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THE GiFT OF
Mrs. Wílliam Dinsmare Briggs
TO THE
CnglistrOepertm^rtt of
STANFORD UMIVERSIT^
Transferred to the
Stanford University Líbraries
HISTORY
SPANISH LITERATURE
VOL. IL
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
TICKNOR AND FIELDS,
íd the Clerk'8 Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
UNrVERSITY PRBSS.
Welch, Bigelow, and Companv,
Cambridge.
CONTENTS OF VOL. II,
SECOND
PERIOD.
(CONTINUED.)
•
CHAPTER V.
Dii^ACTic PoBTBY AND Prose. — Castujau Lanoüagb.
Early Didactic Poetry . . 8
Antonio de Guevara .
14
Luis de Escobar ... 4
His Relox de Principes .
14
Alonso de Córelas ... 6
His Década de los Césares
16
González de la Torre . . 6
His Epístolas ....
17,
Didactic Prose .... 6
His other Works . ...
18
Francisco de Villalobos . . 6
The Diálogo de las Lenguas .
19
Fernán Pérez de Oliva . . 8
Its Probable Author .
19
Juan de Sedeño ... 10
State of the Castilian Language
Cervantes de Salazar ... 10
from the Time of Juan de
LuisMexia .... 10
Mena . . . . ' .
21
Pedro de Navarra ... 11
Contributions to it .
21
Pedro Mexia .... 11
Dictionaries and Grammars
22
Gerónimo de Urrea . . . 12
The Language formed .
23
Palacios Rubios ... 18
TheDialects . . . .
23
Alexio de Vanegas ... 18
The Puré Castilian
24
Juan de Avila ... 18
OHAPTEB VI.
HlSTORiaAL LlTEBATÜBB.
Chronicling Períod gone by . 26
Antonio de Guevara . . 26
Florian de Ocampo . . .27
Pero Mexia .... 28
Aecounts of the New World . 29
Femando Cortés ... 29
Francisco López de Gomara . 80
BemalDiaz .... 81
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo . 82
His Historia de las Indias . 83
His Quinquagenas ... 85
Bartolomé de las Casas . . 86
His Brevísima Relación . . 88
His Historia de las Indias . 88
Vaca, Xerez, and jarate . . 89
Approach to Regular History 40
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
ThEATBE IN THE TiME OP CHARLES THE FlPTH, AND DURIMO THE FXBBT
PaET OF THE ReIGIJ OP PhILDP THE SeCOND.
Drama opposed by the Church .
41
Eufemia
49
Inquisition interferes
41
Armelina ....
49
Relígious Dramas continued .
42
His Two Pastoral GoIIoqniea .
60
Secular Plays, Castillejo, Oliva
48
His Ten Pasos
68
Juan de París ....
43
His Two Dialogues in Verse .
64
Jaume de Huete .
46
His insufficient Apparatus .
66
Agostin Ortiz . . . .
46
He begins the Popular Drama .
66
Popular Drama attempted .
47
Juan de Timoneda .
66
Lope de Rueda ....
47
His ComeKa . • .
67
His Four Comedias
48
His Menennos
68
Los Engaños ....
48
His Blind Beggars .
68
Medora
48
CHAPTER VIII.
Thsatbe, goncluded.
Followers of Lope de Rueda . 61
Alonso de la Vega, Cisneros . 61
Attempts at Seville . . . 61
Juan de la Cueva ... 62
Romero de Zepeda . . . 68
Attempts at Valencia . . 64
Cristóval de Virues . . . 64
Translations from the Ancients 66
Villalobos, Oliva ... 66
Boscan, Abril ... 66
Gerónimo Bermudez . . . 66
Lupercio de Argensola . . 67
Spanish Drama to this Time . 70
The Attempts to form it few 70
The Apparatus imperfect . . 71
Connection with the Hospitals 72
Court-yards in Madrid . . 72
Dramas have no uniform Char-
acter 72
A National Drama demanded 74
CHAPTER IX.
Luis DE León.
Religious Element in Spanish
Literatnre . . . .76
Luis de León .... 76
His Birth and Training . . 76
Professor at Salamanca . 76
His Versión of Solomon's Song 76
His Persecution for it . .76
Summoned before the Inquisi-
tion 77
Imprísoned .... 78
Judgment 79
Retum to Salamanca
Work on the Canticles
His Ñames of Christ
His Perfect Wife
His Exposition of Job
HisDeath .
His Poetry .
His Translations
His Original Poetry
His Character .
81
82
82
84
84
86
86
86
8T
89
CONTENTS.
VU
CHAPTER X.
Miguel de Cervantes Saayedra.
HisFamüy . . . .
90
His Reléase . . . .
96
HisBirth ....
. 91
His desoíate Condition
. 97
His Education
92
Serves in Portugal
98
Hi8 firet pnblished Verses .
. 92
HisGalatea
. 98
Goes to Italy .
92
HisMarriage.
101
Beoomes a Soldier .
. 98
His Literary Friends .
. 101
Figfats at Lepanto .
98
His First Dramas .
101
AndatTimis .
. 94
His Trato de Argel .
. 108
Is oaptared at Sea .
95
HisNumantia
106
Ib a Slave at Algiers .
. 95
Character of these Dramas
. 111
His cruel Captivity
95
CHAPTER XI.
Ceryaiites,
cojsrrwüKD*
He goes to Seville .
112
With Lope de Vega .
117
His Life there
118
His Novelas ....
119
Asks Employment in America
118
His Viage al Parnaso
128
ShortPoems ....
114
His Adjunta
124
Tradition from La Mancha .
115
His Eight Comedias.
124
He goes to Valladolid
115
His Eight Entremeses .
128
First Part of Don Quixote .
116
Second Part of Don Quixote
181
He goes to Madrid . . .
116
His Sickness
182
Belations with Poets there .
117
HisDeath
182
CHAPTER XII.
Cervantes, congluded.
His Persiles y Sigismunda . 188
His Don Quixote, First Part 136
His Purpose in wríting it . 187
Passion for Romances of Chiv-
alry 188
He destroys it . . . 189
Character of the First Part . 140
Avelloneda^s Second Part . 141
Its Character .... 142
Cervantes's Satire on it . 148
His own Second Part . . 144
Its Character ... 144
Don Quixote and Saneho . 145
Blemishes in the Don Quixote 148
Its Merits and Fame . . 150
Claims of Cervantes . . 150
CHAPTER XIII.
Lope Feux de Vega Carpió.
His Birth .
His Education
A Soldier
Patronized by Manrique
152 Bachelor at Alcalá
153 His Dorothea
154 Secretary to Alva
155 His Arcadia
155
155
156
156
víü
CONTEN rS.
Mames
158
Death of his Sons .
. 163
Ib exiled for a Dnel .
158
Death of his Wife
163
Life at Valencia
159
Becomes a Priest .
. 164
Establishes himself at Madrid
159
His Poem of San Isidro
165
Death of hi8 Wife .
159
His Hermosura de Angélica
. 168
Serves in the Armada .
161
His Dragontea . . .
170
Marriesagain . , . .
162
His Peregrino en su Patria
. 172
His Children
162
His Jemsalen Conquistada .
173
CHAPTEB XIV.
LoPB DB Vega, oontinued.
His Relations with the Chnrch
176
He acts as an Inquisitor
186
His Pastores de Belén .
176
His Religious Poetry
. 186
VarioTifl Workft
178
His Corona Trágica .
187
Beatjflcatioa of San Isidro .
179
His Laurel de Apolo
. 188
CftDonkation of San Isidro
182
His Dorotea ....
188
Toma de Barguíllüs .
188
His Last Works
. 189
His Gatonmchitt
183
His niness and Death .
190
Vftrioua Works .
184
HisBurial . . .
. 190
His Novelas ....
185
HisWiU . .
191
CHAPTER XV.
Lope de Vega, continued.
His Miscellaneous Works
198
Their Character .
194
His earliest Dramas
195
At Valencia.
196
State of the Theatre
196
El Verdadero Amante .
197
El Pastura! de Jacinto .
198
His Moral Playfl
198
The Soul's Voyage .
199
The Prodigal Son
200
The Marriage of the Soul
200
The Theatre at Madrid
202
His published Dramas
. 202
Their great Number . • . 203
Hie Dramatic Parpóse . . 205
Variotiea in hia Playa . . 206
Couietlios de Capa y J^spada . 207
Their Character ... 207
Their Number . . . .208
El Az^TO de Madrid . . 208
La Koche de San Juaii . . 211
Festival of the Cotint Duke 215
La Boba para los Otros . . 215
£1 Premio del Bien Hablar . 216
Various Plays . . .217
CHAPTER XVI.
Lope de Vega, coirriNUED.
Comedias Heroicas
Roma Abrasada
El Príncipe Perfeto .
El Nuevo Mundo
El Castigo sin Venganza
218 La Estrella de SeviUa . . 229
219 National Snbjects . . 230
221 Various Plays . . . .281
224 Character of the Heroic Drama 232
CONTENTS.
IZ
CHAPTEB XVII.
Lope de Veoa, continued.
Dramas on C!ommon Life .
£1 Cnerdo en Casa .
La Donzella Teodor .
Cantivos de Argel .
Three Classes of Secnlar Plays
The Inflnence of the Chnrch .
Beligions Plays .
Plays fonnded on the Bible
El Nacimiento de Christo .
Other snch Plays .
Comedias de Santos .
Several snch Plays .
284
San Iiidro de Madrid .
247
285
Antos Sacramentales
249
286
Festival of the Corpns Christi
250
287
Nnmber of Lope's Antos .
251
289
TheirForm ....
252
239
Their Loas ....
258
240
Their Entremeses
258
241
The Autos themselves .
254
241
Lope's Secnlar Entremeses .
256
244
Popular Tone of his Drama .
257
246
His Eclogues
258
247
CHAPTEB XVIII.
Lope de Vega, conclüded.
Varíety in the Forms of his
Dramas .
Characteristics of all of them
Dialogne .
Irregular Plots
History disregarded .
Geography .
Moráis
Dramatized Novelle
Comic Underplot
Graciosos .
265
260
Poetical Style .
. 266
260
Varíous Measnres
266
261
Bailad Poetry in them .
. 267
261
Popular Air of everything
268
261
His Success at home
. 269
262
His Success abroad
270
268
His large Income
. 270
268
Still he is Poor .
271
263
Great Amount of his Works
. 271
264
Spirit of Improvisation
272
CHAPTEB XIX.
Fbanoisoo de Qubvedo t Villegas.
Birth and Training .
. 274
Its Characteristics
281
Exile ....
275
Cultismo ....
. 282
Public Service in SicUy .
. 276
El Bachiller de la Torre
282
InNaples . . . .
276
His Prose Works .
. 285
Persecution at Home
. 276
Paul the Sharper .
286
Marríes. . . .
277
Various Tracts
. 287
Persecution again .
. 277
The Knight of the Fórceps .
288
His Sufferíngs and Death
278
La Fortuna con Seso
. 288
Varíety of his Works .
. 278
Visions
289
Many suppressed . . , .
279
Quevedo's Character
. 292
His Poetry . . '.
. 279
CONTENTS.
CHAPTE^ XX.
The Drama op Lope*s Schooi*.
Madrid the Capital
Its Effect on the Drama .
Damián de Vegas
Francisco de Tarrega
Hi8 Enemiga Favorable
Gaspar de Aguilar .
His Mercader Amante .
His Suerte sin Esperanza
Guillen de Castro
His Dramas
His Mal Casado .
His Don Quixote
His Piedad y Justicia .
His Santa Bárbara .
His Mocedades del Cid
294
Comeille's Cid .
805
•. 295
Guillen's Cid . . .
806
295
Other Plays of Guillen .
809
. 296
Luis Velez de Guevara
809
297
Mas pesa el Bey que la Sangre
811
. 297
Other Plays of Guevara
812
298
Juan Pérez de Montalvan
818
. 299
His San Patricio .
818
800
HisOrfeo
814
. 801
His Dramas ....
815
802
His Amantes de Teruel .
816
. 802
His Don Carlos .
819
808
His Autos ....
820
. 808
His Theory of the Drama .
820
804
His Success ....
821
CHAPTEB XXI.
Drama op Lope^s School, concluded.
Tirso de Molina
. 828
His Dramas .
828
flis Burlador de Sevilla .
. 824
His Don Gil . . .
825
His Vergonzoso en Palacio
. 827
His Theory of the Drama
829
Antonio Mira de Mescua .
. 829
His Dramas and Poems
830
Joseph de Valdivielso
. 831
His Autos .
881
His Religious Dramas
. 881
Antonio de Mendoza .
882
Ruiz de Alarcon
. 888
His Dramas . . . .
884
His Texedor de Segovia . . 834
His Verdad Sospechosa . 885
Other Plays . . . .886
Belmente, Cordero, Enriquez 837
Villaizan, Sánchez, Herrera . 887
Barbadillo, Solorzano . .337
Un Ingenio .... 338
El Diablo Predicador . . 339
Opposition to Lope's School . 841
By Men of Leaming . . 841
By the Church . . .842
The Drama triumphs . . 844
Lope^s Fame .... 845
CHAPTEB XXII.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca.
Birth and Family . . .846
Enters the Church .
850
Education .... 847
Less favored by Charles the
Festivals of San Isidro . . 848
Second ....
851
Serves as a Soldier . . 848
Death and Burial .
851
Writes for the Stage . . 849
Person and Character .
852
Patronized by Philip the Fourth 849
His Works . . . .
853
Bebellion in Catalonia . . 849
His Drama^ ....
354
Controls the Theatre . . 850
Many falsely ascribed to him .
855
CONTENTS.
The Nnmber of the Genuine 857
His Autos Saxsramentales . 358
Feast of the Corpus Chrísti . 859
His different Autos . . .861
His Divino Orfeo ... 862
Popularity of his Autos . . 364
His Beligious Plays . . 865
Troubles with the Church
Ecclesiastics write Plays
Calderones San Patricio .
His Devoción de la Cruz
His Mágico Prodigioso .
Other similar Plays .
866
867
872
CHAPTEB XXIII.
Calderón, continued.
Characterístics of his Drama . 878
Trusts to the Story . . 874
Sacrifices much to it . . 875
Dramatic Interest strong . 876
Love, Jealousy, and Honor . 876
Amar después de la Muerte 877
El Médico de su Honra . . 880
El Pintor de su Deshonra . 888
£1 Mayor Monstruo los Zelos . 888
El Príncipe Constante . . 888
CHAPTEB XXIV.
Calderón, concludbd.
Comedias de Capa y Espada .
Antes que Todo es mi Dama
La Dama Duende .
La Vanda y la Flor
Varíons Sources of Calderon*s
Plots
CastUian Tone everywhere .
Exaggerated Sense of Honor .
Domestic Authority .
Duels
892
893
894
401
402
408
408
Immoral Tendency of his Dramas 404
Attacked 404
Defended .... 404
Calderoh's courtly Tone . . 405
His Style and Versification . 407
His long Success . . . 408
Changes the Drama little . 409
But gives it a lofty Tone . .410
His Dramatic Character . 411
ÓHAPTEB XXV.
Drama of Calderones School.
Most BriUiant Period . .
413
Juan de la Hoz .
425
Agustín Moreto .
418
Juan de Matos Fragoso .
426
His Dramas ....
414
Sebastian de ViUaviciosa .
427
Figurón Plays
415
Antonio de Solis
428
El Lmdo Don Diego
415
Francisco Banzes Candamo
430
El Desden con el Desden .
416
Zarzuelas
431
Francisco de Boxas .
417
Opera at Madrid .
433
His Dramas ....
418
Antonio de Zamora .
488
Del Bey abaxo Ninguno
418
Lanini, Martínez .
484
Several Authors to one Play
420
Bosete, Vülegas
434
Alvaro Cubillo
421
Joseph de Cañizares .
434
Leyba and Cáncer y Velasco
422
Decline of the Drama
435
Enriquez Gómez
422
Vera y ViUaroel . . .
486
Sigler and Zabaleta .
423
Inez de la Cruz
436
Femando de Zarate
423
Tellez de Azevedo .
486
Miguel de Barrios . .
424
Oíd Drama, of Lope and of Cal-
Diamante . . . .
424
derón ....
486
Monteser, Cuellar
426
^J^dl
^^^^H
■
^^^H ^^1
^H
Old Theatre. i
I^H
^^r KMIonnllty úf tlia Dmmft
. m
Represenlationa .
447W
^^H 1'hi) Autor of (v Cnmpnnf .
m
Loa ......
447 ■
^H TiiHiLtíinin with ÜiQ DmmiithtB* 438
Ba-llAd
448 ^
^^1 A{;t/>rH, tUüt Numbor .
4S9
Fiíít Jomada . . , .
44§
^^H 1'hií moKt dlfltinguUbfld .
. 440
Firat Entremés .
44»
^H 'J'tuUr (?{iarA<^tñr iind hiinl Lrr« 141
Second Jornada and Eatreraw
460
^H K3ililJ>lilM!iN fri th« Diiytímo
448
Tbird Jornada and Saynete
450
^^m Vwr Hi-am^ry und i'mpertiGS . 443
Dfiíicing . . . . ,
451
^H Thi> 8t.iLg(í ....
444
Bailada .....
4ñi J
^^H T)ttí AuiJlfintsa «
, 444
Xiicantó .....
451 ■
^^H Tlm ^frlH|l1lli()^0l« #
444
Zarabandas * . ♦ .
46S ■
^^B TI 111 íkudnnp nrid Onjtuelit
. 44C
Popular CharaeWr of the Bnu
■
^^H TI MI A[Klll«||b>K
446
nía - . * . ,
45a ■
^^H Kiilmiüut-mimoy
, 446
Groat Numbítr of Antbots ,
454 ~
^^H Uiifionc^MK úf tjifi Audloricea
445
Rctyal Pfitríjnage
456
^^H Uomm i(f tlii3 AuUiors
. 44fi
Qpeat IJumber of Dramas .
456 ^
^H nny^MítlM p . , <
446
AUSfttiouHl . , , .
467 ■
^H TltJu« uf Plü^i . *
■ é4T
J
^^^^ CHAPTER XXVII.
■
^^^^r HUTOEtCAL AHD NaBEATIVIB FoEMS,
m
^H Oíd Epíú Tflndancl»
, 459
Diego de Hojedft
«rm
^H Hevlved tn tlie Time of Oharli»
His Cbristiadfl
4T6 ■
^H theFmb .
4S9
Alonso Diaz . . . ,
477 ■
^^H Hieri'rnírnD Semper«
. 460
Antonio de Escobar .
477 ^
^^H LuíH de (;:apfitiv ,
461
Alonso de Aaff^edo .
47T
^^B Diegü Ximenez d@ Aylloa
. 4«3
Gftudívílla Santíijren .
47T
^^1 Hippélitd Skhz
. 463
Rodrigue;;! de Vargas
477
^^H E&p[no«a QTid Coloma
. 462
Jacoboüiiel
477
^^H AloDBo do Ercllla .
463
Sebastiaíi de Nieva Calvo
477 m
^^H Hla Amucapq. .
. 4fi€
Duran Vivas
477 ■
^^M Diego d£s Osario .
408
Jnati DAvila . , , -
47T ■
^^H Pedro de Oña .
. 469
Antonio Enriqnea Gómez ,
477 ■
^H QiLbHd LasflD de In Vega
4ri
Hernando Domínguez Camargo
4T7 ■
^^H Antonio de 8aaTQdm
, 471
Juan de Eiícíbeiu y Mon^^n .
477
471
Imaginative Épica .
479
^^H Centenera
. 473
Orlando Furioso .
47» ■
^^H Gafípftr de Villiigra
473
Nicolás Espinosa
479 ■
^^H Bellglons Karratire Poema
. 473
Martm de Bolea .
491 ■
^^H Hemaadez Bla^o
473
Garrido de ViUeaa ,
4ai ■
^^1 Gabriel de Muím
. 473
Agostin Alonso .
AS% ■
^^H CrÍBtÓTiil de Viniea
474
Luis Barahoiia de Soto -
Í8^ ■
^^H Eh Monsemito
. 476
His Lágrimas de Angélica .
482 m
^^H Ki chulos Bravo *
47a
Bernardo de Bulbuena
4S3
^H Jtísuph de VddLvielso
. 47S
His Bernardo
488
i
CONTENTS.
Xlll
CHAPTEB XXVIII.
HlSTORICAL AND NarRATIVE PoBMS, CONCLUDED.
Sabjects írom Antiqnity .
Boscan, Mendoza, Silvestre
Montemayor, Villegas
Pérez, Romero de Cepeda
F&bolas, Góngora .
Villamediana, Pantaleon
Moncayo, Villalpando
Salazar
Miscellaneous Sabjects
Tagne de Salas .
Miguel de Silveira
Fr. López de Zarate
Mock-heroic Poems
Ck)8mé de Aldana
Cintio Merctisso
Villaviciosa .
Gatomachia
Heroic Poems
485
Don John of Austria
. 494
485
Hierónimo de Cortereal
495
485
Jnan Rufo
. 496
486
Pedro de la Vezilla .
497
487
Miguel Giner .
. 498
487
Duarte Díaz ....
498
487
Lorenzo de Zamora .
. 498
487
Cristóval de Mesa
499
488
Juan de la Cueva .
500
488
Alfonso López, El Pinciano .
501
489
Francisco Mosquera
501
490
Vasconcellos
502
491
Bernarda Ferreira .
503
491
Antonio de Vera 7 Figueroa
503
492
Borja j Esquiladle .
. 504
498
Rise of Heroic Poetry .
505
494
Its Decline
506
494
HISTORY
OP
SPANISH LITERATURE.
SECOND PERIOD.
THE LITERATURE THAT EXISTED IN SPAIN FROM THE ACCESSiON OF TUE
AUSTMAN FAMILY TO IT8 EXTINCTION ; OR FROM THE
BEGINNING OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
TO THE END OF THE SEVENTEENTH.
(CONTINÜED.)
HISTORY
OP
SPANISH LITERATIJEE.
SECOND PERIOD.
(CONTINUED. )
CHAPTER V.
DIDACTIC POETRY. — LUIS DE ESCOBAR. — CÓRELAS. — TORRE. — DIDAC-
TIC PROSE. VILLALOBOS. OLIVA. SEDEÑO. SALAZAR. — LUIS
MEXIA. PEDRO MEXIA. NAVARRA. URREA. PALACIOS RUBIOS.
VANEGAS. JUAN DE AVILA. — ANTONIO DE GUEVARA. DIÁLOGO
DE LAB LENGUAS. PR06RESS OF THE CASTILIAN FROM THE TIME OF
JOHN THE SECOND TO THAT OP THE BMPEROR CHARLES THE FIPTH.
While an Italian spirit, or at least an observance of Ital-
ian forms, was beginning so decidedly to prevail in Spanish
lyric and pastoral poetry, what was didactic, whether in
prose or verse, took directions somewhat different.
In didactic poetry, among other forms, the oíd one of
question and answer, known from the age of Juan de
Mena, and found in the Cancioneros as late as Badajoz,
continued to enjoy much favor. Originally, such ques-
tions seem to have been riddles and witticisms ; but in
the sixteenth century they gradually assumed a graver
character, and at last claimed to be directly and absolutely
didactic, constituting a form in which two remark- j^ ouatro-
able books of light and easy verse were produced. cuentas Res-
The first of these books is called '' The Four
Hundred Answers to as many Questions of the Illustrious
Don Fadrique Enriquez, the Admiral of Castile, and other
Persona." ^ ft was printed three times in 1646, the year
1 Hyoopy is entitled, Vol. I., Las Quatro- guntas que el illustrissimo (sic) Señor Don
dentas Respuestas a otras tantas Pre- Fadrique Enriquez, Almirante de Castilla y
4 DIDACTIC POBTRY. [Period II.
in which it first appeared, and had undoubtedly a great
success in the class of society to which it was addressed,
and whose manncrs and opinions it strikingly illustrates.
It contains at least twenty thousand verses, and was fol-
lowed, in 1652, by another similar volume, chiefly in
prose, and promising a third, which, however, was never
published. Except five hundred proverbs, as they are
inappropriately called, at the end of the first volume,
and fifty glosses at the end of the second, the whole con-
sists of such ingenious questions as a distinguished oíd
nobleman in the reign of Charles the Fifth and his friends
might imagine it would amuse or instruct them to have
solved. They are on subjects as various as possible, —
religión, inoráis, history, medicine, magic, — in short,
whatcver could occur to idle and curious minds ; but they
Luis de were all sent to an acute, good-humored Minorite
Escobar, fnar, Luis de Escobar, who, being bed-ridden
with the gout and other grievous maladies, had nothing
better to do than to answer them.
His answers form the body of the work. Some of
them are wise and some foolish, some are leamed and
Bome absurd ; but they all bear the impression of their
age. Once we have a long letter of advice about a godly
life, sent to the Admiral, which, no doubt, was well suited
to his case ; and repeatedly we get complaints from the
oíd monk himself of his sufferings, and accounts of what
he was doing ; so that from diflferent parts of the two
volumes it would be possible to collect a tolerably distinct
picture of the amusements of society, if not its occupa-
tions, about the court, at the period when they were
written. The poetry is in many respects not unlike that
of Tusser, who was contemporary with Escobar, but it is
better and more spirited.*
otras diversas personas embiaron a pre- St Francis at Rioseco, a possession of the
gontar al autor, ec., 1545 *, printed infolio at great Admiral. This he tells us in the
Zaragoza, flf. 122, blk. let. two and three Preface to the Second Part. Elsewhere he
columns. Vol. II., La Segunda Parte de complains that many of the questions sent
las Quatrocientas Respuestas, ec. En Tal- to him were in such bad verse that it cost
ladolid, 1552. Folio, flf. 245, blk. let. two him a great deal of líbor to put them hito
columns. More than half in prose. a proper shape •, and it must be admitted
* Escobar was of the family of that ñame that both questions and answers generally
at Sahagun, but lived in the convent of read as if they carne from one hand. Some-
CShap. V.]
DIDACTIC PROSE.
The second book of questions and answers to which we
have referred is graver than the first. It was printed the
next year after the great success of Escobaras i^j^^ ¿^
work, and is called '''Three Hundred Questions Coreías.
conceming Natural Subjeets, with their Answers/' by
Alonso López de Córelas, a physician, who had morelearn-
ing, perhaps, than the monk he imitated, but is less amus-
ing, and writes in verses neither so well constructed ñor
so agreeable.'
Others followed, like González' de la Torre, who in 1690
dedicated to the heir-apparent of the Spanish throne a
volume of such duU religious riddles as were ad- González de
mired a century before.* But nobody, who wrote ^ ^**"^-
in this peculiar didactic style of verse, equalled Escobar,
and it soon passed out of general notice and regard.*
•In prose, about the same time, a fashion appeared of
imitating the Koman didactic prose-writers, just as those
writers had been imitated by Castiglione, Bembo, Gio-
tímea a long moral dissertation occurs, es-
pecially in the prose of the second volume,
but the answers are rarely tedious &om
their length. Those in the first volume are
the best, and Nos. 280, 281, 282, are curi-
ous, firom the accounts they contain of the
poet himself, who must have died after
1552. In the Preface to the first volume,
he says the Admiral died in 1538. If the
vhole work had been completed, according
to its author's purpose, it woutd have con-
tained just a thousand questions and an-
swers. For a specimen we may take No.
10 (Quatrocientas Preguntas, ^^''^^9^
1545, folio) as one of the more ridiculous,
where the Admiral asks how many keys
Christ gave to St. Peter; and No. 190 as one
of the better sort, where the Admiral asks
whether it be neoessary to kneel before the
priest at confession, if the penitent finds it
rery painfúl ; to which the oíd monk an-
fwers gently and well.
He that, throngh sofferíng sent from God above,
ConfioMing, kneels noC, atill commits no sin ;
Bat let hlm cherifh tnodest, humble leve,
And th*t ihall purífy hU heart withln.
The flfth part of the first volume consista
of riddles in the oíd style ; and, as Escobar
•dds, they are sometimes truly very oíd
riddles } so oíd, that they must have been
generally known. The second volume was
n. 1»
printed at Talladolid, 1552, and both are in
folio.
The Admiral to whom these " Respues-
tas " were addressed was the stout oíd no-
bleman who, during one of the absences
of Charles T., was left Begent of Spain, and
who ventured to give his master counsels
of the most plain-spoken wisdom (Salazar,
Dignidades, 1618, Lib. III. c. 15 ; Ferrer
del Rio, Decadencia de España, 1850, pp.
16-17). Poems attributed to him may be
found in the Cancionero of 1554, with no-
tices of their author in the Beitrag zur Bib-
liographie der Cancioneros von F. Wol^
1853. See antCy Tol. I. p. 393, n.
8 The Tolume of Córelas "Trezientas
Preguntas '^ (Yalladolid, 1546, 4to) is ac-
companied by a leamcd prose commentary
.in a respectable didactic style. There seems
to have been an earlier edition the same year,
containing only two hundred and fifty ques-
tions and answers. (See Salva's Cata-
logues, 1826 and 1829, Nos. 1236, 3304.)
* Docientas Preguntas, etc., por Juan
González de la Torre, Madrid, 1590, 4to.
& I should rather have said, perhaps, that
the Preguntas were soon restricted to the
&shionable societies and academies of the
time, as we see them wittily exhibited in
the first jornada of Calderones "Secreto á
Toces."
6 DIDACTIC PROSE. [Pebiodü,
vanni della Casa, and others in Italy. The impulse seems
plainly to have been communicated to Spain by the mod-
itaiianBimi- ©"is, and not by the ancients. It was because
tated. the Italians led the way that the Romans were
imitated, and not because the example of Cicero and
Séneca had, of itself, been able to form a prose school, of
any kind, beyond the Pyrenees.* The fashion was not
one of so much importance and influence as that intro-
duced into the poetry of the nation ; but it is worthy of
notice, both on account.of its results during the reign of
Charles the Fifth, and on account of an eflfect more or less
distinct which it had on the prose style of the nation after-
wards.
The eldest among the prominent writers produced by
this State of things was Francisco de Villalobos, of whom
Eranciscode ^c kuow littlc, cxccpt that hc bclongcd to a
vuiaiobos. family which, for several successive generations,
had been devoted to the medical art ; that he was himself
the physician, first of Ferdinand the Catholic,' and then
of Charles the Fifth ; that he published, as early as 1498,
a poem on his own science, in five hundred stanzas,
founded on the rules of Avicenna ; ® and that he continued
to be known as an author, chiefly on subjects connected
with his profession, till 1543, before which time he had
become weary of the court, and sought a voluntary retire-
ment, where he died, above seventy years oíd.® His trans-
lation of the '* Amphitryon '' of Plautus belongs rather to
tho theatre, but, like that of Oliva, soon to be mentioned,
« The general tendency and tone of the he waa detained in that city by the king'a
dldactic prose-writers in the reign of Charlea severe illness. (Obras, C'arago^a, 1644, folio,
y. provo this faot} but the Discoarse of f.71,b.) This was the illness of which Fer-
Moralos, tho historian, proflxed to the dinand died in less than foor months after-
works of his únele, Fernán Peres de Oliva, ward.
shows the way in wliich the cliange was « Mendea, Typographia, p. 249. Anto-
brought aboat. Some Spauiards, it is plain nio, Bib. Tetus, ed. Bayer, Tom. II. p. 344,
from this curious document, wcre become note.
ashamed to writo any longcr in Latin, as if » He seems, from the letter just noticed,
thuir own language wcre unñt for prac- to have been displeased with his position
tical uso in matters of grave importance, as early as 1515 *, but he must have con-
whon they had, in the Italian, examples of tinued at court above twenty years longer,
ontirtí Rucoüss before them. (Obras de Oliva, when he left it poor and disheartened.
Madrid, 1787, 12mo, Tom. I. pp. xvi.-xlvii.) (Obras, f. 45.) From a passage two leaves
7 There is a lottcr of Villalobos, dated at further on, I think he left it after the death
Calatayud, Oct. 6, 1515, in which he says of the Empresa, in 1539.
CaJLP. V.] FRANCISCO DE VILLALOBOS. Y
produced no effect there, and, like his scientific treatises,
demands no especial notice. The rest of his works, in
cluding all that belong to the department of elegant liter
ature, are to be foiind in a volume of modérate size, which
he dedicated to the Infante Don Luis of Portugal.
The chief of them is called " Problema," and is divided
into two tractates : the first, wjiich is very short, being
on the Sun, the Planeta, the Four Elementa, and hís Probie-
the Terrestrial Paradise ; and the last, which is ^^'
longer, on Man and Moráis, beginning with an essay on
Satán, and ending with one on Flattery and Flatterers,
which is especially addressed to the heir-apparent of the
crown of Spain, afterwards Philip the Second. Each of
these subdivisions, in each tractate, has eight lines of the
oíd Spanish verse prefixed to it, as its Problem, or text,
and the prose discussion which foUows, like a gloss, con-
stitutes the substance of the work. The whole is of a
very miscellaneous character ; most of it grave, like the
essays on Knights and Prelates, but some of it amusing,
like an essay on the Marriage of Oíd Men.^^ The best por-
tions are those that have a satirical vein in them ; such
as the ridiculo of litigious oíd men, and of oíd men that
wear paint.^
A Dialogue on Intermittent Fevers, a Dialogue on the
Natural Heat of the Body, and a Dialogue between the
Doctor and the Duke, his patient, are all quite in hís other
the manner of the contemporary didactic discus- ^°'^®*
sions of the Italians, except that the last contains pas-
aages of a broad and free humor, approaching more nearly
to the tone of comedy, or rather of farce.^ A treatise
that foUows, on the Three Great Annoyances of much
talking, much disputing, and much laughing,^* and a
10 U Poggio'8 trifle, " An Seni sit üxor found in the Cancionero of 1554 (noticed
dacenda," had heen publisked when Villa- ante, Vol. I. p. 393, n.)} but they are of
loboe wxote,! should not doubt he had seen much less worth than his prose, and the
it. As it te, the colncidence may not be best of his works are reprintedin the Biblio-
accidental, for Poggio died in 1449, though teca de Autores Españoles, Tom. XXXYI.
his Dialogue was not, I believe, printed till 1855.
the present century. is Obras, f. 35.
. u The Problemas constitute the first part i> I have translated the title of this Trea^
oT the Obras de Villalobos, 1544, and fill 34 Use " The Three Great Annoyanee».** In
leares. A few poems by Villalobos may be the original it is " The Three Great ,**
8
FERNÁN PÉREZ DE OLIVA.
tPBmoD n*
grave diBCourse on Love, wíth whích the volume ends,
are all tbat romaiii woríh notice. They have the same
general cha.rácteristics with the rest of his miscellanics \
the style of eome portions of the na being distmguished
bj more purity and more p re ten si ü ti a to dig-nity than havej
beea found in the earlíer didactic prose-writers, and es
pecially hy greater clearnesB and exactnese of exprés-"
sion. Occasionally, too, we meet witli an idiomatic famil-
iarity, frankness, aiid spirit, that are very attractive, and
that partlj cornpenBate U9 for the ahsnrditios of the oíd
and forgotten doctrinea in natural history and medicine,
which Yilialobos inculcated hecause they were the received
doctrines of his time.
The next writer of the same claas, and, on tte whole,
one mnch more worthy of consideration, is Fernán Perea
íaroikti Poces ^^ OUva, a Cordovese, who was born aboüt 1492,
deüiiT*. ^^^ ^^^^^ g^jii joung, in 1530. His father was
a lo ver of letters ; and the son, as he himself informa us,
was educated with care from his carliest youth. At
tweive years of age, he was already a atudent in the
University of Salamanca ; after which he went, flrst^ to
Alcalá, when it was íu the beginning of its glory ; tben
to Paris, whose University had long attracted students
from every part of Europe ; and fin all j to Eome, where,
under the protectioii of an nncle at the court of Leo the
Tenth, all the advantages to be fouíid ín the moat culti-
vated capital of Chriatendom were accessible to him.
On his nncle *s death, it was proposed to him to take the
offices left vacant by tliat eveiit ; but^ loving letters more
than courtly honora, he went back to París, where he
taught and lectnred in its University for three years.
Auother Pope, Adrián the Sixth, was now on the throne,
and, hearing uf Oliva's suceess, endeavored anew to draw
him to Üome ; bnt the love of his country and of I iterar
turo continued to be stronger tban the love of ecclesias-
tical preferment, He returned, therefore, to Salamanca j
léETing tlie tltle, naya VUlaJcyhoe in his Pró» boiiuIds "Coloquio" by VllUUoboé on a
lO(fOj usAplflhcd) so that every IkxIj m&y medical ijuesUoii, atid aome of bid lílieaftimf
fLií it up Dfl he likt». Ami>tig thv MBS. cF lett^rfi. See Spauifih trmiilaüon úF tlili
\h9 Afúdemf úí Btatgry ai Mtulrld is mi Hlatorj^ Tom. ri- p. tM.
Chap. V.] FERNÁN PEKEZ DE OLIVA. 9
became one of the original members of the rich ** Oollege
of the Archbishop," founded in 1528 ; and was success-
ively chosen Professor of Ethics in the üniversity, and its
Rector. But he had hardly risen to his highest distinc-
tions, when he died suddenly, and at a moment when so
many hopea rested on him, that his death was felt as a
misfortune to the cause of letters throughout Spain."
Oliva's studies at Rome had taught him how success-
fully the Latin writers had been imitated by the Italians,
and he became anxious that they should be no ^ ^ ^
less successfuUy imitated by the Spaniards. He jng in Span-
felt it as a wrong done to his nativo language,
that almost all serious prose discussions in Spain were
still carried on in Latin rather than in Spanish." Taking
a hint, then, from Castiglione's '' Cortigiano/' and oppos-
ing the current of opinión among the learned men with
whom he lived and acted, he began a didactic dialogue on
the Dignity of Man, formally defending it as a work in the
Spanish language written by a Spaniard. Resides this,
he wrote several strictly didactic discourses : one on the
Faculties of the Mind and their Proper Use ; another urg-
ing Córdova, his nativo city, to improve the navigation
of the Guadalquivir, and so obtain a portion pf the rich
commerce of the Indios, which was then monopolized by
Seville ;• and another, that was delivered at Salamanca,
when he was a candidato for the chair of moral philoso-
M i^he most ampie Ufe of Oliva U( in Re- 1789, and entitled " Carta de Paracuellos/'
labal 7 Ugarte, " Biblioteca de loe Escri- we are told (p. 29), " Los años pasados el
torea, que .han ddp individuos de. los seis Consejo de C^stilia mandó a lasUüiversi-
C<AegíoB Mayores" (Madrid, 1805,4to, pp. dades d^l^eynoj^ue, eh,-^as fundóos lit-
239, etc.). But all thal we know about. erari&s, solo se hablase en Latin. Bien
him, of any real Interest, is to be found in mandado, ec." A^d jret, ^e injudicious-
the exposiüon he made of his claims. and ness of the practico had' been ably set forth
metítB when he contended publicly for the by the Well-knpwn scholar, Pedro Simón de
chair of Moral Philosophy at Salamanca. ' Abril, in an address to Philip ü., as early as
(Obras, 1787, Tbm. II. pp. 26-51.) In the 158.9, and the reasona against it stated with
eourse of it, he says his travels all over forcé and preciáion. See his i*A'punth-
Spain and out of it, in pursuit of knowl- miebtos decon^p se deve^ reformar las doc-
edge, had amounted to more than three trinas y la manera de enseñallas."^ Edi-
thooáand leagues. tions of this sensible tract were also printed ,
u Obras, Tom. I. p. xxiii. But Latin in 1769 and 1817 *, — the last,' with notea and
oonünoed to be exclusively the language a prelimintOry dlscourse by José,<!lemente
of the Spanish Univertities for above twtí Garicero, seems to have had some effebt on
eentories longer. In an anonymous contro- opinidn.
-Tendal pamphlet pnblished at Madrid in
IS
SMDEtO, &LLAZAB, LUIS MEXIA, CERIOL. IFsriod EL
phy; in all which his nephew, Morales, tke hístonan^
assures us it was bis unciera strong- deBÍre to fumiah prao
tical oxamples of the power aad resources of the Spanish
language.^*^
Tbe purpose of ^íving- greater dignity to his native
tongue* by employiug it, iustead of tJie Latió, on all the
cbief Sübjects uf human ioquiryj waa certainly a fortunate
¿Tiiftnde Se- ^^^ ^^ Oliva, aiid sooh toxina ímitatorg» Juan de
Ama. Sedeño published, in 1536, two proee dialogues
00 Lo ve and one on Happiness ; the forme r in a mor©
graceful tone of gallantry, and the latter m a more phi-
losophical spirit and with more tersen esa of manner, than
Cervantes da belooged to the age.^'^ Francisco Cervantea de
****"**^' Salazar, a man oí learoing, completed the diar
logue of Oliva on the Dignity of Man, which had been
left iinfinished, and, dedicatiíjg it to Femando Cortés,
pnblished it in 1546/* tojgether with a long pro se fablc bj
Lms Mesia, on Idlenesa and Labor, written in a
puro and eomcwhat elevated atyle, but too mnoli
iudebted to the '* Vision *' of the Bachiller de la
Fadriqne Oeriol in 1559 prínted, at Antwerp, an
ethical and poliíical work entitled ** Counsel and Council-
lora for a Prince/^ which was too tolerant to be auccessful
Otiríol. Nhp
Twrfik Pe-
Torre.i^
1* Tlw wortCR at OUvn hfív& luxa püb-
IIiIuhI al Irme tnico x thu ñrst tiuie by his
ilr|iÍieWf AifilirnHíü lie Moralta^ 4u>^ Ciir-
2 vulAp 1:¿nio. In tho tudtts }2x|mrg^-
i<]4rlii}iii {VS&7t p. 424)^ thf>y m^ furlHdden
ífv bv n?<w1» "dll (hey «re «im?ctetl^^* — a
phtA»ti which «xma U» bave ifft each cojyy
til' llii>in iü Üie dticmíoik (vr tíim aplrítuol
(liiMHiti>r tif íM owtWT» Ifi thd t^(ttUon cif
1T87| a »bMrt «99 pao^Uad^ Ln ardLT tú gei
til the loiDi; ^flliiine wltli tbti nlanr woifk»
uf Olivo, Momlei puhlbhed ñit/tmi lüoral
diBCDurtaed «f hln ova, «id ope h^ B^m
Vulkd of CúnUi'^a, none «f frbich haro
initch lítpmfy vulne, tlinti^h aeTreTul^ llke
gDfi qo the Aiivjiiitft|ffc af Tenchin^ wfth
Gent]ene#ji,-«L.fid «íhj "n the DtíTtíftínüe be-
twüQQ Ckniu^ and WlAl'niai. ajro ninfk{^d
wlth patccílEnt senM, Tlvat of Tallcii Ifl on
. thé Pear of Beath,
1" Sigutüse dos Goloqaioa de Ámort» y
otro de Híeiui,vDDtura]iigfli, uto., |]or JuiUi de
ScMjeñn^ vesUio du Arevalo, 1536, sm. 4Ui,
po pirínter nr place, pp. IG. Tkut Lr the
Bmne Juan de Scdeüa whn tmciEdateil the
** Cckattna *' luto versa in ]M0, and whu
wpote tbü ** Sonta de Timnie» Iju^trc? *'
(Arevalo, 1561, and TuIi^d, ISOO, fulío) | —
a ixKnr blographkaL dktknnury^ c'otitaítdiijt
liv«« of tthout tvo hundnd (Ustltigu!sbcd
per«o«aB«», &1]>hiibetJctiJIy aifani^ed, arid
heglntiin^ ^Ith Adam» Sfldeño waa a sol^
dier, aiad «rred ín Ilaly.
1* The wholt! üi&lo^p^lxíth the part
WTÍttiin by OÜTa and that wT]U«n bj Fnuí*
cJ§Go G^rr^iite^ — wüm piibliahied at Mftdrid
(ITT^ 4tü) ia a new edttioa by Qerdá y
Bieo, with hts «pimJ abutidjinit hut atrk-
w«^, preíaqva aiJd aRiioUitS.r.inB.
^ It Ir H'publíshtiHl la thg irolume mea-
tloáAl ín the last nota ; but ve Itnow noth-
üi^ of ítB aathoTt
I
I
Ghap. V.]
NAVARRA, PEDRO MEXIA.
11
in Spain, but was honored and translated abroad.^ Pedro
de Navarra published, in 156*7, forty Moral Dialogues,
partly the result of conversations held in an Academia oí
distinguished persons, who met, from time to time, at the
house of Fernando Cortés.^ Pedro Mexia, the chronicler,
wrote a Silva, or Miscellany, divided, in later editions,
into six books, and subdivided into a multitude of sep-
árate essays, historical and moral ; declaring it to be the
first worfc of the kind in Spanish, which, he says, he con-
siders quite as suitable for such discussions as the Italian.^
•90 El Conato y Consejeros del Principe, ec.
Anvers, 1669. Only the first part was pub-
lished. This can be found in the Biblio-
teca de Autores Españoles, Tom. XXXVI.
1856.
« Diálogos muy Subtiles y Notables, etc.,
por n. Pedro de Navarra, Obispo de Com-
cnge, ^^rago^a, 1667, 12mo, 118 leaves.
The first five Dialogues are on the Charac-
ter becoming a Royal Chronicler ; the next
fonr on the Differenoes between a Bustic
and a Noble Life ; and the remaining
thirty-one on Preparation for Death ; — all
written in a puré, simple Castilian style,
but with litüe either new or striking in the
thoughts. Their author says, it was a rule
of the Academia that the person who ar-
rived last at eacjpL meeting should furnish a
Bubject for discussion, and diregt another
member to reduce to writing the remarks
that might be mado on it, — Cardinal Pog-
gio, Juan d' Estuñiga, knight-commander
of Castile, and other persons of note, being
of the society. Navarra adds, that he had
written two hundred dialogues, in which
there were ** few matters that had not been
touched upon in that excellent Academy,"
and notes especially that the subject of
** Preparation for Death" had been discussed
after the decease of Cobos, a confidential
minister of Charles Y., and that he himself
had acted as secretary on the occasion.
Traces of anything contemporary are, how-
ever, rare in the forty dialogues he printed ;
— the most important that I have noticcd
relating to Charles V. and his retirement
at Yuate, which the good Bishop seems to
have believed was a sincere abandonment
of all worldly thoughts and passions. I
find nothlng to illustrate the character of
Cknrtés, except the fact that such meetings
were held at his house.
The fashion of writing didactic dialogues
in prose was common at this period in
Spain, and indeed until after 1600, as 6ay-
angos has well noted in his translation of
this History (Tom. II. pp. 508-510), citing
in proof of it the ñames of a considerable
number of authors, most of whom are now
forgotten, but the best of whom, that I have
not elsewhere noticed, are Diego de Salazar,
1536 *, Francisco de Miranda y Yillafaño,
1682 } -Bernardmo de Escalante, 1583 ;
Francisco de Yaldés, 1586 •, Juan de Gua-
rnan, 1589 •, Diego Nuñez de Alva, 1589 ;
and Sancho de Lodoño, 1593. Of these, I
should distinguish Nuñez de Alva, whose
dialogues, in the copy I use, are entitled
" Diálogos de Diego Nuñez de Alva de la
Vida del Soldado en que se quentan la con-
juración y pacificación de Alamaña con
todas las batallas, recuentros y escaramu-
9a8 que en ello acontecieron en los años de
1546 y 7, ec. (En Salamanca, Andrea do
Portinaris, Dialogo primero, 1552, Dialogo
segundo, 1553." But the complete edition is
Cuenca, 1589.) It is written in a puré and
spirited style, and is not without valué for
its record of historical facts j but it is
chiefly interesting for what it tells us of a
soldier's Ufe in the time of Charles Y., — so
diflferent from what it is in our days.
22 Silva de Varia Lección, por Pedro
Mexia. The first edition (SevUla, 1543, fol.,
lit. got, 144 leaves) is in on!y three parts.
Another, which I also possess, is of Mad-
rid, 1669, and in six books, filling about
700 closely-printed quarto pages; but the
fifth and sixth books were first added, I
think, in the edition of 1554, two years
after his death, and do not seem to be his.
It was long very popular, and there are
many editions of it, besides translations
into Italian, Germán, French, Flemish, and
12
ÜEREA, OLIVA,
[PaEmí» U.
To thm, which may be regarded as aa imitatíoii of Ma-
crobiua or of Atheuísus, and wliícli was printed in 1543,
were added^ in 1548, bíx didactic dialogues, — cuvious, but
of little value^ ^ — in the first uf wUich the aclvanta^efi and
disadvantages of having regular pliysiciaris are agreuably
BQt forth, with a lightnüss and exactnetis of Btyle hardly
tu havo been expected,^ Aod fiíially, to complete the
eiiort liat, ürrea, a favo red soldier of tbü Emperor,
and at one time viceroy of ApuUa^ — the same
person wlio made the poor translation of Ariosto men-
tiooed in Don Quixote, ^ publishedi in 1566| a Dialog^ue
on True Militarj Honor, wliich is writtcn i ti a pie asan t and
easj style, and contains, minglod with tlie notions of one
^ho says he traiued himsclf fur glorj bj reading romances
of chivalry, not a few amnsing anecdotes of duels and
militarj adv enture©.^
Both of the works of Pedro Mexia, but eapecially hia
Silva, eüjoyed no Uttle popularity diuiog the sixteenth
and se%'enteenth centurie^ j and, in point of Btyle, tbey
are certainly not withont mcrit. Nonc, íiowever, of the
FernaiD Pe- productíons of any one of the authors iast men-
rtaíitj Oliva, ^jQj¿g.¿ ^r^^ ^q mticbforce and cbaracter as the llrst
part of tbe Dialogue on tbe Dignity of Man. And jet Oliva
was certainly not a perBon of a coramanding genins.
JEbi^li&h, O üf! Eugl i»lt vorBlijn U lif TlinmaR
Furtescnei aad aiJpeLifed in 157 1- (War-
tcinV Ed^. Poetri, Iiotidcm, 1^1^, Bv^^Tiim.
IV. p, 31%) An*th<.'r, wbücli'ít i^iOQDyitiiCias,
k cfktled "Thé Treasune «r 'Aticlenli atid
Mcjdt^rn TinieÜT 'BLc., ¿ruiiplat^ dut oí that
^rarthj Sp&Dtali Oeutleman, FeéXú ^t^n^
aad Mp. TraticiSGO SatifloV^Cno, tlie tfalianj'^
etc. (Lanñno^ 1613* roL)> tí I» a curioua
mixture of aítnilíir iUsciis^lcifia by diJTer*
emt aath^fl] Spanish^ lUilladi, and Fmeacb.
*" Thfi e-ftrlieslí edition of the l>lalng^ieB,
I tbinkj ím tíiat of Scv!Ue, lUS^ whkh t
nae as weÜ aa <ine uf \^&2^ \)ot\i l^io, llt.
£0t Tha accoud düiluj^if&i whloh I» on
'^IriTftln^ kt Ftiastü," le airiiii^itig ^ Imt íhü
lOAtfWhlcb ifl on Bubjects of phyBÍca] eciciicef
euch an the CáUjeA of tbiincleFi, eartbqmikeáj
^nd Cúmeta^ Is now^a-dEi.^ odIj curíoim or
rfdjduloiifi. At the end nf the DlAlopicti,
ajid sometimeB at tba ead oF'old cditiütu
of the Sílva^ Is found a fres tmiialnÜMn íif
the ExhortatioD ta Virtuo hj InjctaUa,
ta&dñ &OID thu Latín of A^cola^ bécmiBi?
Mt^ida dld nút undi-ratand Greett. It ti
of UO V&IüÉ^
s* Duilngq de la VenloderH. Hortra MElltArf
por OeT(j(níint> Xf menea dv üfrca. Tlit'rá
are lídítlflna íif Ififlfl, 1676, 1601, etq. <ta*
tatusa, Btb^ Arag. Ñ nevar Tnm. I. p^ sm.)
Mln^ te a imuúl quarto volnniE', Zaragrisa,
1642, One of tho ínost nmu'tUiíg' pW!!Ui(;pii
tn the Dialogue uf Urre» ^ lh& one In Part
TíFHt, con tiíí nina: a detalleií atíitement <sf
everythlwg rt?liiftl»g to tlie duel proponed by
rrancld L tu CliJirk'S V» Tíí<íTf¡ are versefi
hy hEm In thv Canoloaero of 1554 (iKtdoed
«míf f Vol.L p. aOS] n.)| and w. the Lfltrt&rjr of
the Unl^í^rsity of Zaragoza the re afü^in MS.^
the ^ecood and thin] valuniE*^ of u Romaiicq
of CbtTalry by híin, etititled " Don ClarísiBl
de Uft Floree^*^ See Bpaníah translation oT
thlá nistory^Tnra. IL p, 611.
Chap. V.]
PALACIOS RUBIOS, VANEGAS, AVILA.
13
Ilis imagination never warms into poetry ; his invention
is never sufficient to give new and strong views to his
Bubject ; and his system of imitating both the Latin and
the Italian masters rather tends to debilitate than to impart
vigor to his thoughts. But there is a general reasonable-
ness and wisdom in what he says that win and often
satisfy US ; and these> with his style, which> though some-
times declamatory, is yet, on the whole, puré and well
settled, and his happy idea of defending and employing
the Gastilian, then coming into all its rights as a living
language, have had the effect of giving him a more last-
ing reputation than that of any other Spanish prose-writer
of his time.^
The same general tendency to a more formal and elegant
style of discuBsion is found in a few other ethical and
religious authors of the reign of Charles the Fifth that are
still remembered ; such as Palacios Kubios, who Palacios ru-
wrote an essay on Military Courage, for the ben- gj^^'j^^^e
efit of his son ; * Vanegas, who, under the title ^^^*-
of "The.Agony of Fassing through Death,'' gives us
what may rather be considered an ascetic treatise on holy
living ; ^ and Juan de Avila, sometimos called the Apostle
» As late as 1692, when the " Conversión
de la Magdalena,** by Pedro Malón de
Chaide, was pablished, the opposition tb
the use of the Castilian in grave subjects
was continned. He says people talked tp
him as if it were ** a sacrilege " to discass
sach matters eiceptin Latin. (f. 15). But
be léplieB,- like, a trae Spaniard, that the
Castilian is better for such porpos^s than
hatíp. or Qreek, and that he trusts before
long'*to see it as widely spread as the arms
and glories Oí his country (ft 17). On the
other hand, in 1543, a treatise on Holy
Aflfections, — "Ley de Amor Sipóto," —
written by Francisco de Ossuna, witli great
pority of style, and sométiines vrith fér-
vent eloqnence, was published without
* i^Pology for its Castilian, and dedicated to
Práncisco dé Cobos, a confldential secre-
tiyry of Charles V., adyerted to in note 21.
I think Ossuna wpá deád when this treatise
appeared.
* A .full aocount of Juan López de Vi-
Yero Palacios Rubios, who was a man of
oonsequence in his time, and engaged ifi
II. 2
the fámous compilation of the Spanish laws
. called "Leyes de Toro," is contained in
Re«abal y Vgjarte (Biblioteca, pp. 266-^71).
His works in Latín are numerous ; but in
Spanish he published only *^ Del Esfuerzo
Bélico Heroyoo," which appeared first at
Salamanca in 1524, folio, but of which
there Is a beautiful Madrid edition, 1793,
folio, with notes by Francisco Morales.
S7 Antonio,. Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 8. He
flourished about 1531-45. His "Agonia
del Tránsito de la Muerte," a glossary to
which, by its author, is dated 1543, was
first printed fi¡pm his correctéd manuscrípt
many years later. My copy, which seems
to be of the first edition, is dated Alcalá,
'^1574, and is in 12mo. The treatise called
" Diferencias de Libros que ay en el Uni-
verso," by the same author, who, however,
here writes his ñame Venegas, wasfinishcd
in^539, and printed at Toledo in 1540, 4to.
• It is written in a good style, though not
withoút conceits of thought and conceited
phrases. But it is not, as its title might
seem to imply, a criticism on books aud
14 é ANTONIO DE GUEVAKA. [PééiodIL
of Andalusia, whose letters are fervent exhortations to
virtue and religión, composed with care and often with
eloquence, if not with entire purity of style.*
The author in this class, however, who, during his life-
time, had the most influence, was Antonio de Guevara,
Antonio de ^^^ ^^ t^© official chroniclers of Charles the Fifth.
Guevara, g^ ^j^g ^ Biscayan by birfh, and passed somia
of his earlier years at the court of Queen Isabella. In
1528 he became a Franciscan monk ; but, enjoying the
favor of the Emperor, he seems to have been transformed
into a thorough courtier, accompanying his master during
his journeys and residences in Italy and other parts of
Europe, and rising successively, by the royal patronage,
to be court preacher, Imperial historíographer, Bishop of
Guadix, and Bishop of Mondoñedo. He died in 1645. *
His works were not very numerous, but they were fitted
to the atmosphere in which they were produced, and
His Eeíox enjoyed at once a great popularity. His " Dial for
de Principes, punces, or Marcus Aurelius,'' first published in
1529, and the fi'uit, as he tells us, of eleven years' labor,**
was not only often reprinted in Spanish, but was trans-
lated into Latin, Italian, French, and English ; in each of
which last two languages it appeared many times before
the end of the century.'^ It is a kind of romance, founded
on the life and character of Marcus Aurelius, and resem-
ai)thors, but the opinión of Vanegas him- hifl works (Madrid, 1595, 4to), by Juan
self, how we should study the great books Diaz.
of God, náture, man, and Ghristianity. It ^ A life of Guevara is prcflxed to the
is, in fact, intended to discourage the read- edition of his Epístolas, Madrid, 1673, 4to ;
ing of most of the books then much in but there is a good account of him by him-
fashion, and deemed byhim bad. self in the Prólogo to his ** Menosprecio de
5» He died in 1569. In 1584 be was in Corte."
the prisons of the Inquisition, and in 1559 » See the argument to his " Década de
one of his books was put into the Index los Césares."
Expurgatorius. Nevertheless, he was re- «^ Watt, in Tiis " Bibliotheca Britannica,"
garded as a sort of Saint. (Llórente, His- and Brunet, in his " Manuel du Libraire,"
toire de l'Inquisition, Tom. II. pp. 7 and give quite ampie lists of the diflFerent edi-
423.) His " Cartas Espirituales " were not tions and translations of the Works of
printed, I believe, till the year of his death. Guevara, showing their great popularity
(Antonio, Bib. Nova, Tom. I. pp. 639-642.) all over Europe. In French the number
His treatises on Self-knowledge, on Prayer, of translations in the sixteenth century was
and on other religious subjects, are equally extraordinary. See La Croix du Maine ct
well written, and in the same style of du Verdier, Bibliothéques (Paris, 1772, 4to,
eloquence. A long life, or rather eulogy, Tom. ni. p. 123), and the articles there
of him is prefixed to the first volume of rcferred to.
Crap. Vi] ANTONIO DB GUEVARA. 15
bles, in some points, the " Cyropaedia '' of Xenophon ;
ite purpose being to place before the Emperor Charles
the Fifth the model of a prince more perfect for wisdom
and virtue than any other of antiquity. But the Bishop
of Mondoñedoadventured beyond his prerogative. He
pretended that his Marcus Aurelius was genuine history,
and appealed to a manuscript in Florence, which did rfot
exist, as if he had done little more than make a
translation of it. In consequence of this, Pedro Pedro de ^
de Rúa, a professor of elegant literature in the ^"*'
college at Soria, addressed a letter to him, in 1640, expos-
ing the íraud. Two other letters foUowed, written with
more freedom and purity of style than anything in the
works of the Bishop himself, and leaving him no real
ground on which to stand.® He, however, defended him-
self as well as he was able ; at first cáutiously, but after-
wards, when he was more closely assailed, by assuming
the whoUy untenable position that all ancient profane his-
tory was no more true than his romance of Marcus
Aurelius, and that he had as good a right to invent for
his own high purposes as Herodotus or Livy. From this
time he was severely attacked ; more so, perhaps, ¿han
he wouid have been if the gross frauds of Annius of
Viterbo had not then been recent. But, however this
may be, it was done with a bitterness that forms a strong
contrast to the applause bestowed in Franco, near the
end of the eighteenth century, upon a somewhat similar
work on the same subject by Thomas.^
After all, however, the " Dial for Princes '' is little
» There are editioAs of the Cartas del always delights to show up any defects he
Bachiller Rúa, Burgos, 1649, 4to, and Mad- can flnd in the characters of priests and
rid, 1736., 4to, and a life of him in Bayle, monks. There are editions of the B«lox
Dict. Historique, Amsterdam, 1740, folio, de Principes of 1529, 1532, 1537, etc.
Tom. IV. p. 96. The letters of Rúa, or Thos. North, the well-known English trans-
Khua, as his ñame is oflen written, are lator, translated the " Relox " in three
respectablc in style, though their critical books, adding, inappropriately, as a
spirit is that of the age and couiitry in " fowerth," the " Despertador de Cortesa-
which they were written. The short reply nos," and dedicating the whole, in 1567,
of Guevara following the second of Rua's to Queen Mary, then wife of Philip II.
letters is not creditable to him. It was the work of his youth, he says,
«8 Antonio, in his article on Quevara when he was a student of Lincoln's Inn j
(Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 125), is very severe } but it contains much good oíd English
but his tone is gcntle compared with that idiom. My copy is in folio, 1568.
of Bayle (Dict. Uist., Tom. U. p. 631), who
16
AÍTTONIO DE GUEVAHA.
[FjEiiioD n.
worthy of the excitement it occasioned Jt is ñlled with
letters and wpeeclies, ill-conceived and mappropmte, atid
m wdtten in a formal and inflated style. Perbaps we are
now indebted to it for nothing bo muüh as for the beautiítil
íable of " The Peasant of the Dannbe/^ evideittiy sug-
ge^ted to La Fontaine bj onc of the disconrses throng-h
Tvhlcíh Guevara eudeavored to give life and realitj to hÍ9
fictions.^
In the same spírit, tbough with lesB boldnesB, he wrote
bis 'VLivcs of the Ten Román Emperore ; " a work which,
like hifí Dial for PriiiceSi he dedicated to Charles
de lüÉi o¿- the Fifth. In general, he has hete followed the
"™'" authorítics on which he olaims to fonnd bis nar-
rative, anoh as Dion Cassius and the minor Latin historians,
flhowing, at tlie eame time, a marked deeire to iaiitate
Plutarch and Snetoniíis, whom he aimounces as lúe m o deis.
But he has not been able entirely to resist the temptation
of insertíng fictitious latters, and e%^en unfounded stoi ies ;
tima giving a false viow^ if not of the facts of history,
at least of sume of the characters he records. Ilis style,
howeverj though it still wanta pniity and appropriateness,
is b^ter atid more simple than it is in his romance ou
Marctis Aurelias;^
8* Lá Fontaioe, bables, Lib. XI. Ihb. Tj
jiEiíl flucvam, Kelos, Ltb. ni. c* 3. Ttie
upeecb whícb the ü^panícih Ülsiiop» the trae
bul It waa papular. TLrp^t da MuHii^ nrE«T
de0crll?lDg a pcasant who appruticbetl
Xíírxiíai Mys lu tlie i*íologufi to oae of Lia
Ifl ihort^
He n3pr«!«efltEd ta thft very lírfe
Thij RiiEtic tUot flo bf)\Aly «jícike
Sufún? tli« Jlpiniii) f1rn»í«<
Iift FcMitniD'ej boweviür, did not trmible
bliELBf;!! a^boüt tbé mtiifinSbl &panlftb tvt It»
populflrity* He tíwjk h[? IttmtUiful >'*2rBioü
of tbo fiible froHi an oíd French translaHor^
mmle by a. gentleniaJí whi) w^iit to Hadrid
ÍB id26 witli the eanltiial ñv GmüatiioDt,
OH the aabjcct or Francis tha FlrHt'ii Im-
priaonmcnL 1 1 la in the dcb oM French
oí thJit i>erlodf and La Fiñiitatnia oftcü
adopta, wUh hla accuKt^itncid BkUt, Ua |hc^
turesque phraíeobgy. I suppoau tbi*
tran^latlon U the one «jíted by Hrunet aa.
muAa by Iteaé Brrtaat, of wbidb tbero
w^ürc itkaüy ínlltloiia. Mlus ia of Parla,
l&ia, ÍQliOf bi' Ofilliot da Fró^ and U enll-
Ü-ed ** Lorloge dea PrlDcea, troduíct Dti-
paijd^nol en Langttíge Friiii^oifl," b^t doea
not givñ thí tmnalatiir^a ñame,
S5 The " Decsida de lea Oésares," wíth the
úther lr«atlÉ€fl of Gae^mL hertí ipokeo u(,
«XdCpt hbi E[t3(ttlcs^ Mti t<i be fonm] tn n
collectIúD of hia works flnst printed s.t Abal-
lad oUd In 1530^ nf wbtcb I have A c^py, ita
wcH aa one of tbu cilHlon <jr 15+i, flii*--
ram Beema to haré beca as particular abitut
Iktí tjT^Dgmphi'cal exe<*iitIon of hís w'óriE»
aü he waa about his Myhi of compíMlJínn.
Bc-9ldei Üie abure ^ I h^ive hía Epí»b.i1a»
J&3fl, 1541, 1M3^ hla ÜrntiTio de R?%i'
DSDB, IMM, t&lñi, mnd hi9 llSnutc CalTario^
1543^ IWít, — all gmve bUuík-kttí?r fbítoa,
pdntetl bi dUrerent cilEea iiiKl by dijere nt
pirinleret, but aü with án air wr cxoctnesi
m^
CShap. V.] ANTONIO DE GUEVARA. It
Similar characteristics mark a large coUection of Letters
printed by him as early as 1539. Many of them are ad-
dressed to persons of great consideration in his
time, such as the Marquis of Pescara, the Duke las Famui-
of Alva, Iñigo de Velasco, Grand Constable of ^**
Castile, and Fadrique Enriquez, Grand Admiral. But some
were evidently never sent to the persons addressed, like
the loyal one to Juan de Padilla, the head of the Comune-
ros j and two impertinent letters to the Governor Luis Bravo,
who had foolishly fallen in love in his oíd age. Others
are mere fictions ; among which are a correspondence of
the Emperor Trajan with Plutarch and the Román Senate,
which Guevara vainly protests he translated from the
Greek, without saying wheré he found the origináis,^ and
a long epistle about Lals an.d other courtesans of antiquity,
in which he gives the details of their conversations as if
he had listened to them himself. Most of the letters,
though they are called ''Familiar Epistles,'' are merely
essays or disputations, and a few are sermons in form,
with an announcement of the occasions on which they were
preached. None has the easy or natural air of a real cor-
respondence. In fact, they were all, no doubt, prepared
expressly for publication and for effect ; and, notwithstand-
ing their stiffness and formality, were greatly admired.
They were often printed in Spain ; they were translated
into all the principal languages of Europe ; and, to express
the valué set on them, they were generally called " The
Golden Epistles.'' But, notwithstanding their early suc-
cess, they have long been disregarded, and only a few pas-
sages that touch the affairs of the time or the life of the
Emperor can now be read with interest or pleasure.^
and finish that is quite remarkable, and, I authors and published in London (1575, 4to,
Bospect, quite characteriatic of the author. black letter), under the title of "Gktlden
The translation of the ^^ Década " by Ed- Epistles." Edward Hellowes had already
ward Hellowes, published 1677, and dedi- translated the whole of Guevara's Epistles
cated to Queen Elizabeth, is not so good as in 1574 ; which were again translated, but
North^s translation of the " Relox," but it not very well, by Savage, in 1657.
is worth having. I have Italian versions ^ Epístolas Familiares de D. Antonio de
of several of Guevara^s works, but they Guevara, Madrid, 1673, 4to, p. 12, and else-
seem of no valué. where. Cervantes, en pasnant^ gives a
» Thes^ very letters, however, were blow at the letter of Guevara about Lals, in
thought worth translating into English by the Prólogo to the first part of his Don
Bir Qeoffirey Fenton , and are Cound ff. 68-77 Quixote.
of a cnriouB coUection taken flrom different
n. 2»
18
ANTONIO ÜE GUEVARA.
tPfiíiíaD II*
Besides thesc works, Guevara wrote several formal trea-
tises. Two are strictly tíjeologicaL^ Ánother is on the
Hii Dihcr Inventürs of tho Art of Navigation and its Prac-
vtxu. ti^j0 * — _a gubject which mig-ht be tiioiight forcigo
from the Bifihop'a experience, but with whicb, he tella us,
he had be come famitiar hj having- beeii much at sea, and
vÍHÍted many ports oa the MeditermnoaTi.'*' Of his two
other treatiseSí whieh are al I that reniaiu to be noticed,
one is called ** Coütempt of Court Life and Praise of the
Couñtry ; " and the otlier, " Connsels for Favoñtea, and
Teaehings for Courtiera/' They are moral discuBsiuns,
siiggeeted bjCastiglione-s *' Courtier/' theu at tbe heighfc
of its popularJty, and aro written with great ehib ora teñese,
in a solemn and stilf style, bearing the sanie relatioaa to
' truth and wisdom that Arcadian pafítorals do to natnre,*'
All the works of Guevara show the impress of their
age, and mark theír author-s position at court. They
are burdened with learning, yet not without proofs of
e>xperience in the waya of the world ; — they often show
good eense, but they are monotououB from the etately
dígnity he thinks it neeesBary to aesume on his own
account, and from tbe riietorícal ornament by which he
hopes to commend tbem to the regard of his readers,
Such aa they arCj however, they ilhistrate and exemplify
more tmly, perhaps^ than anything el se of their age, t!i6
style of writing moat in favor at the court of C baríes the
Fifthj especiallj diiring the latter part of that monarch^a
reign.
But by far the beat didactic proee work of thia period,
though utiknown and UBpublishod till two ceniurieei after-
titletí "ítfoijla CjaTttHüj*' IWíí, traoílJitííd
IntoJin^lflh In IS&fi ; and the ottier, '^Orm^
torio t!e aeligiosofl^^^ 1643, which Ls a series
t£2t pi'ííBxiKl tci dich. Tbc Qrst la orilf^red
to toe expiurgOitii^ m the luúvx of lóf¡*1 (p,
f^TX ^°*^ ^^^ A<^ censun^ iu -úíbX nf 1790-
^Hvllúwea tn^naljitcd tlita, uIse^ and
pdDted ít iü lB7í(, (Sír E. ürydiíCi, Cen-
uin Lí tararla, Tíim, III. 1B07, p. 210.)
I£ Ifi ua UD]>miafélng aubject in any Uf>
gnage, bat Iq Ihu ah^liml Oueriufa h&á
EbovEí Mme pleadaDlry, anú an cMier i^Jie
4
I
thiui iñ copimDFi wlih hEm- Much lnt4^ire«t
fbr the s^CeDoos conaeot*^ with navígutinn
wju awjütecied ftt SovlUe by the Íqtení<nii'H«
of tliut ciíy with America íti the time oí
Cíiarle» V^, whcti Gue^jira livetl tlierc^ It
Id believDd that Úv¿ ñrat reallf Vís^taJ uiftrl-
tkne chartA wi^re Dude thera. (B4ivc[iiann,
p. 173.)
♦J Both thrae tncAtlseB wero traniílaletl
Lntú EnglL-4|] ; tbL' flrat by glr Fmncia Ürt-
uiL, in 1S48. Amea* lYix^* AfltÍHUÍtkí,
fid. Dlhdín, LondoD, 1810, éto, Tom. IIL
F. él».
GflAP. V.l THB DIÁLOGO DE LAS LENGUAS. 19
wards, is that commonly cited under the simple title of
" The Dialogue on Languages ; '' — a work which, at any
time, would be deemed remarkable for the natural- Diálogo de
ness and purity of its style, and is peculiarly iasi^i^guM-
80 at this period of formal and elabórate eloquence. ** I
write/' says its author, '* as I speak ; only I take more
pains to think what I have to say, and then I say it as
simply as I can ; for, to my mind, aflfectation is out of
place in all languages.'' Who it was that entertained an
opinión so true, but in his time so uncommon, is not cer-
tain. Probably it was Juan Vaidés, a person who
enjoys the distinction of being one of the first
Spaniards that embraced the opinions of the Keformation,
and the very first who made an effort to spread them. He
was educated at the XJniversity of Alcalá, and during a
part of his life possessed not a little political consequence,
being much about the person of the Emperor, and sent by
him to act as secretary and adviser to Toledo, the great
viceroy of Naples. It is not known what became of him
afterwards ; but he died in 1540, six years before Charles
the Fifth attempted to establish the Inquisition in Naples ;
and; therefore, it is not likely that he was seriously
molested while he was in office there.*^
The Dialogue on Languages is supposed to be carried
on between two Spaniards and two Italians, at a country-
house on the sea-shore, near Naples, and is an acute dis-
cussion on the origin and character of the Castilian.
Parts of it are learned, but in these the author sometimos
falls into errors ; ^ other parts are lively and entertaining ;
and yet others are fuU of good sense and sound criticism.
The principal personage — the one who gives all the in-
structions and explanations — is named Vaidés ; and, from
this circumstance, as well as from some intimations in the
^ Uorente (Hist de Plnqnisition, Tom. posed to have been an anti-Trinitarian, but
n. pp. 281 and 478) makes some mistakes McCrie does not admit it
aboat Vaidés, of whom the best accoonts ^ His chief error is in snppoeing that
are to be fonnd in HcCrie's ^ Hist. of the the Greek language once prevailed gener-
Progress, eto., of the Reformation in Italy " ally in Spain, and constituted the basis of
(Edinborgh, 1827, Svo, pp. 100 and 121), an ancient Spanish language, which, he
and in his ** Hist. of the Progress, ete., of thinks, was spread through the country
the Befbrmation in Spain " (Bdinburgh, before the Romans appeared in Spain.
1829, 8yo, pp. 140-146). Yaldés is sup.
20
JUAN VALBBS.
[P«BI01> IL ^
Dialogue itm% it may be inferred tbat tho reformcr was
its author, and that it was wntteu bafure 1586 j*^^^ a
püint whicli, if establÍBbed, would account for tlie sap-
presa ion of the manuscript, as the work of an adherent of
Luther, Iti any event, the Dialogue waB not printed til!
1737, aud therefore, as a specimen of puro and easy atyle,
waa lost OH the age that produced it,**
4
«The intiinatiütia aJ,luded to aré that
th^ V[Llclé& of the DifiLugue bad been nt
Homi! \ thuC be wus a. pei-eoD ot soma
authorkj j sdeI that he hacl II ved loiíg «X
líupb&t ^-^ Lo other parta of Italj* Hu
Bpoákn ttt Qarctlai&o de la Tí^gu aa tf be
irerfi alivB, AQd Q^i^rcllajgiio dlted in 1&3G.
Llorepte, lo a piüs^^í^ juft úibed, colJi
Yftlílés tha amhor of the " IH^lago úe Im
IictiguaB ; " and CJemeuciD — a éuí^ au-
thüjfity — doca the same, once, in the ootea
tCf hiñ L-dltloíi of Don i^iüxote (Tom. tV. p.
3S5), tbuu£h In mutij- otber adtei be traiutB
it as ir [ts autlior wcfe unlcaown.
« The " BíAlug'a dtí las Leti^uiu*' wjia tnít
prlutL'di tjll tt appeia,Ted In Majraiia y Sia-
ciir, ''^Origenea de la Lengua^ Empanóla ^'
piiMlrld, ITíJT, 2 tora. 13mii), vhiíre U Ufls
the flrat Iiaír of Ibe aecoad volumc, nnd U
ttie: beat thtn^ in thú ColleCtl&tL FVobab'lj'
the iiip.niiB£ript bad been kept out of üL^lit^
045 the wort of a wtdl'^kiiowni h&retic»
MayaDS e&yñ that It somld ba trac^eil to
SCuríLi^ tho historian^ aud Uiat, In 17 ¡[S6, it
wos pypchased for the Eoyf^l Lll>rHryj, of
Whíoh Maj&na liimulf was Üit-n UbrEtriaD,
e^yaagofl saya it ia tiow Lii the BríLLah AIu-
séuMh Oae leaL waa ivmitlni;, — probably
un expurgatliiiii^^which Majans ísouJd not
Bupiily 'j Míú^ thoQijh h& m<im% tü hKVti be^
llevad Tald^'ii U> haye been the aathof of thfi
Díalagiie, he avoidj flojing ao, — • perhapa
froni su iinH-UHngiieaa to attnMst the nfitíco
of tíie luqulaitluii to It, (Origenea^ Tirun.
L pp. IT3-1S0.) Iriarte, in the "Apro
baQlfia" of the Cdllectlotí, treats the "Diá-
logo^ &■ lí Ita autliDr wsa» qmiEc imknotTD.
Btüveml strioü; tiisülogicfll vofki bf
Jimn Yaldéi were prtoted Is tlis slxtoeath
fl«tutii[7i aa were also twu or bbfes anoa j-
íiigDA djteuMiúOfl, wblcli have eommofüy
b»n attríbtited to bLm^niikkLng ulne workB
JD aü. Of tlieati niaí^ tffo, b^aideá the
^ Dl^ogo de laa LeoguaA/' m&y deser^^e a
Blli;ht uütkí^ here.
Odo oT Üienot a BLülogue between Lactan-»
tlm, who represe tita the author^ and a
ñámele (Su nrcbdencon, La an the capture of
Eome aTJd the impTÍaonmiHit of the Pope
lo lS-37i and aeema to liave beeo wrJttca
Tefy sooij aflcrwardHf to deffend Charles T.
for hls Quiiduct in rctlatkín to tbuao evcmt^.
Tlie other Lh & Bialugue Ixjtweea Chsiraní
Biindryaoulfl Just ar^l7<^d ttota uafth^ and
Mercury 5 the lattcr of whina JustLfleit tbé
l£ni[»eroT'a pro€Cedlng& down la lb'2&j and.
«speclallj defenda. ever^tbing' touching bis
persotml qoarreí with Franela l.^ huú Uie
challenge fur a dnel between the two moa-
iBJcM in that yí'At* lu i^acb of itie«e worka
— the only wofks uf YaMés publiáhed dnr-
iiig hU lifé— thi'rií ia a l&rtf^ atlmiüture of
religión^ diacaasion ^ but, tbjcm);h tiie vicea
of tlie ChuTch aré^ freeljr expofied in u tem-
per aa via*i and mcjderate aa tbat of Jírus-
tnufl, and ixol wltliout bis humcir, itül t
tbink Yaldéft oiiuld not baye been aceount^
a Proteatanl when he wrote them. HIa
rettgiovifi viuw« artf 110 duabt, nmeb more
splrituai tlian wtnñ Cücnmún in h.\» Lime, and
hia political mar^Lla generully were more
BkrlD^ent; «o th^t hú mii^ht, perbapa, aJ~
roAAf be reeBrdt.'4 as k folla vrer of Lutlier,
if it wen uot l»s bis utibomidí;^! Minir»*
tiou of the Emperor, hia avofred defereni»
for the Obureb aud tlie E^ope, and hlfl ^x*
preeaed beUef of the real pi-eMuce In tha
üucliBrlit. Brjth of tbe rlialuguei rf^fernüd
to are well writteu } but neither d! them
shows Su much forcé, ntiatneaa of atylc, and
point, aa the " Diálogo de L^a. Lengnaai.^*
The earllf^at editiona of both ase withouti
dat« í but th&y wcre ííStrtifVilJy rep/luted by
B. D. WlITeni ir 1S5(1.
Tbe " Ciento j Diez C7onaidemo|nin«i
Divinas,*'' anutberrellf^ioua work oí Valdéf^i
wua translated into En^lisb by Nicholaa
Farreri and pnbUahed at Ojíferd la ]63ft,
and Cambridge in lfi4ü, with notea, hj Oeo»
Herbert, the poet ijf *'Tho Temple.*^ An
account of It — eiToneons^ huwtfVCP, in
wbat íegñrAi VaMés — may be fouiul iu
Isaac Waltnn'B Lif« of Berb^rt, 1S19, p,
2flft. FELrrerj Lt áhüuid be not^j ¡nade bis
Chap. V.] THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. 21
Por as it is important, because it shows, with more
distinctness than any other literary monument of its time,
what was the state of the Spanish language in the reign
of the Emperor Charles the Fifth ; a circumstance of con-
sequence to the condition of the literature, and one to
which we therefore tum with interest.
As might be expected, we find, ivhen we look back,
that the language of letters in Spain has made material
progress since we last noticed it in the reign of ^^ ^^ ^^
John the Second. The example of Juan de Mena the spanish
had been followed, and the national vocabulary *°^*^®'
enriched during the interval of a century, by successive
poets, from the languages of classical antiquity. From
other sources, too, and through other channels, important
contributions had flowed in. From America and its com-
merce had come the ñames of those productions which
half a centuiy of intercourse had brought to Spain, and
rendered familiar there, — terms few, indeed, in number,
but of daily use.*'^ From Germany and the Low Countries
still more had been introduced by the accession of Charles
the Fifth,^ who, to the great annoyance of his Spanish
subjects, arrived in Spain surrounded by foreign courtiers,
and speaking with a stranger accent the language of the^
country he was called to govern.^ A few words, too,
had come accidentally from Franco ; and now, in the reign
of Philip the Second, a great number, amounting to the
most considerable infusión the language had received
since the tiftie of the Arabs, were brought in through the
intímate connection of Spain with Italy, and the increas-
ing influence of Italian letters and Italian culture.^
translation from an Italian yeraion of the folio, Tom. I. p. 141. When he undertook
work. Notes and Queries, Vol. X., June to hear canses in chancery, he found him-
22,1854- self still more uncomfortablysituated. (Ar-
^ fiíayans y Sisear, Origenes, Tom. I. gensola, Anales de Aragón, Zaragoza, 1630,
p. 97. folio, Tom. I. p. 441.) The Cortes, per-
*» Ibid., p. 98. haps, remembered this when Philip II.
^ Sandoval says that Charles Y. suffered carne to the throne, and they made it their
greatly in the opinión of the Spaniards, on very first petition to him to Uve always in
his first arrival in Spain, because, owing to Spain. Capitules y Leyes, Cortes de Yal-
his inabiUty to speak Spanish, they had ladoUd, Talladolid, 1558, f. 1.
hardly any proper intercourse with him. *® Mayans y Sisear, Orígenes, Tom. H.
It was, he adds, as if they could not talk pp. 127-133. The author of the Diálogo
with him afc all. Historia, Anvers, 1681, urges the introduction of a considerable
22
THE SPANISH LAKííüáGl.
[Pehiod II,
We may therefore conBider that the Spanísh lang'uage
at this period was oot oiily forttied, but that it had reached
substantíally its í'ull proportion§, and had i-eceived
iftnfuago all iíñ esBeiitial charíicteriatics.» Indeed, it had
already for Lalf a centorj been regularly cared
for and cultivated. Alonso de Palencia, who had long
been íb the serví ce of bis cüuutrj as an ambassador, and
was aftcrwarda its chronicler, piiblished a Latin and Span-
ísh Dictionarj in 1490 ; the oldest in which C astillan definí-
tions and etymologies are to be fotind,^" Thia was Biic-
ceedüd, two years later, bj the 6rst Castilian Grammar,
the workof Antonio de Lebrixa^ wbo had bcforc pnblished
a Latin Grammar in the Latin lang^ua^e, aud translated it
for the beíiefit, as he tells us, of the ladies of the cauíi.*'
Other similar and equally eucceesful attempts ibllowed.
A piirely Bpanish Diotionary bj Lebrixa^ the first of ita
kindj appeared in 1492, and a Dictionary for eccleslastical
purposes, in both Latin and Spanish, by Santa EUa^ suc*
ceeded it in 1499 ; both often reprinted afterwardaí and
lon^ regarded as standard anthoríties.^ All these works,
so important í<>r the coneoUdation of the langnage, and
80 well eoustrticted that successors to them were not
found till abo ve a century later,*^ were^ it shonld be ob-
served, prodnced nnder the direct and personal patronage
of Qneen Isabellai who, in this, as in so many other ways^
gave proof at once of her far-sigbtednestí in afíkirs of
diseur»afffv:iHtar^faníiixia^ not' fía, ete.^
wMch h&VQ íüng ííujcc ixscn julop^ed ti^nú
fblly Feco£Qi&ed hf the Aead^my. Divtgú
d« Mondoift, Cbouifh partid of the ItiUan
tobool, objected to tba word Cftitinefa a* a
puwUeeB Italbuiiam \ but It vñ8 tioan Mly
rocLiLví^ luto the Inoü^aRe. (Oaerra de
Orftna^la, ed* 1770, Uh. UI. c. t, p. 170.)
A littk lateri Luis Yeiea de Qnevam, ín
franca X. of hts " Diablo Ocdiiclo," deniud
cltiKtmihlti to fultfúr^ purp-arnar^ pnmpu^
And oUier wortlfi ñoT iti food ui}«^ Gay-
janguA cites Franel9«D Kuní» de VeHucio, üi
hk " PLálo^ofl de Cobtetu^ea «ilTe 1a miü-
ciiL f Vík cleiialii}^* u cumipUiJltiIui! tbnt Ttal-
lají ffords uid pbms&t wore introduccd
HüCdlestil^ iBto the OiMtiliati. Sut Nuíic£
reqkniíB Estala (utiiblíi) aüd EsElval (b<Kit>
arnüTií^ Uicniír not kDOWínj? thej ure Teu-
tobic. (Spaniish TriinüluttüE, II. 51 E.)
*3 MendeK, TjpogTii,phia, p. 175. An^*'
tTKDíQj Bíb. Vetus, ed. Bayer, Totd. II. p.
^ MíSndet^ TypOR.^ pp, 23&-242k Fur this
grcat tnvriti of Antonio de Lfsbdixa, Jn ne-
l&tlotí to t^le SpiíüBh lAi]guae«, flCQ *^ipecf-
tn<}X\ BíMiothecis HlAp&DO^MaTauafan» ex
MiisiiD P. eieiñtíTitíM/' Hanuaverm, 1753^
4tri^ pp. 4r-3£).
íi Memleí» pp. 2^ and Sia^und Antohin^
BI^, Novtt, Ttinu U. [i. 396.
^ Th(s tiraiúinar of Jimn de Havldad,
15Ü7t ii Düt KU e]r<X'pti{»D to thlA tetnsj-k,
becauae it wnÉ- Jntend^ t^ teach Sjiantsh to
Italinns, ¡axÁ not to outlres.
4
■
i
I
CteAP. V.l THE CASTIMAN. 23
state, and of her wise tastes and preferences in whatever
regarded the intellectual cultivation of her subjects.*^
The language thus formed was now fast spreading
throughout the kingdom, and displacing dialects some
of which, as oíd as itself, had seemed, at one period, des-
tined to surpass it in cultivation and general prev- ^^ revaience
alence. The ancient Gallciañ, in which Alfonso through the
the Wise was educated, and in which he some- ^^ ^'
times wrote, was now known as a polite language only in
Portugal, where it had risen to be so independent of the
stock from which it sprang as almost to disavow its orígin.
The Valencian and Catalonian, those -kindred dialects of
the Provengal race, whose influences in the thirteenth cen-
tury were felt through the whole Península, claimed, at
this period, something of their earlier dignity only below
the last range of hills on the coast of the Mediterranean.
The Biscayan alone, unchanged as the mountains which
sheltered it, still preserved for itself the same sepárate
character it had at the earliest dawnings of tradition, —
a character which has continued essentially the same down
to our own times.
But, though the Castilian, advancing with the whole
authority of the government, which at this time spoke to
the people of all Spain in no other language, was heard
and acknowledged throughout the country as the language
of the state and of all political power, still the
popular and local habits of four centuries could
not be at once or entirely broken up. The Galician, the
Valencian, and the Catalonian, continued to be spoken in
the age of Charles the Fifth, and are spoken now by the
masses of the people in their respective provinces, and to
some extent in the refined society of each. Even Anda-
lusia and Aragón have not yet emancipated themselves
completely from their original idioms ; and, in the same
way, each of the other grand divisions of the country,
several of which were at one time independent kingdoms,
are still, like Estremadura and La Mancha, distinguished
by peculiarities of phraseology and accent."
s* ClCTiencin, in Mem. de la Academia de ^ it is ciiríoos to observe that the anthor
Historia, Tom. VI. p. 472, notes. of the " Diálogo de Us Lenguas " (Orígenes,
M
THE CÁSiniAlí 01 TOLEDO.
ipebíoh n.
Oastile alone, and especially Oíd Caatile, cUime^ as of
iulierited ríghtf from tliG begimiiüg^ of the tiitcenth cen-
Oaatiitad ts- ^^^^' *^*^ prerogative of spealiitig ab^olutel j puré
Tjúin ovar üü Spanish. Villalobos, it is triie, who was always
a flatterer üf royal autlioríty, insisted that tbis
prerogative foUowed tlic rosidences of the eoverei^n and
the court ;^ but tbe better opinión baa bcen that the
pnreet form of tUe Gastiliau mnst be sought at Toledo,^ —
the Imperial Toledo, as it was called, — peculiarly favored
whea it was the poütical capital of the ancient mojiaiclíj
in the time of th€ Guths, auá consecrated anew as the
e eclesiástica! bead of all Chrístian Spain, the moment it
was rescued from tbe iiands of the Moora.^ It has even
beeii said tbat the supremacj of this venerable city in tbe
purity of its dialcct was so fully settíed, from the firat
appearancc of the lang-uage as the language of the state
in tbe til ir te en til eeuturj, that Alfonso the Wi^e, in a
Cortes held there, directed tbe meaning of anj dispnted
word to be settled bj its use at Toledo.^ But, however
tbis may be, tbere is no questioü that, from the time of
Charles the Fifth to tbe present day, the Toledan has been
considered^ on the wbole, the normal form of the national
Tora, n. p. 31), who WTotc alwitt 1535,—
Ms^Riis (OrigctiLiHi, T(>nl. !♦ p, 8), wto wrote
iü 1737,^ and BúJrmlento (Memajijis, [1pS4),
wh» wrote ahout l?fKJ, aJl epeak of tbe char-
acler of tbe CAfltüÍBJi BJid tbe prevHleucfi
of tbft dUketfl m nearlj the sanie tenas.
** Be Lu Jicbres tnujrpoluílfis, Metro L^
Qbr&fl, 1643j f. 27-
<^ ^e ÍÍMiaüA^s aeocmat of tha gloflea
of lukdú^] Hifttoria^ Ltb. XVI. c, 15, fuid
elHWheTCii He was himBelf frum the kin^--
áom of ToledtK, and ofteo bonata nf its rc^
Rüwn- Cofv^iütoi, íd Doü Quix€te (Parte
II. c. la), iinpllea tlvat Uics Totedán waa m-
couBtnl the pureat ^pAíiiab nt hLB tUn& It
^tUl fSLainuj tQ be e<i |n oíws.
Bi7 *■*■ AlaOf jLt tbe aame Cortm, the same
Kingj DriD AlfoD^ X,, ntdered^ if tliLTeafter
tbere siiould be n dciubt íd any piirt of bfi
kiiil^dcKai &b€iit tbe meauLiig ot ui>y Ca^IIIíúq
worá^ thftt refere nfse rbereof ilicuild b<* hnd
t() thiii city as to tbe etandurú uf the Caa-
itlieu tOEigue [cr>mi> á tnetTD dt; L& Jengua
Cajtellftiu}i &üd th&t thcy ebuuld ad'opt
Uie mcaulng óiid dcñnitloQ hera gtvcQ Ui
Buob word, becaufié: cur tongue is cuorf! ppz^
fcct Uera thau eíaewliere." (FninclBOO de
Plisa, Bcacrlpclon, de la Imperial ÜLujdiad
de Toledü, ed- Tb^imAB faowla díi VarKAA,
l:iolcilo, lítl7i foL, Líb. I. c. 3fl, f. SS.) Tha
CnrteB liere referred tú l& ^id bi" PLaa to
fiare beco hold in 1253 ^ in wbieb jrear t?m
Ci^malcle of AIÍoiisd X. (ValhdoHd, 15^,
fol.i, d. 2) repT^enta the king to hüiVti ti^isa
tbi;re, {^a, aliio, Patón, Eloqueocla Map^
üola, Itm^ L 12.)
A aimlloJ leg&l &» vetl ai tradittonol
cbiim for tJi^ üttpi^asacy of the Toledna
dialtict í& aet np fji Uie "Híatoria. de To-
hlfta,*' & poem hy CaudtFtUa SantArcn,
161 6| Canto XI^ whex^^ i»pea)ilne of Tüledti,
he tayn :
En i™ otnM muf^^boii biflDi^i y ^Tfirca
Quel aobcnnD Dios Mío h luia A^^ntei
Fnu duriD Ift fi.f an [lia y Ins pHmDrcv
Df? bftbiar lu Cistelliua eut«m«ate.
Se anlt'DÓ, (lue, rT aTgiine^ cütuidja luiflnti»
^bre nualriuliiTTncablo pijrfiíiHe,
Q.üel {^ue ic a<a «a Tolwlu ^luidáiift.
Chap. V.]
THE CASTILIAN OF TOLEDO.
25
language, and that, from the same period, the Castiliati
dialect, having vindicated for itself an absolute supremacy
over all the other dialects of the monarchy, has been the
only one recognized as the language of the classical poetry
and prose of the whole country.^
w From the time of Charles Y., too, and
as a natural result of his conquesta and
influenoe throughout Europe, the Span-
Ish lánguage became known and admired
abroad, as it had never been before. Mar-
guerite de Yalois, sister of Francis I., who
went, in 1525, to Madrid and consoled her
bibther in his captivity there, says : Le
Langage Castillan est^sans comparaison
mieux déclarant cette passion d*amour
que n'est le Fran^ois (Heptaméron, Jour-
née in., NouveUe 24, ed. Paris, 1615,
p. 263). And Domenichi, in Ulloa*s trans-
lation of his Razonamiento de Empresas
Militares (León, de Francia, 1561, 4to, p.
176), says of the Spanish, "Es lengua
n. 8
muy común a todas naciones," — a striking
fast for an Italian to mention. Richelleu
liked to write in Spanish (Havemann, p.
312). The marriage of PhUip II. with
Mary Tudor carried the Spanish to the
Engllsh Court, where for a time it had
gome yogue, and Charles himself, as Em-
peror, spread it through Qermany, as he
did, in other ways and from other similar
influences, through Flanders and Italy.
Other curious facts of the same sort, show-
ing the spread of Spanish in Italy and
France about the middle of the sixteenth
century, may be found in the Prologo to
Patonas Eloquencia Española, 1604, pp. 7,
sqq.
CHA^TER VI.
CHRONICLma PKRIOD GONB BT. — CHARLES THE FIFTH. — GUEVARA.
OCAMPO. — SEPÚLVEDA. — MEXIA. ACCOUNTS OF THE NEW WQRLD.
CORTÉS. GOMARA. BERNAL DÍAZ. OVIEDO. LAS CASAS.
VACA . ZEREZ . 9ARATE. •
At the beginning of the sixteenth century, it is obvious
that the age for chronicles had gone by in Spain.^ Still it
was thought for the dignity of the monarchy that
period gone the stately forms of the eider time should, in this
^' as in other particulars, be kept up by public au-
thority. Charles the Fifth, therefore, as if his ambitious
projects as a conqueror were to find their counterpart in
• his arrangements for recording their success, had several
authorized chroniclers, all men of consideration and learn-
ing. But the shadow on the dial would not go back at
the royal command. The greatest monarch of his time
could appoint chroniclers, but he could not give them the
spirit of an age that was past. The chronicles he de-
manded at their hands were either never undertaken or
never finished. Antonio de Guevara, one of the persons
to whom these duties were assigned, seems to have been
singularly conscientious in the devotion of his time to
them ; for we are told that, by his will, he ordered the
salary of one year, during which he had written nothing
of his task, to be returned to the Imperial treasury.
This, however, did not imply that he was a successful
1 One proof that the age of chronicling torea Españoles, 1*855. It was no fool that
was gone by may be found in the burlesque wrote it, ñor the few letters that foUow,
chronicle of a court-fool, in the early part though he borethat title at court, and en-
of the reign of Charles V., entitled " Crónica joyed its privileges. The style is easy and
de Don Francesillo de Zuñiga, criado pri- the language puré, but there is less finish
vado bienquisto y predicador del Empera- than wit in it, and more sense than histor-
dor Carlos V. dirigida a su Majestad por el ical facts. It is what its title implies, a
mismo Don Francés.** It was first published caricature of the chronicling style then
in Vol. XX:^VI. of the BibUoteca de Aa- going out of foshion.
(26)
Chap. VI.1 FLORIAN DE OCAMPO. 21
chronicler.* What he wrote was not thought worthy of
beiog published by his contemporaries, and would proba-
bly be judged no more favorably by the present.genera-
tion, unless it discovered a greater regard for historical
truth, and a simpler style, than are found in his discus-
sions on the life and character of the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius.^
Florian de Ocampo, another of the more distinguished
of the chroniclers, showed a wide ambition in the plan he
proposed to himself ; beginning his chronicles of Finían de
Charles the Fifth as far back as the days of Noah's ocampo.
flood. As might have been foreseen, he lived only so long as
to fínish a small fragment orhis vast undertaking ; — hardly
a quafter part of the first of its four grand divisions.* Buthe
went far enough to show how completely the age for such
writing was passed away.*^ Not that he failed in credu-
lity ; for of that he had more than enough. It was not,
however, the poetical credulity of his predecessors, trust-
*ing to the oíd national traditions, but an easy faith, that
believed in the wearisome forgeríes called the works of
Berosus and Manetho,* which had been discredited from
their first appearance half a century before, and yet were
now used by Ocampo as if they were the probable, if not
the .sufficient, records of an uninterrupted succession of
Spanish kings from Tubal, a grandson of Noah. Such a
credulity has no charm about it. But, besides this, the
work of Ocampo, in its very structure, is dry and absurd ;
and, being written in a formal and heavy style, it is all but
impossible to read it. He died in 1555, the year the Em-
peror abdicated, leaving us little occasion to regret that
s Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 127, and at Zamora, 1544, in a beautiful black-letter
PreCace to Epístolas Familiares of Guevara, folio, and viras followed by an edition of the
ed. 1673. whole at Medina del Campo, 1553, folio.
* See the vitaperative article Ouevara, The best, I suppose, is the one published
In Bayle. at Madrid, 1791, in 2 vols. 4to.
* The best life of Ocampo is to be found " For this miserable forgery see Niceron
in the ** Biblioteca de los Escritores que han (Hommes lUustres, París, 1730, Tom. XI.
sido Individunos de los Seis Colegios May- pp. 1-11 ; Tom. XX., 1732, pp. 1-6) ; and
ores," etc., por Don Josef de Rezabal y for the simplicity of Ocampo in trusting to
Ugarte(pp. 233-238)', but there Is one pre- it, see the last chapter of his first book,
fixed to the edition of his Crónica, 1791. and all the passages where he cites Juan
* The first edition of the first four books de Yiterbo y su BerosOf eto.
of the Chronicle of Ocampo was published
28
BEPULVEDA, MEXIA*
^enioD IL
h© had brought his annala of Spaia do lower down thaa
the age of tíie Scipios/
Jüau Gíue^ de Sc^piSlveda waa also charged by the Em-
peror fítly tú record the tjventa of Ms reigii ; * and so was
Bap^iivtóiift Pero Mexta ;^ but the Insto ry of the former, which
ina Mejda. -^as first publishcd by the Academj in 1780, is ín
Latín, while that of Alexia, writteíi, apparentlj, after 1545,
atid coraing^ dowa to the coronation at Bologna^ has been
ptiblished only in part,^*^ A larger history, however^ by the
last atthor, coiieieting of the li\reB of all the Romao Em-
pt^rois frorn Juüub Oiesar to Maximilian of Austria, the pre-
decesfíor of Charlea the Pil"th, which way prínted se v eral
times^ and is Bpokeii of as an introduction to bis Chron-
icle, Bhowa, üotwithstanding its many iniperfectiOTis of
styleí that bis purpose was to write a true and well-di geste d
bistory, since he geuerallj refers, uuder each reígti, to the
aathoríties on which he relies."
Such worksas these proveto us that we have reached
the final limit of the oíd chronicling styloj and tbat we
mtifit now look for the ai>pearauce of tíie different forme of
7 The Cortes of VallaJoUd^ 1565, íu tlielr
"PetíqioüL'H" cxüvin. and cxxlx.^ Mk a
pcualon für Ociiuip«i| stad saj thal he irjts
ihotí ñay-nve yuuTB üldt and had beea
chroDicler ÍWjeii 1539. (See ^ 0«iñtu]» y
Leyeii;^ Vkllaüúlld» folla, 1&53, f. LhlI.)
^ Fero Mexló, i^ the euncludioi? words of
hi4 ^^ HlitttfiíL LmperEíil f Cüaarea," Supúl-
Teda^ who Uved tweuty-Cwo years in Ital j,
&QÚ wa» altnost aa much at an ItallEiii aa a
B^imiilivni, ditifl lü 1621^ K9t. 75, at ac4)tujtry
hauae íd the BLenii Mori?ji^ mrblch he de-
ícrfí>e« vcry pleasautly lü obti df IdJ uo-
pnblíshcd leíttfFi. (Stie Alcedo, Eibllnteca
Amui4caDa, mí vert* Olnea de Sopkilveda^
^ CAprnany, EkKiaencla Bapafiola, Tüm.
1^1 8Bjr ** appftreatly*" Ijecaose, In tais
** Hlfltfirta Imperial y Ceiarea,** he cleclaT«3»
«pE!ntvitig í»r thií achltf v^emiint» i>f Charlea T,,
** I nover wai no pr^sumptunus m tri deem
mynulf eltlfll{^ltitlt to feeortl thtin,^* Thla
WuA in 1545. Hi: WáS iiut aiijMiInkMl His-
küTlogriipher tiU 154S. Stii^ iinticen uf Mid
by Pacheco, fa the BvttiariariiT Pnitüít'Bciij
ie4Í, p- 400, JIu eüed In 1^62. Thb Uk-
tory iif the Empcrur, whích hreak» ofT wítb
hinik V,, Is ainoitgihe IVISS. Iti theNathínaJ
Ubrary at MatlrtEl^ atid the eecund Book «f
It, relatííig Eo the war of the ComiíiMdladeár
Id Cíuititet muy he fuand In the Bih. de Au-*
tíirea BspañtíUra (Tom. XXI., 18M), The
whole id lüuch piiuLaed by F^iMTer del Elo
for Its akiiful arroiigeiQQDt aad puré and
dfí^fíed atyle, and ivaj^ht l(i be paMSiibeil \
biit thti pqrtiDD given to us li outrugcouíiiy
loyaL
Fmm the time ef Charlea T. there Mjem
geii^mlly tu ha va heen chruoickrá pf the
kingüomi and chronídeni of the persci^cml
hletpry of Ita kinge. At any ratti, títai
mauurch had Ocampo and Qaribay for tlui
flirpE poTTMise, and Oituvam, BepülivedA, and
Mexíu^, far the aecand. Lar^n^o de Padilla^
Archd&acon of M alafia, J9 ^\ño laQTillatKd
hy Thinuur (Prcst^'aoá, Lih. U. tí. 2) as Dxte
of hla chroi»iclcrB. Indeed^ It úoci not
eemn eaay to determine hunr many e^Joyed
the hi^nuf of that títle,
11 Th42 fi nst ed í ti rjii jjppcared i n 1 Ei-t&K The
0IH4 1 ujie ís of A o vera, lüül, ful, Tlie beat
notlce uf his Ufe, iKThflps, la the urttclg
abuut hhn iu the Biographle Univef^eUie.
4
■
I
I
Chap. VI.] FERNANDO CORTES. 29
regular historical composition in Spanish Uterature. But,
before we approach them, we must pause a moment on
a few histories and accounts of the New World,
which, during the reign of Charles the Fifth, were the New
of more importance than the imperfect chron- ^°^^^'
leles we have just noticed of the Spanish empire in Europe.
For as soon as the adventurers that foUowed Columbus
were landed on the western shores of the Atlantic, we be-
gin to find narrativos, more or less ampie, of their dis-
coveries and settléments : some written with spirit, and
aven in good taste ; others quite unattractive in their
Btyle ; but nearly all interesting from their subject and
their materials, if from nothing else.
In the foreground of this picturesque group stands, as
the most brilliant of its figures, Fernando Cortés, called,
by way of eminence. El Conquistador, the Conqueror. He
was bom of noble paren tage, and carefully bred ; pemando
and though his fiery spirit drove him from Sala- Cortés.
manca before his education could be completed, and
brought him to the New World, in 1504, when he was
hardly nineteen years old,^ still the nurture of his youth,
80 much better than that of most of the other American
adventurers, is apparent in his voluminous documents and
letters, both published and unpublished. Of these, the
most remarkable were, no doubt, four or five long and
detailed Reports to the Emperor on the affairs of México ;
the firstof which was dated, it is said, in 1519, and the last
in 1526.^ The four known to be his are well written, and
^ He left Salamanca two or three years Madrid (see ante^ p. 11, n. 21), after his
before he carne to the New World ; but oíd return from America, was held one of those
Bemal Biax, who knew him well, says : Academias which were then begimiing to
** He was a scholar, and I have heard it said be imitated from Italy.
he waa a Bachelor of Laws *, and when he is xhe printed " Relaciones " may be
taiked with lawyers and scholars, he found in Barcia, ^* Historiadores Primitivos
answered in Latín. He was somewhat of a de las Indias Occidentales " (Madrid, 1749, 3
poet, and made coplas in metre and in tom., folio), — a collection published after
pro0e fen metro y en prosa]," etc. (Con- its editor's death, and very ill arranged.
quista, 1632, c. 203). W would be amusing Barcia was a man of Uterary distinction,
to aee poems by Cortés, and especiaUy much employed in affairs of staete, and one
what the rude oíd chronicler calis coplas en of the founders of the Spanish Academy.
prosa } but he knew about as much con- He dicd in 1743. (Baena, Hijos de Mad-
oeming soch matters as Mons. Jourdain. rid, Tom. I. p. 106.) For the last and un-
Cortéft, however, was always fond of the published " Relación " of Cortés, as well as
fodety of caltivated men. In his house at for his unpublished letters, I am indebted
n. 8»
io
&OMAEA.
[Parioii H.
have a businesa-like air about thera, as well as a clearness
and good taBte, vvhich remind us sometiiiieB of the *' Ee-
lazioDi" of Machiítvelli, and aometimes of C^sar^s Com-
mentaries. Híb letters, on the otber hand, are occasion-
ally more ornamented, In an Tinpublished one, writtGa
about 15 33 1 and ín whicb, when hís fortunes were waning,
he seta forth his services atid his wrongs^ he pleasee him-
self wíth telling tbe Emperor that he '' keeps two of bis
Majesty's letters like holy i-elics,** adding tbat "the
favors of his Majesty towards bim fiad been quite* too
ampie for so sraall a vase ; " — courtlj and graceful
ph rases, such as are not found ia the documenta of liis
later years, wbcn, disappoiüted aad diagutíted with affaira
and with tbe court, be letired to a moróse Bolitude, where
he died in 1554| üttle conaoled bj liis rauk^ bis wealtb, or
his glory,
Tbe marvellous achievements of Cortas in Mexicoi bow-
ever, were more fiiUj^ if not more accuratelj, recorded by
Francisco Lopess de Gomara, — the oldest of the regular
historians of tbe New World/^* — wbo was born
Uipe^du at Seville in 1510, and was^ for eome time, Pro-
feasor of Ehetoric at Alcalíl* His earlj life,
Bpctit in the great mart of the American adventurers, seems
to have given bim an interest iti tiiem and a knowledge of
their afiaírs, which Icd bim to write their history ; and a
reaidence in I tal y, to which be refera more than oncej and
duriíig wlueh, in Venice aud Bologna, he beearae famOiar
Tvith such reiTiarkable men as Saxo G rammatícus and Olaus
MagnuSj enhirged his knowledge beyond the common
roach of Spanish scholars of bis time, and fltted bim better
for bis task than he could ha ve been ñtted at home. The
woi'ktj ho produced, besidea one or two of leas conse-
%a my frlend Hf» Preacott, vho hn« so well
wícd %\iem In hlj " Cmiqu(?!ií; oí Mé^xÍc».^'
SLuffii thU ticite was ñtñl publiithed (IBIS),
die tftst Rtloúiún had \msn. ptíaíaú (\i\h* de
Autof« Eflpañuleí^ üom^ XXII^ IB 5^), and
Is fouiid to %» (Utcd BtipU a, 15213. A letter
fttíB! Üm ^^ Justicia y Re^lmieiito*' of Veni.
CruZp dabsd Jtúy 10, I5}&, Ig piefticed to
ChJit series of fonr, na if iC wertí it&elf tlte
ha ve glvmi rite orlfiíukirj to ttie idea %hai
a, llelnctoQ of Cortéi wu iuat^ T/fMa it w&n
nerer WTltt«D> ly^Dia to m^ Hkely üint
tbere DO ver wet?o bat fmirty Corles hiía-
B4:tfj kltbinUi^h Üie une hy the Justicia^
ISia, Ifl of BtmtlaT ciiBniGter axid unthurltj.
W "Tke ñvit würtby of Iwlng so caHedi*''
íBfB MuDOK, ItiHt. del Nuevo MiuiclOj Miid-
rld, 17*3, rtíUo, iJ. xvUl,
^
i
\
Ghap. VI.1 GOMARA. 31
quence, were, first, his " History of the Indies/' which,
after the Spanish fashion, begins with the creation of the
world, and ends with the glories of Spain, though it is
chiefly devoted to Columbus and the discovery and con-
quest of Perú ; and, second, his " Chronicle of Néw
Spain," which is, in truth, merely l;he History and Life of
Cortés, and which, with this more appropriate title, was
reprinted by Bustamente, in México, in 1826.^* As the
earliest records that were published conceming affairs
which already stirred the whole of Christendom, these
works had, at once, a great success, passing through two
editions almost immediately, and being soon translated
into French, English, and Italian.
But, though Gomarais style is easy and flowing, both in
his mere narration and in those parts of his works which
so amply describe the resources of the newly-discovered
countries, he did not succeed in producing anything of
permanent authority. He was the secretary of Cortés,
and was misled by information received from him, and
from other persons, who were too much a part of the ptory
they undertook to relate to tell it fairly.'^ His mistakes,
in consequence, are great and frequent, and were exposed
with much zeal by Bernal Diaz, an oíd soldier, who, having
already been twice to the New World, went with Cortés
to México in 1519,^^ and fought there so often and so^
u The Mro works ot Gomara may be Spain the last time." Las Casas (Historia,
well consulted in Barcia, ^^Historiadores de las Indias, Parte m. c. 113, MS.)? a prej-
Primitivos,** Tom. II., which they fill, and udiced witness, but, on a point of fact within
in VoL XXn. of the Biblioteca of Ribade- his own knowledge, one to be believed.
neyra. They were first printed in 1552, 17 See "Historia Verdadera de la Con-
1553, and 1554 ; and though, as Antonio quista de la Nueva España, por el Capitán
says (Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 437), they were Bernaf Diaz del Castillo, uno de los Con-
at once forbiddra to be either reprinted or quistadores,*' Madrid, 1632, folio, cap. 211.
reaá, foor editions of them appeared before It was prepared for publication by Alfonso
the end of the century. They were also Ramón, or Remon, who wrote the History
translated into English, Italian, and French, of the Order of Mercy. Conf. N. Ant., Bib.
and piinted several times in each language. Nov.,- Tom. I. p. 42. But his edition (1632)
y ** About this first golng of Cortés as does not seem to have been printed from a
eaptain on this expedition, the ecclesiastic complete manuscript, and the more recent
€k)mara tells many things grossly untrue in one of Cano, in four volumes, is mutilated
his history, as might be expected firom a trova that of 1632. But it is reprinted in
man who neither saw ñor heard anything Ribadeneyra's B{blioteca,yol. XXYI., 1853,
aboot them, except what Femando Cortés with a good prefatory notice by Don £n-
UM. him and gave him in writing •, Oo- rique de Tedia, doing justice to the bravo
mará being his chaplain and servant, after oíd chronicler, who never retumed to Spaini^
be was made Marquis and retumed to and died very oíd at Guatemala.
fiEEKAL DÍAZ, OVIEBO.
[Pfiaio» H.
longí that, manj jears afterwards, he declared he could
Bot sleep in aoy* tolerable comfort without his rtrmor.^
Bemai DíB* ^^ sooh as he read the aecounts of Gomara^
del Castillo, which, íii his opínion, gave too nmcli honor to
Cortés and too 1 i tile to Cortés' cumpaiiíoiis and captamsi
he set himself sturdilj at work to aufíwer them, and in
1568 completcd his tíisk.^" The book he thiis prodnced is
wñtteu with much garrulityp and runs, in a rnde style, into
wearísame details ; bnt it is full of the zealous aiid honest
nationality of the oíd chronieles, so that while we are
reading it we seem to be carried back iiito the preceding
ages, and to be again in the niidst of a aort of fervor and
faith which, ín writers h'ke Gomara and Cortés, we feel
su re we are fast leaving behínd us,
Among the persons who earlj carne to America, and
have left important records of thcir advonturee and timeB,
one of the most considerable was Gonziilo Fernandez de
Oviedo y Valdés, lie was born at Madrid, in 14t8,^ and,
having been well edncated at the conrt of Fer di-
ñan d and I a ab ella, as one of the mozos de cámara
of Prínce John, was sent out in 1513 as a supervisor of
gold-smeltings, to l^íet^j^a Firme J^^ where, except oc casi o nal
visits to Spain and to diíferent Spanish posBessions in
America, he li ved nearly forty yeare, devoted to the aflairs
of the New World. 0%^iedo seeiüs, from his youth, to
have had a passion for knowing remarkable persons as well
as for wríting about tbem ; and, besides eeveral less con-
Qvl€dü.
i*) He iAji be va.A in üise huadred and
rui^teen liHttlí^ (f, 2S-1. b), — thJit is^ I »tip-
pota, flfllte dT lU klndHf ^nnd that, of the
ñTt hundrad uiid flfty who went wíÜh him
to Heidco in 1510, ñre werv Wvin^ when
IB n was dedt?alfil (o PbÜlp I Y. B^wae
of itfl. detalle are quítü jimustng. He glvcs
even a Hdt of tlio icdlvlfltuil hnraea £tie,t
w«rfl -«9611 on the grent expedición of €or*
tés ftnd ofiea dcBOriti^ tht Kp«Tftt;e quul-
Itíet of Mk I^Torite ebarger u cfurcfuTly an
ÍJ0 áom thnno of hii rirttt. Use fli,ceuni*yi
bowiíver, — ^bittint:; lu^ldente friTm the lapae
of ttme» — ts remarkable. Suyas (Anatefi
de Aragna» imi^. c 30, p, 218) tieara wílr
oeu to ít, iLUíí la a gw¡d üuthtiititj.
i
I
(
I
I
*" '* Y» nad año de 1478^** he saya, In
lúa *' QuinqüJigenaa,^* fvheti uotklii|[^ Pedro
Fernandez de CardDba ; &nd he more thaa
onoe epefekB of hünself u a. tintlve of Mod-
tiñ* He nayfl, too^ expvea^y, that he was
present At th« Burrender of Granada, and
thtd he aaw CóliUDbaa at Barcelonn, on hís
ñrut rehiTD ñiom America, In 14^. QuLb*
quageniul, MS.
íi « Veedor de las Fandiclonea de Or<^'*
he desDiibeB hinuBclf lo the Praenilo of klM
wcirk presente^ to Charlef V., lu l&2d
(Barcia, T^im. T.) ; and long atterwaTdB, fn
ttie opejilng of Book X^LVÍí, pf bl» Hií-
toFiaSf MS-, Ue «tul gpcnks of hlmialf ai
holdiag the aainf^ offloe.
<3hap.VI.] GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO. 33
siderable works, among which were imperfect chronicles
of Ferdinand and Isabella, and of Charles the Fifth, and
a Ufe of Cardinal Ximenes,^ he prepared two of no small
valué.
The most important of these two is the " General and
Natural History of the Indios, " filling fifty books, of which
the first portions, embracing twenty-one, were published
in 1535. As early as 1525, when he was at hís General
Toledo, and offered Charles the Fifth a summary ^^toiST^de
of the History of the Spanish Conquests in the las indias.
New World, which was published three years later, he
speaks of his desire to have his largor work printed. But
it appears, from the beginning of the thirty-third book
and the end of the thirty-fourth, that he was still employed
upon it in 1547 and 1548 ; and it is not unlikely, from the
words with which he concludes the thirty-seventh, that he
kept each of its largor divisions open, and continued to
make additions to them nearly to the time of his death.^
He tells US that he had the Emperor's authority to
demand, from the different governors of Spanish America,
the documents he might need for his work ; ^ and, as his
divisions of the subject are those which naturally arise
from its geography, he appears to have gone judiciously
about his task. But the materials he was to use were in
too crude a state to be easily manageable, and the whole
» I do not feel exae that Antonio is not quanto a este breve libro del numero tre-
mistaken in ascribing to Oviedo a sepárate inta y siete, hasta que el tiempo nos avise
Ufe of Cardinal Ximenes, because the life de otras cosas que en el se acresoientan ; "
oontained in the ** Quinquagenas ** is so firom which I infer that he kept each book,
ampie; but the Chronicles of Ferdinand or each large división of his work, open for
and Isabella, and Charles Y., are alludedto additions, as long as he lived, and there-
1^ Oviedo himself in the Proemio to fore that parts of it may have been written
Charles Y. Neither has ever been printed. as late as 1557.
» He calis it, in his letter to the Em- » " I have royal orders that the gov-
peror, at the end of the " Sumario,** in emors should send me a relation of what-
1525, ** La Oeneral y Natural Historia de ever I shall touch in the afEairs of their
las Indias, que de mi mano tengo escrita ;" govemments for this History." (Lib.
— in the Introduction to Lib. XXXIIL he XXXIII., Introd., MS.) I apprehend Ovi-
says, " En treinta y quatro años que ha edo was the first authoriaed Chronicler of
que estoy en estas partes ; ** — and in the the New World } an office which was at one
ninth chapter, which ends Lib. XXXIY., period better paid than any other simihur
we have an event recorded with the date of office in the kingdom, and was held, at
1548 ; — 80 that, for these three-and-twenty different times, by Herrera, Tamayo, Solis,
years, he was certainly employed, more or and other writers of distinction. It ceased,
leso, on this great work. But atthe end I believe,with the creation of the Academy
of Book XXXYU. he says, *'T esto baste of History.
S4
GONZALO EERNANDIZ DB OVIEDO. [Péeíoo IL
fíubject was too wide and varioüs for bis powers. He falis,
theiefore, into a loose^ raaibling styloj iostead of aimÍDg
at p!iiíoBuphÍ€al condeüsation ; aad, far from an abridg--
meiit, which bis work ong-ht to liave been, be gives us
cbroiiiclmgi documentary accounts of an bnmense exteut
of newly-diecovered cüuntryi and of tbe extraordinaiy
evento tbat bad been paasing there, — Bometbaes too
tíbort and sligbt tu be ¡satisfactory or íntorcsting, and
eome times too detailed for tbe reader^a pationce. lie
wúB evídently a leanied man, and maintained a corre-
spondence witb Kamusio, tbe Itaban geog'rapber, wbich
could iiot faiL to be neeñil to botb parlieü.^ And he was
desirons to wríte in a good and eloquent sijlej in wbich
be sometí mes sacceeded. He has^ therefure, on tbe
wbole, produced a series of acconnts of tbe natural con-
ditiun, tbe aburiginal iubabitants^ and tlie poUtical affaíre,
of tbe wide-spread Spanish poBsesaions in America, as
tbey stood in tbe niiddie of tbe sixteentb century, wbieb
is of great valué as a vaat repository of facts, and not
wbolly witbont merít as a composition.^
SB a Tjjf ^ unce much to ühjsm who give tía
notics cjf wliiit íf e haTC not seea or Jmonrn
ourstrL^tíii ; lua I eim ddw iiitlt'biLed lo a it'*
miurkatjib and learneiá Jimrt, of the íllufitrí-
om Bcti^tu of VenicCf ciiUcd Bfcretorf J uan
BautLsUi BdiDiusto, vlict, hepiiiig tlinb I wui
iUfüliied tothe tHÍugttj>f wbich 1 liL»re troaCj
htbSf wlchout kDOwlta^ me pcnsutiiiilyf souf ht
me fnr Uh fiiorLil^ i^iid ccoDtaimlQ&teil with
rapLiy/* i'to. (Lib. XXXYin.t MS.)
^ Ab n ipectmUD of hía naauqor 1 9áú
tbe TnJIüwUik Híicount oí ALRiJi|friP|t oiie of
Ujc eiArJy iv I venturera Ln l't^ru, whijcn Üie
FíAAmKt put to denth Lij Cuzcu^ aíter iíaej
baá í?hUiin4?d tidOOUtroUed power tJ^ere.
*^ Tl^ierefore liear hM read ull ¿b^^ ÁUttinra
ynu muy, ftiid campare^ one hy onc» whal^
wcT Üiej relKl«j ilikii sil meu, not kiiig»,
ba™ írwJy ^?*n away^ ana you shall
gurely see fiowtht^re \ú ntm^ tb$it ca» cquaJ
A\m&grn in tbla m&tter^ and how dodb cao
)je ctjniiiareii to bím í Fiif kitngs, índeecl^
mjiy gtve aml Iítiow liow to gívu wltatever
plea¿f.'tli t}i"jn, UAh üllWs &íiá \miúSj &nú
lorJaliLpí, uEid otlier icruat kíÍIAi but tbat
a man wboíD yieatjürday we saw i}o poor
tbat aU h.^ poseessad wuj; a fery pmaU msi*
tuf ¿hould hate a apiri t aufflcíont for irhat I
baye relatcd, — I boUl ít to be po great a
thlüg tíiat I kaow uot thc Uke of ít in our
owii or atiy otJier Üme» For I «lyself iaW|
when bí3 compauior^ Pf/4i4Ttt^ come írum
Stiaiu, aiMl l>riiugbt wUb bltii that iHKly af
tbn^ hutulrcd meo to FaoHiná] that, ií AU
mafirn ba^l iiot i^Ctilvcd tbem^ and tihowo
tht^m m mucb free boüpitiLlUy uritlj. sti gen*
emiii4 a aiJirít, few^ ur nune nf tliem could
liAve eftcaptid al iré } for ilie latul vwa ñ\l(^
with dldeaBe, and tbe meanii i>r living w^^n
m {fear tliat a bn^btíl uf maltse v-aü wortfi
two or Chree /Jísoít antl au íirrofra of wlue^
üx or seven g4>kl piec&tf. To aí\ of tbetn be
wu« a TüthcrT and a brutber, and a true
frltítid í Tor^ [njtümucb a» It itf pteanunt and
gmteCnl to flome mfin to make jraínt aml
to beap np and tív gatbof Ui^Hh^t mnmyá
and fíatateB, evt;n éo mucb aml nioru pIe:La-
ant wüA it to hjm to «haré wítb olhiTs and
to give airay ; bo that the day wbt^m hfs
gave.nothin^ he nccoanted ít for a ilay
Iiwu Anil iu bis very fpcw you mlgbt etea
tbtí iiK'íkanrc and tme d^lijirbt hfr felt whim
he fuand ocouflíoii Ky bvlp hbu «i^ho hsú
txeú. And Bince^ aíter 6ü long a felbini'Bbip
and frlendsblp aa Uiere was between tbcse
CflAP. VI.]
GONZALO FERNANDEZ DE OVIEDO.
35
The other considerable work of Oviedo, the fruit of his
old age, is devoted to fond recollections of his native
country, and of the distinffuished men he had „, „ , „
- xi TT 11 . T» 11 ^ . His Batallas
Known there. He calis it *' Batallas y Qumqua- y Quinqua-
genas," and it consists of a series of dialogues, ^^^'^'
in which, with little method or order, he gives gossiping
accounts of the principal families that figured in Spain
during the times of Ferdinand and Isabella .and Charles
the Fifth, mingled with anecdotes and recollections, such
as — not without a simple-hearted exhibition of his own
vanity — the memory of his long and busy life could fur-
nish. It appears from the Dialogue on Cardinal Ximenes,
and elsewhere, that he was employed on it as early as
1646 ; ^ but the year 1650 occurs yet more frequently
among the dates of its imaginary conversations,^ and it
iwo great leaders, from the days when
their companions were íew and theír means
small, tíll they saw themselves fnU of wealth
and strength, there hath at last come forth
so mach discord, scand^ and death, well
must it appear matter of wonder eren to
those who shall but hear of it, and much
more to us, who knew them in their \ow es-
táte, and have no less borne witness to their
greatness and prosperity." (Oeneral y Nat-
ural Historia de las Indias, Lib. XLVH.,
MS.) Much of it is, Uke the preceding
passage, in the true, old, rambling, moral-
izing, chronicling vein.
Slnce the preceding account of the " His-
toria General " of Oviedo was printed (1849),
the whole work has been published by the
Spanish Academy of History, in four rich
folio volumes, Madrid, 1851-1855, edited
by Don José Amador de los Rios. The
Prefiítory notice contains a Life of Oviedo,
with an account of his works, among
which are two that have been published,
and should be at least mentioned. The
flrst is " Claribalte," composed during a
period when Oviedo was out of favor at
coort, and printed at Valencia in 1519 ; —
- a book which it is singular he should have
written, because it is a Romance of Chiv-
alry, and, in ttie latter part of his life,
when such fictions were at the height of
their favor, nobody treated them with
more severity than he did. The other is an
«Bcetic work,entitled "Reglas de la Vida,'»
which, he says, he translated firom the Tus-
can, and which was printed at Seville in
1548, but which is now become so rare that
Don Amador has never seen it, and does
not determine precisely what it was, ñor
who was its original author. Of the works
in manuscript, which, besides the two
Quinquagenas, amount to six, we should,
I suppose, be most curious to see the
account Oviedo prepared of the occur-
rences and gossip at the^ court of Madrid
during the captivity of Francis I., in 1525.
^ " £n este que estamos de 1545." Ba-
tallas y Quinquagenas, MS., £1 Cardinal
Cisneros.
28 As in the Dialogue on Juan de Silva,
Conde de Cifuentes, he says, " En este año
en que estamos 1550 ; " and in the Dialogue
on Mendoza, Duke of Infantado, he uses the
same words, as he does again in that on Pe-
dro Fernandez de Córdova. There is an ex-
cellent note on Oviedo in Vol. I. p. 112 of the
American ed. of " Ferdinand and Isabella,"
by my fHend Mr. Prescott, to whom I am
indebted for the manuscript of the Batallas
y Quinquagenas, as well as of the Historia.
The " Batallas y Quinquagenas " are not
tobe confounded with a poem which Oviedo
entitled " Las Quinquagenas," on the dis-
tinguished Spaniards of all times, and
which he completed in 1556, in one hun-
dred and fifty stanzas of fifty lines each, or
se ven thousand flve hundred lines in all ; —
an error into which I fell in the flrst edi-
tion of this work, owing chiefly to an ob-
Bcurity in the account of the two Quinqua-
BARTOLOiMÉ DE LAS CASAS,
[Fbiiioii n.
is probablG that he continued to add to it, as he did to his
History, until Tjear the end of hís life^ for it seems still
impeifect. He died at Valladolid, in 155^.
Bnt, botli ^uriíig his life and after hiñ death, Oviedo had
a formidable üdvereaiy, %vho^ purguing' nearly the same
conree of inquines respecting the Xew World, carne
Baít»i"tnétJe í^lniost constantlj to concliiBions quite opposit€,
lufl üfts^8. xtiis was no less a peraon than Bartolomé de laa
Casas, or Casaus, tlie apostle and defender of the Ámeriean
Indians,^ — a man who would have been remaikable in anj
age of the world, and who do es not seem yet to have
gathered in the fiill harvest of his hoüors. He was born
iiL Seville, probably in 14 H ; and, in 1502, having gone
throngh a course of studies at Salamanca, embarked for
the Indi es, where his father, who had been the re with
Coiumbua nitie years earlier, had already accumulated a
decent fortune.
The attention of the young^ man was early drawn to
the condition of the natives, from tlie circumstance thai
one of them, given to his father by Colnrabns, bad been
attached to his own person as a «lave, wliile he waa still
at the TJniversity \ and he was not bIow to learn^ on his
aniva! in Hispaniola, that their gentío natures and slight
frames had already been subjeeted, in the mines and in
other forms of toil, to a servitude so harah that the onginal
inhabitants of the island were beginning to waste away
under the severity of their labors. From this moment he
devoted his lile to their eraancipatíon. In 1510 he took
holy orders, and contiíiued as a priest, and, for a short
time, as Bishop of Chíapa, nearly forty years, to teach,
strengthen, and consolé, the suífering fiock oommitted to
hia charge. Six times, at leaí*t, he crossed the Atlantic,
in order to persuade the government of Charles the Fifth
to ameliorate their condition, and always with more or lesa
I
I
Queea iBabella,. It la tnacli tfi be destnad
ttm.t both ahauM be publ^lie^^ and wo cain
have no aecumte tdejí üf theni OIl tbcy iu%.
Ik'pdrtimknto üf Se?íUe. (Zuñiga, Aoalég
de Sevilla, 167?, p. Tfi.) lo the Cliropíclfi
af Jaliii n. ita deBQepd&nts ars raBed Lu
CasaA, aud Vt. Burt^iluioé wrote IiEa suma
í»The fiunUy wai orlglnally Jreach, boUi wajB. Later tbey reverted
ipellíüir ítft naroe Cib^ikUfi 5 but It appeare original spellíxig. Giidic], Fiuntíía
In BpaiiLsh Etatory as cújáy m 1253^ in iba Oiruu^, 1^7T| f. 93,
-A^^^-- ^r^
'i^ '
Chap. vi.] BABTOLOMB DE LAS CASAS. 3*7
Buccess. At last, but not until 1647, when he was above
seventy years oíd, he established himself at Vallad olid, in
Spain, where he passed the remainder of his serene oíd
age, giving it freely to the great cause .to which he had
devoted the freshness of his youth. He died, while on a
visit of business, at Madrid, in 1566, at the advanced age,
as is commonly supposed, of ninety-two.*^
Among the principal opponents of his benevolence were
Sepúlveda, — one of the leading men of letters and cas-
tdsts of the time in Spain, — and Oviedo, who, juanOinezde
from his connection with the mines and his share Sepáiveda.
in the government of different parts of the newly discov-
ered countries, had an interest directly opposite to the
one Las Casas defended. These two persons, with large
means and a wide influence to sustain them, intrigued,
wrote, and toiled against him, in every way in their
power. But his was not a spirit to be daunted by oppo-
sition or deluded by sophistry and intrigue ; and when,
in 1619, in a discussion with Sepúlveda concerning the
Indians, held in the presence of the young and proud
Emperor Charies the Fifth, Las Casas said, " It is quite cer-
tain that, speaking with all the respect and reverence due
to so great a sovereign, I would not, save in the way of
duty and obedience as a subject, go from the place where
I now stand to the opposite comer of this room, to serve
your Majesty, unless I believed I should at the samo time
serve God,"^ — when he said this, he uttered a sentiment
^ There is a yaluable life of Las Casas both rightfal captives taken by the Portu-
in Quintana, *^ Vidas de Españoles Cele- guese in war and rightful slaves. But
bres'' (Madrid, 1833, 12mo, Tom. III. pp. afterwards he changed his mind on the
256-510). The seventii article in the Ap- subject. He declared " the captivity of
pendix, concerning the connection of Las the negrees to be as unjust as that of the
Casas with the slave-trade, will be read Indiana," — "ser tan injusto el cautiverio
with particular interest ; because, by mate- de los negros como el de los Indios," — and
riáis drawn firom unpublished documents even expressed a fear that, though he had
of unquestionable authenticity, it makes it fallen into the error of favoring the im-
certain that, although at one time Las portation of black slaves into America ñrom
Casas fávoredwhat had beenbegunearlier, ignorance and good-will, he might, after
— the transportation, I mean, of negroes to all, fáil to stand excused for it before the
the West Indies, in order to relieve the Divine Justice. Quintana, Tom. III. p.
