Chapter XV: Introduction (7)

Alonzo de Ladesma, who died a few years before Gongora, obtained admirers for his poems, chiefly spiritual, which he wrote in the obscure phraseology of the _estilo culto_.[451] For example, in paraphrazing the mysteries of the catholic faith in lyric romances, he thus speaks of the birth of the Saviour:--“The star of the east rose at the time ordained by God, so that the enemy of day might lose the prey he had seized, and with it the hope of his false pretensions, as God assumed human flesh in order that man might enjoy him,” &c.[452] To men imbued with superstition, and denied all reasoning in matters of faith, ravings of this kind were well calculated to turn their heads, and involve them in a vortex of romantic mysticism.

Felix de Arteaga was likewise a zealous cultivator of this distorted style, both in sacred and profane poetry. In 1618, he held the post of court chaplain at Madrid, and he lived until the year 1633. The chief portion of his songs, romances, and sonnets, are of the pastoral kind. He extols “the miracles of the fair Amarillis, that angel of the superior class, to whom truth and passion have given the name of Phœnix. She once espied before her door a peasant, who, though not worthy to adore her, was yet worthy to languish for her sake. This happened one evening, which was a morning, since Aurora smiled, and shewed white pearls between rows of glowing carmine. The angel was amused by burning those she had illumined, and this beautiful angel fell from the heaven of her ownself,” &c.[453] This author also wrote, after the manner of Lope de Vega, a comedy, called _Gridonia_, which he styles a royal invention, (_invencion real_), because potentates, princes, and princesses are brought together from the most distant parts of the earth, and introduced with vast scenic pomp.[454]

Some of the adherents of this party, who were distinguished for natural genius and ability, will be hereafter noticed. We must not, however, neglect to mention that the _estilo culto_ likewise gained a footing in Spanish America; and that various works in that style by Alonzo de Castillo Solorzano, were very neatly printed at Mexico in the year 1625.[455]

TWO DRAMATIC POETS OF THE AGE OF LOPE DE VEGA.

Lope de Vega had now become the model of the Spanish dramatic poets, who soon appeared as numerous, and laboured as assiduously as if they had been bound to supply all the theatres in the universe with new pieces. But most of these dramatists, who may altogether be considered as forming one great school, were contemporary with Lope de Vega only during their younger years. The elegant Calderon, who was born in the year 1600, may also have influenced the exercise of their talents. In the history of the Spanish theatre, it will therefore be proper to range together those dramatists on whom it is probable the example of Calderon may have operated.[456] This, however, is the proper place for noticing two contemporaries of Lope de Vega.

The first of these writers, whose talents entitle them to an honourable rank in literature, is Christoval de Virues, a native of Valencia. He fought in the battle of Lepanto, and is usually distinguished by his military title of captain. The period of his death is not known. Both Cervantes and Lope de Vega mention him in terms of commendation. Virues was not the pupil of Lope. Though older, as it would appear, than that distinguished man, he was, like him, inspired with enthusiasm for dramatic poetry; and they entered upon the same career at nearly the same time. Virues did not adhere more attentively than Lope to the strict rules of the ancient drama. But he wanted the fertile imagination of his rival, and he conceived it necessary that the modern drama should approximate in a slight degree to the antique, at least in some of its forms. He was one of the Spanish dramatists by whom the last attempts were made to separate tragedy from comedy; and his efforts in this way are deserving of more praise than has hitherto been conceded to them. Virues was a poet born for tragic art; but his genius wanted cultivation. Pure poetic spirit, and a bold and energetic style, are the distinguishing features of all his works. But, like Lope de Vega, he was every inch a Spaniard. He obeyed the influence of the national taste, and he could not restrain his own genius within the bounds which he had himself prescribed. Among his five tragedies are some which might more properly be termed comedies, according to the Spanish acceptation of the term.[457] It is obvious that Virues endeavoured to create a sphere of his own, and that in proportion as he wrote he made advances in his art. His _Semiramis_, the first tragedy he wrote, which is chiefly in octaves, interspersed here and there with redondillas, is crude both in conception and execution; but the language even of this imperfect drama, makes energetic approaches to that genuine expression of tragic pathos, which Cervantes and the elder Argensola in some measure attained.[458] His tragedy, entitled _La Cruel Casandra_, which is richer in dramatic spirit, and more finished and systematic in its execution, might in the hands of a writer of genius be easily rendered a tragic master-piece. Virues selected from the history of the kingdom of Leon, the subject of this tragedy, in which he intended to unite the ancient and modern styles.[459] That a drama of intrigue, like the _Casandra_, should not have obtained greater popularity in Spain would be inexplicable, were it not for the dislike which the Spanish public manifested towards all dramas in which the tragic character was exhibited without the intervention of comic scenes. Cultivated taste will, however, perceive many faults in this tragedy. The uninterrupted delirium of passion, which prevails from the beginning to the end of the piece, renders the whole more astounding than impressive. The stormy movement of the action has, notwithstanding, in most of the scenes, a very captivating effect; and that passionate vehemence, in the painting of which Virues was eminently successful, is, in this drama, characteristically Spanish. The horrible deaths with which the piece closes, and which, according to the nature of the catastrophe were by no means necessary, are likewise in unison with the spirit of a Spanish national tragedy. The spring of action is the wicked spirit of a revengeful woman whom jealousy betrays into a series of the most treacherous intrigues. The dialogue is occasionally somewhat declamatory; but in its best parts it is energetic and unconstrained.[460] Of all the dramas of Virues, his _Marcella_ in which princes, princesses, robbers, peasants, and servants, are jumbled together in irregular confusion, was doubtless most in unison with the Spanish taste.

