“WHILE YOUR DAUGHTER WALKS OUT WITH HER BLACK EYES.”—P. 318.

THE
HUMOUR OF SPAIN

SELECTED, WITH AN IN- TRODUCTION AND NOTES, BY SUSETTE M. TAYLOR: ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. R. MILLAR

THE WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD.,
PATERNOSTER SQUARE, LONDON, E.C.
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS,
153-157 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
1909.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction[xi]
My Cid pledges two Coffres full of Sand to theJews Rachel and Vidas—Twelfth Century[1]
The Cowardice of the Infantes of Carrion when theLion breaks loose—Thirteenth Century[4]
The Cat turned Nun—Fourteenth Century[8]
The Madman in the Bath—Don Juan Manuel[10]
The Naked King—Don Juan Manuel[10]
“Not even the Day of the Mud?”—Don Juan Manuel[16]
The Taming of the Shrew—Don Juan Manuel[18]
A Long Tale—Fifteenth Century[22]
Electio Nulla Debet Esse in Malis—Fifteenth Century[23]
The Biter Bit—Fifteenth Century[23]
Calisto is smitten with Melibea’s Charms—Rodrigo Cota[26]
Love and Death[31]
The Eaten Pancake—Lope de Rueda[33]
The Fair Celibate—Gil Vicente[36]
“The Table-Book and Travellers’ Joy”—
The Rustic and the Lackeys[38]
The Contrary Wife[40]
An Affectionate Wife[42]
Chastise with Good Words[42]
The Accommodating Farmer[44]
The Accommodating Lord[44]
Diamond Cut Diamond[44]
The Best Hour to Dine[45]
The Best Wife in the World[45]
A Pious Wish[45]
“The Book of Jokes”—Travellers’ Tales[54]
Tales of Rogues—
Lazaro declareth whose Son he was—Hurtado deMendoza[57]
How Lazaro serves a Blind Man—Hurtado de Mendoza[58]
Lazaro is Servant to a Priest—Hurtado de Mendoza[60]
A Tailor would fain learn of Guzman to writehis Name, or to make Firma, or Mark, and the Reason why—Mateo Aleman[70]
Episode of the Officious Physician—Mateo Aleman[71]
Of the Pleasant Life Guzman led among hisBrethren, and an Account of his Visit to Gatea—Mateo Aleman[72]
Of the Wicked Old Housekeeper, and the firstknavish pranks Paul played at Alcala—Quevedo[79]
Estebanillo acts on the Cardinal’s Birthday!—EstebanilloGonzalez[86]
The Ingenious Gentleman, Don Quixote of La Mancha—MiguelCervantes[90]
The Lovers’ Ruse—Lope de Vega[128]
Aunts—Jacinto Polo[131]
The Miser Chastised—Doña Maria de Zayas[132]
The Market of Ancestors—Velez de Guevara[139]
Vision of the Last Judgment—Gomez de Quevedo[141]
The Revenge of Don Lucas—Francesco Rojas de Zorrilla[155]
The Mayor of Zalamea—Calderon de la Barca[160]
The Simple Grooms—Santos[178]
Portuguese Epitaphs and Sayings—Seventeenth Century[180]
La Tarasca and the Carriers—Santos[181]
Pedigree of Fools—Seventeenth Century[183]
The Famous Preacher, Friar Blas[184]
The Musical Ass—Yriarte[187]
The Bashful Shepherdess—Iglesias[189]
The Bear, the Ape, and the Pig—Yriarte[189]
The Frog and the Hen—Yriarte[190]
Mariquita the Bald—Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch[191]
Pulpete and Balbeja; or, an Andalusian Duel—EstébanezCalderón[207]
Seville—José Zorrilla[213]
After the Bull-Fight—Mesonero Romanos[213]
Delights of a Madrid Winter—Wenceslao Ayguals de Izco[216]
In the Earlier Days of Photography—M. Ossorio yBernard[218]
The Old Castilian—Mariano José de Larra[221]
A Demagogic Journalist—Antonio Maria Segovia[233]
A Cat Chase during the Siege of Gerona—Perez Galdos[238]
A Well-won Dish of Cherries—Perez Galdos[242]
First Love—Emilia Pardo Bazan[246]
The Account Book—Pedro Antonio de Alarcon[254]
Sister Saint Sulpice—A. Palacio Valdés[261]
Pepita—Juan Valera[275]
If She could only Write—Campoamor[288]
Doctor Pertinax—Leopoldo Alas[291]
A Few Thoughts on Light—José Selgas[300]
Epigrams[302]
Folk-Tales[305]
Miracles of St. Isidro, Patron-Saint of Madrid[309]
The Wedding-Night[313]
Father Cobos’ Hint—Juan Martinez Villergas[316]
Popular Songs[318]
Proverbs[321]
Anecdotes[325]
Eccentricities of Englishmen—A. Ribot y Fontserré[329]
Newspaper Humour[332]
Humorous Advertisements[338]
At the Theatre[341]
Notes—Critical and Biographical[345]

