Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 4.djvu/733

Rh life was probably occasioned by tho conviction that it admitted of no further development. In his relation to his predecessors he appears as an innovator, chiefly in the simplification of metrical forms. Though at least half of each of his plays is still in complete rhyme, he nevertheless resorts to assonances more liberally than his forerunners. If, on the one hand, this brings him nearer to the language of reality, it on the other sometimes betrays him into verbosity. In his earlier pieces the exuberance of his genius, and the example of the popular lyrical poets of the day, tempted him into conceits and extravagances of diction which are less apparent in his later works. He yet has more fire and colour than any other of the Spanish dramat ists, and may be described as the one among them in whom the Oriental element is most largely developed. He shares with his rivals the reproach of repetition, of calculated stage effect, and of stereotyped forms of expression, which become at length mere convention and surplusage. The peculiarity of the forna of composition cultivated by Calderon renders it difficult to assign his relative rank among poets of the first class. The Spanish drama is a creation sui generis, and all attempts at a comparison between it and other theatrical forms must be futile for want of a common measure. The art of Calderon attains its purpose not less completely than that of Shakespeare or Sophocles ; all that can be said in its disparagement is that this purpose is less elevated. It falls below the art of Greece, inasmuch as it makes no pretension to represent the ideal either of divinity or of manhood ; and below the art of Shakespeare, inasmuch as, instead of offering a mirror to universal nature, it is restricted to the representation or poetic expression of a temporary and accidental phase of manners. It is the most perfect embodiment conceivable of all the romantic and chivalrous elements of Spanish national life there is not, perhaps, such another example in literature of the wonderful power of poetry to eliminate all baser matter, and present the innermost idea of a society in untarnished brightness. Calderon is also the most perfect representative of the state of feeling induced by unconditional allegiance to the Catholic Church, at the critical moment when the scales of faith and knowledge are yet in equilibrium. Great Catholic poets may yet arise, with even more than Calderon s depth of conviction, but none can again enjoy Calderon s serenity. There is no disturbing element in his world, either of innovation or of resistance ; he is everything which by theory a consummate Catholic poet ought to be. It is therefore but logical that he should be set up as the rival of Shakespeare by the partisans of the mediaeval revival, of whom Frederick Schlegel is the most eminent literary representative. It would be a waste of time to contrast the conventional uniformity of his pieces, reducible to five or six types at most, with Shakespeare s infinite variety ; the faint in- dividualization of his characters with Shakespeare s mira culous subtlety ; his class prejudices with Shakespeare s universal sympathy ; his stereotyped cast of thought with Shakespeare s comprehensive wisdom. It is enough to remark, that greatly as he is admired and widely as he is read, he has not contributed a single appreciable element to the literature of any country but his, own, while Shakespeare has revolutionized the taste of Europe. His relation to his contemporaries is also different from Shake speare s. Shakespeare is a sun among stars ; Calderon the brightest star of a group. We shall render him most justice, not by instituting a vain parallel with Shakespeare, or even Goethe, but by regarding those qualities which he necessarily has in common with all poetical dramatists. In these respects it is impossible to praise him too highly Nothing can surpass the fertility, ingenuity, and consistency of his constructive faculty on the one hand, or the affluence of his imagery and melody of his versification on the other. Tho poet and the playwright are happily combined in him ; the development of his plots holds the spectator in suspense from first to last, and the diction, except in designedly comic passages, seldom lapses below the pitch of dignified and exquisite poetry. Even the extravagance of his hyperboles appears almost natural amid the general torrent of impassioned feeling. The interminable length of many of his speeches is certainly a fault, and is partly attributable to the fluency and facility of his metre. If we regard him as a tragic poet, we must allow him power, restricted by the absence of any philosophical view of human nature or destiny. As a comic poet he excels in the vis comica of situation ; but his dialogue is more remarkable for vivacity than humour. His proper and peculiar sphere is that of the fancifully poetical. His inventiveness is here equal to any feat of construction, and his imagination to any opulence of adornment. After Shakespeare and Aristophanes, no dramatist has understood so well how to transport his reader or spectator to an ideal world. Calderon s metrical forms, although, as already stated, less rich and intricate than those of the earlier Spanish dramatists, are nevertheless a great obstacle to his being adequately translated. No language but the German, in fact, is adapted to render him. Gries s version in that language is very celebrated. Schlegel and Schack have rendered some plays very well ; and the cnctos have been translated by Lorinser. Shelley s version of some scenes of the Wonder-ivorkiny Magician is incomparably the best English interpretation, and no reproduction in our language will ever be perfectly successful that does not proceed upon his principle of intermingling blank verse with irregular lyrical metres. Mr Fitzgerald and Mr D. F. M Carthy, two excellent translators, have erred, the former by resorting to blank verse entirely, the latter by discarding it altogether. Mr Fitzgerald s version is too English, and Mr McCarthy s too Spanish ; the peculiar delicacy of the assonant rhyme, which he has endeavoured to preserve throughout, is entirely imperceptible in our language. Mr Fitzgerald has rendered six plays, and Mr M Carthy eleven. There is perhaps no more congenial field for a writer of a poetical temperament than the translation of Calderon.

1em  CALDERWOOD, (1575-1650), an historian of the Church of Scotland, was born in 1 575. He was educated at Edinburgh, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1593. About 1604 he became minister of Crailing, near Jcclburgh, and he speedily began to take part in the ecclesiastical proceedings of that period, and was conspicuous for his resolute opposition to the introduction of Episcopacy. In 1617, while James was in Scotland, a Remonstrance which had been drawn up by the Presbyterian clergy was placed in Calderwood s hands. He was summoned to St Andrews and examined before the king, but neither threats nor promises could make him yield, and deliver up the roll of signatures to the Remonstrance. He was deprived of his charge, committed to prison at St Andrews, and afterwards removed to Edinburgh. The privy council, which long exercised an undefined and despotic jurisdiction, ordained him to be banished from the kingdom for refusing to 