~ CHARACTERS. 
«© The genius and acquirements * 
ef Gongora are generally acknow- 
ledged by those most conversant in 
Spanish literature, and his histo- 
rical ballads or romances have al- 
ways been esteemed the most per- 
fect specimens of that kind of com- 
position, But his desire of novelty 
led him in his other poems to adopt 
a style of writing so vicious and af- 
fected, that Lope, with all his extra- 
‘vagancies, is a model of purity in 
comparison with him. He was 
however the founder of a scct in lite- 
_rature +. The style called in Cas- 
tilian cultismo owes its origin to him. 
This affectation consists in using lan- 
guage so pedantic, metaphors so 
strained, andconstruction so involv- 
ed, that few readers have the know- 
ledge requisite to understand the 
words, and yet fewer the ingenuity 
to discover the allusion or patience 
to unravel the sentences, These 
authors do not avail themselves of 
the invention of letters for the pur; 
pose of conveying, but of conceal- 
ing their ideas. The art of writing 
reduces itself with them to the talent 
of puzzling and perplexing ; and 
they require in their readers a de- 
gree of ingenuity at least equal to 
their own t. The obscurity of 
Persius is supposed to have rufiled 
the temper of a saint, and an indig- 
nant father of the church is said to 
847 
have condemned his satires to the 
flames, with this passionate but sen. 
sible observation : Sz non viz intel. 
ligi non debes fegi. It might be rea. 
sonable to suppose, that the public 
would generally acquiesce in the 
truth of this maxim, and that the 
application of it would be one of the 
few points of taste in which their 
judgment might betrusted. But it 
is the fate of genius, undirected by 
judgment, to render its very defects 
the chief object of applause and 
imitation: of this the example of 
Gongora furnishes a singular illus- 
tration. For near a century after 
his death, his works had such an in- 
fluence on Castilian poetry, that 
little or nothing was admired which 
could be easily understood. Every 
word appeared a metaphor, and 
every sentence a riddle. This revo- 
lution in the taste of his countrymen 
was not however sudden or imme- 
diate ; for Gongora himself was 
disappointed at the reception given 
to what was termed the new poetry, 
and the little success that attended 
his first efforts at innovation is sup- 
posed to have inflamed his animosity 
against his more popular contem- 
poraries §. | Lope did not escape 
his censures ; and galled by his vi- 
rulent lampoons, as well as alarmed 
at the progress which his new style 
of writing was gradually making, he 
occasionally 
* Don Nicholas Antonio. Bibliot héca Nova. 
+ Luzan’s Poetica,c. 3. |. i. 
{ For aspecimen of this style I have only to refer my readers to Luzan’s. criti- 
cism on asonnet of Gongora ch. 15.1. 2. ofhis Poctica. He will there find that 
the pen of the historian opens the gates of memory, and that memory stamps shadows 
on mounds of foam. By these expressions Genyora means to give a poetical de- 
scription of the artof writing on paper. Luzan, whose object was to explode this 
taste, which was prevalent even in his time, does not do ample justice to the merits 
of Gongora, and quotes only his defects without mentioning those poems which are 
exempt from them, or those beauties which rendered this extravagant style se 
palatable to the public. 
§ Parnaso Espanol, vol. yi. 
