-vears before. 
G98 
the difference of languages, when he ob- 
ferved to me, that in the Caftilian tongue 
we had never attempted fonnets, and 
other kinds of compofition ufed by the 
beft authors of Italy ; and he not only 
faid this to me, but urged me to fet the 
example. A few days afterwards, I de- 
parted for my home, and mufing upon 
many things during the long and folitary 
journey, frequently thought upon what 
Nabagero had advited: and thus I began 
to attempt this kind of verfe. At fir 
F found fome diificulty, becaufe it is 
very complex (muy artificiofo) and has 
many peculiarities different from our 
ewn: afterwards, from the partiality we 
naturally fee! towards our own produc- 
tions, I thought that I had fucceeded 
well, ana gradually grew warm and 
eager in the purfuit. This, however, 
would not have been fufficient to timu- 
date me to proceed, had not Garcilafo 
encouraged me, whofe judgment, not 
only in my opinion, but in that of the 
whole world, 1s efteemed as a certain 
rule.” 
This innovation, like all other im. 
provements, was not introduced without 
eppofition. Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, 
the celebrated marquis of Santillana, had 
made ufe of the Italian metres many 
Don Diego de Mendoza, 
ef the fame noble houfe, had the honour 
of co-operating with Bofcan and Gar- 
cilafo in a more fuccefsful attempt; 
though fuch is the caprice of Fame, 
that he is better known in England as 
the author of Lazarillo de Tormes, than 
as the hiftorian, the poet, and one of 
the reformers of his country’s literature : 
to the difgrace of mankind, whatever 
work is lively and loofe, will certainly 
be popular. The fame of Garcilafo has 
eclipfed that of his affiftants, and he is to 
this day eftecemed the beft of the Spanith 
_ poets; yet the little volume of Gar- 
cilafo’s productions is more diftinguithed 
by melody of verfification than fublimity 
of thought. The volume confifts of 184 
pages, of which r1o are taken up by 
three eclogues! In the prefent zra of 
tafte, no poet poffeffed of common fenfe 
would ever commit a paftoral, and none 
but a Spanifh or Portuguefe poet would 
ever have extended one to upwards of 
feventeen hundred lines ! 
All perfons of unvitiated taftes love 
the country; defcriptions of rural fce- 
nery, and images drawn from rural life, 
“never weary us; but a fhepherd, anda 
crook, and a pipe, is guite as unnatural 
as one of the cannibal giants of romance, 
and infinitely Iefs agreeable as a com- 
Poetry of Spain and Portugal. 
LO. 
panion by the fire-fide. The Spanifh 
Parnaffus is very much infefted by thefe 
gentry, and they are equally troubicfome 
on the Portuguefe fide of the mountain. 
Yet, if the following defence of thep- 
herds be not convincing, it is at leaft cu- 
rious and amufing. It is prefixed to the 
Eclogues of Francifco Rodriguez Lobo. 
«« Nature has hidden in rough hells, 
at the bottom of the fea, thofe pearls to 
which man has afhxed fuch value; fhe 
has hidden that geld with which our 
fouls are fettered, in the bowels of the - 
earth, amid. barbarous nations, and in - 
diftant countries: fhe has guarded the 
fea with rocks, and fown it with dangers, 
to place boundaries to our defires, and 
lengthen the period of our lives: but 
Evil, t6 deprive us of our tranguillity, 
laid open thefe fecrets, and hid trom us 
the true knowledge where real tran- 
quillity is to be found.. Then did this 
malignant fpirit disfigure the fhepherds 
with coarfe vile garments, and repre- 
fent their life of contentment as a life of 
mean and de{picable labour; and by 
thefe magical delufions were we taught 
to defpife the only treafure which the 
earth affords to render the mind happy : 
but when this fafcinationis removed, and 
we fee things clearly, how much more 
beautiful appear the various colours with 
which the fields are apparelled, and the 
trees, and the fun, and the horizon 
beautiful when he fets, than a!l the de- 
ceitful trappings of Vanity ! How much 
more delightful to our ears is the fong of 
innocent birds, than the found of flat- 
tering tongues, that endeavour to entrap 
our reafon! Is not the rock that hangs 
over the itream, in whofe caverns the 
birds dwell, and under whofe fhade the 
fifues {port, more to be admired than the 
fumptuous and fuperb edifice, that can- 
not fo well refift the force of the tempeft, 
or the fecret fap of time ? Where can 
life pafs more delightfully or more tran- 
quilly than among the flecks and herds ? 
How much more fecure is the enjoy- 
ment of thefe than the hopes of the 
court, and the deceits of the city! And 
if we have fo often fighed for that happy 
age of gold, it is for this advantage, ex- 
ceeding all others, that men lived then like 
fhepherds, and followed their flocks, and 
cultivated the earth: and this truth is 
clearly proved; for the frft man whom 
God created held this office, and the 
title which God gave him, was that of 
lord of the animal world; and Abel, the 
firft martyr, in whom the church began, 
and the other children of Adam, tended 
their flocks : fo likewife did Ape 
an 