The other Spanish dramatist who remains to be noticed among the poetic writers of the age of Lope de Vega, is Juan Perez de Montalvan, whom Lope himself regarded as his first pupil, and who obtained, probably through the interest of his patron, the post of notary to the inquisition. He was a young man of distinguished talent, and even in his seventeenth year he wrote plays in the style of Lope de Vega. He first entered the lists in competition with his master, after whose death he pursued his literary occupations with such assiduity, that when he died in 1639, though aged only thirty-five, the number of his comedies and autos amounted to nearly one hundred. He was also the author of several novels, which will be particularly noticed in another place. He put together in a single volume, some of his dramas and novels, and his moral reflections, full of formal erudition; and this singular compilation was published under the no less singular title of Book for All.[461] His comedies are neither more finished nor more systematic than those of his master, but they prove how easily a Spanish writer of imagination might, in that age, be roused to venture into competition with the inexhaustible Lope de Vega, and also how far a poet of talent, with a certain degree of practice, was capable of succeeding in dramatic intrigue. Montalvan’s comedies possess, however, a more particular interest, inasmuch as they exhibit traces of genius, which under other circumstances would have constituted a painter of dramatic character. In two of his historical comedies, he has introduced Henry IV. of France, and Philip II. of Spain. A kind of moral dignity, almost approaching to sanctity, is falsely attributed to the latter; but the prominent features of his character are truly seized and strikingly delineated.[462] The amiable Henry IV. is, however, pourtrayed to the life.[463] In his _Autos Sacramentales_, Montalvan even ventured to differ from Lope de Vega, in order to give to these dramas the popular character which Lope had sacrificed in his allegorical moralities. He composed an auto on the romantic conversion of Skanderbeg, in which drums, trumpets, clarionets, explosions of squibs and rockets, and all the pomp of spectacle is introduced. But the most extravagant creation of Montalvan’s fancy, is his auto of _Polyphemus_, in which the cyclops of that name appears as the allegorical representative of judaism; and the rest of the cyclops, together with the nymph Galathæa, and other mythological beings, are introduced for the allegorical personation of faith and infidelity, according to christian notions. To these characters are added, Appetite as a peasant, Joy as a lady, and finally the Infant Christ. Drum and trumpet accompaniments are not forgotten in this auto. The cyclops too perform on the guitar; and an island sinks amidst a tremendous explosion of fire works.[464]

NOVELS IN THE AGE OF CERVANTES AND LOPE DE VEGA.

Notwithstanding that poetry, sometimes under heterogeneous, sometimes under harmonizing forms, was, next to religion, the object which principally interested the Spanish public in the age of Cervantes and Lope de Vega, yet elegant prose was not consigned to such obscurity as to engage only the attention of the learned. The old Spanish soundness of understanding which particularly displayed itself in Cervantes and the two Argensolas, still, in some measure maintained its influence. But upon the whole that rhetorical cultivation which had been so early developed in Spain was obviously on the decline.

Novels and romances, either decidedly bad or very indifferent, were as widely circulated as rapidly produced, and so great was their number that they counteracted the good effects which the master-piece of Cervantes must necessarily have produced under more favourable circumstances. If few new romances of chivalry were now written, the old ones were read with the greater avidity. After the Galatea of Cervantes, any very successful production in pastoral romance was scarcely to be expected. Romances, depicting the manners of modern society, were, however, proportionally the more numerous. Among the best of the serious, but yet spirited productions of this class, is the Life of _Marcos de Obregon_;[465] by the poet and musician Vicente Espinel.[466] The object of the author was, in his old age, to transmit useful instruction to the rising generation in the form of a novel. The Spanish title in which the hero of the story is styled an _Escudero_, would seem to indicate a romance of chivalry, but the whole character of the work is modern. The Escudero is a sort of gentleman or squire by courtesy, and by no means a shield-bearer. The book is intended as a moral warning for young men without fortune, who hope to get honourably through the world by attaching themselves to persons of distinction. The story, though entertaining, presents nothing particularly attractive; the narration is rather prolix, but still natural; and the diction plainly denotes the classic pupil of the sixteenth century, though Espinel, as he states in his preface, consigned his romance to the correction of Lope de Vega, whom he styles the “divine genius,” after having himself revised the verses which Lope composed in his youth. The insipid jokes which occur in Marcos de Obregon, for example those in derision of the Portuguese and their language, must be considered as belonging to the natural local colouring of the work.

