268 For instance, one to Doña Ana de Xomburg begins thus:—

269 The song addressed to Ana de Xomburg, quoted above, ends with a burlesque joke:—

270 The following is on the indisposition of a mistress:—

271 In the original this Spanish Ranz de Vache is uncommonly simple and pretty:—

272 A predisposition to yield to temptation, is thus attributed to Eve:—

273 The following lines afford a fair specimen of the style of the whole dialogue.

274 The following passage from a satire on Court Life, is tolerably characteristic of Castillejo’s whole course of thought in works of this kind:—

275 See page 131.

276 The only unadulterated source from which all authors have hitherto derived their information relative to the earliest history of the Spanish drama, is Cervantes’s well known preface to his Ocho Comedias y Entremeses, an edition of which was published in two vols. quarto, by Blas Nasarre, at Madrid, in 1749. To this may be added the preface of the editor, Blas Nasarre, though it is but of secondary value, and has given occasion to singular mistakes. The article Comödie, in Blankenburg’s appendix to Sulzer’s dictionary, though rather obscure, communicates some useful facts.

277 Velasquez, in his History of Spanish Poetry, alludes but very distantly to the heterogeneous nature of the Spanish dramas; and Dieze is not more satisfactory in his Remarks. What is contained in Flögel’s History of Comic Literature, vol. iv. respecting the origin of the Spanish drama, is copied from Velasquez and other modern writers. Signorelli has more novelty of information in his Storia Critica de Teatri, vol. iv. but he confounds the notices one with another, and reasons on the Spanish drama merely as a moral critic.

278 This translation, which is only remarkable on account of the reputation of its author, may be found in the Obras del Maestro Perez de Oliva, Cordova, 1586, in 4to.

279 Velasquez and Dieze, p. 315, give further notices of these translations.

280 See page 132.

281 Tragedia Policiana, en que se tratan los amores—executadas por la industria de la diabolica Vieja Claudina, &c. The title is a sufficient specimen of the work. See Velasquez and Dieze, p. 312.

282 Dieze in his Remarks on Velasquez, gives a further account of these works. He also notices a second Cœlestina, (Segunda Comedia de Celestina.)

283 These writers are Nicolas Antonio, and Blas Nasarre, the editor of the comedies of Cervantes.

284 This collection of the plays and other poems of Naharro is mentioned by Nicolas Antonio, and also by Dieze. I have never seen it: and in the numerous collections of Spanish dramas by various authors, with which I am acquainted, I have sought in vain for the productions of Naharro. Blankenburg speaks of them as if he had read them; and Signorelli expressly says, that he has perused them all. Among the passages quoted by the latter, in order to justify the contemptuous tone in which he criticises the writings of Naharro, is a line of corrupt Portuguese. May not this be Galician? The modern comic writers of Spain occasionally make their clowns converse in the Galician dialect.

285 Cervantes attributes to himself the invention of dividing a drama into three jornadas. How happens this? Cervantes was a vain man, but not an empty boaster. He seems to have been totally unacquainted with the dramas of Naharro, but he might have heard of the division of plays into three jornadas, without retaining a distinct recollection of the fact. In this way his memory may have deceived him, when he supposed that the division originated with himself. And yet it is singular enough that in his Galathea, he mentions, among other poets, the artificioso Torres Naharro.

286 Concerning these collections, see Dieze’s Remarks on Velasquez, p. 316. I am acquainted with only two:—one is entitled, Los Coloquios Pastoriles de muy agraziada y apacible prosa, &c. por el excellente poeta, y gracioso representante Lope de Rueda, sacados a luz por Juan Timoneda; Sevilla 1576, in small octavo, printed in gothic characters. The other is entitled: Las segundas dos Comedias de Rueda, without date, but printed in the same type and form as the first mentioned collection.

287 The following specimen of the dialogue of these comedies is from a scene in which a clown quarrels with his wife:—

Gine. Aun teneis lengua para hablar, anima de cantaro?

Pablo. Dote al diabro muger, no ternas un poco de miramiento. Si quiera por las barbas de la merced que esta delante.

Gine. He callad anima de campana.

Pab. Que es anima de campana, muger?

Gine. Que? badajo como vos.

Pab. Badajo a vuestro marido? deme essegar rote vuessa merced.

Gine. Assi, garrote para mi, al fin no seriades vos hijo de Guarniço el enxalmador, cura bestias.

Pab. Y parescete a ti mal, porque sea hijo de bendicion.

Camilo. Ay amarga, y como hijo de bendicion? &c.

