always easy to recognize the hand of the Grecian artist, whose modest beauties are thrown into shade by the ambitious ones of his imitator.* But, with all this, Oliva's tragedies must be admitted to be executed, on the whole, with vigour; and the diction, notwithstanding the national tendency to exaggeration above alluded to, may be generally commended for decorum, and an imposing dignity quite worthy of the tragic drama; indeed, they may be selected as affording probably the best specimen of the progress of prose composition during the present reign.t Oliva's reputation led to a similar imitation of the antique; but the Spaniards were too national in all their tastes to sanction it. These classical compositions did not obtain possession of the stage, but were confined to the closet, serving only as a relaxation for the man of letters; while the voice of the people compelled all who courted it, to accommodate their inventions to those romantic forms which were subsequently developed in such variety of beauty by the great Spanish dramatists. * The following passage, for example, in the Venganza de Agamemnon, imitated from the Electra of Sophocles, will hardly be charged on the Greek dramatist. "Habed, yo os ruego, de mi compassion, no querais atapar con vuestros consejos los respiraderos de las hornazas de fuego, que dentro me atormentan." See Obras de Oliva, p. 185. + Compare the diction of these tragedies with that of the Centon Epistolario, for instance, esteemed one of the best literary compositions of John II.'s reign; and see the advance made, not only in orthography, but in the verbal arrangement generally, and the whole complexion of the style. + Notwithstanding some Spa nish critics, as Cueva, for exam We have now surveyed the different kinds of poetic culture familiar to Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. Their most conspicuous element is the national spirit which pervades them, and the exclusive attachment which they manifest to the primitive forms of versification peculiar to the peninsula. The most remarkable portion of this body of poetry may doubtless be considered the Spanish romances, or ballads; that popular minstrelsy, which, commemorating the picturesque and chivalrous incidents of the age, reflects most faithfully the romantic genius of the people who gave it utterance. The lyric efforts of the period were less successful: there were few elaborate attempts in this field, indeed, by men of decided genius. But the great obstacle may be found in the imperfection of the language, and the deficiency of the more exact and finished metrical forms indispensable to high poetic execution. The whole period, however, comprehending as it does the first decided approaches to a regular drama, may be regarded as very important in a literary aspect; since it exhibits the indigenous peculiarities of Castilian literature in all their freshness, and shows ple, have vindicated the romantic forms of the drama on scientific principles, it is apparent that the most successful writers in this department have been constrained to adopt them by public opinion, rather than their own, which would have suggested a nearer imitation of the classical models of antiquity, so generally followed by the Italians, and which naturally recommends itself to the scholar. See the canon's discourse in Cervantes, Don Quixote, tom. iii. pp. 207-220; ed. de Pellicer;-and more explicitly Lope de Vega, Obras Sueltas, tom. iv. p. 406. to what a degree of excellence it could attain, while untouched by any foreign influence. The present reign may be regarded as the epoch which divides the ancient from the modern school of Spanish poetry, in which the language was slowly but steadily undergoing the process of refinement, that " made the knowledge of it," to borrow the words of a contemporary critic, "pass for an elegant accomplishment, even with the cavaliers and dames of cultivated Italy ;" and which finally gave full scope to the poetic talent that raised the literature of the country to such brilliant heights in the sixteenth century. "Ya en Italia, assi entre Damas, como entre Caballeros, se tiene por gentileza y galania, saber hablar Castellano." Dialogo de las Lenguas, p. 4. I have had occasion to advert more than once in the course of this chapter to the superficial acquaintance of the Spanish critics with the early history of their own drama, authentic materials for which are so extremely rare and difficult of access as to preclude the expectation of anything like a satisfactory account of it out of the peninsula. The nearest approach to this, within my knowledge, is made in an article in the Eighth Number of the American Quarterly Review, written by Mr. Ticknor, late Professor of Modern Literature at Harvard University. This gentleman, during a residence in the peninsula, had every facility for replenishing his library with the most curious and valuable works, both printed and manuscript, in this department; and his essay embodies in a brief compass the results of a well-directed industry, which he has expanded in greater detail in his lectures on Spanish literature, delivered before the classes of the university. The subject is discussed with his usual elegance and perspicuity of style; and the foreign, and indeed the Castilian scholar, may find much novel information there in the views presented of the early progress of the dramatic and the histrionic art in the peninsula. Since the publication of this article, Moratin's treatise, so long and anxiously expected, "Origines del Teatro Español," has made its appearance under the auspices of the Royal Academy of History, which has enriched the national literature with so many admirable editions of its ancient authors. Moratin states in his preface, that he was employed from his earliest youth in collecting notices both at home and abroad of whatever might illustrate the origin of the Spanish drama. The results have been two volumes, containing, in the first part, an historical discussion, with ample explanatory notes, and a catalogue of dramatic pieces from the earliest epoch down to the time of Lope de Vega, chronologically arranged, and accompanied with critical analyses, and copious illustrative extracts from pieces of the greatest merit. The second part is devoted to the publication of entire pieces of various authors, which, from their extreme rarity, or their existence only in manuscript, have had but little circulation. The selections throughout are made with that careful discrimination which resulted from poetic talent combined with extensive and thorough erudition. The criticisms, although sometimes warped by the peculiar dramatic principles of the author, are conducted in general with great fairness; and ample, but not extravagant commendation, is bestowed on productions whose merit, to be properly appreciated, must be weighed by one conversant with the character and intellectual culture of the period. The work unfortunately did not receive the last touches of its author, and undoubtedly something may be found wanting to the full completion of his design. On the whole, it must be considered as a rich repertory of old Castilian literature, much of it of the most rare and recondite nature, directed to the illustration of a department that has hitherto been suffered to languish in the lowest obscurity; but which is now so arranged, that it may be contemplated, as it were, under one aspect, and its real merits accurately determined. |