Among the romances of knavery, (_del gusto picaresco_), the celebrated Don Guzman de Alfarache may claim a distinguished place next to Lazarillo de Tormes.[467] It was published in the year 1599, and consequently before Don Quixote appeared. Like Lazarillo de Tormes it was speedily translated into Italian and French, and was subsequently published in various other languages, not excepting the latin. Mattheo Aleman, the author of Guzman de Alfarache, who had withdrawn from the court of Philip III. and lived in retirement, was not induced by the success of his comic romance, to devote himself to a second production of the same class. The knowledge of the world which he had acquired at court, as well as in the sphere of common life, is doubtless abundantly unfolded in his Guzman de Alfarache. The manners of the lower classes of Spanish society, in particular, seem to be pourtrayed with admirable accuracy. In spite of the vulgarity of the subject, and the burlesque style in which it is treated, no ordinary share of judgment is perceptible throughout the whole of this comic novel; and in his humorous language the author has preserved a certain degree of natural elegance even in describing the lowest scenes.

That the Spaniards were by no means sparing of approbation to works of this class, is obvious from the attention bestowed on the mannered continuation of Aleman’s romance, by a writer styling himself Mattheo Luzan, and still more by the favour lavished upon _La Picara Justina_, a silly and pedantic pendant to Guzman de Alfarache, by a writer named Ubeda. In Cervantes’s Journey to Parnassus, no literary production of the age is so categorically condemned as this _Picara Justina_. And yet it was oftener printed, and probably more read than even the Journey to Parnassus.

Little anecdotal stories of a sprightly character, likewise made their appearance in Spanish literature at this period. A collection of these productions, connected together by means of dialogues, was published in 1610, under the title of Pleasant Dialogues for the Carnival time, (_Dialogos de Apacible Entretenimiento_), by Gaspar Lucas Hidalgo.

The political romance of Argenis, was pompously arranged to suit the taste of the Spaniards of that age, by the Gongorist Pellicer de Salas.

Among the novels which possessed more of an imaginative character, the best then produced were those of Perez de Montalvan, the dramatic poet.[468]

The present is not the proper place to introduce a complete or copious list of all the works in the class above alluded to. Other writers have already enumerated them with sufficient accuracy.[469] Unfortunately even the very best of these novels and narratives present no traces of the advancement of taste and literary cultivation.

The novels of a Spanish lady, named Doña Mariana de Caravajal y Saavedra, must not be passed over without a particular notice. Respecting this authoress, who was a native of the city of Granada, but little is said by the writers on Spanish literature. Her ten novels have been frequently reprinted, and were apparently very well received by the public.[470] Doña Mariana states in her preface, that her novels are intended to afford amusement in “the lazy nights of chill winter;”[471] and they may, even now, be recommended to those who stand in need of such amusement; for they are by no means devoid of fancy though they are written in a style of affected verbosity. The verses with which the tales are interspersed, exhibit no traces of poetic talent. In her preface, the authoress promises to present to the Spanish public, twelve comedies “from her ill-made pen,” as a proof of the “kindness of her intention.”[472] Spain could indeed scarcely be expected to give birth to a poetess in the true sense of the term. The terrible yoke imposed on the conscience and the understanding, against which even masculine genius could only contend by boldly plunging into the wilds of romantic invention, weighed still more heavily on the female mind, which without a certain spirit of freedom can seldom range beyond the boundaries established by custom, and the routine of ordinary thinking. Writers on Spanish literature, however, mention in terms of approbation, several female writers of verses, and also women of erudition, like Aloysia Sigea, distinguished for their knowledge of languages.

PROGRESSIVE CULTIVATION OF THE HISTORICAL ART--MARIANA.

At this period of Spanish eloquence, history was the only kind of composition which maintained its old precision and dignity, while of the perfect cultivation of the other branches of prose literature there remained little hope.

The General History of Spain, by the Jesuit Juan de Mariana, though not a model of historical art in the most extended sense of the term, is, in point of style, unquestionably a classic production. Mariana, who may be said to have transferred the genuine spirit of the eloquence of the sixteenth century into the seventeenth,[473] was not one of the pensioned historiographers or chroniclers who have already been frequently mentioned, and who, it must be confessed, honourably discharged their duties. He obtained reputation both in France and Italy as a professor of scholastic philosophy and theology; but his love of literary retirement induced him to return to Spain. Of his own free choice he undertook to compose a new general History of Spain from the earliest period to the death of Ferdinand the catholic. His predecessors had been sufficiently numerous, and he did not find it necessary to collect the materials for his history by laborious compilations from the old authors and chroniclers of the middle ages. He was thus at liberty to prescribe to himself a more pleasing task, namely, that of judiciously combining the most interesting events, and describing them with rhetorical precision in elegant language. With the view of acquiring a prose style, formed in the spirit of the classic historians of antiquity, Mariana composed his work originally in latin,[474] a method which Cardinal Bembo had adopted in writing his History of Venice. After he had completed this first labour, and dedicated the thirty books of his history in latin to Philip II. he followed the example of Bembo in translating it himself, and he in fact recomposed it in Spanish.[475] This work he also dedicated to the king. Though this twofold dedication might have served to prove that the author was far from being liable to the imputation of cherishing views dangerous to the state, yet a party, with whose designs several passages of this history did not accord, found it easy under the government of the ever jealous Philip, to cast on Mariana the suspicion of favouring wicked and rebellious principles. He was formally brought before the inquisition, and it was with difficulty he escaped destruction. Had he devoted more attention to the philosophy of history, he could not so easily have repelled the charge of impartiality, to aim at which was then considered an unwarrantable assumption not to be tolerated in any Spanish writer. But it is only in his style that Mariana was impartial. To exhibit facts as they stood in their natural connection, was sufficient to give umbrage to the court and the inquisition; and solely to such an exposition was it owing, that the historian’s intentions became a subject of suspicion. Elegant composition was his grand object; and in this respect he far excels Bembo, because he is not, like him, mannered. His diction is perfectly faultless, his descriptions picturesque without poetic ornament; and his narrative style may, on the whole, be accounted a model. He has been very successful in avoiding protracted and artificially constructed sentences.[476] Mariana could not, however, resist the temptation of putting speeches into the mouths of his historical characters, after the manner of the ancient historians. In fine, comparing this history with other works of a similar kind, which previously existed in Spanish literature, it will be found that, though justly entitled to a high share of esteem, it cannot be regarded as forming an epoch either in a philosophic or literary point of view.

