The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2

by William Hickling Prescott

CHAPTER XX.

CASTILIAN LITERATURE.—ROMANCES OF CHIVALRY.—LYRICAL POETRY.-THE DRAMA.

This Reign an Epoch in Polite Letters.—Romances of Chivalry.—Ballads or Romances.—Moorish Minstrelsy.—"Cancionero General."—Its Literary Value.—Rise of the Spanish Drama.—Criticism on "Celestina."—Encina.— Naharro.—Low Condition of the Stage.—National Spirit of the Literature of this Epoch.

Ornamental or polite literature, which, emanating from the taste and sensibility of a nation, readily exhibits its various fluctuations of fashion and feeling, was stamped in Spain with the distinguishing characteristics of this revolutionary age. The Provencal, which reached such high perfection in Catalonia, and subsequently in Aragon, as noticed in an introductory chapter, [1] expired with the union of this monarchy with Castile, and the dialect ceased to be applied to literary purposes altogether, after the Castilian became the language of the court in the united kingdoms. The poetry of Castile, which throughout the present reign continued to breathe the same patriotic spirit, and to exhibit the same national peculiarities that had distinguished it from the time of the Cid, submitted soon after Ferdinand's death to the influence of the more polished Tuscan, and henceforth, losing somewhat of its distinctive physiognomy, assumed many of the prevalent features of continental literature. Thus the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella becomes an epoch as memorable in literary, as in civil history.

The most copious vein of fancy, in that day, was turned in the direction of the prose romance of chivalry; now seldom disturbed, even in its own country, except by the antiquary. The circumstances of the age naturally led to its production. The romantic Moorish wars, teeming with adventurous exploit and picturesque incident, carried on with the natural enemies of the Christian knight, and opening moreover all the legendary stores of Oriental fable,—the stirring adventures by sea as well as land,—above all, the discovery of a world beyond the waters, whose unknown regions gave full scope to the play of the imagination, all contributed to stimulate the appetite for the incredible chimeras, the magnanime menzogne, of chivalry. The publication of "Amadis de Gaula" gave a decided impulse to this popular feeling. This romance, which seems now well ascertained to be the production of a Portuguese in the latter half of the fourteenth century, [2] was first printed in a Spanish version, probably not far from 1490. [3] Its editor, Garci Ordoñez de Montalvo, states, in his prologue, that "he corrected it from the ancient originals, pruning it of all superfluous phrases, and substituting others of a more polished and elegant style." [4] How far its character was benefited by this work of purification may be doubted; although it is probable it did not suffer so much by such a process as it would have done in a later and more cultivated period. The simple beauties of this fine old romance, its bustling incidents, relieved by the delicate play of Oriental machinery, its general truth of portraiture, above all, the knightly character of the hero, who graced the prowess of chivalry with a courtesy, modesty, and fidelity unrivalled in the creations of romance, soon recommended it to popular favor and imitation. A continuation, bearing the title of "Las Sergas de Esplandian," was given to the world by Montalvo himself, and grafted on the original stock, as the fifth book of the Amadis, before 1510. A sixth, containing the adventures of his nephew, was printed at Salamanca in the course of the last-mentioned year; and thus the idle writers of the day continued to propagate dulness through a series of heavy tomes, amounting in all to four and twenty books, until the much- abused public would no longer suffer the name of Amadis to cloak the manifold sins of his posterity. [5] Other knights-errant were sent roving about the world at the same time, whose exploits would fill a library; but fortunately they have been permitted to pass into oblivion, from which a few of their names only have been rescued by the caustic criticism of the curate in Don Quixote; who, it will be remembered, after declaring that the virtues of the parent shall not avail his posterity, condemns them and their companions, with one or two exceptions only, to the fatal funeral pile. [6]

These romances of chivalry must have undoubtedly contributed to nourish those exaggerated sentiments, which from a very early period entered into the Spanish character. Their evil influence, in a literary view, resulted less from their improbabilities of situation, which they possessed in common with the inimitable Italian epics, than from the false pictures which they presented of human character, familiarizing the eye of the reader with such models as debauched the taste, and rendered him incapable of relishing the chaste and sober productions of art. It is remarkable that the chivalrous romance, which was so copiously cultivated through the greater part of the sixteenth century, should not have assumed the poetic form, as in Italy, and indeed among our Norman ancestors; and that, in its prose dress, no name of note appears to raise it to a high degree of literary merit. Perhaps such a result might have been achieved, but for the sublime parody of Cervantes, which cut short the whole race of knights-errant, and by the fine irony, which it threw around the mock heroes of chivalry, extinguished them for ever. [7]

The most popular poetry of this period, that springing from the body of the people, and most intimately addressed to it, is the ballads, or romances, as they are termed in Spain. These indeed were familiar to the Peninsula as far back as the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; but in the present reign they received a fresh impulse from the war with Granada, and composed, under the name of the Moorish ballads, what may perhaps be regarded, without too high praise, as the most exquisite popular minstrelsy of any age or country.

