Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/133

109 SURRENDER OF THE CAPITAL. 109 the work of the worthy curate, who dwells with goggle-eyed cre- dulity on the most absurd marvels, and expends more pages on an empty court show, than on the most important schemes of policy. But if he is no philosopher, he has, perhaps for that very reason, suc- ceeded in making us completely master of the popular feelings and prejudices of the time ; while he gives a most vivid portraiture of the principal scenes and actors in this stirring war, with all their chivalrous exploit, and rich theat- rical accompaniment. His credu- lity and fanaticism, moreover, are well compensated by a simplicity and loyalty of purpose, which se- cure much more credit to his nar- rative than attaches to those of more ambitious writers, whose judgment is perpetually swayed by personal or party interests. The chronicle descends as late as 1513, although, as might be expected from the author's character, it is entitled to much less confidence in the discussion of events which fell without the scope of his personal observation. Notwithstanding its historical value is fully recognised by the Castilian critics, it has never been admitted to the press, but still remains ingulfed in the ocean of manuscripts, with which the Spanish libraries are deluged. It is remarkable that the war of Granada, which is so admirably suited in all its circumstances to poetical purposes, should not have been more frequently commemorat- ed by the epic muse. The only successful attempt in this way. with which I am acquainted, is the chapter " Conquisto di Granata," by the xv. Florentine Girolamo Gratiani, Mo- dena, 1650. The author has taken the license, independently of his machinery, of deviating very freely from the historic track ; among other things, introducing Columbus and the Great Captain as principal actors in the drama, in which they played at most but a very subordi- nate part. The poem, which swells into twenty-six cantos, is in such repute with the Italian critics, that Quadrio does not hesitate to rank it " among the best epical produc- tions of the age." A translation of this work has recently appeared at Nuremberg, from the pen of C. M. Winterling, which is much commended by the German critics. Mr. Irving's late publication, the Irving's "Chronicle of the Conquest of e^anada^ °^ Granada," has superseded all fur- ther necessity for poetry, and un- fortunately for me, for history. He has fully availed himself of all the picturesque and animating move- ments of this romantic era ; and the reader, who will take the trouble to compare his Chronicle with the present more prosaic and literal narrative, will see how little he has been seduced from historic accu- racy by the poetical aspect of his subject. The fictitious and roman- tic dress of his work has enabled him to make it the medium for re- tlecting more vividly the floating opinions and chimerical fancies of the age, while he has illuminated the picture with the dramatic bril- liancy of coloring denied to sober history.