Indians, — as other good men in his time 471.
favored it, he did so nnder the impression ^ Quintana, Españoles Célebres, Tom.
that, according to the law of nations, the in. p. 321. I think, but am not sure,
negroes thus brought to America were that Quintana does not say Las Casas was
n. 4
BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS-
[PxBiaD H
tbat reallj goveriied bis liíe, and cotistituted the basis of
the gmat power he exercised, His worJcB are porvadml
hj it. The earliest of tbem, called " A verj Sbort Ac-
„ 1 . „ count of the Buín of the Indies/' was wntten
jncion of Las m 1512,^ aud dedicated to tlio Priuce, ai'ter-
warda Philip the Second; — a tract in whicb,
no doubt, the eufferinge and wrougs of the Indians are
mnch overstated by the iiidignant zeal of ite autbor, but
Btill one whofie expositions are fouoded in trriUi, and by
tlxeir fervor awakened a!l Europe to a sense of the injustice
they set fortb. Otber short treatí&es followed, wntten
witb Biinílar spírit and power^ especially those in reply to
Bepiilveda; but none was so often reprinted, either at
borne or abroada as the tírat/* and none ever produeed so
deep and solenm an eífect on the world. Thoy wcre all
CDÜected and publishcd in 1552 ; and^ beRidet? beuig trans-
lated into other- languagea at the time, an edition in Span*
iehj aud a Frencb versión of the whole^ witb two more
treatises than were contained in the first collection,
appeared at París in 1822, prepai-ed by Llórente.
The great work of Las Casas, however, still reraains
inedited, — a General nistory of the lüdiea from
Blf^ttiría Gen- ^ , , i - - * r -^f, i ¡^ ■ i i
eral de líia In- 1492 to lo20, begun by him in 1527 and bnished
in 1561, btit of which he ordered íhsLt no por-
tion ahonld be publisbed ivitbin forty years of his dealb.
nuule a chapUilD qf Charles V. tmt o( per-
Mtiil renard í^B, circQiMfltaiice nieiitlcKnod
by Argensoliu, wbo^ tK ñhmiiá be wldu'di
givtín a fftír uml ínltreatíjig aoirnuiit o( tb<i
Apuítie to Uiíi n^díatLS, m Far as hU nis-
tory of Am.g(m cDoi'ES dawo. Aiuütítf de.
ArJigon, Tüoi. I. inm^ p. 647,
3> Quintacm {p, 413i, note) doubta wken
thta fftinou,& treatíüti w^ wrUteíi j bat I#as
CJisaü hÍDQi^'U Buye, Ld tbe ^penlng of hlñ
"UreTiBiinn Rolniríoii," that it wf» wrilten
in 1&4^, aíid íí.% üití ^uú It li rntUal &» 9ii-
Ifllitcl at Valoncía, I>ccu,^mber 9, lH% ; an
** Adidííin " or i«n*tw:rlpt fií^Uc^wing, vhkJi it
d&tffL 19115 jrn thü ci'py t use.
Sü i;hii íiuporUtit tract üOiiUiiued (onu ío
h& prLnted Bepar4iLU'1y, hrjitb at bome atul
^bfniod' I ugú a üopj «r it üi double cal-
umnt, dpaiiUh a»d ItiiSian, VeTiíeci 11643^
12mo í but, llke the reat, the "Jlrcviaima
Bdaciou'^ may be douBulttid iü au edlÜDn of
the Worka of t^á Ceabs by Llorenti?, vrhicb
apjwanHl at Paria Id Wi^^ iu 2 vola. Hv(\
la. the oriiCoal Bpantahí a^imoet at thtt
Bamtí tboe witb Jilt9. tmriHUitfon ot thintn
Into French. It should be nolÍDud, pc^
Imps^ that Uñt^nte'á verslDii Ib uot alwajfB
ítrlct, and tbat the two new tfe&tiees hfi
imputas trj Lii« Casoia, aa. well aa the oufs on
the AiitborTty of RltígHt are not abBolatviy
provtííl Ut be ti Ja.
The tracmlatEon refvrni'd to above ap-
peared, Lu fací, tb« lanie yenTi tiud. at th«
end ijf It an " Apul'tffb dtí I** Caaaa," by
Grétftiíre, witb lettera af Fanea ítnd Mícr,
ankd nnt^A of tiiunMite to Auatnin It, — «11
ta dpfend ím» Caf^aü on the; suk>j*.''0t of th4
ahiVíí-trade j but (^ulntAiiaf lui we buve
ae«n, bajt gmiQ to th? od^imL dovnmenLAi
and liíavi^é no doübt» b<ith tbat Idü Caftuí
oDc«! Tavored it, and Uiat h? alt<?réd blA
mind afierward».
I
■
J
Chap. VI.1 VACA, XEREZ, 9ARATE. 39
Like his other works, it shows marks of haste and care-
lessness, and is written in a rambling style ; but its valué,
notwithstanding his too fervent zeal for the Indians, is
great. He had been personally acquainted with many of
the early discoverers and conquerors, and at one time
possessed the papers of Oolumbus, and a large mass of
other important documents, which are now lost. He says
he had known Cortés ** when he was so low and hunible,
that he besought favor from the meanest servant of Diego
Velasquez ; " and he knew hini afterwards, he tells us,
when, in his pride of place at the court of the Emperor,
he ventured to jest about the pretty corsair's part he had
played in the afiairs of Montezuma.^ He knew, too^
Gomara and Oviedo, and gives at large his reasons for
diflering from them. In short, his book, divided into
three parts, is a great repository, to which Herrera, aud
through him all the historians of the Indies since, have
resorted for materials ; and without which the history of
the earliest period of the Spanish settlements in America
cannot, even now, be properly written.^
But it is not necessary to go further into an examina-
tion of the oíd accounts of the discovery and conquest of
Spanish America, though there are many more which, like
those we have already considered, are partly books of
travel through countries full of wonders, partly chronicles
of adventures as strange as those of romance ; frequently
running into idle and loóse details, but as frequently fresh,
picturesque, and manly, in their tone and coloring, and
almost always striking from the facts they record and the
glimpses they give of manners and character. vaca, xen»,
Among those that might be added are the í'*^»^-
stories by Vaca of his shipwreck and ten years' captivity
in Florida, from 1627 to 1637, and his subsequent govern-
** ** Todo esto me dixo el mismo Cortés HE. c. 115, MS.) It may be worth noting,
con otras cosas cerca dello, después de Mar- that 1642, the year when Cortés made this
qaes, en la villa de Mondón, estando alli scandaious speech, was the year in which
celebrando cortes el Emperador, año de mil Las Casas wrote his Brevísima Relación.
7 quinientos 7 quarenta y dos, riendo y % For a notice of all the works of Las
mofitndo con 'estas formales palabras, a la Gasas, see Quintana, Vidas, Tom. III. pp.
mi fé aodubé por alli como un gentil cosa- &07-510.
rio.**. (Historia General de las Indias, Lib.
40
EARLY ACCOUNTS OP AMERICA,
[PKRlOt» II.
ment for throe years of thé Rio de la Plata ; ^ the iBort I
accouat of the conqiiest of Perú writton hy Francisco de
Xerez^ Secretary oí Francii^o de Pizarro,^ and the ampler
onei of the saino wild achievemeiita, which Augustiu de
jarate began on the spot, and was prúvented hy Carvajal,
an officer of Gonzalo de Pizarro, from finishhig^ till after
his re tura horne.'^ But they may all be passed o ver, aB
of less oonsequonoe thaa those we have noticed, which
are quite suffioient to g-ive an idea, both of the xiatnre of
their class and tho coursc it foUowod, — a clasB mucVi
regembling the oíd chronicles^ but yet one that aunounceB
the appruach of those moro regular forms of hiBtory for
%hich it furnishes abuudant materials.
^ Ttie tWDWorkft of Alv/ir NuFb«?E Ca-be^a
dtí Vacii^ naraiíly, liis ^'' Nauítiígiua " and
hU *^ CimienUiLrloa j Suci'sos tía su Gohí-
enio en el Hio de la. Plwta^" were tlrut
príiited Id i5ñG, anrl ore Lo be found in
BiLTcÍB^ lilitonndorea Prtmltlvoaj Tcmi, I-,
a.iid Id the BlbUotfioa de Autor efi EapaS olea,
Toiti. XXII., 16fi2. Xhey ftre wihl and
roEuautic accounta of estraordlna]^ adTOii-
turL's and sufferiEi^fl^ pftrtíí.ularly tlie JVdii-
fragioB, wljere (cliafh. xxü.) tlie autlior
feeiJEiiB to tbliilc bu iiot i>t]1y cuttd the »\ck
hf dlriiie itLtrrprieitiún^ IsuEr thut, lo ono
iimiimi», be rulHed the dend. Eut, how-
eviT thíi laiij' be^ he w»* cvÍElently^ a man
o# gieat couragQ ana cariauípoyi tind of an
elevated and ifeiionnu Dature,
^ The work of fmxxUsoo de Xem, " Con*
quieta del Peru^^ wrítten hy otAlt of Frím-
Oisco FLtíirro, was firat pablj&li&l In 1&34
and 1&4T, and Ifl to be found m Ratniisio
(VenoxJEi^ ed, QiunU, Mío, Tom. IH.), and
in Barcift*B colkctlon (Toin- IH,% It enda
hi BAfcla wíth eonití poc¡r versefj in defence
of Xi-rcz, h]r a friend, which ai% ampler and
moK Imparüint in the original «flHlon, aíid
(iontaln nntioea of hift lifi:;. *í'h^j are iré*
pHcited in the Biblioteca de Autores Eepa-
unleiif Tom. XXVI., I9&1, aM Q^ytín}*m Ihe eubjec^
oonjectofei tbem to have been wrltten bj
Orlfldo.
B8 "IlifitoTia del DescubrlmienLo y Con-i
quinUí del i'em," flpft printed In 1555^ and
s&veral Umea slnce. It la tn fiíu^í^, Todl
UI'^ and In tlie 0d)H(>t«c& de Aatorea Kspa-
üolea^Tiani. XXYI.flSfiíS^ má waa tnuukted
i lito ItídlHti hy TñXea. inania was aeni mit
ty Charhs V* to examine lato the etate oí
tbe reven iieg df P«tu, and bringfl dovn hli
accountá oá late ai the ovcrtJirow of Gonn
zato Plsamo. 3ee an éxcellent noticú of
jarate at the end of Mr. Pníicott^i Laitt
ckapter ou the Conqucat of Peni.
P^ra Cieza de Lean, elIbo, wbo Uv^
ahueve ievente^n years in Pefu, publishi$d
at Bí^yllle, In lñ5¿\ elti Importiuit work on
that conntryj entitled '•* primera Parte dtt Im
QliTonicíL del Peni," int^ndtn^ ta complete
and publiah it in three other parta j bnt
díe^l In 16W, re iw/ctffa, at the age flf
furty-two. The Rmt part Ja reprinlcd la
the BlbhoiecBi, de Antorea £sj.iañDleii, Tmm*
XXVI., and tbe JMS. of the /Aír¡i part ÍJ
eald to he la the póaseftsloii of Jamea Lenox,
Esq^^, Kcw York* Oayan^ia notícea, al»o,
a amall pübUc&Uon In elgjit leavsa, Ln tbe
BrltlHb MuHeuWi eistitled £,¿1 Con 1711 uta del
FíTu, which be thtnki» ia Itk^t a g^ituttñ^
and may ha ve hGQU tbe Aret pablication oa
I
M
1
I
CHAPTER VII,
THEATRE. — INFLUENCB OF THB CHURCH AND THB DíQUISITION. — MYS-
TERIES. CASTILLEJO, OLIVA, JUAN DE PARÍS, AND OTHERS. —
POPULAR DEM ANDS FOR DRAMATIC LITERATURE. — LOPE DE RUEDA.
— HIS LIFE, COMEDIAS, COLOQUIOS, PASOS, AND DIALOGUES IN
TERSE. — HIS CHARACTER AS FOUNDER OF THE POPULAR DRAMA IN
SPAIN. JUAN DE TIMONEDA.
The theatre in Spain, as in most other countries of
modem Europe, was early called to contend with formi-
dable difficulties. Dramatic representations there, perhaps
more than elsewhere, had been for centurias in the hands
of the Church ; and the Church was not willinff ^ ^ ,
, . __ _ _ , ° The Theatre
to eive them up, especially for such secular and and the
. Y- • *-> r J Church.
irreligious purposes as we nave seen were appar-
ent in the plays of Naharro. The Inquisition, therefore,
already arrogating to itfiiglf powers not granted by the
State, but yielded by a sort of general consent, interfered
betimes, After the publication of the Seville edition of
the " Propaladla," in 1620, — but how soon afterward we
do not know, — the representaron of its dramas was for-
bidden, and the interdict was continued till 1573.^ Of
Ihe few pieces written in the early part of the reign of
Charles the Fifth, nearly all, except those on strictly
religious subjects, were laid under the ban of the Church ;
several, like the " Orfea," 1634, and the " Custodia,"
1641, being nowknown to have existed only because their
ñames appear in the Index Expurgatorius ; ^ and others,
1 In the edition of Madrid, 1573, ISmo, Martines de la Rosa for its termination is
we are told, "La Propaladia estava pro- merely the permission to prínt an edition,
hibida en estos reynos, años avia *," and which is dated 21 Aag., 1573 j an edition,
Martínez de la Rosa (Obras, Paris, 1827, too, which is, after all, expurgated se-
12mo, Tom. 11. p. 382) says that this pro- verely.
hibition was laid soon after 1520, and not > These are in the " Catálogo" of L. F.
lemoved till August, 1573. The períod is Moratin, Nos. 57 and 83, Obras, Madrid,
important j but I suspect the aatbority of 1830, 8vo, Tom. L Parte I.
n. 4* (41)
THE THEATEE.
[Pebiod IL
•.n.fc£* ir GaTila" of Gil Vicente, though
:.i.:i.>ivi. irri-^ ¿ulá^-quenily forbidden to be
'vi*
;:».
. . - ^. ■.^*. ::> ir.»r.:a. zirjLTinie. was stili upheld by
v. *»h:v. j^ 7». ^:r. v: :L:¿ we ha ve sufficient proof in
liri's . ::■: MyfT-rirs :Lai were from time to time
:v- /rr-.-i-i. i:.i ::; :Le well-kDOwn fact that,
«i»..r. >ft-::h i'.l iLe n: j^Liácence of the court of
/vi^-iS :>.í F:f:h. :Lr i:-fani hoir to the crown,
*-.-> r:.. :y :":.t >tv:r.i. wjs biptized at Valladolid,
.." ■ , 7t":c:. -.:< v'.iv*. >-r ::*wLiob was on the Bap-
. >A. v : r . : . V. . :.:.>::: u : t- i a p an of t he gorgeou s
: .!,"• • >.:.':. .■.:-..:■>:::::■.>. i.v.wrver. did not advance
!>i.i. A :*... .:c:. y-:r':-.iys >.:-.v ::' ihem. like that of
,v A":.iv.-.:rA ::-. :":.v Su: :-fr ai Emmaus, are not
a . ;v-. : : .'áI :v. ; ri : . ' O :: : ":. v o : .itrary . iheir tendency
í^t>v Kv" :." ki-.y ":\i.k ::.e¿:noal represen tations
-.í
,:tá
^ !«>•»>> .* ,* ^ N'i.'" X\ .- S-Vfc o. ai
.X ■ ■^-•■»»; '*■• •'■ ^^ ■■.»'". *.x , V-,» t« ■. *^
• •i^ VV*"S» ■ • ^ ■■' *'^* ". .V. ■ >^;¡
vw» *^-^ - ■"* •^■■' ■'^■. .v.v.\>k.-.\;.
•.V- ,\\- . S;\i-v^
^ » iX^s * m ■ .\ ■ x- .■k
^«» .s.^*i.. .^ V. .■• X.- '.1.x • <.V»,Vi\
*. .vxí .
. l.N
4 x> .'!-*."' 4
^ V^.\. ,A>».-*« .«•.;»■* -M ,«í %*h.*iK» \ , *|
^ <M^MfcH-«S «i*«t \lA\iUttilMll hA\llV( tVX'll
«^7 tur. ^:í fx .•»»* muy real y sinnp-
r.í.'wfc." -.'ilT-w Jtr EítrelU, Tiape de
r^. -.v.Ho- -s- E=:per»dor CarKv V.,ec
\»,-í««^ *ó.\ ISíi f. i K: Tbere can
N r- .:..i>c 1 #--7jx>í*,:ha: a Si>ani«h play
•-.•■^•.i *Aiv ^-sír. K}:vfe«i. :f c>ne joiitable
.re.'. ^*ií Nxr. f.-urii for to iHilIiant a
S-.*: .*>. lui-.i-.ví. o'.".".eow%i on an ocouioa
AV-.r-A'.-vf *.- «rcc'y :■> EAri^ial feeling?.
■' '.: »*.< vr.v^>i ::■ l^:2x. and a#ufficient
íx.rs,-: rr-c: :: ■* :o bo found in Moratin,
• A ♦■,xv:r.-.fr. .'í :hí My<»ries of the age
.-.' \*> *rV* \ rr.** N" Í.utkí in an extKoiely
Tir;- ^.-..-.rx, m::h.;".i dite, ec;::]eti. in ita
;^T^v vJt^-Sx "rr-.Aoa díí Alma,** -Triaca
.*,• \r^Y.** *::vl •• Tt-.»**a de Tri*U?* ; ** — or,
>l,\:.%,» r.T :!ic 5^-.i'.. Í.T lp»ve. aiul f.-r Sad-
SN-». Ift* *:i:it,«r »a* Marvvl^^ do Lebrixa,
•«.«ií «-i sho fíia:v*u» :k*hoIar Auto:iio : and the
i.KNK'.t:v» ai»«l c\«tu-Ui5Íon o( tho first ¡vart
»mp;> ihA; it «sui <.\>iniHic>t^ whon the
aulti^v «a» K«rfy jcar* «.^d, — aftor the
xU'jith oí hi« fikther. whioh hapivnod in
l.V-*"-, aiKl durillo the r»'l|in of the Kni|)cror,
»hu-h emlt\l iu l.VVJ. Tho tlrsi imrt, to
^ lux'h I |Nirii«.*ularly alhide, wnüiitt^ of a
" Mymer.v " on the Inoarnation, in above
eltsht thouMihl íhort versk»*. It has no
Mher M'iion than nuoh as con«Í5t0 in the
ohap. vn.]
VARIOUS DRAMAS.
43
• Ñor were the efforts made to advance them in other
directions marked by good judgment or permanent suc-
cess. We pass o ver the " Costanza " by Castillejo, which
seems to have been in the manner of Naharro, castmejo
and is assigned to the year 1522/ but which, andouva.
from its indecency, was ncver published in fuU, and is now
probably lost ; and we pass over the free versions, made
about 1630, by Pérez de Oliva, Rector of the University
of Salamanca, from the " Amphitryon '' of Plautus, the
" Electra '' of Sophocles, and the " Hecuba " of Eurípides,
because they fell, for the time, powerless on the early
attempts of the national theatre, which had nothing in
common with the spirít of antiquity.^ But a single play,
printed in 1536, should be noticed, as showing how slowly
the drama made progress in Spain.
It is called " An Eclogue," and is written by Juan de
París, in versos de arte mayor, or long verses divided into
stanzas of eight lines each, which show, in their careful
appearance of the ángel Gabriel to the Ma-
donna, bringing Reason with him in the
shape of a woman, and followed by another
ángel, who leads in the Seven Yirtues *, —
the whole piece being made up oat of their
successiye discoorses and exhortations, and
endíng with a sort of sommary, by Reason
and by the Autbor, in foyor of a pious Ufe.
Certainly, so slight a structure, with little
merit in its verses, could do nothing to ad-
vance the drama of the sixteenth cen-
tury. It was, however, intended for repre-
sentación. **It was written," says its
author, " for the praise and solemnization
ofthe Festival of Our Lady*s Incamatíon;
so that it may be acted as a play [ht puedan
por far^a representar] by devout nuns in
their convents, since no men appear in it,
but only angels and young damsels." It
should be noted that the word Myntery,
as here used, has sometimes been thought
to indícate its origin ttom ministerium,
because it was performed by the ministera
qf the church, and not because it set forth
the mysteries of religión, according to its
accustomed use in Prance, where we have
" Le Mistére de la Passion," etc.
The second part of this singular volume,
which is more poetical than the first, is
against human aii& in fiívor of Divine Ipve j
and the third, which is very long, consists
of a seríes of consolations, deemed suitable
for the dififerent forms of human sorrow and
care 5 — these two parts being necessarily
didactic in their character. Each of the
three is addressed to a member of the great
fomily of Alva, to which their author was
attached ; a^d the whole is called by him
Triaca j a word which means Treacle^
or Antidote^ but which Lebrixa says he
uses in thé sense of Ensalada^ — Saladj or
Medley. The volume, taken as a whole, is
as strongly marked with the spirít of the
age that produced it as the contemporary
Cancioneros Generales, and its ^;>oetical
merit is much like theirs.
7 Moratin, Catálogo, No. 35, and ante.
Yol. I. p. 463, n. 6. A short extract firom it is
given by Moratin ; and Wolf, in his tract on
Castilleijo (1849, p. 10), says that still more
was published in 1642, under the pseudo-
nym of Fray Nidel ; but Gallardo gives the
best account of the whole in a letter to
Gayangos, to be found in the Spanish trans-
lation of this work, Tom. ü. 500.
8 Oliva died in 1533 •, but his transía-
tions were not printed till 1585.
44 ^^L^M Wm ?#Mff [Pbbiod n.
vTtniístnirCTiu siic & 2b& Ji&iEr iHii mt* It kas five ínter-
liKrucucs' :: ja ^ssiiim». & ^tfmfc; « J^aa^ jimíütI, a demon,
jOüi nvu ^Q«ae?m. Tbi^ hecnm «bbhs fist. He seems
,>^^^^ ^ be iiL & aesiittrv. Mmaiig <m ^e Tanity oí
^^■^ ^fUDiiCL 1& : siiL J&r ^cma^ éeromúj, deter-
wtiK{^ ^ ^^ 4HBi¿^v^o: amíd^x- m^ml Bxt keis ¡«eTented
^>(^ ^ iKmitti»» wQi^ omi» 3L wciípai^ «ftd comf^amÍDg
^/€ i21 CMuyeaiMtfi á:wK €iq^óL w^ú«e cthI thancter he
^iii$tr:iyQK}^ >5 3i^ cvoioaec 3l i&if vrafies «^ Mede^ the ñJl
s^f^ t^v. PSam*. Pivril jiní Hercoie»: tmáim^ with his
v^^tt Jb^f<tkfC9ttJ¡i»tfkHi ^ ;aMakaiii. «b^ vecid and tire in a
* twvJl !tt«»^f^ 3i^itia$acdL^ He «eeost» ck^ hmnit, who
N|ü$«.v<tr^:$«í<^ ^ !kim ^m ^ikkf irüit» vif W^ve» and adrises him^
^ c^dúb^ :^rii|jC<^»/iiL ;ttt»¿ wi^i:^^ a£ «irT\»?a &« a icmeár in his
^^^iv^^ tthf >rv<ttm: iitiia «ítttKniimies^ to lblk>w counsel
:j^ >^is$«^« «Oí^ tílíQr ^motfc ^se kiíniuGí^ «>getlier. Bnt
^\v .j^^ it^> ;í»H^tic!tíc ^tM ^EiiüaL \ae «inaoa appears, com-
^ijÚH^ iH^l^fr^ lh«( Tsa«f «í^ojcDí tt^ ÜSkíeij to escape him,
íí^ ^te^rtttátidtt^ ^.^ vfc ;jit itt h¿5^ pow«r ro pcevent it, One
v^í Uk? ;íihr^jbn^ir^ whv'c^tr 9uiyttt!«» fi:^ TkiMií^, aow comes in,
^hi u^ uA^v'^ ;$^vk.t^t ^Y dW ^::tuuLfis^ ke hái$ eanght of the
WIUíh^ «^t^^ >iíík^> iuc^feí^ óxHtt h¿$ descxiption, and
iírva* tW >*ívNMt-c^l \^ tW tttí^^^íi^. s^^ffns to haré be«i
^ Uul^ ^lííisífelic !jai4 llüW^ij» p<^r:$OQuii^. Tícente there-
ujK^M bnWti Ikintes^f ; biitt tW dausbsel. who k the lady4ove
\M' vW ^^^v. ^«ifcli»^ ^Ofe^.^ ^UiWr dmwin^ him from his
vv>Wk<W**^m, M^ with hm » soiti^what metaphjsical
vlUlv^Ui^ íi¿H>ut K>v^. TW v>ther i^pherd^ Cr^non, at
VhU ^Mk^ijdt {KHUt mt^]rtu{>t$ the di$ea$si<«i, and has a
\^4^^ i^v^^H^ with Yici^ftt^^ which the damsel eomposes ;
^vi tl^u t^^^vwft t^U* her wheíe the hermit and the lorer
tjih^ h^ cv4i^ tv> se4^ are to be ^und. All now go
WwímhIsíi tte h^vtuitü^^. The esquire^ overjoyed, receÍTes
th0 Uv^ with opeu arma, and cries out,
« Tl^ «x^v^aMfy <Hwlwi» cbTMBA» 9t do» P^skwes, uno Bunado Tioente j el
«lOoK «OMvqr WM kiiKUy toiil W n« by M. oteo Cremoo>* (1538)* Itis in black letter,
n. T«riM^ux-Ooitt|)«n«, oT Piuria, li entttted smatt qnarto, 12 leaves, withoat ñame of
^^ SgK>c« nttevMM»Qle oonpoala por Juan plaoe or printer ; Irat, I Bappose, printed
de Farta, en )a qua) se introducen cinco at Zaragoia, or Medina áá. Campo. Wolf
peraonaa : un Ssoudwo llamado Estado, y says there is a copy dated 1551 in the
ttu Hennitaño, y una Mo^a, y un Diablo, y Munich übrary.
Chap. Vn.] JUAN DE PARÍS. 45
But now I abjure tliis friardom poor.
And will neitiier be hermit ñor Max any niore.i<>
The hermit mames them, and determines to go with
them to their house in Ihe town ; and then the whole
ends somewhat strangely with a villancico, which has for
its burden,
Let US fly, I say, from Love's power away ;
'T is a Yassalage hard,
Which gives grief for reward.ii
The piece is curious, because it is a wild mixture of the
spirit of the oíd Mysteries with that of Juan de la Enzi-
na's Eclogues and the Comedies of Naharro, and shows
by what awkward means it was attempted to conciliato
the Church, and yet amuse an audience which had little
sympathy with monks and hermits. But it has no poetry
in it, and very little dramatic movement. Of its manner
and measure the opening stanza is quite a fair specimen.
The Hermit enters, saying to himself,
The suffering Ufe we mortal men below,
üpon this terrene world, are bound to spend,
If we but carefiíUy regard its end,
We find it yery fiül of grief and woe :
Torments so multiplied, so great, and ever such,
That but to count an endless reckoning brings,
While, like the rose that from the rose-tree springs,
Our life itself fiwies quickly at their touch.^^
Other attempts followed this, or appeared at just about
the same time, which approach nearer to the example
10 Agora reniego de mala fraylia, BI con buen sentido ; la consideramos
Ni quiero tiermitafio ni frayle mas ser. Failar la hemos ; lleno de muy duros males
U Huyamos de ser vasallos ^^ tantos tormentos ; tan grandes y tales
Del Amor, Que *^er de contallos ; es cuento infinita
Pues por premio da dolor. ^ allende de aquesto ; tan presto es marchita
,_ . ^^ ... . Como la rosa ; qu' esta en los rosales.
M As another copy of this play can be
found, I suppose, only by some rare acci- " Una Par^a a Manera de Tragedia," in
dent, I give the original of the passage in prese and partly pastoral, was printed at
the text, with its original pointing. It is Valencia, anonymously, in 1537, and seems
the opening of the flrst scene : to have reaembled this one in some partic-
nermüaño. ulars. It is mentioned in Aribau, " Biblio»
La Tida penosa ; que nos los morUIes ^^ ^^ Autores Españoles," 1846, Tom. II.
En aqueste mundo ; terreno passamos p. 193, note.
46
JAUME DS HÜETE, OBTIZ.
[Pkbiod n.
Bet by Naharro. One of them, called " La Vidriana," by
Jaume de Huete, is on the loves of a gentlemau and lady
jaume de o^^ Aragon, who desired the author to represent
uuete. them dramatically ; ^ and another, by the same
hand, is called *' La Tesorina," and was afterwards forbid-
den by the Inquisition." This last is a direct imitation of
Naharro ; has an intróüo ; is divided into ñve jornadas ; and
is written in short verses. Indeed, at the end, Naharro
is mentioned by ñame, with much implied admiration on
the part of the author, who in the title-page announces him-
self as an Aragonese, but of whom we know
nothing else. And, finally, we have a play in five
aots, and in the same style, with an introito at the beginning
und u mllancico at the end, by Agostin Ortiz," leaving no
AKtMtüi Ortix.
t^ «* Ctatmli» Uainada Vidriana, compu-
ooUi H'^ JHUiue do lluete agora nueva-
luoitUs" «>(o.| Nu. 4tOf black letter, eigbteen
hmvtHk, withtmt y car, plaov, or priuter. It
hAM W\\ iutcrUicuUtr», and eiids with an
M)M4«siy tu Latttt, Uiat the author cannot
ynWW Ukff iM<>ua,^Juan de Mena, I sup-
|MHi,>^ — thtHiith t know not wliy he should
hAW Uw{\ iti'ieoletl^ a» the pleoe is evidentljr
tn \\w iimnn^r yyt Naharn».
*< Ammier dmnuu (htiu Uie name Yolume
Xk\\\\ \\w ImI iwxK M\M(i^ttu (CatAlogo, No.
4T> \\ñ\\ (\miid H nt^iernl tu Uie Índex Kx-
)vutlrMl\^-{Ull oT VAlUid\4td« l^tf^ iuid asigna
\\s «t H wnum\ h> U>e >-var IWl, but he
lh'\\t' MW \U ti» KUe t« '* OontinUa tntitu-
\ñ\\ñ tS'^^'()M« \ñ nsñ^ññ de la qual e» unos
Atu«^>N« de un |H'tMdo ihmt uim Señiui^ y
ol»iii» iHH^^wi» «dheivnte*». lleeha nueva-
inxHíte n^^r Jaunie de lluete» INmv» »i ihít
mM- »u tMhutil le)\|r\M Aii^nuHHta, no ^lero
1^1^* mvvr «vthtr«idtHi terndm^ ^uantt> a
eole wei>»*»» |HSfxl<Mi.** {^uaU 4t<s Ulack leU
hi\ «fbvn Um«\ihi« no y^r» jdaw» or i^rínter.
It hAit h'n intvrí^HMihHiK aml i* tlmmirhoul
an ImUaUtvtt «MT N^hams «rho t« luenU^uied
In i>«mie nuHin l«aMn Une» al the end, where
the MUth^Mc exiM'eMteíi t^e ho|i« Uial hi»
Mu»» ma,v l»e loleratetl, " quamvts lum
tA'MSmt«MtM intitulada lladtait«f oum-
intenta |>o)> Aftxwtin t)rtt«/* mnall 4t<s blaok
l!ítlei\ iwt^lve leavtNit no year, place, or
iMTinN^r» ti Ia In nv« JúmatUM^ aiul hai
«Hk |»«Nuttiim«At — h (kvxMrtfee number, appar>
tNiU/» ll wmvt (Iroitt Ui« toIoom abov« al-
luded to, which contaíns besides : 1. A peor
prose story, interspersed with dialogue,
on the tale of Mirrha, taken chiefly from
Ovid. It i8 called '^ la Tragedia de Mir-
rba," and its author is the Bachiller Yilla-
lon. It was printed at Medina del Campo,
1536, por Pedro Toraus, small 4to, black
letter. 2. An eclogue somewhat in the man-
ner of Juan de la Enzina, for a Nacimiento.
It is called a Farza^ — " El Farza siguiente
hiso Pero López Banjel," etc. It is short,
fiUing only 4 fif., and contains three villan
cieos, On the title>page is a coarse wood-
cut of the manger, with Bethlehem in the
baokground. 3. A short, dull farce, en-
tiUcd "Jacinta ; " — not the Jacinta of Na-
harro. These three, together with the four
previously noticed, are known to me only
in the copy I have used from the library of
Mous. U. Ternaux-Compans.
A Itst of suudry rude dramatic works in
the fttnns common ih Spain in the time of
Charlea Y. is given in the Spanish transla-
Umi of this llistory (Tom. II. pp. 520-538),
as an addttion to the welUknown Catalogue
of Moratin. Among them are the titles of
Autos and other dramas by the strange
and extravagant Tanoo del Frejeual or
Frexenal (s«c pont^ Chap. XXIX. note), all
ItMit and not worth recoveriug ; two or
tliree imitations of Enaiua, Naharro, and the
Celestina } and the second edition, 1552, of
a very simple Comctlia, called " Preteo y
Tibaldo," begun by Peralvarez de Ayllon,
and flnished after his death by Luis Hur-
tado, who wrote PaUnerin of England. Of
Ohap. Vn.J LOPE DB RUEDA. 4!f
doubt that the manner and system of Naharro had at
last found imitators in Spain, and were fairly recognized
there.
But the popular vein had not yet been struck. Except
dramatic exhibifcions of a religious character, and under
ecclesiastical authority, nothing had been attempted in
which the people, as such, had any share. The attempt,
however, was now made, and made successfully. j^^ ¿^
Its author was a mechanic of Seville, Lope de ^^^^^^
Rueda, a goldbeater by trade, who, from motives now en-
tirely unknown, became both a dramatic writer and a
public actor. The period in which he flourished has been
supposed to be between 1544 and 1567, in which last year
he is spoken of as dead ; and the scene of his adventures
is believed to have extended to Seville, Córdova, Valencia,
Segovia, and probably other places, where his plays and
farces could be represented with profit. At Segovia, we
know he acted in the new cathedral, during the week of
its consecration, in 1558 ; and Cervantes and the unhappy
Antonio Pérez both speak with admiration of his powers
as an actor, — the first having been twenty years oíd in
1567, the period commonly assumed as that of Ruédaos
death,^* and the last having been eighteen. Ruédaos suc-
cess, therefore, even during his lifetime, seems to have
been remarkable ; and when he died, though he belonged
to the despised and rejected profession of the stage, he
was interred with honor among the mazy pillars in the
nave of the great cathedral at Córdova.^^
this last Gayangos gires considerable ex- where he says that, on a stage erected be-
taracts, but aU of them add nothing material tween the choirs, " Lope de Rueda, a well-
to oor knowledge of the theatre of the known actor [famoso comediante] óf that age
time. represented an entertaining play [gustosa
1^0 It i8 known that he was certainly dead comedia]." (Jayangos says that Timone-
as early as that year, because the edition da alindes to the death of Lope de Rueda, in
of his " Comedias '' then published at Ya- 1666. I suppose he refers, in this remark,
lencia, by his friend Timoneda, contains, to the " Epístola " prefixed to the edition
at the end of the " Engaños," a sonnet on his of the Eufemia and Armelina dated 1567,
death by Francisco de Ledesma. The last, but with the Censura of Oct. 1566.
and, indeed, almost the only date we have " The well-known passage about Lope de
about him, is that of his actiug in the ca- Rueda, in Cervantes^ Prólogo to his own
thedral at Segovia in 1558 ; of which we plays, is of more consequence than all the
have a distinct account in the iearned and rest that remains conceming him. Every-
elaborate History of Segovia, by Diego de thing, however, is coUected in Navarrete,
Colmenares (Segovia, 1627, fol., p. 616), " Vida de Cervantes," pp. 255-260 •, andin
WFE DI KUBDA.
LMEngnDCH
48
Hís works were collectod after hÍB death by his friend
Juan de Ti moneda, aad published m difíbreat editíons, he-
tween 1567 aud 1588.*'* They consist of four Gumedias,
two Pastoral Oülloquiea, and ten Pasos, or dialogues, all
in prose ; besidea two dialogues in verse. They were all
evidently written for represontationi and were unquestion-
ably acted before public audicncea, by tbe atroUiíig com-
pany Lope de Kíieda led about.
Tbe four Comediaa are mercly divided into Bcenee, and
extend to the length of a coíütiion faroe, wbose apirit they
generally share. The finst of thom, "Los Enga-
*°'*' ño8p'^ *" — P'rauda, — coutaliis the atory of a daugh-
ter of Yerginio, who baa escapad from the convent wíiere
fihe waa to be educated, and ís serving aa a page to Mar-
celo, wbo had once been her lo ver, and who had left her
because he believcd himsolf to ha ve been ill ti^ated.
Clávela^ the lady to whom Marcelo now devotos biraaelf,
falla in love with the fair page, aomewhat as Olivia does
in' ''Twelfth Night/' and Ibis b rings in aeveral eñective
Bceaea and situations. But a twin brother of the lady-
page retums home, after a considerable absence, ao Uke
her, that he provea tbe other Sosia, Tvho, first producíng
grcat confaaion and trouble, at last marriee Clávela, and
leaves hia sister to her original lover, This is at least a
plot \ aud sonie of ita details and portions of the dialogue
are ingenious, and managed with draraatic skill.
The next, the '* Medora," is, aleo, not without a aeiise
of what belonga to theatrical composition and effect. The
interest of the action dependa, in a considerable
degree, on the confusión produced by tbe reaem-
blancé betweeu a young w ornan stolen whea a child by
I
Cae ¡ano TeUt^r, <' Or^i^n áe ^ CoiQ^dia
y dvl Bhtñmúñmo ea Eáp&rm" (Müdrid|
imi^ ISnio, Tam. IL pp. 73-S4).
IB *■' Lafl Quatm Goitiedlna; Jim C^IíhiuIoí
pA^t^Tn!£9 del exDefótiti> poeta y KmcioK>
r&presentantUf Loptf de Htieíl»," etc^ im-
imftfu en S^tUUl, 1670, Sví^ — coütiiloB hia
la. IhVutic^üD de lufl CuküLJt «lue ao venuí
Rgom." Fr»>i(i ihe Epbtcilui piríiíed tt> ít
b^ JiiüD úv TlinOh«la, I tiifer thitt hf triiuul^
alterati^it» in Uieí uxabuscripu, «b Loiifi de
Ba«dá left them j 1>iit niít, probably, apy
tíf rtiui^h Cüitpieqiieoce. Or the " PeleyiioBo,"'
prÍDted at VaJenata, IM?, I hav« navHT
bef^n able to seé inor« th&n the rcry «mplft
axtrnctti faitea hy Mnratln, lUQDtitttliif t» bIx
Ptuom a^ñá a Co/ififtíiú. Ule ñni edltkia
r£ tile Qaatro Ce^rntElint, i^te,, wwt 150T,ut
Talfncta > the Lmrt at Lrigroño^ l&SS-
1* trithe«!dit!onfif Valencia by J«ftii Mey^
Hv<^ 1507,, tilla play ii eatitled <*Lr.tf £ii>
ganados,^" — the chtaUd.
Chap. Vnj LOPE DE RUEDA. 49
Gypsies, and tbe heroiné;^ who is her twin sister. But
there are well-drawn characters in it, that stand out in
excellent relief, especially two : GarguUo, — the "miles
gloriosus," or Captain Bobadil, of the story, — who, by an
admirable touch of nature, is made to boast of his couráge
when quite alone, as well as when he is in company ; and
a Gypsy woman, who overreaches aiid robs him at the
very moment he intends to overreach and rob her *
The story of the " Eufemia " is not unlike that of the
slandered Imogen, and the character\)f Melchior
Ortiz is almost exactly that of the fool in the oíd
English drama, — a well-sustained and amusing mixture
of simplicity and shrewdness.
The " Armelina," which is the fourth and last of the
longer pieces of Lope de Rueda, is more bold in its dra-
matic incidents than either of the others.^ The
heroine, a foundling from Hungary, after a series of
strange incidents, is left in a Spanish village, where she is
kindly and even delicately brought up by the village black-
smith ; while her father, to supply her place, has no less
kindly brought up in Hungary a natural son of this same
blacksmith, who had been cíirried there by his imworthy
mother. The father of the lady, having some intimation
of where his daughter is to be found, comes to the Spanish
village, bringing his adopted son with him. There he
advises with a Moorish necromancer how he is to proceed
in order to regain his lost child. The Moor, by a fearful
incantation, invokes Medea, who actually appears on the
stage, fresh from the infernal regions, and informs him
that his daughter is living in the very village where they
all are. Mean while the daughter has seen the youth from
Hungary, and they are at once in love with each other ;
— the blacksmith, at the same time, having decided, with
the aid of his wife, to cómpel her to marry a shoemaker,
to whom he had before promised her. Here, of course,
>» This is the Rufián of the oíd Spanish ^ It may be worth noticing, that both
dramas and stdries, — parcel rowdj/^ parcel the " Armelina *' and the " Eufemia " opeo
bnlly, and whoUy knave •, — a different per- with scenes of calling up a lazy young man
aooage from the Rujian of recent times, from bed, in the early moming, much like
who is the eider Alcahuete or pander. the first in the "• Nubes " of Aristt^hanes.
n. 6
50
4
mPE DE EtTEDA*
(Pebiod U.
come troubles and canfuslon. The jonn^ ladj undertakea
to cut tbem ©hort, at ouce^ bj símply drowniDg lieraelf,
but is prevented by Neptune, %irba quietly carnes licr down
to biB abo des iinder the roots of tlie océan, and bring^s her
back at the right moment to sol ve al I the diffif^iiUioa^ e^c-
plaiij the relationehipB, and end ibe whole with a wedding
and a dance. This is, no doubt, verj wild and extrava-
gante eBpecíallj in the part containing the iíjcaníation ^
and in the part plajcd by Neptunc ; bnt, after all, the ^|
dialogne \s pleasant and easj, and the style natural and
spirited,
The two Pastoral Colloquiea diíTer from the four Come- H
dias, partly in baviug cvon leas carcfuily constnictod ™
Piíatemí Gol- pl^ts, and partly in aífecting, through the ir more
loqaies. bucoHc portions, a etately and pedaniic air, which
IB anything bnt agreeable, They belong, howeYer, sub-
Btantially to the samo clasa of dramas, and received a
diflerent ñame, perbapa, only from the circumstance that ^
a pastoral tone was alway s popular in Spanish poetry, and ^M
that, from the time of Enzína, it had been considered
peculiarly fitted for public exhibí tion- The comic parta
of the Colloquies are the onlj^ portiona of thcrn that ha ve
merit ; and the folio wing passage fi-om that of '* Timbria " *
ia aa eharacteristic of Lope de Rué da' a light and natural
manner as anything, perhaps, that can be selected from h
what we bave of his dramas. It ia a disciieeion betweeu |
Leño, the shrewd fool of the pícce, and Troicoj^ in which
Leño ingeniously contrivea to get rid of all blame for hav-
ing eaten np a nicc cake which Timbria, the lady in love
with TroicOj had sent to hitn by the faíthleaa glutton.
Leño. Áh, Troico, a.t& yóu tbere ?
Troteo* Yw, my good feUoWj don't júu m& I lun í
Leño. It would lio better if I dld not éee it.
Troico, Why^soj Lono?
£fl«!). Wliy, then jQu would not tnow a pm© of iU-lti<jk tliflt has ju
ha.ppened,
Troi€o, What ilWuok ?
Lena. What day is ít fco-cíaj f
TfQÍc0, Tbtn^&y,
Okap. Vn.} LOPE DE RUEDA. 61
Leño. Thnrsday T flow soon will Tuesday come, then ?
Troico. Tuesday is passed two days ago.
Leño, Well, that 's sometbing ; — but tell me, are there not other days
of ill-luck as well as Tuesdays? ^
Troico, What do you ask that for ?
Leño, I ask, because there may be unlucky pancakes, if these are
unlucky Thursdays.
Troico, I suppose so.
Leño, Now, stop there ; — suppose one of yours had been eaten of a
Thursday ; on whom would the ill-luck haye &.llen? — on the pancake, or
on you ?
Troico, No dóubt, on me.
Leño. Then, my good Troico, comfort yourself, and begin to suflFer and
be patient ; for men, as the saying is, are bom to misfortunes, and these
are matters, in fine, that come from God ; and in the order of time you
must die yourself, and, as the saying is, yourlast hour will then be come
and arriyed. Take it, then, patiently, and remember that we are here
to-morrow and gone to-day.
Troteo, For heayen's sskke. Leño, is anybodyin the &milydead? Or
dse why do you consolé me so ?
Leño, Would to heayen that were aH, Troico !
Troico. Then what is it ? Can't you tell me without so many circum-
locutions ? What is all this preamble about?
Leño. When my poor mother died, he that brought me the news,
befbre he told me of it, dragged me round through more tum-abouts
than there are windings in the Pisuerga and Zapardiel.'^
Troico. But I haye got no mother, and neyer knew one. I don't
con^rehend what you mean.
Leño, Then smell of this napkin.
Troico, Very well, I haye smelt of it.
Leño, What does it smell of ?
Troico, Sometbing like butter.
Leño. Then you may tnily say, " Here Troy was,**
Troico, What do you mean. Leño ?
Leño. For you it was giyen to me ; for you Madam Timbria sent it,
all stuck OYer witíi nuts ; — but, as I haye (and Heayen and eyerybody
else knows it) a sort of natural relationship for whateyer is good, my
eyes watched and followed her just as a hawk foUows chickens.
Troico. FolloTi:ed whom, yillain ? Timbria ?
Leño. Heayen forbid ! But how nicely she sent it, all made up with
butter and sugar !
Troico, And what was that?
^ This supereütion about Tuesday as an n. Comediaa, Madrid, 1615, 4to, Tcmi. VI. f.
nalnckjr day is not unfrequent in the (dd 118> a.
Spaniflh drama: MRiyers in the north of Spain, often
Está escrito, mentioned in Spanish poctry, especially
El BfaitM ea dia adago. the flrst of them.
Lope de Vega, Xa Cuerdo en an Caaa, Acto
LOPE DE RUEDA,
[FkhiüD IL
L€no, The pnncake, to be sure, — don** jou tmderataad t
Trúico. Áiid wlio seut. !* pancAke to im 7
LeiíQ. Whj, IVladam Timbria,
Troica. Then whiit bcoame üf it 7
LenQ, It was consumed,
Troico. How I
iejiP. Bj looking at it.
Troica, Wko looked at j t ?
Xena. I^ lij ill-luck.
Troico. hx whiLt fasliion T
Lííiíj. Why» 1 mi dowü by the iray-sideu
Troico. Well, what injict Tf
Leño, I took it m tnjhanil
Troico. Ajid theu T
£f Ni). Thcíti I tried how it tiiated ; and whíit between taMng aud leav
iüg all aj-oimd the edj^tja of it» wheo I tried tq think what had beuome of
it I fuimd I had no sort of reoollectioa.
TrQÍco, The upahot Í8 that you ate it T
Lino. It is not impasible,
Troico, In faltb, you are a trtiaty Mlow 1
JLeíííJ. Indtsed ! do jou tbínk »o T Hereaffcer, if I bring tw(», I wiU
eat theio botb, aud ao be better yet*
Troico. The biisinega goes on weü,
Í#£^n'a And well advised, aad át amall coatj, and to mj coütñut. But
&0W, gg to ; suppose we have a little joat with Binbria^
Troica, Oí Tvliat eort?
¿^710. Suppose JOU make lier believe jou ate tlie pancake jaurself,
and, wheQ íslie thinka it ia trae, jou and I ean laugh at thú triuk till jou
Bplit your mam. Can yon a^k for anythiQg better ?
Troico. You coiuagel wülL
Leño. Well, Hmven hiena tbo tnen that lUten to reason ! But t4*U me,
Trííico, do you think yau can carry out the jest with a graye fiíce T
Troteo. I If What bave I to laugh aboat?
L€7io. Whj» don^t yon thmk it Ib a laughing matter to make her be-
lieve you ate it, whtsn all the time it was yovir own good Leño that did it
Troico^ Wiee^ Baid. But now hold your tongue, and go about your
fcusineaa.^
9& 2>Pi, Ah, Trofeo I «itU an 1
TVa, lil, hEimaito : ttl Ud Ia va$ 1
LiSL, Mu TftUflni iiUD nv^
Xen. Poique pú tfu[i|fiT*« aüAdo^nicJa,
liB tnDedldo hurto ikxü} Ul.
Tro. Y que hM ilda 1» de4g»elt f
¿«Hh Quü « boy ?
Lcn. Ju«vei» ? Qii«itO te MXnk p«mMr
dn* dcaffnclailUT pne» liAjr JiieTe« dnfgrA-
JCiCii. Macha «t tta ! Mai lUme, «uele
Tro, Fof^ut lo eUcwi f
Tro. Ck<í ítie ií I
que X^Ft. Y vcti i£á : ij te 1i liabLeKii comido 4
ti uqa en Jiif r«f, en quimil UubdB caldo la dci-
greciii, f ■■ la hi^júl^^rf iJpn tí ?
Tro. Nd hay dudd lina 4uu en mf.
£en> Pncii hermiina Troieo, a«:on£irtooi, j
OOnamnd A iurrir^ y itr itiel^iiite^que pur Va
hooibfvi (crmiú dic^n) iurleii mnVt ki deigr«r
du, r evUu ion cóa^ de DIúm itrCL fln, y büTibEen
hj,bar Mgun firde;:! de lot dii» o* podrivdei tq» taorii',
7 (como dicen) jv neriil rccom^lidi J lUefida
chap. vn.i
LOPE DE RUEDA.
53
Ten Pasos.
The ten Pasos are much like this dialogue, — short and
lively, without plot or results, and merely intended to
amuse an idle audience for a fewmoments. Two
of them are on glutton tricks, like that practised
by Leño ; others are between thieves and cowards ; and
all are drawn from common life, and written with spirit.
It is very possible that some of them were taken out of
largor and more formal dramatft compositions, wbicb it
was not thought worth while to print en tire.*
The two dialogues in verse are curious, as the only
specimens of Lope de Kueda's poetry that arenowextant,
except some songs, and a fragment preserved by Cer-
vantes.'^ One is called " Proofs of Love/' and is a sort
U hora postrimera, rescebildo con paciencia, j
acordaos que mafiana somos y hoy no.
Tro. Yálame Dios, Leño 1 Es muerto alguno
en casa ? O como me consuelas ansí ?
Len. Qialá, Troico I
Tro. Pues que fué ? No lo dirás sin tantos
dicunloquios ? Para que es tanto preámbulo ?
Len. Quando mi madre murió, para decír-
melo él que me llev6 la nueva me tr^)6 mas
rodeos que tiene bueltas Pisuerga ó Zapardiel.
Tro. Pues yo no tengo madre, ni la conoecí,
lü te entiendo.
Len. Huele ese pafiizuelo.
Tro. Tbien? TaestáoUdo.
Len. A que huele ?
Tro. A cosa de manteca.
Len. Pues bien puedes decir, aquí ftaé
Troya.
Tro. Como, Leño?
Len. Para ti me la hablan dado, pora ti la
cmbiaba rebestida de pifiones la Señora Tim-
bria; pero como yo soy (y lo sabe Dios y todo el
mundo) allegado á lo bueno, en viéndola as!,
■e me vinieron los ojos tras ella como milano
tras de pollera.
Tro. Tras quien, tnüdor ? tras Timbria ?
Len. Que no, vilame Dios I Que empapada
h embiaba de manteca y azúcar I
Tro. La que ?
Len. La hojaldre t no lo entiendes ?
Tro. T quien me la embiaba ?
Len. La Sefiora Timbria.
Tro. Pues que la heciste ?
Ltn. Consumióse.
Tro. De que ?
Len. Decgo.
Tro. Quien la oje6 ?
Len. To mal punto I
Tro. De que manera?
Len. Ásenteme en el camino.
Tro. T que mas ?
Len. Tómela en la mano.
Tro. T luego?
Len. Prové á que sabia, y como por nna
Tanda yjwr otra estaba de dar y tomar, quando
por ella acordé, ya no habla memwia.
Tro. En fin, te la comiste ?
n. 6»
Len. Podriaser.
Tro. Por cierto, que eres hombre de buen
recado.
Len. A fe ? que te parezco ? De aquí ade-
lante si trugere dos, me las comeré juntas, pora
hacello me¡jor.
Tro. Bueno va el negocio.
Len. Y bien regido, y con poca costa, y i mi
contento. Mas ven acá, A quies que riamos un
rato con Timbria ?
Tro. De que suerte ?
Len. Puedes le hacer en creyente, que la co-
miste tu, y como ella piense que es verdad, po-
dremos después tu y yo reir acá de la burla ;
que rebentarás riyendo I Que mas quies ?
Tro. Bien me aconsejas.
Len. Agora bien ; Dios bendiga los hombres
acogidos á razón ! Pero dime, Troico, sabrás
disimular con ella sin reírte ?
Tro. To ? de que me habia de reir ?
Len. No te paresce, que es manera de reir,
hacelle en creyente, que tu te la comiste, ha-
biéndosela comido tu amigo Leño ?
Tro. Dices sabiamente ; mas calla, vete en
buen hora.
(Las Quatro Comedias, ete., de Lope de
Bueda, SevUla, 1576, 8vo.)
9B This I infer from the fact that, at the
end of the edition of the Comedias and
Coloquios, 1576, there is a " Tabla de los
pasos graciosos que se pueden sacar de las
presentes Comedias y Coloquios y poner en
otras obras.*' Indved, pa»o meant a paa-
Boge. Pasos were, however, undoubtedly
sometimes written as sepárate works by
Lope de Bueda, and were not called entre-
meses till Timoneda gave them the ñame.
StiU, they may have been earlier used as
Buch, or as introductions to the longer
dramas.
^ There is a Glosa printed at the end of
the Comedias } but it is not of much valué.
64
LOPE DE EUEDA.
[Periúií n«
of pastoral discuBsion between two aheplierdñ, on the
qucstioii which was most favoredi the onú who liad re-
Two íiía^ ceíved a fiiiger-r¡n¿^ as a presen t, or the one who
*»K™^*- had received aa ear-niig. It ia written in easy
and flowitig qimdülaSf aud is not longer thau otie of the
slight dialoguen in pcüae, The other is called '' A Dia-
logue 011 the Bree ches now in Fashion,'^ aud is in the
eaine easy meaaure, butixas more of its author's peculiar
spirit and maTiner. It ia between two lackeySi and begins
thuB abruptly :
PEralia. Mastcr Fuentes, líhat 'a the ehange, I pray,
I notice 111 yüur hosiery and shape?
Yüu seem m very swolien fta you waJk,
FtitnUí. Sír, *tÍ3 the breechea íkühion dow prestí ribes.
Peralta. I tliouglit it was aü uiider-petticoat.
.F\*eft¿e<. I 'm not aahameci of what I líave put oUé
Why muat I wti^ir my bi-eeúliea mude like youra ?
Güüd friendo your üwn iire wliolly out of vogue.
Peralta, But what u-tc yours ao lijved and stuffed wítüal,
Thíit thiia thty seem aü very ümuotli ana tight 7
Fuentet. Oí tliat we *U say but Uttlü* Au oíd maiitle.
And a cloak still older aud more spoiled,
Do Taujly atmggle franí uiy hoae t* escape,
PiTolia, To my miud tbey were usísI to better ends
If sewed up fur u horas* a blúukct, £¿r,
Jñuníef. But üthera stulF iu plfiity of cleao straw
And rushea to make out a ahitpely form
Peralta. Proving that tbey are more or less akiii
Tú beastg uf burden,
Fitiñtes, ' But thcy wear, at least,
Saísb gaUa.ut hosiery tbat thinga of taste
May weU be added to fit out their dreas^
PÉralta, No dúnbt the man that drui^seB tíius ui Btraw
May taatefuUy put ou n Baddle too,^
liU *^ Btthm tU Argüí," üaut the esd,
SBj^sr. Sú flor Fut^ii lei^ I) 111! m [iftBitiiB
£I»l>ei« bccluj en eL c«lijuli>.
Con nHt niiikb tmi «buUiidQ ?
#^jrt. Huflur, líaUii é \% Uinniiw,
PiíRi jífi á" vÜMM no me cono.
Mu qtu ki bi'chii.lii de ■J4>nTii,
Qqe «un H puftn tiui tif-wu f
Jüml, O^ en (km» s bu nyo tI^
J^wuf.
per.
JVír.
Y lodft mía ruin eapflr
Que á c4Ftit cflixft no e<c4]u..
HrchifKn uno fnnddjiíinB.
, Y AUD otitM rnBfidon pmtw
Copia dj? ihJii y «■{Mirto,
Pi>ri]u« le» iibuHeq hiirtn»
Df botÍEía tjuLzi Klg^on qncrtOi
, rcmilrapií [j(iJilr|tih.^r nlhi^lt
Qu ten vft ve^tidn de [uyn
Dü hAcenc ftlgutu «Ibiirdft.
Ghap. VIL] LOPE DE BUEDA. 55
In all the forms of tbe drama attempted by Lope de
Rueda, the main purpose is evidently to amuse a popular
audience. But, to do this, his theatrical re- iheatrein
sources were very small and humble. " In tbe ^J^J^
time of tbis celebrated Spaniard," says Cervantes, **°»®-
recalling tbe gay season of bis own youtb,® " tbe wbole
apparatus of a manager was contained in a large sack, and
consisted of four wbite sbepberd's jackets, turned up witb
leatber, gilt and stamped ; four beards and false sets of
banging locks ; and four sbepberd's crooks, more or less.
Tbe plays were colloquies, like eclogues, between two or
tbree sbepberds and a sbepberdess, fitted up and extended
witb two or tbree interludes, wbose personages were
sometimos a negress, sometimos a buUy, sometimos a
fool, and sometimos a Biscayan ; — for all tbese four parts,
and many otbers, Lope bimself performed witb tbe great-
est excellence and skill tbat can be imagined Tbe
tbeatre was composed of four benebes, arranged in a
square, witb five or six boards laid across tbem, tbat were
tbus raised about four palms from tbe ground Tbe
fumiture of tbe tbeatre was an oíd blanket drawn asido
by two cords, making wbat tbey cali tbe tiring-room,
bebind wbicb were tbe musicians, wbo sang oíd ballads
witbout a guitar/'
Tbe place wbere tbis rude tbeatre was set up was a
public square, and tbe performances occurred wbenever
an audience could be collected ; apparently botb forenoon
and aftemoon, for, at tbe end of one of bis plays, Lope
de Rueda invites bis *' bearers only to eat tbeir dinner and
retum to tbe square,'^ ®^ and witness anotber.
líis four longer dramas bave some resemblance to por-
I do not know that thiB dialogue is that alarmed Philip n. ; — " caligis, quss
prioted anyvhere . but at tlie eod of the amplissimaB de more gentis in usu sunt."
edition of the Comedias, 1676. It refere They were forbidden by a royal ordinance
evidently to the broad-bottomed stufléd in 1623. See D. Quixote (Parte II. c. 50),
hose, then coming into fáshion ; such as with two amusing stories told in the notes
the daughter of Sancho, in her vanity, of Pellicer and Thuani Historiarum, Lib.
when she heard her fiather vas govemor of XLI., at the beginníng.
Barrataria, wanted to see him wear ; and ^ Comedias, Prólogo,
■ach as Don Carlos, according to the ac- ^ " Auditores, no hagáis sino comer, y
oount of Thuanus, wore, when he used to dad la vuelta ¿ la plaza."
bidé in their strange recesses the pistols
56 TllEÁTEE IN THE TIME OF LOPE BE RUEDA, [Pkbido IT
da*a ilTBioaM.
tions of the earlier Englmh comed j, wbich, at precíselj
the sanie pcriod, waB bc^inning to show itsclf in pieces
eucli as *' Ralph. Royster Doystcr/' and ^^Gam-
mer Gurton'S Keedle/' Thüy are di\idcd into
what are called aceneB, — the ahurtest ol' them
coDsistiiig' of ñiXf anú the longest of ten ; bnt in thee^
Bcetie^ the place sometimea cbaugeSi and the per&ons often,
— a circumBtance of little conaequeiice, where the whole
arrangemcnts implied no real attempt at scenic illneion:''^
Hnch of the succesa of ali depended on ihe part played by
the fools, ot dmples¡ wliOj in most of his dramas, aro im-
portaut persünages, almoat coustantly on the atage ; ^
while Bomething Í8 dont^ by mistalíes in hvnguage, arising
from vulgar ignorance or Irom foreign dialccts, like tliotse
of negroes and Moorá. Eiich piece opene with a brief
explanatory prologue, and ends with a word of jest and
apulogy to the audience. Naturalneas of tbought, the
most easy, idiomatic, purely Castilian turna of expreesion,
a good-hQmoredi free gayety, a strong sen se of tho ridic-
■uloua, and a happy imitation of the raanners and tone of
common iife, are the proininent characteristics of these,
as they are of all the rest of hia shorter eñbrts. lie wae,
therefore^ on the riglit road^ and was, in con sequen ce,
afterwarda justly reckoned^ both by Cervantes and Lope
de Vega, to be the true fonnder of the popular national
theatre.^
The earliest foUower of Lope de Rueda was his friend
Juan fle Ti- «-ud edttor, Juan de Timoneda, a bookseiler of
müDísda. Valencia, who certainly flouriahed dmirig the
middle and latter part of tbc sixteentb century, and
probably died in estreme oíd age, soou afler the year
■^ Iq Um flflfL BACñna fif ¿he " Eofem^"
Úm ptu» obaDgeft, whea VaLLano comes in.
iDdfíed, it te evldetit tlmt Lope de Kueda
did íuaí kmiw tbo meaniug oí the ^drd
icenc, or «lid not liciipl^jy \i Hrlifht.
33 The flret tniocs of theso simple»^ whó
wtr« urf^rwiirtls pximni^cd luto Ütó ifra-
&í] Tícente.
" Cervauteii In, Uio PrAlogo alnsady clted|
ttíüñ bim " el ífran Lope de AufadA,^^ aiid,
wliea d^peokinf pf the ipftntBlí CüiDediiiif
treutij him os " el prnoerq que eo £f pana
laa ^noú de inantlUjiii j Lu pixEo en toldó y
TÍEiH6 de gaia j apariencia." Thii wm in
1&1& \ und Cffrvuntea ftpake frtmi hia own.
knoffk'dgti and mcmary^ Id lñ2G^ Id the
Frólogu tü the thirt«'ctiUi YohiRie uf hU
Comcdiftt (Maílrld, 4ío)^ Lope de Tegü
Süyí, "láiA coumllik^i Wi eraD moa anti-
g-uiií* que Ruedo, ü quleu ojfertju muclioa^
que hüj^ viveti*'*
I
I
Chap. Vn.l JUAN DE TIMONBDA. 6Í
1697.** His thirteen or fourteen pieces that were prínted
pass under various ñames, and have a considerable variety
in their character ; the most popular in their tone being the
best. Four are called "Pasos/^ and four "Farsas/^ — all
mnch alike. Two are called " Comedias/' one of which,
the " Aurelia/' written in short verses, is divided into five
jomadas, and has an introito, after the manner of Naharro ;
while the other, the " Cornelia,'' is merely divided into
seven scenes, and written in prose, after the manner of
Lope de Rueda. Besides these, we have what, in the
present sense of the word, is for the first time called
an " Entremés ; " a Tragicomedia, which is a mixture of
mythology and modem history ; a religious Auto, on the
Bubject of the Lost Sheep ; and a translation, or rather an
imitation, of the " Mensechmi " of Plautus. In all of them,
however, he seems to have relied for success on a spirited,
farcical dialogue, like that of Lope de Eueda ; and all
were, no doubt, written to be acted in the public squares,
to which, more than once, they make allusion.^
The " Cornelia," first printed in 1669, is somewhat con-
fused in its story. We have in it a young lady, taken,
when a child, by the Moors, and returned, when _ ^
' J, . , - ' , « , « . , The Cornelia.
grown up, to the neighborhood of her friends,
without knowing who she is ; a foolish fellow, deceived
by his wife, and yet not without shrewdness enough to
make much merriment ; and Pasquin, partly a quack doc-
tor, partly a magician, and wholly a rogue ; who, with
five or six other ch^iracters, make rather a superabundance
of materials for so short a drama. Some of the dialogues
are full of life ; and the development of two or three of
the characters is good, especially that of Comalia, the
clown ; but the most prominent personage, perhaps, —
the magician, — is taken, in a considerable degree, from
the " Negromante " of Ariosto, which was represented
at Ferrara about thirty years earlier, and proves that
>• Ximeno, Escritores de Valencia, Tom. " in this house which you see," he adds,
I. p. 72, and Foster, Biblioteca Valenciana, pointing the spectators picturesquely, and
Tom. L p. 161. no doubt with comic effect, to some house
» In the Prologue to the Cornelia, one of they could all see. A similar jest about
the speakers says that one of the principal another of the personages is repeated a lit-
personages of the pieoe Uves in Valencia, tle further on.
S8
JtÁS DI TIÜOírEDA.
tPmc^DlL
Timoneda bad 9ome ocholaraliip, if not alwajs a readj
inrention *
The ** llenen nofi/* poblislied in the eame year with the
Cornelia, la farther proof of his leaming. It is in prose,
Hm Ueuea- ^^^ takeo frotii PlautuB ; but with large changues,
*** The plot íb laid in Seville ; the plaj is divided
into fourteen scenes, after the example of Lope de Euedaj
and the manners are altogether Spanish. There is everi a
talK of Lazañllü de Tórmee» when típeaking of an utiprin-
cipled joiing serFant.^ But it showá frequeotly the same
free and natural díalog-ue, fresh from common life, ttiat i a
fouQd in his master's dramas ; and it can l>e read with
pleasure througbout, as an anmsing rifacimenio,^
The Paso, however, of '• The BÜnd lieggars and the
Boy ■ * is, like the other síiort picces^ more characteristic
of the autlior atid of the little schuol to which
hü belonged< It is written in short, fatiuliar
TerseSi and opens with ati address to the audicnce by
Palillos, the boj, asking for employment, and eetting
forth his own good qüalities, which he illustrates by
showiiig how ingenio iisly he had robbed a blind beggar
who had been his rn áster. At this instant, Martin Alvar
rez, the blínd beggar ia question, approaches on one side
of a square where the scene passes, chauting bis prayera,
as is stili the wont of such persona in the streets of Span-
ieh citiea ; whíle on the other side of the same equare
approaches an other of the same class^ called Pero Gómez,
siüiilarly employed. Both ofFer their prayers in exchange
for airas, and are particiibtrly earnest to obtain custom, as
it ig Christmas eve, Martin Alvares begins ;
TV liiLt pious Chrístian here
Will bid me prfty
A bleaaod prayer.
Quite sifigulaj
And newj 1 Bivy,
In honor of our haáj ámr!
I *> " Oon privilegio. Oomodta llomada LaaiuillD de Túnneg, e) que taro tiTMÍi
• jQltBdlA, nuisvameuUi c«)tniniefft4, por Jui&n j ciricuenU. amiKa."
dtt Ttmunedii. £s muy «íutld», gmclos^ ^ " Cüil priHlcglo. Ia Cniiu'4lii tJe lot
j v^mi^aáA, km l^&.** Etú. Meii^nnos, tmílDEldiL por Jasa
*^ It 1^ Id the twHftU ficftie, *^ £f el otas y p^t^atBk cd f meloso eitllo j ***gn**'p^'
Hgudo Tvp^ úvl miuukk, j na henüauo de ti*iici^» Año Ifrfit," Sro.
I
I
<^^. yn.] JUAN DE TIMONEBA. 59
On hearing the well-known voice, Palillos, the boy, is
alarmed, and, at fírst, talks of escaping ; but, recoUecting
that there is no need of this, as the.beggar is blind, he
merely stands stiU, and bis oíd master goes on :
O, bid me pray ! O, bid me pray ! —
The very night is holy time, —
O, bid me pray the blessed prayer,
The birth of Christ in rhyme !
But as nobody offers an alms, be breaks out again :
Good heavens ! the like was never known !
The thing is truly fearfol grown ;
For I have cried,
.Till my throat is dried,
At every comer on my way.
And not a soul heeds what I say !
The people, I begin to fear.
Are grown too careful of their gear,
For honest prayers to pay.
Tbe otber blind beggar, Pero Gómez, now comes up and
strikes in :
Who will ask for the blind man's prayer?
O, gentle souls that hear my word i
Give but an humble alms.
And I will sing the holy psalms
For which Pope Clement's bolls afford
Indolgence full, indulgence rare,
And add, besides, the blessed prayer
For the birth of onr blessed Lord.^
The two blind men, hearing each other, enter into conver-
sation, and, believing themselves to be alone, Alvarez
» DerofaM criftiaiKM, quien Es la gente tan estrecha,
• Bfaada rezar Que no cuida de oraciones.
Una oración singular
Nueva de nuestra Sefiora ? Quien manda sus devociones,
Noble gente,
Blandadme rezar, pues que es Que rece devotamente
Noche santa, Loa salmos de penitencia.
La oración según se canta Poi;los cuales indulgencia
Del nacimiento de Cristo. Otorgó el Papa Clemente ?
Jesús ! nunca tal he visto.
Cosa es esta que me espanta : La oración del nacimiento
Beca tengo la garganta ©e Christo.
De pregones L. F. Moratin, Obras, Madrid, 1830, 8vo, Tom.
Que voy dando por cantone», Lp. 648.
Y nada no me aprovecha :
60 JUAN DE TIMONEDA. IPbeiod H.
relates how he had been robbed by his unpríncipled attend-
ant, aud Gómez explains how he avoids such misfortunes
by always carrying the ducats he begs sewed into his cap.
Palillos, leaming this, and not well pleased with the char-
acter he has júst received, comes very quietly up to
Gómez, knocks off his cap, and escapes with it. Gómez
thiuks it is his blind friend who has played him the trick,
and asks civilly to have his cap back again. The friend
denies, of course, all knowledge of it ; Gómez insists ;
and the dialogue ends, as others of its class do, with a
quarrel and a fight, to the great amusement, no doubt,
of audiences such as were collected in the public squares
of Valencia or Seville.**
^ This Paso — trae to the manners of the gar, and is advertising himself by his chant,
times, as we can see firom a similar scene in just as the beggar in Timoneda does :
the " Diablo Cojuelo," Tranco VI. — is re- ^he prayer of the >ecret «onl I know,
printed by L. F. Moratin (Obras, Svo, Mad- That of Paneras the bleaaed of oíd ;
rid, 1830, Tom. I. Parte II. p. 644), who The prayer of Acacia» and Quircej
gives (Parte I. Catálogo, Nos. 95, 96, 106- One for chilblains, that come from the oold«
118) the best account of all the works of ?"$ for jaundice that yeUow. the akin.
«», j m^ .. 1... . . . . And for scrofula working within.
Timoneda. The habit of singing popular
poetry of all kinds in the streets has been ^® ^^^ "* ^^ original are not consecu-
common, from the days of the Archpriest *i^» ^^^ '**o^ ^ ^*^® selected are as fol-
Hita (Copla 1488) toourown times. I have lo'^»:
often listened to it, and possess many of the ^ '» *•* anima lola.
ballads and other verses still paid for by an 7 "^ V® ^.^"»*^'*«^«»
1 ^L , X,.. T» -«, ^ lía de San Qairce y Acacio,
alms, as they were in this Paso of Thnoneda. g^ ^ ¿e loa Mbañonei.
In one of the plays of Cervantes, — that La de curar la tericia
(tf "Pedro de Urdemalas," — the hero is Y resolver lamparonea.
introduced enacüng the part of a blind beg- Comedias, Madrid, 1015, 4to, 1 207.
CHAPTER VIII.
THEATBB. — FOLLOWERS OF LOPE DE RUEDA. — ALONSO DE LA VEGA.
CI8NER0S. SEVILLE. — ICALARA. CUEVA. ZEPEDA. VALENCIA.
VIRUES. TRANSLATIONS AND IMITATIONS OP THE ANCIENT CLAS-
8IGAL DRAMA. VILLALOBOS. OLIVA. ROSCAN. ABRIL. BER-
MUDEZ. — AROENSOLA. STATE OF THE THEATRE.
Two of the persona attached to Lope de Eueda's com-
pany were, like himself, authors as well as actors. One
of them, Alonso de la Vega, died at Valencia as Alonso de la
early as 1666, in which year three of his dramas, íf^go^cls-
all in prose, and one of them directly imitated from *»ero8.
his master, were ptiblished by Timoneda.^ The other,
Alonso Cisneros, lived as late as 15*í9, but it does not seem
certain that any dramatic work of his now exists.^ Neither
of them was equal to Lope de Kueda or Juan de Timoneda ;
but the four taken together produced an impression on the
theatrical taste of their times which was never afterwards
wholly forgotten or lost, — a fact of which the shorter
dramatic compositions that have been favoritos on the
Spanish stage ever since give decisive proof.
But dramatic representations in Spain between 1560 and
1590 were by no means confined to what was done by
Lope de Kueda, his friends, and his strolling company of
actors. Other efforts were made in various places, and
upon other principies ; sometimos with more success than
theirs, sometimos with less. In Seville, a good deal seems
to have been done. It is probable the plays of j^an^e
Malara or Mal Lara, a nativo of that city, were balara,
represented there during this períod ; but they are now all
1 C.Pellicer, Origen de la Comedia, Tom. * C. Pellicer, Origen, Tom. I. p. 116 ;
I. p. 111 -, Tom. II. p. 18 ; with L. F. Mora- Tom. II. p. 30.
tin. Obrajes Tom. I. Parte II. p. 638. and hia
Catálogo, NoB. 100, 104, and 105. »
n. 6 (61)
62 JUAN DB LA CUEVA. [PebiodIL
lost.* Those of Jaan de la Cueva, on the contrary, have
been partly preserred, and merít notice for many reasons,
Joan de ^^* especially becaase most of them are historical.
la Coeva. They were represented — at least, the few that
still remain — In 15*19, and the years immediately subse-
qaent ; but were not printed till 1688, and then only a
single Tolame appeared/ Each of them is divided into
four jomadas, or acts, and they are written in various
measures, inclading (erza rima, blank verse, and sonnets,
but chiefly in redondillas and octave stanzas. Several are
on national subjects, like " The Children of Lara," " Ber-
nardo del Carpió," and "The Siege of Zamora; " others
are on subjects from ancient history, such as Ajax, Vir-
ginia, and Mutius Scaevola ; some are on fíctitious stories,
like **The Oíd Man in Love," and " The Decapitated,"
which last is founded on a Moorish adventure ; and
one, at least, is on a great event of times then recent,
"The Sack of Rome" by the Constable Bourbon. All,
however, are crude in their structure, and unequal in their
execution. The Sack of Rome, for instance, is merely a
succession of dialogues thrown together in the loosest
manner, to set forth the progress of the Imperial arms,
from the siege of Rome in May, 152'7, to the coronation
of Charles the Fifth at Bologna, in February, 1530 ; and
though the picture of the outrages at Rome is not without
an air of truth, there is little truth in other respects ; the
Spaniards being made to carry off all the glory.*
" El Infamador," or The Calumniator, sets forth, in a
different tone, the story of a young lady who refuses the
» Nayarrete, Vida de Cervantes, p. 410. N. S." etc. (SeviUa, 1670, 18mo, ff. 181) ; —
Mal Lara will be noticed hereafter (Period a carióos litUe volume, sometimes amusing
II.Chap. XXXIX.), but hereitmay be well from the hints it gives about PhUip II.,
tomentíonthattheyearbeforehisdeathhe Ferdinand Columbus, Lebríxa, etc.; but
pablisbed an aoooont of the reoeptioQ ot oAener from the general description of the
PhUip n. at Seville in Hay, 1670, when city or the particular accounts of the cere-
Phflip yiflited that clty after the war of the monies of the occasion, — all in choice Cas-
Moriscos. Mal Lara prepared tiie inscríp-
táons, LaUn and Spanish, used to ezplain ^ L. F. Moratin, Obras, Tom. I. Parte I.,
the multitudinous allegorical figures thai Catálogo, Nos. 132-139, 142-146, 147, and
consütuted a great part of the show on the 160. Martínez de la Rosa, Obras, Paris,
occasion, and printed them, and everything 1827, 12mo, Tom. II. pp. 167, etc:
else that could iUustrate the occasion, in his ^ ** El Saco de Roma *' is reprinted in
**Recivimiento que hizo la muy leal Ciu- Ochoa, Teatro Español, Paris. 1888, 8yo,
dad de Sevilla ¿ U C. R. M. d« Rey FeUpe Tom. I. p. 261.
Ohap. VUI.] HOMERO DE ZEPEDA. 63
•
love of a dissolute young man, and is, in consequence,
accused by him of murder and other crimes, and con^
demned to death, but is rescued by preternatu-
ral power, while her accuser suffers in her stead.
It is almost throughout a revolting picture ; the fathers of
the hero and heroine being each made to desire the death
of his own child, while the whole is rendered absurd by
the not unusual mixture of heathen mythology and mod-
ern manners. Of poetry, which is occasionally found in
Cueva's other dramas, there is in this play no trace,
though there are passages of comic spirit ; and so care-
lessly is it written, that there is no división of the acts
into scenes.* Indeed, it seems difficult to understand how
several of his twelve or fourteen dramas should have been
brought into practical shape and represented at all. It is
probable they were merely spoken as consecutivo dia-
logues, to bring out their respective stories, without any
attempt at theatrical illusion ; a conjecture which receives
confírmation from the fact that nearly all of them are
announced, on their titles, as having been represented in
the garden of a certain Doña Elvira at Seville/
The two plays of Joaquín Romero de Zepeda, of Bada-
joz, which were printed at Seville in 1582, are somewhat
different from those of Cueva. One, " The Meta- Romero de
morfosea,^' is in the nature of the oíd dramatic Cepeda,
pastorals, but is divided into three short jornadas, or acts.
It is a trial of wits and love, between three shepherds
and three shepherdesses, who are constantly at cross
purposes with each other, but are at last reconciled and
united ; — all except one shepherd, who had originally
refused to love anybody, and one shepherdess, Belisena,
who, after being cruel to one of her lovers, and slighted
by another, is finally rejected by the rejected of all. The
other play, called " La Comedia Salvage,'' is taken, in its
first two acts, from the well-known dramatic novel of
*"£lInfiunador*Msreprinted inOchoa, ^ One of the plays, not represented in
Tom. I. p. 264. The character of Leucino, the Huerta de Doña Elvira, is represented
^ thia "■ Comedia," is sometimes supposed ^* en el Corral de Don Joan," and another in
to have suggested that of Don Juan to Tirso the Atarazanas, — Arsenal, or Bopewalks.
de Molina ; but the resemblance, I think, None of them, .1 snppose, appeared on a
does not jostity the coi^ecture. public theatre.
64
OniSTÓTAL DE YIEUES.
tPERlOB ir.
" Celestma ; ' ■ the last act being filled with atrocities of
Zepeda's own mveütion. It obtaüís its name ñ'om ttie
S al V ages or wíld men, wbü figure m it^ as auch person*
ageB did in the oíd romances of cUivalry and the oíd Eng-
lish drama, miá is m straoge and rnde as itB title iniplieB.
Neitber of these piüces, however, can have done anythmg
of con sequen ce for the advancement of the drama at Se-
villo, though each contaius paesagea of flowiíig and apt
verse, and occasional tüms of thought that deserve to
be called gracefuL*^
During the same periodj there was at Valencia, as well
as at Sevilla, a poetical morement in which the drama
eharedj and in whicb, I tliink, Lope de Vega, an ex lie
in Yalencia for tjeveral years, about 1586, took part.
CriítévBi sis ^^ ^^J rate, hia friend Cristóval de Yü-nes, of
Tíruei. wborii lie oftea Hpeaks, and who was born thera
ín 1650^ was among thosc who thcn gave an impulse to
the theatrical tas te uf his native city* He el airas to have
Brst dlvided Spanish dramas into three jor nadas or acts,
and Lope de Vega assente to the claim ; but thcj were
both mistaken, for we now know that such a división waa
made by Francisco de AveiidañOj not latcr than 1553,
when Virues was but three years old.^
Only fivG of the plays of Virnea, all in verse, are extatit;
and these, though supposed to have been written as earlj
Ei§ priüted ^^ 1571í-l581^ weró not printed till 1609, when
playa. Lope de Vega had already gi%^eu its full develop-
ment and char actor to the popular theatre ; so that it is
Dot improbable some of the dramas of Yirues, as printed,
maj have been more or less altered and aecommodated to
4
É
^ Ttaese two plecea ore in " Obrad dfi ilW)imm_Wií| í^ Ia Cuera In hid " Exemplar
■JdaeliJm EomfifQ de Zepedm, Vezmo de Bb^ BiÉÉÍ4^^B«d»iiD, Puriisio Eapafiül, Tum.
Úa^m *^ (SeTÜTa, 1582, 4t4if ff. i:W &tul 118), f^Lp* Él):
utd. are rcprínted bj OohDCU Tbfí opeoibif
of ttaií accond jomwla at Uw Metíun^rfosea
may be clíni fer iti. plmmnt and gracaful
tone of poetry, -^ lyriíHü^ howtíver;, mthcr
tbiLD dfamaÜCf — aml Ita air of the olden
tíme. Another play fonüd by Scbuck m
MS. U dal4?il 1626, »nd LmplE^B that Zep«da
Tfñ& Umg B wríter fur the thentfc. (Nach-
íat$^ li54, p^ d^.) Othfir i^uthors líviJig
la JB^illfi at itboat th,u iabie penad ure
IjCM ScTiUaiiDt comicofl, <3q«TBfi^
El ingealoio Ortíz ; '—
who addi that tht^re wf^t strús mueAot,
maD/ mote \ — biit thej are an loaU Same^
of tliem, trom hta accouut, wrote In the
rnaauer ot Úi& aoclents } ana perhapi
Malara and Mc^l^ ure tbc peracsná ha
vaÍÉTi tú.
^ See L. F. Morntio, Catákígo, Nii< &1.
Cbap. ynL] CaRISTÓVAL DE VIRUBS. 65
the standard tben considered as settled by the genius
of his friend. Two of them, the " Cassandra'' and the
** Marcela," are on subjects apparently of the Valencian
poetas own invention, and are extremely wild and extrava-
gant ; in " El Átila Furioso '' above fifty persons come to
an untimely end, without reckoning the crew of a galley
who perísh in the flames for the diversión of the tyrant
and his folio wers ; and in the '* Semíramis/'^^ the subjectis
so handled that when Calderón used it again in his two
plays entitled " La Hija del Aire/' he could not help cast-
ing the cruel light of his own joetical genius on the
clumsy work óf his predecessor.* All four of them are
absurd.
The *' Elisa Dido '' is better, and may be regarded as
an effort to elévate the drama. It is divided into five
acts, and observes the unities, though Virues can
hardly have comprehended what was afterwards
considered as their technical meaning. Its plot, invented
by himself, and little connected with the stories found in
Virgil or the oíd Spanish chronicles, supposes the Queen
of Carthage to have died by her own hand for a faithful
attachment to the memory of Sichseus, and to avoid a
marríage with larbas. It has no división into sce*hes, and
each act is burdened with a chorus. In short, it is an
imitation of the ancient Greek masters ; and as some of
the lyrical portions, as well as parts of the dialogue, are
not unworthy the talent of the author of the *'Monser-
10 The ^^Semframls " was printed at Leip- Virues did, he would have found that it was
Kig íd 1858, but published in London by W it- the river " Is," or the city " Is " on its
liams and Norgate. Its editor, whose ñamé banks, both mentioned by Herodotus (Lib.
is not given, has in this rendered good ser- L c. 179), near which was the abundance
Tice to early Spanish Literature ; but if, of asphalt referred to by Virues, and so the
by his citation of Schack's authority in the passage would liave ceased to be " unin-
prefaoe, he desires to have it understood telligible'* to him; and if he had read
that that eminent critic concurs with him carefully the passage (Jom. III. r. 632, etc.)*
in regarding this wild play as a work of he would not have found " a line evidently
** extraordinary merit and valué," I think wanting." I rather think, too, that the
be can hardly have understood Schack's editor of the" Semiramis" is wrong iu sup-
critlclsra on it (Dramat. Lit., Vol. I. p. 296). posing (Preface, p. xi.) that Virues " got
Certainiy he had not seen the original and his learning at second hand *, " and that he
only edition of Virues, 1609 ; and, from the will flnd he was wrong, if he will turn to the
note at the end of his list of errata, he does passage in Herodotus flrom which the Span-
not appear always to comprehend the text ish poet seems to me to have taken his
he publisbes. For, if he had printed " is " description of Babylon.
rjom. IIL y. 690) with a capital letter, as
n. 6*
m
CLÁ9SI0AL DRAMA ATXÉMPOID.
ÍFeriod lí-
tate/^ it is, for the age in which it appearedi a remarkable
compíjsítion. But it lacke a good development of th©
characters, atí well aa lifc and poetical warnitb in the
actiou ] and beiug, in íact, an attempt to carry the Span-
ish drama in a direction exactly opposite to that of ita
destiny, it did Dot succeed.^
Such an attempt, how^ver^ was not iinlikely to be made
more tban oDce j and this %vas certainly na age favorable
- ., . . for it, The theatre of the ancients was now^
theciflssicaí knowH Ui SpaiTi. Tbü tranalations, already
noticed, of YiHaloboB in 1515, and of Oliva be-
fore 1530, had beeu fallo wed, ae early as 1540, by one
frora Eurípides by Boscan ; ^" in 1555, by two from Flau-
tuSj the work of an unknown author ;^^ and in 15*70-15*71,
by the '' Pliitua " of Áristophanes, the '' Medea^* of Eurip-
idea, and the eix comedieB of Terence, by Pedro Simón
de Abril/* The efl'orts of Timoneda in his *' Menennos^^
and of Virnes in bis " Elisa Dido " were among tbe con-
seqnences of this átate of tbings, and were eucceeded by
othere, two of which should be noticed,
The íirat is by Gerónimo BermiideK, a native of Galicia,
who is Bupposed to have been born about 1530, and to ha ve
Güfóiiimo 'In'ed as late as I5B9* He was a leamed Profeaaor
Beramíiei, ^f Th 6 ol O gy at Salamanca, and pnbliBhed, at
Madrid, in 1577, two dramas, which he aomewhat boldly
called " the first Spanish tragediea."-'^ They are both on
1^ In the ^dreeg to tha ** Dis^^i'eto Letor "
'pnñstitA til tbe ooly etlttlop of the ** Obni¿
ti«gic«A f liricaA del CapfEun Crtft<07ftl de
Vlnies» (tliRt Qf Bladrfd, 160», 12mo, ft.
ST8), w« ai% told thut he hiid bndeavt>l^i^d
fn the flrvt four tragad i e» ^'■iú múUs what
waá b«8t Ln anck^nt urt aod modem ims^
ioms 'j ** but Üi*t nklt>, he »f », " ra DBcrf ta
toda por el estilo de Gríegus i latióos con
culdMo y eatudlrt^" Se^j *lao^ h. F. Mo-
rattii, Cfttáíogo, Nos. 1*0, 141, 14tí, 14S,
li^ ", wlth MariineK de Itk Hoaa, Ohrai,
Tom. n. pp. IfiS-lGT^ Tho p\ny ot A.DÚvm
Roy de Artíedu^ on the " Li;)Vertt <if Terütíl,**
15B1, beLütigH to thÍ9 p€.'rlod and place.
Xlmenü, Tom, I. p. 203 ; Fuater^ Toca. I,
p. 213.
t? The tramUitioii «f Bofena CnffiL Eudp-
ides WUB tiever p^blii9hÉ^d, thoug^h it U fa-
cliided LQ thti (lemiifliion to print that
pnefi* worki, g^lveo by C hurles V, to Ba§-
caii'^s wiílow, Ift Peb., 1543, preflxed to tht;
flrflt etntian of his Works» which uppearEíd
that ytíar at HarceloTia. B^iftíiHLU d íed Ui 1 540.
í* L. F, MoraUa^CaíAlogo, Jim. Sfl 4nd 87 >
" Ptílltcei', Biblioteca de 'Traaw'ítoreB Ka-
paíioleg, lom. 11. 14ó, i^tc. Thfí tnioE^laÜEfiífl
früni TertfDDe by Abril, lí>77» iin\' ncfoin-
pauled by the Li^tlo tejct, and abould fuvm,
from the ** Pfi.ilo^ri,'^' lo h&vf litíe-u ninide ln
the hope that tU^y wimM dtníctly temí lo
refona the Bimnlah theatre j — iJtti'hiiiHi
Éíeu that thfy would be puüUüly uctt^tL
Yt-i 1T72) oontalQg buth the dramtis of
Bennadea, with iKitic^ of liU Ufu.
I
f
4
OiUP. Yin.] aERONIMO BERMUDEZ. 67
the subject of Inez de Castro ; both are in fíve acta, and
in various verse ; and both ]¡^ave choruses in the manner
of the ancients. But there is a great difference in their
respective merits. The first, " Nise Lastimosa/' or Inez to
be Compassionated, — Nise being a poor anagram of Inez,
— is hardly more than a skilful translation of the Portu-
guese tragedy or^Inez de Castro/' by Ferreira, which,
with considerable defects in its structure, is yet full of
tenderness and poetical beauty. The last, " Nise Lau-
reada/' or Inez Triumphant, takes up the tradition where
the first left it, after the violent and cruel death of the
príncess, and gives an account of the coronation of her
ghastly remains above twenty years after their interment,
and of the renewed marriage of the prince to them ; —
the closing scene exhibiting the executíon of her mur-
derers with a coarseness, both in the incidents and in the
languageu as revolting as can well be conceived. Neither
probably produced any perceptible effect on the Spanish
drama ; and yet the " Nise Lastimosa " contains passages
of no little poetical merit ; such as the beautiful chorus on
Love at the end of the first act, the dream of Inez in the
third, and the truly Greek dialogue between the princess
and the women of Coimbra ; for the last two of which,
however, Bermudez was directly indebted to Ferreira.^®
Three tragedies by Lupercio Leonardo de Argensola,
the accomplished lyric poet, who will hereafter be amply
noticed, produced a much more considerable sensation
when they first appeared, though they were soon after-
I think we have nothing else of Bennu- manner, and hia Gallego helped him in
de», exoept hia " Hesperodla,'* a pane- managing Ferreira's Portuguese. The two
gyric on the great Duke of Aira, written tragedies, it should be noted, were pub-
In 1589, after its author had trarelled much, lished onder the assomed ñame of Antonio
ashesaySfin France and AfHca. It is a de Silva j- perhaps because he was a
edd elegy, originaUy composed in Latín, Dominican monk. The volume (Madrid,
and not prínted till It appeared in Sedaño, Sánchez, 1577) is a mean one, and the
Parnaso (Tom.Vn., 1773, p. 149). Parts of type a poor sort of ItaUcs.
It are somewhat obscure •, and of the whole, " The " Castro " of Ferreira, one of the
translated into Spanish to please a friend most pare and beautiful compositions in
and thatfriend'swife, the author truly says the Portuguese language, is found in his
that it is not so Interestíng that they »» wiU »' Poemas »' (Lisboa, 1771, 12mo, Tom. I. pp.
kwesleepbyit.** Being a Galician, he hints, 123, etc.)- Its author died of the plague
in the Dedication of his ** Nise Lastimosa," at Lisbon, In 1669, only forty-one years
that Gastílian was not easy to him. I flnd, oíd.
howerer, no traces of awkwardness in liis
m
LÜPERCIO LEOXAÍLI>0 DE ARGENSOLA. [Pericia IL
wards as much neglected ae theír predeceBSore, He wrot©
them when he was bardij ipore thi*n twent j years oíd,
inpercio te^ ^"^ *^^y ^^^^ ucted about the year 1585» " Do
ATeüSüiL 3^^" ^"^^ remembcr," aays the canon in Don Quix'
ote, ** that, a few years ag-o, there were repre^
sen te d ín Spain three tragedles coniposed by a famoua poet
of these kitigdoms, which were eucli that they delighted
and astonmlied all who heard thtím ; the ignürant as well
as the jtidicious, the multitude as well as the few ; and
that these three alone broiight more profít to the actors
than the thirty best playa that ha ve be en written sioce ? "
— '* No donbt," replied the manager of the theatre, wiíh
whom the canon was conversing, " no doiibt you mean the
' Isabela/ the ' Philis/ and the * Alexaüdm/ ** ^^
This statemerit of Cervantes is certainly extraordinary,
and the more so from being put into the mouth of the
wi8e canon of Toledo. But, iiotwifchstandiiíg the flash of
imraediate success which it implies^ all trace of theae
playa was soon so completely lost thatj for a long pei-iod,
the ñame of the famous poet Cervantes had referred to
was not known^ and it was even suspected that he liad
iiitended to compüment hiinself At last» between 1*760
and ITTO, two of them — the " Ale3íandra '^ and *' Isa-
bela ^^ — were accidentally discoveredj and all donbt
ceased. They were fonnd to be the work of Lupercio
Leonardo de Argén sola. ^*
Bnt, nnhappilj, they quite faÜed to satisfy the expect-
ations that had heen excited by the good*natiired praíse
of Corvantes* They are in varions verse, fluent and puré ;
and were iii tended to be imitations of the Greek style of
tragcdy, called forth, perhapSi by the re cent attempts of
Bermude55. Each^ however^ is divided into three acts j
and the cUornses, oríginally prepared for them,
»' Don Quíjtííle, Piirte T. c. Añ.
1* They í(r*l Appeored in SedACio^fl " l*ar-
niuin EípsÍMit," Tom. VI., 1772. AU the
ncedAiJ ei^planiitioiiB about thtjín are íd.
fiedniiüf Murntin, miá Munmfx de \ii Kukei.
Tlie "PhilÍB"' hm «oí been fciuiifl. The
MS. i]rfia:!imla of üi^- twq puhUnheil pía ja
^estj la 11*S2t In tíut ArcíiLYea of ihs
I
I
are
*^ EáemeUa nm '* df íbÉ cltf of BnlbütrOi
íd Ara^oD) whtrc thvy w^m de^ptittted bj"
the h^ÍT of L. ]j?i>nnn:lo dü Aff^DSolA.
They i3jie «úld tü Cütitaiii ii Iwtler text tliaa
the MSS. used hy S^odanOf iinil onglit, tticm»
fun?, fi)r tlie hcmtir of thu bUthciri Ui be In-
iluírM íifler, StfbiLstlaii de Latn\ Ea^Ajo
Bdbreel Te^tfo £a|tsuiot, fallo, 1TT3, Frologq.
1
J
CfcUP. mu LITPIECIO LEONARDO DE ARGE^SOLA. 69
omitted. Tbe Ale^aiidra is the worse of the two. Ita
scene ie laid ín Egypt ; and the story; which ia fictitiouÉt,
13 fu 11 of Loathsome horrors. Every oue of ita ^|^^, j^^^j^^
persoiiages, except perhaps a mcssenger, per- *°^^^
ishes in tbe c#urse of the action ; chiUlren's heada are cut
ciflf aud thrown at their paronta on tlie stage ; and the
false queeu, after being iuvited to waah her banda in the
blood of tbe person to whom ahe was wuworthily attached,
bites off ber owu tongue, and apits it at her moijatroua
busband. Treasoii and rebellioQ form tbe líghta in a pie-
ture composed mainly of such atrocities.
Tbe Isabela ia better; but atiil ia not to be praised,
The atory rol atea to one of the early Mooritsh Kiugs of
SaraÉjüssa^ who exilea the Chriatiane from hie
kitigdom in a vain attempt to obtaiu poaaeaaion of
laaliela, a Christian maiden with whom he ia deaperately
in lave, but wbo ia heraelf already attached to a noble
Moor whom ehe baa converted^ and witli whom, at laet,
she suffera a triumpbant martyrdom. Tbe incidents are
numerous, and aometimea well imagiiied ; but no dramatic
akill íB ahown in their managcment and combination, and
there ia little easy or living dialogue to give them efíect.
Like the Alexandra^ it is fu 11 of horro rs. The niiie mogt
promiiient peraonagea it represe uta come to ao untimely
eiid, and the bodieg, or at leaat tbe heade, of most of them
aro exbihíted on the atage, though aome reluctance ia
shown, at the Gonclusion, ahout eonimittiíigaeupernumer-
nry suicide before the audience, Fame opena tbe piece
with a prologue, ín wbicb complainta are made of the
\üw Binítí of the theatre ; and the gboat of Isabela, who
iñ hardly dead, comes back at the end with an epilogue
Tery fíat and qnite needlesa.
VVith al I this, boweverj a few pasaagea of poetical elo-
quenco, rather than of absoluto poetry, are scattercd
throügh the km g and tedioua speechea of which the piece
ifi principally compoaed ; and once or twice there ia a
toufh of passíon truly tragic, as ¡n the diacussion between
Isabela and her family on the tbreatened exile and ruin
of their whole race, and in tbat between Adulce^ ber
lo ver, and Aja, tbe king'g sister, who dismtereetedly lo vea
w
BTATB OF THE THEATRH,
[Pekiob IL i
Adulce, notwithstandin^ she knows lite pa«sÍon for her
faír ChrÍBtian nvaL But a ti 11 it se oras incomprehermíble
how Buch a pie ce should ha ve produced tbe p4>pular dra- ^1
matic eñect attributed to it, uniesB we euppose that the ^|
Spaniarde had from the first a passioD for tlíeatrical exbi- ™
bitions^ which, down to this period, had been so imper-
fectly gratiJiodi that anything draraatic, produced undet^
favorable circumstancés, was nm after and admired,^^
The dramas of Arj^ensola, by their date, though not bj ]
their character and spírit, bring ue at once withiu the
period which opens with the groat and prevaletit namee
of Cervantes and Lope de Vega. They, therefore, mark
the extreme liinits of the historj of the earlj ^
Spaniah theatre ; and if we now look back and fl
consider its condition and charaetcr diiring^ the long period "
we have just gOTie over, we eball easily come to three
coiiclnsions of some consequencc.^ fl
The first is, that the attempts to forra and develop a ™
natío nal drama in Spaín liave been few and rare. Daring
the two centuríes followíng the first notice of
it^ about 1250, we can not learn distinctly that .
ánjthíng wats nndertaken but rodé exhíbitíona in panto-
mime í though it ia uot unlikely diakigues raay so me times ^_
have been added, such as we find in the more imperfect ^ñ
religious pageants produced at the same period in Eag* ^
laüd and Fraece. During the next centiiry, which brings
US down to the time of Lope de Rueda, we have nothing ^|
better than ''Mingo Revnlgo/' which is rather a spirited ■
poli tic al satire than a drama, Enzina^s and Vicente *B dra-
matic eclogues, and Nab arreas more dramatic *' Propala*
Bnusu-
^ Hiere an KVeiikl oíd bftUáclíi od tbe
Buti^ecJl «f Qiit play, 5c« Wuir^ '' iJber etne
gommlaiier Bpiuii8Cher Romatizeu " (Wleii^
11=$^^ pp. 33^34) ; hút ihv híetodciiL tradi-
tli>a la lu the " Cmaíca Géutíraif'* Piírte
UI, <J. 22, ed. 1604^ ÍT. S3-84.
^ It icemi; probable that a cúnalderabLc:
DUtnber of dnima& beltn:^íng ui the perliiíd
be^twcüd Lupe *}e íív.L'\la. aud Lope de VtfcTij
or Vietween IhtíQ ami IfiBO, could even iiuw
bfs eeUected, whUBfi nami» haré cat yet
bec^D givun to tbe pubUc ; but it íé not
HlEBly ÜiBt (¡bey irouM adj ftoytlilqe ím*
portaut U} our knowLediofe of tbe real chaf-
acUsir ur prufifress of the dr^ma nt that cluie,
Aiibaúf Biblioteca, Tom. IL pp. 163, 235^
notes. Tbe oamed ot many miüh ^ iMirt
of thvm. in SpauUh, pftrt Ln Latía, and
part m botb Lnisguíij^csi^ but all &klii Lo the
otd Mystetlea &üñ Autos — may be ftiund
lu tbe Spatiltb txaDBhitloD of íhU IlUl>>jy,
Ttiin. II. pp. 543-&50. A c^naideruliile
üumber of tliém s««ta. to h&vc been níp-
Fesented m r^lígUmñ biiQa«, wberef aft v»
koowj a more ««ctüiur diíama iLÍlerwurdi
intmded and íoaud mimb fiíViyt*
Cmat, VUT.l
STATE ÚÉ TITE THBATUE.
n
di*,'* with a few trauslationa frora thó aiicieíifs which
were little noticed or knowii. And duriug tbe balf-ccntury
which Lope de Rueda opeoed with au att4¿mpt to créate a
pupn lar drama» wc bavc obtained only a fow farces from
Jiimaelf and l»ÍB faUowers, tlie little that was done at Se-
viüe and Valencia» and tbe couiitervaíling' tragedieB of
Bermiidcz and Argensola^ who intonded, no doubt, to fal-
lo w wliat tliey considered the saler and more rcspectable
traces of tlie ancient Greok maatcrB, Three ce n tu ríes and
a half, therefare, or fnureenturieR, furnished less dramatic
líterature to Spain than the last half-<;entury of the same
portion of time had fnrnished to F ranee and Italj ; and
near the end of the whole period, or about 1585, ít is
apparent that the national genius wae not more tunied
towards the drama than ít was at the same period in Eng-
land, where Greene and Peole were juBt preparing the
way for Marlowe and Shakspeare*
In tbe next placo, the apparatus of the etage, including
Bcenerj and dresaes, was vcrj imporfect. Do ring the
greater part of the period we have gone oTer,
dramatic exhibitions in Spain were either reli-
gious pantomimee shown off in the churches to the people*
or prívate entertaínmonts given at court and in the houses
uf the íiobiiitj. Lope de Rueda brought them out i uto
tbe public squaree, and adapted them to the comprehen-
gioü, the taste^ and the humors, of the multitude. Biit he
had no theatre any where, and his gay farcee were repre^
BGUted on temporaiy Bcaffolíls, hy his o%vn company of
eiroUíng players, who stayed but a few days at a time in
even the largest cities, and were eought, when there,
chiefly by the lower claaaes of the people,
The ürst notice, therefore, we have of anything approach-
ing to a regular eettablishtnent — and this is far removed
ftom what that phrase general ly implies — is in 1568, when
an arrangement or cütnpromise between the Church aJid
the theatre was begmi, traces of which have suh- xL^j^tre» at
etfitod at Madrid and elsewhere down to our own ^««1^^^'
times. Recollecting, no doubt, the origin of dramatic
representations in Spain for religious edificatioo, the gov-
«mment ordered, in form, that no actore ehould make an
Sto««!L
"' "- ' "
Í2
STATE OF THE THEATKB.
[Pje&joh IL
exhibition iii Madnd, except in aome place to be appoioted
by two religiouB brotherhoodB 'designated in tlie decree,
aüd for a rent to be paid to theni ; — an arder iu which,
after 1583, thc general hospital of the citj was mcliided,^
ünder tilia order, as it was original i y made^ we íind playi
acted from 1 568 ; but only in tbe opcn área of a court-
yard, corral, without roof, seats, or otlier apparatus, ex-
cept anch as is bumoroualj deaciibed by Cervantes to have
been patíkod, wíth all the dresses of the company, in a few
large s aclis.
In thís State things continned several yeara. ííoiie but
strolliiig com pañíes of actora were knownx and thej re*
mained but a few days at a time even in Madrid. No
fíxed place was prepared for tbeir i-eception ; bnt some-
timee they were sent by the piona brotberhooda to one
court-jard, and some times to another. They acted in the
daytime, on Sundays and other bolidays, and then only if
the weatlier permitted a performance iu the opcn air : — -
the women scparated from the men,^ and the eritire andi-
ence ao small, that the profit yieí ded by the exhibitions to
the religiona aocieties and the hospital rose arily to eight
crr ten dollars each time.^ At last, in 15T9 and 1583, two
court-yards were permanently fitted up fbr tbem, belong'-
ing to houaea in the etreets of the ** Príncipe " and " Cruz."
But, though a riide stage and benches were pro vi ded in
each, a roof was atiU wanting ; the spectators all sat in
the open air, or at the windowa of the honse wbose court-
yard was used for thc representation ; and tbe actors per-
formed nnder a slight and poor awning^, without anything
that deserved to bo calle d scenery. The theatres, Ihei'e-
fore, at Madrid, aa late aa 1586, could not be said to be
in a condition materially to further any eflorts that might
be made to produce a respectable natioüal drama.
In thc last place, the piecee that had been writtee had
not the decided^ common character on whicb a national
^ The tiro brtvtherhiMdt wfre thc Cofra- de la Comodín, en EapAÚa," But (bey csn
dlíA de liL Sufi^radii PááioD^ eatabllilieii 1505,, be: fuünd m Wtill uttvhere eUe. Bese Tam- L
And Üie Cafrndin de Ijl SoltMlad^ eHtiibUfl]ic<l pp. 43^77-
Ifi>e7. Th@ aceoii»,t£ of the early bet;l»nin|j^a ^ C. Fi,'lllc;ert OrSfcen, Tüm. I. p. SS.
üf th« tbeiitm at Madrid at«! awkwardty ^ Ihíá., p. fiS.
eUDiLgh giVÉn by C. PeUiíxr ia JUi ^' Origen
Céap. Vin.l STATE OF THE THBATRB. Í3
drama could be fairly founded, even if their number had
beeu greater. Juan de la Enzina's eclogues, which were
the first dramatic compositions represented in j^^^^^^
Spain by actors who were neither priests ñor «onai yet
cavaliers, were really what they were called,
though somewhat modified in their bucolic character by
religious and political feelings and events ; — two or three
of Naharro's plays, and several of those of Cueva, give
more absolute intimations of the intriguing and historical
character of the stage, though the effect of the first at
home was delayed, from their being for a long time pub-
lished only in ItaJy ; — the translations fram the ancients
by Villalobos, Oliva, Abril, and others, seem hardly to
have been intended for representation, and certainly not
for popular effect ; — and Bermudez, with one of his pieces
stolen from the Portuguese and the other fuU of horrors
of his own, was, it is plain, little thought of at his first
appearance, and soon quite neglected.
There were, therefore, before 1586, only two persons to
whom it was possible to look for the establishment of a
popular and permanent drama. The first of them was
Argensola, whose three tragedies enjoyed a degree of
success before unknown; but they were so little in the
national spirit, that they were early overlooked, and soon
completely forgotten. The other was Lope de Rueda,
who, himself an actor, #^rote such farces as he found
would amuse the common audiences he served, and thus
created a school in which other actors, like Alonso de la
Vega and Cisneros, wrote the same kind of farces, chiefly
in prose, and intended so completely for temporary effect,
that hardly one of them has come down to our own times.
Of course^ the few and rare efforts made before 1586 to
produce a drama in Spain had been made upon such vari-
ous or contradictory principies, that they could not be
combined so as to constitute the safe foundation for a
national theatre.
But, though the proper foundation was not yet laid,
all was tending to it and preparíng for it. The stage,
rude as it was, had still the great advantage of being
confined to two spots, which, it is worth notice, have
n 7
u
TB:íI>ENGY TO a EETTER drama. [pEfiíonlL
continued to be tLe sites of the two principal theatrea
of Madrid ever sitice. The mimber of authors, tboug-h
Taatefora small, was jet Bufficieiit to créate so ge d eral a
SJSíírSfEynn- taste foi" theatrical represen tatioiis tbat Lope^
*^' Pinciano, a learned man, and one of a teinper litíie
likely to be pleased wjtli a rude drama, said, " When I
see that Cisneros or Galvez is going' to act, I run all riska
to hear bim ; and, wben I am in the tbeatre, winter doea
not í'reeze me, ñor summer make me bot." ^ And, finally,
tbe publiCj wbo resorted to tbe imperfect entertainmentB
ofíbred tbem, if tbey bad not determhied wbat kíiid of
drama Ebould become national, bad yet decidcd tbat a
national drama Bhonld be formed, and tbat it abo ni d be
founded on the national charaeter and mannera.
s* PhUoflDphia Anticua Pirética de A.
li. Pinciauo, M^ríd^ 15%^ alo, p. 1^.
OlHu^'jTütt wi^ IV (kmi>ua ácíhí of the tiuiti
of Philip n., aAmut whom Don CArloa
b&d s quarreL with Cardinal Eapinofia,
Cabrtím, Felipo n., Madrid, 1619, folto,
p. 470h Thiü qüaml id a part of tlie
drama ot PE^dro Xaucutf^ 4e Anclso (sífí),
eadLled £1 Príncipe Üom Corlns^ whi^^re It la
«Jt ftjrtb lü Jümnúü II. (Parta XXVIII.
do Cumediad de toiíos aulor^e, Hoeáca,
1634, f. 1Í3. a). ClBneroa ñourlsbed 157B-
86. C, Peaicer, Oríí^ii, Tojn. I. pp. 60, 61.
Lape de Vf^ga apfiaka of bim with gireat
admiintlDiij as aa actor " bey ond compare
eLdc@ playa wene tDown.'" t^eiegrliio en su
Patria, ed. ISQl, f. 263.
Duriug Uio periüd juat goae¡ over — thaJL
betwcen the (Jeath oí Lope de KueiJa tmd
(be BBou^is üf Lepe de Vega — the tra(%a of
Trhatever regardji th« theatre ai-e Lo be
beftt rounsl In Morattn'a " Catálogo ^' (Obras,
1&30, Tom. I, pp, lai^W)- But Úvítq
wfüiK manr tactre rude elTairtí niade th&u ha
has chroalcled, thoiii^h Dú&eúrooo^qaemsÉ.
Oayangoif in tbe Spaoldh transiilatioD of
thii Hiütory (eee note 20 of thls Ghap.)^ bas
cuüeeted tbe titled of a good mauy, aod
couM, DO dciabt, easíly liavécolleeted roí»rej
if tbey bad Ijeeii worth Ibts trauble. Some
or iiio«e be feconla haré tteea printed^ bat
mvm aro in manuscript j sfnne ure in tatin,
BütDñ üi &pi3,ni»b| and smn& \u lH3th Lan-
guages \ — iome are nsUgiouA, and ^me
aeyobiT. Many oí th<¿m urete pruttably nep-
r^i^ented In religiona boaaes, id the collegea
a( tbe Jefuita, and in eonTenta, on «cca^
Eiona of ceremony, UJce tbe eleetion of a
Biabop,. or tbe canonizatloa of a Saint. Of
otlt^N no account can be giveu. But ikll
of theni taken togetber give no intiinfttloa
pf a tlífferent átate of tbe draana from tbat
aLr?adj tufflclenUy deaicHbeíl* We aee,
Indued, from th€iu vary i>lainly tbat it wha
H períod of cbange j but ve tieé nothlng
elae, exce^pt tbat the diange w ms vary slow
i
CHAPTER IX.
LUIS DB LEÓN. — BARLT LIFE. — PEBSECUTIONS. — TRANSLATION OF THB
CANTICLES. ÑAMES OF CHRIST. PERFECT WIFE AND OTHER PROSB
WORKS. HIS DBATH. — HIS POEMS. — HIS CHARACTER.
It should not be forgotten that, while we have gone
over the beginnings of the Italian school and of the exist-
ing theatre, we have had little occasion to no tice one
distinctive element of the Spanish character, which is yet
almost constantly present in the great mass of the national
literatura : I mean the religious element. A Beiigious
reverence for the Church, or, more properly, for spí^lsiut-
the religión of the Church, and a deep sentiment «"*'««•
of devotion, however mistaken in the forms it wore, or in
the direction it took, had been developed in the oíd Cas-
tiliau character by the wars against Islamism, as much as
the spirit of loyalty and knighthood, and had, frora the
first, found no lesa fitting poetical forms of expression.
That no change took place in this respect in the sixteenth
century, we find striking proof in the character of a
distinguished Spaniard, who lived about twenty years
later than Diego de Mendoza, but one whose gentler and
graver genius easily took the direction which that of the
eider cavalier so decidedly refused.
I refer, of course, to Luis Ponce de León, called, from
his early and unbroken connection with the Church,
" Brother Luis de León,'' — Fray Luis de León. Luisde
He was bom in Belmente, in 1528, and lived ^°°-
there until he was five or six years oíd, when his father
who was a " king's advócate,'' removed his family first t<?
Madrid, and then to Valladolid. The young poet's advan-
tages for education were such as were enjoyed at that
time only by persons whose position in society was a
favored one ; and, at fourteen, he was sent to the neigh-
í76^
T6
LTJTS BE JjWN,
tPjsmoii IL
boring University of Salamanca, where, followíog the
etrong religiosa tondcncics of his u ature, he eutered a
monas terj of the order of St. Augafstin. From tliis mo-
metib the final dimction was given to his Hf'e. He never
ccased to be a nionk ; and he never ceased tu l>e attached
to the Un i ve raí t Y where he waa bred» In 1560 he became
a Licentíate ín Theology, and imniediately afterwardB was
Frofóüsíjrat niade a Doctor of Divioity. The next ycar, at
eniaoiQnca. ^jj^ ^^^ ^^f thirty-foiir, he obtained tlie chair of
Saint Thomas AqtiinaSi which he won after a public com-
petitioü againat several opponenta, four of wbom wem
already professors ; and to these bonors he addcd^ ten
years later, that of the chair of Sacred Literatura
By this time, however, his influence and honora had
gatbered round him a ho dy of enemiea, who diligently
jt'iiioua^Qf sottght means of dietnrbing his positioti.^ The
^'^' chief of them were either leading monks of the
rival order of St. Dominick at Salaraaíica, with whom he
eeems t^ have had, from time to time, warm discussions
in the pnblic halla of the üniveraity, or elae the cona-
petitors whora he had defeated in open contest for the
bigh offices he had obtained, In each case the motives of
bis adverfiaries were obvioua,
With sucb persona, an opportunity for an attack wonld
Boon be found. The pretext fi rst seized upon was that he
perBccutíon Uad made a translation of the Song of Solomon into
*^'*^™" Castilian, treating it aa if itwere aneclogue. To
tbie was soon added the sug-gestion that, i a his discussions
in *' the Schoola** or pnblic halla of the TTeiveraity, he
4
1 Obriifl del Miiestro Fray Ijttfa de Leap
{Madrid, 1804-1813^ & f oíUp IyüX Tom. V.
p. ^2. 1]ui, In tlifi reiy rlcli aad liii port-
átil ^^ Colecctoiá do nocamentoa LDedltcnfl
pB;n. 1a HistorU de Eeip&íta por D. Ml^el
Baiyií j D. Pedro Salni de BñJr^nda " (Tomos
X.J XI., Madrid, li47-^» íto), Ib to be
f^jund th« ünüre officlol r«i^rd of the trlal
of Luía dé Leoiif taken timm the Archkci
of the Inquiaition Bt VaJladaLidHi nad naw
in the NtitiúntU Htmry Kt Madrid ^^by
£bt ttie QiiMt Iniportant autbentic state-
mect bnoTirn to m*¿ r«ftpectlDg tlie Creatment
nf ttien üf It^ttcrs who were ueiiaed hefore
that formjáable trihunja, lUid protmbly
the DiQBt curfoua and ímpofiant one Iñ
exUt(^D(^e} wíietht!:f fu MS* dt La prtnL I ti
ouUftudlnoiis docamenta ñll mure thaa
nine bundred pagea, eFerjwheTe teeixLiag
Tritb íiiatruc^tEun and wM.m^nFi °^ ^^^ tfub-
jeút of eccle^aUatical aaurpatlDiiii, aüú th€
DOJE^lesa, coMi üqbtle meuíis bj whlcb they
crusb th«; [Dtel1ectU4U fro^oni aod bealthy
cal ture of a peíiplc For tbe ctimltj of th«
I!)anilni;caii& — la whm& hamia was thQ
Ittquhltlod — to Lula de Lcuti^ and ftif th^
jealDUSj of ble defcatc^d cutapetltoro, sva
ih^sñ I>ocuinetitod| TüOi* X^ p. lOQ, aftd
•Chap, IX.] LUIS DE LEÓN. fí
had declared the Vulgate versión of the Bible to be capa-
ble of improvement. And, finally, it was intimated tha/
while, on the one side, he had leaned to new and dan
gerous opiuions, — meaning Lutheranism, — on the other
side, he had shown a tendency to Jewish interpretations
of the Scriptures, in consequence of a Hebrew taint in his
blood, — always odious in the eyes of those Spaniards
who could boast that their race was puré, and their descent
orthodox.^
The first formal denunciation of him was' made at Sala-
manca, before Commissaries of the Holy Office, on the
seventeenth of Deceraber, 15Í 1. But, at the outset, every-
thing was done in the strictest secrecy, and wholly with-
out the knowledge or suspicion of the accused. In the
course of this stage of the process, about twenty wit-
nesses were examined at Salamanca, who made their state-
ments in writing, and the testimony of others was sent for
to Granada, Valladolid, Murcia, Carthagena, Arévalo, and
Toledo ; so that, from the beginning, the affair took the
character it preserved to the last, — that of a wide-spread
conspiracy against a person whom it was not safe to assail
without the most cautious and thorough preparation.^
At last, when all was ready, the bolt fell. On the sixth
of March, 15 T2, he was personally summoned before the
Tribunal of the Inquisition at Salamanca, and „
^ ' Summoned
accused of having made and circulated a vernac- before the
ular translation of Solomon's Song ; — the other ^^^^ ^^'
complaints being apparently left to be urged or not, as
might afterwards be deemed expedient. His answer —
which, in the official process, is technically, but most
unjustly, called his " confession,'' when, in fact, it is his
defence — was instant, direct, and sincere. He avowed,
without hesitation, that he had made such a translation as
was imputed to him, but that he had made it for a nun
[una religiosa] , to whom he had personally carried it, and
from whom he had personally received it back again soon
afterward ; — that, unknown to him, it had subsequently
• Documentos, Tora. X. pp. 6, 12, 19, they sent for testimony to Cuzco, in Perú,
146-174, 207, 208, 449-467. whither his translation of Solomon's Song
* n>id., pp. 26, 31, 74, 78, 81, 92. Later, had wandered, p. 606.
n. 7*
n
LUIE DE LEOÑ*
EF:e»iod IL
been copied bj a friar having charge of his cell, aad so
had come into secret circulation ; — tliat he had vainly
en dea V ore d to stop its furthcr diffusion, by collecting
the various transcripts that had been thus surrcptitiously
and fiaudulently madc ; — and that his feeble health alone
had hindered him from complétíng ^ what he had alreadj
tegua — a Latiii veraioa of the book in question, with a
commentary, eetting forth his opinions concenjing it in
&uch a waj as to leave no doubt of thcir strict orthüdoxy,
At the same time he declared, by the most explicit and
solemn words, his unconditional eubmission to the author-
ity of the Holy Office^ and bis devout purpuse, in all
respecta, and at alt times, to cherieh and defend all the
doetrines and dogmas of the Román Catholic Church."*
At thi8 point ¡n the inquiry, — and after this full declar-
ation of the accufied, — if there had been no motives for
the ínvestígation but auch as were avowed, the wbole
aflair would, no doubt, ha ve been stoppod, and nothing
ni ore would have been heard of it. But this was far from
the case, His enemiea were peraonal, bitter, and unscru-
pulous ; and they had spread wide the siiapicion — as was
done in relation to his friend Arias Montano — that his
great biblical learning was fast leading him to heresy ; if,
indeedj he were not already at heart a Protestant. Ilis
examinad on, thereforCí was pushed on with unrelenting
eevcritj. His cause was rtímoved from Salamanca to the
higher tribunal at Valladolid ; and, on the twenty-seventh
of March, 15Í2, he was arrested and confined in
the secret prisons [cárceles secí^eías] of the luquisi*
tion, where, for a time, be was denied the use of a knife
to cut hia foüdi and where he at no period obtained a sheet
of papcr or a book, cscept on the especial, recordcd per-
misfiion of tbe judgea befo re whom he was on trial. The
other accusations, too, weie dow urged against hitn by
his persecutora, though, at last, nono were relie d upon
for his conviction save those regai-ding the Song of Sol*
omon and the Yulgate*
But to all the charges, and to all the insinuations against
íiim, ae they were successively brought up, he replied with
-i Docamentos, Tom* X. pp, D^lOl*
I
4
cnAP. rx*i
LUIS DE LEÓN,
Í9
ftcerity, dÍBtlnctness, and power. Above fiftj times he
( enmmoned in person before his juágea^ and the various
fencee which be read ou these occasíons, and which are
extant in his own hand-writing', make above two
bundred printed pages, — not, indeed, marked with the rich
^loqiience which elsewhere fíawa eo easily írom hia peiii
tnt still written in the poreat Caatilian, and with extraor-
iinary acuteness aad perspícacity/
At last, when all the resources of ecclesiaatical ingenu-
ity had becn employed, in Tain^ for nearly five years, to
bis fírm though gentle spirít, the jiidgraent j^^ ^^^
lof his se ven judges was prononnced on the twenty- pnmüuuced
pighth of September^ 15t6. It was a very atranga
&iie, Four of their number voted that ^* he ehotild be put
lio the rack IquwHon de tormetüo], to aecertain his Í7ilen-
ftions m relation to whatever had beeii indicated and testi-
6ed against him ; hut/' they added, "that the rack should
I be applied moderately, from regard to the delicate health of
ihe acctieed, and that, afterwards, further order should be
^takeii in the case.'* Two more of his jndgcB were of
opuíian tliat he should berebuked jti the Halla of the Holy
Office» for haviug ventured, at euch a time^ to move ra at-
iera iending to danger and acaadal ] — that, in proaence
tif all persons belonging to the Univeraityi he should con-
fess certain propositions gathered out of hia papers to
l:>e ** suspicioua and ainbiguouB ; " — and, finally, that he
sliould be forbidden from all public toachíng whataoever,
jOne of the judgea asked leave to give his opinión aepa-
rately ; but whether he evcr did or not, and, if he did,
Bther it was more or leas aevere than the opiniona of his
^ijutore, does not appean
But u,ll of them — cven the least harsh — were whoUy
injnatííied by any proof brought againat the priaoner, or
by ainything ahown in his spirit during the tríaL líídeed,
_|bc Iiitiulflltlún, ihDugh. Ihe vdtten
■bnu ut th^witac^mñ mi|^ht bo ginsen
i pnrix iccttst'd, thetr rtai-íiea uEver
ÍmU dQ L?Dti liad íhe anon/mwu
tMlliaofi/ of hl» encnuled b«fum hiuif jatHl|
IuU-THaI ftrideDce, üften conj^ctorcd
ho Úicy were, naming tkfso bolíllyj and
trcüting theiD Komettmiífl wltb no llttlQ
Kverlty Tot theír jnju§tLce &iid fabiohood.
ThTiiuíflKiut Xha trlal he ehíiwed a geutilfifl
snd ^m VLmhís.knn i-edolution. Doeumonti»^
Ttm. X. pp. '¿n, 326, SftT, 863-^11, 42i,
iUS, and otbcr [
■toaaai
^0
LtUS DE LEÓN,
[Pebiod H,
the Ughtest punishment proposed iraplied a compíete
degradation and disgrace of tlie devouí tnonk, while tbe
puüishment proposed hy the majoritj of the tribunal
dcmanded a degree of cnieltj whicU his feeble irarae could
hardly have endared. Happily, he waa cornpelled to
uiidergo neithcr sentence. The raembers of the Supreme
Council of the Inquísitiou at Madridj who had beeii repeat-
cdlj coíjaulted on difTerent pointi^ in the trial, as ít went
on, showed thcir accustomed cold, impassive eaution ín
tlieir final judgment ; for they passed ovar everything
previüusly ¿ene in absolute sileiice ; atid, bj a new and
Bolemn decree, of Dcceraber 7, 15T6, decitied that the
accused, Luis de León, be fully acquitted [abüuelfa de ¡a
instancia ílesle jtdcio] , being previously warned to be cir-
cumspect both how and where he shoíild discuss liereaíler
guch matters-as had gi%^eu ríse to liís tiial, aud to observe,
in relation to them, gxeat moderatioa and prudence^ so
that al I scandal and occaBion of error might ce ase ; and
requiíing, furtherniore, tbat his vernacular translation of
Bolomon's Song should be suppressed. This final de-
cree having been annouíiced to him in form, at Valladolid^
he waa forthwith released from prisoni notj howeveri
without the cüstomary cautíon to bear no Hl-will against
any person whom he might suspcct to have tcstificd
against hirn, and to observe abeolute secrecy concerning
whatever related to bis trial, under pain of full eseoni'
muiúcatioii, and such other puniab menta ae might be
deemed needlul ; ^ — to all wbich, by his sign-manual, he
gave a pro mi se of true obedience and submissionj wbich,
the re is every reason to belíeve, he falthfully kept.^
Tbus was ended this extraordinary and cruel trial,
whoae minute details and diectissioDa, spread o ver its
Tolummoua original documentSj ebow — as can be shown
by no general statement of its course — bow acute, wary,
and unscrupulotie, was tbe Tnquisition in peraecuting mcn
of the highest gifts, and of tbe most submissive relígious
4
I
The ienttídtít' fif the Buprcme CounclL vi the
Inquietttun Íb certíflcíl by the ffliir privóte
íúgh atK] myütcrtüiiB tribunal — (the hlgb*
eat ÍTi Spaíd) — thEí aecretary a/owe certify-
ÍDg a (it3«aly by his oQJue.
Chap.IX.] luis de león. 81
obedience, if they were either obnoxious to the jealousy
and ill-will. of its members, or suspected of discussing
questions that might disturb the sharply-defined faith
exacted from every subject of the Spanish crown. But
more and worse than this, the very loyalty with which
Luis de León bowed himself down before the dark and
unrelenting tribunal, into whose presence he had been
summoned, — sincerely acknowledging its right to all the
powers it claimed, and submitting faithfully. to all its
decrees, — is the saddest proof that can be given of the
Bubjugation to which intellects the most lofty and culti-
vated had been reduced by ecclesiastical tyranny, and the
most disheartening augury of the degradation of the
national character, that was sure to folio w.
But the University remained faithful to Luis de León
through all his triáis ; — so far faithful, at least, that his
academical offices were neither filled by others, Retums to
ñor declared vacant. As soon, therefore, as he Salamanca.
emerged from the cells of the Inquisition, he appeared
again in the oíd halls of Salamanca ; and it is a beautiful
circumstance attending his restoration, that when, on the
thirtieth of December, 1576, he rose for the first time in
his accustomed place before a crowded audience, eager to
hear what allusion he would make to his persecutfons, he
began by simply saying, '' As we remarked when we last
met," and then went on as if the five bitter years of his
imprisonment had been a blank in his memory, bearing no
record of the cruel treatment he had sufifered.
It seems, however, to have been thought advisable that
he should vindicate his reputation from the suspicions that
had been cast upon it; and, therefore, in 1580, at the
request of his friends, he published an extended comment-
ary on the Canticles, interpreting each part in
three different ways, — directly, symbolically, on the can-
and mystically, — and giving the whole as theo-
logical and obscure a character as the most orthodox could
desire, though still without concealing his opinión that its
most obvious form is that of a pastoral eclogue/
T A Spanish poetical paraphrase of Sol- time, and on the same principie, by Arias
omon's Song was made at about the same Montano, the biblical scholar. When it
LUIS DE LEÓN,
[PfiMOt^ II»
Anotlier work on the same subject, but in Spanisb, and
in moat respecta líke thc oiic that had caused bis iinprison-
ment, was al a o prepared bj bim, and found among bis
inanuscriptB after \m death, Bat ít was not tbougbt
advisable to print it tiU 1*198. Eveo tben a versión of
the Üiirtticles, in Spanish octaves, as an eclügae, íd tended
oríginally to acconipany it, was not added, and did not
appear till 1806 ; — a beantiful tranelation, wbich disco v-
ersj not only its autbor*© power as a poet^ but tbe remark-
able íreedum of bis tbeülugical inquines^ in a comitrj
"vvliere sucb freedom was, in tbat age, not tolcrated fur
au instant.^ The fmgrnent of a defeoce of tbis versión,
or of some parta of it, is dated from bia prison, in 1513,
and was found loíag afterwards among tbe átate papera of
tbe kiügdom jn tbe archives of Simancas.^
While in prison be p repared a long proae work, whicli
be entitled '* Tbe Ñames of Cbrist." It is a singular speci-
His Noratorca wien at ouce of Spanish tbeological leaming, elo-
dechdato. quence, and devotion. Of thlsi between 1588
and 1585| be pablisbed tbree booksj but be no ver com-
pleted it.^*^ It is tlirown ínto tbe form of a dialogue^ Hke
tbe ^' Tiiscnlan Queations/^ whicb it was probablj intended
to iraitate ; and its purpose is, bj rneans of successive
discussTons of tbe cbaríicter of tbe Savíour, as set forth
tiíider tbe ñames of Son, PrincOi Sbepherd, King, etc.,
to excite devout feelings in tbose who read it. Tbe form,
bowever, i a not adbered to witb great strictness. Tbe
I
I
Wfts flnat pablíshcd, I do not tonnvr; \mt It
tRfty be fauna in Faber^i Finreísta^ Nix 717 s
MUd, thüugli a Is dlffute^ p&rt« or it are
bt'alittFul.. Frooa s«v(-ra! pw^üug'ctfl Lti the
fcrfA) of LulM de Ittmnj ii íé üertnhi thsi
tlbere was & goiM dctál of intercoarBc he-
twimú hiitt atid M<iütünOj Aod «¡ven that
thoy haá vmifemA bageüi&t about thít por-
tlotí of the fircr{ptur«fl- It ia, iDormFor^
une of the fligiiíñcant fwctñ in the brfjU qí
Luia do León thiit, beíng lo the cttrceíúa
mcriRUtM Rt VaVlEulotld, he ffíia led ta tie-
JieVEf iu 1674^ thJ^t ntontittio was deaa,
thfinifh he did notdie tul 159S, tweti^^r«ur
yt.íara aftí.'rwards. Now, thíít ooutd háJñdly
huvi^ occiiired^ atrícítiy cut off aa Luíü du
Ltjon wtts rrtjtn a11 «xt^nml InteRwiWBe, ex-
Cept tíiTUUfh the cffioen of the ImqulBÍ-
tlDti, nítr foT any pnrpose exeept that of
Icailfn^ h^i<A dü León to uomprumliíc^ Má
fríeml Montanoj who^ na we kaow, escaped
wUb dlíDculty rríim tíia clutchea of thti
Holy OffitMí, who lung aoag hl groundA for
d^trrjyinif liliü. DiDCiunBiiboa, Tom. XI.
pp. ISf 19^ Hfi^ ete.
e Lula de U-ofl, 0>jmfi, Totn^ V. pp» 30**
^0. A pei^afiípe frrjdi thu orEg^oal pn%aB
CüfitiilKín veraíon of Solomon^a Song hy
LiÚB de t^on Ifl printüd Iu hla trlal (D^idu-
mentoBj Tom. X. pp. 4itt-4fi70 It dllfiíra,
tliough DAt ^aemtlidlyi from tbfi Báine IMU*
safe H« U atapits i« the veraion firsí pttb-
ll»hefi In 17&8» 8ee Obras, Tom. V. pp
1-31.
