[446] There is such a Doric simplicity in this passage, with its antiquated, and yet rich, words, that I transcribe it as a specimen of description very remarkable for its age:—

[447] Barbosa, Biblioteca Lusitana, Tom. II. pp. 383, etc. The dates of 1502 and 1536 are from the prefatory notices, by the son of Vicente, to the first of his works, in the “Obras de Devoção,” and to the “Floresta de Engaños,” which was the latest of them.

[448] Damião de Goes, Crónica de D. Manoel, Lisboa, 1749, fol., Parte IV. c. 84, p. 595. “Trazia continuadamente na sua Corte choquarreiros Castellanos.”

[449] Married in 1500. (Ibid., Parte I. c. 46.) As so many of Vicente’s Spanish verses were made to please the Spanish queens, I cannot agree with Rapp, (Pruth’s Literärhistorisch Taschenbuch, 1846, p. 341,) that Vicente used Spanish in his Pastorals as a low, vulgar language. Besides, if it was so regarded, why did Camoens and Saa de Miranda,—two of the four great poets of Portugal,—to say nothing of a multitude of other proud Portuguese, write occasionally in Spanish?

[450] The youngest son of Vicente published his father’s Works at Lisbon, in folio, in 1562, of which a reprint in quarto appeared there in 1586, much disfigured by the Inquisition. But these are among the rarest and most curious books in modern literature, and I remember to have seen hardly five copies, one of which was in the library at Göttingen, and another in the public library at Lisbon, the first in folio, and the last in quarto. Indeed, so rare had the Works of Vicente become, that Moratin, to whom it was very important to see a copy of them, and who knew whatever was to be found at Madrid and Paris, in both which places he lived long, never saw one, as is plain from No. 49 of his “Catálogo de Piezas Dramáticas.” We therefore owe much to two Portuguese gentlemen, J. V. Barreto Feio and J. G. Monteiro, who published an excellent edition of Vicente’s Works at Hamburg, 1834, in three volumes, 8vo, using chiefly the Göttingen copy. In this edition (Vol. I. p. 1) occurs the monologue spoken of in the text, placed first, as the son says, “por ser á primeira coisa, que o autor fez, e que em Portugal se representou.” He says, the representation took place on the second night after the birth of the prince, and, this being so exactly stated, we know that the first secular dramatic exhibition in Portugal took place June 8, 1502, John III. having been born on the 6th. Crónica de D. Manoel, Parte I. c. 62.

[451] The imitation of Enzina’s poetry by Vicente is noticed by the Hamburg editors. (Vol. I. Ensaio, p. xxxviii.) Indeed, it is quite too obvious to be overlooked, and is distinctly acknowledged by one of his contemporaries, Garcia de Resende, the collector of the Portuguese Cancioneiro of 1517, who says, in some rambling verses on things that had happened in his time,—

Miscellania e Variedade de Historias, at the end of Resende’s Crónica de João II., 1622, folio, f. 164.

[452]

Gil Vicente, Obras, Hamburgo, 1834, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 42.

[453] Traz Salomão, Esaias, e Moyses, e Abrahao cantando todos quatro de folia á cantiga seguinte:—

Vicente, Obras, Tom. I. p. 46.

[454]

Vicente, Obras, Tom. I. p. 61.

[455] It is in the Hamburg edition (Tom. I. pp. 36-62); but though it properly ends, as has been said, with the song to the Madonna, there is afterwards, by way of envoi, the following vilancete, (“por despedida ó vilancete seguinte,”) which is curious as showing how the theatre was, from the first, made to serve for immediate excitement and political purposes; since the vilancete is evidently intended to stir up the noble company present to some warlike enterprise in which their services were wanted, probably against the Moors of Africa, as King Manoel had no other wars.

Vicente, Obras, Tom. I. p 62.

A similar tone is more fully heard in the spirited little drama entitled “The Exhortation to War,” performed 1513.

[456] Obras, Hamburgo, 1834, 8vo, Tom. II. pp. 68, etc.

