[379] There are two Canciones in Amadis, (Lib. II. c. 8 and c. 11,) which, notwithstanding something of the conceits of their time, in the Provençal manner, are quite charming, and ought to be placed among the similar Canciones in the “Floresta” of Bohl de Faber. The last begins,—

[380] The whole subject of these twelve books of Amadis in Spanish and the twenty-four in French belongs rather to bibliography than to literary history, and is among the most obscure points in both. The twelve Spanish books are said by Brunet never to have been all seen by any one bibliographer. I have seen, I believe, seven or eight of them, and own the only two for which any real value has ever been claimed,—the Amadis de Gaula, in the rare and well-printed edition of Venice, 1533, folio, and the Esplandian in the more rare, but very coarse, edition already referred to. When the earliest edition of either of them, or of most of the others, was printed cannot, I presume, be determined. One of Esplandian, of 1510, is mentioned by N. Antonio, but by nobody else in the century and a half that have since elapsed; and he is so inaccurate in such matters, that his authority is not sufficient. In the same way, he is the only authority for an edition in 1525 of the seventh book,—“Lisuarte of Greece.” But, as the twelfth book was certainly printed in 1549, the only fact of much importance is settled; viz., that the whole twelve were published in Spain in the course of about half a century. For all the curious learning on the subject, however, see an article by Salvá, in the Repertorio Americano, Lóndres, Agosto de 1827, pp. 29-39; F. A. Ebert, Lexicon, Leipzig, 1821, 4to, Nos. 479-489; Brunet, article Amadis; and, especially, the remarkable discussion, already referred to, by F. W. V. Schmidt, in the Wiener Jahrbücher, Band XXXIII. 1826.

[381] Like whatever relates to the series of the Amadis, the account of the Palmerins is very obscure. Materials for it are to be found in N. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, Tom. II. p. 393; in Salvá, Repertorio Americano, Tom. IV. pp. 39, etc.; Brunet, article Palmerin; Ferrario, Romanzi di Cavalleria, Tom. IV. pp. 256, etc.: and Clemencin, notes to Don Quixote, Tom. I. pp. 124, 125.

[382] The fate of Palmerin of England has been a very strange one. Until a few years since, the only question was, whether it were originally French or Portuguese; for the oldest forms in which it was then known to exist were, 1. the French by Jacques Vicent, 1553, and the Italian by Mambrino Roseo, 1555, both of which claimed to be translations from the Spanish; and, 2. the Portuguese by Moraes, 1567, which claimed to be translated from the French. In general, it was supposed to be the work of Moraes, who, having long lived in France, was thought to have furnished his manuscript to the French translator, (Barbosa, Bib. Lus., Tom. II. p. 209,) and, under this persuasion, it was published as his, in Portuguese, at Lisbon, in three handsome volumes, small 4to, 1786, and in English, by Southey, London, 1807, 4 vols. 12mo. Even Clemencin, (ed. Don Quixote, Tom. I. pp. 125, 126,) if he did not think it to be the work of Moraes, had no doubt that it was originally Portuguese. At last, however, Salvá found a copy of the lost Spanish original, which settles the question, and places the date of the work in 1547-48, Toledo, 3 tom. folio. (Repertorio Americano, Tom. IV. pp. 42-46.) The little we know of its author, Luis Hurtado, is to be found in Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. II. p. 44, where one of his works, “Cortes del Casto Amor y de la Muerte,” is said to have been printed in 1557. He also translated the “Metamorphoses” of Ovid.

[383] Barbosa, Bib. Lusit., Tom. I. p. 652, Tom. II. p. 17.

[384] Bishop Percy says that Dr. Johnson read “Felixmarte of Hircania” quite through, when at his parsonage-house, one summer. It may be doubted whether the book has been read through since by any Englishman. Boswell’s Life, ed. Croker, London, 1831, 8vo, Vol. I. p. 24.