»n>ld^iTom.V. p, 2»L
^° n^íd., tota. HL üBd IV.
Chap. IX.] LUIS DE LEÓN. 83
dialogue, instead of being a discussion, is, in fact, a suc-
cession of speeches ; and once, at least, we have a regular
sermón, of as much merit, perhaps, as any in the lan-
guage ; " so that, taken together, the entire work may
be regarded as a series of declamations on the character
of Christ, as that character was regarded by the more
devout portions of the Spanish Church in its author's
time. Many parts of it are eloquent, and its eloquence
has not unfrequently the gorgeous coloring of the eider
Spanish literature ; such, for instance, as is found in the
foUowing passage, illustrating the title of Christ as the
Prince of Peace, and proving the beauty.of all harmony
in the moral world from its analogies with the physical :
" Even if reason should not pro ve it, and even if we
could in no other way understand how gracious a thing
is peace, yet would this fair show of the heavens over
our heads, and this harmony in all their manifold fires,
sufficiently bear witness to it. For what is it but peace,
or, indeed, a perfect image of peace, that we now behold,
and that filis us with such deep joy ? Since if peace is,
as Saint Augustin, with the brevity of truth, declares it
to be, a quiet order, or the maintenance of a well-regu-
lated tranquillity in whatever order demands,-^then what
we now witness is surely its true and faithfuL image.
For while these hosts of stars, arranged and divided into
their several bands, shine with such surpassing splendor,
and while each one of their multitude inviolably maintains
its sepárate station, neither pressing into the place of that
next to it, ñor disturbing the movements of any other,
ñor forgetting its own ; none breaking the eternal and
holy law God has imposed on it ; but all rather bound in
one brotherhood, ministering one to another, and reflect-
ing their light one to another, — they do surely show forth
a mutual love, and, as it were, a mutual reverence, temper-
ing each other's brightness and strength into a peaceful
unity and power, whereby all their different influences are
combiued into one holy and mighty harmony, universal and
everlasting. And therefore may it be most truly said, not
u This sermón is in Book First of the treatise. Obras, Tom. in. pp. 160-214.
84
LUIS DE LEÓN.
EPbbioií II*
only that they do all forní a fair and perfcct model of
peaee, huí that tlicy all set forth and announce, ia clear
and gracíous worde, what excellent things peace contains
within herself^ and carrieB abroad whitiiereoever lier power
«xtends.'^ ^
The eloqucnt treatise on tbe Ñames of Christ was not,
liowex^eri tbe mo&t popular of the pro se worka of Luis de
Hí9 Peiibota LeoD. This dístínction belongs to bis ''Perfecta
oiumda. Casada/' or Perlect Wife í a treatiee which he
compoBed, in tbe form of a coromentaty on some portíons
of Soloinon's Proverba^ for the ubo of a lady newlj mar-
ried, and which wae first publighed in 1588.*^ Biit ít Í8
Dot uecessarj speciaUj to notice oither this work, or his
Exposition of Job, in two volumes, acconipanied with a
poetical versión, wbich lie began in prison fur his own
consolatioui and finished the year of his death, bnt which
none ventured to pubb'sb till 1779,^* Both are marked
with the same humble faitb, the same strong enthusiasm,
and tbe same elabórate, rich eloquence, tbat appear, from
time to time, in the work on the Natnea of Christ ; though
perhape the laat^ wbich received the careful con^ections of
ita author*8 rnatured geniua, bas a eerious and scttled
power greater than he bas shown anjwhere elae. But
the cbaracterístics of bis proee conipositions — even those
which from their nature are the mtrst stríctlj didactic —
are the aame everywhere ; and the rich language and
imagerj of the passage alreadj cited afibrd a fair speci-
men of tbe style towards which be constantly directed
bis efforts.
LnÍ9 de Leon's health never recovered from the shock
it Boíferod in the cells of the Inquisition. He livcd,
indoedt nearly fonrteen years after his reléase ; but most
Hia later of bís works, whether in O as tillan or in Latín,
warits- were written before his impriaonmeut or dur-
ing its contitiuance, while those he undertook afterwards,
like his acconnt of Santa Teresa and Bome others, were
U mt^ Tutu. m. pp. 342, 343. ThU
beautiíiiL possiij^e irtnj welE be c>um¡;arect ^
Ma EOOTO beauíiful odcj enütled ^Nochfl
Sereim," to w^ilcb. U has au ahrt&us Feaeiu-
M Ilild.^ T(jín. L and IL
I
4
i
Chap. IX.1 luis de león. 85
Bever fínisbed. His life was always, from choice, very
retired, and his austere manners were announced by his
habitual reserve and silence. In a letter that he sent
with his poems to his friend Puertocarrero, a statesman at
the court of Philip the Second and a member of the princi-
pal council of the Inquisition, he says, that, in the king-
dom of Oíd Castile, where he had lived from his youth,
he could hardly claim to be familiarly acquainted with ten
persons." Still he was extensively known, and was held
in great honor. In the latter part of his life especially,
his talents and sufferings, his religious patience and his
sincere faith, had consecrated him in the eyes alike of
his friends and his enemies. Nothing relating to the
monastic brotherhood of which he was a member, or to
the University where he taught, was undertaken without
his concurrence and support ; and when he died,
in 1591, he was in the exercise of a constan tly
increasing influence, having just been chosen the head of
his Order, and being engaged in the preparation of new
regulations for its reform.^^
But, besides the character in which we have thus far
considered him, Luis de León was a poet, and a poet of
no common genius. He seems, it is true, to have LuisdeLeoa
been little conscious, or, at least, little careful, of ^^ » ?<>«*•
his poetical talent ; for he made hardly an efíbrt to cultí-
vate it, and never took pains to print anything, in order
to prove its existence to the world. Perhaps, too, he
showed more deference than was due to the opinión of
many persons of his time, who thought poetry an occupa-
tion not becoming one in his position ; for, in the prefa-
tory notice to his sacred odes, he says, in a deprecating
^ Obras, Tom. VI. p. 2. and in the Prefáce to a collection of his
^ The best materials for the life of Luis poetry, published at Valencia by Mayans y
de León, down to the end of his trial and Sisear, 1761 ; the last being also found in
imprisonment in 1576, are eontained in his Mayans y Sisear, ^ Cartas de Varios Auto>
accoonts <rf himself on that occasion (Docu- res " (Yaleneia, 1773, 12mo, Tom. IV. pp.
mentos, Tom. X. pp. 182, 257, ete.), after 898, ete.). Paeheco adds a description of
which a good deal may be found in notices his person, and the singular fact, not else-
of him in the curious MS. of Pacheco, pub- where noticed, that he amused himself
lished, Semanario Pintoresco, 1844, p. 374*, with the art of painting, and succeeded in
— those in N. Antonio, Bib. Nova, ad verb. ; his own portrait
— in Sedaño, Parnaso Español, Tom. V. }
n. 8
Bñ
Ltns DE LEÓN.
IPBBfOD II.
tone, "Let none regará verse as anythiDg new and uq-
worthj to be applied to Scriptural aubjects, for it Í8 ratber
appropriate to them ; and ea oíd iñ it m this applicatioa,
tbat, from the earlieBt ages of the Cburch to the pmsent
day, men of great learning' and bolineas have thus em-
plojed it. And wonld to God that no other poetry were
ever sonnded in onr eare \ that only the se sacre d toties
were aweet to ns ; that tione el&e were heard at night in
the Btreeta and pnblic sqnares ; that the chOd migbt still
lisp it, the retired damsel find in it her best solace, and
the indnstriouB tradesman make it the relief of bis toii I
But the ChriBtian name ia now suTik to such immodest and
recklese degradation^ that we eet our sin a to music, and,
not contíínt with itidulging tliem in secret, ehont them joy-
fnlly forth to all who wfH listen.*'
But, whatCTcr may have been hte own feelingg on tbe
euitablene&s of siich an occupation to his proteesion, it is
certain that^ while most of the poems be lias left us were
written in bis youth, tliey were not collected by him till
the latter part of his life^ and then onlj to please a per-
sonal ffiend, who never tho^jght of pnblisbing them ; so
that thej were not printed at all till forty years after bis
death, wben Que vedo gave them to the pnblic, in tbe bope
that thcj might help to reform tbe corrupted taste of the
age. Bnt IVom this time they have gone through many
editions, though still they never appeared properly col-
lated and arranged till 1816,^^
They are, however, of great valué, They coneíst of
versions of all the Eclogiies and two of the Geórgica of
sjfl pfrtticui ^irgil, aboüt thirtj Odea of Ilorace, ahout forty
tTMMiatiyoB. pgalrosi and a few passages frütn the Grcek and
Italian poeta ; all exccuted with freodom and spirit^ and
all in a genuinely Castilian style. His translationa, how*
ever, seem to have been only ín the nature of exercises
and am use men te. But, though he tbua acquired great
^í The popiija of Iouíb ile I^on flll the liiat Vol. XXX VTT. af the ElVjlIfjtwa de Autoreí
yol lime Qf blu Worki ^ hqt there areflcfernl K^pañtUefl, ISSfl, whioh consUtfl of AlL hU
uniin^ them that iira prohably spurfnms. p^iptJíat vofkB^iind a aelectioo of hiá wofkí
Ptf Contra^ a few tnore tmiiHlHtloTja hy hla lii pfo8L% toEjtíthür wíHi tbh mmt iirip^^mLDt
ho-üd, auii i^pecUlly &n oda lo a t^li^oua pnrt of the ñdcnmenta cütLcemlng lils tria]
11 ib, — A lii vida reltgiüiu^ — mix be (baña In by the Inqnl^ittoa.
I
I
I
GÉAP. IX.] LtJIS DE LEÓN. 8?
facilitj and exactness in his versification, he wrote little.
Hi8 original poems fill no more than about a hundred pages ;
but there is hardiy a Une of them which has not its valué ;
and the whole, when taken together, are to be placed at
the head of Spanish lyric poetry. They are chiefly reli-
gious, and the source of their inspiration is not to be mis-
taken. Luis de León had a Hebrew soul, and kindles his
enthusiasm almost always from the Jewish Scriptures.
Still he preserved his nationality unimpaired. Nearly all
the best of his poetical compositions are odes written in
the oíd Castilian measures, with a classical purity and
rigoroos finish before unknown in Spanish poetry, and
hardly attained since.^^
This is eminently the case, for instance, with what the
Spaniards have esteemed the best of his poetical works ;
his ode, called " The Prophecy of the Tagus,'' hís original
in which the river-god predicts to Koderíc the po^ms.
Moorish conquest of his country, as the result of that
monarch's violence to Cava, the daughter of one of his
principal nobles. It is an imitation of the Ode of Horace
in which Nereus rises from the waves and predicts the
overthrow of Troy to Paris, who, under circumstances
not entirely dissimilar, is transporting the stolen wife of
Menelaus to the scene of the fated conflict between the
two nations. But the Ode of Luis de León is written in
the oíd Spanish quintillas, his favorito measure, and is as
natural, fresh, and flowing, as one of the national ballads.^^
u In noticing the Hebrew temperament and dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu, then
of Liüs de León, I am reminded of one of the all-powerfal minister of Louis XIII.
his contemporaries, who possessed in some They are fuU of the bitter and sorrowfal
respecta a kindred spirit, and whose Cate feelings of his exfle, and parts of them are
was even more strange and unhappy. I written, not only with tenderness, but in a
refer to Joan Pinto Delgado, a Portuguese sweet and pare versification. The Hebrew
Jew, who lived long in Spain, embraced the spirit of the author, whose proper ñame is
Christian religión, was reconverted to the Moseh Delgado, breaks through constantly,
Caith of his fathers, fled from the terrors of as might be expected. Barbosa, Biblioteca,
the Inquisition to Franoe, and died there Tom. n. p. 722. Amador de los Rios, Ju-
about the year 1590. In 1627, a volame of dios de España, Madrid, 1848, 8vo, p. 500.
bis works, containing narrativo poems on i^ It is the eleventh of Luis de Leon's
Queen Esther and on Buth, flree verslons Odes, and may well bearacomparison with
from the Lamentations of Jeremiah in the that of Horace (Lib. I. Garm. 16) which
oíd naUonal quintillas ^ and sonnets and suggested it Horace and Yirgil were evi
othcr short pieces, generaUy in the ItaUan dently his fiívorite Latín poets. When he
manner, was published at Bouen in France, was immured in the secret ceüs of the In-
88 LUIS DE LEÓN. [Pebiod H.
Foreigners, however, less iiiterested in what is so pecu-
liarly Spanish, and so full of allusions to Spanish historj,
may sometimes prefer the serener ode '* On a Life of Re-
tirement/' that '' On Immortality/' or perhaps the still
more beautiful one " On the Starry Heavens ; " all written
with the same purity and elevation of spirit, and all in the
same national measure and manner.
A truer specimen of his prevalent lyrical tone, and,
indeed, of his tone in much else of what he wrote, is per-
haps to be found in his '* Hymn on the Ascensión." It is
both very original and very natuial in its principal idea,
being supposed to express the disappointed feelings of the
disciples as they see their Master passing out of their
sight into the opening heavens abo ve them.
And dost thou, holy Shepherd, leave
Thine unprotected flock alone,
Here, in this darksome vale, to grieve,
Wliile thou ascend'st thy glorious throne ?
O, where ean they their hopea now tum,
Who never lived but on thy love ?
Where rest the hearts for thee that bum,
When thou art lost in light above ?
How shall those eyes now find repose
That turn, in vain, thy smile to see ?
What can they hear save mortal woes,
Who lose thy voice's melody ?
And who shall lay his tranquil hand
Upon the troubled ocean's might?
Who hush the winds by his command?
Who guide US through this starless night?
For Thou art gone ! — that cloud so bright,
That bears thee fipom our love away,
Springs upward through the dazzling light.
And leaves us here to weep and pray ! 20
quisition, and oould obtain books only by are plenty of them," — hay hartos. Docu-
special written petition to the tribunal, he mentoa, Tom. X. p. 610.
asked for a single copy of each of them to ^ It is in quintilla» in the original *, but
be brought to hlm firom his ovm cell, add- that stanza, I think, can never, in English,
ing, withcharacteristic simplicity, "There be made flowiug and easy as it is in Span>
Ohap. IX.1
LUIS DE LEÓN.
89
In order, however, to comprehend aright the genius
and spirit of Luis de León, we must study, not only his
lyrical poetry, but much of his prose ; for, while his reli-
gious odas and hymnJs, beautiful in their severe exactness
of style, rank him before Klopstock and Filicaja, his prose,
more rich and no less idiomatic, places him at once among
the greatest masters of eloquence in his nativo Castilian.^^
ish. I haré, therefore, used in this trans-
laüon a freedom greater than I have gen-
erally permitted to myself, in order to
approach, if possible, the bold outline of
the original Uiooght. It begins thus :
T dexaa, pastor santo,
Tu grey en este valle hondo oscuro
Con soledad y llanto,
T tu rompiendo el puro
Ayre, te vas al inmortal seguro I
Los antes bien hadados,
Y los agora tristes y afligidos,
A tus pechos criados.
De tí desposeidos,
A dó convertirán ya sus sentidos ?
Obras de Luis de X<eon, Madrid, 1816, Tom.
yLp.42.
A translation of Luis de Leon's poems by
C. B. Schlüter and W. Storck, Münater, 1863,
n. 8*
is worth reading by those who are fomiliar
with the Germán. The versión of this ode
is at p. 130, and is in the measure of the
original. Another similar versión of it may
be found in Diepenbrock^s Qeistllcher Blu-
menstraus, 1852, p. 157.
la In 1837, D. José de Castro y Orozco
produced on the stage at Madrid a drama,
entitled " Fray Luis de León," in which the
hero, whose ñame it bears, is represented
as renouncing the world and entering a
cloister, in consequence of a disappoint<
ment in ¡ove. Diego de Mendoza is also
ene of the principal personages in the same
drama, which is written in a pleasing style,
and has some poetical merit, notwithstand-
ing its unhappy subject and plot.
CHAPTER X.
CERVANTES. HIS FAMILY. EDUCATION. FIRST VERSES. LIFE IN
ITALV. A SOLDIER IN THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO. A CAPTIVB IN
ALGIERS. RETURNS HOME. SERVICE IN PORTUGAL. LIFE IN
MADRID. HIS CALATEA, AND ITS CHARACTER. HIS MARRIAGE.
WRITES FOR THE STAGE. — HIS LIFE IN ALGIERS. HIS NUMANCIA.
POETICAL TENDENCIES OF HIS DRAMA.
The family oí Cervantes was originally Galician, and,
at the time of his birth, not only numbered five hundred
Family of jears of nobilitj and public service, but was
Cervantes, gpread throughout Spain, and had been extended
to México and other parts of America.^ The Castilian
branch, which, in the fifteenth century, became connected
1 Many Uves of Cervantes have been writ-
fcen, of which four need to be mentioned.
1. That of Gregorio Mayans y Sisear, first
prefixed to the edition of Don Quixote in
the original published in London in 1738
(4 tom. 4to), under the auspices of Lord
Carteret, and afterwards to sevend other
editions ; a work of learning, and the first
proper attempt to coUect materials for a Ufe
of Cervantes, but ill arranged and ill writ-
ten, and of little valué now, except for
some of its incidental discussions. 2. The
Life of Cervantes, with the Analysis of his
Don Quixote, by Vfcente de los Bios, pre-
fixed to the sumptuous edition of Don
Quixote by the Spanish Academy (Mad«
rid, 1780, 4 tom. fol.), and often printed
since ; — better written than the preceding,.
and containing some new facts, but with
critícisms fuU of pedantry and of extrava-
gant eulogy. 3. Noticias para la Vida de
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, by J. Ant
Pellicer, first printed in his "Ensayo de
una Biblioteca de Traductores,»» 1778, but
much enlarged afterwards, and prefixed to
his edition of Don Quixote (Madrid, 1797-
1798, 5 tom. 8vo) ; poorly digested, and
containing a great deal of extraneous,
ihough sometimes curious matter ; but
more complete than any life that had pre-
ceded it 4. Vida de Miguel de Cervantes,
etc., por D. Martin Fernandez de Navar-
rete, published by the Spanish Academy
(Madrid, 1819, 8vo) j — the best of all, and
indeed one of the most judicious and best
arranged biographical works that have
been published in any country. Navarrete
has used in it, with great effect, many new
documents; and especially the large col-
lection of papers found in the archives of
the Indies at Seville, In 1808, which com-
prehend the voluminous Información sent
by Cervantes himself, in 1590, to PhiUp II.,
when asking for an office in one of the
American colonies ; — a mass of well-au-
thenticated certiflcates and depositions, set-
ting forth the triáis and sufferings of the
author of Don Quixote, ftom the time he
entered the service of his country, in 1571 *,
through his captivity in Algiers ; and, in
fact, till he reached the Azores in 1582.
This thorough and careful life is skilfuUy
abridged by L. Viardot, in his French
translation of Don Quixote (Paris, 1836,
2 tom. 8vo), and forms the substauce of
the " Life and Writinga of Miguel de Cer-
(90)
Oéap. XJ MIGUEL DE CERVANTES SAAVEDRA. 91
by mamage with the Saavedras, seems, early in the six-
teenth, to have fallen oflf in its fortunes ; and we know
that the parents of Miguel, who has given to the race
a splendor which has saved its oíd nobility from oblivion,
were poor inhabitants of Alcalá de Henares, a Date of hia
emsAl but flourishing city, about twenty miles ^^'^*
from Madrid. There he was born, the youngest of four
children, on one of the early days of October, 1547.^
No doubt, he received his early education in the place
of his nativity, then in the flush of its prosperity and fame
from the success of the üniversity founded there by Car-
dinal Ximenes, about fifty years before. At any rate,
like many other generous spirits, he has taken piace of hu
an obvious delight in recalling the days of his *'^'^'^'
childhood in different parts of his works ; as in his Don
Quixote, where he alludes to the burial and enchantments
of the famous Moor Muzaraque on the great hill of Zu-
lema,^ just as he had probably heard them in some nursery
Btory; and in his prose pastoral, ''Galatea,'' where he
arranges the scene of some of its most graceful adven-
tures *' on the banks," as he fondly calis it, " of the famous
Henares. ''* But concerning his youth we know only
what he inciden tally tells us himself ; — that h« seesLopede
took great pleasure in attending the theatrical ^"®^* ^^
representations of Lope de Rueda ; * that he wrote verses
when very young ; ® and that he always read everything
Yantes Saavedra," by Thomas Roscoe, Lon- dren after the Saint on whose festival they
don, 1839, 18mo. were born, and as the feast of St Michael
In the notice which follows in the text, I was but recently passed when he was bap-
baye relied fot my facts on the work of tized.
Nayarrete, whenerer no other authority is * Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 29.
referred to ; but in the iiterary criticisms * *' £n las riberas del famoso Henares.*'
Navarrete can hardly afford aid, for he (Galatea, Madrid, 1784, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 66.)
hardly indulges himself in them at all. Elsewhere, he speaks of " nuestro He-
* The date of the baptism of Cervantes nares } " the "famoso Compluto '* (p. 121) j
is Oct. 9, 1547 ; and as it is the practice in and " nuestro fresco Henares," p. 108.
the Catholic Ghurch to perform this rite » Comedias, Madrid, 1749, 4to, Tom. I.,
soon after birth, we may assume, with suf- Prólogo.
ficient probability, that Cervantes was born ^ Galatea, Tom. I. p. x.. Prólogo ; and in
on that very day, or the day preceding. the well-known fourth chapter of the " Vi-
But Julius, in a note to this pass{^ in his age al Parnaso " (Madrid, 1784, 8vo, p.
translation of this history, suggests very 63), he says :
ingeniously ttat Cervantes may have been j^^^ ^.. ^^^^ ^.^. ^„g ,, ^
born on 8t. Michael's day, September 29, Dn,ce de U agradable poesía,
as it was common in Spain to ñame chil- Y en ella procuré siempre agradarte.
92
OERVANT^ AT BCHOOL.
IPebiod nJ
withín bia reactij even, as it Bbould se era , the torn scraps
üf paper he picked up in tbe piiblíc streets/ H
It has been oonjectured that he piirsQed his studiey in^|
part at Madrid, aud there is sooie probabiÜty, notwithstand-
ing the poverty of bis family, that he passed two yeai-s atj
iiifl wbooi- t^<3 Uni^ersity of Salamanca. Biit what is cer
í3*yft- taiü is, that he obtained a public and decií^ive
mark of respect, before he was tweuty-two yeare uld^
fmm one of his teachers ; for, in 1569, Lope dé Hoyos
pnblished, by authoríty, on the deatb of the urdiappy Isa-
bello do YaloiSi wjíe of Fhilip the Secoud, a volurne of
verse, m whích, among other contributions of his pupils,
are bíx sbort poenm by Cen-aritos, whom he calis hia_
'Mear and well-beloved disciple." This was, do doubtj
Cervantes' first appearancc in print as an author ; and*
though he gives in it little proof of poetical tal en t, yct
the aíFeetiünate words of hie master by which bis verses
wero accompanied, and the circiimstance that one of bis
elegies waa written inthe ñame of the wholo school, show
that he enjoyed tbe respect of bis teacher and the good-^
will of bis fellow-stadents,*
The next year, 1570, we find him, without aoy no tice
of tbe caij^e, removed froni all his early connections, and
serving at Rome as cbamberlaíji in tbe house-
bold of Mon signo r Aquaviva, soon añerwards
a cardinal; the same person who had been sentí in 1568,
on a speciaí misdon firom the Pope to Fhilip the Second^
IW
7 " Cario voj añdionsiño 4 1«r auaqae
sean los papdes rüboi de las c^Ie^, llevado
desta mi natural Inclina ioUf tamé an car-
topHcio," etc»^ he iay& (Don Q^Cxote^ Parte
I. c. 9, ed. CICKiiiQCíii, Madrid, lfl33, Ua,
Tífin. I, p. 108)11 wbcti gJvíiif aa scqoíiat af
bis takluijr up Ihe waetí.» p«peT at the flitk-
miTCcr^e^ wlilch^ ai hs pretende^ tamed uat
to W this hit^ or Duíi Qaixute [□ Arabici.
n 'riie verses üf Oervaottífl trn thia octía-
altíii inay be fnund parlly ín Rios^ " Pnia-
baa dü í\í Vifla de Cerra ote»/' ed. Acad-
emia, NuS. ^f^t and partly i a Ns^viuTete,
"Vida, pp- 2Q% 353. Tliej are poor, and
the¡ obJy clraurasUinee thHb nmkea ft wortb
vhUe to relbr lo tliem ts, tbat HdjroPf wbo
Oeryantea repeatedl^r *^ caro dlsoipakii,*
aod "amado üiscipxúü-^" atid «13^ thi
tbe Eie^y is written " t'D nombre de lude
el txtMdiQ." Tbmey wiüi oiher mtsoelianB-
oufl poeiEií óf C<!tv&ütcSi are cülíeeted fnr
ttie flrst time in tbe flrat volume of tbe
" biblioteca de Antúrea Espaául^^'* by
Arlbati (Madrid, lg46, Sv»^ pp. 013^20] ¡
and proTe the pleadaot relatío'nfl tn frhlch
Ot^rvantefl Ktood witb Sümc aT i()c pHiteSpal
púttá of hia day, imah aa Patliliat Mnkli;}^
nada, BArrua, Yugutr d« Btúm, [ternmido
de Hcrrci^i etc. Of Boyoé anii ble v^lumtt
of ver^a curlou^ tiotlctñ ninj tie round ia
tbe ** Disertación íliKttiricío Geoi^raflca, {».,
i]€ Madrid, i*tit P. Juan AnL PeUioerf''
I
waa A ptií^eaé^ of elagant üterBtiiTe, callfl Madrid, 1903, lto¡ pp^ lOB, dqq.
Chap. X.1 CERVANTES IN ITALY. 93
and who, as he seems to háve had a regar¿ for literature
and for men of letters, maj, on his return to Italy, have
taken Cervantes with him from interest in his talents.
The term of service of the young man must, however,
have been short. Perhaps he was too much of a Span-
iard,.and had too proud a spirít, to remain long in a posi-
tion at best very equivocal, and that, too, at a period
when the world was full of solicitations to adventure and
military glory.
But, whatever may have been his motive, he soon
left Rome and its court. In 1571, the Pope, Philip the
Second, and the state of Venice, concluded what was
called a "Holy League " against the Turks, and set on
foot a joint armament, commanded by the chivalrous Don
John of Austria, a natural son of Charles the Fifth. The
temptations of such a romantic, as well as im- Becomes a
posing, expedition against the ancient oppressor *oidier.
of whatever was Spanish, and the formidable enemy of all
Christendom, were more than Cervantes, at the age of
twenty-three, could resist ; and the next thing we hear of
him is, that he had volunteered in it as a common soldier.
For, as he says in a work written just before his death, he
had always observed "that none make better soldiers
than those who are transplanted from the región of letters
to the fields of war, and that never scholar became soldier
that was not a good and brave one. ^'^ Animated with
this spirit, he entered the service of his country among
the troops with which Spain then fiUed a large part of
Italy, and continued in it till he was honorably discharged,
in 15t6.
During these four or five years he learned many of the
hardest lessons of life. He was present in the sea-fight
of Lepante, October í, lótl, and, though suffer-
ing at the time under a fever, insisted on bear- the batüe of
ing his part in that great battle, which first ^p*"*^*
decisively arrested the intrusión of the Turks into the
* ** No hay mc^jores soldados, que los que por estremo," etc. PenQes y Sigismunda,
te Urasplantao de la tierra de los estudios Lib. m. c. 10, Madrid, 1802, 8vo, Tom II.
en lot campos de la guerra ; ninguno salió p. 128.
de estudiante para soldado, que no lo fuese
M
CEETANTES AT LEPAIfTO.
[Pbriou IL
West of Euroup. The gallej in which he serve d wus i a
the tliickest of the con test, and tbi^t he díd bis duty to
his country and to Christendom he carried praud and pain-
fol proof to his grave ; for, be sidos two other wounds^ he
received one which deprived hini of tbe use úf hie leil
hand and arm during the rest of his life. With the otlier
suflerers in tbe fight^ he waa taken to the hospital at Mes-
sina, where he reraained till April, 1572 ; and then^ under
Marco Antonio Culonna, went on the espedí ti un to the
Levant, to which he aUudes with so mnch satisfactiou
in hÍ3 dedication of the " Galatea/* and which he haa
so well described in the story of the Captive^ in Don
Quíxote.
The next year, 1573, he waa in the affair of the Goleta
at Tnnis, under Don Juhn of Austria, and afterwardsj with
the regiment to which he was attached,^^ returned to
Sicily and Italy, loany parte of which, in difieren t
journeys or expeditions, he seems to have vis-
itedj remaining at odo time in Naplee abo ve a year." This
períod of his life, howe%^er, tbough marked with much
auíferiogj seems DOver to have heea regarded by Iiim with
regret. On Ihe contrary, above foriy years afterward,
with a generous pride in what he had undergone, he
declared tbat, if the alternative were again ofíered him^^|
he shonld account his wonnde a cheap exchange for the^fl
glory of having been present in that great euterprisc.^
lü at Tm&t.
4
^
i>^ Tb6 re^iDetit tu whicli he served wps
eme ef the uioat í^mrjiís in the Eirmle» of
Fti llíp II. It waa the " Tercio de F lande»,"
and ttt tbu büiid of it Vá6 Ltypü ile Ffíru«>^^
vbD aote * dÍ9Ünguialivd píiit im twu of the
pUiyi of C&UU>roii| — '^ AtuiLf diíflpuiia de lu
Muíírte," ftEni " fii Alciikle <Je Kalaixit'a."
Cerrantes probably juliitfi] thífl Tiivuríte
teglm^Dt &gnÍDf wkep^ na ve sbaU see^ h^
engfígcá itk tíio earpc'ílHíftn to Portugfü in
IfiSl^ whlthi^r wt3 Udow ncit onlj thAi he
went that yifttft hnt that the FlRiulerH regl-
metit went alio, Of tU^ affair of the O oLet^ »t
¡TuAleí a spirítetl noctiunt ii gíven In n little
tcact En the DíblioMeíB <le Autores Eepiir
vAm (Totn. XXI, 18íi3, i«p. 4ÍJ1'4&&), bj
epTizaLo de IlléBcnfl } — dhc íiuiae per^qn
who pübUahed^ in 1574^ tha h^j^nnlD^ of a
rery dutl FontíñcdL Hidl^jr?, which waa
BubseqmrnUy Cúntinned in íhG Mune Bpirít.
by LuIm de fiuvL& imd otberB.
^^ AU hÍ8 worJtfl cí^ntttin nHiaalaTis to tliB
exp«íloiicea of hU U(^, úíiú («iivoiall? (o
hit tmvtílái^ Wh«n hu we» Naplei lu hla
imaginiLTy Tlógo del FitPtiaao (Ja* 9^ p. 129),
hii íJXCluLciB, I
EslA. ei udiúl ci Nipd^B H íluitrv.
Que yo (mé mnw runt mai de ud «fio.
1^ 4^ SI fúiütA me rtmpu.iStiran j facilLtAmti
nn imponible^^* ftays Ct?TVEint*s, m re^ily
(o the cHHufM peivtidalEtíea of Air^lÍAuedk,
*^ t\nlñlürvL antea haber me bailado en ñqnel*
la fuQpiíin pradigio^ que íjídoi abcira de
edÍb b«!rii1^ ^In hnbtrRie hnitttdo en ella-'
Prulo^ á Ban Q.ú.\jeij^^ Parte Segunda,
I
Cbak X.]
CEBTAÍÍfES A BLA^^ IN ALGIEES,
95
Whea he was discliarged, íu 1575, he took with him
lotters fi'om the Duke of Sesa and Don John, commending
him earucstly to the king, and embarked for Bpain. But
00 the 26 th of September he was capturod^"^ ^^ ^^.^ ^^^
aud carried into Algiers, whcre he passed tí ve tía retma
years yet more disastrons aud more full uf ad-
Tenture thae the five preceding. He serve d succeasively
threo cruel mastera, — a Greek and a Tenetian, both ren-
egad o es, and the Dej, or Kiog, hiniiáelf ; the first two tor-
titíug Jüm with that peculiar hatred against ChriatiaiiS
lüch naturally belonged to per^ons who, from unwortliy
motives, had joined themselves to the enemies of all
Christeudowi ; and the last¡, the Dey, claiming him for his
elave^ and treating him. with great eeverity, becauee he
had 13 ed from his mastor and becíome formidable by a
series of cfíurts to obtain liberty for himaelf and íiis
fdlow*captíves.
lodeed, it is plain that the apírit of Cervantes, so far
from having been brokeo by his cruel captivity, had been
ofdy raised and etrengthcned by it. On one
occaaioii he attempted to escape hj land to siavu lu ai-
Orau, a Spauish settlement on the coast, bnt
wag do serte d by his guide and compelí ed to retnru. O a
another, he secreted thirteen fellow-eufíerera in a cave oa
the sea-shore, whcre, ai the constant risk of bis owa life,
he pri:"vided duriug maiiy wecks for their daily wants,
whjle waiting for rescue by sea ; bnt at last^ after he ímd
joined them, was baaely betrayed, and then nohly took the
whole punishment of the corispiracy on himaelf. Once
he sent for help to break forth by violence, and his letter
was iotercepted ; and once he had matured a écheme for
beíng rescued, with sixty of hia countrymen, — a scheme
iif which, when it was defeated by treachery, he agaia
announced himself ñB the only author and the wilUng
victim. And finally, he had a grand project for the insur-
lection of all the Cliristian slaves in Algiers, which was,
rhaps, not uulikely to succeed. as their number was
11 tweuty-five thousand, and which was certainly so
ría uig Algcrfae eapt^r, AmAUte] ñ^cci Kurauíccim CNineiiUj Tora. I. pik xlr, hbiI
Id tlia tHülidi úf U>e tSm/t. B^ ntmuí, 14T.
96
CERVA2fTK3 A 3LAVB IN ALGIERS.
[Fsniofi IL
alarmÍDg to the Dey, tliat he declared that, " If he could
but kcep tliat lame Spaniard well gtiarded, he should con-
Bsder \m capital, his slavca, and hÍB gal ley a sale," ^* O a
each of these oceasions, sevcrCj but not degradiug-,'^ pun-
ishmenta werc inflicted upun hirn. Foiir times he expected
iiislant death in the awfal form of impalement or of tire ;
and the last time a rope waa absulutely put about \m
neck, in the vain hopc of extorting from a spirit so lofty
the ñames of his accomplicea,
Át last, th© moment of reléase carne. Hiñ eider brotherp
who waa captured with him, had beeii ransomed three
HiP tiiivunti y^^ars bcfore ; and iiow his widowed mother was
and pí>vmy. oblíged to sacníicei for her yonnger soii^s free-
dom, all the pittance that reraaíned to her in the world,
incltiding the dowrj uf her daughters. Bat even this waa
uot euough ; and the remainder of the poor five hundred
crowns that were demanded as the piice of his liberty
was made up partly by amatl borro wings, and partly by
the contributions üf religious charitj**^ In this way he
^* One of Úii raost trustworthy and curí*
OKU HHJurtUíM For thU p£Lrt of the lite nf C^ar-
inm^ iá ^^La Hlatoria y Tojm^iíñ& át
Argíili'' por J>. Dlegü de liaedo (V^aÜado-
Itd, IBlSíi foUo)j in whích Cervaotea ia often
menUQiied| but irlilcli Bceíos U> liñve beeo
üTcrloolíed ín all Uiqulil^it rclatín^ Ui íiim,
tUt BarmieDto Atujuhk^ upon itt í° 1T52.
It Ib in ttija wurk Uiat occur Uie wurda
crtt£^d in ttie tcxt^ and whlcb proye Jioír
Uey, ^ " Ifeúia Asnn Bajá, Rey de Ari^e^L^
ture iü the síxtventh and «^vt-nteenth cñn-
turiea, whích bd QÍlten refer ta the Maoi:^
and théír CJiriatlan atayea na tbe consta of
Barbarj.
i* With trae SpAulali príúv^ Cervjuit^ís,
vhcn a^llucUtig U) hlraaclf Ln thu staiy of
tbt] Cautive (Dt>a Qiiixott, Pj^rliO L e. i0)^
saya of the Dt'j, ''^ Solo libró bisa ooa él mi
^tldüdo. Español Uatnado tal de 9aaTcdrS|
al quat Con hatHfr hecln} coaa^ qqt qaJidJiT4a
ÉD la memoria de aquelLcta ^ntiei por ma-
chos añoSf j todoB por alcaratar Ifbertwif
que como el tuviese guardada al estropt;«da jamaf le dio palo^ ni ae Lo DiaDdA áar^ di lie
Español tenia aeíacuroa aas eriatianosi, aqa
baxelea y ana UhIü la cSmlanl." (t, lííñ.)
And just beTore thlA, rererritig U> llie l^aid
project of C&rvantva to take the eitj by an
tnaurrtfction isf the slavv», Haedü aaya,
" Y sí A BU animO] lodtistrfOf y tracas» cqt-
resjwndSera la reutura^ hol faeni el rlía,
que Argel Fuera de crlBtiGtEíae ", pi>rque ug
aspiraban á mcnoa $us lutentonJ' All tM^-,
it ahould be ri»:4.tlIcot^,wa* publiñfaciJ ftiup
y(^nÉ before Cerviuiteft" deathn The whr>le
botóte ^ includini^ uot only the hlatory, hut
the dialoí^ueü ai the eüd ou the BuHeFÍDga
aod auirtyrdoai of the Chriatian^ ia AI*
glerA, ia very curii¡iui| *nd oftuo tbrowi a
i^Hig Hgíit 011 paBsaiset uf Spamlah Uterar
ilt^n umiü ]mlahr&t y pfir la menür eoia de
tuuch&» quc' hSzOf temlamoa todbt qae había
ck der tímpülBiilo, y aní la temió ¿{ mas dé
una l^e^+**
^^ A iM^autlful tribute ia paid by Certunta,
íu hLa tale of the ^'^ Española lugleu"
(Novelüif Madrid^ 17^3» Svo^ Tum. L pp.
ÍÍ38^ 3fi^)T to the ^al and dlalutereAi^lntífle
of the poor prieata and toonlia, who weüt,
HooietiDies at thi; riaic cif theír lives, to Al-
giera to redecm Uie ChHDtlaua, And one of
whnm reraftijied there^ iTi^uR hlfl persau ia
ptedge túT four Uiousaud duicats whit'h ha
had horrüwed l^j sl'UcI home captivta. Of
Fatlicr Juati eil, K-ho elfectt-d the redemp-
tlou of ÜerviiiiteB htuiÉielf ín^m. Blari^ry,
GbílP.X.] CERVANTES RETÜRNS HOME. 9t
was ransomed on the nineteenth of September, 1580, just
at the moment when he had embarked with his master,
the Dey, for Constantinople, whence his rescue would have
been all but hopeless. A short time afterward he left
Algiers, where we have abundant proof that, by his disin-
terestedness, his courage, and his fidelity, he had, to an
extraordinary degree, gained the aíFection and respect of
the multitude of Christian captives with which that city
of anathemas was then crowded.^'^
But, though he was thus restored to his home and his
country, and though his first feelings may have been as
fresh and happy as those he has so eloquently expressed
more than once when speaking of the joys of freedom,^^ still
it should be remembered that he returned after an absence
of ten years, beginning at a period of life when he could
hardly have taken rootin society, ormade for himself, amidst
its struggling interests, a place which would not be filled
aUnost as soon as he left it. His father was dead. hís desoíate
His fetmily, poor before, had been reduced to a co»idition.
Btill more bitter poverty by Jiis own ransom and that of
his brother. He was unfriended and unknown, and must
have suffered naturally and deeply from a sort of grief and
dísappointment which he had felt neithe^^as a soldier ñor
Cervantes speaks expressly, in his " Trato great kindliness and generosity of dispo-
de Argel,*' as sition j but he never overcame a strong
feeling of hatred against the Moors, inher-
ÍII.S'í: ^^:¿ y "SÍiSÍ""' '"^ fr«- ^»« ^^^«'o- *°d exasperated by
Fbrqne ha catado otra vex en esta tíeira ^^ ^^^ captivity. This feeling appears in
Bewatando Chriitíanoi } y dio ezemplo both his plays, written at distant periods,
De nna gran Christiandad y gran prudencia ;— on the subject of his life in Algiers ; in the
8a nombre ea Fray Joan Gil. fifty-fourth chapter of the aecond part of
Jomada V. j^^^ Quixote j and elsewhere. But except
AlHarofthebleasedTrinity, this, and an occasional touch of satire
¿,í?íJS1Sl«r^b^<Z::¿í: """^ Jgalost d«enoa,.-ln whloh ftuevedo aod
Carne lo Algien to nunom Christian alavés, ^"^^ Velez de Guevara are as severe as he
And gare examplein himself, and proof is, — and a little bittei-ness about prívate
Of a moet wiae and Christian fidthfúlness. chaplains that exercised a cunning influ-
Hia ñame is Filar JnanGiL gnce in the houses of the great, I know
Haedo gives a similar accoont of Friar nothing, in all his works, to impeach his
Joan Gil in his "Topografía de Argel»* universal good-nature. See Don Quixote,
(1612, ÍIL 144, sqq.). Indeed, not a few of ed. Clemencin, Yol. V. p. 260, note, and p.
tbe «^padres de la limosna,*' as they were 138, note.
ealled, appear to great advantage in this ^^ for a beautiful passage on Liberty, see
Interesting work, and, no doubt, deserved all Don Quixote, Parte II., opening of chapter
the reyerence they received. 68.
^ Cervantes was evidently a person of
n. 9
98
TUE QALÁTEA.
C^miftlLl
m a slare* Tt is üot remarcable, therefore, that be shouM
llave entered aoew ínto the scrvice of his ccnmtry, — join-
ing hiB brother, probably m the same ragiment to whích
he had formerly belonged, and which was now sent to
maintain the Spaniah authority in the newly-aequired king-
doMof Portugal. How loog he remained there is not ccr-
tain, Eut he was at Lísbon, and went, under the
MarquÍB of Santa Cniz. iti the expedition of J581,
"^' aa well as in the more íraportant one of the year I
following, to reduce the Azores, whích still held outagainat
the arma of Phihp the Secoiid. From thiB period, there-
fore, we are to date tho full knowledge he freqiiently
A loldkr at
shows of Portiigiiese literitture, and that strong love for
Portugal which, in the tbird hook of *' Persiles and Sigis-
muuda/' as well as in other parta of hisworks, he exliibite
with a kindlmess and geDcrosity remarkable in a Spaníard
of any age^ and particularly in one of the age of Philip
the Secoiid.^*
It le Tiot unlikely that this circumstance bad eome infla-
ence on the first directíon of hi& mure serious eiforts ae an
author, whích, soon after his return to Spaín, ended in
tlie paatoral romance of ''Galatea." For proae pastorali
have be en a favorite form of fio t ion in Portugal from the
dayfl of the '^ Menina e Mo^a'^^ down to our own times ;
aiid had already been iutroduced into Spanish líterature
Ity George of Montemayor, a Portugueee poet of reputa-
tion, wbosü *' Diana Enamorada '* and the continuatíon of
it by Gil Polo werOj as we know, favorite hooks with
CervanteB.
Bnt, wh ate ver may have been the cause, Cervantes now
wrote all he ever published of his Galatca, which was
licenBed on the first of February, 1684| and printed in the
•
I
11^ " WcU doth the BpiiiLlih hldd thi^ dlffbfvncfl
lOWf" —
un opinión whlob Ch^ldf^ n&rold fnuQil In
SpaLü whüa he wa* tliere^ and coald have
fouiid &i &úy Unao íút two bundrcd yeaxÉ
bnfure.
^ The ** H^dIob e Míi^a " ís tht gmoe-
fiü Uttleftagmíntflf fl protó puAtor&l^ l)y Ber-
TUirdloo Etbejno^ vhfch date» ttom abotit
T&OO; anñ tuiM ^)wnys been admíred^ ae íhi
d^iHl it ücaervca to be. n g^ta its uaiuta
fnitti tUe two woTún wUh whieh it btíjíltii,
— ^' SoiaM ftiJd yuung j " a quaint; ctrííuni-
tttaiiDe., «bovrlitg ití e^renie |wtpiiLttTÍly
«Ith thi«e c¡lA«ies that wi^m Uttle in tbu
bJLliiC of i^ferrítig to l^oaks bj Úi^U fonnal
títlea.
(kAP. X.] TnE GALAtBA. 99
December following. He himself calis it " An Eclogue,"
aod dedicates it, as " the first fruits of his poor genius,"^
to the son of that Colonna under whose standard
he had served, twelve years before, in the Levant.
It is, in fact, a prese pastoral, after the manner of Gil
Polo's ; and, as he intimates in the Preface, '* its shepherds
uid shepherdesses are many of them such only in their
dress.''** Indeed, it has always been understood that
Galatea, the heroine, is the lady to whom he was soon
afterwards married ; that he himself is Elicio, the hero ;
and that several of his literary friends, especially Luis
Barahona de Soto, whom he seems always to have over-
rated as a poet, Francisco de Figiieroa, Pedro Lainez, and
dome others, are disguised under the ñames of Lauso,
Tirsi, Damon, and similar pastoral appellations. At any
rate, these personages of his fable talk with so much grace
and leaming, that he finds it necessary to apologize for
their too elegant discourse.^
Like other works of the same sort, the Galatea is
ñ>anded on an affectation which can never be successful ;
and which, in this particular instance, from the unwise
accomulation and involution of the stories in its. fable,
from the conceited metaphysics with which it is disfigured,
and from the poor poetry profusely scattered through it,
is more than usually unfortunate. Perhaps no one of the
many pastoral tales produced in Spain in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries fails so much in the tone it
should maintain. Yet there are traces both of Cervantes'
experience in life, and of his talent, in difierent parts of
it. Some of the tales, like that of Sileno, in the second
and third books, are interesting; others, like Timbrio's
capture by the Moors, in the fifth book, remind us of his
own adventures and sufferings ; while yet one, at least,
that of Rosaura and Grisaldo, in the fourth book, is quite
emancipated from pastoral conceits and fancies. In all
•* ** Eitu primicias de mi corto ingenio." recen de ingenios entre libros y las aulaa
Dedicatoria. Seven ediüons of the Oalatea criados que no de aquellos que entre pagL-
were pubUahed as early as 1618. zas cabanas son crecidos." (Libro lY . Tomo
""Mochos de los disftaiados pastores 11. p. 90.) This was intended, no doubt, at
deUa lo eran 8<do en el hábito." the same time, as a compliment to Figue-
» " Cuyas rasones y argumentos mas par roa, etc.
100
TEE GÁIÁTEA,
II^rtioD IL
we have paasages marked with his rich and flowiiig- etjle^
though neveri perhapSi with what ib most peculiar to his
gODÍus. The inartificial textare oí' tbe whole, and the
confusión of Cbrístianity and mjrtholugy, almost inevitable
in mich a work, are its moat obvious defects ; though
nothing, perhaps^ is mure incungruous than the represen t-
atioü of tbat sturdj oíd soldier and formal statesmaii,
Diego de Mendoza^ aa a lately deeeased shepherd,^
But, wben. speaking tbus slightingly of tbe Gal ate a,
we ought to reraember tbat^ thuugíi it exteiids to two
volumesj it ia uiifiníshedj and that paasagea which now
seem out of proportiou or unintelligible uiigbt bave tbeir
meaniíig, and might be fouiid ap prop ríate , if tbe eecond
part, wbich Cervantes bad perhaps written, and which be
continucd to talk of publiíihiug tul a íew daye before bis
deatb,^ íiad ever appeared. And certainlj^ as we make
up our judgmeiit on its me rita, we are bound to bear in
niind bis own touchitig worda, wben be representíi it as
fouud by tbe barber and cúrate in Don Qnixote's library,*
" ' But what book is the next one ? ' aaid tbe cúrate. — 'Tbe
Galatea of Miguel de CervaiiteB/ replied tbe barber. —
' Tbie Cervantes/ aaid tbe cúrate, ' búa been a great ñiend
of mine tbese many yeara ; and I know tbat be ts r«ore
skilled in sorrowa than in verse, His book is not witbout
happiness in the invention ; it proposes somcthing, but
finifibes notbing. So we must wait for the second part,
which he pro mises ; for perhaps he wjll tben obtaín tbe
favor that is now denied bim ; and^ in the mean time, mj
good gossipi keep it locked up at bome/ "
If tbe story be true tbat be wrote the Galatea to win
4
i
É
^ The ch.L'Sf octt^Ffi Id tlie GalaLes. vüía
tha tma^ of Metnloittt^ ín üif bíkUi book,
under thí et:ílil&ao4 of a wii« and g^utle
Cbriitlsin pritfsi | maíL when there^ CaMlope
fttnLngel^ ai>tjiear4 lo Üitum anú. pr<:inoqiiooa
ft tiedlatu potítlcttl üuloglum mi a vafit nn.m*
beií 0t Uie CKmtemporflfy Spiuildh po^ta,,
mmt üf whom ai« bow fchr^atEiart. TEía
Platea was abrldg^^d by Fl^rian, At the
étiiá. ol tke ei^hteuDtb Cí^utury^ and repro-
ducid, irSUi im nppropriAt^ cnnelaatüQ, m
a pr^^v putocalf wblcb, in tUe Aoja whca
Qesiuer was éo popular^ w&s ñrteqDentty »*
printed. tu VtilA fotm it iit by hü memüi
wiüiQut gmicc. CiartaLctly the attcmpc of
FLurÜLn |s more jiucciféafuL tbaD a iímllar
oue nmde by Don Candida Mana de TrU
gi.i£f n», whi» füllüWed and used hlin iii Loa
KuamoradíTs o Qalaieaf ee,, l^livlrld* 119^,
s* In Üi« l>edlcatlon tn « Pcm^w y Sigl*»
monda," 161«, Aprll ISfchj uiily foiir dJiy*
berore hUi denUí,
^ Porte PrLm«ri4 m.P' 6f
41BAF.X.] CERVANTES MARRIED. 101
the favor of his lady, his success may have been the
reason why he was less interested to finish it ; for, almost
immediately after the appearance of the first part, g^ jg n,„,
he was mamed, December 12th, 1584, to a lady "^d.
of a good family in Esquivias, a village near Madrid.^
The pecuniary arrangements consequent on the marriage,
which have beea published,^ show that both parties were
poor ; and the Gralatea intimates that Cervantes had a
formidable Portuguese rival, who was, at one time, nearly
successful in winning his bride .® But, whether the course
of his love ran smooth before marriage or not, his wedded
Ufe, for above thirty y'ears, seems to have been happy ;
and his widow, at her death, desired to be buried by his
side.
In order to support his family, he probably lived much
at Madrid, where we know he was familiar with several
contemporary poets, such as Juan Rufo, Pedro de ^^ ü^gg
Padilla, and others, whom, with his inherent good- at Madrid.
nature, he praises constan tly in his later works, and often
unreasonably. From the same motive, too, and perhaps
partly in consequence of these intimados, he now under-
took to gain some portion of his subsistence by authorship,
tuming away from the life of adven ture to which he had
earlier been attracted.
His first efforts in this way were for the stage, which
naturally presented strong inducements for one who was
early fond of dramatic representations, and who Hewritesfor
was now in serious want of such immediate *he stage.
profit as the theatre sometimos yields. The drama, how-
ever, in the time of Cervantes, was rude and unformed.
He tells US, as we have already noticed, that he had wit-
nessed its beginnings in the time of Lope de Rueda and
^ He aÜTides, I think, but twice in all vantes, prefixed to his edition of Don
his works to Esqaivias *, and botli times it Quixote (Tom. I. p« ccv.)- There seems to
is to praise its wines. The first is in the have been an earlier connectíon between
** Cueva de Salamanca" (Comedias, 1749, the family of Cervantes and that of his
Tom. U. p. 313), and the last is in the bride*, for the lady's mother had been
Prologo to^^Persiles y Sigismunda,"though namcd executrix of his father's will, who
in the latter he speaks also of its " ilustres died while Cervantes himself was a slave
linages." in Algiers.
. « See the end of PelUcer's Lifé of Cer- » At the end of the sixth book.
n. 9»
102 CERVANTES WMTBS FOR THE STAGE. [Pbbiod IL
Naharro,* which must have been before he went to Italy,
and when, from his description of its dresses and apparatus,
we plainly see that the theatre was not so well understood
and managed as it is now by stroUing companies and iu
puppet-shows. From this humble condition, which the
efforts made by Bermudez and Argensola, Virues, La
Cueva, and their contemporaries, had not much amelior-
ated, Cervantes undertook to raise it ; and he succeeded
so far that, thirty years afterwards, he thought his success
of sufficient consequence frankly to boast of it.^
But it is curious to see the methods he deemed it
expedient to adopt for sucji a purpose. He reduced, he
Hi8 ideas of says, the number of acts from five to three ; but
the drama, jjhis is a sHght mattcr, and, though he does not
seem to be aware of the fact, it had been done long before
by Avendaño. He claims to have introduced phantasms
of the imagination, or allegorical personages, like War,
Disease, and Famine ; but, besides that Juan de la- Cueva
had already done this, it was, at best, nothing more in
eitherof them than reviving the forms of the oíd religious
shows. And, finally, though this is not one of the grounds
on which hé himself places his dramatic merits, he seems
to have endeavored in his plays, as in his other works, to
turn his personal travels and suíFerings to account, and
thus, unconsciously, became an imitator of some of those
who were among the earliest inventors of such representa-
tions in modern Europe.
But, with a genius like that of Cervantes, even changes
or attempts as crude as these were not without results.
The number ^® wrotc, as he tells US with characteristic care-
of plays he lessuess, tweuty or thirty pieces which were re-
ceived with applause ; — a number greater than
can be with certainty attributed to any preeeding Spanish
author, and a success before quite unknown. None of
these pieces were printed at .the time, but he has given
US the ñames of nine of them, two of which were dis-
» Prólogo al Lector, prefixed to his » Adjunta al Parnaso, first printed ir
eight plays and eight Entremeses, Madrid, 1614 ; and the Prólogo laat cited.
1615, 4to.
GtaAP. X.] THB TBATO DE ARGEL. IOS
covered in 1*782, and printed, for the first time, in 1Í84.^
The rest, it is to be feared, are irrecoverably lost ; and
among tiíiem is " La Confusa," which, long after Lope de
Vega had given its final character to the proper national
drama, Cervantes fondly declared was still one of the
very best of the class to which it belonged ; ® a judgment
which the present age might perhaps confirm, if the pro-
portions and finish of the drama he preferred were equal
to the strength and originality of the two that have been
rescued.
The first of these is '* El Trato de Argel," or, as he
elsewhere calis it, " Los Tratos de Argel," which may be
translated Life, or Manners, in Algiers. It is aHig^ratode
drama slight in its plot, and so imperfect in its ^«®^-
dialogue, that, in these respects, it is little better than
8ome of the oíd eclogues on which the earlier theatre was
founded. His purpose, indeed, seems to have been simply
to set before a Spanish audience such a picture of the
fiufferings of the Christian captivos at Algiers as his own
experience would justify, and such as might well awaken
sympathy in a country which had furnished a deplorable
number of the victims. He, therefore, is little careful to
construct a regular plot, if, after all, he were aware that
Buch a plot was important ; but, instead of it, he gives us a
Btiff and unnatural love-story, . which he thought good
enough to be used again, both in one of his later plays
and in one of his tales ; ^ and then trusts the main success
of the piece to its episodical sketches.
Of these sketches, several are striking. First, we have
a scene bet^^en Cervantes himself and two of his fellow-
captives, in which they are jeered at as slaves and Chris-
tians by the Moors, and in which they give an account of
the martyrdom in Algiers of a Spanish priest, which was
subsequently used by Lope de Vega in one of his dramas.
Next, we have the attempt of Pedro Alvarez to escape to
Oran, which is, no doubt, taken from the similar attempt
of Cervantes, and has all the spirit of a drawing from life.
** They are in the same vohime with ^ Adjunta al Parnaso, p. 139, ed. 1784.
the » Yiage al Parnaso," Madrid, 1784, ^ In the <« Baños de Argel," and the
8ro. "Amante Liberal."
104
Tfll TltATO DE AE&HL,
rP£:Bioi^ IXJ\
And, in different places, we have two or tliree painful
acenes of the publie sale of slavesj and especially of little
childiGD, wbich he must often havc witacrssod, aud whicU
again Lupe de Vega thoiight wüith borro vviiig, wheu he
had risea, as Cervantes calis it, to the moiiarchy of the^
Bcene.*^ The whole play is divided into five jumadas of ^|
acts, and written in octaves, reáondülm, te^rzarima, blankTl
Terae, and almoBt all the otiier me asures known to Span
ish poetrj j while among the persons of the drama are
strangely scattered, as prtimineüt actors, Necessity, Oppor- i
tUQÍty, a Lioiij and a Deoiüii. H
Yet, notwithstaudiug the uohappy canfasion and care-^
lesBiiess all thití implies^ there are paasages in the Trato
de Argel %vhich are highly poetical, Aurelio^ the hero* —
whü is a Christian captivCi aflSanced to anotber captivo
named Sylvia, — is loved bj Zara, a Moorish lady^ whose
conñdante, Fatíma, makes a wild incantatioa, ia ordcr
to obtain means to so cu re the gratilication of her mis-
tress' lo ve ; the result of which is that a dem un rises
and places in her power Necesslty and Opportunity.
These two immaterial agencies are theii seut by her upoiiH
the stage, aud — iuvisible to Aurelio himselfj but seen by ^*
the spcüt^tors — tempt hini with evil thoughts to yield to
the seductiona of the fair unbeliever;"^ Whca they are
gone^ he thus expresses, in soliloqtiy, his feelings at tiía
idea of having nearly yield ed :
I
" The *■ EadftTCM en Argel *^ of Lope ¡^
nmnd !d hls Cüinefllas, Tom. XXY. (gar^-
gTt^A^ 1647, 4to^ pp>23L-2i}0>, and ahowa tlia(
bü burro wed much tocí fruüly frozu tilie pluy
úf CerviuiteB, which, it should be r^mcDi*
bered, hiul Dot ÜieD bceu prtnt^'jdf qo tliat
bs mu&t h|Lv@ ii^ed n maniiaertpU Th«
icetu» of the Bule uf the ChrlstLaii chüilrqu
(pp> 240f 260)^ aoá Üie B-ceut^a lictwecD the
utme cbildnsn Aftw üoa of thí*m büd he^tmie
a Utiliammedfiii (pp* 2^0^ 2^0)^ aa thej
stand IM LApe^ are Uküti írcím the corres-
pondin^r Boecuea íti Cervftut«» (pp. 316-^23^
aod 3^4-360, ed. 1784). Mnch of the
Etorjf und puasn^f Ln otber parte uf the
plsy, are uJ^a barrowiH]. The tDiirtyrdom,
or tlie YAJencliin príeit, which Ifl iD>ert-|jr
áeiudbod hf Cf?rvuiiti?is (pp. 2^8-4!05>, ifi
nuda a priiujipia ilmniatic poiat ia the
thlr4 jornada of Ijope'ji plají wliera tha
execuUcHL occuis, to tihe modt rcvolüng
ñiniif iHi tlw fttHfB (p. 2&1'>,
■ Cerraates, no dr^vÉI, VKlxieá fainuíelf
upüñ ttaese bumatcrfal Agt^nckti \ niiid, after
hia timf ^ thej bocame coznrnon dn the Span>
l&h sta^u. Oalderou, in hia " Gmu Pr1i>
cipe de Fez '^ (Coiuediap^ Madrid^ 1760^
4tn^ TniD. llt. p- BS^9), thkis expluing twa^
wIioíD he introduces^ in word» Uiat muy b4 j
flppUed tü ilioae of eurraiitea :
rit^ BU híien fJ*nlo y mal Genio
Entvrlarmtute la luí.
ntf K^<>od itnd tv\\ gf'nlu.i bfidií^d f^iTtbi
Thj »ii[iw, Ai ir It wt^w hi upen aght,
The hot«ni::uiiiil^r híílUe» In hia htmti.
CkAP.X.] THE TRATO DE ARGEL. 105
Aiurelio, whither goest thou? Where, O where,
Now tend thine erring steps ? Who guides thee on 7
Is, then, thy fear of God so small that thus,
To satisfy mad &ntasy's desires,
Thou rushest Jieadlong ? Can light and easy
Bportonity, with loóse solicltation,
soade thee thus, and OYercome thy soul,
Tielding thee up to love a prisoner 7
Is this the lofty thought and firm resolve
In which thou once wast rooted, to resist
Ofifence and sin, although in torments sharp
Thy days should end and earthly martyrdom 7
So soon hast thou offended, to the winds
Thy true and loying hopes cast forth.
And yielded up thy soul to low desire 7
Away with such wild thoughts, of basest birth
And basest lineage sprung ! Such witcheiy
Of foul, unworthy love shall by a love
All puré be broke ! A Christian soul is mine,
And as a Christian's shall my Ufe be marked ; —
Ñor gifts, ñor promises, ñor cunning art,
Shall fi:t)m the God I serve my spirit tum,
Although the path I trace lead on to death ! ^
The conception of this passage, and of the scene pre
ceding it, is certainly not dramatic, though it is one of
those on which, froni the introduction of spiritual agen-
cies, Cervantes valued himself. But neither is it without
Btirring poetry. Like the rest of the piece, it is a mix-
ture of personal feelings and fancies, struggling with an
ignorance of the proper principies of the drama, and with
the rude elements of the theatre in its author's time. He
calis the whole a Comedia ; but it is neither a comedy ñor
a tragedy. Like the oíd Mysteries, it is rather an attempt
to exhibit, in living show, a series of unconnected inci-
dents ; for it has no properly constructed plot, and, as he
honestly confesses afterwards, it comes to no proper
conclusión.^
The other play of Cervantes, that has reached us from
*r Aurelio, dotde tm f pan d6 muereí 88 Y aquí da este trato fin,
A Tagaroao paao f Quien te guia f Que no lo tiene el de Argel,
Jomada V. P^7 o° ^^^ same subject, pnnted tnirtj
yean after the representation of this one.
106
IBM irtTMANClA.
[PSRICID IL
thia period of bis life, is founded on the tragical fate of
ííumaiitiíi, wbich, having resieted the Koman arma four-
iiiB Nu- *^^^ jDarSj^ was reduced by lamine , the Román
mjiDdSii, forcee consistiiig of eightj thousand men, and tbe
Numantiaa of leas tban four thousand, not one of whom
Tvas found alive when the conquero rs ente red tbe eity,'*^
Cerv^antes probablj chose tliis eubject in consequence of i
the patriotic re col lee ti oub it awakened, aud Btill continues j
to awakeu, in the luinds of bis countrymen ; and, far tliei
eame reason, he fiUed his drama chiefíy with the public '
and prívate horrors con sequen t on the self-devotion of the
Numaritians.
It is divided into fonr jomadas^ and, like the Trato daj
Argeb is wrítten in a great variety of me asures j the
ancient redondilla beitig- preferred for tbe more active^
portions- ItB dramaíis personcB are no fewer than forty
in number \ and among- them are Spain and the River
Duero, a Dead Body, Weít, Sickness, Famine, and Fame ;
the laet personage spcaking^ the Prologue. The action
opens with Scipio^s arrivah lie at once reproacbes the ^
Eoman army, that^ iu so long a time, tbey had not con-^l
quered eo emall a body of Spaniards, — as Oervantes ^
always patriotically calis tbe ííumantians, — and then añ-
il o unces tbat they must now be subdued by Famine. Spain
enters aB a fair matronj aud, aware of what awaits ber
devoted clty, invokea the Duero in two poetical octaves,*^
which the riTer aiiswers in peraoo, accompanied by threo
i
^ Cen'BDtes iñakeá S(3Ípio eay of the
Difv f ieb iiJioi Km j mu p««adoi*
Thn tfaf! length of (he coúí&tí with Na-
mantia wns^ hüvrevcr, fourtéiaii yenfii'; abd
^ B Ifl ven to tm±t vlth the » Nmoao.
d*'' óf Ceríante*, the accQuot of rjora»
(£pí£. U. IB)^ oiid lapecEaÜy that in MjltU
»na {LLb. III. o. e-~lO), the latter l»eing Uis
ppDiid Bpaní^h versión of ít.
tí l>uern fl^ntál, quE^ aon torcidni í
Hmdedtee» giAii fiarte de uiL iCQO, '
Ansí en txa mgntm úimpit yenf enruelíu
I de CáQ ^iLil el Ti^t» 1
T KdJil Iu nEnCu fug\tWa.§ luelbiJ,
De quí wtt «I verde pmdo j btíMine lleaff*
TungAii humilde] i tui agiiiu cluai,
Y «n pref l3iit« fiTur 00 Man urarma^
QuOi prcatcí & 1»Ib AjpeitKl IflmctitCia
Atento oidu 6 qiit A escuchiu-loi yetigsM,
Y aiiiic|ue lUíxua un riilu tui cunt^ntaPit
SlipUoote ^ue ei> nada te dct^m^i ;
D«ftjDi fieitu BoirtADQi no tic vvngat,
Ci^iTqdci vvQ jm qwdciulQr mmhiü
Alft iBlud del puc^bCu Numiiiitliio,
ilqm* 1. So. 3*
It flhoiild be Aildod that Lhoiw twt> octavet
úüjCúf nt Ih^ eüd o( a £ütnew}i»t tedlotu
inUloquy ftí Qltiu or beti otherfl, aU oC wEiJ^h
are r&á^ly octavín litanzaij though wA
Ijriuted &s Bnujh.
Oéap. X.1 XHS NUHANOIA. lOf
of hÍ8 tributary streams, but gives no hope to Numantia,
except that the Goths, the Constable of Bourbon, and the
Duke of Alva, shall one day avengo its fate on the Komans.
This ends the fírst act.
The other three divisions are filled with the horrors
of the siege endured by the unh^ppy Numantians ; the
anticipations of their defeat ; their sacrifices and prayers
to avert it ; the unhallowed incantations by which a dead
body is raised to predict the fíiture ; and the cruel suffer-
ings to oíd and young, to the loved and lovely, and even
to the innocence of childhood, through which the stern
fate of the city is accomplished. The whole ends with
the voluntary immolation of those who remained alive
among the starving inhabitants, and the death of a youth
who holds up the keys of the gates, and then, in presence
of the Román general, throws himself headlong from one
of the towers of the city ; its last self-devoted victim.
In such a story there is no plot, and no proper develop-
ment oF anything like a dramatic action. But the romance
of real life has rarely been exhibited on the stage in such
bloody extremity ; and still more rarely, when thus ex-
hibited, has there been so much of poetical effect produced
by individual incidents. In a scene of the second act,
Marquino, a magician, after several vain attempts to com-
pel a spirit to reénter the body it had just left on the
battle-field, in order to obtain from it a revelation of the
coming fate of the city, bursts forth indignantly, and
says:
Bebellions spirit ! Baok again and fill
The form which, but a few short hours ago,
Thyself leít tenantless.
To which the spirit, reéntering the body, replies :
Bestrain the fory of thy cruel power !
Enough, Marquino ! O, enough of pain
I su&r in those regions dark, below,
Without the added tormenta of thy spell !
Thou art deluded if thou deem'st indeed
That aught of earthly pleasure can repay
Such brief retum to this most wretched world,
Where, when I barely seem to Uve again.
IOS
THE líUMANCIA.
ÍFkriod H.
With urgent epeed lifij harfihly shriiiks away*
Nay, riithtíí- díist thou bring a shuddí^iriug pam ;
Since, an tlie instiuLtj aU-prevu-iliog deatJi
Tiiuuipiítmt rtíígiía. aiiew, BuMumg Ufe and bouI ;
TJiUÉí yieldiiig twíc'e tUe TÍotüry to my füSj
Whü now, witk ütbez^ of Ma grisjly erew,
Obedient to thy wiU, and stiiiig witli rage,
Awaittí tlio tuuuietLt when eilitdl be ftilfillcd
Tbe knowlcílge tliou requirest at mj hand ;
The knoiwlctige ol" ^umatitia^Q awñil fiítií.^^
The re is nothing of so much dígnity in the incantations of
Mario w€^B '* Fauetue/' which beluiig to the contemporary
períod of the Euglish stage ; nor does even ShakBpeare
de ID and from us a sympathy so etrange with tbe mortal
head reiuctantly riaing to atiewer Macbeth- s g^iiiltj quea-
tion, as Cervantes makes us feel for this euñbriíjg ispírít,
recalled to liíe o ni y tu endure a se con d time the pangs of
diasolntion.
The scenes of prívate and domestic affliction .arisiag
from the pressnre of famine are Süínetimes introducen with
unexpected eüect, eepecially one between a mother and
her child, and the following between Morandro, a lover,
and hís mistressj Lira, whom he now fíeee wasted by huo-
gerj and mourning o ver the universal desoí ation. She
tmuB from iiim to conceal her suñerings, and he Baya, teU"
derlj,
Hay, Lim, liaste not, bñate not tbiía away ;
But let me feel an instantes apuííe the joy
Whiüh life üán give eveu here» aiuídat gmn defttll.
Let hui mm« eyea &il matant^ft apaco behold
Tby heauty, and, amidft ñaúh. bitter wee$»
Be gladdened í O mj gentío Lira ! — thotí,
That d>reU*Ht forever in Buch barmoay
■
■
« Mttrqtiuíú.
QuQ pcou hoi^M ha dencupoite*
luyo^ MArguLno, bait«^ ttlÉtCp btstia,
I^ que fu píEO íh Xñ ragíotí eacvn,
8la que tü cr^xau mu mi dcK'veutufL
EngiBiit^t b' (jSensBJ [|tí« recibo
Ct^iiteiitu d(} volver It «fia penoBA,
Ulvero y corto v\úi^ itue nbortt vilHl,
Que yn me va nilUüdC' fot^vurof & :
Füe# otm ven \n mutrte riguj!ti^&
TriunAiri de mt tííJi y de ral al mi i
MI ^nrmifu [endrá dublnáu (iiilíni^
EL cumI, con utros tUl ercura bnntta
Dh kti que ioi) «ugirtcn i aguard^rtEi
Eatá ctip rubia en lonio^ í^iil i^Rpemnilil
A^^ut Acaben Mi^rquínú, de iuformRTte
DtX lumen Iftl^lc fin, del m4ii nefaiidD»
||taa dfe IfuuiBJiclA pqísita íkAugtLurtet»
Jnm.U, &?,3.
Oup. X.]
THE NÜMANCIA.
109
Lira.
Morandro.
Lira
AforoMdro.
JJfm
Amidst the thoughts that throng my &ntasy,
That sofifeiing grows glorious for thy sake ; —
What ails thee, love? On what are bent thy thoughts,
Chief honor of mine own?
I think, how &st
All happiness is gliding both from thee
And me ; and that, before this cruel war
Can find a cióse, my life must fínd one too.
What sayst thou, love ?
That hunger so prevails
Within me, that it soon must triúmph quite.
And break my li&'s thin thread. What wedded loye
Canst thou expect from me in such extremity, —
Looking for death perchance in one short hour?
With femine died my brother yesterday;
With &mine sank my mother ; and if still
I struggle on, 'tis but my youth that bears
Me up against such rigors horrible.
But sustenance is now so many days
Withheld, that all my weakened powers
Contend in vain.
O Lira ! di^ thy tears.
And let but mine bemoan thy bitter grie& !
For though fierce famine press thee merciless,
Of fiunine, while I live, thou shalt not die.
Fosse deep and wall of strength shall be o'erleaped.
And death confronted, and yet warded off !
The bread the bloody Román eats to-day
Shall from his lips be tom and placed in thine ; —
My arms shall hew a passage for thy life ; —
For death is naught when I behold thee thus.
Food thou shalt have, in spite of Román power,
If but these hands are such as once they were.
Thou speak'st, Morandro, with a loving heart ; —
But food thus bought with peril to thy life
Would lose its savor. All that thou couldst snatch
In such an onset must be small iadeed.
And rather cost thy life than rescue mine.
Enjoy, then, love, thy fr^h and glowing youth !
Thy life imports the city more than mine ;
Thou canst defend it from this cruel foe,
Whilst I, a maiden, weak and &int at heart,
Am worthless all. So, gentle love, dismiss this thought ;
I taste no food bought at such deadly price.
And though a few short, wretched days thou couldst
Protect this lifb, still &mine, at the last,
Must end us all.
10
^^m lio ^H^ :^UMA]^OIA. [FxEiQsII*
^^H Morandfo. In vain thou fitriTeatj Ioto, ^H
^^^^^H To liinder me tbe way my wlll aXJke ^^^^|
^^^^^^1 And deatiny Inirite imd dmw me on. ^^^^H
^^^^^B Fra.y ruther, thei^íbrü, to ihB godü abare, ^^^|
^^^^^B Thiit tliey reliini me homci.
ladeu witb Bpoüs, ^^^H
^^^^^ Tliy aafferings jwid mine to
mitígate. ^^^H
^^^^ Z«trd, Mortiadro, geutle Meud^
Ü, gü nüt ñirtb 1 ^^^H
^^^^^v For lici% betbre me gleams a liostile sword, ^^^H
^^^^H Red with thy blood 1 0, yenture, yenture tLot ^^^H
^^^^^^1 Suoh ñere^Q extrecmtj^ Light of mj Ufo ! ^^^^^
^^^^H ¥üit if thú i^ally ha with úmi\
g^ra thick, ^^^^1
^^^^^B More dteod Ib thc retum.'*^
^^H
^^^^^^^B Morandn,
Tf! ttnga tafk lEu {JompAB^ ^^^^^^
^^^^^H K<» tn^qi tüu 4e ^amiU,
D'H hiiinlírE ño mniiru ^^^^^^|
^^^^^^H lilra, dáxime gos&r
M luntinu j^o tuvL«re ylda. ^^^^H
^^^^^^H 1>?1 Ui«D que iii« pucdQ dar
Yo me ufrezco de suitnr ^^^^H
^^^^^^H En La íuugHg akgrü vldm :
£L tinto y el mtifo ñi^rtej ^^M
^^^^^^H Dcxm^ qDQ nifitin ifiU qjoi
^^^^^^H Vn nia tu licmiodura^
Fmra 1k ttayí «leuiur, ^^M
^^^^^^^^^ PuQ» Unta mt devrtn^ni
El tmn que el Ronuna to», ^^|
^^^^^^H Sd flittKtkiití cu uili» tinojoi*
Slii Q^ttt! «L tiimuf me dertrari^ ^^H
^^^^^^H O 4iilc« Llm, qtm fluenii4
liD qu ttitré de 1» buj'l ^^^^H
^^^^^H Ckmtlno fln mi Eui l^a
Fm« ponerlo eo tu bcHk ^^^^^H
^^^^^^H Con tiia mxv^ hmrmtmm
Coa ral bnuú hiin ewr«m ^^^^1
^^^^^^H QuB vuFl¥e en ilürld mia ptiuiia 1
A tu vSdtt y á mi muerte,. ^^^^^1
^^^^^H Quétton^t^ ^iie cEtáif peniuidft,
^^^^^^^B Glüfük dfi nii pccLfumcDCQ í
^^^^^^B
^^^^^^^^H FEcDKO como mi contenta
A pciAr db kif Homenoff, ^^^^^H
^^^^^^H Y el tuyo le tb. acübando,
Bl yn MU uptuí mlfl mAnoi ^^^^^|
^^^^^^H El ccircc» de nueatm tlc^rra.
^^^^^1
^^^^^^^^H QoB prlmun.» (lüu lí ipiorrn
HobU* cmns eaamondu, ^^^^B
^^^^^^H Bb me acabarü la ñlo^
Munuidm» pt¡ro no « juetOf ^^^^^1
^^^^^^^^P JÍDranfJpi?'
Que ja toine g^aUt ti gu0m ^^^^H
Cna tu fM^Ugnj ccmiinidD, ^^^^^1
^^^^^B Qn<3 dkai, Hím du mi ftlhí4 1
Poca podri AnitetoUrmu ^^^^H
^^^^^B
QuiJ^tder robo que hiirli, ^^^^^H
^^^^^^1 Qqe nte tkne t&l U h^ínlitü,
AnuqaA Edm cletto helLona ^^^^^H
^^^^^H Quii db mL TitM estambra
^^^^^B Lienif^ pre-tQ 1* jí*lma.
Qtfjtm de tu mocedad ^^^^^1
^^^^^^^B Que tilomo bu de espanir
EQi &e»i» edad y crwldft, ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^1 Be tiuivn 4irtá «u tal (*xt»:mf]^
Que mu imptuis ta yidL ^^^^^^|
^^^^^^H Que te ft^iTLim que tei»n
Que \A nútL, á I>A ciudíuL ^^^^^M
^^^^^^^1 Antes di! uúu hura tAiAfAr?
Tu podT^ ti^tAn deTendeUA, ^^^^B
^^^^^^^1 MI h«nimiia myer eapLcó
Que DD li flm» p ujon e^ ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^M Y ful mtdre yn ha ai»Ttada,
H^MÍM. tRE. tñsba duhcülla. ^^^^H
^^^^^^^^H QnOi La Liambre U Kiabó.
AbíL que, mi dulce Amor, ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^1 Y eL La hAmliire y lu meru
DbMíaún tÉú pfrnttiiiiifjni4>, ^^^^^1
^^^^^H Nm liü rendida mi ealuO,
Que y u uú quiero «usUuüto ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^B £■ porgue j^Yen tnd
GkUAdo con ludor* ^^^^^M
Que AunciUA pu«d^« aliiSAr ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^B Pero ontat» ha. tantxM dLm
MI muerte par algún dio, ^^^^^|
^^^^^^^1 Que ELU le Lmgi] deíen«a«
£it& bimbit que parfla ^^^^^1
^^^^^^^1 Ko pueden CuQtrm au o1^Ili&
£ii fta lUM hM de ae&baj-. ^^^^^1
^^^^^^^B Idi d^bilei fuer^u uiIm,
iTnraiKlro. ^^^^^|
En ywno trAtuyos, L(]% ^^^^^|
^^^^B Ei>Jia«iKLI»,loi<d«.
De LHLpldíritic cite (iAmlno, ^^^^H
^^^^^^H DeixA i^ue Ici tjiitci miai
Bo mi voluutndl :!^ iígno ^^^^H
^^^^^^H Se i'ui'Ituu eomen^ liui
Allá Tu^ ctiUTlrLn y tira. ^^H
^^^^^H NHCldtu de lua tiflOJOf ;
TU nu^uráa ent}^ touto ^^H
^^^^^B Y «TmiQue I& hKabí^ DffsadLda
A loi í>ííMe«, qu€ me vuclfan ^^^H
Chaf.X.] THB NUMANCIA. 111
He persiste, and, accompanied by a faithful friend, pene-
trates inte the Boman camp and obtains bread. In the
contest he is wounded ; but still, forcing his way back to
the city, by the mere energy of despair, he gives to Lira
the food he has won, wet with his own blood, and then
falls dead at her feet.
A very high authority in dramatic criticism speaks of
the Numancia as if it were not merely one of the more dis-
tinguished efforts of the early Spanish theatre, but one of
the most etriking exhibitions of modern poetry.** It is
not probable that this opinión will prevail. Yet the whole
piece has the merit of great originality, and, in several of
its parte, succeeds in awakening strong emotions ; so that,
notwithstanding the want of dramatic skill and adaptation,
it may still be cited as a proof of its author's high poet-
ical talent, and, in the actual condition of the Spanish
stage when he wrote, as a bold and noble effort to raise
it.
Con despojo! que reraelvan There la, in this scene, a tone of gentle,
Tu miseria y mi qnebisnto. broken-hearted aelf-devotion on the part of
lÁrcL» Idra, awakening a flerce despair in her
Monmdro, mi dulce amigo, lover, that seems to me very true to nature.
No Tajras, que se me antoja, The last words of Lira, in the passage trans-
Que de tu sangre veo roza jated, have, I think, much beauty in the
lA espada del enemigo. oriirinftl
No hagas esta jornada, ongmai.
Morandro, bien de mi vida, ^ ^- ^' v®° Schiegel, Vorlesungen über
One si «s mala la salida, dramatische Kunst und Literatur, Heidel-
JBa muy peor la||imada. berg, 1811, Tom. H. Abt. ü. p. 346.
Jom. lEL 8c L
CHAPTEE XI.
UERYAÍÍTE3 Í05GLECTED, ^AT SETILLE. HlS TAILÜRE. — ^ASKS OfPLOT-
JIENT IN AMERICA* *--AT VALLADOLID.^ HIS TK0PBI.I3. PUBUiíirES
THE FIRSÍ PART OF 1>0N QÍJLSOTK. — BE REHOYES TO Kál>RfP. — HIS
LirE TEEnE. — HfS HELATIOXS WITH LOPE DE TECA. HJS TALES
AÍCÜ THEllR CHARACTER. HIS JOURNET Tt> PARNASSUa, AND DEFESOB
OE HIS DRAMAS. PUBLÍSHEB BIS FL ATS AND EÍÍTRESCE&ES , TEEIE
CaARACTEtt, — ^SB€Q5íI> FART 01 DO?í QÜlXOTE. HIS DEATH,
The low condition of the theatre iii his time was a seri-
oua misfortune to Cervantes. It prevented him from
obtaiKiDg"^ as a dratoatic iiuthor, a suitable remuneratioii
for his eiforts, even though thejr were, as he tells ub, siic-
cessful in winuing public favor. If we add to this ihat
he was now married, that one of his sisters waa depend-
ent on Inm, and that he was maimed i a his person and a
neglected man, it will not seem remarkahle that, after
Btniggling on for three years at Esquivias and Madridj he
íbund himself obliged to aeek elsewhere the meaos of
suhsistence. In 1588, thereforáf he went to
Seville, then the great tnart for the vast wealth
CüiQÍng in from America, and, as he afterwards cal te d it,
^'a shelter for the poor and a refnge for the unfortunate/^ ^
There he acted for some time as one of the agents of
Antonio de Guevara, a royal comniíssary for the American
fleets, and afterwards as a collegtor of moncys due to the
goveniment and to prívate individuáis ; an humble condi-
tion, certainlj, and fuU of cares, but still one that gave
him the bread he had vainly sought in other pursuite*
The chief advautage, perhaps, of these eraployments to
a geníus lilce that of Cervantes was, that they led him to
Oerrantefigoed
i '^Ytilyltte Á HevilüiJ^ aiiyg Herían aa^ 4ckfl." Koteki, Madrid, 1TS3, Sto, Tqdl
tn thií " Cdkíqulo 4(5 loa Pcirtm," "que eg U. p, 3^2,
Binpaino de pobiv» y rvfunlü do desdlcbit'
(112)
GtaAP. XL] CERVANTES AT SEVILLE. 113
travel much for ten years in different pai-ts of Andalusia
and Granada, and made him familiar with life and manners
in these picturesque parts of his native country. During
the latter portion of the time, indeed, partly owing to the
failure of a person to whose care he had intrusted some
of the moneys he had received, and partly, it p^^^^^j^ ¿ja_
Í8 to be feared, owing to his own negligence, he tressesandim-
became indebted to the government, and was p"*°^®°
imprisoned at Seville, as a defaulter, for a sum so small,
that it seems to mark a more se veré degree of poverty
than he had yet suffered. After a strong application to
the government, he was released from prison under an
order of December 1, 169 Y, when he had been confined,
apparently, about three months ; but the claims of the
public treasury on him were not adjusted in 16á)8, ñor do
we know what was the final result of his improvidence
in relation to them, except that he does not seem to have
been molested on the subject after that date.
During his residence at Seville, wbich, with some inter-
ruptions, extended from 1688 to 1698, or perhaps some-
what longer, Cervantes made an ineffectual Askaan office
application to the king for an appointment in "i^™erica.
America ; setting forth by exact documents — which now
constitute the most valuable materials for his biography
— a general account of his adventures, services, and suf-
ferings, while a soldier in the Levant, and of the miseries
of his life while he was a slave in Algiers.^ This was in
1690. But no other than a formal answer seems ever to
have been retumed to the application ; and the whole
afiair only leaves us to infer the severity of that distress
which should induce him to seek relief in exile to a colony
* This extraordinaiy mass of documents The most important of them are published
la preserred in tíie ** Archivos de las In- entire, and the rest are well abridged, in
dias," which are admirably arranged in the the Life of Cerrantes by Navarrete (pp.
oíd and beautifol Exchange built by Her- 311-388). Cervantes petítioned in them
rera in Seville, when Seville was the great for one of four offices: — the Auditorship
entrepót between Spain and her colonies. of New Granada ; that of the galleys of
The papers referred to may be found in Es- Carthagena ; the Govemorship of the Prov-
tante II. Cajón 5, Legajo 1, and were dis- ince of Soconusco ; or the place of Correg-
oovered by the venerable Cean Bermudez idor of the city of Paz.
in 1808, who ahowed them to me in 1818.
n. 10»
114 SSORT OOCASIONAL POBMS. [Pbbiod IX.
of which he has elsewhere spoken as the great resort of
rogues.*
As an author, his residence at Seville has left few dis-
tinct traces of him. In 1595, he sent some trifling verses
Short occa- to Saragossa, which gained one of the prizes
Bionai poema, ofifercd at thc canonization of San Jacinto ; *
in 1596, he wrote a sonnet in ridicule of a great display of
courage made in Andalusia after all danger was over and
the English had evacuated Cádiz, which, under Essex,
Elizabeth's favorite, they had for a short time occupied ; *
and in 1598, he wrote another sonnet, in ridicule of an
unseemly uproar that took place in the cathedral at
Seville, from a pitiful jealousy between the municipaJity
and the Inquisition, on occasion of the religious cere-
monies oheerved there after the death of Philip the Sec-
ond.^ But, except these trifles, we know of nothing that
he wrote, during this active- period of his life, unless we
are to assign to it some of his tales, which, like the
" Española Inglesa," are connected with known contem-
porary events, or, like '* Rinconete y Cortadillo," savor
so much of the manners of Seville, that it seems as if they
could have been written nowhere else.
' " Viéndose pues tan falto de dineros y Segunda Parte, ff. 112-117. The principal
aun no con muchos amigos, se acogió al artists of the city were employed on the
remedio á que otros muchos perdidos en ccUa/alque sacríficed in thia unseemly
aquella ciudad [Sevilla] se acogen ; que es, riot, and they made it as magniflcent as
el pasarse á las Indias, refugio y amparo possible. (Stiriing's Artists of Spain, 1848,
de los desesperados de España, iglesia de Vol. I. pp. 351, 403, 463.) The sermim
los alzados, salvo conducto de los homici- delivered on the occasion by Maestro Fray
das, pala y cubierta de los Jugadores, aña- Juan Bernal, and printed at Seville, 1599,
gaza general de mugeres libres, engaño 4to, ff. 18, is not without a sort of rodé
común de muchos y remedio particular de familiar eloquence, comparing Philip II. to
pocos." El Zeloso Estremeño, Novelas, Hezekiah, who drove out heresy, and boast-
Tom. II. p. 1. ing that, " like a Phoenix, as he was, he
* These verses may be found in Navar- died in the nest he had himself buüt up,"
rete, Vida, pp. 444, 446. — the famous Escurial. Bernal died in 1601,
6 JPellicer, Vida, ed. Don Quixote (Mad- and a popular life of him was printed at Se-
rid, 1797, 8vo, Tom. L p. Ixxxv.), gives the ville in about sixty doggerel quintillas, ftill
sonnet. of puns, and very characteristic of a period
6 Sedaño, Parnaso Español, Tom. IX. p. in which buíToonery was often one of the
193. In the " Viage al Parnaso," c. 4, he means by which religión was made palata-
calis it " Honra principal de mis escritos." ble to the rabble. The following is a speci-
But he was mistaken, or he jested, — I men of it:
rather think the last. For an account of
the indecent uproar Cervantes ridiculed, Y que el vMt)n 8ol>er«no
,. , . , • 4.UI i. Fueiae Padre Santo eaüanot
and needful to explam this sonnet, see Pues, quando le amortajaron.
Semanario Pintoresco, Madrid, 1842, p. MU cardenafe« le hallaron
177, and Espinosa, Hist de Sevilla, 1627, Hechoa de su prctprta mono.
Gbap. ZL] GEBYANTJBS AT ABaAMASILLA. 115
Of the next period of his life, — and it is the important
one immediately preceding the publication of the First
Part of Don Quixote, — we know even leas than of the
last. A uniform tradition, however, declares that he was
employed by the Grand Prior of the Order of Saint John
in La Mancha to collect rents due to his monas- ,^,.,.
, .„ « . .,, , , Traditions of
tery m the village of ArgsCmasilla ; that he went hisvisittoAr-
there on this humble agency and made the ^^^
attempt, but that the debtors refused payment, and, after
peraecuting him in different Tjays, ended by throwing him
into prison, where, in a spirit of indignation, he began to
wríte the Don Quixote, making his hero a nativo of the
village that treated him so ill, and laying the scene of
moBt of the knight's earlier adventures in La Mancha.
But, though this is possible, and even probable, we have
no direct proof of it. Cervantes says, indeed, in his
Prefaoe to the First Part, that his Don Quixote was begun
in a príson ; ' but this may refer to his earlier imprison-
ment at Seville, or his subsequent one at Y9,lladolid. AU
that is certain, therefore, is, that he had friends and rela-
tions in La Mancha ; that, at some períod of his life, he
must have enjoyed an opportunity of acquiring the inti-
mate knowledge of its people, antiquities, and topogra-
phy, which the Don Quixote shows ; and that this could
hardly have happened except between the end of 1698,
when we lose all trace of him at Seville, and the begin-
ning of 1603, when we find him established at Valla-
dolid.
To Yalladolid he went, apparently because the court
had been removed thither by the caprice of Philip the
Third and the interests of his favorito, the Duke of Lerma;
* ** Se engendró en una cárcel." Avel- pun on the word " yerros " (Jaults)^ which
laneda sayí the same tbing in his Prefiuse, is commonly sounded much like " hierros "
Imt saya it oontraiptaously : " Feto discol- (irons) } and, on referring to the original
pftn los yerros de su Primera Parte en esta edltion of Avellaneda (1614), I found the
materia, el haberse escrito entre loa de una word actually spelt " hierros " (irons^
cárcel," etc. I once thought that the chaina)^ while the large Dictionary of the
article las in this passage was an Intimation Academy (1739, in verb " yerro "), admit-
that the residence of Cervantes in a jaU ting that " yerros " (Jaults) is sometimes
was a matter of reproach to him. But Sir spclt ** hierros," settles the question. In
Bdmund Head — so ftuniliar with every- its mildest form, it is a poor quibble, in-
thing Spanish, and so acute in applying tended to insolt Cervantes with his mis-
his knowledge — pointed oat to me the fortunes.
116
CERVAKTBS AT YALLADOLID.
P'^BIOB n.
but, aB eTerywhere el se, tbere too he was overlooked
and left iii poverty. liideed, wc sliould hardly know
Bfl uve« ikt tie was iu Yalladolid at all beíbre tlie pnblica-
Vtóiadoiid. tion of the Fimt Part ijf bis Don Quixote, but
for two painful circumet anees, The ñrst is an accotmti
jü bie owrt baiidwriting^ for Béwing dono hj bis sister,
whOí having Bacríficed everytbmg for bis redettipllon
froin captivitj, becaine depondent on bim during ber
widowboüd, and dioffín íiíb familj. Tbe otber is¡ tbat^ in
one of tboec nigbt-brawls cgmmoa among tbe gallants of
the Spanieb court, a Btranger was killed ncar tbe house
He \v fmpriH- wbore Cervantes livod ; in coneeqnence of %vhicb,
meduitre. ^j^¿ ^f g^^ie euspicioíie tbat fell on tbe faraÜj,
he waa, according to tbo hard proviBione of tbe Spanisb
law, confined with tbe otber prmcipal witnesees imti! aü
iüTestigatíon could take place :^
But, m tlie midet of poveríj and embarrafismentS; and
wbile acting in tbe hura ble capacity of general agent and j
amanuensia for tbose whu needed hiB scrvices,^ Cervantea^B
Firtt Part of had p re pared for the presa tbe First Part of bia ^B
Bou aiiuote. jjj^n Quixote, wbieb was lieensed in 1604, at Yal-
ladolid, and printed in 1605, at Madrid, It was reeeived
with sncb decided favor , that, befo re the year was out,
anotber editiün was called for at Madrid , and two more
elsewbere : circnrnstances whicb, aftor so many disco nr-
agements in otber attempta to procure a subsisten 00, natu-
ralíy turned bis tbougbts more towards letters than tbey
bad been at any previous period of bis life,
In 1606, tbe conrt having gooe baek to Madrid, Cer-
Oneóbackto vantcs followod it, aud tbere passed tbe re-
MiidirííL maiüder of bis Uh j cbanging bis residence to
t
I
* Pt'llíoer^fl Llfe^ pp. C3T¡,-cxixl. It has
ticen BU^g^ted, üd Üis uuthority of b aa-
tlrlc&l iomict. aterlbuted Vo Qonftüra^ that
Oerrmttee waa etuploy^d hy the Duke of
LenoA lo wrtte au aoeauüt ttí tha fWutívitLen
with whteh Stiwii»!, ihi; Eu^jUish AuihaÉ^Ei^
doT, wa» wilooiiied Is liS&b^ But thtr ^an-
lalnmie» «r tbe KKifwt Ií doribtful, ttt^ It
diKS not Bwam to me to boar tíic iaL«n>i^t&-
tlon pnt apon It. (Navanr^tCi Vhlíi, p.
4&ik D. Quísote, ed. Fülllcer, 179t, Tom.
L p. cxv.) It ha^ a\éo hüen. snggv&led
thnt Oírranteft, in tlie same jvat^ l^ñ&j
wrote at ValladoM an acooiiotr ^^ ^^J
íeaTCi qnart^f of the featiritleB id that city
OD ocdiflioD of tha btrthüf Phüip IV. But,^
I thmlí, he wüñ Üien ti pereoD of too liUle
avia to have bueo employed (ot aucti a
wurk. Stis ÜK Sponish triinalaticm qí thia
Híutury^ Tum. II. p, &m.
V One of the witoefrstiB in the precedÍDg:
crfmiual inquirir myñ thJtt Cervuiitoi wat
vlBiti^il hy diJTtirtíGt pvrHonflf *■*■ pí
hre que fscdbe j trata iitsgociot.
á
CñMT. XLl CERVANTES AND LOPE DE VEGA. 11?
different párts of the city at least seven times in the course
of ten years, apparently as he was driven hither and thither
by his necessities. In 1609, he joined the brotherhood of
thé Holy Sacrament, — one of those religious associations
which were then fashionable, and the same of which Que-
vedo, Lope de Vega, and other distinguished men of let-
ters of the time, were members. About the same period,
too, he seems to have become known to most of these
persons, as well as to others of the favored poets round
the court, among whom were Espinel and the two Argen-
solas ; though what were his relations with them, beyond
those implied in the commendatory verses they prefixed
to each other's works, we do not know.
Conceming his relations with Lope de Vega there has
been much discussion to little purpose. Certain it is that
Cervantes often praises this great literary idol ^^^ relations
of his age, and that four or five times Lope with Lope de
stoops from his pride of place and compliments
Cervantes, though never beyond the measure of praise he
bestows on many whose claims were greatly inferior.
But in his stately flight it is plain that he soared much
above the author of Don Quixote, to whose highest merits
he seemed carefiílly to avoid all homage ; ^^ and though
I find no sufficient reason ta suppose their relation to
each other was marked by any personal jealousy or ill-
will, as has been sometimos supposed, yet I can find no
proof that it was either intimate or kindly. On the con-
trary, when we consider the good-nature of Cervantes,
which made him praise to excess nearly all his other lit-
erary contemporaries, as well as the greatest of them all,
and when we allow for the frequency of hyperbole in such
praises at that time, which prevented them from being
what they would now be, we may perceive an occasional
ooolness in his manner, when he speaks of Lope, which
shows that, without overrating his own merits and claims,
he was not insensible to the difference in their respective
poaitions, or to the injustice towards himself implied by
it. Indeed, his whole tone, whenever he notices Lope,
10 Lfturel de Apolo, ^ra 8, where he is praised only as a poet
118
CERTANTES AND LOPl BE YSeA.
[Psiiiop ilI
seems to be marked with mucb personal dignity, and taj
be Bíngularly honorable to him.^
li Umt Qt tJbfi Diii.iert&1a íbr ft^rmlng a
Judgllicat oa tbls paint ín C^rfAíO^'' úhtíX'
mter are to 1» f&aaA in NnFarreta (Ylda,
4aT-4l«>, whtt maiutiiHB that Ceívaiutci
Hnil Lupe were slnoera frkDdg, nnd ¡a
Hiierta CLeccion Critica, Madrid, 1786,
ISmO) p. 43 to tbe cticl)f who miiliitalni
tlut Oemml» wm aa cutIous riral of
Lapa. As I caaiiot adopt eUlier pf th^se
resulta, «uid tbink the la»t pairtíciiLirly
ynjiutt I wUl veülare to aüd siae or two
«DDsidtírQitíDiia.
líüpc waa ñññüu jcafi youiigisr tbají Ccr-
VanUíM^ and wa* ftírty-tliiPW jeftTS oíd urben
thfl f írst P&rt ttf tím Don Qulxute was pub-
liahed i but from tbat Ütnv tul tlifl Üeath uf
CerrapteB^ » pK^riod of Blevuti jearfl, he
does liot, that I ara awarn» unce anuúi3 to
lilu. XÚe tve pa&Hagiea lu tbe Iwmcua^
«ua of LDpe*a wQrk»^ Lü wblcb aJiofii^t eo
[iir os I km^, be ipeakA of Cervaíitei!, tutís^
— 1, In ÜiS " BoTOthttt," ISUS, tw^ice
BÜghtiy tkiul witíioat pmtse. :J. Id the
Prefjice to b!i Ofrn Talea^ Ití^l, atlU more
sligbtly, ^Dd evpo, I thlak, CDldlj. 3- tu
the ** Laurel de Apolo," 16&0, where tíiere
u^ trelve Unes of cold [lütiaiug eulNgy of
hltD^ faurlüiin yeard after Mu d<íiLth. 4^. Id
biB plaj, ^^£1 PreDiIn del Bien Hablar,"
prluleA Id iSrliiLlrid, XG&&^ wliere Certaiatei
lü barely loeiitiQuifd (ConiudlaA, 4U>j Tonj.
XXI. f. Ití'i}. And fi. Id " Amar bId Snber
i Uulen ^' (C»uiMlafl, Madrid, Tora. XXII.,
164J&)lj wherQ (luroada priraera) Ijeotiai^la^
oii<} of tbe priocipni liuli-es, aay^ to btr
maM, who bad JuAt clted a balbvd of Au-
diUla and Xarifa to her,
Ine;;, tiike cii« ; yaur CAmmoa rendtng in ,
1 IttioWp Ihe B»3]iid-buüfc ; find, After áCl,
Yuu4^ cmif iHoy prüvü Llke Lliit of tiie paor
kiiiffht — ■
to whlob Inn replluí Inierraptins ber mts-
treaH,
]lnp QuixQtt í)f la MuéIib, If jfiii plepA^^^^
Htny Go4 Cermntcbi paidrui I — wu i küijflit
Of thií£ wild, vfriiig íDrt thti Cbrctiltle
elo nsa^nlflel. Far tne,, I olil,r r^ttl
The Ballml-hcHiít, Aiid Jínd mjatiXÍ tmni íbj'
To Olaj thú bcLlcr (br EL
AU tbta looka v^Tj resetred t tnit^ wh«ii we
add td ít tíi&% tb^ru veré iiusnberkB» «jcca-
«ioüfl oD ^'bich Lct[kti ctnikl liave grracefullj
iiotíc?Gd tbe ra^rít tó which he could never
bare boen iDÉeoBlblB], — e»]j€cla1]]r wh en be
isaket 80 fine aud ui^ustiflabl^ a ü£e of
CenrantiiB* *'l*»bi} d« Argel" íd his own
''^ISwlaTOA de ArgeV* obBfllalely iDiroduc-
iDf blffl by Bamd ou tbe stiiBe, and slyinff
hím ft probiliiCDt p&rt lu t^€ aotioD (CtHue-
día», ííanigij^a, 1647 j 4tíí, Tora- XXV. pp,
245. 2&1, 257, 20i, 277)^ lí^ltüont showín^
aíjy of tbosa kiüdly or r{?*tM!Ctful fuelíogí
wblch. it iraá caef aod cüididdii to Bbow to
frieoda od tbe lápanisib «tage, Mid wbi(:b
Calderón, for Idruidcq, eo ñrequentljr ihowi*
to C^'fvaDtca (e. g- Casa con IKob i^uertuB,
Jorn* I., etc.),— we can bardly doubt thaE
Lc»pe iriuiítgly overkioked &aú negtootfd
Cervantes, at le&st fnira the tlm« of
appuaraiico üf tbe Fb'st Fút of Doa Qul
ote, In ieü&, tUI &fur Iti autht>r^fl ilnüit
111 1610.
On tbe other limid, CervnDbea, ñrarm tha
düte of the «Canto de Caliope '^ In the
" Oalatea,*' 16ÍS4» when Lope was uüly
t?rtiiity-two years oM, li^ tlie (Wx of tbs
Freface to tbe SeooPd Fiart of Don Qulxote,
1015, only a yiüa befwe blM üurtí detitli»
wui cfliutAníljr givin^ Lope the pralfie»
diue to OEue whOf bejoad &U c&nítmpíirar]f
úümía or livftl<ip, waa at th^ head of
Spanisb ]iit€ratunív ^ai^i amoug üther yroúüB
üf suúb eíevatéd bjkI gtinerDtLü r<««]ii]j^, pns-
fl^ced, In l&dB, a landaU>ry soniiet to Lope^a
*^ BragoDtea.^^ Unt^ &% tbe aarae time ihEit
he dld tbifl^ and dtd It Treeíy and ÍUIlj,
tb^r^ L» a digülñed reseire and cautlon Ui
aum«r partji ol biB reotarkB about Li»p? tbat
show hi; woá not impelled bj anj wanUf
personal lefarrl ; a fi&Utiotí which U flO
tíb\ÍEiU4¡( tliat Arellaaeda, in tbe Pr^Jü^e to
bla Don Quíxote, maUelDUjly itittrrpreted ft
íntü eiivy,
It Ihi'rvfore séeDiG to niu difficult E,»avold
tbe cuncluáloíi, that tbe relatíDna tsetweeq
tbe twD great Spaal&b autbora of
period Were Biicb aa ratght be expecl
wbere nne was„ U* ftü eitraurdínary degree,
the idoL of ble timia^ and the other a Bufltir-
iDg and De{rl4:^4:t£d mao^ Wliat íb ma«t
a^reeablEí abunt tbe ythaUi tiiatter lü the
generons ¿uBtlee CérfantcB never Ckllii ta
re Oder to Xrftpe^s meritM.
Biit, Biwce tbe precedíng aftconnt, butb ín
tbe tífstt and ontc, wtm i>DblL§bed (19411),
tanw evldence baa Ijeen diaeovered on the
Bubjvct of the pvrsíjnal relatloaH of Ceiv
faiLt4^¿ anü Lt^pej — uuhapiillj, snch as.
reen
tbl^H
Gbap. XL]
THE NOVELAS EXEMPLARES.
119
In 1613 he published his " Novelas Exemplares/'
Instructive or Moral Tales,^ twelve in number, and mak-
ing one volume. Some of them were written ^is Novelas
several years before, as was " The Impertinent Exempiareg.
Curiosity," inserted in the First Part of Don Quixote/^
and " Rinconete y Cortadillo," which is mentioned there,
so that both must be dated as early as 1604 ; while others
contain intemal evidence of the time of their composi-
leftTM DO donbt of Lope's nngenerous feel-
ings toirards hU great contemporary. It
Í8 pnblfalied in the **Nachtrftge sur Oea-
^iebte der dramatíschen Literatur nnd
KuQst in ^panien yon A. F. von Schack **
(rrankfürt am Ifain, 1864, Svo. pp. 31-34),
aad ooDsists of extracta, made by Duran,
firom autogrofh letters of Lope, found among
tbe papera of Lope's great patrón and Mend,
the Doke de Sessa, vho paid the expenses
of his foneral, and inherited his manuscripts.
The principal one, for the present purpoee,
is dated Angost 4, 1604, while the Don
QnixDfee was in the presa ; and when read-
ing it we must bear in mir^ that Cervantes
dtd Dot ma<di r^;ard the fashion of his
time in preflxing laodatory sonnets, etc., of
his fHends, to his other works, and has
ridicoled it oatright in the'jeísting and
satirical verses he has preflxed to his Don
Qoixote, in the ñames of Amadis de Gaula,
Orlando Furioso, etc. Lope, under these
drcnmstanoes, writes to his friend the Duke :
**0f poets I speak not. Mauy are in the
bnd fbr next year ; but there is none ao bad
<u Cervantety or so foolish as to praise Don
Quixote,** — pero ninffuno hay tan malo
como Cervantetf ni tan necio que alabe
á Don ^¿uixotB. And further on, speaking
of satire, he says, ** It is a thing as hateful
to me as my Uttle books are to Almendares,
and my pi4x¡f» to Cervante*.** Of course
there can be no mistake about the feelings
with which such bitter wwds were written.
They are the more cruel, as Cervantes was
then a sufléring man, living in severe pov-
erty ai Talladolid, and Lope knew it.
I do not know who is hit under the ñame
of Almendares, but su8i>ect it is a mis-
apelling or misprint of that of Almendariz,
who published poor religious poetry in the
popular style — populari carmine — in
1013 and 1613, atnd is praised by Cer-
yantes in his Yiage al Parnaso.
I have «M nothing here of the sonnets
flrst published by PeUicer in his <* BibUo-
teca de Traductores " (Tom. I., 1778, pp.
170, etc.). I mean two attributed to Cer-
vantes and one to Lope, in which those
great men are made to ridicule each other
in very bad taste ; — I have, I say, not
mentioned these sonnets, partly because,
even as set forth by Pellicer, they have a
very suspicious look, but chiefly because
the matter at the time was sifted by
Huerta, Fomer, etc., and no doubt was lefb
that they are spurious. See '* Iieccion Crí-
tica," mí aupra ;—" Tentativa do aprove-
char el mérito de la Iieccion Critica, en de-
fensa de Cervantes por Don Placido Guer
rero " (Madrid, 1785, 18mo, pp. 30, ec.)
and finally, " Reflexiones sobre la Lección
Critica por Tome Cecial, ec. las publica Don
J. P. Forner." Madrid, 1786, 18mo, pp.
107-128.
^ He explains in his Prefáce the mean-
ing he wishes to give the word exemplares,
saying, "Heles dado nombre de exem^
piares^ y si bien lo miras, no hay ninguna
de quien no se puede sacar algún exemplo
provechoso." The word exemplo, from tho
time of the Archpriest of Hita and Don
Juan Manuel, has had the meaning of
inatruction or instructive etory. The
novelas have been the most successful
of Cervantes^s works, except his D. Quixote.
MThe «Curioso Impertinente,*» flrst
printed in 1605, in the flrst part of Don
Quixote, was printed in París in 1608, —
flve years before the coUected Novelas
appeared in Madrid, — by Csesar Oudin, a
teacher of Spanish at the French court,
who caused several other Spanish books to
be printed in Paris, where the Castilian
was in much favor from the intermarriages
between the crowns of France and Spain.
Oudin printed the CuríosQ Impertinente,
without its author*s ñame, at the end of a
volume entitled Silva curiosa de Julián de
Medrano, cavallero Navarro, ec, corregida
en esta nueva edición, ec., por Cesar Oudin.
Paris, 1608, 8vo, pp. 828.
120
THE NÓTELAS ESEMPLAREa
[PZRWI» Jim
tioB, as the ''Española Inglesa" does, which aeeins to
have been wntlen in 1611. All of these stories are, aa he
intimatea in tlieír Preface, original, and ínost of them have
the air of being drawn from his personal experietice and
obsorvatioih**
Their valué is difíerent, for they are written with dif-
ferent views, aud in a varietjof stjle and manner greater
than he has elaewhere shown ; bnt most of them contain
touches of what is peculiar in his tal en t, and are full of
that rich eloquence, and of thoae pleasing descriptiona
of natural scenerj, which alwajs flow so easilj from hia
pon. They have little in common with the g race ful gtoiy-
telling spirit of Boccaccio and his followers, and still less
with the strictly practical tone of Don Juan Manuelas
tales ; ñor, on the other hand, do they approach, except
in the case of the Impertinent Curíosity, the class of
short no veis which have been frequent in other c o un tries
within the last century, The more, therefore, we examine
them, the more we ehall fínd that they are original in their
composition and general tone, and that they are strongly
marked with the individual genina of their anthor^ aa well
as with the more peculiar traits of the faational character^
- — the ground, no doubt, on which they have alwaya been
favor i tes at honie, and less valué d than they deserve to be
abroad. As works of inventioQ they rank, among their
author's productions, oext after Don Quixote } m correct-
nesB and grace of styleí they stand be ib re it.
The íirst in the series, ** The Little Gypsy Girl/' Í3
the story of a beautiful creature. Preciosa, who had been
Laoitaam ®*^^^'^í when an infant, from a noble family, and
' educated in the wil*l community of the Gypsies,
— that roystenoos and degrade d race which^ un til with i n
the last fifty years, has always thriven in Spain sin ce it
first appeared there in the fifteenth century. There is a
truth, as well aa a spirit, in parta of thia little story, that
^ Ir Ihe prologiief Cervantes iaya tbege
Múj él príniertí qae be Dovelnda en If^ngua
t»juif¡ thftt thíxe whíi Lem] prei3e<fe^ hitu tn
ñetíAns Ikvta aUter l&ii^QA(j:eib Ttí^ I« lm«
of Timtiacd», bvt it En nul biu of tbe Oondífl
Im^axior. I ^upixiie, haw«Yflr, tbftt h¡b
refemd lo 1^ ^^ Novelas/^ itiea comlGg to
irf:re takvu fifnu tbe [UiliiiD*
4
I
Cbap. XI.] THE NOVELAS EXEMPLARES. 121
cannot be overlooked. The description of Preciosa's first
appearance in Madrid during a great religious festival ;
the effect produced by her dancing and singing in the
streets ; her visita to the houses to which she was called
for the amusement of the rích ; and the conversations,
compliments, and style of entertainment, are all admirable,
and leave no doubt of their truth and reality. But there
are other passages which, mistaking in some résped s the
trae Gypsy character, seem as if they were rather drawn
from some such imitations of it as the *' Life of Bampfylde
Moore Carew " than from a familiaríty with Gypsy life as
it then existed in Spain."
The next of the tales is very different, and yet no less
within the personal experience of Cervantes himself. It
is called " The Generous Lo ver/' and is nearly ^ Amanta
the same in its incidents with an episode found in liberal.
his own " Trato de Argel/' The scene is laid in Cyprus,
two years after the capture of that island by the Turks,
in 1670 ; but here it is his own adventures in Algiers upon
which he draws for the materials and coloring of what is
Turkish in his story, and the vivacity of his descríptions
shows how much of reality there is in both.
The third story, '' Rinconete y Cortadillo," is again
quite unlike any of the others. It is an account, partly
in the picaresque style, of two young vagabonds, Rüiconete y '
not without ingenuity and spirit, who join at Cortaduio.
Seville, in 1669, one of those organized communities of
robbers and beggars which often recur in the history of
Spanish society and manners during the last three centu-
ries. The realm of Monipodio, their chief, reminds us at
once of Alsatia in Sir Walter Scott's ''Nigel," and the
resemblance is made still more obvious afterwards, when,
in *' The Colloquy of the Dogs," we find the same Moni-
podio in secret league with the officers of justice. A single
trait, however, will show with what fidelity Cervantes has
copied from nature. The members of this confederacy,
who lead the most dissolute and lawless lives, are yet
>* Thto story has been dramatized more Cari María Weber. See note on the " Gl-
than (Mioe in Spain, and fireely used eUe- tanilla " of SoUs, j>ojr¿, Chap. XXV.
vhere, — among the rest, as an opera, by
n. 11
124
THE VTAOE BEL PÁRSASO.
[riTEíOD l£í
]jis güod-humor, of the poTerty and neglect witli whicli
íhej lia%-e Leen réwardt?d,^ It raay be <ljffi€ult^ perhaps,
to draw a liue between such feelings as Cervantes here
TCry etrongly expreeses, and tlie kindred oríes of vanity
and presnmption ] bnt jet, when hk genius, bis wants,
and his inauly struggles against the gravest evils of life
are considered, and when to this are added the light^
boarteduesÉ* and simpUcitj with which he always speaks
of himselfp and the indulge rice he alwaya shows to oth-
era, fcw will complain of him for claiming with Bome
boldness honora that had been coldly wítldield, and to
which he felt that he was entitled.
Át the end he has added a humorous prose dialogue,
called the ** Adjíinta/' defending bis dramas, and attack-
ing the actorg who refused to represent them. He says
tiíat he bad prepared síx full-length plaje, and six Entre-
wi-ití» ror nie&es or farcea ; but that the theatre had ita
tiiestagii, pensioned poeta, and so took no note of him*
The next year^ however, when their numVjer bad become
eight plays and eight Entremeses, he found a publisher^
thongh not without difficuUy ; for the bookseller, as he
sayB i TI the Preface, had been warned by a noble author,
that from his proae much niight be hoped, but frurn hia
poetry nothingf, Aud truly hia positrón in relation to the
theatre waa not one to be defíired. Thirty years had
pasaed since he had brmíself been a auccessful writer for
Ciiíidition ^t ' and the twcnty or more piecea he had tben
íjftheetage. prodticed, Bonie of %vhich he mentiona anew with
great complaeency/^ were, no doubt, long ainee forgotten.
4
I
I
111 Ibeftti are \n9% except iuch aa may ba
fi^und í»cattered t^irough hlg louger worka,
aud ÉDme which h&v^ becD ¡niiiicctííd la Im
hÍB In tlie Botnancero OcDeml. Clemencín,
Híitea ttj h]is ed. dt Don Quljtt^tc, tola III.
pp. ISrft^ 214. Cdleccmn de PoesFaa dt:
Don Rümon FernatkileE^ Madrid^ 179fl, 3vo,
Tom. XVr. p, 175, Miiyijj3Bj \iá& Élii Ger-
Tftntña, No. lU.
an Apollo tclla him^ CVíü&í, ed. 11f&4,
Quando le nlE^g^ (dn rmxan In ünertc,
Ilijumr niu merecido t^uo tí£aiíEiián.^
** Btrn jurMe, SeBuf, q,ue no •(} RdvSertí,"
.Le irnpcmdf» " (inu yo no tünjíti caiMT/'
El ilixú : " Autkíi tiú ucu ui, giuto de verttt^*'
31 The "Cúnfma." woa eiriafinúy hli
fav^iírlte anioDg ttieBé earllür jiitttH». In
the Maije he says of it, —
^oy par qulf^n La Caal^im. nndi Itm,
'Pamtm ca kw teatn» udmliablfl i
AD^ in the " Adjttirtta" he inya, *■ pe la
qiie miiB me precio fii^ ^ esifde una Humadla
1¡± ContuñHi la qual^ con pos i^a fliehn, ds
qmiutíiá úüiDedtai^ d« cayja y g«pada íioatA
hny se han repreftenUidei, bien ptn'de úmep
IxLgajt ÉeriEitado pqr buena entro huí cni^i;^
.Chap. XI.] THE COMEDIAS OF CERVANTES. 125
In the interval, as he tells us, "that great prodigy of na-
ture, Lope de Vega, had raised himself to the monarchy
of the theatre, subjected it to his control, and placed all
its actors under his jurisdiction ; fiUed the world with
becoming plays, happily and well written ; and
if any persons (and in truth there are not a few such)
have desired to enter into competition with him and share
the ^lory of his labors, all they have done, when put
together, would not equal the half of what has been done
by him alone/' ^
The number of these writers for the stage in 1615 was,
as Cervantes intimates, very considerable ; and when he
goes on to enumérate, among the more successful, Mira
de M'escua, Guillen de Castro, Aguilar, Luis Velez de Gue-
vara, Gaspar de Avila, and several others, we perceive,
at once, that the essential direction and character of the
Spanish drama were at last determined. Of conrse, the
free field open to him when he compósed the plays of his
youth was now closed ; and as he wrote from the pressure
of want, he could venturo to write only according to the
models triumphantly established by Lope de Vega and his
imitators.
The eight plays or Comedias he now produced were,
therefore, all compósed in the style and in the hís eight
forms of verse already fashionable and settled. Comedias.
Their subjects are as various as the subjects of his tales.
One of them is a rífadmento of his " Trato de Argel,''
and is curious, because it contains some of the materials,
and even occasionally the very phraseology, of the story
re«." This boAst, it should be remem- las comedias, y entrA luego el monstruo de
bered, was made in 1614, when Cervantes naturaleza, el gran Lope de Vega, y alzóse
bad printed the First Part of the Don con la monarquía cómica } avasalló y puso
Quixote, and when Lope and his school debaxo de su jurisdicción á todos los Far-
were at the height of their glory. It is santes, llenó el mundo de Comedias pro-
probable, however, that we, at the pres- prias, felices y bien razonadas ; y tantas
ent day, should be more curious to see the que passan de diez mil pliegos los que
** Batalla Naval," which, from its ñame, tiene escritos, y todas (que es una de las
contained, I think, his personal experiences mayores cosas que puede decirse) las ha
at the flght of Lepanto, as the " Trato de visto representar, ü oido decir (por lo me-
Argel *' contained those at Algiers. nos) que se han representado ; y si algu-
« After alluding to his earlier efforts nos, (que hay muchos) han querido entrar
on the stage, Cervantes goes on in the á la parte y gloria de sus trabajos, todos
Pr logo to his new plays : ** Tuve otras juntos no llegan en lo que han escrito á la
i en que ocuparme ; dexé la pluma y mitad de lo que él solo," etc.
126
TME COMEDIáS OF CEX^áStÉS.
[TlEXlOllllL
of Üie Captive in Boo Qdtxote, and beeaiíae Lope de Tega
thoa^ht üi añerwará» to use il socaewlMit too éet^lj m tha
CQOíposítion of bis owa ** Esclavoia en Ai^geL''* Much
oí it eeems to be faunded io hct; among íh& lest, ibe
deplonible martjrdoM of a cbild in thñ úár^ mct^ and the
represeatation of one oí the Cohquw^ or l&rces of Lope
de Rueda bj tbe alavés ín tbeir príson-yard^
Anotber of tbe pUys, tbe stotj of wbicb ia miso said to j
be tnie, k ^* El Gallardo Español," or The Bold Span- ]
íard.^ ItB hero, named Saavedra, and tberefore, perhaps,
of the oíd familj into wbicb tbat of Cervantes bad long |
before intermarried, goes over to the Moors fo? a time,
ñ-om a poiat of bonor aboot a ladj, but turna out al last a
tnie Spaniard in everytbing el»e, as well as in the ex-
aggeratiotí of to g^allantrj. **The Sultiuia ^' is fijundcd
OH the bistory of a Spaaiáb captive, wbo rose so bigb in
tbe favor of Ih^ Grand Tark^ tbat sbe ís represented in
tbe play as bavin^ becoine, not merely a favo rite, bnt
abgoluteiy the Sultana» and jet as contintiitig to be a
Christiaiij - — a story whicb was r^dilj believed in Spain,
though unlj tbe first part of it is tme, as Cervantes mu&t
bave knowa, since Gatbarme of Oviedo^ wbo íb the beroine,
waa lúa €ontemporarj.^ The ** Bufían Dichoso "' is a Don
i
» Thí» p!mj, which Cernmtes c»)k
^^ Um BaAOfi de Ar^iá^** (Comedus, 174»,
Too»* 1^ p. 13$J opens wiúk tbe Iviáln^ of
m atoorif h ootnir oq ti» <xi«st ot VtlaieiA ;
gff» u mxnmat of IM suAtrimí o( llie
eaplf rs taken tu Hiíb áñcent^ s» «%ll aa
^id«»ltli«llúi«tah«éilábis VMlaCbrU-
ttsn iDvtjrtlaqL He a.ji tít U htouel^ —
If« d* la Imii^AKSüa
C^K b. vndoíd lo frii*ti6
Blift Wv da I» ficción.
n^ Teifial naEnlduieei ltetir«cii ihe plajr
mná tke ftotT of tbe C«,ptíf e vx cbleflj íq
tla« Arat Jramdd4 of tbe play, «a coEapareil
Tltb PoD Q.iiixDJt¡e^ ¥nr^ L r. iO.
H Hne pan we sJiiMild kiffl idIlii^L|'
■BppOK to be true — tbMii of & di^ mg#-
tering «oldifr, vbo ^L» & timnieM f iib«iiU
eneebjbeiKliif ivvoolirla PiiFigaliacrf iod
«petMtIng «n blf ciwii f IqfiliHiy Lbe «Ims he
nMMÍTcs — ií piftiealarty Tiincbed tor bj
istaq es cuenta rerdaderOt qor fv l^ lAJ*
BJEMr fiQ indeceAJt an exhibttlDO on tbe itag*
eoold be pemútteA «s the T^oder Qcifló,
for mstaocef vhem in ^etat penocul djui«
per, be pmyt thv^ v ^ be hAd nad Úu»
•* Cloiids *^ of ¿ñátopb&Déa j —
£| TU V9 ««bit «k calía bous
DmwS^da « el dbFf líf ib f T ¡i ,
Tbbi. Lfkiá.
Al the Cbd be Bfv kto pindinl inieiik lui
beca—
lC««lvTitdad£Í
Cfm fiftftkMaa inmrtiak
fbe S^Hidib d«kccz!ii« cif tfa« ptaj — lU fbr
1ttf«afid tlríy — í*w^ erpiretted in tbe
Nr» fbUowiiig liiKa from tbe it^i^roiid ^>r>
ItOff A ." —
Qd* per RTiitf ir pnr canAT no hnT ouIim,
q^ ma fmjE* j^mtiI-oüi^ j bulle dr^cglipa.
S 8f rtno £ C4itKtiütliiDfvlL,.
C^H «I ■aodn «dxíciito*.
Jtíf. m.
Chap. XI.] THE COMEDIAS OF CERVANTES. 12Í
Juan in licentiousness and crime, who is converted and
becomes so extraordinary a saint, that, to redeem the soul
of a djing sinner, Dona Ana de Treviño, he formally
snrrenders to her his own virtues and good works, and
assumes her sins, beginning anew, through incredible
Buflerings, the career of penitence and reformation ; all of
which, or at least what is the most gross and revolting
in it, is declared by Cervantes, as an eyewitness, to be
true.*"
The remaining fonr plays are no less various in their
subjects, and no less lawless in the modes of treating
them; and all the eight are divided into three Jomodfas,
which Cervantes uses as strictly synonymous with acts.*'
All preserve the character of the Fool, who in one in-
stance is an ecclesiastic,^ and all extend over any amount
of time and space that is found convenient to the action ;
the " Rufián Dichoso/' for instance, beginning in Seville
and Toledo, during the youth of the hero, and ending in
México in his oíd age. The personages represented are
extravagant in their number, — once amounting to above
thirty, — and among them, besides every variety of hu-
man existences, are Demons, Souls in Purgatory, Lucifer,
Fear, Despair, Jealousy, and other similar phantasms.
The truth is, Cervantes had renounced all the principies
of the drama which his discreet canon had so gravely set
forth ten years earlier in the First Part of Don Quixote ;
and now, whether with the consent of his will, or only
wifh that of his poverty, we cannot tell, but, as may be
eeen, not merely in the plays them sel ves, but in a sort of
induction to the second act of the Rufián Dichoso, he had
« The Charch prayers on the stage in ^ Ue uses the words as convertible,
ffais play, and egpecially in Jornada ü., Tom. I. pp. 21, 22 •, Tom^ II. p. 26, etc.
and the sort of legal contract used to trans- 28 in the " Baños de Argel," where he
ter the merita of the healthy saint to the is sometimes indecorous enough, as when,
dying sinner, are among the revolting ex- (Tom. I. p. 161,) giving the Moors the
hibitions of the Spanish drama which at reason why his oíd general, Don John of
first seem inexplicable, but which any one Austria, does not come to subdue Algiers,
who reads far In it easily understands. he says : —
Cervantes, in many parts of this strange . . ,
play, avers the truth of what he.thua Slu íí h^^w í^i l'S;».
' ^ . ..— , ^-, Debía de haber gran guerra,
representa, saylng, «Todo esto ftié ver- Do el General faltaba,
dad -, ^ « Torio esto fué asi ; '* « Asi se Y á Don Juan se llevaron para serlo,
cuenta en da hisUnria," etc.
128
THE ENTREMESES OF CERVANTES, [Pef.iob H '
fuLlj and knowmglj adopted tbc dramatic theories of
Lope-s BchooL
The eight Entremeses are better than the eight ftiU-
lenglh plays, Thoj are sbort farces, genera!! j m pro se,
Wa eight ^'^*'^ ^ sUght plot, and soinetímes wiiU none, and
Bntremfiaeff. wefc in tended mcrely to amuse an a lidien ce ia
the iutervals between the a^ts of the longer piceos. '* The
Bpectade of Wonders/' for instaüce, is oulj a senes uf
practieal tricks to fríghten the pcrsons attending' a pup-
pet^fihow^ so as to persuade them that they see what is
really not on the stage, "The Watckful Gnard?' inter-
ests US, because he secma to have drawn the character of
the Buldier from hia owti ; and tlie date of 1611, whicli m
containcd in it, may indícate the time when it was written.
" The Jealous Oíd Man ^' is a reprodnction of the tale of
" The Joalous Estreraadurian/' with a difífererst aüd more
spirited conclnsion. And the "Cueva de Salamanca^*
is one of those jcsts at the expense of husbarids which
are common enough on the Spaninh stage, and were, no
doübt, equallj common in Spanish life and manncrs. Áll,
indeed, have an air of trnth aud realitjp whích, whether
they were founded in fact or not, it waa evidently the
author^a purpoae to give them.
But thcre was an insuperable difEcultj in the way of
all his effurts ou the stage. Cervantes liad ntít dramatic
He feíia ítí **^^^°^í ^^^ * olear pereeption how dratnatic ef-
ifcwrfter tur fects wcre to be produced, From the time "when
^'*" he wrote tbe " Trato de Argel/' whieh was an
exhibition of the suflerings he had Inrnseif witnessed and
ehared in Algiers, he seemed to su p posa that what^ver
was both absolutoly true and absolutely striking conld be
produced with eflect on tbo theatre ; thus confounding
the province of román tic fietion and story-telHüg with
that of theatrical represen tation, and often relying on
triviiil incidents and an humble style for cfíbots wMch
could be produced only by ideal elevation aud incidents
Bo rombinerl by a dramatic iustinct as to produce a dra-
matíc iuterest. »
This wasj probably, owing in paii: to the differcnt direc-
tioa of lÚB original gcnius, and in part to the condition
I
4
4
Chat. XIJ
THE C0:MEDIAS OF CERVANTES.
129
of thé theatre, which in his youth he had foúnd open to
every kind of experiment and really settled in nothing.
But whatever may have been the cause of his
&ilure, the fallare itself has been a great stum- opinions of
bling-block in the way of Spanish critics, who aiV?te"^
have resorted to somewhat viólent means in ^"®®*'
order to prevent the reputation of Cervantes from being
burdened with it. Thus, Blas de Nasarre, the king's
librarían, — who, in 1149, publlshed the first edition of
these unsuccessful dramas that had appeared since they
were printed above a century earlier, — would persuade
-Qs, in his Preface, that they were written by Cervantes to
parody and caricature the theatre of Lope de Vega ; ^
though, setting aside all that at once presents itself from
the personal relations of the partios, nothing can be more
serious than the interest Cervantes took in the fate of his
plays, and the confidence he expressed in their dramatic
merit ; while, at the same time, not a line has ever been
pointed out as a parody in any one of them.*^
» See the early part of the " Prólogo
del que hace imprimir." I am not certain
that Blas de Nasarre was perfectly fiíir in
all this ; for he printed, in 1732, an edition
of Avellaneda's oontinuatíon of Don Quix-
ote, in the Preface to which he says that
he thinks the character of Avellaneda's
Sancho is more natural than that of Cer-
Tmntes's SwDcho ; that the Second Part of
Cerrantes^s Don Quixote is taken from
Arellaneda's ; and that, in its essential
merits, the work of Avellaneda is equal to
that of Cervantes. " No se puede dispu-
tar,** he says, " la gloria de la invención de
Cervantes, aunque no es inferior la de la
imitación de Avellaneda ■, ** to which he
adds afterwards, ** Es cierto que es necesa-
rio mayor esfuerzo de ingenio para añadir
á las primeras invenciones, que para ha*
eerlas.»* (See Avellaneda, Don Quixote,
Madrid, 1805, 12mo, Tom. I. p. 34.) Now,
the Juicio, or Pre&ce, firom which these
opinions are taken, and which is really the
work of Nasarre, is announced by him, not
as his own, but as the work of an anony-
motts firiend, ¡Nrecisely as if he were not
willing to avow such opinions under his
own ñame. (Pellicer's Vida de Cervantes,
ed. Don Quixote, I. p. clxvi.) In this way
a disingcnuous kwk is given to what would
6*
otherwise have been only an absurdity ; and
what, taken in connectiou with this reprint
of Cervantes's peor dramas and the Preface
to them, seems like a willingness to let
down the reputation of a genius that Na-
sarre could not comprehend.
