782 POE 
people, cultivated facred plays. The Autos Sacramen- 
tales have furnifhed fucceeding authors with interefting 
hints. It is faid that our popular Don Juan firft oc¬ 
curred in one of thefe periods. The beggars of Spain 
alfo furnifhed poetry, or at leaft romance, with interefting 
matter. They feem to have been a clever, witty, pilfering 
fet, who lived very well in fuch a country as Spain ; and by 
the contrail they formed with the gravity of the grandees, 
whom they frequently plundered, were amufing enough. 
Mendoza, a fkilful fatirift, rendered the “ guolo picarefco, 
or tafte for beggary,” known beyond the precindts of his 
country. In his “ Lazarillo de Tormes” he laid the 
foundation of the numerous clafs of novels (of which Gil 
Bias is the belt fpecimen) that treat of the ftratagems of 
thieves. The belt part of Mendoza’s work conlifted of 
fome fatirical ftrokes on the Inquifition ; but they were 
fupprelfed through fear of the vengeance of that potent 
tribunal. 
Garcilaflo de la Vega and Bofcan introduced the Italian 
method of verfifying into Spain. This was a great re¬ 
finement on the rude ballads ; but a bad fpirit of imita¬ 
tion induced authors to copy not only Italian ftyle but 
Italian fubjedts ; and the tranflation of Ariofto caufed an 
hundred abfurd imitations in praife of Charles V. called 
Coroleids, which became ridiculoufiy famous. 
Spain ftands higher in her drama than in any orher 
branch of poetry. Lope de Vega and Calderon are its 
belt authors. Cervantes , the author of the unimitated 
Don Quixote, wrote many plays; but, if we except his 
“Siege of Numantium,” they are not worth reading 
now. All his merits are to be found in his romance, 
which contains many of thofe beautiful paffages which 
adorned the ancient romances, though it fo effedtually 
fatirizes the exuberance and other faults which difgraced 
them. 
Spain was, like England, an original fchool of the 
drama. The two nations purfued their route by different 
tracks; but it is remarkable that they had many features 
in common. Defpifing the unities, in the introduction 
of both tragic and comic fcenes, in the fame piece, and 
even in the conftrudtion of the pieces;—all thefe marks 
belong to the whole period of the hiltory of the Spanifh 
drama ; with us they adorned the ftage only in the Eliza¬ 
bethan age. Perhaps the reafon the Spaniards did not 
vie with the authors of that age was that they wrote too 
much. 
The prolific genius of the Spanifh poets is aftonilhing. 
Allowing for all the exaggerations of hiftorians, it does 
clearly appear, that Lope de Vega compoled upwards of 
three millions and a half of lines. Vincente Marina, a 
friend of Lopez, left behind him 360 quires of paper, 
clofely written, of his own compofitions; and a Portu- 
guefe poet, Macedo, contemporary with the former, wrote 
106 printed works, and 30 MSS. 
Lope de Vega .—’The “ Arcadia” of this author is a paf- 
toral poem, written, it is faid, at the command of his pa¬ 
tron Alva, to the private hiltory of whofe family the ftory 
has been fuppofed to have a refemblance. It is as follows : 
Anfrifo, a young fhepherd of noble extraction, loves a 
maiden named Belifarda, who requites his love. Her pa¬ 
rents, however, would marry her to the rich, but ignorant, 
prefumptuous, unpolifhed, and unworthy, Salicio. An- 
frifo’s parents are induced to fend him away to a diftant 
pafture ; but by accident Belifarda and her father jour¬ 
ney to the fame land, and the love-meetings are renewed. 