The humble narrative lyrics making up the mass of ballad poetry, and forming the natural expression of a simple state of society, would seem to be most abundant in nations endowed with keen sensibilities, and placed in situations of excitement and powerful interest, fitted to develop them. The light and lively French have little to boast of in this way. [8] The Italians, with a deeper poetic feeling, were too early absorbed in the gross business habits of trade, and their literature received too high a direction from its master spirits, at its very commencement, to allow any considerable deviation in this track. The countries where it has most thriven, are probably Great Britain and Spain. The English and the Scotch, whose constitutionally pensive and even melancholy temperament has been deepened by the sober complexion of the climate, were led to the cultivation of this poetry still further by the stirring scenes of feudal warfare in which they were engaged, especially along the borders. The Spaniards, to similar sources of excitement, added that of high religious feeling in their struggles with the Saracens, which gave a somewhat loftier character to their effusions. Fortunately for them, their early annals gave birth, in the Cid, to a hero whose personal renown was identified with that of his country, round whose name might be concentrated all the scattered lights of song, thus enabling the nation to build up its poetry on the proudest historic recollections. [9] The feats of many other heroes, fabulous as well as real, were permitted to swell the stream of traditionary verse; and thus a body of poetical annals, springing up as it were from the depths of the people, was bequeathed from sire to son, contributing, perhaps, more powerfully than any real history could have done, to infuse a common principle of patriotism into the scattered members of the nation.

There is considerable resemblance between the early Spanish ballad and the British. The latter affords more situations of pathos and deep tenderness, particularly those of suffering, uncomplaining love, a favorite theme with old English poets of every description. [10] We do not find, either, in the ballads of the Peninsula, the wild, romantic adventures of the roving outlaw, of the Robin Hood genus, which enter so largely into English minstrelsy. The former are in general of a more sustained and chivalrous character, less gloomy, and although fierce not so ferocious, nor so decidedly tragical in their aspect, as the latter. The ballads of the Cid, however, have many points in common with the border poetry; the same free and cordial manner, the same love of military exploit, relieved by a certain tone of generous gallantry, and accompanied by a strong expression of national feeling.

The resemblance between the minstrelsy of the two countries vanishes, however, as we approach the Moorish ballads. The Moorish wars had always afforded abundant themes of interest for the Castilian muse; but it was not till the fall of the capital, that the very fountains of song were broken up, and those beautiful ballads were produced, which seem like the echoes of departed glory, lingering round the ruins of Granada. Incompetent as these pieces may be as historical records, they are doubtless sufficiently true to manners. [11] They present a most remarkable combination, of not merely the exterior form, but the noble spirit of European chivalry, with the gorgeousness and effeminate luxury of the east. They are brief, seizing single situations of the highest poetic interest, and striking the eye of the reader with a brilliancy of execution, so artless in appearance withal as to seem rather the effect of accident than study. We are transported to the gay seat of Moorish power, and witness the animating bustle, its pomp and its revelry, prolonged to the last hour of its existence. The bull-fight of the Vivarrambla, the graceful tilt of reeds, the amorous knights with their quaint significant devices, the dark Zegris, or Gomeres, and the royal, self-devoted Abencerrages, the Moorish maiden radiant at the tourney, the moonlight serenade, the stolen interview, where the lover gives vent to all the intoxication of passion in the burning language of Arabian metaphor and hyperbole, [12]—these, and a thousand similar scenes, are brought before the eye, by a succession of rapid and animated touches, like the lights and shadows of a landscape. The light trochaic structure of the redondilla [13], as the Spanish ballad measure is called, rolling on its graceful, negligent asonante, [14] whose continued repetition seems by its monotonous melody to prolong the note of feeling originally struck, is admirably suited by its flexibility to the most varied and opposite expression; a circumstance which has recommended it as the ordinary measure of dramatic dialogue.

