Quevedo was a statesman and lover of his country driven into pessimism by the ineptitude which he saw about him. He wrote hastily on many subjects and lavished a bitter, biting wit on all. His best-known works in prose are the picaresque novel popularly called El gran tacaño (1626) and the Sueños (1627). His Obras completas are in course of publication at Seville (1898-); his poems are in vol. 69 of the Bibl. de Aut. Esp. Cf. E. Mérimée, Essai sur la vie et les oeuvres de Francisco de Quevedo (Paris, 1886), and Introduction, p. xxv. For a modern portrayal of one side of Quevedo's character, see Bréton de los Herreros, ¿Quién es ella?
Epístola satírica: this epistle was addressed to Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Conde-Duque de Olivares (d. 1645), the favorite and prime minister of Philip IV. It is a remarkably bold protest, for it was published in 1639 when Olivares was at the height of his power. His disgrace did not occur till 1643.
[8.] Note the double meaning of sentir,—'to feel' and 'to regret.'
[9. libre] modifies ingenio. Translate: its freedom.
[16. Que es lengua la verdad de Dios severo] = que la verdad es lengua de Dios severo.
[16.—Letrilla Satírica] was published in 1640.
[.14] Genoa was then, as now, an important seaport and commercial center. As the Spaniards bought many manufactured articles from Genoa, much of their money was "buried" there.
[17.]—Esteban Manuel de Villegas (d. 1669) was a lawyer who wrote poetry only in his extreme youth. His Eróticas ó Amatorias were published in 1617, and he says himself that they were written at fourteen and polished at twenty. Later the cares of life prevented him from increasing the poetical fame that he gained thus early. He had a reputation for excessive vanity, due partly to the picture of the rising sun which he placed upon the title-page of his poems with the motto Me surgente, quid istae? Istae referred to Lope, Quevedo and others. Villegas' poems may be found in vol. 42 of the Bibl. de Aut. Esp. Cf. Menéndez y Pelayo, Hist. de los heterodoxos españoles, III, 859-875.
There is a parody of this well-known cantilena by Iglesias in the Bibl. de Aut. Esp., vol. 61, p. 477.