into an account of Carnival festivities. In
El Pasajero (1617), by Suarez de Figueroa, stories are told in the
interludes of a journey made by two travellers; Salas Barbadillo,
in La Casa del Placer honesto (1620), tells of four students of the
University of Salamanca who, tired of their studies, set up an
establishment in Madrid, where they entertain their friends and
guests with various sorts of diversion, most important of which
is the recounting of short stories. Francisco Lugo y Davila, in
his work entitled Novelas morales (1622), uses the device of three
friends amusing themselves by taking turns in narrating stories
during the tiresome afternoons.
The Cigarrales of Toledo (1624) by Tirso de Molina consists
of a collection of tales, plays and poems presented by the different
members of a party of friends who are seeking entertainment at
several cigarrales or country seats near Toledo. The device is
similar to that adopted in the Novelas of Dona Maria de Zayas
in that the entertainments are in turn under the leadership of
various members of the assembled company. Alonso de Castillo
Solorzano has also followed the accustomed plan in his Tardes
entretenidas (1626), La Huerta de Valencia, Los Alivios de Ca-
sandra (1640), Jornadas alegres (1626), and La Quinta de Laura
(1649) where a number of young ladies are met at Laura's country
house and amuse themselves and each other by telling stories.
Even Juan Perez de Montalban yielded to the fashion. In his Para
Todos (1632), a country house is made the scene for the narrating
of short stories, the presentation of plays, and the discussion of
scientific subjects.
The Auroras de Diana (1632) by Pedro de Castro y Anaya is
so called because the stories are related in the morning for the
amusement of Diana, a lady of the court, who is in the country
The Novelets 25
recovering from an illness. In the prologue to his Novelas ejem-
plares, Cervantes states his intention of writing a book to be called
Semanas del Jar din, a work of which, unfortunately, nothing
further is known. Owing to his closely following death, it is
probable that he never wrote it. However, his intention is sig-
nificant in that it indicates that he, too, who prided himself on
his originality and affected to scorn the various imitations of the
Decameron^ was himself influenced to consider this form of prose
fiction, which at the time was the current type of popular novel.
Small wonder that Dona Maria regaled her public with what the
public desired. However, let it be said to her credit that, although
adopting, and adapting to her use, some of the plots of the Deca-
meron, yet she manifests an effort to refrain from utilizing its sub-
stance and seeks her sources elsewhere or essays to draw upon her
own creative genius. In giving to the Novelas amorosas the de-
scriptive title of ejemplares, she was doubtless following the ex-
ample of Cervantes, who, desirous of distinguishing his work from
the many licentious imitations of Boccaccio with which Europe was
overrun during the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth
centuries, qualified them as exemplary and moral. The novels of
Dofia Maria de Zayas are sprightly and sometimes a little crude,
but scarcely objectionable enough to be termed licentious. What-
ever adverse criticism has been bestowed upon them in this respect
should be regarded as undeserved. Dofia Maria is justified by the
loftiness of her underlying purpose, namely, the enlightenment of
her sex, and by her effective protest against the tyranny of man and
the warning note she sounds to women to beware of the snares and
temptations of the world. They must be judged in accordance with
the period in which they were written. A study of contemporary
life and letters will furnish the correct perspective. In such a sur-
vey, a certain superficial crudeness and grossness is observable in the
morals of the time and in the subjects openly discussed in society,
subjects that imply a somewhat startling contrast with the standards
of a later day.
11 " Yo soy el primero qtie he novelado en lengua castellana; que las muchas
novelas que en ella andan impresas todas son traducidas de lengnas estrangeras,
y estas son mias propias, no imitadas ni hurtadas ; mi ingenio las engendro y las
pario mi pluma, y van creciendo en los brazos de la estampa." Prologue to the
Novelas ejemplares.
26 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
2. El Jar din enganoso
Like the majority of writers of this period, as has been inti-
mated, Dona Maria de Zayas found the sources of some of her
novels in the Italian writers then so popular, foremost among them
Boccaccio. This is well illustrated in her tenth story of the first
part of the Novelas, which bears the title El Jardin enganoso (The
Magic Garden). Florence Nightingale Jones in her study of Boc-
caccio and His Imitators states that this tale has its origin in the
fifth novel of the tenth day of the Decameron. 12 Boccaccio, how-
ever, had already told the same story with slight variations in his
Filocolo, in the Thirteen Questions of Love. It is Question IV in
the fourth book. As has been stated, others of Boccaccio's works
than the Decameron were familiar to the Spanish, and there might
be very reasonable doubt as to whether Dona Maria de Zayas drew
from the Decameron or from the Filocolo. 13 A careful examination
of the three tales concerned, however, suggests that she was in-
fluenced by both.
In the story as it is told in the Decameron, Dianora, the wife of
Gilberto, is loved by Ansaldo, whose attentions are a source of
annoyance and embarrassment to her. Wishing to dispose of this
unwelcome suitor, she makes what she considers an impossible de-
mand, promising, upon its accomplishment, to yield to his court-
ship. He is to present her in the month of January with a garden
which shall be as lovely, luxuriant and complete as if the season were
the month of May. In default of this, he must desist from his atten-
tions; otherwise she will openly denounce him to her husband and
her friends.
Nothing daunted, the perplexed lover seeks out a magician who
on the first day of January is able to construct in a meadow near
the city a beautiful garden, that is even more wonderful than the
lady had imagined. From it he sends fruits and flowers to Dianora,
begging her to go and view it for herself, and reminding her of the
promise she had made him. In company with her ladies, Dianora
visits the enchanted spot; with sorrow and amazement she realizes
that she has indeed placed herself in an apparently inextricable
12 Univ. Chicago, 1910.
13 May be read in Spanish in Las treze questioner. Toledo 1549.
The Novelas 27
predicament. In contrition she relates all to her husband. At first
he is angry with her, but then, reflecting that her intentions had been
upright, his mood softens and he simply chides her for having made
any sort of covenant, reminding her that with lovers nothing is
impossible. Because she has given her word he insists upon her
keeping it, and sends her to Ansaldo's house in fulfilment of her
promise. Reluctantly she follows his commands and presents herself
before the man who had succeeded in overcoming supposedly in-
superable obstacles. However, when Ansaldo learns that it is
Dianora's husband who has sent her to him, he marvels at such
generosity and, moved by the noble act, finds himself unable to
accept so great a sacrifice. Instead, he sends Dianora back to her
husband, vowing that he will not take advantage of such magna-
nimity. Through this denouement, the ties of a deep friendship are
cemented between the two men, who perceive in each other traits
of extraordinary nobility and generosity of character. The magi-
cian, not to be outdone in these qualities, refuses to accept any
remuneration for his labors. [The story is followed by the question
as to the generosity of Ansaldo as compared with that of the hero
of another tale.]
This is the story as it stands in the Decameron. Dona Maria
was not satisfied simply to translate the story, but, as was the custom
with the Spanish adapters of the Italian Novelle, she elaborated
the theme, and so successfully localized the setting, adding or
omitting incidents and characters and introducing manners and
customs typical of her own country, that she completely transplanted
the story into Spanish literature, and so imbued it with the peculiar
atmosphere of the land that it seems quite naturally to belong there.
