541. Como visto, etc., If she had not seen you an excuse would be easy to find.

545. Llama. From this word it would seem that this part of the play is enacted in front of the house of doña Ana.

547. No lo echemos á perder, Let us not spoil it.

576. No me tengo de sentar, I must not sit down. Cf. v. 58 and note.

587. comenzamos... jugadores, we begin by a 'rifa,' which results, as in a love-affair, that it is the third party who starts the game or at least arouses the interest of the players. The word rifa is usually used in the sense of the English word "raffle" or "auction," as for example the baile de rifa narrated in Alarcón's El Niño de la Bola, but Lope seems to use it here referring to a game of cards. It is used as a term at cards in Portuguese. The same word from another source means a "quarrel"; the author evidently had them both in mind and makes a play upon them.

595. Terciando mi primo el juego, My cousin being the third party in the game.

634. Puesto que fué de mayor, Since it was by one who had attained his majority.

638. Que encaje el marfil ansí, Who is as clever. Encajar el marfil, "to manipulate, falsify." A possible proverbial reference to the corruption among government department employees of the time.

655. Si fuere parte á obligaros, If it will be sufficient to oblige you.

664. Cayó el pez en el anzuelo, The fish has been hooked.

666. aquesto=esto. The old form is used now only in poetry.

695. efeto=efecto.

699. Cuando él... sido, If he should have favored me my favor would have been so (i.e. too great).

714. quisistes=quisisteis. The obsolete form continued in general usage up to the 17th century and was still used by Calderón, though a grammar gave the modern form as early as 1555. See Menéndez Pidal's Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, pp. 189, 190.

745. Adamuz is a town of about five thousand inhabitants, situated in the mountains twenty-five miles northeast of Cordova in the midst of a prosperous olive-growing country. It has a church, three schools, two inns, an Ayuntamiento and two religious communities. There is a local tradition to the effect that Adamuz, several centuries ago, boasted of a population of about twenty thousand and was one of the important centers of the Sierra Morena, and that it was swept by an epidemic which carried away almost the entire population. However, nothing exists in the archives of the Ayuntamiento to confirm or deny the tradition. (For all the information concerning the town and its vicinity, the editor is indebted to the kindness of the Reverend Señor José Melendo, curate of Adamuz.)

748. Adamuz, pueblo sin luz. This refrain is not now current in the place and its origin cannot be definitely determined. It may be a reflection upon the state of intelligence of the inhabitants of the town and a pure creation of the poet, but rather would it seem to be due to the natural features of the town, for it is situated in a fold of the mountains.

750. Sierra-Morena is a mountainous region extending from east to west from the head waters of the Guadalquivir to the Portuguese border. It is mentioned in many of the Spanish romances and is assured of immortality as the scene of some of the adventures of the "ingenioso hidalgo" Don Quijote.

768. El término perdonad. The innkeeper regarded the indiano as a person of distinction and offers apology for mentioning in his presence anything so lowly as a caballo de alabarda, "nag, hack."

770. propria=propia.

793. camino real. A good road now extends from Cordova to Adamuz, but it does not cross the Sierra Morena. If such a royal highway from Andalusia to Madrid ever existed it has long since disappeared and given place to the railways and the important "carretera" which extends up the Guadalquivir and through the Puerto de Despeñaperros.

813. Bien está lo hecho, What is done is well done.

824. Holofernes... Judit. The comparison suggested is based upon the story related in the Book of Judith of the Bible. Judith determined to free the children of Israel from the invading Assyrians under the leadership of Holofernes and for this purpose went to the camp of Holofernes who received her kindly and celebrated her coming with feasting. When he was sufficiently under the influence of wine she cut off his head and carried it back with her to her own people who pursued the leaderless and disorganized Assyrians and gained a complete victory over them.

835. érades=erais. This obsolete form of the verb was often used by Lope de Vega and his contemporaries. It is from the Latin eratis. (See Menéndez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, paragraph 107, I.)

838. Granada, the most historic city of Southern Spain and the last stronghold of the Moors.

868. El camino de Granada, etc. The more probable route from Granada to the capital would have taken her some distance east of Adamuz.

876. Traigo jornada más larga, I am making a longer journey. Besides its common meanings traer has that of "to be occupied in making, to have on one's hands." Jornada usually means "day's journey," cf. French étape, but it is also used in the sense of a "journey" more or less long.

877. vengo de las Indias. Hence the name "Indiano," which may mean that one is a native of the Indies or simply a Spaniard who is returning from there after having made his fortune. The term has a depreciative meaning also, and then is an equivalent of our nouveaux riches, for which we in turn are indebted to the French. (See Introduction.)