[385] Ebert cites the first edition known as of 1525; Bowle, in the list of his authorities, gives one of 1534; Clemencin says there is one of 1543 in the Royal Library at Madrid; and Pellicer used one of 1562. Which of these I have I do not know, as the colophon is gone and there is no date on the title-page; but its type and paper seem to indicate an edition from Antwerp, while all the preceding were printed in Spain.

[386] See Parte I. c. 112, 144.

[387] “Merlin,” 1498, “Artus,” 1501, “Tristan,” 1528, “Sancto Grial,” 1555, and “Segunda Tabla Redonda,” 1567, would seem to be the series of them given by the bibliographers. But the last cannot, perhaps, now be found, though mentioned by Quadrio, who, in his fourth volume, has a good deal of curious matter on these old romances generally. I do not think it needful to notice others, such as “Pierres y Magalona,” 1526, “Tallante de Ricamonte,” and the “Conde Tomillas,”—the last referred to in Don Quixote, but otherwise unknown.

[388] Discussions on the origin of these stories may be found in the Preface to the excellent edition of Einhard or Eginhard by Ideler (Hamburg, 1839, 8vo, Band I. pp. 40-46). The very name, Roncesvalles, does not seem to have occurred out of Spain till much later. (Ibid., p. 169.) There is an edition of the “Carlo Magno” printed at Madrid, in 1806, 12mo, evidently for popular use, and I notice others since.

[389] There are several editions of the First Part of it mentioned in Clemencin’s notes to Don Quixote (Parte I. c. 6); besides which, it had succession, in Parts II. and III., before 1558.

[390] The “Cleomadez,” one of the most popular stories in Europe for three centuries, was composed by Adenez, at the dictation of Marie, queen of Philip III. of France, who married her in 1272. (Fauchet, Recueil, Paris, 1581, folio, Liv. II. c. 116.) Froissart gives a simple account of his reading and admiring it in his youth. Poésies, Paris, 1829, 8vo, pp. 206, etc.

[391] The “Ethiopica,” or the “Loves of Theagenes and Chariclea,” written in Greek by Heliodorus, who lived in the time of the Emperors Theodosius, Arcadius, and Honorius. It was well known in Spain at the period now spoken of, for, though it was not printed in the original before 1534, a Spanish translation of it appeared as early as 1554, anonymously, and another, by Ferdinand de Mena, in 1587, which was republished at least twice in the course of thirty years. (Nic. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 380, and Conde’s Catalogue, London, 1824, 8vo, Nos. 263, 264.) It has been said that the Bishop preferred to give up his rank and place rather than consent to have this romance, the work of his youth, burned by public authority. Erotici Græci, ed. Mitscherlich, Biponti, 1792, 8vo, Tom. II. p. viii.

[392] The “Caballería Christiana” was printed in 1570, the “Caballero de la Clara Estrella” in 1580, and the “Caballero Peregrino” in 1601. Besides these, “Roberto el Diablo”—a story which was famous throughout Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, and has been revived in our own times—was known in Spain from 1628, and probably earlier. (Nic. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. II. p. 251.) In France, it was printed in 1496, (Ebert, No. 19175,) and in England by Wynkyn de Worde. See Thomas, Romances, London, 1828, 12mo, Vol. I. p. v.

[393] Who this Hierónimo de San Pedro was is a curious question. The Privilegio declares he was a Valencian, alive in 1554; and in the Bibliothecas of Ximeno and Fuster, under the year 1560, we have Gerónimo Sempere given as the name of the well-known author of the “Carolea,” a long poem printed in that year. But to him is not attributed the “Caballería Celestial”; nor does any other Hierónimo de San Pedro occur in these collections of lives, or in Nicolas Antonio, or elsewhere that I have noted. Are they, nevertheless, one and the same person, the name of the poet being sometimes written Sentpere, Senct Pere, etc.?

[394] It is prohibited in the Index Expurgatorius, Madrid, 1667, folio, p. 863.

[395] I take, as in fairness I ought, the date of the appearance of Montalvo’s Spanish version, as the period of the first success of the Amadis in Spain, and not the date of the Portuguese original; the difference being about a century.