In her version of the Magic Garden we find all the tendencies of
the literature of the time. In her elegance of style and expression
is indicated the influence of Gongora, while in the predominant
interest of action and adventure we become aware of the negligence
in character portrayal which is so typical of the period. In these
transplanted bits of fiction there is an added interest in the ex-
ploitation of much that is chivalrous, romantic and heroic, much
that is imaginative and fanciful. Dona Maria has transferred the
action to Zaragoza, a city which she extols in extravagant metaphor.
28 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
This seems to have been the general manner of beginning these
short stories. Whatever city was chosen as the stage for action
was the " finest and the best, the jewel that twinkled brightest in
the crown of Castile." It was as if these innovators composed by
formula. 14 The procedure is almost always the same. Interest in
the introduction of minute details is illustrated by the fact that
instead of plunging directly into the story, as did Boccaccio when
he related that " a worthy lady, named Dianora, the wife of a very
agreeable man and one of great wealth, called Gilberto, had taken
the fancy of a great and noble lord, called Ansaldo," Dona Maria de
Zayas takes the pains to explain the parentage, with all its attendant
incidents, of the heroine of the story. Constanza is her name, and
that of her sister, Teodosia. Here, in the addition of the sister,
is an example of elaboration of the original theme a subtheme,
as it were, that forms an integral part of the narrative. D. Jorge
falls in love with Constanza and his brother Federico with Teodosia.
Teodosia is indifferent to Federico but interested in D. Jorge. Her
jealously adds more intricacy to the plot in that she succeeds in
making trouble between her sister and her chosen lover by intimat-
ing to him that Constanza and Federico have a secret bond between
them. In jealous rage, D. Jorge kills his brother Federico and em-
barks for Naples in flight. The death of the father of the two
girls shortly afterwards leaves them in possession of considerable
wealth. With time, Constanza gradually overcomes the disappoint-
ment and sorrow of her lover's unexplained desertion. When a
visiting nobleman takes up his residence across the street from her
home, and, smitten by her charms, seeks to win her love, she is
willing to be courted by the amiable stranger. The latter, however,
more noble than wealthy, is clever enough to overcome his lack of
fortune through stratagem. He courts the mother's favor until
he is assured of her interest, then, with the connivance of a physi-
cian, he pretends a mortal illness from which it seems unlikely that
he can recover. When his life is despaired of, he calls Constanza's
mother to his bedside to beg her permission to bequeath all his pos-
sessions to her daughter, with whom he is in love. The mother
14 Consult Las Novelas Ejemplares de Cervantes: Sus criticos, etc., by
Francisco A. de Icaza. Madrid 1915, p. 257.
The Novelets 29
consents and the sum of 100,000 ducats is willed to Constanza. The
mother, who is pleased with the young man's personality and the
wealth he professes to have, mourns with her daughter that so
estimable and eligible a young man should die. He does not die,
however, but gradually begins to recuperate in health until he is
entirely well, when he marries the object of his affections without
encountering any opposition. After his marriage, he confesses his
deception, but so deep is his wife's love for him that she forgives
him freely, rejoicing in the happiness they enjoy together. As
the years progress, two sons are added to their felicity, and the
family live in ideal peace and contentment.
Meanwhile, D. Jorge learning through various channels that he
has never been suspected of the murder of his brother, returns to
his native city. With his return, he renews his attentions to Con-
stanza, whom he has never forgotten.
At this point begins the tale as Boccaccio relates it but with the
added complication of Teodosia's renewed jealousy, which affects
her so strongly that she falls dangerously ill. Constanza, realizing
the cause, is anxious to have D. Jorge marry her sister, but his
thoughts and desires centre on Constanza and with ever increasing
fervor he pleads with her to regard him with favor. Then follow,
as in the Decameron, the promise and the proposition of the garden.
Instead of hiring a magician as did Ansaldo, the rejected suitor
meets a stranger who divines his dilemma and suggests that as long
as Constanza puts a price upon her love the case is not so hopeless
as it seems. He reveals himself as the Devil a noteworthy addi-
tion by our Spanish author who in exchange for D. Jorge's soul
promises to help him solve his problem. The contract is drawn up
in writing and duly signed. There are interpolations by the author
concerning the mortal sin involved in bartering to the Arch Enemy
the precious soul which cost its Maker so dearly. Here we have
the introduction of the religious element so conspicuously absent
from the original story. During the night Constanza's garden is
transformed into such a paradise as is described in the Decameron.
Carlos, the husband, is the first to view the fairy spectacle. His
exclamations of astonishment bring Constanza to the scene. The
realization of its meaning overwhelms her with despair, and she
30 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
swoons. Upon her recovery, she confesses all to her husband,
begging him to kill her, since, as a Christian, she cannot take her
own life as she would wish to do, while he, as her husband, can act
to save his honor. He chides her for having placed a price on
what has no price, but does not denounce her, aware that she
meant all for the best. Instead, he offers to kill himself to clear
the situation, " forgetting that by so doing he would forfeit his
soul." D. Jorge, who is present, having arrived at daybreak to view
the garden, prevents him from committing so revolting a crime, ex-
plaining that he will be the only one to die, as he has already lost
his soul which had cost God his death on the cross through a pact
made with the Devil. The continual introduction of Catholic prin-
ciples and religious fervor is characteristic of the work of this
author.
At this juncture, the Devil appears, and, not to be surpassed in
generosity, releases D. Jorge from his contract, returning to him
the document, " so that the world may see with amazement that in
the Devil there can be virtue." This accomplished, there is heard
a loud crash, and, coincident with it, the Devil and garden disappear.
D. Jorge sinks upon his knees in prayer, the rest of the company
following his example and all giving thanks to God for their for-
tunate deliverance from evil. D. Jorge, deeply moved, begs for-
giveness of Constanza for all the unhappiness he has caused her
and agrees to marry Teodosia as she desires. Thus all is satisfac-
torily arranged and, in token of her forgiveness, Constanza throws
her arms around D. Jorge's neck, welcoming him into her family
as a brother. Gay festivities crown this happy ending. The two
families live many years in harmony and peace, blest by beautiful
children and prosperity. Until after D. Jorge's death, when Teodosia
reveals the truth, nobody ever discovers that he was the murderer
of his brother. Moreover, at the end of the story we are told
that this tale of the Magic Garden was found after Teodosia's
death written by her hand and designating a prize the laurel of
wisdom for the one who shall decide which of the three was
most virtuous, Carlos, D. Jorge or the Devil. After some discussion
the assembled company of young men and young women agree that
the Devil, without any doubt, was the one to whom most praise was
due, because it is an unheard-of thing for him to do good.
The Novelets 3 1
This development of the outline given by Boccaccio, into some-
thing more elaborate, detailed and finished, is typical of all the
adaptations by Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor. She knew
how to expand her theme so as to include in an intelligent and
consistent manner an interesting variety of incidents and romantic
adventures an element so dear to the heart of Spaniards.