Nothing can be more agreeable than the general effect of the Moorish ballads, which combine the elegance of a riper period of literature, with the natural sweetness and simplicity, savoring sometimes even of the rudeness, of a primitive age. Their merits have raised them to a sort of classical dignity in Spain, and have led to their cultivation by a higher order of writers, and down to a far later period, than in any other country in Europe. The most successful specimens of this imitation may be assigned to the early part of the seventeenth century; but the age was too late to enable the artist, with all his skill, to seize the true coloring of the antique. It is impossible, at this period, to ascertain the authors of these venerable lyrics, nor can the exact time of their production be now determined; although, as their subjects are chiefly taken from the last days of the Spanish Arabian empire, the larger part of them was probably posterior, and, as they were printed in collections at the beginning of the sixteenth century, could not have been long posterior, to the capture of Granada. How far they may be referred to the conquered Moors, is uncertain. Many of these wrote and spoke the Castilian with elegance, and there is nothing improbable in the supposition, that they should seek some solace under present evils in the splendid visions of the past. The bulk of this poetry, however, was in all probability the creation of the Spaniards themselves, naturally attracted by the picturesque circumstances in the character and condition of the conquered nation to invest them with poetic interest.

The Moorish romances fortunately appeared after the introduction of printing into the Peninsula, so that they were secured a permanent existence, instead of perishing with the breath that made them, like so many of their predecessors. This misfortune, which attaches to so much of popular poetry in all nations, is not imputable to any insensibility in the Spaniards to the excellence of their own. Men of more erudition than taste may have held them light, in comparison with more ostentatious and learned productions. This fate has befallen them in other countries than Spain. [15] But persons of finer poetic feeling, and more enlarged spirit of criticism, have estimated them as a most essential and characteristic portion of Castilian literature. Such was the judgment of the great Lope de Vega, who, after expatiating on the extraordinary compass and sweetness of the romance, and its adaptation to the highest subjects, commends it as worthy of all estimation for its peculiar national character. [16] The modern Spanish writers have adopted a similar tone of criticism, insisting on its study, as essential to a correct appreciation and comprehension of the genius of the language. [17]

The Castilian ballads were first printed in the "Cancionero General" of Fernando del Castillo, in 1511. They were first incorporated into a separate work, by Sepulveda, under the name of "Romances sacados de Historias Antiguas," printed at Antwerp, in 1551. [18] Since that period, they have passed into repeated editions, at home and abroad, especially in Germany, where they have been illustrated by able critics. [19] Ignorance of their authors, and of the era of their production, has prevented any attempt at exact chronological arrangement; a circumstance rendered, moreover, nearly impossible, by the perpetual modification which the original style of the more ancient ballads has experienced, in their transition through successive generations; so that, with one or two exceptions, no earlier date should probably be assigned to the oldest of them, in their present form, than the fifteenth century. [20] Another system of classification has been adopted, of distributing them according to their subjects; and independent collections also of the separate departments, as ballads of the Cid, of the Twelve Peers, the Morisco ballads, and the like, have been repeatedly published, both at home and abroad. [21]

The higher and educated classes of the nation were not insensible to the poetic spirit, which drew forth such excellent minstrelsy from the body of the people. Indeed, Castilian poetry bore the same patrician stamp through the whole of the present reign, which had been impressed on it in its infancy. Fortunately, the new art of printing was employed here, as in the case of the romances, to arrest those fugitive sallies of imagination, which in other countries were permitted, from want of this care, to pass into oblivion; and cancioneros, or collections of lyrics, were published, embodying the productions of this reign and that of John the Second, thus bringing under one view the poetic culture of the fifteenth century.

The earliest cancionero printed was at Saragossa, in 1492. It comprehended the works of Mena, Manrique, and six or seven other bards of less note. [22] A far more copious collection was made by Fernando del Castillo, and first published at Valencia, in 1511, under the title of "Cancionero General," since which period it has passed into repeated editions. This compilation is certainly more creditable to Castillo's industry, than to his discrimination or power of arrangement. Indeed, in this latter respect it is so defective, that it would almost seem to have been put together fortuitously, as the pieces came to hand. A large portion of the authors appear to have been persons of rank; a circumstance to which perhaps they were indebted, more than to any poetic merit, for a place in the miscellany, which might have been decidedly increased in value by being diminished in bulk. [23]

The works of devotion with which the collection opens, are on the whole the feeblest portion of it. We discern none of the inspiration and lyric glow, which were to have been anticipated from the devout, enthusiastic Spaniard. We meet with anagrams on the Virgin, glosses on the creed and pater noster, canciones on original sin and the like unpromising topics, all discussed in the most bald, prosaic manner, with abundance of Latin phrase, scriptural allusion, and commonplace precept, unenlivened by a single spark of true poetic fire, and presenting altogether a farrago of the most fantastic pedantry.