[396] See the very curious laws that constitute the twenty-first Title of the second of the Partidas, containing the most minute regulations; such as how a knight should be washed and dressed, etc.

[397] I should think there are accounts of twenty or thirty such tournaments in the Chronicle of John II. There are many, also, in that of Alvaro de Luna; and so there are in all the contemporary histories of Spain during the fifteenth century. In the year 1428, alone, four are recorded; two of which involved loss of life, and all of which were held under the royal auspices.

[398] See the account of the Passo Honroso already given, to which add the accounts in the Chronicle of John II. of one which was attempted in Valladolid, by Rui Diaz de Mendoza, on occasion of the marriage of Prince Henry, in 1440, but which was stopped by the royal order, in consequence of the serious nature of its results. Chrónica de Juan el IIº, Ann. 1440, c. 16.

[399] Ibid., Ann. 1435, c. 3.

[400] Claros Varones de Castilla, Título XVII. He boasts, at the same time, that more Spanish knights went abroad to seek adventures than there were foreign knights who came to Castile and Leon; a fact pertinent to this point.

[401] Historia Imperial, Anvers, 1561, folio, ff. 123, 124. The first edition was of 1545.

[402] Pellicer, note to Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 13.

[403] Parte I. c. 32.

[404] The abdication of the emperor happened the same year, and prevented this and other petitions of the Cortes from being acted upon. For the laws here referred to, and other proofs of the prevalence and influence of the romances of chivalry down to the time of the appearance of Don Quixote, see Clemencin’s Preface to his edition of that work.

[405] A Spanish Bishop of Barcelona, in the seventh century, was deposed for merely permitting plays with allusions to heathen mythology to be acted in his diocese. Mariana, Hist., Lib. VI. c. 3.

[406] Onésime le Roy, Études sur les Mystères, Paris, 1837, 8vo, Chap. I. De la Rue, Essai sur les Bardes, les Jongleurs, etc., Caen, 1834, 8vo, Vol. I. p. 159. Spence’s Anecdotes, ed. Singer, London, 1820, 8vo, p. 397. The exhibition still annually made, in the church of Ara Cœli, on the Capitol at Rome, of the manger and the scene of the Nativity is, like many similar exhibitions elsewhere, of the same class.

[407] Remains of Roman theatres are found at Seville (Triana), Tarragona, Murviedro (Saguntum), Merida, etc.

[408] Juegos por Escarnio is the phrase in the original. It is obscure; but I have followed the intimation of Martinez de la Rosa, who is a good authority, and who considers it to mean short satirical compositions, from which arose, perhaps, afterwards, Entremeses and Saynetes. (Isabel de Solís, Madrid, 1837, 12mo, Tom. I. p. 225, note 13.) Escarnido, in Don Quixote, (Parte II. c. xxi.,) is used in the sense of “trifled with.”

[409] Partida I. Tít. VI. Ley 34, ed. de la Academia.

[410] He says that his grandfather, Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza, who lived in the time of Peter the Cruel, wrote scenic poems in the manner of Plautus and Terence, in couplets like Serranas. Sanchez, Poesías Anteriores, Tom. I. p. lix.

[411] Velazquez, Orígenes de la Poesía Castellana, Málaga, 1754, 4to, p. 95. I think it not unlikely that Zurita refers to this play of Villena, when he says, (Anales, Libro XII., Año 1414,) that, at the coronation of Ferdinand, there were “grandes juegos y entremeses.” Otherwise we must suppose there were several different dramatic entertainments, which is possible, but not probable.

[412] “He had a great deal of inventive faculty, and was much given to making inventions and entremeses for festivals,” etc. (Crónica del Condestable Don Alvaro de Luna, ed. Flores, Madrid, 1784, 4to, Título 68.) It is not to be supposed that these were like the gay farces that have since passed under the same name, but there can be little doubt that they were poetical and were exhibited. The Constable was beheaded in 1453.