The story as found in the Filocolo is very similar to that of
the Decameron. It varies simply in a few details. Instead of hir-
ing a magician, Tarolfo, the lover, searches through strange lands
to find some way of accomplishing the apparently impossible feat,
but nowhere does he discover a means of success. Almost in depair,
he is ready to give up the quest when one morning in a lonely
walk which brings him to the foot of a mountain, he meets with
an elderly man, bearded, small of person and thin, with clothes that
mark him as being rather poor. He is gathering herbs and digging
roots. In the exchange of courtesies and inquiries, the hermit
learns of Tarolfo's great desire. (The idea of the meeting of
Tarolfo and the hermit in the woods is adopted in El Jar din
enganoso by Dona Maria.) After a few moments of silence the
hermit asks him what he would give to have his wish fulfilled.
Tarolfo assures him that when the work is done he may have one
half of his worldly goods. The stranger agrees to undertake the
task, and gathering up his belongings accompanies Tarolfo. The
garden is created. There is an interesting and beautiful account
of the prayer made to the different elements of nature by the
creator of the garden. His invocation is almost dithyrambic in its
eloquence. It seems strange that if this version of the story was
familiar to Dona Maria de Zayas, she did not include this par-
ticular idea in her narrative as enhancing its many poetical aspects.
Unlike the procedure of the tale in the Decameron, the lady t
instead of appealing to her husband at once, promises to favor
Tarolfo if he will wait until a more propitious occasion when her hus-
band shall have gone hunting or have left the city. To this Tarolfo
agrees, but so greatly is the lady disturbed in mind that her hus-
band perceives her perturbation and persuades her to reveal the
cause of it. The succeeding events are similar to those occurring
in the story of the Decameron, the hermit refusing to accept the
32 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
reward promised him. In the final discussion as to who showed
most magnanimity, the husband is conceded the honor.
Unlike his usual attitude, Boccaccio depicts his heroine with an
inclination to be virtuous and to fulfil her agreement, but Dona
Maria de Zayas, with her characteristic loyalty to the feminine sex,
goes much farther, portraying her sympathetically as inherently
good, loyal to her husband, a devout Catholic and ready to die for
the sake of her honor and that of her family. She is given an
exalted position, clothed in a garb of idealism and presented as
devoid of unworthy impulses.
The diffusion of Boccaccio's tales was infectious. Many writers
succumbed to a veritable epidemic of retelling them wholly or in
fragments, adapting them to their own use as best pleased them.
This was the case in Italy itself, as well as in foreign countries
in which the editions from Italy penetrated. This particular
tale, however, does not seem to have found its way into the
Italian novelle, if the results may be trusted of an examination of the
contents of those immediately following the works of Boccaccio and
preceding the tales of Dona Maria de Zayas. 15 As A. C. Lee has
correctly stated, there are several to be found which recount acts
of unusual generosity of conduct, courtesy and liberality, but to
the present writer it seems that none of these are similar enough to
El Jardin enganoso to serve as a possible source for its plot. 16 Con-
sequently it is probable that Dona Maria de Zayas was not influenced
even indirectly by these authors, but rather drew directly from the
original source, owing to the fact that Boccaccio enjoyed greater
popularity than did any of the other writers and was more eagerly
read.
As to the origin of the story, it must be remembered in the
first place that during the Middle Ages many tales from antiquity,
originating in many climes, lost their identity by free circulation and
became common property. Little in the Decameron is new, as has
15 "There does not seem to be any very direct imitation of this story* in the
Italian novellieri, although there are some similar ones of magnanimity." A.
C. Lee, The Decameron: its sources and analogues. London 1909, p. 328.
16 The stories by Gentile Sermini, Bandello and Ilicini, as mentioned by A.
C. Lee, are different in theme from El Jardin enganoso, agreeing only in the
discussion at the end concerning the one showing the most magnanimity.
The Novelets 33
often been proved. There are those who are disposed to overlook
all the significant value of Boccaccio's work, content to dismiss it
lightly by branding it as a mass of plagiarism. These critics of
narrow vision are unmindful of the monumental and incomparable
work of the master mind who saved for posterity this wealth of
lore and by his manner of narration inaugurated the modern novel.
Manni intimates soberly that the story is founded on fact, and
that in the year 876 a Hebrew physician by enchantment created
just such a garden as is described by Boccaccio. 17 However true
this may be, it is difficult to prove. Mr. Manni has been accused
of a mania for founding on fact all of Boccaccio's tales, and as
this tendency is indeed noticeable in his work, perhaps it is well
in the present case to leave the question open. It may be added
that in another account the year 1395 is given as the date of the
occurrence. 173
That the tale is of oriental origin has been demonstrated by
A. C. Lee, who in his able work has gathered together a number
of versions through which it can be traced back to the story of a
young girl, daughter of a wealthy merchant, who while walking
in her garden spies a rose that no one seems able to procure for her.
The gardener performs the difficult task, asking as a reward that
she meet him in the garden on the evening of her wedding day.
17 " Delia derivazione del presente racconto sia la fede presso di uno Scrit-
tore anonimo si, ma, che non e credible, che abbia posto in campo una falsita
alloraquando die a leggere in difesa di Giovanni Boccaccio (indirizzandola a
persone di autorita) qttella Scrittura, di cui ho io fatto parola di sopra nella
Giornata III. Novella II. en stente nel Codice 861. in quarto della famosa Li-
breria Stroziana. Imperciocche ivi si viene a dire: che quell' altro facesse nel
Frivoli un Giardino nel cuor del Verno per incanto; la qual Novella si legge
antlca altrove. Questo e peravventura quell' istesso, che da persona letteratis-
sima di fuori mi e stato per lettera scritto cioe, che Giovanni Tritemio racconta,
come nell' 876. un tal Sedecia Medico Ebreo fece comparire alia presenza di
molti gran Signori nell' Inverno un orto amenissimo con alberi. e fiori ec. come
fece a Messere Ansaldo il Negromante. Sul fatto poi di sopra mentovato di
Buonaccorso Pitti, che tento per amore di far cosa difficile molto, si legge nell'
Annotazioni alia Cronica di esso : Cosi M. Dianora chiese a M. Ansaldo un
giardino di Gennaio bello come di Maggio." Istoria del Decamerone di Gio-
vanni Boccaccio, scritta da Domenico Maria Manni. Firenze. M. DCC.
XXXXII. [In line I of this note, sia should perhaps read si a; and in line 5,
en stente should probably read esistente.]
1?a A. C. Lee gives the reference as Muratori, ' Scriptores,' vol. xix, p. 398 ;
Borromeo, 32; Gamba bibl. 30; but says the chronicler is anonymous.
34 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
With her bridegroom's consent she goes to fulfil her word, and on
the way encounters in turn a wolf and a robber, both of whom,
after being informed of her promise, allow her to proceed on her
errand. The gardener, on learning of the thrice repeated magna-
nimity of bridegroom, wolf and robber, does not detain her, but
permits her in peace to return to her husband. This version, ac-
cording to Lee, is found in the preparations of the Cukasaptati and
in the Guti-nameh, written by Nakhshabi about 1306. The subse-
quent versions found in other Oriental works, 18 and later with slight
variations in French fables, are similar to this version. The story
is usually told with the object of discovering, through the comments
made upon the comparative sense of honor of the characters, who
the thief is among a number of suspected persons.
