similar tone of criticism, insisting on its study, as
essential to a correct appreciation and comprehension of the genius of the language.[1]
Numerous editions of the ballads. The Castilian ballads were first printed in the "Cancionero General" of Fernando del Castillo, in 1511. They were first incorporated into a separate work, by Sepulveda, under the name of "Romances sacados de Historias Antiguas," printed at Antwerp, in 1551.[2] Since that period, they have passed into repeated editions, at home and abroad, especially in Germany, where they have been illustrated by able critics.[3] Ignorance of their authors, and of the era of their production, has prevented any attempt at exact chronological arrangement; a circumstance rendered, moreover, nearly impossible, by the perpetual modification which the original style of the more ancient ballads has experienced, in their transition through successive generations ; so that, with one or two exceptions, no earlier date
- ↑ See, among others, the encomiastic and animated criticism of Fernandez and Quintana. Fernandez, Poeslas Escogidas, de Nucstros Cancioneros y llomanceros Antiguos, (Madrid, 1796,) torn, xvi., Prologo.—Quintana, Poeslas Selectas Castellanas, Introd. art. 4.
- ↑ 18 Nic. Antonio, Bibliotheca Nova, torn. ii. p. 10.—The Spanish translators of Bouterwek, have noticed the principal "collections and earliest editions" of the Romances. This original edition of Sepulveda has escaped their notice. See Literatura Española, pp. 217, 218.
- ↑ See Grimm, Depping, Herder, &c. This last poet has embraced a selection of the Cid ballads, chronologically arranged, and translated with eminent simplicity and spirit, if not with the scrupulous fidelity usually aimed at by the Germans. See his Sämmtliche Werke, (Wien, 1813,) band iii.
siento assi; antes bien los hallo ca- paces, no solo de exprimir y de- clarar qualquier concepto con facil dulzura, pero de prosequir toda grave accion do numeroso Poema. Y soy tan de veras Espafiol, que por ser en nuestro idioma natural este genero, no me puedo persuadir que no sea digno de toda estima- cion." (Coleccion de Obras Suel- tas, (Madrid, 1776-9,) torn. iv. p. 176, Prólogo.) In another place, he finely styles them " Iliads without a Homer."
