917. =Que tantas persecuciones=, etc. Supply some introductory
interrogative expression like "Can it be" or "Do you believe."
922. =De Amadís, en Beltenebros.= _Amadís de Gaula_ is the title of an old
romance of uncertain authorship. The oldest text of which we have record
was in Spanish or Portuguese prose, and the most interesting part of it
is attributed to the Portuguese, Joham de Lobeira. The incident referred
to by Lope occurred in the early years of the career of Amadís, hero of
the story. After a youth filled with adventure, he meets and falls in
love with Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of Great Britain, who
returns his affection. A short time afterwards Amadís is freed from a
perilous situation by a young girl named Briolania, who herself is
suffering captivity. He then promises to return and deliver her. Having
been successful in a number of other adventures, he sets out, with the
tearful consent of Oriana, to rescue Briolania. After his departure on
this mission, Oriana is erroneously informed that Amadís loves
Briolania; mad with anger and despair, she sends him a letter saying
that all is ended between them. Amadís, having avenged Briolania's
wrongs, receives Oriana's letter and, overcome by grief, retires to a
hermitage on a rock in the sea, where he receives the name of
Beltenebros, which Southey translates as the "Fair Forlorn." Afterwards
Oriana, undeceived, seeks a reconciliation with Amadís, and their
happiness is at length realized. Amadís has remained the type of the
constant lover who comes into the possession of the object of his
affections only after adventures and difficulties without number.
951. =Valencia= is an important seaport town on the Mediterranean with a
population of about 160,000. The city is picturesquely situated on the
banks of the Guadalaviar in the midst of a luxuriant tropical nature.
Valencia was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name and has
played an important rôle in Spanish history since the time when the
Romans occupied the peninsula. During the Moorish occupation it was a
worthy rival of Seville, with which it is here mentioned. The gardens of
Valencia have always been justly celebrated for their beauty, and Lope
well knew this, for during his exile in Valencia he himself had a
garden in which, as he tells us in several of his works, he passed many
pleasant hours.
954. =Vera de Plasencia= is a small town northwest of Zaragoza, situated
in the desolate Llano de Plasencia. Lope must have sojourned there at
some time or have had more than a passing interest in the place, for in
his _Epístola á D. Michael de Solis_ he writes:
Si fuera por la Vera de Plasencia
Á buscar primavera al jardín mío,
Hallara tu Leonor en competencia.
_Obras Sueltas_, vol. I, p. 268.
960. =Pues lo digo=, etc. In the Valencia edition Martin says:
Quando lo digo lo sé.
Tres puntos del que los vé
Que no son puntos de vara:
Puntos, que puedo decir,
Según en su condición,
Que tres en un punto son:
Ver, desear, y morir.
The sense of the passage seems to turn on the words _punto_ and _cara_.
A _punto_ or "point" is one twelfth of the antiquated French line and
one one hundred and forty-fourth of an inch. By a comparison of the two
editions it is clear that there is a play on this word. _Cara_ is
probably a typographical error for _vara_, but it may be used here in a
related sense to the archaic _á primera cara_, which was the equivalent
of _á primera vista_. Therefore the sense of ll. 961-2 is: "That is the
size that one would take of that foot with a measure," or "That is the
size that one would take by a glimpse of that foot."
971. =De escarpines presumí=, etc. The consonance of _escarpines_ is with
_jazmines_, but the contrast is with _chapines_ above. The _chapín_ was
a heavy low shoe or sandal better suited to the use of servants, while
the _escarpín_ was an elegant thin-soled, shoe or slipper, and often
with cloth top as the following verse seems to indicate. Here the sense
is not very apparent and may involve some colloquialism of the time. The
passage may be freely translated: "I thought you were speaking of
_escarpines_, since the distinction depends only upon (the height of)
the cotton (top)."
973. =paragambas.= An obsolete or colloquial word made up of the
preposition _para_, or possibly of a form of the verb _parar_, "parry
off, protect," and the obsolete substantive _gamba_, the equivalent of
_pierna_. It was evidently applied to some covering of the leg, as a
gaiter or boot. In the Valencia edition it appears as two words, _para
gambas_.
974. =á cierta dama= depends upon _pregunté_.
975. =cañafístolas==_cañafístulas_. The word seems to have the idea of
something indicated but not named, and here may have the sense of
"ridiculous adornments." It is still used colloquially as the
approximate equivalent of the English "thingumajig" or "thingumbob."
That the author intends it to have something of its true meaning,
"purgative," is indicated by the next few lines of the text.
1009. =fialle=, see v. 95 and note.
1038. =azules enojos=, _dark clouds_. Lit. "blue wrath."
1042. =á cuantos los miran=. _Los_ refers to _ojos_ mentioned above. The
period at the end of the line must be a typographical error, for the
sense seems to favor a comma. The two subordinate clauses introduced by
_si_ and connected by y do not require as much separation as is afforded
by a period.
1052. =Como quedó concertado.= Note the repetition of line 1000. Lope is
given to repetitions in his works, but this is perhaps the only verse in
the play which he has unconsciously repeated.