882. Porque me dicen, etc., Because they tell me that the realization of one's pretensions which one's occupation puts off, is slow in arriving, I am going to set up a household.

ACT II

917. Que tantas persecuciones, etc. Supply some introductory interrogative expression like "Can it be" or "Do you believe."

922. De Amadís, en Beltenebros. Amadís de Gaula is the title of an old romance of uncertain authorship. The oldest text of which we have record was in Spanish or Portuguese prose, and the most interesting part of it is attributed to the Portuguese, Joham de Lobeira. The incident referred to by Lope occurred in the early years of the career of Amadís, hero of the story. After a youth filled with adventure, he meets and falls in love with Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of Great Britain, who returns his affection. A short time afterwards Amadís is freed from a perilous situation by a young girl named Briolania, who herself is suffering captivity. He then promises to return and deliver her. Having been successful in a number of other adventures, he sets out, with the tearful consent of Oriana, to rescue Briolania. After his departure on this mission, Oriana is erroneously informed that Amadís loves Briolania; mad with anger and despair, she sends him a letter saying that all is ended between them. Amadís, having avenged Briolania's wrongs, receives Oriana's letter and, overcome by grief, retires to a hermitage on a rock in the sea, where he receives the name of Beltenebros, which Southey translates as the "Fair Forlorn." Afterwards Oriana, undeceived, seeks a reconciliation with Amadís, and their happiness is at length realized. Amadís has remained the type of the constant lover who comes into the possession of the object of his affections only after adventures and difficulties without number.

951. Valencia is an important seaport town on the Mediterranean with a population of about 160,000. The city is picturesquely situated on the banks of the Guadalaviar in the midst of a luxuriant tropical nature. Valencia was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name and has played an important rôle in Spanish history since the time when the Romans occupied the peninsula. During the Moorish occupation it was a worthy rival of Seville, with which it is here mentioned. The gardens of Valencia have always been justly celebrated for their beauty, and Lope well knew this, for during his exile in Valencia he himself had a garden in which, as he tells us in several of his works, he passed many pleasant hours.

954. Vera de Plasencia is a small town northwest of Zaragoza, situated in the desolate Llano de Plasencia. Lope must have sojourned there at some time or have had more than a passing interest in the place, for in his Epístola á D. Michael de Solis he writes:

960. Pues lo digo, etc. In the Valencia edition Martin says:

The sense of the passage seems to turn on the words punto and cara. A punto or "point" is one twelfth of the antiquated French line and one one hundred and forty-fourth of an inch. By a comparison of the two editions it is clear that there is a play on this word. Cara is probably a typographical error for vara, but it may be used here in a related sense to the archaic á primera cara, which was the equivalent of á primera vista. Therefore the sense of ll. 961-2 is: "That is the size that one would take of that foot with a measure," or "That is the size that one would take by a glimpse of that foot."

971. De escarpines presumí, etc. The consonance of escarpines is with jazmines, but the contrast is with chapines above. The chapín was a heavy low shoe or sandal better suited to the use of servants, while the escarpín was an elegant thin-soled, shoe or slipper, and often with cloth top as the following verse seems to indicate. Here the sense is not very apparent and may involve some colloquialism of the time. The passage may be freely translated: "I thought you were speaking of escarpines, since the distinction depends only upon (the height of) the cotton (top)."

973. paragambas. An obsolete or colloquial word made up of the preposition para, or possibly of a form of the verb parar, "parry off, protect," and the obsolete substantive gamba, the equivalent of pierna. It was evidently applied to some covering of the leg, as a gaiter or boot. In the Valencia edition it appears as two words, para gambas.

974. á cierta dama depends upon pregunté.

975. cañafístolas=cañafístulas. The word seems to have the idea of something indicated but not named, and here may have the sense of "ridiculous adornments." It is still used colloquially as the approximate equivalent of the English "thingumajig" or "thingumbob." That the author intends it to have something of its true meaning, "purgative," is indicated by the next few lines of the text.

1009. fialle, see v. 95 and note.

1038. azules enojos, dark clouds. Lit. "blue wrath."

1042. á cuantos los miran. Los refers to ojos mentioned above. The period at the end of the line must be a typographical error, for the sense seems to favor a comma. The two subordinate clauses introduced by si and connected by y do not require as much separation as is afforded by a period.

1052. Como quedó concertado. Note the repetition of line 1000. Lope is given to repetitions in his works, but this is perhaps the only verse in the play which he has unconsciously repeated.

