THE WORKS OF GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA,
ETC. ETC.
LONDON: PRINTED BY JAMES MOYES, GREVILLE STREET.
[Illustration: _Louis Parez ddin. Rob^t. Cooper Sculp_
_Garcilasso de la Vega._
Nat. 1503. Ob. 1536.
_Published March 1^{st}. 1823. by Mess^{rs}. Hurst & Robinson._]
THE WORKS OF GARCILASSO DE LA VEGA,
SURNAMED THE PRINCE OF CASTILIAN POETS,
Translated into English Verse;
WITH A CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL ESSAY ON SPANISH POETRY,
AND LIFE OF THE AUTHOR.
By J. H. WIFFEN.
* * * * *
"Sometimes he turned to gaze upon his book,
Boscán or GARCILASSO; by the wind
Even as the page is rustled whilst we look,
So by the poesy of his own mind
Over the mystic leaf his soul was shook."
LORD BYRON.
* * * * *
LONDON: PRINTED FOR HURST, ROBINSON, AND CO.
90, CHEAPSIDE, AND 8, PALL MALL.
1823.
TO
JOHN, DUKE OF BEDFORD,
IN PUBLIC LIFE
THE STEADY FRIEND AND ASSERTOR OF OUR LIBERTIES;
IN PRIVATE LIFE
ALL THAT IS GENEROUS, DIGNIFIED, AND GOOD;
This Translation,
IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE LITERARY EASE
THAT HAS LED TO ITS PRODUCTION,
_IS, WITH DEEP RESPECT AND ADMIRATION,_
Inscribed
BY THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
Till within the last few years but little attention appears to have been
paid in England to Castilian verse. Our earliest poets of eminence,
Chaucer and Lord Surrey, struck at once into the rich field of Italian
song, and by their imitations of Petrarch and Boccaccio, most probably
set the fashion to their successors, of the exclusive study which they
gave to the same models, to the neglect of the cotemporary writers of
other nations, to those at least of Spain. Nor is this partiality to the
one and neglect of the other to be at all wondered at; for neither could
they have gone to more suitable sources than the Tuscans for the harmony
and grace which the language in its first aspirations after refinement
wanted, nor did the Spanish poetry of that period offer more to
recompense the researches of the student than dry legends, historical
ballads, or rude imitations of the Vision of Dante. But it is a little
singular that this inattention should have continued when the influence
of the Emperor Charles the Fifth became great in the courts of Europe,
and the Spanish language, chastised into purity and elegance by Boscán,
Garcilasso, and their immediate successors, obtained a currency amongst
the nations correspondent with the extent of his conquests. The hostile
attitude in which England stood to Spain under Elizabeth, may be
regarded as perhaps the principal cause why we meet in the constellation
of writers that gave lustre to her reign, with so few traces of their
acquaintance with the literature of that country; whilst the strong
jealousy of the nation to Spanish influence, catholicism, and jesuitical
intrigue, no less than the purely controversial spirit of the times,
had, I doubt not, their full effect under the Stuarts, in deterring the
scholars of that period from any close communion with her poets.
Meanwhile the corruption of style which had so baneful an effect on her
literature, was silently going forward under Gongora, Quevedo, and
their numerous imitators. Before the reign of Philip the Fifth, this
corruption had reached its height; his accession to the crown of Spain,
and the encouragement he gave to letters, might have re-established the
national literature in its first lustre, if the evil had not struck root
so deeply, and if another cast of corrupters had not opposed themselves
to the views of this monarch, viz. the numerous translators of French
works, who disfigured the idiom by forming a French construction with
native words. Thus the curiosity of the poets of Queen Anne's time, if
it was ever excited, must have been speedily laid asleep; and (though we
may notice in Dryden, and perhaps in Donne, a study of Castilian,) it
was scarcely before the middle of the last century that this study began
permanently to tinge our literature. To Mr. Hayley, who first directed
public attention to the great merits of Dante, must be ascribed the
praise also of first calling our notice in any great degree to the
Spanish poets. Southey followed, and by his "Chronicle of the Cid" and
"Letters from Spain," quickened the curiosity excited by Mr. Hayley's
analysis and translated specimens of the Araucana of Ercilla. Lord
Holland's admirable dissertation on the genius and writings of Lope de
Vega, gave us a clearer insight into the literature of Spain, whilst the
French invasion brought us into a more intimate connexion and
acquaintance with her chivalrous people; nor could the many English
visitants which this drew to her shores view the remains which she keeps
of Arabian and Moorish magnificence, or even listen to her language,
which preserves such striking vestiges of oriental majesty, without
having their imagination led back to her days of literary illumination,
and without deriving some taste for the productions of her poets. The
struggle which she then made, and that which she is now making, first
against the unhallowed grasp of foreign coercion, and next of that
priestly tyranny which has so long cramped her political and
intellectual energies, have excited in every British bosom the most
cordial sympathy; and it is evident that from these causes, there is a
growing attention amongst us to her language and literature. Since the
present volume was begun, a translation has appeared of the excellent
work of Bouterewek, on Spanish and Portuguese poetry; another is going
through the press of Sismondi "Sur la Littérature du Midi de l'Europe;"
and Mr. Lockhart has just given us a choice selection of those beautiful
old Spanish ballads, which, as Mr. Rogers observes of the narratives of
the old Spanish chroniclers, 'have a spirit like the freshness of waters
at the fountain head, and are so many moving pictures of the actions,
manners, and thoughts of their cotemporaries;' like rough gems redeemed
from an oriental mine, they have assumed under his hand a polish and a
price that must render them indispensable to the cabinets of our men of
taste. Nor, in speaking of those whose labours have tended to spread a
knowledge of Hesperian treasure, must we pass over without due praise
the masterly notices on Spanish poetry, which Mr. Frere and Mr. Bowring
are understood to have given forth in the Quarterly and Restrospective
Reviews.