[413] I am not unaware that attempts have been made to give the Spanish theatre a different origin from the one I have assigned to it. 1. The marriage of Doña Endrina and Don Melon has been cited for this purpose in the French translation of “Celestina” by De Lavigne (Paris, 12mo, 1841, pp. v., vi.). But their adventures, taken from Pamphylus Maurianus, already noticed, (p. 81,) constitute, in fact, a mere story arranged about 1335, by the Archpriest of Hita, out of an old Latin dialogue, (Sanchez, Tom. IV. stanz. 550-865,) but differing in nothing important from the other tales of the Archpriest, and quite insusceptible of dramatic representation. (See Preface of Sanchez to the same volume, pp. xxiii., etc.) 2. The “Dança General de la Muerte,” already noticed as written about 1350, (Castro, Biblioteca Española, Tom. I. pp. 200, etc.,) has been cited by L. F. Moratin (Obras, ed. de la Academia, Madrid, 1830, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 112) as the earliest specimen of Spanish dramatic literature. But it is unquestionably not a drama, but a didactic poem, which it would have been quite absurd to attempt to exhibit. 3. The “Comedieta de Ponza,” on the great naval battle fought near the island of Ponza, in 1435, and written by the Marquis of Santillana, who died in 1454, has been referred to as a drama by Martinez de la Rosa, (Obras Literarias, Paris, 1827, 12mo, Tom. II. pp. 518, etc.,) who assigns it to about 1436. But it is, in truth, merely an allegorical poem thrown into the form of a dialogue and written in coplas de arte mayor. I shall notice it hereafter. And finally, 4. Blas de Nasarre, in his Prólogo to the plays of Cervantes, (Madrid, 1749, 4to, Vol. I.,) says there was a comedia acted before Ferdinand and Isabella in 1469, at the house of the Count de Ureña, in honor of their wedding. But we have only Blas de Nasarre’s dictum for this, and he is not a good authority: besides which, he adds that the author of the comedia in question was John de la Enzina, who, we know, was not born earlier than the year before the event referred to. The moment of the somewhat secret marriage of these illustrious persons was, moreover, so full of anxiety, that it is not at all likely any show or mumming accompanied it. See Prescott’s Ferdinand and Isabella, Part I. c. 3.

[414] “Coplas de Mingo Revulgo,” often printed, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with the beautiful Coplas of Manrique. The editions I use are those of 1588, 1632, and the one at the end of the “Crónica de Enrique IV.,” (Madrid, 1787, 4to, ed. de la Academia,) with the commentary of Pulgar.

[415]

[416] Velazquez (Orígenes, p. 52) treats Mingo Revulgo as a satire against King John and his court. But it applies much more naturally and truly to the time of Henry IV., and has, indeed, generally been considered as directed against that unhappy monarch. Copla the sixth seems plainly to allude to his passion for Doña Guiomar de Castro.

[417] The Coplas of Mingo Revulgo were very early attributed to John de Mena, the most famous poet of the time (N. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 387); but, unhappily for this conjecture, Mena was of the opposite party in politics. Mariana, who found Revulgo of consequence enough to be mentioned when discussing the troubles of Henry IV., declares (Historia, Lib. XXIII. c. 17, Tom. II. p. 475) the Coplas to have been written by Hernando del Pulgar, the chronicler; but no reason is given for this opinion except the fact that Pulgar wrote a commentary on them, making their allegory more intelligible than it would have been likely to be made by any body not quite familiar with the thoughts and purposes of the author. See the dedication of this commentary to Count Haro, with the Prólogo, and Sarmiento, Poesía Española, Madrid, 1775, 4to, § 872. But whoever wrote Mingo Revulgo, there is no doubt it was an important and a popular poem in its day.

