[1495.] los lavaderos. The banks of the Manzanares immediately in the rear of the Royal Palace have long been the public lavaderos or washing-places of the city of Madrid, and every day acres of network of lines are covered with drying linen. It is here naturally that the gallants of the lower classes go to meet their sweethearts, and scenes such as we have portrayed later in the play are of frequent occurrence. Cf. note on verse 441.
[1510.] Prado, formerly, as its name implies, a meadow on the outskirts of Madrid and later converted into a magnificent paseo between the Buen Retiro palace and the city proper. The house of Lope de Vega still stands in the narrow Calle de Cervantes, a short distance from the Prado, and the poet often mentions this celebrated paseo in his works. The name is frequently used to refer to the famous art-gallery located there.
[1520.] quien, cf. 1. 337 and note.
[1527-8]. Aprended... hoy. Note the repetition of 11. 1237-8.
[1543.] Durandartes. In Spanish ballads Durandarte is the name of one of the twelve peers who fought with Roland at Roncesvalles. In the Romancero General the adventures and death of the knight are narrated. Steadfast to death in his affections for his beloved Belerma, he gives utterance to his lamentations in the famous old ballad beginning with the following lines:
¡O Belerma! ¡O Belerma!
Por mi mal fuiste engendrada,
Que siete años te serví
Sin de ti alcanzar nada;
Agora que me querías
Muero yo en esta batalla.
Durandarte was the cousin of the knight Montesinos who gave his name to the celebrated cave of la Mancha, visited by don Quijote, whose adventures in this connection are narrated in Don Quijote, Part II, Chapters XXII and XXIII. Cervantes calls Durandarte the "flor y espejo de los caballeros enamorados" and probably Lope is indebted to his great contemporary for the word, which he uses in the sense of lances de amor.
[1552.] Puesto que, etc. The Valencia edition has here instead of this verse: Con todo, no he de culpalle.
[1608.] de espacio=despacio.
[1649.] Don Fadrique de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alba and descendant of the great soldier, Alba, was one of Spain's greatest naval commanders. In 1625 he destroyed the Dutch fleet off Gibraltar. Writing this play, as he may have been, with the acclamations of the great victory ringing in his ears, it was quite natural that Lope should honor the hero in his drama and at the same time add to the popularity of his work. Later in 1634 don Fadrique de Toledo fell into disfavor or incurred the jealousy of the Count-Duke Olivares and was cast into prison.