In this situation of things, it may not be wholly unacceptable to the
public to receive, though from an inferior hand, a translation of
Garcilasso de la Vega, the chastest and perhaps the most celebrated of
the poets of Castile. A desire to vary the nature of my pursuits, with
other reasons not necessary to mention, first led me to his pages; but
the pleasure I derived at the outset from his pastoral pictures and
harmony of language, soon settled into the more serious wish to make his
merits more generally known, and thus to multiply his admirers amongst a
people ever inclined, sooner or later, to do justice to foreign talent.
I would, however, deprecate any undue expectations that may be raised by
the high title bestowed on Garcilasso by his countrymen--a title
conferred in their enthusiastic admiration of his success in giving
suddenly so new and beautiful an aspect to the art, and in elevating
their language to a point of perfection, truly surprising, if we
consider all the circumstances connected with that revolution; but this
peculiar merit, so far at least as relates to the language, must
necessarily from its nature be wholly untranslateable, and he is thus
compelled to lose much of the consideration with the merely English
reader that is his real due. But it would be unjust in an English
reader, who glances over the subjects of his fancy, to conclude that
because Garcilasso has written little but Eclogues and Sonnets,
compositions, he may say, at best but of inferior order, he is therefore
worthy of but little regard in this age of poetical wonders. I will be
bold to assert, that the poets, and readers of the poets of the day,
will be no way degraded by coming in contact with his simplicity: our
taste for the wilder flights of imagination has reached a height from
which the sooner we descend to imitate the nature and unassuming ease of
simpler lyrists--the Goldsmiths and Garcilassos of past ages, the better
it may chance to be both for our poetry and language. Nor let the name
of Eclogues affright the sensitive reader that has in his recollection
the Colins and Pastoras that sickened his taste some thirty or forty
years ago. The pastorals, as they were called, of that period, are no
more to be compared with the _rime boschereccie_ of Garcilasso, than the
hideous distortion of the leaden Satyr that squirts water from its
nostrils in some city tea-garden, and that is pelted at irresistibly by
every boy that passes,--with the marble repose and inviolable beauty of
the Piping Faun in a gallery of antique sculptures.
Whilst employed on this translation, I was struck with the lucid view
which Quintana gives, in the Essay prefixed to his "Poesias selectas
Castellanas," of the History of Spanish Poetry, and I thought that it
might be made yet more serviceable to the end which its author had in
view, by a translation that would disclose to the English reader what he
might expect from a cultivation of the Spanish language. The only fault
perhaps of this Essay is, that Quintana has judged his native poets too
strictly and exclusively by the rules of French criticism and French
taste, which ought not I think to be applied as tests to a literature
so wholly national as the Spanish is, so especially coloured by the
revolutions that have taken place upon the Spanish soil, and so utterly
unlike that of any other European nation. Still the Essay will be found,
if I mistake not, as interesting and instructive to others as it has
proved to me: from it a more compact and complete view of the art in
Spain may be gathered, than from more extensive histories of the kind;
nor was I uninfluenced in my purpose by the advantage which the judgment
of a native, himself one of the most distinguished of the living poets
and lettered men of Spain, would have over any original Essay derived
from the writings of foreigners, who, whatever may be their critical
sagacity and literary repute, can neither be supposed to be so
intimately acquainted with the compositions of which they treat, nor
such good judges of Castilian versification.
