“El mismo por cimera una carcel y el en ella, y dixo:—
En esta carcel que veys,
Que no se halla salida,
Viuire, mas ved que vida!”
The Invenciones, though so numerous, fill only three leaves, 115 to 117. They occur, also, constantly in the old chronicles and books of chivalry. The “Question de Amor” contains many of them.
[725] Though Lope de Vega, in his “Justa Poética de San Isidro,” (Madrid, 1620, 4to, f. 76,) declares the Glosas to be “a most ancient and peculiarly Spanish composition, never used in any other nation,” they were, in fact, an invention of the Provençal poets, and, no doubt, came to Spain with their original authors. (Raynouard, Troub., Tom. II. pp. 248-254.) The rules for their composition in Spain were, as we see also from Cervantes, (Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 18,) very strict and rarely observed; and I cannot help agreeing with the friend of the mad knight, that the poetical results obtained were little worth the trouble they cost. The Glosas of the Cancionero of 1535 are at ff. 118-120.
[726] The author of the “Diálogo de las Lenguas” (Mayans y Siscar, Orígenes, Tom. II. p. 151) gives the refrain or ritornello of a Villancico, which, he says, was sung by every body in Spain in his time, and is the happiest specimen I know of the genus, conceit and all.
Since I have seen thy blessed face,
Lady, my love is not amiss;
But, had I never known that grace,