Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/677

Rh days, I must make special mention of the nun Juana Inés de la Cruz. Her name had been Juana Inés A bajé y Ramirez, who obtained a recognition far above any other truly national poet of colonial times. Even contemporaries of the peninsula gave her the appellation of the tenth muse.

Among the few writers for the stage are named Vela, Arriola, Salazar, and Soria; all of whom were eclipsed by Juan Ruiz de Alarcon, a creole of Mexico, though he wrote in Spain.

During colonial times, home productions were not much esteemed, even by those who ranked with the creole party. This was mainly due to the authors' subserviency to Spain. The opening of a wider field toward the end of the last century, with the admission of French, English, and Teutonic literature, could not fail to prove beneficial. The Franciscan Manuel Navarrete shines alone during the opening decade of our century, with such lustre as to win him the cognomen of the American swan. Tenderness and purity breathe in his every line, as well as religion and reflectiveness.

Many other Mexicans deserve a place in the roll of poets. Unfortunately, being cramped for space, I am unable to do justice individually to their merits. Their more ambitious compositions have been as a rule translations from the classics. Yet epics have been attempted, like the Anáhua of Rodriguez y Cos. In