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In 1772, Don Joseph Vasquez published two small books, entitled Los Eruditos a la Violeta, which implies the Violet Literati, for the use of those who pretend to know much, and study little. These books contain the most celebrated passages of several ancient and modern authors in various languages, with a Spanish translation of every one of them, together with common place remarks, to enable those who know nothing of the matter to talk learnedly upon subjects they do not understand. The two first pages of Paradise Lost are quoted and translated in this work. The whole is an ingenious satire, and if translated might possibly be acceptable to English Jessamine Literati. The same author shortly after published a volume of lyric poems, entitled Ocios de mi Juventud, or Productions of my youthful leisure Hours. Of these I shall insert a specimen.

Satyrical Verses, in Quevedo’s style.

Que de la viuda un gemido
Por la muerte del marido, ya lo veo:
Pero que ella no se ria
Si otro se ofrece en el dia, no lo creo.

Que Cloris me diga à mi,
Solo he de quererte a ti, ya lo veo:
Pero que, siquiera, à ciento
No haga el mismo cumplimiento, no lo creo.

Que los maridos zelosos
Sean mas guardias, que esposos, ya lo veo:
Pero que estàn las malvadas
Por mas guardias mas guardadas, no lo creo.

Que al ver de la boda el trage,
La doncella el rostro baxe, ya lo veo:
Pero que al mismo momento
No levante el pensamiento, no lo creo.

Que Celia tome el marido
Por sus padres escogidos ya lo veo:
Pero que en el mismo instante
Ella no escoja el amante, no lo creo .

Que se ponga con primor
Flora en el pecho una flor, ya lo veo:
Pero que astucia no sea
Para que otra flor se vea, no lo creo.

Que en el templo de Cupido
El incienso es permitido, ya lo veo:
Pero que el incienso baste
Sin que algun oro se gaste, no lo creo.

Que el marido à su muger
Permita todo placer, ya lo veo:
Pero que tan ciego sea,
Que lo que vemos no vea, no lo creo.

Que al marido de su madre
Todo niño llame padre, ya lo veo:
Pero que él por mas cariño
Pueda llamar hijo al niño, no lo creo.

Que Quevedo criticò
Con mas satyra que yo, ya lo veo:
Pero que mi musa calle,
Porque mas materia no halle, no lo creo.

“That the widow groans for the loss of her husband, I see; but that she would not laugh if another offered on the same day, I do not believe.

“That Chloris tells me, that she loves only me, I see; but that she would not, if necessary, pay the same compliment to a hundred others, I do not believe.

“That jealous husbands are more guardians than spouses, I see; but that their wives are the more virtuous because they are guarded, I do not believe.

“That the damsel should cast her eyes down, and be bashful when the preparations are making for her wedding, I see; but that at the same time she does not raise her thoughts, I do not believe.

“That Celia should accept the husband chosen for her by her parents, I see; but that at the same instant, she does not chuse a lover, I do not believe.

“That Flora places a beautiful flower in her breast, I see; but that it be not artfully to show another flower, I do not believe.

“That in the temple of Cupid, incense is permitted, I see; but that incense is sufficient, without spending any gold, I do not believe.

“That the husband permits his wife to partake of all diversions, I see; but that he should be so blind as not to see what we see, I do not believe.

“That the child should call its mother’s husband father, I see; but that he can always call the child his own, I do not believe.

“That Quevedo criticised more satyrically than I do, I believe; but that my muse is silent for want of more matter, I do not believe.”

EPITAPH.

El que està aqui sepultado,
Porque no logrò casarse,
Muriò de pena acabado.
Otros mueren de acordarse
De que ya los han casado.

“He who here lies buried, died for grief because he was not’ fortunate enough to be married; others die for sorrow that they are married.”

I purchased a small book in Madrid, which had just been published, entitled Los Literatos en Quaresma. An assembly of learned men are supposed to meet together every Sunday during the six weeks in Lent, and to pronounce a discourse, or sermon, of which the text is to be taken from some celebrated author. Accordingly six subjects are selected, as follows. The first, how prejudicial it is to the advancement of literature, and of every thing useful, to be opposed by persons who murmur at all innovations: the text is, Καὶ ἄλλα πλειςα περὶ τῶν φίλων καὶ οἰκείων κακὰ εἰπεῖν, καὶ περὶ τῶν τετελευτηκότων κακῶς λεγειν, out of the last chapter of the Characters of Theophrastus. “There are murmurers who not only speak evil of their friends and companions, but also even of the dead.” 14

The second, on the education of youth, the text from Cicero’s oration in favour of M. Celio: “Haec igitur est tua disciplina? sic tu instituis adolescentes? ob hanc causam tibi hunc puerum parens commendavit & tradidit?” “Is this thy teaching? dost thou thus instruct youth? was it for this that the father of this young man recommended him to thy care?”