1062. inglés á Cádiz. "Año de 1625." (Note by Hartzenbusch.) The incident referred to is the irrational attack upon Cadiz by the English fleet under Sir Edward Cecil in October, 1625. The English were ignominiously defeated and the Spanish encouraged to continue an unequal struggle.

1066. tusón dorado. The name of a celebrated order of knighthood founded in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands. It originally consisted of thirty-one knights and was self-perpetuating, but Philip II absorbed the nominating power. In 1713 Charles VI moved the order to Vienna, but this action was contested by the Spanish and the dispute was settled by dividing the order between the two countries.

1067. Con débil caña, etc. "En la edición antigua de la comedia: Con débil caña, con freno herrado." (Note by Hartzenbusch.)

1068. Marte... Cupido, Mars, the god of war, Cupid, the god of love.

1076. Sembrando. "En la Corona trágica se lee sembrando; en la edición antigua de la comedia, tendidas."(Note by Hartzenbusch.) The sonnet is found also in the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 500, under the title, Á la Venida de los Ingleses á Cádiz. Hartzenbusch speaks of it as though it appeared in the Corona trágica, but his note is misleading, for it really is found in a collection of Poesías varias in the volume stated which begins with the Corona trágica.

1086. Mas qué os, etc. More exact punctuation would place the initial interrogation after mas and before qué.

1089. Filis. In Greek mythology Phyllis, disappointed because her lover, Demophon, did not return at the time appointed for their marriage, put an end to her life. According to one account she was changed after death into an almond-tree without leaves. But when Demophon, on his return, embraced the tree, it put forth leaves, so much was it affected by the presence of the lover. To the mythological Phyllis, however, Lope is indebted only for the name. To him "Filis" was a more material being in the person of Elena Osorio, daughter of a theatrical manager and a married woman. During the early part of the period 1585-1590 he dedicated to her some of his most beautiful love-ballads, and in the latter part, when he turned against her and was exiled from Madrid and Castile, he continued to address poems to her, but now filled with bitter complaints. (See Introduction.) The fact that he mentions her name here in a play written in the later years of his life is of interest; either he wrote the sonnet in his earlier years and used it here, or it would seem that the poet's mind reverts to his youthful follies. But in one of the last works written just before his death Lope speaks of his daughter, Antonia Clara, under the name of "Filis," which has given rise to some confusion. "Phyllis," moreover, is a very common name in pastoral poems in the 16th and 17th centuries.

1110. devantal=delantal.

1126. hubiérades... Dijérades=hubierais... Dijerais. Cf. v. 835 and note.

1133. Si es disfrazar, etc. In the pastorals the author usually disguised personages of distinction in the garb of shepherds and shepherdesses. These compositions were very popular in Spain during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

1145. que viene... á pretender, who comes to court to make pretensions. Pretender also means "to sue for place, seek position" and might be here "to seek favor at court."

1153. En él este amor bebí. Here as well as in the following line él refers to cántaro.

1155. Sirena. The Sirens were fabulous mythological monsters, half bird and half woman, which were supposed to inhabit reefs near the island of Capri and lure sailors to their death by the sweetness of their song.

1186. que tiene razón, indeed she is quite right. Zerolo's edition has que instead of qué of the Hartzenbusch edition, and it is clearly the author's intent.

1231. Por servicios que me hiciese, etc., Whatever services he did me, however many years he put me under obligation.

1237-40. Observe that one of these verses concludes each of the following stanzas or décimas. Such a verse is called the pie de décima.

1252. Andalucía forms one of the most important and romantic of Spain's ancient divisions and still occupies a unique position in the life and character of the Spanish people. Geographically it occupies almost the whole of the south of Spain.

1262. dorado, a yellow flower.

1266. Manutisa is usually written minutisa.

1282. Adónde bueno=Qué tal. There is also a sense of motion as indicated by verse 1284, but it is difficult to give a concise translation. Freely expressed we may offer: "Whither bound, my pretty maid?"

1291. Pero... admira, But on my word I am astonished.

1300. No tengo por mal acuerdo requebrar, etc., I do not consider it ill-advised to enumerate, etc. Requebrar usually means "to flatter," but it also means "to break in small pieces," hence "to give in detail" or "to enumerate."

1303. Os costará, etc. The sense of the verb is plural unless we take it as impersonal and supply an infinitive construction after it.

1305. Para el río. This expression is out of its natural order and might well be set off by commas. The sense is: "A hat with its band for going to the river."

1306. Avantal=delantal. Cf. v. 1110 and note.

1307. virillas. In addition to its usual meaning, vira, or virilla, is used to denote the border around the top of the shoe, which is its meaning in the present instance.