It is intimated, in an anonymous pam-
phlet, called " Examen Critico del Tomo
Primero del Antiquixote," (Madrid, 1806,
12mo,) that Nasarre had sympathies with
Avellaneda as an Aragonese ■, and the
pamphlet in question being understood to
be the work of J. A. Pellicer, the editor of
Don Quixote, this intimation deserves no-
tice. It may be added, that Nasarre be-
longed to the French school of the eigh-
teenth century in Spain j — a school that
saw little merit in the older Spanish drama.
His remarks on it, in his preface to Cer-
vantes, and on the contemporary English
school of comedy, show this plainly enough,
and leave no doubt that his knowledge
upon the whole subject was inconsid-
erable, and his taste as bad as it well
could be.
» The extravagant opinión, that these
plays of Cervantes were written to dis-
credit the plays then in fashlon on the
stage, just as the Don Quixote was written
to discredit the fashlonable books of chiv-
I
130 THE COMEDIAS OF CERVANTES. [Period IL
This position being untenable, Lampillas, who, in the
latter part of the last century, wrote a long defence of
Spanish literature against the suggestions of Tiraboschí
and Bettinelli in Italy, gravely maintains that Cervantes
sent, indeed, eight plays and eight Entremeses to the
booksellers, but that the booksellers took the liberty to
chango them, and printed eight others with his ñame and
Preface. It should not, however, be forgotten that Cer-
vantes lived to prepare two works after this, and if such
an insult had been offered him, the country, judging from
the way in which he treated the less gross ofíence of
Avellaneda, would have been filled with his reproaches
and remonstrances.*^
Nothing remains, therefore, but to confess — what
seems, indeed, to be quite incontestable — that Cervantes
Reasonaof wroto sevcral plays which fell seriously below
hiafaüare. what might havo been hoped from him. Pas-
sages, indeed, may be found in them where his genius
asserts itself. " The Labyrinth of Lo ve," for instance,
has a chivalrous air and plot that make it interesting ;
and the Entremés of "The Pretended Biscayan" con-
tains specimens of the peculiar humor with which. we
always associate the ñame of its author. Others are
marked with the poetical genius that never deserted him.
But it is quite too probable that he had made up his mind
to sacrifice his own opinions respecting the drama to the
popular taste ; and if the constraint he thus laid ugon
himself was one of the causes of his failure, it only afibrds
another ground for our interest in the fate of one whose
alry, did not pass uncontradicted at the y Estado presente de lafl Comedias d«
time. The year after it was publlshed, a España, contra el Dictamen que las supone
pamphlet appeared, entitled <* La Sinrazón corrompidas, etc., por un Ingenio de esta
impugnada y Beata de Lavapies, Coloquio Corte " (Madrid, 1750, 4to, pp. 286). The
Critico apuntado -al disparatado Prólogo author was a lawyer in Madrid, D. Thomas
que sirve de delantal (según nos dice su Zavaleta, and he wrltes with as little phi- •
Autor) á las Comedias de Miguel de Cer- losophy and judgment as the other Spanish
yantes, compuesto por Don Joseph Carillo " critics of his time ; but he treats Blas dfl
(Madrid, 1750, 4to, pp. 25). It is a spirit- Nasarre with small ceremony.
ed little tract, chiefly devoted to a defence « « Ensayo Histórico-apologétloo de U
of Lope and of Calderón, though the point Literatura Española," Madrid, 1789, 8ro,
about Cervantes is not forgotten (pp. 13 - Tom. VI. pp. 170, etc. "Suprimiéndolas
16). But in the same year a longer work que verdaderamente eran de él," are the
appeared on the same side, called " Dis- bold words of the crític.
curso Crítico sobre el Origen, Calidad,
Chap. XL] SICKNESS AXD DEATH OF CERVANTES. 131
whole career was so deeply marked with triáis and ca-
lamity.**
Büt the life of Cervantes, with all its troubles and
Bufieríngs, was now fast drawing to a cióse. In October
of the same year, 1615, he published the Second gecondPart
Part of his Don Quixote ; and in its Dedication ^ ?<>»
-111/1 . Quixote.
to the Count de Lemos, who had for some time
&vored him,** he alindes to his failing health, and inti-
mates that he hardly looked for the continnance of life
beyond a few months. His spirits, however, which had
Burvived his sufferings in the Levant, at Algiers, and in
prísons at home, and which, as he approached his seven-
tieth year, had been sufficient to produce a work like the
Second Part of Don Quixote, did not forsake Decayof
him, now that his strength was wasting away hisstrength.
under the influence of disease and oíd age. On the con-
trary, with unabated vivacity he urged forward his ro-
mance of " Persiles and Sigismunda '' ; anxious only that
life enough should be allowed him to finish it, as the last
ofieríng of his gratitude to his generous patrón. In the
Bpríng he went to Esquivias, where was the little estáte
he had received with his wife, and after his return wrote
a Proface to his unpublished romance, fuU of a delightful
and simple humor, in wliich he tells a pleasant story of
being overtaken in his ride l^ack to Madrid by a medical
Btudcnt, who gave him much good advice about the
dropsy, undcr which he was suífering ; to which he rc-
plied, that his pulse had already warned him that he was
not to live beycmd the next Sunday. *' And so/' says he,
at the conclusión of this remarkable Preface, " farcwell to
jesting, farewell my merry humors, farcwell my gay
friends, for I feel that I am dying, and have no desire but
soon to see you happy in the other life."
« There can be little donbt, I thlnk, most agreeable proof of which is to be found
that thl8 was the case, If we compare the in the Dedication of the Second Part of
opinión» expressed by the canon on the Don Quixote. I am afraid, however, that
subject of the drama In the 48th chapter of their favor was a little too much in the
the Plrst Part of Don Quixote, 1606, and nature of aUns. Indeed, it is called Z£-
thc opinions in the opening of the second moíma the only time it is known to be
Jomada of the " Rufián Dichoso," 1616. mentioned by any contemporary of Cer-
» It has been (^nerally conceded that vantes. See Salas Barbadillo, in the Dodi-
ÚM Count de Lemos and the Archbishop of catión of the " Estafeta del Dios Momo,"
Toledo favored and assisted Cervantes ; the Madrid, 1627, 12mo.
SICKNESS AND DEATH OF ÜEBVANTES, [Pcüiop !
HI» lUnMa.
In this temper he prepíired to ixieet death, as mawy
Catholica of stroüg' religious improssions were accustomed
to do at tliat time;** and, on thc 2d of Api-il,
entorcd thc order of Franciscaa friars, whoge
habit he had assurued Ibree years before at Alcalá. Still,
however, hm fcelings as un author, hia viva^ity, and hiB
personal gratitude did uot desert hifn, Ou tlie ISth of
April he receivcd the extreme nnctíon, and the next day
wrote a Dedícation of his ' ' Persiles and Sígiíínumda ' ^ to
the Coiiiit de Lomos, marked, to an extraordlaary degrco,
with bis natural humor, and with the solemn thoughts
that bccame bia sitmitioa.^^ The last knowu aet of liis
Ufe, therefuro, shows that he still possessed his facultios
in porfect sorcnity, and fonr daya afterwards^ on
the 23d of April, 1616, he died, at the age of
eixty-eight.** He waa buried, as he probably liad deeirod,
in the convent of the Xtina of the Trinitj ; but a few years
afLorvvards thiB cunvent was removed to anofher part of
the city, and what bo carne of the ashes of the greatest ge-
niua of hia country íb, from that time, whoUy unkngwu.*^
Htfl death.
I
I
JfULTi YaHéi — ir h« be Che aathor ^i
the remrirkuble ** DÍiLÍi)|?a d? MemuríC]' y
CiiTtifn^" about 163^ (aee unte^ Cbap. Y*
mote 43)— tiad notfonA üti ttiU aut^ect «uch
B0 Mlltfiu liEMl, and tniich wl»er notiofift
than tljo«? of CúrvaEitéii ^ for he make^ hla
nUfiflouA tnarried moj] tcll OhurDa (tiat^ nn
fita denth-hed^ whan hi» frií^iisls m}i&i hlm
to put on tkG hablt ot St. Frarii:tíi| he a.a-
■weini»] thtím i ^"^ llí?rmaaofif ya ■a1>ei9
quanto me j^miHlti aiampí^ do cn^púiar &
nlQ^ino í pBifa. ijiifl querelj! que me pttnga
ahora eti i^nRaaiur a Díoa 7 » M. TfifliJii,
185(1, p. 11%
*i The iii>ly cuse I ircollíct afcall parañel
Ib that of the gracefiil Dedí catión oí AddU
fOn'B woTkft to hlB fHmd and iracceaíior ín
offlcfj SíícTiMjiry CruífRa^ whSch is datffd
Juby 4» Jtl9 ; thlrteen days hcfnre bis
death. Uut iíi#f Bedlcatíou of Cervante» ts
iHdch raape «tnlUl aixl splrlted*
* Aóirle fíiys, (Auntftcínríyf) á Don
Qiiíxote» Siüiübary, 1781, ^i*\ Príloítii ¡x,,
noLfüf) thüt Cervi^fitefl cltcd on thti BFime dny
Wlih Shakespeare i but tMM íh a uii^U^ke,
thí! CFilendflr tiot Iisvhiir thcn hcen altfrefl
ín En^liiiidf oiid thero Ití-ini?, thtíreftm*, a
dífferenoe hetir^D that énd the B]iaiiUh
^ ^ Ñor wut Aity monumeat rafped lo
CerraiiiM, tn Spalb^ utitíl 1S3S^ wheü a
broíue Btatue ot h\m larger than llfe^ cmst
at KtiOiü hy Sol i of Hjiirctíloiia, was plaí5**d
tn the Plaaa deL E*tflinetsto iit Madrlrt.
(See El Artista, Martrid, 1334, 1«35, Taia,
I. p. 205 -, Tnni. IL p. 12 -, ana Scmanarío
Pinioriífico^ Iftsa, |k 249/) Of the heml of
Uilft Btatii9, I poiaesB a bcautiful copy, tn
nuirM^, mnde hy Bol i hlmseír in 1B5&, for
my frieod Don Ouíltenno Ptcard, a Sp»Ti~
tanl nf no coRunoii intellectnal tastes and
accoinplif^htnentt, who f-nreHeiitM It to rae
lü 1R59. Bfífere IS^ I bcKore thei«
was nothltijc that appmacheít neamr to a
íptoaament in honor ef Cervantes thfdUj^h-
ont the wotid thnn un nrclinuiy mcdftt of
hlm, Btrudc in 11^18^ at PatIh, as órte of a
íatge terte* whioh wonld havü been ab*
m£ñ]y [ncomplete wCthont It ^ and a aninit
medalhoú or hiuit, thftl itjií placi^d in 1S34,
&t the exjn?nie of an iniíividnal, over tho
door oí iTie Iiouse In Üic Calle dtf los Fran^
CW9, wheru he tllud.
CHAPTER XII.
CERVANTES. — HI8 PER8ILES AND SIOI8MÜNDA, AND IT8 CHABACTER.
— HI8 DON QÜIXOTE. — OIRCÜMSTANCBS ÜNDBR WHICH IT WAS
WRITTEN. — ITS PÜRP08E AND GENERAL PLAN. — PART FIRST. —
AVELLANEDA. — PART SECOND. CHARACTER OF THE WHOLE. —
CHA&ACTER OF CERVANTES.
Six months after the death of Cervantes,^ the license
for pablisbing " Persiles and Sigismunda '' was granted to
hÍ8 widow, and in 161 í it was printed.^ His purpose
1 At the time of bis death Genrantes
seems to have had the foUowing works
more or lesa prepared for the presa, name-
Ijr : M Las Semanas del Jardín," announced
as earljr as 1613*, — the Second Part of
** Galatea," announced in 1616 } — the
** Bernardo,** mentioned in the Dedlcation of
"' Persiles,** just before he died ; — and
several púys, referred to in the Prefioce to
thoee he pubUshed, and in the Appendix
to the **Yiage del Parnaso.'* All these
works are now probably lost. Others have
been attribated to him. Of the " Buscapié **
I shall speak in the Appendix, and of two
apocryphal chapters of Don Quixote in a
note to thls chapter. To these may be
added a letter on a popular festivaU part
of «rhich is prínted \n the twentíeth volume
of the BibUoteca de Autores Españoles,
1851, p. xxTii.
s The flrst edition of Persiles y Sigis-
manda was printed with the following
title : ** Los Trab>Uos de Persiles y Sigis-
munda, Historia Setentrional, por M. de
Cervantes Saavedra, dirigida,** etc., Ma-
drid, 1617, 8vo, por Juan de la Cuesta *,
and reprints oí it appeared in Valencia,
Pamplona, Barcelona, and Brussels, the
same year. I have a copy of this flrst
edition, and of the one printed at Pamplo-
na the same year \ but the most agreeable
one is that.of Madrid, 1802, Svo, 2 tom.
There is an Engliah translation by M. L.,
published 1619, which I have never seen •,
but from which I doubt not Fletcher bor-
rowed the materials for that part of the
Persiles which he has used, or rather
abused, in his " Custom of the Country,"
acted as early as 1628, but not printed till
1647 } the very ñames of the personages
being sometimes the same. See Persiles,
Book I. c. 12 and 13 *, and compare Book
II. c. 4 with the English play, Act IV.
scene 3, and Book III. c. 6, etc. with Act
n. scene 4, etc. Sometimes we have al-
moat literal translations, like the follow-
ing:—
" Sois Castellano ? " me preguntó en su
lengua Portuguesa. " No, Señora," le
respondí yo, "sino forastero, y bien lejos
de esta tierra.** "Pues aunque fuerades
mil veces Castellano," replicó ella, "os
librara yo, si pudiera, y os libraré si pue-
do ; subid por cima deste lecho, y éntraos
debaxo de este tapia, y éntraos en un
hueco que aqui hallareis, y no os mováis,
que si la justicia viniere, me tendrá respe-
to y creerá lo que yo quisiere decirles.'*
Persiles, Lib. III. cap. 6.
In Fletcher we have it as follows : —
Guiomar. Are you a Cantilian ?
RufWo. No, Madam : Italy claim» my birth.
Chti. I ask not
"With purpo«e to betray you. If you wcre
Ten thousand times a Spaniard, the nation
We Portugal» most bate, I yet wouUl save you,
If it lay in my power. Lift up these hnnpings ;
Behind my hod's hcnd there 'b a hollow plnce,
Into which enter.
[JtiitUio retire» hehintf the led,
8o ; — but from thi4 atir not.
134
THE FERSTLES A3ÍD SrOISMÜÍfDA, [Pebiod Itl
aeema to lia ve beea to wríte a eeríouB romance, wbicli |
_^ ^ ^^ should be to thiís spccios of compositioB wliat the
andsiiíta- Don (¿mxQte is to corme romance. So moch, at
raimOa. least, may bo úifcrrcd from ttie manner iii wbich
it ÍB Bpoken of hy himself atid by \m fi-ionds. Fot in the
Dedication of tUe Becond Fart of Don Quixote he saya,
*'It will be eitUer the worst or thc best book of amnse-
ment Íti the Unguagc i '- adding, that his fríen ds thoug-ht
it admirable ; and Yaldivieltío,^ after his death, said he
bad equalled or Burpassed in it all bis forme r eñurts.
Bttt seríous román tic fiction, whicb íb pecnliarly the
offBpring of niodern civilization^ was uot yet far eüough
developed to enalde one like Cervantes to obtaia a hlgli
degrco of succesa in it, especially as the natni-al bent of
his genins was to humorous fiction, The imaginary trav-
eÍB of Lucían, three or four Grcek romanees, and the
romaneos of chivalry, were all he had to guide him ; for
anythiiig approaehing nearer to the proper modom novel
than sDme of his own tales had uot yet beeü itnagincd,
Perhaps his fi rst impnlse was to wríte a romance of chív-
alry, modíQed by the apirít of the age, and free from the
aljsnrdities wMch abound in the romances that had been
written before his time* Bat if he liad such a ihought,
the snccoss of Ins o^í^n Don Quixote almost necesaanly
preven ted him from attempting" to put it in execntíon. He
the refere looked rather to the Gréek romances, and, as far
as he nsed any model, teok the ** Theagenes and Chari-
clea" of Ileliodorus*^ He calis wbat he prodneed '^ A
I
I
4
f kni^w tliry owu iucli n-^verencc to nijr ludijrtnj;»,
TJlflLt títay ifrtU tívsily gCTH cndlt to mo
And Hftñli no tkillier.
Mi U. 3c, 4.
OEhor p?imltel paasüf^s mljfM be clfe^d i
biit it i^h4iu1d not ba rorgotteHf iJmt there ís
«no stHkSni^ tiiífenjuce bctwooT^ tlie two ;
fflr Ituti;, whprejLB the Fentltüa la n hook of
groHi fmrSty of thought and fccllnjit *'TtiO
CuBbniD of the OiMiiitrj " Ui nm of the tnnftt
Ípilt;cN£i>t playa in ihe lanfUD^ ^ *" íf>4e-
ccnt, Utdeed^ thiit Dryclr'n nitlier bokily
■Afs ft ín woTfle In t\ú& pfurtlciikr that^ all
bía own plftys put loíí!''tht*f. Bpyílcn'»
Worlti!, Betitt^fi mh, Lan'lon» IfiOH, gvtK^
Vul. XI. p. 230. Tliíí üuti.'jt triuisUiltíii I
rernptnbPT to have seen of llie PersHea und
Sigimmndií \s in Fr&nch by Franf^^ivffi iler
Komaet, Pturií^ 1618^ ^ hut the beat \a na
juioriyinong oiio in llie paTcst SlngltshtO^^i-
don, ISMf) und^rstoíMl tu be bj BI!»s L. D,
Stanley. I have jUao pin ItpiHaii onp hy
PmnoEsco EEla, prtnU^d at Tenlce, 16ÍI6,
'I In íha Aprobficimí^ ülattd Sepi. O,
leie^ ed. 1S02, Tom. I. p. tIÍ.
* Tille may bo (aírty muapeqted frim thc
büitlitiíí^f of thc 48th tthaptf^r of the First
Part of DOD QnLtote.
^ Onúe htf intímate tliíit IMs a tmtralá^
tícín, but íloea not áñy firm wbftt lnn(¡íti=i}íCH.
fSee npenlng <íf Bflok 1 10 An acul« «.tul
eli'friini trtitfc of oür nwn ti mi' saya, "ñca
imufrafOi^T dtí« dé&iirta, d4:a deficenbnt pikT
Chap. Xn.] THE PERSILES AND SIGISMUNDA. 135
Northern Romance," and makes its principal story con-
sist of the Bufferings óf Persiles and Sigismunda, —
the fírst the son of a king of Iceland ; the second the
danghter of -a king of Friesland, — laying the scene of
one half of his fiction in the North of Europe, and that
of the other jiaXí in the South. He has some faínt ideas
of the sea-kings and pirates of the Northern Ocean, but
very fittle of the geography of the countries that pro-
daced them ; and as for his savage men and ñ-ozen islands,
and the wild and strange adventures he imagines to have
passed among them, nothing can be moire fantastic and
incredible.
In Portugal, Spain, and Italy, through which his hero
and heroine — disguised as they are from first to last
under the ñames of Periandro and Auristela — ^make a
pilgrimage to Rome, we get rid of most of the extrava-
gances which deform the earlier portion of the romance.
The whole, however, consists of a labyrinth of tales,
showing, indeed, an imagination quite astonishing in an
oíd man like Cervantes, already past his grand climac-
teric, — a man, too, who might be supposed to be broken
down by sore calamities and incurable disease ; — but it
is a labyrinth from which we are glad to be extricated,
and we feel relieved when the labors and triáis of his
Persiles and Sigismunda are over, and when, the obstacles
to their love being removed, they are happily united at
Rome. No doubt, amidst the multitude of sepárate stories
with which this wild work is crowded, several are grace-
ful in themselves, and others are intercsting because they
contain traces of Cervantes's experience of life,® whilc,
mcr, ct de« ravissemeots, c'est done ton- torla Moscovica," by Enrique Suarez de
joare plus oa moins Pancien román d'Hé- Mendoza y Figueroa, (1629,) in thirteen
liodore.** (Sainte Benve, CritiquM, París, books, with a hint of a continuation j but
183©, Svo, Tom. TV, p. 173.) These words my copy was printed C&rago^a, 1665, 4to.
describe more than half of the Persiles and Both are written in bad taste, and have no
Sigismunda. Two imitations of the Persi- valué as fictions. The latter seems to
les, or, at any rate, two imitations of the have been plainly suggested by the Per-
Qnek romance which was the chief model siles.
of the Persiles, soon appeared in Spain. o From the beginning of Book III., we
The flrst is the "Historia de Hipólito y find that the action of Persiles and Sigis-
Aminta " of Francisco de Quintana, (Ma^ munda is laid in the time of Philip II. or
drid, 1627, 4to,) divided into eight books, Phtlip III., when there was a Spanish
with a good deal <rf poetry intermixed. vicei:oy in Lisbon, and the travels of the
The other is " Eustorgio y Clorilene, His- hero and heruine in the South of Spain and
136 THE DON QUIXOTE. [Peeiod DL
through the whole, his style is more carefully fínished,
perhaps, than in any other of his works. But, after all,
it is far from being what he and his friends fancied it was,
— a model of this peculiar style of fíction, and the best
of his efforts.
This honor, if we may trust the uniform testimony of
The Don *^^ conturies, bolongs, beyond question, to his
Quixote. Pon Quixote, : — the work which, above all others,
not merely of his own age, but of all modern times, bears
most deeply the impression of the national character it
represents, and has, therefore, in return, enjoyed a degree
and extent of national favor never granted to any other .^
When Cervantes began to write it is wholly un-
®° *^*^' certain. For twenty years preceding the ap-
pearance of the First Part he printed nothing ; ® and the
little we know of him during that long and dreary period
of his life, shows only how he obtained a hard subsist-
ence for himself and his family by common business agen-
cies, which, we have reason to suppose, were generally of
trifling importance, and which, we are sure, were some-
times distressing in their consequences. The tradition,
therefore, of his persecutions in La Mancha, and his own
averment that the Don Quixote was begun in a prison, are
all the hints we have received concerning the circum-
stances under which it was first imagined ; and that such
circumstances should have tended to such a result is a
striking fact in the history, not only of Cervantes, but of
Italy aeem to be, in fact, Cenrantes's own very pleasant book, (Rambles in the Foofc-
recollectlona of the journey he made stepa of Don Quixote, London, 1837, 8to,
through the same countries in his youth j p. 26,) that " no Spaniard is entirely ig-
whlle Chaptere 10 and 11 of Book III. norant of Cervantes.» At least, none I
show bitter traces of his Algerlne captivity. ever questioned on the snbject^and their
His famillarlty with Portugal, as seen in number was great in the lower conditions
this work, should also be noticed. Fre- ofsociety«— seemed to be entirely ignorant
quently, indeed, as in almost everything what sort of persons were Don Quixote and
else he wrote, we meet intimations and Sancho Panza.
passages from his own Ufe. Persiles and » He felt this himself as a dreary interval
Sigismunda, after all, was the most imme- in his Ufe, for he says in his Prólogo : " Al
diately successful of any of the works of cabo de tantos afios como ha, que duermo
Cervantes. Eight editions of it appeared en el silencio del olvido," etc. In fietct,
in two years, and it was translated into from 1584 till 1605 he had printed nothing
Italian, French, and English, between except a Tew short poeme of little valué,
1618 and 1626. and seems to have bcen wholly occupied in
^ My own experience in Spain fully cor- painful struggles to sccurc a subsisteuce.
roborates the suggestion of Inglis, in his
Chaf. Xn.] WHY CERVANTES WROTE DON QUIXOTE. 137
the human mind, and shows how different was his tem-
peiUment from that commonly found in men of genius.
His purpose in wríting the Don Quixote has sometimes
been enlarged by the ingenuity of a refined criti-
cism, until it has been made to embrace the inwriting
whole of the endless contrast between the poeti-
cal and the prosaic in our natures, — between heroism and
generosity on one side, as if they were mere illusions, and
a cold selfishness on the other, as if it were the truth and
reality of life.* But this is a metaphysical conclusión
drawn from views of the work at once imperfect and ex-
aggerated ; contrary to the spirit of the age, which was
not given to a satire so philosophical and generalizing,
and contrary to the character of Cervantes himself, as we
follow it from the time when he first became a soldier,
tbrough all his triáis in Algiers, and down to the momeut
when his warm and trusting heart dictated the Dedication
of "Persiles and Sigismunda" to the Count de Lemos.
His whole spirit, indeed^ seems rather to have been fiUed
with a qheerful confidence in human virtue, and his whole
bearíng in life seems to have been a contradiction to that
discouraging and saddening scorn for whatever is elevated
and generous, which such an interpretation of the Don
Quixote necessarily implies.^^
Ñor does he himself permit us to give to his romance
any such secret meaning ; for, at the very begin- He wishes
ning of the work, he announces it to be his solé S^g^'^^ká"
purpose to break down the vogue and authority "^^ chivairy.
of books of chivalry, and, at the end of the whole, he
declares anew, in his own person, that '* he had had no
other desire than to render abhorred of men the false and
absurd stories contained in books of chivalry ; '' " exult-
• This idea is found partly developed by and a just satire upon, the Duke de Medina
Bouterwek, (Cteschichte der Poesie und Sidonia, a person very remarkable at that
Beredsamkeit, Gattingen, 1803, 8vo, Tom. time in Spain." (Wilson's Life of De Foe,
in. pp. 335-337,) and fully set forth and London, 1830, 8vo, Yol. III. p. 437, note.)
defended by Sismondi, with his accustomed The " Buscapié »' — if there ever was such
eloquence. Littérature du Midi de l'Europe, a publication — pretended that it set forth
París, 1813, 8vo, Tom. III. pp. 339-343. " some of the undertnkinps and gallantries
w Many other interpretations have been of the Emperor Charles V." See Appen-
given to the Don Quixote. One of the most dix (D).
absurd is that of Daniel De Foe, who de- n In the Prólogo to the First Part, he
clares it to be "an emblemaüc hlstory of, says, " No mira á mas que á deshacer la
138
WHY CERVANTES WROTE DON QUIXOTE. [PekiodE
ing in his success, as an achievement of no small moment.
And such, in fact, it was ; for we have abundant proof
Fanaticism that the fanaticism for these romances was so
bookí^ilf ^"^"^ great in Spain, during the sixteenth century, as
chivairy. ^q hsíYe bocome matter of alarm to the more
judicious. Many of the distinguished contemporary au-
thors speak of its miscMefs, and among the rest Fernan-
dez de Oviedo, the venerable Luis de Granada, Luis Vives,
the great scholar, and Malón de Chaide, who wrote the
eloquent "Conversión of Mary Magdalena'" Guevara,
the leamed and fortúnate courtier of Charles the Fifth,
declares that " men did read nothing in his time but such
shameful books as ' Amadis de Gaula,' ' Tris tan,' ' Prima-
leon,' and the like ; '' ^* the acute author of " The Dia-
logue on Languages '' says that " the ten years he passed
at court he wasted in studying ' Florisando,' ' Lisuarte,'
' The Knight of the Cross,' and other such books, more
than he can ñame ; '' ^* and from different sources we
Butoridad y cabida, que en el mundo y en
el vulgo tienen los libros de Caballerías j "
and he ends the Second Part, ten years
afterwards, with these remarkable words :
" N<f ha Mido otro mt dexeoj que poner en
aborrecimiento de los hombres las fingidas
y disparatadas historias de los libros de
Caballerías, que por las de mi verdadero
Don Quixote van ya tropezando, y han de
caer del todo sin duda alguna. Vale." It
seems really hard that a great man's word
of honor should thus be called in question
by the spirit of an over-refiued criticism,
two centuries after his death. D. Vicente
Salva has partly, but not whoUy, avoided
this difficulty in an ingenious and pleasant
essay on the question, ** Whether the Don
Quixote has yet been judged according to
its merits i " — in which he maintains, thak
Cervantes did not intend to satirize the
substance and essence of books of chivalry,
but only to purge away their absurdities
and improbabilities ; and that, after all, he
has given us only another romance of the
same class, which has ruinad the fortunes
of all its predecessors by being itself im-
mensely in ad vanee of them all. Ochoa,
Apuntes para una Biblioteca, Paris, 1842,
8vo, Tom. II. pp. 723-740.
12 See Oviedo, Hist. General y Natural
de las Indias, Bd. Rios, Tom. I. 1861,
p. xxix. Simbolo de la Fé, Parte II. cap.
17, near the end. J. P. Forner, Reflexi-
ones, etc., 1786, pp. 32-35. Conversión de
la Magdalena, 1592, Prólogo al Letor. All
four are strong in their censures ; aod to
them may be added Juan Sanches Valdes
de la Plata, who in the Pr Jlogo to hig
"Chronica del Hombre" (folio, 1595),—
a book packed füU of cmde leaníing oo the
destiny of man, his powers aod his inven-
tions, — says, thak "yoong men and girte,
and even those of ripe age and estáte, do
waste thehr time in reading books which
with truth may be called sermon-booka of
Satán, fúll of debilitating vanitíes and bla-
sonríes of the knighthobds of the Amadiaes
and Esplandians, with the rest of their crew,
from which neither profit ñor doctrine can
be gathered, but such as makes their
thoughts the abode of lies and fiüae fáncies,
which i8 a thing the Devil doth much
covet."
13 "Vemos, que ya no se ocupan los
hombres sino en leer libros que es aArenta
nombrarlos, como son Amadis de Gaula,
Tristan de Leonis, Primaleon," etc. Argu-
ment to the Aviso de Privatlos, Obras de
Ant. de Guevara, Valladolid, 1545, fblio,
f. clviii. b.
14 The paasage is too long to be oon-
veniently cited, but it is very severe. See
Chaf. XIL] WHY CEBVAiíTES WROTE DON QUIXOTE.
139
know, what, indeed, we may gather from Cervantes him-
8elf, that many who read these fíctions took them for true
histories.^ At last, they were deemed so noxious, that,
in 1553, they were prohibited by law from being printed
or 8old in the American colonies, and in 1555 the same
prohibition, and even the burning of all copies of them
extant in Spain itself, was earnestly asked for by the
Cortes." The evil, in fact, had become formidable, and
the wise began to see it.
To destroy a passion that had struck its roots so deep-
ly in the character of all classes of men,^'' to break up
tiie only reading which at that time could be considered
widely popular and fashionable," was certainly a bold un-
derti^ng, and one that marks anything rather
than a scomful or broken spirit, or a want of
fittth in what is most to be valued in our com-
mon nature. The great wonder is, that Cervan-
tes sneceeded. But that he did, there is no
The Don
Quixote
crushes the
passion for
books of
chivabry.
Mayans j Siaoar, Origenes, Tcnu. II. pp.
157, 158.
u SeeoiKe, Yol. L pp. 223-236. But,
besides what is aaid there, FranciBco de
Portagál, who died in 1632, tells os in his
««Arte de Galantería,» (Lisboa, 1670, 4to,
p. 960 that Sünon de Silveira (I suppose
the Portuguese poet who lived about 1500,
BailMMa, Tom. m. p. 722) once swore upon
the BvangeliBtB, that he believed the whole
€t the Amadis to be trae history.
M Clemencin, in the Prefáce to his
edition of Don Quixote, Tom. I. pp. xi. -
xvi^ cites many other proofs of the pas-
sion fot books oT chivalry at that period in
Spain ) adding a reference to the ^ Reco-
pilación de Leyes de las Indias," Lib. I.
Tli. 24, Ley 4, for the law of 1553, and
printing at length the very curious petition
of the Cortes of 1555, which I have not
seen anywhere else, exoept in the official
pablication of the ** Capítulos y Leyes,**
(TalIadoUd, 1558, fol. Iv. b,) and which
wonld iNTobably have produced the law
it demanded, if the abdication of the Em-
peror, the same year, had not prevented all
action upon the matter^
17 Allnsions to the finnaticism of the
k>wer classes on the subject of books of
chivalry are happily introduoed into Don
Quixote, Parte I. c. 82, and in other places.
It extended, too, to those better bred and
informed. Francisco de Portugal, in the
** Arte de Galantería,'^ cited in a preceding
note, and written before 1632, tells the
fbllowing anecdote : '* A knight came home
one day ttovtx the'chase and found his wifB
and daughters and their women crying.
Surprised and grieved, he asked them if
any child or relation were dead. *■ No,*
they Miswered, suffocated with tears.
* "WTiy, then, do yon weep so ? ' he rejoined,
still more amazed. *Sir,' they replied,
*■ Amadis is dead.* They had read so far.**
p. 96.
18 Cervantes himself, as his Don Quix-
ote amply proves, must, at some period of
his life, have been a devoted reader of the
romances of chivalry. How minute and
exact his knowledge of them was may be
seen, among other passages, from one at
the end of the twentieth chapter of Part
First, where, speaking of Gasabal, the
esquite of Galaor, he observes that his
ñame is mentioned but once in the history
of Amadis of Gaul } — a fact which the in-
defátigable Mr. Bowle took the pains to
verify, when reading that huge romance.
See his " Lctter to Dr. Percy, on a New
and Classical Edition of Don Quixote.**
London, 1777, 4to, p. 25.
140
FIlíST PAUT OF XriE DON QmXOTE. [F^riod :
qucstloiu No book of chivalry was written aftcr the
peaniDCO of Don Quixote, in 1605; and from the samo date^
evcn tliose airead j enjuyiíi^ tbe greatest favor ceueed, witb
one or two uuimportaut exceptiuiiB^ to be reprintetl ; *^ bo
that| froni that timo to tho proBont^ they have beeu con-
stan ti y disappearíng'i un til th^y are novr araong the rarest
of líterary cariosities ; — a solitary instance of the powe
of gonius to destroy, by a Binóle well-timed blow, an en-
tire department, and that, too^ a flourishing and favorer
one, in tlie üteratnro of a great and proud wation.
The general plan Cervantes adupted to accomplish this
object, without, perhaps, foreseeii:ig its whole cuurse, and
still lesB all its resnltB, waa simple as well as origiíjaL
In 1605,^ he publisbed the First Part of Doi
it
I
General
íü*sE*Pií?t' Qiiixote, in which a coutitry gentleman of Li
of tlie Don
QuIxotc,
I
9 ni
i
Mancha — fuU of genuine Castilian honor and
eothusiasm, gentío and diguiíied in liis character/
triisted by his fdends, and loved by his dependants — is
represcntcd as so completely crazed by long reading thej
most faraous books of cliivalry, that he believes tliem taj
be true, and feeU bimseiroalled on to become the impos*!
sible kniglit-errant thej deseribe, — ^nay, actually goes
forth into the world to defend the opprcBscd and avenge
the iujured, like the héroes of his romancea, ^M
To complete his chivalrous equipment — which he had^l
begun by fltting up fbr himself a snit of armor strange to
bis century^he took an esquire out of his neighborhood ;
a middle-aged peasant, ignoran t and crednlous to excess,
but of great good-nature ; a glutton and a liar; selfísh
and grosSj yet attached to his ^ m áster ; shrewd enongh
occasionally to see the folly of their position, bnt always
w C1?ni«nc1i3^ in híj Preface, tiotee *^ P.
Foltct^nq: dio Boecia," jirlJitmi in 1602^ aa
tlieíflwf b(K}k of chívniry that wua irrítten
In Bííaíti, &aA jidiJn, tliat, aftfir 2(305, "no
íte publicó de nuevo libro ulpninD úc cabn-
lletins^ y íftij/tron. de reimprimirle loa (inte.-
riorea." (p, xxi.) To tbla rtinmi-k íif Cíe-
poencttin howerer^ tbereflre- e^ccL'pttínrm- For
Inítance^ tlie " Oínealogla ile la Túl^aii&
Dl^i^ta, Prtmí^ra Parle/' por Eajíenlo
MBrtliie%, a Ute úT cbivali^ io octave
Btan^ás^ not U) writteOj wbs reprínted In
IflOS ; atiñ " EL Cahftllero del Febo^" asd
*' Clarldiano/^ hia fHin^ are cxlAnt in edl-
tbna of 1617. Thc! tH^riod of the psHainn
fnr i^ucb books ín Spain can ^ reaillly
síütu En the Blblío(fmphical Cfttftlo^w, nnd
nntíe&í* of Ihem by Sfilvá» tu ihi» Hupcriorifi
Afiií^ricnjio, (Lí>iiflf>n., IBST, Tiiín, IV, pp*J
29~74,)nmi atitl better In tlie Tatalniriu»]
pfuBxrd by Onjangog t>i Ribadenfí^ra'i '
Biblioteca, Tom. XU 1857 ► It was etni»
nently the aixtüi^nth ccntary.
Chap. XIL] FIBST PART OF THE DON QUIXOTE. 141
amading, and sometimes mischievous, in hiff interpreta-
tions of it. These two sally forth from their native village
in search of ad ventares, of which the excited imagination
of the knight, turning windmills inte giants, solitary inns
into castles, and gálley-slaves into oppressed gentlemen,
finds abundance, wherever be goes ; while the esquire
translates them all into the plain prose of truth with an
admirable simplicity, quit« unconscious of its own humor,
BXká rendered the more striking by its contrast with the
lofty and courteouB dignity and magnificent illusions of
the superior personage. There could, of course, be but
one consistent termination to adven tures like these. The
knight and his esquire suffer a series of ridiculous dis-
comfitures, and are at last brought borne, like madmen, to
their native village, where Cervantes leaves them, with an
iutimation that the story of their adventures is by no
means ended.
From this time we hear little of Cervantes and nothing
of his hero, till eight years afterwards, in July, 1613,
when he wrote the Proface to his Tales, where he dis-
tinctly announces a Second Part of Don Quixote. But
before this Second Part could be published, and, Attacked
indeed, before it was finished, a person calling Jezar^*"'
himself Alonso Fernandez de Avellaneda, who Avellaneda.
seems, from some provincialisms in his style, to have
been an Aragonese, and who, from other internal evi-
dence, is suspected to have been a Dominican monk, carne
out, in the summer of 1614, with what he impertinently
called " The Second Volume of the Ingenious Knight,
Don Quixote de la Mancha.'' ^
n Cervantes reproaches Avellaneda with cha," etc., (Tarragona, 1614, 12mo,) and
beinR an Aragonese, becaose he sometimes printed it so that it matches very well with
oinits the article where a Castilian would the Valencian edition, 1606, of the First
insert it. (Don Qalxote, Parte II. c. 59.) Part of the genuine Don Quixote •, — both
The rest of the discnssion about him is of which I have. There are editions of it,
Iband in PeUicer, Vida, pp. clvi.-clxv. ; Madrid, 1732, 1805, and 1861 5 and a trans-
in Navarrete, Vida, pp 144.151 ; in Cle- lation by Le Sage^ 1704, in which— after
mencin's Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 59, his manner of translating — he alters and
notes ; and in Adolfo de Castro's " Conde enlarges the original work with little cere-
Doqoe de Olivares,** Cádiz, 1846, 8vo, pp. mony or good faith.
11, etc. This Avellaneda, whoever he was, It may be worth while to note here, that,
called his book ^ Segundo Tomo del In- when Pope, in his " Essay on Criticism,"
genloto Hidalgo Don Qalxote de la Man- (267, &c., beginning, ^Once on a time La
14,2 CERVANTES AND AVELLANEDA. [Period H.
Two thiifgfl are remarkable in relation to this book.
The first is, that, though it is hardly possible its author's
ñame should not have been known to many, and especially
to Cervantes himself, still it is only by conjecture that it
^^o ^^ has been sometimes assigned to Luis de Aliaga,
Avellaneda? the king's confessoF, a person whom, from his in-
fluence at court, it might not have been deemed expedient
openly to attack ; and sometimes to Juan Blanco de Paz,
a Dominican friar, who had been an enemy of Cervantes
in Algiers. The second is, that the author seems to have
had hints of the plan Cervantes was pursuing in his
Second Part, then unfinished, and to have used them in an
unworthy manner, especially in making Don Alvaro Tarfé
play substantially the same part that is played by the
Duke and Duchess towards Don Quixote, and in carrying
the knight through an adventure at an inn with play-
actors rehearsing one of Lope de Vega's dramas, almost
exactly like the adventure with the puppet-show man so
admirably imagined by Cervantes.^
But this is all that can interest us about the booK,
which, if not without merít in some respects, is
dífserond generally low and duU, and would now be for-
Q^SSÍe!^" gotten, if it were not connected with the fame of
Don Quixote. In its Proface, Cervantes is treat-
ed with coarse indignity, his age, his sufferings, and even
his honorable wounds, being sneered at ; ^ and in the
body of the book, the character of Don Quixote, who
appears as a vulgar madman, fancying himself to be
Achules, or any other character that happened to occur
to the author, 2* is so completely without dignity or con-
Mancha's knight, they Bay,*^ tells a storj Inquisitor-Oeneral, and a person of great
about Don Quixote, he refera, not toUiework poUtical oonsideration } but he resigned
of Cenrantes, but to that of Avellaneda, his place or was disgraced in tite reign of
and of Avellaneda in the r\facimento of Le Philip lY ., and died in exile shortly after-
Sage, Liv. III. chap. 29. Persons familiar wards, Dec. 3, 1626. He figures in Que-
with Cervantes are often disappointed that vedo's " Grandes Anales de Quince Dias.**
they do not recoUect it, thinking that the Ampie notioes of him may be fdond in the
reference must be to his pon Quixote. Revista de Ciencias, etc., Sevilla, 1866,
22 Avellaneda, c. 26. * There is a much Tom. III. pp. 6, 74, kc. See also Latassa,
better translation than Le Sage's, by Ger- Bib. Nov., III. 376.
mond de Lavigne, (París, 1853, 8vo,) with 23 « Tiene mas lengua que manos,*' says
an acute prefaco and notes, partly intended Avellaneda, coarsely.
to rehabilítate Avellaneda. 24 Chapter 8 ; — just as he makes Don
Vt, Luis de Aliaga was, at one time, Quixote faucy a poor peasant in his melón»
CÍHAP. xa] CERVANTES AND AVELLANEDA. . 143
sibtency^ that it is clear the writer did not possess the
power of comprehending the genius he at once basely
Übelled and meanly attempted to supplant The best
parta of the work are those in which Sancho is intro-
duced ; the worst are its indecent storíes and the adven-
tures of Barbara, who is a sort of brutal caricature of the
gracefal Dorothea, and whom the knight mistakes for
Queen Zenobia.^ But it is almost always wearisome,
and comes to a poor conclusión by the confínement of
Don Quixote in a madhouse.^
Cervantes evidently did not receive this añronting pro-
duction until he was far advanced in the com- conductof
position of his Second Part ; but in the fifty- ^J^¿^í^^
ninth chapter, written apparently when it first toAveUa-
reached him, he breaks out upon it, and from
that moment never ceases to persecute it, in eveiy form
of ingenious torture, until, in the seventy-fourth, he brings
his own work to its conclusión. Even Sancho, with his
acciLstomed humor and simplicity, is let loóse upon the
unhappy Aragonese ; for, having understood from a
chance traveller who first brings the book to their knowl-
edge, that his wife is called in it Mary Gutiérrez, instead
of Teresa Panza, —
" ' A pretty sort of a history-writer,' cried Sancho,
' and a deal must he know of our afíairs, if he calis Te-
resa Panza, my wife, Mary Gutiérrez. Take the book
again, Sir, and see if I am put into it, and if he has
changed my ñame, too.' ' By what I hear you say, my
friend,' replied the stranger, ' you are, no doubt, Sancho
Panza, the esquire of Don Quixote.' ' To be sure I am,'
garden to be Orlando Furioso (c. 6) •, — a ^ The whole story of Barbara, beginning
little Yillage to be Rome (c. 7) *, — and its with Chapter 22, and going nearly through
jdocent priest altemafeely Lirgando and the the remainder of the work, is miserably
Archbishop Torpin. Perhaps the moet coarse and duU.
obTiooB comparison, and the fiairest that » In 1824, a curious attempt was
can be nwde, between the two Don Quixotes made, probaUy by some ingenious Ger-
is in the story of the goata, told by Sancho man, to add two chapters more to Don
io the twentieth chapter of the First Part Quixote, as if they had been supprcssed
in Cervantes, and the story of the geese, when the Second Part was published. But
by Sancho In Avellaneda's twenty-first they were not thought worth printing by
chapter, becaose the latter professes to im- the Spanish Academy. See Don Quixote,
prove upon the former. The Üúlure to do ed. Clemencin, Tom. VI. p. 296.
•o, however, is obvious enough.
lU
CKRVAHTES ÁHB AVELLANEDA.
[pEKtoD :
answered Sancho, ' and proiid of it too/ ' Th
trtith/ BaJíí tlie ^ent lemán, * thÍ3 new anthor doee not
trent jou with the propriety sliown in joiir own person ;
he makes yon a g-kitton and a fool ; not at all amusitig^,
and L[UÍÉe auotlier thing fi'otn the Sancho described in the
firat part of yonr master's liistory.' ' Well^ He aven for-
give liitti I ' said Sancho : ' but I think he niight have leñ
me i 11 my córner, withont troubUng- hiniself about me ;
for. Leí htm play thai knows the waij ¡ and, Bdini Pe/^r úi
Mome is well off at home/ '^ ^
Stimulated by the appearance of this rival work,
well as o fien de d with ita personalities, Cervantes urge^
forward bia own, and, if we may jtidge by its somewhat
burried air, bronglit it to a conclusión sooner iban be had
Geiíaine iateiided.-^ At any rate, as early as Pebruary,
B«cj^«aPart jQ^5^ j^ ^^^ finished, and was pnbliebed in the
Quíjcoifl. following autumn ; after wbich we bear nothjn;
more of Avellaneda, though he had intimated bis purposeí
to exbibit Don Qnixote in anotber tienes of adven tures at
Avila, Yalladolid, and Salamanca,^ Tbis, indced, Cer-
vantes toük some pains to prevcnt ; for — beeides a Iittl«
chai) ^ng bis plan, and avoiding the joiiats at Sarag-ossaj
because Avellaneda had carried hís hcro tlicre^ — he
finally restores Don Quixote, tbrough a severo iUness, to
bis right mind, and makes him renounco all the follies of
knig'life-errantry, and die, like a peaceful Christiau, in bis
own bcd ; — tbus cutting off the posaibility of anotberi
Gontinuation with the pretensions of the first.
This latter half of Don Quixote is a contradictíon of the
proverb Cervantes cites in it, — that socond parts were
never yet good for much,*^ It is, in fact, better tban the
Meritaofthe first. It shows n^ore freedom and vigor; and if^
the caricature is sometimos pushed to tbo very
verge of what is permitted, the invention, the style of|
ecT^
lat
ad
he
sqH
at^
.r.J
I
w Fíurté n c. 59
^ Ai the cfKl nf Cap 33.
** Whep Don Qaixate uq^erstanilEii thnt
Avellürmilfk ha j^lven »n uccount nt hit
b'lnií at Sami^mftji, be exckima, " Por el
uiLiUia caso, uq i^ooiüré las p^s cñ ^SoragD-
za, j- ast B&oaiié á la ptius dtl muivtci \A
II c 59.
^^ It i9 Doe of thtí mlMctilfiVoufi retnBrkfl
of the Rochetor Siunson Oarmsco. Vííx^
U c, i
Chap. Xn.] SECOND PART OF THE DON QUIXOTE. I45
thought, and, indeed, the material s throughout, are rich-
er, and the finish is more exact. The character of Samson
Carrasco, for instance,'^ is a very happy, though somewhat
bold, addition to the original persons of the drama ; and
the adventures at the castle of the Duke and Duchess,
where Don Quixote is fooled to the top of his bent ; the
managements of Sancho as governor of his island ; the
visions and dreams of the cave of Montesinos ; the scenes
with Roque Guinart, the freebooter, and with Gines de
Passamonte, the galley-slave and puppet-show man ; to-
gethcr with the mock-heroic hospitalities of Don Antonio
Moreno at Barcelona, and the final defeat of the knight
there, are all admirable. In truth, everything in this
Second Part, especially its general outline and tone, shows
that time and a degree of success he had not béfore
known had ripened and perfected the strong manly sense
and sure insight into human nature which are visible
everywhere in the works of Cervantes, and which here
become a part, as it were, of his peculiar genius, whose
foundations had been laid, dark and deep, amidst the triáis
and Buñerings of his various life.
But throughout both parts, Cervantes shows the im-
pulses and instincts of an original power with most dis-
tinctness in his development of the characters of character
Don Quixote and Sancho, in whpse fortúnate Quiote in
contrast and opposition is hidden the full spirit ^^^ ^a'^-
of his peculiar humor, and no small part of what is most
effective in the en tire fiction. They are his prominent
personages. He delights, therefore, to have them as
much as possible in the front of his scene. They grow
visibly upon his favor as he advances, and the fondness of
his liking for them makes him constantly produce them in
lights and relations as little foreseen by himself as they
are by his readers. The knight, who seems to have been
« Don Qoixote, Parte U. c. 4. The CasteUana," Tom. II. Prólogo, as well as
•tyle of boih parta of the genuino Don throughout that excellent work, has given
Qnixote is, as might be anticipated, free, it, perhaps, more unlform praise than it
fresh, and careless j — genial, like the au- deserves •, — while Clemencln, in his notes,
thor*s character, full of idiomatic beauties, is very rigorous and uapardoning to its
and by no means without blemishes. Gar- occasional defects.
c¿s, in his ^* Fuenea y Vigor de la Lengua
VOL. II. 7 J
IM
SECOND PART OF THE DON QriXOTE. [Peeioo JL
origiaallj iotended for a parody of the Amadla, becomes
gradua^Uy a detached, sepai-ate, and whollj itidependent
personaje, into whom is iníiised bo much of a geíteroi
and elevated nature^ snch g^ntletiess and delicacy, auch
puré sense of honor, and siich a warm lo ve for whate^i
is noble and good, tliat we feel almost the same attacl
ment to him that tlie barber and the cúrate did, and
^most as ready as his family was to monm o ver
death."
The case of Sancho is again very Btmílar, and perhapi
ín some respecta stronger. At first^ he ia introduced aft
etanifter *^*^ opposite of Boii Qoixoto, and used merely to
oíSMichfc bring out his m&ster^s pecnliarities in a more
strikiag relief. It ia not untíl we bave gone throagh
nearly half of the First Part that he utters one of those
proverba which form afterwards the ataple of bis conFer-
taiion and humor ; ^ and it is not till the opening of Üm
Secand Part, and, indeed, not till he comea fortb, ín all
his mingled shrewdness and credulityj as govenior of
Baratarla, that his charact^r ís quite deTeloped and com-
pleted to the full measure of ita gfotesque, yet congmouSf
proportions*
Cerrantes, in trnth, carne at last to lo^e llieee cre*i
tions of his maiTelloua power, aa if they were real
miliar personages, and to speak of then
treat them with an earnestnesa and int^ieat
tetid much to the illuíiion of his readers, Both
Don Quísote and Sancho are thus broughi before oa lüe
anch ¡iríng realities, that» at tilia momento tbe figures of
Ihe crased^ gaunt, dignified kniglit and of bis ix>iiad,
selfishj and most amusiug esqaire dwell bodied forth in
the imagtnations of more, among all oonditioc^ of
tliroughout Chrístendom, than any otber of llue
anoH
T., si^ fiC Don %iÍEiDCc, TCfj itiiaí^i^ : aCláiHL Útt
ffdknleí] Ibe 6i« n
caAF. xru] sEcom> part of the don quixote.
ut
of human taleot. Ttie greatest of the ^reat poets —
Jlnnier, Dante, Shakespeare, Milton — have no doubt
Cea to loftier heig-hts, aud placed themeelves m more
poeing relations with. the noblest attributes of our
notare; but Cervantes — til Wíiys writiwg nnder tlie nn-
cliecki^d impuise of his own ^iiiiis, and instiDctively con-
ccDtratiiig' in his fiction whatever wiis peculiar to the
ciiaract-er of Lia nation — has shown hiniself of kindred to
all times and all lands ; to the humblost degrees of eulti-
vatíon as vvcll as to the higlicst ; and has thuB, bejond all
otiter writers, received in return a tribute of eympathy
and adndration from the universal spirit of humaaitj.^
It is üot easj to beliove, that, when he had finished
eych a work, he was insensible to what he had done.
Indeod, there are passages in the Don Quísote
itscdf whích pTOve a coüBckmsneas of his own
ge ni US, its aspirations, and its power.*® And jet
there are, on the other hand, carelessnesses,
blomíshes, and contradictions scattered throug-h it, whieh
eeem to show him to have been almost indiflbrent to con-
temporary succesa or posthumous fame, His plan, which
he seenis to have modified more than once whüe engaged
Opinión of
Cervunten
about tlie
Dqii Quij-
ote^
mmttú* ot pcrHMii, tím wourU we¡r^ have hd-
tínm of Bou QítLcQle and Mi esquina, and
bdk «boui *^ QaLsKrtinn,^* ** mlíiclúevcvaB
BímoIm»" iWff lAui ytA iiever have read tbe
rnmumof CflTBSOliea, ñor ettti Ttaaw wbat
lili, é dJJkrent popular eflbet, and otie
wnfÜhS títe dojm of Grecmn enthuÉÍaiitn^ la
twücad in Rotea'* " Meroalra of the War
«r ttie FiToelí ín Bíialn " {Londan, 1S13,
|i 110). Ue B4]rs^ that wtuta the body of
Fr^uelí trrMH><^ ^m wtdch he wa« attncbcd
«nti'T^ii TolKjao, -.-.perfectlj &iiiwe]:inf;T líe
miút, Üio 4e*crtiittOD of it bj Cervantc^t —
they were so Binaacsd «ith tbe f^d^ nbtmt
liiilnbii-41 and Don Qalxütef av^^Qi^d by
tíit* i^tac^t that Úity were, at once, on enaj
(M9aH witfi Hit iiihabJtántft ; Cervant£« he-
Ctnuliijr a hímd of g:Qod-fBlloKi»lil[), wtifch
tm it onSy prévealBii ths rUloirc^ from fiyín^,
Mj «lii-y c<tuin)<ifü|' dlJ in duallar ca8««, bitt
li^í ihi> !<iolL|it'r? to tr«M thfim atid ih^ír
íi.'inLM wiib iijiwofitetl respecta Bo,
Ttve HTM.t ErntithLiUl cnuquerpr bSd ípiTP
Ti>€ tMMMc ajf FlfldafoniWheD temple Budtow^
Wtmt tD fhí pv>'und : ind the repeated alr
Qfmvl Etirptni'i pocthi^d tíio powidr
Tu laye Ibe AtlmnlJiL widli froíD ruin boie.
« ThtJ concbíding fuuiísg^c^ of the work,
Ibr iijftonctif añ In thlA tone ^ and thJa le
the taue nf his crtMdsiDS on AveLlaiieda,
I do doi cmín t lú thñ saine acnse the pas^
BSi^T io tbe S&Doad Fart, i:- Id, in wbidí
li^m QuUote ia madfi to boaat that Üitrty
thobuaod copl«fl l&ad b«6ii printed of Ihe
Fint Pürtf and üiat Ihlrty thcmsaiid thon-
muil» v?oa\á toMoyt i for thii is intetided afl
the mero thinicunoutpxle of tbe hero V íníllyi
or a JeHt at ihe preten^looi» ^t up for Ala*
matiza " Onzman de Alfurache " (see pojí,
chap. XXXIV. notíí 4); bat I confcas I tbíok
C^Tvantei i» Boinewhat In eatiieít whf."n he
tñfLkf!^ Sancbo Bar *« ^^3 raaatert " I wlll
laya wagí^rT that, before kingí there wtll
Dúl be ft tro-penny «itlní-hoiwe, a brdge
tavem, or a p™r Inn, of bartaür'í fhop^
whcfe tbe liiafcaiy of wbat we have íloíié
wíil mi be iwüated and ituct wp" PJ^^o
US
BEFTCTS ÚT THE BOX QülXOTE. [Period IlJ
iQ tti« cotiip€€itio® úf the work, is loóse and disfoínted ; |
^^ _ hk style, tbon^h full of the richeíst idíDiíiatíe
tim iK« beaaties, abonniis witU inaccuraciea ; and Úm
**'*^***' facts aiid mcídentá tbat make up liís fie t ion arel
füll of aaaehroaiBín^^ whích Los Eios» Fellicer, aiid Kxi-I
meQo have ta rain endeavored to reconcüe, either miüij
iKe Diam curre nt of the story itself, or with one aiiother,*
Tbüs, io the First Part, Don Qtiixote m g^enerallj repre- \
seuted aa belonging' to a remote age, and his hjstorj íñ
aupposed to have been wxitt^n by an ancient Arabiam au-
thor ¡ * while, in the examiiiatioii of his library, he ía
9 ImEAO^ In hii*
df the suciratB, » if tli« Don QHixote »*rt
* pocm, irríM^n In imltstidoiir Ihe Odjue;
PellS^r, ii) Cbe fomtli iwtion uT hí» ^ Vüm-
carsQ I^JimiB»- >* bi liád edl^kio nt Dw
Quísote, ]73Tt iDllüiri moeh tlM hsk
counc f iKsíaef wMelí, tt tí» end oT tbe
Jlfth Tcdiioic;! b» ílft» wbií. Iw gnveljr
É»]|» » '^ 0«¿ta|ilLÍi»4il£likrkal Dc«:T![veioa
of tliA TrmTEl» df Ddü QuíxdCe^" «ccom-
liasled rltli t la&p ^^ as If toiBe «T Cervua-
m^ geognphf weiv nofc Impocsíbie^. and
M tf fanITMi Ipolftic^ wen K» be foand anj-
iríKve lioi in tkc inut^inatioiift of fak r«ád-
en. On the sroand of sucb irre^nl&rítiaá
Id Mi feo^grmptiy, %vd op ^ther ^írt^ujida
eqiullf j^mcirdl, Nic&oLu If^nex^ a VaJen*
«íbi^ iltiiclte^ CHerraDLea Id tíie **• JUsti-
QoiaolCf'" tlic ftril Talimie of wbích van
pabliíhed Id 1$03, bat vii£ foUoved t»r
mHíe of tlK fire tbat vere JDtended to ooo-
|ktete It; and peeefred ao amiver, q^uile
Batísfkctor^r bot mora aeTte» |h4n waa
needruU tu a pami^IiletT piiMíithM nt Bladrld
ia IfiOe, LZnio^ bj J. A. Felliccrt urithoiit
hl« tiaiAe, cjiütled ^^Eximcd Critico del
IbiiiD Primera de el Autí-Qoljcote" Aoti
finidlf, Don AstOQlo Eximencí^ fn bis
"^ A^logia d« BUgUül de C^rrari^'f.f''' (Ma-
drid, 180S, IXmoO exxm»« of dcfetulB
ev&rythiag ía tfae Üod Qnlx*»!?, RÍvÍDipr ns a
neir ^hronoí&Kical pLají, (p. 60^) with exact
aetmocmleal r^konin^f (p^ 12&J and
maliitkinfngí uforing other wtae p^íüctna^
tb&t Cervante* trríritfiV>nd//'v rt^resenU:^
Pon Quix^te to bave Jívud botb En an «ar-
Itn agv and ta bis owvk Uin<^, In urdér tfaat
eiriaiiti naden mlght b& c<iiifbuíid«^f axid,
a&Bf allf onJlj hodq Unji^^imrj p&iiod be
COT^
AU ÜÚB^ 1 tíáak, U emloestly
ttt E£ fB Uie eoQHqtiebÉe of ibe
bliul advifaüao vltli wlilch Cernipte« w
IdoUxfl la ipaio darlos tlie latt^r pan uf
Uk Í»i íxsuímj «id; iJ&e bcfinaliig oí Uve
[veieiit } — Itaelf panlj a leniit of ibe ciM-
mm viUk «Melí be Jud Imo «rtrlinlted
luy tbe Icwned of bis cooalrTmeD fbr aear-
Ij a ceatiifT preriníis to tbat period. Bou
QnixDtet lladrid, Ul^y Stc^ Prologa ele la
Academia, p. [3].
» Coiide, theaatiiar ofüie » I>[iiii£Ei«eifni
de kü Alabee eo £»pan^^ andeTtakeSf !d
a pamptsAet |»t»Biíbed In coc^uiícüod wiúi
J- A. FeDlcer, la iboír thai the Quine of
íhit pretended Anibic aiuUkor, Cid Hamett
Etittngtíi, h a eorabinatiim of Ambls
wocdSf noeatiln^ nttéUt Molírieai, snd un-
kan^y. (CüfU ea Ca^if Uoha^ etc.* Madrid»
ISM, lino, pp. l$-íí7.) It maj be »o}
hnt h Iñ nol íjQ chanifter for €efTanle« ta
aeek ^ucb refinemeDíf ^ or ta ntako snch a
dbplay of bú UtUe leamlni, wlitcb do»
nut fiecn to have exlendinl bejood a
knowledBC of the TüJcnr Ambífl «poken la
Barbu^f the I^tln^ the Italian, and ibe
Foriitiruefle. Llke Sh^espeofo, hov^Tvr,
Cerrante* had read aud renemberad oeai^
ly oU tbal hftd been printed ia hie ovn
Ufigiwg^, aüd ciünstuit^ mnkeü Che moit
fLÜcikiUS aJIntilons to the lu^ utoni flf blá
kiii^wledge oí tbb eort»
Cltmencint híiwevw, floinethDea «eeue
vUlini^ to exlcnd the leameá rendiog^ vi
Cervaotefl farihef Ihün ii neceaímry. Tbui
(Tkm Qnlxole, Tom. III; p. 132) be thlnfci
the DLacoacie of tbe Entght on Arms ana
I/sttera (Parte H. e. Í57 aiid 3B> mby be
tTEkced to an oh«eiire Lalln treatlEe cm Uia
«ui^íect printed tu 1549. It doen not
4
I
Chap. XU.] DEFECTS OF THE DON QUIXOTE. 149
plainly contemporary with Cervantes himself, and, after
his defeats, is brought home confessedly in the year 1604.
To add further to this confusión, when we reach the Sec-
ond Part, which opens only a month after the conclusión
of the First, and continúes only a few weeks, we have, at
the side of the same claims of an ancient Arabian author,
a conversation about the expulsión of the Moors,'^ which
happened after 1609, and much criticism on Avellaneda,
whose work was published in 1614.**^
But this is not all. As if still further to accumulate
contradictions and incongruities, the very details of the
story he has invented are often in whimsical conflict with
each other, as well as with the historie al facts to which
they allude. Thus, on one occasion, the scenes which he
had represented as having occurred in the course of a
single evening and the following morning are said to have
oceupied two days ; " on another, he sets a company
down to a late supper, and, after conversations and
storíes that must have carried them nearly through the
night, he says, *' It began to draw towards evening.'^ "
In diflferent places he calis the same individual by difíer-
ent ñames, and — what is rather amusing — once re-
proaches Avellaneda with a mistake which was, after all,
his own.** And finally, having discovered the inconse-
quence of saying seven times that Sancho was on his
mulé after Gines de Passamonte had stolen it, he took
pains, m the only edition of the First Part that he ever
Beem to be needfol to refer to any particu- hits at the notes of Pellicer to Don Quixote
lar soarce for a matter so obvióos, especíally are well deserved.
to a Spaniard of the time of Cervantes ; but so Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 54.
if it be worth while to do so, a nearer one, *» The criticism on Avellaneda begins, as
and one much more probable, may be found we have said. Parte II. o. 59.
in the Dedication of the " Flores de Séneca *^ Parte I. c. 46.
traducidas por Juan Cordero," (Anvers, « «Llegaba ya la noche," he says in
1555, 12mo,) a person much distinguished c. 42 of Parte I., when all that had oc-
and honored in his time, as we see from curred from the middle of c. 37 had hap-
Ximcno and Fuster. pened after they were set down to supper.
There was an answer to Conde^s " Carta ^ Cervantes calis Sancho^s wife by three
en Castellano," entitled " Respuesta a la or four different ñames (Parte I. c. 7 and
Carta en Castellano, etc., por Don Juan 52, and Parte II. c. 5 and 59) ; and Avel-
Fran. Pérez de Cacegas" (Madrid, 1800, laneda having, in some degree, imitated
18mo, pp. 60). It was hardly needed, I him, Cervantes makcs himself very merry
think, and its temper is not better than at the confusión ] not noticing that the
that of such controversial tracts generally mistake was really his own.
among the Spaniards. But some of its
150 MEBITS OF THE DON QÜIXOTB. [Pebiod E
revífled, to correct two of bis blunders, — heedlesely ove^
looking the rest ; and when he published tbe Second Part,
laughed heartily at the whole, — the errors, the correc-
tions, and all, — as things of little consequence to him-
self or anybody else.**
The romance, however, which he threw so careleBsIj
from him, and which, I am persuaded, he regarded rather
as a bold efíbrt to break up the absord taste of
the Don* bis timo for the fancies of chivalry than as any-
Qaixote. thing of more serious import, has been estab-
lished by an uninterrupted, and, it may be said, an unt-
questioned, success ever since, both as the oldest classical
specimen of romantic fíction, and as one of the most
remarkable monuments of modern genius. But though
this may be enough to fiU the measure of human fame
and glory, it is not all to which Cervantes is entiüed ; for,
if we would do him the justice that would have been most
welcome to bis own spirit, and even if we would ourselves
fuUy comprehend and enjoy the whole of his Don Quixote,
we should, as we read it, bear in mind, that this delight-
ful romance was not the result of a youthful exuberance
of feeling and a happy external condition, ñor composed
in his best years, when the spirits of its author were light
and his hopes high ; but that — with all its unquenchable
and irresistible humor, with its bright views of the world,
and its cheerful trust in goodness and virtue — it was
written in his oíd age, at the conclusión of a life nearly
every step of which had been marked with disappointed
expectations, disheartening struggles, and sore calami-
ties ; that he began it in a príson, and that it was fínished
when he felt the hand of death pressing heavy and cold
upon his heart. If this be remembered as we read, we
may feel, as we oughl to feel, what admiration and rev-
erence are due, not only to the living power of Don
M The facts referred to are these. Oines two of these carelees mistakes on leayes
de Passamonte, in the 23d chapter of Part 109 and 112 ; but left tbe.^ othen just
First, (ed. 1605, f. 108,) steals Sancho's ass. as they stood before •, and in Chspters 8
But hardly three leaves farther on, in the and 27 of the Second Part, (ed. 1615,)
same edition, we flnd Sancho riding again, jests about the whole matter, but shows
as asnal, on the poor beast, which reap- no disposition to attempt farther correo-
pears yet six other times out of all reason. tions.
In the edition of 1608, Cervantes corrected
Chaf. Xnj MERITS OF THE DON QUIXOTE. • 151
Qoixote, but to the character and genius of Cervantes ;
— if it be forgotten or underrated, we shall fail in regard
to both .«
• lEsrlng expreflsed so stnmg an opin- admired for having made up so exceUeot
loo of Oenranfces's merits, I cannot refüse' a compoeition of satire or ridicule without
■gndf the pleanire oí ctting the words of thoae ingrediente ; and seeme to be the
tbs modeit aad wiae Sir Wiliiam Temple, best and highest strain that erer has been
wIm^ vhen speaking of worlu of satire, or uñll be reached by that rein." Works,
waá rebaklng Babelab far his indecency London, 1814, 8to, ToL III. p. 436. See
waá praftuieiieM, sajs: **The matchless Appendix (E).
«litar oC JKm (Raizóte Is mmch more to be
CHAPTER XIII.
LOPE DE VEGA. — H18 EABLT LIFE. — ▲ BOLDIEK. — HE WBITE8 THB
ARCADIA. — MASBIBS. — HAS A DUEL. — FLIE8 TO VALENCIA.—
DBATH OP HI8 WIPE. — HE 8EBYBS IIT THE ABMADA. — BETURITS
TO MADBID. — MABBIB8 AGAIN. — DBATH OP HI8 80X8. HE BB-
COME8 BELIGIOC8. — HIS P08ITI0N A8 A MAN OF LETTER8. — BIS
8AN I8IDBO, HBBMOSUBA DE ANGÉLICA, DBAGONTEA, PEBEGBINO
EN 8U PATBIA, AND JEBU8ALEN CONQUISTADA.
It . is impossible to speak of Cervantes as the great
genius.of the Spanish nation without recalling Lope de
Vega, the rival who far surpassed him in contemporary
popularity, and rose, during the lifetime of both, to a degree
of fame which no Spaniard had yet attained, and which
has been since reached by few of any country. To the
examination, therefore, of this great man' s claims — which
extend to almost every department of íhe national litera-
ture — we naturally turn, after exa||ining those of the
author of Don Quixote.
Lope Félix de . Vega Carpió was born on the 26th of
November, 1562, at Madrid, whith^r his father had re-
Lope de cently removed, almost by accident, from the oíd
^^«^ family estáte of Vega, in the picturesque valley
of Carriedo.^ From his earliest youth he disco vered ex-
1 There is a life of Lope de Vega, which an interest in its affairs and literatore. He
was flrst publlshed in a single volóme, by was much connected with JoTellanos, Maii-
the third Lord HoUand, in 1806, and again, co Whíte, and other distingoished Span-
with the addition of a life of Quillen de iards -, not a few of whom, in the days of
Castro, in two volumes, 8vo, London, 1817. disaster that fell on their country during
It is a pleasant book, and contains a good the French invasión, and the subsequent
notice of both its subjects, and agreeable misgovernment of Ferdinand VII., ergoyed
criticisms on their works ; but it is quite the princely hospitality of Holland Housé,
as interesting for the glimpses it gives of where the benignant and fraok kindlinesa
the fine accoraplishments and generous of its noble master shed a chana and a
spirit of its author, who spent some time grace over what was most intcHeetoal and
in Spain whcn he was about thirty years elevated in Enropean society that omüd be
oíd, and never #fterwards ceased to take givcn by nothing elae.
cshap xm.]
LOPE DE VEGA.
153
traordinary powers. We are assured by his friend Mon-
talvan, that at five years of age he could not only read
Latín as well as Spanish, but that he had such a passion
for poetry, as to pay his more advanced school-
feUows with a share of his breakfast for writing
down the verses he dictated to them, before he had
leamed to do it for himself.^ His father, who, as he inti-
mates, was a poet,' and who was much devoted to works
of charíty in the latter years of his life, died when he was
▼ery young, and left, besides Lope, a son who perished in
the Armada in 1588, and a daughter who died in 1601.
In the period immediately following the father's death,
the family seems to have been scattered by poverty ; and
during this interval Lope probably lived with his únele,
Lape*8 own aoconnt of his origin and
Mrth, in a poetical epistle to a Peni-
Tian lady, who addressed him in Terse,
imder the ñame of ** Amarylis," is very
odd. The correspondence Í8 found in the
ftTBt YtAome of his Obras Sueltas, (Madrid,
1776-1779, 21 tom. 4to,) Epístolas XY.
and XYI. } and was flrst printed by Lope,
if I óiistake not, in 1624. It is now re-
ierred to for the following important
liiiefl: —
Tiene sn tlUa en la bordad* alfombra
De CaiÚIla el valor de la montaña,
Qne el valle de Carriedo Espafla ncnnbra.
Allí otro tiempo ee cifraba Eipafia i
Allí tnve principio ; mas que importa
Nacer laniel y ser humilde cafia ?
Tklta dinero allf, la tierra es corta ;
Vino mi padre del solar de Vega ;
Asa! a los pobres la nobleza exhorta {
nguióle hasta Madrid, de zelos ciega,
8a amorosa muger, porque 61 quería
Una Española Helena, entonces Griega.
Hicieron amistades, y aquel dia
Fué piedra en mi primero fundamento
La pas de su lelosa fimtasía.
En ta por seloe soy ; que nacimiento I
Imaginalde vos que haver nacido
De tan Inquieta causa ÍVié portento.
And then he goes on with a pleasant ac-
ooont of his making verses as soon as he
oonld speak ; of his early passion for Bay-
mood IaUÍ, the metaphysical doctor then
■o macfa in fBeishion*, of his subsequent
stodies, hia Cunily, etc. Lope loved to
refer to his origin in the moontains. He
speaks of it in his "Laurel de Apolo,"
(SUva YULO «>d In two or three of his
plays he malees his héroes boast that they
7*
carne from that part of Spain to which he
traoed his 0¥m birth. Thus, in " La Ven-
ganza Venturosa," (Comedias, 4to, Ma-
drid, Tom. X., 1620, f. 83. b,) FeUciano, a
high-spirited oíd knight, says, —
El noble solar que heredo,
No lo dar6 i rico infame.
Porque nadie me lo llame
En el valle de Carriedo.
And again, in the opening of the " Premio
del Bien Hablar," (4to, Madrid, Tom.
XXI., 1636, f. 169,) where he seems to
describe his own case and character : —
Nací en Madrid, aunque son
En Gküicialofl solares
De mi nacimiento noble.
De mis abuelos y padres.
Para noble nacimiento
Ay en Espafla tres partes,
Galicia, Vizcaya, Asturias,
O ya montañas le llaman.
The valley of Carriedo is said to be very
beautíful, and Miñano, in his " Dicciona-
rio Geográfico," (Madrid, 8vo, Tom. II.,
1826, p. 40,) describes La Vega as occupy-
ing a fine posítion on the banks of the
Sandoñana.
« "Before he knew how to write, he
loved verses so much," says Montalvan,
his friend and enlogist, " that he shared
his breakfost with the older boys, in order
to get them to take down for him what he
dictated." Fama Postuma, Obras Sueltas,
Tom. XX. p. 28.
8 In the " Laurel de Apolo," he says he
found rough copies of verses among his
íáther's papers, that seemed to him betier
thanhis own.
154
LOPE DE VKGA AT COLLEGE.
[Pk^riod li
Át oolLege,
the iDquisitor, Don Migael de Carpió, of vrhom he long
afterwíirdB speaks with great respect.*
But thoug-h the fortunes of hia house were broken, luí
edu catión waa not nególe cted. He wáñ B8ot ío
the Imperial CoUege at Madrid, and in two yeai'a
made extraorditiarj progress in ethioa and in elegant
literature, avoiding-, as be telis us, the mathematics,
which he found unsuited to his humor, if not to hia gen-
ius. Accomplishmente, too, were added, — feucing,
dancings and rnuaic ; and he was going on in a way to
gratifjr the wishes of his friends, wheu, at the age of
íburteen, a wild, gíddy desire to see the worid took
possession of hira ; and, accompanied bj a schoolfellow,
he rau away from coUege. At first, tiiey went on foot
for two or three duys. Then they bought a sorry hui'seí
and travelled as far as Astorga, in the northwestern part
of Spain, not far from the oíd lief of the Vega family ;
but there, growiug tired of their joumey, and miaeiiig
more aoriously than they had anticipated the comforts to
which they had bcen accustomed, they dotermined to
return home, At Segovia, they attempted, in a silfrer-
gmith'& shop, to cxchange some doubloons and a gold
chai» for small coín, but wero suspected tobe thieves, and
arrested. The magistrate, however, before whom they
were brotight, being Batieñed that they were guilty of
Bothirig but fdlly, reléase d thern ; though, wiahing to do
a kindness to their fncnds, as well ¡ib to themsol^os, he
eerit an officer ufjii atice to deliver them safely in Madrid.*
At the age of üffeocn^ as he tella tía in one of his poeti-
cal epietles, he was serving as a soldier against the
Por tugue se in Terceíra;** but o ni y a little later
than this, we know that he filled some place
4
A itoldler.
* B&¡ Ik!f]i[3itÍDD fif the ^L ]ti;rt|[ioa& Es-
tjcp," Lu Cuintjdkuif Ma^lrUlj Aut^ Tom. XV.,
i> Ir the " Fjinia P ifltmiía."
* ThiH curlijuñ pokijiage le in the Episílé,
(%T Meíra Lyrico, tfl P. LuN dü naro,
Obrua BueLlaa^ Tam. 13t, p. 379 i —
NI mi fiírhinm niuHn.
Crm ]a. i?4Tiaf1n demilllfl
AI bnivi;! Tüttngntít fu li Tt^rcem,
Ni deiiptic^ üii liu tiüvthi Eipofiolni
Df\ mñT tnglcft ion pncirtcit 7 Uv dIéí*.
I do dot fjuite niAkñ uut taüv tule
have hanpomMl in 1677 | büt tlie a
B^ntá üní^Qulvcical. Scbbck (Oiítuchicbis^ 1
der dmriiEitLííchen LitcriUnr in Sp&nietii
BerLhi^ IñÁb, Svo, Ti^m. IL p. Ift4> thinki
the ñfteen yenre here reftírríd to aru Iñ-
^?ndcd to umtínwso Uie tifteun years of
Lnpe^p fife m a jinWif r, wlxich he e^tendA
fixjni tíopu** eleTeatli yes* (
vx to hÍB tweutj- ^M
Chap. Xm.] LOPE DE VEGA IN LOVE. ^ 155
about the person of Gerónimo Manrique, Bishop of Avila,
to whose kindness he acknowledged himself to be much
indebted, and in whose honor he wrote several eclogues,*
and inserted a long passage in his '* Jerusalem." Under
the patronage jof Manrique, he was, probably, sent to the
University of Alcalá, where he certainly studied ^^^j^^^^
Bome time, and not only took the degree of Bach-
elor, but was near submitting himself to the irrevocable
tonaure of the priesthood.®
But, as we leam from some of his own accounts, he
now fell in love. Indeed, if we are to believe the tales
he tells of himself in his " Dorothea,'' which was written
in his youth and printed with the sanction of his The Doro-
cid age, he sufifered great extremity from that *^'
passion when he was only seventeen. Some of the sto-
ríes of that remarkable dramatic romance, in which he
figures under the ñame of Fernando, are, it may be hoped,
fictitious ; * though it must be admitted that others, like
the Bcene between the hero and Dorothea, in the first act,
the account of his weeping behind the door with Marfisa,
on the day she was to be married to another, and most of
the narrative parts in the fourth act, have an air of reality
about them that hardly permits us to doubt they were
true.*® Taken together, however, they do him little
credit as a young man of honor and a cavalier.
■ixthf — 1578 to 1588. But Schack*8 sajs : " Don Gerónimo Manrique brought
ground for this is a mistake he had himself me up. I studied in Alcalá, and took the
previooBly made in supposing the Dedica- degree of Bachelor ; I was even on the
tion of tiie ** Gatomachia** to be addressed point of becoming a priest ; but I fell
to Lope hinuelf; whereaa it is addressed blindly in love, God forgive it j I am
to his Motif named Lope, who served, at married now, and he that is so 111 off fears
the age of fifteen, under the Marquis of nothing." Elsewhere he speaks of his
Santa Crox, as we shall see hereafter. The obligations to Manrique more warmly j for
"• Cupid in arms,** therefcnre, referred to in instance, in his Dedication of " Pobreza no
this Dedication, fiüls to prove what Schack es Vileza,'* (Comedias, 4to, Tom. XX., Ma-
thooght it proTed ; and leaves the ** fifteen drid, 1629,) where his language is very
years** as dark a point as ever. See strong.
Schack, pp. 157, etc. » See Dorotea, Acto I. se. 6, in which,
7 These are the earliest works of Lope having coolly made up his mind to aban-
mentioned by his eulogists and biogra- don Marfisa, he goes to her and pretends
phers, (Obras Sueltas, Tom. XX. p. 30,) he has killed one man and wounded an-
aod must be dated as early as 1582 or other in a night brawl, obtaining by this
1683. The ** Pastoral de Jacinto" is in base fálsehood the unhappy creature's jew-
the Comedias, Tom. XVm., but was not els, which he needed to pay his expenses,
printed till 1623. and which she gave him out of her over-
s In the epistle to Doctcnr Gregorio de flowing affection.
Ángulo, (Obras Sueltas, Tom. I. p. 4200 he «> Act. I. se. 5, and Act IV. se. 1, have
156 LOPE DE VEGA AXD THE DUKE OF AL VA. [Pkbiod IL
FTom Alcalá. Lope carne to Madrid, and attached him-
felf to the Dake of Alva : not, as it has been generally
Secncm'*» sapposed, the remorseless favorita of Philip the
]^^*'* SecoDd, but Antonio, the great Duke's grandson,
who had sacceeded to his ancestor's fortunes withont in-
herítÍDg his formidable spiíit." Lope was mnch liked by
his new patrón, and rose to be his confídential secretarj ;
living with him both at comt and in his retirement at
Alva, where letters seem, for a time, to have taken the
hk Alt», place of arms and affairs. At the suggestion of
**^ the Duke, he wrote his " Arcadia," a pastoral
romance, making a Tolame of considerable size ; and
thongh chiefly in prose, yet with poetry of various kinds
freely intermixed. Snch compositions, as we have seen,
wer^ already in favor in Spain : — the last of them, the
" Galatea " of Cervantes, pablished in 1584, giving, per-
haps. occasion to the Arcadia, which seems to have been
wrítten almost immedia tely afterwards. Most of them
have one striking peculiarity : that of concealing, nnder
the forms of pastoral life in ancient times, adventures
which had really occurred in the times of their respective
authors. The Duke was desirous to figure among these
a great air of reaUtr aboat than. Bot And in the openiDg vonls of the Dedka-
oüwr partft, like that of the discoaxses and tíoD of his ** Domine Lacas," irtiere he
troables that carne finxn giving to ooe per- sajs : ** Sirriendo al excdentásimo Doo
80O the letter intend«d for another, aze Antonio de Toledo 7 Beamonte, Duque de
qoiie too impcohaMe, and too mvct hke the AlTa, en la edad qne pode eacribtr :
inventíonsof «orne of his ovnptar% tobe La renle prfmMreim
tnisted. (Act. V^ se. S, etc.) M. Fanriel, ©e nj, lotido* año..-
hovevcr, whoae opinión on soch sabjects is Comedias, Tbm. XVIL IflSl, £ 197. h.
always to be respected, regards the whole He, howerer, praised the eider Dnke aban-
as true. Reme des Deux Mondes, Sept. j^tly in the seoond, third, and fiftfa books
^ 1^^* of the "^ Arcadia," giving in the last an ae-
" Lord Holland treats hhn as the oltf coont of his deathand of the glories of ki»
Duke (Ufe of Lope de Vega, I^idon, 1S17, gnmdson, whom he again notioes as his
2 vola., 8vo) ; and Soathey (Quarteriy Re- patrón. Indeed, the case is quite plain,
view, 1817, Vol. XVin. p. 2) ondertakes to «nd it is only singular that it shoold need
show that it could be no other ; whUe Xico- «q explanation ; for the idea of maUnc
las Antonio (Bib. Xov., Tom. H. p. 74) the Duke of Aira, who was mimatar to
speaks as if he were doabtfol, though he PhiUp IL, a shepherd, seems to be a oarl-
incUnes to think it was the eider. But cature or an absurdity, or boCfa. It it,
there is no doabt about it. Lope repeat- however, the common impression, and maj
edly speaks of Antonio, tke graruUon, as be again found in the Semanario Pintores.
his patrón ; e. g. in his epiatle to the Bish- co, 1839, p. 18. The yonnger Duke, on the
op of Oviedo, where he says : contraiy, loved letters, and, if I mlstake
Y yo del Diiqne Anttmio dexé el AIvil ««^ ^^^ »« » Canción of bis in the Can>
Obras Suelta*, Tom. L p. 28». donero General of 1573, 1 178.
Chap. Xm.] THE ABC adía. . ' 15Í
&ntastic shepherds and shepherdesses, and therefore in-
dnced Lope to write the Arcadia, and make him its hero,
fnmishing some of his own experiences as materials for
the work. At least, so the affair was understood both in
Spam and France, when the Arcadia was published, in
1598 ; besides which, Lope himself, a few years later, in
the Preface to some miscellaneous poems, tells us ex-
pressly, "The Arcadia is a true history/'^^
But whether it be throughout a true history or not, it
Í8 a very unsatisfactory one. It is commonly regarded
as an imitation of its popular namesake, the ''Arcadia''
of Sannazaro^ of which a Spanish translation had ap-
peared in 1647 ; but it much more resembles the similar
works of Montemayor and Cervantes, both in story and
Btyle. Metaphysics and magic, as in the "Diana'' and
" Calatea," are strangely mixed up with the shows of a
pastoral life ; and, as in them, we listen with little inter-
est to the perplexities and sorrows of a lover who, from
mistaking the feelings of his mistress, treats her in such
a way that she marries another, and then, by a seríes of
enchantments, is saved from the effects of his own de-
spair, and his heart is washed so clean, that, like Orlán-
doos, there is not one spot of love left in it. AU this, of
course, is unnatural ; for the personages it represents are
such as can never have existed, and they talk in a lan-
guage strained above the tone becoming prose ; all pro-
priety of costume and manners is neglected ; so much
leaming is crowded into it, that a dictionary is placed at
the end to make it intelligible ; and it is drawn out to a
length which now seems quite absurd, though the editions
it soon passed through show that it was not too long for
the taste of its time. It should be added, however, that
ft The trath of the stories, or some of covering are hidden souls that are noble
the stories, in the Arcadia, may be inferred and eventa that really happened." See,
fipom the mysterioos Intimations of Lope also, Lope, Obras Sueltas, Tom. XIX. p.
in the Prólogo to the first edition *, in the xxii., aod Tom. II. p. 456. That it was
" Égloga á Claudio j " and in the Preface believed to be true in France is apparent
to the •* Rimas," (1602,) put into the shape from the Preface to oíd Lancelot's transla-
of a letter to Juan de Arguijo. Quintana, tion, under the title of " Belices de la Vie
too, in the Dedication to Lope of his '^ Ex- Pastorale" (1624). It is important to
periencias de Amor y Fortuna," (1626,) settle the fact ; for it must be referred to
says of the Arcadia, that " under a rude hereafter.
158 LOPE' DE VEGA MAEBIEB AND Oí VALmClA. [Pbbicid tt
Mmtit£&
it occasionallj fiírnishoB happy specimcns of a g^lowing
declíbmütory eloquence, and that in its descriptionB of
naturíil scenery there is sometimea great fdicitj of im-
agcrj and illuBtratioii.*^
About tlie time when Lope was writíüg tho Arcadia, he
married Isabela de tJrbiiia, daugliter of the King-at-ariDS
to Philip the Second and Philip the Third ; ft
lady, we are told, not a little loved and admired
in the hi^h circle to which she belonged.^ Bnt hia do-
mestic happiíiess was soon interrupted. He fell into a
quarrel with a Hidalgo of eo verj good repute ; lam^
pooned him in a satirícal poem ; was challeng'ed, and
wounded liia adversaiy ; — in consequcnce of all which,
and of other follica of his youth that eeem now to have
been broíight up againat hinij he wa^ cast into
príson.^ lie was not, hüwever, left withotit a
I
4
Ifi«XÍlBd.
1» fíift Arctullii fllla the eíirth rotuioe út tcj the kíng^ In 1593, iind n copj of wbtch I
Lapu*s dorníi Suelta »■ EilitioDS uf it Wf^re
líTltitert In 15t»1í, IBOl, imi, twice, IfiOa,
iMñ, 1612, 1615, 1617, IflSÜ, and üften
títíiHí, ühDWiuf & ifreat injpqlarity.
1* Hlt fether, Dk'i^d de Urblnat wo* a
peir^ou of HQinc caa&cqüeDee^ auil figures
o4itaLn€d írom tliu kiüdjieBSS ot th^s lü^i L<iPd
Iti;all&naf to whoac Mher, the biojpapheT ^
í^pc^ 3t waa aent, mmny years^o, by Hon
Msirtím Fvniatultii dej NaTajrrete. Ar 11 li
f mpoirt&titi a^d^ I thLdk,. unpubljfllied, I git%
U eutirti. It tíeems ta bavtí been writtiía
unfíuif ttic man'i diating'uyhedt f]al'fví;& üf &tnn the inV/n of Míidriil,
M^ñd in B&eiiA, " Hljcia de Mudiid," *'^3eRor, Lope de Vega Carpl^ T^dDade
í¿ HontiLlvan, it ¿bould b« (voted^, m^mé cata vIUb, dtce ; Que Y* M^ le ha. beclia
vrlIHns to fiitde over Üicío "ftrownis of fgr- míreed de {ikorle lo qitie le fiUtaba dy oum*
taü^f brought on bj his youLb muí aggra- pHr de Ú\eM aíioB du dcístáerro en qme fri9
YJiied bj hii erieniies." But Lope »ttrlb^ GondeoadD pot los Alcaldes de Corte desle
ilt£i to Üiein hIa exSle^ which cami:^, ht rey tao, loa das que cmiip).i6 y ítisft ttclia della
Bayfti ftam ^^Inve In earljr yootli^ whufie
trophle» frero e^lle and íti rtesiiltií tmge-
dicí." (EpSfttolíi Friinera á D. Ant. de
UendOKá.) Itul Iíq also attribiitea it to
fiUié Mendi, ia the fltie hallad where he
represen ts himsélf aá Lat>k[ní$ down upon
tíie ruina of Brignntacn atid □doniUziiig oa
bis own ejcile t — '^ Bad friends,*'' hfi Bays^
haVe bmught me here.''* (Oliraa Suéltala,
Twn^ XV 11. p, 434, and Romancero Qen-
enUí iWi, f. lÜS.) But ajain, m the
&vona Pan of bi& ''■ Pbikioieua," 1631,
(Obrai! SueltiiS, Tom. II . p. 4ü^,) be tracitis
hja troubles to bifi earUer adventurea j
" |o7e to hatrcd tiiirnL'tl ,*' ^* LriTe-ven-
geaüce,*' he declaít*, **dütgui»isd ax /it#-
tir6\, csik'fl mi*,^*
Bat the wVicslíí of tbis portíoo of I*opp*fl
lEI^ i 9 i>bftcuro, irimt Ü^ht, iinwt^yer. i«
thrown oñ it by a lelter which be addreíiBtid
y cinco legaa^, porque se Je (ipiiao baher
hecho ciertas sátira» contra Goronimc Ve^
Umiüiit^ autor de cam^tlia» y otras pemo-
Tias de Ba casa, y porqifO dnraute dicha
d^^tierro' á conaii forzoeíaA que b^ It üfiiecie-
roü entró en eabí, corte y otra^ partes en
quebrantamiento del | -^ suplica le haga
mcrücd de remiUrie ka penaa que por ello
incurra fi.'^
Tl>e foUowIng tiote Íh in Nariirrete'a well-
kfiüwü haiidwrlLinii t "Me lo cuvi^'Üe
S]ru£uiE:;íus el Br. D* Tomas Oi}U£a1i?x enair-
gudo del arreglo de aqnel tkrcbETO nácionaL
Murtln Füraaudez de Navartetc.'^ And Qti
the bju^k ia Indoraed, '''■ Carta de Lope de
Tega al íley pidleuáo le haga La gracia do
retnitü' |aa penas iucarrkluja por el, AÚa
16SÍ8."
FriL^m thta letter |t appeará that the
aVDwed ciuue of Ijope'a ejdlij wa^ ífertaia
Chap. Xm.] HIS WIFE DIES. 159
trae friend. Claudio Conde, who, on more than one occa-
BÍon, showed a genuine attachment to Lope's person,
accompMiied him to his cali, and, when he was released
and exiled, went with him to Valencia, where Lope him-
self was treated with extraordinary kindness and consid-
eration, though exposed, he says, at times, to dangers as
great as those firom which he had suffered so much at
Madrid.^*
The exile of Lope lasted at least two years, and was
chiefly passed at Valencia, then in 4iterary reputation next
after Madrid among the cities of Spain. Ñor Atvaieii-
does he seem to have missed the advantages it ^^'
offered him; for it was, no doubt, during his residence
there that he formed a friendship with Gaspar de Aguilar
and Guillen de Castro, of which many traces are to be
found in his works ; while, on the other hand, it is per-
haps not unreasonable to assume that the theatre, which
was just then beginning to take its form in Valencia, was
much indebted to the fresh power of Lope for an impulse
it never afterwards lost. At any rate, we know that he
was much connected with the Valencian poets, and that, a
little later, they were among his marked followers in the
drama. But his exile was still an exile, — bitter and
wearisome to him, — and he gladly returned to Madrid as
soon as he could venturo there safely.
His home, however, soon ceased to be what it had
been. His young wife died in less than a year after his
I agalnst Qeronimo Telazqaez, autor ever, neither suspected the distinguished
de Comedias, and other persons of his authorship of the verses he cites, ñor knew
kin ; — that be had broken its terms by the first ñame of Yelazquez.
oomiiv within the flve leagues of the coort ^^ His relations with Claudio are no-
fipom which he was forbidden -, — and that ticed by himself in the Dedication to that
be DOW asked a pardon firom the penalties ** trae friend," as he jusUy calis him, of
he had tbus incurred, having already ob- the well-known play, ** Courting his own
tftioed a remiseion of the term of exile not Misfortunes j » — " which title," he adds,
yet (ulftlled. Now there is a oertain Yelas- " is well suited to those adventures, when,
(fues notioed in 0. Pellicer's ^ Origen de la with so much love, you aocompanied me to
Coraedia," etc., (Bladrid, 1804, Tom. n.p. prison, from which we went to Valencia,
141,) who answers all the conditions given where we ran into no less dangers than we
by Montalvan and Lope of the ** Autor de had incurred at home, and where I repaid
Comedias" in question, and Pellicer has you by liberating you from the tower of
given part of a popular satire on him, which. Serranos [a jail at Valencia] and the se veré
it is not unlikely, may be the very one sentenoe you were there undergoing," etc.
for which Lope was exUed. PelUcer, how- Comedias, Tom. XV., Madrid, 1621, f. 26.
180
LOPE BE VEGA M THE AKMADA. [P^ísioi* U-
1
retiirn, aml one of his friends, Pedro de MiídiniOa,^^ joioed
Mbwíftj ÍJiííi ín íi-ii eclüg'iie to hor meiinjiy, wbich ia
'*''^- dodiciited to Lupe's patrun, Anlüuio, Duke of
Alva,^^- — a poem of littlo Talue, imd one that does much
Igss juytice to his feelings tliaa some of liia nomeroua
veracB to the earne ladj^ under the iianie of Bolisa, which
are scatteríjd thifüügh liia owe works and found m tlie oíd
Romanceros.^*
It must be admitted, howevcr, tliat theie is eome con-
fusión in this matter. . The bailada bear witness to the
WríkfBhsii- jealouBj fdt bj Isabela on account of his rela^
**^ tiona wiüi another fair laflj^ who pasBca uiidcr
the name of Filis, — a jealouBj which s cení a to ha ve
caused biin no sniall embafrasÉíment ; for while, in some
of hia verses, he declares it bis no foundation, in others
he admite and juatifies it.^ But however thia may have
been, a verj short time afíer I sábela' a dcath ho made no
secret of his passion for the rival wbo had disturbed her
peace. He was not, however, euccessful. Por some reor
17 B!iK49.nr Ellolo rte Metlíntllii^ wíicviñ knew ít, and T,ináer this ñamo odilrcencd tn
Tlolent 4le&tb I» müUTnfd by- Lujh.* du Vi?ga hita tlie poetJoU i'pi^tli:' ulri^ly rtíEemid to.
lü ati E\egy h\ the fim vülume of Lía Thia fnct— that Bfclardo vas hh recoR^-
woflce, T»nroteaPíitítnemUk(Í ■■* LlmpinCon- nliA-d prriHical appdlatinD ishould be
ceiBrlon de La VÍFgcn Nuestra SéLiora," Mhp bftme lo iuSckI when ntürlinR- the poetry of
úríú-, ISIT, l^ittti, pii* SO^^ttve IVait, he his tiíac^ whisre ii frirciuetiUj Teeura.
tiüllí iis^ of ievcn yicba»* Wm¡Wj and t»<ih- n» BtÜMa Ia hd aunjírajii of Jin^tuífa, the
Müml at Uie Age uf tbifly-liro, Lope, ia tmi ñame of hh wlfe» as íé pLiia from ik
«mus preflitofj venes, uya of it, tionaet od the áeath of her niother, Tbeí»-
Xietnriiftaf illiliimqul doí-a TJrhlimft, vhere he upealrn rrf her ú
Que dih ow pam no ^«^ ec, «the hí^ttVtiDly linaje of hU BeliM, whoBtt
But it íh, Rtter all^ & diiU pricms dividéd ailcat w<mlft uid fetitle smile» Had bcen
the eantalatlan of Hia exile»" (Ohraa Suel-
tas, Toin. IV. p. 2TS.) There iir« sereral
biOtiidfl cíaiinectiKl wíth her In the Riiiimii»
curo Oenerfll^ nntl n bcíiíitífüt ou* m the
tiiíftl of Lupe^B Tiileí^ wiritten eTideutly
while he wa« wlth the Dake of A!va.
Ohma» Tom. VllL p. 14«.
3f» fóT iiTfiíAtice, Ui th« fine h^Mnñ he*
riTinlnFT, " LTenm rte Iprimiid triste*,'*
(RíjrapinopTo of H}02, f. 47,1 he ^ajé tfl Bcv
Hea, " Lnt neaven cnndt^mir» me to etü'rual
ww, if I do iHit detest PhUlis and aflora
tlu*c i*^ — wMrh fítíiy M considciTd ai
faJIy cfititmdirrtiwl Uy the equally fina
I
4
h)to Qvu htooita, and abuut Uve huudred
{K:tav<e atíuiEns^ ixiginuing wlth the prayers
of «toochtin íar uOaprlnfrí »ml eiidltiír wlth
ttie djystarioua csmceptlon* The sutiJect
— aiwaj'fi jMjpuijir U\ Spaln — may have
BKitiatt more rcK^uid fur it than It dcáfrired ^
bol It «nu nevér ri'príat^ML
W Ofwmi Sueltas, Tum TV. pp. tlO-44S.
BtlúTáQ, Ihe luoMS Lope ijimni in tíjts
Bck^iie, ti thA oDft he ^mw hlniflcir in the
AroAilU, Aft inaj 1» teen f^nj y,e ^noet
preax^ to tbftt putoral hj Ami>iifyio, or
AütoqK I>Blte of Al va | aM it Ía tlie poetí-
flil ñame Lope feore to tlie tiíne of hí* ..,„^ ^ .„.,...., ..,. -,™ ,., ., .. .-
de»Úi, atinar »» »ee¡i firnm the inírinniíifí batl^íid íwhlrí-ríHHl In ?m«, (f !:C) ** Aítuífla
ofthff Ihinl act of Uie dminü In honor tif piiHU^t>A mbii'* m well aa *»x «i^ "*" **'^*''
ht& memory. fObrA» Sneltaa, T>im. XX* othcra of the ioine fi>rt, -— some id«re, SííOie
P* 4M.) Bveo hífi Penivtan Amaiyllis Leía tender.
Chaf. Xra.] LOPE DE VEGA IN THE ABMADA. igl
son or other, the lady rejected his suit. He was in de-
spair, as his ballads prove ; but his despair did not last*
long. In less than a year from the death of Isabela it
was aU over, and he had again taken, to amuse and dis-
trae! his thoughts, the genuine Spanish resource of be-
coming a soldier.
The moment in which he made this decisive change in
his life was one when a spirit of military adventure was
not unlikely to take possession of a character al- in me at-
ways seeking excitement ; for it was just as ™°^**
Philip the Second was preparing the portentous Armada,
with which he hoped, by one blow, to overthrow the
power of Elizabeth and bring back a nation of heretics to
the bosom of the Church. Lope, thereibre, as he tells us
in one of his eclogues, finding the lady of his love would
not smile upon him, took his musket on his shoulder,
amidst the universal enthusiasm of 1588, marched to Lis-
bon, and, accompanied by his faithful friend Conde, went
on board the magnificent armament destined for England,
where, he says, he used up for wadding the verses he had
written in his lady's praise.^
A succession of disasters followed this ungallant jest.
His brother, from whom he had long been separated, and
whom he now found as a lieutenant on board the _, , .
. f»!-! t • tn 1T-I» líisasters in
Saint John, m which he himself served, died m the Arma-
his arms of a wound received during a fight with
the Dutch. Other great troubles crowded after this one.
Storms scattered the unwieldy fleet ; calamities of all
kinds confounded prospects that had just before been so
full of glory ; and Lope must have thought himself but
too happy, when, after the Armada had been dispersed or
destroyed, he was brought back in safety, first to Cádiz
and afterwards to Toledo and Madrid, reaching the last
city, probably, in 1590. It is a curious fact, however, in
his personal history, that, amidst all the terrors and suf-
ferings of this disastrous expedition, he found leisure and
quietness of spirit to write the greater part of his long
21 Volando en tacos del cañón violento
Lo« papelea de Filis por el viento.
Égloga á Claudio, Obrasf Tom. IX. p. 356.
K
}ty2 L6?X £/£ VEGA'S SECOXD MARBIAGE [Pkbiod IL
p'^m on '* The B^aatr of Angélica," which he intended
sut a contínuatíoa of the " Orlando Furioso." ^
But I>ipe could uot well retnm from such an expedi-
tíon wíthout somethíug of that feeling of disappointment
which, wíth the natíon at large, accompanied its failnre.
J^jrhap» ít was owing to this that he entered again on the
p(>(>r courae of life of which he had already made an ex-
fXTÍrnerit with the Duke of Alva, and became secretarj,
íirHt of the Marquis of Malpica, and añerwards of the gen-
(írouH Marquis of Sarria, who, as Count de Lemos, was, a
litllo lator, the patrón of Cervantes and the Argensolas.
Whilc he was in the service of the last distinguished
9<^nA noblcman, and already known as a dramatist, he
marru«« bocauíe attached to Doña Juana de Guardio, a
lady of good family in Madrid, whom he married in 169t ;
*nd, soou aftorwards leaving the Count de Lemos, had
novor rtuy othor patrons than those whom, like th^ Duke
of S^^ssA, hiíí Htorary fome procured for him.*
\ A^po híul «ow roaohed the age of thirty-five, and seems
lo h^w oí\ioyiHÍ a fow years of happiness, to which he
x>íYo*,> ^l*w*ío:^, üud which, in two of his poetical epistles,
í;o hA* a<>3!\^nK\l with nmch gentleness and grace.** But
Ki^ ^.^ il «i^i Ux^i l^t long. A son, Carlos, to whom he
*^''*'' >iif;Aíi íoijdoriy aiT^ohod. lived only to his seventh
* iV« A >.K >Mvw:t,W mTifjc-mcs^ «ñcr tv> Arge n aol M , and vIOi wUeh, «t oae
v.\ A.».,i» H'x^fci.iiK A v>f K-<akM^ «1^: láDf . <^aevT«lo n eonnected. Tbe Count
l^..« »^ ;. ^Viiñ Vf «•«.'w ;w JLT^iíCi- ¿w£ iz If&S. ni Vadñd. Lope^ prindiMd
,«. ■ ^vV«-%H r^M' \\ ^ Ji«s.; rv T^ «nnroKom w^sh him wm when he was
^»:^ ^ 'K K ««««Mi^ .^gtw-f«A¿ *t Ok£» tt r'vsv* «^ Wfa^ ke haA comb to hit tille
Xi-%^wS%<. '^•««N v««iitK'^t^ rían «jaOwaL A»' C-.tLsa ^ LíSHK. HeneoKdthimidraa
t. «K rt^vxvii.,^ >bs«> ^ A*», «-w «-» "*- SAnMuej -ti ike Xarqoii of Sante,** in a
■«N«v,v¡k « >ik«« «-s^t* c«ia Nu\n4>s. T^u> «miK« Tm&sBcJ %> tbe "^Vocfrino Iadi»>
•K, .«%*«\i^ s VK iwtH <«<-*'w mv M m ^ i¿ :fiu-'wbx 1H8L and en tte tttlv
V — :. «u «vi^ ,-.«a A i>>^ * ,"-r»«nM -fMipf it ^g -^ Swt UUpA.** prioAed Os
«« («««M* ».^ «K ^sv^M. ^ ).s • ,'n.ii^^ «uw ^^lar. ^ísiifte» «Mrk. aanj jcan
•itkir^rvbk v^ia «tfttar » ihe Ooník da
\« "Xo.tw v^Mw^tii A ,'V«i^ 4.iBinK >í «3»- *Tj« kaav hav I tova
^^ V • »^« "<^- V«*,«tiK « ^— .H uu Tívcmiin viaLiBii AM^aanif aalgU,
H » I « s% . ». v«^.i.«. •.s>., \n"^ M«i^ t i*-^ f*n>K m jpwr tHt Br a dog:"
X N :«, A .«^iv «..*. «mí..».*» « iv ihn-, m.m.-fi«, 7«m ^MUBinr. ftaar IL, mttt la
• • X I \ ...» *w.« » »N lUKT «« fc'oAi II *-'li*r<l ln
. « \.. •^^ v««> «N *w> .t.s % ■ .iK\«4 «4< ih; «nt iK fKiMfr- In :«9inn»^i£ ^ 3l
Chaf. Xin.l HIS mCOKSISTENT LIFE. Ití3
year ; * and the mother died, giving birth, at the same
time, to Feliciana,^ who was afterwards married to Don
Luis de tJsategui, the editor of some of his father-in-law's
posthumous works. Lope seems to have felt bitterly his
desoíate estáte after the death of his wife and son, and
speaks of it with mnch feeling in a poem addressed to his
fidthfdl friend Conde.^ Bnt earlier than this, in 1605, an
illegitimate daughter was bom to him, whom he named
Marcela, — the same to whom, in 1620, he dedicated one
of his plays, with extraordinary expressions of hís incon-
affection and admiration,*» and who, in 1621, 8i«*«^*"fe-
took the veil and retired from the world, renewing griefs
which, with his views of religión, he desired rather to
bear with patience, and even with pride.^ In 1606, the
same lady — Doña María de Luxan — who was the mother
of Marcela bore him a son, whom he named Lope, and
who, at the age of fourteen, appears among the hís son
poets at the canonization of San Isidro.*® But ^^*
though his father had fondly destined him for -a life of
letters, he insisted on becoming a soldier, and, after serv-
ing under the Marquis of Santa Cruz against the Dutch
and the Turks, perished, when only fifteen years oíd, in a
vessel which was lost at sea with^all on board.*^ Lope
poured forth his sorrows in a piscatory eclogue, less full
of feeling than the verses in which he describes Marcela
taking the veil.'^
> On tliis eoo, see Obras, Tom. I. p. ^ The description of his griet; and of his
472 ; — the tender Canción on his death, religioos feelings as she took the veif, is
Tom. XHL p. 865 ; — and the beautifol solemn, but he dwells a little too compla-
Dedication to him <tf the *' Pastores de cently on the splendor given to the occa-
Belen," Tom. XTI. p. xi. • sion by the king, and by his patrón, the
s* Obras, Tom. L p. 472, and Tom. XX. Duke de Sessa, who desired to honor thus
p. 84. 'a fttvorite and famous poet Obras, Tom.
« ObfM,Toiii. IX. p. 366. L pp. 313-316.
tSMSiSflmediode b Desdicha," a play so Obras, Tom. XI. pp. 496 and 696,
wbose stoiy is üram the oíd ballads or the where liis fáther jests about it. It is a
** Diana ** oí Mootemayor, (Comedias, Tom. Olosa. He is called Lope de Vega Carpió,
XIIL, Madrid, 1620,) in the Preface to el mozo ; and it is added, that he was not
whieh he begs his danghter to read and yet fourteen years oíd.
oorrect it ; and prays that she may be a Obras, Tom. I. pp. 472 and 816.
happy in spite of the perfections which M In the eclogue, (Obras, Tom. X. p.
i«nder eartlily hapi^ness almost impossible 862,) he is called, after both liis fother and
to her. She long survired her father, and his mother, Don Lope Félix del Carpió y
died, mnch reverenoed for her piety, in
1688.
164
LOPE DE VEGA BECOMES A PEIEST* [F&ihod B,
Áñ^r the birth of these two childreDi we hear nothing
more of tlieir muthen ludeed, Boun aí'terwards, Lope, no
ioDger at an age to be dohidcd bj bis paesionsj bogan,
according to tbe custom uf his time aud comitry, to tura
Hobéísotaes bís tbougbtB seriousljT to religión. He dcvoted
rtíUgiúiM. ¡jjfaself to pious works, as bis fatbcr bad done;
visited tlie hoapitaía rogularl j ; resorted daily to a partic-
ular cburcb ; entered a secular rebgious congregatioii ;
and finally, at Toledo, iíi 1609, according to Navairete,
receivcd tlie tonsure and became a pricst. Tbe next year
be joined tbe same l>rotberhood of whieb Cervantes waa
afterwards a meinber,^^ In 1625, he entered tbe con gre-
gal ion of tbe nativo pricstbood of Madrid, and was 80
faitbful and oxact i a tbe performance of bis diities, that,
in 1G28, be was elected to he ita cbief cbaplaiu. lie is^
tberefore, for tbe twenty-six latter years of bis long life,
to he regarded as etrictly couuected with tbe Spanish
Cbm^cb, and as dovoting to its daily service Bome purtion
bf bis time,^
Bnt wc muBt not mísnnder stand tbe position in wbicb,
tbrougb tbese relations, Lope badnow placed birnself, ñor
cudmíof overrate tbe sacrificey tbey required of bim,
thfiChiireh, g^f^i^ ^ connectiün witb tbe Cbnrcb, in bis time,
liy no means involved an abandonment of tbe wortd, —
h ardí y an abandonment of its pie asares, On tbe con-
trary, it was ratber regarded as one of tbe means for
securiiig tbe leisure suited to a life of letters and Bocial
ease. As sucb^ nnqueationably, Lope employed it ; for,
during tbe bmg series of years in whicb be was a priest,
and gave regular portiona of bis time to offices of devo-
^ PelMccFt Pd* Don Quíjcote, Tcm, I* Pk
cxülx* KiLvai'nito, Vida ie CisrvatibeFt,
^ Thúre Ié a dlfficulty s-bout tb€»e reía-
tioTia of Lope tu thti priesilincMl and tu hln
murriei] Mfií. Or crnirae^ ir hf^ toük tííe¡
t«mauní ín 160í*, í«? cüiiiild nnt he a marríeíl
mnn in ItíH \ nnrt yet Scíiaek (Nathtrjgc^
p^tl]) ^Ivüt uM theite wordH frnm an iiutO'
¡TTFiph Luttc!r of Iin^pe, dnLf.'d Míuiríd, Jaly 6,
lüll^ and found umon^ the paperü or His
gí&Lt IMitrota aml cíecutor^ th« Du^jue rte
Bp»&t VÍ3S ; "Aqui paso, Seitor e!tctl*ii-
tífllma, Eol vltla con eatí? mal Imptirtariu úg
nil tDitJe]r, ^TtireStaudo ikiíos de pafrlenelüf
qu? bí fuesen rol untarlo» CfiTQO jmjdflnii Hó
fuera nqui ru penit^ueia mutiiHi 4|ii« piin-
cípio del purgatorio.*' — Iji anothei* IctUrr «f
Bept, T^ 1611 , he speake ot getttiiff aUnig
liMrtttír írith tils wife Jaana- Oí omrsí}, if
tht'Hií dntC'ñ aro rlght, the reekoiiln^ «T
PíjISicer aud Niivarrete la wronfr, nnd Dípe
did not enter tho prle&tíiíwd iKíore 1*311 or
1012 \ btit hií iM»eni9 by hh fminon with
Mdrí& de Ltixan, ¡fi IfiOS -ü, t4Ti havu pivén
cause «noiigh for fiirnllf díase nsionH fliich
ai Ihem Icttera rntimate. Tire ^^hrcHJiér-
hood *" did not ímply celIbaL'y*
I
I
'i
I
Chaí. Xm.] MOBE INCONSISTENCIES. 165
tíon and charity, he was at the height of favor and fash-
ion as a poet. And, what may seera to us more strange;
it was during the same period he produced the greater
number of his dramas, not a few of • whose scenes ofíend
against the most unquestioned precepts of Christian mo-
rality, while, at the same time, in their title-pages and
dedications, he carefuUy sets forth his clerical distinc-
tions, giving peculiar prominence to his place as a Famil-
iar or servant of the Holy Office of the Inquisition.'^
It was, however, during the happier period of his mar-
ried life that he laid the foundations for his general popu-
larity as a poet. His subject was well chosen. It was
that of the great fame and glory of San Isidro g^jgj^^^
the Ploughman. This remarkable personage,
who plays so distinguished a part in the ecclesiastical
history of Madrid, is supposed to have been born in the
twelfth centuxy, on what afterwards became the site of
that city, and to have led a life so eminently pious, that
the angels came down and ploughed his grounds for him,
which the holy man neglected in order to devoto his time
to religious duties. From an early period, therefore, he
enjoyed much consideration, and was regarded as the pa-
trón and friend of the whole territory, as well as of the
city of Madrid itself. But his great honors date from the
year 1598. In that year Philip the Third was dangerously
111 at a neighboring village ; the city sent out the remains
of Isidro in procession to avert the impending calamity ;
the king recovered ; and for the first time the holy man
became widely famous and fashionable.'*
» I notíce thetitte Fcmiiliar del Santo in the titles of his works. This, however,
C^io as early as the " Jerusi^en Conquis- it should be noted, is a different designa-
tada,** 1609. Frequently afterwards, as in tion from Fray, though both come from
the Comedias, Tom. ü., VI., XI., etc., the Latin Frater. For Fray means a
DO oiher títle is put to his ñame, as if this monk, and, in common parlance, a monk
were gtory enough. In his time. Familiar of some mendicant order *, whereas Frey
meaot a person who conld at any moment is a member, whether clerical or lay, of one
be called into the service of the Inquisition j of the great Spanish military and religious
but had no special office, and no duties, till orders. Thus Lope de Vega was " Frey del
he was summooed. Covarruvias, ad verb. Orden de Malta," — not a small honor, —
Lope, In his ** Peregrino en su Patria," and Juan de la Cruz was »* Fray Descalzo
(1604,) had already done homage to the de la Reforma de Nuestra Señora del Car-
Inquisition, calling it ««Esta santa y men,»»— a severe order of monks.
venerable Inquisición," etc. Lib. II. » He was, from a very early period,
Lope, ahM>, sometímes calis himself Frey honored at home, in Madrid, and has con-
156 ^™^ ^^^ ISIDSa phSBlOD
J
Lope seized the occasion, mnd wrote a long poem on the
life of " Isidro the Plougfamaii/' br Farmer ; so called to
^^ distingaish him ftom the leamed saint of Seville
énkh^ who bore the same ñame. It consista of ten
thoosand Unes, exactlj divided among the ten
books of which it is composed ; and jet it was finished
withín the year, and pnblished in 1599. It has no high
poetical merít, and does not, indeed, aspire to any. But
it was intended to be popular, and sncceeded. It is wrít-
ten in the oíd national five-line stanza, carefolly rhymed
thron^ont ; and, notwithstanding the apparent difficnlty
of the measore, it everywhere afibrds nnequivocal proof
of that £acility and flnencj of yersification for which Lope
became afterwards so &moas. Its tone, which, on the
most solemn matters of religión, is so &miliar that we
shoold now consider it indecoroos, was no doubt in fíill
consent with the spirít of the times, and one main cause of
its snccess. Thns, in Canto Third, where the angels come
to Isidro and his wife Mary, who are too poor to entertain
them, Lope describes the scene — which ought to be as
Bolemn as anjthing in the poem, since it involves the facts
on which Isidro's claim to canonization was subsequently
admitted — in the foUowing light verses, which may
serve as a specimen of the measore and style of the
whole : —
Three angds, sent bj grace dÍTÍne,
Once oa a time blessed Abnham's sigfat ; —
To Mamre carne that vbioa brígfat,
Whose number should our thonghts mdme
To Him of whom the Prophets write.
' Bnt 8ix now carne to Isidoro !
And, heavenly powers ! what coostemation I
Where is his hospitable store ?
Surely they come with consolation.
And not to get a tímely ratíon.
StíU, if in haste nnleavened bread
Mary, like Sarah, now could bake,
finned to be so ever since *, — his homble Uie poor ploaghman, and among thon are
origin and gentle character contributing no St Ferdinand and AlJbnso the Wise. Elo-
doubt to his popularity. A poem urging gio a San Isidro, Labrador, Patrón de Ma-
intercessions to him in consequence' of a drid, por D. Joachin Baqoerta, Madrid,
great drought at Madrid in 1779 contains a 1779, 18mo, pp. 14.
Ust of the kings who had paid reverenoe to
•uSIL]
THE SAN ISIDBO.
16Í
Or Isklore, like Abraham, take
The lamb that in its pastare fed,
And honey from its waxen cake,
I know he would bis guests invite ; —
But whoso ploughs not, it is ríght
Hi8 safferíngs the pnce shonld pay ; —
And how has Isidoro a waj
Six snch to harbor for a night ?
And yet he stands foi^ven there,
Thongh friendly bidding he make none ;
Fot poTerty prevenís alone ; — s
Boty Isidoro, thon stíll canst sparo
What sorost ríses to God's throné.
Let Abraham to slaj arise ;
But, on the groond, in sacrifice,
Give, Isidoro, thy sonl to God,
Who never doth the heart despise
That bows beneath his rod.
He did not ask for Isaac's death ;
He asked for Abraham's willing faith.^
No doubt, 8ome of the circumstances in the poem are
invented for the occasion, though there is in the margin
much parade of authorities for almost everything ; — a
practico very common at that period, to which Lope after-
wards conformed only once or twice. But however we
may now regard the " San Isidro/' it was printed four
times in less than nine years ; and, by addressing itself
more to the national and popular feeling than the " Ar-
cadia'' had done, it became the earliest foundation for
its author's fame as the favoríte poet of the whole nation.
Fnea ro pobreza lo Impide,
Isidro, aunque puede dar
Mu7 bien lo que Dios le pide. *
Yaya Abraham al ganado,
Y en el suelo humilde echado,
Dadle el alma, Isidro, vos,
Que nunca desprecia Dios
El corazón humillado.
No quería el sacrificio
De Isaac, sino la obedienda .
De Abraham.
Obras Sueltas, Tom. XI. p. 69.
The three angela that carne to Abraham
are often taken by the eider theologians, as
they are by Lope, to aymbolize the Trinity.
Navarrete — more commonly known as
El MudOy or the Dmnb Palnter — en-
deavored to give thia expression to them
on canvaa. Stirling'B Artista in Spain,
1848, YoL I. p. 266.
Sr Tres infeles á Abraham
Una ves aparecieron.
Que i verle 4 Hambre vinieron :
Bten que i este número dan
El que en figura trqjeron.
Beis vienen á Isidro t ver :
O gran Dios, que puede ser ?
Donde los ha de ailvergar ?
Mas vienen & consolar.
Que no vienen i comer.
81 como Sara, María
Cocer luego pan pudiera,
Y il eomo Abraham truzer
El cordero que pacía,
Y la miel entre la cera.
Yo sé que los convidara.
Mas quando lo que no ara.
Le dicen que ha de pagar {
Como podri convidar
A sds de tan buena cara ?
Disculpado puede estar.
Puesto que no los convide.
158 THE HEBMOSÜBA DE ANGÉLICA. ' JTbriod H
At this time, however, he was beginning to be so mnch
occnpied with the theatre, and so succcssful, that he had
HuBermo- ^^^^^ leísure foF anjthing else. His next con-
saradeAn- siderable publication," therefore, was not till
1602, when the " Hermosara de Angélica," or
The Beauty of Angélica, appeared ; a poem already men-
tioned as having been chiefly written while its author
served at sea in the ill-fated Armada. It somewhat pre-
sumptuouslj claims to be a continuation of the " Orlando
Furioso,'' and is stretched out through twenty cantos,
comprehending above eleven thousand lines in octave
verse. In the Proface, he says he wrote it " under the
rigging of the galleon Saint John and the banners of the
Catholic king," and that " he and the generalissimo of
the expedition finished their labors together ; " — a re-
mark which mnst not be taken too stríctly, since both
the thirteenth and twentieth cantos contain passages
relating to events in the reign of Philip the Third. In-
deed, in the Dedication, he tells his patrón that he had
suffered the whole poem to lie by him long for want
of ieisure to correct it ; and he elsewhere adds, that he
leaves it still unfiuished, to be completed by some happier
genios.
It is not unlikely that Lope was induced to write the
Angélica by the success of several poems that had pre-
Poemsof ceded it on the same seríes of fictions, and
ÍÍSiíT^ especially by the favor shown to one published
only two years before, in the same style and
m^pner, — the " Angélica " of Luis Barahona de Soto,
which is noticed with extraordinary praise in the scrutiny
of the Knight of La Manchaos Library, as well as in the
conclusión to Don Quixote, where a somewhat tardy
compliment is paid to this very work of Lope. Both
poems are obvious imitations of Ariosto ; and if that of
De Soto has been too much praised, it is, at least, better
than Lope's. And yet, in " The Beauty of Angélica,''
the author might have been deemed to occupy ground
M The " Fiestas de Denia," « poem in 1599, soon after his marriage, was print-
two short cantos, on the reception of ed the same year, but is of litUe conae-
Philip III. at Denla, near Valencia, in quence.
Ckav. Xm.] THE HEBMOSUBA DE ANGÉLICA. 169
wéll Btiited to his genins ; for the boundless latitude af-
forded him by a subject filled with the dreamy adventures
of chivalry was, necessarily, a partial reléase from the
obligation to pursue a consistent plan, — while, at the
same time, the example of Ariosto, as well as that of Luis
de Soto, may be supposed to have launched him fairly
forth upon the open sea of an uflrestrained fancy, careless
of shores or soundings.
Bnt perhaps this very freedom was a principal cause of
his fodliire ; for his story is to the last degree wild and
extravagant, and is connected by the slightest gtoryofthe
poBsible thread with the graceful fiction of Ari- J^ ^°^]¡íJi^,
osto." A king of Andalusia, as it pretends, leaves
his kingdom by testament to the most beautiful man or
woman that can be found.^ All the world throngs to
wiu the mighty príze ; and one of the most amusing parts
of the whole poem is that in which its author describes to
US the crowds of the oíd and the ugly who, under such
conditions, still thought themselves £t competitors. But
as early as the fifth canto, the two lovers, Medoro and
Angélica, who had been left in India by the Italian mas-
ter, have already won the throne, and, for the sake of
the lady's mirivalled beauty, are crowned king and queen
at Seville.
Here, of course, if the poem had a regular subject, it
would end ; but now we are plunged at once into a series
of wars and disasters, arising out of the discontent of
nnsuccessfiíl rivals, which threaten tcT have no itscharac-
end. Triáis of all kinds follow. Visions, en- ^r.
chantments and counter enchantments, episodes quite un-
connected with the main story, and broken up themselves
by the most perverso interruptions, are mingled together,
we neither know why ñor how ; and when at last the happy
pair are settled in their hardly won kingdom, we are as
much wearied by the wild waste of fancy in which Lope
has indulged himself, as we should have been by almost
any degree of monotony arising frora a want of inventivo
» The polnt where It branches oflf from Furioso,»» where there is, indeed, a fair
the itoiy of Ariosto is the sixteenth stanza openlng for the subject of Lope»s Angélica.
of the thirtleth canto of the " Orlando «> La Angélica, Canto III.
VOL. II. 8
no
THE DRAGOKTEA.
4
I
r
power. The best parta of the poem are those that contaiml
deacrtptíoüB of peraoaa and gcenery ; *^ the worst arel
those where Lope lias dísplayed his learoitig, which he
hnñ gometimes done by fiUiíig whole etanzas with a mere
aoüumnlatioD of proper ñames. Tíie versiflcatioo is e^- ,
traordinarily fluent.*^
As The Beuuty of Angélica waa writtea ín the ill-faíed '
Armada^ it contains occasional intimations of the author*s
natíúnal rind religions feelings, snch as were iiaturally
eiiggested by his Bituation. But in the same voluine ho
at ono time piiblished a poem in which these feelingB arel
iiineh more fiilly and freely expressed ; — apoem, indeed, ]
which Í6 devuted to nothing elae. It is called '' La Dra*
sil' vninqifl gontea/' and is on the snbject of Sir Francia
Drako. Drake's last expedition and death, Perhaps no i
ntlier instance can be found of a grave epic devoted ttil
the personal abuse of a single indi vid nal ; and to acconnt
hr the presen t one, we raust rememher how familiar and
fiK-rnidable tíio name of Sir Francia Drake had long been
in Spain. ^
lie had begun his oareer as a brílltant pírate ín SoutíiH
iVinerica abo ve thirty years befo re ; he had alarmed all
^pain liy ravagiiig its conste and occupying Oadia, in a
Bort of doulitftil warfare, which Lord Bacon tells na the
freo Baüor used to cali '' singeing the king of Spain*8 ^
heard ; '^ *■ and he had rísen to the height of his glory as H
second ín cummand of the great fleet wdiicli had discom- "
fitcd the Armada, t)ne of whose largest vessels was known
to Jiave snrrcndered to the terror of his iiamc alone, In
Bpaín^ where he was as mueh hated as he wíÍs feared, he
waa regarded chiefly as a boíd and soceessful bTiccaneer^
wbose melancholy death at Panamá, in 1596, was held to
be a jnst visitatioa oí the Divine ve nge anee fcjr his pira*
cíes ; — a etate of feeling of which the popular literature
« Caotffi TV. jMjd VTl,
^^ Ui^ llcmímüva. díí An^ éll^ik wbb prínt-
cil Tur tLic flrst íxmv hi IG^Í^sa^í Uie edlior
of the Obnujf Ln Tooi. 11. But Salva ^íve^
mu editinn Ld 1303, It rertjihilj appeAred
al BiiTueloQu Irt 160S> Thu staosoB wbcf«
prnper names occur ea oHen bs tí> prove
LtiuL Lape wae güWly of Üi« afTecUitiuii of
tHkfog \nuui to afüctunulata them rjv to hq
ftíund ín Obms, Tüui. IL pp* 27, ft% 23íi,
2a6, titc.
*^ " ConaldinimtiDhS toticliLiif n Wat wíth
Spaín, inMTÍlKtha tü l*rijicv Cbarles/^ WÁÍ i
a cartouü ifpccltüttíi oí tka polftlciü dltcna*-
s1iiTi9 or the time. S-ee ¿aí.*^»''; Wfirlca^
LondoH, ISlü, Bvü, VoL lH. p. 517.
4
Chap. Xm.] THE DRAGONTEA. l*Jl
m
of the coimtry, down to its very bailada, affords^ frequent
proof.**
The Dragontea, however, whose ten cantos of octave
verse are devoted to the expression of this nar j^ Dragon-
tional hatred, may be regarded as its chief mon- ^»-
ument. It is a strange poem. It begins with the prayers
of Christianity, in the form of a beautiful woman, who pre-
senta Spain, Italy, and America in the court of Heaven,
and prays God to protect them all against what Lope calis
"thatf^rotestant Scotch pirate>/' *^ It ends with rejoic-
ings in Panamá because " the Dragón/' as he is called
through the whole poem, has died, poisoned by his own
people, and with the thanksgivings of Christianity that her
prayers have been heard, and that "the scarlet lady of
Babylon " — meaning Queen Elizabeth — had been at last
defeated. The substance of the poem is such as may be-
seem such an opening and such a conclusión. It is vio-
lent and coarse throughout. But although it appeals
constantly to the national prejudices that prevailed in its
author's time with great intensity, it was not received
with favor. It was written in 1597, immediately after the
occurrence of most of the events to which it alindes ; but
was not published till 1604, and has been prínted since
M Mariana, Historia, ad an. 1596, calis m hermano Bartolo
him siinply " Francis Drake, an Bngllah Se va á Ingídaterra,
eorBairi^-andinagraceftülitüeanony. ^ H^ ndt'írryna,
moas bailad, imitated from a more graceful y & los Luteranoi
ooe by Oóngora, we have again a trae ex- De la Bandomessa.
pression of the popular feeling. The bailad Tiene de traerme
in question, beginning « Hermano Perico," ^ "»* <\« ^ «"«"»
i. in the Eomancero General, 1602, (f. 34,) Sn u"n1'J^ena.
and contains the following significant pas- y una Luterana
•age . — A sefiora agüela.
And Bartolo, my brother. Romancero General, Madrid, 1602, 4to, £ Sfi.
wh«'SÍ)S?i!".?S::i.t.m,- ^« «^0 •»"«» "If"» '■> *« "^'^'ne»
And the LutheraM eveiy one, ^^ *<» Romances," in the very rare and
Excommunicate firom God, curióos third volume, entitled Parte Terce-
Their queen among the first, ra de las Comedias de Lope de Vega y
He wiU Mipture and bring back, ^tros Autores, ec., Barcelona, 1614, which,
ÍL^'líníS;iS,Toreover. ^7^^-, contains only three of Ix,pejs
Among hli ipoilf and gatos, Plays o^t of its tweive. I found it in the
A heretic young ierving-boy . Library of the Yatican, where there are
To give me, bound in chaini ; more oíd Spanish books than is commonly
And for my lady grandmamma, supposed.
WhoM yean such waiting erave, t1 „ * , * ^ * fv>„>v.,»v5«» Ooa
Alittlehandy Lutheran, « He was in fact of Devonshire. See
To be her maiden lUve. Vuller's Worthies and Holy State.
1Í2
THE PEBEGRINO EN SU PATRIA. [Pebiod E;
no en iU
only m tho coUected edition of Lope's mígcellaneoua
works, iu 1776.***
Itt the same yeai-, however, m which lie gave íhe Drar
gontea to the worldi he published a prose rumance, ^* The
MPefügri- Pjignm in hís owu Couutry ; ^' dedicatiog it to
the Míiiquis uf Priog^o, oq the last day of 1G03,
from tbc city of Seville, It con taina the Btorj
of two lovors, who, after manj advetiturca in Spaín and
Portug'al, are carried into captivity among the Moors, and
return lióme hy the way of Italy, as pil grima, ^Ve fií'st
fiud thcm afc Barcelona, shipwrecked, and ttiíí principal
ecenes are laid there and in Valencia and SaragosBá; —
the whtjle ending i ti the citj of Toledo, whore, with the
assent of their friendo, thej are at iaat rnarríed.*'^ Sevcral
episodes are ingeniously interwoven with the thread of
the principal narrative, and, besidea many poeme, chiefíy
wntten, no doubt, for other occaBÍons, seYcral rcligioua
dramaa are inaertcdi which aeem actual Ij to ha ve bceii
performed nnder the circunmtancea described,*^
The en tire romance ia divided into íive boolía, and ia
carefully construeted and fiuiíshed. Some of Lope 'a owa
experíenccB at Yalencia and elsewhere evideiitly contrib-
uted materiala for it \ but a poetical colorin^ is íhrown
OTer the whole, and except in so me of the details abotit
the city^ and dcacríptionB of natural scenery, we rarely
feel that what we read is absolutelj true.** The atory,
especially wíien regarded from the poíut of view choeeu
by ita author, is interesting ; and it is not only one of the
by Chnrlei Fltígeltl-ej, on the Lifu luid
D^Ath at Blr FmtiCJai Brske, Úrst printcd Íd
l^tóf wblí^ la woríh compariiig' wItU tbe
DragoatoiL, u Its {jpíioaitti, &nd which wm
betl^r lllt«i tu, Eiíglafid In itn tim« thad
Lope^i poem wha ¡ti Spaln. Soe Wiiort^a
Alhena} lAiidün, I&IS^ 4eo, VoL H. (Ih (MÍT.