The third, upon theatrical points, the text from the forty-eighth chapter of the second volume of Don Quixote: “Habiendo de ser la comedia espejo de la vida humana, exemplo de las costumbres, é imágen de la verdad; las que ahora se representan son espejos de disparates, exemplos de necedades, é imágenes de lascivia.” “Comedy ought to be a mirror of human life, an example of customs and manners, and an image of truth; whereas those comedies which are now represented are mirrors of absurdity, examples of folly, and images of lasciviousness.”

The fourth, upon the difficulties and obligations of a poet; the text from the second satire of Boileau .

“Maudit soit le premier dont la verve insensée
Dans les bornes d’un vers renferma sa pensée:
Et donnant à ses mots une étroite prison
Voulut avec la rime enchaîner la raison.”

“Cursed be the first who foolishly shut up his thoughts in the limits of verse; and who, by imprisoning his words, enchained reason in rhyme.”

The fifth, upon the partiality of critics, the text from Pope’s Essay on Criticism.

“Some foreign writers, some our own despise,
The ancients only, or the moderns, prize.”

The sixth and last discourse, is to set forth the evils to which mankind are subject, and to prove that the only way of alleviating them is by means of society, and decent communication between the two sexes: the text from Tasso’s tragedy of Turismondo.

“La nostra umanitade é quasi un giogo
Gravoso che Natura e’l Ciel impone,
A cui la donna o l’uom disgiunto e scevro
Per sostegno non basta.”

“Our humanity is almost a grievous yoke, which nature: and heaven imposes on us, and which neither woman nor man, if they live disunited, is capable of bearing.”

The book contains no more than the three first discourses, the last of which, upon theatrical points, is preceded by the following sonnet addressed to a bad dramatic poet.

El que de su quietud tanto se olvida,
Que entrega à bravo mar fràgil navìo;
El que en la guerra, por mostrar su brio,
Pone contra mil balas una vida;

Quien todo su caudal de un lance envida;
Quien no esgrime, y se arriesga à un desafìo;
Quien se opone al capricho, ù al desvìo
De una muger hermosa y presumida;

El que sube à una càtedra sin ciencia,
Y el que al pùlpito saca sus sermones,
Fundando en su memoria su eloqüencia,

Todos ellos de ti tomen lecciones
En materia de arrojo y de imprudencia;
Pues al Teatro das composiciones.

“He who forgets his quietude enough to trust a frail vessel to the tempestuous seas; he, who in war, to show his courage, exposes one life to a thousand bullets; he who risques his whole capital upon a single adventure; he who cannot fence and ventures a challenge; he who exposes himself to the caprice or shyness of a beautiful and presumptuous woman; he who mounts a chair without science, and who in the pulpit pulls out his sermons, and trusts to memory for his eloquence: all these take lessons from thee in regard to rashness and imprudence, for lo thou givest thy compositions to the theatre.”

The author in this discourse, after having remarked how little the unities of time and place are regarded in the Spanish plays, says that “the History of the Life of Christian Jacobsen Drakenberg, who died at the age of one hundred and forty-six years, would form a curious dramatic piece, if the scenes were thus distributed. Act I, Scene I. How the said Christian was born in Norway in the year 1626. Scene II. How he served in the artillery at Copenhagen. Scene III. How at the age of one hundred and six years he went to fetch his baptismal certificate. Act II. Scene I. How at the age of one hundred and eleven years he married a respectable lady of sixty. Scene II. How he used to read the newspapers without spectacles, &c. Act III. Scene I. How he walked two leagues from a village where he was, to the city of Arrhus. Scene II. How he died in 1772. Last scene, His obsequies are celebrated, a funeral sermon preached, a procession passes, and a monument is erected to his memory, with an epitaph in the Danish language, &c. &c.”

