The chemical prescriptions have a very quaint effect, as delivered in the dancing measure of these verses, viz.
Tomad el mercurio assi como sale
De minas de tierra con limpia pureza.
Purgadlo con cueros par la su maleza,
Porque mas limpieza en esto mi cale.
E porque su peso tan solo se iguale,
Con doze onzas del dicho compuesto,
En vaso de vidro despues de ser puesto.
Otra materia en esto non vale.
This extract may also serve as an example of the rhythmical facility displayed in the verses of Alphonso.
[32] Histoire générale des Troubadours, tom. ii. pag. 255, tom. iii. pag. 329, &c.
[33] Sarmiento refers the oldest Castilian romances to the thirteenth century, but only hypothetically, and with the explicit declaration, that certainly none were to be found in the form in which they then existed. Respecting the Nicolas and the Antonio de los Romances, see the notes of Dieze on Velasquez, p. 146.
[34] See the Bibliotheca Hispana Vetus of Nicolas Antonio, under the head of Alphonso XI. and Sarmiento, p. 305.
[35] A sensible and well digested biography of this prince, by Gonzalo de Argote y Molina, a writer of the sixteenth century, is prefixed to El Conde Lucanor, the first edition of which Argote superintended. The work is not easily procured even in Spain. No es de los mas communes, says Sarmiento. In the library of the university of Göttingen there is a copy of the edition: Madrid, 1642, 4to.
Si algun bien fizieres, que chico assaz fuere,
Fazlo granado; que el bien nunca muere.