Lord Holland on tJie Lift 



620 



homage, and makes his poem bow sab- 

 mission to tlie Spanish Jerusalen Con- 

 quistada. Cervantes, though discouraged 

 by Lope, and decried by liis admirers, 

 had moderation or prudence enoui;li to 

 acknowledge his merits in his Vi.ige del 

 Parnasso, and still more strongly in the 

 prologue to his comedies. In the former, 

 he addresses him thus: 



Poeta insigne, a cuyo verso o prosa 

 Ninguno le aventaja, ni aun le llega. 

 Distinguished bird , whom none of modern time 

 Can pass or even reach in prose or rhyme. 



The passage in the prologue I shall 

 have occasion to refer to in another place, 

 Whether these expressions of praise were 

 the genuine sentiments of Cervantes, 

 and whether they satisfied Lope and his 

 friends, we cannot now ascertain. Lope 

 had not long to contend with so formi- 

 dable a rival; for Cervantes died soon 

 after this publicatinn, and Itfi his enemy 

 in full possession of the admiration of 

 the public. II iw different has been the 

 judgment of posteriry on the writings of 

 these two men ! Cervantes, who ^-as 

 actually starving in the same street where 

 Lope was living in splendour and pros- 

 perity, has been for two centuries the 

 delight of every nation in Europe; and 

 Lope, notwithaanding the late edition of 

 his works in tweniy-two volumes, is to a 

 great degree neglected in his own. 



Ills KUMEKOUS PUntrCATtONS. 



He seldom passed a year without giving 

 »ome poem to the press; and scarcely a 

 month, or even a week, without pro. 

 ducing some play upon ihe stage. His 

 Pastores de Belen, a work in prose and 

 verse on the Nativity, had confirmed 

 his superiority in pastoral poems; and 

 rhymes, liymns and poems without num- 

 ber on sacred .subjects evinced his zeal in 

 the profession he pmhraced. Philip IV.; 

 the great patron of the Spanish theatre, 

 to which he afterwards is said to have 

 contributed compositions of his own, 

 •ucceeded to the throne of Spain in 16'21. 

 He found Lope in full possession of the 

 Stage, and in the exercise of unlimited 

 authority over the authors, comedians, 

 and audience. New honours and bene- 

 fices were immediately heaped on our 

 poet, and in all probability he wrote oc- 

 casionally plays for the royal palace. 

 He published about the same time, Los 

 Tiiumphos de la Fe ; Las Fortunas de 

 Diana; three novels in prose (unsuc- 

 cessful imitations of Cervantes); Circe, 

 an heroic poem, dedicated to the count 

 duke of Olivares; and Pliiloinena, a sin- 

 gular but tiresome allegory, in the second 



ife atitt Writings 



book of which he vindicates himself, in 

 the person of the nightingale from the 

 accusation of his critics, who are there 

 represented by the thrush. 



Such was his reputation that he began 

 to distrust the sincerity of the public, 

 and seems to have suspected that there 

 was more fashion than real opinion in 

 the extravagance of their applause. This 

 engaged him in a dangerous experiment, 

 the publication of a poem without his 

 name. But, whether the number of iiis 

 productions had gradually formed the 

 public taste to his o»vn standard of ex- 

 cellence, or that his fertile and irregular 

 genius was singularly adapted to the times, 

 the result of this trial confirmed the former 

 judgment of the public. ■ His Soliloquies 

 to God, though printed under a feigned 

 natne, attracted as much notice, ami 

 secured as many admirer?, as any of his 

 former productions. Emboldened pro. 

 hably by this success, he dedicated his 

 Corona Tragica, a poem on the queen of 

 Scots, to pope Urban VIII., who had 

 himself composed an epigram on the 

 subject. Upon this occasion he received 

 from that pontiff a letter ivritten in his 

 own hand, and the degree of doctor of 

 theology. Such a flattering tribute of 

 admiration sanctioned the reverence io 

 which his name was held in Spain, and 

 spread his fame throut:h every catholic 

 country. The cardinal Barberini followed 

 him with veneration in the streets ; the 

 king would stop to gaze at such a prodigy ; 

 the people crowded round him wherever 

 he appeared; the learned and the stu- 

 dious thronged to Madrid from every 

 pait of Spain to see this phcenis of their 

 country, this *' monster of literature;" 

 and even Italians, no extravagant ad- 

 mirers in general of poetry that is not 

 their own, made pilgrimages from their 

 country, for the sole purpose of con- 

 versing with Lope. So associated was 

 the idea of excellence with his name, 

 that it grew in common conversation to 

 signify any thing perfect in its kind: and 

 a Lope diamond, a Lope day, or a Lope 

 woman, became fashionable and familiar 

 modes of expressing their good qualities. 

 His poetry was as advantageous to his 

 fortune as to his fame: the king enriched 

 him with pensions and chaplaincies; the 

 pope honoured him with dignities and 

 preferments; and every nobleman at 

 court aspired to the character of iii« 

 Maecenas, by conferring upon him fre- 

 quent and valuable presents. If his 

 annual income was not more than fifteen 

 hundred ducats, the protit of his plays 

 was enormous, and CeivanCCf insinuates 