Boccaccio took his material where he found it, arranged it to
suit himself, and retold it with such originality that it read as
freshly as if never related before. This is true of the story of
Ansaldo and Dianora in the Decameron or that of Tarolfo in the
Filocopo. In his version of the story we trace the skeleton of the
original, which consisted in the accomplishment of a difficult feat
together with an act of extraordinary magnanimity, and the at-
tendant question as to which of the characters involved was the most
generous. The rest he filled in himself, apparently being the first
to employ the incident of the magic garden, which Dona Maria
de Zayas borrowed in toto.
18 Baitdl Pachisi; Kathd sarit Sdgara; Bahar-Danush; Thousand and One
Nights etc., p. 322 et seq.
19 Imitations of Boccaccio's story given by Miss Jones in her book, Boccac-
cio and his Imitators, are :
1387 Chaucer: Franklin's Tale.
I 459 Johann Valentin : Andrae's Chymische Hochzeit " Christiani
Rosencreutz."
1470 Bojardo : Orlando Innamorato. Canto XII. " Iroldo e Tisbina."
1536 Nicolas de Troyes, Parangon : " Le Jardin de Janvier."
1567 Painter, " Palace of Pleasure : Ansaldo and Dianora."
1608 Beaumont and Fletcher : Triumph of Honor.
1620 Two Merry Milkmaids.
1637 Maria de Zayas " El Jardin Engafioso."
The Novelets 35
3. El Castigo de la miseria
Avarice is a despicable trait and has always been a popular
subject with writers of fiction, just as has been its counterpart, the
trait of liberality, in all ages and in all countries. A miser is de-
spised, and any trick or any deceit to defraud him of his money
is accounted justifiable and laudable. A long list could be made of
novels in which the trait of liberality has been the principal subject.
Dona Maria de Zayas availed herself of this theme and produced
what has been regarded as her best-constructed story. It is the
third novel of Part One.
D. Marcos, from the kingdom of Navarre, is a man of good
birth and lofty ideals, but with no money to support them. At the
age of twelve and entirely without funds, he comes to Court to
serve one of the nobles. At first he battles through many hardships,
but manages to keep himself alive and by hoarding gradually ac-
cumulates a small sum of money, which increases with the years.
Sometimes he almost starves, for his wages are small and he
endeavors to save every cent that comes into his possession. This
habit of thrift becomes a mania, and, although better paid when
later on he assumes the office of page, yet he continues to live in
as niggardly a manner as before. He begs water from the water-
carriers or wine from the servants carrying it past the house; he
uses the candle stubs that people throw away, or else undresses for
bed in the dark. He eats from his companions' plates and this
manner of providing for his meals becomes such a habit that when
they see him coming they swallow all at one mouthful or cover
the food in their plates with their hands. When traveling, the
provender for his horse is often furnished by the straw in the
mattress. The boy he has for a servant is treated hardly better
than his horse. With all this scrimping and saving, D. Marcos
manages to add to his pile, and in time gains the reputation at
Court of being wealthy. At the age of thirty he has accumulated
a small fortune of six thousand ducats, which he carries with him
everywhere for fear of being robbed.
In spite of his besetting sin, D. Marcos has good habits and is
considered a fine catch. But he turns down all the opportunities
36 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
offered him to marry, until urged by a professional matchmaker to
consider a certain Dona Isidora, a widow professing to be worth
thirteen or fourteen thousand ducats, but really an adventuress.
D. Marcos is simple-minded and gullible, and the lady's fortune and
the lavish comfort of her household make an impression on him.
He is entertained so lavishly that when urged by the matchmaker
to venture a proposal he is nothing loath. His suit is favored and
he is duly accepted. The marriage takes place with much attendant
pomp and splendor. The groom enthusiastically marvels how the
Fates have been so kind; but once installed with Dona Isidora in
her home, his dreams of peace, happiness and accumulated riches
quickly pass. The awakening is rude. The very first night the
gold chain he prizes so highly and the wedding finery for which
he has so reluctantly and begrudgingly spent some of his savings,
are stolen by one of the servants. In the early morning hours he
awakes in response to the outcry made upon discovery of the outer
door wide open, and is not so taken aback at all the excitement as
he is to behold his wife minus the many accessories to her toilet
with which she is wont to cover the ravages of time and of which
poor D. Marcos had not the faintest suspicion. The next calamity
comes in the form of a request that the silver plate be returned to
its owner, from whom it has been borrowed. Protests on the
part of D. Marcos avail little. He is beginning to realize that he has
been duped, and that his wife is not all she seemed. He threatens
divorce and other means of redress. His wife tries to quiet him
by the assurance that to win such a husband a little deception is
forgivable. But peace is short-lived, for the man from whom the
furniture and draperies have been rented comes to collect payment
on the same, and finally goes off with the articles. This is too much
for D. Marcos; turning to his wife, he lays hands upon her that are
none too gentle. The uproar brings down the owner of the house,
who lives in an upper room. He announces that he is a lover of
peace, and if they intend to continue their daily quarrels they will
oblige him by moving elsewhere. Poor D. Marcos! He has been
led to believe that the house belongs to his wife. It is not long
before he knows how basely he has been deceived. He seeks new
quarters for himself and wife. While absent from the house, Dona
The Novelets 37
Isidora and her paramour, whom she has introduced to D. Marcos
as her nephew and who forms part of the family, pack all the house-
hold goods into carts and together with the servant start on their
way to Barcelona. When D. Marcos discovers this perfidy and
that his money also has been taken, he almost loses his mind. In
desperation, wondering where he is to procure the means to pay the
cost of the wedding, he turns in the direction of his patron's house.
On the way there, he comes face to face with Marcela, the maid
who had disappeared the night of the wedding with his gold chain
and finery. Upon her as a last hope he pounces, demanding the
return of the stolen articles. Marcela, in tears, protests that every-
thing is in the possession of his wife, who planned the theft but
let her servant shoulder the blame. D. Marcos, who is of a trusting
disposition and without malice, believes the girl, and in turn confides
to her the misfortune that has befallen him and his desire to learn
the whereabouts of Dona Isidora and her nephew. Marcela, cun-
ning in her knowledge of the poor man, offers to help him by
introducing him to a magician who is endowed with marvellous
occult powers. D. Marcos eagerly seizes the opportunity and a
rendez-vous is arranged. The advance payment for the seance he
is obliged to borrow, for he is well-nigh penniless. At the stipulated
hour, D. Marcos presents himself. He is taken into a dimly lighted
room, where as the impostor reads incantations from an old book
(which is nothing less than the Aniadis de Gaula), a cat, put in
training for the purpose, is set on fire, and scared through a cat-hole
into the room, and leaps scratching and squalling over D. Marcos'
head through a window directly above him, burning his hair and
whiskers in its mad flight. D. Marcos faints dead away, believing he
sees not one demon but a whole flaming inferno of them. The
commotion is so great that people rush in to see what the trouble
is. The magician and Marcela, his accomplice, are arrested, and
the deception practised on D. Marcos is disclosed. Upon his
recovery D. Marcos makes his way to his master's home, where a
note is awaiting him from Doiia Isidora denouncing him roundly
for his avarice and promising that she will return to him when he
shall again have gathered together six thousand ducats. So great
is his rage, and the blow to his pride occasioned by the public dis-
38 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
grace, that he contracts a fever and dies within a few days. Dona
Isidora, however, receives her just deserts, for, soon afterwards,
her so-called nephew and the maid take the six thousand ducats
and all her possessions and embark for Naples in each other's
company. Dona Isidora, putting aside her wig and her many
embellishments, is forced to resort to begging. The tale is told
as a warning to niggards.