The lighter, especially the amatory poems, are much more successfully executed, and the primitive forms of the old Castilian versification are developed with considerable variety and beauty. Among the most agreeable effusions in this way, may be noticed those of Diego Lopez de Haro, who, to borrow the encomium of a contemporary, was "the mirror of gallantry for the young cavaliers of the time." There are few verses in the collection composed with more facility and grace. [24] Among the more elaborate pieces, Diego de San Pedro's "Desprecio de la Fortuna" may be distinguished, not so much for any poetic talent which it exhibits, as for its mercurial and somewhat sarcastic tone of sentiment. [25] The similarity of subject may suggest a parallel between it and the Italian poet Guidi's celebrated ode on Fortune; and the different styles of execution may perhaps be taken, as indicating pretty fairly the distinctive peculiarities of the Tuscan and the old Spanish school of poetry. The Italian, introducing the fickle goddess, in person, on the scene, describes her triumphant march over the ruins of empires and dynasties, from the earliest time, in a flow of lofty dithyrambic eloquence, adorned with all the brilliant coloring of a stimulated fancy and a highly finished language. The Castilian, on the other hand, instead of this splendid personification, deepens his verse into a moral tone, and, dwelling on the vicissitudes and vanities of human life, points his reflections with some caustic warning, often conveyed with enchanting simplicity, but without the least approach to lyric exaltation, or indeed the affectation of it.

This proneness to moralize the song is in truth a characteristic of the old Spanish bard. He rarely abandons himself, without reserve, to the frolic puerilities so common with the sister Muse of Italy,

"Scritta così come la penna getta,
Per fuggir l'ozio, e non per cercar gloria."

It is true, he is occasionally betrayed by verbal subtilties and other affectations of the age; [26] but even his liveliest sallies are apt to be seasoned with a moral, or sharpened by a satiric sentiment. His defects, indeed, are of the kind most opposed to those of the Italian poet, showing themselves, especially in the more elaborate pieces, in a certain tumid stateliness and overstrained energy of diction.

On the whole, one cannot survey the "Cancionero General" without some disappointment at the little progress of the poetic art, since the reign of John the Second, at the beginning of the century. The best pieces in the collection are of that date, and no rival subsequently arose to compete with the masculine strength of Mena, or the delicacy and fascinating graces of Santillana. One cause of this tardy progress may have been the direction to utility manifested in this active reign, which led such as had leisure for intellectual pursuits to cultivate science, rather than abandon themselves to the mere revels of the imagination.

Another cause may be found in the rudeness of the language, whose delicate finish is so essential to the purposes of the poet, but which was so imperfect at this period that Juan de la Encina, a popular writer of the time, complained that he was obliged, in his version of Virgil's Eclogues, to coin, as it were, a new vocabulary, from the want of terms corresponding with the original, in the old one. [27] It was not until the close of the present reign, when the nation began to breathe awhile from its tumultuous career, that the fruits of the patient cultivation which it had been steadily, though silently experiencing, began to manifest themselves in the improved condition of the language, and its adaptation to the highest poetical uses. The intercourse with Italy, moreover, by naturalizing new and more finished forms of versification, afforded a scope for the nobler efforts of the poet, to which the old Castilian measures, however well suited to the wild and artless movements of the popular minstrelsy, were altogether inadequate.

We must not dismiss the miscellaneous poetry of this period, without some notice of the "Coplas" of Don Jorge Manrique, [28] on the death of his father, the count of Paredes, in 1474 [29]. The elegy is of considerable length, and is sustained throughout in a tone of the highest moral dignity, while the poet leads us up from the transitory objects of this lower world to the contemplation of that imperishable existence, which Christianity has opened beyond the grave. A tenderness pervades the piece, which may remind us of the best manner of Petrarch; while, with the exception of a slight taint of pedantry, it is exempt from the meretricious vices that belong to the poetry of the age. The effect of the sentiment is heightened by the simple turns and broken melody of the old Castilian verse, of which perhaps this may be accounted the most finished specimen; such would seem to be the judgment of his own countrymen, [30] whose glosses and commentaries on it have swelled into a separate volume. [31]

I shall close this survey with a brief notice of the drama, whose foundations may be said to have been laid during this reign. The sacred plays, or mysteries, so popular throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, may be traced in Spain to an ancient date. Their familiar performance in the churches, by the clergy, is recognized in the middle of the thirteenth century, by a law of Alfonso the Tenth, which, while it interdicted certain profane mummeries that had come into vogue, prescribed the legitimate topics for exhibition. [32]