The author then gives a plot of a piece, wherein unity of place is as little attended to as unity of time is in the foregoing piece. He supposes a play to be represented, of which the principal action is the conquest of New Spain. “The curtain draws up and shows us a sea-port town in perspective, supposed to be Santiago de Cuba. Hernan Cortés sets sail from thence with his navy; the scene shifts, and another sea-port town is seen, which is that of Vera-Cruz, where Cortes arrives, recounting what had happened to him at the Havana, &c. Then is represented that most valorous and never-enough-to-be-applauded action of boring holes in the ships and sinking them; and Cortés declares his intention of proceeding to Mexico. The decoration changes, and we find ourselves in the identical city of Mexico, the court and place of residence of the powerful emperor Motezuma. Many memorable actions are exhibited, the conquest is completed, and, when the audience least expects it, the port of Vera-Cruz is again discovered, from whence Cortés sets sail for Spain. We take it for granted, that all the spectators swim after Cortés to the town of Palos, and accompany him to Sevilla; and for the sake of eighty-two leagues more or less, it would not be reasonable to abandon him in his journey to Toledo. The scenes already represent that imperial city, and Cortés is received in it by the emperor Charles V. with demonstrations of singular esteem.

“Thus, instead of saying, we are going to the comedy, we are going to the tragedy, we ought to say, we are going to the chronicles, to the novel, or we are going to ramble, or to travel.

“After the unities of time and place, it is necessary to observe the unity of action, otherwise we might represent in a single piece the whole series of the wars of Alexander, or all the adventures of Don Quixote.

“But supposing the three unities to be preserved, it is not enough for perfection; there are many other things necessary, such as artifice in the plot, probability in the adventures, natural thoughts, purity of style, variety in the dialogue, vehemence in the affections; and, generally speaking, a certain importance in every thing that is said and done, capable of interesting and suspending the passions of the audience, always supposing the selection of a proper subject.

“Now even if a theatrical composition should have all these necessary qualities, there only remains a single trifle to insure its success, and that is, taste; because to please or displease does not always depend on the merits or defects of the work. For example, we will suppose that in digging into the earth, a manuscript tragedy is found in a leaden case, and that its author is unknown (because if he were known there would be partiality), and that in this tragedy all good qualities abound, and that not only it preserves the unity of time, place, and action, but likewise a thousand other things which end in Y, as propriety, clarity, piety, morality, novelty, majesty, probability, and above all a correct Castilian, without harsh or lame verses, and without any mixture of Gallicisms, from which God, of his mercy and love, deliver us: we must then consider, that as the earth produces mushrooms without any particular cultivation, at the same time it creates from night to morning a dozen actors of both sexes, who besides having true theatrical figures, rehearse without gesticulation, without a pulpit-like declamation, and without an ill-timed drawling or affected tone. Now, were these persons to represent the aforesaid uncriticisable tragedy, it is possible that it would not please for various reasons; for instance, one of the audience would expect tempests, eclipses, battles, horses, lions, tigers, and all sorts of monsters and wild beasts; another waits for poetical comparisons and similies, abounding in flowers, plants, rocks, fields, constellations, birds, fish, sands, pearls, coral, shells, &c. they find nothing of this kind in the new tragedy, and so they take a nap till the tonadilla awakens them. Another hears the play with disgust, because every action in it is very possible, and that it contains no magical representations neither by dint of necromancy, chiromancy, hydromancy, acromancy, pyromancy, geomancy, cleomancy, &c. no caves nor enchanted palaces, no visions, spirits, nor phantoms, as in Don John or Hamlet: an old man in the pit disdains the play, because night with a starry black velvet mantle, earth in green sattin, and sea in blue plush, are not actresses in it; another is displeased because the part given to A, was not given to B,” &c. &c. &c. Thus far may suffice to enable the reader to form a general idea of this book.

In 1759, a book was printed in Barcelona, in quarto, entitled Arte Poetica Española. Half this book contains specimens and examples of every kind of Spanish verse, acrostics, anagrams, labyrinths, &c. the other half is a dictionary, in which all words with similar terminations are classed together. 15

One of the Enigmas in this book is the following:

Qual es el uno que es tres,
Y estos tres si los contàres,
Aunque son nones, son pares?

“What is the one, which is three, and those three if you count them, although they are odd, are even? The solution of this Enigma is, God; because in God alone a divine essence and three persons are found, which by being three are called odd, and for the equality which they bear to each other, are termed even.”!