34 
anteriores al ficla XV." by Sanchez, li- 
brarian to the king; of which I have 
three volumes, publifhed at Madrid in 
the years 1779, 80, 82. To the firft vo- 
lume is prefixed a letter, from the Mar- 
quis of Santillana to the Conftable of 
Portugal, written in the middle of the 
fifteenth century. The Marquis, him- 
felf an eminent warrior and poet, prefents 
in that epiftle curious details concerning 
the ftate of Spanifh poetry prior to his 
-4ime: and the numerous learned notes 
of the Editor furnifh almoft a complete 
hiftory of that literary department. I 
mean to fend you a free tranflation, fome- 
what abridged, of the Marquis’s letter ; 
and afterwards to make loofe extraéts from 
the notes by Sanchez, if I find the fubject 
pleafes your readers. 
But in the firft place permit me to give 
as it were a bill of fare, in an extraét from 
the preface to a recent publication of 
Scottith poetry. 
‘< Tn Spain, a country vying with Italy 
im every branch of literature, there is no 
‘poetry extant more ancient than the Life 
of Rodrigo de Bevar, more known by the 
epithet ef the Cid, written in about 3800 
long lines, by an unknown author, near 
fixty years after the death of that hero, 
or in the year 1160; and firft publifhed 
by Sanchez in the year 1779. “The next 
peet is Gonzalo de Berceo about 1220, 
who wrote lives of faints, and other pious 
works, in ftanzas of four alexandrine lines, 
to the fame rime; a mode of poetry ge- 
merally prevalent in Spain till the year 
1400. Then follows the long poem of 
Alexander the Great, partly tranflated 
from Gualter, by Juan Lorenzo of Af- 
torga about the year 1250, in the jame 
difagreeable ftanza. Inthe fame century 
King Alfonfo the Wiie wrote poems, 
not to mention his books of philofophy, 
and code of laws, in profe: and in Por- 
tugal under King Dionis, himielf the 
earlieft Portugueze poet, lived Valco 
Lobeira, the author of the famous ra- 
mance of Amadis de Gaula. ‘Vhe prote 
chronicles of Spain, in Spanifh, alfo be- 
gan in this century. The fourteenth 
century produced in Spain juan Ruiz, 
the arch-prieft of Hita, a pious rimer ; 
the Jew Don Santo, a moral one; Don 
Juan Manuel, the biographer in verfe of 
the Conde Lucanor; and him of the 
Conde Fernan Gonzalez; Pero Gomez; 
the hiftorian of Alfonfo XI. in verfe; 
Pero Lopez de Ayala, who wrote his 
fatire on courts # England in prifon: 
and toward the end of this, or beginning 
of next century, Mofen Jordi, and Mofen 
#ebrer. The Aficenth gentury has ex- 
Early Spanifh Poets. 
cellent Spanith peets, Villefandino, Juan 
de Mena, Jorge Manrique, Aufias March 
who wrote in the Valencian diale&t, the. 
famous Marquis of Santillana, Diego de 
St. Pedro who wrote the Carcel de Amor; 
and Juan Alonfo de Baema, who com- 
piled the Lyric poems of his predecefiors 
‘under the ufual title of Canctonero, MS. 
in the Efcurial. To this century alfo 
moft of the fhort Spanifh romances be- 
long ; and particularly thofe in the hit- 
tory of the civil wars of Granada *”” 
That I may not occupy too much 
{pace in your mifcellany, the remainder of 
this firft letter fhall be confined to a brief 
account of the celebrated Marquis of 
Santillana, to whom we are indebted for 
the firft tketch of a hiftory of Spanifh 
poetry. 
Don Inigo Lopez of Mendoza, after- 
wards Lord of Hita and Buytrago, firft 
Marquis of Santillana, and Count. of 
Real de Manzanares, was the fon of Don” 
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, admiral of 
Cattille, by his fecond wife Donna Le- 
onora de la Vega. He was born at Car- 
rion de los Condes, a villa that came 
with his mother, on Monday the 19th of 
Augutt 1398. 
From his feventh to his fixteenth year 
he was educated in the principles of re- 
ligion, in letters, and military exercifess 
He is faid to have ftudied the Latin 
tongue, rhetoric, erudition, and phi- 
lofophy. 
In 1414, when he was aged fixteen, weé 
find him at Zaragoza as one of the prin- 
cipal barons of Caitille, at the coronation 
of the king Don Fernando. At eighteem 
years of age the king granted him, ac- 
cording to his requeft, permiflion to ma- 
nage his own eftates, his father being 
dead long before. At the fame age he 
married Donna Catalina de Figueroa; 
but by other accounts the marriage did 
not take place till two years after, or 
in 1418. 
In 1420, and 1427, we find him en- 
gaged in fettling fome difputes that had 
arifen in the royal family. In 1429, he 
“was fent with 300 lances, or men at armsy 
(a force, with their ufual followers, 
amounting to about 1800 men,) againit. 
the troops of Arragon and Navarre, and 
diftinguifhed himfelf in the military ca- 
reer. Having defended himfelf with 2 
few troops againft a great number, the 
king, to reward his valour, gave him 
the town of Yunquera, with 500 vaflals. 
* Preface to Barkowr, London 1799, vol. i. 
Po SiY. XY. 
Ip 
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