l. 10. Moncayo: a mountain of Saragossa.
l. 12. Turia: the river Guadalaviar.
l. 15. Patrón: Santiago, i.e., St. James, the patron saint of Spain. In the heroic legends he often figures in the battlefields, fighting for the Spaniards.
[JOSÉ MARÍA BLANCO]. Blanco, known in English literature as Blanco White, was a member of the school of Seville, with Arjona and Lista. Assailed by religious doubts, he abandoned his ecclesiastical post in Seville and went to England, where he associated himself with nearly every religious communion in turn. In English literature his Mysterious light takes high rank as an exquisite sonnet. His verse in Spanish is equally beautiful. Cf. vol. III of the Poetas líricos del siglo XVIII; and see Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de los heterodoxos en España, tom. III, lib. VII, cap. IV; W. E. Gladstone, Gleanings of past years, II, 1 ff.; Life of Rev. J. B. White written by himself, London, 1845.
[Page 249].—l. 1. A mystic element in Blanco’s nature is made clear by this poem.
[ALBERTO LISTA Y ARAGÓN]. The leader of the Sevillan school. A poet of decided ability, he was still more remarkable as a teacher and critic. It is in his religious lyrics that he best shows his poetical powers. Deserving of mention is his Castilian version of Pope’s Dunciad. Cf. his Poesías, Paris, 1834; Wolf, Floresta de rimas, vol. II; Líricos del siglo XVIII, vol. III; and see Blanco-García, Historia, 2ª ed., I, 26 ff.
[Page 251].—l. 3. Siná: cf. Exodus xix. 20 ff.
[Page 252].—l. 21. On Bailén, cf. [note to p. 210, l. 18].
l. 28. Mariano monte: the range called the Cordillera Marianica, of which the Sierra Morena is part.
[Page 253].—l. 6. Allusion to the campaigns of Napoleon along the Rhine and in Egypt.