1314. No hay plata... Potosí. Potosí is a city of Bolivia situated on the Cerro de Potosí at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. The Cerro de Potosí is said to have produced up to the present time over three billion dollars in silver. The first mine was opened there in 1545, and the year of Lope's birth, 1562, a royal mint was established in the city of Potosí to coin the output of the mines. Small wonder is it then that the Spaniards still refer to the city in proverb as a synonym for great riches. Lope mentions it in several of his other dramas.

1324. Compare this speech of doña María with that of Areusa in the Celestina against the exacting duties of servants. (See Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. III, p. 43.)

1341. de mañana, early in the morning.

1349. Bien aforrada razón, etc. In this reply of doña María we see not a little of the précieux spirit which in the same century became so popular in France. A man must not proceed "brutally" to a declaration of love at the very beginning, but by interminable flatteries and conceits lead up to such a declaration, and even then must not expect the object of his devotion to yield at once to his cleverly conceived pleadings.

1404. cristal deshecho refers to the running water of the fountain.

1410. henchirle. The antecedent of le is cántaro.

1417. Ó asoma por el estribo, etc., Or shows through the doorway of the carriage her curls on the hooks of a 'rest.' In modern usage when applied to the parts of a carriage estribo means the "step" but in the text it is used apparently as the equivalent of portezuela. Descanso seems to have been at the time a device used in women's head-dress, such as was represented some years later by Velázquez in his famous portrait of Mariana de Austria, which now hangs in the Prado Museum at Madrid.

1439. Conténtese ó quitaréle. Observe the change from the second person to the third in this verse and the following one.

1455. ¿Qué se hizo tu desdén? What has become of your pride?

1460. Habrán hecho riza en ti, Have probably done you a great injury. Hacer riza, "to cause disaster or slaughter."

1477. si no envidaste, etc., if you have not staked any money, lay down your hand and remain apart. Leonor applies here the terms of a game of cards when speaking of the love-affairs of doña María.

1493. No pone codo en la puente, etc., a reference to the custom of the idlers and braggarts lounging in public places and seeking trouble or offering defiance to every passer-by.

1495. los lavaderos. The banks of the Manzanares immediately in the rear of the Royal Palace have long been the public lavaderos or washing-places of the city of Madrid, and every day acres of network of lines are covered with drying linen. It is here naturally that the gallants of the lower classes go to meet their sweethearts, and scenes such as we have portrayed later in the play are of frequent occurrence. Cf. note on verse 441.

1510. Prado, formerly, as its name implies, a meadow on the outskirts of Madrid and later converted into a magnificent paseo between the Buen Retiro palace and the city proper. The house of Lope de Vega still stands in the narrow Calle de Cervantes, a short distance from the Prado, and the poet often mentions this celebrated paseo in his works. The name is frequently used to refer to the famous art-gallery located there.

1520. quien, cf. 1. 337 and note.

1527-8. Aprended... hoy. Note the repetition of 11. 1237-8.

1543. Durandartes. In Spanish ballads Durandarte is the name of one of the twelve peers who fought with Roland at Roncesvalles. In the Romancero General the adventures and death of the knight are narrated. Steadfast to death in his affections for his beloved Belerma, he gives utterance to his lamentations in the famous old ballad beginning with the following lines:

Durandarte was the cousin of the knight Montesinos who gave his name to the celebrated cave of la Mancha, visited by don Quijote, whose adventures in this connection are narrated in Don Quijote, Part II, Chapters XXII and XXIII. Cervantes calls Durandarte the "flor y espejo de los caballeros enamorados" and probably Lope is indebted to his great contemporary for the word, which he uses in the sense of lances de amor.

1552. Puesto que, etc. The Valencia edition has here instead of this verse: Con todo, no he de culpalle.

1608. de espacio=despacio.

1649. Don Fadrique de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alba and descendant of the great soldier, Alba, was one of Spain's greatest naval commanders. In 1625 he destroyed the Dutch fleet off Gibraltar. Writing this play, as he may have been, with the acclamations of the great victory ringing in his ears, it was quite natural that Lope should honor the hero in his drama and at the same time add to the popularity of his work. Later in 1634 don Fadrique de Toledo fell into disfavor or incurred the jealousy of the Count-Duke Olivares and was cast into prison.

1668. rocín gallego. The gallegos, or inhabitants of Galicia, are a sober, industrious people, but have throughout Spain a reputation for ignorance and stupidity; so they have long been made the butt of malicious gibes and jests by their more volatile fellow-countrymen. In the Valencia edition this verse and the preceding one are rendered in a manner to give a clearer meaning:

1681. Es... vaya, Is all that to tease me?

1696. diera is used here in the double sense of "give" and "strike."

