of the fifteenth century, what the epigram had been to the Greeks, and what the madrigal was to the Italians and French. Like the latter, they are generally devoted to some theme of gallantry; and though they do not possess so high a polish, yet the interest excited by the truth with which they paint the character of the age, and their ingenious simplicity, entitles them to be ranked among the sweetest blossoms of the ancient spirit of romance.117
The Villancicos bear an immediate affinity to these little songs. The idea which forms the subject of the Villancico, is sometimes contained in two, but more commonly in three lines. The developement, or application, may be completed in one short stanza, but often extends to several similar stanzas. These stanzas always include seven lines. It was, perhaps, by way of irony that the name Villancico was originally applied to productions of this kind; for the spiritual motets, which are sung during high mass on Christmas eve, are also called Villancicos. At least no satisfactory etymology has yet been found for the name. The Cancionero general contains fifty-four Villancicos, and among them are some which possess inimitable grace and delicacy.118
These remarkable compositions, whose origin appears to be lost in the early periods of the formation of the Spanish language, doubtless gave rise to the poetic gloss (glosa,) a kind of poem scarcely known, even by name, on this side of the Pyrenees, but to which the Spaniards and Portuguese of the fifteenth century were particularly attached, and which subsequently even after the introduction of the Italian forms, continued to be preserved as national poetry in Spain and Portugal.
The poetic glosses may, in some measure, be compared to musical variations. The musician selects as his theme some well known melody, which he paraphrases or modifies into variations; in like manner in Spain and Portugal, well known songs and romances were paraphrased or modified into new productions, but in such a manner that the original composition was, without any alteration in the words, intertwined line after line, at certain intervals into the new one. A poem of this kind was called a gloss. By this operation the connection of the glossed poem was broken, and the comparison of the poetic glosses to musical variations is therefore not in all respects exactly just. But the distinction between them arises out of the different nature of the arts of music and poetry; and it is indeed more surprising that these compositions have not flourished beyond the boundaries of Spain and Portugal, than that they should have been peculiar favourites in those two countries. At first, the old romances were glossed;119 then, as it appears, mottos, or sentiments, (motes,) in the style of gallantry peculiar to the age,120 and, at length, every thing that was capable of being glossed. There is a particular class of jeux d’esprit, in the Cancionero general, namely, versified questions and answers, and versified interpretations of devices (letras,) which, together with corresponding emblems, lords and ladies drew by lot at festivals, tourneys, bull fights, &c. But these questions, answers, and devices, are in general more whimsical than ingenious.
OF THE ROMANCERO GENERAL.
The latter half of the fifteenth century seems also to have given birth to the greater portion of those Spanish romances, which wrested the approbation of criticism and public favour from the older productions of the same class; and which, therefore, in the sequel, formed the bulk of the Romancero general, or General Romance Book. This Romancero of the Spaniards is so closely related to their Cancionero general, that some account of it may not be out of place here, though it was not printed as a complete collection until the close of the sixteenth century. With the exception of the narrative romances, the Romancero may be considered merely as a continuation of the Cancionero. The poetry of the lyric pieces contained in it, which are extremely numerous, is both in spirit and metrical form, precisely the same as that which appears in the Cancionero, but more polished in manner and language. The title of romance indicates no essential difference. The narrative romances, which occupy the greater portion of the Romancero, have, in some measure, been characterized in this history in treating of the old romances of the same class; for most of them, particularly those of the historical kind, differ little from the more ancient. But a considerable portion of compositions of every class have been contributed to the Romancero by poets of the sixteenth century. The collectors have mingled these romances and the older ones together, without any attention to critical arrangement or chronological order; and in no instance is there any mention or indication of an author. In a history of literature, it therefore becomes necessary to speak of the Romancero as a whole; and for this purpose, the present is perhaps the most convenient opportunity; for, even at the period when this collection was produced, the poets who wrote romances in the old national style, merely improved that style without essentially altering it.
Among the historical romances, contained in the Romancero, those in which anecdotes of the Moorish war, or the heroic and gallant adventures of Moorish knights, are poetically treated, seem, for the most part, to belong to the latter half of the fifteenth century. All these romances relate to the civil wars of Granada, the last Moorish principality in Spain. The civil dissensions of Castile retarded for upwards of half a century the conquest of Granada, which was at length effected in the year 1492, by the united power of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Arragon. During this last period of the conflict between the Christians and the Mahometans of Spain, the former became more intimately acquainted with the history of the latter. As the last blow for the deliverance of the Peninsula was now about to be struck, all that related to the Moors was doubly interesting to the Castilians. The two rival factions, the Zegris and the Abencerrages, whose mutual enmity accelerated the fall of Granada, were, in a particular manner, the objects of their adversaries attention.
About this period it seems to have become a fashion among the Spanish romance writers, to select from the events of Moorish history, materials for their songs; and in these romances the heroes of the Zegri and Abencerrage tribes sustain the principal characters. Even after the conquest of Granada, the interest excited throughout Spain by that great national event, still continued; and, doubtless, many romances, the subjects of which are borrowed from Moorish history, were produced in the sixteenth century.121
The first Spanish pastoral romances, were probably produced during the last ten years of the fifteenth century. But no distinct traces exist of the rise of this species of poetry in Spain. In the poetry of the age of John II. neither pastoral names nor ideas appear, except in the satyrical poem, entitled, Mingo Rebulgo, which will be hereafter noticed. Pastoral dramas are, however, to be found in the works of Juan de la Enzina, who flourished towards the close of the fifteenth century, and of whom we shall also have occasion to speak more at large. The Spanish pastoral poetry seems, shortly after its rise, to have been blended with the romantic poetry. Many of the most beautiful narrative pieces in the Romancero general are properly pastoral romances. It is quite impossible to ascertain correctly to what age these bucolicks belong;122 and it has, hitherto, proved equally impossible to obtain any positive information respecting the origin of the facetious and satyrical romances and songs, dispersed through the Romancero general.123
Finally, the history of the Romancero general itself still waits for bibliographic illustration; and in order to throw any light on this subject, it would be necessary to have the opportunity of examining the Spanish libraries and old collections of manuscripts, and to be able to bestow on them the most indefatigable attention. Of all the collections, bearing the common title of Romancero general, only two are quoted by authors; one was edited by Miguel de Madrigal, in the year 1604; and the other by Pedro de Flores in 1614.124 Another publication, however, under the same title, which also appeared in 1604, and which contains upwards of a thousand romances and songs, professes to be a new and augmented collection of this kind.125 At what time, then, was the first collection made or published?
Those, however, who may think it unimportant to enquire how many of these anonymous poems, which have for ages delighted the Spanish public, were produced in the fifteenth or sixteenth century, and who may merely wish to see a selection of the best Spanish poems in the old national style, have only to turn to the Romancero general. Many of the narrative romances which it contains, vie, in romantic simplicity, with those of apparently older date in other collections, and exceed them in elegance; and still