Having described the rise and progress of the historical art in Spain, it cannot be necessary to give a minute notice of historical works, which for the most part possess only the negative merit of not being ill written. The age of Cervantes and Lope de Vega was, moreover, the period at which the historical literature of the Spaniards began to form itself into that perfect whole for which it is so peculiarly remarkable. At that time the old chronicles were committed to the press one after another: and the continuation and correction of the national history was the only literary occupation which could be pursued with any hope of success by men of talent, who felt no impulse to poetry; unless, indeed, they preferred to distinguish themselves in scholastic theology, or in writing books of pious edification, in which it was, above all things, necessary to take care to say nothing new.

It is still less necessary to enter upon a detailed examination of various works in the didactic department of Spanish literature, which are upon the whole not badly written, but not one of which exceeds in rhetorical merit the works of Perez de Oliva, Ambrosio de Morales, and other authors, who have already been mentioned. The writings of Balthasar, or Lorenzo Gracian, who endeavoured to introduce a kind of _gongorism_ into Spanish prose, will be more fully noticed at the close of the present book.

FLUCTUATION OF SPANISH TASTE FROM THE CLASSIC TO THE CORRUPT STYLE.

In order to mark, by sensible gradations, the transition from the golden age of Spanish poetry and eloquence, to those sad times, when the energy of the national genius was, after a long conflict with opposing circumstances, destined to be overcome, it will be proper first to notice some poets and prose authors, who during the latter half of the period embraced by the present section, assumed a tone peculiar to themselves; and also, another set of writers who were their immediate successors. Quevedo may with propriety be placed at their head. During a part of his life he was contemporary with Cervantes, Lope de Vega, and the Argensolas, and was, moreover, an opposer of the New Art of Gongora. But both in poetry and prose he deviates so strikingly from the classic, and so obviously approaches the ornamented and artificial style, that by commencing with him the retrograde course which Spanish literature began to take even in the period of its highest cultivation, will be most distinctly perceived.

QUEVEDO.

The circumstances of the life of Francisco de Quevedo Villegas,[477] a man who has almost invariably been praised or censured with partiality, had a most important influence on the developement and employment of his talents. He began even in childhood to breathe the air of courts. He was born, in 1580, at Madrid, of a noble family, and was educated at the court under the care of his widowed mother who was one of the ladies of the royal household. An eager curiosity was the first indication of his active and restless mind; and the impressions which he received in his infancy, induced him to make the scholastic theology of catholicism his first study in preference to every other kind of knowledge. He was sent to the university of Alcala, where he received the degree of doctor in theology in his fifteenth year, a fact which appears almost incredible. Grown weary of theology, he directed his attention to law, philology, natural philosophy, medicine, and elegant literature; and he pursued all these studies without any regular order. It is probable that at this period he injured his sight by indefatigable reading; for in the prime of life he was incapable of distinguishing any object at the distance of three paces, without the aid of glasses. But neither this infirmity nor the crooked legs which he had received from nature, deterred him from mingling in fashionable society. His figure, which was in other respects strong and well proportioned, joined to his prepossessing countenance, contributed in no slight degree to the early developement of his self-esteem.

Quevedo returned to the court of Madrid, with a mind stored with all kinds of academic knowledge. But he soon became engaged in a dispute, fought a duel in which he wounded his antagonist, and was compelled to fly. He proceeded to Italy, where the Spanish Viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro Giron, Duke of Ossuna, interested himself for the accomplished fugitive. He procured his pardon at Madrid, and retained him in his service at Naples. Quevedo now became a statesman and a man of business. He played the most prominent part at the court of the Vice-king, executed important commissions, visited the papal court, in quality of ambassador, was rewarded with titles and pensions, and seemed to be the favourite of fortune. But he was suddenly cast down by the fall of his patron, the Duke of Ossuna. Quevedo was connected with that powerful grandee in all his transactions, and thus became involved in his fate. In 1620, in the fortieth year of his age, he was arrested and removed to his country seat, La Torre de Juan Abad, where he was, by the order of the government, confined during three years, notwithstanding his delicate state of health, which this restraint rendered daily worse. So rigidly was this kind of imprisonment enforced, that it was with great difficulty he could obtain leave to go to a neighbouring town to commit himself to the care of a physician in whom he could confide.

