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SPAIN (POETRY.) 



Spanish poetry, could be nothing more, than a long 

 historical Spanish ballad, without any plot. The 

 language is often very old Castilian, and the verse, 

 which is considered by many as Alexandrine, though 

 it cannot properly be so called, on account of its 

 great want of precision, is truly iambic. It belongs, 

 according to all conjecture, to the twelfth century, 

 and is much superior to the Poema de Alexandra 

 Mayno, which is of nearly equal antiquity, and to 

 the rhymed prayers, legends, and rules of religious 

 orders, by the Benedictine monk Gonzalo Berceo. 

 In connexion with these ballads should be read 

 those which are taken from the history of the 

 Moors, of which many are found in the Historia de 

 los Vandos de los Zegris y Abencerrages, which is 

 itself a sort of romantic chronicle of the Moorish 

 heroes. There are also a number of Spanish bal- 

 lads, founded on various popular stories. Little 

 different from the ballad was the song; and perhaps 

 the whole difference, especially in the thirteenth 

 and fourteenth centuries, consisted in this, that the 

 song was divided into couplets or small strophes. 

 Subsequently the song became more lyrical; and 

 then arose the canciones, properly so called (in 

 twelve lines, similar to the madrigal and the epi- 

 gram), the kindred species ofvillancicos (stanzas of 

 seven lines), and the poetical paraphrases of known 

 songs and ballads, in which the old songs were inter- 

 woven, line by line, with the words unchanged. 

 Spain is distinguished above other countries for 

 having united the greatest part of her ballads and 

 songs in large collections, and thus preserved them 

 to posterity ; and the only thing to be regretted is, 

 that the data and the author are not generally given. 

 Thus there is a great collection of ballads made in 

 the sixteenth century, called Romancero general 

 (by Miguel de Madrigal, 1604, and Petro de Flores, 

 1614'), and an older one, Cancionero de Romances, 

 &c. (Antwerp, 1555). The songs are to be found 

 in the Cancionero general of Fernando del Castillo, 

 which belongs to the commencement of the sixteenth 

 century, and was preceded by a Cancionero de 

 Poetas Antiguos, in the reign of Jolin II. Here we 

 should mention the Silva de Romances viejos, 

 publicada par Jac. Grimm (Vienna, 1815), and 

 Collections of the best old Spanish historical, chi- 

 valrous, and Moorish Ballads, arranged with notes, 

 by Depping (Altenb. and Leipsic, 1817). Spain, 

 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, reached 

 its greatest elevation ; and when th3 grandson of 

 Ferdinand the Catholic, Charles V., united the 

 German imperial throne with the Spanish, and was 

 powerful in Italy, Spain became so nourishing that 

 his successor Philip could lavish, without restraint, 

 the resources of his kingdom, which yet were not 

 consumed until about the end of the seventeenth 

 century, when, after the death of the weak Charles, 

 the Bourbon family ascended the throne. With 

 the prosperity of the monarchy, poetry also 

 flourished. Crowned heads, as Alphonso X. in 

 the thirteenth century, and the Castilian prince 

 don Juan Manuel (who died in 1362), had tried 

 their powers in verse and prose; and Manuel's 

 work, the Count Lucanor, a collection of impor- 

 tant rules for the lives of princes, remains a 

 beautiful monument of Spanish refinement in the 

 fourteenth century. The knights themselves, and 

 not, as in other lands, merely monks, had employed 

 themselves in writing chronicles; and the Spanish 

 historical style has hence become more dignified 

 and noble. The pursuits of active life and of lite- 

 rature have been so intimately connected in Spain, 



that its greatest warriors have been also the most 

 intellectually cultivated, and not unfrequently were 

 distinguished poets. Thus we find, in the fifteenth 

 century, at the court of John II., celebrated as a 

 patron of poetry, the marquis Henry de Villena, 

 who has left the oldest Spanish Art of Poetry, 

 under the title of La gaya Ciencia (the gay science), 

 and, from his knowledge of natural philosophy, 

 almost acquired the reputation of a magician ; and 

 his yet more celebrated pupil, don Inigo Lopez de 

 Mendoza, marquis of Santillana, author, among 

 other works, of the Doctrinal de Privados (Manuel 

 of Favourites) in which the favourite of John II., 

 don Alvaro de Luna, who was executed, relates 

 his transgressions, and enjoins moral truths on the 

 turbulent Castilians. Santillana's letter upon the 

 oldest Spanish poetry is very celebrated. Several 

 others, for instance, Juan de Mena (the Spanish 

 Erinius), who died in 1456, author of the allegoric- 

 historical-didactic poem, Las Trecentas (The 300 

 Stanzas), and Rodriguez del Padron, who, in his 

 songs of love, exchanged his French idiom for the 

 Castilian, received distinguished favours from the 

 above-mentioned king. Attempts were now made 

 in all branches of the art. During the reign of 

 John II., and his celebrated daughter Isabella, the 

 dramatic spirit first prevailed. Yet before the time 

 of Juan de la Enzina, who, about the end of the 

 fifteenth century, composed pastoral dramas (also 

 the author of the Disparates, which is in the ballad 

 form), the marquis de Villena encouraged the 

 writing of allegorical plays, and an unknown author 

 produced the celebrated satirical pastoral dialogue 

 Mingo Rebulgo. Then followed the dramatic 

 romance of Callistus and Melibcea, which was also 

 called a tragi-comedy. Some historical and biogra- 

 phical works of importance appeared at the same 

 time. The Chronicles of the poet Perez de Guz- 

 man, and of the high chancellor of Castile, Pedro 

 Lopez de Ayala, have been reprinted in modern 

 times, by the academy of history at Madrid. The 

 History of the Count Pedro Nino de Buelna, by 

 Gutierre Diaz de Games ; the History of Alvaro de 

 Luna, by an unknown friend; and the Claras 

 Varones of Fernando de Pulgar, still preserve their 

 reputation. Then commences the period when the 

 whole monarchy was permanently united under 

 Ferdinand the Catholic. Spain and Italy were 

 brought into connexion by the conquest of Naples, 

 under the great captain {el gran capitan) Gonsalvo 

 Fernandez de Cordova; the inquisition, which re- 

 straining the faith of the Spaniards, left freer room 

 to its fancy, was estabh'shed, and America dis- 

 covered. Boscan (about the year 1526), nourished 

 by Italian genius, gave Castilian poetry a classic 

 character, by judiciously incorporating in it the 

 excellencies of his Italian models. He confined 

 himself to sonnets and songs ; but hisj friend Garci- 

 laso de la Vega, became the author of very popular 

 pastoral poems, to which, in later times, the Portu- 

 guese Saa de Miranda and Montemayor gave a 

 more elevated character; the latter, in his pastoral 

 romance Diana. More imbued with the spirit of 

 Horace and Aristotle was the distinguished states- 

 man Diego de Mendoza, the dreaded minister of 

 Charles V., in Italy, and author of the comic 

 romance Lazarillo de Tormes, who composed, upon 

 the model of Sallust and Tacitus, his History of 

 the Rebellion in Grenada. He wrote various songs, 

 poetical epistles, and satirical pieces. In odes, in 

 the new style, Herrera and Luis de Leon met with 

 much success. The witty Castillejo was particu- 



