[142] See, ante, Vol. II. p. 84.
[143] It is in the form of dialogues, and called “Carnestolendas de Castilla, dividido en las tres Noches del Domingo, Lunes y Martes de Antruexo, por Gaspar Lucas Hidalgo, Vezino de la Villa de Madrid,” Barcelona, 1605, 12mo, ff. 108. Editions are also noted of 1606 and 1618.
[144] “El Pasagero” (Madrid, 1617, 12mo, ff. 492) is in ten dialogues, carried on in the pauses or rests of two travellers, and thence affectedly called Alivios. I have a small volume entitled “Historia de los Siete Sabios de Roma, compuesta por Marcos Perez, Barcelona por Rafael Figuero,” 12mo,—no date; but, I think, printed in the eighteenth century. It contains the story of “The Seven Wise Masters,” which is one of the oldest of modern fictions,—the Emperor, in this version of it, being named Ponciano, and being called the son of Diocletian. The style is somewhat better than that of the “Donzella Teodor,” (ante, II. 212,) but seems to be of about the same period.
[145] Notices for the life of Barbadillo may be found in Baena (Hijos de Madrid, Tom. I. p. 42); in Antonio (Bib. Nov., Tom. I. p. 28); and in the Prefaces to his own “Estafeta del Dios Momo,” (Madrid, 1627, 12mo,) and his “Coronas del Parnaso” (Madrid, 1635, 12mo). He was associated with Cervantes in the same religious fraternity, and gave his strong testimony in favor of the tales of his friend in their first edition. (Navarrete, Vida, §§ 121, 132.) He seems to have had an office at court, for he calls himself “Criado de su Magestad.”
[146] “La Ingeniosa Helena, Hija de Celestina,” Lerida, 1612, and often since. The edition I have is of Madrid, 1737, 12mo.
[147] “El Caballero Perfeto,” Madrid, 1620, 12mo.
[148] “Casa del Plazer Honesto,” Madrid, 1620, 12mo.
[149] “El Caballero Puntual,” Primera Parte, Madrid, 1614; Segunda Parte, Madrid, 1619, 12mo. At the end of the second part is a play, “Los Prodigios de Amor.” A work not entirely unlike the “Caballero Puntual” was printed at Rouen in 1610, 12mo, called “Rodomuntadas Castellanas.” It is in Spanish, as were many other books printed at that time in France, from the connection of the French court with Spain, and it consists of the incredible boastings of a braggadocio, something like Baron Munchausen. But it has little value of any sort, and I mention it only because it preceded the fiction of Barbadillo by four years.
[150] “El Necio bien Afortunado,” Madrid, 1621, 12mo.
[151] “Don Diego de Noche,” Madrid, 1623, 12mo. All nine of his unhappy adventures occur in the night. For some reason, I know not what, this story appears among the translated works of Quevedo, (Edinburgh, 1798, 3 vols. 8vo,) and, I believe, may be found, also, in the previous translation made by Stevens. There is a play with the same title, “Don Diego de Noche,” by Roxas (in Tom. VII. of the Comedias Escogidas, 1654); but it has, I think, nothing to do with the tale of Barbadillo.