[23.] It is reported that the first onslaught of the Spanish-American cavalry failed, partly by reason of their impetuousness, and that they would probably have been defeated if Bolivar had not rallied them and led them on to victory.
[198.—10.] The battle of Junin began at about five o'clock in the afternoon, and it is said that only night saved the Spaniards from complete destruction.
[11.] El dios oía: destiny did not permit the god to stay his course for an hour, but the god left behind him his circlet of diamonds (the stars).
[199.]—Mexico. The Virreinato de Nueva España was a favored colony, where Spanish culture took deepest root. It had the first institution of learning in America (opened in 1553 by decree of Charles I) and the first printing-press (1540?). Some 116 books were printed in Mexico City during the sixteenth century, most of which were catechisms or grammars and dictionaries in the native languages. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries several Spanish poets, mostly Sevillans, went to Mexico. Among these were Diego Mexía (went to Mexico in 1596); Gutierre de Cetina, Juan de la Cueva, and Mateo Alemán (published Ortografía castellana in Mexico in 1609). Certámenes poéticos ("poetic contests") were held in Mexico, as in other Spanish colonies, from time to time. The first of importance occurred in Mexico City in 1583, to which seven bishops lent the dignity of their presence and in which three hundred poets (?) competed. After the discovery and conquest of the Philippines, great opulence came to Mexico on account of its being on a direct route of Pacific trade between Europe and Asia, and Mexico became an emporium of Asiatic goods (note introduction of Mexican dollar into China).
The first native poet deserving of the name was Francisco de Terrazas (cf. Cervantes, Canto de Calíope, 1584), who left in manuscript sonnets and other lyrics and an unfinished epic poem, Nuevo mundo y conquista. It is interesting that in the works of Terrazas and other native poets of the sixteenth century the Spaniards are called "soberbios," "malos," etc. Antonio Saavedra Guzmán was the first in Mexico to write in verse a chronicle of the conquest (El peregrino indiano, Madrid, 1599). Coloquios espirituales (published posthumously in 1610), autos of the "morality" type, with much local color and partly in dialect, were written by Fernán González Eslava, whom Pimentel considers the best sacred dramatic poet of Mexico. Sacred dramatic representations had been given in Spanish and in the indigenous languages almost from the time of the conquest. According to Beristain, at least two plays of Lope were done into Nahuatl by Bartolomé de Alba, of native descent, and performed, viz.: El animal profeta y dichoso parricida and La madre de la Mejor.
The first poet whose verses are genuinely American, exotic and rich in color like the land in which written (a rare quality in the Spanish poetry of the period), was Bernardo de Balbuena (1568-1627: born in Spain; educated in Mexico). Balbuena had a strong descriptive faculty, but his work lacked restraint (cf. Grandeza mexicana, Mex., 1604; Madrid, 1821, 1829 and 1837; N.Y., 1828; Mex., 1860). The great dramatist, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (1581?-1639), was born and educated in Mexico; but as he wrote in Spain, and his dramas are Spanish in feeling, he is best treated as a Spanish poet.
Next only to Avellaneda the most distinguished Spanish-American poetess is the Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695), whose worldly name was Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramírez de Cantillana. Sor Juana had intellectual curiosity in an unusual degree and early began the study of Latin and other languages. When still a young girl she became a maid-in-waiting in the viceroy's palace, where her beauty and wit attracted much attention; but she soon renounced the worldly life of the court and joined a religious order. In the convent of San Jerónimo she turned for solace to books, and in time she accumulated a library of four thousand volumes. Upon being reproved by a zealous bishop for reading worldly books, she sold her entire library and gave the proceeds to the poor. Sor Juana's better verses are of two kinds: those that give evidence of great cleverness and mental acuteness, and those that have the ring of spontaneity and sincerity. As an exponent of erotic mysticism, she is most interesting. In the most passionate of her erotic verses there is an apparent sincerity which makes it difficult for the lay reader to believe that she had not been profoundly influenced by human love,—as when she gives expression to the feelings of a loving wife for a dead husband, or laments the absence of a lover or tells of a great jealousy. In addition to her lyrics Sor Juana wrote several autos and dramas. Her poems were first published under the bombastic title of Inundación castálida de la única poetisa, Musa décima, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Madrid, 1689 (vol. II, Seville, 1691; vol. III, Madrid, 1700).
During the first half of the eighteenth century the traditions of the preceding century persisted; but in the second half there came the neo-classic reaction. Among the best of the prosaic poets of the century are: Miguel de Reyna Zeballos (La elocuencia del silencio, Madrid, 1738); Francisco Ruiz de León (Hernandía, 1755, based on the Conquista de México by Solís); and the priest Jorge José Sartorio (1746-1828: Poesías sagradas y profanas, 7 vols., Puebla, 1832). The Franciscan Manuel de Navarrete (1768-1809) is considered by Pimentel superior to Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz as a philosophic poet (the writer of this article does not so consider him) and is called the "restorer of lyric and objective poetry in Mexico" (cf. Pim., Hist. Poesía Mex., p. 442). Navarrete wrote in a variety of styles. His verses are harmonious, but altisonante and often incorrect. His best lyrics, like those of Cienfuegos, have the personal note of the romanticists to follow (Entretenimientos poéticos, Mex., 1823, Paris, 1835; Poesías, Mex., 1905).
There were no eminent Mexican poets during the revolutionary period. Andrés Quintana Roo (1787-1851) was a lawyer and journalist and president of the congress which made the first declaration of independence. Pimentel (p. 309) calls him an eminent poet and one of the best of the period. Two of the most important in the period are: Manuel Sánchez de Tagle (1782-1847), a statesman given to philosophic meditation, but a poor versifier (Poesías, 1852); and Francisco Ortega (1793-1849), an ardent republican, who opposed Iturbide when the latter had himself proclaimed emperor of Mexico in 1821 (Poesías líricas, 1839; cf. Á Iturbide en su coronación). To these should be added Joaquín María del Castillo y Lanzas (1781-1878), one-time minister to the United States (Ocios juveniles, Philadelphia, 1835); and the priest Anastasio María Ochoa (1783-1833), who translated French, Italian, and Latin (Ovid's Heroides) works, and wrote some humorous verses (Poesías, N.Y., 1828: contains two dramas).
Next to Alarcón, the greatest dramatist that Mexico has produced is Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza (1789-1851), who wrote few lyric verses, but many dramas in verse and prose. His plays, which are full of humorous contrasts, were written during his residence in Spain and are, for the most part, typically Spanish in all respects. Gorostiza, in manner and style, is considered a bridge between Moratín and Bretón. His best comedy is La indulgencia para todos (cf. Teatro original, Paris, 1822; Teatro escogido, Bruxelles, 1825; Obras dramáticas, Bibl. Aut. Mex., vols. 22, 24, 26, 45, Mex.,-1899).