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616 Reiropeat of Spaitify Literature Poetry and Plays. 
«© Poefias de BD. ManuveL JosEPH 
QUINTANA, un tomo, en 3%. imprefo en 
Ja Imprenta Real.” —Poems of John Ma- 
nuel Jofeph Quintana, vo. printed at the 
Royal Prefs. sh ya 
«¢ Epigramas de D. Francisco GRe- 
coRIo DE SaLas.’—Epigrams of Dr. 
Francifco Gregorio de Salas. This au- 
thor had publifhed a former poetical work; 
which had been received with much appro- 
bation; the prefent volume may be confi- 
dered asa fort of continuation of the fa- 
tirical and epigrammatic part with which 
the other concluded. It feems that the 
earlier impreffions of the compofitions of 
this author had numerous miftakes; the 
prefent volume has been correéted under 
his own infpeétion, to prevent the milcon- 
ftruction of the poetical critic. 
“El Delirio; 6, las Confequencias de 
un Vicio, Opera, compuefta en Frances, 
por el Ciud R. Saint Cir.”"—The Deli- 
rium; or, the Effects of a Crime, from 
the French of C. R. Saint-Cir, an Opera. 
<¢ La Familia Indigente, Pieza Tragica, 
en un Adio.” The Indigent Family, a 
Tragedy, in one A&. 
“* Poefias del ConDe DE NoroNa.’’— 
Poems of the Count of Norona. This ele- 
gant little work is in two vols. 12mo, and 
perhaps, being from the pen of anaccom-" 
plifhed nobleman, has excited more curio- 
fity than any other recent produétion. It 
confifts of a great variety of fugitive pieces, 
and of two ‘* La Quicayda,” and ‘‘La 
Muerte,” of no inconfiderable length: ail 
the different varieties of poetic compofi- 
tion, of which the Spanith language is ca- 
pable, are reforted to; fometimes the bard 
warbles in all the wildnefs of nature ; at 
others, he avails himfelf of the numerous 
expedients of artificial refinement. The 
firft volume opens with a feries of Ana. 
creontics 3 among which we have an in-> 
troductory one to the 1eader, where the 
author tells us his compofitions were 
early effufions of an ardent mind, and re- 
commends them to our notice, not on ac- 
count of the merit of the author, but as 
the mirror of the paffions common to hu- 
mianity. 
s¢ A ti, le€tor amado, 
Dedico, no por mias 
Sino, porque fon copia 
De las pafiones vivas. 
Sin ellas nunca Apolo 
. Me templar la lira, 
Wi verfos me diétara 
La doéta Poefia.” 
In thefe few lines we find the common 
attachment of the Spaniards te the ¢ro- 
chee, from their love of the fong and the - 
dance, to which this meafure is particu-. 
larly adapted ;-yet, we very much doubt, if. 
the majefty of the language be not more 
fuited to the pathos of heroic compefition. 
We will content ourfelves wilh giving 
one more extract, which is’an attempt at 
a free tranflation of the celebrated ode of - 
Dryden, in honour of St. Cecilia’s Day : 
the paflage we quote is from the fir eight 
introductory lines in the original. 
- «© En el feftin réal 4 la conquifta 
De Perfia por el Hijo efclarecido 
Del Macedon Fitipo, colocado 
En fu folio imperial, y trono erguido, 
El héroe eftaba con rifuena vifta 
De orgullo, pompa, y mageftad cercade 5 
En torno rodeado 
De fus magnates inclitos guerreros 
Orlando rofas, y arrayan fus frentes— 
Premio bien merecido 4 los valientesy 
Que efgrimieron conftantes fus aceros 
En los ataques fieros.”* 
The fecond volume opens with * Le- 
trillas,’” ‘* Endechas,’’ ** Odas,”? “‘ Can- - 
tilenas,’” and ‘* Fabulas;"’ and, in the 
latter, the Count has included the ftory of 
Deedalus and Icarus, Pyramus and Thifbe, 
and Venus and Adonis, We haveafterwards 
idyls, romances, &c. and, at the conclu- 
fion, the poem we before-named of ‘* La 
Muerte.’ On the whole, we confider this 
work as affording elecant examples of the 
poetic powers of the Spanifh language; yet 
we fee init that want of force, and that fri- 
volity, for whieh the Spanifh court is at 
prefent remarkable; and, perhaps, we. 
could not fhew this deficiency more fue- 
cefsfully than in {pecimens we have juft 
guoted from Alexander’s Feait, where 
the fine defciiption of our immortal poet 
is expanded, in the imitation, to twelve 
feebie lines. 
‘¢ La Muger Varonil, Comedia, por D. 
Jose Mor ve Fuentes. El Calaveras 
Comedia, por el mifmo autor.”—The Maf- 
culine Woman, by D. Jofeph Mor de Fu- 
entes. The Skull, by the fame Author. 
Thefe are two comedies, by the author of 
the novelcalled La Serafina, of which a fe- 
cond edition was pwblithed within the laft 
years Our limits wiil not permit us to 
enter minutely inte the detail of theie 
pieces, but we fhall ftate fome of the prin- 
Ciples to which the author has attempted 
to adhere: He has been. guided by. 
maxims Jaid down by the Roman Lyric) 
Poet,in oppofition to the abfurdities which 
the example of Lopez de Vega had intro- 
duced, and which time had confirmed in 
the Spanith drama. He has not flavihhly 
obferved the maxjms of Arifotle, or of em 
other 
os 