INTRODUCTION.

A certain mysterious charm clings to the Spanish people, by reason of the long domain of more than seven hundred years of the Moors over the Peninsula, and consequent intermingling, to some degree, of race, and considerable Oriental influence on the national life and characteristics. The chief sport of the Spaniards, the bull-fight, is of Moorish origin; their popular dances and songs raise recollections of Indian Nautch-girls and the choruses in Moroccan coffee-houses; their predominant sentiment, the jealousy over their women, points back to the strict seclusion of the harem. To divert to another paramount influence, Spain, to this day the most Catholic country in the world, is in history of awful interest as the country in which the dread Inquisition took root most firmly: here alone 32,000 persons were condemned to the auto-da-fe! Gloominess, pride, and reserve have for centuries been the reputed qualities of the Spaniards. Oriental races are not mirthful; it is difficult to make the dignified Moor smile, much less laugh: the influence of the Moor, therefore, and the absolute power of the Church as little, could scarcely be conducive to merriment. And yet Spanish literature is illumined throughout with bright flashes of humour, like the silver lining to the dark cloud of the history of the people—a humour which shows itself in almost every phase of the national literature, from the twelfth to the nineteenth century: from incidents in the “Poema del Cid” which tickled the rough sense of humour of the warriors of the Middle Ages, to the delicate and subtle irony of Valera in “Pepita Jimenez”—quaint and naïve in the ballads and collections of tales, sprightly in the drama, boisterous in the “Novela Picaresca,” inimitable in “Don Quixote.” A humour, moreover, not laboured, not purely literary (though the latter kind is not lacking), but spontaneous, and embodying the salient features of the national life and characteristics.

It is both unnecessary and invidious to descant upon “Don Quixote,” par excellence the work of Spanish Humour. The death-blow to the chivalrous literature throughout civilised Europe (in Spain more rankly luxuriant than elsewhere, and where it perhaps reached its climax of absurdity), this marvellous work spread rapidly from land to land, and was first put into English in the year 1612. It is here given from the latest and most scholarly translation, the labour of love for eighteen years of Mr. H. E. Watts. It may be as well, however, to draw attention to the special phase of Spanish life round which Spanish humour collected in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—namely, the life of rogues in the “Novela Picaresca”—to which a section of this volume has been devoted, and the influence of which is traceable in other authors (such as Guevara and Santos) not included in that section. This peculiar taste, called El Gusto Picaresco (pícaro = rogue) owes its origin, according to Ticknor, to the condition of certain portions of society in the reigns of Charles V. and Philip II., and it has ever been in popular favour. Le Sage boldly imitated it in his famous “Gil Blas”;[1] and Fielding, Smollet, and other English authors show its influence upon English literature. This typical rogue, who generally starts in life as a servant, has his counterpart on the stage in the Gracioso (the valet), prototype of the Barbier de Seville of Beaumarchais, and Molière's Scapin.

As this collection is not intended to be comprehensive, no apology need be made for omissions obvious perhaps to Spanish scholars. Among other works, such as those of the Archpriest of Hita, of Castillejo, Forner, Pitillas, and Moratin, the “Gatomaquia” (see Notes) and “Mosquea,” burlesque epics after the pattern of the “Batrachomyomachia,” are not represented; nor yet the famous “Murciliego Alevoso” (in which is displayed a humour not unlike Pop) of Gonzalez, and the celebrated periodical El Padre Cobos.[2] That the drama, however, the richest in Europe, and original and characteristic as only either the Greek or the English drama, should be so little represented is due to the fact that the fun of a Spanish comedy generally lies in the plot and in comic situations.