It is time to conclude these prefatory observations; yet I cannot forego
the pleasure of first acknowledging the great advantage I have derived
from the kind revision of my MSS. by the Rev. Blanco White. That
gentleman's desire to aid in any thing that might seem to serve the
reputation of his country--the country, whose customs and institutions
he has pourtrayed with such vivid interest, originality, and talent,
joined to his native goodness of heart, could alone have led him to
volunteer his services, in a season of sickness, to one nearly a
stranger; and if I submit the following pages to the public with any
degree of confidence in its favour, it is from the many improvements to
which his friendly and judicious criticisms have led.
To Mr. Heber also, who, with the spirit of a nobleman, throws open so
widely the vast stores of his invaluable library, I feel bound to
express my obligations for the use of Herrera's rare edition of the
works of Garcilasso, which I had in vain sought for in other collections
of Spanish books, both public and private: his voluntary offer of this,
on a momentary acquaintance, enhances in my mind the value of the
favour.
The astonishing number of authors which the Bibliotheca Hispanica of Don
Nicolás Antonio displays, is a sufficient proof of the great intellect
that Spain would be capable of putting forth, if her mind had a play
proportioned to its activity. No nation has given to the light so many
and such weighty volumes upon Aristotle, so many eminent writers in
scholastic theology, so many and such subtle moral casuists, or so many
profound commentators on the Codices and Pandects. And if she has
produced these works in ages when the withering influence of political
and religious despotism, like the plant which kills the sylvan it
embraces, searched into every coigne of her literary fabric, what may
not be expected from her, when the present distractions, fomented by the
accursed gold of France, are composed into tranquillity, and the
inquiries of her talented men embrace under free institutions a wider
range of science than they have yet dared to follow, except by stealth!
There is not one lettered Englishman but will rejoice with his whole
heart when the winged Genius that is seen in Quintana's poems, chained
to the gloomy threshold of a Gothic building, looking up with
despondency to the Temple of the Muses, may be represented soaring away
for ever from the irons that have eaten into its soul.--
The present work will be shortly followed by a Spanish Anthology,
containing translations of the choicest Specimens of the Castilian
Poets, with short biographical notices, and a selection of the Morisco
ballads.
WOBURN ABBEY,
_4th Month 8th, 1823_.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
ESSAY ON SPANISH POETRY 1
LIFE OF GARCILASSO 93
VERSES ON THE DEATH OF GARCILASSO 169
ECLOGUES.
I. TO DON PEDRO DE TOLEDO, VICEROY OF NAPLES 181
II. 196
III. TO THE LADY MARIA DE LA CUEVA, COUNTESS OF UREÑA 266
ELEGIES.
I. TO THE DUKE OF ALVA 283
II. TO BOSCA'N 293
EPISTLE TO BOSCA'N 300
ODES, &c.
I. TO THE FLOWER OF GNIDO 305
II. TO HIS LADY 309
III. TO THE SAME 312
IV. WRITTEN IN EXILE 315
V. THE PROGRESS OF PASSION FOR HIS LADY 319
SONNETS.
I. "WHEN I SIT DOWN TO CONTEMPLATE MY CASE." 327
II. "AT LENGTH INTO THY HANDS I COME--TO DIE." 328
III. "AWHILE MY HOPES WILL TOWER ALOFT IN AIR." 329
IV. "LADY, THY FACE IS WRITTEN IN MY SOUL." 330
V. "BY RUGGED WAYS I REACH TOWARDS A BOURN." 331
VI. "HE WHO HAS LOST SO MUCH, STERN DEITY." 332
VII. "FROM THAT ILLUMINED FACE, PURE, MILD, AND SWEET." 333
VIII. "IF I LIVE ON, DEAR LADY, IN THE VOID." 334
IX. "OH LOVELY GIFTS, BY ME TOO FATAL FOUND!" 335
X. "IN ORDER TO RESTRAIN THIS MAD DESIRE." 336
XI. "STRANGE ICY THROES THE ARMS OF DAPHNE BIND." 337
XII. "AS A FOND MOTHER, WHOSE SICK INFANT LIES." 338
XIII. "IF LAMENTATIONS AND COMPLAINTS COULD REIN." 339
XIV. EPITAPH ON HIS BROTHER, D. FERNANDO DE GUZMAN. 340
XV. "FATE! IN MY GRIEFS SOLE AGENT, HOW HAVE I." 341
XVI. "THINKING THE PATH I JOURNEYED LED ME RIGHT." 342
XVII. "IF I AM WAX TO THY SWEET WILL, AND HENCE." 343