Unlike El Jardin enganoso, no precursor of El Castigo de la
miseria is found in the Decameron. An inspection of Boccaccio's
work reveals only two novels that treat in any way of avarice. In
novel seven of the first day, Bergamino by telling a clever story
reproves the avarice which has lately appeared in the rich Messer
Cane della Scala's manner of entertaining his guests. In novel eight
of the first day, there is told the story of a certain M. Ermino de
Grimaldi who, although extremely wealthy, is yet noted for his
greediness and sordid avarice. By a witty retort, Gulielmo Borsieri
puts him to shame and thus works a complete change in his dis-
position. Hardly can it be said that the short story by Dona 'Maria
de Zayas bears any connection with these two tales.
An examination of the Piacevoli Notte by Straparola (first
half of the sixteenth century), whose works were enjoyed and
imitated in Spain, discloses nothing significant. Fable thirteen of
night thirteen tells of a wealthy man noted for his prodigality who
loses all his money and is promptly deserted by those to whom he
has been most generous in his days of plenty. One day he finds in a
ruined hut an earthen vessel filled with ducats. Instead of returning
to his former mode of living, he becomes most niggardly and is loath
to share his find with anyone. There seems little again in this tale
to warrant comparison with El castigo de la miseria.
Nor is there apparently any source for the story in Bandello's
Novelle nor in the tales by Cinthio, both of which writers were
popular in Spain.
Let us turn next in our quest to the fiction in Spain preceding
the writing of the novel in question. In the Patranuelo (1576) of
Juan de Timoneda, the first collection of stories in Spain to show
the influence of the Decameron, there is related the tale of a blind
man (patrana twelve) who has all the characteristics of a miser.
The Novelets 39
He deprives himself of necessaries, saves religiously all the money
he can lay his hands on, and spends his evenings counting and
fondling the precious coin. A neighbor, taking in the situation
through a peephole in the miser's shed, enters the hut and steals the
money. Great is the lament of the blind man upon discovery of
the theft. The next morning, on his way to report to the author-
ities, he meets another blind man, to whom he relates his misfortune.
The newcomer in answer boasts that no one can steal his money,
for he carries it safely in the lining of his cap. The robber, who
from curiosity is lingering near, hears this, and snatching the bonnet
from the old man's head runs away with it. Blind man number
two, believing that blind man number one has taken the cap, begins
to beat him. The other retaliates, while the robber makes good
his escape. The similarity is too slender for our purpose.
In the Correction de vitios (1623), by Alonso Jeronimo de
Salas Barbadillo, there is depicted a deplorable example of avarice,
a miserly merchant the list of whose mean economies approaches
the incredible; and yet, in this characterization there is something
suggestive of D. Marcos. Dona Maria, however, has clothed her
hero with more respectability and a touch of human sentiment,
while the miser of Salas Barbadillo is a clod, who inspires us with
loathing and disgust. To save bed-linen, he sleeps on a board and
uses a stone for a pillow; he does all his own work, being devoid
of the pride that impels D. Marcos to attach to himself a servant
no matter how humble nor how inefficient to perform the menial
tasks of the household. Like D. Marcos he undresses at night in
the dark to save candle light and when in the house during the day
wears his clothes very loosely or takes them off entirely in order
to avoid wear and tear. Again like D. Marcos, he is pictured as
depending for his food on crusts from his neighbors or the ex-
traction of tid-bits from their plates; and yet there is the difference
that D. Marcos never assumes a cringing or servile attitude, but
follows his unfortunate bent with the abstracted air of a gentleman.
Salas Barbadillo has so exaggerated the character of his miser that
as a whole he lacks reality. Even in his last illness, with death
staring him in the face, he eschews medicine, unwilling to spend
the small sum that might have brought him relief. Upon his death,
40 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
his brother and brother's family, whom he has seen suffering before
his eyes from poverty without ever proffering them aid, inherit the
old man's savings of 20,000 ducats and enjoy the comfort the
hoarder never knew.
It is very probable that Dona Maria was familiar with the above
work and in its perusal assimilated some of the ideas therein con-
tained in preparation for delineating the pet economies displayed by
D. Marcos, but there is much more likelihood that she may have
been influenced by El casamiento enganoso of Cervantes, which
forms one of his Novelets ejemplares published in 1613, but,
according to Icaza, probably composed about 1605. El casamiento
enganoso resembles the novela of Dona Maria de Zayas in that the
alferez Campuzano is taken in by an adventuress whom he has met
by chance and who presents a most attractive exterior, having an
air of distinction and elegance that to the enamored gentleman is
altogether captivating. In addition to her personal charms, she has
the air and appearance of being in most comfortable circumstances,
and it is not until after marriage that the alferez discovers that he
has indeed been deceived and that the fine establishment he was
led to believe to be hers really belongs to a friend who was absent
on a visit and has only been availed of to accomplish the purpose
of baiting a husband that in fact his wife has nothing. Forced to
move to other lodgings, he returns home one day to discover that his
wife, in company with a man she has called her cousin, has deserted
him, taking with her all her husband's belongings including his
massive jewelry and has left him nothing but a travelling suit.
Happily, the jewelry which appeared to be gold is only brass; for
the husband, too, has been playing at the same game. Poetic justice
accomplishes its ends in the outcome. In the development of the
plot, there is the same atmosphere and portrayal of society and
manners which is found to be later so characteristic of the tales
of Dona Maria.
Francisco de Icaza in his critical study of this novel refers to
an interesting and curious account of the Court of Spain in 1605
given by Dr. Thome Pinheiro de Vega, a Portuguese who visited
Spain in this period and whose description of the indiscriminate
and unscrupulous conduct of the people of the Court stamps certain
The Novelas 41
events in El casamiento enganoso as true to life. Yet in this novel
by Cervantes, although the alferez marries in order to come into
possession of a comfortable living, the idea of avarice and sordid
penury is not touched upon. Here there is no figure that stands
out as does D. Marcos, around whose mania for economizing the
plot develops. In short, there is no character development such
as is found in El castigo de la miseria. If Dona Maria was inspired
by Cervantes, it was only in connection with the marriage of the
alferez to the adventuress with the resulting circumstances. She
has so embellished this episode and added so much else of marked
value that her debt to Cervantes indeed seems negligible.
Still another more primitive source suggested for El casamiento
enganoso is the famous Aulularia of Plautus utilized by Moliere in
his I'Avare. So far as we know, this play was not translated into
Spanish until recently, when an excellent translation was made by
Dr. A. Gonzalez Garbin. 20 According, however, to Cotarelo y
Mori, 21 the subject of this Latin play was not unknown in Spain,
and it is possible that Dona Maria was familiar with the story of the
Athenian Euclio who all his life has been miserably wretched and
poor, until he finds an earthen vessel filled with gold hidden under
the hearth of his fire. Instead of being overjoyed at this find and
putting it to good use, he carefully hides it, and from that moment
becomes a most unhappy being, unable to sleep for fear of thieves
and loath to leave his home by day. He continues in his poverty,
zealously watching his treasure, guarding his secret and suspicious
of everybody. When Megadorus, a wealthy neighbor, asks Euclio for
his daughter in marriage, the miser is at once distrustful, and be-
lieves Megadorus would not consider a poor girl like Phaedra unless
he suspected that Euclio has hidden wealth. He stoutly maintains
he is so poor that he cannot give his daughter a dowry, and is
puzzled and nonplussed to find that to Megadorus all this seems
immaterial. Finally, under his own conditions, he consents to the
marriage, which is to take place that very day. He is unaware that
Phaedra already has a lover in the person of Lyconides, nephew to
20 Teatro de Plauto. Traduccion y comentario de las principales comedias.
For A. Gonzales Garbin. Granada, 1879.