[418] The “Diálogo entre el Amor y un Viejo” was first printed, I believe, in the “Cancionero General” of 1511, but it is found with the Coplas de Manrique, 1588 and 1632. See, also, N. Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. II. pp. 263, 264, for notices of Cota. The fact of this old Dialogue having an effect on the coming drama may be inferred, not only from the obvious resemblance between the two, but from a passage in Juan de la Enzina’s Eclogue beginning “Vamonos, Gil, al aldea,” which plainly alludes to the opening of Cota’s Dialogue, and, indeed, to the whole of it. The passage in Enzina is the concluding Villancico, which begins,—

[419] They are called actos in the original; but neither act nor scene is a proper name for the parts of which the Celestina is composed; since it occasionally mingles up, in the most confused manner, and in the same act, conversations that necessarily happened at the same moment in different places. Thus, in the fourteenth act, we have conversations held partly between Calisto and Melibœa inside her father’s garden, and partly between Calisto’s servants, who are outside of it; all given as a consecutive dialogue, without any notice of the change of place.

[420] Rojas, the author of all but the first act of the Celestina, says, in a prefatory letter to a friend, that the first act was supposed by some to have been the work of Juan de Mena, and by others to have been the work of Rodrigo Cota. The absurdity of the first conjecture was noticed long ago by Nicolas Antonio, and has been admitted ever since, while, on the other hand, what we have of Cota falls in quite well with the conjecture that he wrote it; besides which, Alonso de Villegas, in the verses prefixed to his “Selvagia,” 1554, to be noticed hereafter, says expressly, “Though he was poor and of low estate, (pobre y de baxo lugar,) we know that Cota’s skill (ciencia) enabled him to begin the great Celestina, and that Rojas finished it with an ambrosial air that can never be enough valued”;—a testimony heretofore overlooked, but one which, under the circumstances of the case, seems sufficient to decide the question.

As to the time when the Celestina was written, we must bring it into the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, before which we cannot find sufficient ground for believing such Spanish prose to have been possible. It is curious, however, that, from one and the same passage in the third act of the Celestina, Blanco White (Variedades, London, 1824, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 226) supposes Rojas to have written his part of it before the fall of Granada, and Germond de Lavigne (Celestine, p. 63) supposes him to have written it either afterwards, or at the very time when the last siege was going on. But Blanco White’s inference seems to be the true one, and would place both parts of it before 1490. If to this we add the allusions (Acts 4 and 7) to the autos da fé and their arrangements, we must place it after 1480, when the Inquisition was first established. But this is doubtful.

[421] Blanco White gives ingenious reasons for supposing that Seville is the city referred to. He himself was born there, and could judge well.

[422] The Trota-conventos of Juan Ruiz, the Archpriest of Hita, has already been noticed; and certainly is not without a resemblance to the Celestina. Besides, in the Second Act of “Calisto y Melibœa,” Celestina herself is once expressly called Trota-conventos.

[423] Rojas states these facts in his prefatory anonymous letter, already mentioned, and entitled “El Autor á un su Amigo”; and he declares his own name and authorship in an acrostic, called “El Autor excusando su Obra,” which immediately follows the epistle, and the initial letters of which bring out the following words: “El Bachiller Fernando de Rojas acabó la comedia de Calysto y Meliboea, y fue nascido en la puebla de Montalvan.” Of course, if we believe Rojas himself, there can be no doubt on this point.

[424] Blanco White, in a criticism on the Celestina, (Variedades, Tom. I. pp. 224, 296,) expresses this opinion, which is also found in the Preface to M. Germond de Lavigne’s French translation of the Celestina. L. F. Moratin, too, (Obras, Tom. I. Parte I. p. 88,) thinks there is no difference in style between the two parts, though he treats them as the work of different writers. But the acute author of the “Diálogo de las Lenguas” (Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, Madrid, 1737, 12mo, Tom. II. p. 165) is of a different opinion, and so is Lampillas, Ensayo, Madrid, 1789, 4to, Tom. VI. p. 54.

