Early Spanifh Poets. 
In 1430 hehad a further prefent of twelve 
farms, which he fhared among his fons. 
About the fame time he retounded the 
monattery of Sopetran. 
He appears as a warrior againft the 
Moors in 1431. Inthe fame year, the 
king having imprifoned fome of his re- 
lations, Don Inigo fortified his caftle of 
Hita, till the king fent to do away his 
fulpicions. 
In 1433 he was one of the maintainers 
of a famous tourney at Madrid. A dif- 
pute concerning the inheritance of the 
Duchefs of Arjona involved him in a 
* feud with Don Diego Manrique; which 
was appeated by the royal interference. In 
1437 he was one of the commiffioners ap- 
pointed to {wear, and confirm, the folemn 
league between the king of Caftille, and 
Don Alonze king of Axagon. 
Next year, being capitan mayor of the 
frontier of Jaen, on the 2oth of April he 
took from the Moors the town of Hu- 
elma, after four days of uninterrupted 
confli&t, in which two of his fons, Pero 
Lafo and Inigo Lopez, greatly diftin- 
guifhed them{elves. 
In 1440 he was one of the ambaffadors 
to conduét the princefs Donna Blanca, 
daughter of the king of Navarre, about to 
be wedded to the prince of Caftille Don 
Henry. | Next year Don Inigo, our poet, 
was again involved in civil contefts. He 
diftinguifhed himfelf, in 1442, by affift- 
ing Prince Henry in effecting the libera- 
tion of the king his father, held in cap- 
tivity by the Navarrefe monarch. Three 
years after he lent fuch eminent fervice 
at the battle of Olmedo, in which the 
king of Caftille conquered his antagonift 
of Navarre, that his fovereign created him 
Marquis of Santillana, and Count of Real 
de Manzanares, being the firft marquis 
ever created in Cattille. 
Several of his military exploits, dona- 
tions to monafteries, &c. we fhall ‘pafs 
over. In 1452 he joimed in a vigorous 
oppofition to the conftable Don Alvaro 
de Lemo. . 
The celebrated poet Juan de Mena, 
dying in 1456, the marquis, his friend, 
erected a fumptuous monument over his 
remains in the parochial church of Tor- 
delaguna. Juan de Mena had, in praife of 
the Marquis, compofed his poem of the 
Coronacion, which confitts of fifty ftanzas, 
in ten lines of eight fyllables. The mufes, 
and cardinal virtues, are introduced 
crowning the Marquis 
Next year he excufed himfelf, on ac- 
count of his age, from joining perfonally 
in the war againft the Moors at Granada. 
snd oblerving the diforders of sh¢ king- 
‘dalajara in 14.58. 
35 
dom, occafioned by the monarch’s mal- 
adminiftration, he joined the archbithop of 
Toledo in remonftraaces. The king pro- 
mifed that the Cortes fhould meet, to ar- 
range proper remedies. 
The Marquis died at his city of Gua- 
He was handfome and 
well-proportioned, and alike eminent in 
prudence and war. 
His works are: ~ 
Los Proverbios, or Proverbs, printed at 
Seville 1494: They were compofed at the re- 
queft of the king John I. for the inftruc- 
tion of his fon Henry prince of Caftille. They 
are in fhort ftanzas, in lines of nine down 
to four fyllables. The firft line is— 
*¢ Fijo mio mucho amado.” 
They were reprinted, 1515, 1525, 15323 
1552, 1558, 1594. oe 
Letter to the Conflable of Portugal, on Spanifh 
poetry; about to be tranflated. 
Several fmall poems, and fongs; of whicha 
lift may be feen in Sanchez. 
Several fonncts. 
Poems on the canonization of faints. 
Do&rinal de Privados, fifty-three oftave 
ftanzas, on the tragical death of the Matter 
of St. Jago, beheaded in 1453. 
Bias contra Fortuna, a Dialogue between 
Bias and Fortune. 
Six exquifite Serrannillas, 
Proverbs in alphabetical order, to the number 
of 6253 the earlieft colle€tion of modern pro- 
verbs. 
If this prove acceptable, I fhall in my 
next proceed to the tranflation of his letter 
on the progrefs of Spanifh' poetry. N.N. 
nee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HAT India rubber is an eleétric, I dif- 
covered fome years fince, in a way fimi- 
lar to that mentioned by your correfpondents 
* Howxpy and + GrirFiTus. 
Being engaged in writing, where I had oc- 
cafion for pencil lines, I. made ufe of India 
rubber to take them out; and, in order that 
the writing might be perfectly dry, I held 
the paper to the fire, then laid it on another 
piece on the table, and difcharged the lines, 
by feveral ftrokes of the rubber, when the 
two pieces were fo ftrongly connected by the 
attractive power of the eleétric fluid, as to 
require fome force to feparate them. I re- 
peated the experiment feveral times, with the 
fame fuccefs, but found, that if the paper 
were not’ previoufly warmed, the rubher had 
no effect. 
I fhall mention, as a phenomenon, not of» 
ten obferved, that in the hard froft, the be- 
ginning of Jan. 1797, as my child’s hair was 
combing, it became fo ftrongly electritied, as 
to fly off like that of a perfon ftanding on an 
infulated ftool, and to approach my hand whea 
applied to it. . \ faa De 
* Vol,iv, pa. 368. + Page 22. laft nuiapes. 
