Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 094.djvu/333

Rh his son, who was born in exile, is full of tenderness and simplicity. The following translation is an extract from it:

There is much variety in the historical romances of the Duke de Rivas; his imagination has enabled him to create quite a brilliant and poetic world: tragic adventures, chivalric combats, prodigies of valor, tales of love—all adorn and diversify his glowing pages. The royal lover of Maria Padilla, Don Pedro the Just, or the Cruel, as he has also been termed, is the hero of more than one of the duke’s historical tales. "Recuerdo de un grande hombre," "The souvenir of a great man," presents a sad picture of the chagrins, the trials, and the obstacles against which the celebrated Genoese navigator, Christopher Columbus, had to struggle, when, strong in his religious faith, and led by his glorious genius, he ventured across unknown oceans to discover a new world, and pointed out to succeeding generations the liquid pathway to the sunny islands and rich continents of the West.

When the Duke de Rivas first attempted the revival of Spanish poetry, he stood almost alone. His example has been worthily followed by many of his countrymen; among whose names may be mentioned those of Zorilla, Mora, De los Herreros, Gil y Zarate, and Garcia Gutierez. All success attend the patriot-poets of Iberia! May they be "skilled to imitate an elder page!" For surely there must still exist—