of Lo]pe Felix de 



Mil y quinientas fabulas admira 

 J^ue la mayor el numero parece ; 

 Verdad, que desmerece 

 Por parccer mentira, 

 Pues mas de ciento enhoras vientre quatro 

 Pdssaron de las musas al teatro. 

 Should I the titles now relate 



Of plays my endless labour bore, 



Well might you doubt, the list so great. 



Such reams ot paper scrilibled o'er ; 



Plots, imitations, scenes, and all the rest. 



To verse reduced, in flowers of rhetoric dresC. 



The number of my fables told 



Would seem the greatest of them all j 

 For, strange, of dramas you behold 

 Full fifteen hundred mine I call ; 

 And full a hundred times,— within a day 

 Passed from my muse upon the stage a play. 

 VOLUMINOUS POETS IN SPAIN. 



Though Lope is the most wonderful, 

 lie is not the only Spanish author the 

 number of whose verses approaches to a 

 miracle. La Cueba mentions one who 

 had written one thousand plays in four 

 acts; some millions of Latin lines were 

 composed by Mariner; and innny hun> 

 dred dramatic compositions are still ex- 

 tant of Calderon, as well as of authors of 

 inferior merit. It was not uncommon 

 even for the nobility of Philip ihe Fourth's 

 time 10 converse for some minutes in ex- 

 tempore poetry; and, in carelessness of 

 metre, as well as in common. place 

 iinaj;es, the verses of that time often re- 

 mind us of the iniprovisatori of Italy, 



HIS CORONA TRAOICA. 



The Herniosura de Angelica, which I 

 have examined above, is perhaps the 

 Lest of his hemic poems, though during 

 liis life the Corona Tragica, hib poem on 

 Mary Queen of Scots, attracted more no- 

 tice and secured him more praise. When 

 however we conslHer the quarter in 

 which lliese eiicomiums originated, we 

 may suspect that they were bestowed on 

 the orthodoxy rather rhan the poetry of 

 the work. When Lope pubbkiied it, rhe 

 passions which relij;ii)us dissension had 

 excited tlirout;h(iut Europe had not sub- 

 sided. The indiscriminate abuse of r)ne 

 lect was still sufficient to procure any 

 work a favoiiralile reception with the 

 other; and the Corona Trasiicn, the sub. 

 jcct of which was fortunat* ly chosen for 

 such a purpose, was not deficient in that 

 reoomincndation. Queen Rlizabeih is a 

 bloody Jezebel, a second Alhaliah, an 

 obdurate sphynx, and the incestuous 

 progeny of a harpy. lie tells us also ill 

 the preface, that any author who ctiio 

 lures his kin^ and natural niiis^er is a 



Eerfidious traitor, unworthy and tncapa- 

 le of all honours, civil or military. In 

 the second book he proves himself fully 

 1 



Fega Carpio. 623 



exennpt from such a reproach by se» 

 lecting for the topics of his praise the ac- 

 tions of the .Spanish monarch, which 

 seem the least to admit of apology or ex- 

 cuse. He finds nothing in the wisdom or 

 activity of Charles V. so praise-worthy 

 as his treachery to the protestants. 

 Philip II., whom he almost ventures to 

 censure for not murdering Queen Eliza- 

 beth during her «ister's reign, is most ad- 

 mired for sacrificing the interest of his 

 crown, the peace and prosperity of his 

 dominions, at the shrine of oitiiodoxy : 



There is no supernatmal agency in 

 this poem; but it has not sufficient merit 

 in other respects to allow us to draw from 

 its failure any argument in favour of such 

 machinery. The speech ot Mary vvhen 

 her sentence is announced is the only 

 passage I found in it rising at ail above 

 mediocrity: 



Gracias os debo dar, nobles varones, 

 Por esta nueva desventura, dixo; 

 Aunque terrible de su'rir, lastima 

 Esta porcion mortal que el alma animi. 



Confieso ingenuamente que si fuera 



En Francia o en Escocia con mi esposo, 

 Aunque en extrema edad la nueva oyer»» 

 Me diera horror el caso lastimoso. 

 Mas cinco lustros de una carcel fiera, 

 Doiide solo escuchaba el temeroso 

 Ruido de Us armas circunstantes 



Y el miedo de la muerte por instantcJ: 



; Q"^ genero de pena puede darla 

 Ivlas pena que las penas en que vive 

 A quien solo pudiera Gonsolarla 

 La muerte que la vida le apercibe ? 

 L<i muerte es menos pena que esperarla; 

 L'na vez quien la sufre la recibe; 

 Pero por mucho que en valor se extreme 

 Muchas veces la pasa quien la teme. 



J (Jue noche en mi aposento rerogida 

 No vi la muerte en su silencio escuro ? 

 j (^ue aurora amaneciode luz vestida 

 J)ue el alma no asaltase el flaco muro ? 

 j I'.n que sustento no perdi la vida ! 

 jgue lugar para mi dexo seguro 

 Naturaleza, sin ponerme luego 

 Veneno ai labio, o a la torre fuego? 



Abora que ya veis a luz tan clara 

 Llegar mi fin,.carissimos amigos, 

 IJonde la viriaKen solo un goipe par* 



Y <le mi fe tcndre tantos testigos. 

 Mi firme aspecto lo interior declara 



Y libra de asechanzas y enemigos; 

 La iiiuette esperate, inejor dixera 

 Que esperare la vida quando muera. 



Thanks for your news, illus'.rious lords, 



she cried ; 

 I greet the doom that must my griefe 

 decide : 

 Sad though it be, though sense must shrlnic 



from pain. 

 Yet the immortal toul the trial shall sns- 

 Ui% 