XVIII. TO JULIO CÆSAR CARACCIOLA 344
XIX. "SO STRONGLY ARE THE CRUEL WINDS COMBINED." 345
XX. TO D. ALONSO DE AVALO, MARQUIS DEL VASTO. 346
XXI. "WITH KEEN DESIRE TO SEE WHAT THE FINE SWELL." 347
XXII. "AS, LOVE, THE LILY AND PURPUREAL ROSE." 348
XXIII. "PROSTRATE ON EARTH THE LOFTY COLUMN LIES." 349
XXIV. FROM AUSIAS MARCH 350
XXV. TO BOSCA'N 351
XXVI. "WILD DOUBTS, THAT FLOATING IN MY BRAIN DELIGHT." 352
XXVII. "WITHIN MY SPIRIT WAS CONCEIVED IN TRAIN." 353
XXVIII. "I AM FOR EVER BATHED IN TEARS, I REND." 354
XXIX. "PAST NOW THE COUNTRIES OF THE MIDLAND MAIN." 355
XXX. TO BOSCA'N, FROM GOLETTA 356
XXXI. "I THANK THEE, HEAVEN, THAT I HAVE SNAPT IN TWAIN." 357
XXXII. TO MARIO GALEOTA 358
XXXIII. "MY TONGUE GOES AS GRIEF GUIDES IT, AND I STRAY." 359
XXXIV. "ENTERING A VALLEY IN A SANDY WASTE." 360
XXXV. "LOUD BLEW THE WINDS IN ANGER AND DISDAIN." 361
XXXVI. TO THE MARCHIONESS OF PADULA 362
XXXVII. "FAIR NAIADS OF THE RIVER| THAT RESIDE." 363
TO HIS LADY, HAVING MARRIED ANOTHER 364
TO THE SAME 365
ON A DEPARTURE 366
IMPROMPTU TO A LADY 367
TRANSLATION FROM OVID 368
COMMENT ON A TEXT 369
TO FERNANDO DE ACUÑA 370
APPENDIX 371
* * * _The Drawing of_ GARCILASSO _is by Mr._ LOUIS PAREZ; _the Designs
and Engravings of the Wood-cuts by Mr._ S. WILLIAMS.
ESSAY ON SPANISH POETRY.
CHAPTER I.
OF THE ORIGIN OF SPANISH POETRY, AND ITS PROGRESS TO JUAN DE MENA.
To poetry is given by general assent the first place amongst the
imitative arts. Whether we regard the antiquity of its origin, the range
of objects which it embraces, the duration and pleasure of its
impressions, or the good it produces, we must be struck alike with its
dignity and importance; and the history of its advances must ever go
hand in hand with that of the other branches of human improvement. It is
said that poetry and music civilized the nations; and this proposition,
which, rigorously examined, is exaggerated, and even false, shows at
least the influence that both have had in the formation of society. The
lessons given by the first philosophers to men, the first laws, the most
ancient systems, all were written in verse; whilst the fancy of the
poets, the flattering pictures and pomp of rites, which they invented,
interrupted, with a pleasing and necessary relaxation, the fatigue of
rural labours.
It is true that poetry does not afterwards present itself with the
dignity attendant upon the absolute and exclusive exercise of these
various services; yet it preserves an influence so great in our
instruction, in our moral perfection, and our pleasures, that we may
consider it as a dispenser of the same benefits, though under different
forms. It serves as an attraction to make truth amiable, or as a veil to
screen her; it instructs infancy in the schools, awakens and directs the
sensibilities of youth, ennobles the spirit with its maxims, sublimes it
with its pictures, strews with flowers the path of virtue, and unbars to
heroism the gates of glory. So many advantages, united with charms so
fascinating, have excited in mankind an admiration and a gratitude
eternal.
Its primary and essential business is to paint nature for our delight,
as that of philosophy is to explain her phenomena for our instruction.
Thus, whilst the philosopher, observing the stars, inquires into their
proportions, their distances, and the laws of their motion, the poet
contemplates and transfers to his verses the impression they make upon
his fancy and feelings, the lustre with which they shine, the harmony
that reigns amongst them, and the benefits which they dispense to the
earth. The difficulty of fulfilling worthily and well the object of
poetry is extreme, even though, considering the rapid progress which it
sometimes makes, it might appear easy. From the vague maxim or insipid
tale, rendered vigorous by the charm of an uncertain rhyme or rude
measure, to the harmony and sustained elegance of the Iliad or Eneid;
from the waggon and winelees of Thespis to the grand spectacle offered
by the _Iphigénie_ or _Tancrède_, the distance is immense, and can only
be overcome by the greatest efforts of application and genius.