1708. cristal de Venecia. Early in the middle ages Venice was a center for the manufacture of glass. The industry was at its height in the 15th and 16th centuries, but gradually declined until it ceased in the 18th, only to be revived about the middle of the 19th century. Since then Venice has retaken her position as the European center for artistic creations in glass. Near the close of the 13th century the factories were moved outside the city to the island of Murano, where they are at the present time.

1714. Si no, etc., If not in harm, in the realization.—Caer en la cuenta, to understand, realize.

1723. satisfaciones is now written satisfacciones.

1733-4. The language of these two verses is drawn from the popular proverbs: "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, alguna se quiebra," and "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, que deja el asa ó la frente." Doña María uses parts of each of these forms.

1737. volviérades=volvierais. See v. 835 and note.

1782. de canela, that is, agua de canela.

1785. Don Alvaro de Luna, a Spanish courtier, born about 1388, was, in his youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyed to a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a few years later grand master of the order of Santiago—a double distinction never enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of a conspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolid in 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanish authors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has been lost. The romances relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come down to us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites of beggars who sing in the streets of Spanish cities. It is evidently to a romancero or collection of these poems that reference is made by Lope.

1817. el Cid. Rodrigo Ruy Diaz de Bivar (1040-1099), called "el Cid Campeador," is the great national hero of Spain. From the numerous accounts, real and fictitious, of his achievements we learn that he was a great warrior who fought sometimes with the Moors, sometimes with the Spaniards, and that at last as a soldier of fortune he seized Valencia and until his death successfully defied the two great rivals of his time, the Spaniards and the Moors. His life has served as a theme for numerous literary masterpieces, especially the Old Spanish Cantar de mio Cid. Lope de Vega treats of his fall in his play entitled el Milagro por los Celos.

1818. gigote=jigote.

1824. Valladolid, an interesting city of Northern Spain and the seat of an important university. Valladolid has figured prominently in Spanish history for many centuries, for it was long the favorite residence of the Spanish sovereigns. Early in the reign of Philip III the seat of government was again transferred to that city, but was returned to Madrid in 1606.

1836. si le come, if he likes it. Comer, lit. "to eat."

ACT III

1837. No haya más, Let that be the end of it.

1844. No lo acabes de decir, Don't go any farther.

1854. Llegue el lacayo gallina, Let the chicken-hearted lackey come on.

1858. mohadas=mojadas, coll., knife-thrusts.

1863. Pues con él haberlas quiero, Well I am willing to have it out with him.

1901. dueño is regularly used in its present sense when referring to a woman as well as to a man. The feminine dueña has the same meaning, but more commonly means house-keeper or chaperon.

1911. mesmo=mismo.

1920. Cf. v. 1495 and note.

1929. Tocó... el instrumento, etc. The reference is evidently to the bandurría which in its ancient form was a very popular musical instrument for such occasions as the one here described. Compare the description of it with its direct descendant, the modern banjo.

1951. Casa del Campo, commonly written Casa de Campo, is a large royal park immediately in the rear of the royal palace and grounds and on the other side of the Manzanares, which is here spanned by the Puente del Rey.

1960. Felipe y Isabel, that is, Philip IV of Spain and his first wife, Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV, king of France. (See Introduction.) Observe that modern Spanish would require "Felipe e Isabel."

1963. las colores. Color is now almost limited in usage to the masculine, but Lope, like other authors of the 16th and 17th centuries, used it indifferently in the masculine and in the feminine.

2003. pecho, courage.

2044. labrar, embroider.

2109. que antes ha sido, etc., for rather has it been so that I cannot see her.

2131. Porque ha mucho que no soy, Because I have not been there for a long time. There is perhaps a play upon ser, "to exist" in this verse.

2146. Que más de cuatro manteos, etc., That more than a few (lit. "four") of those mantles of yours with fabrics of gold cover many defects.

2164. aceto=acepto.

2172. en pelo, bareback. With mock respect doña María asks pardon for using in the presence of people well-bred a term as commonplace as en pelo. Cf. v. 769 and note.

2217. Alcance, the present subjunctive with the conjunction que omitted.

2236. De cántaro la tenía=Tenía el alma de cántaro. Alma de cántaro is a colloquial term nearly equivalent to our "harebrained fellow."

2238. proverbio, that is, the proverbial use of cántaro in the expression alma de cántaro.

2282. Atlante, a name usually applied to masculine figures in Greek architecture, which, like the female caryatides, take the place of columns. The reference here seems to be to the mythological Atlas, from which word we have the architectural term Atlante. The author used it in the same sense in one of his sonnets: