"Then spare, indulgent Claudio, spare
The list of all my barbarous plays;
For this with truth I can declare,
And though 'tis truth, it is not praise,
The printed part, though far too large, is less
Than that which yet unprinted waits the press."
To this severe censure of his own works was joined considerable study of
the dramatic art. It had engaged his attention, he says, since he was
ten years old; and in the "Dramatic Art" from which we have just quoted,
he shows great good taste and penetration in his observations.
His plays are not now acted in Madrid. The theatre, indeed, has declined
in Spain, and melodrames and vaudevilles have taken place of the higher
species of drama. Still Lope's works are a mine of wealth for any
dramatist, whence to draw situations, plots, and dialogue. Dryden
borrowed much from him; and, notwithstanding his faults, there may be
found in his plays a richness of invention, a freshness and variety of
ideas, and a vivacity of dialogue unsurpassed by any author.
[Footnote 74: In an epistle he mentions his father as having emigrated
to Madrid--he speaks of him as living in the valley of Carriedo, but
deficiency of means caused him to leave his ancestral inheritance of
Vega, and to remove to Madrid. There had been a quarrel between him and
his wife, who was jealous, and with reason, as Lope tells us he loved a
Spanish Helen; she however followed him, and they were reconciled:
"Y aquel dia
fu piedra en mi primero fundamento
la paz de su zelosa phantasia.
En fin por zelos soy; que nascimiento!
imaginalde vos, que haver nacido
de tan inquieta causa fue portento."
_Belardo á Amarylis._]
[Footnote 75: Pellicer, Tratado sobre el origen de la Comedia.]
[Footnote 76: "Efectos de mi genio y mi fortuna,
que me eseñastes versos en la cuna,
dulce memoria del principio amado
del ser que tengo, á quien la vida debo,
en este panagyrico me llama
ingrato y olvidado,
pero si no me atrevo,
no fue falta de amor, sino de fama,
que obligacion me fuerza, amor mi inflama.
Ma si Felix de Vega no la tuvo,
basta saber que en el Parnaso estuvo,
haviendo hallado yo sus borradores,
versos eran á Dios llenos de amores;
y aunque en el tiempo que escribió los versos,
no eran tan crespos como ahora y tersos,
ni las Musas tenían tantos brios,
mejores me parecen que los mios."
_Laurel de Apolo._]
[Footnote 77: Lope often mentions having been a soldier in early youth.
These expressions are generally used in reference to his having served
on board the Invincible Armada, but there is a stanza in the "Huerto
Deshecho," that intimates that he had entered the army at fifteen.
"Ni mi fortuna muda
ver en tres lustros de mi edad primera
con la espada desnuda
al bravo Portugues en la Tercera,
ni después en las naves Españolas
del mar Ingles los puertos y las olas."
Yet in the following stanza he calls himself "Soldado de una guerra." In
these verses, and in many others indeed in which he speaks of himself,
his expressions are so obscure, and the whole stanza so ill worded, that
it is scarcely possible to guess even at what he means. The translation
of these verses seems to be:--"Nor did my fortune change on seeing me in
the third lustre of my tender age, with a drawn sword among the brave
Portuguese at Tercera, nor afterwards in the English ports and waves on
board a Spanish fleet."]
[Footnote 78: Quarterly Review, vol XVIII.]
[Footnote 79: Quarterly Review, vol. XVIII.]
[Footnote 80: In this and other quotations the reader must not expect
sense. Even while reprehending Gongora for obscurity, from carelessness
or from a notion of fine writing, Lope's meaning can very often only be
guessed at. This may partly be attributed to misprints; in his best
poems he is, for a Spaniard, singularly perspicuous.]
[Footnote 81: Lord Holland calls Lope's antagonist, a gentleman of
considerable rank and importance--Montalvan's expressions denote the
contrary: "un hidalgo entre dos luces, de poca hacienda, &c."]
[Footnote 82: Lord Holland's Life of Lope de Vega. Were these MSS.
examined, we might discover the real history of Lope's life at this
period.]
[Footnote 83: Vide Sonnets 46, 66, 82, 92, &c. of Rimas Humanas, parte
1.]
[Footnote 84: "Crióme don Geronimo Manrique:
estudié en Alcalá, bachilleréme,
y aun estuve de ser clerigo á pique:
cegóme una muger, aficionéme,
perdoneselo Dios, ya soy casado,
quien tiene tanto mal, ninguno teme."
_Epistola undecima._]
[Footnote 85: "Este y otros desayres de la fortuna, ya negociados de su
juventud, y ya encarecedos de sus opuestos, le obligaron á dejar su
casa, su patria y su esposa, con harto sentimiento."--_Fama, Postuma á
la Vida de Lope de Vega._]
[Footnote 86: Bouterwek says that all the panegyrics and epitaphs
written on Lope, ought to be carefully consulted as to the circumstances
of his life. We accordingly looked them over; but amidst an incredible
abundance and variety of hyperbolical praise, there are but two or three
that allude to any events of his life--the one above quoted, which,
after all, speaks vaguely and confusedly; the other is an elegy by
Andres Carlos de Balmaseda, which mentions his sailing with the Armada,
and his two marriages. But it tells nothing new. One or two others
recount some anecdotes of his old age to prove his charity and piety.]
[Footnote 87: "Sirvió Jacob los siete largos años,
breves, si al fin, qual la esperanza fuera,
á Lia goza--y á Rachel espera
otros siete después, llorando engaños,
assí guardan palabra los estranos.