288 The emphatic praises of the publisher of the Parnaso Español, represent Juan de la Cueva as a poet of the first rank. See the literary notices prefixed to the eighth volume of that collection. The works of Cueva are there mentioned with the dates of their various editions. See also Dieze’s Remarks on Velasquez, p. 202.

289 It may be found in the eighth vol. of the Parnaso Español as it was first printed.

290 He thus expresses himself relative to the changes which the drama has undergone:—

291

292

293 See the preface of Blas Nasarre, the latest editor of the plays of Cervantes.

294 This at least is stated by Nasarre.

295 See the account prefixed to the sixth vol. of the Parnaso Español, and Dieze’s Remarks on Velasquez, p. 200.

296 Primeras tragedias Españoles, de Antonio de Silva, is the title of the edition which I have now before me, published at Madrid, in 1577, in 8vo.

297 This piece of silly adulation, is entitled Hesperodia; that is to say, evening song or morning song. The former, however, appears to be the more appropriate title, since the author doubtless wrote it in his old age. It has been drawn from the obscurity in which it ought to have remained, and printed in the eighth vol. of the Parnaso Español. Bermudez, in an affected strain of language, and with true Dominican fanaticism, extols the monstrous barbarity with which the great Duke of Alba persecuted the heretics of the Netherlands, and made “the cold northern waters flow the more fiercely from the infusion of warm blood.”

298 Under these titles they are reprinted in the Parnaso Español, vol. vi.

299 It commences in the following manner:—

300 A few lines of this scene will serve to shew how Bermudez has imitated the dialogic antitheses of the Greek tragedy.

301 Here the chorus, like the other characters of the play, speaks in iambics; for example:—

302 Only the latter part of this scene can conveniently be transcribed here. Ines speaks:—

303 Libro de caballeria celestial del pie de la rosa fragrante, &c. por D. Geronymo de Sanpedro. Anvers, 1554, in 8vo. The Gottingen university possesses a copy of this book.

304 This phrase occurs in a preface which Venegas wrote to a moral allegorical novel by Luis Mexia, which will hereafter be noticed.

305 I have seen only the Primera parte de las Patrañas de Juan Timoneda, Sevilla, 1583, in 8vo.

306 See Nicolas Antonio, article Alfonso de Ulloa.

307 Nicolas Antonio does not mention the date of either his birth or death. More precise information respecting him may be found in the sixth vol. of the Parnaso Español.

308 See p. 280.

309 This dialogue, with the continuation by Ambrosio de Morales, and other works of a similar kind, have been elegantly printed under the general title of Obras, que Cervantes de Salazar ha hecho, glosado y traducido, &c. Madrid, 1772, in 4to.

310 For example:—

Aur. Bien veo, Antonio, que ai essos provechos que dices de la soledad: pero yo tengo creido, que otra causa mayor ai. Ant. Que causa puede aver mayor? Aur. El aborrecimento, que cada hombre tiene al genero humano, por el qual somos inclinados a apartarnos unos de otros. Ant. Tan aborrecibles te parecen los hombres, que aun ellos mesmos por huir de sì, busquen la soledad? Aur. Pareceme tanto, que cada vez que me acuerdo, que soi hombre, querria, o no aver sido, o no tener sentimiento dello. Ant. Maravillome, Aurelio, que los autores excelentes, que acostumbras a leer, i los sabios hombres, que conversas, no te ayan quitado de esse error.

311 As for instance in the annexed passage:—

Assi que todos estos i los demas estados de los hombres no son sino diversos modos de penar, do ningun descanso tienen, ni seguridad en alguno dellos: porque la fortuna todos los confunde, i los revuelve con vanas esperanzas i vanos semblantes de honras i riquezas, en las quales cosas mostrando quan facil es i quan incierta, a todos mete en desseos de valer, tan desordenados, que no ai lugar tan alto, do los queramos dejar. Con estos escarnios de fortuna cada uno aborrece su estado con codicia de los otros; do si llega, no halla aquel reposo que pensaba. Porque todos los bienes de fortuna al dessear parecen hermosos, i al gozar llenos de pena.

312 For example the conclusion of the discourse of Aurelio, who, it is true, describes rather than censures the dark side of human society:—

Todo esto se va en humo, hasta que tornan los hombres a estar en tanto olvido, como antes que naciessen: i la misma vanidad se sigue despues, que primero avia. Hasta aquí, Dinarco, me ha parecido decir del hombre: agora yo lo dejo él i su fama enterrados en olvido perdurable: i no sé con que razones tu, Antonio, podrás resucitarlo. Dale vida, si pudieres, i consuelo contra tantos males, como has oido: que si tu assi lo hicieres, yo seré vencido de buena gana, pues tu vitoria será gloria para mi, que me veré constituido en mas excelente estado, que pensava.