1062. =inglés á Cádiz.= "Año de 1625." (Note by Hartzenbusch.) The
incident referred to is the irrational attack upon Cadiz by the English
fleet under Sir Edward Cecil in October, 1625. The English were
ignominiously defeated and the Spanish encouraged to continue an unequal
struggle.
1066. =tusón dorado.= The name of a celebrated order of knighthood founded
in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands. It
originally consisted of thirty-one knights and was self-perpetuating,
but Philip II absorbed the nominating power. In 1713 Charles VI moved
the order to Vienna, but this action was contested by the Spanish and
the dispute was settled by dividing the order between the two countries.
1067. =Con débil caña=, etc. "En la edición antigua de la comedia: _Con
débil caña, con freno herrado._" (Note by Hartzenbusch.)
1068. =Marte... Cupido=, _Mars_, the god of war, _Cupid_, the god of love.
1076. =Sembrando.= "En la _Corona trágica_ se lee _sembrando_; en la
edición antigua de la comedia, _tendidas_."(Note by Hartzenbusch.) The
sonnet is found also in the _Obras Sueltas_, vol. IV, p. 500, under the
title, _Á la Venida de los Ingleses á Cádiz_. Hartzenbusch speaks of it
as though it appeared in the _Corona trágica_, but his note is
misleading, for it really is found in a collection of _Poesías varias_
in the volume stated which begins with the _Corona trágica_.
1086. =Mas qué os=, etc. More exact punctuation would place the initial
interrogation after _mas_ and before _qué_.
1089. =Filis.= In Greek mythology Phyllis, disappointed because her lover,
Demophon, did not return at the time appointed for their marriage, put
an end to her life. According to one account she was changed after death
into an almond-tree without leaves. But when Demophon, on his return,
embraced the tree, it put forth leaves, so much was it affected by the
presence of the lover. To the mythological Phyllis, however, Lope is
indebted only for the name. To him "Filis" was a more material being in
the person of Elena Osorio, daughter of a theatrical manager and a
married woman. During the early part of the period 1585-1590 he
dedicated to her some of his most beautiful love-ballads, and in the
latter part, when he turned against her and was exiled from Madrid and
Castile, he continued to address poems to her, but now filled with
bitter complaints. (See Introduction.) The fact that he mentions her
name here in a play written in the later years of his life is of
interest; either he wrote the sonnet in his earlier years and used it
here, or it would seem that the poet's mind reverts to his youthful
follies. But in one of the last works written just before his death Lope
speaks of his daughter, Antonia Clara, under the name of "Filis," which
has given rise to some confusion. "Phyllis," moreover, is a very common
name in pastoral poems in the 16th and 17th centuries.
1110. =devantal==_delantal_.
1126. =hubiérades... Dijérades==_hubierais... Dijerais_. Cf. v. 835 and
note.
1133. =Si es disfrazar=, etc. In the pastorals the author usually
disguised personages of distinction in the garb of shepherds and
shepherdesses. These compositions were very popular in Spain during the
sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
1145. =que viene... á pretender=, _who comes to court to make
pretensions_. _Pretender_ also means "to sue for place, seek position"
and might be here "to seek favor at court."
1153. =En él este amor bebí.= Here as well as in the following line _él_
refers to _cántaro_.
1155. =Sirena.= The Sirens were fabulous mythological monsters, half bird
and half woman, which were supposed to inhabit reefs near the island of
Capri and lure sailors to their death by the sweetness of their song.
1186. =que tiene razón=, _indeed she is quite right_. Zerolo's edition has
_que_ instead of _qué_ of the Hartzenbusch edition, and it is clearly
the author's intent.
1231. =Por servicios que me hiciese=, etc., _Whatever services he did me,
however many years he put me under obligation._
1237-40. Observe that one of these verses concludes each of the
following stanzas or _décimas_. Such a verse is called the _pie de
décima_.
1252. =Andalucía= forms one of the most important and romantic of Spain's
ancient divisions and still occupies a unique position in the life and
character of the Spanish people. Geographically it occupies almost the
whole of the south of Spain.
1262. =dorado=, a yellow flower.
1266. =Manutisa= is usually written _minutisa_.
1282. =Adónde bueno==_Qué tal._ There is also a sense of motion as
indicated by verse 1284, but it is difficult to give a concise
translation. Freely expressed we may offer: "Whither bound, my pretty
maid?"
1291. =Pero... admira=, _But on my word I am astonished._
1300. =No tengo por mal acuerdo requebrar=, etc., _I do not consider it
ill-advised to enumerate_, etc. _Requebrar_ usually means "to flatter,"
but it also means "to break in small pieces," hence "to give in detail"
or "to enumerate."
1303. =Os costará=, etc. The sense of the verb is plural unless we take it
as impersonal and supply an infinitive construction after it.
1305. =Para el río.= This expression is out of its natural order and might
well be set off by commas. The sense is: "A hat with its band for going
to the river."
1306. =Avantal==_delantal_. Cf. v. 1110 and note.
1307. =virillas.= In addition to its usual meaning, _vira_, or _virilla_,
is used to denote the border around the top of the shoe, which is its
meaning in the present instance.
