502 Mr. BowHng's "Ancient Podr 



we rejoice to sec that bo has now turned 

 liis iitteiition to the loiij;-iieglecioil lite- 

 ralitre of Spain. Another geiiilcman 

 has infleed preceded him; hut, althoiin^li 

 an elegant versifier, he evidently does 

 not well understand his ori<rinals, and 

 is besides <irnssly ij^norant of (he prin- 

 ciples on which Spanish romantic poetry 

 is composed, a slarinu: proof of vviiich is 

 ojivcn by his ove.vlouhing the assonante 

 rliyditn, and mistaking for blank verse 

 ■what is iu reality the perfeelion of 

 rhytnc. We are ratlier grieved tli;it 

 Mr. JjowringjWho is a universal literato, 

 did not prefix to liic present volume a 

 dissertation on tiic rise and progress of 

 Spanish poetry ; it is an interesting sub- 

 ject, and an abstruse one. Maria 

 Equicola, liv. 1, ch. 1, "Dc la Nature 

 d'Amour," assures us, that Provence is 

 the place where poetry was regenerated, 

 after the decline and fall of classic lite- 

 rature, from whence it was diffused 

 Ihrongh Spain and all the other coun- 

 tries of Europe, Germany not excepted; 

 for he asserts, and indeed Eginard him- 

 self bears him out, that Cliarlemagno* 

 frequently diverted himself with writing 

 out and gelling by heart ancient Bar- 

 baric verses ; in which, among the reci- 

 tals of heroic actions, were rccoydcd 

 the glories of his predecessors. "'Bar- 

 bara et anliquissima carmina quibiis 

 vcteriim regimi actus et siesta caiwbut 

 scripsisse mcmoriaque mniidasse." 'I'lic- 

 gati, in his Life of Louis the Debonair, 

 son to the emperor, says that this prince, 

 iti imitation of his father, had in his 

 youth found much rational pleasure and 

 amusement from these verses; but that, 

 Ids temper being soured by an ohi age 

 checquercd with cares and solicitudes, 

 lie had at last neither patience to read, 

 nor to suffer them to be recited in his 

 presence. " Poetica carmina gentilia 

 qme in juveiitiite dedicere respuit, nee 

 leffere, nee audire, nee docere, voluit.'" 



The language and poetry of S[)ain arc 

 Loth much indebted to the Moriscoes, 

 who enriched the one with Arabic 

 words, and east over the other the bril- 

 liant polish of eastern 'ma'^^ery. The 

 original Song, from whicli Mr. Bowring 

 has made the following beautiful Irans- 

 lation, is worthy of JJafitz himself: — 



The gentle zephyrs are blouin;;, 

 The graceful willows tremble, 



The rivulets all are flowing, 



The birds to their songs assemble. 



Alias WiltiUind. 



If and Romances of Spain." [July 1, 



Tlic torrents of the monntain 



Glide gently through the vale, 

 And the music of the fountain 



Makes a concert to the gale. 

 The bees have left tlieir dwelling 



To gather tlieir honied stores. 

 List to their anthems swelling 



Around the bending fJowers, 

 They will hasten homeward, bearing 



Emeralds and coials red, 

 Ami many a topaz wearing. 



With jewels round their head. 

 What diamonds all adorning. 



What pearls tlie flowers disi)lay ; 

 They are waken'd by the morning, 



And scatter'd by the day ; 

 But a cloud the bright sun covers, 



A liown is on his brow. 

 He has sought his favourite lovers,— 



In vain has he soiisht theiu now. 

 Alas ! his smile is hidden, 



My enemy is he, 

 And peace is to me forbidden, 



And sorrow is dealt to me ; 

 And tho' the sun shine bright again. 

 The damsel will say, "'Tis now in vain." 



We sincerely liope that Mr. Bowring; 

 will shortly weave into his poetic gar- 

 land the flowers with which the muse 

 of Portugal has strewed her path. The 

 languages of Spain and Portugal tra- 

 velled side by side, and arrived, nearly 

 at the same moment, to the point of 

 perfection. The histories of Joam de 

 I»arras, published in the middle of the 

 sixteentli century, and translated into 

 all the ciiKivated tongues of Europe, 

 prove that tiic Portuguese is a genuine 

 scion from the great Latin stem. A 

 sufficient number of writers since that 

 time have determined the genius of the 

 language, whose chief characteristics 

 are elegance and perspicuity, being ex- 

 tremely sweet and sonorous, the natural 

 result of a proportionate <piantily of 

 vowels and consonants, the former not 

 following each other loo closely, and 

 enlVebling the harmony, as is the case 

 with the Italian, and the latter not 

 introducing themselves so frecpicnfly, 

 and producing rude and harsh sounds, 

 as in the languages of the North. All 

 these natural advantages have incited, 

 and still incite, the nation to the cultiva- 

 tion of i)oetry. But we advise Mr. 

 Bowring to overlook all tiiat which is 

 wiittcn anterior to the fifteenth century, 

 most of which may be found in the 

 celebrated Cancionero of I{escnde;and 

 to begin to translate from an epoch 

 nearer to our own, and to let that epoch 

 be dctcriiiincd by the illustrious La dc 

 Aiiraiida. 



To 