PachfiQQ, lo a aotiee of Lope, printéd üi
ltfQ9| '— ÉYV fdaTH nrtcr the nppeaniiKsa
qf Üns I>rAf üütei]^ ^ cali» It^ " El diab ijf Do-
rado de sua Hbn»,*^ ÚhráA Bueltas^ Tom,
XI Y. p, xxiáL
*í The lime of línj itory ík 1509-9^ ^hen
Phníp ITL WBA man-ied.
*■ At the etid of tha trhole, it xa aalJ»
thttt^ duríng tho elghfc vXghU foUowipg tbe
weddiiigf fíl^ht other ^r&iQiu vere aoted,
whose DomÉá are giveu f two of whÍQ£i|
"El Perseguido," and "El ÚaXhn Ajfnip
decldo,^^ da not Hipear amocig TAt|H^
prtnted play« \ — at leaatt ooC uoder üuMfi
mea.
^ AmoTig th« passagea that haTe tht
stTongmi &iT of re&Uty about tliem ara
thOBC nelatínjs^ to the dnimoü, eaid lo íinva
\i^nn acted lo dlfTerent pljuJiea ; aad.thosfl
conUilning deecríptluna of Mon»ermte aod
úí the eiivírons of Valencia, in ichu ñfiC &Dd
aecood bouliB, A aoft fli gboat-itofy, Ui
the üfth, Be^ni alflo lo hará besa ftniíided
oo f&ílt.
Chat. XUL] THE JEBÜSALEN CONQUISTADA. 1^3
earliest specimens in Spanish literature oí the class to
which it belongs, bnt one of the best.^
PasBÍng over Bome of his minor poems and his " New
Art of Writing Plays," for noticing both of which more
appropriate occasions will occur hereafter, we come to
anotber of Lope's greater efforts, his " Jerusalem j^^g^ig^
Conquered," which appeared in 1609, and was c®"*!'»^»'^»-
twice reprinted in the course of the next ten years. He
calis it " a tragic epic/' and divides-it into twenty books
of octave rhymes, comprehending, when taken together,
above twenty-two thousand verses. The attempt was
certainly an ambitious one, since we see, on its very face,
that it is nothing less than to rival Tasso on the ground
where Tasso' s success had been so brilliant.
As might have been foreseen, Lope failed. His very
Bubject is unfortunate, for it is not the conquest of Jeru-
salem by the Christians, but the failure of Coeur de Lion
to rescue it from the infidels in the end of the twelfth
century, — a theme evidently unfit for a Christian epic.
All the poet could do, therefore, was to take the seríes of
events as he found them in history, and, adding such epi-
sodes and omaments as his own genius could furnish, give
to the whole as much as possible of epic form, dignity,
and completeness. But Lope has not done even this.
He has made merely a long narrativo poem, of which
Richard is the hero ; and he relies for success, in no
fo The ftnt editíon of the ** Peregrino en Portagieeische Literator, yon Alvaro Angust
ea Patria" is that of SeviUe, 1804, 4to, Liagno," (1829-1830, 8vo,) written toen-
and it was soon reprinted ; but the best coorage the publication by Mayer, a book*
fldition i8 that in the fifth volume of the seller in Aix la Chapelle, of the principal
Obras Sueltas, 1778. A worthless abridg Spanish authors ; ^ a spirited undertaking,
ment of it in English appeared anony- which was continued &r enough to carry
moosly in London in 1788, 12nio. A Oer- through the press Oarcilasso *, Melóos
man transIatioQ, also much abridged and Guerra de Cataluña *, Guevara^s Diablo
leaving oot the poetry and dramas, — in Cojuelo ; Mendoza's Lazarillo ; Polo*8
■bort, omitting the part of Hamlet,— was Diana ; Tomé de BurguUlos, and most of
pablisbed at Aachen, (1824, 12mo, pp. the works of Cervantes. Borne of the no-
236,) and entítled " Der Pilger, etc., über- tíoes by Liagno, in ^hese tracts, are curions,
•etzt von C. Richard," a person who had but in general they are of little worth. His
served, I belteve, in the Peninsular war of " Répertoire de l'Hlstóire et de la Lit«4mr
1808-14, and who also translated Lope's ture Bspagnole et Portagaise," (Berlia,.
Arcadia, bis Dorotea, and some of his [1820,] 8vo,) is yet worse. He seems to
Novelas. A nottce of Richard and his have been a disappointed man, and to have
translations may be foand in the ^ Kri- carríed the unhappy temper of his life into
tísche Bemerkongen ttber Kastilische und his books.
It4
THE JEBUSALElí CONQUISTADA.
[PmiioD TI
Bmall degree, on the introclTiction of a sort of rival hero,
in tlic person of Alfonso the EigUth of Cas tile, whü, witli
hia kDightSj ís niade, after the fourth book, to occupy a
8 pace i II thc foregrouad of the action quite disproportionr
ate atid absurd, since ít ie certain that Alfonso was never
in Palea tíne at alL^ What is equally ínappropriate, the
real subject of the poem is ended in the eighteeoth book,
bj the rettirii home of both Richard and Alfonso ; the
liiDeteenth being filled with the Spanish king'e subse-
qaeot history, and the twentieth with the imprisooment
of Eíchard and the qniet death of Saladin, as master
of JeruBalem, — a conchieion so abrupt and nnsatisfac-
torj, that it seems as if itB aiithor could hardly bave
originally forcseen it.
But thonglí, with the exception of what relates to the
apocryphal Spanish adveoturers, the series of historical
evetits in that brilliant crasade is folio wcd down with
Bome rcgard to the truth of fact, fitill we are so inuch
confuaed by the visiona and al lego ríe al personages min-
gled in the narrative, and by the manifold episodes and
lo ve-adven tures which interrupt it, that it is all bnt im-
possible to read any considerable portion consecutively
and with attention. Lope 'a easy and gracefiil veraifica-
tion is, indeedj to be found here, as it is in nearly all
bis poetry ; but eveti on the holy ground of chivalry,
at Cyprus, PtolemaiSi and Tyre, hia narrative has much
less moveraent and life than we might claim from its
Subject, ami almost everywbere else it is langiiid and
heavy. Of plau^ proportionsj or a skilful adaptation of
the aeveral parts bo aa to forra an epic wbolc, the re is
no thonght ; and yet Lope intimates that bis poem was
written with caro some time before it was published,^*
I
i
I
61 Lope In^tstK, <jn &n dccmiEona, upon
th& fkct oí Altansii'» havÓF; beun id ti%^
Crasades- For tntjtadce^ Ib " La lllobn
pan los Qtntt,^ (Catn^dias^ Tum. XSL^
MAdrld, leaSt ^* OQf) b« soya :
Anil 4>ue-t>wn KJuf Alfbnaix
Bnt fhtí whole i^ a more flcdon of Lhe age
miccc^c^liif? thB± of Allbnaú, fnf using which
lApe m juitly T^b^kí^d by Nav^furrete^ in
hiB Ficuíe ep^riy on Uie pjirt the Spunlards
took in thfs Cnij<iadcat ^)cnli^>rías de tu.
Acndt^mlik de l& Hlst, Túm.. Y., ISIT, éto^
p. 87.
*a aee the Prríltiíío. The wbühi pesera ii
in Obnift Sueltas, Tom. XIV. and XY. He
aliraya llk*^ it. B(^^Q^e it wíuí pubÜEilied^
he finys, In a lutter in thi5 Bnke of SesfiVL,
Chap Xin.] THÉ JEKÜSALEN CONQUISTADA. 175
and he dedicates it to his king, in a tone indicating
that he thought it by no means unworthy the royal
fevor.
i Beptember 8, 1606, when he thought pose firom that of other works written hi
he mif^t print it yery soon : " I wrote it my youth, when the passiona have more
in my best yean, and with a düEerent por- power." Schack, Nachtrttge, 1854, p. 33.
CHÁPTER XIV.
LOPE DE VEGA, CONTINUED. — HI8 RELATION8 WITH THE CHÜBCH. —
HIS PASTORES DE BELÉN. — HIS RELIGIOUS POEMS. — HIS CONNBC-
TION WITH THE FESTIVALS AT THE BEATIFICATION AND CANON-
IZATION OP SAN ISIDRO. — TOMÉ DE BÜRGÜILLOS. — LA GATOMA-
CHIA. — AN AUTO DE FÉ. — TRIUNFOS DIVINOS. — POEM ON MART
QUEEN OF SCOTS. — LAUREL DE APOLO. — DOROTEA. HI8 OLD
AGE AND DEATH.
JüST at the time the Jerusalem was published, Lope
began to wear the livery of his Church. Indeed, it is on
A Familiar *^® titlc-page of this YCTj pocm that he, for the
of the in- first time, announces himself as a " Familiar of
quisition. ...
the Holy Inquisition.'' Proofs of the change in
his life are soon apparent in his works. In 1612, he
Pastores de published '^ The Shepherds of Bethlehem,'' a
Belén. long pastoral in prose and verse, divided into
five books. It contains the sacred history, according to
the more popular traditions of the author's Church, from
the birth of Mary, the Saviour's mother, to the arrival of
the holy family in Egypt, — all supposed to be related or
enacted by shepherds in the neighborhood of Bethlehem,
at the time the events occurred.
Like the other prose pastorals written at the same
period, it is full of incongruities. Some of the poems, in
particular, are as inappropriate and in as bad taste as can
well be conceived ; and why three or four poética! con-
tests for prizes, and several common Spanish games, are
introduced at all, it is not easy to imagine, since they are
permitted by the conditions of no possible poética! the-
ory for such fictions. But it must be confessed, on the
other hand, that there runs through the whole an air of
amenity and gentleness well suited to its subject and pur-
pose. Severa! stories from the Oíd Testament are grace-
Chap. XIV.] THE PASTORES DE BELÉN. l*j*¡
fully told, and traoslations from the Psalms and other
parts of the Jewish Scriptures are brought in with a
happy effect. Some of the original poetry, too, is to be
placed amóng the best of Lope's minor compositions ; —
fiuch as the following imaginativo little song, which is
supposed to have been sung in a palm-grove, by the
Madonna, to her sleeping child, and is as full of the ten-
derest feelings of Catholic devotion as one of Murillo's
pictures on the same subject : —
H0I7 angels and blest,
Through these palms as ye sweep
Hold their branches at rest,
For my babe is asleep.
And ye Bethlehem palm-trees.
As stormy winds rush
In tempest and fary,
Your angry noise hnsh ; —
Move gently, move gently,
Restrain your wild sweep ;
Hold your branches at rest, —
My babe ís asleep.
My babe all divine,
With earth*8 sorrows oppressed,
Seeks in slumber an instant
His gríevings to rest ;
. He slumbers, — he slumbers, —
O, hush, then, and keep
Your branches all still, —
My babe is asleep !
Cold blasts wheel about him, —
A rigorous storm, —
And ye see how, in vain,
I would shelter his form ; —
Holy angels and blest.
As above me ye sweep,
Hold these branches at rest, —
My babe is asleep !
1 Pnea anda&i en iu palmas, No le hagáis ruido.
Angeles santos. Corred mas passo {
Que se duerme mi nifio. Que se duerme mi nifi<v
Tened los ramos. Tened los ramos.
de Belén, El niño divino.
Que mueven ajrrados Que estii cansado
Loa ftirtosos vientos, Be llorar en la tierra t
Qoe suenan tanto. Por su descanso,
8* L
It8
MISCELLÁHIES.
[PKmo» IL I
The whole work is dedicatód with great tenderitess, in
a few BiDiple words, to € arlos, the little son that died
befare he was seven jcars oíd, and of wUüm Lope alwaja
speaks bo lovin^íy. But it breaks oflf abruptlj, and was
Rever ÜtiiBlied; — why, it is not easj to tcll, for it was
well received, and wus printed four times in us manj
years
In 1612, the jear of the pnblicatíon of this pastora!,
Lope príuted a few religious bailada and some " Thonghts
in Prose/' which he pretended were translated
froni the Latin of Gabriel Pade copeo, an imper-
fect anagram of hís o^vn ñame ; and in 1614, thero a|>
peared a volnme containing, first, a collection of hie short
eatíred poema, to wUich were afterwarda added foiir sol-
emn and atriking poetical Soliloquies, composed while he
knelt before a croBS oa the day he waa received intu the
Society of Peniteiits; thon two conté mplativ^e discourses,
written at the request of his brethren of the same society ;
ajid fínallji a ehort spi ritual Komancero, or ballad-book,
and a '' Yia G rucia," or meditations on the passage of the
Savioíir from the judgraent-seat of Pilate to the hill of
Calvary.^
Many of the se poems are full of a deep and solemn
devotion ; ^ otliera are etrangely coarse and free ; * and a
füw are merely whirasical and triHing.* Some of the more
religious of the ballad¡3 are still sung about tho streets of
Madrid by blind beggars ; — a teetiiuony to the devout
feelinga which, occaBionaUy at least, glowed in tbeir au-
thoT*s heart, that ia not to be místaken, The se pocms,
however, with an account of the martyrdom of a consid-
erable nurabcr of Christians at Japan, in 1614, wliicb was
printed four years later,* were all the miscellaueoua worka
s Ohnw, Tora. Xrtl,* etc.
" For liastii.iict\ the soniiet bepnninjir,
'•* Yú Aúrmlíé ua el iiolvo." Obraa, Tom.
xtn. p. lae.
* Sruch flfl "OertrodU ileodo DIoq ttm
ttnwmso.*' ÚhtoÉ, Tom. XITT. p, 33S,
6 Bcitae cif tíieta are vecy flat ^ -^ «e ihó
ervnnpt, *■*■ QuAnda en tii alciuar ú^ Sion.^
^ Trlumffi' de ]a Té en loi EfiyooB úiú
Qbtflí »uritM, Topi. Xn. p* 832, *^*P^"^ ^^^^y '^<™^ ^^^I"
r qiiiom Tin pocij
I>el tíemo llfinbi t
0,110 m duprint mí itüfio,
BígnwéM Kklai
Le Citan r.erc!«iido,
TiLveI« qua na tenga
Con qnf! gufirdirlu :
Angelí^ d'Evftioi,
Que vflji t-filandD,
Qtit! pfl duormí^ mi níflo,
I
I
Chap. XrV.] THE FIBST FESTIVAL OF SAN ISIDRO. 1^9
poblished by Lope between 1612 and 1620 ; — the rest of
his time during this period having apparently been fiUed
with his brilliant successes in the drama, both secular and
sacred.
But in 1620 and 1622, he had an opportunity to exhibit
himself to the mass of the people, as well as to the court,
at Madrid, in a character which, being both re- Yint Festi-
ligious and dramatic, was admirably suitedto his í^^¿^®"*
powers and pretensions. It was the double oc-
casion of the beatification and the canonization of Saint
Isidoro, in whose honor, above twenty years earlier, Lope
had made one of his most successful efíbrts for popularity,
— a long interval, but one during which the claims of the
Saint had been by no means overlooked. On the contrary,
the king, from the time of his restoration to health, had
been constantly soliciting the honors of the Church for a
personage to whose miraculous interposition he believed
himself to owe it. At last they were granted, and the
19th of May, 1620, was appointed for celebrating the
beatification of the pious " Ploughman of Madrid/'
Such occasions were now often seized in the principal
citics of Spain, as a means alike of exhibiting the talents
of their poets, and amusing and interesting the multitude ;
— the Chiüch gladly contributing its authority to substi-
tuto, as far as possible, a sort of poetical tournament,
held under its own management, for the chivalrous tour-
naments which had for centuries exercised so great and
so irreligious an influence throughout Europe. At any
rate, these literary contests, in which honors and prizes of
various kinds were offered, were called '' Poetical j^^^^
Joustings," and soon became favorito entertain- Poéticas.
ments with the mass of the people. We have already
noticed such festivals, as early as the end of the fifteenth
century ; and besides the prize which, as we have seen,
Cervantes gained at Saragossa in May, 1595,'^ Lope gained
one at Toledo, in June, 1608 ; ® and in September, 1614,
he was the judge at a poetical festival in honor of the
T See ante, Vol. I. p. 806, and Vol. II. of very small merit, is in the Obras Sueltas,
p. 114 Tom. XXI. pp. 171 - 177.
* The SQCceflsftd poem, a JeaÜng bailad
|fc^ TE£ JUffT TISnTAL :«" ÜS ^CWDl [Poeud IL
of xfiVr* •<.¿e^i*^ Í3.p: rifcijsr iai*2» cÉíitrT íí tíKse liad been.
2r¿^* Tyir:i/" *é h 5* ssH «Zi&L i->:i a íntnest in it ;
*^ for h iTtó tteiíieTí^i i.: cc^smn^ ibe veO-being of
aJ]-** Tiíe Cb-ircL cf S*¿li Aiinew, ia viúcii r^weed the
fyyir c/f üifc woitliT KoTiítiaiAZt. '■T* ^•rsazaenied witii im-
woTíUpd spfcfiidor. Tbe mercLaiits of i&e cirr completely
erjc^>»^ íu altu'á whh plaiii. bin yae süv^f. The gold-
tííMm eiifthriDed iLe fi-rm of iLe S^int, wilich five
<y;ijtrjrí'r» lud Dot vastf^l Aw*j. in a sajcophagiis of the
líaríjíi trjfruJ, elaboraurly wr-jiight. Oiher claeaes broagfat
oth'rr oflVrríngs : all marked W the pjrgeons weaith that
ilthst flowed throug-L the prirü^ed porñons of Spanish
u^^:Uíiy, frorn the mÍDes of Pera a&d México- In front
of th'í church a «howy stage was erected, from which the
ytMtííin i»erit ín for prizes were lead, and orer this part of
th^; ceremonies Lope presided.
* Afk aoQiMint 'jf iome of tbe poetínJ vp to bmve a rrrtaatrmy aad «florad |ubu
i'xutictlpí </ thii y^rtifA i» Ut ha fxmd ia for it. ^
5'»r»rret«, •« Vid» de Ccrraaseí," ^142, ic Ibe detafli «T Ike feícival, vita the
viOi Ote M4M, p. 4M, aad ín tfae Epumh poem» «ffered on the wicmíti, va« Beatly
tritfjtUtí'* </ tu» H'aujrjf Tobl. III. pp. prioted at Madrid, fat IAH. íb a ñau
*/7' «». I Jkare te» oíaAj of tben aad qnna. ff. IM. aad tt aboat three tan-
r«3id a 1t^, Tbejr haré alnoet ao raliie. dnd pafcs in tbe ik i euth roloaie cthapt*»
A t*^A UlostraU'A oí the Bode in vhicfa Wocfcs. Tbe noaber of poeiieal <
they mixti «wdoeted It to be foond in the vas gxeat, bot amch abcat «T irtnt laaBar
** itUfU Po^ira,** in honor oí Onr Ladj oí eooteíU «omnimf» prodnoed. Figveraa
the Pflbr at fIttfaf'MM, eoOectnl fay Joan njv in bis *- PaMagcrcs^ (Madrid, 1617,
Bamiato Felíms de Caetrea, (^arago^ iftno, 1 llS.) that, at a Jaafa in Madrid
WÜ*^ iVtfí in vhich Jcwepb de Taldivíeiso m. ahort time before, to hooor St. Aaumio
and Varga» MavcfaiKa fiírared. Bodi joosu of Padna, fire tboosand poema oí dilfeimi
inií* tiücame »ft fnr<|u«;nt at laat, and ao poor, kinda veré offned ; vhich, after the bo*
an t/i be aiüij^eta oí rídicale. In tbe '^ Ca- oí tbem bad been bong roond the diorch
balkro Ueacorte» ** of 8alaa Barbadülo, and the cMsters of the monka vho origi-
(Madrid, 10¿1, 12nvi, t 90, etc.,) tbere ia a nallj propoeed the priaea, vcre di a tri bu ted
eertámen in Uuwjt t4 tbe reeorerj of a to otber monasteriea. Tbe cnatom esBlend-
loai liat ; — merdj a Ufht caiiatore. Ia ed to America. In 15S5, Balbaena earried
«noCh<Y oí hfa aatirical vodca, (La Estafeta avaj a priae in México Craaa three bnn-
del Di'ia MrjDKi, l'^t) which ia a collection dred competitora. 8ee bia Life, prefixed
oí lettera In ridlcule of extraragaocea and to tbe Academy*e edition of hia ** Siglo de
extra vagaitt l*eopl«. Barbad Ulo apeaka, in Oro,** Madrid, 1821, 8ro.
Jfpiat/ila XVIL, of a ahoemaker wbo aet
CnAP. XrV.] THE FIRST FESTIVAL OF SAN ISIDRO. 181
•
As a Bort of prologue, a few satirical petitions were
produced, which were intended to excite merriment, and,
no doubt, were successful ; after which Lope opened the
literary proceedings of the festival, by pronouncing a
poetícal oration of above seven hundred lines in honor
of San Isidro. This was foUowed by reading the sub-
jects for the nine prizes oflfered by the nine Muses, to-
gether with the rules according to which the honors of
tile occasion were to be adjudged ; and then carne the
poems themselves. Among ihe competitors were many
of the principal men of lett^rs of the time : Zarate, Guil-
len de Castro, Jauregui, Espinel, Montalvan, Pantaleon,
Silveira, the young Calderón, and Lope himself, with the
son who bore his ñame, still a boy. All this, or nearly all
of it, was grave, and beseeming the grave occasion. But
at the end of the list of those who entered their claims
for each prize, there always appeared a sort of masque,
who, under the assumed ñame of Master Burguillos,
" seasoned the feast in the most savory manner,'' it is
said, with his amusing verses, caricaturing the whole,
Hke the gracioso of the popular theatre, and serving as a
kind of interlude after each división of the more regular
drama.
Lope took hardly any pains to conceal that this savory
part of the festival was entirely his own ; so j^^,^ ^^^
surely had his theatrical instincts indicated to ^^^
him the merry relief its introduction would give to the
stateliness and solemnity of the occasion.^^ All the
varíous performances were read by him with much effect,
and at the end he gave a light and pleasant account, in
the oíd popular bailad measure, of whatever had been
done ; after which the judges pronounced the ñames of
the successful competitors. Who they were, we are not
told ; but the offerings of all — those of the unsuccessful
as well as of the successful — were published by him
without delay.
11 « But let the reader note well," saya vory. And as he did not appear for any
Lope, ** that the verses of Master Bur- prize, it was generally belleved that he
gnillos most be supposititious •, for he dld was a character introduced by Lope him-
not apiiear at the contest *, and all he wrote self." Obras, Tura. XI. p. 401. Sce also
is in Jcst, and modo the festival vcry sa- p. 598.
1S2 *™S SECOND FESTflTAL 01* SAíf ISIDEO, [PeExort H
A greater jubile e followed two years aílerwards, when,
at the opeuing uf tlie reigo of Philip tlie Fourth, the negó
tiatiouB of tos grateful predecessor were crowned with a
aaccess he did iiot live to witness ; and San laí-
í^Xaiüf dro, witli tlirec othor dcTout Spaniards, was
San i*yi-D. a^itted by tlie Head of the Church at Rome to
the full glories of Baintehip, by a formal caDoiiization.
The people of Madrid took little note of the Papal buli,
except so far as it coiicerned their own particular saiJit
and protector* But to him the hunors thcy oíTered were
abnndant.^* The festival they instituted for the occasion
lasted aino days, Eight pyramids» above scveiity fect
high. were arranged in diíiercnt parta of the city, and
nine magnificent al tari?, a castle, a rích garden^ and a
temporary theatre, AU tho houses of the better sort
were hnng with gorgeotia tapestry ; religious proceasions,
in which tho principal nobility took the mean es t places,
Bwept thiough the strects ; and buU-fights, always the
niüst popular of Bpanish entertainments, were added, in
which abo ve two thousand of those noble animal a were
saciificed in amphitheatrea or pubÜc sqnares opeo freely
tü alL
As a part of the show, a great literary con test or
jousting waa held on the 19th of May, — esactly two
years after that held at the beatification. Again Lope
appeared on the stage in front of the same Church of
Lnpe'j part ^'^^^^ Andrcw, and, with similar coremoaies and
^" ít- a «ímilar admtxtiire of the Bomcwhat broad farce
of Tomé de BnrgnilloSi most of tlie leading poets of the
time joiiied in the universal homage. Lope caiTÍed awaj
the principal prizes. Others were given ,to Zarate, Cal-
derón, Montalvan, and Guillen de Castro. Two plajs —
one on the childhood, and the other on tho youth of San
Isidro, but both expressly ordered from Lope by the city
— were acted on open, movable stagos, befo re the king,
the court, and the multitude, making their author the
most promiiient figure of a festival whicb, rightly under-
Stood, goes far to explaia the spirit of the times and of
lí TJia pnwccrtíríga ami pocmn of ttiíff nt Müdrid, In ü. quarto vjlmrte, 1033, /f»
KOQmd great reatlval wuní prí.jtea nt íHJce látí^ unJ üll Tom. Xít. af th? Obius &atil«ifc
I
I
I
Chap. XIV.] THE GATOMACHIA. 183
the religión on which it all depended. An account of the
whole, comprehending the poems offered on the occasion,
and his own two plays, was published by Lope before the
cióse of the year.
His success at these two jubilees was, no doubt, very
flatteiing to him. It had been of the most public kind ;
it had been on a very popular subject ; and it had, per-
haps, brought him more into the minds and thoughts of
the great mass of the people, and into the active Tomé de
interests of the time, than even his success in Burguiuos.
the theatre. The caricatures of Tomé de Burguillos, in
particular, though often rude, seem to have been received
with extraordinary j^vor. Later, therefore, he was in-
duced to write more verses in the same style ; and, in
1634, he published a volume, consisting almost wholly of
humorous and burlesque poems, under the same disguise.
Most of the pieces it contains are sonnets and other short
poems ; — some very sharp and satirical, and nearly all
flucnt and happy. But one of them is of considerable
length, and should be separately noticed.
It is a mock-heroic, in irregular verse, divided into six
«t7f os or cantos, and is called *' La Gatomachia,'' or the
Battle of the Cats ; being a contest between two j^ q^^^
cats for the love of a third. Like nearly all the machia.
poems of the class to which it belongs, from the " Batra-
chomyom achia'' downwards, it is too long. It contains
about twenty-five hundred lines, in various measures.
But if it is not the first in the Spanish language in the
order of time, it is the first in the order of merit. The
last two silvas, in particular, are written with great light-
ness and spirit ; sometimos parodying Ariosto and the
epic poets, and sometimos the oíd ballads, with the gayest
success. From its first appearance, therefore, it has been
a favorito in Spain ; and it is now, probably, more read
than any other of its author's miscellaneous works. An
edition printed in 1Y94 assumes, rather than attempts to
prove, that Tomé de Burguillos was a real personage.
But few persons have ever been of this opinión ; for
though, when it first appeared, Lope prefixed to it one of
those accounts concern ing its pretended author that de-
184
VABIOTIS MISCELLAKIES.
[I'erioi> II,
ceive nobodyi yet he liatl, as early aa the first festival in
honor of San Isidro, alraost dircctly deelarcd Mastor Bur-
guillí>9 to be merely a disgiiiae for himself aiid a means c*f
addiog iiitereat to thc occasioii^ —a fact, indced, plainly
iiitimated by Quevedo in tho Ax*probation prefix^d to tho
volum*i, and by Coronel in the verses wb i ch iminediately
folio w.^"
In 1621, jnst in the interval betwoen the two festívals,
Lope published a voliime containing the "Filomena/' a
VüríüiiB P^^í^í^^f í^ ^li*^ lirst canto of which he gives the
workB. mythülog-ical Btorj of Tereus and the Nightin-
galo, and in the second, a vindication of himself, under
the allegory of the Nightingale*s Defence against tho
Envious Thrush, To this he added, in tho same vuhime,
" La Tapada/' a deferí ption, in octave verse, uf a country-
Béat of the Duke of Braganza in Portugal ; the '^ Andmui-
eda/' a mythological Btory like the Filomena ; " The For-
tunes of Diana/' thc first pro se tale he o ver printed ;
se ve ral poetical epistles and smaller poejiis \ aad a corre-
fEpondence on the subject of thc Kcw Poetry, as it was
callcd, in which he boldly attacked the school of Góogorap
thcn at the height o fita favor.^* The wliole volnme addcd
nolíiijig to its anthor's permanent reputation ; but parta
of itj and especially pasaages in the epistles and in the
Fiiometia, are interesting frum the cü^cumatance that they
contain allusiona to his own personal history
13 The edftÍQD wlitcb clalmfl & ficpi^r^to
and real exl^stence fur Bu r guillo:! La Üi&t
tmná I a tLo sevenlc&Dth rolume nf the
" Pouslas CaitelluxtikB/^ collected, by Per-
iiiindc!z and other^ Bnt, bsnMes the pSA-
ftiiffPtí from Lope hfmBelí cíted Ln & preced-
íais Tidttif Queyeda say»^ In on Apmbaeiún
to the vvTy ffiLume ia QuestloDf itmt ** tha
ttyle U anch rs Ima been seea «nly ln the
UTitingiof Lupe fíe Tega ^ >^ atid Co^Del,
ln firjme ííéetmatt prefi^ed f;o It, adtls^,
"Theie vfyrsfis are da^hes from, the pcQ oí
Che Spankh FhcciiÍ!c \ " huita which It
weiild have been dlahonoriLble for t<ope
húiiself to pohliehf unlesfl the poejn? werte
n^hy hid own. The poetry oí Burguillotí
f! Ln Tútn. XIX. vf ibe Obraa Sueltiu, juat
SA Lepe ori^inAHy puMitiIicd [E ln 1634^
Thi:re i\á a apüited nurmun trimeLatlan of
tbe Oatoinachia m Beitiicli'i Magwsin der
Span» \xnú Port- Lítertttir, DesBau, 1781,
8vo, Toin, I,
w The poóma are ln Tfiro- II. of the
Obras SuéLt&a, Thtt diücuaeton abunt tíiv
uew iKKTtry ia ln Tcm. IV* pp". 450-4í*3 í
to whlch flknuid be udded fióme trlllti» iu
the Munn vein, acattered throu.g'h h£s
Worka, and eipecíally a «nnnet bej^unlng,
" Biií^caa^ tarde llcgamoai ^ " — wliicht na U
waa printed by Ijíin wUh thc '* Lanrül de
ÁpolOt" (lOao^ í- 123,) Hhowfi, Üifct, thongh
ho hliQBclf aí^ixLetlmea wrote iu the aflectvd
stylo thcn in fashlwit to pleoEe the p£i]niliir
taaief h« cDuUnued to diaappruve it to Llie
laat- Tíje Novela ¡a in Obnia^ Toin. Tm.
Thciv la, alaO| a aonnet in the Dopjt^ ln
lidíenle of Cuttíanifi^ begmrdnfít ** Pola*
laiid«> de culto, Claudio anilgai*^ wMch
i^hould \m natloed.
'Chap. Xnr.] VAKIOÜS MISCELLANIES. 185
Another volume, not unlike the last, followed in 1624.
It contains three poems in the octave stanza: ''Circe/'
an unfortunate amplifícation of the well-known ^he circe
Btory fonnd in the Odyssey ; *' The Morning of ^^^^^
Saint John/' on the popular celebration oí that
graceful festival in the time of Lope ; and a fable on the
Orígin of the White Rose. To these he added several
epistles in prose and verse, and three more prose tales,
which, with the one already mentioned, constitute all the
ehort prose fíctions he ever published.*^
The best part of this volume is, no doubt, the three
Btoríes. Probably Lope was induced to write them by
the success of thos« of Cervantes, which had hísNovc-
now been published eleven years, and were ^•
already known throughout Europe. But Lope's talent
seems not to have been more adapted to this form of com-
position than that of the author of Don Quixote was to
the drama. Of this he seems to have been partially aware
himself ; for he says of the first tale, that it was written
to please a lady in a department of letters where he never
thought to have adventured, and the other three are ad-
dressed to the same person, and seem to have been writ-
ten with the same feelings." None of them excited much
attention at the time when they appeared. But, twenty
years afterwards, they were reprinted with four others,
tom, apparently, from some connected series of similar
stories, and certainly not the work of Lope. The last of
the eight is the best of the collection, though it ends awk-
wardly, with an intimation that another is to foUow ; and
all are tlirust together into the complete edition of Lope's
misccllaneous works, though there fs no pretence for
claiming any of them to be his except the first four.^^
u The three poema are in Tom. m. j v There are editions of the eight at
the epistlet in Tcmi. I. pp. 279, etc. ; and Saragossa (1648), Barcelona (1650), etc.
the three tales in Tom. VIII. There is some confusión about a part of
M Obras Sueltas, Tom. VIH. p. 2 ; also the i>oems published originally with these
Tom. III. Preláoe. It is to the credit of tales, and which appear among the works
Cerdl y Rico, that, when he published of Fr. López de Zarate, AlcalA, 1651, 4to.
these tales of Lope de Vega, he said that (See Lope, Obras, Tom. III. p. iü.) But
the best in the language are those of Cer- such things are not very rare in Spanish
yantes, and that Lope snooeeds tn propor- literature, and wiU occur again in rclation
tion as he approacnes tlMBU Tom. VIII. to Zarate.
Pr logo, p. vL
186
LOPE DE VEGA AH rKQtllSITOE.
[rEítiiiD JT,
Iti tliG year precedmg the appearance of the tales we
Aetaascín ^^^^^ ^*^ ^^ ^ "*^^ cUuractíJr. A miBeniblc man,
inqiibitor. ^ FruuciBcan monki from Catalonia^ was süspect-
ed of heresy ; and the E^uspicion íHl on him the moro
heavilj because liis motlier was of the Jewish faith,
Ilaviug^ hecn, in conBequcncG of this, empelled successive-
Ij from. two re ligio US h o uses of which he had be en a
mcraber, he Bcems tü ha ve become disturbed in his miiid,
and at last grew so frantic, that, whiie mass was cele-
bratÍHg- in opcn church, he seized the consccrated host
fi'om th© han da of the officiating' priesfc atid violently
deatxojcd it. Ho waa at once aiToated and given up to
the Inqnisition. The Iníiuisition; fuiding him obstínate,
deelared hhn to be a Lutheran and a Calvinista and, add-
ing to thij* the crime of his Hebrew descent, delivered him
o ver to the secular arm for pimishinent. He waS| almost
as a matter of course, ordered to be bumed alive ; and in
Jannarj, 1623, the sentence was literallj executed outside
the gate of Alcalá at Madrid, The excite me nt was great,
aB it alwajs was on such occasions, An immense con-
eonrae of people was gathered to witness the edifying
spectacle ; the court waa presen t ; the theatres and publio
BhowB were suspended for a fortnight ; and we are told
that Lope de Vega, who, in some parts of his " Dragón-
tea," shows a spirit not unworthj of soch an office, was
one of those who presideá at the loathsome sacrífice and
dirccted its cercmonies.^^
His fanaticisni, however, in no degree diminiahed hís
Rdiffiouü ^^^^ ^*^^ poetry, In 1625, he published his ** Di-
ixK'try. YJn^ Triumphs," a poem in five cantos¡ in the
measure and the nfkniier of Petrarch, beginaing witíi the
triumphs of '' the Divine Pan," and ending with those of
Kcligion and the Cross.^^ It was a faiiure, and the more
obvio usly ga, be can se ita verj title placed ít in direct
contrast with the '' Trionli '^ of the great Italian maíiter,
It waa acGompaiiiedj in the same volnme, bj a sraall col-
w The accíiünt in ftiunl ín a MS. hlritory the dalu of hís doath. Tt U citud, aín! un
of Madrid^ by Leüa Pinelo, In une Kíii)^''b ab^tnict cf lí glí-eii^ \n CmUma Fellic«if,
Lihrurj j ¡ind eü mucH as r^lnt^ lt> tbia *^ Orii^mi de las CiJinedlaa^" (Modrlil, 1804^ J
aiil^ect I posfleüs, ad ircll as a noHca of lílnxo,) Tqm. 1. pp, 104, lOfi*
Lopq hlDLsetr, givcQ in the same MS- uniler ^^ Obraa Bueltáft| Tum. XIII.
i
i
i
I
Chat. XIV.] THE CORONA TRÁGICA. I8t
lection of sacred poetry, which was increased in later
editíons until it became a large one. Some of it is truly
tender and solemn, as, for instance, the canción on the
death of his son,^ and the sonnet on his own death, begin-
ning, " 1 must lie down and slumber in the dust ; '^ while
other parts, like the villancicos to the Holy Sacrament,
are written with unseemly levity, and are even sometimes
coarse and sensual.^ AU, however, are specimens of
what respectable and cultivated Spaniards in that age
called religión.
A similar remark may be made in relation to the *' Co-
rona Trágica," The Tragic Crown, which he pub- ^a corona
lished in 162Í, on the history and fate of the un- Trágica.
happy Mary of Scotland, who had perished just forty
years before.^ It is intended to be a religious epic, and
filis five books of octave stanzas. But it is, in fact,
merely a specimen of intolerant controversy. Mary is
represented as a puré and glorious martyr to the Catholic
faith, while Elizabeth is alternately called a Jezebel and
an Athaliah, whom it was a doubtful merit in Philip the
Second to have spared, when, as king-consort of England,
he had her life in his power.^ In other respects it is a
dull poem ; beginning with an account of Mary's pre-
vious history, as relate d by herself to her women in
príson, and ending with her death. But it savors through-
Gut of its author's eympathy with the religious spirit of
his age and country ; — a spirit, it should be remembered,
which made the Inquisition what it was.
The Corona Trágica was, however, perhaps on this very
account, thought worthy of being dedicated to Pope
Urban the Eighth, who had himself written an epitaph on
the unfortunate Mary of Scotland, which Lope, in courtly
phrase, declared was " beatifying her in prophecy.'' The
flattery was well received. tJrban sent the poet in return
a complimentary lettm* ; gave him a degree of Doctor in
*> A la Muerte de Carlos Félix, Obras, the Maltese envoy, and publislíed at the
Tom. Xni. p. 365. eud of the " Laurel de Apolo," (Madrid,
-1 See particularly the two beginning on 1630, 4to, f. 118,) he gives an account of
pp. 413 and 423. this poem, and says he wrote it in the
a It is in Obras Sueltas, Tom. IV. country, where " the soul in solitude labora
S3 The atrocious passage is on p. 5. In more gently and easily " !
an epistle, which he addressed to Ovando,
ISB
TIÍE LAITEEL DE APOLO.
P*KKIOD
Divinitj. and the Crosa of the Ordcr of Saint John ; and,
appoiuted him to the honorary places of Ptecal in the
Apoatülic Chamber^ aud Notary af the Romau Archives,
The mea^iire of his eccksiastical honora was uow full.
lu 1630j he piiblished " The Laurel of Apollo/' a poem
El Laurel soraev^hat likü ** The Journey to Parnassus^* of
de Aírate. Cervantes, but lon^er, inore elabórate, and still
more unsatisfactory. It describes a festival, snpposed to
have been hcld by the God of Poetry, on Moimt Helicón,
ia April^ 1528, and records the honors then beato wed oti
ato ve tbree hundred Spanish poeta ; • — anumber so ^reat,
that the whole acconut be come a monotonona and almnat
valiieless, partly from the Ími>oasibility of drawitjg with
diíitiuctneH^sí or trnth so many charaoters of little prumi-
nence, and partly from its too free praise of nearly all of
tbem* It ia divide d into ten silvas , and contains abont
seven thousand irregular verses.^* At the eud, besides &
íew minor and niiacellaoeotis poema, Lope added an
eclog^ue, in seven scenes, whicb had been previously
repreaented before the king' and court with a costly mag^
jiificence in the theatre and a spleudor ia its decorations
that ahow, at least, how great waa the favor he enjoye d,
when he was indulged, forso slight an oíTerin^, with snch
rojal liLxurioa.^^
The last considerable work he publísbed was his ^* Bo-
rotea/^ a long prose romaqce in dialofíiie.^^ It
was written m tus youtn, ana^ aa ñas been
already anggested, probably contains more or less of hiB
own yonthful adventurea aüd feelin^a* But whether thia
be so or not, it was a favorito with him. He calis ít *^ the
most beloved of his works," and saya he has revi sed it
with caro and made many additions to it itt his oíd age**''
i
« In Tüliime XXXV rn. £1850) of ihe
Bl1)Kot£i(!a4ia A^utort» £Hpikñcik>d, U a lÍBt of
all tho nuthora meotLaQed by Lope jn bis
" Latirel de Apald^" wEth bLblIagraphicaL
notices of tbeír worlcs that are freqiMcialjr
of TEklue. Thi; vnlumo ItAítlt^ whicJi oon-
»\itñ ;if a ^(^lectfotí frotd the Obra^ Sut^ltaB
of Lupe, pubUdiL'd by Ctrdi y RIl'ií in
ÉweDty-oüís vpluini!^^ k wel cocnpLIcd hy
Jhm CAytit&na Ru^U.
^ It Sfl not ^^my to tcU vhy iJiese later
pifiducUotia «if Lope are fiul in tbe ñnt
Tobitjie of his MiiK:«liatiJe<m« 'Worka,(tTrS-
10 J but AQ it ia. Thht cqOeotloo wu made
by Cevúi y Rico í & ttmn of kHrnln^,
thonf b n^ of focid todCe ot aeuiid Ja4#>
*t It filis the^ wbüle of the tevcdfcli túI-
ume cf hia Obms Baeltaü.
^ '' Dorotea, ibe |io»t,baiii4tüfi ebild of
my MwsBf the moat txfloved af my lüiif^-
protrajcte4 lite, iitlll &ski the puljMe nj!;htf"
etc. Égloga á Claudio -, ObTma, Totu. IX.
p. SftT.
I
Chaf. XIV.] THE DOROTEA. 189
It was fírst printed in 1632. A modérate amount of verse
Í8 scattered through it, and there is a freshness and a
reality in many passages that remind us constantly of its
author's life before he served as a soldier in the Armada.
The hero, Fernando, is a poet, like Lope, who, after hav-
ing been more than once in lo ve and married, refuses
Dorotea, the object of his fírst attachment, and becomes
religious. There is, however, little plan, consistency,
or final purpose in most of the manifold scenes that go to
make np its fíve long acts ; and it is now read only for its
rich and easy prose style, for the glimpses it seems to
give of the author's ownlife, and for a few of its short
poems, some of which were probably written for occa-
sions not unlike those to which they are here applied.
The last work he printed was an eclogue in honor of
a Portuguese lady ; and the last things he wrote
— only the day before he was seized with his ^*^"^'
mortal illness — were a short poem on the Gol den Age,
remarkable for its vigor and harmony, and a sonnet on
the death of a friend.^ All of them are found in a col-
lection, consisting chiefly of a few dramas, published by
his son-in-law, Luis de üsategui, two years after Lope's
death.
But as his life drew to a cióse, his religious feelings,
mingled with a melancholy fanaticism, predominated
more and more. Much of his poetry composed at this
time expressed them ; and at last they rose to such a
height, that he was almost constantly in a state of ex-
cited melancholy, or, as it was then beginiiing to be
called, of hypochondria.^ Early in the month of August,
he felt himself extremely weak, and suffered more than
ever from^hat sense of discouragement which was break-
» These three poems — curious as his of Calderones " Medico de su Honra." Ja-
lAfltworks — are in Tom. X. p. 193, and cinta there asks, <^Que es hipocondría?"
Tom. DL pp. 2 and 10. to which Coquin replies :
« " A contlnued melancholy passion, ^ ^^ enfermedad que no la había,
which of late has been ^uled hypochon- Habrá dos aiios, ni en el mundo era.
dria," etc.f is the descríption Montalvan
gives of his disease. The account of his Harzenbusch places this play in 1635, the
last days follows it Obras, Tom. XX. pp. year of Lope's death, and does it on ap-
87, etc. ♦, and Baena, Hijos de Madrid, Tom. parently good grounds. The two accounts
m. pp. 860 -883. The same account of about hypochondria, therefore, correapond
hypochondría is given in the last Jornada exactly.
inO ILLKESS AXT) DE ATE OF lOPE DE TEQÁ. [rEmoi, B,
Se&th.
in^ down his resources and strcngth, His thou^lita,
howeveFi were eo exclusivelj occupied with híe spiritiial
conditioü, thatj even wheii thus reduced^ he contiriued to
Í!ist, and on one occaBion went thrQugh with a private
diSícipUíie 80 craol^ that the walJs of thc apartment where
it oGcnrred were añerwards íouad spnnkled with his
bkjod. From this lie never recovercd. He was taken ill
the same night \ and, after fulfíllmg the offices preseribod
hy hia Chnrch with the inost suhmissive devotíon, —
mourning that he had ever been engaged in any
occupations \n\i suoh as were excltiBivelj re-
lígioTaSi — he died on the 2Tth of Aiignat, 16B5, nearlj
seventy-throe jears oíd.
TJje seasation prodneed by his death was such as is
rarely witneesGd even in the case of those upoíi whom
dependa the welfare of nationa. The Duke of Sessa, who
was his especial patroü, aud to whom he k'ft his maim-
scriptSi provided for tlie funeral in a manncr hecoming his
own weatth aud rank.^" It las te d uine dajs. The crowdg
that tbronged to it were immense.^^ Tliree bishops ofii-
ciated, and the first uobles of the land attended as moum-
ers. Enlogics and poems folio wed on all sides, antl in
nurabers all but ineredible. Those writteu iu Spain niako
one considerable volumej and end with a drama in vvhich
hia apotbeosÍB was brought npon the pubiic atage. Those
writteu iu Italy are hardly less nnmerous, and fill an<
other."^ But more touching than any of them was the
prayer of that much-loved daughter wJio had been shnt up
from the world foorteen years^ that the long funeral pro-
cession raight paBS by her conyent and permit her once
3Q %sxi I<at^*t retuflrkuble nedíc&tlDii af
ble **CaraeUiais'* Tcrni. IX. H318, M the
Duqae di* S^^ssa. Thc Müiquii oí Pidol^ a
iniiniHceQt p&trdtt of St^aiiigh Mtcnitare,
and fl«e of Ihe moflt accütnplE*li*[l R^huLar^
i El the eaj-ly Utvratura ttl klfl cou.Dttyi is
»ri[(l tf> pf>as4í»p a cutidíderable numbof oí
Lujue^s 1otu;ri lo tliú Daku of Sv«9a, whom
h :: aílilresitiis uudei' tbu uaíne of Lucinda.
I hope thej m;ij he printcd.
^1 In the PrefAce to the ** Faom ImittDr-
tAl de] Fenl:^ d« }&urot'i^«" ^'C^t hy Junm de
la Fftia, (Tliladri^ 163&, V2xs\% H. IftJ une
DfÜie muItLtudlQüUS pmblic^tiQna tlmtup-
p^aral ItnmMlatuIy after his deatb, we ara
told that ^^ el conL-urSD de Iptte ifUie acudid
a Kii (man a verle j al entierro fue ^l injiydr
qoje aa ha yiatü.."
s 8«o Obra» Baeltaa, Tom* XI X. - XXL,
In which th<y are nipiiblE^hed, — Bjj&iiiiBh,
tjitEii, Freneü, Itallan, and Portuí^aiíie^
The Bpauleh, wllÉh wo^e brutight tagether
by I^Iontalvan^ and are precedjíd hy bis
^' Fam^ P'^hUima de Lope de Viega^*' muy
t»e re^arded Os a sort of juHn paétirít In
honor nf the greut i>oet, in wbÉch alH:>vts a
huDdnnl and ftfty of bis. Cütitiftutioraried
bfire tbefr ptut.
GiLiP.XIV.] ILLNESS AND DEATH OP LOPE DE VEGA. 191
more to look on the face she so tenderly venerated ; and
more solemn than any was the mourning of the multitude,
from whose dense mass audible sobs burst forth, as his
xemaíns slowly descended, from their sight into the house
appointed for all living.'*
» Obras Sueltas, Tom. XX. p. 42. For
■nezodlent and interesting discussion of
Lope*i misceUaoeous works, and one to
wliJch I have been indebted in writing this
áiMftor, see London Quarterly Review, No.
tt, 181S. It is by Mr. Southey.
Lope's iHIl, I think, has never been pub-
Bihed, thoogh I have seen an abstract of it.
Haying, bowever, obtained, through the
kindness crf the last Lord HoUand, a copy of
it, wfaich Navarrete sent to his father, the
anthor of Lope's Lifé, saying that he had
tañad it in ^^ £1 Archivo de Escrituras de
Hadrid,*^ when he was searching for the
wfll of Cervantes, I give it here entire, as a
curióos and important document.
** TKSTAintNTO DE LOPE DE VEGA.
** En el nombre de Dios nuestro Señor,
amen. Sepan los que vieren esta escritura
de testamento y ultima voluntad, como yo
Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpió, Presbí-
tero de la sagrada religión de San Juan,
estando enfermo en la cama de enfermedad
que Dios nuestro Señor fué servido de me
dar, y en mi memoria, juicio y entendimi-
ento natural, creyendo y confesando, como
yerdaderamente creo y confieso, el misterio
de la Ssma. Trinidad, Padre, H^jo y Espíritu
Santo, que son tres personas y un solo Dios
Terdadero, y lo demás que cree y enseña la
Anta Madre Iglesia Católica Romana, y en
esta fé me güelgo haber vivido y protesto
vivir y morir : y con esta invocación divina
otorgo mi testamento, desapropiamiento y
declaración en la forma siguiente.
" Lo primero, encomiendo mi alma á Dios
nuestro Señor que la hizo y crió á su ima-
gen y semejanza y la redimí 3 por su pre-
ciosa sangre, al qnal suplico la perdone y
lleve ¿ su santa gloria, para lo qual pongo
por mi intercesora á la Sacratísima Virgen
Maria, concebida sin pecado original, y á
todos los Santos y Santas de la corte del
cielo ; y defünto mi cuerpo sea restituido á
la tierra de que fué formado.
," Difunto mi cuerpo, sea vestido con las
Insignias de la dicha religión de San Juan,
y sea depositado en la iglesia y lugar que
ordenara el eximo, sr. Duque de Sessa mi
3cñoT f y i>aguese los derechos.
" El día de mi entierro, si fuere hora y si
no otro siguiente, se diga por mi alma misa
cantada de cuerpo presente en la forma que
se acostumbra con los demás religiosos ; y
en quanto al acompañamiento de mí en-
tierro, honras, novenario y demás exéguias
y misas de alma y rezadas que i>or mi
alma se han de decir, lo dexo al parecer de
mis albaceas, ó de la persona que legitima-
mente le tocare' esta disposición.
" Declaro que, antes de ser sacerdote y
religioso, fui casado según orden de la
Santa Madre Iglesia con Da. Juana de
Guardio, hija de Antonio de Guardio y Da.
Maria de Collántes, su muger, difuntos,
vecinos que fueron desta villa, y la dha. mi
muger traxó por dote suyo á mi poder
viente y dos mil trescientos y ochenta y
dos rs. de plata doble, é yo la hice de arras
quinientos ducados, de que otorgué escri-
tura ante Juan de Pina, y dellos soy deudor
á Da Feliciana Félix del Carpió, mi hija
única y de la dicha de mi muger, á quien
mando se paguen y restituyan de lo mejor
de mi hacienda con las ganancias que le
tocare.
" Declaro que la dicha Da. Feliciana, mi
h^a, esta casada con Luis de Usitegui, ve-
cino de esta villa, y al tiempo que se trató el
dicho casamiento le ofrecí cinco mil duca-
dos de dote, comprehendiéndose en ellos lo
que á la dicha mi hija le tocase de sus
abuelos maternos, y dellos otorgó scriptura
ante el dho. Juan de Pina, á que me remito,
y respecto de haber estado yo alcanzado no
he pagado ni satisfecho por cuento de la
dicha dote mrs. ni otra cosa alguna, aunque
he cobrado de la herencia del otro mi sue-
gro algunas cantidades, como parecerá de
las cartas de pago que ho dado: mando
se les paguen los dho. cinco mil ducados.
** A las mandas forzosas si algún derecho
tienen, les mando quatro rs.
"A los lugares santos de Jerusalem
mando veinte rs.
" Para casamiento de doncellas güérfanas
un real = y para ayuda de la beatificación
de la Beata Marta de la Cabeza otro real.
" Y para cumplir y pagar este mi testa-
mento y declaración, nombro i>or mis al-
baceas á el dho. eximo, sr. Duque de Sessa,
192
THE WILL OF LOPE DE VEGA.
[Period IL
Dn. Luis Fernandez de Córdoba, y Luis de
UsJitegui, mi yerno, y á qoalquiera de los
dos in sólidum, á los quales con esta facultad
doy poder para que luego que yo Mlezca
vendan de mis bienes los necesarios, y
cumplan este testamento, y les dure él
tiempo necesario aunque sea pasado el año
del albaceazgo. «
" Declaro que el Bey nuestro señor (Dios
le gQe.) usando de su benignidad y lar-
gueza, ha muchos años que en remunera-
ción de el mucho afecto y voluntad con que
le he servido, me ofreció dar un oficio para
la persona que casase con la dha. mi hija,
conforme á la calidad de la dha. persona,
y porque con esta esperanza tuvo efecto el
dho. matrimonio, y el dho. Luis de üsátegui,
mi yerno, es hombre principal y noble, y
está muy alcanzado, suplico á S. M. con toda
humildad y al eximo, sr. Conde Duque en
atención de lo referido honre al dho. mi
yerno, haciéndole merced, como lo fio de su
grandeza.
" Cóbrese todo lo que pareciere me de-
ben, y pagúese lo que legítimamente pare-
ciere que yo debo.
" Y cumplido, en el remanente de todos
mis bienes, derechos y acciones, nombro
por mi heredera universal á la dha. Da. Fe-
liciana Félix del Carpió, mi h^a única ; y
en quanto á los que pueden tocar á la dha.
sagrada religión de ^ Joan también cum-
pliendo con los estatutos della nombro a te
dha. sagrada religión para que cada uno
lleve lo que le perteneciere.
" Revoco y doy por ningunos y de ningún
efecto todos y qualesquier testamentos, cob-
dicikM, desapropiamientos, mandas, Irados
y poderes para testar que antes de este
haya fecho y otorgado por escrito, de pala-
bra, ó en otra qualquier manera que no
-valgaran, ne hagan fe, enjuicio ni fuera d^
salvo este que es mi testamento, declaradon
y desapropiamiento, en qual quioe y maa>
da se guarde y cumpla por tal, ó como
mejor haya lugar de derecho. T lo oiargo
ansí ante el presente escribano del número
y testigos de yuso escritos en la TÜIa de
Madrid á veinte y seis dias del mes de
Agosto año de mil y seis cientos y treinta y
cinco *, é yo el dho. escribano doy fe oooozco
al dho. señor otorgante, el qual pareció
estaba en su juicio y entendimiento natoi-
ral, y lo firmó : testigos el Dr. Felipe de
Tergara medico, y Juan de Prado, platero
de oro, y el licenciado, Josef Ortiz de ViU».
na, presbítero, y D. Juan de Solis y JHego
de Logroño, residentes en esta corte, y tam-
bién lo firmaron tres de loe testigos sf.
Lope Félix de Yega Carpió « £1 Dr. Felipe
de Yergara Testigo. = D. Juan de SoUs »
El licdo. Josef Ortiz de YiUena ss Ante mi :
Francisco de Morales.
CHAPTER XV-
LOm BS TBOA, GONTnnTBJO. — OHÁSAOTER OF HXS MISCBLLAKEOüS
WOMKA. — Hia VRÁMXM, — HI8 UVB AT YALBNCIA. — HIS MORAL
njLTB. — HM 8ÜC0BSS AT MADRID. — VAST NÜMBER OF HIS DRA-
MAS. -^ THBIR FOUNDATION AND THBIR TARlOüS FORMS. — HIS
COMBDIA8 DB CAPA T SSFADA, AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS.
The workfl of Lope de Vega that we have considerad,
whüe tracing his long and brilliant career, are far from
being snfficient to explain the degree of popular admira-
tion thaty almost írom the fírst, foUowed him. Lope'sPo-
They show, indeed, much original talent, a still ®°"
greater power of invention, and a wonderful facility of
versification. But they are rarely imbued with the deep
and eamest spií'it of a genuino poetry; they generally
have an air of looseness and want of fínish ; and most of
them are without that national physiognomy and charac-
ter, in which, after all, resides so much of the effective
power of genius over any people.
The truth is, that Lope, in what have been called his
miscellaneous works, was seldom in the path that leads
to final success. He was tumed aside by a spirít which,
if not that of the whole people, was the spirít of j^^j^^^g
the court and the higher classes of Castilian so- the itai-
ciety. Boscan and Garcilasso, who preceded
him by only half a century, had made themselves famous
hy giving currency to the lighter forms of Italian verse,
especially those of the sonnet and the canzone ; and Lope,
who found these fortúnate poets the idols of the períod,
when his own character was forming, thought that to fol-
low their brílliant course would open to him the best
chances for success. His aspirations, however, stretched
very far beyond theirs. He fclt other and higher powers
within him, and entered boldly into rívalship, not only
with Sannazaro and Bembo, as they had done, but with
YOL. II. 9 M
194 THE WORKS OF LOPE DE VEGA [PkriodIL
Ariosto, Tasso, and Petrarch. Eleven of his longer
poems, epic, narrative, and descriptive, are in the stately
oüava rima of his great masters ; bésides which he has
left US two long pastorals in the manner of the " Arca-
dia," many adventurous attempts in the terza rima, and
numberless specimens of all the varieties of Italian lyrics,
including, among the rest, nearly seven hundred sonnets.
But in all this there is little that is truly national, —
little that is marked with the oíd Castilian spirit ; and if
„ , , this were all he had done, his fame would by no
Wantofna- •'
uonaichar- means Stand where we now find it. His*prose
poe^yVn- pastorals and his romances are, indeed, better
erauy. ^j^g^^^ j^|g epics ; and his didactic poetry, his epia-
tles, and his elegies are occasionally excellent ; but it is
only when he touchesfairly and fully upon the soil of his
conntry, — it is only in his glosas, his letrillas, his ballads,
and his light songs and roundelays, that he has the rich-
ness and grace which should always haye accompanied
him. We feel at once, therefore, whenever we meet him
in these paths, that he is on ground he should never have
deserted, because it is ground on which, with his extraor-
dinary gifts, he could easüy have erected permanent mon-
uments to his own fame. But he himself determined
ótherwise. Not that he entirely approved the innova-
tioñs of Bpscan and Garcilasso ; for he tells us distincjly,
in his '" Philomena," that'their imitations of the Italian •'
hád unhappily supplanted thé grace an4 the %lory that
bélonged peculiariy t¿ the día Spanish genius.' Thé th¿- ^
'oríes and^fashions of his time; therefipre, -iriislgd, though .
they did ncít deftide, a»*spirit',that«houl4,have.been'*above-
thém; and the resúft.is, that litíle Of poetry sufth as
n^arks.the'old Castilian genius is to be found iri-the great -^
raáss t)f his wóíks we. have thus fár been called on Ux ex-
amine. In order to account for hisj;)ermanent^§uccess, as
well as marvellous popularity, we must, then, tum to
HisDra- auother and whoUy distinét departmeiít,* — that
"**• of the drama, — in which he gave -hiinself up
to the leáding of the national spirit as completély as if
i Philomena, Segunda Parte, Obras Sueltivs, Tom. ÍI. p. 458. . - '
Chap. XV.] LOPFS EARLIEST DRAMAS. 195
he had not elsewhere seemed sedulously to avoid it ; and
thus obtained a kind and degr^e of fame he could never
otherwis* have reached.
It is not possible to determine the year when Lope first
began to wríte for the public stage ; but whenever it was,
he found^the theatre in a rude and humble condition.
That he was very early drawn to this form of First at-
composition, though not, .perhaps, for the pur- ^°^^
poses of representation, we know on his own authority ;
for, in his pleasant didactic poem on the New Art of Mak-
ing Plays, which he published in 1609, but read several
years earlier to a society of dilettanii in Madrid, he says
expressly :
The Captain Yinies, a famons wit,
Cast dramas in three acta, by happy hit ;
For, till his time, upon all fours they crept,
Like helpless babes that never jet had stepped.
Such plaijTS I wrote, eleven and twelve years oíd ;
Pour acts — each measnred to a sheet's just fold —
Filled put four sheets ; Tirhile still, between,
Three entremeses short ¿Üed np the scene.'
This was as early as 1514. 'A few years later, or about
1580, when the poet was eighteen year^ oíd/ he attracted
the notice of his early patrón, Manrique, the Bishop of
Avila, by* a, pastoral. His studies at Alcalá followed ;
then. his^ervice under^the youif^ iTujLe'of Alva, his mar-
' riáge^ aad^hifr éx^e of sé^eralí years ; for all which we
' must*fin<L roomVtjefote 1588, when Welcnjow he*served in
^the^Aramda.^ ín* 1590, ho^evér, if not a year earlie'^', he
had retumed^ Madrid ; and it do'estnot seem*unTeason-
- able to asstmejihat soon afterwards he. bégan towtnown
in the cHiJital as a Sramatic writer, being/.then twenty-
eight years eíi' - ' ' '. - *
But i<hwas during the period of his exile th^t Jje séems
to have really begun his public* dramatic careen,- 5.nd pre-
pared himself, in some measure, for his subsequéni more
''"' ' \- ;/ '^'' .
S EWcairitaf ;Vini«i, iniigne Ingenio, • . ' . De » qnatro actoa y de á qúfitro ^üe»»/,,
PttsQ^n ü«« actof la Comedia, que ántei Porque cada acto un plicgrf conteiíU :*
Ap^ba en qüatro, como piea de n|ño { -^ Y era que entonces en las tres dlstaficias ^
Qnelran cntQi^pef niñas lasXon^édiaa r ' Qe hacii^ tres pequefios éntsamcsés^.,
Y iq.]as etciibl, de cOioe y d^pe «Sos, *\,; o\)Tas Sueltaf , tom. iV. p. <0i.
»'. ^ »
f
im
THEATKE
VALENCIA.
[Pebioü E
general popuUrity. A part of thii* iuterval was ¡mssed
*t%t^tr* fti in Val encía ; awd lo Valeucííi a theatre bad L^en
Vjiiíjtiiita, tnown fi.^r a long time.* Aa earlj as I52íi, the
hospital there received an íncome from it, by a compro
íuiñv dmilar to that in virtue of which tlie hoepitala of Ma-
drid long aflterwards laid the theatre under coutribution fot
their support* The Cáptala VirueB, who was a Mend of
Lope de Vegai and ís commemorated by him more than
oiico, wrotü for this theatre* as did Timoneda, the editer
of Lope de Rueda ; the worka of both the last being
prifik'd in Valencia about 1570. Theee Yalerician dra-
mas, however, except in the case of Lope do Rueda, weiu
of modérate amount and valué ; ñor was what waa done
at Sevüle by Cueva and hie followers, about 1580, or at
Madrid by CervanteB, a little later, of more real impor-
tance, regarded as the foundatíons for a natíonal theatre.
Indeed, if we look over all that can be claimed for the
Spaaish drama from the tima of tbe ecloguea of Juan de
staie of the la Euzíua, m 1492, to the appcarance of Lope de
Íh*eTi^pe Rueda, about 1544, and theu, agaiu, from his
»Pí'*"'^' time to that of Lope de Vega, we fthíill find, not
only that the number of dramas waa small, but that they
bad be en written in forms so difTerent and so often op-
posed to each other as to have little conaistency or au-
thoríty, and to oflcr no sufficient iudication of the channel
in which that portion of the literature of the country was
at last deatined to flow. We may even say, that^ escept
Lope de Rueda, no author for the theatre had yet enjoyed
a permanent popularity ; and he having now been dead
more than twenty years, Lope de Vega muat be admitted
to have had a faír and free field open before him.
Üufortunately, we have few of his earlier efíbrts. He
t l>niina,tl(; QnterUÚBraenti of •ome kiad
ai« upakeo of &t Val«ii3í» te Üw IVyoneeath
oeDtuTj. Xa 1^94, Wfl «fe toM, Uiere fnu
tltled ^ L^ bnm fKDÉDiarat e Iq fembm sati^
ttilAf** bf MomeB Doniliigo Mft»|tEit)S, a
cumieiiillor of John I. Thí* itm anilftubt*
i'dlj A Trmibjiiloiir ppríbnnuiDB. Pt^rhapa
Ihc KníTnmeKí^it Die^ntloiied u li&vEiig^ oc-^
tutri'il Ld tbe táüMi uUj Id 1413^ 141tl, ikod
iU^ w «rt£ Qt titi Bomc Aort. Al an/ rate.
they aeem t» have belqp^nli, JlJte libóse we
Couatablc Alvara de Luía, í& eooritj fb#-
tlvitles, Aribau, BtbUoteo& de Autores
EflpAáeieif MnArlÚ^ IH^, 8to, Tocn^ IT. !>.
178^ noté ; and an exct^llcnt nrttate on iím
early Spaulflli tbeati-e, hy F. Wí'ir, in Bl.tt-
ter rdr Uturartscbe rntcrliaitung, ia4i, p,
13^7, njite.
I
Chap. XV.] LOFE'S EARLIEST DRAMAS. 19^
seems, bowever, to have begun upon the oíd foundations
of the eclogues and moralitieSy whose religious air and
tone commended them to that ecclesiastical toleration
without which little could thrive in Spain.® An Eariy ec-
eclogue, which is announced as having been rep- ^**^*"^
resented, and which seems really to be arranged for exhi-
bition, is found in the third book of the *' Arcadia," the
earliest of Lope's published works, and one that was wrít-
ten before bis exile.® Several similar attempts occur else-
where, — so rude and pious, that it seems almost as if
tbey might have belonged to the age of Juan de la Enzina
and Gil Vicente ; and others of the same character are
Bcattered through other parts of bis multitudinous
works.'
Of bis more regular plays, the two oldest, that were
subsequentlj included in bis printed collection, are not
without similar indications of their origin. Both yerdadero
are pastorals. The first is called "The True Lov- Amaote.
er," and was written when Lope was fourteen years oíd,
tbough it may have been altered and improved before he
published it, when be was fifty-eight. It is the story of a
shepherd who refuses to marry a shepherdess, tbough she
bad put him in peril of bis Ufe by aceusing him of having
murdered her busband, who, as she was quite aware, bad
died a natural deatb, but whose supposed murderer could
be rescued from bis doom only at her requisition, as next
of kin to the pretended culprit ; — a process by which she
h^ped to obtain all power over bis spirit, and compel him
to marry her, as Ximena married the Cid, by royal author-
ity. Lope admits it to be a rude performance ; but it is
marked by the sweetness of versification which seems to
have belonged to him at every period of bis career.®
i In «me of his earlier efforts he sajrs, f Sach dramas are found in the " Pas-
(ObraSf Tom. T. p. 346,) " The lawB help torea de Belén," Book IIL, and else-
them little." But of this we shall see where.
more hereaíter. 8 ** ia Verdadero Amante ** is in the
It is probable, firom intemai evidence, Fonrteenth Part of the Comedias, printed
^hat this edogne, and some others in the at Madrid, 1620, and is dedicated to his
same romance, were acted before the Duke gon Lope, who died the next year, only
Antonio de Alva. At any rate, we know fifteen years oíd; — the láther saying in
similar representattons were oomm(m in the Dedication, **This play was written
the age of Cervantes and Lope, as well as when I was of aboat y«ur age.'*
before and after it.
19S
LOPFS EAHLIEST DRAMAS.
[Peiíiod n.
The other of liis early perforní anees above alltided to
Partomi ús ^^ ^^^ ^'Pastoral do Jacinto/' wMch Moiitalvan
jjiüiuto. ^eiig US ^ae the first pUiy Lope wrote m three
acta, and that it was componed wMk he waa attached to
the person of the Bishop of Avila. This nmst have beca
about the year 1580 j but as the Jacinto waa not príuted tíll
thirty-tíiree years afterwards, it may perhaps haro iiudcr-
gone large changues bcfore it waa oflered to the public,
w lio se requisitions had advanced in the ínterval no less
than the condition of the theatre, lie ea^^s íü the Dedi-
cationi that it waa " written in the yeara of hia youth/*
and ít Í8 founded on tlie somewhat artífieial atorjofa
shepberd fairly niade jealous of himself by the maiia^e-
mcnt of another shepherd^ who hopea thuB to obtain the
ehepherdeaa they both ¡ove, and who paaaes himself off,
for 8 orne time, as another Jacinto, and aa the only one
to whom the lady ia really attached, It haa the same
flowing versifica tion witíi '' The Trne Lover/* but it ia not
Buperior in merit to that drama, which can hard!y have
preceded it by more than two or three yeara.*
Moralitiea, toO| written with no Uttle spirit, and with
atroDg internal evidence of having been pnblicly per-
formed, occur here and tbere, — sometimea where we
should leaet look for them^ Four auch are producedin
hia '' Filgriru in hia own Country '^ ; the romance, it may
be remembered, wbich ia not without alluaiona to its
Alie oricüi ^^*^^*^**^^ exHe, and which seems to eontain some
pi!iy3, ot of hia poraonal experieoces at Valencia. One of
these allegorical playa ia declared to have been
peiformed iu front of the venerable cathedral at Saragossa,
and ia among- the more ciirioua apecimena of auch enter-
tainmenta, since it ia accorapanied with explanationa of
the way in which the ehurches were iiaed for theatrical
purposee, and en da witli aa account of the expositiori of
Maorique^ the ai^htip tif Avlla^ byccrtatn
ecloguea whích he wreitc for htnj, and
by the drem» of * The P^toruJ of Ja-
cinto/ llio eíurUcBt btí wrote in tlira* acEs,"
(Obma^ fom. XX. p. 30.) It WEts firat
prLbbGd at Madrid^ Ío l6iaj4to, h^ SancJn'z,
ín a voJuiDü eiitltlM "i^uatro Cotat^dUa
FÁiDOBaa De Boíl LtiEí db Gúug^ra y Lapo
dfl Vtf^Ei Caryío/' etc. ^ and afk-rvrAMt la
tbc eEi^hteentli voluniH at the CoDiedLius vi
Lope, M^idríiif 10:];3. It WAS uiso prliitect
a^parutelj, unJtr ttie cl&nblo tltlo nf ^^ La
BeWa. de Albnulu^ y «I peloso de lí mis-
Chap. XV.] LOPE'S EABLIEST DRAMAS. 199
the Host, as an appropríate conclusión for a drama so
devout.^®
Another, called *' The SouPs Voyage," is set forth as
if represented in a public square of Barcelona." It opens
with a bailad, which is sung by three persons, y,^ ¿^
and is followed, first, by a prologue fuU of cum- -^^i"»»-
brous leaming, íind then by another bailad both sung and
danced, as we are told, *' with much skill and grace."
After all this note of preparation comes the " Moral Ac-
tion" itself. The Soul enters dressed in white, — the
way in which a disembodied spirit was indicated to the
audience. A clown, who, as the droU of the piece, rep-
resents the Human Will, and a gallant youth, who repre-
sents Memory, enter at the^same time ; one of them urg-
ing the Soul to set out on the voyage of salvation, and
the other endeavoring to jest her out of such a pious pur-
pose. At this crítical moment, Satán appears as a ship-
captain, in a black suit, fringed with flames, and^ accom-
panied by Selfishness, Appetite, and other vices, as his
fsailors, and offers to speed the Soul on her voyage, all
BÍnging merrily together :
HoUoa ! the good ship of Delight
Spreads her sails for the sea to-day ;
Who embarks ? who embarks, then, I say 1
To-day, the good ship of Content,
With a wind at her choice for her course,
To a land where no troubles are sent,
Where none knows the stings of remorse,
"With a wind fair and free takes her flight ; —
Who embarks ? who embarks, then, I say ? "^
A new world is announced as their destination, and the
Will asks whether it is the one lately discovered by Co-
lumbus ; to which and to other similar questions Satán
replies evasively, but declares that he is a greater pilot of
the seas than Magellan or Drake, and will insure to all
"^ Itíills nearly fifty pages in the third OyUíNabe del contento,
book of the romance. Con viento en popa de guito,
« in the «™t bo.k. It i. e^tmed " A S^í.t&'Ioíírr
Moral Representation of the SouPs Voy- Viendo que ay prospero viento,
age ; ** — in other words, A Morality. Se quiere hazer á la Mar.
12 Oy la Nabe del deleyte ^ *1"»*^ •« *1"*"~ embarcar ?
Se quiere hazer & la Mar ; — El Peregrino en su Patria, Sevilla, 1604, 4to,
Ay quien «e quiera embarcar 1 £ 86. b.
LOPE'S EAKLTEST DRAMAS,
tPlCElOD TI,
who gail with him a happy and prosperons royage. Mem-
ory opposes the project, but, after some resistance^ h put
to sieep ; and Understanding, who followa as agrcjbeard
full of wise counsel, comes too late. Tho adventurerB are
ulready gone, Biií stíll he ehouts after them, and contiií-
uea hia warninge, till the ship of Pcnitenee arríveSi. with
the Saviour for ita pilot, a cross for its mast, and sun^liy
Saints for its sailurs. They Bummon the Soiil anew.
The Soiil IB syrpiiyed and shocked at lier Bituation ; and
the piece ends with Iicr embarkation on board the sacred
Teesel, amidBt a feti de jote, and the ehoutB of tüe de-
lighted epectators, who, we may suppose, had been much
ediíied by the ehow*
Anotber of theae strange dramas ¡a fotinded oti the storj
The protii- of tho Frodígal Son^ and is said to have been rep-
gfU Son. reaentcd at Perpignan, then a Spanish fortress,
by a party of süldiers ; one of the actors being mentioned
by líame in iU long and absnrdly learned Prologue***
Anjong tbe interlocutors aro Envy, Youth, Fi.t.tpontancCj
aud Good A d vico ; and among otber extraordiiiury pas-
eagesj it contains a fíowing pai'aphrase of Horace'a
*' Beatns íllet" pronounccd by the respectable proprietür
of the swine intrusted to the unhappy Prodigal.
The fourth Morality foiiiid in the romance of the Pil-
giim ]s entitled " The Marriage of the Soul and Divine
Love " ; and is set forlh as having been acted in
a public square at Valencia, on ocoasion uf the
marriage of Philip the Third with Margaret of Austria,
which took place in that city^ — an occaBÍon, we are told,
-when Lope him^elf appeared in tho character of a buf-
fooD^^* aud one to whieh thia drama, thongh it &eems to
Marriage üí
13 Btíok Ftiqrtíi. The compllnieTit to tfíis
MtDT Bliütra^ of couTse, that. the pieüQ wai
ipteii, Inileet!, tiúa is the proper ínreit^nce
firocii Úi'& wliole Frolugue. Obnus, Tcioi. Y.
P 347.
H Miriaofl.} tp hÍ9 cantiriimtfDi) of Maria-^
iiü, (Lílt. X* c. 16) MailriiU líHH, ffllio, p.
B89 j aiy«, wheo apeaklti^ of tíie qiRrrijijíc
of PhUip 111 nt Váltíiiííia, " In the miñ^t
■pf flucli rejolcíni^, taa trfal aml íreqHeiit
fe!»tlvttte3 tnd niaaqueniil^s weri? not wacH-
lüg, iíi which Lope 4e Vega playííd ihes
pnrt of tliQ: huíHwii.** In. wh&t portictiliir
pj:ee« Lop« plB jed Ihe pnri of tho butTwiQ,
MtÁJUu doefl Dot bsll us. I AUf^pect, how-
evcr, tliat ft waa Iti the Mümll Pleiy ni tho
Prodlgal BocL, Dmnd Id the Fottrth B^wk of
Loipo*fl " PtíPegrlüo eo sq Patriu," wbich,
tbuui^h Üíorn Hpnkeü uf as sictt^cl bA Ptr-
píf^naii^ ftictDd iiLao, froin apoESjigie at f. f^Hi
vú* l&aáy to hiLVe h^ú. fupixEaented ai Úao
MúrrEa^e of Fhilíp EIT. auú Marpirel of
Austria, at YuleuetiL, íu !SD9^ aiid in wlilch
the '^^tíracioi}o ^' appears oaüi^r thu tuun a
Chap. XV.] LOPFS EARLIEST DRAMAS. 201
have been written earlier, was careñilly adjusted.^^ The
Worid, Sin, . the City of Jerusalem, and Faith, who is
dressed in the costume of a captain-general of Spain, all
play parts in it. Envy enters, in the first scene, as from
the infernal regions, through a mouth casting forth flames ;
and the last scene representa Love, stretched on the cross,
and wedded to a £a.ir damsel who figures as the Soul of
Man. Some parts of this drama are very offensive ; es-
pecially the passage in which Margaret of Austria, with
celestial attributes, is represented as arriving in the galley
of Faith, and the passage in which Philip's entrance into
Yalencia is described literally as it occurred, but substi-
tuting the Saviour for the king, and the prophets, the
martyrs, and the hierarchy of heaven for the Spanish
nobles and clergy who really appeared on the occasion.^®
Such were, probably, the unsteady attempts with which
Lope began his career on the public stage during his exile
at Valencia and for some years afterwards. They are cer-
tainly wild enough in their structure, and sometimes gross
in sentiment, though hardly worse in either respect than
the similar allegorical mysteries and farces which, till just
about the same period, were performed in Franco and Eng-
land, and much superior in their general tone and style.
IIow long he continued to write them, or how many he
wrote, we do not know. None of them appear in the col-
lection of his dramas, which does not begin till 1604,"
of ^ Belardo,'* well knovn at the time as 2. De la Fundación de la Alhambra de
the poetical ñame of Lope. See ante^ Granada.
Chap. XIII. note 18. 3. De los Amigos enojados.
u In Book Second. 4. De la Libertad de Castilla.
M Lope boasti that he has made this sort 6. De las Hazañas del Cid.
oí commntation and accommodation, as if 6. Del Perseguido.
it were a merit ** Tlüs was UtenUly the Con licencia de la Sta. Inquisición y Ordi-
way," he says, " in which his Majesty, nario. En Madrid, impreso por Pedro de
King Philip, entcred Valencia.»' Obras, Madrigal. Año 1603." Small 4to, ff. 272.
Tom. T. p. 187. All six of the above plays are marked in
w A very curlons and excessively rare Huerta's Catalogo as Lope's, but neither of
▼oíame, however, appeared at Madrid the them, I think, is in the Ust of the " Pere-
yearbefore, ofwhi¿hlfoundacopy inthe grino," 1604, where in fáct, I suppose.
Biblioteca Ambrogiana in Mihuí, and which Lope means — (by a reference to this pub-
oontains plays of Lope. It is entitied, •' Seis lication, one edition of which appeared in
Comedias de Lope de Vega Carpió y de 1603 at Lisbon, and I believe another at
otros autores ctuos n<Hnbre8 dellas (sic) son Seville) — tfí discredit them. And, no
estrjs : doubt, the first — »' La Destruicion de Con-
1. De la Destruicion de Constantino- stantinopla" — is not his, but Gabriel Lasso
plm de la Vega^s. On the other hand, however,
9*
202 LOPE'S PLAYS AT MADBID. [Pkriod IL
though an allegorical spirit is occasionally visible in some
of his plays, which are, in other respecta, quite in the
tcinpcr of the secular theatre. But that he wrote such
religious dramas early, and that he wrote great numbers
of them, in the course of his liíe, is unquestionable.
In Madrid, if he found little to hinjier, he also found
little to help him, except two rude theatres, or
8t?i?t'Tt' ^ rathcr court-yards, licensed for the representa-
Madrid. ^Jqjj q£ plays, and a dramatic taste formed or
forming in the character of the people." But this was
cnough for a spirit like his. His success was immediate
and complete ; his popularity overwhelming. Cervantes,
as we llave seen, declared him to be a " prodigy of na-
ture ; '' and, though himself seeking both the fame and
the profit of a writer for the public stage, generously rec-
ognized his great rival as its solé monarch."
Many years, however, elapsed before he published even
a single volume of the plays with which he was thus de-
lighting the audiences of Madrid, and settling the final
forms of the national drama. This was, no doubt, in part
owing to the habit, which seems to have prevailed in
Spain from the first appearance of the theatre, of regard-
No. 3, " Amistad pagada,*' is in Vol. I. of — can be found in " Ni Eey ni Roque,"
Lope's Comedias, 1604, and No. 6, '^ Carlos (a Novela by Don Patricio de la Escosura,
el Perseguido," is in the same volume*, while 1835, Tom. I. cap. 4,) and is worth teading,
No. 4, " La Libertad de Castilla," appears to see how rudely things were then man-
in Yol. XIX., 1626, as " £1 Conde Fernán aged, or 8upi>08ed to be managed.
González." These three, thereforc, are 19 See ante., p. 125, and Comedias, Ma-
Lope's. I did not have time to read them, drid, 1615, 4to, Prólogo. The phrase mot^
but I ran them over hastily. The first, struo de naturaleza^ in this passage, has
which is Gabriel Lasso de la Yega's, and been sometimes supposed to Imply a cen-
which is short, seemed to be in the rude sure of Lope on the part of Cervantes.
Btyle of the stage when Lope took it in But this is a mistake. It is a phrase fre-
hand, and has allegorical per8onagcs,Death, quently used ; and though sometimes
Discord, &c. The sixth and the third, on understood in malam partem, as it is in
the contrary, are much in his final man- Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 46, — " Vete de mi
ner, at least much more so than the others. presencia, monstruo de naturaleza," — it is
It shóuld be noted that the third is inserted generally understood to be complimentary j
in the volume by mistake as the fifth, and as, for instance, in the " Hermosa Ester "
80 vice versa ; and that the fourth is said of Lope, (Comedias, Tom. XV., Madrid,
to be written in " lengua antigua." The 1621,) near the end of the first act, where
fifth is on the death of the Cid and the Ahasuerus, in admiration of the íáir Esther,
taking of Valencia, and has above fifty says :
"figuras." • Tanta beUeza
18 The description of an imaginary per- Monstrao será de la naturaleza,
formance of a popular drama in a small Cervantes, I have no doubt, used it in woii-
town of Castilo just at thiá pcriod — 1595 dor at Lopc's prodigious fcrtility.
Chap. XV.]
NUMBER OF fflS DRAMAS.
203
ing its literature as ill-suited for publication ; and in part
to the circumstance, that, when plays were produced oii
the stage, the author usually lost his right in them, if not
entirely, yet so far that he conld not publish them without
the assent of the actors. JSut whatever may have been the
cause, it is certain that a multitude of Lope's plays had
been acted before he published any of them ; and that, to
this day, not a fourth part of those he wrote has been pre-
served by the press.^
Their very number, however, may have been one obsta-
ele to their publication ; for the most modérate ^ ,
. 1 . .1 , Oreat num-
and certam accounts on this pomt have almost a ber of wa
fabulous air about them, so extravagant do they ^^^^*
seem. In 1603, hegives us the titles of two hundred and
nineteen pieces that he had already written ; ^ in 1609,
he says their number had risen to four hundred and eighty-
M Lope must have been a writer for the
pablic stage as early as 1586 or 1587, and
a popular writer at Madrid soon after 1590 •,
bnt we have no plays by him dated ear-
lier than 1593-94, (Schack*s Nachtr^ge,
1854, p. 45,) and no knowledge that any of
his plays were printed, with his own con-
Bent, before the volume which appeared as
the Novena Parte, Madrid, 1617. Yet, in
the Prefoce to the " Peregrino en su Pa-
tria,** licensed in 1603, he gives us a list of
two hundred and nineteen plays which
he acknowledges and claims ; and in the
gome Prefoce (I possess the book) he states
their number at two hundred and thirty.
In the edition of 1733 (which I also have)
it is raised to three hundred and forty-nine ;
but hi the Obras Sueltas, (Tom. Y., 1776,)
it is brought back to three hundred and
thirty-nine, perhaps copying tiie edition of
1605. Of all these, none, I conceive, has
much authority except the flrst, and it may
be difficult to find sufficient groiíhd for
attributing to Lope some of the plays whose
titles are added in the latereditions, though
it is not unlikely Üiat some of them may be
fiuniliar to us onder other ñames. Again,
in 1618, when he says he had written eight
hundred, (Comedias, Tom. XI., Barcelona,
1618, Prólogo,) only one hundred and thir-
ty-four full-length plays, and a few entre-
meftesy had been printed. Finally, of the
eighteen hundred attributed to him in 1635,
after his death, by Montalvan and others,
(Obras Sueltas, Tom. XX. p. 49,) only about
three hundred and twenty or thirty can be
found in the volumes of his collected plays -,
and Lord Holland, counting autos and all,
which would swell the general claim of
Montalvan to at least twenty-two hundred,
makes out but five hundred and sixteen
printed dramas of Lope. Life of Lope de
Vega, London, 1817, 8vo, Vol. II. pp.
158 - 180.
21 This curious list, with the Preface in
which it stands, is worth reading over care-
fully, as affording indications of the history
and progress of Lope's genius. It is to
Lope's dramatic Ufe what the list in Meros
is to Shakespeare. It is found best in
the first edition, 1604. In the Spanish
translation of this History (Tom. II., 1851,
pp. 551, 552), in Schack's Nachtr'<ige
(1854, pp. 45-50), and in the Documentos
Inéditos (Tom. I.), may be found the titles
of a number of Lope's Comedias that
are still extant in his autograph MSS.
Two of them, at least, have never been
published, " Brasil Reftituido,** founded on
the capture of San Salvador by the Span-
iards in 1625, and *' La Reina Doña Ma-
ría," founded on the strange circumstances
attending the birth of Don« Jaime el Con-
quistador as naYvely related in Muntaner's
Chronicle. But of the last, which is in
the possession of Prinoe Mettemich,asatis-
Éactory account by Wolf may be found in
the " Sitzungs-berichte " of the Imperial
Academy at Yienna for April, 1856.
20á
KÜMHER OF HIS DRAMAS.
IPElífOlJ E
tbree ; ^ in 1618, lie says it was eíght hundred ; ^ in 1619,
again, in round numbers^ he states it at nine himdred \ **
and in 1624, at one thousand and Beventj,^ After hia
death, in 1635| Pérez de Montalvaní his intímate frieod
and eulogisti who tiiree yeam befóte had declared the
tinmber to be fiftecn hundred, without reckoning the
shorter piecea/-^ puts it at eíghteen hundred plays and
four hundred aufos;^ numbera which are confideutly re-
peated bj Antoniü in his notice of Lope,^ andby Franchi,
an ItaliaUf who had bcen much with Lope at Madrid» and
who wTote one of the multitndinüus eulogies on hiin after
hiB death.^ The prodigious facility implied by this íb fur-
ther confirmed by the tact Btated hy himself in one of bis
playa, that it waa writtcn and aetcd in five days,^ and hy
the anecdotea of Montalvan, that he wrote five fnll-lcngth
dratQíia at Toledo in fifteen daya, and one act of atiother
in a few hours of the early morning, without seeming to
make any effort in eithcr case,^^
Of this enorrnoua mass, a little more than fi^e hundred
draniaa appear to have been publiahed at difiere nt times,
« In hl9 "New A.rt of Wrlllng Pkya,^^
he aay»f " I have ddw wrltteti, iiKiliiilIng
ene that I ha?e finiahed thia week, Tour
hnailred and el^hty'threa playa." Hé
prlnted thís for the firet time lo 1^09 j imd
though it Tr{La prcibably writteD foiir Of ñvo
yeare earlicri yet tjiiese linua oear th@ ^nd
may h^vi: beeu added at the mooont the
whüle poffin wéiit U» the presa* ObnuB
Sueltas, Tom. IV. p. 417.
^ In the Fr>-}1ogá £(1 Comedias^ Tdoi, XX. ,
Barcelopa, 1613 ^ — 0, mtty addre^ of the
Cj]€atr? to th« rcadera,
« CotnedLES^ Tom. XTV.^ Modrtd^ 162í>i
I>edicfitioii of s'M Yerdadepo Amantíi" to
iüa ioD.
is Camedlafi» Tom. XX., Sijulnd, 1G2»,
VKtotí&^ — whctíi he anya, " Candld miada
iriU hopOi &hat, &b I have jlred long eDoag^h
lo writ£ ik th4>iiiiüDd and eev&nty ilrajuas, I
üiay Uvo lüiig enííngh to prlot theín."
The c^rtitcates of thia volkime are áated
H la tÍLe ÍMícte de loa "■ In^enloa de Itftk-
drld^" appcDd^d to the " I'ata Todofl ^^ of
Moütalran, prhit^d ífi 16;í2, he sayn, Ltfpe
had ttep puljllshert twentj^ vcvUioea of
plo^B, aod that the EUmber of tha«e that
bad Iwea octed, írLthouft ireqltoníng^ mtt0Mf
waa mttí^ia hutidred. Ifope slari hlmíclf
putaítttt ñttJten Imudreú ío Uie *»É|íluif6
á CLiudiOj" whloht thuxií:h oot püblbhüd
tiU after hi» death, tniuít have bt^eq 'Frrítteu
as earty aa 1632, aíiicq ít Epeaks pf the
^'^ DorE>t£a^" ñrít publinlied in that yéniTt na
ptlU waltttig fur the lighL
'^ Fama Fóatqma, Obras Sueltafi, Tüm.
XX, p. 40,
*8 Art. LupjiK Wefix de figo.
Sfl Obras iStUiltaa, Tom. XXL pp* 3, 13.
IB "AU Htudied Qut and writtoíi in ñv^
daya." Oomcáiaa, Tom. XXI., Mndíid^
1635, t T2. h.
31 OUrafl Su!;lüüi^ Toni. XX. pp. Bl, h%.
How eaj^eriy bis playa were gougbt by tha
Kctors and ^£^ceived by the aufllervc^a of
Mudrid m^j be underEitíHMl frimi tíie ÍBitit
Lope nie»tlQD« in the poeto bj bla frtí?™!
Clamlt», that a.bove a hundted we.t<s njíted
wfUila twentjr-four li^íari of the time wheú
ÚKÍr oolnpo•IÜo^ waa completed. Obras
Sueltas^ ToiD. IX. p, ZSS* Facliecti, m th«
nútieé of Lopo pr^nxed tu bis "Jeras»-
len," 100©, says that Rtnne of hi& Bio*t
admb^d play» wfirtí wrllten Iti two clayB*
Obrtifl Bueltaa, Tom* XlV. p. íisU.
Chap. XV.] NUMBEB OF HIS DRAMAS. 205
— most of them in the twenty-five, or more properly
twenty-eight, volumes which were printed in various
places between 1604 and 164t, but of which it is now
neiurly impossible to form a complete collectíon.^^ In
these volumes, so far as any rules of the dramatic „, ^, ,
' , . "^ Hi8 object
art are concemed, it is apparent that Lope took m vriting
the theatre in the state in which he found it ; and ^^^^'
instead of attempting to adapt it to any previous theory,
or to any existing models, whether ancient or recent,
made it his great object to satisfy the popular audiences
of his age ; •* — an object which he avows so distinctly in
his "Art of Writing Plays," and in the Preface to the
twentieth volume of his Dramas, that there is no doubt it
was the prevailing purpose with which he labored for the
theatre. For such a purpose, he certainly appeared at a
fortúnate moment ; and, possessing a genius no less for-
túnate, was enabled to become the founder of the national
Spanish theatre, which, since his time, has rested sub-'
stantially on the basis where he placed and left it.
But this very system — if that may be called a system
which was rather an instinct — almost necessarily sup-
poses that he indulged his audiences in a great variety
of dramatic forms ; and accordingly we find, among his
plays, a diversity, alike in spirit, tone, and structure,
which was evidently intended to humor the uncertain
cravings of the popular taste, and which we know was
successful. Whether he himself ever took the trouble to
consider what were the different classes into which his
dramas might be divided, does not appear. Certainly no
n 67 fiur the íinest copy of Lope de of Calderón by the same hand. I do not
Vega's Comedias that I have ever seen ia know why the " Dorotea" is inserted.
in the poasession of Lord Taunton (for- >" As early as 1603, Lope maintains this
merly the Rt Hon. Henry Labouchere) at doctrine in the Pre&ce to his " Peregrino ; "
Btoke Parkf near London. Including the — it occurs frequently afterwards in differ-
Tega del Pamaao, 1647, and the varióos ent parts of his works, as, for instance, in
editions of the diflérent volumes, where the Prólogo to his " Castigo sin Vengan-
such exist, it makes forty-four volumes za ; " and he left it as a legacy in the
inalL ** Égloga á Claudio,** printed after his
The selection made by Hartzenbusch for deatñ. The " Nueva Arte de Hacer Come-
the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, and dias,*' however, is abundantly explicit on
found in Vols. XXIV., XXXIV., and XLI. the subject in 1609, and no doubt expressed
of that coUection, to which one more the delibérate purpose of its author, from
is promised, is well made, but it is not which he seems never to have swcrved
edited with the eare shown in the edition doring his whule dramatic career.
206
FOEMS OF LOPE'S DEAHAS.
[Pf-RIoü IL
I
I
I
I
I
attcmpt at any techuical arrangcment of them 19 madc m
Üie collectioa as oríginally priuted, except tbat, in the
firet and third volumes^ a fcw entremeses f or farces, gen-
erally in prose, are thrown in at the end of eaeh, aa a sort
oí appcndíx. All the rest of the playa containod in them ^
are iti vcme, and are called comedioB, — a word wliich ib'
by no meaus to be transkted " comedíeSi'^ !>ut ** dramas/'
sincc no othcr ñame la coiopreheosive enongh to mclíide
their manituld varícties, — and all of them are divided
into three jornadas ^ or acts.
But in everything else there eeema no end to their
divereitieSi ^ — ^whether we reg-ard their snbjects, ninuingl
Théir grmi from the deepest trag^edy to the broadest farce,
v^ety- and from the moet Bolemn ujysteriee of religión
down to the loosest frolics of common life, or their style,
which embraces every ehange of tone and nioasure known
^to the poetical langíiage of the country. And all tbcBO
difiere nt masses of Lopo's drama, it should be fnrther
noted, rnn insensibly into each other, — the eacred and
the Becnlar, the tragie and tlie coniie^ the heroic action
and that from vnlg^ar life, — -nntil sometimes it scems as
if there were neither sepárate form nor distinctive attrí-
. bute to any of them.
Thisj howeveí", ia loas the caae than it at first appears
to he Lope^ no donht, did not alwaya know or care into
what peculiar form the atory of his drama was cast ; but
Btill there were certain forma and attribnteB invented bj
hia own genina^ or indicated to him by the succeas of hia
predeceaaora or the demanda of his time, to which each of
híe dramas more or leaa tended. A few, indeed, may be
füund so nearly on the liraits tbat sepárate the different
classes, that it is diíRcult to asaign them strictly to either ;
bnt in all — even in those that are the freest and wildest
— tbc diíítinctíve elementa of sorae claas are apparent,
while all. by the peeuliarly national spirit that uni mates
them, show the sonrce from which they comei and the di-
rection they are deatined to fnllow.
Ihejirsi claas of playa that Lope ae^ms to Itave invent*
r^*^^ í>Tie in which \m own g'cnius fíeemod moat to
üejight, and which atill remaina more popnlar in Spain
CnAP. XV.] COMEDIAS DE CAPA Y ESPADA. 20Í
than any other — consists of those called ''Comedias de
Capa y Espada/' or Dramas with Cloak and Sword. ^
m» , í .1 . n .1 . . Comedias
Tney took their ñame from tne circimxstance, de Capay
that their principal personages belong to the gen- ^^*^**
teel portion of society, accustomed, in Lope's time, to the
picturesque national dress of cloaks and swords, — exclud-
Sng, on the one hand, those dramas in which royal person-
ages appcar, and, on the other, those which are devoted
to common life and the humbler'classes. Their main and
moYÍng principie is gallantry, — such gallan try as existed
in the time of their author. The story is almost always
involved and intriguing, and almost always accompanied
with an underplot and parody on the characters and ad-
ventures of the principal partios, formed out of those of
the servants and other inferior personages.
Their titles are intended to be attractive, and are not
infrequently taken from among the oíd rhymed proverbs,
that were always popular, and that sometimos seem to
have suggested the subject of the drama itself.®* They
uniformly extend to the length of regular pieces for the
thcatre, now settled at three jornadas, or acts, each of
which, Lope advises, should have its action compressed
within the limita of a single day, though he himself is
rarely scrupulous^nough to follow his own recommen-
dation. They are not properly comedies, for nothing is
more frequent in them than duels, murders, and assas-
sinations ; and they are not tragedies, for, besides that
they end happily, they are generally composed of humor-
ous and sentimental dialogue, and their action is carried
on chiefly by lovers fuU of romance, or by low characters
whose wit is mingled with bufíbonery. AU this, it should
be understood, was new on the Spanish stage ; or if hints
might have been furnished for individual portions of it as
far back as Torres Naharro, the combination at least was
new, as well as tke manners, tone, and costume.
»* These títlea were often in the oM bailad And in the very next play, " El ausente en
measare, and inaerted as a Une in the play, el Lugar " :
generally at the end \ ex. gr. ^£1 Ámete £l ausente en el Lugar
de Toledo **: Se queda en el y contento.
Que con ertc m d. fln Comedia., Tom. H., 1618.
Al Ámete de Toledo. Calderón WQd other dramatists did the same.
208
THE AZERO DE MADRIO,
[pGittoo rr*
Of sucli playa Lopo wrote a very larg^ number, — sev-*
eral hundreds, at leaet Ilis genius — rich, free, and
eiBincntly inventiva — waa well fitted for their compo-
Bition, and in many of them he shows much dramatic tact
and tal en t, Among tho best are *' The Vgly Beanty ; " **
'* Moriey makes the Man;'*^** '*The Pruderies of Beli*
Ba,"^^ which has the accidental merit of hmug all but
strictly withÍM the ralea ; *' The Slave of her Lo ver/' **
in which he haa sounded the depths of a woman's tender-
Ilesa ; and " The Dog in the Manger," in which he has
almost eqtially we!l sounded tlie dcpths of her seltisb
vanity,^'' But perhapg there are some otberR %vljícht even
better thaa thcseí will ishow the peculiar cbaracter of thís
claes of Lope ^8 dramas, and hís peculiar position in re-
lation to them, To two or thrce such wo will, therefore,
Bow tura.
^^ El Ázero de Madrid/' or The Madrid Steel, is one of
thern, atid is among his earlier works for the etage.*^ It
El AíCTü takes its ñame from the preparatione of steel for
doiittíirid. medicinal ptirposea, whichi in Lopo'B time, had
just come into fashionable use ; bnt the main story is tliat
of a líght-heartcd girl, who deceivea her father, and espe-
cially her hypoeritical oíd aunt, by pretonding to be ill and
taking steel medicaments from a secuMug' doctor, who id
a fríen d of her lo ver, and who prescribes walking abroad,
and Buch other free modes of lífe as may best añbrd
opporttmities for her admirer^s attentions.
^ Comcátii^ Tota. XXIVih, Zaf&g02&}
164X, 4to, f. '22, ote.
» I lenQW thla pl^Ti '* Dineitis mn CaL(<-
dsd," ocily ñiDQTig Üie Cuint;d!ii^ fiturtta^ of
Jji}pe ; but It la no doubt his^ m ft is la
Tqib^ XXIV. prlnicd nt ZoragffBi íd 193%
frtiiicti {^ontuLins diCfürcut pla;^s fífñm a. Tom.
XXIV, prtutéil &t S&fLragDzii lu 1&41, whtch
I ImTi. Hiere ía yet h ÍUltá Tora. XXIT,^
prlnted at BfUdrld lü 163S, Thi^ lnU;ra&l
evMeQCü woíd;!^ pertmpü, bt^ enaugh to
|]rQ?e Its authrtrriHíp.
^ Comt'dlüA, Tom. IX., líarcelcmA, lOlS^
t 27Ti etc., but often nepriut^ eince imder
the tltl« of *' La Metinfiros»." . When inín-
Üonln^ the cnnfciumiit.? of íh{s\j¡¡^ bu the
tullía, It may be well tw reiueinber thut It
Was vrHt(«p Düly a jL-ar and a Lalí l^efore
tcipú di«L Bee nota sá the epd of th^a
chapter.
w Comed loAi Tom, XXV., <^arago<^^
1647, f. 1, etc.
^ eouMidlad, Toin, XI., Barcüloita} KÚI,,
r 1, «tD. ThQ Prí^reuN to thlt Yoluillii \
curiüus^ on occount of Lqpe's Cdmplaints i
the bookíclleríi. He caüj ít "Prólogo dell
Tcattti'," and diiúíCA the enrreptttíouft pulN- 1
hcatloii of hi& pl^ja an «tffvDCi' apiliisi tha
drama Itscir. fll^ intímatei, theit ft van iiot
Teiy uiKQmmQn for oiie of bis plajs tt* be
ac^ted Berenty timeá.
*i Ther " Azero de Madriil," which wvm
WTitten aa Kurly as 1003, ha» oftcn bí^cD
[üriiitifd se]m.rtttely^ and is foimd In tli^e
n^iprnlar qolLectloiij Tom^ XJ., Ban^ltkJ^
1618, 1 27, íftfl.
Chap. XV.] THE AZEBO DE MADRID. 209
There* can be little doubt that in this play we find
Bome of the materíals for the " Médecin JMÉlgré Lui-; "
and though the fiíll success of Moliereis original wit is not
to be questioned, still the happiest portions of his comedy
can do no more than come into fair competition with some
passages in that of Lope. The character of the heroine,
for instance, is drawn with more spirit in the Spanish
than it is in the French play ; and that of the devotee aunt,
who acts as her daenna, and whose hypocrísy is exposed
when she herself falls in love, is one which Moliere might
well have envied, though it was too exclusively Spanish
to be brought within the courtly conventions by which he
was restrained.
The whole drama is full of life and gayety, and has a
tmth and reality about it yare on any stage. Its opening
is both a proof of this and a characteristic specimen of its
author's mode of placing his audience at once, by a de-
cisive movementy in the midst of the scene and the per-
Bonages he means to represent. Lisardo, the hero, and
Biselo, his friend, appear watching the door of a fashion-
able church in Madrid, at the conclusión of the service,
to see a lady with whom Lisardo is in love. They are
wearied with waiting, while the crowds pass out, and
Biselo at last declares he will wait for liis friend's fancy
no longer. At this moment appears Belisa, the lady in
question, attended by her aunt, Theodora, who wears an
affectedly religious dress and is lecturing her : —
Theodora. Show more of gentleness and modesty ; —
Of gentleness in walking quietly,
Of modesty in looking only down
Upon the earth yon tread.
BéUsa. "T ia what I do.
Theodora. What 1 When yon 're looking rtraight towards that man 1
Beliaa. Did yon not bid me look apon M earth ?
And what is he but just a bit of it ?
Theodora, I said the earUi whereon yon tread, my niece.
Bdisa, But that whereon I tread is hidden quite
With my own petticoat and walking-dress.
Theodora. Words such as these become no well-bred maid.
But, by your mother's blessed mewory,
I '11 put an end to all your pretiMticka ; —
What ? Toa look back at hiñií^n ?
210
THE AZEBO DE MADRID.
[Pekiod IIL
Theodora,
Bdisa.
Lisardo.
Bdisa. Who? II •
Theodora. iRs, yoa ; — and make him secret signs besides.
Beliaa. Not I. 'T is onlj that yoa troabled me
With teasing questions and perverse replies,
8o that I stambled and lookcd round to see
Who would prevent my falL
Risdo (to Lisardo). She falls again.
Be qoick and help her.
Lisardo {to Bdisa). Pardon me, lady.
And foigive my glove.
Who ever saw the líke ?
I thank you, Sir ; yon saved me from a íalL
An ángel, lady, might have fallen so ;
Or stars that shine with heaven's own blessed ligfat
Theoána. 1, too, can fall ; bnt 't is apon yoar trick.
Good gentleman, fareweil to yon !
Lisardo. Madam,
Toar servant. (Heaven save ns fhom such spleen !)
Theodora. A pretty fall you made of it; and'DOwI hope
Yoa '11 be content, since they aaiiited yoa.
Bdisa. And yon no less content, since DOW yon have
The means to tease me for a week to come.
Tfteodora. But why again do you tum back your head ?
Bdisa, Why, sure you think it wise and wary
To notice well the place I stumbled at,
Lost I shonld stumble there when next I pass.
Theodora. Mischief befall you ! But I know your ways !
You '11 not deny this time you looked upon the youth ?
Denyitl No!
You daré confess it, 4mi ?
Be sure I daré. You saw him help me, —
And would you have me fail to thank him for it ?
Theodora. Go to ! Come home ! come borne !
Bdisa. • Now we shall have
• A pretty scolding cooked up out of this.^
Bdisa.
Theodora
Bdisa.
41 7%o. Llena cordura y modestia \—
Cordura en andar de espado t
Modestia en que solo veas
La misma tierra que pisas.
BeL Ta hago lo que me ensefias.
Teo. Como miraste aquel hombre ?
Bel. No me dlxiste que yiera
Sola tierra ? pues, dime.
Aquel hombre no es de tierra ?
Teo. Tola que pisas te digo.
Bel. La que piso ya cubierta
De la saya y los chapines.
Teo. Que palabras de donzella I
Por el siglo de tu madre.
Que yo te quite essas tretas I
Otra vez le miras ? Bel. Yo ?
Teo. Luego no le hiziste sefias ?
BeL Fuy á caer, como me turbas
Con demandas y respuestas,
Y miré qtüen me tuuiesse.
Ris. Cayó I llegad á tenerla I
lÁ». Perdone, vuessa merced.
El guante. Teo. Ay cosa como c
Bel. Beso os las manos, Befior i
Que, si no es por vos, cayera.
Li». Cayera un tngel, Señora,
Y cayeran las estrellas,
A quien da mas lumbre el mL
Iko, Y yo cayera en la cuenta.
Yd, cauallero, con Dios I
Li». El os guarde, y me defienda
De condición tan estra&a I
Teo. Ya cayste, yrás contenta.
De que te dieron la mano.
Bel. Y tú lo ir£s de que tengas
Con que pudrirme seys diaa.
Teo. A que bueluas la cabera ?
Bel. Pues no te parece que es
Advertencia muy discreta
Mirar adonde cahí,
CuAP. XV.] DRAMAS FOR THE COURT. 211
Other passages are equally spirited and no less Cas-
tilian. The scene, at the beginning of the second act,
between Octavio, another lover of the lady, and his ser-
vant, who jests at his master's passion, as well as the
scene with the mock doctor, that follows, are both ad-'
mirable in their way, and must have produced a great
effect on the audiences of Madrid, who felt how true
they were to the manners of the time.
But all Lope's dramas were not written for the public
theatres of the capital. He was the coürtly, no less than
the national, poet of his age ; and as we have already
noticed a play fuU of the spirit of his youth, and of the
popular character, to which it was addressed, we will
now tum to one no less buoyant and free, which was
written in his oíd age and prepared expressly for a royal
entertainment. It is "The Saint John's Eve,'' LaNochede
and shows that his manner was the same, wheth- San Juan.
er he was to be judged by the unruly crowds gathered
in one of the court-yards of the capital, or by a few
persons selected from whatever was most exclusive and
elevated in the kingdom.
The occasion for which it was prepared and the ar-
rangements for its exhibition mark, at once, the luxury of
the royal theatres in the reign of Philip the Fourth, and
the consideration enjoyed by their favorite poet.*'^ The
Fuá qne otra vez no bneln* by his queen to Philip IV., on his birth-
A ttoptfmr en lo mismo ? ¿^y, in 1622, at the beauüfiü country-seat
ito. Ay, mal* imwíu» te venga, ^^ Aranjuez, for which the unfortunato
Y cmno entiendo tus monaa. _ ^ .^,„ ,. - i t j ü. *
<mk Tex, y diráa qne esta Count of Vlllamediana fumished the poetry,
No irinnute el mancebito ? and Fontana, the distinguished Italiaa
Bel. Es verdad. Teo. Y lo conflessas t aruhitect, erected a theatre of great mag-
JSeL Si me di6 la mano aUi, nifícence. The drama, which was much
No quieres qne lo agradesca f ^ masque of the English theatre, and
Teo. Anda, que entraras en casa. ", ^ ,. .,. j i. i jj
-Bei. O lo que harás de quhneras I ^^ performed by the queen and her ladies,
Comedias de Lope de Vega, Tom. ^ '^ t*»^ Works of Count Villamediana
XL, Barcelona, 1618, f. 2r. ((Jlaragoíja, 1629, 4to, pp. 1-65) •, and an
^ Thé facta relating to this play are account of the entertainment itself is given
taken partly flrom the play Itaelf, (Comedi- in Antonio de Mendo9a (Obras, Lisboa,
as, Tom. XXI., Madrid, 1635, f. 68. b,) and 1690, 4to, pp. 426-464) •, — all indicating
partly from Casiano Pellicer, Origen y Pro- the most wastefül luxury and extravagance.
gresoa de la Comedia, Madrid, 1804, 12m», A curious English versión of Mendo^a's
Tom. I. pp. 174-191. The Entremés ot account may be found at the end of Sir
** Las Bueñas," by Benevente, (Joco-Seria, R. Fanshawe's translation of Mendo9a'8
1663, ir. 168 - 172,) w¿8 a part of this bril- »' Querer por solo querer," 1670. See post^
liant festivaL note to Chap. XXI.
A similar entertainment had been given
212
THE nOüME DE SAH JUAN.
ITebioii 1
I
I
I
drama itself was ordercd expressly by the Count Dnki
Olivares, for ñ maguiíjceiit entertaiiiment which he wkhei
tu gi^e hÍB sovereigü in one of the gardens of Madrid, oa
Saint Jolm's Eve, in Juue, 1631, No expense was spared
by the proflig-íite favorite to picase his iodulgaiit master.
The Marquis Juan Bautista Crescencio — - the same artist
to whom we owe the eombre Fantheon of the Ea curial —
arrangcd tlie architectural constructions, T^'hich consisted
of luxurious bowera for tbo kmg aiid his courtiers, and
gorgeous the a t re i a frout of them, where, amidst a blazí
of torch-light, the two most fatnous companies of actor»
of the timo performed euccessivelj two plays : one writ-
ten by the united tal en t of Francisco de Que ved o aud
Antonio de Mendoza ; aud the other, the crowmng grací
of tlio festival, by Lope de Yega,
The subject of the play of Lope ia happily taken fri
the frolicg of the very rjight on which it was represen ted
— a night freqwently alludcd to in the oíd Spanish storíei
and ballads, aa one dovoted, both by Moors and Chrii
tianB, to gaycr Buperstitions, and adventures more var
rious, than belouged to any other of the oíd national
liolidays.*^ Wliat was represented, therefore, had a pe-
culiar interest, from its appropriatencss both aB to time
and place,
Lconorai the hcroine, first comea on the stage^ an*
confesaos her attachment to Don Juan de Hurtado,
itleman wVio has recently returned rich from the Indíes*
le gívea a livoly aketch of the way in which he had
made love to her in all the forma of national adrniration^
at church by day, and befo re her grated balcony m the
eveniügs. Don Lnia, her brether, igüorant of all tMs^
gladly becomea acquainted with tlie lover^ whom be m-
teroata in a match of his owji with Doña Blanca, aister of
3ernardo; who i a the cheriahed frieud of Don Juan.
Eager to obligo the brother of the lady he lo vea, Don
Juan seekj* Bernardo, and, in the course of their conver-
k
thifty pBgcft lo Üie thlrd volume of hl»
W^ká i l}\ílA di-'UcrLptijüD ot Üie (tüAíca of
John^á eve In Spaulah r"^^* li tn " Dobiift*
do^H liEtters/" (1822^ p. ííOtl,) ^ il wiirk full
ot t^fi muiít fatthfal sketchca oT BpuiUli
cbamcEicr and ma.úiiKta,
Chap. XV.] THE NOCHE DE SAN JUAN. 21S
satíon, ingenioQsIy describes to him a visit he has just
made to see all the arrangements for the evening's enter-
taínment now in progress before the court, including this
identical play of Lope ; thus whimsically claiming froin
ihe audience a belief that the action they are witnessiDg
on the stage in the garden is, at the very same moment,
going on ih real life in the streets of Madrid, just behind
flieir backs ; — a passage which, involving, as it does,
compliments to the king and the Count Duke, to Quevedo
and Mendo9a, must have been one of the most brilliant in
its effect that can be imagined. But when Don Juan
comes to explain his mission about the lady Blanca, al-
though he fínds a most willing consent on the part of her
brother, Bernardo, he is thunderstruck at the suggestion,
that this brother, his most intímate fríend, wishes to make
the alliance double, and marry Leonora himself.
Now, of course, begin the involutions and difficulties.
Don Juanas sense of what he owes to his friend forbids
him from setting up his own claim to Leonora, and he at
once decides that nothing remains for hira but flight. At
the same time, it is discovered that the Lady Blanca is
already attached to another person, a noble cavalier,
named Don Pedro, and will, therefore, never marry Don
Luis, if she can avoid it. The course of true love, there-
fore, runs smooth in neither case. But both the ladies
avow their determination to remain steadfastly faithful to
their lovers, though Leonora, from some fancied symp-
toms of coldness in Don Juan, arising out of his over-
nice sense of honor, is in despair at the thought that he
may, after all, prove false to her.
So ends the first act. The second opens with the lady
Blanca's account of her own lover, his condition, and the
way in which he had made his love known to her in a
public garden ; — all most faithful to the national costume.
But just as she is ready to escape and be prívately mar-
ried to him, her brother, Don Bernardo, comes in, and
proposes to her to make her first visit to Leonora, in
order to promote his own suit. Meantime, the poor
Leonora, quite desperate, rushes into the street with her
attendant, and meets her lover' s servant, the clown and
214 THE NOCHE DE SAN JUAN. ÍPbbiod tt
harieqmn of the piece, who tells her that bis master,
unable any longer to endure his sufferíngs, is just about
escaping from Madrid. The master, Don Juan, follows
in hot baste, booted for his journey. The lady faints.
When she revives, they come to an nnderstanding, and
determine to be married on the instant ; so that we have
now two prívate marriages, beset with difficulties, on tiie
carpet at once. But the streets are- full of frolicsome
crowds, who are indulged in a sort of camival freedom
during this popular festival. Don Juan's rattling servant
gets into a quarrel with some gay young men, who are
impertinent to his master, and to the terrified Leonora.
Swords are drawn, and Don Juan is arrested by the
olBcers of justice and carried off, — the lady, in her
fright, taking refuge in a house, which accidentally tums
out to be that of Don Pedro. - But Don Pedro is abroad,
seeking for his own lady. Doña Blanca. Wheil he re-
turns, however, making his way with difficulty through
the rioting populace, he promises, as in Castilian honor
bound, to protect the helpless and imknown Leonora,
whom he fiíids in his balcoby timidly watching the move-
ments of the crowd in the street, among wborni she is
hoping to catch a- glimpse of her oWn lover.
In the last act we learn that Don Juan has at-once, by
bribes, easily rid himself of the oflScers pf justice, afid i^
agaiñ in the noisy and gay stre(ít& seeking for Leonora.^
lie falls in>with Don Pedro, wtíóm h^ has nefer seejDi
•befóre-; .hnt Don Pedro, takiüg hipíi, .from Jbis inquipes, '
*. to, be ^tl¿B brother from whom^ Leonora is anxiil^s 4Í|J bejn^
co'^cealed, CafefuUy avoids 1b«etraying her t(f hím^ . tín-
happily,. the Lady Blanca now arriv^, havíng.been^ prer
vented from coming earlier. * by the coúftigionj: ii\. the,
streets ; and he hurries her intb his ho.iíse for co^ceal-
meñt till the marriage ceremony can be.performed. ' But-
she hurriés out again no less quickly, having found *
another lady already concealed there;— 7a circumstance-
which she takes to be direct proof of her lover's ÍÉÍlse-.
hood. Leonora follows her, and begins an explanation ;
but in the midst of it, the two brothers, who had been
seeking these same missiug sisters, come ^uddenly in ;
*Chap. XV.] THE BOBA PARA LOS OTROS. 216
a scene of great confusión and mutual reproaches ensucs ;
and then the curtain falls with a recognition of all the
misti^es and attachments, and the full happiness of the
two ladies and their two lovers. At the end, the poet, in
his own person, declares, that, if his art permits him to
extend his action over twenty-four hours, he has, in the
present case, kept within its rules, since he has occupied
less than ten.
Ab a specimen of plays founded on Spanish manners,
few are happier than " The Saint John's Eve.'' The
love-Bcenes, all horror and passion ; the scenes between
the ca valiera and the populace, at once rude and gay ;
and the scenes with the free-spoken servant who plays
the wit are almost all excellent, and instinct with the
national character. It was received with the greatest
applause, and constituted the finale of the Count Duke's
magnificent entertainment, which, with its music and
dances, intefludes and refreshments, occupied the whole
night, firom nine o'clock in the evening till daylight the
next moming, when the royal party swept back with
great pomp and ceremony to the palace ; — the státe^ '
form of Olivarez, such as we see him in the pictures ot*
Velazquez, foUowing the. king's coach in place of the
accustoméd servant. . '
Another of the plays of Lope, and one that belongs to^^
íhe división of the Capa y Espada^ but approaches that of
the heroic drama, is bis " Fool for Others and i¿¿oha '-
Wisé for Herself." ** It-Js of a> lighter .and lit'e- • p^? i<i« ' *
lier temp^r throughout. tkan most ótitanclass. Dtibrtia:" '/■
Diafe, -educated in the 'pimple. estáte b;f a fihéfp-.-"^ ;J ^
herde^»j,and wholly ignqraíit that shp is the daugfi'ter ¿ád
Iróir/of the- Duke ofÜrbiíro, is suddenly -calléd, b^- tlie:-
dcath-of .her fathér, to fill his place. ' She is ' aurróiitided
by iñtriguing enemies, but triumphs over Ihem by affect-
ing a Mustie ..simplicity in whatever she says and does,
while", at the'same time, 'she is managing all around her,
and'carrying on alove intrigue with the l)uk'e Alexander
Famese, which ends in her marriage with him.
.M Oooiedias, Tom. XXI., Madrid, 1636, f. 45, ete.
215 VABIOUS PLAYS. [Pkiumh> E.
The jest of the piece lies in the wit she is able to con-
ceal under her seeming rusticity, For instance, at the
very opening, after she has been secretly informed of the
true state of things, and has determined what course tb
pursue, the ambassadors from ürbino come in and tell
her, with a solemnity suited to the occasion :
Ladj, oar sovereign lord, the Duke, is dead I
To which she replies :
What '8 that to me ? But if 't is surely so,
Why then, Sirs, 't is for you to bury hün.
I 'm not the parish cúrate.**^
This tone is maintained to the end, whenever the heroine
appears ; and it gives Lope an opportunity to bring forth
a great deal of the fluent, light wit of which he had such
ampie store.
Little like all we have yet noticed, but still belonging
to the same class, is " The Reward of Speaking Well,"**
Premio del * charming play, in which the accounts of the
bieu hablar, hcro's birth and early condition are so absolutely
a description of his own, that it can hardly be doubted
WKlí Lope intended to draw the character in. some degree
from himself Don Juan, who is the hero, is standing
with some idle gallants near a church in Seville, to see
the ladies come out ; and, while there, defends, though
he does not know her, one of them who is lightly spoken
of. A quarrel ensues. He wounds his adversary, is
pursued, and chances to take refuge in the house of the
very lady whose honor he had so gallantly maintained a
few moments before. She from gratitude secretes him,
and the play ends with a wedding, though not until there
has been a perfect confusión of plots and counterplots,
intrigues and concealments, such as so often go to make
up the three acts of Lope's dramas.
Many other plays might be added to tbese, showing, by
the diversity of their tone and character, how diverse
46 Cctmilo. Señora, el Duque es muerto. 4<r Comedias, Tom. XXI., Madrid, 1685,
Diana, Pues que se rae da á mi ¡^ pero ¿ ^^53 ^^
si es cierto, *
Enterraidc, Señores,
Que yo no soi el Cura.
Comedias, Tom. XXL, Madrid, 16?», f. «T.
Chap. XV.J VABIOüS PLAYS. 21 í
were the gifts of the extraordinary man who invented
them, and filled them with various and easy verse, q^j^^j. j
Among them are " Por la Puente Juana," *^ "El J^®**"®
Anzuelo de Fenisa,"*® "El Euyseñor de Se-
villa ; " ^ " Porfiar hasta Morir/' ^ which last is on the
story of Maclas el Enamorado, always a favorite with the
oíd Spanish and Proven9al poets ; and the " Bizarrías de
Belisa," a gay comedy, which is interesting from the
circumstance that it was finished in 1684, when he was
nearly seventy-two years oíd. But it is neither needful
ñor possible to go further. Enough has been said to
show the general character of their class, and we there-
fore now tum to another.^^
« Comedias, Tom. XXI., Madrid, 1835, Prueba de los Amigos, 12 8ep., 1604.
t ais, ele It has often been printed Carlos Y. en Francia, 20 Noy., 1601.
•eparateljr ; ooce in London. Batalla del Honor, 18 April, 1608.
<• Comedias, Tom. Vm., Madrid, 1617, Encomienda mal guardada, 19 April,1610.
•nd alien prioted separately ; a play re- Lo que ha de ser, 2 Sep., 1624.
markable for its gayety and spirit Competencia en los Nobles, 16 Nov., 1625.
• Comedias, Tom. XVH., Madrid, 1621, Sin Secreto no hay Amor, 18 July, 1626.
1 187, ete. Bixarrias de Belisa, 24 May, 1634.
•o Comedias,Tom.XXin.,Madrid,1638, i can add to these from my own oollec
t M, ete. jj^jQ . __
n From the Spanish translation of this
Hisfcory, (Tom. H. p. 651^ I ooUect the
flbOowing dates of a few plays of Lope on See, also. Salva y Baranda, Documento»
Castigo sin Venganza, 1 August, 1631.
lee, also. Salva
tbe MthorUjy oT his own antograpfas :~— Inéditos, Tom. I.
YOL. II. 10
CHAPTEE XVI.
HlOPE de TEOX, CONTIJfTTBD- — HIS HEHOIC DRAMA, A>'D 1T8 CRAItAC
TEKISTICS. — GRBAT KUMBES ON SUBJEOTS í'ttOM BPAJfll&a Ulñ*
TORY, AND aOHE ON CONTEMFORAAY EVHNTH.
The dramas of Lope de Vega that bdong- to the next
class were called ''Comedias neróicaB," or ''ComediaB
HístorialeB/' — Heroic or Histórica! Dramas. Tlic cliief
diifcrences bctween theso and thc last are, that thej bring^
on the stage personageB m a higher rank of life, such as
Heraic or ^íngs and priucos ; that they generally have an
Hiístüriíai historícal íbundatíOTí, or at least ese historical
names^ as if claimiiig it ; and that their prevaíl-
ing tone is graire, imposÍDg, and even tragicaL They
have, however, in general, the same inrolved, intriguing
stüñes and undcrplots^ the same play of joalousy and an
o ver-sen si ti ve honori and the same low^ comic caricature»
to relieve their eerious parts^ that are fonnd in the dramai
of ^*the Cloak and Sword/' Philip the Second disap-
proved of this class of plays, tbínkiug they tended to
diminish the royal dignity, ~ a circumstance which shows
at once the Btate of manners at the time, and the infiuence
attnbüted to the theatre.^
Lope wrote a very larga nnmber of ptays in the forma
of the heroic drama, wbich he substantially inventcd^ —
perhaps aa many as he wrote in any other class, Every-
thing histoncal seemed, indeed, to ñirnish him with a
subjectp from the earliest annals of tbe world down to
the e venta of bis own time ; but bis favoríte m ateríais
1 Irfrpo de Vega, Obras SucUaíj Tom. bo íntriiduce Rey o St-ñor üoheratift » Trfr
TT. p^ 410' Suuli plei^B w^re nlao Bome- }¡;edlii." &]X Ln^rtmaa Fáueg^rlcai ñ.ft
chaf. x\a]
COMEDUS HEKOICAS.
219
r&re songht in Greek and Román records, and eBpecially
^n the cbronides and bailada oí" Spain iteelf.
€f the mauner in which he dealt with ancient history,
h " Roma Abrasada/' or Rome in Asheg, may ^
. t « 11 , , *' Rutila
tafeen as a epecimen, though certamly one of Abmsadíu
the leust favorable specimetis of the clase to which it
belongs,^ The facta on which it ia founded are gathered
írom thé commoneat sonrces open to ite author, — chiefly
ttom the '* General Chronicle of Spain ; '* but tbey are
"íiot formcd intu a well-conatructed or even ingeníona
^plot/ and thtíy relate to the whole twenty years that
'^lapsed betweeii the deaíh of Messalina, in the reigu of
l€laiidíua, and the death of Ñero himeelf, who ib not only
[.the bero, but the gracioso, or droU, of the piece.
The first act, which comes down to the nmrder of
Claudiua by Ñero and Agrippina, coa taina the oíd jest of
the Emperor asking why bis wife does not come to din-
rjier, after he bad put her to death, and adds, for equally
|iopular ellect, abundant praises of Spain and of Lucaii
id Séneca, claiming botb of tbem to be Spaniarda, and
naking the latter an astro I o ge r as well as a moraJist*
tie second act ahowB Ñero beginning his reign with
oat gen tiene 8s, and follows Swe tonina and the oíd
chronicle iti making him grieve that he knew bow to
rrite, eince otherwise he could not have beon reqnired to
^eign ao order lar a jnst judicial execution. The subse-
quent T?Tolent chango in lúa condnct is not^ however, in
any way explained or acconnted for. It i 8 símply aet
before the apectatora as a fact, and from this m ornen t
^Bbegins the beadlotig career of his guilt.
^H A curioua a cene, p\irely Spanish, ia one of the e^ly
^■ntimatíona of this change of character. Ñero falla in
^"lore with Eta ; but not at all in the Eoman fashion. He
vigits her by night at her window, aings a aonnet to lier,
is Ínter ru pie d by four men in disguiac, killa o ríe of them,
end escapes from the purauit of his own officers of justic©
t Com&ímiíi l^™i" XX,^ Muílrid, isaS, C the cqjTeBpooding putaag^ in tíia "Bou»
ITT, etc. ItSafin.ltlcil*''T)-£ií/íiíiaFwMaBiu^* AbraHüdii." la one pJia^iigrtí of A«t 111.,
► It I» wmth whfk to coíDitare BitetiWdtiBj Lope n&efi a ballínl, tíie flrat llnt^ uf
l^nfiok» V. and VI.,) and Ihe " Cr^pica whiiíli occut ia thtí firat Rct of thii *» Ci^lc»-
h$ttenil,>* C^nm L (^. IIÜ and 111^) with ttiia.^'
22a
Tire ROMA ABRASADA.
[Pkewd IL
with dílíicnlty ; all, as íf he were a wanderin^ knight bo
fjtir t)f the time of Philip tíie Third.* The more tiistorical
lo ve for Poppsea follows; with a ehocking' iüterview Ije-
twecn Ñero and Ijíb mother, ia conscqiience ot whicli he
ortlera her to be at once put to death. The executíoti of
this order, with the horrid exposnre of her persoo aftei^
warda, en da the act, which, grosa as it is^ doca oot sink
to the rcvoltiíig atrocities of the oíd Chromcle from which
it iñ chieíiy takeo,
The third act ib so arranged as partly to gratify the
iiatiüiial vanity and partly to concilla te the iníiueace of
the Churchj of which Lope, like liis contera porariesj
always etoüd in awe. Several devout Ohriatians, thej*e-
fore, are now introducod, and we ha ve an edifying' con-
fession of faitb, embracing the híatory of tíie world from
the ereation to the crncilixion, with an account of what
the Spanish historians regard as the first of the twelyo
perfiecutions. The deaths of Séneca and Lucan follow;
aíid then the conflagration of Rome, which, aB it cou-
atitutes the ahow part uf the play, and is relied on for tlie
Btage effcct it wonld produce^ ía brought in near the
end, out of the proper order of the etory, and after the
building of Nero^s luxarious palace, the '* anrea domus/*
which waa really conatructed in the deaert the fire had
left. The andience, meantimei have been pnt in good
humor by a scene in Spain^ where a conspiracy ía on foot
to overthrow the Emperor^s power ; and the drama con-
eludes with the death of PoppsBa, — again lesa gjoaa than
the account of it in the Chronicle, — with Nero'a own
dcath, and with the proclamation of Galba as hís s«o-
cesaor ; all crowded ioto a apace diaproportionately amall
for incidenta eo importante
But it was not often that Lope wrote so ill or so
groisely. On moderHi and ospeciaily on national Bubjects,
he i a al moa t alwaya more fortunatOj and so rae ti mes bo-
comes powerfnl and impoaing. Among theaCí aa a chai^
acteriatic^ thongh not as a retnarkably favorable, speci-
nien of his snccess, ia to be placed the '* Príncipe Per-
í
* Thla Bcetn Ib in Uie Mcaot aot, Mid fbmuí that part of the plaj where Nema
CiUf. XVI*]
THE PRINCIPE PEKFETO.
221
na
Pr
4t%
lio/' * in which he intends to give his idea of a perfcct
ince under the ctiaracter of Dan John of Por- ^^ j,^-^^^ ^
gal, BQíi of Alfonso the Fifth and contempo- i^rftíu».
raiy witb Ferdiuand and Isabella, a fnll-lengtli portTait
^ whom, bj hm friend and confidant, is drawn in the
uning of the second act, with a minutencss of detail
at leuves no dotibt as to the qualífieg for whích princee
ere valued in the age of the PhilipSi if iiot thoae for
wLich Üiey would be valued now.
Elsewliere in the piecei Don John ía repreaented to
have ixmght bra^elj in the dieíastrous battle of Toro, and
to have Toinntarily reetored the throue to his father, who
liad once abdicated iu Iiis favor and had afterwarda
íclainied the supreme power. FerBOnal coura^e and
rict justice, however, are the attnbntee raost relied on
to exhibí t him as a perfeet prince. Of the former he gives
proof bj killíng a man ín self-defence, and enteríng irrto a
bttU-fight under the moñt pcnlous circnmetanceB. Of the
latter — bis love of jnstiee — many iustances are brought
on the etage, and, among tlie rest^ his protcction ' of
Colurabus, after the return of that great navigator from
A menea, thongh aware how niuch his disco veries liad
rcdotmded to the honor of a rival countrj, and liow
great had been hia own error in not obtaining the beneíit
of theíii for Portugal . Bat the inost prominent of theao
instancea of justice relates to a prívate and personal
liistory, and forms the main eubject of tbe drama. It la
US fullowa.
