608 
collection of this writer’s works, the Spa- 
nish people anticipate the day when 
justice shall be done to his memory by 
their representatives, and some atonement 
made for the persecution he experienced 
while living. As Jovellanos was amongst 
the few men of our time, who have 
written for posterity, so will the future 
legislators of Europe, as well as of Spain, 
not fail to profit from his immortal 
labours. 
Jovellanos died in extreme poverty: it 
was worthy of those who persecuted him 
through life, to aggravate his sufferings by 
the additional evil of penury. Such con- 
duct on the part of the Court, and the 
misled enthusiasts of Cadiz, who endea- 
voured to blaeken his character while 
living, requires no comment; curses, ‘not 
loud, but deep,” will be heaped on their 
heads by posterity; and when itis recol- 
lected that the treatment of Jovellanos was 
systematically extended to all those who 
had any pretensions to honour, virtue and 
talents, where is the man who will not 
raise his eyes to heaven, and bless the 
day when such a state of things was de- 
stroyed 2 
The Spanish nation looks with anxiety 
for an edition of this great man’s works: 
this is the inheritance of Europe, as well 
as of Spain; and will be a fountain at 
which all civilized nations, who aim at 
perfection in morals and legislation, will 
drink. As a writer, Jovellanos approaches 
nearer the brilliancy of Edmund Burke, 
than any other! can name: but his style 
possessed excellencies which were un- 
known even to the Irish luminary. His 
Tragedy of “Pelayo” has been compared 
to the ‘‘Cato” of Addison, while the 
Comedy of “The Honourable Delin- 
quent,” is equal, in comic power, to those 
of Goldsmith and Sheridan. His Odes 
and Lyric Poetry are not inferior to those 
of Collins, while the Epistles, of which 
his biographer has published four, unite 
the harmony and vigour of Pope and 
Johnson, — 
LIVING LITERATI. 
Notwithstanding all the obstacles 
which have been thrown in the way of 
knowledge during the last six years of 
proscription and misrule, there are num- 
bers here, who, in natural endowments, 
and solid acquirements, do honour to the 
age. It is impossible to repeat the names 
of such men as Lardizabal, Toribio Nunez, 
Cambronero, Herreros, Salas, Cabrera, 
Hermosilla, Reinoso, Vascons, Andujar, 
Clemente, Rodriguez, O’Farril, Fernan- 
dez, Moratin, Gorastiza, and a host of 
' others, in the various branches of legis- 
Blaquiere’s Spain and Spanish Revolution. 
lation, jurisprudence, science, politics, 
history, poetry and the drama, without 
‘acknowledging that Spain still possesses 
writers who require to be more generally 
known to be esteemed and admired. A 
list of those who have laboured in what 
are called the exact sciences, such as as- 
tronomy, chemistry, botany, medicine, 
and the mathematics, during the last 
sixty years, would occupy a large space, 
and prove that the professors of Spain 
have not been either idle or inferior, in 
point of talent, to the best of their con- 
temporaries. But what could be expected 
in a country, where the works of Gas- 
sendi, Descartes and Newton, were ex- 
‘cluded from the Universities, as late as 
1771, because they did not “symbolize” 
with revealed religion! 
It is natural to particularize those, to 
whom I am more especially indebted for 
a considerable portion of the information 
sought for, during my visit to this capital. 
Most willingly would I dwell on the 
merits of Marina and Llorente, two eccle- 
siastics, who have linked their names 
with the civil, religious and political his- 
tory of their country so closely, that both 
must go down the stream of time to- 
gether. 
Quintana is perhaps the only living 
writer of Spain who has endeavoured to 
approximate the biography of her great 
men to the object which Plutarch had in 
view: his lives of illustrious Spaniards, 
published in 1807, is one of the most 
valuable historical works in the language, 
and pre-eminently calculated to animate 
the youth of Spain, in the path of true 
glory. 
In noticing the living writers of Spain, 
I ought not to omit the names of’ Florez 
Estrada, and Puigblanch : both these dis- 
tinguished patriots resided in England 
during the reign of terror here, and both 
published works, which enabled the Bri- 
tish public to form an accurate opinion 
of the condition to which the people of 
‘this country were reduced, under the 
Servile faction. 
JEREMY BENTHAM. 
Of all our writers, Mr. Bentham ought 
to be most satisfied with his reception 
and reputation.in Spain: not less than 
five translations or commentaries on the 
Treatises on Legislation, published by Mr. 
Dumont, have been prepared here, while 
the most enlightened men of the Afran- 
cesados and Liberales look up to him as 
their master in legislation. The learned 
Toribio Nunez has rendered his country 
an immense and incalculable service, hy 
calling its attention to the works of the 
English 