[457] The “Rubena” is the first of the plays called,—it is difficult to tell why,—by Vicente or his editor, Comedias; and is partly in Spanish, partly in Portuguese. It is among those prohibited in the Index Expurgatorius of 1667, (p. 464,)—a prohibition renewed down to 1790.

[458] These two long plays, wholly in Spanish, are the first two of those announced as “Tragicomedias” in Book III. of the Works of Vicente. No reason that I know of can be given for this precise arrangement and name.

[459] This, too, is one of the “Tragicomedias,” and is chiefly, but not wholly, in Spanish.

[460] The first of these three Autos, the “Barca do Inferno,” was represented, in 1517, before the queen, Maria of Castile, in her sick-chamber, when she was suffering under the dreadful disease of which she soon afterwards died. Like the “Barca do Purgatorio,” (1518,) it is in Portuguese, but the remaining Auto, the “Barca da Gloria,” (1519,) is in Spanish. The last two were represented in the royal chapel. The moral play of Lope de Vega which was suggested by them is the one called “The Voyage of the Soul,” and is found in the First Book of his “Peregrino en su Patria.” The opening of Vicente’s play resembles remarkably the setting forth of the Demonio on his voyage in Lope, besides that the general idea of the two fictions is almost the same. On the other side of the account, Vicente shows himself frequently familiar with the old Spanish literature. For instance, in one of his Portuguese Farças, called “Dos Físicos,” (Tom. III. p. 323,) we have—

plainly a parody of the well-known and beautiful old Spanish ballad beginning—

a ballad which, so far as I know, can be traced no farther back than the ballad-book of 1555, or, at any rate, that of 1550, while here we have a distinct allusion to it before 1536, giving a curious proof how widely this old popular poetry was carried about by the memories of the people before it was written down and printed, and how much it was used for dramatic purposes from the earliest period of theatrical compositions.

[461] This “Auto da Fé,” as it is strangely called, is in Spanish (Obras, Tom. I. pp. 64, etc.); but there is one in Portuguese, represented before John III., (1527,) which is still more strangely called “Breve Summario da Historia de Deos,” the action beginning with Adam and Eve, and ending with the Saviour. Ibid., I. pp. 306, etc.

[462] Joam de Barros, the historian, in his dialogue on the Portuguese Language, (Varias Obras, Lisboa, 1785, 12mo, p. 222,) praises Vicente for the purity of his thoughts and style, and contrasts him proudly with the Celestina; “a book,” he adds, “to which the Portuguese language has no parallel.”

[463] His touching verses, “Ven, muerte, tan escondida,” so often cited, and at least once in Don Quixote, (Parte II. c. 38,) are found as far back as the Cancionero of 1511; but I am not aware that Escriva’s “Quexa de su Amiga” can be found earlier than in the Cancionero, Sevilla, 1535, where it occurs, f. 175. b, etc. He himself, no doubt, flourished about the year 1500-1510. But I should not, probably, have alluded to him here, if he had not been noticed in connection with the early Spanish theatre, by Martinez de la Rosa (Obras, Paris, 1827, 12mo, Tom. II. p. 336). Other poems, written in dialogue, by Alfonso de Cartagena, and by Puerto Carrero, occur in the Cancioneros Generales, but they can hardly be regarded as dramatic; and Clemencin twice notices Pedro de Lerma as one of the early contributors to the Spanish drama; but he is not mentioned by Moratin, Antonio, Pellicer, or any of the other authors who would naturally be consulted in relation to such a point. Don Quixote, ed. Clemencin, Tom. IV. p. viii., and Memorias de la Academia de Historia, Tom. VI. p. 406.

[464] Three editions of it are cited by L. F. Moratin, (Catálogo, No. 20,) the earliest of which is in 1515. My copy, however, is of neither of them. It is dated Çaragoça, 1544, (folio,) and is at the end of the “Problemas” and of the other works of Villalobos, which also precede it in the editions of 1543 and 1574.

[465] It fills about twenty-six pages and six hundred lines, chiefly in octave stanzas, in the edition of Antwerp, 1576, and contains a detailed account of the circumstances attending its representation.