Don Juan de Sosa, the king^s favorite, is twiee sent hy
hiro to Spain on embaasies of consequeuce, and, wliile
reHidiDg there, livee in the ftimily of a gentleman con-
iiected wíth him bj blood, to whose daughter, Leonora,
lie rnakes love, and wins her affections. Each time %vhen
Don Jtian returns to Portugal, he forgets hm plighted
fatth and leaves the lady to langnish, At lafiti she comes
with her fatlier to Lisboa in the traln of the Spanish
princeíis, laabelbi, now married to the king's son. Bnt
even there the false kuight refnses to roeognÍ7;e hia
* Coaudíaii, Tam. XI., Bareeíona, IfllS, It 131 > etó.
222
THE PRINCIPE PEBFKTO.
[pEitiojJ JLM
oblígations. In her despair, she presen ts herself to thol
kiüg^, and explains her position in the folio wing- conversar
tiqn, wiiich i a a favorable apecimen of tlie easy narrativo
iü wliich reaidea bo mnch of the charm of Lope^s drama» ]
As Leonora cntei-B, ehe exclaims ? —
Prince, whora ín peace and war men perfect csail^
LíatíMi a wojníin'a eay !
King. Begin ; — I hear.
Lmnora. Padríqne — be of Ancient Lora'a house.
And govcmor of Se vil le — is my sire»
Kin^* Püiiiae there, and paráon first íUg courtesy
That owes íi debt to thj uaiue and to his,
Wliich ignorancü alptiü coiild fuil to pay.
Leom^u. Sach condesen ndiníí gcntleness^ my lord,
Is wortlij of Üic wiadom and the wit
Wl^iuh throngh the world are blaaoncd and admired^ —
But to my talo. Twíce cíime there to Costílti
A knight froni tliis tbj land, whosc namtó I hide
Till all hi3 fraiíds are raanifest,» For tbou,
My lordj dost lo ve him in líach wiíse, that, wBtt
Thou other than tbon art, my truo cojupiainta
* Would fcar to seek a justiee thoy in vaia
Would strivu ío find. Each lime wjthin omr hoose
He dwelt a gjuest^ and fram the very first
He sougbt my lova,
Kmg Spcnk on, and let not shame
Oppreaa thy word-H ; for to thü judge and priesl
Alíke coufessií>n*9 voice should boldly come^
L&onora. I was ó^xtivQá. He went and left me sod
To mourn his absence ¡ for of them he ia
Wlio lea ve behind their knightly, nohler partd,
Whea tbey tbemsclvéís aro long Kincc fied and gone,
Agaín he came^ his voke more aweetly tnned.
More 8Íren-likc, than evcr. I heard the voioe,
líor ktiew its bidden fraud* O, would that Heaven
Had madti aa^ in its higbest jnstice, deirf,
Since tongues 30 fali^e it gave to men I He lured.
He loned me as the fowlcr Lares the bird
In snares and mesheR híd beneath the grass.
I stmggled, but in vain ; for Lo ve, hcaven'a child,
HoA powiít- the ttiightjüijt fortreíis to gubdoe.
He pledged hia knightly Mrord, — ín wrítíng pledgéd il|
Trust! ng that afterwardíi, ín Portugal,
Thci deht and all miglit Siifely he denied j — ■
As if the heavena WL're tiarrower than the earüi^
And justiee uot supremo* I ti ífbort, mj lord,
He weat ; and^ prQtid and vain, ihc biumers bore
CitAP, XVI]
THE PEEKCIPE PERFETO*
223
Tkat my subtnlssion markfid, nol mj ddbaC ;
For where love is, tliere comes no vietory*
Hí» spoils be tau-riííd to íúe naüve laiid,
Ai if thcy had been torn in hcmhea war
Prom AfKea ; aucli ña in Ardí a.
Id Badiest yoath, thy^lf with giory won ;
Or snch a& qüw, frotit shorea remóte, thy ijhípa
Bring honie, — dark slovesj to clarkcr fllavery.
Ko written wtít-d of Lis carne tiaek to mo.
Mjr honor wept ita obsequies ^ nad bnilt íts tomb
Witb Lovo's extinga íshed torchtis. Soon, the prínce^
Thy son, wiis wed witli our Infanta faír, —
God gram it for a blessitig to both nfalras í -^
Aod wiih liefj ns ambassador, my aire
To Lisboa carne, ftnd I with him, But hete —
Even hcns— hig promiMs tb^t kníght denles.
And so disheattens aiid deápi&es me,
Tbflt, if your Graeii no retnedy can ñnñ^
The cnd of all Tuast be the end of lifo, —
So bcavy íb toy misery.
JSjn^, ThaíBCroin
Thott bafit it ?
Lesmta. Siirely. It w^ere mx error
Not to be repaired, if I had loat it
I J&'ñv?. It cannot be but I sboald ki^ow the haíid,
If be yfho wTote it in my honsehold serFe.
Leonora, ThJts m tha ecn»Ilj my lord^
Eifíff. Atid John ñ& Sosa'fl is
Thti signature ! But yet, un lesa mine eyca
Had secn and rMogaized his vcry band,
I ctever had believed rh© tale tboa bring^t ; ^
So higbly deem 1 of bis faitUfuluess*^
^. Zata, Prbielpe, qo^ en pas» j en ¿ni^rtiii
Tf Iknu penMo cL mundop
Dt. Xw. Del sobemHdor Fadtique
Do L44V |D>^ Jiljn. J?í^i/K EiptiA-
^r^tllL é1 na cnñotipríñ
Lft cdiiiefll*, quQ es deuda
Pignft i tti pprdre y & tJ»
IMgii» die ta ingenio cIatOi
Que el nr>utid<i admim J C«lfilC)m, —
Fur d^ii v«M!i-ft ñ Cutllla
Fufl mi fluUígn dMta tierriL, —
Qa« iiulfrní eneabrir el nombre.
Huta que ID enfnúiy iépu t
Fbrt]t)p& yt ^uleree de Rioddf
Que temlenii qnr mli quoi^a*
Nu liMlumn jUMlicSn en U,
ííí «tn* quff tu roinmó f^icmai.
MI volwnM. Itni' Ti^ níItlÉut*,
Qt» tamMen con loi jneni
Lm^ pommju le con A cfiuui.
^vrt\fmsi t lk>re su «imínei* t
Qu« lu porto) d^ie hldül^i
QuMnilíi' Cil §6 parte, elliu quedan.
33cduiD oírsi TDM+ y bqliiiu
M» dulcemente StrenHir
Ctm la vos no ti «I «ngnñOK
Af^ DtcH 1 Befior, <1 uocEcnm
Ih.a« nm^n» ^n ordos,
Yd. que t» homlirtdl cnn 1citgnAt<
Llimome ál fin, ceniD lufls
A Lr pcTttU la canteln
Iivl f<ueD(l&r rngnfi'cno^
Lm» rvAe4 üntR U yema,
]|?aSst!m€! i miu que^ Importa,.
Bi la miiyoT fortakí*.
No roritrudize el amor.
Que «í hijo tie \aa crtrcUnB f
1Jn4i ct>diila niP tilio
Do ner mi msjlíltj* y e*ta
THE NUEVO JÍUNDO.
[Fehiod n.
1
The dénouenieni natnrallj consísts in the marríage^ whlch
is thus made a recúrd af the king's perfect justice.
Columbus, aB we have seen, appcars iu thie piece. He
Í8 introduccd with little skill, but the dignity of his pre-
tensionfl is not forg-otten* In another dranja^ devot^^d to
m Nuevo ^-he discovery of America, and called *' Tho New
Muuiio. World of Columbus/* hia character is furtlief
aiid more truly developed. The plaj itself embraces tlie
eventB of the great Admirar» life between hia first Yain
cffort to obtain countcnance in Portugal and his tri-
umphant presentation of the epoils of tlie New World to
Ferdinand and Taabella at Barcelona, — a period amount-
ii2g to about fourteeA years.'' It m one of Lope's more
wlld and extrava¿jai;t attempts, bnt it is uot withoutmarks
of his peculiar talento and it fully embodies tho national
feeling in rcgard to America, as a world rescued from
heathenism, Sorao of ita ecenes are laid in Portugal ;
others on the plain of Granada, at the moment of its fall ;
others in the caravel of ColumbuB during the mutiny j
and jet others in the West Indics, and before hia sover-
eigns on hia retorn home.
i
En tMti.ii4o rti FütttiifuL,
Ccmjo vi tul irfelt) n^ ftmtM.
Ckilo iobrti lúdD ül niuudo,
T WM Jnitícts cnpreinK.
Al fln, Séáor, el h fltA,
UAinó &nn luí bindéTM
De una mu^r yt. mndldi \
Que dciqdo hioy HmoFf nu h*y fteer^
Bm](KiJ[Di tnTO t m jMfrl»,
Cdtno el do AfHci ñioniii
Xhílm Mqro4, qu^ f n AmUi»
Veiinlirle en tu üdAd iurtinetA,
Ú dti Ini reTnott™ mare*!
He ütiyOM blanCBJ' [umuU
Tui BmudM PüttuguptÉMk
Kdooft iBit# vi lütTm iuyn.
lAoní lili «n (ir bus nb»c(iuiUi^
lE* el tumiatn del IWitito,
T d.« Kinor ini huchu muartu.
CMió el FHiK^lpe tu h'^o
Cciii naettra Infauli^ qac mí!m
Pmim Meu de cntniíntH^ reyaoft.
Vlaa mi jiadn! etin tU»,
Vine vfm ¡A ft Lliboa,
I>trnil<! L-^tt^ nduIgnnirfK
Tan jnftM iildlinu^loneB^
Y lie BUerlc tnt dcnprccís,
tiuc nip hn úfi quitar la vida,
91 In AlivvB po Tvinediii
Metf, Ylue !« cédula f I>. Leo. ]
Error ntt tucrli puiTd«kdtJ^
J6?í'. Ytí onnoc^n In letn,,
£1 Of cHádu díú mí evi*
/>. £?(!. It^rior» It ci^dtili. «1 ekta.
Jifcjf, I^a flrm» diitt Don Juau
De 9oiii I No 1u c»yL-rA,
A no [funDüsr li Arma,
De jtii virtud y ii^iidi'ii«i&.
Comedí M de lApe de V#p^ l^iM.
XL, SArcelona, IdlH, Rf. 145, 144,
ftud leada to the dünoueTaení by one of
tíiacK! flowin; imrrAtlre&, hke tJi ItnUoíi
Húvciia^ to ▼htch Lop^ Grcitaently eeaorta,
wheo the intrlgulog &ble of th«í dmum Imi
heen cairled fu euougli tfi ñU a|i Üie tibns«
cii«toiiiary acts.
í Cfunedltó, T«ij. IT., Midrid» 1614 i
and ftls) ín the AppendLx lo 0clK>ii''ít *' Tta-
tro Escogido de LojhS de Tíjitá" ÍParÍB,
XS3S, Bi^Js» Femando de Zarate tfXik Eutina
of the iQAti.'riütR for hia "'' Conqnletn flu
Meifico," (CamiL-diHj Ksoo^dAS, fVim- KXX.,
MíulPid, lecB,) BUiíh ft-1 the otX'Ulng of J«f-
nHila IL^ fn>iQ thli pío; of lA^pií de
Vega.
Bhak XVLJ
THE NUEVO MUNDO,
225
Amang the personajes, besides such as míght be rear
^onablj antícipated from the coursG of the etorj, are
ÍPDxalvo de Coiilova, Bundry Moors, eeyeral American
Indiana, and several epí ritual beings, such as Providcnce,
Cbristiamtj, aud Idolatry ■ tJie last of whom etrug^les
■with ^reat vehemence, at the tribunal of ProYideuce,
a^ainst the iutroduction of the Spaniards and their relíg-ion
íiito the New World, and in passagee like tbe following
B&mñ in dan^cr of having the best of tbe argument,
O Providenco Dívme, permit thmi not
To do IQQ thiñ most; plúin unrighteaiisii^s !
*T Í6 but basé avarice that spnrs thctn ovl.
RoHgion iñ the color and tlie cloak ¡
Bat gold and sil ver, hid within tlie oarth.
Are ali tLey tnily seek oiid stríve to wiuJ^
The greater parfc of the action and the best portions of
it pass in the New World ; but it ia diiHcult to imagine
^anything more extrayagant than the whole fablc. Dra-
niatio propriety is con s tan ti j set at naught, The Indiana,
before the appearance of Europeans among them, sing
Fftboat PhiJíbus and Diana ; and while, from tbe firat, they
talk nothing but Spanish, tbey frequently pretend, after
^the arrival of tho Spaniards^ to be unable to undersíand a
Ford of their language, The scene in whicb Idolatry
pleads ita causo against Christianity before Divine Provi-
^dence, the sceaes with the Demon, and those touching
the con versión of the beathen, raíght have been presented
In the nidest of the oíd Moralities. Those, on the con-
trai^, in whicb the natural feelinga and jealonsies of tbe
simple and ignorant natives are brought out, and those in
^which Columbus appcara^ — always dignilied and gentle,
-are not without merít, Few, however, can be said to
trnly good or poetical ; and yet a poetical in teres t is
kept II p throngh the worst of them, and tbe story tbey
iavolvG is foUowed to the cnd with a livíng curiosity,
The commoD traditions are repeated, that Coluntbua
A. hft^cf fjit* dlUgcTvcbi
10*
ViiQ fc 1i uácar pliitA y fím
Doi un CW Uitrtci ttóWJrOL
O
226
THE CASTIGO SDí VENGANZA.
[Peíuoi* IL
was born at Nerví, and tliat he receíved from a djmg
pilot at Madeim the charla that lod bim to his grand
adventure ; but it is sing'ular, that, ín contradiction to
all this, LopCj in other partB of the plaj, shoiild have
haaarded the sug-g^ostioii, that Columbus waa moved hj
Divine inepiration, The fiiar, in the scene of the mu-
tiny, declares it e^presslj ; and Columbus himaelf, in biB
dificourse with his brother Bartholomew, when theJr for^
tuníiB seemed all but deeperate, plaiüly aUudea to it,
when be says ;
A hidden Dí^ity stlU áñv^ me on,
Bídding 1TIÍ3 ttmt the tmth of what I M,
And, íf I watch, or if I slecp, impela
The stratig wíil boldly to work otit its waj.
But wbttt ia thíé that thus poBSCsseB mo 1
Whftt splni is it drives me OQward thiis !
Where am I bomo 1 What íb the mud I take 1
WbjLt track of destinjr is thia I trcad ?
And what tlie imputse that I blindly follow 1
Am I not poor, unkiiOT^ii, a brokeii man,
Dcrpcndiag on the pilot's anxlous trado 1
And shall I venturo on the mighty taflk
Ta aúd & distan t vvorld to thia we know 1 *
Tho conception of the character m ihia particular is good,
and, beíng" founded, as we know it was, on the personal
convictions of Columbus himself^ mig-ht have bcen fol-
lowed out bj further development& with poetical eílect.
But the opportunity i a neglected, and^ lika many other
occasions for success, is throwu away \>y Lope^ íbrongh
bastü and care le asneas.
Another of the dramas of Ibis class, " El Castigo ein
EiPftrtitgu Ycnganzaj^* or " Punishment, not Revengo/* ia
piíiVnn- important from the mode !n which ita subject ia
trcatcdj and iütereeting^ from the circumstance
that its hifitoiy can be more exactly traced thau tbat of
I>i(.-i>L-nidr.im(; ííu« m venladl,
iX^m un fiii« miü fiíiprnift 6 qnn V4T(^
FtTHítplie mi vnlnutiJlL
Qüc ef ontQ [juc liLii f ntradt» en m'í t
l^ulen me llura b wiüe^'u nnsí ¡f
XJuiiiltf voy^ dundú CiULiiíuu 'i
{^^e dcmotiL, qach dlfíitlcio
I fu hcnnbTfs pctlirt, j aun rolo.
Qúfi anxt lü pueda áiícir,
Y qa« vlVtí ¿ú JiíkiliQ,
Quiera r& e«lP mundo Añndlr
Otru mundn tan rrititrlü I
£1 NucTU Slundo, Jbm^ L
tíAiv XVIJ THC CASTIGO SIN VEKGAKZA.
227
fcny aiber of Lope's pkys, It is fotiuded oa the dark and
Jdeoim etory iu the aanals of Ferrarü* durirtg tho ñfíeenth
«iolury, which Lord Byron fouiid in Gibbon's * * Antiqui-
lies of the Houae of Brijuswick/^ aiid made tbe subject
afilie ** Parisina,'^ *^ but whicíi Lope, foUowing the oíd
cbrouiclcB of the duchy, ha^ preaented ín a somewhat
djfiereot light, and thrown with no líttle É^kill iato a
dramatic fortu.
Tbe Duke of Ferrara, in his tragedy, is a pereon of
aark and spirit, — a coramander of tho Papal forcea, and
[« priuce of statesmaulike experience and virtues. He
aanies wheo already past the middic age of Hfe, and
eeiid» hÍ3 natural son, Prederic, to receive hia beautiful
bride, a daughter of the Duke of Mantua, and to con-
duct her to Ferrara. Befare lie reaehee Mantua, however,
Frederic meets her accidentally on the way ; and hiB
irst interview with his etep-motíier is wheu he reseñes
her fmm drowning. From this moment they become
gradually more and more attached to each other, nntil
their attachment enda iu guílt ; partly through the strong
impulses of their own natures, and partly from the cold-
ueHg and faíthlessness of the Duke to his young and
passiouate wife.
On Lia return horne from a sncceseful campaign, the
>uke disco vers the intrigue, A strnggle ensues iKítween
bis aflection for his son and the stinging sensc of bis own
iíshonon At last he determines to puíiÍÉ^h ; but in such"
matiuer as to hide the grounds of his ofíence* To cífect
ithis, he coíifines his wife in a darkened rooui, and so
'conceals and se cu res lier person, that she can neither
movo, ñor spoak, ñor be Been, He then senda his oflend-
¡jng son to Ijer, under the pretence that beneath the pall
thtit hides her is placed a traitor, whom the son is re-
juired to kill iu order to p rotee t hia father's life ; and
rbon the desperate youug man rtishes from the room,
Ignoran t who has been his viotim, he is instan tly cut
K<-'HÜJir híírrür», tliúu^b Uic eveota oe- e)i,miit< ¡ri LnUn. Froncl^ Oenniiii, Tuwitit^
(«vPímJ in 14»fir^ — míiní Ünku two cetíiuries itiitt CivaiUInji.
228
THE CASTIGO SUT YESGANZA.
[PlEíílOtl IL
down by the l)y-standera, on liig father'g outcry, tbat he
liíiB jiiRt murdered his stop-mother, with whoea blood bis
banda are^ In fact^ viaiblj rceking'.
Lnpe finífihcd tbia pUy on tbe Ist of Augtist, 1631^
wbeii be waa near] j sixfey-nitie years oíd \ aud yet ih^m
aro Tew of bis dramas, in tbe cbiss to wbich it belonga,
tbat are more marked witb poetical vi^or, and in none i»
tbe ve rBi 6 catión more ligbt and various.^* Tbe cbarac-
ters, espccially tbose of tbe fatber and son, are better
dcfined and better sustaincd than usual ; and tbe wbole
was evidently wntteti with care, for there ai'e not iijfre-
quently large alterationSí as well as mauy minute ver*
bal correctiona, ia tbe original manuscnpt, -wbich is still
extant.
It was not licenscd for represe ntation tiU tbe 9th of
May, 1632, — apparently from tbe known unwilling^Qess
of tbe court to ha ve iDersons of rank, like tbe Duke of
Ferrara, brongbt upon tbe stage ia a ii^bt so odions.
At any rate, whcn tbe tardy permisBion was g^ranted, it
was accompanicd witb a certifícate tbat tbe Duke was
treated with tbe decorum '' due to hia person ; '' tbougb,
even witb tbis aasurance, it was acted but once, notwitb-
standing it made a strong impreasion at tbe time, and
was brougbt out by tbe company of Fi^ueroa, tbe most
Buccessful of tbo period, — - Arias, wbose acting Mon tai-
van praises bigbly, taking the part of tbe son.*" In 1634,
Lope printed it, witb more than eommon care, at Barce-
lona, dedicatiug it to bis great patrón, tbe Bidce of Sessa,
among " the servants of wboae bouse/' he eays^ '* he wae
inscribed ; " and tbe next year, immediately after liis
death, it appeared again, witbout the Bedícation, in the
twenty-first votume of bis plays, prepared anew by bim*
self for tbe presa, btit publisbed by bis daugbtcr FeU-
ciana."
I
4
n Ttiiü fü&j comtainB ikll the usiml vn-
a sonnct, etc. ^ bat cspecially* lu the trat
mt^ tí nítm of l>efttttiful llueocy*
1* ds/angoB SHyftj that the i^aaoD Üis
feprFst'ntntion was ítopTjed wa* from a
RtippfKíoíl gtju^iaii in tUií Ptnry to the ctiws
üf I>i;}<:i CtiTlga I do uut knaw ifn. vf]ia.t
^aiind he B&jB U^ aiid It íloes not aeem
probrible,
l^ 1 pnaae^ the orijdnal MS^, enEirct^r ip
LopB^a handwiitlnK, with mauy altenitioim,
correstloDB, ftnd fnl^rlioeationft bjr bitiifleír»
It ifl prepFLnMl tur the octom, and has Ún^ U-
cense fnr repreflcntin^ It hy- Pedm di; TArgna
Machuc.1, ai jiu^t biiüselfi áM LhjP^^í £rb[id|
XYÍ.)
THE ESTRELLA PE SEVILLA-
229
Ltko ♦' Punmliment, not Yeageancc,' ' gei^eral otlií^r
ramas of its clase am imbucd with the deepost spirit of
¡rageíly* '^The KDightiü Comniíiiidera of Cor- KtiSifhta
iirm'' ia an íuetance io poínt.^* It is a parallel ^^''^tcÉ:
the etory of jEgiethiis and Olytemnestra in ^^^^
te horrors ; bat tí^e huaband, instead of ineeting the fate
f Ajjríimt*tniiOtt, puts to death, not orilj his guilty wifc,
ut ail iiiB servíints and eveiy bving thing in liis hoiisc-
hold, to satiafy his savage sense of honor. Poetry is
abundant in Tiaany of iU sceoos, but the atrocitiee of tho
reet mil hardly permit it to be perceived,
"The Star of Seville," on the other hand, though much
IB ore truly tragiCj íñ Hable to no such objoction.^^ ^^ g^^^^j^
In some respecta it reaemblea CorueiUe's ** Cid.*' 'nf*^^"
t the command of his king, and from the truest
'irHv iras miacb emplojal to UcenitP pl^y? ^^ ^^u to gimÜAr Incoiv^rul tte». But tbia
fbr the thustre. He altú fl^ml &% the aiícin» to hhve been üiaqnntinued rA the end
»* Jttfia* Píí*tÍC4i»"©fSíiiiIildPo,i»ublláltód oF tlie uffhtüieBtii ocntüiT- At íuñst, íi) fc
fjr Loiitf Iti 1020 and 1^22 > AJid ki the á^Bina iKrteiJ íkaa^ where rafornuí ia Üic
Jnata'* Id honor of tlie Viricn del Pilar, begluahig of M98. aní píoposed» otie Uk%
wheLher iLtiirthiDg is to be dtii»e vUh the
To wíiiPh the other üoftwera :
£m f it& jtt ref¡.>jrríia4H. t
PoTii<q.í; ii utiD cieri bv ul. diablo
Na lü tftiíante de In c&^rtAn.
Juzfliulo Cmero, ]j^^ [t, K'íS.
Ifay^ tMi hu been reformad olmdif,
IjeM, ^ben W(^ i#iiil thü DevU a Iptler,
Ui^ Bbould be fri^bted when h« «^«u it.
L hy CnaeJTt» in 1620 ^ tíi üultlicr
, boverer, do hia poema give prooí ctqss.
L t&leül, Úiougb th^re is elü doúbt
*í fell popalarlty Tith hia contcmpoinitieil.
lY. p. Ift9,> He elalmed to h& dv^fioendcd
froBi thft Dleiro l*€Ttz de V&rifjas of ilie
l&»lbkd« a¿id Cbroulcleo, who^ havimf Itst
||via nriiiia i^f uJE^ucé al Üiu bAttIe qÍ Xer^E
Üi<s time üf Si, Ferditiiiiul^ Unre off
ithe hraftctt of an olive-tree, eumI üo bcla*
1* Coüiediafl, Tatn. H.^ Mudrld, IflOG.
|br.r,nMhí^ Hlm.r. with U th^t he mctív^ f hdce, flUej^t, - yíi, ia thli pW. lü bte
.^rjíwfí of -Machuca- - *** ^^ FaEote Dv^tma," and k, hl. - renbuoe^*'
or ÍÁe
■j^vii'írr. (Almelii, Vnlerio de líifl HystíV
|riw« E*ii4Jlae*lcaí, Tok-do^ 1541. t 16- a- —
i d* Vepi, LiitifBl de ApMo, IMO, f.
[•í & j At tbe top of each pape ia the lifi. of
r^pe iJo Vfga íft a cro<8B wíth the naitti» or
Clph^ra of ** Je«ai^ María, JoÉopbus, ChTfi-
fím ', '^ Miñ *t the cBd, " littus Dra et Mu- ecasrcc,
rSie Tirfijil," wítb tbe áatn^ of Ita complt-
llon. acrtl the Algnaturfr of the autbor.
I WlMrtber Lope thmigbl U pci*slhl<i to üon-
tVToit^ tho fTMi imniaralitiet oT sdch a
fdiiuna bj nllghnii «yroholB^ 1 do not
ktmw ^ bot ií he did, it wouW iiot be in-
l-emusitírnt wlth hb character <ir the apiri t
I üf hi n timtí. A crmn waa camnáonly put at
Jüie l-^p í>f SpMSiíh letttór*, — a practicc
miiwtpd to ín Ltípc'fl " Perro dol llort^la-
>y** (Ji«rmMla IL^ ) and ime thid uiiLit bavc
4^ tuja,"
— UnjMf Uu9 shDwii ua o.i'ininAaden cif thO
groiit iQnit4irf ordera of IiIb cuuutTy iu Tery
cidjfiuíi colorA, Tepi^fiéntliig tbem ai ifiea wí
th*i niMt flirrce príde atid tlic ip-oéiitst paa-
Biona, hite tbtí Fríínt-dt-Bceuf of Ivatihoe*
is Oíd coplea üf thlB play are esce^iireljr
and I obtiihied, thtrtTum, mauy
years flgo, a taanuscrípt of U, fjv>iu wfhíuh
It wm reprinted twioe In tbis coiinírr hy
Mr F. Sal«, In his " Obra* Maestral Bté.
miticas*^ (Bt^u. 1»5» ^^ ^^^^ ? t^e
Ijwt timís with eiMTeGtíonft, VíwUy f.irni*bed
by Don A. Duran, nf Madrid ^- a eitrlous
fiM^ In Sp&filsh büíUoisniphy» and ^^"f-
ahmild I* menlioneii to the hijisor of Mr.
Sftlefi, whof» varinua pubUcatirtnP ha^
done üuich to spreafí th& love of Spinísh
liU'iuture lu the Unitesl SlalsiP, and to
230
VARIO US inSTOKICAL DRASIAS.
[Pbeiod 1L
Castiliati loyalty, a kniglit of Seville kills bfg friend, a
brother of the lady wliom he is about to marry. Tho
kiíig aftcrwarda endeavora to hold him harmless for tha
crime ; but tbe royal judgcs refuse to iuterrupt the course
of the law íu bis favor, and the brave kníght is saved
from deatb onlj bj tbo plenarj corjfessíoü of his güilty
Bovereig^ü. It is oue of the very emall numbcr of Lopo^s
pieces that have no comió and distrae titig uiiderphit, aiid
is to be placed among- tbe loftiest of his efiforta. Kot a
fcw of its Bcenea are admirable ; espeoially tbat ia whicli
the kiug urges the knight to kill hia friond ; that in wbich
tho lovely and irinocent creature whom the kaight is
aboüt to marry recoiveSj in the midst of the fraiik and
delightful cxprc«sioo8 of her bappiness, tbe dead body of
her brother^ who has be en slain by her lo ver j aiid that in
wliich tho Alcaldes soleranly refuse to wrest the law in
obedieace to the royal cümínaiíds. Tho conclusión is
better tban that in tbo tragcdy of Corneiüe. The lady
abandons the world and retires to a convent.
Of the great number of Lope's heroic dramas on national
Bubjects, a few may be noticed, in order to indícate the
direction ho gave to this división of his theatre. One,
for instauce, is on the story of Bamba, taketi from tbe
othcr his- ploTigh to be made king of Spain ; ^* and another,
^^^ " The Last Goth/^ is on the popular traditiona uf
tbe loss of Spaiii by Roderic ; ^^^ — ^the fi rst bciiig
among tbe earliortt of his puhllshed plays/"^ and the last
not publiahed ti 11 twelve jears after his deatb, but boíh
4
whosiEi I ÉLd iiidebtüd íbr my ñmt ínaw]^
^ágo Ql It The &arfls pijvy J^ wkU known
OD the inoaem Spaniab «tag^ and h^s
beea rapriniod^ both at Modriil ajid Lon-
don, wlUí Inrea Jüteratíoús, ander the tillé
í>f **Sftiichtt Ortíí de iaa Roelai." An ei-
celküt BbBtrain of it. Id ít» original fitale,
and fAlthrui tranalatíona of parta of It, nsv
U* be fouDd ín Lord HnlUiifi'a LtíV? of I^ipe
(Vol. I. pp. 165 _ 200) ; mt of whíeíi, nnd
not out of tho ^panLah orljrtnal, Bnran
Z9,lULanompoF*i>»l " I>er 3ti>m voii Bevttla V"
B pl\? hjf no m^^HTi» wilhout mf^rit, whli-ih
Vea i,rUú"ú al S\iíti\*nrd In IS:^, anri Una
iH'en often act^d in diíTerent ]iiirtiri of Ocr-
íDmjy. The lüUíilititíi! referred to Lti the
*' Estrella de Sevilla," Inctujdíng the honats
of OuAtoa Tubenif tbe loTcr of Ei^trellat vtm
Bttil flboira at S^vlll^i. l^ituiíir^ Etudae sur
rSepAgae, Parf», ISfiñ, Tom. Ih p. 63, eta.
í8 CcmedlaSf Totn- I,, YullodciUd, 1504|
jf. 01, etc.^ In whLch Lope hm wtai^lj ta\-
lowed tbe oíd monktsb tradltlonfin, ratlier
tban uilher tbe '* Criiníca General^" (Rnrte
IT. e. 51,) or tbe yet mnríí soHupwl acconnt
of Marlftíia (HísL, Lito. VT, o. ISS).
IT Onmerltas, Tuni. XX\.^ QnTnvntiL,
113-17, ir. aas, etc. It I» callea ^' Tm^co-
1* Thíí firqt pd ilion nf íTiP flrflt ^'"TlllH"' flf
Lope'^jí pln>^ IB tliut uf ValiadriUd„ ItiDi.
Seo BrufinC, eto.
CttAT. X\aj VARIOUS fflSTQTUCAL DRAMAS*
Í31
written in ene spirit and upon tlie eame syatem. On the
attnictivp eubject of Bernardo del Carpió he has eeveral
dramas. One is callea '' The YüuthM Adventnres of
Bertianlo/* and reUtes hh exploite down to the tinie wheti
lie díscovored the secret of hia bkth. AiJüther, called
** Achievements of Bernardo del Carpió/' I have neyer
seea, but it ia among the plays Lord üoliand had read.
Aodathird, ** Marriage in Deatii," involves tbe miscon-
duct of King Alfonso, and the heart-rending ecene in
which the dead bodj of Bernardo ^e father is doliverod to
the hero, who has sacríficed everything to filial piety, and
now fitids hiniself crashed and niined by it.^^ The sevea
Infantes of Lara are Dot passed over^ as we eee bolh in
the play that beara their ñame, and in the more stríking
ooe on the story of Madarra, "El Bastardo Mudarra/' ^
Indeed, it Beems as if no pirtureí^qne poiut in the national
ftnnals were overlooked by Lope ; "^^ and thafc, aftor bring-
ing on tjie stage the great events in Spanish hi story and
tradition conaecntively down to hia own timeg, he looks
fouiM] on all sides for subjecta, at borne and abroad,
toking one from the usurpatiou of Boris Gadniíow at
MoscoWi in 1606,^ another from the conquest of A raneo,
iü 1500,^ and another from the great league that ended
with the battle of Ijepanto, in 15tl ; in which last, to
id the awkwardness of a sea-fig^ht on the stage, ho íñ
Ity of ínti-odaciug the greatcr awkwarduees of aa alle-
» Tlifi flrít tffrt of Ihese plays^ which
are not to be founcl la üi& ooUocbdd dra-
mtitíc wnrke &f Lopt^^ ha^e often heen
firintefi »epiu<4t£lj \ biit the Uut «)eciu-Sj I
t»rlk'Ti\ ooly ín Ihe flrst folnme oT the
the f¥|irii]U flf It, Ti mtiku» free ase of Üie
tü<l Ihilláils of I>amndikit%ftti4 Beknoft*
^ The *' Siete InTaatep de Isata,*' i« la
tho rnrafdiaa, Tum. T*, Hadrláf 161* \ ánil
the ** BMtdnlcí MudjLrm *• lí lu Toro,
ti TIiUA, the ftttnictlve ifccBfy of **Er
Mrjnr Alfiíilde' el Uey'^ ifit M he hitQswlf
Hl* ut At 1lhl^ conclusión, tükea from the
«rth pnrl of the " Criiiíca íl* ijeral."
f *^ VA flran Ihniae de iluwovit,''' Co*
d 1 '1 *, Triii , Vi I . , M Eulritl , 151 7.
*'Aniuco Domiído^" ComL-diatí Tona,
XX,, Miulrld, Ifi^. The «cene h laíd
aboiit l&QO } bat the ptay 1h Inlended aa a
cotnplim&tit tí» the llvlnif bou of the con-
i|ueror. In th& Dedicutlon to him^ ]>i[ie
aEieits ít til be a tme hiitary \ but thi:'f<* 5fl^
i>f coar^é^ much InveDtlon EninKlEKl wlth it,
««pcdally in th« ports thnt do honor íq ths
Bpanlardü* Among It» peramages le th<*
AUtbor of the ^' Araucana/' A1w»a de
ISFcülaf who CQineB iipon tlie stage beathig
a dram ! Another fliKl earUcr |jlay of Lope
muy he¡ compatf!d irith the "Aíauco^*"
I ineaii " Los Gttupchea de Tenerifc ^ {Qci-
mejillas, Tom. X,, Mtidrid, 163», t Vm). It
ía m the elmhíir «ublect of the conqü^t of
Iho Cim&tf Isbnsía, hi the tlaie of Fcrdí-
nniid and T:*iihíjllEv, and, a« íti tha " Anmíxi
Kfjfrmtto," Üitf natlvea occüpy muoii oí th*
GftDTlM.
232
VARIOÜS HlSTOfilCAL DEAMAS.
P?£IllOD
gorical figure of Spain descríbing the battie to íM AH
dience m Madrid, at the Ycry moraent wheii ít Is éupposÉJ
to be going oü near tbe sborea of Greece."
The wbole clasa of thoso heroic and historical dramas,
ChMJwber it should bo reniembered, mukee littio cbim to
torkai'"** historical accuracy, A love story, filled as ueuítl
dfaaia. wíth hairbrcadlh escapes, jealous q narréis, an(iU|
qnestioíjs of honor, rniis thrQiigh nearlj every one di
them j and though^ in eome cases, we maj trust to the
&cts set before ue^ as wc must in " The V alian t Cesp©^
doB," whero the poet graveij declares thatíail except thl^|
love adventnres aro strictly trne,^ still in no case can ít
be pretended, that the maanere of an earlier age, or of
foreign nations, are rcspocted, or that the general color-
ín g of the represen tat ion h to be regai-ded as faithfuU^J
Thus, in ono plaj, we see Ñero hurryíng abont th^|
streets of Eome, like a SpanisU gallant, with a guitar on ni
hiB arm, and making love to his misíress at her grated
window,^ In another, Belisarima, in the days of his
glory, Í8 selocted to act the part of Pyramns in an ínter- ,
ludo bofore the Eraperor Jus timan, much as if he be-
longed to Níck Bottom's company, and afterwards has
his eyes pnt out, on a charge of making love to the
Empress.^ And in yet a third, Cyrus the Great, after he
is seated on hÍB throne, m arries a Bhepherdess.^ Bul there
í* "La Satita Ugu,' Comedias, Tom.
XV., xMftdrid, wn.
ai *^ Kl Vall&Rto Céspedes," Cntn&tUAA,
tíMii> XX., Madrid, 1639. ThL» notioe iñ
of tendeniesa to the repatatiun of ñaña
MiirítH ili Ceispedeá, who dmé not np^teiur
la the play with nll Üie di^nit^ which thase
whu, in Lope^a Üme^ clÉ^imed bi> be descend-
ed tmaL her mt^bt exiurt at h\ñ hunda.
a» la " Ruma Abrasada," Acta 11. í. 89,
alreartjr aotlcxvl, ante. p. 31U.
>? Jümuda II. [jf ú « templo MiiTOr fie
tft Déñdiphft, y Capitán Beliáariü \ " not in
tliif cüllecütni of Lqih's ptajft, and lhou|or!i
flílíín prlDti?d B&pnmtel}r ns hii, and in-
Btífted Hfl siich ón Lfírri Hültand's llst, ít [p
publiibed In tbe oíd and curinui oolicctían
entttlud "■ CumefÜMdtf Wfür^ntpa Autores,"
(4t(j, Títm. XXY., Ziirftfrjfflft, lftil3,) na the
irqrfc of Moutalv^aü, hotíi he and Lrjpe b^-
tog then nlíve. Anii, afWr nll, ít tum* oiit
ta béloH^ to neitlier of thcm, for Tdd
8cíi:ick foundií Su the ©nke of Osenim** m*-
DiLrabiie collecrttan at Múdrfd, thiB very pli
in. the haodwritliftg of Mita de Meíci
oDd BÍ|riKd by him a« tis author- Wl
Tendera tbe aflair morí! odd iá, thal tht'iw
iSt wltli tbe aDtüfrmpb plftí% ttie autograph
aproftacinn at Lope, cantaminjf ü gmcfl
qnmpLinieni tó Mira de Me«cuii an the ai
thor» and dntmí Jiily, 1612&. íNsirhtrJgfl,
IBM, SiTíj, p. 5T ) I leave both text and
noté^ pw}iJUhed*seTeral yeapü bHbre th«j
date of Üiirt díscavery, a» the>- Wfre orijrt^
niiily printed, because thoy aflbrd
amusiDfy^ proof of a rfxklffwneiw not un-
common among Ibe publi>«b^r9 of Spanísli
dramjia ín the ^renteentb ocntury^
sa •^Contra, Valoí no hay Dcídícha,**
lÁkB the laflt, !t haa b«eti often ret^tinted^
It bfpfíns víih Uio in>iíRaTitlc ftcomint
Oyrtis^ exrMJstiFC ta d#ath, ín c^antKíquei
Df h1« gmnrdrittliier^ai (Ireain, and etid!B wl<
u lirtttlff und his Tictory o^er Astf^^
all hX^ i^nemiea.
Chaf. XVL] VARIOUS HISTORICAL DRAMAS. 233
is no end to Buch absurdities in Lope's plays; and the
explanatíon of them all is, that they were not felt to be
Buch at the time. Truth and faithfulness in regard to the
&cts, manners, and costume of a drama were not sup-
posed to be more important, in the age of Lope, than
an observation of the unities ; — not more important than
they were supposed to be a century later, in Franco, in
the unending romances of Calprenéde and Scudéry ; — -
not more important than they are deemed in an Italian
opera now : — so profound is the thought of the greatest
of all the masters of the histórica! drama, that " the best
in this kind are but shadows, and the worst are no worse,
if imaginatiou amend them.''
CHAPTER XVII.
LOPE DE VEQÁf CONTtXUEn, — UHAMAS tHÁt ÁU% FOTr5I>t]I> OK TIIE
MANl^íERS OF COMMOÍÍ LIFB. TKB Wl^^E MAM AT* UüMK. — J'ilB
BAMBEL THEOÜORA. — CAFTÍVÜS 1M AIíGLERB. — jyFLÜEtíÜE O^ THB
' CUUHCH Oh' THE JJRAMA. WJFE'a PLATTS FROJT BC BT PT Ult JH, — T H»
nmtH OF cnmsT. — the crkatiojt ow the wohld. — lope^s
PLATfi ON THE UVES OE fiAi:N13. — SAINT IB1I>0RE 0¥ MADRII».—
I-Or<S SACEAMENTAL AUTOñ FOft THtS FESTIVAL OF TTIE GORPÜ8
CHRISTI, — TB^IE PHOLOQUEa. — TÜElR INTERLUDES. — TllE XütOi^
THEMISELTEB.
Thb hiatorícal drama of Lope waa but a deviation from
the more trulj national type of the " Comedia de Capa y
Espada/' made by the introduction of historical ñames for
its leadiiig personages, iostead of those that belorig to
fashionable and knightly lite. Tbie, however, was not
the only devíatioíi he mado.^ He went some times quite
as far on tho other eide^ and created a variety or euh-
piays on dívísíon of tho theatrc, founded o?i coinmon í//e,
cowíjínjü Ufe, ¡jj which the cbief personages, Iike those of
'' The Watemaid/' and "The Slave of her Lover," be-
long to the lower classea of society.^ Of such dramas,
he has Iñü only a íbw, bnt the se few are interesting.
*
I
comcditvt de ruido ,• bat li doea not taemí
a. clAM of playí at^parated froro tb.e oíhcn
hf áiS&Ttnt ralea of cnni]H)HlU(jii, It rerera
to the ma^shkiery usad iu their eschibEtlan \
9o thn,t comcítiaH fi« tapa jf espada^ and
iajiecia.\íy comEdias de ¡tantos^ whfcll «rtea
dema:nded a, large apparatxiB^ wcro not nn-
frequcDÜir comedias de ruido ^ otherwlflc
called com^diax de easot or comedias de
falfrica. Id the aiuiio way, ^omediax dj*
aparienciis^ were píayB dematidtn}^ mueti
peenfMy und acenB^ahtftini^.
= ''La Moaa da C&ntiinj" and "Ia Ka-
olAvn de bil Galán " bATt continncd to be
f&vorir«s down to oiif owd time§* The fint
Wtts printed at Ltmdorj^ not rnnny ^eam
ü^Oy and the iRSt aC Vaá9^ Íxí OcIioa^» cl^-
lectioDj 1^53. 8vOf and at Sielefeld, in that
of Sctiüu^ IHM^ Stí*
Lope üonietEtiieS' went vcry loír down,
tanaa^ cnnrtesans^ ftííd ríiguefl^ fof the snb-
jecto fjf hJa playas m ín the " Anznelo do
Funísa" (the etory of which, I ñuppmet
he tíHilc frntti the Pecaraeíon, TITTth dar^
Itlth Lti!.), «El EuBan DklioflOj" o^d
GoAT. xni.]
DlíAMAS ON C03LM0N LIFE.
235
I Perhaps the best spccimcn of them Í3 *' The Wiee Man
Home/' m which the ham, if he may be so called, is
|[eodo, tlie son of a poor c-harcoal-burner.^ He ^^icuettio
mtirríed the OB!y cbild of a respectabie ^"Cadii.
rmcr, and m m an easy condition of life, witli the road
advíuicemeat, at least ín a gay course, open befare him.
Sut he prefería to remain where he íb. He refuses the
«oHcitations of a neighboríng lawjer or clerk, eugaged Ín
public ídlaira^ who would hav€ the honeet Meado take
ilpoa bimself the aira of an hidalgo aud caballero. Espe-
silly upOQ what was then the grcat point in pHvate life,
^— bis relations with bis pretty ivife, — he shows hia mii-^
form good eenso, while bis more arabitioua fríeud falla
iutü Berioua embarrasamente, and is obliged at laat to
come to him for couosel and help.
The doctrine of the piece is well explained in the fol-
lowing- reply of Mondo to hia friend, who bad been urg'mg'
him to lead a more showy Ufej aud raise the externa
circumetances of his fathei\
He that 'wbs boro to líve in humble slate
M^es but an nwkwíird knight, do what; yoii wilL
Mv father memis to dic as he has Uved^
The same plaín colHer lliat he ülwíijá was ;
Aod I, búo, mtiaí; au bonf^sti ploughman dio.
T ís biit a single itopí or up or down ;
For men there musí be Üiat vtiíi plotigh and dig.
And, wbeQ the vm& h&A ontsd boen ñlhát be sute
*T wUl always savor of wUat first ¡t held.*
The atory is Jeaa important than it ís m man y of Lope^s
ramas ; but the sketches of common lile are sometimes
E>ifitad| like the one in which Mondo deacribea bis firat
ijight of his fiíture wíle^ busíed in houaehold work, and
• ComedUa» Tíim, TE,, IrUdrid, 1015, (T,
It may b€3 wuTlh ní»tice^ ihat tbe
tíifer üf M&Qd«> b liko thííl tif CamAoha
í S«nrtint Pitírl of tkín QiilxiilSi whIcU
I f^r»t príiitenl In th& uime yeair, 1615.
h*tVif ACcMei^fnli, alihrMigh Jyypa vas not
4 Kl tiné- n&ckt pan bumUdo
Mil puede nez CKikllcia,
Mi jimdrt^ ((uLí'FC modrí
L.«0iiiiTi!1ap Kfma natjih
CiirhnnQm me pnfendrft ;
Jjübntdnr quiürD niEiHr.
Y al Uu ?i un gndo mu,
A>'i, ^uk-ii HM y quien ciHíe,
Sio'niinn!' p1 vano k1 IJeor nbc.
236 THE DONZELLA TEODOR. [Pkriod H.
the elabórate scene where his first child is christened.*
The characters, on the other hand, are better defíned and
drawn than is common with him ; and that of the plain,
practically wise Mendo is sustained, from beginniug to
end, with consistency and skill, as well as with good
dramatic effect.*
Another of these more domestic pieces is cálléd " The
i^j)jj^. Damsel Theodora," and shows how gladly and
eeiia Teodor ^íth what ingonuitj Lopo Boized on the stoneg
current in his time and turned them to dramatic account.
The tale he now used, which bears the same title with
the play, and is extremely simple in its structure, Í8
claimed to have been written by an Aragonese, of whom
we know only that his ñame was Alfonso.' The damsel
Theodora, in this original fiction, is a slave in Tunis, and
belongs to a Hungarian merchant living there, who has
lost his whole fortune. At her suggestion, she is offered
by her master to the king of Tunis, who is so much struck
with her beauty and with the amount -of her knowledge,
that he parchases her at a price which re-establishes her
master's condition. The point of the whole consists in
the exhibition of this knowledge through discussions with
s There ia in these passages sometbing been composed aftcr the taXL of Granada,
of the euphuifltical style then in foror, Gayangos gires editions of the " DonseUa
under the ñame of the estilo eulto^ with Teodor " in 1637 and 1640, and mentions
which Lope somctimes humored the more an Arabio yersion of it, which leads him to
fashionable portions of his audience, thoogh the coi^ectore that the Aragonese, Alfonso,
on other occasions he bore a decided testi- to whom Antonio attribates the story, is no
mony against it other than the converted Jew, Pedro Al-
o This play, I think, gave the hint to fonso, who in the twelfth centory wrote tiie
Calderón fór his " Alcalde de Zalamea," in ** Disciplina Glericalis.** (See onfe, Yol. L
which the character of Pedro Crespo, the pp.63, 64, note, and the Spanish translation
pcasant, is drawn with more than his ac- of thi8History,Tom.n.pp.363-357.) But
customed distinotness. It is the last piece I cannot think it is older than the time of
in the common collection of Calderones Charles V. ; probably not older than the
Comedias, and nearly all its characters are capture of Tunis, in 1635. The eopy I nfle
happily touched. is of 1726, showing that it was in fitvor in
7 This is among the more curious of the the eightcenth century •, and I
oíd popular Spanish tales. N. Antonio another printed for popular «irculation
(Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 9) assigns no age to about 1846. We flnd eariy allnslons to
its author, and no date io the published the Doniella Teodor, as a well-known
story. Denis, in his " Chroniques de l'Es- personage •, for example, in «The Modest
pagne," etc., (Paria, 1839, 8vo, Tom. I. p Man at Court»* of Tirso de Molina, where
285,) gives no additional light, but, in one one of the characters, speaking of a lady
of Lis notes, treats its ideas on natural his- he admises, cries out, *» Que Doncella Teo-
tory as those of the moyen rige, It seems, dor ' ♦♦ Cigarrales de Toledo, Madrid,
however, from internal evidence, to have 1624, 4tO| p. 158.
Chap. XVn.] THE CAUTIVOS DE ARGEL. 23?
leamed men ; but the subjects are most of them of the
commonest kind, and the merit of the story is quite in-
considerable, — less, for instance, than that of " Friar
Bacon/' in English, to which, in several respecta, it may
be compared.^
But Lope knew his audiences, and succeeded in adapt-
ing ibis oíd tale to their taste. The damsel Theodora, as
he arranges her character for the stage, is the daughter of
a professor at Toledo, and is educated in all the learning
of ber fikther's schools. She, however, is not raised by
it above the influences of the tender passion, and, running
away with ber lover, is captured by a vessel from the
coast of Barbary, and carried as a slave successively to
Oran, to Constantinople, and finally to Persia, where she
Í8 sold to the Saltan for an immense sum on account of
ber rare knowledge, displayed in the last act of the play
mucb as it is in the original tale of Alfonso, and some-
times in the same words. But the love intrigue, with a
mnltitude of jealous troubles and adventures, runs through
the whole ; and as the Sultán is made to understand at
last the relations of all the partios, who are strangely
assembled before bim, he gives the príce of the damsel as
ber dower, and marries her to the lover with whom she
originally fled from Toledo. The principal jest, both in
the drama and the story, is, that a learned doctor, who
is defeated by Theodora in a public trial of wits, is bound
by the terms of the contest to be stripped naked, and buys
off bis ignominy with a sum which goes still further to in-
crease the lady's fortune and the content of her husband.*
The last of Lope's plays to be noticed among those
wbose subjects are drawn from common life is a more
direct appeal, perhaps, than any other of its class to the
popular feeling. It is his " Captivos in Algiers,'' ^° and
has been already alluded to as partly borrowed or pilfered
• The popular English story of " Fryer so as to be read with advantoge when com-
Baoon '* hardly goes back further than to paríng the Spanish drama with the £ng>
tíie end of the sixteenth oentury, though lish. •
■orne of its materials may be traced to the » Comedias, Tom. IX., Barcelona, 1618,
^ Oesta Romanorum." Robert 6reene*s ff. 27, ete.
play OD a was printed in 1694. Both may lo Comedias, Tom. XXY., garag09a,
be considered as running parallel with the 1647, ff. 2ai, eto.
story and play of the " Donzella Teodor,"
sas
THE CAUTIVOS DE ARGEL*
[PEftiaD ti
from aplay of Cervantea, In its first scenes, a Morisco
Cttutivmda ^^ ValeQcía lea%'ea the laúd wherc hia race huá
Argel. sufíbred so cmcllj, aiid, aller estüblíbhing^ bim-
Bolf among thoBe of his own íaitli in AlgiorSi returus by
nig-ht as a corsair, aod, from his familiar kriowledge of thoJ
Spanish coast, where he was borii, ea^ily succeeds la'
carrying off a number of Christian captives. The fate of
tliese vicíimsi aud that of otliers whom they find in Ah
giers, including a lorer and his naistress, form tlie siib-l
ject of the drama. In the conree of it, we have scenes '
in which Christian Spaoiards are pnblicly sold in tbe
slave-market ; Chil^lian cbildren torn from thoir parentí»
and cajoled ont of thcir faithi" and a Christian gentle-
tnan made to Buffer the moBt dreadful forms of martyrdom
for bia religión ; — in sbort, wo bave set before ns what^
ever could moat painfully and powerfnlly excite the in-
te re st and sympathy of an andience in Spain at a momea t
when Bncb multitudes of Spanish familíeB were monrniug
the captivity of tbeir cbildren and frienda.^^ It ends wiíh
an acconnt of a play to be acted by the Christian BÍavésJ
in one of tbeir vast prison-housea, to celébrate tbe recent 1
marriage of Philip tbe Third ; from wbich, as well as from
a re fe rene e to tbe magnificeut feativitieB that folio wed itj
at Deuia, in which Lope, as we know, took part, we mayl
be sure that the " Cautivos de Argel " was written as lata]
as 1598, and probably not much later,^'*
A love-Btory uniteB ita ratber incongruous ra ateríala
jnto sometbing like a connected whole ; but tbe part we
read witb the moat interest is that assigncd to Ocrvautes, I
who appeaiB under bis fiímüy ñame of Saavedra^ witbout
U Til ese pBsaagGd are much Indebteú to
tíie "Tmtü de Argel ** qT Cervanlefl.
n Bee^ pOMxim^ Haedo, *' fllRtorli. de
ArRél '* (Madrid, IfllU, foíío). lie rcckons
the nuitiber of ChrieLian CAptlvcf», i^híefl^
SpAtiiarüáf Id AI^Í'^a^ u,t tvrciity-Úv^ tboii-
«gjid.
IHitíre are freqtient tnMmatlQiiB in Bpati-
iili plmya í>r thG rclnru »í lünegníiííeíi n-otü
Barl>ar7 tú iucfa pof tlous of the coasrt» dF
Üimi naUre Uküd as wvtQ moat rainiliar to
tbetu, tor the purpqtBC of caiTyiiig Chris*
tlana Into captlvLty > aod Lupe de Ve^a^ in
Illa ^^Fefegrltto tií BD l^rist,"^ Libru II.,
i
I
II
deBiiirÍt>e9 a pEij-Licalar «spot tm ihe iliom of
Valencia, wheiv siiüU Tiokmcei lud ofUm
ocuUTped* Tío íloubt they were cnsnjniKi.
^e farthcr the acconnt, púfft^ In ChaiH^f
XXV., of the "Redentoi' C&utmi'* í>f
^laUíS Frasc«(]if aml, In a note, thaloí thci
** Aaote de bd PalriiiL,'! by Morpto.
11 Lope, Obras BaelUiat Tom- IIT. p. 3TT
I am mxLoU dlfl]>oBed to thlnlc tbe ylay
refemírt to a^ acted ín ihe prliNoru flf Al-
)¡;lert ii iKiiie^a owri moml play oT tha
** Mnirmg^ «r the Snul to Divliie Lí*vc*'^ ia
íhi.^ sifoond b^Mik oí tbe ** j^erogrim «n ta
J?*tTÍm/*
4
íat. XVU,]
BELIGIOUS DBAMAS,
239
mgms^t tbough without any niark of rfispect." Cun-
ng tliíit Lope tüok from him Borae of the best mate-
for tUis very piece, and tUat the sufferiugB and hero-
ism of Cervantes at Algdcrs musfc necea sarily Lave beeu
present to his thonghts when be composed it, we can
hardly do the popular poet any injnstice by adtling^, that
he ought either to have given CervanteB a more digoified
|pai*t, and atluded to hím with tendernees and consider!^
Botí, or else ha ve refrained from introducíng him at alL
I The three foring of Lope' s drama which have thua far
■een conoide red, and which aro nearly akia to each
other^^ wei'c, no doubt, the Bpontaneoas producíions of
his own geníuB ; modtfied, indeed, by what he fouíid
already existing, and by the taste and will of the andí-
cea for which he wrotej but still esRentially hia own,
■obably, if he had been left to himseíf and to the mere
fluencea of tho theatre, he wotild have prcferrod to write
otbcr dramas tban such as would natural ly come under
ie of these división a. But ncither he nor hia audieaces
ere permitted to settle the whole of thia questíon. The
¡hurch, alwaya powerful in Spain, bwt never ao i,,fl„eiM»
werful as during the latter part of the reign *¿^^^\
Philip the Secón dj when Lope waa just riaiDg
lo notice, was offended with tho dramas then so mitch
favor, and not witbout rcason. Their free love-atoríos^
their duela, and, indeed, their ideas generally «pon do-
efitic I i fe and personal cbaracter, have, unqoestionably,
ything but a Ghi'ietiaü tone,^* A centro versy, there-
> The $i£Sle« fa wliich Orviuit^ oe-
■ sre 00 K. S4S, 2&li «ná cepccJally 2B3
-jl m. Comedia», Tom. XXV.
^ fbíí iatAoa ol the Ujr« clmsoft may be
m^n Ht A flanee Ío Lop^^^i Ane play^ ^' ül
fJw Alcalde el ftey^'* (Comediift, Tora
!CI, Msdnd, 1635,) tronáedcni a pnasage
ift rrartb ptut of the ** flíneral Chrcmi-
' (ed lfl¿t> f. 327). Tlie fiersí and
Dlne belon^ to the coivlUfim or T>easa[its ;
peftíiu irhcj rnikke» the mLfiohicf ia their
,e lonl i Aud, l^^m the eml oF llie second
rhe leíiiíf smil oót or twa úf the princl-
i IHrrsofifl abijüt the ciMrt p\ny kmltnír
^—./Iji On ttte wHiKie, tt nink* tt!i;:hnfciilly
and yet the be^t and uinst Importan t ec4?iiefl
mrc thoee rcUiUiig lo cmimiaoií MtüM whEle:
otbers of no littl*5 coqseqiicnce belúuif la
tlie clBfla of Eífpfi if fitpada*
le Haw the S^mídah Ü)eatr«, na it Éxhtsá
kk the time fif Phihp IV., aught to have
been. regnided^ caay be jiidg^ by the fol-
lowing pemarks oa tmrh ot íte j>lays m
coEitínned to be represented at the eud of
the eij^hteenth oeEtiiTjr^ reud In lí&ñ ta the
Spaeish Acadciny of Uíétíjry» hy Jovelh^
nem, — Bi peraQnü.^ who wWl be nntfced
wheR wo reoob the period dorinp which h»
hved.
•'A II for iny«elf,*- «^t tlul wfae and
^tiiful ma^tilratet *^ I a^ pciiuaile^ there
^0
EELIGIÜUS DRAMAS.
[Peuiod It
fore, naturaUj axoso concerning their lawfuluosSj and tlns
Gontroverey was contiaued tíll 1598, wben, l*y a royal ^
decree, the represen tation of secular playa in Madrid was H
entirely forbidden, and the common theatres were closed '"
for oearly two years,^"^
Lope was compelled to accommodate himfielf to ihm
uew state of thinga, and séema to have doae it eaaüy and
witii his accustomed addreas. He had, as we have seen, ,
Keiigioua ^^^^y written relí^om plays, like tlie oíd Mysio- fl
p^ay^- ries and Moraiities ; and lie oow undertook to ^
ímíum their spirit into the more attractive fornis of Lis
Cftn be found tío |»r&or so dád^Lre of tbo
dfifmdatloa at out t»ate as Üi« cuül Lbdif^
Ibfflnce irith which we t(iLf!rB.te the tiípt&*
HiilUlloa of árflünas, íd whieh modeijty^ th«
gratler Habctloiia^ goíhl t&Mb^ deceoL-y, and
aU tbo vírtut^a and principien belünirJng Lo
a «omud mt»rrtl1ty^ are apettly trwrnpjed
üDder fooí* Do men balíeve tbftt üie inuo-
cence of dhilithotxl aiil the fervc* &f >-^outli,
tbnt Aa idle &Dd daiuty ivjtjIlUj and a,D
Igmomiit papulafijf can witUtiafB vlthoqt in-
jary ancH eiampleaof vffranttryaad gr^fla-
mv», of ftti icifiolcnt and ab^nrd sflucUntbii
of honor, of coatetnpt úl Jíistioe ájid the
lawii^ ftod of pubUo and privaUí duty,
rcpreaeuteid on the Atag<e m tbe tuogt
nelther bj a Bouxid ata£« of mnrola iiorbj
a wise publlc poUcy I *' Ibid , p 413-
" C Pellicer» Origen del Téatfo, Síaiíriií,
1904, lamo, Ttun. I. pp. 14:2 - 14S. Pby*
were prohiblM In Bungelouu hi 15»1 by
the blshop í büt the prohíbiLíotí vaa not
Iflíig respwtetí^ and Ld 1597 wm rewiWTftd
wUh iEjtíre&SQd earoíatneaa. Bisbe y ViOiO,
Tratado de las ComedÍEis, Barcvlúti^^ HlS^
l^o, f. 91 , — a curioua book^ atta(:kiüg'
tbe típaniBh theatre witb un>re discreUQH
tiidn anj oth^r oíd tff^atise apJiut it thot
1 h&VG readf bot not wiLh tniich elTeot- ItB
aiiLhof would bAve all pUyer coFefuUy «x-
amined and oicpurgatcd b«rorc tbcy mn
LloeDScrlf nnA Iht^n woiüd p^rmit tbem ta be
4
lively eolora, and reoiered attracUve tiy perítirmedf not by prqleaalaa«| iicton, Mt
the enchantoaent of scaaíc illasioDa ftnd ih€
gracee of musfe »nd verne f Let ns, tíiea,
booeatly confina tbe tnitb. Sucb a iheatm
ÍB a liübltc nuíft&nce^ unA tlie govertiiuctit
baá no Just altcrnatl^e but to refonn It
OT suppi^aB It altoitéthei'.''^ Mtjinorias da
ta Aíad., Tom. Y. p^ 397.
Elséwhtii^T la the same exceUent Aía-
OoiuBe, Jta aüthor shova that he was by dó
meana íiíseosibie to tbe poetJoai merita of
the <Aú tbeatre, wboK moral influeaces bo
deprccated,
" L flhy I always be tha first^^^ he lays,
'* tú coeiliüii iti Idttattable bcaotte^ ^ the
b'eahttCJS of Ltt Lnventíooa^ the chano of Its
Style, the QowLog naturaÍR<.-s» of ita dSftp
Ifl^na, th« marveUouj ípgeDtiity of lu plots^
thfl ea*e with whícb everythtng Ir at laat
explAtned jind AtVJuated ^ tba bríÚSannt Ln-
t&eat, the humor, the wit, tbat itijirk evei^f
step ftá we advaní^ ^ -- huí whnt matlers
all tbÍES If ibis sume {Irania, rei^urded tn the
llífbl of tmth add wiídotnT íb ínrectEd vlth
Ticei atidí corriiptlóafl tbat o&d be toleralAd
by persona b^loi^gictg to the pkfie wbeiv
the re]>reaentjiLtSí}n wají to ocouf^ and knowa
SB reapecUble meij and di.'ciiiiit youths i Por,
he »dds, "^ wbea thia va& ds^ne for hqndrodi
oryears, no&e or thaüti strdinge vices irero
oommitted that are th« cousecLUjiHxMa of uor
preaent modes.^" (f. 1060 Btsbe y Vldid
Ifl a pseudaTiytQe for Juan Ferrer, the hcad
«f a large frongregadoa «f d^votit metí at
BaFceloniL, aníl a p^rfion wha wai bo moch
flcaodalízed at the «tale of the thi-atre in
bla time, that be puhUabed thla attaük oa
It for the bEineftt of the brotherhood irhOMr
Rp! ritual leader he waa. (Terrea y Ánuie,
Biblioti»tiaT Art^ Fefrer^} It In enctunbfred
with thenlo^cal li^amlnK t but k»s n IhAD
othei' similar works of tbe time, aii4 runa
íbLo abí^uTditieá worthy the blffotiy of Ihe
a^e anil the ignorando of the pecple ^ aa, fof
inalancef when It attríhiitea ti« the dmma
the intrnlnetlnn of her^y — f-i mayor mái
que a ui5a republlrn o reynn le pnerte venir
— and the aucceaa of Lutber"! dootiinea to
GeTmany. Obip. XI. Ferrer wib a Jesnllk
4
V. :XVn.] THK NACi^riENTO DE CHÍÍISTO,
241
^cülar drama, aml tima produce an entertainment wMch,
phib it might satisíy tlie popular audietices of the capi-
ftl, woiüd HVüid tlie rebukes of tho Church. Hie sticcesa
as niarked as it had been befare : and the new varíe-
of fbrm in which his gemas now disported itself were
carcely less Btriking,
His most obvious resource was the Scríptures, to
Irbich, as tUey had been n&úá more tUau fíjur ceuturies
cir draraatic purposes, oa the greatcr religious festínala
* the Spaiiish Chiirch, the ecclesíastical j>owere cauld
IUardív, with a güod grace, now make objoctioü. Lope,
Ihercfore, rcsorted to them freely ; sümctimes construct-
big dramas out of tliem which ndght be mistaken for the
bid Mysteriea, wcre it not for their more poetical charac-
Irr, and their sometímes approachíng so near to bis owq
pttríguiDg comedies, that, but for the religio^B parts, they
ndght seem to belong to the merolj secular and fashion-
Me theatre that had just beea interdicted.
Of the first, or more religioua fiort> hiB '* Birth of
iiríst" may be taken as a spedmcn,^^ It is tf^^smiento-
lívjded i uto tbree acts, and begina in Para di bo^ *^^* curíato.
íimediatcly aftcr the crcation. The fnst scene bitrodtices
Játafi, Príde, Beauty, and Envy j^Sataa appearíng with
* di'agoa^a wings^ a busby wig, and abo ve it a serpentea
ff IIQ, etc, Suíh fitay* wí?m ofieQ
l«{ JS^íifitmientoa , — ik reHqae qf thü
I dnimna laeiilloiaed tu tho ** Piu-tiílas,*'
\ vrríitGB ia vóritmi fatmw iiftcr tli@ tima
f Juan ile jft Enxtm *em1 Úl\ Tíctñte.
riKT *ft'iíi, frucfl hliots in tbií" Viage" of
i>\úA, XWJ, Aiiil elBewh^TL'f ti) hii^e been
rltñ til firiviite hmuea^IntKa churchesi^ on
^ ]tubUc Btn^, uid tn tíie ? trcets, 63 ttwf
M^prcHtl to be lukM for. Thvy were not
¡tXQcUjr ftytfíM^ but ver^ Kké Ümtn, tMi iiiAj
f 9ttcti fprtin, the '* Níicimk'ntn de Cíiriftto**
r Iriípe úf Vejm^ fío fl. curtrma valuíne vn-
IIÜWl «'Nüvidjiil r etiTi>«ií OliFístl Festfjfi-
irjit,*' Miiílfld, Iflfl*. 4U5, f. 346,) —íi rimnia
qiitt'C íhirtTerTit from ib la onu, th^üjíli ya-nf*
■ '-v.i^ nrim^i nnrt quite dlfTfTtnt
y I I H itn*. (T. ík^\,) ít 1 1 rí\ «iilt.l I ti j Ijip
íiiCAlUsi '* áuindei Nnelmhntndí; i'brís-
to ÍTiieiíTo Soñür*' There are lieaidei, ín
lliia volumie» Na^ímifHíúS tttribiitcd La
Cubilk (f S753, Hiid Vflldlvielfti tf. 86»)*
*' Nitcímíeotos *' ciOiiUDued to íw repre-
aented cíiii'fly i» itauLnmtidí» and In pri-
Tute hmiatiR thn>aKh the ei^hte^rith ccn^
tury^ aDd luto th^ níuctee'Dtb. I bave a
pcHiticiU tmaU entítleíl '* IXrsijííq mctfica
eci i|U£ se manlñe&taun Kaclmitmlo can l^m
ñg^irM «cirreipütidleütefl aeijiin el estlld que
ae imtlea, en Ihí coana piu-tlnulürcü. de e«te
irtartCf ec^ por I). AntoolD Manuid ile Ca-r-^
demia^ Cande deJ Sadro Palae:iu^^^ Mndríilf
1ÍR6, ISirttj. Tt Ib [ii the bailad atyle, híiá
deficríbüB oiínutei j bow thej borrowed tho
andolina and child írnm a convetiti tbe üx
rftitm a neig^hbciflhg^ tIIIiií!!?^ ^^- Anolíiec
^InriÜrvF ilesw^ríptUi'ni bnt In ^HÍntiflan^ ii
untUIrti " T^lrftw ñ li«i BífpresLTiliuibit det
PrnniA, El Nudml^nlJaT PWd Í inédita áú
le, 1>, J B. Ctilíiii.É*,'* VíüciiclB, t§07t ISiOft*
2i2
THE NACIMIE2ÍT0 DE CHRISTO,
[PEftion ir.
head ; " and Envy carrying a lieart m her hand and wear-
ing snaküs Íjí her hair^ Arter eome discussiati about tlie
creationí Arlara and Eve appraacb iu the cliaracters of
JCing and Queon, Innocence, who Í8 tlie clown atid wit
of the pÍQCú, and Grace, who ia dresaed ín wliite, coíiie in
at the same time, and, while Satán and his friends are
hidden in a thicket, hold the following dialogue, which
may be regardetl as charaoteristic, not oiily of tliis par-
ticular dramai but of the whole clasa to wbich it be*
longs : —
Adanu Here, Jjady Qtieen, upon ihh couch of grass and ílowers
Sit dowD*
Inni)C0ice. Well, that *s good, i' Mth ;
He calla bor hwHy Que©ñ.
Gmce. And don't yon. sce
Sho h his wife ; ñesh of lüs ñ^h iadecd,
And af his U>ae tbe boae t
imaxence. That 's juit as if
Toa sáidí She, thnoqgh hia belog, beÍDg hiith. —
Wliat dainty compUmcintfi thíij pay ^ach other !
OiTOffi!, Two persona are they, yet one Hesh they are.
Imwc^nm. And may their unión lafit a tJiou&iitid yeiirs.
And in sweet peace continué evennore I
Gw£e- The kíng bis father and bis motber leavea
For bis fair queecL
hrtúcejiCÉ And It^avee tiijl: ovcrtnacfa,
Sínoe no man yet ha« been wítb parents bom.
Bnt, in good falth, good nmster Adam,
AH Knij au ycru |^ f>n, prankod out by Gra^e^
1 feel Qo litlk trcmblo at your courso^
Xiike tbat of otber princes mftdt^ of cluy.
But I admtt It whá a famons trick,
In your most sovereign Lottl, out of the miad
A microeosm nice to tnakeiy and do it
In one day.
GrvKx, He tbat tbe greater worlds €oald huild
By bis commandíng power aUme, lo \úm
It was aot macb thcse lesser worka oii L^artíi
To do. And aee yon not tho two grcat lamps
Whích overheail he bung so fair 1
Inmcetux. And bow
Tbe a^tth be ^wed witb ñowQn, Úi& benTens witb awts ? ^
t
lA A4ah. Aquí, Rey 114, en etti Klfl>hra.
Dp yr^ruft y ñür« te ftideuta.
Om. FUfi no Ftu iqiie tí vii mapiiifi'rf
De tui fiuffi»! f Am3* Y«0 iKír^i
Für^ue vt cama Kr su ler.
CiLiP. XVn.] THE NACIMIENTO DE CHRISTO.
243
Immediately after the fall, and therefore, according to
the common Scriptural comptitatioii, about four thousand
years before slie was born, the Madonna appeara, and
personally drives Satán down to perdition, while, at the
Bame time, an Ángel expela Adam and Eve from Paradise.
The Divine Prince and the Celestial Emperor, as the
Saviour and the Supremo Divinity are respectively called,
then come upon the vacant stage, and, in a conference
full of theological subtilties, arrange the system of
man's redemption, which, at the Divine command, Ga-
briel
Accompanied with annies all of stars
To fíll the air with gloríons li^t,^
descending to Galilee, annotinees as about to be accom-
plished by the birth of the Messiah. This ends the
first act.
The second opens with the rejoicings of the Serpent,
Sin, and Death, — confident that the World is now fairly
given up to them. Bnt their rejoicings are short. Clario-
nets are sounded, afid Divine Grace appears on the upper
portion of the stage, and at once expels the sinful rout
from their boasted possessions ; explaining affcerwards to
the World, who now comes on as one of the personages
of the scene, that the Holy Famfly are immediately to
bring salvation to men.
The World replies with rapture : —
O hólj Grace, abeady I behold them ;
And, thongh the freezing night forbids, will hasta
To border roand my hoar frost all with flowens ;
To forcé the tender buds to spríng again
UndM leqidebvMfle Asen.
Ora. Doa en vna eam* ion.
htae. Dore mil afioi la nrion,
T en eita pas se etemfzen.
Orcu Por la Reyna dexarft
El Bey a au padre y madi*.
Inoe, Ninguno nacI6 con padre,
Vdcd en dexartoa hafft \
Tftia*. Seflor Adán,
, Que aunque de Orada vlzano,
Que Im Principes del baño
Notable pena me dan.
Bimuo artiflcio tenia
Tueatro Maraño dnello,
Qnado un ipaoo aunq pequefio
Hizo de baiTo en un dia.
Ora. Quie kw doe raudos mayores
Pudo hacer con su palabra.
Que mucho que rompa y abra
En U tierra estas Ubores.
No ves las lamparas bellas.
Que de los cielos colg6 ?
Inoc. Como de llores sembró
La tierra, el cielo de estrellas.
Comedias de Lope de 'vW. Tom.
XZIV., Zaragoza, 1641, 1. 111.
20 Baxa esclareciendo el ayre
Con ezercitoe de estrellas.
Mí
THE NACIMIENTO DE CHRJSTO. [rEííioo IL
From ottt thoír shninken limncheg ; and to loóse
The geotle streamlebi from the bill-tops núiá^
Tliat thiíy may poiir thcir i i quid cryspil down ;
While the oíd foíiats, at my eoinmand, shall ílow
With milk» iind ash-trets lioney puré distU
To satwfy our joyfüí íippctir<;s.2i
The next scene is in Betlilehem, where Joseph and
Marj appejit hegging for eiitrance at an inn, but, owing
to the crowd, thoj are sant to a atable just outeide tbe
city, m whoííe coutiguous fields Bbepherda aud sheplierd-
esses are secn suffering- firom the fmsty iiight^ biit jestiog
aud singing vuáe songB about it. lu the midst of tlieír
troublea and merriment, an ángel appcars in a clond
announcing the birth of the Saviour ; and the second act
ifl then concluded by the reaolution of all to go and find
the divine child and carry bina their glad sabitationa.
The last act ia chieflj taken up with diacu&aiotis of tbe
Bame subjects by the same ehepberda and shepherd-
esses, and an account of the visit to tbe mothor and
child; Bome paría of whicb are not without poetieal
merit, It onda with the appearance of the thrcc K.i«ge,
preceded by dances of Gypaiea and í^egroea^ aud with
the worsbip and ofie rings brought by atl to the new-
born Saviour,
Such dramae do not Beem to have been favorítes with
Lope, and perhapa were not favo rites with hia audiences.
otherptayB -^^ Icaat, few of thcín appear among bis príiitod
sirípt'^r ^'^í'ks;— the oiie jnst notíced, and another,
called " The Creation of the World and Mao*s
First Sin," being the most prominent and curioua ; ^ and
one on the atonement, entitled ^* Tbe Pledge Redeemed/'
being the moBt wild and gross. Bnt to the proper stories
of the Scripttires he somewhat of tener resorte d, and with
characteriatic talent. Thus^ we have full-length playa oa
4
I
XL GlBCliL WUlta, JLlúB YCO*
BardecL U f!BRarelia lu florr*,
Epl^n los plmpnlUjB tícmoi
Y de ]cii nicintct iciberl^Toi
Liquido rriJitíllv(VrtUiiirlo,
Han: «iiie \t.s tuintaa manca
Pura nilel, dHuvlas dulce
Que oncjeiueTi nueitro» dcnínt,
Comcidíav, Tqui. XXIV.» Zúr^pttM,
ir^], r, na.
^ It ÍB [n tlie twenty.íhufth vfilwiüe of
tho Cc^mediafi af Lope, |íiMlrl«], 1632, i&nd
ti m» of the Vtíry fewaf tilfl n^llgiouB ptpyg
thaX tiAve hean occnslüriHlty re]>ir[tit3d.
the history of Tobías and the seTen-times-wtjdded maid í ^
oti t!ie TíÚT Esther aud Ahasyerus ; -^ and on the somewhat
unsuitable subject of the Ravishniejit of Díiiah. the daugh-
ter of Jacob; as it m toUl in the book of Génesis,^ In all
Lliese, and in the rest of the class to which they belong,
ípaiiish mauners and ideaSi rathcr than Jewiah, give tbeir
>kiring to the scene ; and tlie story, thoiigh Bubstan-
Sallj taken from the Hobreiír recordé , is thus rende red
mych more attractiveí Ibr the purpoaes of its represen ta-
ÜQU at Madrid; than it wonld have be en m its orig-ínal
bmpücitj; as, for iüstance, in the case of the ''Esther/'
where a coniic underplot between a coquettish ehepherd-
esH and ber lo ver i a much relied upon for the popnlar
"pJTect of the wbole,^
Stiil» evoD those dramas were not able to satisfy atidí-
enees accustomed to the more national spirit of plays
founded on fashionable life and intriguing' adven tu res* A
widcr rango, therefore, was taken. Striking religious
iveDts of all kínds ^ especial! j those found in putyuDtire-
Ibe iives of holj men — were resorted to, and
íngenious stories were construetcd out of the
rieü of üll
ss ** nutorla ña ToblJis,^* Cfxnediu, Tom,
^^. Mmlriá, Uth ff- 231, etc.
b '< Lft DenoiKft Ester,» Ibld-, fT. 151,
I^SI RqI» d^ BinA,''^ Comedlaflt Tma*
ti Miulrid^ 1^9, £r. lli, Bte. To tlii»
t iuldM a tKttcr «ne, id Toin« XXII r,
nlrtd, IttóS, **Lo* Tmbojoi de Jatíob,"*
the tv&ádfid stmy ot Josepli nud hts
> Tbe iinderplút is ¿llghtJjr conD&cted
I the m^n atarf of Esther, b^ ü ^n»&1a-
muüon of Kirjg Ahaiiueru*, cnUliíg beíore
_Íl1iil olí thé fiür m.&ídeiii of li[« cmpEre,
hIeH, cocnltif ta tbú eart of BUcimí, tíie
»cphcnl«!M, ihe Inílits upoa leaving hcr
vTf íl^l^íi^i^ wañ tiiyíae the fortune of
' tiotiuly at cúuftw She Iklli, and ¡m
rrrttiiti Ift r^«otfid by St-lv'a^o, bul stiU
I her CGfiutttiBh B\iiñí lo the lait,
I «^ Myiiig or !9in|^ÍTi|[r, a« giil'Ejr as
i fiort of ao oíd bpillad^ —
Fot tho ?ii|tiin> thnt tttdQpKlit
J ipfl rny IJttif hirfl'í nwt t
But ríül 1 tnii Míñi-n hli hi'vrt,
AiiíJ fOfttbL- down tiili inide to rert.
he beat i»artft of the pls^y are tbe nioro
religiouB^ like Esther^s pmyerp Sn the firit
and hist ucts, &tict tlie baUad Bunít at the
triamphAnt festival w)ien AliA»UJQTua ykMa
to tier btfaiitjr j but the ivholej. Jike noacij
(jther play& of tJie sama sort, la intciic^ed,
imú^T the dtAiruiee of a Eiacred aul^ect, Ut
scrra tbe puriMise» of the sectüm' tbeatre-
F^rhaps onc of the mó^t aniu!iLiig: !n-
gtance§ of iDúonj^mltj In Lope, and thctr
DUDiber ia not fcw, is tn be found tn tbe
ñrst Jamada of the '* TrabnJiíL» de Jaoob^'^
where Joseph, at the moment he frec^pea
ftom. PDtlphikr^ja wlfe, learlng hía cloak tn
Ler poüsesaton] aajs ía scliloqu j ;
So n»jefiiihcni|, wnTtiaii-mtt% tiiiisíi tnjf cr1n«k
Thj yengeftncKi wrcak, ai the buÜ w?i:uka hl«
wrftth
Vptm the Clditfc bdhr« liEm [Kluy&a i tltc
MpAowhlk 0Cfi|)áiif ttfb.
Y ««at hiími <n iíMttt capí.
Coa veneiQirji dr mugvrf
XfO ijqg d torp nii^lu hoctr
Del hcicuhr43 (jue k escnp*.
Tet, abflurd aa Umí pK^age is for its Incon-
gruftyTlt may have been Inudly app1uittli:d
try mi Audüeace that thouieht itiiicb mr^re of
bull-ñghta than of the Juát rules vi tha
246 COMEDIAS DE SANTOS. [Period U.
miracles and sufferings of saints, which were often as inter-
esting as the intrigues of Spanish gallants, or the achieve-
ments of the oíd Spanish héroes, and were sometimes
hardly less free and wild. Saint Jerome, nnder the ñame
of the '* Cardinal of Bethlehem," is brought upon the
stage in one of them, fírst as a gay gallant, and añerwards
as a saint scourged by angels, and triumphing, in open
show, over Satan.^ In another, San Diego of Alcalá
rises, from being the attendant of a poor hermit, to be a
general with military command, and, after committing
most soldier-like atrocities in the Fortúnate Islands, re-
turns and dies at home in the odor of sanctity.^ And in
yet others, historical subjects of a religious character are
taken, like the story of the holy Bamba tom from the
plough, in the seventh century, and by miraculous com'
mand made king of Spain;® or like the life of the Mo
hammedan prince of Morocco, who, in 1693, was con-
verted to Christianity and publicly baptized in presence
of Philip the Second, with the heir of the throne for his
godfather.^
AU these, and many more like them, were represented
with the consent of the ecclesiastical powers, — some-
times even in convents and other religious houses, but
oftener in public, and always under auspices no less ob-
viously religious.^ The favorito materials for such dra-
S7 "El Cardenal de Belén,** Comedias, and their misbelteving mastors. For io-
Tom. XIII., Madrid, 1620. stance, in 1646, the oldest son aí the Bey
ss This play is not in the coüection of of Tunls escaped to Palermo, for the ex-
Jjopé'B Comedias, but it is in Lord Hol- press purpose of becoming a Christian,
land*8 list. Hy copy of it is an oíd one, and was there, with great oeremony, re-
without date, prínted for popular use at ceived into the boeom of the Church;
Valladolid. And I have it, also, in the See '« Relación de la Venida a Sicilia del
** Comedias Escogidas," Tom. III., 1653, Principe Mamet, hi)o primogénito de Ama!
f. 222. Dey de Tanis, a volverse Christiano, por él
» Comedias,'* Tom. L, Valladolid, 1604, P. Fr. Donato Ciantar, ec., traducida do
ff. 91, etc. Toscano en Espafiol, en Sevilla, por Juaa
ao "Bautismo del Principe de Harrue. GomecdeBlas, A'odel046,**4to,pp.4;~
C08,*' in which there are nearly sixty per- a very curions tract, which justifles much
sonages. Comedias, Tom. XI., Barcelona, in the play of Lope that seems improbable.
1618, flf. 269, etc. C. PelHcer, Origen del 31 C. Pellícer, Origen, Tom. I. p. 153.
Teatro, Tom. I. p. 86. Such a baptism— When Francisco de Borja was eanonfated
and one brought on the stage, too — sounds in 1625, there were great festivitics for
very strange j but strange things of the several days, and \he Jesuits, of whose
sort occurred occasionally trom the in- soclety he had been a proud omament,
tímate relations that often subsisted be- caused a play on his life to be acted in a
tween the Christian captives in Barbaiy theatre belongiug to them at Madrid }
Ghap. XVn.] THE SAN ISIDBO DE MADRID.
2^7
nijMy however, were found, at last, almost exclusively in
the lives of popular saints ; and the numbcr of plays
filled with such histories and miracles was so comedias
great, soon after the year 1600, that they carne <^® sanu».
to be considered as a class by themselves, nnder the
name of " Comedias de Santos/' or Saints' Plays. Lope
wrote many of them. Besides those already mentioned,
we have from his pen dramatic compositions on the Uves
of Saint Francis, San Pedro de Nolasco, Saint Thomas
Aqninas, Saint Julián, Saint Nichplas of Tolentino, Santa
Teresa, three on San Isidro de Madrid, and not a fcw
others. Many of them, like Saint Nicholas of Tolentino,*^
are very strange and extravagant; others are full of
poetry ; but perhaps none will give a more true idea of
the entíre class than the first one he wrote, on the sub-
ject of the favored saint of his own city, San Isidro de
Madrid.**
It seems to have all the varieties of action and charac-
ter that belong to the secular divisions of the Spanish
drama. Scenes of stirring interest occur in it g^^ i^^^^
among warriors just retumed to Madrid from a ^^ Madrid.
Fhnip IV. and the Inflantes being present
Who wrote the play I do not know, for the
«eeoont of the festival, intending, per-
haps, to pon, only says : *^Por ser el
Autor de la Oompafiia, la modestia le ve-
nera en sUencio.*' A masqae followed ; a
poetícal eertameHf kc. ; — but all under
rdlgious aospices. Elogio del S. P. Fran-
cisco de Boija, Duque de Oandia, ce., por
el Iktctor Juan Antonio de Peña, Natural
de Madrid, 1626, 4to, f. 6, etc.
» *• San Nicolás de Tblentino,** Comedias,
Tom. XXIV., Zaragoca, 1641, tt. 167, etc.
Each act, as is not nncommon in the oíd
Spanish theatie, is a sort of sepárate play,
with ita sepárate list of personages pre-
flxod. The flrat has twenty-one *, among
which are Ood, the Madonna, Hlstory,
Mercy, Jostioe, Batan, etc. It opens with
a masquerading scene In a public square,
of no little splrit ; immediately after which
we have a scene m heaven, contalnlng the
Divine judgment on the soul of one who
had died in mortal sin ; then another
■plritcd scene, in a public square, among
louncrrA, with a sermón from a fervent,
ftumtiisiü monk , and aftcrwards, succes-
sive scenes between Nicholas, who has
been moved by this sermón to enter a con-
yent, and his fiunily, who consent to his
purpose with reluctance } the whole ending
with a dialogue of the rudest humor be-
tween Nicholas*s servant, who is the buf-
foon of the pieoe, and a servant-maid, to
whom he was engaged to be married, but
whom he now abandona, determined to
follow his master into a rcligious seclusion,
which, at the same time, he is making
ridiculous by his Jests aud parodies. This
is the first act. The other two acts are
such as might be anticipated fírom it.
33 Tilia is not either of the plays or-
dered by the city of Madrid to be acted
in the open air In 1622, in honor of the
canonization of San Isidro, and found in
the twelfth volume of Lope^s Obras Sueltas ;
though, on a comparison with these last, it
will be seen that it was used in their com-
posltion. It, in fact, was printed flve
years carlier, in the scvcnth volume of
Lope's Comedias, Madrid, 1617, and con-^
tinued long in favor, for it is reprinted in
Parte XXVIIl. of "Comedias Escogidas
de los Mejores Ingenios," Madrid, 1667, 4to.
243
THE SAH ISIBEO DE MADBID,
fPEmrm !
Bnccessfal foray amaine t the Moors ; gay acencs, with
rtistic tlaucing" and frulics, at the marriítge of Isidro and
tbe birth of hh son ; and se enes of broad farce witíi tbc
sacristau, who cornplaiiis, that, o^ríng' to Issitlm^B power
"with Heaveni he no lünger gets fees for bnríals^ atid that
he believes Death la gone to live clsewhere. But throagU
the whole rúas tho lovíng and devont character of the
Saint hImBclf, gíving it a sort of poética! unity and pow-
er. The angela come down to plough for hioi, that he
may no longer incnr reproach by neglecting hi^ hibom
m order to attend mass ; and at the touch of his goad, a
Bpi'ing of puré water, Btill looked npon with revercnce,
rises in a buraing waate to refrcsh hia unjiiat m áster-
Popular songa and poetrj, meanwhile,** with a parody of
the oíd Müorish bailad of '' Getitle Eiver, Gentío líiver/**^
and alluaions to the holy image of Airan den a, aud the
chiirch of Saint Andrew^ give life to the dialogue, as it
goea on; — all ñuniliar as househoid words at Madnd,
and striking chords which, whcn this difama was fírst
repreaented, atill vibra ted in every heart. At the end,
the body of tbe Saint, after his death, iñ exposed before
the well-known altar of hia favorite chnrch ; and there,
accordirig to tbe oíd truditiona, hia furmer master and the
quecn come to worship him^ and, with pions sacrílege,
endeavor to bear away from his person relie a for their
own protection ; but are pnnished on the epot by a
miracle, which thua aervea at once as the final and crown-
ing testimotjy to the divine merits of the Saint, aud as an
approp ríate dénoumient for the piece.
No donht, auch a drama, exteading over forty or ññj
years of time^ with its motley crowd of personages, —
among whom are ángel s ai^d demona, Envy, Falsehood,
and the River Manzanares, — would now be aceuunted
I
■
I
w A EplrltM tmlLod ar ]>opulEu: hohíí la
Al tIUaho w Irt dan
TjA cebolla, con el itau.
nilriL qiiP el tmi^ vHtvnó,
tíiiAnclo quiera alheñar,
S liga rrm Kti jvlt ti ? 1i ttejKM
Y tu <LrBdi> ütiD i^ue UiL
l-A dim pnn, Te dan «eímillm
Y vino también Ip íIati, f te,
Cotfiedliflfl, Tloni, XXVin.,
p.SL
íü Jü[i TPTilc , rin vi."^le,
AIcu npgm vam tiuc l.i Hni*
Bis sangre de los C!)7^JÜAn<M,
Qii« no dfl K ^torerk.
chap.xvh.] autos sacramentales. 249
grotesque and irreverent, rather than anything else. But
in the time of Lope, the audiences not only brought a
willing faith to such representations, but received gladly
an exhibition of the miracles which connected the saint
tbey worshipped and his beneficent virtues with their own
times and their personal well-being.'® If to this we add
the restraints on the theatre, and Lope's extraordinary
facility, grace, and ingenuity, which never failed to con-
sult and gratify the popular taste, we shall have all the
elementa necessary to explain the great number of re-
ligious dramas he composed, whether in the nature of
Mysteries, Scripture stories, or lives of saints. They
belonged to his age and country as much as he himself
did.
But Lope adventured with success in anothcr fomi of
the drama, not only more grotesque than that of the full-
length religious plays, 'but intended yet more directly for
popular edification, — the "Autos Sacramenta- ^^^^g^
les," or Sacramental Acts, — a sort of religious cramentaies.
plays performed in the streets during the season when the
gorgeous ceremonies of the '' Corpus Christi '' fiUed them
with rejoicing crowds.^ No form of the Spanish drama
is older, and none had so long a reign, or maintained
during its contiñuance so strong a hold on the general
favor. Its representations, as we have already seen, may
be found among the earliest intimations of the national
literature ; and, as we shall learn hereafter, they were
with difficulty suppressed by the royal authority after the
middle of the eighteenth century. In the age of Lope,
and in that immediately following, they were ^t the
height of their success, and had become an important
M How fár these plajrs were felt to be or a judgment of a coort. Aftenrards it
religious by the crowda who witnessed was applied to these religious dramas,
them may be seen in a thousand ways ; which were called Autos aacr amentóles^
among the rest, by the fact mentioned by or Autos del Corpus Christi, and to the
Madame d*Aulnoy, in 1679, that, when St. autos de fé of the Inqulsition ; in both
Anthony, on the stage, repeated his Confi- cases, because they were considered solemn
teor, the audience all fell on their knees, religious acts. Covarrubias, Tesoro de la
smote their breasts heaviljr, and cried out. Lengua Castellana, ad yerb. Auto. For
Mea eulpA. Voyage d'Éspagne. A la the early history of the procession and for
Ilaye, 1C33, ISmo, Tom. I. p. 56. the management of the Mogigones, the
^ Auto was originally a forenslc tenn, Tarasca, &c., see Bibliotecario, 1841, foL,
trcm the Latin actus^ and meant a decree pp. 25-27.
11*
AUTOS SÁGEAMENTALES.
[Pebiod n^i
pmt of tlie religioua ceremonies arraoged for the soleinn
eacrameiitíil festival to wliich they were devoted, not only
in Madrid^ but througbaut Spain í all the theatres being
olused íbr a month to give plaoe to them and to do them
Yet to oar app relie nsions, notwithstandiag their re-
ligious claims, tliey are almoet wholly gross and irrev-
erente Indeed, the very circiiaietances imder which thej
were represen ted would seera to prove that thej
were Pep«^ wei'e not regar de d as really Bolemn. A sort oí
^* ■ rude mumming, which certainíy had nothing
grave ahout ít, preceded them, as they advanced thruugli
the thronged etreets, whcre the Windows and balconies oí
all the better sort of hoiises were hung: with silks and
tapes tries to honor the occasiion. First in this extraor-
dinary p roce ss ion canie the figure of a misshapen manue
moiister, callod the Ihrrucaf half serpent in fonm, borne
by men conccaled in its cumbrons bulk, and anr-
mounted by ano the r figure represen ting the
Woman of Babjlon, — the whole so managed as to Jill
with wonder and terror the poor country people that
crowdcd round it, some of whose hats and capa were
generally snatched away by the grinning beast^ and re-
garded as the lawful plunder of bis condtictors,**
Then folio wed a cornpany of fair children, with garlands
OH their heads, singing hymns and litanies of the Church j
and fíometinies companies of men and w ornen with casta*
nets, dancing the national dances. Two or moro huge
The Giaun^ Moonsh or negro giants, commonly called the
^*™^' G^igantones, made of pasto board^ came next,
jumping about grotesquely, to the great alarm of some
of the less experienced part of the crowd^ and to the
I
Tlit^TnnAia.
i
e&rl'fcfl'Ii tfíEPa ÚQwn to the presaut century,
in yie ixrooi^ffiiiúaM of tbe Corpui Chrístí
Ibrangboiit Sptdn f u loaj be Jurl^ed ñ-um
Htm Hwcntntai of ttiem In ThlenciA, SevUle^
una Túledo, íd the gemAnarlo JPltiKtrewíD,
1839, p. 16T í 1S40, p. 187 j aija 1S41, p.
177+ Sn ihusB of Tülctlr», there ia atk lnH-
mstlciiii that Lnpe «le Rueda wrufl empíoyiíd
in iha dnmmtic eutertEtiniiieiita ooniuícfied
wltli thciD ia 1561 i and that Alonso Gta*
nvTw, CrUt bal ;N aburro, aiidl oüier knowo
wtltvrB for the radé pupultir tVíge of tbil
time, WíüTe hijí !tu<>c$aekrr$ ; — aU Mrvüig to
ibtroiJuce Lopt; aüú Calderón.
« Pt-lHwr, utítfis, r* Quiícrtte, Tona. IT.
pp, 106^ 1<W, and CovamiMas^ utsufirá^
fijá Tcrb» Taratítit* The ptipiiliife oFT^leilti
oalksd the iromftD an the TanuFca^ Anne
BííiejTi* Bem. Plnt-, 1841^ p. ITT.
4
Chap. XVn.] AUTOS SACRAMENTALES. 251
greikt amusement of the rest. Then, with much pomp
and tine music, appeared the priests, bearing the Host
nnder a splendid canopy ; and after them a long and
devout procession^ where was seen, in Madrid, the king,
with a taper in his hand, like the meanest of his subjects,
together with the great oflScers of state and foreign am^
bassadors, who all crowded in to swell the splendor of
the Bcene.^ Last of all carne showy cars, fíUed with
actors from the public theatres, who were to figure on the
occadon, and add to its attractions, if not to its solem-
lúty ; — personages who constituted so important a part
of the day's festivity, that the whole was often called, in
popular phrase, The Festival of the Oars, — '* La Fiesta
de los Carros." **
This procession — not, indeed, magnificent in the
towns and hamlets of the provinces, as it was in the
capital, but always as imposing as the resources of the
place where it occurred could make it — stopped from
time to time under awnings in front of the house of some
distingnished person, — perhaps that of the President of
the Council of Castile at Madrid, perhaps that of the
alcalde of a village, — and there waited reverently till
certain religious offices could be performed by the eccle-
siastics ; the multitude, all the while, kneeling, as if in
church. As soon as these duties wiere over, or at a later
hour of the day, the actors from the cars appeared on a
neighboring stage, in the open air, and performed, ac-
cording to their limited service, the sacramental auto
prepared for the occasion, and always alluding to it di-
rectly. Of such axdoSj we know, on good authority, that
Lope wrote about four hundred.** Of these above thirty
40 The most lively descríption I have got up in the proyinces, may be found In
seen of this procession is contained in the Ovando^s poetical descríption of it at Mala-
loa to Lope's flrst fieata and auto (Obras ga in 1656, where, among other irreligious
Boeltas, Tom. XYIIL pp. 1 - 7). Another extravagances, Gypsies with tambourines
descríption, to soit the festivaJ as it was danced in the procession. Ocios de Gas-
got np about 1665-66, wUl be found when taüa por Juan de Ovando Santarem, 4to,
we ^^e to Calderón. It is g^iven heie as Malaga, 1663, f. 87, ec.
it occurred in the period of Lope's suocess ; 4i A good idea of the contente of the
and a fiuicy drairing of the procession, as it carro may be found in the descríption of
may haye appeared at Madrid in 1623, is to tíie one met by Don Quixote, (Parte II. o.
be found in the Semanarío Pintoresco, 1846, 11,) as he was returnlng ftom Toboso.
p. 185. But Lope*s loa is the best au- ^ Montalvan, in his ** Fama Pv:stuma."
thoríty. A good authoríty for it, as it was
262 AUTOS SACRAMENTALES. [Pebiod H
are still extant, includíng several in manuscrípt, and a
considerable number which were published only that the
towns and villages of the interior might enjoy the same
devout pleasures that were enjoyed by the court and
capital ; — so universal was the fanaticism for this strange
form of amusement, and so deeply was it seated in the
popular character. Even Lope, on his death-bed, told
Montalvan, that he regretted he had not given his whole
life to writing autos and other similar religious poetry.**
At an earlier period, and perhaps as late as the time of
Lope's first appearance, this part of the festival consistéd
of a very simple exhibition, accompanied with rustió
songs, eclogues, and dancing, such as we find it in a
large coUection of manuscript autos, of which two that
have been published are slight and rude in their structure
and dialogue, and seem to date from a period as early as
that of Lope ; ** but during his lifetime, and chiefly under
his influence, it became a formal and well-defined popular
entertainment, divided into three parts, each of which
43 Prefooe of Joseph Ortis de Tillena, of the Royal Library, Bladrid, one of the
preflxed to the Autos in Tom. XYIII. of well-knovn Spanish scholars and wríters of
the Obras Sueltas. They were not printed our own time. The first; entitled *^ Auto
till 1644, nine years after Lope's death, de' los Desposorios de Moisen," is a very
and then they appeared at Zaragoza. One slight performance, and, except the Pro>
other auto, attributed to Lope, *^ £1 Tirano logue or Argument, is in prose. The other,
Castigado,'' occurs in a very rare volume, called " Auto de la Residencia del Hombre,"
enUtted " Navidad y Corpus Christl Feste- is no better, but is all in verse. In a sub-
Jados," collected by Isidro de Robles, and sequent number, Don Eugenio publishes a
already referred to. complete list of the titles, with the ^figuras
M The manuscript collection mentioned or personages that appear in each. It ia
in the text was acquired by the National much to be desired that all the oontents of
Library at Madrid in 1844. It filis 468 this MS. should be properiy edited. Mean-
leaves in folio, and contains ninety-five while, we know Üiat saynetea were some-
dramatic pieoes. All of them are anony- times interposed between different parts of
mous, except one, which is said to be by the performances ; that allegorical person-
Maestro Ferruz, and is on the subject of ages were abundant ; and that the Bobo or
Cain and Abel ; and all but one seem to be Fool constantly recurs. Some of them
on religious subjects. This last is called were probably earlier than the time of
<* Entremés de las Esteras," and is the Lope de Vega *, perhaps as early as the
only one bearing that title. The rest are time of Lope de Rueda, who, as I have
called Coloquios, Farsas, and Autos ; already said in note 38, ante, may have
nearly all being called Autos, but some of prepared autos of some kind for the city of
them Farsas del Sacramento, which Toledo, in 1561. But the language and
seems to have been regarded as synony- versification of the two pieces that líave
mous. One only is dated. It is called been printed, and the general air of the
" Auto de la Resurrección de Christo," and fictions and allegories of the rest, so fiur as
Is licensed to be acted March 28, 1568. we can gather them from what has been
Two have been published in the Museo published, indícate a period nearly or quite
Literario, 1844, by Don Eugenio de Tapia, as late as that of Lope de Vega.
p. imL]
AmrOS SACBAliíEKTALES.
253
i character from the others,
all
the
The Las.
ílietínct ¡
! of them dramatic.
First of al i, in its more coinpleted state, carne
ha. This was always in the nattare of a pro
I logue ; but sometimeSi in form, it was a dialogue
ipoken by two or more actora- One of the best of Lope's
p of this kind, It 19 filled ^vith the tronbles of a peasant
Irbo has come to Madrid in order to Bee thcee very
showB, and has loet his wife in the crowd ; but^ jnat as
he has quite consoled himself and satisfied hía conecience
by deterihining to have her cried once or twíce, and thon
to give her \\p as a lucky loss and take another, she
comes in atid descriljos with much epirit the wonders of
the procession she had seen^ precisely aa her audience
thcmselves had juet seen it ; thus mafciiig, in the form of
a prologue, a most amusing and appropriate introdnction
Kbr the drama thrit wag to follow.^ Another of Lope'a
om ís a discussion hetween a ga.y gallant and a peasant,
v)ui talks, ifl rustió fashion^ on the subject of the doctrine
I of transubatantiation." Another ia given in the ebarac-
^Ker of a Morisco, and ía a monologne^ in the dialeet of the
^fcpeaker, on the advatitagea and disadvantages of his
tumin^ Chri^tian in earnest, after haviDg for some time
^^üade hia living fraudulently by begging in the assumed
^^pbaracter of a Óhristian pilgrim,*' Al! of them are amus*
' ing". thtmgh burlesqne ; but some of them are anjtbiog
rather than religious.
' After the loa carne an erdremes. All that remain to ua
[>f Lopo's entremeses are mere farces^ like the TbeEtiiro-
iterludes used every day in the secular thea- ™^^-
ea* In one itiatatice he makes an enij^emes a satire upon
iwyers, in which a member of the craft^ as in the oíd
french '^ Maistre Patheliti/' ia cheated and robbed by a
eemingly simple peasant, who firat reuders him extremely
tí TliU is the tmt ot the iü&t Íb the the Ih^fiuté gf the Camcdifuj^ Tom. TiriHj
t&nd to the Prn|ogi> of Pkndo j M.ivt I» Iho
Antoa of CiilderoD* I huvc lia dcHtbt ho I»
ri|(^lit. For an oociHiDt ü( J^uúj^ aee pmíi
Chftp, XXVE.
* Obnn Sueltas, Tom. XVIII. p. 3fl7.
:
»tuim<?i oDil, on the vrhote, tiie beit- Mj
, 31r, J. a, Chorley/wbose koawlüdgu
nUh Htemture^ and eepecíaJIy ot
t neljU«9 to Lopí, ia to ntnplu aud
^ {Imibtswhiíther the loftfl that hht^
ifQ tnibliiihed fttnoDf Lcüih;^» WorkJi An
I wvnúy hit, mnd ttfct» izi&^ far proor^ ta
^4
Avnm SACiáMiürrjiLEa
[PSRIICU» ü
TÍdicnloas, and Ibeii escapea bj disgoieiiig him&elf ae a
bJítid balIad«ÍDger, aad dandng and singing in booor qí
tbe festival j — a conclaaíoii wbich seema to be pectiliarly
írreverent for this partlctilar occasíon*^ Tu ariothcr ia-
fftance, he ñdictileg tbe poeta of bis time by hringing on
the atage a lady who pretends abe baa just eom© fram tlie
lodies, witb a fortune, in order to marry a poet, mi
succeeds in ber piirpoae ; bui botb fíod tbemselFes de^
ceired, for the ladj bas no income but eucb as ia gained
bj a pair of cafítanetai and ber husband tums out to be a
ba]|ad*maker. Both, however, have goüd seiiñe enough
to be con te ni with the ir bargaia, and agree to gu through
tbe world together sínging and dancing bailad», of whidí,
hy way of ñnale to the entremés ^ thej at once give tbe
crowd a Bpecimen,^' Yet anotber of Lope's snccessM
attempts m ibis way is an iníerlude contaiiiing witbin
itself the representation of a play on the storj of Helen^
whiob retninds us of the BÍmilar entertainment of Pyramua
and Thishe in the ** Midsummer Night'S Dream ; " but it
breaks off in the míddle^ — the actor who playa París run-
ning away in earnest with tbe actress who plajs Heleu,
and the piece ending ivith a burlea<^ne scene of confusiona
and reconGiliations.**^ And finally, anotber is a parody of
tbe procession ít&elf^ with ita gíaots, cara, and di ; treat-
ing the whole T^nth the gayeat ridicnle.**
ThuH fiír, all hus been a-vowedly comic in the di-amatic
exhibí tiuns of these religions feetiyals. But tbe autos or
chftPüíJter or sacrümontal acts themselvesj with wbich the
tíw Aut'i* whole conGluded, and to which aU that preeodod
wai only introductory; claini to be more grave in their
general tone^ though iii some caaes, Uke tbe prologues
aud Ínter! udes, partfi of thein are too whimsical and ex-
travtigíiiit to be anythirig but amusing. " The Bridge of
thtí Wurld ^^ is one of tbia class,^^ It representa the
Priiice of Darknesa placiiig the giant Leviathan on the
bridge of the world^ to defend ita passage against all
1
i
« ntiiU, |>. 114. ^« KnU*mc»dí5l Poet».**
••' m<i, u, mn, " üi a->bw üq Hele-
^ n li tbe iMt In the cüllectiDp^ aml^ «s
lo lt« p^etiy, eofii tíC Uiti btret «f tbe i«dte|
^^CteAT, XTIT-f
ATJTOS SAORABIENTAtES.
^Boioers who do not confüBB his supremacj. Adíim and
"Uve, whüp as we are told in the directions to the players,
ftppear '* dmseed very gallantlj aílter tJie Freneh fashion/'
re natiií-íilly the firet that preserit themselves,^ Thej
liilmcríbe tu the hard condition, and pasa o ver in sight of
|he audieiice* lu the same manner, as the dialogue in-
orma ua, the palriarchs, witb MoseSi David, and Solo-
tton, go o ver ; but at laat the Kiiight of the Cross, '* the
[Celestial Amadis of Greece," as ho is called^ appears in
p#raíjü, overthrows the preterisious of the Piince of Dark-
and leads the Suiíí of Man in triuinph across the
ftl passage. The whole is obviouelj a parody of the
oíd etory of the Giant defeeding the Brídge of M a atilde ; "
and wben to thís are added parodien of the bailad of
** Connt Claros ^* applied to Adain,^ and of other oíd
ballíidB applied to the Saviour,^'^ the confusión of allegory
Pmad farce, of religión and folly, seems to be complete.
i Othera of the uuÍúb are more uniformlj grave. '' The
Harvest ^* m a spiritualized versión of the p arable in
Saint Matthew on the Field that waa eowed with Good
■Seed and with Tares/' and is carried through with so me
degree of solomnity \ but tho unhappy tares ^ that are
thre atened with being cnt down and cast into the fire,
are nothing lesa than Judaiam, Idolatry , Heresy, and all
Sectarianism, who are barril y saved from their fate by the
mercy of the Iiord of the Harvest and his fair spouse, the
Ohurch, However^ notwithstanding a few 6uch absiirdi-
HüGs and awkwardnesses in the allegory, and sorae very
^^ misplaced compliraents to tbe reigning royal family, this
íb oh© of the bcst of the el asa to which it belongs, ahd
(n The lUrcfitioD to the nctors íb, — ** S&-
]pn Adfrrii f £ftk Véitida« de límucemA
tnuy gj'RlacibB/^
« Si^ UktoriA del ümpefaidar ÚiiñM
Vai^o, Cap. M, ^ el^
Sie leiúpUlioD I
Y«rKH Ad&n por imareí
tHgniw *fiia de p^irdmitr, ttc. i
«l^icli i« oBt üf tbe titiucttlrnL nuá wéll-
kmiwTi oíd lialladof the*'Oopcie Ciar™*,"
NftDnit}|r " P¿aiHíie de vos, ^l Conde,"
ToL I, p. 109, It mast liKn beta ^st"
fin^Üjr (kmUi&r ta mmiy taruma íñ Lo^i
LudkriCLS &nú how tlie allunloii (o it eould
ereut tjtroct I knov noL
« The íicl^lraftB of the mujilfl, ** 6! donni^
^Ddp< tíúf»,^ nfeft to taie bAllAdi} aboak
ÚKtm wlioie Udj-him toA beeii &urf[«4
csptli'e ftnwng the Mncm.
ií " Ln SiefíR," {Obnii aneitaa, Tom.
XVm, p^. a'JíJ,) tíí wbích there ié au ex-
ca^Uetnt tjanilftÜQa lo Dúhm^i SjHialsd»
I>raiaeti, Bertta, IBUf Sro^ Too. I.
256
ÜTtBraBSES.
tPBlWOD TI.
one of the mast sol eran. Anothér of those open to lesa
reproach than usual is called ^'The Return from Egypí/'^
which, with Ub shephcrds and gjpsies, is cot without the
grace of an eclog'tie, and^ ^ntli ita bailada and popular
Bongs, haa some of tUe charras that belong to Lopo*»
eecuíar dramas. Tliese two, with **Tbe Wolf turued
Shepherd/- ** — wbich is an allegory on the subject of the
Devil taking upou himBelf the character of the true shep-
herd of the flock, — constitute as fair, or perhaps, rather^
as favorable, specimens of the genuine Spanish autú as
can be found in the eider schooL All of them rest od the
grossest of the prevailing notions in religión ; ail of them
appeal, i a evorj way they can, whether light or seríoua,
to the popular feelings and prejudices ; raanj of them are
imbued with the apirit of the oíd national poetrj ; and
these, taken together, are the foundation on which their
eucceas rested, — a success which, if we coneider the
reh'gioua object of the festiv^al, was undonbtedly of e»x-
traordinarj extent and extrae rdinary duration.
But the entremeses or inte rindes that were used to
enliven the dramatic part of thia rude^ but gorgeoua
ceremonial^ were by ao means confined to it, They were,
The Etitre* ^^ ^*^ beon intimated, acted daily in the puhlic
jneae*. theatres, where, from the tirae when the full'
length draraas were introduced, they liad been inserte!
between their diETerent dívisions or acts, to atTord a lighfc-
er amuseraent to the andienee. Lope wrote a great ntitn-
ber of them ; how many i 9 not known. From their slight
character, however, hai'dly more than thirty have been
préserved. But we have enough to show tíiat in this, as
in the other dcpart mente of his drama, popular efíect waa
chiefly aonght, and that, as everywhere elsCj the flexi-
bility of his genina is manifeated in the varié ty of forma
in wluch it exhibits ite reeources. Gcncrally speaking,
thoae we possess are writteti in proso, are very ahort, and
have no plot ; beingraerely farcical dialogues drawn from
comraou or vulgar life,
The " Melisendra," however, one of the first publiahed,
6» " La VüeítH. (Je BgjTíUs** O^nUf Tono» « *' Bl PjutüT Lobo y CabanA Oel^^tlAli*
xvm., p. 435. n)W,^ p, asL
chap. xvil] entremeses. 25*1
Í8 an exception to this remark. It is composed almost
entirely in verse, is divided into acts, and has a loa or
prologa; — in short, it is a parody in the form of a
regalar play, founded on the story of Gayferos and Meli-
sendra in the oíd ballads.**^ The " Padre Engañado/'
which Holcroñ bronght upon the English stage under the
ñame of " The Father Outwitted," is another exception,
¿aá is a lively farce oY eight or ten pages, on the ridicu-
lous troubles of a father who gives his own daughter in
disguise to the very lover from whom he supposed he had
carefiílly shut her up.®^ But most of them, like " The
Indian,'' "The Oradle,'' and "The Robbers Cheated,"
would occupy hardly more than fifteen minutes each in
their representation, -^-r slight dialogues of the broadest
&rce, contiuued as long as the time between the acts
would conveniently permit, and then abniptly termi-
nated to give place to the principal drama.®^ A vigorous
spirit^ and a popular, rude humor are rarely wanting in
them.
But Lope, whenever he wrote for the theatre, seeras to
have remembereí its oíd foundations, and to have shown
a tendency to rest upon them as much as possible of his
own drama. This is apparent in the very entremeses we
have just noticed. They are to be traced back to Lope
de Rueda, whose short farces were of the same nature,
and were used, after the introduction of dramas of three
acts, in the same way.®* It is apparent, too, as we have
seen, in his moral and allegorical plays, in his sacra-
mental acts, and in his dramas taken from the Scripture
and the lives of the saints ; all founded on the earlier
Mysteries and Moralities. And now we find the same
tendency again in yet one more class, that of his ec-
•0 Primera Parte de Entremeses, " En- «> All three of these pieces are in the
tremes Primero de Hriisendra,** Come- same yolome.
dias, Tom. I., Valladolid, 1604, 4to, ff. «> ** Lope de Rueda,** says Lope de Vega,
333, etc. It is founded on the fine oíd **was an example of these precepts in
ballads of the Romancero of 1550 - 1556, Spain \ for from him has come dowu the
** Asentado está Gayferos," etc. *, the same cnstom of calling the oid plays Entre-
ont of which the pnppet-show man made meses J*^ (Obras Sueltas, Tom. IV. p. 407.)
his exhibition at the ínn before Don Quix- A single scene taken oat and used in this
ote, Parte 11. c. 26. way as an entremés was called a Paso or
n Comedias, TaUadolid, 1604, Tom. I. " passage." We have noted such by Lope
p. 837. de Rueda, etc. See ante, pp. 48, 58.
258
BRAMATIC ECLOOTOS.
fPBBTfJl» O-
log-ues and pastoral 8, — a form of the drama whieh may
Dramatsc ^^ Fucogüized at Icast m earlj as the time of
EciuKiiea. j^^^y, ¿e la Eüzína. Of tliese Lope wrote a
considerable number, that are still extaut^ — twetity or
more I — not a few of which bear distinct marks of their
origin iu that singular mixture of a bucoÜc aud a religioiis
tone that is Reen in the first beginiungs of a public
theatre in Spain.
Some of tbe eclogaes of Lope, we knoWi were per-
forraed ; a», for instancei '* The Wood and do Love iu
ítj'^ — Selva sin Amor, ^ — which was represen ted with
costly pomp and much ingeuions apparatüs before the
Jting and tbe rojal familj." Others, like se'^en or eight
in hifi ** Pastores de Belén/' and one published under
the ñame of ''Tomií de Burguillos/' — all of whieh claim
to have been arranged for Christniaa and difíerent re-
rligious feíitivalfí, — so much resemble such as we know
rere really performed oa theee oecasiona, that we can
'liardly donbt that, like thoae just mentioned, they a! so
were represented.^ While yet others, like the firet he
©ver publiÉsbed, called the *^ Araoroaa," and hiR last, ad-
dressed to Pbilis, together with one on the death of híg
wife, and one on the death of his soiij were probably
inte n de d only to be read.^ Bnt all may have been act-
ed, if we ai'e to judge from the habita of the age, wben,
as we know^ eclogues never deatined for the stage were
represe ntedj as much as if they bad been expressly
written for it,^ Át aay rate, all Lope's oompo sitio na of
s4 Obras, Tom» L p. í^. Tht soeneiiy
H^fod miuQlLüiea irer? bj Cosuid Lottij i.
iTlore atine arc^Ltect ^ Atid^ aa Btirling^
K4lE^jiee bj tbcár beanty aad Loj^enaLt;."
Ijürüsts of apuÍD^ 184^^ Vol. II. p. M&,
86 ObrnA^ Tom. XTI., pasBim, awi XOC-
p. ^?B.
fi* Fot thí'se^ ftee Obrns^ Tora. III. p,.
4A'd y TaniH X p. ISÍÍ | Tum. IV. p. 430 ;
ftpit Tom. X. p. aü% Tlié lait ei'lo^ue
eontaEoM D(!tirly uU we kiiow ^.b^mi his
Bocí, Liip& Fcll£.
of Boa QuixijtQ^ wbcir^ Bume gBiitjeinen
ftnd UdJeit, Tor thelr own cptertalnmeot
Ifi tbft cDQDtiry, rere aboat Lo reprea^iit
thti eclogiioñ of eEiircIhuso and CumocnA.
In tbe s-ame ffajr, I think, tbe weU'luiow'n
eclogue vbich Lepe dedlcated, ta Aatimin
Büke or Alva, (Obrad, IV. p. 295,) tlt«t lo
AmKiyllls^ whicb iraa Üi« lougest be ovcr
VTvte, (fom. X. p. 147^ tluit Tur tbe PrlaoQ
of EaqalUcbe, ^aio. I* p. 352^) afid moft
pf thíMW In tbe *' Arcadln,'^ (Toíh. TI.,)
were actei^ and writt™ in íirder to be
attl^d. Wby tbp pr)«m Ut íüí^ frk'iitl ClAtir
dirt, (tilín. IX, p, SSSJ irlilcb U iu fiMít >ld
ftfX'oH'Qt of frome passii^res lii lúa. owu tüc,
wttb nijthLnj^ peutLoml in i ti tuae or form,
\A ealled " an eclugue,^^ I ña aot kdoír ;
Múf wiU I uodertakü to ASMijfn to lu^ pu
Chip. XVn.] DRAMATIC ECLOGUES. 259
ihís kind show how gladly and freely his genius over-
flowed into the remotest of the many forms of the drama
that were either popular or permitted in his time.
dftM the ** Military Dialc^rne in in its stractore, and was probably repre-
r of the Marquis of Espinóla," (Tom. sented, on some show occasion, before the
X. p. 887,) thoogh I tUnk it is dramatío Marquis himself.
CHAPTER XVIII.
LOPB DB YKQAf CONTINUED. — HI8 CHARACTEBISTICS AS A DRAMATIO
WRITBB. — HI8 STORIES, CHARACTERS, .AND DIALOGUE. — HIS DI8-
RBGARD OP RULES, OP HI8TORICAL TRUTH, AND MORAL FRO-
PRIBTT. — HIS COMIC UNDERPLOT AND GRACIOSO. — HIS POETICAL
STTLE AND MANNER. — HIS FITNESS TO WIN GENERAL PATOR.—
HIS 8UCCES8. — HIS PORTUNB, AND THE VA8T AMOUNT OP HIS
WORKS.
The extraordinary variety in the character of Lope's
dramas is as remarkable as theír number, and contributed
not a little to render him the monarch of the stage while
Twoprin- he lived, and the great master of the national
L?¿?B*dra- theatre ever since. But though this vast variety
"»«• and inexhaustible fertility constitute, as it were,
the two great corner-stones on which his success rested,
still there were other circumstances attending it that
should by no means be overlooked, when we are examin-
ing, not only the surprising results themselves, but the
means by which they were obtained.
The first of these is the principie which may be con-
sidered as running through the whole of his fuU-length
I te P^*y^®' — *^^* ^^ making all other interests sub-
estofthe ordinato to the intorest of the story. Thus, the
'^^^' characters are a matter evidently of inferior
moment with him ; so that the idea of exhibiting a single
passion giving a consistent direction to all the energías
of a strong will, as in the case of Richard the Third, or,
as in the case of Macbeth, distracting them all no less
consistently, does not occur in the whole range of his
dramas. Sometimes, it is true, though rarely, as in
Sancho Ortiz, he develops a marked and generous spirit,
with distinctive lineaments ; but in no case is this the
GiAP. XVm,] CHARACTER OF LOPE DE YEGA^S DEAMA. 201
roaiíi objecí, and in no case is it don© with the appear-
ance of an artist-líké ekíll or a delibérate piirpose. On
the contráiy, a great majontj of hb characters are alniost
as iiiuch standin^ maske as Pantalone ia on the Yenetian
stage, or Scapin on the French. The primer galana or
hero, ali love* honor, and jealousy ; the¿am£í, or heroine,
so lees loving and jealoua^ but yct more raah and heed-
leis í and the brotherj or if not the brother^ then the
barba, or oíd man and father, ready to cover the stage
with blood, if the lo ver has even been eeon in the hoiitío
id the heroíne, ' — theso recur continuallj, and serve, not
onl^ in the secular, htit often ín the religions pieces, aa
tiie fixed pnints round which the clifTerent actions, with
Iheir diflbrent íncidcnta^ are made to réYolve.
In the Banie way, the dialogue is used chieflj to bring
00 1 the plot, and hardlj at all to bring out the characters?.
Thís 19 obvioua in the long speechea^ sonietimes consist-
ing of two or three hundred verses^ which are as piarely
narra ti ve m an Itah'an novellít, and ofton mnch like one ;
and it 18 seen, too^ in the crowd of inciden ta that compose
the action, which not infreqnently fails to find space
safüoient to spread ont all its ingemous involutjona and
make them ©asily intelli^íble ; a difficulty of which Lope
once gives his audience fair warning, telling them at tlse
ontaet of the piece^ that they must not lose a syllable of
the firat explanation, or they will certainly fail to under*
stand the cnrious plot that follows.
Obeying the same principie, he aacñfices regularity
and congruity in his stories, if he can but make them
^ iiitereetíng. Hie longer playa, indeed, are regularly
■*t^^ided into three jornadas, or acts j but thia, though he
r claima it as a meríti is not an arrangement of hie own
inven tion, and íb, moreoveí;, merely an arbitrary mode of
producing the patisee necessary to the convenience of the
ftctord and spectatore ; pausen which ^ in Lope^s theatre,
bava too oftj^n nothing to do with the structure and pro-
portions of tbe piece itself.' As for the six plays which.
fe plur Qt WtmtíúWQO 4e Arendano, 16&a. X. p, 112.
262 CHABACTER OF LOPE DE VEGA^S DRAMA. [Pkriod a
as he intimates, were written according to the rules,
Spanish criticism has sought for them in vain ; * nor do
any of them, probably, exist now, if any evet existed,
unless " La Melindrosa ''— The Prude — may have been
one of them. But he avows very honestly that he re-
gards rules of all kinds only as obstacles to his success.
" When I ara going to \mte a play/' he says, " I lock
up all precepts, and cast Terence and Flautas out of mj
study, lest they should cry out against me, as truth is
wont to do even from such dumb vdiumes ; for I write
according to the art invented by those who sought the
applause of the multitude, whom it is but just to humor
in their folly, since it is they who pay for it." •
The extent to which, foUowing this principie, Lope
sacrifíced dratnatic probabüities and possibilitíes, geog-
raphy, history, and a deoent morality, can be properly
understood only by reading a large number of his playa,
But a few instances wíU partially illustrate it. In his
" First King of Castile,'' the events fiU thirty-six years
in the middle of the eleventh oentury, and a Gypsy is
introduced four hundred years before Gypsies were
known in Europe.* The whole romantic story of the
Seven Infantes of Lara is put inte the play of " Mu-
darra." * In " Spotless Furity/' Job, David, Jeremiah,
Saint John the Baptist, and the University óf Salamanca
figure together ; * and in " The Birth of Ghrist " we have,
for the two extremes, the creation of the world and the
Nativity.' So much for history. Geogr^hy is treated
* ^ Exoept six," 8878 Lope, at the ená wrdte £hem not for the mttltitade, bat for
of his " Arte Nuevo," " all my feor han- fooFteMí or fifteea people ** que tare en sa
dred and eighty-three playa haYe offended imaginación." It woold be difficult, how-
gravely against the tales [el arte]." See ever, to ten how he woold apply this re*
Montiano y Layando, " Discarso sotnre las muric to " ffi Marques de Maofeaa," wbieh
Tragedias Españolas," (Madrid, 1750, is the seventh in the Yolume, mr the ** Ea*
12mo, p. 47,) and Huerta, in the Prefitoe ente 0ve;}ana," which is the las!,
to his '« Teatro Hespaóol," for the diffieolty « « El Primer Bey de Oastillá," Oome>
of finding even these six. dias, Tom. XYU., Madrid, 1621, tt. 114^
> Arte Nuevo de Hacer Comediap, etc.
Obras, Tom. lY. p. 406. And in the & ^El Bastardo Modarra," Oomediaa,
Bedicaiion of " Lo Cierto por lo Dudoso," Tom. XXIY., Zaragoza, 1641.
spe&king of dramas, he says : ** En España « " La Limpieza no Manchada," Gom<s
no tienen preceptos." When, however, he dias, Tom. XIX., Madrid, 1623.
published the twelfth volume of his Come- 7 El Nacimiento de Christo," ComediaSi
dias, 1619, he seemed to fttnoy that he was Tom. XXIY., ut auprB.
writing more oarefulíy, for he rtqm, he
CÍHAF. XVm.] CHARACTER OF LOPE DE VEGA'S DRAMA. 263
no better, when Cbnetantinople is declared to be four
thoasand leagues fróm Madrid,^ and Spaniards are made
te disembark from a ship in Hungary.^ And as to moráis,
it Í8 not easy to tell how Lope reconciled his opinions to
Ids practíce. In the Preface to the twentieth volume of
hi8 Thealare, he declares, in reference to his own " Wise
Tengeance/' that "its title is absurd, because all re-
vtfñge Í8 nnwise and-nnlawful ; " and yet it seems as if
one half of his plays go to jnstify it. It is made a merit
in San Isidro, that he stole his master's grain to gíve it
to the starving birds." The prayers of Nicolás de Tolen-
tíno are accounted sufficient for the salvation of a kins-
mfrn who, after a dissolute life, had died in an act of
mortal sin ; ^ and the cruel and atrocious conquest of
Aranco is olalmed as an honor to a noble ^rnily and a
gráce to the national escntcheon.^^
Bnt all these violations of the trath of fact and of the
oemmonest rules of Ohrístian moráis, of which nobody
was more aware than their perpetrator, were overlooked
by Lope himself, and by his audiences, in the general
interest of the plot. A dramatized novel was the form he
<^08e to give to his plays, and he succeeded in settling it
as the main principie of the Spanish stage. '' Tales," he
declares, " have the same rules with dramas, the purpose
of whose authors is to content and please the public,
' • It is ttie learned Tlraodora, a pereoa Herbert*8 Life, by himself London, 1809,
rqpreflented as capable of oonfoonding the 8to, p. 217.
knowing pBofesBors broaght to try her, w See " San Isidro Labrador," in Come-
wiio dAolares Constontinople to be foor dias Escogidas, Tom. XXYIII., Madrid,
thousand leagues flrom Biadiid. La Don- 1667, f. 66.
leUa Teodor, end of Act n. u "San Nicolás de Tolentino,** Come-
• Thiseztraoidinarydlsembarkationtakes dias, Tom. XXIY., Zaragosa, 1641, f. 171.
iriace in the ** Animal de Ungria " (Come- ^ ** Arauco Domado," Comedias, Tom.
dias, Tom. IX., Barcelona, 1618, ff. 137, XX., Madrid, 1629. After reading such
188). One is naturally reminded of Shake- absordities, we wonder less ttiat CerTantes,
8peaxe*B ^ Winter's Tale } " but it is cu- eren though he committed not a féw like
lióos that the Duke de Luynes, a fkvorite them himself, should make the puppet-
mtnlster <^ state to Loáis Xm., made show man exolaim, "Are notathonsand
ptedBdj the same mistake, at about the plays represented now-a-days, fall of a
same time, to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, ttiousand impropricties and absurdities,
then (1619-21) ambassador in Franco, which yet ran their course successfülly,
But Lope certainly knew better, and I and are heard, not only with applause, but
doabt not Shakespeare did, howcYer igno- with admiration? " D. Qoixote, Parte n.
rant the Vrench statesman may haré been. o. 86.
264
THE GKACIOSO.
[Pbrioü U.
thou^h the rules of art may be strangled hy it.'' " And
elsewhere, when deferiding- bis opmions, he saye : ^'Eeep
the explauatioíi uf the stury dotiblful till the last scetje ;
foFi as soon as the publíc know how it will eod^ they turn
their faces to the door and their backs to the stag^c/' "
This had never been said before ; and though sorne traeea
of intríguing plots are to be feund from the time of Torres
de NahaiTo, yet nobodj evev thought of relying upon
them^ in thia way, for 8 neceas, till Lope had set the
example, which his school have so faithfully fallowed.
Aí30ther element which he eatablished in the Spauísli
Drama was the coraic underplot, Nearlj all his plays,
*' The Star of Sevilla *^ being the only brilUant exceptioii,
h'^ve it ;^ so me ti mes in a pastoral form, bnt generaíly as
a simple admixtiire of larce. The characters contained in
„ , „ this portioa of each of hís dramas are as rauab
fe uiiaenfi'it standmg masks as thoae in the graver portion,
'^^"*^and were perfectlj well known under the ñame
of the graciosos and gj-aciosas, or drolls, to which was
afterwards added the vegeta, or a little, oíd, teety esquire,
who Í9 always boa&ting of his deecent, and is oftea em-
ployod in teaaing the gracioso. In most cases they con-
stitute a parody on the dialogue and adven tu res of the
hero and heroinei as Sancho is partly a parody of Don
Qüixote, and in most cases they are the servan ts of the
respective parties ; — the men beiog good-humored cow-
ards and gluttona, the womea mÍBchievons and coqiiettisb,
and both full of wit, malice^ and an affected siniplicity,
Blight traces of such characters are to be foiind on the
Spanish stage as far back as the servante in the ** Sera*
fioa " of Torres Nabarro ; and in the middie of that
contury, the bobo, or fool, figures freely in the farces of
Lope de Rueda, as the simple had done before in those of
Enzina. But the variously wítty gracioso ^ the full-blown
parody of the heroic characters of the play, tbe dramatio
pícafVj is the vrork of Lope de Vega. He first introduced
i.t **Ttenen liu nnveUs les mkmoa pre* 1* Arte ííufiTCf^ Obnia^ Toio* TV. p. U£
fiéptoB que lás comed ins, cuja fin ee tiatier Frum hd ¡^utoji^rBph MS^ of Lope, MU
úsúo Éu fLutuí" caDtentD y gusto bJ puefaLo, esrüiut, it appeara thut hc Bometlia'^ WTOta
auuqtie e^t ahorque el arte." Dbms 3u?1< out lile pl&jé ñr>t ín thtí fuña eí pequeña»
tiu, Tom. Vm. p. 70. notieia». ^tmnaxld FLüturt^iico, lñ3%, p. 19i<
¡lAp. xvni]
THE GBACIOSO-
265
<
into tbe "Franceejlla/' whera tbe oldeat of ihe tríbe,
der the ñame of Tristarii was represented by Ríos, a
o US actor of hiB timei and produced a great efíect ; ^*
"^an event which, Lope tella ub, in the Dedication of tbe
drama itself, ia 1620| to bis firiend Montalvan, occurred
ífore that ñiend was born, and tberefore before the year
602.
