If we do not err in our estimate of them, the Literary Fables of Don Thomas De Yriarte are well worthy of perusal. They are aptly and ingeniously adapted to the truths they seek to inculcate; and they are remarkable for a terse simplicity of form and style, well suited to the objects and character of such productions. The maxims and criticisms they enforce must approve themselves to the mind, both of the professed scholar and the general reader.
The author was born in Teneriffe, A.D. 1750, but was educated and resided at Madrid, where he died in 1791, at the early age, of course, of forty-one years. His uncle, Don Juan De Yriarte, was the chief superintendent of the royal library; and the nephew was educated under his auspices. In his eighteenth year, he commenced his literary career by the writing of dramas, and the translation of plays from the French for the Spanish stage. He spent his life in the duties of sundry offices under the government; yet he very soon assumed and maintained a high consideration as a scholar and writer. His works, however, were of a character to command but little interest from posterity, with the exception of the fables translated in this little volume.
Of them, Professor Ticknor, from whose learned work on Spanish literature we have collected these details, speaks as follows:—
"Here, he, in some degree, struck out a new path; for he not only invented all his fictions, which no other fabulist, in modern times, had done, but restricted them all, in their moral purpose, to the correction of the faults and follies of men of learning—an application which had not before been thought of. They are written with great care, in no less than forty different measures, and show an extraordinary degree of ingenuity in adapting the attributes and instincts of animals to the instruction, not of mankind at large, as had always been done before, but to that of a separate and small class, between whom and the inferior creation the resemblance is rarely obvious. The task was certainly a difficult one. Perhaps, on this account, they are too narrative in their structure, and fail somewhat in the genial spirit which distinguishes Esop and La Fontaine, the greatest masters of Apologue and Fable. But their influence was so needed in the age of bad writing when they appeared, and they are, besides, so graceful in their versification, that they were not only received with great favor at first, but have never lost it since."—Ticknor's Hist, of Span. Literature, vol. iii., p. 279.
We have endeavored to discharge with fidelity the duty of translation; attempting to preserve the form and spirit of the author, as far as was consistent with giving the work an English dress. With this view, we have aimed to produce a literal and characteristic reflection of the original rather than an expanded and highly-wrought paraphrase. Where we could do so, we have sought to preserve the metre, or a nearly analogous one, in order, if possible, to give a clear idea of the Spanish work to the English reader. But this is not practicable in all cases. The peculiar construction of Spanish rhymes, together with the obstinacy with which some words and sentences refuse the stern yoke of our English rules, render the task, always hard, sometimes impossible. The terminal inflections of the Spanish language and its accentuation are widely different from those of the Anglo-Saxon; and so axe the arbitrary arrangements of the rhythm, which are, in the latter, far more exacting and precise. The professed scholar will recognize and make due allowance for such obstacles. To the public at large we shall hope our little book may convey some instruction and amusement, in a palatable shape. If so, it may give, to a novel class of subjects, somewhat of the well-known interest inspired by the graceful and popular fictions of Esop, Gay and La Fontaine.
G.H.D.
Salem, October 25th, 1854.
CONTENTS
[THE ELEPHANT AND OTHER ANIMALS]
[THE SILKWORM AND SPIDER]
[THE BEAR, THE MONKEY AND THE HOG]
[THE DRONES AND THE BEE]
[THE TWO PARROTS AND THE MAGPIE]
[THE SHOWMAN'S MONKEY AND HIS MASTER]
[THE CATHEDRAL BELL AND THE LITTLE BELL]
[THE ASS AND THE FLUTE]
[THE ANT AND THE FLEA]
[THE WALL-FLOWER AND THE THYME]
[THE RABBITS AND THE DOGS]
[THE EGGS]
[THE DUCK AND THE SNAKE]
[THE MUFF, THE FAN, AND THE UMBRELLA]
[THE FROG AND THE TADPOLE]
[THE BUSTARD]
[THE LINNET AND THE SWAN]
[THE HACK MULE]
[THE GOAT AND THE HORSE]
[THE BEE AND THE CUCKOO]
[THE BAT AND THE CAT]
[THE OWL AND LAMP, AND THE DOGS AND THE RAGMAN]
[THE THRUSH, PARROT AND MAGPIE]
[THE WOLF AND THE SHEPHERD]
[THE LION, EAGLE AND BAT]
[THE MONKEY]
[THE ASS AND HIS MASTER]
[THE TURNSPIT AND THE MULE OF THE WELL]
[THE AUTHOR AND THE RAT]
[THE SQUIRREL AND THE HORSE]
[THE FOP AND THE LADY]
[THE OSTRICH, THE DROMEDARY, AND THE FOX]
[THE CROW AND THE TURKEY]
[THE SILKWORM AND THE CATERPILLAR]
[THE PURCHASE OF THE ASS]
[THE OX AND THE GRASSHOPPER]
[THE MACAW AND THE MARMOT]
[THE PORTRAIT]
[THE TWO INNS]
[THE TEA-PLANT AND SAGE]
[THE CAT, THE LIZARD, AND THE CRICKET]
[THE CONCERT OF THE BEASTS]
[THE SWORD AND THE SPIT]
[THE UNFORTUNATES]
[THE COCKS]
[THE MONKEY AND THE MAGPIE]
[THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE SPARROW]
[THE GARDENER AND HIS MASTER]
[THE TWO THRUSHES]
[THE LACE-MAKERS]
[THE HUNTER AND HIS FERRET]
[THE PIG, THE COCK AND THE LAMB]
[THE FLINT AND THE STEEL]
[THE JUDGE AND THE ROBBER]
[THE HOUSEMAID AND THE BROOM]
[THE LIZARDS]
[THE WATCHES]
[THE MOLE AND OTHER ANIMALS]
[THE ROPE-DANGER]
[THE OWL AND THE TOAD]
[THE OIL MERCHANT'S ASS]
[THE CONNOISSEURS]
[THE FROG AND THE HEN]
[THE BEETLE]
[THE RICH MAN'S LIBRARY]
[THE VIPER AND THE LEECH]