Some nations, the favourites of Heaven, accomplish it with more
promptitude, and pass quickly from the feebleness of first essays to the
vigour of thoughts more grand, and combinations more perfect. Such was
the case with Greece, where the genius of poetry, scarcely numbering a
few moments of infancy, grew and raised itself to the height of
producing the immortal poesies of Homer. Such, though with less
brilliancy and perfection, was the case with modern Italy, where in the
midnight of the barbarous ages that succeeded Roman refinement, appeared
on the sudden Dante and Petrarch, bringing with them the dawn of the
arts and of good taste. Other nations, less fortunate, wrestle entire
centuries with rudeness and ignorance, and become more slowly sensible
to the blandishments of elegance and harmony; and perfection, in the
degree that men can attain it, is conquered by them solely by force of
time and toil. This is found to be the case with the greater number of
modern nations, and amongst them, we must of necessity mention Spain.
In Spain, as in almost all countries, written verse was anterior to
prose; the _Poem of the Cid_ having appeared, being the first known book
in Castilian, as well as the first work of poetry. In the midst of the
confusion of languages caused by the invasion of the northern
barbarians, the Romance, which was afterwards to be presented with so
much splendour and majesty in the writings of Garcilasso, Herrera,
Rioja, Cervantes, and Mariana, was assuming a definite form. Considering
the work for the argument alone, few would have the advantage over it,
at the same time that few warriors might dispute with Rodrigo de Bivar
the palm of prowess and heroism. His glory, which eclipsed that of all
the kings of his time, has been transmitted from age to age down to the
present, by means of the infinite variety of fables which ignorant
admiration has accumulated in his history. Consigned to poems, to
tragedies, to comedies, to popular songs, his memory, like that of
Achilles, has had the fortune to strike forcibly and occupy the fancy;
but the Castilian hero, superior without doubt to the Greek in strength
and in virtue, has not had the advantage of meeting with a Homer.
It was not possible to meet with one at the period when the rude writer
of that poem sat down to compose it. With a language altogether uncouth,
harsh in its terminations, vicious in its construction, naked of all
culture and harmony; with a versification devoid of any certain measure
and marked rhymes, and a style full of vicious pleonasms and ridiculous
puerilities, destitute of the graces with which imagination and elegance
adorn it; how was it possible to produce a work of genuine poetry, that
should sweetly occupy the mind and ear? The writer is not however so
wanting in talent, as not to manifest from time to time some poetic
design, now in invention, now in sentiment, and now in expression. If,
as Don Tomas Sanchez, the editor of this and other poems previous to the
fifteenth century, suspects, there be wanting to that of the Cid merely
a few verses at the beginning, it is surely a mark of judgment in the
author that he disencumbered his work of all the particulars of his
hero's life anterior to his banishment by Alfonso the Sixth. There the
true glory of Rodrigo begins, and there the poem commences; relating
afterwards his wars with the Moors and with the Count of Barcelona, his
conquests, the taking of Valencia, his reconciliation with the king, the
affront offered to his daughters by the Infantes of Carrion, the solemn
reparation and vengeance which the Cid took for it, and his union with
the royal houses of Arragon and Navarre, with which the work finishes,
slightly indicating the epoch of the hero's death. In the course of his
story, the writer is not wanting in vivacity and interest, great use of
the dialogue, which is a point most to the purpose in animating the
narration, and in occasional pictures that are not without merit in
their art and composition. Such, amongst others, is the farewell of
Rodrigo and Ximena, in the church of San Pedro de Cardeña, when he
departs to fulfil the royal mandate. Ximena, prostrate on the steps of
the altar where divine service is celebrated, makes a prayer to the
Eternal in behalf of her husband, which concludes thus:
'Oh God, thou art the King of kings, and Sire of all mankind!
Thee I adore, in thee I trust with all my heart and mind;
And to divine San Pedro pray to help me in praying still,
That thou wilt shield my noble Cid the Campeador from ill,
And since we now must part, again to my embrace restore!'
Her orison thus made, high mass is offered, and is o'er;
They leave the church, they mount their barbs--with sad and
solemn pace,
The Cid to Donna Ximena went to take a last embrace;
Donna Ximena, she bent down to kiss the hand of the Cid,
Sore weeping with her bright black eyes, she knew not what she
did;
He turned, and kissed his little girls with all a father's love,
'Bless you, my girls,' he said, 'I you commend to God above,
To your sweet mother and ghostly sire! When we shall meet again
God only knows, but now we part.' Not one could say Amen.