At length Quevedo’s papers being strictly examined, his innocence became unquestionable, and he was set at liberty. He now demanded indemnification and the payment of the arrears of his pension. Instead, however, of obtaining attention to his claims, he was threatened with a new exile, and received an order to quit the court. This sentence he found means to evade, and even court intrigue seemed at last inclined to favour him; but in the conflict between vanity and reason, Quevedo in due time proved himself a philosopher. He willingly forsook the court, retired to his estate of La Torre, and devoted himself wholly to literary pursuits. It is probable that at this period he wrote the poems which on their first appearance were published as the works of the Bachelor de la Torre, an old poet of the fifteenth century. The name of his country residence apparently suggested to Quevedo the disguise of the above title. There is also reason to suppose that at this period he wrote the greater portion of his works both in prose and verse. But these writings, which overflow with wit and satire, and display that firmness of judgment and character, which is always so unwelcome at courts, tended to keep alive the attention of those who conceived themselves to be attacked. As the crisis of his varied fate approached, Quevedo seems to have totally forgotten the intrigues of which he had been the victim. He had already passed several years in literary tranquillity, and was upwards of fifty years of age when he married. But his wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, did not live long. Quevedo’s evil star once more induced him to visit Madrid, where in 1641, he was arrested at midnight in the house of a friend with whom he resided. The charge preferred against him, was that of being a libeller, who spared neither the government nor public morals; he was thrown into a small and unwholesome prison, and treated with the most rigid severity, not even experiencing the humanity usually extended to the vilest criminals. In the meanwhile his property was sequestrated, and though not convicted of any crime, he was compelled to subsist on charity. He was again seized with a severe fit of illness. His body broke out in ulcers, in consequence of the insalubrity of his prison, but he was even then denied the aid of a surgeon. In this situation Quevedo appealed for justice to the Duke of Olivares, the all-powerful prime minister of Spain, in a letter which has become celebrated. His case was now, for the first time, strictly investigated; and it was ascertained that he had merely been supposed to be the author of a libel, which was subsequently discovered to have been written in a monastery. Quevedo once more regained his freedom, but with the loss of a considerable portion of his fortune, of which indeed he retained so scanty a remnant, that he was unable to continue long enough in Madrid to solicit the indemnification which was so justly due to him, and without which he could not subsist with respectability. A prey to sickness, and deprived of the hope of ever obtaining justice, he retired to his country seat, and there died in the year 1645.

A man who, like Quevedo, reaped the bitterest fruits from political justice, cannot be very heavily reproached for seizing in his satires every opportunity of more severely chastising and ridiculing the ministers of that justice, than any other enemies of truth and equity. But Quevedo was not a mere satirist. He may, without hesitation, be pronounced the most ingenious of all Spanish writers, next to Cervantes; and his mind was, moreover, endowed with a degree of practical judgment, which is seldom found combined with that versatility for which he was distinguished. Could Quevedo have ruled the taste and genius of his nation and his age in the same degree in which that taste and genius influenced him, his versatility, joined to his talent for composing verses with no less rapidity than Lope de Vega, might have rendered him, if not a poet of the first rank in the loftier region of art, at least a classic writer of almost unrivalled merit. But this scholar and man of the world was too early wedded to conventional forms of every kind. It may indeed be said that he was steeped in all the colours of his age. A true feeling of the independence of genius never animated him, lofty as his spirit in other respects was. His taste imbibed some portion of all the conflicting tastes which at that period existed in Spain. His style never acquired originality, and his mind was only half cultivated.

Quevedo’s writings, taken altogether in verse and in prose, resemble a massy ornament of jewellery, in which the setting of some parts is exquisitely skilful, of others extremely rude, and in which the number of false stones and of gems of inestimable value are nearly equal. His most numerous, and unquestionably his best productions, are those of the satirical and comic kind. Though Quevedo did not strike into a totally new course, yet by a union peculiar to himself of sports of fancy, with the maxims of reason and morality, he evidently enlarged the sphere of satirical and comic poetry in Spanish literature. He occasionally approached, though he never equalled, the delicacy and correctness of Cervantes. His wit is sufficiently caustic; but it is accompanied by a coarseness which would be surprising, considering his situation in life, were it not that Quevedo, as an author, sought to indemnify himself for the constraint to which, as a man of the world he was compelled to submit. For this reason, perhaps, he bestowed but little pains on the correction of his satires. His ideas are striking; and are thrown together sometimes with absolute carelessness, sometimes with refined precision; but for the most part in a distorted and mannered strain of language. This mixed character of cultivation and rudeness peculiarly characterizes his satirical and comic works in verse, in which, as he himself says, he has exhibited “truth in her smock, but not quite naked.”[478] He appears as the rival of Gongora in numerous comic canciones and romances in the old national style.[479] In these compositions he humorously parodied the extravagant images of the Marinists,[480] and the affected singularity of the Gongorists.[481] Quevedo wrote no inconsiderable number of his comic and satirical poems in the jargon of the Spanish gypsies; and it is therefore probable that they are not intelligible to many readers on this side of the Pyrenees.[482] These romances and canciones, which were distinguished by the name of Xacaras, were rendered so extremely popular by Quevedo, that even down to the present day the Spaniards continue to admire them.[483] His Bayles, or comic dancing songs, are, on account of their numerous allusions to national peculiarities, no less obscure to foreigners than the Xacaras.