Frotn tbia time tbe gructosQ is found in nearly di of
h,Í3 playa, and in nearly everj otber plaj produced on tho
Spanish stage, from which it paaaed, first to the Frenchi
and then to all -tbe otber theatrea of modern times. Ex-
ilien t apecimena of it may be fonnd ia the Bacríataa of
le '"Captivee of AJgiera/* ia the servante of the "Saint
obn'e Eve/* andin the servante of the " Ugly Beatity ; ''
in ali which^ aa well as in many more, the graciom is skil-
fnlly tumed to account, by being tnade partly to ridicule
tbe heroic extravagancea and rhodomontade of the lead-
ing persouages, and partly to sbield tbe author himself
Irom rebnke by good-bomoredly confeasing for bíni that
he was quite aware be des er ved it. Of auch we may
8ay, as Don Qnixote did, when speaking of the whole
claaa to the Baehelor SamsoD OarrascOi that they are the
sbrewdest fellows in their respective playa. But of
athers, whose ilKadviaed wit is inopportniíely thrast,
witb tbeir foolsoaps and bawbles, into tbe gravest and
tnoat tragic s cenes of playa like ** Marriage in Deatb/'
we can ooly avow^ tbat» though they were demanded by
the taate of the age, nothing in any age can suffice for
theír justífícation.
li &e Üie netllcatkn of (ha " TroDCQ-
to Jiun Feria dt Uoatalmii, In
Tom. XnX., Madrid, 1620,
fHlore w& have Üie IgUairíDg vorda t *^ And
üfiier In piMlnj^ that tliis la the: ñnt pluy
§D. whííái WftB iotroduced the E^hara^tcT mT
wtüch bu beeii bo attxn tüí-
■loce. fitofl, nniqu? In aU piirtí,
Et, &tid ÍB wofthy üf VklB record,
I liff^ joa to rthd 1% ai a new thÍQj^ ( for
vboi I vrtyte It, jfoii were not lM>Tn," Thu
graei&tüWiA B«Di;ran^ díitluiniliihed by lila
nijBB 01) tbe BiNitikb ^^Uige^ at he Wíui
fefbefinptii on tbe Fr^iKüh «Lago. That^
CSalitKros üfti?ii uuIIm bit fffaoiúm Clarín, or
Tmmpet \ as MqU^fc colled hfs Si^nain^Ue^
Tbe timpléj whOj aa 1 havo mhl, cao be
tf ftoed bsfk t» KniLiiLi^ and who wae, na
dooht, tli« «ame wltb tbe ¡mbü, li tma^
tioiud aa vn? sucocübFiÜt Id 15M, t>y
Lopea Piníáaoo, whcs In hía " PhlkiSüfía
ADtíjTiia Puíticíi/* (Ififta, p. 402,) »ayfl,
'^They are cbaractera that cotiiíaoiUj
amiiae tnott tbaii aiiy athera tbat apocar ta
tlie playa." Míe graewaa of Lope wua,
Uka the reai ^if lUi theatine, founiled a»
whifct oxbtL^d bflfore hlá time ;, only Uüe
Áhu-rnoter itaelf wa» furthtr dovelotMja, aoA
rec«lv«!l a oew aacae* I>. Qulx^te, 01»-
menolii, Part» U* cap. 3| pata.
LOPE DE VEGA^S Vi; USIFI CATIÓN. [Pkrjod IL
feMlficitólqu.
An importatit circumatance wbich ehould not be oTer-
lookeáf when coaeídering the meatis of Lopc's great sue*
cesSi ÍB hia poetical style, the metres he adopted, aüd
especially the use he made of the eider poetry of liis coun-
try, In all these respecte, lie is to be praised ; alwajs ex-
cep ti ng the occasionB when, to obtain universal app lause,
he permitted himself the use of that obscure and aflected
etjle whic!i the conrtly part of his audienco demandedi
and which he himeelf elsewhere coudenmed aüd ridi-
cíiled.**
lío doubtí indeed, much of his power' over tbe mass
of the people of his time ís to be Bouglit io the
charm that belonged to hp versification ; not
inñ^eqnently careless, but almoet alwayg freeh,
flowiog, and eftective. Its varietj^ too, was remarkable,
Ko metre of which the language was susceptible escaped
him. The Italian octave s tan zas are frequent ; the tersa
rima, though more s paria gly used, occurs oíHieti ; and
hurdly a play is without one or more sonneta. A) I tliis
was to picase the more fashioEable and cultivated among
his audience, who had long been en amor ed of what-
ever was Italian ; and thoagh some of it was uohappy
enough, like eoanets with echoes,^*^ it was all íluent and
all succeseful.
Still, as lar as his verse was concemed, — besides
the silüas, or masses of irregular lineSr the quintillas ^ or
five-line atanzas, and the liraSf or síjc-liue^ — he relied^
above everything el se, upou the oíd natío nal ballad-
measure ; — both the proper romance j with aBonanteSf
purticular omuí" but taei rrequentiyí e. g.
Irt"El Cuerdo en tu Casa'''' (CümBdím,
Tmn. VL, MartrÍEl, 1616^ IT. 10&, ete.) í Í»
thii ^* Niña a c PlHta^^ (ComedUa, Tom, IX.,
Barcetqnat 1618 1 ^- l^^i »=tc.) ; lo the " Cau-
tivos de ATRtl" (ComediaB, Tom^ XXV.^
^arAgtsa, 1047, p. 2Á1) -y and íd othei*
ptHces. Biit Id oppciAitioD to all ttiit?, Bee
hl9 delibérate Ododtitaüaüoa of such eu-
phiitetfoi.; faWltm la hie Obras Sueltas, Tam.
IV. pp. im -482 ¥ and \M j&Ata at thelr
exrpenaa \n hU '* Amistad y Obllgiicíoii,**
mod biH ^* MeUudres de Bellsa " (Comedias,
fam. IX,, Banelmia, ISIBJ.
choicE moTs^ís thTow^u iú to pleue (Jift
orer-reñoed portioD of th« aadl^^noe. la
gtDcra!, onlj ons oe- two Mcur In a V^l
but ÍD the '^ Di^r^ta T^p^'aivui." (CfHa^
dios, Tilín XX*, MBrlrld» 1«29) thena ara
flve. In tbe '^PjiIiuUüi deOaHiMJii*' (Cq-
medíaí, Tom* XXirí., Madtfíd» líUlS, fc
2Sfl) thure It ¡a ToalUh flonnet with t>üfioeii,
and atsolhcT lu the '■'■ Mietoria d<!: Tobíoj ^*
(CfiBi4?4lSHi^ TeiiD. XV „ Madnd, 1621, f.
244). The sannet !m lidktild: af jonnets, íq
the ^^^líka, de Ftata," (CoinúdlñS, Tom.
tX.s Barctílonii, 1618, f. 124,) i» wítty, and
ha» been imliated |n FreiK^ aad Id Kn^Uvti^
€t»Ay, XTin.]
mS USE OF BáLLADS.
and the redondilk, witli rbymea bctween the firat ¡mi
ÍQurth liues and between the secoEd and third.
In tliis he WíLs nnqueetionablj rígbt. The ear- S^kSi**^
liest attempts at draniatic repreaentation in ^^^ '
Spaln had be en somewhat lyrícal in their toue,
and the more artificial forma of ve rae, therefore, espe-
ciall>" thoae wíth short línea interposed at regular ínter*
vale, had beeE used hj Juan de la Enzina, bj Torres
Kaharro, and by othera ; though^ lattorly^ in theee, as ia
many respecte, much confusión had been introduced into
Spanish dramatic poetrj. But Lope^ making hia dramsf^l
more narrative than it had been before^ settled it at once^^
and finally on the true tsational narrative raeasure. He
went farther. He introduced into it mnch oíd bftllad-
poetrj^ and many sepárate bailada of hia own composition,
Thus, in '* The Sun Delayed/' the Maater of Santiago,
who has lo8t bis way, stops and Bings a bailad ; ^* and
in his '* Poverty no Disgracei" he haa inaerted a beauti-
ful one^ beginning,
O noble Spanish cavRlier,
Totí hasten to tlic ñglit ;
Tiie truuipet rítij^íí apon your ear.
And victory cIuííds hüi right^'
Probably, however, he produced a still greater eflecl
wben he brought iu passages, not of hia own, btit of oíd
and well-known ballads^ or alluaious to them, Of theae
his playa are fulL For in atañe e, hís "San Deíayed/'
and hta ** Envy of Xobility/^ are all redolent of the Mo~
risco bailad s, that were ao much admired in hia time ; the
first taking those that reíate to the lo vea of Gazul and
Zayda,^ and the laat those from the " Civil Wats of
Granadal" about tiie wild fends of the Zegris and the
u *' El Sifjl Parado," Comedias, *tom.
Xrri., Madrid, Ui21, pp. 218, 21ÍI. U r^
miodí oao of tbe madh more bcamiftul
dlnnlnir ** Mona tftu lbrm»a," ante, VoL L
p. 386 KDd Doie.
1» ^iPobrezn no ea "Víkía," ComudlAfti
ToiD, XX., Madrid, IH^, 1. Ql,
beaatiñil and líADiLliJir b^tad, "&úñ la
Estrella de Veaujj" — whlcli ia In Üie Bo*
loaocero Ofineral, \he " Gncrraa do Omn*»
da," and muny olh er pli*aij„ — <vnd work
it up luto » rtiAlo^no- *'^ SíJl Pi*tm1i,^
CíMtietUM, TiHtt. XVII., Madrid, IflOl, «
2^t 214.
268 LOPE DE VEGA'S MATEBIALS. [PEBioto IL
Abencerrages.** Hardly lesa marked is the use he makes
of the oíd bailada on Boderíc, in his " Last Goth ; " ^ of
those conceming the Infantes of Lara, in his several playa
relating to their tragical story ; ^ and of those aboüt
Bernardo del Carpió, in " Marriage and Death." ** Oc-
casionally, the effect of their introduction must have
been very great. Thus, when, in his drama of " Santa
Fé," crowded with the achievementa of Hernando del
Pulgar, Garcilasso de la Vega, and whatever was most
glorious and imposing in the siege of Granada, one of his
personages brekks out with a varíation of the ñkmiliar
and grand oíd bailad, —
í r Now Santa Fé ¡s circled round
%• .;, With canvas walls so fair,
And tents that corer all the gronnd
With silkfl and yelyéts rare,* —
it must have stirred his audience as with the sound of a
trumpet.
Indeed, in all respects, Lope well understood how to
win the general favor, and how to build up and strength-
en his fortúnate position as the leading dramatic poet of
n In the same way, he seiaes npon the * It is in the last chapter of the " Oaer-
old bailad, ** Beduan bien se te acuerda,** ras Civiles de Granada ; ** but Lope has
and oses it in the ** Embldia de la Noble- giren it, with a slight change in the phrase-
sa,** Comedias, Tom. XXni., Madrid, ology, as follows : —
1C38, t 192. Ceread» eit£ Sancta Fé
tt FcHT ezample, the bailad in the Bo- Con muclio liento encendo i
maneero of 1555, beglnning ^ Después que "^ >1 rededor mnchM tiendas
el Rey Rodrigo,»» at the end of Jomada IL, ^ terciepeto y damaieo.
in ** Bl Ultimo Godo,»» Comedias, Tom. It occurs in many coUections of ballads,
XXT., Zaragoza, 1647. and is fonnded on the fiurt, that a sort oi
» Compare **B1 Bastardo Mndarra** viUage of rich tents was established near
(Comedias, Tom. XXIY., Zaragoza, 1641, Granada, which, after an accidental oonfla-
ff. 76, 76) with the ballads, *<Ruy Vehis- gration, was turned into a town, that still
qiies de Lara,** and ** Llegados son loe In- exists, within whose walls were signed both
Cuites } ** and, in the same play, the dia- the oommission of Colombus to seek the
logue between Mudarra and his mother, New World, and the capitulation of Gra-
(f. 83,) with the bailad, " Sentados á un nada. The imitation of this bailad by
ajedres.»* Lope is in his " Cerco de Santa Fé,»' Co-
M "El Casamiento en U Muerte,»» (Come- medias, Tom. I., Valladolid, 1604, fl 69.
dÍa8,Tom.I.,ValladolÍd, 1604, ff. 198, etc.,) For an account of Santa Fé, which was
tn which the foUowlng well-known oíd visited by Naragiero in 1526, see his
ballads are freely used, riz. : " O Belerma ! Viaggio, 1563, 1 18. It is now much di-
O Belerma ! »* "No tiene heredero algu- lapldated. It took its ñame, Ha^emann
no ; ** "Al pie de un túmulo negro ; ** says, tram the belief that it was the enly
** Bañando está las prisiones ; ** and city in Spain where no Moslem prayer had
others. ever been ofléred.
jChap. XVin.] fflS POPULABITY. 269
fais time. The ancient foundations of the theatre^ as far
as they existed when he appeared, were little
disturbed by him. He camed on the drama, he foaíSSoof
saya, as he found it ; not venturing to observe ^¿jj^
the rules of art, beoause, if he had done so, the
public never would have listened to him.* The elementa
that were floating about, crade and unsettled, he used
freely ; but only so far as they auited his general par-
póse. The diviaion into three acta, known so little, that
he attributed it to Yiruea, though it waa made much
earlier ; the ballad-meaaure, which had been timidly used
by Tarrega and two or three others, but relied upon by
nobody ; the intriguing story, and the amusing under-
plot, of which the alight tracea that existed in Torres
Naharro had been long forgotten, — all theae he aeized
with the inatinct of geniua, and formed from them, and
írom iJie abundant and rich inventiona of hia own over-
flowing faney, a drama which, aa a whole, waa unlike
anything that had preceded it, and yet waa ao truly
national and reated ao faithfally on tradition, that it waa
never afterwarda diaturbed, till the whole literature, óf
which it waa ao brilliant a part, waa awept away with it.
Lope de Yega'a immediate aucceaa, aa we have aeen,
waa in proportion to hia great powera and favorable op-
portunitiea. For a long time, nobody elae waa willingly
heard on the atage ; and during the whole of the forty or
fifty yeara that he wrote for it, he atood quite unap-
proached in general popularity. Hia unnumbered playa
and farcea, in all the forma that were demanded hís great
by the faahiona of the age, or permitted by re- b««»i».
ligioua authority, fiUed the theatrea both of the capital
and the provincea ; and ao extraordinary waa the impulae
he gave to dramatic repreaentationa, that, though there
were only two companiea of atrolling playera at Madrid
when he began, there were, about the period of hia death,
no leaa than forty, comprehending nearly a thouaand
peraona.^
M He saya this apparently as a kind of S7 See the cnrious focts colleoted oa ttüB
apology to foreignen, in the Proface to the subject in PeUicer^s note to Don Quizóte,
« Peregrino en ea Patria,*' 1603, vrhere he ed. 1798, Parte II., Tom. I. pp. 100 - 111.
gires a list of his plays to that date.
m
LOPE DE VEQÁ^S POPULÁBtTY* [Period H
Abroad, too, his fame was hardly lese remarkable. Tn
: Borne, Kap!ee. and Milao, bis dramas were performed in
Mlieir original languag-e ; in Franco and Italj, bis name
was annoiinced in order to fill the theatree wlien no play
of his waa to be perfornied ; ^^ and once eveo, and prob-
ably oftener, one of hia dramaa was represeoted in the
seraglio at Coestantinople-^ But perhaps ndthor all this
popiilarityi ñor yet the crowds that folio wed him in the
streets and gathered in the bal con i es to watch him as he
paseed alongí^ ñor the ñame of Lope, that wag gÍFen to
wh ate ver was esteeniod singnlarly good in its kind," ia
BO striking a proof of his di-amatic s«ceesa, aa the fact, so
often complained of by hitiigelf and his frienJs, that miil-
titndes of his playa were fraiidulently noted down aa
thej were acted, and then printed for prolit throughout
Spain ; and that multitudes of other playa appeared
under his name, and were represe nted all o ver tiie prov-
inceSí that he had never eveu heard of till they were pub-
liahed or performed.^^^
A large income naturallj followed such populañty, for
his playa were liberally paid for by the actora ; ** and he
Italian pcet| MmIdI^ Id his Enlojíy cin
Xiope, OtJflu Sueltas^ Tum. XXI. p. 19.
Uífl pti^B veré attoo. pñnixd In líal? whfle
liv wwa Uriiif ¡naá after hin deaUí. I haire
IIC0P7 oraoeat odEtlon of hi« " v&HocLqü
de Orn," ptihltfthed at MiUn ju 1649.
M Obraa Bueltoa, Todl VIH. pp. &4~ &€^
Siod ¡^elUcer'^fl note to Ddd Qulxote, Pirte
I., f om. tu. p. Ü3. One of hia pJa.y& ^OM
trnnatiited üitri Oermflii íu lñ&2^ hy Ori^fl*-
linger^ o. ]K>ar tinthor of that ps^rltjd ; but,
in general, Spamísh licerature wa.9 ISttle
Kgafded in Ofrman^ fu Üit: Aerenteenth
vcDtasj^ Tke Thirl^ Years' ^as made H
*t> IbU [i Baid Lü a dÍEicourse preachHi
vww bSi mortal rctnainn in 5t BebuatiAn^A^
At hia fkioeraL Obras Su^lt&s-, Tutn. XIX.
^ " Frcj Xjfipo Fclíx de Tqga, who«e
n-ame' haa iK^nümc mnlverajillj a prciverl?
far whik,tevf r ifi goud," saya Que v^do^ In tiíí
AprolujickkiQ to " Tomé de BurKuiUos.**
(Ohms Hueltaa ñtí Lofie^ Totn, XIX, p. xíje)
"It hecame a c<immou pTOyerb to pralui b
£Oad Thln^ by caUtn^ jt a £o|i« ; ao th&t
|ewc^lB, diamonda, pk^tured^ etc., mre
mlaed Into esteém by cAUing them hía^**
aays Montalvao. (ObñiM Sueltas^ Tom,
XX. p. 53<) OervAntea líitliimt4Ha tlie aanie
thlng in bis entremeta **La Otuunladni-
dudoaiiH,'^
^ II i» cfiEiiplialEita fm the aub/ci>ct begin
tt4i ottiPly aíi lSU3j befofe ha hnd publínhed
Giny of his pl&y^ hliuself, (Obra» SueL^
Ttim. T^ p. xyU.,) and luv rer»wisd in the
" Eglog^ i C^ftudlí>," (Ibld., Túíñ. IX. |í.
Sm^) printed after hb úmOh \ betU
whicbt they oecur In the J?nticea to J
Coniediaa, (Tum. IX,, XI,, XV., XXT., i
etitiirbeft:,) jé« & tnatter thAt aiit^tiiA to haye
bt*üD alvrays trouVaUng hEm. I hari; one of
thvñ^ Hpuríciue pubU^^attlacki. It íé entEtled
^ IjOfl Com^lej did f oinrtao Poets, Lope de
Vega CarpU>j reooplHdAa por Bernardo
Orasaa, eo.^ Ano 1026» ^Jaragíi^A, 4tti, ffl
3Í0, Bteven Lma open thl» curioiía víiU
tuna, nearly all nf them euilíng wíth vi
learDeH^t reqaeat fnr silenoe :|¡ anc^ it Cü'iitaini
twelvie playi branght together üt ranilúcn^
línding as it It were the ñrat v cahime of it
uüllection M Lo-p^''» CiiinudiaB, wttb the
wondaf " Wa Úo ]& PtímttA Piírfcp, ec."
^ McBÍalTHia Ktii tlie prlciü of etuib play
at fl^ tmudred reata, aad saja tiuit Ln üiIm
CllAF, XVin.] HIS INCOME AlíD POVERTT.
hüd patrons of a munificence uukaown in our days, and
Iwajs undesirablé.^* Biit he wua thríftleas and waate-
tíil ; exceedingly charitable ; and, iu hospitalitj ^^^ „^^
^to his fríends, prodigal. He was, thereíbre, aU and iiii un*
Imost always embarrassed. Át tbe end of bis
i' Jerusalem/' printed as ear!y as 1609, he complains of
Ihe pressure of his domeetic affairs ; *^ and iu hís oíd age
lie addressed some Terses, in the nature of a petifeion, to
ihe still more thnftlesa Pliilip the Fouuth^ asking the
ineans of living foi- himself and hia daughter.^ After hia
deatb, liís povertj waa fullj admitted by hig executor ;
a«d jet, consideríng the relativa valué of money, no poet,
porhapsi ever received so large a compenaatíon for bis
worka,
It shouldi howeverí be remembered, that no other poet
ever wrote so mnch with popular efíect. For, if we
begin with bis di*aoiatie compositions, which are tbe beat
of bis efíbrts, and go dowB to bis épica, which, on the
whole. are tbe worst,^ we shaü find the amonnt of what
was received with favor, as it carne from the
presa, quite unparalleled. And when to this we amumitof
are compelled to add hia owti as su ranee, just
befo re bis deatl», that tbe greater part of bis worka atill
mr Lope received, durÍD^ hh Ufe, etghtjr
l^fiuniMinil dac^tfl. Obma, Tom. XX., ft. 47«
** ^le DiikÉ of Bcsia alone, heefdes laauy
r )3cnt;factlonñy píave Lope, r( dlR'eretLl
I twenty-foiir thoiiflUDd ducato, and a
aUteooR <tl íhitA ihundred moiie ppr sunuia.
Üt éUpTít.
JUi 1020^ dfidlfialliif hii " Veidadero Amaji-
le " Id hU ma Ikijpe, who ábowed poetice
a«plfi,tja«i, he alleigeei hlA own «xiuúpk to
wtaví Ufl ckM ncTcr Vo ÍMaleQ bl* tute
a<)dlDg, *^ I JiBTe, a» yoo kiu»v,
' house, and my bed aiuI bouil are
* T bAr« & datif hter, &añ om oíd," he
*'f1ie Mufüf gira me lionor, but
írnoüintí,*' etc. (Obras, Tooi. XVII. p.
01^) Fniju ta» iril] ílAp^&ts Chut Pliilip
[V. j^riftiiiíed i^n officí* to Ui£ perjwn who
hniilil Di.irry ÜiU dftugliler, and Ikited to
Beiíp lií» word, See fuilg at Che end o!
IptKlf I
Ohap. XIV., oníe, wMte in Lope^« wUl La
a turtloe of tilla clatni on tbe klng.
^ Like B<tnie ottier liísdDgukbed úHí-
thoTS^ hcíTrever, he was íucMned ta under>
vtÁTia wbei.t im dld moat bappily, aiid to
pi^efer vbttt ip least wurthy of prüÍHitüJi/ix,
Th^t tn tbe Pr<3fiice to hia Cmncdltts,
O ol. XV., Madrid, 10210 he sliowfl Üiot
be preferred bla loügtír ¡aueroii Vi bts pUiys,
vhlch be eays he boMs buE. " 4*8 tlie wíld-
ÜQWeT^ of hia fletd, that ¡^úw up wítbQUt
cañe or cuitare.''*
^ Tbig mlght be idfórred ftom the ao-
count in MonbLl vallas '•^ Fuma PüBtuma | "
but Lope hlmsE^Lf dechirea It dLetluotly In
thti "Eg^lofi-a i. Claudio/' wUere he sajt,
'^ Thi*i printed part of niy wrítfDpi} tbouirli
too macb, i« ntuaJI, CQCd|Ktred wfth vrbsl
rt^Eniili>9 iii;nuh'Uihed«'^ (Obras SueliaÜT
Tom. IX- p> 360.) lodecd, wfs kn^tir wo
hikTe haidly a fburth part of íí\b Ml-lenictb
playn I onJy aboiít tkirty 9Utot úal uf Toiir
I
spmrr or improvisatioi^.
[P£Kiói> IL
before we are able to Ijelieve the accoatit, demand some
explauation tbat shall make it crediblo ; ■ — an explanatkm
which is thé more iraportant, bccauee it is the key to
much of his personal character, ag well as of his poetícal
euccess. And it is tMa, No poet of any corjsiderable
reputution ever had a genitte so ncarly related to that of
an improvmator, or ever indulged his geniuB so freely in
the spirit of improvieation. This tal en t has alwayfi ex-
isted in the southern coun tries of Enrope ; and in Spain
has, from the first, produced, in diñerent waysi the most
extraordmary resulta, We owe to it the inveotion and
perfection of tlie oíd balladsi which were originanj im-
provísate d and then p re ser ved by tradition ; and we owe
to it the segiddiUas, the boleros, and al! the otlier forrns uf
popular poetry that still exist in Spain, and are daílj
poured forth by the fervent imaginations of the uDcalti
^Trated el asees of the people, and sung to the national
mnsic, that Bometimes seems to fiü the air by night aa
the light of the eun doee by day.
In the time of Lope de Tega, the paseion for snch im-
provisa tion had rísen higher than it ever rose be for e, if it
had not epread out more vridely» Actors were expected
sometimes to improvisate on themes given to tliem by the
audieoce.'^ E x te mpo raneo us dramas j wíth all the varie-
ties of verse de man de d by a tas te forme d in the th catres,
were not of rare occurrence, Philip the Fourth, Lope^B
patrón, had such performed in his presence, and bore a
pai-t in them himself,*^ And the faraous Count de Lemos,
the víceroy of NapleSi to whom Cervantes was indebted
for so much kindness^ kept, as an apanage to his vice-
royalty, a poetical court, of vrhich the two Argentólas
were the chief omaments, and in which extemporanaoua
plays were acted wíth brillíant sucocss/^
hiíDdred } oníj twenty op thlrtj ettfTé-
mesÉn im.t of the *^ Id finita number" ta-
cribed tó taita. Páftaeco^ in lila botloo of
Lope» pdnted iti leOQ, n^yn that ttla works
wonlil gire an avenige of three sheefcj;
[tm pUegov] for every dar of hie lifc to that
timif. Obrajt Btieltos, Tom. XIV. p. xxxi.
» Biabe y Vfflal^ "Tratadtj de Cume-
dlHif" (161B, f. 102,) jgpe&ka of ttae '« gloesea
wblcli the iJoVort tUAfee e^xlúcnpoiie ii|ioii
^ Yíaidot, i^'tttdea &¡it la Mttéi'&tnrQ en
41 Ptillícer^ Biblioteca do Tradujotúf»
Eapañolf», (Mailrld^ 1778^ 4to, T^ini. L ]»pw
69 - 91^) in whíeh tíiero la a curiyiu aarr^'^
tiveby Dlego^ Dukc! of KBtmdii^ giviag i
e^^oum i>f one of tbeae eatertAinnietil««|
btirk^nue piny on tho etory of Orpha
and ISurydíce,) perffirnied hefons th-e i
to; and hU coart
Chap. XVm.] SPIRIT OF IMPROVISATION. 2Y3
Lope d^ Vega's talent was undoubtedly of near kindred
to tbis genius of improvisation, and produced its
eztraordinary resulta by a similar procese, and ofimpro-
in tbe same spirit. He dictated verse, we are
told, witb ease, more rapidly tban an amanuensis could
take it down ; ** and wrote out an entire play in two days,
which could witb difficulty be transcribed by a copyist in
tbe same time. He was not absolutely an improvisator,
for bis education and position naturally led bim to devoto
bimself to written composition, but be was continually
on tbe borders of wbatever belongs to an improvisator's
peculiar province ; be was continually sbowing, in bis
merits and defects, in bis ease, grace, and sudden re-
Bource, in bis wildness and extravagance, in.tbe bappi-
ness of bis versifícation and tbe prodigal abundance of bis
imagery, tbat a very little more freedom, a very little
more indulgence given to bis feelings and bis fancy,
would bave made bim at once and entirely, not only an
improvisator, but tbe most remarkable one tbat ever
lived.
41 Obras Sueltas, Tom. XX. pp. 61, 62.
12*
CHAPTER XIX.
QTTEVBDO. — HI8 LIFE, PUBLIC SERVICE, AND PERSECUTIONS. — HI8
WORKS, FÜBLISHED AND UNPUBLISHED. — BIS POBTRT. — ItHI
BACHILLER FRANCISCO DE LA TORRE. — HI8 PROSE WORKS, RE-
LIOIOU8 AND DIDACTIC. — HIS PAÜL THE SHARPER, PROSE 8AT-
IRES, AND YISIONS. — HIS CHARACTER.
Francisco Gómez de Qüevedo y Villegas, the contem-
porary of both Lope de Vega and Cervantes, was bom at
Francisco Madrid, in 1580.^ His family carne from that
de Quevedo. mouiitainous region at the northwest, to which,
like other Spaniards, he was well pleased to trace his
origin ; ^ but his father held an office of some dignity at
the court of Philip the Second, which led to his residence
1 A dififiíse life of Quevedo was published
at Madrid, in 1663, by Don Pablo Antonio
de Tarsia, a Neapolitan, and is insertad in
the tenth volume of the edítion of Queve-
do's Works, by Sancha, Madrid, 1791 - 94,
11 tom., 8to. a sL^^rter, and, on the whole,
a more satisfactory. Ufe of him is to be
found in fiaena. Hijos de Madrid, Tom. II.
pp. 137- 164 ; but the best is the one pre-
fixed to the collection of Quevedo*s Works,
the flrst volume of which is in the Biblio-
teca de Autores Españoles, (Tom. XXIII.,
1852,) and is edited with extraordinary
knowledge of whatever relates to its sub-
ject, by Don Aureliano Fernandez Guerra
y Orbe. It is only to be regretted that this
work has not yet (1859) been continued,
but I trust it will be. No Spanish author
will better reward care and diligence in
explanatory notes than Quevedo, and none
needs them more. I must be permitted to
add, that I do not accept all Don Aurelia-
no's conclusions, such, for instance, as that
Quevedo in cUl he wrote, even in his Sue-
ños, had Sipolitical purpose in view. See
pp. X., XV., and xxi.
s In his " Grandes Anales de Quinoe
Dias," speaking of the powerftü Fresideiit
Acevedo, he says, ** I was unweloome to
him, because, ooming myself firom the
mountains, I oever flattered the ambition
he had to make himself out to be above
men to whom we, in <rar own homes, ao>
knowledge no superiors.** Obras, Tom. XL
p. 63.
An anécdota will show how much was
thought of this mountain spirit of honor,
whi<^ was snpposed to desoend from tbs
days of Pelayo, when the mountain ooon
try alone kept its loyalty and (Uth. — Aftor
Philip lY. had entered Pamplona, 23d
April, 1646, he called to him the Marqois
of Carpió, who bore the sword of state, and
sheathed it with his own royal hands,
because, as he declared, in that kingdom it
was not needed, " thus," says the oontem^
porary account, " giving those aboat him
to understand that all the men of Navarre
were faithful and loyal.'* Relación embia-
da de Pamplona de la Entrada que hiio sa
Magostad en aquella Ciudad. Sevilla, 1640^
4to, pp. 4.
Cmap. XIX.] FRANCISCO DE QUEVEDO. 2Y5
in the capital at the period of his son's birth ; — a circum-
Btance which was no doubt favorable to the development
of the young man's talents. But whatever were his
opportunities, we know that, when he was fifteen years
oíd, he was graduated in theology at the University of
Alcalá, where he not only made himself master of such
of the ancient and modem languages as would be most
nseful to him, but extended his studies into the civil and
canon law, mathematics, medicine, politics, and other
Btill more various branches of knowledge, showing that
he was thus early possessed with the ambition of be-
coming a universal scholar. His accumulations, jjja ^^^
in fect, were vast, as the learning scattered ^^^^
through his works plainly proves, and bear wituess, not
less to his extreme industry than to his extraordinary
natural endowments.
On his return to Madrid, he seems to bave been asso-
ciated both with the distinguished scholars and with the
fashionable cavaliers of the time ; and an adventure, in
which, as a man of honor, he found himself accidentally
involved, had wellnigh preved fatal to his better aspira-
tions. A woman of respectable appearance, while at her
devotions in one of the parish churches of Madrid, during
Holy Week, was grossly insulted in his presence. He
defended her, though both parties were quite unknown to
him. A duel followed on the spot ; and, at its conclu-
sión, it was found he had killed a person of rank. He
fled, of course, and, taklng refuge in Sicily, was
invited to the splendid court then held there
by the Duke of Ossuna, viceroy of Philip the Third, and
was soon afterwards employed in important affairs of
state, — sometimos, as we are told by his nephew, in
such as required personal courage and involved danger to
his life.'
< I thlnk his Ufe was in greater danger so wUd and romantic, that its reality has
■omewhat later, — at Venice in 1618, — sometimes been doubted. He was subse-
when, by means of his perfect Venetian quently bornt in effigy, after the fashion of
aocent, he escaped, in the disguise of a the Inquisition, by order of the Venetian
beggar, from the oflBícers of justice, who Senate, but he was not, I think, guilty of
porsued him as one involved in the con- the particular offence they imputed to
spiracy which St. Real, Lafosse, and Ot- him ; a matter, no doubt, of small oonse»
waj have rendered classical, but which is quénce in their eyes.
SM
íTUNcrsoo BE qjmvm^o.
P^EBtOD IL
Id NapteL
At the conclusión of the Diike of Ossuna's admirdgtrft-
tion of Sicily^ Que vedo was sent, m 1615, to Madrid^ as
a eort of plenipotentíarj to Goofinn to the crown all past
grants of revenue from the islaüd, and to offer still further
Htepoiítícaí s^ibsidies. So welcome a mesBenger was not im-
mcceBs. graciOQslj rcccived. His former offence was
overlooked ; a pensión of four hundred ducata was given
him ; and he returned, in great honor, to tbe Dake, bis
patrón^ who was already traTisferred to the more impor-
tan t and agreeable vicerojalty of Naples.
Que ve do now be carne fntDÍster of finaBce at Naples,
and fulfilled the duties of his placa so skilüilly
and honestlj, that, without increasing the bar-
den s of the people, he added to the revé no es of the state,
An important negotiatioii with Rome was also iatmsted
to his mana^ement ; and in 1617 he was ag-ain in Madrid,
and atood before the king- with such favor, that he was
nvade a knight of the Order of Santiago, On his return to
Kaplea, or at least durmg the nine years he was ahsent
from Spain, he tnade treaties with Yenice and Savoy, aa
I well as with the Pope, and was almost constan tly occu-
pied in difiScult and delicate aflairs conneoted with tbe
administration of the Duke of Ossuna.
But in 1620 all this was changed. The Duke fell from
powéFi and those who had be en his nunisters
shared hia fate. Que vedo was exiled to his
patrimonial eatate of Torre de Juan Abad, where and
eleewhere he endured an impríSonment or detention of
two years and a half ^ and then was released withont
tríal and without having had any definite offence laid to
his charge. He wae, however, cured of all desire for
public honora or royal favor. He refused the place of
Secretary of " State, and tUat of Ambassador to Oenoa,
both of which were ofiered him, accepting the merely
titular rank of Secretary to the Eing. He/ iti fact, was
ñow deterrained to give himself to lettera ; and di d so for
the rest of his life. But thoug-h he never took office, he
occasionally mitigled m the political díscussioní* of Jiia
time, as may be seen in his '' Tira la Piedra/' whicb is on
tbe debaaement of the coiu (already stemly rebuked by
cbiAp. :
bm QTTEVEDO.
2f
MBiTléa.
Mariana) : íq híe '' Memorial de St. lago/' wbich cost him
an exíle of several montha íji 1628 ; and in Ma letter to
Lonia the Tbirteenth on the war of 1635, Others of his
mmor worke show that euch interests always tempted
liim.
In 1634 he wsis married ; hut ím wife soon died, and
left him to contend alone with the troubles of Ufe
that stíll pwrsued him. In 1639, aome Batirical
I versea were placed under the king'e napkin at dínner-
iime : and* without proper inqiii rj, they were attributed
to Que vedo. In conaequence of thia he was eeized, late
-mt night, with great anddennesa and eecrecy, in the pal-
¡ftce of the Duke of MedinarGoeli, and thrown into rí^orous
confinement in the rojal coíivent of San Marcos j.^^^ j^^,
de León, There, in a damp and nnwholesome ««^i^ínia^
cell^ bie health was soon broken down bj diseases from
which he never recovered ; and the little that remained to
him of his property was waated awaj till he was obliged
to depend on charity for 8uppart* With all these cruel-
ties the unprincipled favorite of the time, the Connt Duke
Olivares, seema to have been connected ; and the anger
they naturaUy excited in the mind of Quevedo may well
account for two papers agaííist that minister which have
generally been attributed to him, and which aro full of
personal aeverity and bitterness,* A heart-rending' letter,
»too, which, when he had been nearly two years in prison,
le wrote to Olivares, should be taken into the account, in
T^hich he in vain appeals to his persecutoras sen se of
justice, telling him, in his despair, '* No clemenoy can
add maoy years to my life ; no rigor can take man y
away/*** At laet, the hour of the favorite's diagrace
arrived ; and, amidat the jubilee of Madrid, he was driven
iato exile. The releje of Que vedo folio wed as a matter
n
^^fe * Ths Arst Ib tbc' T^ery curiouB paper en-
^^^Uod ** Cfttdii de BU Privanza j Muürt€ del
^Hjj^ae naque de Oti^sres,^^ lo the Semi-
^^H| Erudito (Madrid, 17S7, 4to, Tom.
^^Q^^ f Kiul tbe oiher in *^ Memorial de
IkiD ir, Qiii*vedo eontfft«l Conde Bmiuij do
OUtarei," In the aairte colIectlatitTom. XX ^
* tflblt Letierf often roprln^d, la lo Mu?-
■M jp aiiciu-^ " CiiTiu KionüeB," eU}., Va*
lonqtQL, 1773, 12n]o.^ Tnm. 1. p. l&l. Aii'*
othor letter to tiia fríeod JL^an de la Piírra,
giving un accouDt of hía mtKle of Life
during hta Ríinfliitífncriítj «howa that be wnf
e:3[treiDeIy ladUítiTioiíA. Irulced, iodiistr;
was hia mam reBource a. Urge part of tbe
ilm^ b« wuñ Ln Sab Marcea de LüuQ. Ber
waiimxiú EraditOi^ Totn^ I^ p* CA*
2Í8 FRANCISCO DE QUE VEDO. [Period ü.
of course, since it was already admitted tbat another had
written the verses ® for which he had been punished by
nearly four years of the most unjust suftering.'
But justice carne too late. Quevedo remained, indeed,
a little time at Madrid, among bis fríends, endeavoring
to recover some of bis lost property ; but failing in tbis,
and unable to subsist in the capital, be retircd to the
mountains from which bis race had descended.
Death. g^.^ infirmities, however, accompanied bim wher-
ever be went ; bis spirits sunk under bis triáis and sor-
rows ; and be died, wearied out witb life, in 1645.^
Quevedo sougbt success, as a man of letters, in a great
number of departments, — from theology and metapbysics
Great variety ^^^^ to storics of vulgar Ufe and Gypsy ballads.
of his works. gut many of bis manuscripts were taken from
bim when his papers were twice seized by the govem-
ment, and many others seem to have been accidentally
lost in the course of a life full of chango and adventure.
From tbese and other causes, bis friend Antonio de Tarsia
tells US tbat the greater part of his works could not be
publisbed ; and we know tbat many are still to be found
in his own handwriting, both in the National Library
of Madrid and in other collections, public and private.®
^ Sedaño, Parnaso Español, Tom. IV. course of which no complaint was ever
p. xxxi. made against me, ñor any confessíon asked
7 In his Dedication of his Life of St Paul of me, neither after my reléase was any
to the President of Castile, we have this Judicial paper fbund in relation to ü."
extraordinary account of his arrest and Obras, Tom. VI. p. S. His confinement
imprisonment : — extended from Dec. 7, 1639, to early in
" I was seieed in a manner so rígorous at June, 1643.
eleven o^clock on the night of the 7th of 8 His nephew, in a Prefece to the second
December, and hurried away, in my oíd rolume of his uncle's Poems, (published at
age, so unprovided, that the ofBcer who Madrid, 1670, 4to,) says that Quevedo died
made the arrest gave me a baize cloak and of two imposthumes on his chest, which
two shirts, by way of alms, and one of the were formed during his last imprison-
alguazils gave me some wooUen stockings. ment.
I was imprisoned four years, — two of The portrait of Quevedo, wearing a huge
them as if I were a wild beast, shut up pair of spectacles, which is well engraved
alone, without human intercourse, and for the fourth volume of Sedano's Parnaso
where I should have died of hunger and Español, is by Velazquee, and is strongly
destitution if the charity of my Lord the marked with the character we attríbute to
Duke of Medina Coeli had not been in place the author of the Visions. -Stirling's Ar-
of a sure and full patrimony to me down to tists of Spain, 1848, Vol. II. p. 635.
the present day. From this cruel chain of o Obras, Tom. X. p. 45, and N Antonio,
linked calamities, the justice and mercy of Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 463. A considerable
his Majesty released me by means of a amount of his miscellaneous works may be
petition given to him by your Excellency, found in the Seminario Erudito, Tom. I.,
to whom I referred my cause, in the whole m.. VI.. and XV.
Chap. XIX.] QUEVEDO'S POETRY. 2Y9
Those already prínted fiU eleven considerable volumes,
eight of prose and three of poetry ; leaving us probably
little to regret concerning tbe fate of the rest, unless,
perhaps, it be the loes of his dramas, of which two are
said to have been represented with applause at Madrid,
dñríng bis lifetime.^^
• Of bis poetry, so far as we know, he himself published
notbing with bis ñame, except such as occurs in his poor
translations from Epictetus and Phocylides ; but
in the tasteful and curious coUection of his ^^^^^^
ñiend Pedro de Espinosa, called " Flowers of Illustrious
Poets," printed when Quevedo was only twenty-five years
oíd, a few of his minor poems are to be found. This was
probably his fírst appearance as an author ; and it is
worthy of notice, that, taken together, these few poems
announce much of his futuro poetical character, and that
two or three of them, like the one béginning,
A wight of might
Is Don Money, the kiiight,ii .
are among his bappy eflforts. But though he himselt
published scarcely any of them, the amount of his verses
found after his death is represented to have been very
great ; much greater, we are assured, than could be dis-
covered among his papers a few years later,^^ — prob-
ably because, just before he died, '* he denounced,'' as
we are told, " all his works to the Holy Tribunal of the
Inquisition, in order that the parts less becoming a mod-
est reserve might be reduced, as they were, to just meas-
ure by serious and prudent reflection/' " .
10 Begides these dramas, whose ñames U Poderoso cayallero
are onknown to us, he wrote, in coAJuno- ^" ^^^ Dinero, etc.
tion with Ant. Hartado de Mendoza, and is in Pedro Espinosa, *' Flores de Poetas
at the command of the Count Duke Oli- Ilustres," Madrid, 1605, 4to, f. 18.
Tares, who afterwards treated him so era- ^ " Not the twentieth part was saved of
elly, a play called "Quien mas miente, the verses which many persons knew to
medra mas," — He that lies most, will have been extant at the time of his death,
riae mosty — for the gorgeous entertain- and which, during our constant intercourse,
ment that prodigal minister gave to Philip I had countless times held in my hands,"
rv. on 8t. John's eve, 1631. See the ac- says González de Salas, in the Preface to
count of it in the notice of Lope de Vega, the first part of Quevedo's Poems, 1648.
anfe,p. 212, and po«f,Chapter XXI., note. is Pre&ce to Tom. VII. of Obras. His
There were ten " entremeses " and ten request on his death-bed, that nearty all
** bayles " among his dramas. his works, printed or manuscript, might be
Peatón H
Such oí hís poetry as was easíly found wae, however,
published ; — the Brst part bj Ma friend González de
Salas, in 1648, and the rest, in a moat careleaB and cnide
manncr, bj his nephew, Pedrt» Alderet6i im 1670, under
the conceited title of ** The Spanísh Parnassue, divided
into its Two Summits, with the Nine Castiliaii Muses/'^
The collection itself is very mifícellaneous^ and it is out
always easy to determine why the particular pieces of
which ¡t is cornpOBed were assigned rather to the pro
tection of one Muse than of another. In general, thej
are short. Sonaets and bailada are far more nnraeruus
thaa anything else ; though eanüioneSj odes, elegies, epia-
tlee, Batí re y of all kíudB, idylSi quinlülaSf and redojidiiias
are in great ahutidance. There are, besides, four entre-
meses of little valué, and the fragment of a poem ou the
subject of Orlando Furioso, intendcd to be in the manuer
of Berni, but running too much into caricature.
The longest of the nine divisions is that which passes
under the ñame and authority of Thalia, the goddess
"who presided o ver rustió wit, as well as o ver comedy.
Indeed, the more prominent characteristícs of the whole
collection are a broad, grotesquo humor^ aud a satire
sometimes niarked with imitations of tho ancienta, espe-
cíally of Juvenal and Peraius, bnt oftener overrau with
puns, and crowded with conceite and allnsiona, not easlly
underatood at the time they first appeared, and now quite
nnintelligible,^* His buriesque soonets, in imitation oí
the Italian poems of tliat class, are the best in the lan-
guage, and ha ve a bitterness rarely found in company
with so much wit. Some of hís lighter bailada, too, are
to be placed in the very firat rank, and fifteen that he
wrote in the wild díalect of the OypsieB have ever since
been the delight of the lower el a eses of his countrymen,
and are stil!, or were lately^ to be heard among tbeir
auppfesaed, ta trluiuphastlj pecorded íd lays hlg «sdltOT» ta 154*1 ** son tan rreqiUD>-
the liiÚHX Expurgatorlua of IfiCT, p. 425. tes j muUíiJlícadóf, Aquellus y eíbUf taai
Some ítr thcüi are, no doabt, íonl with an en un bqIü vctbo y iraa en uua paiftbm, <ru*
üidccenoy whlcb wUl neyer permit them to ct bien Infklihte qu« moche» núnerü liii
be ptint4!df DF, at leMt) mvor oqght to udv^tlr^e se hojtt de fwrder." Obfu,
perrait ÍL Tom. VIL, Eliígids, cta.
li ^ Los equl voi»fl j tas Blmlo^nea ao^Aa,"
cnAT, rrx.]
QUEYEDO^S poetrt*
281
ofcher popular poetrj, aong to the gtiit^irs of the peasanÍE
and the soldiery throughout Spaiu,^* In regular satire he
hm generally foUowed the path trodden by Juvena! ; and,
m the tnstances of his complaint '* Agaínst the Existing-
M^Luners of the Castilians/' and "The Dangers'of Mar-
ríage/' has proved hímself a bold and succesafiil dis-
ciple*** Some of his amatorj poems, and some of those
OH relígiouB euhjecte» ewpecially when thej are in a
melancholy toue, are ñill of beauty and tenderness ; ^^
and once or twicei when most didactic^ he ia no lesB
powerful tiíati grave and lofty.^*
HÍ3 cbief fauU — beaides the indecency of some of bis
poetry, and the obscuritj and e^etravagance that pervade
yet more of it — ie the use of words and phrases j^^ chanu^-
that are low and eesentíallj unpoetical. Tbis, tcrtatiía,
Bo far as we can now judge, waíi the reBidt partly of baste
aud carelessneas, and partí jr of a false thoorj. He
fíought for strength, and be became añected and rude,
But we ehould iiot judge him too severely. He wrote a
graat deal, and with extraordínary facility, huí refused to
print ; profeasing bis i n ten ti o n to correct and prepare his
poems for the press when be should have more leisure
and a leas anxious míud, That time, however, never
eam€. Wo should, thereforeí rather wonder tbat we
fi nd in hití workQ so many passages of the purcst and
most brilHant wit and poetry^ than complaín tbat they
are aeattered through so very lar ge a inass of what is
idle, utisatisfactoryi and sometimeB unintclligible.
Once, and ooee only, Qiieiredo piiblished a small vol-
ürae of p3etry^ which has been aupposed to be bis own,
thougb not originally appearing as sucb, The occasioQ
was wortíiy of bis genius, and hia auccess was equal to
i^ Tbej are al títg end of tí¡& serenth
Tolattve tif the QtMraii^ and lüsa Ld Uidal-
gfi, ^ tLcrmanooi de ^nuaMa " (Miulf Id,
177», 12roo, |»i». 22e-2!»*> Of Un? Ugb!-
er ballAde in gnod CAflttMau^ we may
Unreis daetf«/' (Tofii, Vítt. p. IST^) and
** Dl|« é la nuil el Bio«QUitO|" Tom. Vil.
TUL pp. 133 - &60. Ttie k«t Ia «omcwbiit
ÚiÍM rcffpectt
n See the canctün (Tom, Til. p. 3^)
bcKlnning, ^*- 1?ntm quita al aña Prímavvra
el ceno ; "" alio iome of the (ifMüiiü lu th4
^* Éralo " to the lady he caJl» *' Ptli/* wh<i
seems to huye heiin more Jov^ bj hlm than
ad]f Dther.
í"" PiLTlIcalarly in '* The Brcimí,^* (Tnía.
IX. ]y- 2m^} aod la tbQ *Ujmn lo (lie
&t*ra," p. «8i.
282 EL BACHILLER DE LA TORReT [Period H.
the occasion. For some time, Spanish literature h^ad
Attacka been overrun with a species of affectation re-
Cuitismo. sembling the euphuism that prevailed in Eng-
land a little earlier. It passed under the ñame of cuÜismOj
or the polite style ; and when we come to speak of its
more distinguished votaries, we shall have occasion fully
to explain its characteristic extravagances. At present,
it is enough to say, that, in Quevedo's time, this fashion-
able fanaticism was at the height of its folly ; and that,
perceiving its absurdity, he launched against it the shafts
of his unsparing ridicule, in several shorter pieces oí
poetry, as well as in a trifle called *' A Compass for the
Polite to steer by,'' and in a prose satire called " A Oate-
chism of Phrases to teach Ladies how to talk Latinized
Spanish/' i»
But finding the disease deeply fíxed in the national
taste, and models of a purer style of poetry wanting to
resist it, he printed, in 1631, — the same year in which,
for the same purpose, he published a collection of the
poetry of Luis de León, — a small volume which he
El Bachiller announcod as " Poems by the Bachiller Fran-
de la Torre, cisco de la Torre,'' — a person of whom he pro-
fessed, in his Preface, to know nothing, except that he
had accidentally found his manuscripts in the hands of a
bookseller, with the Approbation of Alonso de Ercilla
attached to them ; and that he supposed him to be the
ancient Spanish poet referred to by Boscan nearly a hun-
dred years before. But this little volume is a work of no
small consequence. It contains sonnets, odes, canciones,
elegies, and eclogues ; many of them written with an-
tique grace and simplicity, and all in a style of thought
easy and natural, and in a versification of great exactness
and harmony. It is, in short, one of the best volumes of
miscellaneous poems in the Spanish language.^
1» There are several poems about cultis- ians in the Poems of the Bachiller de la
ino, Obras, Tom. VIII. pp. 82, etc. The Torre ; but they are, I think, not only
« Aguja de Navegar Cultos " is in Tom. I. graceful and beautiful, but generally full
p. 443 ; and immediately foUowing it is of the national tone, and of a tender spirit,
the Catechism, whose whimsical title I connected with a sincere love of nature
have abridged somewhat freely. and natural scenery. I would instance
20 Perhaps there is a little too much of the ode, " Alexis que conlararia," in the
the imitation of Petrarch and of the Ital- edition of Yelazquez (p. 17), and the truly
Ohaf. XIX.] EL BACHILLER DE LA TORRE. 283
No suspicion seems to have been whispered, either at
the moment of their first publication, or for a long time
afterwards, that these poems were the productions of any
other than the unknown personage of the sixteenth cen-
tury whose ñame appeared on their title-page. In 1763,
however, a second edition of them was published by
* Velazquez, the author of the " Essay on Spanish Poetry/'
claiming them to be entirely the work of Queve- Authorship
do ; ** — a claim which has been frequently no- doubted.
ticed since, some admitting and some denying it, but
none, in any instance, fairly discussing the grounds on
which it íb placed by Velazquez, or settling their va-
Hdity.^
The qnestion, no doubt, is among the more curious of
those that involve literary authorship ; but it can hardly
be brought to an absoluto decisión. The argument, that
the poems thus published by Quevedo are really the work
of an unknown Bachiller de la Torre, is founded, first,
en the alleged approbation of them by Ercilla,^ which,
. though referred to by Valdivielso, as well as by Quevedo,
has never been printed ; and, secondly, on the fact, that,
in their general tone, they are unlike the recognized
poetry of Quevedo, being all in a severely simple and
Bomtian ode (p. 44) beginning, " O tres y of more significance, so does Wolf, in the
qaatro veces venturosa," with the descfip- JahrbUcher der Literatur, Wien, 1835,
tion of the dawn of day, and the sonnet to Tom. LXIX. p. 189. On the other side are
Bpring (p. 12). The first eclogue, too, and Alvarez y Baena, in his Life of Quevedo ;
all the endechas, which are in the most Sedaño, in his " Parnaso Español ; "
flowing Adonian verse, should not be over- Luzan, in his " Poética •, " Montiano, in
looked. Sometimes he has unrhymed an Aprobación ; and Bouterwek, in his
lyrics, in the ancient measures, not always History. Martínez de la Rosa and Faber
soccessful, but seldom without beauty. seem unable to decide. But none of them
n ** Poesías que publicó D. Francisco gives any reasons. I have in the text, and
de Quevedo Villegas, Cavallero del Orden in the subsequent notes, stated the case as
de Santiago, Señor de la Torre de Juan fully as seems needful, and have no doubt
Abad, con el nombre del Bachiller Fran- that Quevedo was the author ; or that he
cisco de la Torre. Añádese en esta se- knew and concealed the author ; or if he
ganda edición un Discurso, en que se really found the manuscript in the way he
descubre ser el verdadero autor el mismo describes, that he altered and prcpared the
D. Francisco de Quevedo, por D. Luis poetry in it so as to ñt it to his especial
Joseph Velazquez," etc. Madrid, 1753, 4to. purpose.
s> Quintana denles it in the Preface to ^ We know, conceming the conclusión
bis ^ Poesías Castellanas " (Madrid, 1807, of Ercilla's life, only that he died as early
12mo, Tom. I. p. xxxix.). So does Fer- as 1595 *, thirty-six years before the publi.
nandes (or Estala for him), in his Collec- catión of the Bachelor, and when Quevedo
tton of " Poesías Castellanas " (Madrid, was only ñfkeen years oíd.
1808, 12mo, Tom. IV. p. 40) •, and, what is
284 ^L BACHILLEB DE LA TOBRE. [Pebiod n.
puré style, whereas he himself not infrequently nins into
the affected style he undoubtedly intended by this work
to counteract and condemn.
On the other hand, it may be alleged, that the pre-
tended Bachiller de la Torre is clearly not the Bachiller
de la Torre referred to by Boscan and Quevedo, who lived
in the time of Ferdinand and Isabella, and whose rude
verses are fonnd in the oíd Cancioneros from 1611 to
16T3 ; " that, on the contrary, the forms of the poems
published by Quevedo, their tone, their thoughts, their
imitations of Petrarch and of the ancients, their versi-
fication, and their language, — except a few antiquated
words which could easily have been inserted, — all be-
long to his own age ; that among Quevedo's recognized
poems are some, at least, which prove he was capable of
writing any one among those attríbuted to the Bachiller
de la Torre ; and finally, that the ñame of the Bachiller
Francisco de la Torre is merely an ingenious disguise of
his own, since he was himself a Bachelor at Alcalá, h^
been baptized Francisco, and was the owner of Torre de
la Abad, in which he sometimes resided, and which was'
twice the place of his exile.^
There is, therefore, no doubt, a mystery about the
whole matter which will probably never be cleared up ;
and we can now come to only one of three conclusions :
— either that the poems in question were found by him,
as he says they were, in which case he must have altered
them materially, so that they could serve the object he
avowed in publishing them ; or that they are the work of
some contemporary and fríend of Quevedo, whose ñame
M It Í8 even doubtfal who this Bachiller poems which may be found in the Cando-
de la Torre of Boscan was. Telazques ñero of 1573, at ff. 124 - 127, etc., do witfa
(Pref., y.) thinks it was probably Alonso those published by Quevedo. GayangoB
de la Torre, author of the ** Visión Deley- (Spanish Trandation of this Histoiy, Tom.
table," (ciroa 1461,) of which we have H. p. 660) says there are, in the Cancionero
spoken (Vol. I. p. 377) *, and Alvares y of Sstuñiga, poems by a Femando de la
Baena (Hijos de Madrid, Tom. lY. p. 169) Torre, and that he Uved in the time of
thinks it may perhaps have been Pedro John II., i. e. betore 1464. But, as Oa- •
Di€a de la Torre, who died in 1604, one of yangos adds truly, this does not, en lo moa
the counsellors of Ferdinand and Isabella. minimo^ help to clear up the question.
But, in either case, the ñame does not 25 He was exiled there bi 1628, for sis
oorrespond with that of Quevedo's Bachil- months, as well as imprisoned there in
1er Francisco de ]& Torre, any better than 1620. Obras, Tom. X. p. 88.
the stiyle, thoughts, and forms of the few
Ohaf. XIX.] QUEVEDO'S PBOSE WORKS. 285
ke knew and concealed ; or that they were selected by
himself out of the great mass of his own unpublished
mannscrípts, choosing such as would be least likely to
betray their origin, and most likely, by their exact finish
and good taste, to rebuke the folly of the affected and
fi^hionable poetry of his time. But whoever may be
their author, one thing is certain, — they are not unwor-
thy the genius of any poet belonging to the brüliant age
in which they appeared.**
Quevedo's principal works, however, — those on which
his repntation mainly rests, both at home and abroad, —
are in prose. The more grave will hardly come p^,^
under our cognizance. They consist of a trea- "^^^^^
tise on the Providence of God, including an essay on the
Immortality of the Soul ; a treatise addressed to Philip
the Fourth, singularly called " God's Politics and Christ's
Government," in wWch he endeavors to coUect a com-
plete body of political philosophy from the example of
the Saviour ; ^ treatises on a Holy Life and on the Mili-
tant Life of a Christian ; and biographies of Saint Paul
and Saint Thomas of Villanueva. These, with transla-
tions of Epictetus and the false Phocylídes, of Anacreon,
of Séneca " De Remediis utriusque Fortuna©," of Plu-
tarch's " Marcus Brutus," and other similar works, seem
to have been chiefly produced by his sufferings, and to
have constituted the occupation of his weary hours dur-
¡ng his diflferent imprisonments. As their titles indicate,
M It is among the guspicioua circam- during his first imprisonment, and the
stanoes accompanylng the first publication flrst edition — or rather what was sabse-
of the Bachiller de la Torreas works, that quently enhirged into thte First Book —
one of the two persons who give the re- of it was pabüshed in 1626, with a dedi-
qaired Aprobaeione» is Tander Hammen, catión dated from his prison, 25 April,
who plajred the sort of trick apon the pab- 1621, to the Gount Olivares, who became
fie of which Qaeyedo is accused } a Tialon afterwards his cruel persecutor. This dedi-
he wrote being, to this day, printed as catión, however, was superseded by one
Qaevedo*8 own, in Quevedo's works. The to the King, preflxed to the completed
other person who gives an Aprobación to treatise, and fonnd among Qaevedo's pa-
the Bachiller de la, Torre is Yaldivielso, a pers after his death. I have a oopy of the
critic of the seventeenth century, whose very corious edition ñrst above referred
ñame often occors in this way } whose au- to, which, with several other of his works,
thority on such points is small ; and who was pablished at Zaragossa, probably, I
does not say that he ever taw the mana- think, because the censorship of the presa
Boript or the Approbation of Ercilla. See, was a Uttle lesa severe in Aragón than it
for Tander Hammen, poat, p. 291. was in Oastile.
r His »PoUtica de Dios» was began
28$
PAUL THE SHAEPEK.
[PaniOD ]
they belotig, except the Anacroon, to theology and un
phyaics rather than to elegant literature. They, howe^erj
Bometímes sbow the spirít and the styíe that mark hia ii
riouB poctry ; — tbe Baine love of brilllancj, and the sami
extravag'ance and hyperbole, with occaaiaoal didactic pas-'
Ba^CB ñill of digmty and eloquence. Their learaing is gei>
erally abundant, but it ís often pedantic and cumbersomeJ
Not so bis proBe satires, By tbeae be is remenibercij
and will always be remenibered thronghout tlie worlt!.
mQrmx "^^^ longest of them, called ** The lÜatoij aod
Tíioiño. Xitfe of the Great Sharper, Paul of Segovia/* waa
fitBt printed ín 1626. It belongB to the etyle of fiction
ín ven ted by Mendoza, in bis "Lazarillo/' and has tnoei^
of the characteriatícs of its class ; showing, notwith-
Btanding the evident baste and carelessnesB with which itj
was written, more talen t and spirít than any of themj
except íta prototype. Like the reat, it seta forth the liJ
of an adven ture r, cowardly, inaolenti and ftill of
Bources, who begins in the loweat and most infamocisP
ranks of society, buti unlike moet othera of his clasa,
never fairly riaes above bis original condition : for all hia
ingenuity, wit, and spirit only enable bim to struggle np,
aa ít were by accidentj to so me bnlliant su ce esa, fiwm
which he is immedíately precipitated by the díscoTeiy
hia true character. Parts of it are very coarse. Once
twice it be 00 mes — at l^ast^ according^ to the notions
tbe Romísh Church — blasphemous. And almost alwayí
it is in the natnre of a caricatnre, overrnn with coticeita»
puna, and a reckless, fierce humor. But everywhere ti
te eme with wit and the most cruel s are asm ag^ain^^t all
mi
» The«e vorlf », chíefly Iheologfcfdf metit»
phf ^icftL, íuiid ftscette, flll more tlian pÉx of
tíbfí ekvcu ociara volum^ that constltute
Qaevetlü'a ^orks in tlia edíüciactf Jt&l - ÍJt,
and beloDg t& thu claáa of didactic pTü^*
The láfe of BL Ih ninas de VillauuctVA^ by
Quevedot íb an abridgiUijiit, hoatilf mfidei
la turelvu dayit from a largar w^urk un the
lamc flübjpct, to roeet the pnpulia,r demaad
for th« ápi>riiHChlng canonísaatiotj of that
admlmblc! p^raoa In 16^. It makes. a neat
UttJe vultimtj, whIch I poBsess^ and whicli
may be r^^ with plej^ura by the ae?i3rett
Proteitaat^ ~ wüh the lame fiieosure that
rQdH
hs¡ v<Kúá loolr cm onc of HnrULu^i
plctureí (if the ehaiitles of the «ame
Qeflceot man of Qoá^ Thlü little voh
U ihould be addtdf U the enrlie?t ot
-redo^t knDtrn publJcattotUf aod «ue nt thft
tajeiit hookü in the worki*
Quevedo varuM hlinBclf a Rixid deal
hÍJi ** Marca Bnito," whil::^l lie
playe(t in enrrectíni^ just befr>rü ho 4\i
mvi on hís ^^ fio mulo,'- whieh wm a í\
latlon ÍTítm a. waftf of t\uí M^iintf titlv\
the Marquiíi MiilvcM, J^ui lUitmn d{pl<
tM macb ííi the servíce of Pliílíp IV,,
at ooe tltufl hlH Ambaa^i^lúr to tiou^oQ.
Cbaj», XÍX ]
ÜTHEK TROSE SATIKES,
28T
ordera and conditioDs of Bociety. Sorae of its love nñ-
venturea are excellent. Many of the diaasters it records
iré extremely ludiorous. But there is nothing' genial in
it; and ¡t m Imrülj possíble to read even ita scenea of
froUc and riot at the Utiiversitr^r, or those araong tho gay
iH>gut59 of the capital or the gajer vagabondtí of a strolí-
bg company of actors, with anything like real satisfac*
tion, It is a satke too hard, coarso, and unreleiiting to
be ^imusbg,^
This, too, 18 the character of most of hís other prosa
satíres^ wbich were chiefly wntten, or at ieast publiehed,
nearly at the same period of bis life ; — the interval be-
tweeo his two great irnpríeonments, wben the first had
mused up all his indigna tion a^ainst a condition of so-
ciety which could permit sucb intolerable injueticc as he
had fiuJTered, and before tho cruehing se veri ty of p^^
tlie last had broken down alike bis healtb and bis satíre*.
courage, Araong them are the treatise '' On all Tliings
and many more," — an attack on pretensión and cant ;
** The Tale of Tales," wbich is in ridicnle of the too
irequant use of proTerbs j and " Time's Proclamation/*
which is apparently directed against whatever carne up-
permost in its antbor^s thonghts wben he was writing it,
These, however, with severa! more of the same sort, may
be passed over to speak of a few better knawu and of
more importance,*^
ti Wfttt, In hlf nibíIüthecR, art. Q^€t¡tda,
<{(£• an editfon of ^ El Qrau Tacana," al
liincowi, lasa; »»il I think thera \¡i a
oopj of U In the BritLati MuBeum. BLucs
thiU tloie, U liBB ap[iíi*r«l In the oríginal
ia a ¡pvat Domber oí ediLloaa, botb at botnfr
auá abroad. Intü Itallan it wne traEulatn'ü
bjT P* Frutxrn^ u eorly as IQM | luto
ymiiob bf 0«ii«9t, the TreU-known tmiis-
liilior oí ihat )H;rIt>iI, an tsarly ai 1644 ^ and
Inbo jSDglLíih, ünoriOi'tD.ciiuly, aá <eajc\j as
1MT« Maílla bther vatíúia have been
minie iluoo í — tbe Uutt knowo to mn^ bdn^
«no «f t'iurti, lS43f Ivn, by A* Gennoml ele
avlgrirc.. lli» tJranílfttlíin i» mná^ wl(h
ptutt $ tiat, lH^li«lvA tliiit he hn!^ ttimat loto
igcA fmm *:'ttit,^í worl%i of Qtievedg^
mná w atory by SuÍuí Hju^jíiIlIId^ ht hna
nwlt* a multltuile^ af |»etty aildltlCTJs^ nltvr'
perhape, trom the liwleceiiey of the origi-
nal, QthsF3 not^ and itídcIa off thtí wbofói
wlth a concloatoa ot bla «ira, wbiab ai;i^n
Qf the AeatíiDeotal aud tixtravjtgiknt Kbúcd
of Víctor Hugo^ There Íb, aJati^ a tranahí^
Cioti 0f it intq KíiitUeh, ia a DollüdttoD of
tome of (laev^o*s Worka^ prlotiid at Eíliu-
burf h, fíi & Yitis.j Stü, It^S t and a Gcr-
loati tmntlatEoD In Bertucb"» Mavrazin áer
Epiüii^^Hm utid PürtTj,^. Lttteratar (Des-
sAU, 1791 T Sv^^ üjind II.). But n^ifther of
them is to be Cívtnnieniled for its ÜikHty^
ür, Jultua *fly«. Hiere wjw a Germán trana^
IjUlqit of It iiuhUaliüd at Ulpsíg {1B36,
3 volsO '^y *i ftiroait hand^ and nnotfiíi' by
Oultcnatern in 1&41, Ug kintUy forh^rfirt
to givé the Indy'a niiioiu, thoiii^h th^ hnd
pat it on lier own (í1Il'-|mikl'>
» They art in Voi». I. awl l¡. of 11»»
edIUoD of hii Woricf, ftlAdrU, 1791, ivo.
288
FOETUÍÍE NO FOOL.
fPlERTOD a
4
The firat is called tlie " Lettere of tlie Kníght of tbe
Fórceps," and consists of twO'aíid4wenty notes of a
Bi CAüaiie™ ínÍ9*^r to his ladj-lo%^eí reftisiiig all her applicív
deUTeimíiLtions aiid liiiits fot monejf or for airíusemeiit&
that involvfi the slighteet expense. Kothing can eiceed
their dexteritj, or tiie iogenuity and wit that seem
anxíouB to defend and vindícate the mean vice, wliicíi,
after all» they are only making so much the more ridicü-
louB and odious.**
The next ís called *' Fortune no Fool, and the Hour of
All;^^ — a long apologue^ in which Júpiter, surrauoded
lAiur^ma ^7 *^^ deities of Heavea, calle Fortune to ac-
»ii ae«. count for her gross inju atice in the affatrs of the
wotld ; and, having received from her a defence no leai
epirited than amusing, determines to try tlie exporimcnt»
for a single hour, of apportioning to eyerj human beíng
éxactly what he deservea. The substance of the fictíon,
therefore, i a an eihibition of the se en es of intolerable
confusión which this single hour brings into the affairs of
the world ; turniííg a physician instantly into an execn-
tioner ; marrying- a match-maker to the nglj phaotom ehe
was endeavoring to pass off upon another; and, iu tbe
larger concerns of nationSí Uke France and Muscovy,
introducing auch violence and uproar, that, at last, by the
decisión of Júpiter and with the conaent of all^ the empire
of Fortune ia re ato red; and things are allowed to go onfl
as they al w aya had dono. Many parta of it are writtenW
in the gayeat spírít^ and show a great happiness of inven-
tion í but, from the absence of much of Quevcdo'a acoua-
tomed bitternesa, it may be suepected, that, though it
was not printed till several yeara after hie death, it waifl
probably wrítteu befo re eitber of his imprisonmenta.*^ V
m The ** Cartaii d«I CATallem de la 1^
DASL^* wera fími printod^ I beliore, Lq
16^ ; ELná tbere }b bl yeti good tianelntioa
of them In fiand t- of thñ Hag^n af Bcr-
tuchf an active man of lettcra, t1i« ftl enul of
Muij^un, WfeLaüd, And Goethe, wU», bj
tronaLatlrins^ iiDd ip other vi&ye^ did muqh,
between V¡m »nd 1790, to pr^vmoie a love
forSpuDlah literature in Oercüíaiiy.
^ I knoir of no edítion of ^' Ijt Fortuna
con Seflo *' earUer than otie I paasi^iy prEnt-
«d at Zám^osa^ 1660, 12mo ¡ and jia N,
AtitotüQ d«c1ant thii ■aUn to have bfien
a poatbainoiii wierk^ I nipprtso tbere \a
noRQ oUler^ 1% ]a tb«fe sattl io be tf»at-
lat£d Ihim ÜLC LoUn of Elfra«OT«»oC Tl>
Tegue Viugel Duaceuae ; an Imp
anagracn of Quevedo^B awa r&niG^ Wn
eo Quevedo Villeü'w. Bat |t mujit ]
be«a written úa earíy &a lAítB, bec^iue It
apeaks of Lauíft XIII. os beitig' irtthuul
lu tiíat jear^
nuwoC Ti- iij
DUBt llUTfl^^
bec^ufle It
Chap. XIX.] VISIONS. 289
But what is wanting of severity in this whimsical
fiction is fiílly made up in his Vision s, six in number,
Bome of which seem to have been published sep-
arately soon after his first persecution, and all '*^"*"'
of them in 1636." Nothing can well be more free and
miscellaneous than their subjects and contents. One,
called "El Algaazil alguazilado," or The Oatchpole
Caught, is a satire on the inferior officers of justice, one
of whom being possessed, the demon complains bitteriy
of his disgrace in being sent to inhabit the body of a
creature so infamous. Another, called " Visita de los
Chistes/' A Visit in Jest, is a visit to the empire of
Death, who comes sweeping in surrounded by physicians,
snrgeons, and especially a great crowd of idle talkers
and slanderers, and- leads them all to a sight of the in-
fernal regions, with which Quevedo at once declares he is
already familian* through the crimes and follies to which
he has long been accustomed on earth. But a more
distinct idea of his free and bold manner will probably
be obtained from the opening of his " Dream of Skulls/'
or " Dream of the Judgment," than from any enumera-
tion of the subjects and contents of his Visions ; es-
pecially since, in this instance, it is a specimen of that
ínizture of the solemn and the lúdicro us in which he so
mach delighted.
* One of fchese Sueños is dated as early not always üaithful when he knew the
M 1607, — the " Zahúrdas de Pluton ; " meaning, and he is sometimes unfaithfül
Intft neme, I think, was printed earlier than from ignorance. Indeed, the great popu-
1037 ; and all the six that are certainly by larity of his translations was probably ow-
Qnevedo were first printed together in a ing, in no small degree, to the additions he
nnall collection of his satirical works that boldly made to his text, and the flrequent
appeared at Barcelona, in 1635, entitled accommodations he hazarded of its Jests
« Juguetes de la Fortuna." Theyweretrans- to the scandal and taste of his times by
lated into French by Genest, and print- allusions entirely English and local. The
«d in 1641. Into English they were very Tisions, besides the translation of Qenest
freely rendered by Sir Roger L'Estrange, above referred to, were evidently in fashion
and published in 1668 with such success, in France still later, for I have seen, —
that the tenth edition of them was printed (1.) Ualgouasil (sic) burloeque imité de
at London in 1708, 8vo, and I believe there Don F. de Quevedo, &c , par le Sieur de
▼as yet one more. This is the basis of the Bourneuf P. Paris, 1657, 8vo, pp. 143 ;
translations of the Yisions found in Que- (2.)L*Enfcrburle8quetir6e,&c.,parM.I. O.
Tedo's Works, Edinburgh, 1798, Vol. I., Paris, 1668, 12rao, pp. 81 *, and (3.) Hor-
and In Boscoe's Novelista, 1832, Yol. II. reur des Horreurs sans Horreurs tlrée des
▲11 the translations I have seen are bad. Yisions, |eó., par Mons. Isaulnay. PariS|
nie best is that of L'Estrange, or at least 1671, Sro. They are all In verse,
the moflt spirited ; but still L'Estrange is
YOL. II. 13 8
290
VTSIONS.
p^EuioD n.
"Metliought I sBw/* he saja, "a fair joutb borne
witb prodigio US epeed througli thc heavens, who gave
a blast to his trumpet so violent, that the radía nt beauty
of bis coQütenance was iii part disfigured by it. Bul the
aound was of such power, tbat it found obedient^e io
marble ai>d heariog among the dead ; for the whole earlh
began straightway to move, and give írce per mis don
to the bou es it contained to come forth m search of
each othen And thereupon I presentí j saw iha^e who
had been sol diera and cap taina start fiercely from their
graves, thinking it a aignal for battle ; atid misera coming
forth j full of auxiety and alaria, dreading some on-
alaught ; whBe those who were givea to vanity and
fe as ti ng thooght^ from the shrillness of the sound, that
it was a cali to the dance or the chase, At least. so I
interprete d the looks of each of them, as they spraag^
forth ; ñor did I see one, to who se ears th© aotmd of that
trumpet came^ who un d era too d it to be what ít really
waa. Soon, howover, I noted the way la which certaia
souIb fied from their former bodiea ; some with bjathin^,
and otbers with fear. In one an arm was missiiig, in
anothcr au eye ; and while 1 waa moved to laughter ag I
aaw the varietiea of their appearance, I waa filiad witli
wonder at the wise providence which preven ted any one
of them, all ehuffled together as they were, irom puttiiig
on the lega or other limba of his neighbora, lo one grave-
yard alone I thought that there was some changing' of
headaj and I saw a notarj whose aoul did not quite auit
him, and %vho wanted to get rid of it by declaring it to
be üoue of hia.
'' But whcn it waa fairly understood of all that thia
was the Day of Judgment^ it was worth seeing how the
voluptuoua tried to avoid having their eyea foíind for
thera^ that they necd not bring i uto court witueaaea
against themselves, — how the malicioua tried to avoid
their owD toügues, and how robbers and asaassins eecmed
willíng to wear out their feet in ruuning away from their
banda, Aud tuming partly round ^ 1 saw one miaer asfc-
ing another, ( who, having beoTí embaímed and hia bijwels
leffc at a distance, was waiting silently till they du^uld
4
:4
arrive,) wlaetlier» becauae the dead were to ríse that rlaj,
certairi oiujiey-bagg of liis nmst alsü rise. I sbotild bave .
kugbed heartil j at this, ¡t I bad not, on the othí^r side^l
pitíed the eagemess with which a great rout of uotariea
rushed by, ñy'mg from their own eam, in order to avuid
Ijearing what awaited them, though none succeeded in
escaping, except those who in this world had loát their
eara as tbleve», whichi owing to the neglect of juatice,
was by ixo means the majoríty. But wLat 1 most won-
úemd at waSi to eee tbe bodies of two or three ehop-
keépera, that had put on their iouts wiong eide out, and
Oi'owded all ñve of their sensea under the Dails of tíieir
riglit hands."
Tha '* Casa de los Locos de Amor/ ^ the Ijovers' Mad-
house^ — which is placed among Quevedo's Vimons,^
though ít has been declared to be the work of his friend
Lorenzo Yander Hanimen, to whom it ib dedícated, —
lacks, no doubt, the freedom atid forcé which characterijse
the Yision of the Judgnient.*^ But tbia is a remark that
can by no means be extended to the Vision of ^* Las
Zahúrdas de Pintón," Pluto's Pigsties, wliich Í8 a show
of wbat may be called the rabble of Pandemonimn ; " El
Mnndo por de Dentro/' Tbe World Inside Oiit ; and "El
Entrera etidOj la Dueña, y el Soplón/' Tbe Büsy-body,
the Duenna^ and the Informer ; — all of whieíi are full
of the most tmculeut sarcaanij reoklossly caat about by ^ü
one te wbom the world had not been a friend, ñor the ^M
world^s law* ^
In these VisionSj as well as ia nearly all that Quevedo
i
M fHie Mlx fLuqu^itlaned Sue ^rot B.re in
TnOt L of th^ Madrid ÉMJitioD or Quevedo,
1791^ Tbe " CaaSu tle Im Locoi de A^mor"
U Id %jm, it- f 0Dá ju N. Autonlo (Bíb*
ITtiT.f X. 462t arul £1^ tú) aayí Yander
BaKnjneiL, a SpAiilsb uutbaf dF FltüDhh
djHcent, toíii Mím tliat he wTote ti hlmccirj
uro are hoimd lo tnke It from the pfapef
Mtt of Quevedo^B workA. TiiLflf liovever,,
b&8 h^'Tí «oniL^tiinei tlioujrht ici be a ^eee
Al TmnU^ AFid rnl^i^liotMl iii Vamkr HaiD»
BetH bevaucjs in 1027 lie had dtfdlcaJte^
dn* Btit II ía mtich joiors liltelf tíint Que-
Tedo tbofoM have ccianttíúJi,tici!d üiis Uttk
mpercherie of hEi nrJcitdf thim Ihiit Niociiaa
AjjtdDÍi» Ebonld iiave iit^n d^libcmteljf im-p
po9^ mprní bjr Tand«z' HamnEiofk Bcteidefli
iiLrgq purtlfiíu <if ths " Casa d« Lucof de
Amor " are boEiealJi Uie takat or QimrMD,
and mol ai aU la hlA taanniír. Tabder
Hammea waa Chfl atttbor oF «evoml wcflrkú
naT ffifK«}fet«i ¡ batf In bia tíme, be waa
oonjKObBd wltb mea of notc^ Lope á^
Vegn ded1i»tfld tti bíni " Kl flotio del Ccn
I
HTvnü oF tlie VbloDi — tli« oon In qnes* legln^'^ b 1Q20, tieg|gtner hLni to piibUab bíi
"8eeretaiio," whfcb,
QCVBT was printc*d>
202
QLTEVEDO'S CHARAGTEB.
[pEttion IL
wTDte, rnndi íb to be fonná that ftidtcateír a Lold, oríj^-
iial, and iridppt'rideut spirit. HÍB age and the circum-
q^i'VR,iiVa stances arnidst whích he was placed ha\^e, how-
crturucu-T. ever, left their traces hiúli on his poetrj and on
Inspíose, Thus, his long resideíjoe in Italy ia seen itt
liifi frcmient imitations of the Italian pnets, and once» al
least, ín the eompoaition of an original Italian sonnet ; **
— líífl cruel Buflerinja^s diiring Ms diíferent persecutiot
aro apparent In the biiterneas of hiB invectÍTes every-
where, and eapecially irt one of hia Yíbíodb, dated from
hifi prisoTí, ag-ainst the admití íñtrati o n ofjustice and thef
ordcr of societj ; — while the inflnenoe of the falee tast0i
of his times, whioh^ in eome of its forma^ he raanfully
resietedj ie jet no leas apparent in others, and perseeutea
him with a perpetual desire to be briltiant, to saj some-
tliiT}]^ qiiaint or startUng, and to be pointed and epi-
graniraatic. Bat ovet theae, and over all his other de-
fecta, his geniíiB frora time to time riBes, and revéala itsdf
with great power. He has not. indeed, that aui-e per-
ception of the ridicnlona which leads Oervantea, aa if by
inatinct, to the exact me asure of aatirical retributíon ;
biit be perceivea quickly and stronglj ; and though he
often erra, fpom the exaggeration and coaraeness to which
he so mach tended, yet, even in the pasFsagea where these
fanlts most oecnr, we often fínd touohes of a fiolemn and
tender beauty, that show he had higher powers and better
qualities tban hi& ex t rao r diñar y wit, and add to the efíect
of the whole, though vri thout reeoncihng us to the
broad and groaa farce that ia too often mingled with
bis Batiré,"
« Obrafl, Tam. TIL p. 2&9.
K A vicKLdDt atta^k wbs made oti Qme-
TVáQ, Un ywBra bffore hid death^ In a
Ttiliune ecitliled " El TribUDal de I& Jusla
Teo^piui,'^ prLoted tí Tileacia, l^fi,
V£iDi^ j»p. ^4, «nd uM to be wrltlcn tiy
the yceticlatlo Artmltio Fr&iice-f urt i m
C6ál tbc n.Eiin{:a of Montalvun, of Fathcr
NlscDQf w\ia t^uated hLmself in j^petttn^
QUQTeilo put OD ttie Indeii ExporRütoriaaf
And of other perMtná ; for auch a BEitlrlst
eould not be wantiog íb eneiDÍeA+ The
^^ TMbonal " b Üin»rD tota íb/t form ^ ñ
trf ál, b«ft»fe n^Lu judg», o^tlie flsUrfdftl
evcept wbcu the reUglimt prejudíoe» of th»
authfir» pniVttU uver thelr JuAgment, ta qoI
more ievcre tii&n ((Dovedo^i Ucetkflü merlt-
ed. No botiiiTf htiwever, ffl díme to hJA
g^niua crr hf« irE;¡, nnd peFRíHiid eeielMoí
Ecetm apparuíit íti mway parta of ít. At
the begirjDlD^, It Is totlmated th&t It 1
wTitten at Sevílle. Probivbl^ the .
thcrg had a huid in It, but, as it Ii Hd* '
utitted that there Wérv fiereral mutliotni
Chap. XIX.]
FRANCISCO DE QUEVEDO.
293
■o it i8 possfble that it waa prepared in
difterent places. *
In 1704, Sancha printed, at Madrid, a
translation of Anacreon, with notes by
Qnevedo, making 100 .pages, bat not num-
bering them as a part of the eleventh
▼oíame, Svo, of Queyedo's Works, which
be oompleted thafc year. Th^ are more in
tbe terse aod classioal manner of the Ba-
chiller de la Torre than the same number of
pages anywhere among (^a«vedo*8 earlier
printed workB ; but the translation is not
very strict, and the spirit of the original is
not so weli caught as it is by Esteran
Manuel de Tillegas, whose "Eróticas"
willbe noticed hereafter. The versión of
Quevedo is dedicated to the Duke of Ossu-
na, his patrón, Madrid, Ist April, 1009.
TUlegas did not pabUsh till 1017 *, but it is
not likely Üiat he knew anything of the
labora of Quevedo.
CHAPTER XX,
THE DRAMA. — MADRID AND IT8 THBATRBS. — DAMIÁN DE VEGAS.—
FRANCISCO DE TARREGA. — GASPAR DE AGÜILAR. — GUILLEN DE
CASTRO. — LUIS TELEZ DE GUEVARA. — JUAN PÉREZ DE MON-
TALVAN.
The want of a great capital, as a common centre for
letters and literary men, was long felt in Spain. üntil
Want of a *^® *^°^® ^^ Ferdinand and Isabella, the country,
capital. broken into sepárate kingdoms and occupied by
continual conflicts with a hated enemy, had no leisare for
the projects that belong to a period of peace ; and even
later, when there was tranquillity at horae, the foreign
wars and engrossing interests of Charles the Fifth in
Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands led him so much
abroad, that there was still little tendency to settle the
rival claims of the great cities ; and the court resided
occasionally in each of them, as it had from the time of
Saint Ferdinand. But already it was plain that the pre-
ponderance which for a time had been enjoyed by SevHle
was gone. Castile had prevailed in this, as it had in the
greater contest for giving a language to the country ;
and Madrid, which had been a favorito residence
of the Emperor, because he thought its climate
dealt gently with his infirmities, began, from 1660, under
the arrangements of Philip the Second, to be regarded
as the real capital of the whole monarchy.^
1 Quintana, Historia de Madrid, 1630, time it has been called Villa imperial y
folio, Lib. ni. c 24-26. Cabrera, Histo- Coronada. (Origen de Madrid, ec., por
ría de Felipe H., Madrid, 1619, folio, Lib. V. Juan Ant. Pellicer. Madrid, 4to, 1803, p.
c. 9 ; where he saya Charles V. had Intend- 97.) But it has always been a fetvored city.
ed to make Madrid his capital. Charles, In 1658, Alonso Nuñez de Castro, Qeoeral
indeed, permitted Madrid, in 1644, to take Chronicler of Spain and author of sereral
a crown into its escutcheon, since which works of consequence to the natiooal hi»>
(feAF. XX.] THE DRAMA. -DAMIÁN DE VEGAS. 295
On no department of Spamsh literature did this circum-
stance produce so considerable an influence as it did on
the drama. In 1583, the foundations for the naeirecton
two regular theatres that have continued such «le drama,
ever since were already laid ; and from about 1590, Lope
de Vega, if not the absolute monarch of the stage that
Cervantes describes him to have been, was at least its
controlling spirit. The natural consequences followed.
Under the influence of the nobility, who thronged to the
royal residence, and led by the example of one of the
most popular writers and men that ever lived, the Span-
ish theatre rose like an exhalation ; and a school of poets
-r-many of whom had hastened from Seville, Valencia,
and other parts of the country, and thus extinguished
the hopes of an independent drama in the cities they
deserted — was coUected around him in the new capital,
until the dramatic writers of Madrid became suddenly
more numerous, and in many respecte more remarkable,
than any other similar body of poets in modern times.
The period of this transition of the drama is well
marked by a single provincial play, the " Comedia Jaco-
bina," printed at Toledo in 1590, but written, as its
anthor intimates, some years earlier. It was the work
of Damián de Vegas, an ecclesiastic of that city, pamian
and is on the subject of the blessing of Jacob by ^^ v®»**-
Isaac. Its structure is simple, and its action direct and
unembarrassed. As it is religious throughout, it belongs,
in this respect, to the eider school of the drama ; but, on
the other hand, as it is divided into three acts, has a pro-
logue and epilogue, a chorus and much lyrical poetry in
vario US measures, including the terza rima and blank
verse, it is not unlike what was attempted about the
same time, on the secular stage, by Cervantes and Ar-
gensola. Though uninteresting in its plot, and dry and
hard in its versification, it is not wholly without poeti-
cal merit ; but we have no proof that it ever was acted
in Madrid, or, indeed, that it was known on the stage
Cory, pablished a thoroughly Spanish book display íd it of the wealth of the hierarchy
to show forth the glories of che capital, and of Bome of the great militaiy orden
entHled ** Solo Madrid es Corte." The may wéü be oalled astonnding.
296
FRANCiSCO DE TARIÍEGA.
jTEauoD n
beyond the limita of Toledo ; a city to which ite authcir
was mucíi attached, anci wherc he seenis ahvays to Iia\*e
lived.*
Whether Francisco de Tarraga, who can be traced
from 1591 to 1608, was one of those who early cam©
franciBOd from Valencia to Madrid as writers for the the-
á« Tarffiga- atre, ís nncertain, Btit we have proof that Le
was a canon ol' the cathedral in the íirst-named city, and
yüt waa well known in the new cap i tal, where his plays
were actod and prínted,^ One of them ie important,
because it showa the modes of representation m his time,
as well as the pecnliarítíes of his own drama. It begina
witha.fofi, which in this case is truly a compliment^ m
its aame implies \ but it le, at the same time» a witty and
quaint bailad in pmíse of ugly women, Theo Qomm
what IB called a ^' Daace at Leganitos," — a popular
resort m the subnrba of Madrid^ which here gives its
namc to a rude farce fomided on a contest in the open
strcet between two lackejs.*
After the audience baye thuB beeo put in good humor.
í
a curíeme ahiI mi-e vokume ot rellj^un»
ptwtTf , eEiiniíin " Ubío de Poesía^ OhHi-
tínnu^ Morjil^ y Bivirva," por el Dtwtor Fmoj
ni^RilHti de VegrtH (Toledo, IñW, 12Hj<í, W.
W^y II cQntaiM& a jHjetii un Ibo Inimacu-
kte Cücic^eption, the turiUitg-poíijt of Simii-
Ifth órtisrüclüsy í a culloiiiiy between ihe
Soiilj the Wíll, ftnd tria Uivcleretumlifigi
whleh inaj Tiave beea i^presentetl j ané a
greai Birtouiit of relfgli^Luí poetrí-, both
lyrlc nnd dldüctlCf much ot It ín Uie oíd
Sprinish meainireB^ nucí marh in ths ItalUu^
tiut lEttlt; uf It better tl^an E:lkf!i maisa qf pf>ür
iferBe cm atich ftab|ect0 then ín favor.
•^ U [i aBcertníiierí tbat the Canon TaT-*
regn 13 red nt Vateocíü in lüEii, stid wrTtíte
elevt'iu or twtjtve pluyH^ two of whlah are
knovm only hy thelr tUlea. The reflt wctc
printcd ui Mudrtd In 1(314^ and ng^Iu íii
IWlflh CtTTunlíía pniises liím bi the Pref-
ütHi to hjj Cimieiílaa, Í{t15, iicionj^ tbe early
futlo^LTs oF Jjn]je, for hla líiscre'iíi'fín é
imtmtrabfeH ctmceptaHé- It iñ evídeut
fríim Ike nmticti of the ** Enera i sa Fíivora-
bk',^' hy tlic n'lse c^noii in Dúd QuixQte^
IbM't it wii,B tben reif^iided m thu iHüst of j ts
bütbcjr^fl yhiy^, tu It haa bci^n eyer tínoe.
Kodrlg^&K, Biblioteca TalfintíQjt, T&Iei*di,
1T47t tílfOj p. 14«. Xlmeno, fcfírliíircí ríe
YaletifiíA, YalefWlüj 17 47, Tom, L {>. 210.
FiLSter, Blbliotiíca Talen tina, TiEÜfaclo,
18'Í7t fülEo^ Tom. I. p. 310, Don Uuixüte,
P^rte 1. c, 4§,
'I' TliiB feroe,. mncb Ulie &ti tníremeM at
wiíyHits of tnodem Idutes, 1é a i]utirr«l
Itttwflfln twi} lackeys Etir a ilatnKi »{ thelr
(»wi] condiEtbnt whEcb QQÚñ wHb one (ri
tb&m t>eEnir biiEf drowned by tbe ntln^r lu
a publIc frjiítitfilii. It winda np vrüh a
bailad oEder tban iteelf \ for It alinde» Co a
etre@t as belnf^ about to be tKitiüaitructe^
Lbrcm^b LeiEaDlto», wbüe one of tho pef-
sonagCB En tbe farue ap«^aka of (he streift hm
jilready tberu. The biatijul seema Uf bt
clHlint:!d by Saine BArbodlUo. At lea»t^ X
íEucHlt ainon^ hLü BimoB (1612, f. ÍMb, b\
ñiid tbe roünta^ín ía appropriiitE!jy iutrc^
due^cd, fnr Lüganttnfl wam fiunoua for It.
(^ee Cen'antcSf Ilustre frci^náT and Piw
Q.uÍxote, Fnrte II, ñ, 22, vltb tbe note cu
Fellli?erO Such ElttJfi drcumatanpea aboaniíl
In tlie p^pQEflf [KartEons of tbe oíd Sp&nisli
drsmiA^ and addúil niaelí to Its eOVfct at Ütr
tlin« it appüared, and eepcolalEy to iü
eff?at wíion rapiejonted.
ÍIAP* XX,]
0ASPAIÍ DE AeüILAfi,
2ÜT
we have the prüicipal iilay, cuíled '*The Well-disposcd
gíiemy ; '* a wild^ htit not uni n teres ting", heroie drama, of
rhicb the acene is laid at the court of Naples,
^aod the plüt tarns ou the jealouey of the Near í» Favo*»-
jjolitari king and queen. Soine attempt m matle
corapress the action withín probable limite of time and
f>ace ; but the character of Laura — at ürst in love with
be kiiig and exciting hitn to poison the queen, and at
Bt coming out in disguise as an armod champion to
iefond the same queen when she is in danger of beiug
put to death on a false acciisation of itifidelity — deetroys
al I regulan tj of movement, and is a blemish that ex ten da
through the whole piece, Parts of it^ however, are
ppirited, like the openííig, — a scene full of life and na-
ire, — where the conrt ruBh in from a buU-fight, that
liad beí?n suddenlj broken up by the personal danger of
lie king ; and parta of it are poetical, like the first in-
ervlew between Laura and Belisardo, whom ahe finaUy
'mameg.** But the imprcssion left by the whole ís, that,
thougb the path opened by Lope de Vega m the one
that is foUowed^ it is íbllowed with footstepe ill-assiired
and a somewhat uucertain purpose.
Ga^ipar de Aguilar was, as Lope telis U9, the rival of
uTarrega.* He was secretary to the Viscount Cheh'a, and
ifterwards major-domo to the Duke of Gandía, Q^p^r ¡le
one of the most prominent tioblemen at the Aíruiíar.
court of Philip the Third. But an allegorícal poem
which Agoiiar wrote, ín honor of bis last patrones mar-
iage; füund so littie favorj that its nnhappy author, dis-
Boiiraged and repnlsedi died of mortiBcation. He lived,
> The ** Enemiga FaTonitale " \s thfi laat
pliíf im iLu ítnparULDt. Toliime marked 4a
s ñfúi of the GollectioB of the " Difetf.n*
I Ofouediu,'* pubtifitieil at Aloalíi Lo 151¿,
, UMrld In IfUe^ and at Barcelotia yie
í jear^ üf which Lurd Tauntoo ho^ a
^j at il4ülctv and of «rhlch there I» an-
])er Ubi the BibLiott^cii ¿mbi'oi^lAüa in
Jlan« tNth or which I hftT« «@n. (iee
. LU.t Apíiendix F.) Tlie pli^ iti«|ii»-
1 1* dlrldiíil loto Uire« júrnudús^ c&Lled
i«t aofi ihaw« oUiürTTÍM* tlut it wu
ifcrQOled AD the mcKlal of Lope's d ramM-
ttTuRgiiirrote iiSsfiüt Leut ouereli^uus
play, **Tíie Fcrondeitloii of the Order of
Merey.*' It iá the Btorj* of a ^reat robber
who becj^mei a e:Teat talnt, and m&Y ^^^^
iUKgcEted to Cald,«nm Itii. *^ Perocian de la
CruK." Sli: mere irf Idi play» may be
fooiid In the very rare " Dú«e Coinedka dfi
quatrij Poetaa dé Val&oicli,^* 1009^ whlch I
pti^eiá, but they are liot io good ma tbfl
*•*■ Exiüuú^^ Tavorable,^^ I thlolt there are
tvelTB af hiá pliijBf In all, itill extapt
« " lAQ«l de Apolo," (MíMlrld, ia30,4tai
£, 21,) where Lope taj», ipeaklag pf tm^
r«gaf *^ G^Apu- Aj^üiUbT €ümp*ti& om íl «d
I» dTpiD'itíoa poctift-'^
f98
GASPAR BE AGUTLAR.
[rEBioD n.
asTarrega probahly did, both in Valencia ímd in Madrid,
aud wrote se v eral rainor poems^ be si des ono of some
length on the es pulsión of tho Moors from SpaÍD, whieh
was priiited in 1610, The last date we have relutíng to
bis unfortunate career is 1623.
Of the eight or nine playe he published^ only two can
claim our no tice. The jirst is ^' The Merchaot Lo^^er,"
His Myrefi^ praísed by Cervantes, who^ like Lope de Tega,
dcr Amiinte. Gientions Aguilar more than once with rcspect.
It ia the story of a nch merchaut, wbo preteods to have
lost his fortune in order to seo whether either of two
ladíes to whose favor he aspires lo ved Inm for his own
Bake rather than for that of his muTiey ; and he finally
marries the one who, on tliis hard trial^ provee herself to
be disinterested. It ia preceded by a prólogo, or ha,
which in this case ia a mere jeating tale ; and it enda with
bíx s tanzas, sung for the amusement of the audience^
aboiit a man who, having tried unsucceafifully many
Tocationa, and, among the rest, tho se of fencing-maater,
poet, actor, and tapeter, threatcníi, in deapair, to enlist
for the wars. Neither the beginning ñor the end, there-
foreí has anything to do with the eubject of the play
itself, which is written in a spinted atyle, biit sometimes
shows bad tas te and extravagancei and b orne times runs
into conceits,
One character is happily hit, — that of the lady who
lases the rich merchant by her selfi&hnesa. When he
first tells her of his pretended losa of fortune, and seems
to bear it with courage and eqiianim^ity, ebe goes out
fiaying, —
HeiiYen eave me from a busbttná &iich as thisj
Who finds himiíelf so eosilir' oJURole^ I
Why, Ue would he aa gay^ if it wara mé
That be had lo9t^ and not bis monef !
And again, in the second act, where shc finally rejects
him, Bhe saya, in the same jesting spirit, —
Wonid yoU| Sir, eee that you are not a man, —
Since all that evtjr mado you onc 10 gione^ —
Chap. XX ] GASPAR DE AGUILAR. 299
(The fígure that remains availing but
To bear the empty ñame that marked yon once,) —
Gro and proclaim aloud your loss, my friend,
And then inquire of your own memory
What has become of you, and who you are ;
And you will learn, at once, that you are not
The man to whom I lately gave my heart/
What, perhaps, is most remarkable abont this drama
is, that the unity of place is observed, and possibly the
unity of time ; a circumstance which shows that the
freedom of the Spanish stage from such restraints was
not yet universally acknowledged.
Quite diñerent from this, however, is " The Unfore-
seen Fortune ; " a play which, if it have only one ac-
tion, has one whose scene is laid at Saragossa, _, _ ,
_i_«. ,_ , ,, o'His Suerte
at Valencia, and along the road between these sin Bspe-
fcwo cities, while the events it relates fiU up '^°^*
several years. The hero, just at the moment he is mar-
ried by proxy in Valencia, is accidentally injured in the
streets of Saragossa, and carried into the house of a
stranger, where he falls in lo ve with the fair sister of
the owner, and is threatened with instant death by her
brother, if he does not marry her. He yields to the
threat. They are married and set out for Valencia. On
the way, he confesses his unhappy position to his bride,
and very cooUy proposes to adjust all his difficuUies by
putting her to death. From this, however, he is tumed
aside, and they arrive in Valencia, where she serves him,
from blind aflfection, as a voluntary slave ; even taking
care of a child that is borne to him by his Valencian
wife.
Other absurditíes follow. At last, she is driven to
declare publicly who she is. Her ungrateful husband
then attempts to kill her, and thinks he has succeeded.
7 Dio* me guarde de hombre Haz laego un áUu^^ aquí
Que tan pronto se consuela, De tu perdida notoria ;
Que lo mismo harft de mú Toma cuenta á tu memoria i
Mercader Amante, Jom. L Pide á ti mismo por tí,
OnUMM «... nn. «« íim. i..^h«i Vcrás quc no eres aquel
Quieres rer que no eres hombre, . „„t^ ai ^t .»«.i.^«
Pues el ser tuyo has ppdido, A qmen di mi corazón.
Y que de aquello que has ddo, Ibid., Jom. IL
No te queda riño el nombre ?
aoQ
GtriLLliK DE CASTRO,
[PiC&ÍÍJD U.
ITe íb arresteíTfor tlie su p pose d murder ; but at the same
iDstant her brother arríves, and claima his ri^ht to single
combat witli tUe offender. Nobody will serve as the base
seducer's second. At the last moment, the injured liwly
herself, presumed till theo to be dead, appcars in tlie
liste, dÍBguised ín complete arraor, not to protect ber
guilty busbatid, but to vindícate ber own bonor and
prowesa. Ferdiaand, tbe king, wbo presides o ver the
combat, Ínter fe res ; and tbe strango show ends by her
marriage to a former lover, who has bardlj been eeen at
all on tbe Btage, — a trulj '^ Unforeseen Fortune/* —
whicb gives Hs naine to the ill-couijtructed drama.
The poetiy, though not absolutely good, is better than
the actiüu. It is generallj in fíowing quinkUm, or stati-
zas of five short h'nea eacb, but not without long portions
in the oíd ballad-measurc. The scene of an entertainment
OH the aea-ehore near Valencia, where all the parties raeet
íbr the first time^ is good. So are portions of the last
act. But, in general, the wbole play abounds in couceits
and puns, and ifí poor, It opens with a loa, whuse object
ÍB to assert the universal eiopire of man ; and it euds with
an address to the audience from King Férdinand, in which
he declares that nothing can gíve him so much pleasure
as the settlement of all these troubles of the lo vera, ex-
cepÉ tbe conquest of Granada. Both are groteBquely in-
appropnate."
Better known than either of the last authors is another
Yalencian poet, Guillen de Castro ^ who, like them, was
Quíiiende respccted at horae, but sought his Jiirtunos in
Coñttth 'the capital. He was born of a noble family, in
1669, and scems to have been early distinguished, in his
natíve city^ as a man of letters ; for, in 1591, he was a
member of the Nocturnos ^ one of the most succeseful of
the fautastic associations establisbed in Spain, m imita-
^ Tbe Bcefluutfl of AfuHv luis Ebtuid In ih^- playa of other p<wt»^ A copy oC (.lio
Bodrignes, pp^ llS^ li% &nd la XimfüQOi " Bacrto fila Eeperac^fi,^' wblcb I p^josets,
Toen. I. p, 2&&f wHo, mji íñ uftjíin the case, wlUiQut fíate or p&Jíliiirf n^m^ oltjer^ A
faaA done llUle but arriiiiige Íd better urder copj of hiA ^* Vcngasaa. "Honrfiñu.*'* is tú bA
tbeajattíriíilacolletüLeclby Krnlríf,Tiea. Seven found lu the nfth piaj ia Va). V* of th^
of Afullar^B pLetrji are in coLlecttouH prlnted '^ Dtfereatefi C^ieilift^j^'
■i TatewUa in 16O0 md IGÍt, míngled irit]!i note &.
Gbap.ZX) guillen de CASTRO. 30I
tion of the Academia that had been for some time hah-
ionable in Italj. His literarj tendencies were farther
caltivated at the meetings of this societj, where he
foand among his associates Tarrega, Aguilar, and Ar-
tieda.*
His life, however, was not wholly devoted to letters.
At one time, he was a captain of cavaliy ; at another,
he stood in such favor with Benevente, the monifícent
yiceroy of Naples, that he had a place of consequence
intrusted to his government ; and at Madrid he was so
well received, that the Duke of Ossuna gave him an
annuity of nearly a thousand crowns, to which the reign-
ing &yoríte, the Count Duke (Hivares, added a royal
pensión. But his unequal humor, his discontented spirít,
and his hard obstinacy ruined his fortunes, and he was
soon obliged to wríte for a living. Cervantes speaks of
him, in 1615, as among the popular authors for the thea-
tre, and in 1620 he assisted Lope at the festival of the
canonization of San Isidro, wrote several of the pieces
that were exhibited, and gained one of the prizes. Six
years later, he was still earning a painful subsistence as
á dramatic writer ; and in 1631 he died so peor, that he
was buried by charity."
Very few of his works have been publisbed, except his
plays. Of these we have nearly forty, printed between
1614 and 1630. They belong decidedly to the
school of Lope, between whom and Guillen de " ***
Castro there was a friendship, which can be traced back,
by the Dedication of one of Lope's plays and by several
passages in his miscellaneous works, to the period of
Lope's exile to Valencia ; while, on the side of Guillen de
• In the note of Cerda y Bico to the Valencians — was painted for a gallery in
<« Diana ** of Oil Polo, 1802, pp. 615 - 519, Valencia by Joan de Bibalta, who died in
i8 an aoooont of this Academy, and a lisfc 1828. Those of Tarrega, Agoilar, and
of its members. Ooillen de Castro are likely to have been
10 Rodrigues, p. 177 } Ximeno, Tom. L origináis, since these poets were contem-
p. 305 } Foster, Tom L p. 235. The last porary with Bibalta, and the whole coUeo-
is important on this sabject. The portrait Üon, consisting of thirty-one heads, was
of Guillen — together with the portraits of extant in the Monastery of La Murta de
Gaspar de Agoilar, Luis Vires, Ansias San Gerónimo, when Cean Bermudez pre-
March, Jayme Boig, Francisco Tarrega, pared his Dictionary of Artists. See Tom.
Francisco de Borja, aod other distinguished IV., 1800, p. 181.
GASTBO.
c»dE
Castro, a sirailar t^atimony ig borne tu the same kindly
rogard by a volume of bis oivn plajs addressed to Mar-
celaí Lope's favo rite daughter.
The marks of Guillen de Castróos personal conditbn,
and of tbe age in which he lived and wrote, are no less
HísMmiCo^ distinct in hia dramas than tbe marks of bis
«»Aí»da poetioal allegiance. Hia ** Mismatcbes in Ta-
leocia " seema aa if ita story might have been
conatmcted out of facta withiD tbe poet's own knowledge*
It is a aeriea of kwe intriguea, like thoae in Lope*s plays,
and onda witb tbe diaaolution of two marriages by th©
iníiueiice of a lady, who, disguised as a page, lives in
tbe same bouae witb ber lo ver and bis wife, biit whose
macbiuattons are at last exposeá, atid abe berself driven
to tbe uatial reaort of entering a con ven t, Hís '* Don
HíBj>.jn Quixote/* on tbe otber hand, is takon from tbe
QuLiDte. First Part of Cervantesca romance, tben as freab
as any Yaleocian tale* The lovea of Dorotbea aod Fer-
nando, and tbe madiieaa of Cardeuio, form the materials
for ita principal plot ; and tbe dénouetnent is the transpor-
tatton of tbe knight, in a cage, to bis own houae, bj
tbe G arate and barber, jiist aa be ia carried borne by tbem
in tbe romance ; — parta of the story being sliglitly
altered to give it a more dramatic turn, tbough tbe lan-
gtrage of the original fiction is often retained, and the
obligations to it are fnlly recognized. Botb of tbese
dramas are written cbiefly in the oíd redondillas, witb a
careful vereífication ; but there is little poetical invcntion
in either of tbem, and tbo firat act of tbe " Mismatcbea
ín Valencia ^^ is disfignred hj a game of wite, fasbion*
able, no doubt, ín society at the timc^ but ouc tbat gíves
occaaion, in tbe play, to notbing but a series of poor
tricka and puns.^
íi Eloth tíiE^se playB are Id the firat Vdl-
tttne of hLfl GomerllA», itrltited in 1014 \ but
X huv¥. thQ Dan Quijote in a sepárate
pamp^let, wUhtmt imeiiig ctr date, aod
wlth ruáe wofKl-cuta, snch nd beLon¡^ to tbe
oMest apütUsh pubUcatfoBs of the st>irt.
The tirnt i\me Dod Quixoce apiieam in It,
the BLif^p [lir^tlaa te, " Enter Bou Qulxote
vn Roslnanl«, dr^uied aa he Id deacrth»! In
hU boQkJ* Thm rtáonéUítut f n tbis dnitiia,
repvrded as mete ■vtírm^ &m exoelleiit »
0. g. CaMenüd^et lanittiutattutta ni the «od
of tbo fint »m i —
DvDdt! nía jIcTan lo* pí»
9iií Itt vidt ? El «.'«o (riord^ ;
SI íai troydor el Mattinea t
Que ixifilurt^ que cuuclcí^,
• T«Ddrú ¡ftí, vi ttsíoy «n nil f
Chap. XX.] GUILLEN DE CASTRO. 303
Very unlike them, though no less characteristic of the
tiraos, is his " Mercy and Justice ; " — the shocking stoiy
of a prince of Hungary condemned to death by hís piedad
his father for the most atrocious crimes, but y Justicia.
rescued from punishment by the multitude, because his
loyalty has survived the wreck of all his other principies,
and led him to refuse the throne oflfered to him by rebel-
lion. It is written in a greater variety of meásures than
either of the dramas just mentioned, and shows more
freedom of style and movement ; relying chiefly for snc-
cess ún the story, and on that sense of loyalty which,
though originally a great virtue in the relations of the
Spanish kings and their people, was now become so ex-
^g'g^rated, that it was undermining much of what was
most valuable in the national character."
" Santa Bárbara, or the Mountain Miracle and Heav-
en's Martyr," belongs, again, to another división of the
popular drama as settled by Lope de Vega. • It H¡g g^^ta
is one of those plays where human and Divine b*»**^^-
love, in tones too much resembling each other, are ex-
hibited in their strongest light, and, like the rest of its
class, was no doubt a result of the severo legislation in
relation to the theatre at that period, and of the influence
of the clergy on which that legislation was founded. The
scene is laid in Nicomedia, in the third century, when it
was still a crime to profess Christianity ; and the story is
that of Saint Barbara, according to the legend that repre-
sents her to have been a contemporary of Origen, who, in
&ct, appears on the stage as one of the principal per-
sonages. At the opening of the drama, the heroine de-
clares that she is already, in her heart, attached to the
new sect ; and at the end, she is its triumphant martyr,
carrying with her, in a public profession of its faith,
Sin ler, rin alma y lin tf ? U It is in the second rolmne of Gaillen*s
Aj, Lucinda, que me has maerto I— plays ; but it ia also in the ** Flor de las
and so on. Gnerin de Booscal, one of a Mejores Doce Comedias,'' etc., Madrid,
considerable nnmber of French dramatists 1662. Ghiillen dedicates his second rol-
(see Poibosqne, Tom. n. p. 441) who re- ame, which I found in the Yatican, by a
sorted fireely to Spanish sources between fbw afléctionate words, to his cousin Doña
1630 and 1660, brought this drama of Ana Figoerola y de Castro.
Guillen on the French stage in 1688.
BU
GUILLES DE CÁSTEO'S CID.
[Pehtod ü.
not oiily her lover, but all tbe leading men of her native
cíty.
One of the sceiies of tliig play is particnlarly m tlve
spirit and faíth yf the age when it was writteu ; and was
aflterwards imitated bj Calderón ia liia *' Woudcr-workiog
MagiíJian/*^ The lady is represented a» confiíied by her
father in a tower, where, iti solitude, ehe give© her§elí
up to Christian tneditatíone. * Suddenlj the arch-eneroj
of the human race presenta himself befo re her, in the
drsBS oí a fashionable Spanish gallant. Ha gives an
ftccount of hii adven tu res in a faiiciful allegorj; but dciés
not a o efíectually con ce al tlíe tnith that she fails to bub-
pect who he is. In tho mean time, her fatlier and her lover
enter. To her father the myeterious gaüant ís quite in-
visible, btit he m phiiüly seen by the lover^ whose jealousy
is thu9 cxcited to the highest degree ; and the first act
ends with the confusión and reproacbes which siicli a
State of things necessarily brin ga on, and with the j>er-
suaaion of the father tliat the lover raay be ñt for a mad-
houee, but would raake & very poor husband for his gentle
daughter.^^
The most importaut of tbe plays of Guineo de Castro
are two which he wrote on the subject of Rodrigo the
Higjyj^,^^^ Cid, — '' Las Mocedades del Cid," The Youth,
¿«del Cid. or Youtbful Adventures, of the Cid ; — buth
founded on the oíd ballads of the country, whích, as we
know from Santos, as well as in olher waje, contínued
long after the time of Castro to be aung in the streets,^*
The first of these two dramas embraces the earlier portion
of the hero's life. It opens with a eolemn scene of his
armiug as a knight, and with tbe insult immediately
afterwardfí ofíered to bis aged father at the royal council*
board ; and then goes on with the trial of tbe Bpirit aad
{
^^ This comedia de íSfiío dcufi not ap-
peur íu the CDÜccÜDD DÍ Qullleo^j» pl^J^ S
buE íüy copy of it (Modrid^ 173») nUrlIiutca
It í/b hítiiy iml QD dcMA tke OMalogme oí
Huerta \ hBBÍAei whkh, the lubenial («rj-
útíUúQ fnmi ÍUi verflíñcatJLiD and manner I»
fltJTuDK fuf Ltfl i^eniiLcieDeaH. Tlie paHaHges
Id wblcTi tbe liíúy a^euks of Christ ae her
lover aod Bpou«e are, Ulce aU micb pae-
flug^^ Iti the t»ld Sp&tdsh dmma, offisaialvia
to FrutL'Staiit eana.
u " El Turd^ en el Potrn, j el Cid B»'
BiiadtiidD,^' of fr, Santa», (Madrid, 1666|,
13iiio,)cyiiUitiM (pp. l^, 1<Í^ fil, lOft^Dtc) büt-
lajls tm the Cid, üt lio cays the^ were th€ií
BUiít^ Itt thtí íttrevtá by thu blíDd ttttgpitt.
Tiie «orno oír ftlmUaT BtaU'tnenti itrt cniídA
I
üftKr. XXJ
GÍHLLEK DE CASTRÓOS OIB.
305
courage of Rodríga, and the death of ího prouJ Ccmnt
Lozano, who bad outraged tlie veaemble oíd niau hy a
blow on the cheek ^ — all according- to the traditions in
the oíd chroiiicles,
Now, howe%^er, comea the dramatic part of tho action,
which wm m happily inveuted by Guillen de Castro.
Ximena, the daugliter of Count Lozano, is represented
in the drama as alreadj attached to the joung knight j
and a contest, thereforc, ariacB between her sonse of
what she owes to the memory of her fathor and what she
Tiiay yield to her own afloction ; a contcst that coutinties
riirovtgh the whole of the play, and coiíatitutes ita chief
ínt-erost. She comes, indeed, at once to the kijig, full
of a passíonate gríef, that strug-glcs with sucoess, for a
momento ag-ainst the dictates of her heart, and el ai m a
tím punishraent of her lover accordin^ to the ancient
laws of the realm. He escapee, however, in cotiscquéncf*
of the prodigio US victories he g-aius o ver the Moors, wbo»
at tbe momcnt when tbese evente occurred, were asBatilt*
ing tlíe citj, Subeequently, by the contri vanee of falsa
newfl of tbe Cid*^ death, a confeseion of her love is ex-
torted frora her : and at last her ful! corisent to marry
him ia obtainedj partly by Divine ifitimatione, and partly
by the natural progrese of her admiration and attacliment
díiring a series of exploits achieved ín her bonor and in
defence of her king" aud country,
Tlils drama of G «ilion de Castro has become better
knowu thfoughout Enrope than any other of his works ;
not ouly bocanse it ís the best of them all, btit because
Corneilie, wlio was his coiitemporary, made it tbe basis of
his own brillíant Iragedy of ''The Cid;^^ which caTneuic**
did more than any other single drama to deter- *^''i'
miae for two centuries the character of the theatre all
o ver the ctmtipetit of Enrope. But though Corneille —
not unmindful of the angry disciissions carried on aboot
the unities, nnder the ¡nfliience of Cardinal Riehelieu — has
made alterations in tlie action of bis play, which are fortíi-
rmtc and jndicions, «till he has relíed, for its niain iííterest,
on that con test between the duties and the afll^ciions of
the heroine which was first ima^ned by Guillen do Castro i
S06
GlfíTiLElí BE CASTHO'S CTD.
[Pramo B"
Ñor has be shown iíi tbís exhfbítion more spírit or
powí?r tljat] his í^panish predecessor. Itideed, sametiroea
he has fallen luto considerable errors, which are whoUj
hie own, Bj compressing the time of the action witbín
twentj-four hotirs, instead of euffering it to extend
through tñiinj months, m it does In the original, be k
guüty of the absnrdity of overcomíng Xim€ná*s natural
feelinga in relation to the persou who had kiUed her
fatber, while her father^s dead body in stiU before her
ejes. By changin^ the scene of the qtiarrelí which in
Guillen occurs in presence of the king, he has made it
les8 ^üve and natural. By a mistake in chroiiology» he
establishes the Spanish conrt at Seville two centnries
before fhat city was wreBted frora the Moors. And bj a
genera! atraitening of the action within the conventional
limitB which were then beginning to bind down flie
French s^tage, he has, it is true, avgided the extrava-
gance of introdncingí as GuilleTi doea, so íncongruoua
an episode ont of the oíd bailada as the miracle of Saint
Lazaras ^ but he haa hindered the free and easy move-
ment of the inciden ta, and diminÍBhed their general affect.
Guillee, on the contrary, hj taking the traditions of
Ms country juat as he foujid them^ instantly coneiliated
Ouiiieii^B ^^^ good-will of hi^ andience, and at the same
^'•í' time ímparted the freshneag of the oíd balla<l
spírit to bis action, and gavc to it through ont a ñtrong
national ai r and coloring. Thus, the scene iu tbe royal
coTincii^ wlicre the father of the Cid is struck by the
haughty Count Lozano^ eeveral of the seenes between
the Cid and Ximena, and several between both of them
and the king, are inanaged with great dramatic eldll and^
a gennine poetical fervor. V
The folio wing passage, where the Cid^s father ia wait-
ing for him in tbe evening twilight at the place appoiuted ^
for their meeting after the duel, is ae characteristic, if ■
üot as strikingp as anj in the drama, and is superior to
the corresponding paasage in the French play, which
occíirs in the üfth and sixth seenes of the third act,
Tlie timííi ewe bleats not so mournfnny
Jts aliepberíl lost, tior crios tbe angrj Moa
HAP. XX.] GXnLLEN DE CASTRO'S CID. 307
With such a fierceness for its stolen young,
As I for Roderíc. — My son I my son !
£ach shade I pass, amid the closing night,
Seems still to wear thy form and mock my arms !
O, why, why comes he not 1 I gave the sign, —
I marked theaspot, — and yet he is not here !
Has he neglected 1 Can he disobey ?
It may not be ! A thonsand terrors seize me.
Perhaps some injury or accident
Has made him tura aside his hastening step ; —
Perhaps he may be slain, or hurt, or seized.
The very thought freezes my bfteaking heart.
holy Heaven, how many ways for fear
Can grief find out ! — But hark ! What do I hear 1
Is it his footstep ? Can it be ? O, no !
1 am not worthy snch a happiness !
'T is but the echo of my grief I hear. —
But hark again I Methinks there comes a gallop
On the flinty stones. He spríngs from off his steed !
Is there such happiness vouchsafed to me ?
Ib it my son ?
rheCid. Myfather?
Fhe Father. ^ay I truly
Trust myself, my child ? O, am I, am I, then,
Once more within thine arms ! Then let me thus
Compose myself, that I may honor thee
As greatly as thou hast deserved. But why
Hast thou delayed ? And yet, since thou art here,
Why should I weary thee with questioning 1 —
O, bravely hast thou borae thyself, my son ;
• Hast bravely stood the proof ; hast vindicated well
Mine ancient ñame and strength ; and well hast paid
The debt of life which thou receivedst from me.
Come near to me, my son. Touch the white hairs
Whose honor thou hast saved from infamy,
And kiss, in loye, the cheek whose stain thy yalor
Hath in blood washed out. — My son ! my son !
The pride within my soul is humbled now,
And bows before the power that has preserved
From shame the race so many kings have owned
And honored.i*
15 Diego. No la orejuela aa pa«tor perdido, Pero no puede ser ; mil penas paso I
Ni el león que sus h^os le han quitado. Algún inconveniente le habr& hecho,
Balo qu^osa, ni bramo ofendido. Mudando la opinión, torcer el paso.
Como yo por Rodrigo. Ay, hijo amado I Que helada sangre me rebienta el pecho I
Toy abrazando sombras descompuesto 81 es muerto, herido, 6 preso? Ay, Cielo saato<
Entre la oscura noche que ha cerrado. T quantas cosas de pesar sospecho I
DAe la seña, y aeftaleie el puesto. Que siento ? es él ? mas no meresco tanto.
Donde acudiese, en sucediendo el caso. Beríi que corresponden & mis male«
8i me habrá rido inobediente en esto ? Iám ecos de mi voz y de mi llanto*
zm
^triLLEíí ím CASTRÓOS CID.
[PftKíeiftE
Tlie Sccond Partí wíiich gives the a d%' en tu res of the
eiege of Zamora, the assaiísinütion of King Sancho Ikí-
Beath its waUa, and the defiance and dtiels tiíat were the
consequeuce, is not equal in ment tu the First Píltí.
Portions of it, such as so me of the circiimst atices attend-
iii^ the death of the king, are quite incapable uf dramatíc
repreeentatioii, bo gross and revoltíng- are they ; biit even
here, aa well as in the more fortúnate passages, Guilleíl
has faithfnlly foUowed the popular belief conceming the
herDic ag-e he represeiits, ju&t as it had come down to
him^ atid has thus given to his se enes a life and reality
that could h ardí y ha ve beeo giveti by anythiag else*
Indeed, it is a great charm of this drama, tbat tbe
popular traditions everywhere break through eo con-
stantlj, impar tí iig to it their peculiar tone and char-
acter. ThuH, the insult offered to oíd Laynez in the
council ; the complaints of Ximena to the king- on the
death of her father, and the conduet of the Cid to h^t'
Belf ; the story of the Le^ier ; the base treasoo of Bellido
Dolfoa ] the reproachea oí" Queen Urraca from the walls!
of the beleagüercd city, and the defiance and duels that
foUoWj^^^all are taken from the oíd ballads ; often in
tbeír very words, and generaily in their fresh spirit and
with their picture-like detaila. The effect must have bcexL
great on a Castilian axidience^ always sensible to ti
power of the oíd popular poetry, and always stirred aaj
with a battle-cry when the achievements of their earliei
na tí on al heroea were recalled to them.^
FcTta tntrú ariuDUiM ÉúCíá ptdrüjraleí
Tuelro á nlr id eAl'>p? de dh ci^b»IU}+
Dü ^ «Q »i»ta llcMlHfio E htiy dicIíAB tálaa i
Saje Jtofiriffo.
Hl^ T díf. Fkidre í
E±itr« íui br«£uií 'í iDjo> Hllciito lomo
PlurB en hiü alBhanzKB imipIf^Bllo.
Como fjqjTclMtfii tanto Y puen cJe plnmo
Td pti«n mS desea ; y pi^*-'^ VMiJrttir
¡4o He (lu CBm&rie pnigiríiiilu el cahiD.
BntviiTiiPTite pitilmstic \ bien la hlcLiie t
BLcii mi0 pittudrí» brío^ itiiit4iiilie t
Mlfíl mü paflB»te p\ ner tnic in« deWatff í
Tnrn laK bkiiciui con4i4 quí njQ liounuito,
Diii;i4f4> la, nriiiiii;!ha rii^ mS hrmor q^iittíifler |
Suberbla «1 iilinii ii tu vnlur bv hllU]il!l^
Como iv.^mi^Tvniiitr tle |a nnhlK^iL,
Que hü honrado tantcM Roy^i pd CaáUU&.
Ui»u<U4as del Cid, Prtmvn ForUt Jora* £L
^6 Til LE inipsaohmünt of the bork&T of
whíiUi cSty Eif ZuiíiQru^ ffjf hiivlnf taíii
tilia murderer or Kídi; Sancliü, QIU«
pijuje in tfae '* Cn^uLüa Oent^rfetl/' {Parta
IV. ^) in tbe "Ofjíiiicft fltí Gífl," jwid In Ums
üid ballads, uid L« calkíd JGÍ iíf fo ú* Zm-
mrtra^ — h fona «f cUniienge p^cservüd
ín tiitfl plüiy «r Giiiikn^ ntitl recogn^Hed u
a icgai Ama to for bicV aa tlie £iinld&^
Til., Tit. in., " Dís loi ineptos."
17 ipiie playa nf QiitUen tis tbe Cid Im^
tílten Tkjcií rciírinttfdi, tiimigli bardl^ OQi
bis aiJier flrnn^ia^ h?iA beca. YoltAlre^
hÍ3 f^rtíFíitíe ta Coriielliif**Otd, saye Cnrneilie
bwk Ms hluís írom Didmiüiit^. Büt tbé
reverse ¡s the cs^e- Dlarn>ikjt'«.f «r-ttc afti-T
ComeíJJ?^ and ws» indebt«!d to iiitn iürp-
[da J
Ün.KT. XX.]
zmn reJMi de gttíetatia.
SOd
In hifí other dramas we fiíirt tmces of the satíie pría-
ctples and the same habits of theatrica! compoaítion
thüt we have seen in tboBé already noticed. otht-r pIjíjí
The '* Impertinent Cariosity '^ is taken from tlio ^^rauíníiu.
tale wlik'h Cervantes originallj printed. in ihü First Part
fjf hifl Don Quixote. The " Conrit Alarcoe/' and the
'* Gount tV Irlos, '^ are fonnded on the fine oíd ballads that
bear these names. And the ** Wonders of Babylon '^ ie
a retigioíis play, iu whi€h the^storj of Stiaanna and the
Elders filis a space somewhat too largue, and in which
King Nebuchadnezzar ia unhappily introdnced eatÍDg
graas* like the beaste of the field.^" But everywhere
there is shown a doeirp to . Batisfy the demanda of the
tiational tas te; and everywhere it is plain tkat CxuiUen i a
a follíjwer of Lope de Vega, and ís distiugtiished from bis
rivals rather by the sweetness of his versification thau by
auy more prominont or orig-inal attributo.
Another of tbe early followera of Lope de Vega, üná
one roeognized as stich at the time by Cervantes, is Luis
Velez de Guevara. He was boro at Ecija io Lu¡aYeieB
AiídaUmia, in 15*í2 or 1574, but scems to have deGuaTa™.
lired abuüBt entirely at Madrid, where he died in 1644,
iving the Conde de Lemos and the Dnque de Verag'uas^
descendant of CülumbuB, fot Uis execators, by whosB
care he was buríed with ceremonies tmá honors becoming
the ir rank rather than hi» o%vn* Twelve years befo re his
death, he m said, on good authority, to have already
wnttcn foür hnndred pieces fí>r the theatre ; and aa
üeither the piiblic favor ñor that of the court aeems to
have deserted him during the rest of hís long lüe, we
may feel aftaured that he was one of the most eiicceasful
ttiithora of bis time.^"*
His plays, however, were never collected for pnbÜca-
Hon^ and few of thom have come down to us, One of
Ijr^ U wie «hikU iee bereaflejr» Lard. Hol-
Und^ft L\te i4 0u{lleiif ulrendy T^rorrcd tUi
u " La» M&T&vmjU átí B&\úUtnb\ '^ ts mi
fn Gulllea^ coUüefced drajniit, attd l« DQt
li li Id & Tolam» eátltlod 'ífUv de Im
M^cireí Doce C^metliA^f" Maidrldi tñ^
w Antonio, Blb. Not*^ f om. II. p- S%
and IdonlAlTftnf Vnm Tndcn, In hifl Cfttib'
wbeD (in i&M} tbat catjtlogtie wu» miid6>
oat. GueverK irill Ik< nótloed fl^oid M ÜS»
AMthút of tbe " Dlftblo Cojuelo.**
310
LUTS VELKZ DE GÍIEVAEA.
[rEitmo IL
ttose that bave been pre servo d is fortunatelj one of tíie
beat^ if we are to judge of its relative rank hj tho sen-
Ration it pTodyced on its first appearaucej or by the bold
it bae siuce tnaíiitamed on the national regard* Its sub-
ject ¡B taken from a well-known passage in the liistory of
Sancho tbe Brave, when, ¡u 1293^ the city of Tarifa^ near
Oibraltar, was beeíeged by that kíng'B rebelHous brother,
Don Jobn, at the hoad of a Moorigb army^ and defended
Sii«ijiiDei ^J Alonso Perei^ chief of the great house of ^
Bueno. thc Gussmans. " And," saya tbe oíd Ghronicle, ■
"right well did he defend it. Eut the Infante Don Jolin™
bad with him a young son of Alonso Pérez, and sent and
warned him that be raust eíther surrender that city, or
else be wonld pnt to desith tbis cbild whom he liad with
him. And Don Alonso Pérez answered, that he beld thart
city for the king. and tbat he could not give it up ; bot
that ae for the death of hia child, be would give bim a
dagger wh ere with to slay hitn i and so saying, he cast
down a dagger from the rampart in defiance, and added,
that it would be better he should kill tbis son, and yet,
five otbers if he bad tbem, than that be should hiniself
basely yield up a city of the kiug, bis lord, for which bol
bad done homage. And the Infante Don John, in great
fnry, caufaed tbat child to be pnt to deatb befo re bim
But neither with all tbis could he take tbe city/' ^
Oíber accounta add to tbie atrocious story, tbat, aitef
caating down bis daggerj AIodso Pérez, emothering hia
grief^ sat down to bis noonday meal witb bis wife, and
tbat, bis people on tbe walls of tbe city witnessing tbe
death of the in no cent elnld and bursting fortb into críes
of horror and indignation, be rushed out, bnt, having^
beard what was the cause of the disturbance, retumedí
quietly again to the table, eavin^ onlv. ** I tbona-bt. "
from their outciy, that tbe
into the city.^'^
I-
I
saying only, " I tliougbt,
Moors bad made tbeir waj
M Cr.íuica de I>, Sancho el BrATO, Yáll&-
éollú^ 15&+, fülio, t ía.
91 Q.ulEitaDa, Vidas de BapBiíiotea Oéle-
breáj Tom. I., MadHdf 1807, ISmo, p, 61,
ftod the OMntiwsidliiff posaago in the plaj^
Bfmrtfiíec de la Bou, Id hli ^ Iwlwl ia
Si>Ha,'^ dcsciiblng a real or &n ima^oas
plí^tuire of thü deíiUi, of the yoiiug Gm
ro&u, glvet a toadur turtí to t]i«^ faüier'a
CEifiútict *, but the h%fá *ih\ ftlircitUck íi
mura Hkelj- to tell tlie trutbi ^<1 lliC: pUgT
followA it.