[425] For a notice of the first known edition,—that of 1499,—which is entitled “Comedia,” and is divided into sixteen acts, see an article on the Celestina by F. Wolf, in Blätter für Literarische Unterhaltung, 1845, Nos. 213 to 217, which leaves little to desire on the subject it so thoroughly discusses. The expurgations in the editions of Alcalá, 1586, and Madrid, 1595, are slight, and in the Plantiniana edition, 1595, I think there are none. It is curious to observe how few are ordered in the Index of 1667, (p. 948,) and that the whole book was not forbidden till 1793, having been expressly permitted, with expurgations, in the Index of 1790, and appearing first, as prohibited, in the Index of 1805. No other book, that I know of, shows so distinctly how supple and compliant the Inquisition was, where, as in this case, it was deemed impossible to control the public taste. An Italian translation printed at Venice, in 1525, which is well made, and is dedicated to a lady, is not expurgated at all. There are lists of the editions of the original in L. F. Moratin, (Obras, Tom. I. Parte I. p. 89,) and B. C. Aribau’s “Biblioteca de Autores Españoles,” (Madrid, 1846, 8vo, Tom. III. p. xii.,) to which, however, additions can be made by turning to Brunet, Ebert, and the other bibliographers. The best editions are those of Amarita (1822) and Aribau (1846).

[426] Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, Tom. II. p. 167. “No book in Castilian has been written in a language more natural, appropriate, and elegant.”

[427] Verses by “El Donoso,” prefixed to the first part of Don Quixote.

[428] Sebastian de Covarrubias, Tesoro de la Lengua Castellana, Madrid, 1674, fol., ad verb.

[429] Puibusque, Hist. Comparée des Littératures Espagnole et Française, Paris, 1843, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 478;—the Essay prefixed to the French translation of Lavigne, Paris, 1841, 12mo;—Montiano y Luyando, Discurso sobre las Tragedias Españolas, Madrid, 1750, 12mo, p. 9, and post, c. 21. The “Ingeniosa Helena” (1613) and the “Flora Malsabidilla” (1623) are by Salas Barbadillo, and will be noticed hereafter, among the prose fictions of the seventeenth century. The “Eufrosina” is by Ferreira de Vasconcellos, a Portuguese, and why, in 1631, it was translated into Spanish by Ballesteros Saavedra as if it had been anonymous, I know not. It is often mentioned as the work of Lobo, another Portuguese, (Barbosa, Bib. Lusit., Tom. II. p. 242, and Tom. IV. p. 143,) and Quevedo, in his Preface to the Spanish version, seems to have been of that opinion; but this, too, is not true. Lobo only prepared, in 1613, an edition of the Portuguese original.

Of the imitations of the Celestina mentioned in the text, two, perhaps, deserve further notice.

The first is the one entitled “Florinea,” which was printed at Medina del Campo, in 1554, and which, though certainly without the power and life of the work it imitates, is yet written in a pure and good style. The principal personage is Marcelia,—parcel witch, wholly shameless,—going regularly to matins and vespers, and talking religion and philosophy, while her house and life are full of whatever is most infamous. Some of the scenes are as indecent as any in the Celestina; but the story is less disagreeable, as it ends with an honorable love-match between Floriano and Belisea, the hero and heroine of the drama, and promises to give their wedding in a continuation, which, however, never appeared. It is longer than its prototype, filling 312 pages of black letter, closely printed, in small quarto; abounds in proverbs; and contains occasional snatches of poetry, which are not in so good taste as the prose. Florian, the author, says, that, though his work is called comedia, he is to be regarded as “historiador cómico,” a dramatic narrator.

