[318] Gregorio Mayans y Siscar, who wrote and edited a great many books in Latin and Spanish, was born in 1699, and died in 1782. His life and a list of his works may be made out from the united accounts of Ximeno, Tom. II. p. 324, and Fuster, Tom. II. p. 98.
[319] There was a severe answer made at once to Blas Nasarre, by Don Joseph Carrillo, entitled “Sin Razon impugnada,” 4to, 1750, pp. 25; besides which, his Preface was attacked by Don T. Zabaleta, in his “Discurso Crítico,” etc., (4to, 1750, pp. 258,) which is a general, loose defence of Lope and his school. But neither was needed. The theory of Nasarre was too absurd to win adherents.
[320] Tapia, Historia, Tom. IV. c. 15.
Many of the best materials for the state of culture in Spain, during the reign of Charles III., are to be found in the “Biblioteca de los Mejores Escritores del Reynado de Carlos III., por Juan Sempere y Guarinos,” Madrid, 1785-89, 6 tom. 8vo. When the author published it, he was about thirty-five years old, having been born in 1754; but he was afterwards much more distinguished as a political writer, by his “Observaciones sobre las Cortes,” (1810,) his “Historia de las Cortes,” (1815,) and other labors of the same kind. His first acknowledged work was a free translation, from Muratori, of an essay, with additions, which he printed at Madrid, in 1782, in 12mo, with the title, “Sobre el Buen Gusto,” and which he accompanied by an original tract, “Sobre el Buen Gusto actual de los Españoles en la Literatura,”—the last being afterwards prefixed, with alterations, to his “Biblioteca.” He was a diligent and useful writer, and died, I believe, in 1824. A small volume, containing notices of his life to the time when it appeared, probably derived from materials furnished by himself, was printed at Madrid, by Amarita, in 1821, 12mo.
[321] Llorente, Hist. de l’Inquisition, Tom. IV. Doblado’s Letters, 1822, Appendix to Letters III. and VII.
[322] Sempere y Guarinos, Bibliot., Tom. IV., Art. Planes de Estudios. Tapia, Tom. IV. c. 16. Llorente, Tom. IV. p. 270. The Marquis de Langle, in his “Voyage d’Espagne,” (s. l. 1785, 12mo, p. 45,) says the poor woman burnt at Seville was “jeune et belle.”
[323] Tapia, Tom. IV. pp. 124, etc. When the Emperor Charles V. came to the throne, Spain counted ten and a half millions of souls; at the time of the treaty of Utrecht, it counted but seven millions and a half; a monstrous falling off, if we consider the advancement of the rest of Europe during the same period.
[324] Vida de J. F. de Isla, por J. I. de Salas, Madrid, 1803, 12mo.
[325] Juventud Triunfante, Salamanca, 1727, 4to. Dia Grande de Navarra, 2a ed., Madrid, 1746, 4to. Semanario Pintoresco, 1840, p. 130.
[326] Vida de Isla, § 3. Sermones, Madrid, 1792-93, 6 tom. 8vo. Vulgar preaching in the streets was common as early as 1680, when Madame d’Aulnoy was in Spain. Voyage, ed. 1693, Tom. II. p. 168.