[466] This notice of Naharro is taken from the slight accounts of him contained in the letter of Juan Baverio Mesinerio prefixed to the “Propaladia” (Sevilla, 1573, 18mo) as a life of its author, and from the article in Antonio, Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 202.

[467] Antonio (Preface to Biblioteca Nova, Sec. 29) says he bred young men to become soldiers by teaching them to read romances of chivalry.

[468] “Intitulélas” (he says, “Al Letor”) “Propaladia a Prothon, quod est primum, et Pallade, id est, primæ res Palladis, a differencia de las que segundariamente y con mas maduro estudio podrian succeder.” They were, therefore, probably written when he was a young man.

[469] I have never seen the first edition, which is sometimes said to have been printed at Naples (Ebert, etc.) and sometimes (Moratin, etc.) at Rome; but as it was dedicated to one of its author’s Neapolitan patrons, and as Mesinerio, who seems to have been a personal acquaintance of its author, implies that it was, at some time, printed at Naples, I have assigned its first edition to that city. Editions appeared at Seville in 1520, 1533, and 1545; one at Toledo, 1535; one at Madrid, 1573; and one without date at Antwerp. I have used the editions of Seville, 1533, small quarto, and Madrid, 1573, small 18mo; the latter being expurgated, and having “Lazarillo de Tórmes” at the end. There were but six plays in the early editions; the “Calamita” and “Aquilana” being added afterwards.

[470] “Viendo assi mismo todo el mundo en fiestas de Comedias y destas cosas,” is part of his apology to Don Fernando Davalos for asking leave to dedicate them to him.

[471] Trissino’s “Sofonisba” was written as early as 1515, though not printed till later.

[472] “Jornadas,” days’-work, days’-journey, etc. The old French mysteries were divided into journées or portions each of which could conveniently be represented in the time given by the Church to such entertainments on a single day. One of the mysteries in this way required forty days for its exhibition.

[473] La Aquilana.

[474] La Calamita.

[475] “Comedia á noticia” he calls them, in the Address to the Reader, and “comedia á fantasía”; and explains the first to be “de cosa nota y vista en realidad,” illustrating the remark by his plays on recruiting and on the riotous life of a cardinal’s servants. His comedias are extremely different in length; one of them extending to about twenty-six hundred lines, which would be very long, if represented, and another hardly reaching twelve hundred. All, however, are divided into five jornadas.

[476] In the Dedication of “La Francesilla” in his Comedias, Tom. XIII. Madrid, 1620, 4to.

[477] The “Aquilana,” absurd as its story is, approaches, perhaps, even nearer to absolute regularity in its form.

[478] This is an old proverb, “A otro can con esse huesso.” It occurs more than once in Don Quixote. A little lower we have another, “Ya las toman do las dan,”—“Where they give, they take.” Naharro is accustomed to render his humorous dialogue savory by introducing such old proverbs frequently.

[479]

Propaladia, Madrid, 1573, 18mo, f. 222.

[480] There is a good deal of art in Naharro’s verse. The “Hymenea,” for instance, is written in twelve-line stanzas; the eleventh being a pie quebrado, or broken line. The “Jacinta” is in twelve-line stanzas, without the pie quebrado. The “Calamita” is in quintillas, connected by the pie quebrado. The “Aquilana” is in quartetas, connected in the same way; and so on. But the number of feet in each of his lines is not always exact, nor are the rhymes always good, though, on the whole, a harmonious result is generally produced.

[481] He partly apologizes for this in his Preface to the Reader, by saying that Italian words are introduced into the comedias because of the audiences in Italy. This will do, as far as the Italian is concerned; but what is to be said for the other languages that are used? In the Introyto to the “Serafina,” he makes a jest of the whole, telling the audience,—

No doubt his comedias were exhibited before only a few persons, who were able to understand the various languages they contained, and found them only the more amusing for this variety.

[482] It is singular, however, that a very severe passage on the Pope and the clergy at Rome, in the “Jacinta,” was not struck out, ed. 1573, f. 256. b;—a proof, among many others, how capriciously and carelessly the Inquisition acted in such matters. In the Index of 1667, (p. 114,) only the “Aquilana” is prohibited.