313 Only this treatise of Morales Sobre la lengua Castellana, is reprinted in the collection mentioned in note, page 309.

314 The following passage from the treatise on the Spanish language, forms an addition to the history of rhetorical cultivation of prose rhetoric among the Spaniards in the age of Morales:—

Para que pues era este cuidado? de que servia esta diligencia entre gente tan prudente i de tanto miramiento, si naturaleza lo suplia, i avia ella de hazerlo mejor? Veían sin duda, como sin tales exemplos no se podia perfeccionar el uso della lengua en aquella parte, i que a faltar lo que proveian, faltaria el bien que deseavan: i lo mismo es en las formas i maneras particulares de hablar, que llaman phrasis, i en todas las otras partes del lenguage, donde ayudada naturaleza con el mejor uso, saca mas ventaja i perfeccion. Pues qué los otros, que todo lo tienen en Castellano por afectado? estos quieren condenar nuestra lengua a un estraño abatimiento, i como enterrarla viva, donde miserablemente se corrompa i pierda todo su lustre, su lindeza i hermosura: o desconfian, que no es para parecer, i esta es ignorancia; o no la quieren adornar como deven, i esta es maldad. Yo no digo que afeites nuestra lengua Castellana, sino que le laves la cara. No le pintes el rostro, mas quitale la suciedad: no la vistas de bordados, recamos, mas no le niegues un buen atavio de vestido, que aderece con gravedad.

315 Fourteen of the discourses of Morales, form an appendix to his edition of the Obras de Perez de Oliva, already mentioned.

316 This treatise also forms an appendix to the collection before-mentioned.

317 Hence the title: Obras que Francisco Cervantes de Salazar ha hecho, glosado, y traducido. See note, p. 309.

318 As a useful moral book, this romance is, perhaps, worthy of being translated or new modelled. Tasteless morality is, to be sure, no more commendable in literature than tasteful immorality; and any attempt to revive the fashion of moral allegories would deserve condemnation. But a work like the allegorical romance of Mexia, might probably possess more value than many of our modern tales for youth.

319 Los cinco libro primeros de la Coronica General de España, recopilava el Maestro Florian de Ocampo, &c. Alcalà, 1578, in folio. This is the first, and, perhaps, the only edition of the work.

320 Mi principal intencion, he says, ha seido, contar la verdad entera y sencilla, sin que en ella aya engaño ni cosa que le adorne—sin envolver en ella las rhetoricas y vanidades, que por otros libros deste nuestro tiempo se ponen.

321 This is the Coronica General de España por Don Ambrosio de Morales; Alcalà de Henàres, 1574, in folio.

322 See my History of Italian Literature, vol. ii.

323 Anales de la corona de Aragon, Caragoça, 1616, six vols. small folio. This work was not printed till after the death of Philip II. The two last volumes contain the history of foreign affairs in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

324 He says:—

Esta fue muy acatada entre todas gentes, porque siempre convino tener presente lo passado, y considerar con quanta constancia se deve fundar una perpetua paz y concordia civil, pues no se puede ofrecer mayor peligro, que la mudança de los estados en la declinacion de los tiempos. Teniendo cuenta con esto, siendo todos los sucesos tan inciertos a todos, y sabiendo quan pequeñas ocasiones suelen ser causa de grandes mudanças, el conocimiento de las cosas passadas nos enseñara, que tengamos por mas dichoso y bienaventurado el estado presente: y que estemos siempre con recelo del que està por venir.

325 The following observations, concerning the conduct of professors of moral philosophy, may serve as a specimen of Pedro de Oliva’s eloquence:—

Yo en contrario dello no dire de mi lastimas ningunas, porque no lo acostumbro en tales casos. Pero si la cathedra de philosophia moral supiesse hablar, que lastimas piensan vuestras mercedes que diria? Ella por si diria, que miren quan olvidada ha estado, y quan escureceda, muchas vezes por passiones de los que la han proveydo, y que miren, que agora la demandan unos llorando, y otros no se en que confiando; y que unos la quieren, para cumplir sus necessidades, y otros para cumplir las agenas: no siendo aquesto lo que ella ha menester. Porque ella demanda hombre, que en las adversidades no gima, ni en los casos de justicia solicite.

