l. 25. la piramidal: a kind of campanula or bell-flower.
[Page 224].—l. 15. ¡Evohé! the cry of the Bacchantes when acclaiming Bacchus.
l. 17. vacante, empty, hollow.
[FÉLIX MARÍA DE SAMANIEGO]. One of the two great fabulists of modern Spanish literature. Mainly French in his tendencies, he imitated La Fontaine with much success, deriving inspiration also from Gay, the Æsopic fables, Phædrus and the Eastern apologues. Cf. his Fábulas, Madrid, 1832; vol. 61 of the Biblioteca de autores españoles; F. Wolf, Floresta de rimas, I; Ticknor, III, 307 ff.
[TOMÁS DE IRIARTE]. The peer, and perhaps even the superior, of Samaniego as a fabulist. He won commendation for his didactic poem La música, but secured no lasting renown by his dramatic attempts. His fame is based upon his Fábulas literarias, remarkable for their artistic finish and ingenuity of thought. Cf. his Obras, Madrid, 1805; the Biblioteca de autores españoles, vol. 63; E. Cotarelo y Mori, Iriarte y su época (1897); Ticknor, III, 304 ff.
[Page 227].—l. 13. Echó ... Sus cuentas, etc.: Communed with himself.
l. 25. Cf. the whimsical sonnet of Lope de Vega on [p. 153].
l. 29. ¡Hay tal porfía! Did you ever see such obstinacy!
[LEANDRO FERNÁNDEZ DE MORATÍN]. Son of Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (cf. [p. 196]). With his dramas, the most important since the days of the great masters of the siglo de oro, he won complete success for the French school started by Luzán. His lyrics, of far less merit than his plays, are nevertheless pleasing in form and upon occasion sprightly in tone. Cf. his Obras, Madrid, 1830-31; the edition of his own and his father’s works in vol. II of the Biblioteca de autores españoles; Ticknor, III, 330 ff.
[MANUEL MARÍA DE ARJONA]. A figure partly of the eighteenth and partly of the nineteenth century, Arjona was a member of the so-called School of Seville (Academia de letras humanas, founded at Seville in 1793), a body of writers who still advocated the application of French classic rules, while they also harked back to the lyric traditions of Seville in the sixteenth century. In this latter respect Herrera was their model, but Luis de León also commanded their respect. Both tendencies of the school are illustrated in Arjona. In his religious and pastoral verse, he is a conventional writer of the time, adhering chiefly to the doctrines of Luzán and the Salamancan school. As a poet of patriotic and republican sentiments he is much more virile and successful, 380 displaying these sentiments in his two best productions, the ode España restaurada en Cádiz (celebrating the proclamation of the Constitution of 1812, cf. [note to p. 210, l. 29]), and the longer poem Las ruinas de Roma. From now on, the struggle with the French brought forth much patriotic verse. Cf. vol. II of the Líricos del siglo XVIII; F. Wolf, Floresta de rimas, etc. (Paris, 1837), vol. II; Blanco-García, La literatura española en el siglo XIX, 2ª edición, Madrid, 1899, I, 20 ff.