[483] As the question, whether Naharro’s plays were acted in Italy or not, has been angrily discussed between Lampillas (Ensayo, Madrid, 1789, 4to, Tom. VI. pp. 160-167) and Signorelli (Storia dei Teatri, Napoli, 1813, 8vo, Tom. VI. pp. 171, etc.), in consequence of a rash passage in Nasarre’s Prólogo to the Plays of Cervantes, (Madrid, 1749, 4to,) I will copy the original phrase of Naharro himself, which had escaped all the combatants, and in which he says he used Italian words in his plays, “aviendo respeto al lugar, y á las personas, á quien se recitaron.” Neither of these learned persons knew even that the first edition of the “Propaladia” was probably printed in Italy, and that one early edition was certainly printed there.

[484] “Las mas destas obrillas andavan ya fuera de mi obediencia y voluntad.”

[485] In the opening of the Introyto to the “Trofea.”

[486] I am quite aware, that, in the important passage already cited from Mendez Silva, on the first acting of plays in 1492, we have the words, “Año de 1492 comenzaron en Castilla las compañías á representar publicamente comedias de Juan de la Enzina”; but what the word publicamente was intended to mean is shown by the words that follow: “festejando con ellas á D. Fadrique de Toledo, Enriquez Almirante de Castilla, y á Don Iñigo Lopez de Mendoza segundo Duque del Infantado.” So that the representations in the halls and chapels of these great houses were accounted public representations.

[487] F. Diez, Troubadours, Zwickau, 1826, 8vo, p. 5.

[488] Sismondi, Histoire des Français, Paris, 1821, 8vo, Tom. III. pp. 239, etc.

[489] E. A. Schmidt, Geschichte Aragoniens im Mittelalter, Leipzig, 1828, 8vo, p. 92.

[490] Barcelona was a prize often fought for successfully by Moors and Christians, but it was finally rescued from the misbelievers in 985 or 986. (Zurita, Anales de Aragon, Lib. I. c. 9.) Whatever relates to its early power and glory may be found in Capmany, (Memorias de la Antigua Ciudad de Barcelona, Madrid, 1779-1792, 4 tom. 4to,) and especially in the curious documents and notes in Tom. II. and IV.

[491] The members of the French Academy, in their continuation of the Benedictine Hist. Litt. de la France, (Paris, 4to, Tom. XVI., 1824, p. 195,) trace it back a little earlier.

[492] Catalan patriotism has denied all this, and claimed that the Provençal literature was derived from Catalonia. See Torres Amat, Prólogo to “Memorias de los Escritores Catalanes,” and elsewhere. But it is only necessary to read what its friends have said in defence of this position, to be satisfied that it is untenable. The simple fact, that the literature in question existed a full century in Provence before there is any pretence to claim its existence in Catalonia, is decisive of the controversy, if there really be a controversy about the matter. The “Memorias para ayudar á formar un Diccionario Crítico de los Autores Catalanes,” etc., by D. Felix Torres Amat, Bishop of Astorga, etc., (Barcelona, 1836, 8vo,) is, however, an indispensable book for the history of the literature of Catalonia; for its author, descended from one of the old and distinguished families of the country, and nephew of the learned Archbishop Amat, who died in 1824, has devoted much of his life and of his ample means to collect materials for it. It contains more mistakes than it should; but a great deal of its information can be obtained nowhere else in a printed form.

[493] See the articles in Torres Amat, Memorias, pp. 104, 105.

[494] The poem is in Raynouard, Troubadours, Tom. III. p. 118. It begins—

The life of its author is in Zurita, “Anales de Aragon” (Lib. II.); but the few literary notices needed of him are best found in Latassa, “Biblioteca Antigua de los Escritores Aragoneses,” (Zaragoza, 1796, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 175,) and in “Histoire Littéraire de la France” (Paris, 4to, Tom. XV. 1820, p. 158). As to the word coblas, I cannot but think—notwithstanding all the refined discussions about it in Raynouard, (Tom. II. pp. 174-178,) and Diez, “Troubadours,” (p. 111 and note,)—that it was quite synonymous with the Spanish coplas, and may, for all common purposes, be translated by our English stanzas, or even sometimes by couplets.