Thus, weeping in a way that none e'er saw the like, at length
They part like nail from finger torn with agonizing strength.
My Cid with his vassals thought to ride, and took the onward
track;
Waiting for all, his plumed head he evermore turned back.
Out then, with gallant unconcern, Don Alvar Fanez spake:
'Come, come, my Cid, what means all this? cheer up for goodness'
sake;
In happy hour of woman born! fast wears the morn away;
Since we must go, let us begone, nor dally with delay;
A happier time shall turn to joy the very ills we rue;
God, who has given us souls to feel, shall give us counsel too.'
There is doubtless a great distance between this parting and that of
Hector and Andromache in the Iliad, but the picture of a hero's
sensibility at the time of separation from his family is always
pleasing; beautiful is that turning of his head when at a distance, and
fine the idea that those same warriors to whom he gives in battle an
example of fortitude and constancy, should then fortify and cheer him.
Superior, in my opinion, for art and dramatic effect, is the act of
accusation which the Cid makes against his traitor sons-in-law before
the Cortes assembled to receive it. The first shock of the Infantes and
the champions of Rodrigo in the lists has much animation and even style.
They grasp their shields before their hearts; down, down their
lances go;
Bowed are their crested helms until they touch the saddle-bow;
Fiercely they strike their horses' sides with streaming rowels
red,
And onward to the encounter run: earth trembles to their tread.
* * * * *
Don Martin Antolinez, with the drawing of his sword,
Illumined all the field.----
No record is left for us to ascertain who was the author of this first
faint breath of Spanish poetry. Two writers flourished in the following
age, in whom we trace the improvement and progress which the
versification and language had now made. In the sacred poems of Don
Gonzalo de Bercéo, and in the _Alexandro_ of Juan Lorenzo, are
discovered more fluency, more connexion, and forms more determinate. The
march of these authors, although difficult, is not so trailing and
jejune as that of the preceding poet. The difference that subsists
between the two later poets is, that Bercéo, if we except his narrative
and some of his moral counsels, shows neither copiousness of erudition,
variety of knowledge, nor fancy for invention; a deficiency arising from
the nature of his subjects, which for the most part turn upon legends of
the saints. Juan Lorenzo, on the contrary, is more rapt with his
subject, and manifests an information so extensive in history,
mythology, and moral philosophy, as to make his work the most important
of all that were written in that age. The following verses on the same
subject may serve to show the style of both.
"I, hight Gonzalo de Bercéo, going
On pilgrimage, came one day to a mead,
Green, and well-peopled with fair plants, which blowing
Made it a place desirable indeed
To a tired traveller; the sweet-scented flowers
Gave forth a smell that freshened not alone
Men's faces, but their fancies, whilst in showers
Clear flowing fountains to the sky were thrown,
Each singing to itself as on it rolled,
Warm in midwinter, and in summer cold."
BERCÉO.
"It was the month of May, a glorious tide,
When merry music make the birds in boughs,
Dressed are the meads with beauty far and wide,
And sighs the ladye that has not a spouse:
Tide sweet for marriages; flowers and fresh winds
Temper the clime; in every village near
Young girls in bevies sing, and with blythe minds
Make each to each good-wishes of the year.
Young maids and old maids, all are out of doors,
Melting with love, to gather flowers at rest
Of noon--they whisper each to each, amours
Are good--and the most tender deem the best."
LORENZO.
Alfonso the Tenth was then reigning in Castile; a prince, to whom, to
render his glory complete, fortune ought to have given better sons, and
vassals less ferocious. Posterity has given him the surname of The Wise;
and beyond all doubt it was merited by the extraordinary man, who in an
age of darkness could unite in himself the paternal and beneficent
regards of the legislator, the profound combinations of the
mathematician and astronomer, the talent and knowledge of the historian,
and the laurels of the poet. He it was who raised his native language to
its due honours, when he gave command that the public instruments, which
before were engrossed in Latin, should be written in Spanish. Mariana,
less favourable to his merits, asserts that this measure was the cause
of the profound ignorance that afterwards ensued. But what was known
before? The Latin then in use was as barbarous, was yet more barbarous
than the Romance. The new uses to which the Romance was applied by that
decree, the dignity and authority it acquired, influenced its culture,
its polish, and its progress. Can it by any chance be believed that
these advantages of the language had no literary influence, or that
there can be diffused knowledge and a national literature, whilst the
native language remains uncultivated? The assertion of Mariana then
must be considered as a result of the somewhat pedantic prejudices of
the age in which he lived; but, even leaving out of consideration the
political convenience of the law, let us regard it as one of the causes,
which having had an influence on the improvement of the language, must
necessarily have influenced also the advancement of Spanish poetry.
