[60] Barbosa, Bib. Lusitana, Tom. II. p. 809, and the Prólogo to the Diana of Perez, ed. 1614, p. 362.
[61] I have never seen any edition of the Diana cited earlier than that of Madrid, 1545; but I possess one in 4to, 112 leaves, well printed at Valencia, in 1542, without the name of the printer. The story of Narvaez, of which I shall have occasion to speak when we come to Antonio Villegas, does not stand in the fourth book of this copy, as it does in the copies of subsequent editions. The Diana of Montemayor was so popular, that at least sixteen editions of the original appeared in eighty years; six French translations, according to Gordon de Percel (Bib. de l’Usage des Romans, Paris, 1734, 12mo, Tom. II. pp. 23, 24); two German, according to Ebert; and one English. The last, by Bartholomew Yong, (London, 1598, folio,) is excellent, and some of its happy versions of the poetry of Montemayor are found in “England’s Helicon,” 1600 and 1614, reprinted in the third volume of the “British Bibliographer,” London, 1810, 8vo. The story of Proteus and Julia, in “The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” was supposed by Mrs. Lenox and Dr. Farmer to be taken from that of Felismena, in the second book of Montemayor’s Diana, and therefore Collier has republished Yong’s translation of the last in the second volume of his “Shakspeare’s Library,” (London, s. a. 8vo,) though he doubts whether Shakspeare were really indebted to it. Malone’s Shakspeare, Boswell’s ed., London, 1821, 8vo, Vol. IV. p. 3, and Brydges, Restituta, London, 1814, 8vo, Vol. I. p. 498. Poor abridgments of the Diana of Montemayor, and of Polo’s Continuation, were published at London, 1738, 12mo.
[62] Sometimes he wrote in both languages at once; at least, he did so in his Cancionero, 1588, f. 81, where is a sonnet which may be read either as Spanish or as Portuguese.
[63] In his Argumento to the whole romance.
[64] Dorotea, Act II. Sc. 2. Obras Sueltas, Tom. VII. p. 84.
[65] The first edition cited (Ant., Bib. Nova, Tom. I. p. 539) is of 1564, and I know of but one other, that which I have, Barcelona, 1614, 12mo; though I have seen one without a title-page, which may be different from both. At any rate, its editions were few, and its popularity was small. It was, however, translated into French, and by Bart. Yong into English; and was printed in the original more than once with the Diana of Montemayor.
[66] Polo’s “Diana Enamorada” was first printed in 1564, and seven editions of the original appeared in half a century, with two French translations and a Latin one; the last by Caspar Barth. It is well translated by Bart. Yong, as the third part of the Diana, in the same volume with the others; but is really the second part.
[67] There is, however, a third part to the Diana of Montemayor, written by Hier. Texada, and printed at Paris, 1627, 8vo, of which a copy in the Royal Library at Paris is cited by Ebert, but I have never seen it.
[68] The best edition of Gil Polo’s Diana is that with a life of him by Cerdá, Madrid, 1802, 12mo; particularly valuable for the notes to the “Canto de Turia,” in which, imitating the “Canto de Orfeo,” where Montemayor gives an account of the famous ladies of his time, Polo gives an account of the famous poets of Valencia. For lives of Polo see, also, Ximeno, Escritores de Valencia, Tom. I. p. 270, and Fuster, Bib. Valentina, Tom. I. p. 150. It is singular that Polo, who had such success with his Diana, should have printed nothing else, except one or two short and trifling poems.
[69] It is the same book that Cervantes ridicules in the sixth chapter of the first part of Don Quixote, and in the third chapter of his “Journey to Parnassus”; and is curious for some specimens of Sardinian poetry which it contains. But Pedro de Pineda, a teacher of Spanish in London, taking the irony of the good curate in Don Quixote on Lo Frasso’s romance to be sincere praise, printed a new edition of it, in two very handsome volumes, (London, 1740, 8vo,) with a foolish Dedication and Prólogo, alleging the authority of Cervantes for its great merit. Hardly any other of the Spanish prose pastorals is so absurd as this, or contains so much bad verse; a great deal of which is addressed to living and known persons by their titles. The tenth book, indeed, is almost entirely made up of such poetry. I do not recollect that Cervantes is so severe on any poet, in his “Journey to Parnassus,” as he is on Lo Frasso.