I
go becaw^ ^ ^g an n^^ poínos o^ ^ ^^^
X .« - - r r. -"-"^ '"^ ' ■
312
LUIS YELEX DE GTTE7AKA.
tPKlílOtl IL
Biana of tlie Mountaíns/' for instan oe, ib a poetícnl píe-
otiier piay» ^iiie of the loyaltj» dignitj, atid passionatc: forcé
arQmvitm. of chatacter of the lower clasaes of the Spawish
peopíe, aet forth in the person of a bold and independeat
peasaDt, who mames the beauty of Ms mountain región,
but has the misfortuDe immediately afterwards to find
her puraued bj the Jovo of a man of rank, from whose
desig'rm BÍje i a resciied by the frank and manly appeal uf
ber husband tó Queen Isabolla. the royal inietrees of the
ofícnder.^ *^The Potter of Ocaña/' too» which, üke the
lasti iñ an intrigning drama, is quite within tbe üiniís of
its clsLñS] — and so is '' Empire after Death," a tragedy
ftill of a melancholyi idyl-like Boftneas, wbich well bar-
monízes with the fate of Inez de Castro, on who se ead
fítory it is founded.
Tn G llevara' R religioua dramas we have, as nsual, the
díftturhing element of lo ve adventures^ nnngled with
what ought to be most epiritual and most sepárate froni
the dross of human passíon* Thiis, in hís " Three Bivine
Prodigies," we have the whole hietory of Saint Panl, who
Jet first appears on the stage as a lo ver of Mary Mag-
da! en j and in his *^ Satanes Court" wé have a similar
hiatory of Jonah, who ib announced aa a son of the widow
of Sarepta, and lives at tbe court of Nineveh, during the
reígn of Ninus and Semíramis, in the midst of atrocítíes
wliich it seems impossiblo could have been hinted at
bofore any respectable audience in Christendoin.
Once, indeed, Guevara stepped heyond the wide prív-
ileges granted to the Spanish theati*^ ; but his oflTence
was not againat the rales of the drama, but against the
aíithori ty of the Tnqiti sitien, In *' The LawBuit of the
De vil against the Cúrate of Madrilejos," which he wrote
with Koxas and Mira de Meacaa^ he givos an accouut of
the case of a poor mad girl who waa treated as a witch,
and eiícaped death o ni y by confessing tbat ahe waa fu 11
of deraons, who are driven out of ber on the atage^ before
tbe audience, by conjurations and exorciams, The atory
has every appearance of being founded in fact, arid íb
I
í
íb tibe ñnt pli^ In Ui« " Fbr do las M«J(^rei Dooo
OfiAr. XX]
MONTALTAN.
^omas on account of the strange detaíls ít involves.
lut the whole subject of witchcraft, its cxhihition and
f^Tiuiahíneiit, belonged exelueivclj to tlie Holj Office,
rbe drama of Guevara waa, therefore, forbiddün to be
&prt!Bented or read, and soou diaappeaied quietly from
Eiublic notíce, Sucli cases, however, are rare in the hia^
arj of the Spanísh theatre, at any period of ¡ts exist-
ence.**
The moGi strict, perhape, of the füllowers of Lope de
Vega wae hia biographer and eulogist, Juan Pérez de
ioutalvan. lié waa a sou of the Iduff^e book- ,
^eller at Madrid, aud waa born in 1602.^ At the ú^ Muntai-
ige of fleventeeu he was alreadj a licentiate in
Ihenlogy and a succesaful writer for the public stage^ and
ht eighteen he contended wíth the principal poeta of tha
I at the festival of San Isidro at Madrid, and gained,
Lope^a aaseat^ one of the prizaa that were tbeuo
Ofiered.^ Soon al'ter thia, he took the degree of Doctor
|n Divinity, and, lÜce hia friend and master, joined a fra-
ffniity of priests in Madrid, and received an office in the
Inquisition. In 1626, a princely merchant of Perú, wíth
rhom he was in no way connectedi and who had never
BVéo seen him, eent him^ from the opposite side of the
'^orld, a pensioü aa hía primate chaplain to pray for him
lii Madrid ; all out of adrairatioa for hia genius and writ-
inga.^
In 162T* he pnblished a emaU wort on " The Life and
Purgatory of Saint Patrick ; " a aubject popular in hia
Church, and on which he now wrotej probably^ Hf»Tid»y
to satisfy the demanda of hía ecclosiastical po- Jes&npJí
ai don. But bis n ature breaks forth, as it were, *^'^*^'
in spite of himself, and he has added to the eommon
*• Tfie playa \u»% inentlonpd are fouiia *Stím^ til. p» 157 \ — ñ gooñ. Ilfí* rtf MmiU
■oititffiMl in dtflbreat dolketiuDi, — ^^T^e ñWmi. UalhÍM HiÜi^r taañ% before Lope
e(t^ ñfíá "Tlie t)Hjrll*i Ooiapt" Ln Ihe he w^b Lofie*» confesor.
MKttly^fi^ih niigiue oí (ha C^mjuiJIaB Tom. XX. pp. IQ tmá 41
* ii ü ¡riimphkt withuuí djite. l^írtc-cn
f llie |i1é./í út Oaeram tire lo the colllec-
Obna de Lape^
II. U
^ Lupo do Vi'ir&, Obnii 3Qt;ItAB, Tam,
XI, pp. fiOlf £3T» etü.i AOá Túol XTL p.
^T Ptira Todos, Álcali, lAfil, 4«o, p.
814
MONTALVAÍí.
[Fekiod n,
legende of Baint Patrick a wilcl tale, almoBt wbollj of liis
own iüveiition, and yet bo iriterwoYen with bis principal
Bubject as to Beeni to be a part of it, and even to make
equal claims on the faith of tho reader.^*
Id 1632| lie sajB iie had cotnpoBed ihitty-BJX dramae
and twelvo Bacramental autos ;^ and ín 1636, eoon aflt^r
Lope's death, be published the extravagaiit pancgyrie on
Inin which has been already uotíced. This was probablj
tlie last work he gave to the press ; for, not long after it
appeared, he bócame hopelessly deran^ed, froro the ex-
cess of bis labors, and died on the 25th of June, 1638,
when onlj thirty-iix years oíd. One of bis íriendB showed
the same piouB care for bis memory which he had showa
for that of bis master \ and, gathering together sbort
poemB and other eulogies on him by abo ve a hatidred and
fiftj of the küown and unknown anthors'of his time, pub-
llshcd tbem nnder the title of " Panegyrtcal Tears on the
Death of Doctor Juan Pérez de Montalvan ; ■' — a poor
collcction, in wbich, thongh we meet the ñames of Anto-
nio de Solís, Gaspar de Ávila, Tirso de Molina, Calderón,
and others of note^ we find very few lines wortby eitber
of thcir autboTB or of tbeír subject.^
Miintalvan's Hfe was shorts but it waa brilliant* He
early attacbed him sel f to Lope de Tega with sincere
affection, and continuad to the last the niost devoted oí
bia admirers ; deserving in many ways the title given hira
by Valdivielao^ — ^' tbe firat-born of Lope de Yega^a
genius.'^ Lope, on bis a i de, waa sensible to the homag©
thuB frankly ofíbred him ; and not only assisted and on-
conraged his youtbful foUower, but received hñn almost as
a raember of his bou sebo Id and family, It has even been
said, that the ** Orfeo ^^ — ^a poem on tbe subject of Or-
^ Ir wíínt thirrtígb aerera,l editLaoA as a
book of dovotlDii, — Ihe last [ baire áeen
beÍD|í of 173D5 ISittÉj. See pant^ Chaip.
» Paín Todos, 1663^ p. 629, (prepariítl In
lSS2f^} wher« be speaks uí^a of a p!ct^iresr|im
tiovetii, " Vida de Malhwgíta,** and otlurr
WDrkij os reaáy fííf Uie jífe^i i biit thoy
Jiav^e ne¥ier been priíited, Tho TmrtitK^r i*f
dramatic worká of all IfUirts nttHbuUd I»
hlib ii ábonL aÍTty.
90 '' Lagrimas ¥&stg,iñv^ A ]o^ T&iiiprad&
MuíTTte del Onuí Poeto, etc., J, Ptifcft á9
Moiitftlvftu^*' prtr PíídKJ Grande áe Tgos^
H^l Hdj 1 eso, Al% ñ. 164. Quered o, H ont>
ulVAn^» foe, jíí the only pfuít of note vbcim
T mLfti. FriiDi tíie '■* Dn^clm^ " nf Calderón
in thl» Vííliimo (f. 12^ I ítifí-r Ibiit I^loutaU
van Imd two atUi^ka nf imrs,1:y4idj aud dlod
n
1
OBAr. XX]
MOKTALVAN.
315
pheus and Eurydice^ Tvliict Monta! van published in Au-
güst, 1624, ín rivalship with one under the same ™ ^
Í"'^\c pubÜBhedby Jauregiii in the June preceding-
was in fact the work of Lope himself, who was willing
AS to give hia disciple an advantage over a formidable
mpetitor. But this m probablj only the scandal of the
xt sTicceeding g-eneration. The poera itself, whích filis
oat two huridred and thírty octave stanzas, ilion gh as
easj and spirited as if it were írom'Lope^a hand, bears
the raarks rather of a youtig wrítcr than of an oíd one ;
besides which, the verses prefixed to it by Lope, and
I especially hts extravagant praise of it wben aflerwarda
I gpeaking of his owq drama o a the same subject, render
the eug'gestion that he wrote the work too great art im-
, putation on bis character.*^ But however thig may he,
Montalvan aud Lope were, ae we know from difieren t
pasaages in their works, constantlj together ; and the
faithfui admiration of the disciple waa weü rettirned by
tha kindness and patronage of the masten
Montalvati*3 chief success was oq the stage^ where his
populan ty was eo considerable, that the bookBellers found
it for their intereet to print under his ñame many
play» that were none of his.*^ He himself pre*
pared for ptiblication two complete volumes of his dra-
matic worke, wliich appeared in 1638 and 1639, and were
repríntcd in 1652 ; but besides this, he had earlier inserted
several playB ir» one of his works of fictian, and priüted
many more in other ways, making in all about sixty : the
whoie of which eeem to bave been published, as far as
tbey were pnblished by himself^ during the last se vea
years of his life,^
^ÍMm vn Lengnú, CastellftnA,*' por
'M* Atiti ail*. ííoT., Ton], L p* 767, amí
t^pe dt ^vga^ Cameábm, Tmd. XX. t Ma-
4 1D2S, Ln tltíi PkC&oo to irbkti h^ wji
OJrfoo ef MontulT«n " cotitaloB wliut-
ctta coatiiliute to iCs fteri^eotton-^^.
9* Hlfl 4:£imp1a[cit« are at touil na Lope^i
CaJilerofl'if *aá tre tu be found io Üie
'"AvfiíOB te» til? ñr^t jálame of hit pln^,
Akalá, 1«3S, 4K and In his ^ Fiura f odos,'^
^ The daté af tbo flrst roíame Ib lOSfl
úa the Utle-pu^, but 19^^ «t Ui<a aoá. A.
MS. of one of lún pUyi, " Ia Befllioiiia
HomtKA,'' ín the t>uke of 0«innA% Llbrují
is djited 1^32, wU^n Moptnli>vi af txxxnQ
waa f>Tily CWeiatj ye&rd oíd. Sohsmk, Kimh-
irliSt^, IS^^I, p. 61^ He sajna hlmielf, tn tho
dedicatlon nt " OumpUr con iiü 0bHa'»cU>m**
thiit Lt WUR the ^ecrnid plfcj ÚHLt bo wre»te.
In ü limllÁr ir*j-, hfr |ífíniEi«HiC« hlft ** Ikm-
oella, d? Labor " tiú tM hJ« bíiat.
zu
MONTALVIK.
[Fericd U»
If wo tabe the first volErae of his collectton, whích ie
more likely to have received bis careful revisión thmi the
laat, and examine it, as an illustration of his theones and
Btyle, we shall easity uniíerstand the character af his
drama. Six of the plajs contained in it, or one hulf of
the whole Damber^ are of the elass of capa y es^jmda, and
rely for their intereat on some exhibí tion ofjealonsy, or
sorae intrigue involvin^ the point of honor* They are
generalljt like the one entitled *' Fvilñlment of Duty/'
unpkilfully pnt togother^ thongh never unintcreating"»
and they all contain pasa ages of poetical feeling, injiired
in their eflect by other passages, in which tas te seems to
be set at defiance, — a remark partictilarly applicable to
the play called '' What *a done can't be heiped.'^ Fom
of the remaíning bíx are hiistoncal, One of tbem ís on
the suppreseioTí of the Templara, whích Raynouard, re-
fe rring to Montalvan, toofc as a stibject for one of the few
succeesful French tragedles of the firat half of the nine-
teenth centnry. Another is on Sejanus, not as he ia
represéntod io Tacitua^ but as he appears in the *' General
Chronicle of Spain." And jet another ie on Don Jobn
of Anstria, whích has no dénouemsnty except a eketch of
Don John's b"fe gí\^eii by himself^ and making out abo ve
three htindred linea. A single play of the twelve ís aii
extravagant specimen of the dramas wrííten to satisfy the
requisitiona of the Church, and is founded on the legends
relating to San Pedro de Alcántara."*
The last drama in the volame, and the onlj one that
has enjoyed a permanent popularity and be en acted and
Hi» Amantes P^^^^^^ ever since it first appeared, is tbe one
deTenuíL called ''The Lovers of Teruel." It ie founded
on a tradition, that, early in tbe thirteenth century, in the
city of Teruel, in Aragón ^ — half-way between Saragossa
and Valenciaj — there livod two lovers, whose unión was
preveated by the lady'a family, on the ground tbat the
fortune of the cavalier was not GO considerable as they
ought to claim for her. They, however, gave him a
i
I
M It ah<HiId E^i-hai» l» aádedt tbat an- hisbory of Bainion If ooi the eoíifc&st wÍÚi
(rther religioDS play of MoqtftíTftii, ^ Bl the lion to the imllitig duwn oí the FhlU^
I>ltÍD,{) N^sareDo SanBoii," oobtainlDK the tfne- tcmiile, Li leu Qa^nplve^
Chaf. XX.] MONTALVAN. 317
certain number of years to achieve the positíon thej le-
quired of any one who aspired to her hand. He accepted
tiie offer, and became a soldier. His exploits were
brflliant, but were long unnoticed. Ai last he sncceeded,
and carne home in 1217, with fame and fortune. Bnt he
arrived too late. The lady had been reluctantlj married
to bis rival, the very night he reached Temel. Desperate
with grief and disappointment, he ñ>llowed her to the
bridal chamber and fell dead at her feet. The next day
the lady was found, apparently asleep, on his bier in the
church, when the officiating priests carne to perform the
funeral service. Both had died broken-hearted, and both
were buried in the same grave.*
A considerable excitement in relation to this story
having arísen in the yonth of Montalvan, he seized the
tradition on which it was founded, and wroaght it into
a drama. His lovers are placed in the time of Charles
the Fiñh, in order to connect them with that stirring
period of Spanish history. The first act begins with
several scenes, in which the difficulties and dangers of
their situation are made apparent, and Isabella, the hero-
ine, expresses an attachment which, after some anxiety
and misgiving, becomes a passion so devoted that it
seems of itself to intímate their coming sorrows. Her
ñither, however, when he learns the truth, consents to
their unión ; but on conditíon Ibat, within three years,
the young man shall place himself in a position worthy
the claims of such a bride. Both of the lovers willingly
» I shan haré ooearioa to recnr to thte HoUna, with mloable prefiífcMy discimloDS
sal^iect when I notioe a loog poem pab- of his Ufe and works. There can be no
lished on it by Tagne de Salas, in 1816. doabt, firom a comparison of the ** Amantes
The story used by Montalvan is fDanded oa de Temel ** ot Tino with that ct Montal-
a teadition already employed for the stage, van, printed three years later, that M<Hit»
Itat with an awkwardand somewliat coarse abran was largely indebted to his prede-
plot, and a poor versification, by Andrés eessor ; bnt he has added to his drama
Bey de Artieda, in his ** Amantes,** pab- muoh that is beanUAil, and given to parts
lished in 1581, and by Tirso de Molina, in of it a tone of domestic tendemess that,
his ** Amantes de Teruel,** 1635. These I doubt not, he drew fhmi his own natnre.
two playa, however, had long been for- Aribao, Biblioteca de Autores Españoles,
gotten, when an abstract of the first, and Tom. Y. pp. xxxvii. and 600. The story
the whole of the second, appeared in the of ttie Lovers of Teruel is found also in
flfth volume of Aribau*8 ^Biblioteca** Canto IX. of the poetical Romance of Flo-
(Madrid, 1848) ; a volóme which contains rando de Castilla, 1588, by Hieronymo de
thhrty-six well-selected pli^s of Tirso de Huerta. Bee po9l, Ohap. XXYIL, note.
iu
MONtALVA¥.
[Pkkioo 1L
Bubmitj and the act ends witli hopes for their happi-
Nearly the wholtí of the límited period elapsee before
wc begiü the second act, where we find the hero just
landingia AJVica for the well-kiiown aasault oti the Goleta
at Tunis. He has achieved muchj hut remains uimoticed
and alinost hrokeD-hearted 'writh long: discouragement
At this moment, he aaves the Emperor'e life ; but the
uext* he is forgotteu again m the rushing erowd. Stil!
he perfieveres, sternlj and heroically ; and, led on hj a
p as don stronger than death, is the fi ret to raonut the
walls of Tunis and enter the citj. This time, his inerife
is recogíiized- Even his forgotten achievements are
recollected ; and he receives at once the accumulated
reward of all his cervices and sacriíicea,
But when the last act opons, we see that he ia destined
to a fatal disappointraeiit. Isabella, who has been artr
fully persuaded of his death, ís preparing, with sinister
forehfjdirjgs, to fiiltil her promifie to her fathcr and niarrj
ano the r. The ceremonj takes place, — the guests are
about to depart, — and her lover stands before her. A
hcart-rendiiíg explanation enaues, and slie le aves him, as
she thinks, for the last time. But he foUows her to her
apartment : and irj the agonj of his grief falla dead, while
he yet expostulates and struggles with himaelf no lesa
than with her. A moment afterwarda her husband en-
tere. She explains to him the scene he witnesses, and,
onable any longer to snatain the cruel conflict, faints and
dies broken-hearted ou the body of her lover.
Like iiearly all the other pie ees of the same classi there
is niuch in the " Lovcts of Teruel '' to offend iis. The
inevitable part of the comic servant is peculiarly unwel-
come ; and so are the long epeeches, and the occasiour
ally inflated style. But notwithstanding its blemíshcs,
we feel that it is written in the true spint of trago dy.
As the story wae believed to be authentic when it waa
firet acted, it produced tlie deeper eíTect ; and whethcr
true or not, heing a tale of the simple sorrows of two
young and lovíng hearts, whose dark fatc is the result
of no crime o ti their part, it can never be read or acted
Chap. XX.] MONTALVAN. 319
without exciting a sincere interest. Parts of it have a
more familiar and domestic character than we are accus-
tomed to find on the Spanish stage, particularly the
Bcene where Isabella sits with her women at her weari-
Bome embróidery, during her lover's absence ; the scene
of her discouragement and misgiving just before her
marriage ; and portions of the scene of horror with which
the drama closes.
The two lovers are drawn with no little skill. Our
interest in them never falters ; and their characters are
so set forth and developed, that the dreadful catastrophe
is no surprise. It comes rather like the foreseen and
irresistible fate of the oíd Greek tragedy, whose dark
shadow is cast over the' whole action from its opening.
When Montalvan took historical subjects, he endeav-
ored, oftener than his contemporaries, to observe his-
torical truth. In two dramas on the life of Don Carlos,
he has introduced that prince substantially in the colors
he must at last wear, as an ungoverned madman, danger-
ons to his family and to the state ; and if, in obedience to
the persuasions of his time, the poet has represented
Philip the Second as more noble and generous than we
can regard him to have been, he has not failed to seize
and exhibit in a striking manner the severo wariness and
wisdom that were such prominent attributes in that
monarch's character.** Don John of Austria, too, and
Henry the Pourth of Franco, are happily depicted and
fairly sustained in the plays in which they respectively
appear as leading personages.*'^
M " El Principe Don Carlos " is the first materials to Montalvan, who was not prone
play in the twenty-eighth volóme of the to wander fár for them. See Libro Y. c. 5 ;
Comedias Escogidas, 1667, and gives an Vil. 22 ; and YIII. 5. The worlc of Ca-
accoant of the miracolous cure of the brera is not very well written, tbough ün-
Prlnce firom an attack of insanity ; the portant to the history of the time, becaose
other, entitled " £1 Segando Séneca de he had access to excellent sources of infor-
£spai>," is the first play in his "■ Para mation. He ll^ed till 1655, but, though he
Todos," and ends with the marriage of the is said to have completed his history, and
king to Anne of Austria, and the appoint- even to have once sent the remainder to
ment of Don John as generalissimo of the press, no more than the First Part, coming
League. The representation of charac- down to 1583, has ever been published.
ters and incidents in these plays is sub- Banke's judgment of Cabrera in a remark-
stantially the same that is found "ín Luis able paper on D. Carlos (Jahrb. der Lit
Cabrera de Cordoba's very courtly " Felipe Wien, XLVI. 1829) is very wise and just.
Segando, ^y de ^spaña," which, as it was ^ Don John is in the play that bears his
published in 1619, probably furnished bis ñame. Henry lY. is in "El Marescal de
320
MOXTÁLVAÑ.
(Tehioií IL
WaXuUm,
Montalvan'a üuhSt of which only two or three remak
to ti8, are not to be spoken of in the same manner. llis
*' Polyp hemos/ ^ for iiistance^ in which tlie Sav-
luur aiid a Chriatiau Churcb are intrc*»lnceíl on
oae side of the stage, wbüe the principal Cjclops him&elf
cornos in as an allcgorical represeatation of Judaism on
the otber, m as wild and extravagaiit as anything in the
Bpanish drama. A sinailar remarle may bo raado on the
" Escanderbech/^ fauoded on the history of the balf-bar-
barouK, hall-chivalrouB Iskander Beg, and bis con\*ersioa
to übristianity in the middie of the fifteenth century.
We find it, in fact, düficult, at the present day, to
believe that piecea like the first of these, in wbicb
PolyphemuB plajs on a gaitar, and an island in the
earliest ag^s of Greek traditiün BÍnke ioto tbe sea amidst
a diacharge of Bqnibs and rockets, can havo been repre-
ientcd anywhere.**
Bnt Mental van followed Lope in everything, and, líke
the rest of the dramatic writera of hia age, was safe from
PríncSpiB of ^^^^ censure as he wonld now receive, bccauee
tisflniíBi*, ¿(I wrote to satifífy the deraands of the popular
audiences of Madrid.^ He made the novela, or tale, the
chief basis of in teros t for bis drama^ and relied maiiily on
the paesion of joalouay to give it life and movement***
Bowing to the authority of the court, he avoided. we are
toldi ropreaenting rebeUion on the stage, lest íie sbould
eeem to enconragn^ it ; aiid was eveo unwillíug to intro-
duce men of rank in degrading situatlons, for fear dis-
loyalty should be implied or imputed* He would gladly,
it is added, Lave restramed hii action to twenty-four
BtroT^*^ of wlilch I ha¥e a stpamto copy
prlnbeil ta ISmit, Ht BarcctoiUi| iti lOSS, pre-
ceded hj tM ^ nistorib Tra^rica ele la Ylila
del Dqqiig de Bircm,'^ hy Jüiid Pablo Mar-
tjT Bí^frDj^DD whicb Uia plfty wa» to a
coiiÉiderable degree füundeit^ aUhtmpfh the
üxÍTiLVu^Dt oharacter of Bonn Blajic^ bas
no warr^iDt In hisEnrj. Tt^e itfc b/ lUtn ts
BQ Intert'Étinft plece of caDtemparaiy biog-^
rüphjf pablished oripnally In IG^^ peyea
years afteí thü Marahal was executedr
afi BoLli of thvfia. at^ in the fifth da^^g
«DtertaLamenta af his " Para Todoé-^'
o» BnUm to ^'Fara Todos."
*í The at&ry of '* Kl Zeloao Estrcmerio **
U aUüreil fruin ütB-t of the «amo laAme bjr
CerYanteaj but i& Imlehted to it larmelj,
and takfd Uie íiint^n^R ciif sevcfal of its per-
soQag^». At tliL^ eud of the p\Ay^ ét<it!tT«d
**^ De uti Cafltlgff doa Venf^EuiKaa,*^ a V^^T
f\ill of honrorSf Mootjdvan dedbinsí the p^Iút
to be,
niitoflft tan Terdudflm,
Qno ito hü eljiciuapta. vemaxam^
MaP7 of hiá plEiys ara founflvd Hfü esdU
icLtereatlug but ikmlltar tfilt».
I
I
ipg
CaiAP* XX]
MONTALVAN.
m
liours, iind limitüd ©ach üf the three divÍBions of hís Ml-
lengtb dmmss to tbree huudred Hries, never leaviog the
fstítge emptj iii eitber of them. But such rules wero not
preécribed to hím by the popular will, and he wrote too
freely aad too fast to be more anxious aboiit observing
lu& avvu theones than bis maater was.*^
HÍ9 ** Most Couíítant Wife/' one of his plays which is
particularly plea&ing, from the firm^ yet tender, character
of the heroine, was written, he tella us, in four yañom
weekSi prepared by the actora in eíght days, and ^^^**
re presen te d again and again, un til the great religionfl
festival of tbe spríng closed the theatree/^ His " Double
Vengeance/' with all its horrorSj was acted twenty-one
dajs s ucees sí vely.^ His *' No Life like Honor" — one
of his moro aober efforts — appeared many times on both
the principal theatres of Madrid at tbe same moment ; —
a distinotkín to which, it is said, no other play had then
arnvcd in Spain^ and ín which none s necee de d it till long
afterwards." And, in general, during the period when
híé dramas were produced, which was tbe oíd age of
Lope de Tega, no aiithor was heard on the stage with
more pleasure than Montalvan, except bis great master.
He bad, indeed, his triáis and troubles, as all have
wboso succcss depends on popular favor. Quevedo^ tbe
mo8t unsparing satiriet of bis time, attacked the
lesB fortúnate parte of one of his works of fie-
tiun with a spirit and bitterness all his own \ and, on
,another occasíon, when one of Montalvan's playa bad
been hisaed, wrote him a letter which profeased to be
coiiBolatory, but which is really as little eo as can well be
imagined,** But, notwithstauding such occaaional día-
41 V^nUxT de T«ÜmT, In tbs " LigriniM,"
«tc,f til MupTQj gtr^s thli aocoúnl of kU
14a- 1 £2. H« sajB Üiat MonLiiltJu^ la the
more ffTB'Vft jíAría of biía plAj^s, eBi[iloyeil «fr*
U|edi}iii;iorieji)Uacl gifvfin ¡¡ in thii tiind^^T
, dieijma, giosat^ b,Qd other «ImiMr
; utd ffífRoHee^ tavéryífhñre \ but
tíiit iKt «valded dac^iei and blank veTse^
ai anh«e«olaí iint! hard. All thít^ how-
^ Arte Miuffüp*' a nttle ampliBed,
14*
« Para Todoi, 1001, p. &08.
*a md., p. i&a.
4* ü* PííHiuer, OrlBUfn, Tom, L p. 202.
1^ Queredo, ObruB, Tom. Kf., IIH, pp,
1%% 16^4 An indigmiTit Ruswcr was mB4e
t/ü Qiic^r«dfi^ Id iha *^ Tríbunjii de la Justa
Verif^aniiii/' alruEidi J" notícüd. The l«tter at^
trlbuted b«re to Qudvedo li pFltttad Lu the
Bqp niü^D de Núche (10^ f. SO) u Lf K
weTB the «[trk of Sidaí B&rbBdnb f \m% It
mott be QtiGiredo^ft. Tho fi^ud wa« aü oíd
aae* Montalyaii^á t».í^i^ wbo, ad Wft IWV9
U
i
322 MONTALVAN. [Period IL
couragements, his course was, on the wbole, fortúnate,
and he is still to be remembered among the ornamenta
of the oíd national drs^ma of his countrj.
noticed, was a bookseUer in Madrid, re- had appeared at Saragoesa in 1828, and
printed there, without Qaeyedo*8 permis- Quevedo was yeiy angry ábout it.
•ion, his ** PoUtica de Dios," as soon as it
CHAPTER XXI.
DRAMA, CONTINUED. — TIB80 DB MOUXA. MIBA DB HESCÜA.
YALDIYIBL80. — ANTONIO DB KBNDOZA. — KUIZ DB ALABCON.
LUIS DB BBLMONTB, AND OTHBB8. BL DIABU> PREDICADOS. —
0PP08ITI0N OF LBARNBD MBN AND OW THB CHURCH TO TBB
POPULAR DRAMA. — A LONO STRUGOLB. — TRICMPH OF THB
DB
Another of the persona who, at this time, songht pop-
ular favor on the public stage was Gabriel Tellez, an
ecclesiastic of rank, better known as Tirso de oabrw
Molina, — the ñame under which he slightly '^"**'
disguised himself when publishing works of a secular
character. Of his life we know little, except that he was
born in Madrid ; that he was edacated at Alcalá ; that he
entered the Church as early as 1613 ; and that he died in
the conveilt of Soria, of which he was the head, probably
in Pebruary, 1648 ; — some accounts representing him to
have been sixty years oíd at the time of his death, and
some eighty.*
In other respecta we know more of him. As a wríter
for the theatre, we have five volumes of his dramas, pub-
lished between 1616 and 1636 ; besides which, a ^u
considerable number of his plays can be foiyid drama*,
scattered through his other wprks, or printed each by
itself. His talent seems to have been decidedly dramatic
and .satirical ; but the moral tone of his plots is lower
than common, and many of his plays contain passages
whose indecency has caused them to be so hunted down
by the confessional and the Inquisition, that copies of
them are among the rarest of Spanish books.* Not a
1 neleytar Aprovechando, Madrid, 1765, > Of ihese five volumes, containing flf^-
2 tom., 4to, Prólogo. Alvares y Baena, nine plays, and a number of entremeses
H^os de Madrid, Tom. n. p< 267. and bailada, whose tilles are given in
S24
TIHSO DI 3/lOLmiL
[PíEibü It
few of the lees ofícnsive, howe^er^ have maintained their
place OH the stage, and are still familiar, as popular
ta vori tes,
Of these, the best known out of Spain is '* El Barlador
de Sevilla/' or The TSeville Deceiver, ^ the earliest día-
nis Uiifiíwior ^^^^^ exhibition of that Don Juan who is dow
déSeiruiá. geen on eveiy stage in Europe. and known to
the lowesÉ claases of (rermany, Italy, and Spain, in
puppet-shows and street-ballads, Tho first rudiment»
for thie character — whichi it is saíd, maj be traced Ms-
torically to the great Tenorio family of Seif^íUe — had,
indeed, been brought upon the stage bj Lope de Vega^
in the second and third acts of " Money makea the
Man ; '' where the hero shows a eimilar firmness and wít
amidst the most awful vísitations of the unscen worid,*
Bnt in the character as sketched bj Lope there ia nothing
revülticig. Tirso, therefore, is the first who showed it
with all ita original undannted courage nnited to an úü-
mingled depravitj that aaks onlj for selfish gratíficationi,
and a co!d^ relentless hnraor that continnes to jcst when
Bnrrounded by the terrora of a snpernatnral retributíon,
Thie conception of the character is picturcsquei not*
withstanding the moral atrocitiea it involvess It waS|
ther^fore, soon carried to Naplea, and from ííaples to
Paria, where the Itaüan actors took possesaion of it.
The piece tbtis produce dj whií;h was little more than an
Italian tranfilation of Tirso ^s, had great success in 1656
on the boarda of that companj, then very fashionable at
the Frene h conrt. Two or three Frene h transí a tions foK
iowed, and in 1666 Moliere bronght out bis *' Festin de
Aritmu^a BltjllíttecaT (Madria^ 1S4S^ Ttmi.
V, p. xTPTVl.i) I bnvfi sibiiSi & cotniítcte set
Diily Ln thé Imperial Litrcuy at Vli^niia,
mod t&vv bt;en able with dílficiilty to coU
lect betwüen thirty and totty tieparale
jílajfl^^ Thelf anthor ¿a^B^ howeTiT, |n the
FrtbK %!í Hlfl "Cipumtki do Toled*^"
(ICSit) that hQ Itad written thno huodrad ^
aiid I believe abnut clgTity híi?fl beeti
prlntad. There \^ Mk ititograpta p\&j of
hia Id the Duke of Ossuna^s MbTKry^ ctaNid
Toledo, 30 Mfty^ 1013, aud hfs " No peor
Sordo ^^ Is l)«lii;T6d to h^ye been irrlíteQ ln
I
a ThE^re are Boin€ detalla Ib Íílíé port of
Lope'*» play, bdcIi aa the m^ntÍDii of ■.
walking stone BtELttíC^ which l&ave no deobi
tn my Eníod that Tlr«o de Molina need IL
IiGpe^A p\a^ Iti [q the tven^-fciiirth vnlán»
of hiA Comedíai (Zar^goea, lOSS) } bat Ü it
DPe «f hli dram-BS that havtf cúatinucd
to t>e repriuUsd acid read. Tbi^jfe ia an
exí^G^IIeut traualKClDü of Tínao^a *■'' BurJadínr
de Sevilla ^^ lu the meoaurca of Uie (Frfgtnal,
hy O. A. Ikíhrjii ln hf» ■^Spaulsohe nm^
meo/^ Batid I-^ l^l^ and an^ítlier by
Brauuf'iflEí^ tu hia ^*^ Urümif^u oach dem Bpnp
niídheoj'^ Frtnltfort, i&5flj Tom. I-
Obap. XXI.] TIBSO DE MOLINA. 325
f
Fierre," in which, taking not only the incidents of Tirso,
but often his dialogue, he made the real Spanish fíction
known to Europe as it had not been known before.^
From this time, the strange and wfld character conceiTed
bj the Spanish poet has gone throngh the worid nnder
tiie ñame of Don Juan, foUowed by a relnctant and shnd-
dering interest, tiíat at once marks what is most peculiar
in its conception, and confounds all theoríes of dramatic
interest. Zamora, a writer of the next halfcenturj in
Spain, Thomas Comeille in France, and Lord Bjron in
England, are the prominent poets to whom it is most
indebted for its ñune ; though perhaps the genins of
Mozart has done more than iuqj or all of them to recon-
cile the refíned and elegant to its dark and disg^stíng
horrors.*
At home, "The Deceiver of Seville" has never been
the most favored of Tirso de Molina's works. That di»-
tinction belongs to "Don Gil in the Green Pan- hísDod
taloons," perhaps the most strongly marked of 21^^
the successful intrig^ing comedies in the lan- verde*.
guage. Doña Juana, its heroine, a ladj of Yalladolid,
who has been shamefully deserted by her lover, follows
him to Madrid, whither he had gone to arrange for him-
self a more ambitious match. In Madrid, during the
fortnight the action lasts, she appears sometimes as a
lady named Elvira, and sometimes as a cavalier named
Don Gil ; but never once, till the last moment, in her
own proper person. In these two assumed characters,
she confounds all the plans and plots of her faithless
lover ; makes his new mistress fall in leve with her ;
* For the way in which this trúij Span- often been acted on tbe American stage.
Ish fictíon was sptead throac^ Italy to Shadwell's own play is too groas to be
France, and then, by means of Moliere, tolerated anywhere now-«rday8, and be-
thronghout the rest of Eorope, see Par- sides has no literary merit
fkits, ** Histoire da Théatre Franjáis *' * That the popolarity of ttie mere fiction
(París, 12mo, Tom. Vlll., 1740, p. 2ft5 j of Don Juan has been preserved in Spain
Tom. IX., 1740, pp. 8 and 843 ; and Tom. maj be seen fnun the many reoent yer-
X., 1747, p. 420) ; and OaiUtaya, ^ Art de sions of it } and especially flrom the two
la Comedie »» (Parts, 1786, 8vo, Tom. n. plays of " Don Juan Tenorio " by Zorrilla,
p. 175). Shadwell*8 " Libertine *> (1670) is (1844,) and his two poems, " El Desafio del
sobstantíally the same story, with added Diablo,** and ** Un Testigo de Bronee,"
atrocities ; and, if I miatake not, is the (1846,XhardIy less dramatic than the plays
foundation of the short drama which has that had preceded them.
326 TIRSO DE MOLINA. [Pebiod IL
writcs letters to herself, as a cavalier, from herself as a
lady ; and passes herself off, sometimes for her own lover,
and sometimes for other personages merely imaginary.
Her family at Yalladolid, meantime, are made to believe
she is dead ; and two cavaliers appearing ín Madrid, the
one from design and the other by accident, in a green
dress like the one she wears, all three are taken to be one
and the same individual, and the confusión becomes so
unintelligible, that her alarmed lover and her own man-
servant — the last of whom had never seen her but in
masculino attire at Madrid — are persuaded it ís soma
spirit come araong them in the fated green costume, to
work out a diré revengo for the wrongs it had suffered in
the flesh. At this moment, when the uproar and alarm
are at their height, the relations of the partios are de-
tected, and three matches are made instead of the one
that had been broken oflF; — the servant, who had been
most frightened, coming in at the instant everything is
settled, with his hat stuck fuU of tapers and his clothes
covered with pictures of saints, and crying out, as he
scatters holy water in everybody's face :
Who prays, who prays for my master's poor soul, —
His soul now suffering purgatory's pains
Within those selfeame pantaloons of green ? •
And when his mistress turns suddenly round and asks
him if he is mad, the servant, terror-struck at seeing a
lady, instead of a cavalier, with the countenance and
voice he at once recognizes, exclaims in horror :
I do conjure thee by the wounds — of all
Who suffer in the hospitales worst ward, —
*. Abrenuntio ! — Gret thee behind me 1
Juana. Fool ! Don't you see that I am your Don Gil,
Alive ín body, and in mind most sound ? —
That I am talking here with all these fríends,
And none is frightened but your foolish self ?
Servant. Well, then, what are you, Sir, — a man or woman ?
Just tcU me that.
Juana. A woman, to be sure.
Servant. No more ! enough ! That word explains the whole ; —
Ay, and if thirty worlds were going mad,
It would be reason good for all the uproar.
Ch4p. XXI.] TIRSO DE MOLINA. 32?
The chief characteristic of this play is its extremely
ingenions and involved plot. Few foreigners, perhaps
not one, ever comprehended all its intrigue on first read-
ing it, or on first seeing it acted. Yet it has always been
one of the most popular plays on the Spanish stage ; and
the commonest and most ignorant in the audiences of the
great cities of Spain do not fínd its mgenuities and in-
volutions otherwise than diverting.
Quite different from either of the preceding dramas, and
in Bome respects better than either, is Tirso 's " Bashful
Man at Court," — a play often acted, on its first ^^ ^^^
appearance, in Italy, as well as in Spain, and one gonzoso en
in which, as its author tells us, a prince of Cas-
tile once performed the part of the hero. It is not prop-
erly historical, though partly founded on the story of
Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, who, in 1449, after having been
regent of Portugal, was finally despoiled of his power
and defeated in an open rebellion.® Tirso supposes him
to have retired to the mountains, and there, disguised as
a shepherd, to have educated a son in complete ignorance
of his rank. This son, under the ñame of Míreno, is the
hero of the piece. Finding himself possessed of nobler
sentiments and higher intelligence than those of the rus-
tios among whom he lives, he half suspects that he is of
noble origin ; and, escaping from his solitude, appears at
court, determined to try his fortune. Accident helps
him. He enters the service of the royal favorito, and
wins the love of his daughter, who is as free and bold,
from an excessive knowledge of the world, as her lover
is humble and gentle in his ignorance of it. There his
rarik is discovered, and the- play ends happily.
A story like this, even with the usual accompaniment
of an underplot, is too slight and simple to produce much
eflect. But the character of the principal personage, and
its gradual development, rendered it long a favorito on
the Spanish stage. Ñor was this preference unreason-
a*ble. His noble pride, struggling against the humble
circumstances in which he finds himself placed ; the sus-
• Crónica de D. Juan el Segando, ad ann.
328
TIBSO Bl MOLIKA.
[P*iriou E ^
pifian h(í hardly dares to indiilg'e, tliat liis real rank íb
equal to liis aspirations, — a suspidon which jei goTeniB
hÍ8 life ; and the modesty which tempers the most am-
bitious of his thoaghts, forra^ whcn íaken tog-ether» oae
of the most loftj and beautifiil ideáis oí the oÍd Castiüau
character.^
So me of Tirso 's secular dramas deal chiefly in recent
events and well^settled history, like his tnlogy on %\m
achievenients of the Pizarros in the New Worldj and
their love-ad ven tures at home. Others are founded on
facte, but with a larger admixture of fíction, like the ont
on the eleetion and pontificate of Sixtxis Quintns, Bot
bis religíous dramas and aulas are as extravag;ant m
those of the other poeta of his timej and could hardlj
be more so.
His mode of treating bis subjects seems to be caprí-
cious, Sometímes he begins bis draruas with great oat-
Hu dmf- uralness and life, as in one that openg with tljo
««^^ accidenta of a bull-fight|^ and in aíiother, witíi
the confusión conaequent on the upaettiDg of a coach;'
while, at other times, he seems not to care how tedious
he isj and once breaks ground in the fírst act with a
Bpeech abo ve four hundred Unes long,^ Perhaps thtó
most characteristic of bis openin^s is in his *'Love for
BeasouB of State/' where we bave, at the outset, a se ene
befo re a ladjr^e balcón y, a rope-ladderi aiid a duelí all fnll
of Castilian spirít, His more obvious defccts are the too
great similaríty of his characters and incidenta ; the toa
frequent introduction of diaguiaed ladies to holp on the
intrigue ; and the needless and shamelesa iudelieacy of
some of his stories, — a fanH rende red more remarkable
by the circnmatance, that he himself wai au ecclesiaetic
of rank, and honored in Madrid as a pnblic preacher* Hia
more nniform merits are an inveutíon which Bcema never
to tire or to become exhausted ; a most happy powor oí
gay narration ; an extraordinary command of his native
f The ** Terj^oazofio en Pníojcio** wu pam pAlncto^"^ — " At caort fnlruthihb«ih
ptinted ag e&Tljr ba 1034} in the ** Ctgv- tul youüi can ñná dü pliui« at M.**
raleí de Tokda^" (M^rid, 1624^ 4tQ, p. « ^^ Ui Lea!Uid orjritm \^ Envidia."
1<M)^) EkDd took ita niLZD^, I nuppciSti, &om a * *^ Vot él Sctaoo y úl tuTnoJ^
i
Chaf. XXI.] MIBA DE MESCUA. $29
Castilian ; and a ricb and flowing versifícation in all the
many varieties of metre demanded by the audiencqp of
the capital, who were become more nice and exactiug in
thi8, perhaps, than in any other single accessory of the
drama.
But however various and caprícious were the forms
of Tirso's drama, he was, in substance, always a follower
of Lope de Vega, and one who succeeded in vindicating
for himself a place very near his great master. That he
was of the school of Lope, he himself distinctly an-
nounces, boasting of it, and entering, at the same time,
into an ingenious and elabórate defence of its principies
and practice, as opposed to those of the classical school ;
a defence which, it is worthy of notice, was published
twelve years before the appearance of Corneille's " Cid,"
and which, therefore, to a considerable extent, anticipated
in Madrid the remarkable controversy about the unities
occasioned by that tragedy in París after 1636," and sub-
seqnently made the foundation of the dramatic schools
of Comeille, Racine, and Voltaire.
Contemporary with these events and díscussíons lived
Antonio Mira de Mescua, well known frora 1602 to 1635
as a writer for the stage, and much praised by ^ira de
Cervantes and Lope de Vega. He was a nativo Mescua.
of Guadix in the kingdom of Granada, and in his youth
became archdeacon of its cathedral ;. but in 1610 he was
at Naples, attached to the poetical court of the Count de
Lemos, and in 1620 he gained a prize in Madrid, where he
died in 1635 while in the office of chaplain to Philip the
u Cigarrales de Toledo, 1624, pp. 183 - poeta, and I should hardly mentíon the
188. In 1631, there vas published at present volume, if it veré not that one of
Hilan a small volóme in l¿no, entitled, its plays, — "ElLusero Eclipsado,*' — on
** Favores de las Musas hechas a D. Se- the sutiject of John the Baptist, — is di-
bastian Francisco de Medrano en varias vided into five acts, has a chorus, and is
Rimas y Poesías que compuso en la mas confined in its action within the limits of
celebre Academia de Hadrid, donde fué twenty-four hours } — " para que se vea,"
Presidente meritissimo." It was edited by says the editor, " que ay «n España quien
Alonso de Castillo Solorsano, the vell- lo sabe hacer con todo iÑimor." This vas
knovn vriter of tales, and contains a little five years before the date of Gomeille's
bad lyrical poetry, and three plays not Cid. The volume in qucstion vas to have
much better. The author, I suppose, is been foUoved by others, but none appeared,
not the same vith Francisco de Medrano, though its author did not die tul 1653.
to be noticed hereafter among the lyrical
330 UIRA DE MESCUA. [Pebiod IL
Pourth. He wrote secular plays, aiUos, and IjñcaX po-
etrjt; but bis works were never collected and are now
found with difflculty, tbougb not a few of bis ligbter com-
positions are in nearly all tbe respectable selections of
the national poetry from Jiis own time to tbe present,
His manner was very unequal.
He, like Tirso de Molina, was an ecclesiastíc of rank,
but did not escape tbe troubles common to writers for
tbe stage. One of bis dramas, " Tbe ünfortunate R*-
cbel," founded on tbe fable wbicb represen ts Alfonso the
Eightb as baving nearly sacrificed bis crown to bis pas-
sion for a Jewess of Toledo, was mucb altered, by aa-
thority, before it could be acted, tbougb Lope de Vega
bad been permitted to treat tbe same subject at large in
the same way, in tbe nineteentb book of bis " Jerusalem
Conquered." Mira de Mescua, too, was concerned in
tbe drama of " Tbe Cúrate of Madrilejos," wbicb, as we
bave seen, was forbidden to be read or acted even after
it bad been printed. Still, tbere is no reason to suppose
be did not enjoy the consideration usually granted to
successful writers for the tbeatre. At least, we know he
was mucb imitated. His " Slave of tbe De vil " was not
only remodelled and reproduced by Moreto in " Fall to
rise again," but was freely used by Calderón in two of
bis best-known dramas. His " Gallant botb Brave and
True " was employed by Alarcon in " Tbe Trial of Hus-
bands." And his " Palace in Confusión'' is tbe ground-
work of Corneille's " Don Sancho of Aragón." "
12 The notices of Mira de Mescua, or shorter poems, they can be fbond only
Amescua, as he is sometimes called, are sepárate, or in collecüons made for other
Bcattered like his works. He is mentioned porposes. See, also, in relation to Mira de
in Roxas, "Yiage" (1602); and I have Mescua, Montalvan/^ Para Todos," the Cat>
his '^ Desgraciada Raquel," both in a alogue at the end ; and Pellicer, Biblioteca,
printed copy, where it is attributed to Día- Tom. I. p. 89. The story on which the
mante, and in an autograph MS., where it " Raquel " is founded is a fictlon, and
is sadly cut up to suit the ecclesiastical therefore need not so mucb have disturbed
censors, whose permission to represent it is the censors of the theatre. (Castro, Gróni-
dated April lOth, 1635. Guevara indicates ca de Sancho el Deseado, Alonso el Octavo,
his birthplace and ecclesiastical oflSce in etc., Madrid, 1665, folio, pp. 90, etc.) Two
the " Diablo Cojuelo," Tranco VI. Anto- autos by Mira de Mescua are to be found
nio (Bib. Nov., ad verb.) gives him ex- in " Navidad y Corpus Christi Festejados,"
travagant praise, and says that his dramas Madrid, 1664, 4to, and a few of his mlsoel-
were collected and published together. laneous poems in Ribadeneyra's Biblio*
But this, I believe, is a mistake. Like his teca, Tom. XLIL, 1857.
Chap. XXI.] * VALDIVIELSO. 331
Joseph de Valdivielso, another ecclesiastic of high con-
dition^ was also a writer for the stage at the same time.
He was connected with the great cathedral of jogephde
Toledo and with its princely primate, the Cardi- vaidivieiso.
nal Infante, but he lived iu Madrid, where he was a mem-
ber of the same religious congregation with Cervantes
and Lope, and where he was intimately associated with
the principal men of letters of his time. He flourished
from about 160T to about 1633, and can be traced, during
the whole of that period, by his certificates of approba-
tion and by commendatory verses which were prefixed to
the works of his friends as they successively appeared.
His own publications are almost entirely religious ; —
those for the stage consisting of a single volume printed
in 1622, and containing twelve autos and two religious
plays.
The twelve autos seem, from internal evidence, to have
been written for the city of Toledo, and certainly to have
been pérformed there, as well as in other cities
of Spain. He selected them from a lar ge num-
ber, and they undoubtedly enjoyed, during his lifetime,
a wide popularity. Some, perhaps, deserved it. "The
Prodigal Son,'' long a tempting subject wherever re-
ligious dramas were known, was treated with more than
usual skill. " Psyche and Cupid," too, is better managed
for Christian purposes than that mystical fancy commonly
was by the poets of the Spanish theatre. And " The
Tree of Life " is a well-sustained allegory, in which the
oíd theological contest between Divine Justice and Divine
Mercy is carried through in the oíd theological spirit,
beginning with scenes in Paradise and ending with the
appearance of the Saviour. But, in general, the aut<)s
of Valdivielso are not better than those of his contem-
poraries.
His two plays are not so good. " The Birth of the
Best," as the Madonna is offcen technically- called, and
" The Guardian Ángel," which is, again, an alle-
gory, not unlike that of " The Tree of Life," are ** *^**
both of them crude and wild compositions, even within
the broad limits permitted to the religious drama. One
aa2
ANTONIO Díí MENDOZA.
[PKJllOt» H.
reaion of thelr Buccees may perhapa be fornid iu tlie
factj thtnt they have more of thc tone of the eUIer pút*try^
thau almost any of the sacred plajs of the time: —
rcmark that muy be extetided to the autos of Yaldiviolsoj
in one of which there Í3 a spirited parodj of the well-
known bailad on\he challenge uf Zamora after the mtirder
of Saíicliti the Bravé. But tho aocial position of thcnf
aiitlMir^ and, perhaps^ his qutbblos and qiiaintnefíBeg,
which bumored the bad taate of his age, must be Ukm
inío consideratiüo before we can accoant for the ei;ten-
BÍve popularity he nndonbtedly enjoyed.'^
Aüother aort of favor fell to the share of Antonio de
Mondozai who wrote much for the coiirt betweeti lí]23
Antonio flft *^^ 1643, and died iy 1C44. Hia Works— be-
ja^dítm. sides a number of ballads and short poeras ad-
dressed to the Duke of Lerma and other principal persons
of the king'dom — -contain a Life of Onr Ladj, in nearly
eight h and red redondillas ^ í^nd uve plays, to which se v eral
more may be added from different miscellancous calltín-
tíonB. The poema are of little valué ; the plays are
bctter. '^ He Deaerves Most who Lo ves Most '' may have
contributed material a to Moreto*a *^ Disdain met witli
Disdain/' and is ccrtainly a pleaaant drama, with natuml
eitiiations and an easy dialog^ue. '* Society cbang-es Mal^|
ners " 19 another real comedy with much Hfe and gayety
And '' Lo ve for Love's Sake," which haa been called
suthor'a happiest efíbrt, but which abounds m instancesi
of bad taste, enjoyed the diatinction of being aeted before
tbe court by tho queon^s maids of honor, who took all]
the parta, — thoee of the cavaliera, aa woll aa thoae 01
the w ornen,"
i
U Xu^mlf*^ Bill, Nftva^ Tmi. T. p-831.
ÍI{s flramíitEc Wi>rks whkh I ptiamm are
** Doce Autoft Stucramoutalee y liafl Came-^
dluB DivItiBífi,*' pof tíl llaeetm .Taaeph de
Valdívtelan, Toledc», 16^) Íto, IS^ leaves.
CompAf» the nUl ti«l1»dt " Va cabalga
DLegn Onluíi'íMS^^^ wllLcli eaii be trac^ed to
ttue Romnnci^rrj ní l&ñú~15bh, with the
" CriVtiicii, del Clil," ú. fifl, &nil tbe " Ciiu-
tWm Librea,*^ t 25- a of üiu Di ico Aütnín.
It wíll 9haw hoír tíie oíd b&U^l» raut^n
ítkB «are of ni] owd, kei4 jMmetratud every-
wherfi ÍDto Bpanifll] pfKStr^H,
nncimii^nío of Taldlvlolio in tbe "ITatl
dad Y Corpus Chrltitl," m^ntlon^l id tbi
precedlnj^. oütñ \ but ít li ViiTy «lii^ht oM
ponr, MoEíalVAti, Mr ha Im H good uiitboñtjf,
t'Ayifi ín Ihi^ t}edicadoDTif bia " AuLaiit^fs de
Tn^mol,^^ that aa a. wribtir af cm/ruf Valtlt»
\rie|sa wüñ tbü nrflt- üÍ hit Ume. Tblfl wm
about loaUf and bhereforv bfifore Culiieroa^
greai Ruceesa.
1^ I baVÉ & Cíopy of his " T Id a de NucfCm
Señora," pubíiabed by hia aepbew la ISáf,
Chap, XXT.I
BUIZ DE ALARCON.
sea
m
Unh de Alar^on, who was hie cooteraporaryp was leas
JÉrored duríng lii*lifetime than Mendoza, biit has much
more merit. He was born in the province of n^j^^^^
Tasco, in México, but was descended fi-om a -^"t»"'
ily that bdonged to Alarcon in the mother country.
early as 1622 he was in Madrid, and assisted in the
cotDposition of a poor play m honor of the Marquis of
Cafieta fot his vi c torios in A rauco» whioh was the joiut
work of nine persone. In 1628, he published the first
volume of his Dramas, on the title-page of which he calla
bimííelf Prolocíitor of the Rojal Council for the Indies ;
a place buth of trust and proüt, It ia dedicated to the
Dtike of Medina de las TorreSi but it contains also an
address to the Público Vulgar, or tbe Rábble, in a tone
of savage contcmpt for the andiencea of Madrid, which,
U ít íntímates that he had been i!l-treated on the stage,
proves also that he felt slrong enough to defy tiis eno-
míes* To the eight plays contained in thia volume he
added twelvo more in 1635, with a Proface, wbích, again,
lea vea Httle doubt that his merit was uiidervalued, as he
says he found it dífficult to vindícate ibr hlmself even the
authorship of not a fewof the plays he had written. He
diod in 1639."^
IhiI htft vorlcB veré not callected tIU looE'
'.t tus doiitli, ai,nd wer^ theo prfDtEMl
II miinniwrfpt fnuEid Ln the Ubraij üf
Afohbiülmp' af Luboo, Luía de Souza,
Upiier the añ^L^UtA tUle^ "El Fcnix Cas-
M*ltfeíic^ 1)^ Atitaniode Meadn^^nsaaBctáo,*^
(yslfoHf liSdO, 4ta). Ihm onlj notices
couáei)iieiyM} that [ ñ»d of bloi urc in
ii1»lnui^9 *" P^aTodcH," and lu Ant«-
ttto> Bíb, Morñ.. A secoiid eáitioo ot hfi
WBirkft, ir lili trltíLQK ndditíonA, appeared at
HAdríd Id 171^, 4to. ** Quert?r p<ir Ekilfl
qaervr^'^ «hkh «dj ucted mt ArattJueii tur
tKe fiesta al PhiHp lY. Id 1^23, vaA tniDS^
Utjcdf In J%lit vvrbc^ \»t Sir Richard Fim-
th^nre, whn vas aedt aa átabasaador %&
Báiiílrid b/ iKJth Cbarkd I. and Charles It,,
aod died Úusk Ld lO&O. Hfi ¥ifal(Ki, Ifke
aD uiaiC6Dimaii]]r [arg« pmiiOTttoQ of ttic
tiTlgUmú piar, ^B fbf míMl^ and Is juuodf the
▼wy curtons iiid nure book* ím tbe £;nF;1ÍiK
]iiiifnKi¥- It In clted In th^s \w^fm« to
lúdy Faii'haW'e''B MenaoL», aa i.f (lubll^b^il
Is Itn, bat m;- c«|)j i9 dated lOTD^ At
the «od ii an lua^tiDt, alao traDalateil from
Mendoaa, of a áedea of ma^DlfltieDt a1]L''|;ori-
cal l^tlvItieB the precediD]? jear at Arn,!]-
|aea, evIdeDÜ^ very bdülant, oiid desoribed
ÍQ. the rery íplrlt of a ranEaitio CaatlklaD
□Durtler. Notiíütfa of MeDdttxa^B honnra
majT b« fband in ^back^a NachtrJgCi, p. Q%
Ha was eme or th^ Rnyal SairnítiiHeB, tmt
wbat wu oí TbiUy ciare coosetiiieiñae, ba
vu Secrttmry «F tli? Inqulattloii. Mcrntr
ainuL, «hen dedtcattEg to liim ^^ La Ti)-
queta Tl£cayim,** sayí n«aUyf tbat he does
It on oonditidD that Meodút» ittflJiL tare^t
hÍB awa dramas.
U Alarcon Bvrizil, Iti gontieqnerii^ of
theee remocetraDuM^, ot ptsrhapi tn oonsc^
(juence of tbe témper In which they wero
roatle, to hate draivti npon blnucLT a itriei
of attaekB from the poeta oí the tinie,
O engoró, hápK de Vi-gH, Mend^xa, Mnot-
al^atif aml ^Hhi^rtt iome of irhora «biop ■»
lav juH (o rldifCUle blm for an unhappy
deronnlty ól hU penon. See Ptifbuar|a<ep
Ul^aalre Ckmpwrée dea XattérataFe» J^
334 ^^'Z DE ALABCON. [Pemod D.
HÍ8 " Domingo de Don Blas," óne of the few ámong
his works not found in the collection ^ñnieá by himself,
is a sketch of the character of a gentleman sunk
go de Don into luxury and effeminacy by the possession of
^^* a large fortune suddenly won from the Moors íq
the time of Alfonso the Third of León ; but who, at the
cali of duty, rouses himself again to his earlier energy,
and shows the oíd Castilian character in all its loyalty
and generosity. The scene where he refases to risk his
person in a bull-fight, merely to amuse the Infante, is M
of humor, and is finely contrasted, first, with the scene
where he runs all risks in defence of the same prince, and
afterwards, still more finely, with that where he sacri-
fices the prince, because he had failed in loyalty to hia
father.
" How to gain Friends " gives us another exhihitioú
of the principie of loyalty in the time of Peter the Cruel,
Hi8 Ganar ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ reprcscnted only as a severe, but
Amigos. just, administrator of the law in seasons of great
trouble. His minister and favorite, Pedro de Luna, is
one of the most noble characters ofíered to us in the
whole range of the Spanish drama ; — a character be-
longing to a class in which Alarcon has several times
succeeded.
A better-known play than either, however, is the
" Weaver of Segovia/' It is in two parts. In the first,
HisTexedor — which Í8 uot belicvcd to bc by Alarcon, and is
de Segovia. Qf inferior merit, — its hero, Fernando Kamirez,
is represented as sufíering the most cruel injustice at the
hands of his sovereign, who has put his father to death
under a false imputation of treason, and reduced Ramírez
himself to the misery of earning his subsistence, dis-
guised as a weaver. Six years elapso, and, in the sec-
ond part,,he appears again, stung by new wrongs and
associated with a band of robbers, at whose head, after
spreading terror through the mountain range of the
pagnole et Fran^aise, 2 tom., 8vo, París, lates. It gained the prize of 1842. See,
1843, Tom. II. pp. 155 - 164, and 430 - 437 *, also. Semanario Erudito, Tom. XXXL p;
— a book written with much taste and 57, where the date of Alaroon*8 death iS
knowledge of the subject to which it re- given by Pellizer y Tobar.
Chap. XXL] RÜIZ DE ALABCON. 335
Guadarrama, he renders such service to his ungrateñü
king, in the crisis of a battle against the Moors, and
extorts such confessions of his own and his ñtther's in-
nocence from their dying enemy, that he is restored to
&vor, and becomes, in the Oriental style, the chief person
in the kingdom he has rescued. He is, in fact, another
Charles de Mohr, but has the advantage of being placed
in a period of the world and a state of society where
snch a character is more possible than in the period
assigned to it by Schiller, though it can never be one
^tted for exhibition in a drama that claims to have a
moral purpose.
" Truth itself Suspected " is, on the other hand, ob-
viously wrítten for such a purpose. It gives us the
character of a young man, the son of a high- ^ia verdad
minded father, and himself otherwise amiable 8<»p«5ho«a.
and interesting, who comes from the üniversity of Sala-
manca to begin the world at Madrid, with an invincible
habit of lying. The humor of the drama, which is really
great, consists in the prodigious fluency with which he
invents all sorts of fictions to suit his momentary pur-
poses ; the ingenuity with which he struggles against
the true current of facts, although it runs every moment
more and more strongly against him ; and the final result^
when, nobody believing him, he is reduced to the neces-
sity of telling the truth, and — by a mistake which he
now finds it impossible to persuade any one he has really
committed — loses the lady he had won, and is over-
whelmed with shame and disgrace.
Parts of this drama are full of spirit ; such as the
description of a student's life at the üniversity, and that
of a brilliant festival given to a lady on the banks of the
Manzanares. These, with the exhortations of the young
man's father, intended to cure him of his shameful fault,
and not a little of the dialogue between the hero — if he
may be so called — and his servant, are excellent. It is
the piece from which Corneille took the materials for his
" Menteur," and thus, in 1642, laid the foundations of
classical French comedy in a play of Alarcon, as, six years
before, he had laid the foundations for its classical tragedy
EmZ DE ALARCOK
[FEmoQ IL ]
in the " Cid " of Quilleií de Caetro. Alarcon^ however,
wiíH theu so littk known, that Corncille hooestly supposed
híinself to be using a play of Lope de Vega^ and said &o j
though H should be rememberod, that when, sorae jeam
aRerwards, lie füund out hís míatake, he did Alarcon the
justice to reótoí'e him to his righte^ addiiig that he would
gladly give the two beat plays he had erer written to
be th© author of the one he had bo freüly usod,
It would Dot be difiicult to find othor dramas of Alar-
con showing equal judgment and Bpirít. Such, ín fact,
m* othei' ^® ^^^ **"® en ti ti ed " Walls have Eara/* whichj
drMUM. fi^^ui itg mode of exhibí ting the ill oonsequencei
of slander and miachief-makiug-^ may be regarded as the
counterpart to '* Tmth ÜBelf SuBpected.^' And euch, too,
IB the ** Trial of Husbande/' which has had the fortune f^
paas under the ñames of Lope de Vega and Montalváti,
as we!l as of its true author, and would cast no diacredit
on either of theni." But it ia enonj^h to add to what wo
have already süid of Alarcon^ that his style íb excellent,
— gene ral ly better than that of auy but the very best
of hie contemporadee, — wíth lesB richneflgí índeed, than
that of Tirao de Molina, and adberíng more to the ol
bailad measure than that of Lope, but purer iu versificar
tion than either of them, more simpTe and more natural
i o that, o a the whole, he is to he ranked with Üíe very
best Spanish dramatists during the best períod of the
national theatre.^'
t9 It reznlDJdft idgi of Uifit put ot tbt
Merc)i»Jit of T^uke whltíb paases at Bei-
moQ^ Bod I am not aara but Ltf ator j goes
tMU3k to & coromati jiniii'c&
" tLepertqrlú Ameiicatio, Tom, JTl, p.
ai^ Tom. iV. p. pa í l>etiiíi, Chríiiil(iu«a de
1' Bdf píig'ae^ Parli, 1^130'^ ^va, Túin. II- p-
231 \ Onmedíiifl üsoai^jdas, T^^n. XX%'IIL,
IWT, p. 131. CorDuÜle^a opintaa or the
" Verilúd SíispechoHa^" whlcli í» ortea mi#-
quDtedf ÍEi tn btí toúnd Üi hls '* ExonieQ du
MeoteuT.^^ I will anlj add, in rel«ltlQii to
AlarcoD, thüEf fu '' Nunca mucba coetí
pfWfti'^ he ^t» giTCD xt» the c^aracteír of an
iuiperiutiá oíd mirse, whieh Ib wüH dr&wn,
uid ED&de etfecüve l>y tlio use of pktu-
iOi but aaUquMedi WQfdí hui^ phnuei.
BtncQ t^e ñnt edltíon üf Ihís irnrlr
pubikbed (1849>, aU the piar» attrtbutal
to Alorooni. íi^oludlQg od& to whích h^ wu
üDly n cüptTibutor^ and tiro wbtHHí genníne^
nef» U doubtñd, h»ye beeu collet^tad vai,
publUbed, wiLh nituib care and tajte:, (BU
b]iot?on de Autores Españolea^ Totn. XX^
1832,) hy D. Juan EuifjeiilD dci HaiHea-
busch. Theii' nuuiber iB twenty^.^iM'eii,
and amonj^ th4'tD ia the Pfrtí Part of tÍM.
^^ Textular de Se^o^ia," whtcli^ as AlaiToai
publitihr^d lh« £eci7nd! Purt in hls ffuenK
vülumi^, withrnit aiiy allus^ba to a ñivi
ve Bupii««e, ai» Hartscnbaach úoew^ ihen
La goud grnutid for ImliuviDg nat to N bilb
Thero ta alao LuterjiAl evidemcé^ T tbíak, to
4
Chap. xa.] VARIOUS DRAMATISTS. 33Y
Other writers who devoted themselves to the drama
were, however, as well known at the time they lived as
he was, if not always as much valued. Among 5,5^»,^^
them may be mentioned Luis de Belmente, ^^^
whose " Renegade of Valladolid " and " God EadJ^
the best Guardian " are singular mixtures of *°* "****^
what is sacred with what is profane ; Jacinto Cordero,
whose " Victory through Love" was long a favorite on
the stage ; Andrés Gil Enriquez, the author of a pleasant
play called "The Net, the Scarf, and the Picture ; "
Diego Ximenez de Enciso, who wrote grave histprical
plays on the life of Charles the Fifth at Yuste, and on
the death of Don Carlos ; Gerónimo de Villaizan, whose
best play is " A Great Remedy for a Great Wrong ; " and
many others, such as Carlos Boil, Felipe Godinez, Miguel
Sánchez, and Rodrigo de Herrera, who shared, in an
inferior degree, the favor of the popular audiences at
Madrid."
Writers distinguished in other branches of literature
were also tempted by the success of those devoted to
the stage to adventure for the brilliant prizes it scat-
tered on all sides. Salas Barbadillo, who wrote many
pleasant tales and died in 1635, left behind him B^^,g¿m^
two dramas, of which one claims to be in the Soioraano,'
manner of Terence." Solorzano, who died ten °^**'*'
years later, and was known in the same forms of elegant
literature with Barbadillo, is the author of a spirited play,
founded on the story of a lady, who, after having accept-
ed a noble lover from interested motives, gives him up for
the servant of that lover, put forward in disguise, as if he
u Ihe playa of these authors are foand. ** Diferentes Comedias," Parte V., 1616,
in the large collecüoii entitled ** Comedias mentioned ante^ p. 297, note 5. I observe
Bscogidas," Madrid, 1652-1704, 4to, with from the " Noches de Plazer» of Castillo
the ezception of those of Sanches and Solorzano (1631, f. 5. b), that Diego Xime-
VlHaJgan, which I possess sepárate. Of nez de Enciso was a native of Seville and a
Belmonte, who is the author of the '* Bastre Veintequatro of that city.
del Campillo," commonly attributed to 10 The plays of Salas Barbadillo, y\z.
Lope de Vega, (see Schack's Nachtr'age, " Victoria de España y Francia," and ^' El
1854, p. 62,) there are eleven in the collec- Qalan Tramposo y Pobre," are in his •' Co
tion, and of Qodinez, five. Those of Miguel roñas del Parnaso," left for publication at
Sanches, who was very fámous in his time, his death, and published the same year,
and obtained the addition to his ñame of 1635, Madrid, 12mo. Other dramas by
El Divino^ are nearly all lost ^ but his him are scattered through his other
^ €hiarda Cuidadosa " may be found in the Works.
YOL. II. 15 V
838 PHILIP THE FOÜRTH. [Period IL
were possessor of the very estates for which ehe had
accepteá his master.^ Góngora wrote one play, and
parta of two others, still preserved in the coUection of
bis works ; ^ and Quevedo, to please the great favorite,
the Count Duke Olivares, assisted in the composition of
at least a single drama, which is now lost, if it be not
preserved, under another ñame, in the works of Antonio
de Mendoza.^ But the circumstances of chief cense-
quence in relation to all these writers are, that they be-
longed to the school of Lope de Vega, and that they bear
witnegs to the vast popularity of his drama in their time,
which could control men such as they were.
Indeed, so attractive was the theatre now become, that
ecclesiastics and the higher nobility, who, from their
position in society, did not wish to be known as dra-
matic authors, still wrote for the stage, sending their
plays to the actors or to the press anonymously. Such
persons generally announced their dramas as written by
" A Wit of this Court,'' — Un Ingenio de esta Gorie, —
and a large coUection of pieces could now be made,
which are known only under this mask ; a mask, it may
be observed, often significant of the pretensions of those
Philip the whom it claims partly to conceal. Even Philip
Fourth. the Fourth, who was a lover of the arts and of
letters, is said to have some times used it ; and there is a
common tradition, but an erroneous one, that " Giving
my Life for my Lady, or The Earl of Essex,'' was his.
Possibly, however, one or two other plays were either
from his hand, or indebted to his poetical talent and
skill. . But even this is not very probable.^
ao It is called " El Mayorazgo," and is .del Mentir " that occois la Mendon*»
found with its ¿oa at the end of the author'B Works, 1690, pp. 254-296. Ihere are
" Alivios de Casandra," 1640. also four entremesea of QueTedo in Ub
21 These are, " Las Firmezas de Isabela," Works, 1791, Vol. IX.
"El Doctor Carlino," and "La Comedia 23 Philip IV. was a lover of ktters.
Venatoria," — the last two unfinished, and Translations of Francesco Ooicdardini's
ihe very last allegorical. " Wars in Italy," and of the " Description
M The play written to please the Count of the Low Countries," by hia nephew,
Duke was by Quevedo aud Antonio de Luigi Guicciardini, made by Philip, and
Mendoza, and was entitlcd "Quien mas preceded by a well-written Prilogo^ are
miente medra mas," — " He that lies most said to be in the National libnuy at Ma-
will rise most." (C. Pellicer, Origen del drid. (C. PelUcer, Origen, Tom. I. p. 163 j
Teatro, Tom. I. p. 177.) This play is lost. Huerta, Teatro Hespañol, Madrid, 178&,
onless, as I suspect, it is the " Empeños 12mo, Parte I., Tom. m. p. 169 } and
Chap. XXI.]
EL DIABLO PREDICADOR.
339
One of the most remarkable of these " Comedias de
nn Ingenio *' is that called " The Devil turned Preacher.'^
Its scene is laid in Lucca, and its original pur- jji ©iabio
pose seems to have been to glorify Saint Prancis, Predicador.
and to strengthen the influence of his followers. At any
rate, in the long introductory speech of Lucifer, that
potentate represents himself as most happy at having so
fiMT triumphed over these his great enemies, that a poor
community of Franciscans, established in Lucca, is likelj
to be starved out of the city by the universal ill-will he
has excited against them. But his triumph is short. Saint
Michael descends with the infant Saviour in his arms, and
requires Satán himself immediately to reconvert the same
inhabitants whose hearts he had hardened ; to build up
the very convent of the holy brotherhood which he had
80 nearly overthrown ; and to place the poor friars, who
were now pelted by the boys in the streets, upon a foun-
dation of respectability safer than that from which he had
driven them. The humor of the piece consists in his
conduct while executing the unwelcome task thus im-
posed upon him. To do it, he takes, at once, the habit
of the monks he detests ; he goes round to beg for them ;
Ochoa, Teatro, París, 1838, 8yo, Totn. Y.
p. 98.) **King Heniy the Feeble** is alao
among tfae playa sometimes ascribed to
Philip lY., who is said to have often joined
in improrisating dramas, — an amosement
well knoim at the court of Madrid, and at
the hardlj lesa splendid court of the Coont
de Lemoe at Naples. C. Pellicer, Teatro,
Tom. L p. 163, and J. A. Pellicer, Bib. de
Tradactores, Tom. I. pp. 90-92, where a
corioiu accoont, already referred to, is
given of one of these Neapolitan exhi-
bitions, by Estrada, who witnessed it.
Bat I have great doubts concerning all
these suggestions. That Philip lY. did
not write the ** Conde de Sex," which I
possess in Yol. XXXI. of the Diferentes
Comedias, 1636, is setüed by Schack
(Nachtráge, 1854, p. 102), who foand the
original in the autograph of Coello, a
known dramatist who died in 1652. It
may be well to add, however, when speak-
ing of this play, that there is a very acute
and extended examination of It by I^s-
■ing, who, with Wieland, gave the flrst
impulse to that love for Spanish literature
in Oermany which the Schlegels, Bouter-
wek, and Schack have since so well sus-
tained. (See Hamburgische Dramatur-
gie, BerUn, 1805, Tom. II. pp. 58-126.)
But as to Philip lY, to whom poems are
attributed in the Biblioteca ofRibadeneyra,
(Tom. XLII., 1857, pp. 151, 152), and in
the Spanish translation of this History
(Toro. II. p. 568), I doubt the genuineness
of all of them. Philip lY. was a sensual-
ist, — not, indeed, without a taste for
letters and the arts, — but not an author
in any proper sense of the word. And yet
one of the court flatterers of the time could
say of him : " Es de los mas perfetos mú-
sicos y mas felices poetas que oy se cono-
cen, sin que para esta verdad sea menester
de valemos de la lisonja.*' Pellicer de
Salas, Lecciones solennes de Qongora, 1630,
col. 696, 697. The two sonnets attributed
to Don Carlos of Austria, brother of Philip
lY., are probably his, and are not bad for
a prince. Ribadeiieyra, 1. c. p. 153.
340
EL DIAIILO PBEDICABOH.
[Tebiod DL
he supcrínieñde the erectiofl of ati ampler edifice for théi
acoommodiíticín ; he preacbes : he prays ; he works mira-
des; — and all with the greatest earnestness and miction^
in order the aooner to be rid of a business so thorouglily
ditíagreeahle to him, and of which he is constiintij cúiji-
plainin^ in equi vocal phrases and bitter iide-Epeedifís,
tliat glye him the comfort of expressing a Texation he
cannot entirely control , bnt dares not opcnlj make knowa.
Át laat he succeede, The hatefiil work is done, But the
agent is nut dismissed with honor, On the contrary, be
js obligedi ID the closing acene, to confess who he is^ and
to mow that nothing^ affcer all, awaifcs Uim but the flamea
of perdition, into which he visibly einks, like another
Dotí Juan, before the odified audience.
The áction occupiea above íive monthe* Jt has ua
intriguing underplot, which hardly diattirbB the coursa
of the niaiii story, and one of whose personages — the
heroine herself — is verj gentle and attractive, The
character of the Father Guartijan of the Franciscan
moüksp full of eimplicityi humhle, trustful, and submis-
BÍve, 18 alao finely drawn ; and so is the oppusite one,
— ^the gracioao of the piece, — a liar, a cowardj and &
glutton ; ígnorant and cunning ; wlíom Lucifer arausea
himself with teasing, in everj possible way, wh ene ver
he haB a m ornen t to apare froni the diaagreeable work ho
is so anxious to finiah,
In sorae of the early copíeSj this drama ^ so character*
istic of the age to which it belongs^ is attributed to Luis
de Bel monte, and in sonie of them to Antonio de Ooello.
Later, it i& declared, though on what authority we are not
told, to have been writton by Franciaco Damián de Cor-
nejo, a Franciscan monk, All thisi however^ is nncertain,
although Belmonte i& more líkely to have been its anthor
than either of the othera, But we know, that, for a kmg
time añer it appeared, it used to be acted as a devout
work^ favorable to the interés ts of the Fraiiciscaus, who
then possessed great iníiuence in Bpain. In the latter
part of the eíghteenth century, however, this state oí
things was partí j changed^ and its public performance,
for Sume reasou or other, was forhidden, About 1800, it
Chap. XXI] THE DRAMA OPPOSED. 341
reappeared on the stage, and was again acted, with great
profit, all over the country, — the Franciscan monks
lending the needful monastic dresses for an exhibition
they thought so honorable to their order. But in 1804
it was put anew under the ban of the Inquisition, and
so remained un til after the political revolution of 1820,
which gave absolute liberty to the theatre.^
The school of Lope,** to which all the writers we have
just ennmerated, and many more, belonged, was not re-
ceived with an absolutely universal applause. opposition
Men of leaming, from time to time, refused to JJ^^Tb*
be reconciled to it ; and severo or captious crit- men of
ios found in its gross irregularíties and extrava-
gances abundant opportunity for the exercise of a spirit
of complaint. Alonso López, commonly called El Pincia-
no, in his *' Art of Poetry founded on the Doctrines of
the Ancients," — a modest treatise, which he prínted as
early as 1596, — shows plainly, in his discussions on the
nature of tragedy and comedy, that he was far from con-
senting to the forras of the drama then beginning to
prevail on the theatre. The Argensolas, who, abóut ten
years earlier, had attempted to introduce another and
more classical type, would, of course, be even less satis-
fied with the tendency of things in their time ; and one
of them, Bartolomé, speaks his opinión very openly in his
didactic satires. Others joined them, among whom were
Artieda, in a poetical epistle to the Marquis of Cuellar ;
M C. Pellicer, Origen,^ Tom. I. p. 184^ Fuerza de la Verdad," is nearly identical
note ; Suplemento al índice, etc., 1805 ; in its subject with the " Diablo Predica^
and an ^ezcellent article by Louis de Vieil dor." It i8 in the Comedias Escogidas,
Castel, in the Kevne des Deux Mondes, Tom XIY., 1661, f. 182. In two HSS. of
July 16, 1840. To these should be added the '* Diablo Predicador" it is attribnted to
the pleasant description given by Blanco Francisco de Villegas, but the common
White, in his admirable " Doblado*B Let- opinión that it was written by Belmente is
ters," (1822, pp. 163 - 169,) of a representa- the more likely one. 8chack*s Nachtr^lge,
tion he himself vitnessed of the " Diablo 1854, p. 62.
Predicador," in the court-yard of a poor » For the school of Lope, see Biblioteca
inn, where a cow-house senred for ,the de Autores Españoles, (Tom. XLIII. and
theatre, or rather the stage, and the spec- XLV., 1857 and 1858,) where Don Ramón de
tators, who paid less than twopence apiece Mesonero Romanos has made a collection
(br their places, sat in the open alr, under of fifty-nine plays to lUustrate it The
a bright, starry sky. Catalogue of Authors, with alphabetical
. My friend, Mr. J. R. Chorlcy, has drawn lists of their known plays following their
my attention to the fact, that a poor play ñames, is in Yol. XLV., and is particularly
by Francisco á¿ Malaspina, entitled " La valuabie.
342 THE DBAMA OPPOSED. [Pkkiod E
Villegas, the sweet lyrical poet, in his seventh elegy;
and Christóval de Mesa, in difieren! passages of his minor
poems, and in the Preface to his ill-constructed tragedy
of " Pompey./' If to these we add a scientifíc discussion
on the True Structure of Tragedy and Comedy, in the
third and fourth of the Poetical Tables of Cáscales, and a
harsh account of the whole popular Spanish stage, hy
Suarez de Figueroa, in which little is noticed but its
follies, we shall have, if not everything that was said
on the subject, at least everything that needs now to
be remembered. The whole is of less consequence than
the frank admissions of Lope de Vega, in his " New Art
of the Drama." ^6
The opposition of the Church, more formidable than
that of the scholars of the time, was, in sbme respecta,
By the better founded, since many of the plays of this
Church. period were indecent, and more of them immoral.
The ecclesiastical influence, as we have seen, had, there-
fore, been early directed against the theatre, partly on
this account and partly because the secular drama had
superseded those representations in the churches which
had so long been among the means used by the priest-
hood to sustain their power with the mass of the people.
On these grounds, in fact, the plays of Torres Naharro
were suppressed in 1545, and a petition was sent, in
1548, by the Cortes, to Charles the Fifth, against the
printing and publishing of all indecent farces.^ For a
as El Pinciano, Filosofía Antigua Poéti- tory (Tom. II. pp. 558 - 560), gives aa
ca, Madrid, 1596, 4to, p. 381, etc. -, An- account of an attack, in 1617, on Lope as a
dres Rey de Artieda, Discursos, etc. de dramatist, by a certain Pedro Torrea de
Artemidoro, Qarago^a, 1605, 4to, f. 87 ; G. Ramila, and of ansvrers to it by Julio Ce-
de Mesa, Rimas, Madrid, 1611, 12mo, ff. lumbario (a pseudonyme for Francisco Lo-
94, 145, 218, and his Pompeyo, Madrid, pez de Aguilar) and Alfonso SancheB-,—
1618, 12mo, with its Dedicatoria; Cas- all in Latin, and all, apparently, in the
cales. Tablas Poéticas, Murcia, 1616, 4to, bitterest spirit of Spanish literary contro-
Parte II. ; C. S. de Figueroa, Pasagero, versy. But Lope suflFered litUe personally
Madrid, 1617, 12mo, Alivio tercero j Est. in this way. His popularity was over-
M. de Villegas, Eróticas, Najera, 1617, 4to, whelming. After his death, he was ofben-
Segunda Parte, f. 27 *, Los Argensolas, er attacked, e. g. by Antonio Lopec de
Rimas, Zaragoza, 1634, 4to, p. 447. I have Vega (see /;o*í, Chap. XXIX.), who did It,
arranged them according to thelr dates, very ungratefuUy, in his Heraclito y Be-
because, in this case, the order of time is mocrito (1641, pp. 176. sqq.), for Lope had
important, and because it should be no- been kind to him earlier.
ticed that all come wlthin the period of 27 D. Quixote, ed. Clemencin, Tom. III
Lope's success as a dramatist. p. 40:2, note.
Oayangos, in his translation of this His-
Chaf. XXI.] THE DRAMA OPPOSED. 343
long time, however, little was done but to snspend dra-
matic representatioüs in seasons of court moumÍDg, and
on other occasions of public sorrow or trouble ; — this
being, perhaps, thought by the clergy an exercise of their
influence that would, in the course of events, lead to more
important concessions.
But as the theatre rose into importance with the popu-
larity of Lope de Vega, the discussions on its character
and consequences grew graver. Even just before that
time, in 1587, Philip the Second cónsul ted some of the
leading theologians of the kingdom, and was urged to
Buppress altogether the acted drama ; but, after much
deliberation, he foUowed the milder opinión of Alonso de
Mendoza, a professor at Salamanca, and determined still
to toleratex it, but to subject it constantly to a careful and
even strict supervisión. In 1590, Mariana, the historian,
in his treatise ** De Spectaculis,'' wrítten with great
fervor and eloquence, made a bold attack on the whole
body of the theatres, particularly on their costumes and
dances, and thus gave a new impulse to the discussion,
which was not whoUy lost when, in 1597, Philip the
Second, more monk than king, ordered, according to the
custom of the time, the public representations at Madrid
to be suspended, in consequence of the death of his
daughter, the Duchess of Savoy. But Philip was now
oíd and infirm. The opposers of the theatre, among whom
was Lupercio de Argensola, gathered around him.^* The
discussion was renewed with increased earnestness, and
in 1598, not long before he breathed his last in the Esco-
rial, with his dying eyes fastened on its high altar, he
forbade theatrical representations altogether.
Little, however, was really effected by this struggle on
the part of the Church, except that the dramatic poets
were compelled to discover ingenious modes for evading
the authority exercised against them, and that the char-
acter of the actors was degraded by it. To drive the
drama from ground«where it was so well intrenched be-
hind the general favor of the people was impossible. The
V Pcllicer, Bib. de Traductores, Tom. L p. 11.
344 THE DRAMA TRIUMPHANT. ^ [Pbbiod H
city of Madrid, already the acknowledged capital of tlie
country, begged that the theatres might again be opened ;
giving, as one reason for their request, that many re-
ligious plays were performed, by some of which both
actors and spectators had been so moved to penitence
as to basten directly from the theatre to enter religious
houses ; ^ and as another reason, that the rent paid by
the companies of actors to the hospitals of Madrid was
important to the very existence of those great and be-
neficent charities.*^
Moved by such arguments, Philip the Third, in 1600,
when the theatres had been shut hardly two years, sum-
The drama "loned a council of ecclcsiastics and four of the
triumphant. principal lay authorities of the kingdom, and
laid the whole subject before them. ünder their advice,
— which still condemned in the strongest manner the
theatres as they had heretofore existed in Spain, — he
permitted them to be opened anew ; diminishing, how-
ever, the number of actors, forbidding all immorality in
the plays, and allowing representations only on Sundays
and three other days in the week, which were required
to be Church festivals, if such festivals should occur.
This decisión has, on the whole, been hardly yet dis-
turbed, and the theatre in Spain, with occasional altera-
tions and additions of privilege, has continued to rest
safely on its foundations ever since ; — closed, indeed,
sometimes, in seasons of public mourning, as it was
three months on the death of Philip the Third, and again
in 1665, by the bigotry of the queen regen t, but never
20 As a set-otr to this alleged religious that the hospitals made such eflbrts to
effect of the comedias de santos y we have, sustain the theatres, in order to gei an
in the Address that opens the ^^ Tratado de income from them afterwards, that they
las Comedias," (1618,) by Bisbe y Tidal, themselves were sometimes impoverished
an account of a young girl who was per- by the speculations they ventnred to
mitted to see the representation of the make ; and adds, that in his time (c. 1618)
^^ Conversión of Mary Magdalen " several there was a person alive, who, as a magis-
times, as an act of devotion, and ended her trate of Valencia, had been the means of
yisits to the theatre by falling in love with such losses to the hospital of that city,
the actor that personated the Saviour, and through its investments and advanoes tac
running off with him, or rather following the theatre, that he had entered a religious
him to Madrid. house, and given his whole fortune to the
'W The account, however, was sometimes hospital, to make up for the injury he had
the other way. Bisbe y Vidal (f. 98) says done it
Chap. XXI.] THE DRAMA TBIUMPUANT. 345
interrupted for any long períod, and never again called
to contend for its existence.
The trath is, that, from the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, the popular Spanish drama was too strong
to be subjected either to classical criticism or to eccle-
siastícal control. In the " Amusing Journey ^' of Roxas,
an actor who travelled over much of the country in 1602,
visiting Seville, Granada, Toledo, Valladolid, and many
other places, we find plays acted everywhere, even in the
smallest villages, and the drama, in all its forms and
arrangements, accommodated to the public taste far be-
yond any other popular amusement.'^^ In 1632, Montal-
van — the best authority on such a subject — gives us the
ñames of a crowd of writers for Castile alone ; and three
years later, Pabio Pranchi, an Italian, who had lived in
Spain, published a eulogy on Lope, which enumerates near-
ly thirty of the same dramatists, and shows anew how
completely the country was imbued with their influence.
There can, therefore, be no doubt, that, at the time of his
death, Lope's ñame was the great poetical ñame that
filled the whole breadth of the land with its glory, *and
that the forms of the drama originated by him were
established, beyond the reach of successful opposition,
as the national and popular forms of the drama for all
Spain.*»
SI Roxaa (1602) glves an amusing ac- Sueltas, Tom. XXI. p. 66 ; and many other
oount of the nicknames and resources of parta of Tols. XX. and XXI. *, — all show-
eight diflferent kinds of strolling companies ing the triumph of Lope and his school.
of actors, beginning with the bululú^ which A letter of Francisco Cáscales to Lope de
boasted of but one person, and going up Tcga, published in 1634, in defence of
to the fiín eompañia, which was requlred plays and their representation, is the third
to have seventeen. (Yiage, Madrid, 1614, in the second decade* of his Epistles ; but
12mo, £r. 51 - 53.) These nicknames and it goes on the untenable ground, that the
distinctions were long known in Spain. plays then represented were Hable to no
Four of them occur in " Estebanillo Gon- objeotion on the score of moráis. Ricardo
salez," 1646, c. 6. del Turia — probably a pseudonyme for
w On the whole subject of the contest Luis Pevrer de Cardona, governor of Ta-
between the Church and the theatre, and lencia, to whom, in my copy of the " Come-
the success of Lope and his school, see días de Poetas de Valencia," 1609, that
G. Pellicer, Origen, Tom. I. pp. 118-122, yolume is dedicated — takes, on the con-
and 142-157*, Don Quixote, ed. J. ▲. trary, inhis Prefaoe to the second yolume,
Pellicer, Parte II. c. 11, note ; Boxas, 1616, the theatre as it really existed, and
Yiage, 1614, passitn (f. 66, implying that defénds it not without leaming and acute-
he wrote in 1602) ; Montalvan, Para To- ness. He died in 1641.
dos, 1661, p. 543 } Lope de Yega, Obras
15*
CHAPTER XXII.
CALDERÓN. — HI8 LIFE AND VARIOUS WORKS. — DRAMAS FAL8ELT
ATTRIBUTBD TO HIM. — HI8 SACRAMENTAL AUTOS — HOW SEPRB-
SENTED. — THEIR CHARACTER. — THE DIVINE ORPHBUS. OREAT
POPULARITY OP SÜCH EXHIBITIONS. — BIS PULL-LENGTH RELIO-
IOU8 PLAT8. — PURGATORT OF SAINT PATRICK. DEVOTION TO
THE CROS8. — WONDER-WORKING MAGICIAN. — OTHER SIMILAR
PLATS.
TüRNiNO from Lope de Vega and his school, we come
now to his great successor and rival, Pedro Calderón de
„ , ^ . la Barca, who, if he inven ted no new form of
Pedro Cal- , , ' ' . xi j^ • .i.
deron de la the drama, was yet bo emmently a poet m tne
"*^ national temper, and had a success so brilliarit,
that he must necessarily fill a large space in all inquiries
conceming the history of the Spanish theatre.
He was born at Madrid, on the lYth of January,
1600 ; ^ and one of his fríends claims kindred for him
with nearly all the oíd kings of the different
Spanish monarchies, and even with most of the
crowned heads of his time, throughout Europe.* This is
1 There has been some discussion, and a friend of Calderón, shoold have placed fhe
general error, about Ule date of Calderon's poetas blrth on January Ist, we cannot
birth } but in a rare book, entitled " Obe- now even coi^ectare.
lisco Fünebre,"'publi8hed in his honor, by s See the leamed genealogical introdno-
hls friend Gaspar Augustin de Lara, (Ma- tion to the ^* Obelisco Fúnebre,*' Jost cited.
drid, 1684, 4to,) written immediately after The ñame of Calderón^ as its author tells
Calderones death, it is distinctly stated, on as, carne into the famlly in the thirteenth
the authority of Calderón himself, that he oentury, when one of its nuiqber, being
was born Jan. 17th, 1600. This settles all prematnrely born, was supposed to be
doubts. The certificate of baptism given dead, but was ascertained to be aliye by
in Baena, ** Hijos de Bfadrid," Tom. IV. being unceremoniously thrown into a cal-
p. 228, only says that he was baptized dron — ccUderon — of wann water. As he
Feb. 14th, 1600 ; but why that ceremony, preved to be a great man, and was much
contrary to custom, was so long delayed, or favored by St. Ferdinand and Alfonso the .
why a person in the position of Vera Wise, his nickname became a ñame eí
Tassis y Villaroel, who, like Lara, was a honor, and fíve ccUdrons were, trom that
Chap. XXIL] PEDRO CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA. S4.1
absurd. But it is of consequence to know that his family
was respectable, and its position in society such as to
give him an opportunity for early intellectual culture ; —
his father being Secretary to the Treasury Board under
Philip the Second and Philip the Third, and his mother
of a noble family, that carne from the Low Countries long
before. Perhaps, however, the most curious circumstance
connected with his origin is to be found in the fact, that,
while the two masters of the Spanish drama, Lope de
Vega and Calderón, were both born in Madrid, the fami-
lies of both are to be sought for, at an eariier períod, in
the same little rích and beautiful valley of Carriedo,
where each possessed an ancestral fief.'
When only nine years oíd, he was placed under the
Jesuits, and from them received instructions which, like
those Corneille was receiving at the same mo-
ment, in the same way, on the other side of ^ ^^
the Pyrenees, imparted their coloring to the whole of his
life, and especially to its latter years. After leaving the
Jesuits, he went to Salamanca, where he studied with
distinction the scholastic theology and philosophy then
in fashion, and the civil and canon law. But when he
was graduated from that üniversity in 1619, he was al-
ready known as a writer for the theatre ; and when he
arrived at Madrid, he seems, probably on this account, to
have been at once noticed by some of those persons about
the court who could best promote his advancement and
Buccess.
In 1620, he entered, with the leading spirits of his
time, into the first poetical contest oponed by the city
of Madrid in honor of San Isidro, and received for his
time, borne in the family arma. The ad- himself, Tom. IV. p. 228 *, and that of Lope
ditlonal surname of Barca carne in later, de Vega, Tom. III. p. 350; but, especially,
with an estáte — solar — of one of the see the different facts about Calderón scat-
hoose, who afberwards perished, fighting tered through the dull prose introduction
against the Moofis ; in conseqaence of to the "Obelisco Fúnebre," and its still
which, a castle, a gauntlet, and the motto, more dolí poetry. The biographical sketch
Por la fé moriré^ were added to their of him by his friend Vera Tassis y Villa-
escutcheon, which, thus arranged, oonsti- roel, originaüy prefixed to the fifth yolume
tated ttie not inappropriate arma of the of his Comedias, and to be foond in the
poet in the seventeenth century. first volume of the editions since, is fbr-
s See the notice of Calderones father in mal, pedantic, and onsatisfactory, Uke
Baena, Tom. I. p. 305 ; that of Calderón most notioes of the oíd Spanish authors.
MB
MDBO OALDEROÍÍ DE LÁ BAHGA. [PfemmilL
eflbrts the public complíment of Lope de Yega'e praise.*
ln 1622, he appeared at thé sccoDd and gr^^ater
contest proposed hj the eapitalj on the canoní*
zation of tlie same aaínt ; a^d gaíned ^ all that
conld be gainod hy one individual — a single príze* witb
Btill ftirther ñná niüre emphatic praises Jrom the preiidiíig
eifíirit of the show.^ In the eame jear^ too, wheri Lopo
puMished a coneidemble Tolume contaíning^ an accotant
of all theee ceremonies and rejobitigs, we fihd that the
yoLithful Caldorotí approached him m a fríend, witli a íew
not tingraceful linee, which Lope, to show that he ad-
mitted the claim, prefixod to hia book, Btit from Ümt
time we entirely lose sight of Calderón as an author, or
obtaín OTilj iincertain binte of him, for ten years, except
that iu 1680 he figures in Lope de Yega^s '* Laurel of
Apollo," among the crowd of poeta born ín Madrid,®
Mnch of thia ínterval soema to have boen filled with
serví ce in the armiea of hia country, At leaBt, he waa
BerviBínissi íü the Milanese in 1625, and añerwards, üs wi
BüMiíín are tüld, went to Flaiidera, whcre a disaatrous
war was still carried on with unrelenting hatred, both
national and religioua, That be was not a careleas ob'
eerver of men and niannere dnring hia canipaigns, we bb&
by the ph>ta of so me of his plays, and by the lively local
descriptions with which they abonnd, as well as by the
characters of his héroes, wbo often come freah from theae
aamo wara, and talk of their adven tures \vitb an ai ir o f
reality that leavea no doubt that they speak of what had
* Hia Bdhnct fnr tlite occofltfvn la in Lopo
de Tcgn, Obrua Suel^is, Tom. XI. p. i^tl |
I «nd hk octmíoé atc al p. 431. Botb iini
i^reipectftWe for a yoüth of Iwenir, Thís
pralBíB at L*>pe, vliicli arv nnm^aiitngf sn
nt p. &Qá {^r tha siim^^ volunie. Wlin c»b*
talned the pirisei at thh fesíl?'nl of WM Í5
nat knDwii.
fi The dlfTerent ptecefl tKll^r«d by Cilde-
ran for th^^ f^atlval of Maj^ 17^ 1A22, are la
Lope de Vega, OhraH SueltoB, Tota, XIT*
pp. 131, 2ad, 303, S^a^ 3S4, Speakiiig of
tltem, Lnpu (p. 413) £H.ya, a prilse woa gtrcn
%o ^^ Oon Pedro Op.ldf:TDn, whn^ i a his ten-
The Eijt or eí^ht poeme olíen-d by Calds^
TOD ut thega two poeüral Joaeting^ «ra
7aldabie, not only u* bítng; tlie oide^ flf
his Vforkñ that. Rímalo to ují, bnt ux beiog
Among the faw epec^mcns of bis vem^ thil
w« liarfl^ excupl hts drama*. CerronCcaí
In bis Doh Quixot^i Intliaaíea that, ai sudh
pa&tictíl eoHteflts^ the flrst prlse was pTéo
from pt^rtfonai favor, or from neg&rd to the
runk of th« asplmnt, aiul Uiü Bectioíí w^ítlh
fcftrenpo only to ttie merlt of the poejo
prti«euti,MÍK (Parte n. c. 18.) ralderoa
tcolí, on thS* OMUBion, onlj- tbe third prirt
fííT A csBcfon jf thé flrat being ^rem ttt
der ycars, cama the laurelB Trhlch time ia Lope, and ttie second to Zarate,
wont to produce oBly with huarjr haira." ^ Silva VIL
Chaf. XXn.] PEDRO CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA. 849
absolutely happened. But we soon find him in the raore
appropríate career of letters. In 1632, Montalvan tells
US that Calderón was already the author of many dramas,
which had been acted with applause ; that he had gained
many public prizes ; that he had written a great deal
of lyrical verse ; and that he had begun a poem on the
General Deluge. His reputation as a poet, therefoxe,
at the age of thirty-two, was an enviable one, and was
&8t rising.'
A dramatic author of such promise conld not be over-
looked in the reign of Philip the Pourth, especially when
the death of Lope, in 1635, had left the theatre ^^
without a master. In 1636, therefore. Calderón by Phiiip
was formally attached to the court, for the par-
póse of fumishing dramas to be represented in the royal
theatres ; and in 163*7, as a further honor, he was made a
knight of the Order of Santiago. His very distinctions,
however, threw him back once more into a military life.
When he was just well entered on his brilliant career as a
poet, the rebellion excited by Prance in Catalonia burst
forth with great violence, and all the members of the four
great military orders of the kingdom were reqnired, in
1640, to appear in the field and sustain the royal au-
thority. Calderón, like a true knight, presented himself
at once to íiilfil his duty. But the king was so anxious
to enjoy his services in the palace, that he was willing to
excuse him from the field, and asked from him yet another
drama. In great haste, the poet finished his " Contest of
Love and Jealousy," ® and then joined the army ; serving
loyally through the campaign in the body of troops com-
manded by the Count Duke Olivares in person, and re-
maining in the field till the rebellion was quelled.
After his return, the king testified his increased regard
for Calderón by giving him a pensión of thirty gold crowns
a month, and by employing him in the arrangements for
T Para Todos, ed. 1661, pp. 639, 640. No play with this precise title is to be
But these sketches «rere prepared in 1632. foond among his printed works ; but it is
8 It has been said that Calderón has the last but one in the list of his plays
giren to none of his dramas the title Vera fomished by Calderón himself to the
Tasáis assigns to this one, tís. " Certamen Duke of Veraguas, in 1680.
de Amor y Zelos.'* But this is a mistake.
850 PEDRO CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA. [Psriod H
the festivities of the court, when, in 1649, the new qneen,
Anna Mana of Austria, made her entrance into Madrid.
Frora tliis period, he enjoyed a high degree of favor dur-
ing the life of Philip the Fourth, and un til the death of
that Prince had a contrólling influence over whatever
related to the drama, writing secular and religious plays
for the theatres and autos for the Church with uninter-
rupted applause.
In 1651, he folio wed the example of Lope de Vega and
Entera the otheT meu of lettOFS of hÍ8 time, by entering a
Church. religious brotherhood ; and the king two years
afterwards gave him the place of chaplain in a chapel
consecrated to the " New Kings '' at Toledo ; — a burial-
place set apart for royalty, and richly endowed from the
time of Henry of Trastamara. But it was found that his
duties there kept him too much from the court, to whose
entertainment he had become important. In 1663, there-
fore, he was created chaplain of honor to the king, who
thus secured his regular presence at Madrid ; though, at
the same time, he was permitted to retain his former
place, and even had a second added to it. In the same
year, he became a Priest of the Congregation of Saint
Peter, and soon rose to be its head ; an office of some
importance, which he held during the last fifteen years of
his life, and exercised with great gentleness and dignity.'
This accumulation of religious benefices, however, did
not lead him to íntermit in any degreé his dramatic la-
bors. Ón the contrary, it was rather intended to stimu-
late him to further exertion ; and his fame was now so
great, that the cathedrals of Toledo, Granada, and Seville
constan tly solicited from him religious plays to be per-
formed on the day of the Corpus Christi, — that great
festival, for which, during nearly thirtyTseven years, he
furnished similar entertainments regularly, at the charge
of the city of Madrid. For these services, as well as for
his services at court, he was richly rewarded, so that he
accumulated an ampie fortune.
After the death of Philip the Fourth, which happened
9 ^^He knew how,'' says Augustin de dence, the duties of an obedient child and
Lara, " to unite, by humility and pru- a loving fiíther."
Chaf. XXU.] PEDRO CALDEBON DE LA BABCA. 351
in 1665, he seems to have enjoyed less of the royal patrón-
age. Charles the Second had a temper very dif-
ferent from that of his predeceasor ; and Solís, *^
the historian, speaking of Calderón, with reference to
these circumstances, says pointedly, " He died without a
M»cena8."^° But still he continued to write as before,
for the court, and for the churches ; and retained, throagh
his whole life, the extraordinary general popolarity of his •
best years." He died in 1681, on the 25th of
May, — the Feast of the Pentecost, — while all
Spain was ringing with the performance of his autos, in
the composition of one more of which he was himself
occupied almost to the last moment of his life.^
The next day, he was borne, as his will required,
without any show, to his grave in the church of San
Salvador, by the Priests of the Congregation over which
he had so long presided, and to which he now left the
whole m his fortune. But a gorgeous funeral
ceremony followed a few days lat^r, to satisfy
the claims of the popular admiration ; and even at Va-
lencia, Naples, Lisbon, Milán, and Rome, public notice
was taken of his death by his countrymen, as of a na-
tional calamity.*' A monument to his memory was soon
10 i( Mori-í 8in Bfecenas.** Aprobacioa 22. See also a sonnet at the end of the
to the " Obelisco,*' dated Oct. 30tb, 1683. yolume.) Solís, the historian, in one of his
All that relates to Calderón in this very letters, says, " Car friend Don Pedro Cal
rare yolume is important, because it comes deron is Just dead, and went off, as they
firom a friend, and was written, — at least say the swan does, singing ; for he did all
the poetical part of it, — as the anthor he coold, even when he was in immediate
tells os, within fifty-three days after Cal^ danger, to finish the second auto for the
deron's death. Corpas. Bnt, after all, he completed only
u It seems probable that Calderón wrote a little more than half of it, and it has
no plays expressly for the pabilo stage been finished in some way or other by Don
after hebecame apriest,inl651, confining Melchior de León." (Cartas de N.Antonio
himself to autos and to " Comedias " for y A. Solis, publicadas por Mayans y Sisear,
the court, which last, however, were at León de Francia, 1733, 12mo, p. 75.)
once transferred to the theatres of the u Lara, ih his "Advertencias," speaks
capital. Thus " La Fiera, el Bayo, y la of ** ttie ftineral eulogies printed in Ya
Piedra," a drama which iasted seven hours lencia." Vera Tassis mentions them alao,
on its first representaUon at the palaoe, without adding that they were printed.
was immediately given to the public of A copy of them would be very inturesting,
Bfadrid and acted thirty-eeven aftemoons as they were the work of " the illustñous
consccutively. It may be hoped, that, the gentlemen " of the hoosehold of the Duke
court ceremonies bcing omitted, the dty of Veraguas, Calderones firiend. The sub-
audiences were not so long detained. stance of the poet*s wiU is given in the
u ti Estava un auto entonces en los fines, " Obelisco," Cant. I., st. 82, 83.
0(Hno su autor." (Obelisco, Canto I., st.
362 PEDRO CALDERÓN DE LA BARCA. [Perk» n.
erected in the church where he was buried ; but in 1840
his remains were removed to the more splendid church
of the Atocha, where they now rest.**
Calderón, we are told, was remarkable for his personal
beauty, which he long preserved by the serenity and
cheerfulness of his spirit. The engravings published
soon after his death show, at least, a strongly marked
and venerable countenance, to which in fancy we may
easily add the brílliant eye and gentle voice given to him
by his friendly eulogist, while in the ampie and finely
turned brow we ^re reminded of that with which we are
Hisperaon- familiar in the portraits of our own great dra-
MOB^Md^" niatic poet.^*^ His character, thronghout, seems
character. ^^ ^j^yg j^ggjj bcnevolcnt and kindly. In his oíd
age, we learn that he used to coUect his friends round
him on his birthdays, and tell them amusing stories of his
childhood ; ^® and during the whole of the active nart of
his life, he enjoyed the regard of many of tne distin-
guíshed persons of his time, who, like the Count Duke
Olivares and the Duke of Veraguas, seem to have been
attracted to him quite as much by the gentleness of his
nature as by his genius and fame.
In a life thus extending to above fourscore years,
14 An acconnt of the first monument Alonso Cano, or from one by Joan de
and its inscription is to be found in Baena, Alfaro, or from some other, I do not know.
Tom. IV. p. 231 5 and an account of the Those by the two first, however, are likely
removal of the poet*s ashes to the convent to have been the best. Stirling*8 Artista of
of " Our Lady of Atocha »' is in the Foreign Spain, Vol. n. p. 803 j Vol. HI. p. 1116.
Quarterly Review, April, 1841, p. 227. Ari Since the above was pablished, in 1849,
attempt to do still further honor to thé a gay description of himself by Calderón
memory of Calderón was made by the has been found and printed. (Bib. de
publication of a life of him, and of poems Autores Españoles, Tom. XXIV., 1863, p.
in his honor by Zamacola, Zorrilla, Hart- 686.) It is thrown Into the fonn of a
Benbusch, etc., in a folio pamphlet, Ma- bailad, and, although tiie only copy of it
drid, 1840, as well as by a subscription. known to exist is imperfect, it is very
15 His fine capacious forehead is noticed curious. He addresses it to a lady, and
by his eulogist, and is obvious in the countenances his claim to a very proud
prints of 1682 and 1684, which little re- ancestry, but not one so proud as Lara
semble the copies made from them by later afterwards set up for him; — alindes to the
engravers : — remarkable prominence of his forehead, so
Conriderava de bu rostro grave «»>^*««« ^^ ^^^ ""^^ P""^^ i - «^ys he Is of
Lo capaz de la frente, la viveza ^ middle stature and of a palé complex-
De los ojos alegres, lo suave ion, that he takes no snufi!, and that the
De la voz, etc. hope of a prize at the Festival of San
Canto I., st. 41. j^.^^.^ ^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ j^.^ It is a pica».
Whether either of the prints referred to &nt jeu-d'^esprit.
is made from a portrait of Calderón by w Pr logo to the " Obelisco.**
ghap. xxn.].
CALDERONES WORKS.
353
nearly the whole of which was devoted to letters, Calde-
rón produced a large number of works. Except, how-
ever, a panegyric on the Duke of Medina de
Rioseco, who died in 1647, and a single volume ^^'^'^^ ^'
of aulos, which is said to have been printed in 1676, and
of which there is certainly an edition in 1690, he pub-
lished hardly anything of what he wrote ; ^"^ and yet,
besides several longer works," he prepared for the acáde-
17 The account of the entrance of the
new queen into Madrid, in 1649, written by
Calderón, was indeed printed *, but it was
nnder the ñame of Lorenzo Ramirez de
Prado, who, assisted by Calderón, arranged
the festiyities of the occasion.
M The unpublished works of Calderón,
as enumerated by Vera Tassís, Baena, and
Lara, are: —
(1.) "Discurso de los Quatro Noyísi-
mos " ; or what, in the technics of his
theology, are called the four last things to
be khooght apon by man; yiz. Death,
Jadgment, Heayen, and Hell. Lara says
Calderón read him three hundred octaye
stanzas of it, and proposed to complete it
in one hundred more. It is, no doubt, lost.
(2.) " Tratado defendiendo la Nobleza
de la Pintura." It is probable that this
Defence of Painting was a " Deposición "
of eighteen pi^es made by Calderón to the
Procurador de Cámara^ in order to defend
the professors of the art írom a sort* of
military conscription with which they were
threatened. At any rate, this curious docu- *
ment, of which I find no other notice, is
printed in the *^ Cajón de Sastre Literato,
ec., por Don Francisco Mariano Nifo, or
Nipho," (Tom. IV., 1781, pp. 26, sqq.,) —
a confused collection of extracts, sometimes
rare and Interesting, and sometimes quite
worthless, from Spanish authors of the
earlier times, mixed np witti odds and ends
of the personal opinions and fancies of
Señor Nipho himself, who was a translator
and hack writer of the reigns of Ferdinand
VI. and Charles III.
(3.) " Otro tratado. Defensa de la Come-
dia."
(4.) "Otro tratado, sobre el Diluyio
General." The last two tratados were
probably poems, like the " Discurso." At
least, that on the Deluge is mentioned as
such by Montalyan and by Lara.
(6.) " L'igrimas, que vierte un Alma
arrepentida á la Hora de la Muerte."
This, howeyer, is not unpublished, though
so announced by Yera Tassis. It is a
little poem in the bailad measure, which
I detected first in a singular volume, where
probably it first appeared, entitled " Avi>
sos para la Muerte, escritos por algunos
Ingenios de España, á la Devoción de
Bernardo de Oviedo, Secretario de su
Majestad, ec., publicados por D. Luis
Arellano," Valencia, 1634, 18mo,90 leaves ;
reprinted, Zaragoza, 1648, and often be-
sides. It consists of the contributions of
thirty poets, among whom ^fe no less
personages than Luis Velez de Guevara,
Juan Pérez de Montalvan, and Lope de
Vega. The burden of Calderon's poem,
which is given with his ñame attached to
it, is " O dulce Jesús mió, no entres. Señor,
con vuestro siervo en juicio ! " and a trans-
lation of it may be found in. Cardinal
Diepenbrock's ^' Geistliche Blumenstraus,*'
1852, p. 186. The two following stanzas
are a favorable specimen of the whole : —
O qaanto el nacer, O quanto,
Al morir es parecido I
Pues, si nacimos llorando,
Llorando también morimos.
O dulce Jesús mió, etc.
Un gemido la primera
Salva fué que al mundo hizimos,
T el tiltímo vale que
Le hazemos es un gemido.
O dulce Jesús mió, etc.
How much resembles here our birth
The final hour of «11 !
Weeping at first we see the earth,
And weeping hear Deoth's cali.
O, q>are me, Jesús, spare me, Saviour dear.
Ñor meet thy servan t as a Judge severe I
When first we entered this dark world,
We hailed it with a moan ;
And when we leave tts confines dark,
Our fiare well is a groan.
O, spare me, Jesús, spare me, Saviour dear,
Ñor meet thy acrvant as a Judge severe I
The whole of the little volume in which it
W
354
CÁLDEROK'S DBÁAUS.
[Vsmou D.
miüB of which lie was a mcmber, and for the paetical
IbstivalH íi«d j(jQstiiigs tlieii ño commun m Spaiu, a great
riutíiber of odet*. sóíig-s, bsilhuis^ and otlicr ptiems^ wliich
giive bíiii tiüt a lit.Ütí of his ikme with hit* cüLitomporariei,"
liiñ brotJier, iiideed, pnated Bome of Uia fdl-leiigth draraas
iíi 1635 and 1^37;* but we are expressly tuld, althaugb
tbe fact íH dijubtful, tbat Üíiíderau hiinself iiever sent any j
of tbern tu tbe pre&s ; -^ and even iu tbc case of tbe aido!^¡ [
wberc he deviated from bis eatablisbed cmatom, he gaya
bu did it uínvülingly, and aiily Icst tbeir sacred cbaracter j
Bbüdd be impaired by iraperfect aiid surreptitiuus pubb'-
catiüjja.
For forty-eight yeara of bis life, however, tbe prees
teemed witb djumatic works beaiiug his iiame oti tbeir
titles. As eaidy as 1638, tliey began tu appear
iu tbe popular collections ; biit many of tbem
were not bia^ and the rest were so disligured by tbe iíii-
perícc* m antier íd wbích tbej had beeii wntteu dowti
diiring tbeir represen tiititms, that bo saya be could ofteu
hardly recogmze tbeíii bimself.^ His editor and Iríeiid,
HLfl diatn&a.
axmñ tnay serve to iJltwtrate SpflulHli
iDHDDurS] in an n^e wh^n a mlDJtter of
fiUte Eioujilii üpirUuítl cumfi^rt by itich
¥\ñ<>eíi iiii&c«LlMii^'4mii |>cKtEdi} ñf Calderoa
— eLprht of which I had ulreH^dy knoim
eepuráite^y — hav^ been broiigíit togetber
Biri(.''e íhe prscedíng accounC wrs ñrst
publifihed íd l§49if uad dia^' now be f^und
in the Biblioteca, de Aatarcs f^^pañoieSf
Tnm. XIV;^ 1U50, pp. 724^ ec, and runa.
XXIV,, 1S&3, p. &gg. But tUey can be only
a small laortíoD of what CalderoR wrote ; —
probubly only a buulII pnrtLun {kf whJit ka
prlüt^l anoctymously or cli^ulat«d In man-
uaerlp^ aíter tbt^ fa«hiort of hi4 time. Or otití
af them, ontLÜcd P^aHe el SiVí. frutn 4«i
inicrtptluu Jn the cboir oí the uatbednil ut
ToYedo^ round á copy of Ihe oripnjil
edjtlon, wlth tha Aptofmüion, dated Dec.
31, 1081, fn thtí Haf BLblioLh^k £Lt YEenna.
lú Ijini ttíifl Vem TaiieiiS, IpoÜi persoual
fHeDds ü( Calderón, apeak of the munber
of üieaü mliiCí^aiitdei aa víry ffvat.
*i ThL^re wer« frjar Toltunea in all, and
Calderón, lii hlá Pref&ce tn the Autoít^
lOSKtj atsoms t^:» adtnit th^^ir genaínenEBü,
tbPi^ti he abiUdut^ with &ppareut cautiüHi
ítfytn úitPüíly dei:liiriii(; it, Jeat he ih<>iiti4
fiCKiin to Lmply that tlieir puMicatioEL hnd
UTCT beeii authorizerl by hám.
« " All meii well kiiow^*^ Shya Idm,
•* that Pon í\'dp neFt^r «eut auy uf bis
cútíi'Kdia» t/o tli^ iWQm^ acid thJtt tJioas
7bíDh Wítfí piiuleil w«!rtt printed a^faiii^
bis wlll," Obtdljscti, Pr l«go. ^
*3 Tlie publloation ef Csiklfrín'^pteys in
tile eartlcut «rlltiot^i iif thém la a lUíitlErof
ÍinpiJj*l^n€i& vs'hich has nL'V^trr been cleajtid
npf pTobabiy ín cimueriuencti of íts atiec^-
rlly and difficuky. I will, therdbre, en-
de&Tor to dn f( aa ^ Ba 1 cao from Úm j
matertals ín my ]»afMH^íi.l4iu-
The flrat píriy uf Calieron ÚítX 1 fciMMT to
hflve beíin prlrited h •* El Aairolofo Fin-
gido," whkh 1 poaaeas ín thn very tare
i^ Comedina de diferentea Autnr&i" (Tonn.
XXV., Zaragóíjís 1833), with a Liceticla of
3533» when tta autlut^r waa thlpty-two ye&r^
otd. In the tiiblí? of eoüttMiC» it í« c&IM
^' E! Amiinte Aatrojogn,*' aml In the detU-
caticín of it tü Vmn. Ximcneii de Urmaa,
Pedrtf Kflcuerj the ««ilíitort flajís that lH! liad
takün ^c^at j>a.\nf Uj print it from a gond
copy ; — an aasirticm whish ttic tejft iw
hju gJTtn kardly Jtijittñefl,
CiiAP. ;¡CXII.]
CALDEBON'S DRAMAS.
355
Vera Tasáis, gives several lists of plays, amounting in
all to a hundred and fifteen, printed by the cupidity of
Three more plays of Calderón appear in
Tüm. XXVni. of the same ooUection, ediU
ed by Escuer, Huesca, 1634. These three
playa are, — (1 ) "La Indostria contra
d Poder,** which is here ascribed to Lope
de V^a, bat which is really Calderones
«•Amor, Honor y Poder "j (2.) "De un
Castigo tres Venganzas," now called " ün
Castigo en tres Venganzas ; " and (3.) " La
Cruz en la Sepultura," which is a fírst and
Tery inferior recensión of the well-known
" Devoción de la Cruz." I have this vol-
óme luso.
▲gain, three plays of Calderón occnr in
YoL XXX. of the " Comedias de diferen-
tes Autores," which, as my copy, though
btherwise perfect, lacks its title-page, I
leam only firom Bellinghausen (p. 21) was
printed at Zaragoza in 1636. The three
plays referred to are, — (1.) "La Dama
Duende," (2.) "La Vida es Sueño," and,
(8.) "El Privilegio de las Mujeres," which,
as here given, he wrote, according to
Hartzenbusch, with Montalvan and Coello,
and which, in this form, is the original
sketch of the " Armas de la Hermosura."
One play only can be found in Vol.
XXXI., Barcelona, 1638, f. 22, "Con
quien vengo vengo," where it appears like
tiie other plays in this volume, without his
same. But it is his. Hartzenbusch gives
it the date of 1639. Of course this is a
mistake of a year at least
Four plays of Calderón appear in Vol.
XLIIy aaragoija, 1660, viz. : (I.) " No ay
Burlas con el Amor," (2.) " £1 Secreto a
Voces," and (3.) " El Pintor de so Deshon-
ra;" — but "Del Rey abajo Ninguno"
is also attríbuted to him, though everybody
knows it belongs to Boxas, and, on the
other hand, (4.) his "Hija del Ayre" is
attributed to Ant Enriques Oomez.
One play only is to be found in Vol.
XLIII., Zaragoza, 1650, published by
Escuer, viz. " La Desdicha de la Voz."
How many more there may be by Cal-
derón in this coUection, designated as the
Diferentes Comedias, it is not possible to
ascertain, as so few of its volumes are
known to cxist No doubt there were
others besides those I have enumerated.
But in 1652 began the coUection of the
Comedias Escogidas, better known than
the last, but still troublesomely rare. In
the very first volume, published in that
year, are three plays of Calderón, to the
publication of which it seems as if he
must have directly assented, since his
Aprovacion, dated 18 May, 1652, is the
first thing in'the volume. This, however,
is only the beginning. Forty-sLx more
volumes of this new coUection appeared
during his lifetime, and contain forty-etght
plays attributed to him, mauy of them
not his, and ahnost all fuU of errors, ad-
ditions, and oversights. But two deserve
especial riotice, viz. "Las Armas de la
Hermosura," and " La Señora y la Cria-
da,** the last now known as " £1 Acaso y
el Error." They are in Vol. XLVI., 1679,
and Vera Tassis, the firiend of Calderón, in
his Advertencia to the Comedias de Calde-
rón, Tom. V., 1694, says that Calderón
himself gave them to him, Vera Tassis, to
be printed, and eorrected their proof-
sheets. We have, therefore, these two
plajrs at least exacUy as Calderón pre-
pared them, and on his own authority.
But while, in both these larger coUec-
tions, as well as in others of less preten-
sión, sepárate plays of Calderón were
constantly reprinted during his lifetime,
often in the most lawless manner, an at-
tempt was made to publish them together
in a way that should give them the sem-
blance, at least, if not the substance, of
their author's authoríty. Two volumes
were published for this purpose by his
brother Joseph. Of the first, which I have
never seen, but which appeared in 1635,
the accounts are very indistinct; but it
probably contained the same plays with the
first volume of the coUection by Vera Tassis,
printed in 1685. (Hartzenbusch, Tom. IV.,
p. 654.) The second volume, published by
the same person, appeared in 1637. I pos-
sess it, and the plays, though not exactly
in the same order, are the same plays with
those published by Vera Tassis as his
Volume n., in 1686. In 1664, a third
volume appeared, prepared by Ventura y
Vergara, and in 1672, Vol. IV., with a
letter prefixed by himself, and a list of
forty-one plays published as his, which he
repudiates. And finally, in 1677, a fifth
volume was published at Barcelona, of
whose ten plays he denles four in the Pref-
ace to the only volume of autos he ever
published, but of which four I suppose two
are really his, notwithstanding his deniaL
856
CÁLDEROKS DRAMAS.
[Pebiou E
th© booksellerB ae Calderones, without having aaj clítim
wliatsoeYer to tbat honor ; aod he adda, that niany otliors^
And bcre the taatter tc^Uá antU «íler
CíatUriín'íi am%h iu imi^ Tbftti Tem
Tmm j VílIftTOtl, who calid híniníJÍ ** bit
Qp Id bAnR'At, mil laUnr Üian X68Í3, u «re
Lin publicatloDB of the Cofneciifff . At ílrsb
hti M.'eiBfi to hjLve oBfluiDml tíi^ tbe Uto
Vülumea uoted aboye as prjtued ilurliijf
Calderou'fi life: mEght bt d^sted r/T e>üt-
ñúísni nuUiui-iEjr to cüiistiiute üie fnuudtt-
tíúD uf hí4 own cu1t«utlüiii ftif he hc[f&n \l
la I&ftít bj^ priutbif & iríf íá Ví>liitiie wiUi
oprozxicioiiejt^ etc« üf ltí8J, und amoag
them tbe ramoiía nue oF Querm^ ]4 AprElf
IG^% (94» pOítt, Chíip. XX IV,, IKití»,)
whlch iie Un>í£ Uio tniLiblí? lo rturint íu bis
Ttil. V.^ 1S94, ittMl wíiiííb cxíSitol a íong
CEJulrwVí'ray, (Stti ísruí, Chop* XXIV.)
Tbla ¥í>L VI. be folowwl up wíthVoL Vil.
tbe tütDe j-eftr, IftSa, aud wilh VüL Vlll. íii
laai. Biit he now «nparentl^ bti^^atiie did-
Batlsfled wlth the ñve roJumea ptdJDLed
earher by Cükl^druTj^s brotber aad other
persimp, und m lñ&& he piihlidhed m iiev
Vd). I^ ci>abiÍDÍD^| I tblukf the pl^ya tu ümt
of l035i wíth theír íicmeia €f tlmt aato,
In ItíSfl liy wtiit un wíth VoL II,, whích
C!outulni the pluyá I ti the VoU II. of 1637,
UioDjjh iQ a dilfereot urder ^ but ]t shoaM
bq uot^ tbat tí\s " Mayor Uanstruo del
Mundo^^ 13 «ow mqch ^Itered and im-
pj-uYCCl* Iti lOftl ht ooLttnned wíth VoL
IU-, dttybtií' thiU Veiiturpi. ¡le la Vega had
indeed aLcií&rly puhlíshed ít ** con la vcniia
oatentacioü d4i üJO^i^o de uoeatm I^on l'c*
dro," but that hit Cflitlon was vcry looor-
rectt aod íd ooe play otrtíttotl two hutidreel
Ttrsea. In 10S8, h& furthvT puh]i«lie<Ji
Voh IV,, n.nd in ltJ91 Vol, IX.^ títtt wíth
0^ri)i.i£Ect0ncs of 13S2, showlng that he
bad, fn>in the ñrst, made ari^ngemeiit)) Tur
pubbtühlttg the entire üollection ^t lúi
ftíoDd^s Com€4iaM. Ana, Ünidly, ín 16íi4,
he went bact again iu tbe ficrlca and
prinhíd a flnjfth Voh V., calüng ít " La
tMífáofitera quinta Parte," to distíni^lsb it
tmm tlie Ofií? Calfífüran bad repudia ted,
lUid elTÍn£ ín hln Fin^Hiee a SÍMt ot one
bandrtd and twtíiíty-orre plays ri|:htfiilly
a^rilxsd to l-jiídeFan^ and a list of one
faundred a^eid »Ik pLays faiieíy aacribed to
hiiij. Thíttó tdi]tt volütueiS) I has jrregu-
Iftriy púhU&hi'd by Vera T<isaía betn-eau
leaa and ltM»4 ar^ to ^aM^rou wbat tM
ñv9t folio edltlcm of bi£ pl'ay^ ít to ñhñktn^
aptíKK f aiid to tílght of tlii; nlntr m iu|
ooikf of tbcm fe prehxed a head o| Ciikk^
ron enefaved in 15ti'i, by F^iü&caaua, nhm
ElÍTÜBs refurda (p. ia&3) ks perhiiiifl tlw
Ijefit engraver of üitt time flf Cliúrk'p II ^
ajad iirbus>e eugravlfig uf Cuídtírrrtí h^ I
tbint better, and frora a díObrvuiaikliiitm
agr«eHb|,e UíieiH.ii9} thau tbal *jT Ebtíxhj^
ín tlií? QbeJiíCfi Funehr^^ imi.
'tUcm mHiU^ti^\& — but abo ve aU tba
i^l\%Um tif YvTó. Taask — conatiíate tiic
pPíiper faiiudailou tm rt?«tsiifcheíi fflsjiccl*
in^ títe Cameami oí CaUlcrotí, A tcry
buil repfÍLit of tbiü ed]tir>u api^^uraj M
51iidrld In 17S3-172<Í, Ín Míiic vcilurací,
and a better otie by Apoütí*, lltMl-liea,
1)1 eleven voluiU4¿£, wbíi::h lii itj, turu vj»
ccHpBCd by a third very carefulíy pr^pnred
by au atititjmpbfibed Spaníab sflhülar^ J. J»
KeiJ, of Leipzig, who pubííalwsd ii ¡» tonl
city ín foar large octavias lii 18217 -1S3CII,
{keBeioiíallyT frxHii ilm «arlívst limefljdtu
gle píay» of Cahlc^rotí haré treeu printed,
loacli KJíe the oíd qiiartoB of Shakesprar^,
aml üxactíy tnch m were pubU¿hed df
alí the S[>aidah dramutífitA doirit to the
bejinuiíig' af the pri-sent century, and ía-
ú^^ú pnítty Witfí ínto ít. SeíeotLoUM tos»
wore tnadc by Uaerta, Ort^i^a, Ck'hoa, and
othcrtí, But alL thia viis uüáatiffactoryt
At lQ*t J^ K. Hartsenbu^eht to whoRi
SpuDÍáb líterature owea muob 1ü tiiaüj^
wnyi, un«lertf><i>k an eiljiíot» fur Riíjajtltf-
neym^ aiid pubUahod it íy tln? Bíinííoteca At
Autiifea l^t^pañolea (Toisj. VH,^ IX-| XU^,
XtV., 19iS-195a)t ye&triuir nothiag to t>6
aflkedf !f we tK^nsíder the Btate of the
taatvfÍHlii fuf dmch a wurlí &s he f^^iad
th(;!m, miñ uot inucíi to be hoped trom
fuluT& researche^^ He i^tea ms oiie htUK
clrüd and twenty-two Comedias, íncludÍDg
ten either Iítiqwh to haré Ijccii tHUtly
wrltten by Calderím, of belteved tt» 1;Mr ft^
on iatísfactoi-y e>idenoe« Jíifie phiyii
bowcr€!:r» whích «re Ici CaMeron^s ovrii tlat
of 16S(), aiíll r^malii to be aaeomitod fof |
bat wo ha.r& now hi< Hiirtzenbu£cliM eilltfmi
four nüt tnontioned th^re, and [ii>t In |in<-
VÍ41UB DoUectbiía* TílL» ís mmetUlus^ bnt
inore nsjiy perbaiis yet tie difiriivur^.^tlt huií
tnuru evrtafuíy «houM be «Lm^ht for. In
wihlliíuh to thíJ Ctítainlius, llLkrt«i<iid>aseh
givea un^ llftut'u Eutremesee, blojFjiJiTipui^
KZLd Jacaraa Eutrutneijadaa mUribytod to
I
n
chap. xxn.]
CALDEBOK*S DRAMAS.
357
which Calderón had never seen, were sent from Sevflle
to the Spanish possessions in America."
By means like these, the confasion became at last so
great, that the Duke of Yeragaas, then the honored head
of the family of Columbus, and Captain-General of the
kingdom of Valencia, wrote a letter to Calderón in 1680,
asking for a list of his dramas, by which, as a fríend and
admirer, he might venturo to make a collection of them
for himself. The reply of the poet, complaining bitterly
of the conduct of the booksellers, which had made such a
request necessary, is accompanied by a list of one hun-
dred and eleven full-length dramas and seventy sacramen-
tal aiUos which he claims as his own.** This catajogac
catalogue constitutes the proper basis for a «^ü»*™-
knowledge óf Calderones dramatic works, down to the
present day. All the plays mentioned in it have not,
indeed, been found. Nine are not in the editions of Vera
Calderón, I fear on sUght authoritj, and
to which, on anthority m^ better, I eoold
add one more entremet in my poBseasioD,
•aid, on its titie-page, to be his work, vis.
** Pelicano y Baton." But all of them have
little yalae, and fiül to sattsy the expecta-
Üons exdted by the Oraeiotos in his foU-
length Comedias. I need not add that the
edition of Hartsenbosch is by Car the best
we have of Calderon*8 plays; — the most
ampie and the most carefolly prepared,
with good prefatory matter and excellent
appendices.
I hope he will, in the same way, edit
the autos, which, being the property of
the City of liadrid onder the will of their
author, were not, for a long time, permiU
ted to be published, lest the piinted copies
shoold impair the effiect of the annnal,
popular represeutations in the streets. (La-
ra, Pr jlogo.) Calderón, indeed, collected
twelve of them for pnblication in his life-
time, and prepared a prefáce fi» them;
but althoogh the Aprovacion, Licencia, etc.
are dated 1676, I have never seen any
edition earlier than the one printed at
Madrid, 1690, which I possess, ñor were
more than these twelve published till the
edition of 1717 appeared in six volumes,
of which there is a tolerable reprint by
Apontes, 17&9 - 60. They need a good edi-
tor, like Hartsenbusch, and would well re-
ward his labors.
s Probably several more may be added
to tlys list of dramas that are attributed to
Calderón, and yet are not his. I have
noted ** El Garrote mas bien Dado," in ** El
Mejor de los mejores Libros de Comedias,"
1653, 4to, where it is given 
Open Library