There is an entire book of _Cantigas_ or _Letras_ to be sung, composed
in the Galician dialect by this king, specimens of which are to be seen
in the _Anales de Sevilla_ of Ortiz de Zuñiga; another entitled _El
Tesoro_, which is a treatise on the philosopher's stone, as far as can
be judged, for to the present day a great part remains undeciphered; and
to him likewise is attributed that of _Las Querellas_, of which two
stanzas only are preserved. Both are written in verses of twelve
syllables, with rhymes crossed like those of the sonnet, to which is
given the name of _coplas de arte mayor_, and which was a real
improvement in Spanish poetry; as the rhythm of the Alexandrine verse,
the measure used both by Bercéo and Lorenzo, was insufferable from its
heaviness and monotony. Let us compare the coplas with which the book
_El Tesoro_ commences, with the stanzas alluded to.
The strange intelligence then reached my ears
That in the land of Egypt lived a man,
Who, wise of wit, subjected to his scan
The dark occurrences of uncome years:
He judged the stars, and by the moving spheres,
And aspects of the heavens, unveiled the dim
Face of futurity, which then to him
Appeared, as clear to us the past appears.
A yearning toward this sage inspired my pen
And tongue that instant, with humility
Descending from my height of majesty;
Such mastery has a strong desire o'er men:
My earnest prayers I wrote--I sent--with ten
My noblest envoys, loaded each apart
With gold and silver, which with all my heart,
I offered him, but the request was vain.
With much politeness the wise man replied,
'You, sire, are a great king, and I should be
Most glad to serve you, but in the rich fee
Of gold and gems I take no sort of pride:
Deign, then, yourself to use them; I abide
Content in more abundant wealth; and may
Your treasures profit you in every way
That I can wish, your servant.' I complied;
But sent the stateliest of my argosies,
Which reached, and from the Alexandrian port
Brought safe this cunning master to my court,
Who greeted me with all kind courtesies:
I, knowing well his great abilities,
And learning in the movement of the spheres,
Have highly honoured him these many years,
For honour is the birthright of the wise.
The two coplas with which the book of _Las Querellas_ began, are
altogether superior in style, harmony, and elegance.
'Cousin, friend, faithful vassal, all and each,
Diego Perez Sarmiento, thee
The ills which from my men adversity
Makes me conceal, do I intend to teach;
To thee who, far, alas! from friendship's reach,
Hast left thy lands for my concerns in Rome,
My pen flies; hearken to the words that come,
For mournfully it grieves in mortal speech.
How lonely lies the monarch of Castile,
Emperor of Germany that was! whose feet
Kings humbly kissed, and at whose mercy-seat
Queens asked for alms; he who in proud Seville
Maintained an army sheathed from head to heel,
Ten thousand horse and thrice ten thousand foot,
Whom distant nations did with fear salute,
Awed by his wisdom[A] and his sword of steel.'
There seems to be a century between verse and verse, between language
and language; but what is yet more remarkable, to meet with _coplas de
arte mayor_ of equal merit, as well in diction as in cadence, we must
overleap almost two centuries more, and look for them in Juan de
Mena.[B]
If the impulse which this great king gave to letters had been continued
by his successors, Spanish literature would not only be two centuries
forwarder, but would have produced more works, and those more perfect.
The ferocious character of the times did not allow it. The fire of civil
war began to blaze in the last years of Alfonso, with the disobedience
and rebellion of his son, and continued, almost without intermission,
for a whole century, till it arrived at the last pass of atrocity and
horror in the tempestuous and terrible reign of Pedro. The Castilians,
during this unhappy period, seem to have had no spirit but for hatred,
no arms but for destruction. How was it possible, amidst the agitation
of such turbulent times, for the torch of genius to shine out
tranquilly, or for the songs of the muses to be heard? Thus only a very
scanty number of poets can be named as flourishing then: Juan Ruiz,
archpriest of Hita; the Infante Don Juan Manuel, author of _Conde
Lucanór_; the Jew, Don Santo; and Ayala, the historiographer. The verses
of these writers are some of them lost, others exist wholly unedited,
and those only of the archpriest of Hita have seen the light, which,
fortunately, are the most worthy, perhaps, of being known. The subject
of his poems is the history of his loves, interspersed with apologues,
allegories, tales, satires, proverbs, and even devotions. This author
surpassed all former writers; and but few of those by whom he was
succeeded, excelled him in faculty of invention, in liveliness of fancy
and talent, or in abundance of jests and wit; and if he had taken care
to choose or to follow more determinate and fixed metres, and had his
diction been less uncouth and cumbrous, this work would have been one of
the most curious monuments of the Middle Age. But the uncouthness of the
style makes the reading insufferable. Of his versification and manner,
let the following verses serve as specimens, in which the poet begs of
Venus to interpose her influence with a lady whom he loved, who was,
according to his pencil,
"Of figure very graceful, with an amorous look, correct,
Sweet, lovely, full of frolic, mild, with mirth by prudence
checked,
Caressing, courteous, lady-like, in wreathed smiles bedecked,
Whom every body looks upon with love and with respect.