The other is the “Selvagia,” by Alonso de Villegas, published at Toledo, in 1554, 4to, the same year with the Florinea, to which it alludes with great admiration. Its story is ingenious. Flesinardo, a rich gentleman from Mexico, falls in love with Rosiana, whom he has only seen at a window of her father’s house. His friend Selvago, who is advised of this circumstance, watches the same window, and falls in love with a lady whom he supposes to be the same that had been seen by Flesinardo. Much trouble naturally follows. But it is happily discovered that the lady is not the same; after which—except in the episodes of the servants, the bully, and the inferior lovers—every thing goes on successfully, under the management of an unprincipled counterpart of the profligate Celestina, and ends with the marriage of the four lovers. It is not so long as the Celestina or the Florinea, filling only seventy-three leaves in quarto, but it is an avowed imitation of both. Of the genius that gives such life and movement to its principal prototype there is little trace, nor has it an equal purity of style. But some of its declamations, perhaps,—though as misplaced as its pedantry,—are not without power, and some of its dialogue is free and natural. It claims everywhere to be very religious and moral, but it is any thing rather than either. Of its author there can be no doubt. As in every thing else he imitates the Celestina, so he imitates it in prefatory acrostic verses, from which I have spelt out the following sentence: “Alonso de Villegas Selvago compuso la Comedia Selvagia en servicio de su Sennora Isabel de Barrionuevo, siendo de edad de veynte annos, en Toledo, su patria”;—a singular offering, certainly, to a lady-love. It is divided into scenes, as well as acts.

[430] L. F. Moratin, Obras, Tom. I. Parte I. p. 280, and post, Period II. c. 28.

[431] The name of this author seems to be somewhat uncertain, and has been given in two or three different ways,—Alfonso Vaz, Vazquez, Velasquez, and Uz de Velasco. I take it as it stands in Antonio, Bib. Nov. (Tom. I. p. 52). The shameless play itself is to be found in Ochoa’s edition of the “Orígenes del Teatro Español” (Paris, 1838, 8vo). Some of the characters are well drawn; for instance, that of Inocencio, which reminds me occasionally of the inimitable Dominie Sampson. An edition of it appeared at Milan in 1602, probably preceded—as in almost all cases seems of Spanish books printed abroad—by an edition at home, and certainly followed by one at Barcelona in 1613.

[432] Custine, L’Espagne sous Ferdinand VII., troisième édit., Paris, 1838, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 279. The edition of Celestina with the various readings is that of Madrid, 1822, 18mo, by Leon Amarita. The French translation is the one already mentioned, by Germond de Lavigne (Paris, 1841, 12mo); and the German translation, which is very accurate and spirited, is by Edw. Bülow (Leipzig, 1843, 12mo). Traces of it on the English stage are found as early as about 1530 (Collier’s History of Dram. Poetry, etc., London, 1831, 8vo, Tom. II. p. 408), and I have a translation of it by James Mabbe (London, 1631, folio), which, for its idiomatic English style, deserves to be called beautiful. Three translations of it, in the sixteenth century, into French, and three into Italian, which were frequently reprinted, besides one into Latin, already alluded to, and one into German, may be found noted in Brunet, Ebert, etc.

[433] He spells his name differently in different editions of his works; Encina in 1496, Enzina in 1509 and elsewhere.

[434] There is an edition of it (Madrid, 1786, 12mo) filling a hundred pages, to which is added a summary of the whole in a ballad of eighteen pages, which may have been intended for popular recitation. The last is not, perhaps, the work of Enzina. A similar pilgrimage, partly devout, partly poetical, was made a century later by Pedro de Escobar Cabeza de la Vaca, who published an account of it in 1587, (12mo,) at Valladolid, in twenty-five cantos of blank verse, entitled “Lucero de la Tierra Santa,”—A Lighthouse for the Holy Land. He went and returned by the way of Egypt, and at Jerusalem became a knight-templar; but his account of what he saw and did, though I doubt not it is curious for the history of geography, is as free from the spirit of poetry as can well be imagined. Nearly the whole of it, if not broken into verses, might be read as pure and dignified Castilian prose, and parts of it would have considerable merit as such.

[435] The best life of Enzina is one in the “Allgemeine Encyclopedie der Wissenschaften und Künste” (Erste Section, Leipzig, 4to, Tom. XXXIV. pp. 187-189). It is by Ferdinand Wolf, of Vienna. An early and satisfactory notice of Enzina is to be found in Gonzalez de Avila, “Historia de Salamanca,” (Salamanca, 1606, 4to, Lib. III. c. xxii.,) where Enzina is called “hijo desta patria,” i. e. Salamanca.