Of all the Spanish poets, Quevedo has been the most successful writer of burlesque sonnets in the Italian manner. Some of these sonnets he shortened by depriving them of the three last of their legitimate number of lines, while the Italians on the contrary, attached to theirs the comic sequel which they called the _Coda_.[484] Quevedo’s productions in this class are, for the most part, like their Italian models, full of allusions which cannot be understood without the assistance of a commentary. Some have a piquant sententious turn. But that licentious humour which distinguishes this species of composition in Italian literature Quevedo renounced, either voluntarily or from fear of the inquisition. Besides his burlesque sonnets, he wrote canciones and madrigals in the same style.

Quevedo’s satires in the manner of Juvenal, naturally connect themselves with his burlesque poems. Like his model he has infused into them nearly as much poetry as the satirical style is capable of receiving.[485] These compositions display the noblest enthusiasm for truth and justice,[486] and the most patriotic zeal for the honour of Spain,[487] forcibly and clearly expressed.

Quevedo’s satires in verse and his poems of humour, are not so well known out of Spain as his prose writings of the same description, of which the most remarkable are his Visions or Dreams, and his novel of the Great Tacaño, or the Captain of Thieves, called Don Pablos, (_Vida del Buscon_, llamado D. Pablos), which certainly may be regarded as the most burlesque of the knavery romances.[488] Lucian furnished him with the original idea of satirical visions; but Quevedo’s were the first of their kind in modern literature. Owing to frequent imitations, their faults are now no longer disguised by the charm of novelty, and even their merits have ceased to interest. Still, however, they must be regarded as ingenious productions abounding in practical truths. They are not, it is true, remarkable either for delicate satire or pure philosophy. But Quevedo’s object was to scourge human folly and vice in the mass; and the severe lashes which he deals out in his Visions, are in excellent unison with the popular nature of the idea and the poignant style of its execution. He has made perverted Justice, with all her servants and satellites, and particularly the Alguazils, figure in the fore ground of his picture; but the melancholy fate of the author may well excuse, though even in the visionary world, these monotonous features in his satirical work. Among the passages for which no just excuse can be found, are some disgusting descriptions of the consequences of physical excess. The reader is occasionally surprised by the humorous sallies with which Quevedo breaks forth in these Visions; for example, in that of the Last Judgment, in which he describes “some merchants who had placed their souls across their bodies, so that their five senses got into the finger nails of their right hand.[489]”

For the serious works of Quevedo, we must refer to his poems, as his serious compositions in prose are in general of a theological and ascetic character. The sonnets, canciones, odes and pastoral poems, which he published under the name of the Bachelor de la Torre, are even at the present day highly extolled by critics;[490] and these poems have certainly more correctness than most of Quevedo’s other works. But they chiefly consist of imitations of the Spanish Petrarchist style, which was always foreign to Quevedo; and notwithstanding the great elegance of language and versification which distinguish them, they are surcharged with antiquated phrases of affected gallantry. The _snows_ which _inflame_ the poet, and similar tropes in which the beauty of a mistress is brilliantly set forth, occasionally call to mind the style of the Italian Marinists. Nevertheless some of these sonnets well deserve the favour which has been extended to them.[491] Quevedo’s _Endechas_, or Laments, have a pleasing national character.[492] The pastoral poems contained in this collection, approximate to the good specimens of the sixteenth century. Quevedo evidently wished to prove what he was capable of producing in this style of composition.

The serious poems of which Quevedo has avowed himself the author, are very unequal in character.[493] His didactic and sententious sonnets are energetic, but deficient in delicacy.[494] Some of the best assume a satirical turn.[495] His odes in the Pindaric style are, however, stiff and formal. He wrote a piece of moral declamation in verse, called _Sermon Estoyco_, (Estoical Sermon), which is in truth precisely what the title denotes.

That Quevedo entertained very vague notions respecting poetry, is particularly evident from the whim which induced him to translate in rhymed verse, the stoical Enchiridion, or Manual of Epictetus. The translation is, however, much esteemed by the Spaniards.[496]

VILLEGAS.

An Anacreon was still wanting to Spanish literature, though various attempts in the Anacreontic style had been made. That a poet penetrated at once with the classic spirit of Anacreon, Horace and Catullus, should now arise, and become the favourite of the Spanish public, was a thing scarcely to be expected; for all the resources of amatory poetry in the only style which had hitherto been found agreeable to Spanish taste, seemed to be exhausted. The poetry of Villegas, however, produced precisely for this reason the more powerful impression on a public which ardently longed for entertainment.

