duende and Casa con dos puertas are among the best. El médico de su honra is full of dramatic power, and nothing can be more poetical than La Vida es sueño. (Vide MacCarthy’s translations.) The best imitators of the great dramatists are Rojas and Moreto: Garcia del Castañar by the former, and Desden con el Desden of the latter, are equal to the dramas of the great masters.
The earliest Spanish novels are Lazarillo de Tormes, by Hurtado de Mendoza, and the Diana Enamorada, by Monte Mayor. They are followed in the 16th century by El Picaro Guzman de Alfarache and El Escudero Marcos de Obregon, by Aleman and Espinel. A great number of novels were written in the following century, but all were eclipsed by Cervantes’ Don Quijote, which is too well known to need any comment.
Several authors in the 16th and 17th centuries cultivated different literary styles. Quevedo is the most remarkable of them. He was an excellent theological moralist and fantastical writer in the manner of Dante. He wrote a number of works of real merit, none of which have been so popular as his Satiras in prose and verse. (Vide Mr. Mew’s, “Quevedo,” in ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ Jan. 1878.)
Political and moralist writers of the 16th and 17th centuries are very numerous. Of these Guevara, Sta. Teresa, Fray Luis de Granada Gracian (ably commented on by Mr. Grant Duff, ‘Fort. Rev.’ May, 1877), Saavedra Fajardo, Mariana, Morales, Zurita, and Solis are the most remarkable.
18th and 19th Centuries.
The end of the 17th century was the worst period of Spanish literature. Philip V., the first king of the house of Bourbon, 1700, did his utmost to improve the intellectual culture of the country. The Biblioteca Real was founded in 1711, and the Academias de la Lengua, Historia, and Bellas Artes in 1714; several literary reviews also appeared. The best poets of this period are Antonio de Toledo and Gerardo Lobo. The only productions, however, of any literary merit are the critical works of Flores, Masdeu, Mayans and others. During the reign of Charles III., 1759–1788, Melendez wrote some tolerable verses. He is followed by Fr. Diego Gonzalez, Cienfuegos, Nicolas de Moratin and others. The most original writers of the end of the 18th century are, however, undoubtedly Leandro Moratin and Ramon. The two comedies, El Sí de las niñas and El Café, by the former, are charming, and the Sainetes, by De la Cruz, in the manner of Plautus, continue to be very popular in Spain.
Spanish literature of the present century possesses no definite character, although several writers can bear comparison with the best Spanish authors of other periods. Every school and style has been copied: Byron, Schiller, Goethe, Victor Hugo, and Dumas. The earliest author of any importance is Quintana, a correct and inspired poet. His odes on La Imprenta, Panteon del Escorial, and Batalla de Trafalgar are very good. Martinez de la Rosa, Lista, and Nicasio Gallegos form a group of able versifiers. Espronceda is a constant imitator of Byron, although his legend of El Estudiante de Salamanca is