1314. =No hay plata... Potosí.= Potosí is a city of Bolivia situated on
the Cerro de Potosí at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. The Cerro
de Potosí is said to have produced up to the present time over three
billion dollars in silver. The first mine was opened there in 1545, and
the year of Lope's birth, 1562, a royal mint was established in the city
of Potosí to coin the output of the mines. Small wonder is it then that
the Spaniards still refer to the city in proverb as a synonym for great
riches. Lope mentions it in several of his other dramas.
1324. Compare this speech of doña María with that of Areusa in the
_Celestina_ against the exacting duties of servants. (See _Biblioteca de
Autores Españoles_, vol. III, p. 43.)
1341. =de mañana=, _early in the morning_.
1349. =Bien aforrada razón=, etc. In this reply of doña María we see not a
little of the _précieux_ spirit which in the same century became so
popular in France. A man must not proceed "brutally" to a declaration of
love at the very beginning, but by interminable flatteries and conceits
lead up to such a declaration, and even then must not expect the object
of his devotion to yield at once to his cleverly conceived pleadings.
1404. =cristal deshecho= refers to the running water of the fountain.
1410. =henchirle.= The antecedent of _le_ is _cántaro_.
1417. =Ó asoma por el estribo=, etc., _Or shows through the doorway of the
carriage her curls on the hooks of a 'rest.'_ In modern usage when
applied to the parts of a carriage _estribo_ means the "step" but in the
text it is used apparently as the equivalent of _portezuela_. _Descanso_
seems to have been at the time a device used in women's head-dress, such
as was represented some years later by Velázquez in his famous portrait
of Mariana de Austria, which now hangs in the Prado Museum at Madrid.
1439. =Conténtese ó quitaréle.= Observe the change from the second person
to the third in this verse and the following one.
1455. =¿Qué se hizo tu desdén?= _What has become of your pride?_
1460. =Habrán hecho riza en ti=, _Have probably done you a great injury.
Hacer riza_, "to cause disaster or slaughter."
1477. =si no envidaste=, etc., _if you have not staked any money, lay down
your hand and remain apart_. Leonor applies here the terms of a game of
cards when speaking of the love-affairs of doña María.
1493. =No pone codo en la puente=, etc., a reference to the custom of the
idlers and braggarts lounging in public places and seeking trouble or
offering defiance to every passer-by.
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.
1668. =rocín gallego.= The _gallegos_, or inhabitants of Galicia, are a
sober, industrious people, but have throughout Spain a reputation for
ignorance and stupidity; so they have long been made the butt of
malicious gibes and jests by their more volatile fellow-countrymen. In
the Valencia edition this verse and the preceding one are rendered in a
manner to give a clearer meaning:
En la coz y mordiscón
Parece rocín gallego.
1681. =Es... vaya=, _Is all that to tease me?_
1696. =diera= is used here in the double sense of "give" and "strike."
1708. =cristal de Venecia.= Early in the middle ages Venice was a center
for the manufacture of glass. The industry was at its height in the 15th
and 16th centuries, but gradually declined until it ceased in the 18th,
only to be revived about the middle of the 19th century. Since then
Venice has retaken her position as the European center for artistic
creations in glass. Near the close of the 13th century the factories
were moved outside the city to the island of Murano, where they are at
the present time.
1714. =Si no=, etc., _If not in harm, in the realization._--=Caer en la
cuenta=, _to understand, realize_.
1723. =satisfaciones= is now written _satisfacciones_.
1733-4. The language of these two verses is drawn from the popular
proverbs: "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, alguna se quiebra,"
and "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, que deja el asa ó la
frente." Doña María uses parts of each of these forms.
1737. =volviérades==_volvierais_. See v. 835 and note.
1782. =de canela=, that is, _agua de canela_.
1785. =Don Alvaro de Luna=, a Spanish courtier, born about 1388, was, in
his youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyed
to a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a few
years later grand master of the order of Santiago--a double distinction
never enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of a
conspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolid
in 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanish
authors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has been
lost. The _romances_ relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come down
to us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites of
beggars who sing in the streets of Spanish cities. It is evidently to a
_romancero_ or collection of these poems that reference is made by Lope.
1817. =el Cid.= Rodrigo Ruy Diaz de Bivar (1040-1099), called "el Cid
Campeador," is the great national hero of Spain. From the numerous
accounts, real and fictitious, of his achievements we learn that he was
a great warrior who fought sometimes with the Moors, sometimes with the
Spaniards, and that at last as a soldier of fortune he seized Valencia
and until his death successfully defied the two great rivals of his
time, the Spaniards and the Moors. His life has served as a theme for
numerous literary masterpieces, especially the Old Spanish _Cantar de
mio Cid_. Lope de Vega treats of his fall in his play entitled el
_Milagro por los Celos_.
1818. =gigote==_jigote_.
1824. =Valladolid=, an interesting city of Northern Spain and the seat of
an important university. Valladolid has figured prominently in Spanish
history for many centuries, for it was long the favorite residence of
the Spanish sovereigns. Early in the reign of Philip III the seat of
government was again transferred to that city, but was returned to
Madrid in 1606.
1836. =si le come=, _if he likes it_. _Comer_, lit. "to eat."