The transition from these rude spectacles to more regular dramatic efforts, was very slow and gradual. In 1414, an allegorical comedy, composed by the celebrated Henry, marquis of Villena, was performed at Saragossa, in the presence of the court. [33] In 1469, a dramatic eclogue by an anonymous author was exhibited in the palace of the count of Ureña, in the presence of Ferdinand, on his coming into Castile to espouse the infanta Isabella. [34] These pieces may be regarded as the earliest theatrical attempts, after the religious dramas and popular pantomimes already noticed; but unfortunately they have not come down to us. The next production deserving attention is a "Dialogue between Love and an Old Man," imputed to Rodrigo Cota, a poet of whose history nothing seems to be known, and little conjectured, but that he flourished during the reigns of John the Second, and Henry the Fourth. The dialogue is written with much vivacity and grace, and with as much dramatic movement as is compatible with only two interlocutors. [35]

A much more memorable production is referred to the same author, the tragicomedy of "Celestina," or "Calisto and Melibea," as it is frequently called. The first act, indeed, constituting nearly one-third of the piece, is all that is ascribed to Cota. The remaining twenty, which however should rather be denominated scenes, were continued by another hand, some, though to judge from the internal evidence afforded by the style, not many years later. The second author was Fernando de Roxas, bachelor of law, as he informs us, who composed this work as a sort of intellectual relaxation, during one of his vacations. The time was certainly not misspent. The continuation, however, is not esteemed by the Castilian critics to have risen quite to the level of the original act. [36]

The story turns on a love intrigue. A Spanish youth of rank is enamoured of a lady, whose affections he gains with some difficulty, but whom he finally seduces, through the arts of an accomplished courtesan, whom the author has introduced under the romantic name of Celestina. The piece, although comic, or rather sentimental in its progress, terminates in the most tragical catastrophe, in which all the principal actors are involved. The general texture, of the plot is exceedingly clumsy, yet it affords many situations of deep and varied interest in its progress. The principal characters are delineated in the piece with considerable skill. The part of Celestina, in particular, in which a veil of plausible hypocrisy is thrown over the deepest profligacy of conduct, is managed with much address. The subordinate parts are brought into brisk comic action, with natural dialogue, though sufficiently obscene; and an interest of a graver complexion is raised by the passion of the lovers, the timid, confiding tenderness of the lady, and the sorrows of the broken-hearted parent. The execution of the play reminds us on the whole less of the Spanish, than of the old English theatre, in many of its defects, as well as beauties; in the contrasted strength and imbecility of various passages; its intermixture of broad farce and deep tragedy; the unseasonable introduction of frigid metaphor and pedantic allusion in the midst of the most passionate discourses; in the unveiled voluptuousness of its coloring, occasionally too gross for any public exhibition; but, above all, in the general strength and fidelity of its portraiture.

The tragicomedy, as it is styled, of Celestina, was obviously never intended for representation, to which, not merely the grossness of some of the details, but the length and arrangement of the piece, are unsuitable. But, notwithstanding this, and its approximation to the character of a romance, it must be admitted to contain within itself the essential elements of dramatic composition; and, as such, is extolled by the Spanish critics, as opening the theatrical career of Europe. A similar claim has been maintained for nearly contemporaneous productions in other countries, and especially for Politian's "Orfeo," which, there is little doubt, was publicly acted before 1483. Notwithstanding its representation, however, the "Orfeo," presenting a combination of the eclogue and the ode, without any proper theatrical movement, or attempt at development of character, cannot fairly come within the limits of dramatic writing. A more ancient example than either, at least as far as the exterior forms are concerned, may be probably found in the celebrated French farce of Pierre Pathelin, printed as early as 1474, having been repeatedly played during the preceding century, and which, with the requisite modifications, still keeps possession of the stage. The pretensions of this piece, however, as a work of art, are comparatively humble; and it seems fair to admit, that in the higher and more important elements of dramatic composition, and especially in the delicate, and at the same time powerful delineation of character and passion, the Spanish critics may be justified in regarding the "Celestina" as having led the way in modern Europe. [37]

Without deciding on its proper classification as a work of art, however, its real merits are settled by its wide popularity, both at home and abroad. It has been translated into most of the European languages, and the preface to the last edition, published in Madrid, so recently as 1822, enumerates thirty editions of it in Spain alone, in the course of the sixteenth century. Impressions were multiplied in Italy, and at the very time when it was interdicted at home on the score of its immoral tendency. A popularity thus extending through distant ages and nations, shows how faithfully it is built on the principles of human nature. [38]