Estèvan Manuel de Villègas, was born in the year 1595, at Nagera, or Naxera, a little town in Old Castile. The history of his life is simple. His parents who were noble, though not rich, sent him to study at Madrid and Salamanca. His taste for poetry was developed at a very early period. Even in his fifteenth year he translated Anacreon, and several of the odes of Horace in verse; and likewise imitated those poets in original compositions. In his twentieth year he gave the finishing touch to his youthful effusions, and added to the collection of his translated and original poems, a second part, which has since been published conjointly with them.[497] He soon after printed the whole collection at his own expence at Naxera, under the title of _Amatorias_; but in the interior of the book, the poems are styled _Eroticas_.[498] Villegas ventured to dedicate these poems, together with the part added to them, to which a particular title might more properly have been assigned, to Philip III. though individual parts of the collection had previously been addressed to other patrons. That so indolent a monarch as Philip III. should have accepted the dedication of such a collection, may not be surprising, and the freedom was pardonable in a young author of three-and-twenty. But this dedication is, in another respect, remarkable in the history of Spanish literature; for the _Eroticas_ of Villegas contain some passages, which though not wanting in delicacy of expression, are nevertheless so extremely free, that it is wonderful how they happened to escape the censure of the inquisition. The dedication was, however, productive of neither good nor evil to the poet. For several years he vainly solicited a lucrative office; and was at last obliged to content himself with the scanty emolument arising from an insignificant post in Naxera, his native town. From that time he devoted his leisure to the composition of philological works in the latin language; and though he produced nothing new for Spanish poetry, he made a prose translation of five books of Boethius. He lived till the year 1669.

The graceful luxuriance of the poetry of Villegas has no parallel in modern literature; and, generally speaking, no modern writer has so well succeeded in blending the spirit of ancient poetry with the modern. But constantly to observe that correctness of ideas, which distinguished the classical compositions of antiquity, was by Villegas, as by most Spanish poets, considered too rigid a requisition, and an unnecessary restraint on genius. He accordingly sometimes degenerates into conceits and images, the monstrous absurdity of which are characteristic of the author’s nation and age. For instance, in one of his odes in which he entreats Lyda to suffer her tresses to flow, he says, that “when agitated by Zephyr, her locks would occasion a thousand deaths, and subdue a thousand lives;”[499] and then he adds, in a strain of extravagance, surpassing that of the Marinists, “that the sun himself would cease to give light, if he did not snatch beams from her radiant countenance to illumine the east.”[500] But faults of this glaring kind, are by no means frequent in the poetry of Villegas; and the fascinating grace with which he emulates his models, operates with so powerful a charm, that the occasional occurrence of some little affectations, from which he could scarcely be expected entirely to abstain, is easily overlooked by the reader.

The order in which the poetic works of Villegas are arranged, is by no means the best; but as it was chosen by the author, it is proper that it should be observed in pursuing a notice of the poems themselves. The first book of the first part commences with thirty-six odes in the style of some of the odes of Horace. The Dedicatory Ode addressed to the king, announces, in language truly charming, the spirit of the whole collection.[501] Then follow in a similar strain, the most delightful plays of fancy, abounding in classical allusions, without the least trace of pedantry. The style of Villegas even imparts a charm of novelty to descriptions of the oftenest described things.[502] In these odes, romantic levity assumes freedoms, which if not always of the most excusable, are invariably of the most graceful description;[503] and the soft and melodious expression of tender passion, which in more than one instance occurs, has never been surpassed.[504]

The second book of the first division of the poems of Villegas, consists of odes, which are free translations of the first book of Horace. It ought not, therefore, to have been ranked under the same title with the other poems in the collection. There is something pedantic in the generical titles by which he distinguishes the different odes; for example--_Memptica_, _Enetica_, _Parænetica_, &c.

With the third book of the first division commence the Anacreontic songs, or as they are styled in the collection, the _Delicias_ of the poet. Their measure is chiefly anacreontic, sometimes in blank verse, and at other times presenting the most pleasing alternation of rhymes and assonances. Light pleasing images and soft luxuriant ideas float through these songs even more gracefully than in the odes attributed to Anacreon.[505] Nothing can exceed the beauty of those in which a certain delicate moral feeling is combined with a pathetic simplicity.[506] Only a few can be said to be absolutely copied from the greek or latin originals.

The fourth book of the first part, contains the complete translation of the greek odes ascribed to Anacreon. The second division is chiefly occupied with elegies and idyls, or _eidillios_, as Villegas, in hellenizing the term, chooses to call them. The elegies which might with greater propriety be denominated epistles, do not belong to the best of the kind in Spanish literature; in the idyls, or mythological tales, as they ought to be called, Villegas appears as one of the _Cultoristos_, or disciples of the school of Gongora.[507]

The collection concludes with several imitations of greek and latin verse, which may be regarded as the first compositions of the kind in Spanish, that were not complete failures. Doubtless the Spanish language adapts itself somewhat more readily to the ancient metres than the Italian; for final syllables sounded in pronunciation, but subject to elision in scanning, do not occur so frequently in Spanish as in Italian.--This difference is, however, in reality but of trivial importance; and Spanish verses in the ancient syllabic measures do not flow much more naturally than the Italian compositions of the same kind; because many words derived from the latin, have received in Spanish, as well as in Italian, a modern quantity,[508] which is generally confounded with the ancient quantity by the imitators of the greek and latin metres. The Spanish hexameters of Villegas, it is true, approach in point of facility to the hexameters of antiquity.[509] But the pentameters defied his imitative talent.[510] In his sapphic verse the measure resolves into iambics: one of these sapphic odes is, however, exquisitely beautiful.[511]

CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF LYRIC, BUCOLIC, EPIC, DIDACTIC,
AND SATIRICAL POETRY, TO THE CLOSE OF THE PERIOD EMBRACED BY THIS
SECTION.