326 As Philip II. is but little known in the character of a letter writer, it may not be improper to quote a passage which reflects honour on him as a man:—

La verdad, i cumplimiento de lo que se dice, i promete, es el fundamento del credito, i estimacion de los hombres, i sobre que estriva, i se funda el trato comun, i confianza. Esto se requiere, i es mucho mas necessario en los mui principales, i que tienen grandes, i publicos cargos; porque de su verdad, i cumplimiento depende la Fé, i seguridad publica. Encargoos mucho, que tengais en esto gran cuenta, i cuidado; i se entienda, i conozca en Vos en todas partes, i ocasiones, el credito, que pueden, i deven tener de lo que digeredes: que demàs de lo que toca a las cosas publicas, i de vuestro cargo, importa èsto mucho a vuestro particular honor i estimacion.

327 This collection is entitled: Cartas morales, militares, civiles y literarias de varios autores Españoles, recogidos, &c. por D. Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, 1734, in 8vo. Most of these letters are productions of the sixteenth century.

328 See page 265. The title-page of this book, which runs as follows—Philosophia Antigua Poetica, del Doctor Alonzo Lopez Pinciano, Medico Cesareo, dirigida al Conde Joannes Kevenhiler (Khevenhüller), &c.—also contains a full detail of the titles of the Count to whom it is dedicated. It was printed at Madrid, 1596, in quarto.

329 Velasquez and Dieze, p. 505, furnish bibliographic notices of the works of these authors. See also Blankenburgh on the same subject.

330 Cervantes spent that portion of his life, during which his name is particularly conspicuous, among Spanish poets, so remote from literary society, that at his death sufficient notices did not exist to form a complete narrative of his life. The well known biography by Mayans y Siscar, which was not written till the eighteenth century, deserved to be valued only for want of a better. It is prefixed to many editions of Don Quixote. The preference, however, must be given to the more recent life of Cervantes, by Don Vicente de los Rios, which is prefixed to the splendid edition of Don Quixote, published at Madrid, 1781, in royal quarto.

331 In his Viage al Parnaso, chap. iv. he says:—

332 Don Vicente de los Rios entertains so little doubt of the reality of the romantic events, recorded in the Captive, that he has interwoven them in his account of the life of Cervantes.

333 These dramas must not be confounded with the eight well known comedies which Cervantes subsequently wrote. His tragedy of Numantia, and his comedy of Life in Algiers, (Trato de Argel) appear to have been written at an earlier period.

334 For example, when Don Quixote speaks of the achievements of the old knights, he always uses the antiquated expression:—Las fazañas que han fecho, instead of hazañas que han hecho.

335 In the original Spanish, the term insula is uniformly employed instead of the common word isla. Sancho probably understood what an isla signified; but an insula was a word which conveyed to his mind the idea of something magical and extraordinary. He accordingly takes a great pleasure in emphatically repeating it.

336 As one specimen out of many, it will be sufficient to quote the speech of the shepherdess Marcella. It is in the true prose style of Cicero, and it is altogether a composition which has seldom been equalled in any modern language:—

Hizome el Cielo, segun vosotros dezis, hermosa, y de tal manera, que sin ser poderosos à otra cosa, à que me ameys os mueve mi hermosura. Y por al amor que me mostràys, dezis, y aun quereys que estè yo obligada à amaros. Yo conozco con el natural entendimiento, que Dios me ha dado, que todo lo hermoso es amable, mas no alcanço, que por razon de ser amado, esté obligado lo que es amado por hermoso, à amar à quien le ama. Y mas que podria acontecer, que el amador de lo hermoso fuèsse feo; y siendo lo feo digno de ser aborrecido, càe muy mal el dezir: Quièrote por hermosa, hasme de amar, aunque sea feo. Pero puesto caso que corran igualmente las hermosuras, no por esso han de correr iguales los desseos; que no todas las hermosùras enamòran, que algunas alegran la vista, y no riuden la voluntad: que si todas las bellezas enamorassèn, y rindiessèn: serià un andar las voluntades confusas, y descaminadas, sin saber en qual avian de parar; porque siendo infinitos los Sujetos hermosos, infinitos avian de ser los dessèos: y segun yo he oydo dezir, el verdadero Amor no se divide, y ha de ser voluntario, y no forçoso.

337 From rincon (a corner), and cortar (to shorten or cut). They are merely two humorous names for pick-pockets or purse-cutters. To those who wish to become acquainted with the Novelas Exemplares, I would recommend the edition published at Madrid in 1783, by Antonio Sancha, which as far as I know is the latest.

338 A new and elegant edition of the Galatea was printed at Madrid in 1784, by Antonio Sancha.

339 The following is a specimen of Cervantes’s Versos de Arte Mayor:—

340 The subjoined extract will shew that Cervantes endeavoured to combine in his sonnets the old Spanish style with that of Petrarch.

341 It commences with the following sonorous stanzas:—