Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. II.djvu/273

249 ROMANTIC FICTION AND POETRY. 249 finally gave full scope to the poetic talent, that chapter raised the literature of the country to such brilliant — HJ — heights in the sixteenth century. early history of their own drama, authentic materials for which are so extremely rare and difficult of ac- cess, as to preclude the expectation of any thing like a satisfactory ac- count of it out of the Peninsula. The nearest approach to this with- in my knowledge, is made in an . article in the eighth number of the American Quarterly Review, ascri- bed to Mr. Ticknor, late Professor of Modern Literature in Harvard University. This gentleman, during a residence in the Peninsula, had every facility for replenishing his library with the most curious and valuable works, both printed and manuscript, in this department ; and his essay embodies in a brief compass the results of a well- directed industry, which he has expanded in greater detail in his lectures on Spanish literature, delivered before the classes of the University. The subject is dis- cussed with his usual elegance and perspicuity of style ; and the for- eign, and indeed Castilian scholar, may find much novel information there, in the views presented of the early progress of the dramatic and the histrionic art in the Peninsula. Since the publication of this ar- ticle, Moratin's treatise, so long and anxiously expected, " Origenes del Teatro Espanol," has made its appearance under the auspices of the Royal Academy of History, which has enriched the national literature with so many admirable editions of its ancient authors. Moratin states in his Preface, that he was employed from his earliest youth in collecting notices, both at home and abroad, of whatever might illustrate the origin of the Spanish drama. The results have been two volumes, containing in the First Part an historical discus- sion, with ample explanatory notes. and a catalogue of dramatic pieces from the earliest epoch down to the time of Lope de Vega, chro- nologically arranged, and accom- panied with critical analyses, and copious illustrative extracts from pieces of the greatest merit. The Second Part is devoted to the pub- lication of entire pieces of various authors, which from their extreme rarity, or their existence only in manuscript, have had but little cir- culation. The selections through- out are made with that careful dis- crimination, which resulted from poetic talent combined with exten- sive and thorough erudition. The criticisms, although sometimes warped by the peculiar dramatic principles of the author, are con- ducted in general with great fair- ness ; and ample, but not extrava- gant, commendation is bestowed on productions, whose merit, to be properly appreciated, must be weighed by one conversant with the character and intellectual cul- ture of the period. The work un- fortunately did not receive the last touches of its author, and undoubt- edly something may be found wanting to the full completion of his design. On the whole, it must Moratin's be considered as a rich repertory dramatic of old Castilian literature, much of *^'^' 'cism. it of the most rare and recondite nature, directed to the illustration of a department, that has hitherto been suffered to languish in the lowest obscurity, but which is now so arranged that it may be contem- plated, as it were, under one as- pect, and its real merits accurately determined. It was not till some time after the publication of this History, that my attention was called to that por- tion of the writings of Don Marti- nez de la Rosa, in which he criti- cizes the various departments of the VOL. II. 32