21 Estudios de Historic, Literaria de Espana, etc.
42 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
Megadorus, and that she is bound to him through their secret in-
timacy.
As events progress the suspicions of Euclio, instead of dimin-
ishing, increase. The fear that perhaps those around him have
discovered his secret and are covertly trying to defraud him of
his gold preys so keenly upon his mind that he seizes his treasure
and hastens to the temple of Fides, where he hides it. Feeling a
presentiment of impending misfortune, he returns to the temple and
removes the gold to a wood, where he conceals it. Strobilus, a
servant of Lyconides, observing the strange conduct of Euclio,
follows him, finds the treasure, and runs with it to his master.
Lyconides who has heard of the contemplated marriage of his uncle
to Phaedra, goes to Euclio to confess the wrong he has done tu
Phaedra and to beg her in marriage for himself. Upon his ap-
pearance Euclio, who has only just discovered the theft of the
treasure, is beside himself with alarm, distractedly running here
and there in terror and anguish, calling for his gold, and invoking
the aid of all in recovering his loss. Lyconides, ignorant of the real
cause, believes the outcry is due to the discovery that Phaedra has
been betrayed. Without reflecting, he admits that he is culpable,
and Euclio interprets this confession of guilt as referring to the
gold. The complications that ensue are many, but finally all is
explained, and the gold that Strobilus brings to Lyconides is re-
stored to Euclio. That is as far as the play takes us, for the end
is missing, but it is not difficult to construct the denouement. With-
out doubt, Megadorus renounces his claims to Phaedra in favor of
Lyconides, and Euclio, to whom the treasure has been returned,
realizing that true happiness does not consist in great wealth, prob-
ably shares the treasure with his daughter and her husband.
Such similarity as there is between this Latin play and El
castigo de la miseria is only discernible in the delineation of the
characters of Euclio and D. Marcos. Otherwise the plays are far
apart. The incidents are totally dissimilar, and the other characters
have nothing in common. Even as to the portrayal of character
the two misers are decidedly different. Plautus did not attempt to
depict typical avarice. Rather did he try to show the torments
of unhappiness and anxiety through which a man passes who has
The Novelas 43
been very poor and then suddenly is overwhelmed by great wealth.
Avarice with Euclio was not a vice. It was a trait probably pos-
sessed in embryo and not developed until he found the treasure.
He lived frugally because he had to do so. He was poor and had
a daughter to support; it behooved him to be careful. The dis-
covery of the gold came upon him suddenly; he had no time to
reflect, and, unaccustomed to the idea of wealth, he lost his head
and acted like a man demented. Previously, Euclio had been re-
signed to his poverty; he gave no indication of an insatiable desire
to accumulate gain, to win for himself position in society. On the
other hand, D. Marcos, also poor and needy from his youth, yet of
good birth and always a gentleman, was anxious to advance in the
world in which he moved. Then as now, money was the " open
sesame," and, quick to appreciate this, he practised the small and rigid
economies so common and yet so ridiculous in the eyes of the seven-
teenth century and so pathetic in the present age of gentle human-
ity. There was nothing dishonorable in his poverty nor in the
accumulating of his small fortune. Indeed we are told that he
was of excellent habits and held in good repute. By the sweat
of his brow, and with personal discomfort, he slowly but steadily
gathered together his six thousand ducats. What wonder they
were dear to his heart! Necessity, the pinch of poverty, and the
honor of the Spanish gentleman, had forced D. Marcos to become
niggardly in his habits of living. It is not until he allows his
covetousness to influence him in the choice of a wife that he can
indeed be called avaricious and a miser in the veritable sense of
those words. In the novela retribution accomplishes its ends much
more effectively than in the drama, for the results are more dis-
astrous.
It is not surprising that Dona Maria took the subject of avarice
for her most interesting novel, nor that she developed it so ingeni-
ously and so successfully, since a familiar figure of her period was
the poor but proud hidalgo who presented a brave front to society,
clinging pathetically to the vestiges of grandeur, yearning for the
past splendors of the time when Spain led the world in the glory of
her wealth and her achievements. It was a type characteristically
Spanish and a natural development of the political, social and
44 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
economic status of the country. Because he was proud and because
he longed to live as a gentleman D. Marcos was incited to economize
in order that in time he might fill a position worthy of his ambitions ;
but as in the case of everything else that is carried to extremes,
he succumbed to the pernicious habit, and later allowed it to dom-
inate his life. Dona Maria may have been familiar with the Aulu-
laria, but she did not have to depend upon any foreign source for
her inspiration. There were living examples of niggardliness all
around her, and in no other place was this more the case than in
Madrid. She may have been influenced by Cervantes but she did
not have to rely on his portrayal as a model to follow. Her own
inventive genius was able to draw from the living examples around
her. It was a subject often used by contemporary Spanish writers
for the purpose of ridicule. Rather was it more natural for foreign
writers seeking such material, to borrow inspiration from Spanish
models. Dona Maria de Zayas has often been cited as influencing
I'Avare of Moliere. 23 An analysis of Moliere's play, however,
leaves no doubt as to the fact that the main ideas are taken as
intimated above from the Aulularia of Plautus, but so well is the
subject handled, and so original is the development of the char-
acters and the plot, together with the addition of natural wit, that
the debt of Moliere to Plautus is swallowed up in the superiority of
the French production over the Latin play. That Moliere was able
to read Spanish and was well acquainted with the drama of the
peninsula is evident from the fact that in his library were many
Spanish plays and that his work shows at times Spanish sources. 24
He was quite frank himself in confessing that he was not over-
discriminating in the choice of subjects but made use of whatever
he found that suited his purpose. Without doubt he knew the novels
of Dona Maria de Zayas, which not only were popular among her
own people, but soon found their way into France. However that
may be, Moliere has drawn a miser totally different from the
hero of the Spanish tale, who has an air of reality about him
in his exaggerated sense of economy. Harpagon belongs to a
23 Tesoro de Nov. Esp. Ant. y Mod.: Eugenic de Ochoa. Moliere ct le
theatre espagnol: E. Martinenche. Moliere ct I'Espagne: Guillaume Huszar.
Paris, 1907.
24 Moliere et le theatre espagnol: E. Martinenche.
The Novelas 45
type in which avarice is made an essential characteristic of his
nature. He makes a business of being miserly. He has been rich
for a long time, has a fine establishment, rich furnishings, good
horses for his pleasure and all the appurtenances pertaining to a
man of his position, yet with it all he is very close. Poor D.