Lady Venus, wife of Love, at thy footstool low I kneel,
Thou art the paramount desire of all, thy force all feel.
O Love! thou art the master of all creatures; all with zeal
Worship thee for their creator, or for sorrow or for weal.
Kings, dukes, and noble princes, every living thing that is,
Fear and serve thee for their being; oh, take not my vows amiss!
Fulfil my fair desires, give good fortune, give me bliss,
And be not niggard, shy, nor harsh; sweet Venus, grant me this!
I am so lost, so ruined, and so wounded by thy dart,
Which I carry close concealed and buried deep in my sad heart,
As not to dare reveal the wound; I dare not e'en impart
Her name; ere I forget her, may I perish with the smart!
I have lost my lively colour, and my mind is in decay;
I have neither strength nor spirits, I fall off both night and
day;
My eyes are dim, they serve alone to lead my steps astray,
If thou do not give me comfort, I shall swoon and pass away."
Venus, amongst other counsels, says to him:--
"Tell all thy feelings without fear or being swayed by shame,
To every amorous-looking miss, to every gadding dame;
Amongst a thousand, thou wilt scarce find one that e'er will blame
Thine unembarrassed suit, nor laugh to scorn thy tender flame.
If the first wave of the rough sea, when it comes roaring near,
Should frighten the rude mariner, he ne'er would plough the clear
With his brass-beaked ship; then ne'er let the first word severe,
The first frown, or the first repulse, affright thee from thy
dear.
By cunning hardest hearts grow soft, walled cities fall; with care
High trees are felled, grave weights are raised; by cunning many
swear:
By cunning many perjured are, and fishes by the snare
Are taken under the green wave; then why shouldst thou despair?"
Other passages much more striking might be quoted; and amongst them the
description of the power of money, which has a severity and freedom, of
which it would be difficult to find examples in other writers of that
time, either in or out of Spain, though the independent Dante were to
enter into the comparison; or the facetious apology and praise of little
women, which begins:
I wish to make my speeches suit the season,
Short; for I always liked, the more I read,
Short sermons, little ladies, a brief reason;
We fructify on little and well said, &c.[1]
But the examples already quoted will suffice for our assertion.
Sometimes the poet, weary perhaps of monotony and heaviness, varies from
the measure which he generally uses, and introduces another combination
of rhymes in songs which he mingles with his narrative; as, for
instance, the following:--
Near the vale's fresh fountain,
Having past the mountain,
I found relief, at play
Of the first beams of day.
I thought to die upon
The mountain summits lone,
With cold and hunger, lost
Mid glaciers, snows, and frost.
Beside the sparkling rill,
At foot of a small hill,
A shepherdess I met,--
I see her smiling yet:
Her cheeks made e'en the red
Ripe roses pale; I said
To her, 'Good morrow, sweet,
I worship at thy feet!' &c.
Don Tomas Antonio Sanchez has published the works of almost all the
authors mentioned, with illustrations, excellent, as well for the
notices given of them, as for the elucidation of the text, which the
antiquity and rudeness of the language, and the errors of manuscripts,
by their complication, obscured. There, as in an armoury, rest these
venerable antiques, precious objects of curiosity for the learned, of
investigation for the grammarian, of observation for the philosopher and
historian, whilst the poet, without losing time in studying them,
salutes them with respect, as the cradle of his language and his art.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: _Tablas_, in allusion to those celebrated calculations
drawn up under the superintendence of this monarch, and called, after
him, the _Alphonsine Tables_, a work truly extraordinary for the age.]
[Footnote B: Some learned men question whether these two works do
actually belong to the time and author to whom they are ascribed; and
the improvement which the versification and language present, forms a
very strong presumption in favour of this doubt.]