After Quevedo and Villegas, and before entering upon the notice of a series of dramatic poets, whose works must form a subject of separate consideration, it will be necessary to mention several ingenious writers, who, though endowed with eminent talents, were nevertheless unable to retard the fast approaching close of the golden era of Spanish poesy.

JAUREGUI.

If pure diction, joined to a descriptive style of the most perfect kind, might form a sufficient claim to the title of poet of the first rank, the right of Juan de Jauregui, or Xauregui, to that distinction, among the Spanish poets of the first half of the seventeenth century, could not be disputed. Jauregui, who was of Biscayan origin, but educated in the interior of Spain, first developed his talents in Italy. In that country he prosecuted his poetic studies, and at the same time thought it no degradation to practise painting as a profession, though he was a nobleman and a knight of the order of Calatrava. He is said to have excelled in painting even more than in poetry. While in Italy he made a Spanish translation of Tasso’s Amynta, in which he was so successful, that the translation is still regarded by the educated portion of his countrymen as possessing the characteristics of the happiest original composition. Jauregui was a decided opponent of the Gongorists; but his taste did not coincide with that of Quevedo. He devoted much talent and industry to a free translation of Lucan’s Pharsalia in octaves. He died in 1610; and his poetic remains, exclusive of his translations, are by no means numerous. The translation of Lucan was not published till long after the death of Jauregui; but ever since its appearance, the Spaniards have admired it as a classic composition; and it unquestionably possesses all the merit that the translation of such a work can possibly present. But from a man who could be induced to apply so much labour and time to a translation of Lucan, no very extraordinary proofs of poetic talent were to be expected; and it must be confessed that Jauregui, in none of his compositions has risen above what may be called the poetry of style. He might have carried this kind of merit still farther, had not his Lucan led him into a kind of mannered affectation. Among his original works, his _Orfeo_, a mythological tale, in five cantos, deserves to be distinguished.[512] But his lyric poems, and particularly his sonnets, bear evident traces of the man of genius and of cultivated mind.[513] Jauregui’s dramatic compositions, which were written with the view of reforming the national taste, are now lost to literature, and were at the time of their production indignantly banished from the stage. He is the author of some small works in prose, one of which is a treatise on painting.[514]

BORJA Y ESQUILLACHE.

Prince Francisco de Borja y Esquillache, a knight of the Golden Fleece, and for some time viceroy of Peru, was the most distinguished, in point of birth, of all the Spanish poets of his age.[515] With regard to cultivation, he may be placed on a level with Jauregui; but he deserves to rank higher in poetic invention. Throughout his long life, which when he died in 1658, had extended to nearly eighty years, he seems constantly to have devoted a portion of his time to the study of poetry; and though he was not entitled to the praises lavished on him by his flatterers, who styled him the Prince of Spanish Poets, he may be regarded as the last representative of the classic style of the sixteenth century. The collection of his sonnets, epistles, tales, romances, and canciones, forms a large quarto volume, the last half of which is printed in double columns.[516] Prince Francisco de Borja, was likewise the author of an unsuccessful epic poem, entitled, _Napoles Conquistada_, and various works on sacred subjects. Though he did not contribute to the advancement of Spanish poetry, yet in all his writings, he decidedly opposed that subtlety and affectation which in the time of Gongora usurped the place of real genius. The intimate friendship he had contracted in his youth with the younger Argensola, had no doubt a favourable influence on the early developement of his talent. In the preface to his poems, which is in verse, he explains the principles of his taste with so much accuracy, modesty and elegance, that the reader cannot fail to be prepossessed in his favour, before entering on an attentive perusal of his works.[517] He was particularly averse to all kinds of affectation and extravagance.[518] Most of his sonnets bear traces of mature reflection.[519] His long tale of Jacob and Rachel, (_Cantos de Jacob y Raquel_), in octaves, has indeed no other merit than that of elegant diction.[520] His lyric romances, however, of which he wrote upwards of two hundred and fifty, present at once the richest and most beautiful gleanings in that species of poetic composition.[521]

OTHER POETS OF THIS PERIOD--THE SYLVAS, OR POETIC FORESTS.

To enter into a detailed description of the works of some other Spanish poets, with whom the old national poetry and the Italian style equally perished, would be the more unnecessary here, as these poets, though not without genius, wanted proper cultivation, and merely followed in the general stream. Besides, there is no want of literary notices which furnish abundant information respecting Luis de Ulloa, Francisco de Rioja, Gravina, Manuel de Mela, Juan de Tarsis, Count of Villamediana, and others.[522] It is, however, worthy of remark, that at this period, as in the preceding ages, Spanish noblemen and men of rank were particularly distinguished among the candidates for poetic fame. The Poetic Forests, (_Sylvas_), as they were styled, according to Gongora’s nomenclature, but which were afterwards designated by the common Spanish word _Selvas_, doubtless contributed in no slight degree to hasten the decline of genuine poetry in Spain. In these Forests rhymed prose could flow on without obstruction, and every conceit was in its proper place; for no fixed metre, and no unity of ideas or events restrained the poet or versifier. The works of Count Rebolledo, which are deserving of a particular notice, will afford a sufficient idea of the direction thus given to the lyric, didactic, narrative, and bucolic poetry of Spain, in a general combination of all these styles.

REBOLLEDO.