Marcos, born in poverty, has saved for years, and in his saving has
been hard on nobody but himself. Harpagon makes his children
unhappy because he refuses to provide for them as a man with his
means should. He is miserly with his money, not because he
wishes to hoard it, rather because he is anxious to increase it through
business. He is simply and purely selfish, and his mania makes
him appear repellent to us. D. Marcos, with all his faults, is
pathetically human. He lacks the sharp astuteness of Harpagon
who lends money at exorbitant rates of interest, and seeks to en-
rich himself at the sacrifice of others. There is no malice in his
make-up. He has a child-like trust and confidence in human nature.
What he has saved has not been acquired through fraud or mis-
representation. He is essentially honest and not underhanded in
any way. Even before marrying Dona Isidora he is quite frank
with her concerning his economical proclivities and proposes a plan
whereby they may live with little expenditure, saving so that the
children they may have may be handsomely provided for. He
guards his money carefully, but not frantically as does Harpagon,
nor is he secretive about the fact that he has means. Harpagon is
afraid he will be thought wealthy and then robbed. D. Marcos by
nature is not suspicious.
An interesting character found in both the Spanish and French
play is the professional matchmaker, a typical figure of the century,
who arranges the match between Harpagon and Mariane as well as
that between D. Marcos and Dona Isidora.
The idea of the enumeration of petty savings practised by the
miser is found in both the Latin and French plays and in the
Spanish tale, although all three are quite different in substance.
In El castigo de la miseria we have the intervention of magic,
which is not an unnatural proceeding in the fiction and drama of
the period. 25 Hardly could Moliere have introduced this element
25 Cf. Coloquio de los perros, by Cervantes.
46 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
into his play, for Harpagon was of too keen and sly a nature to
have allowed himself to be so imposed upon. This is an essential
difference in the character of the two misers, and for this reason
D. Marcos presents an appealing and pitiful figure that produces an
effect more tragical than ridiculous.
Emilia Pardo Bazan speaks highly of this novel by Doiia Maria
and takes umbrage at the statement made by Navarrete in contradic-
tion of the opinion submitted by Llorente that Dona Maria de Zayas
might well have written the Gil Bias and the Bachiller de Sala-
manca. 26 Navarrete does not consider her capable of producing
anything as good of its kind. He says that she lacks the necessary
observation and intimate knowledge of life which only a man can
acquire. Emilia Pardo Bazan feels sure that for the author of
El castigo de la miseria to compose the Bachiller de Salamanca
would not have been too arduous a task. She even goes farther
and gives her opinion that some of the Novelas amorosas will bear
favorable comparison with the short stories of Cervantes. 27
In spite of his adverse criticism concerning her genius, Navar-
rete, as well as Ochoa, consider this her best production. 28 Per-
haps for the reason that it was so good, and original in its ideas,
Juan de la Hoz Mota, 29 recognizing its merit, appropriated the
plot, dramatized it, and evolved a play 30 which ranks as one of
26 Observaciones criticas sobre el Romance de Gil Bias de Santillane, por
Juan Antonio Llorente. Madrid, 1822. Gives a list of thirty-seven who may
have been the creators of the original of Gil Bias from which the story was
taken. Dona Maria stands fourteenth on the list. " Dona Maria de Zayas y
Sotomayor, natural de Madrid, escribio en 1647 dos tomos de novelas, que su-
ponen en su autora capacidad de componer el Bachiller y el Gil Bias, si se
hubiese dedicado a historias fabulosas mas largas y mas encadenadas que una
novela."
27 " . . . y es de advertir que algunas de las novelas cortas de doiia Maria
de Zayas pueden sostener sin desdoro la comparacion con otras del manco in-
signe. Esto no significa que dona Maria de Zayas fuese capaz de concebir el
Quijote. Quijote hay uno, uno nada mas. Para la autora de El Castigo de la
miseria, no seria impresa tan ardua escribir el Bachiller de Salamanca 6 La
picara Justina." Introduction to Las Novelas de Doiia Maria de Zayas: Bibl. de
la Mujer; dirigida por Emilia Pardo Bazan.
28 Tesoro de Nov. Esp. Ant. y Mod.; Nov. post, a Cervantes: Navarrete.
Bibl. de Aut. Esp.
29 Born 1620, Madrid.
30 El Castigo de la Miseria.
The Novelas 47
the best plays of "el teatro antiguo," and whatever fame has
survived him is due to this play. 31 He wrote several others but
they have been eclipsed by this one, and have fallen into oblivion. 3 *
It seems at times to have been a question as to whether Juan de la
Hoz drew from Maria de Zayas or vice versa. 33 There can be
no doubt as to this if due account is taken of the dates of publica-
tion of both works and the date of birth of the two authors. There
has even been doubt expressed as to whether the novela was the
only source for the play. A careful examination of both short
story and play will resolve all uncertainties, and establish the fact
that Juan de la Hoz could hardly have followed any other model.
The general outline is the same, as well as the succession of events
and the principal characters. Its merit surely does not rest on its
originality, but rather on the happy treatment the author has given
the subject in his dramatization. It belongs to the class called
comedias de figuron, featuring some ridiculous character a carica-
ture, as it were. Ticknor says it is " one of the best specimens of
character drawing on the Spanish stage, and may, in many re-
spects, bear a comparison with the Aulularia of Plautus and the
Avare of Moliere.*'
La Hoz has kept the same names for his principal characters
D. Marcos, Dona Isidora and D. Agustin, but he has added more
comedy in the figure of Chinchilla, servant to Agustin and to Dona
Isidora, who takes the part of the " gracioso " of the Spanish
comedy, and is not found in the story. Another character whose
role is made more important is D. Marcos' personal servant, a
Galician, who furnishes much humor in his peculiarities of speech
and the account of his master's mode of living. In the play, it is
made very clear that Dona Isidora originates the scheme for de-
ception, and with the consent of Agustin, a student of Salamanca
31 Sismonde de' Sismondi, vol. ii, p. 346; Nov. post, a Cervantes; Manuel
de Literatura: por Antonio Gil de Zarate. Paris, 1865.
32 Principios Generates de Lit. e Hist, de la Lit. espanola: por Manuel de
la Revilla y Pedro Alcantara Garcia. Madrid 1884. Manuel de literatura:
por Antonio Gil de Zarate. Paris 1865.
33 Coleccion del Teatro Espanol: por Garcia de la Huerta.
333 Huerta supposes that it was taken from the novel by Cervantes entitled
El casamiento enganoso.
48 Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
with whom she has been intimate, prepares to find a husband for
herself. They go to Madrid, hire a house, furnish it richly, and
give every appearance of wealth. D. Agustin poses as a nephew
of Dona Isidora, who passes as a widow. Once the scheme is
formulated, Agustin takes entire charge and Dona Isidora drops
into the background. Nothing is told us of the personal appearance
of the lady, although in the story this forms a special point of
interest. The scene once set, Dona Isidora begins to receive vis-
itors, among them the owner of the house, a certain D. Alonso,
who is at once interested in his charming tenant. While paying
his call, a noise is heard outside as of someone being persecuted.
