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with them), the masters of the whole age, yielded to
the blandishments of Gongorism, the sturdy spirit
Quevedo fought it strenuously. His satires (Suenos,
1627) and other writings, his political treatises ("Po-
litica de Dies", 1626, "Marco Bruto", 1644; etc.), and
his multitudinous brief compositions in verse are fairly
free from the Culteranistic taint. On the other hand
he practised conceptism, another regrettable e.xcess
resulting from overmuch playing with concepts or
philosophical ideas. A regular code of the principles
of conceptism was prepared by the Jesuit Gracidn
(1601-58) in his "Agudeza y arte de ingenio" (1648);
other notable writings of his are the "Heroe" and the
"Criticon". As has been intimated, Spanish litera-
ture, infected with Gongorism, fell to a very low level
at the end of the Golden Age.
Early in this period the Argensola brothers, Bartolom6 Juan and Lupercio, flom-ished. The lat- ter (d. 1613) produced fhroe tragedies ("Isabela", "Fills", and "Alejaudia") which Cervantes makes one of his characters in "Don Quijote" commend highly; Bartolom6 Juan, a priest (d. 1631), is best known by his "Historia de la conquista de las Islas Molucas" and other works of contemporary history. Jer6nimo Zurita y Castro (1512-80), called "the Tacitus of Spain", spent thirty years in preparing his "Anales". During the fifteenth century, too, the religious orders in Spain produced a vast amount of devotional and ecclesiological writing which deserves, in many eases, to rank with the most enduring monu- ments of Spanish Literature. The list of rehgious writers includes Jose de .Sigucnza, a Hieronymite (1540-1606), of whose history of his own order a French critic said it made him regret that Sigiienza had not undertaken to ■nTite the history of Spain. The Dominican Alonso de Cabrera (1545-95) is con- sidered to be the greatest preacher of Spain, which fact is tested by his numerous sermons and by his famous funeral oration on PhUip II. In oratory B. Juan de Avila (1502-69), the Augustinian Juan Marquez (1564-1621), the Franciscan Gabriel de Toro, the Jesuit Florencia and the Archbishop of Va- lencia Sto. Toniiis de Villanueva rank very high. .\lso worthy of mention is the Jesuit Juan Pineda (1557- 1637), who has left, besides a panegyric on Dona Luisa de Caravajal, two masterly discourses on the Immaculate Conception. Another Juan Pineda, a Friar Minor, was the author of copious commentaries and of such Spanish devotional works as "Agricul- tura Christiana" (1589). Two other Jesuits, Luis de la Palma and Juan Eusebio de Nieremberg, have left works in Spanish which are still esteemed as gems of spiritual literature: the former, "Historia de la Sa- gradaPasi6n" (1624); the latter, among others, the famous treatise "De la difcrencia entre lo temporal y lo eterno" (1640). The "Ejercicio de perfecci6n y virtudes cristianas" of Alonso Rodriguez (1526-1616) and the "Conquista del reino de Dios" of Fray Juan de los Angeles (d. 1595) rank among the most classic works of Spanish literature. The writ ings of Ven. Luis de la Puente (1.554-1624), (see Lapuente, Ldis de), of Mal6n de Chaide (1530-1592), Domingo Garcia, and many other ascetic authors are also of much lit- erary value.
In the first half of the eighteenth century — a period much troubled by the political turmoil resulting ui)on the establishment of the Bourbons on the throne of Spain — writers still abounded, but not a genius, not even a man of average talent, was to be found among them. The a>sthetic sense had been ruined by Gon- gorism. To reform the taste of botli writers and the public was the task which Ignacio de Luzdn (1702-54) set himself in his " Podtica", published in 1737. Here he argued for order and restraint and, addressing himself especially to dramatic writers, urged the adop- tion of the laws of French classicism, the three unities, and the rest. The doctrines thus preached by him
were taken up by others (Nasarre, Montiano, etc.)
and, despite some objection, they eventually pre-
vailed. While they were applied with some felicity
in the plays of the elder Moratin (Nicolas Ferndndez
de M., 1737-80) and of Jove Llanos (1744-1811), it
was only in the pieces, especially the prose plays,
"El cafe" and "El si de las ninas" (1806), of the
younger Moratin (Leandro Ferndndcz de M., 1760-
1828) that their triumph was made absolute, for he
really gained popular favour. A refinement of the
poetic sense and a decided partiality for classicism is
apparent in the lyrics of the members of the Salaman-
can School, whose head was Melendez Valdds (1754-
1817); they included also Cienfuegos, Diego Gonzdlez,
and Iglesias. French influence extends to the two
verse fabulists, Iriarte (1750-91) and Samaniego
(1745-1801); they were familiar with La Fontaine as
well as the Phsedrus and the English fabulist Gay.
An admirable figure is the Benedictine Feij6o (1726-
1829), who, with the essays contained in his "Teatro
crltico" and "Cartas eruditas y curiosas", sought to
disseminate through Spain a knowledge of the ad-
vances made in the natural sciences. The name of
Feij6o suggests that of his great contemporary Jos6
Rodriguez (1777), a man of great talent and literary
skill, and also that of the famous Dominican Francisco
."Uvarado (1756-1814), commonly called el fildsofo
rancio. The Jesuit Isla (1703-81) attracts notice by
the improvement of the pulpit oratory of the time
which he brought about through the medium of his
satirical novel, the "Fray Gerundio" (1758). Isla
made a Spanish version of the picaroon romance, "Gil
Bias", of the Frenchman Le Sage. In the writings of
the young officer, Jos6 de Cadalso (1741-82), there are
exhibited the workings of a charming eclectic sense:
his "Noches lugubres" were inspired by Young's
"Night Thoughts", his "Cartas Marruecas" repeat
prettily the scheme of Montesquieu's "Lettres per-
sanes" and Goldsmith's "Citizen of the World".
Alone among the dramatists of the latter half of the
century Ramon de la Cruz (1731-94) shows a fondness
for the older native dramatic tradition, giving new life
to the old paso (interlude) in his "Sainetes". The
last part of the eighteenth century, during which the
Jesuits were exiled by Charles HI, was a flourishing
literary period for them. Among those who deserve
mention are: Est6ban de Arteaga (1747-99), who, ac-
cording to Menendez y Pelayo, was the best critic of
a!sthetics in his time; Juan Andres (1740-1812), who
wrote the first history of universal literature, Lorenzo
Hervds y Panduro (1735-1809), founder of modern
philological science, Francisco Masden, author of a
comprehensive "Historia critica de Espaiia". An
excellent poet was Juan Climaco Salazar (1744-1815),
whose "Mardoque" is one of the best Sjianish plays
of that century. The Augustinian Enrique Florez
began to publish in 1747 his monumental historical
work entitled "Espaiia Sagrada"; in the mean time
(1768-17S5) the two brothers Rafael and Pedro
Rodriguez Mohedano gave to Spain a literary history
in ten volumes of the first centuries of her Roman
civilization. Many other capable men devoted their
labours to historical research, such as Andres Burriel,
Perez Baver, Sarmiento, Rafael Floranes, and An-
tonio Capmany (1742-1S13).
In the early years of the nineteenth century French influence remains predominant in the world of letters. Quintana (1772-1857) and the cleric Gallego (1777- 1853), even in the very heroic odes in which they voice the Spanish patriotic protest against the invasion of the Napoleonic power, remain true to French classi- cist principles. In his various compositions Quintana is essentially a Rationalist of the type of the French encyclopedist of the eighteenth century. .\ growing tenclency to break through the sliackles of French classicism is manifest alrcadv in the literary endeavours of the men who formed what is usually called t he School
