Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/242

218 218 CASTILIAN LITERATURE. PART permitted to swell the stream of traditionary verse ; '- — and thus a body of poetical annals, springing up as it were from the depths of the people, was be- queathed from sire to son, contributing, perhaps, more powerfully than any real history could have done, to infuse a common principle of patriotism into the scattered members of the nation. Resem- Thcrc is considcrablc resemblance between the blaiice to the English. early Spanish ballad and the British. The latter affords more situations of pathos and deep tender- ness, particularly those of suffering, uncomplaining love, a favorite theme with old English poets of every description. ^^ We do not find, either, in the ballads of the Peninsula, the wild, romantic adven- tures of the roving outlaw, of the Robin Hood genus, which enter so largely into English minstrel- sy. The former are in general of a more sustained and chivalrous character, less gloomy, and although fierce not so ferocious, nor so decidedly tragical in their aspect, as the latter. The ballads of the Cid, however, have many points in common with the border poetry ; the same free and cordial manner, the same love of military exploit, relieved by a certain tone of generous gallantry, and accompa- nied by a strong expression of national feeling. nlrrireisy. ^hc rcscmblance between the minstrelsy of the 10 One exception, among oth- find a version of it in the " An- ers, readily occurs in the pathetic cient Poetry and Romances of old ballad of the Conde Alarcos, Spain " from the pen of Mr. Bow- whose woful catastrophe, with the riiip, to wliom the literary world unresisting suffering of the count- is so largely indebted for an ac- ess, suggests many points of co- quaintance with the popular min- incidence with the English min- strelsy of Europe, strclsy. The English reader will