A servant reports that a horrible spectre of a man is chasing an
unfortunate "gallego." At that moment he enters, to escape from
his pursuer and in answer to questions describes his master as
D. Marcos. Thereupon D. Alonso explains to the company just the
kind of man D. Marcos is, qualifying him as the stingiest person in
Madrid, "the first to weaken water" (l invento aguar el agua),
yet one who through his niggardliness has accumulated a fairly
large sum of money. The description of D. Marcos given in the
play is almost identical with that in the story. Shortly afterwards,
Agustin. who thinks D. Marcos just the person to fit into his plans,
manages with the aid of the professional matchmaker to interest
D. Marcos in the widow who is reputed wealthy. In the novela,
he is not portrayed in such mercenary guise, for, although inter-
ested principally in the wealth he may acquire, yet in his simplicity
he is also attracted by the lady.
"Admirole sobre todo el agrado y discrecion de dona Isidora,
que parecia la misma gracia, tanto en donaire como en amores,
y fueron tantas y tan bien dichas las razones que dijo a don Marcos,
que no solo le agrado, mas le enamoro, mostrando en sus agrad-
ecimientos el alma que la tenia el buen sefior bien sencilla y sin
doblez."
This cannot be said of the D. Marcos of the play, whose one
thought was of the fortune his wife would bring him, with never
a tender sentiment in respect to the lady. On the other hand,
Dona Maria represents Dona Isidora as far more heartless than
the same figure in the comedia; she is devoid of all kindliness, is
The Novelets 49
hard to the last extremity, and finally does she not make off with
all her husband's property, in company with Agustin? Could there
be a greater adventuress? But, in the play, when D. Marcos dis-
covers the trick played upon him and asks
" i Y me he de quedar casado ? "
does not Dona Isidora answer,
" Eso hasta que yo muera,
Pues mi amor urdio este engano,
Para haceros mi marido."
As in the story, D. Marcos is entertained before his marriage
at the home of Dona Isidora in a most elegant manner, and he
fully enjoys the delicate food, the gay company, the songs and
dances. After his marriage comes the sad awakening, as we already
know it. Agustin, who has renewed a love affair with a former
sweetheart is anxious to elope, and in order to facilitate his plan
persuades Chinchilla to steal the gold which is kept in a chest and
which D. Marcos with much care has moved to his bride's home.
It consists of six thousand ducats the same amount as is given in
the story. It is interesting to note that Agustin intends to pay back
the money as soon as his bride shall receive her dowry. This makes
him out a far more respectable figure than in the story. He also has
every intention of marrying his sweetheart. In the story, there is
no mention of marriage. In fact, after reaching Italy, Ines plies
the trade of courtesan to support herself and Agustin.
With the loss of the gold there follows the scene at the magi-
cian's with all the attendant circumstances. 34 When D. Marcos
cries out in fright, people rush in, among them the personnages
involved in the plot. There follow explanations and recriminations
but finally all are satisfied with the outcome except D. Marcos who
has to make the best of a bad bargain. Unlike the story, his money
is returned to him intact, and in this ending it seems that poetic
justice fails and that the moral is weak for the perpetrators of
the fraud are successful in their machinations and are in no way
34 Ticknor was mistaken in part when he made the following statement :
" The first of these scenes is taken in a good degree, from the Novelets, ed. 1637,
p. 86; but the scene with the astrologer is wholly the poet's own, and parts of
it are worthy of Ben Jonson."
So Dona Maria de Zayas y Sotomayor
punished for their misdeeds. The question might almost arise as to
which are the wrongdoers. As Ticknor says it is " a strange per-
version of the original story, for which it is not easy to give a good
reason."
The criticism has been made that the last or third act is super-
fluous as the action according to dramatic rules ends with the second
act, but the third act is full of humor and life and does not detract
from the interest; rather, does it add to it. 35 La Hoz did the
work well, and added a noteworthy contribution to the drama of
his country by presenting one of the few plays of this period in
which character-drawing was the important feature. At this time
little attention was given to development of this sort; instead, the
interest concentrated in the events, rapid movement of the action
and the unraveling of the plot. There was little reasoning; passion
ruled all, and intrigue within intrigue held one in suspense.
The influence of this drama spread into France where an interest
in things Spanish held sway at this time. Philarete Chasles writes
most emphatically of this period when France surrendered to an
interest that included even the Spanish dictionary. 36 Spanish words
as well as customs and literature penetrated into France.
" II n'y avait plus de France franchise ; 1'Espagne debordait.
On se mit a prendre du chocolat a 1'espagnole, a jouer au hoc
comme les Espagnols ; on donna des fiestas sur Teau, a leur exemple.
Mille expressions castillanes nous sont restees. . . . Les femmes
prennent la mantille; Amadis fait fureur; le gout des aventures
romanesques charme le peuple le plus raisonnable de la terre."
and again farther on, in speaking of the literary influence,
" L'Espagne s'admire, et ses voisins la copient ; les oeuvres
creees par elle servent d'enseignement a tous. En France, ces germes
sont feconds; Scarron leur emprunte les grossieres trames d'une
intrigue embrouillee et facetie populaire des Picaros; d'Urfe amuse
les femmes en imitant les fantaisies bergeresque, etc."
So it was not strange that popular novels and plays from Spain
should find their way into France, and that new and unusual themes
should be seized upon by French authors, seeking variety, and trans-
mitted to the public. Scarron was one of these to avail himself of
35 Ticknor ; Zarate.
36 Etudes sur VEspagne, et sur les influences de la litterature espagnole en
France et en Italic.
The Novelas 5 1
some of the most piquantes Spanish compositions. He did not im-
prove upon them, nor did he add anything original. He simply
translated them into his own tongue, but he made the grave mistake
of not making this clear to the public, publishing them without the
slightest mention of their respective authors. The translations ap-
peared apparently as his own original work. Unfortunately for
him, D'Ouville who had spent seven years in Spain in the service
of the Count of Dognon and had the chance to become familiar
with the Spanish productions, shortly after the translations by
Scarron appeared, published a collection of Spanish tales (1656),
admittedly translations, and in his preface twitted Scarron with the
intent to deceive. Thereupon resulted a bitter quarrel which was
continued even after D'Ouville's death between Scarron and
D'Ouville's brother, Boisrobert, who carried on his work. In the
Nouvelles-tragi-comiques of Scarron are several novels by Dona
Maria de Zayas, but of particular interest at this point is the one
entitled Chdtiment de I' Avarice which is a fairly good translation
of the novela El castigo de la miseria. In this he probably saw
in its realism and caricature the germs of burlesque that type of
humor later developed by him, and was tempted to include it in his
work. When pressed by his enemies, he admitted the truth about the
translations but claimed that he had improved upon them and that
the originals were written in extremely poor Spanish! Paul
Morillot in his book Scarron, Etude Biographique et Litteraire,
(Paris, 1888), can see no reason why Scarron should be blamed in
any way nor that he suffered from the exposure. He adds that
his work was far superior to either D'Ouville's or Maria de Zayas'
and that he added so much from his own inventive genius that he
saved the work of Dona Maria de Zayas from oblivion ! 37 " N'est-ce
pas le cas de dire que la fagon a peut-etre mieux valu que 1'etoffe ? "
A comparison of the two works fails to reveal any basis for such
reasoning. All credit is due to Dona Maria for a piece of work
remarkable for its originality, freshness of interest and elegance of
expression. It cannot be reasonably maintained that Scarron or
anyone else has either improved upon it, or has added to its intrinsic
merits.
37 1 have been unable to consult the translation by D'Ouville.
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