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 SPAIN (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE) SPAIN (WINES OF) 223 reno, Lafuente, Alcantara, Gayangos, Munpz Maldonado, and Modesto Lafuente (as a satirist known under the pseudonyme of Fray Gerun- dio) have in modern times distinguished them- selves as historians. Among the best political writers and orators are Jovellanos, Argiielles, the philosopher Balmes, Minano, Marina, Lar- ra, Alcala Galiano, Donoso Cortes, Martinez de la Rosa, Figueras, and Castelar. Novel lit- erature began to be cultivated with great ac- tivity when the standard works of England and France became known. Among the best works of the kind are those of Hurnara y Sala- manca, Escosura, Martinez de la Rosa, Larra, Villalta, Serafin Calderon, Gertrudis de Ave- llaneda, and Cecilia Bohl Faber de Aron ("Fer- nan Caballero "). Among the brilliant Spanish writers of the present century is the orator Emilio Castelar, who has won -a wide reputa- tion. Besides novels, he has published Dis- cursos parlamentarios, Recuerdos de Italia (translated into English as " Old Rome and New Italy "), and Vida de Lord Byron (English translation by Mrs. Arthur Arnold, London and New York, 1875-'6). There are still many writers in the Catalan dialect, which is consid- ered by the Catalans to be a richer language than the Castilian. Catalan literature produced its best authors in the century preceding the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. The Can- cionero general, compiled soon after the mid- dle of the 15th century, is a collection of about 300 poems by 30 different Catalan writers. The works of Ausias March (died 1460), the most noted of these, passed through four edi- tions in the 16th century, and were translated into Latin, Italian, and Castilian, the last by Montemayor. Jaume Roig (died 1478), like March a native of Valencia, is also worthy of notice for his " Book of the Ladies," a satire on woman. In 1428 the Dimna commedia was translated into Catalan by Andres Febrer ; and in 1477 Bonifacio Ferrer made a transla- tion into the same dialect of the Bible (folio, Valencia, 1478), but nearly every copy of it was destroyed by the inquisition. In the be- ginning of the 16th century Catalan writers began to use the Castilian, and by the middle of that century the latter had almost super- seded its rival. The contemporary literature of Catalonia consists mainly of poetry, dra- matical pieces, and newspaper articles, The leading writers of the present day are Lo Tam- buriner d'el Llobregaz, Victor Balaguir, Fran- cisco Camprodon, Serrafi Pitarra, Jaime Cu- llell, and Bofarull. Of the Spanish colonies, Cuba alone has produced some writers of en- during fame, as the poets Ileredia and Placi- do, and the female poet and novelist Gertru- dis Avellaneda, before mentioned. In all of the Spanish American republics the different branches of literature, but chiefly poetry, have been and are cultivated with considerable suc- cess ; but only a few of the writers have more than a local reputation. Among those whose names are known abroad, some of the most 755 VOL. xv. 15 eminent are Baralt (1810-'60), author of a His- toria de Venezuela; the popular Ecuadorian poet Olmedo (born 1784) ; the Venezuelan Bello (1780-1865), the most distinguished of Spanish American poets and grammarians ; J. M. Torres Caicedo, a poet and publicist, au- thor of Ensayos biogrdficos, cited below ; Mora, who wrote a history of Mexico ; Pedro de An- gelis, historian of the Argentine Republic ; Ey- zaguirre, author of a history of Chili from the discovery to the present century ; Marmol, an Argentine novelist, who wrote Amalia; Toro of Colombia, Lastarria of Chili, and Sarmiento of the Argentine Republic, the last of whom is the author of Civilization y barbarie, an analysis of South American society, published in French in 1853, and of the Vida de Air an Lincoln (New York, 1865). The best work on the national literature of Spain is the " History of Spanish Literature," by George Ticknor (3 vols. 8vo, New York and London, 1849), a Spanish translation of which, with additions and notes, by Pascual de Gayangos and En- rrque de Vedia, was published in Madrid in 1851-'6. See also Eugenio Ochoa, Coleccion de los mejores autores espanoles (Paris, 1852) ; Ferdinald Wolf, Studien zur Geschichte der spanischen und portugiesischen Nationallite- ratur (Berlin, 1859); Manuel Ovilo y Otero, Manual de biografia y de bibliografia de los escritores espanolea delsiglo XIX. (Paris, 1859) ; Amador de los Rios, Historia erotica de la lite- ratura espanola (Madrid, 1862); Eugene Ba- ret, Histoire de la litterature espagnole depuis ses origines les plus reculees jusqiCa nos jours (Paris, 1863) ; J. M. Torres Caicedo, Ensayos biogrdftcos y de literatura sobre los principales poetas y literatos latino-americanos (3 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1863-'8) ; and J. M. Rojas, Biblio- teca de escritores venezolanos contempordneos (Paris, 1875). Among older works, the Ger- man of Bouterwek and the French of Sis- mondi are valuable ; they have been translated both into Spanish and English, and the for- mer into French. SPAIN, Wines of. The Spanish peninsula yields to no other part of Europe in natural- advantages for wine growing. With a fertile soil, an admirable geological conformation, and a climate which, aided by the proximity of great bodies of water, tends to develop, the vine to a high degree of perfection, it ought to produce natural wines of the choicest qual- ity in respect to body and bouquet ; but, in consequence of primitive and faulty systems of vinification, these results are seldom attained,, and the Spaniards may be said to excel chief- ly in the preparation of white, dry, fortified wines, and a few sweet varieties. The culture of the vine in Spain is almost universal, but in the absence of recent trustworthy statis- tics the annual yield cannot be readily deter-^ mined. It has been estimated: as high as 660,- 000,000 gallons, and as low as 300,000,000; the latter amount is doubtless more nearly cor- rect. The principal wines of export and those