Pero in efecto vive, y considera
que la podra gozar antes que muera,
y que tuvieron termino sus daños;
triste de mi, sin limite que mida
lo que un engaño al sufrimiento cuesta,
y sin rimedio que el agravio pida.
Ay de aquel alma á padecer dispuesta
que espera su Rachel en la otra vida,
y tiene á Lia para siempre en esta."
_Parte I. de las Rimas Humanas de Lope
de Vega_, 1604. Soneto V.]
[Footnote 88: "Quando la Madre antigua reverdeze,
bello pastor, y à quanto vive aplaze,
quando en agua la nieve se dehaze,
por el sol que en el Aries resplandeze,
la yerba nace, la nacida crece,
canta el silguero, el corderillo pace,
tu pecho a quien su pena satisface
del general contento se entristece.
No es mucho mal la ausencia que es espejo
de la cierta verdad ó la fingida;
si espera fin, ninguna pena es pena.
¡ Ay del que tiene por su mal consejo
El remedio impossible de su vida
En la esperanza de la muerte agena!"
_Ibid. Soneto_ XI.]
[Footnote 89: "Postuma de mis Musas Dorotea,
y por dicha de mi la mas querida,
ultima de mi vida
publica luz desea,
desea el sol de rayos de oro lleno
entre la niebla de Guzman el Bueno."
_Ecloga á Claudio._]
[Footnote 90: Prologo del Editor.]
[Footnote 91: In his epistle to don Antonio de Mendoza, Lope alludes to
his military life, but without assigning any cause for its assumption.
"True it is," he says, "that in early life I left my country and friends
to encounter the vicissitudes of war. I sailed on a wide sea towards
foreign lands--where I served first with my sword, before I described
events with my pen. My inclinations caused me to break off the career of
arms, and the Muses gave me a more tranquil life."]
[Footnote 92: There is a very obscure stanza following this, it runs
thus:--
"¿ Quien te dixera che al exento labio,
que apenas de un cabello se ofendia,
amanciera dia
de tan pesado agravio
que cubierto de nieve agradecida?
¡ no separaos si fu e cometa ó vida!"
In the Quarterly Review this is translated. "Who would have thought that
this chin which had scarcely a hair upon it, should have sometimes been
found in the morning so shagged with snow that it might have been
mistaken for a comet?" This is obviously wrong. He alludes to his youth
at the time of sailing with the Armada, and his age at the time of
writing the eclogue to Claudio; and the swiftness with which the
interval had passed. "Who could have told thee that there should come a
day when the lip then scarcely deformed by a hair, should be so heavy
covered with welcome snow (his beard turned white), [and that so swiftly
that], we do not know whether it was a comet or life?" Nothing, however,
can be so ill expressed and obscure.]
[Footnote 93: Quarterly Review, vol. XVIII.]
[Footnote 94: Ecloga á Claudio. Quarterly Review, XVIII.]
[Footnote 95: Montalvan and the other biographers mention only one
daughter, Feliciana, the child of his second wife. The reader will
presently see that we derive our knowledge of the existence of Marcella
from Lope himself. It seems probable that she was the offspring of his
first marriage, since when he speaks of Feliciana as an infant, he
mentions that Marcella was fifteen. She entered a convent and was perhaps
dead when Montalvan wrote.]
[Footnote 96: That unknown ladies should write anonymous letters to
poets expressive of their admiration and sympathy, is, it seems, no mere
modern fashion. The epistle trom Amaryllis to Belardo, was certainly not
written by Lope himself--it is too full of enthusiastic praise; and the
style is not his. It is well written, and interesting. Amaryllis
addresses him from the New World. She describes herself as a creole,
born of noble parents, in Peru. She and her sister were left early
orphans--both endowed with beauty and talent. Her sister marries, but
she dedicates herself to a life of celibacy, though she does appear to
be a nun; she loves and cultivates poetry. She writes to Lope de Vega to
offer her friendship--_una alma pura á tu valor rendida--accepta el
don, que puedes estimallo_--and to exhort him to write religious poetry;
and in particular, to celebrate St. Dorothea--a saint hitherto unsung,
whom she and her sister hold in particular reverence. Lope replies with
praises of her talents, and enters into a succinct account of his life,
from which we have quoted, and says "I have written to you, Amaryllis,
more than I ever thought to do concerning myself--this freedom proves my
friendship for you." He concludes by inviting her to celebrate St.
Dorothea herself, and bids her immortalise the memory of her heroic
ancestors, and bestow on them the eternal laurel of her pen.]
[Footnote 97: Pellicer.]
[Footnote 98: Lord Holland.]
[Footnote 99: The translation is from Lord Holland. The Spanish runs
thus:--
"Que no es minimo parte, aunque es exceso,
De lo que está por imprimir, lo impreso."]
[Footnote 100: Montalvan.]
[Footnote 101: We cannot take leave of Montalvan without saying
something of his merits as an author, and noticing his career. He was
regarded by Lope as his favourite pupil and friend. He was notary to the
inquisition. At the age of seventeen he wrote plays in the style of his
friend and teacher, and continued to write after the death of Lope, with
an assiduity and speed that rivalled him. He died in 1639, at the age of
thirty-five only; and had already written nearly a hundred comedies and
autos as well as several novels. These last are imaginative and
entertaining. His comedies are not so finished nor well arranged as
Lope's, but they have great merit, and indicate still greater powers,
had he flourished in an age when such could have been developed, or if
he had lived long enough to bring them to perfection.]
[Footnote 102: Peliccer--Tratado sobre el Origen de la Comedia. Quarterly
Review, No. 117.]
[Footnote 103: Arte de hacer Comedias. Lord Holland's Translation.]