[495] For Pierre Rogiers, see Raynouard, Troubadours, Tom. V. p. 330, Tom. III. pp. 27, etc., with Millot, Hist. Litt. des Troubadours, Paris, 1774, 12mo, Tom. I. pp. 103, etc., and the Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XV. p. 459. For Pierre Raimond de Toulouse, see Raynouard, Tom. V. p. 322, and Tom. III. p. 120, with Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XV. p. 457, and Crescimbeni, Istoria della Volgar Poesia, (Roma, 1710, 4to, Tom. II. p. 55,) where, on the authority of a manuscript in the Vatican, he says of Pierre Raimond, “Andò in corte del Re Alfonso d’Aragona, che l’accolse e molto onorò.” For Aiméric de Péguilain, see Hist. Litt. de la France, Paris, 4to, Tom. XVIII., 1835, p. 684.

[496] Sismondi (Hist. des Français, Paris, 8vo, Tom. VI. and VII., 1823, 1826) gives an ample account of the cruelties and horrors of the war of the Albigenses, and Llorente (Histoire de l’Inquisition, Paris, 1817, 8vo, Tom. I. p. 43) shows the connection of that war with the origin of the Inquisition. The fact, that nearly all the Troubadours took part with the persecuted Albigenses, is equally notorious. Histoire Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. p. 588, and Fauriel, Introduction to the Histoire de la Croisade contre les Hérétiques Albigeois, Paris, 1837, 4to, p. xv.

[497] Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. p. 222, Tom. III. p. 330. Millot, Hist., Tom. II. p. 174.

[498] Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. p. 586.

[499] Ibid., p. 644.

[500] Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp. 382, 386. Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVII. pp. 456-467.

[501] Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. pp. 603-605. Millot, Hist., Tom. I. p. 428.

[502] For this cruel and false chief among the crusaders, praised by Petrarca (Trionfo d’ Amore, C. IV.) and by Dante (Parad., IX. 94, etc.), see Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. p. 594. His poetry is in Raynouard, Troub., Tom. III. pp. 149-162.

[503] This important poem, admirably edited by M. Charles Fauriel, one of the soundest and most genial French scholars of the nineteenth century, is in a series of works on the history of France, published by order of the king of France, and begun under the auspices of M. Guizot, and by his recommendation, when he was Minister of Public Instruction. It is entitled “Histoire de la Croisade contre les Hérétiques Albigeois, écrite en Vers Provençaux, par un Poète contemporain,” Paris, 1837, 4to, pp. 738. It consists of 9578 verses,—the notices of Peter II. occurring chiefly in the first part of it, and the account of his death at vv. 3061, etc.

[504] What remains of his poetry is in Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp. 290, etc., and in Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVII., 1832, pp. 443-447, where a sufficient notice is given of his life.

[505]

[506] Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. p. 553. The poem begins—

[507] Millot, Hist. des Troubadours, Tom. II. pp. 186, etc.

[508] Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. p. 635, and Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. p. 50.

[509] Raynouard, Troub., Tom. V. pp. 261, 262. Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XIX., Paris, 1838, p. 607.

[510] Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XVIII. pp. 571-575.

[511] Ibid., pp. 576-579.

[512] Millot, Hist., Tom. II. p. 92.

[513] Raynouard, Troub., Tom. IV. pp. 203-205.

[514] Ibid., Tom. V. p. 302. Hist. Litt. de la France, Tom. XX., 1842, p. 574.

[515] Quadrio (Storia d’ Ogni Poesia, Bologna, 1741, 4to, Tom. II. p. 132) and Zurita (Anales, Lib. X. c. 42) state it, but not with proof.