The drama assumed the pastoral form, in its early stages, in Spain, as in Italy. The oldest specimens in this way, which have come down to us, are the productions of Juan de la Encina, a contemporary of Roxas. He was born in 1469, and, after completing his education at Salamanca, was received into the family of the duke of Alva. He continued there several years, employed in the composition of various poetical works, among others, a version of Virgil's Eclogues, which he so altered as to accommodate them to the principal events in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. He visited Italy in the beginning of the following century, and was attracted by the munificent patronage of Leo the Tenth to fix his residence at the papal court. While there, he continued his literary labors. He embraced the ecclesiastical profession; and his skill in music recommended him to the office of principal director of the pontifical chapel. He was subsequently presented with the priory of Leon, and returned to Spain, where he died in 1534. [39]

Encina's works first appeared at Salamanca, in 1496, collected into one volume, folio. [40] Besides other poetry, they comprehend a number of dramatic eclogues, sacred and profane; the former, suggested by topics drawn from Scripture, like the ancient mysteries; the latter, chiefly amatory. They were performed in the palace of his patron, the duke of Alva, in the presence of Prince John, the duke of Infantado, and other eminent persons of the court; and the poet himself occasionally assisted at the representation. [41]

Encina's eclogues are simple compositions, with little pretence to dramatic artifice. The story is too meagre to admit of much ingenuity or contrivance, or to excite any depth of interest. There are few interlocutors, seldom more than three or four, although on one occasion rising to as many as seven; of course, there is little scope for theatrical action. The characters are of the humble class belonging to pastoral life, and the dialogue, which is extremely appropriate, is conducted with facility; but the rustic condition of the speakers precludes anything like literary elegance or finish, in which respect they are doubtless surpassed by some of his more ambitious compositions. There is a comic air imparted to them, however, and a lively colloquial turn, which renders them very agreeable. Still, whatever be their merit as pastorals, they are entitled to little consideration as specimens of dramatic art; and, in the vital spirit of dramatic composition, must be regarded as far inferior to the "Celestina." The simplicity of these productions, and the facility of their exhibition, which required little theatrical decoration or costume, recommended them to popular imitation, which continued long after the regular forms of the drama were introduced into Spain. [42]

The credit of this introduction belongs to Bartholomeo Torres de Naharro, often confounded by the Castilian writers themselves with a player of the same name, who flourished half a century later. [43] Few particulars have been ascertained of his personal history. He was born at Torre, in the province of Estremadura. In the early part of his life he fell into the hands of the Algerines, and was finally released from captivity by the exertions of certain benevolent Italians, who generously paid his ransom. He then established his residence in Italy, at the court of Leo the Tenth. Under the genial influence of that patronage, which quickened so many of the seeds of genius to production in every department, he composed his "Propaladia," a work embracing a variety of lyrical and dramatic poetry, first published at Rome, in 1517. Unfortunately, the caustic satire, levelled in some of the higher pieces of this collection at the license of the pontifical court, brought such obloquy on the head of the author as compelled him to take refuge in Naples, where he remained under the protection of the noble family of Colonna. No further particulars are recorded of him except that he embraced the ecclesiastical profession; and the time and place of his death are alike uncertain. In person he is said to have been comely, with an amiable disposition, and sedate and dignified demeanor. [44]

His "Propaladia," first published at Rome, passed through several editions subsequently in Spain, where it was alternately prohibited, or permitted, according to the caprice of the Holy Office. It contains, among other things, eight comedies, written in the native redondillas; which continue to be regarded as the suitable measure for the drama. They afford the earliest example of the division into jornadas, or days, and of the intróito, or prologue, in which the author, after propitiating the audience by suitable compliment, and witticisms not over delicate, gives a view of the length and general scope of his play. [45]

The scenes of Naharro's comedies, with a single exception, are laid in Spain and Italy; those in the latter country probably being selected with reference to the audiences before whom they were acted. The diction is easy and correct, without much affectation of refinement or rhetorical ornament. The dialogue, especially in the lower parts, is sustained with much comic vivacity; indeed, Naharro seems to have had a nicer perception of character as it is found in lower life, than as it exists in the higher; and more than one of his plays are devoted exclusively to its illustration. On some occasions, however, the author assumes a more elevated tone, and his verse rises to a degree of poetic beauty, deepened by the moral reflection so characteristic of the Spaniards. At other times, his pieces are disfigured by such a Babel-like confusion of tongues, as makes it doubtful which may be the poet's vernacular. French, Spanish, Italian, with a variety of barbarous patois, and mongrel Latin, are all brought into play at the same time, and all comprehended, apparently with equal facility, by each one of the dramatis personae. But it is difficult to conceive how such a jargon could have been comprehended, far more relished, by an Italian audience. [46]

Naharro's comedies are not much to be commended for the intrigue, which generally excites but a languid interest, and shows little power or adroitness in the contrivance. With every defect, however, they must be allowed to have given the first forms to Spanish comedy, and to exhibit many of the features which continued to be characteristic of it in a state of more perfect development under Lope de Vega and Calderon. Such, for instance, is the amorous jealousy, and especially the point of honor, so conspicuous on the Spanish theatre; and such, too, the moral confusion too often produced by blending the foulest crimes with zeal for religion. [47]

These comedies, moreover, far from blind conformity with the ancients, discovered much of the spirit of independence, and deviated into many of the eccentricities which distinguish the national theatre in later times; and which the criticism of our own day has so successfully explained and defended on philosophical principles.