[436] “Auto del Repelon,” or Auto of the Brawl, being a quarrel in the market-place of Salamanca, between some students of the University and sundry shepherds. The word auto comes from the Latin actus, and was applied to any particularly solemn acts, however different in their nature and character, like the autos sacramentales of the Corpus Christi days, and the autos da fé of the Inquisition. (See Covarrubias, Tesoro, ad verb.; and the account of Lope de Vega’s drama, in the next period.) In 1514, Enzina published, at Rome, a drama entitled “Placida y Victoriano,” which he called una egloga, and which is much praised by the author of the “Diálogo de las Lenguas”; but it was put into the Index Expurgatorius, 1559, and occurs again in that of 1667, p. 733. I believe no copy of it is known to be extant.

[437] They may have been represented, but I know of no proof that they were, except this accommodation of them to personages some of whom are known to have been of his audience on similar occasions.

[438] Agustin de Rojas, Viage Entretenido, Madrid, 1614, 12mo, ff. 46, 47. Speaking of the bucolic dramas of Enzina, represented before the Dukes of Alva, Infantado, etc., he says expressly, “These were the first.” Rojas was not born till 1577, but he was devoted to the theatre his whole life, and seems to have been more familiar with its history than anybody else of his time.

[439] Rodrigo Mendez de Silva, Catálogo Real Genealógico de España, at the end of his “Poblacion de España” (Madrid, 1675, folio, f. 250. b). Mendez de Silva was a learned and voluminous author. See his Life, Barbosa, Bib. Lusitana, Tom. III. p. 649, where is a sonnet of Lope de Vega in praise of the learning of this very Catálogo Real. The word “publicly,” however, seems only to refer to the representations in the houses of Enzina’s patrons, etc., as we shall see hereafter.

[440] The villancicos long retained a pastoral tone and something of a dramatic character. At the marriage of Philip II., in Segovia, 1570, “The youth of the choir, gayly dressed as shepherds, danced and sang a villancico,” says Colmenares, (Hist. de Segovia, Segovia, 1627, fol., p. 558,) and in 1600, villancicos were again performed by the choir, when Philip III. visited the city. Ibid., p. 594.

[441] This is the eclogue beginning “Dios salva acá buena gente,” etc., and is on fol. 103 of the “Cancionero de Todas las Obras de Juan de la Encina; impreso en Salamanca, a veinte dias del Mes de Junio de M.CCCC. E XCVI. años” (116 leaves, folio). It was represented before the Duke and Duchess of Alva, while they were in the chapel for matins on Christmas morning; and the next eclogue, beginning “Dios mantenga, Dios mantenga,” was represented in the same place, at vespers, the same day.

[442] “This word,” says Covarruvias, in his Tesoro, “is used in Salamanca, and means Carnival. In the villages, they call it Antruydo; it is certain days before Lent.... They savor a little of heathenism.” Later, Antruejo became, from a provincialism, an admitted word. Villalobos, about 1520, in his amusing “Dialogue between the Duke and the Doctor,” says, “Y el dia de Antruejo,” etc. (Obras, Çaragoça, 1544, folio, f. 35); and the Academy’s dictionary has it, and defines it to be “the three last days of Carnival.”

[443] The “Antruejo” eclogue begins “Carnal fuera! Carnal fuera!”—“Away, Carnival! away, Carnival!”—and recalls the old ballad, “Afuera, afuera, Rodrigo!” It is found at f. 85 of the edition of 1509, and is preceded by another “Antruejo” eclogue, represented the same day before the Duke and Duchess, beginning “O triste de mi cuytado,” (f. 83,) and ending with a villancico full of hopes of a peace with France.

[444] It begins “Deo gracias, padre onrado!” and is at f. 80 of the edition of 1509.

[445] These are the two eclogues, “Pascuala, Dios te mantenga!” (f. 86,) and “Ha, Mingo, quedaste atras” (f. 88). They were, I have little doubt, represented in succession, with a pause between, like that between the acts of a modern play, in which Enzina presented a copy of his Works to the Duke and Duchess, and promised to write no more poetry unless they ordered him to do it.