[516] In the Guía del Comercio de Madrid, 1848, is an account of the disinterment, at Poblet, in 1846, of the remains of several royal personages who had been long buried there; among which the body of Don Jayme, after a period of six hundred and seventy years, was found remarkably preserved. It was easily distinguished by its size,—for when alive Don Jayme was seven feet high,—and by the mark of an arrow-wound in his forehead which he received at Valencia, and which was still perfectly distinct. An eyewitness declared that a painter might have found in his remains the general outline of his physiognomy. Faro Industrial de la Habana, 6 Abril, 1848.

[517] Its first title is “Aureum Opus Regalium Privilegiorum Civitatis et Regni Valentiæ,” etc., but the work itself begins, “Comença la conquesta per lo serenisimo e Catholich Princep de inmortal memoria, Don Jaume,” etc. It is not divided into chapters nor paged, but it has ornamental capitals at the beginning of its paragraphs, and fills 42 large pages in folio, double columns, litt. goth., and was printed, as its colophon shows, at Valencia, in 1515, by Diez de Gumiel.

[518] Rodriguez, Biblioteca Valentina, Valencia, 1747, fol., p. 574. Its title is “Chrónica o Commentari del Gloriosissim e Invictissim Rey En Jacme, Rey d’ Aragò, de Mallorques, e de Valencia, Compte de Barcelona e de Urgell e de Muntpeiller, feita e scrita per aquell en sa llengua natural, e treita del Archiu del molt magnifich Rational de la insigne Ciutat de Valencia, hon stava custodita.” It was printed under the order of the Jurats of Valencia, by the widow of Juan Mey, in folio, in 1557. The Rational being the proper archive-keeper, the Jurats being the council of the city, and the work being dedicated to Philip II., who asked to see it in print, all needful assurance is given of its genuineness. Each part is divided into very short chapters; the first containing one hundred and five, the second one hundred and fifteen, and so on. A series of letters, by Jos. Villaroya, printed at Valencia, in 1800, (8vo,) to prove that James was not the author of this Chronicle, are ingenious, learned, and well written, but do not, I think, establish their author’s position.

[519] Alfonso was born in 1221 and died in 1284, and Jayme I., whose name, it should be noted, is also spelt Jaume, Jaime, and Jacme, was born in 1208 and died in 1276. It is probable, as I have already said, that Alfonso’s Chronicle was written a little before 1260; but that period was twenty-one years after the date of all the facts recorded in Jayme’s account of the conquest of Valencia. In connection with the question of the precedence of these two Chronicles may be taken the circumstance, that it has been believed by some persons that Jayme attempted to make Catalan the language of the law and of all public records, thirty years before the similar attempt already noticed was made by Alfonso X. in relation to the Castilian. Villanueva, Viage Literario á las Iglesias de España, Valencia, 1821, Tom. VII. p. 195.

Another work of the king remains in manuscript. It is a moral and philosophical treatise, called “Lo Libre de la Saviesa,” or The Book of Wisdom, of which an account may be found in Castro, Biblioteca Española, Tom. II. p. 605.

[520] Probably the best notice of Muntaner is to be found in Antonio, Bib. Vetus (ed. Bayer, Vol. II. p. 145). There is, however, a more ample one in Torres Amat, Memorias, (p. 437,) and there are other notices elsewhere. The title of his Chronicle is “Crónica o Descripcio dels Fets e Hazanyes del Inclyt Rey Don Jaume Primer, Rey Daragò, de Mallorques, e de Valencia, Compte de Barcelona, e de Munpesller, e de molts de sos Descendents, feta per lo magnifich En Ramon Muntaner, lo qual servi axi al dit inclyt Rey Don Jaume com á sos Fills e Descendents, es troba present á las Coses contengudes en la present Historia.” There are two old editions of it; the first, Valencia, 1558, and the second, Barcelona, 1562; both in folio, and the last consisting of 248 leaves. It was evidently much used and trusted by Zurita. (See his Anales, Lib. VII. c. 1, etc.) A neat edition of it in large 8vo, edited by Karl Lanz, was published in 1844, by the Stuttgard Verein, and a translation of it into German, by the same accomplished scholar, appeared at Leipzig in 1842, in 2 vols. 8vo.