Naharro's plays were represented, as appears from his prologue, in Italy, probably not at Rome, which he quitted soon after their publication, but at Naples, which, then forming a part of the Spanish dominions, might more easily furnish an audience capable of comprehending them. [48] It is remarkable that, notwithstanding their repeated editions in Spain, they do not appear to have ever been performed there. The cause of this, probably, was the low state of the histrionic art, and the total deficiency in theatrical costume and decoration; yet it was not easy to dispense with these in the representation of pieces, which brought more than a score of persons occasionally, and these crowned heads, at the same time, upon the stage. [49]

Some conception may be afforded of the lamentable poverty of the theatrical equipment, from the account given of its condition, half a century later, by Cervantes. "The whole wardrobe of a manager of the theatre, at that time," says he, "was contained in a single sack, and amounted only to four dresses of white fur trimmed, with gilt leather, four beards, four wigs, and four crooks, more or less. There were no trapdoors, movable clouds, or machinery of any kind. The stage itself consisted only of four or six planks, placed across as many benches, arranged in the form of a square, and elevated but four palms from the ground. The only decoration of the theatre was an old coverlet, drawn from side to side by cords, behind which the musicians sang some ancient romance, without the guitar." [50] In fact, no further apparatus was employed than that demanded for the exhibition of mysteries, or the pastoral dialogues which succeeded them. The Spaniards, notwithstanding their precocity, compared with most of the nations of Europe, in dramatic art, were unaccountably tardy in all its histrionic accompaniments. The public remained content with such poor mummeries, as could be got up by strolling players and mountebanks. There was no fixed theatre in Madrid until the latter part of the sixteenth century; and that consisted of a courtyard, with only a roof to shelter it, while the spectators sat on benches ranged around, or at the windows of the surrounding houses. [51]

A similar impulse with that experienced by comic writing, was given to tragedy. The first that entered on this department were professed scholars, who adopted the error of the Italian dramatists, in fashioning their pieces servilely after the antique, instead of seizing the expression of their own age. The most conspicuous attempts in this way were made by Fernan Perez de Oliva. [52] He was born at Cordova, in 1494, and, after many years passed in the various schools of Spain, France, and Italy, returned to his native land, and became a lecturer in the university of Salamanca. He instructed in moral philosophy and mathematics, and established the highest reputation for his critical acquaintance with the ancient languages and his own. He died young, at the age of thirty-nine, deeply lamented for his moral, no less than for his intellectual worth. [53]

His various works were published by the learned Morales, his nephew, some fifty years after his death. Among them are translations in prose of the Electra of Sophocles, and the Hecuba of Euripides. They may with more propriety be termed imitations, and those too of the freest kind. Although they conform, in the general arrangement and progress of the story, to their originals, yet characters, nay whole scenes and dialogues, are occasionally omitted; and in those retained, it is not always easy to recognize the hand of the Grecian artist, whose modest beauties are thrown into shade by the ambitious ones of his imitator. [54] But with all this, Oliva's tragedies must be admitted to be executed, on the whole, with vigor; and the diction, notwithstanding the national tendency to exaggeration above alluded to, may be generally commended for decorum and an imposing dignity, quite worthy of the tragic drama; indeed, they may be selected as affording probably the best specimen of the progress of prose composition during the present reign. [55]

Oliva's reputation led to a similar imitation of the antique. But the Spaniards were too national in all their tastes to sanction it. These classical compositions did not obtain possession of the stage, but were confined to the closet, serving only as a relaxation for the man of letters; while the voice of the people compelled all who courted it, to accommodate their inventions to those romantic forms, which were subsequently developed in such variety of beauty by the great Spanish dramatists. [56]

We have now surveyed the different kinds of poetic culture familiar to Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their most conspicuous element is the national spirit which pervades them, and the exclusive attachment which they manifest to the primitive forms of versification peculiar to the Peninsula. The most remarkable portion of this body of poetry may doubtless be considered the Spanish romances, or ballads; that popular minstrelsy, which, commemorating the picturesque and chivalrous incidents of the age, reflects most faithfully the romantic genius of the people who gave it utterance. The lyric efforts of the period were less successful. There were few elaborate attempts in this field, indeed, by men of decided genius. But the great obstacle may be found in the imperfection of the language and the deficiency of the more exact and finished metrical forms, indispensable to high poetic execution.