Scandal becomes bufy ; and, to fave his lady’s honour, the 
twain fets off for Italy. Travelling one night he lofes 
his way, and meets with a magician, who promites any 
thing he wifhes. Anfrifo afks to fee Belifarda; and the 
magician, by a circuitous route, and in an inopportune 
time, brings him to a place where he beholds Olympio, 
another fuitor of the lady’s, exchanging prefents with 
her. The magician takes him off in a whirlwind, and 
then difappears, leaving him tortured with the thought 
of his fair one’s perfidioufnefs. When he returns home, 
TRY. 
after fome time, he affeCts to court another lady, to make 
Belifarda jealous; and fo completely fucceeds, that the 
latter marries Salicio in a rage. The lovers foon after 
meet, when the bufinefs of exchanging the prefents is 
explained in fuch a manner as nearly drives Anfrifo dii- 
traCted at his own credulity. In this ftate he is advifed by 
Polinefta, a fage enchantrefs, to apply to the liberal arts, 
where in fcientific purfuits he may obliterate the memory 
of his love. Accordingly the ladies Grammar, Logic, 
Rhetoric, Geometry, Mufic, Poetry, See. fing or recite 
their own praifes to him, until he is prepared to afeend 
the hill and enter the temple of Defengano, an allegorical 
perfonage of great repute among the peninfular poets. 
“ Angelica,” the next of Lope’s poems, is an uncon¬ 
nected irregular tale. A dying king of Seville leaves his 
kingdom to the greateft beauty that can be found, and 
appoints feven judges to eieCt the fucceffor. Of courfe 
the defeription of the various candidates gives ample 
fcope for poetical difplay. Thus, a very ugly woman 
having offered herfelf juft before the heroine Angelica, 
the author expreffes his difguft in pretty plain terms, but 
then burfts forth thus beautifully : 
Yet thou art welcome here, as is the cloud 
That gathers in the eaft before the day, 
And with its tempering mantle ferves to fhroud 
The orb of fire that flowly wins its way. 
So art thou welcome here, where elfe the crowd 
Too fuddenly had felt the dazzling ray, 
When that Cathayan day-ftar on the fight 
Arofe in all the lulire of her light. Holland. 
The converfation of the judges of this delicate caufe is 
very amufing. One was for trying if the “ form accorded 
with the face, as fculptors try their work by rule and 
line.” Another agrees with this, learnedly difeovering, 
that 
“ Beauty is the fymmetry of parts 
And in this fymmetry when all are bound, 
There is the magnet that attracts all hearts.” 
When Lopez in conclufion exclaims— 
“ Oh dotards, through your fpeCtacles who pry. 
And alk the meafure of a lovely face, 
Meafure the influence of a womans eye, 
And ye may then, I ween, compute the fpace 
That intervenes between the earth and fky.” 
Along with Angelica, Lope publilhed a poem called 
“ Dragontia,” which, in faCt, is a lying account of the 
adventures of fir Francis Drake, who is the Dragon and 
the bad hero of the piece. In the exordium, Chriftianity 
appears before the throne of the Almighty, and complains 
bitterly of queen Elizabeth, and this dragon, fir Francis 
Drake. The prayer is heard ; and Enim is fent to 
excite fir F. Drake, by the hope of plunder, to engage in 
another expedition. During his voyage, fome fliips being 
loft, the poet, with much facetioufnefs, hints at their 
going to hell by water; and, when anchored before Porto 
Rico, fome officers having been killed by the Spanifti 
ordnance while at fupper, he tells us, that the fait was 
overturned as a fign of bad luck, and that fixteen perfons 
fupt with death that night; the tables, diflies, fervants, and 
mafters, all going to hell together. The fufferings of 
fome Englifli put to the torture to extort confeffion, like- 
wife furnifh Lope with fubjeCt for merriment. That 
Drake dealt with the devil, and carried about with him a 
familiar fpirit in a ring, and that he was poifoned by his own 
people becaufe he kept all the booty to himfelt, is alfo 
molt poetically proved. The valour of the Spaniards is 
every-where apparent; and the Englifti are only allowed 
fuch accidental advantages as the weather, or extremely 
fuperior force, are able to give. The whole poem con¬ 
cludes with a thanfgiving to the Lord for having made 
war on the Dragon and the Harlot (Elizabeth), and 
placed a hook in the Dragon’s mouth, tied up his tongue, 
and given his head a prey to fifties. 
The 
