Instead of =Cuento=, later editions read =Leyendas=.
The introductory quotation is taken from the "Don Quijote," Part I,
chap. 45. The words were addressed by Don Quijote to members of the
rural police who were arresting him for depredations committed on the
highway. The full sentence in Ormsby's translation reads: "Who was
he that did not know that knights-errant are independent of all
jurisdictions, that their law is their sword, their charter their
prowess, and their edicts their will?" This Spanish declaration of
independence was frequently used as a slogan by the Romanticists.
Espronceda is here making the quotation apply more particularly to his
lawless hero.
=1. Era más de media noche=: the poet begins with a characteristic
Romantic landscape, gloomy, medieval, fantastic, uncanny. He is trying
to create a mood of horror. He follows the Horatian precept of beginning
the plot in the middle (_in medias res_). The situation here introduced
is not resumed until Part Four is reached. Parts Two and Three supply
the events leading up to the duel. The Duque de Rivas's "Candil" begins
in similar fashion:
Más ha de quinientos años
En una torcida calle,
Que de Sevilla en el centro
Da paso a otras principales;
Cerca de la media noche,
Cuando la ciudad más grande
Es de un grande cementerio
En silencio y paz imagen;
De dos desnudas espadas
Que trababan un combate
Turbó el repentino encuentro
Las tinieblas impalpables.
El crujir de los aceros
Sonó por breves instantes
Lanzando azules centellas,
Meteoro de desastres.
Y al gemido _¡Dios me valga!
¡Muerto soy!_ y al golpe grave
De un cuerpo que a tierra vino
El silencio y paz renacen, etc.
This was first published in "El Liceo," 1838. The Duque de Rivas may
have been influenced by our text, but such introductions were a Romantic
commonplace. See M. Fernández y González, "Crónicas romanescas de
España. Don Miguel de Mañara, memorias del tiempo de Carlos V," Paris,
1868. The story begins "Era la media noche"; and, later, "Hacía mucho
tiempo que Sevilla estaba entregada al sueño y al silencio." Espronceda
is here following his sources closely.
=2. antiguas historias=: not a mere rhetorical statement. These old
stories actually existed. See the study of sources in the Introduction.
=4. lóbrego=: I follow the reading of the 1840 edition. Later editions
changed to =lóbrega=, making the adjective agree with =tierra= instead
of =silencio=. Either reading makes good sense, but in cases of doubt I
follow the Editio Princeps.
=11. fantasmas=: this noun is usually masculine, but is often feminine
in popular speech. The distinction between the masculine and feminine
meanings given in most dictionaries does not apply in Espronceda. He
uses both genders indifferently.
=19. sábados=: Saturday was the usual day when, according to popular
belief, witches attended their yearly =aquelarre= or sabbath. The
favorite meeting-place for Spanish witches was said to be the plain
around Barahona (Soria).
=27. gótico=: admiration for the Gothic was a characteristic of
Romanticism.
=37. Salamanca=: the famous university city of Spain. Its founding
antedates the Carthaginians and the Romans. The university of Palencia
was transferred to Salamanca by Fernando III in 1239. Neither the
university nor the city retains much of its ancient importance. See
Gustave Reynier, "La Vie universitaire dans l'ancienne Espagne," Paris,
1902.
=38. armas y letras=: these words summarize the Renaissance ideal of
culture. The perfect gentleman must combine literature and arms. Letters
were not considered to be apart from active life. Cervantes, Lope de
Vega, Quevedo, and many others of Spain's great writers of the classic
period exemplify this ideal.
=53. embozado=: to avoid breathing the cool mountain air of his country,
a Spaniard frequently draws the corner of his cape over his face,
concealing it. He is then =embozado=, 'muffled.' When a woman is heavily
veiled she is =tapada=. This national custom has been effectively used
by Spanish poets, novelists, and dramatists. It offered a plausible
excuse for the concealment or confusion of identity.
=64. calle=: this word is the object of =atraviesa=, l. 72.
=65. la calle del Ataúd=: this dismal name does not seem to be of
Espronceda's own invention. It is found in José Gutiérrez de la Vega's
"Don Miguel de Mañara," 1851. Espronceda probably used some earlier
edition of the prose romance of Don Miguel de Mañara.
=96. que=: a relative adverb used with the force of a genitive Translate
'whose.'
=100. Segundo Don Juan Tenorio=: see the Introduction.