The whole period, however, comprehending, as it does, the first decided approaches to a regular drama, may be regarded as very important in a literary aspect; since it exhibits the indigenous peculiarities of Castilian literature in all their freshness, and shows to what a degree of excellence it could attain, while untouched by any foreign influence. The present reign may be regarded as the epoch which divides the ancient from the modern school of Spanish poetry; in which the language was slowly but steadily undergoing the process of refinement, that "made the knowledge of it," to borrow the words of a contemporary critic, "pass for an elegant accomplishment, even with the cavaliers and dames of cultivated Italy;" [57] and which finally gave full scope to the poetic talent, that raised the literature of the country to such brilliant heights in the sixteenth century.

* * * * *

I have had occasion to advert more than once in the course of this chapter to the superficial acquaintance of the Spanish critics with the early history of their own drama, authentic materials for which are so extremely rare and difficult of access, as to preclude the expectation of anything like a satisfactory account of it out of the Peninsula. The nearest approach to this within my knowledge is made in an article in the eighth number of the American Quarterly Review, ascribed to Mr. Ticknor, late Professor of Modern Literature in Harvard University. This gentleman, during a residence in the Peninsula, had every facility for replenishing his library with the most curious and valuable works, both printed and manuscript, in this department; and his essay embodies in a brief compass the results of a well-directed industry, which he has expanded in greater detail in his lectures on Spanish literature, delivered before the classes of the University. The subject is discussed with his usual elegance and perspicuity of style; and the foreign, and indeed Castilian scholar, may find much novel information there, in the views presented of the early progress of the dramatic and the histrionic art in the Peninsula.

Since the publication of this article, Moratin's treatise, so long and anxiously expected, "Orígenes del Teatro Español," has made its appearance under the auspices of the Royal Academy of History, which has enriched the national literature with so many admirable editions of its ancient authors. Moratin states in his Preface, that he was employed from his earliest youth in collecting notices, both at home and abroad, of whatever might illustrate the origin of the Spanish drama. The results have been two volumes, containing in the First Part an historical discussion, with ample explanatory notes, and a catalogue of dramatic pieces from the earliest epoch down to the time of Lope de Vega, chronologically arranged, and accompanied with critical analyses, and copious illustrative extracts from pieces of the greatest merit. The Second Part is devoted to the publication of entire pieces of various authors, which from their extreme rarity, or their existence only in manuscript, have had but little circulation. The selections throughout are made with that careful discrimination, which resulted from poetic talent combined with extensive and thorough erudition. The criticisms, although sometimes warped by the peculiar dramatic principles of the author, are conducted in general with great fairness; and ample, but not extravagant, commendation is bestowed on productions, whose merit, to be properly appreciated, must be weighed by one conversant with the character and intellectual culture of the period. The work unfortunately did not receive the last touches of its author, and undoubtedly something may be found wanting to the full completion of his design. On the whole, it must be considered as a rich repertory of old Castilian literature, much of it of the most rare and recondite nature, directed to the illustration of a department, that has hitherto been suffered to languish in the lowest obscurity, but which is now so arranged that it may be contemplated, as it were, under one aspect, and its real merits accurately determined.

It was not till some time after the publication of this History, that my attention was called to that portion of the writings of Don Martinez de la Rosa, in which he criticizes the various departments of the national literature. This criticism is embodied in the annotations and appendix to his elegant "Poetica" (Obras Literarias, (Paris, 1827,) tom. i. ii.) The former discuss the general laws, by which the various kinds of poetry are to be regulated; the latter presents a very searching and scientific analysis of the principal productions of the Spanish poets, down to the close of the last century. The critic exemplifies his own views by copious extracts from the subjects of his criticism, and throws much collateral light on the argument by illustrations borrowed from foreign literature. In the examination of the Spanish drama, especially comedy, which he modestly qualifies as a "succinct notice, not very exact," he is very elaborate; and discovers the same taste and sagacity in estimating the merits of individual writers, which he had shown in discussing the general principles of the art. Had I read his work sooner, it would have greatly facilitated my own inquiries in the same obscure path; and I should have recognized, at least, one brilliant exception to my sweeping remark on the apathy manifested by the Castilian scholars to the antiquities of the national drama.