ERRORS. Page 95 for Ciguenza read Siguenza 117 for Sancho read Sisebuto 197 in the note, for meat read feet 323 for Tortoso read Tortosa PUBLISHED BY ROBERT SOUTHEY. 1. JOAN OF ARC, an heroic Poem, Third Edition, 2 vols. Foolscap 8vo. Price 12s. Boards. 2. POEMS, vol. I. Fifth Edition, Foolscap 8vo. Price 6s. Boards. 3. vol. II. Third Edition, Foolscap 8vo. Price 6s. Boards. 4. THALABA THE DESTROYER, a rhythmical Romance, 2 vols. Foolscap 8vo. Price 14s. Boards. 5. AMADIS OF GAUL, from the Spanish version of GARCIORDONEZ DE MONT4 vols. 12mo. Price 17. 1s. Boards. ALVO. 6. MADOC, a Poem, Second Edition, 2 vols. Foolscap 8vo. Price 12s. Boards. 7. METRICAL TALES, and other POEMS, formerly published in the ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY. 1 vol. Foolscap 8vo. Price 5s. 6d. Boards. 8. SPECIMENS OF THE LATER ENGLISH POETS, 3 vols. Crown 8vo. Price 17. 11s. 6d. Boards. 9. PALMERIN OF ENGLAND, a new Edition, corrected from the original Portugueze of FRANCISCO DE MORAES. 4 vols. 12mo. Price 17. 8s. Boards. PREFACE. This Chronicle of the Cid is wholly translation, but it is not the translation or any single work. The three following have been used. 1. CHRONICA DEL FAMOSO CAVALLERO CID RUYDIEZ CAMPEADOR. Burgos 1593. The first and only other edition of this Chronicle was printed in 1552. The Infante Don Fernando, who was afterwards Emperor, seeing the manuscript at Cardeña, ordered the Abbot Don Fr. Juan de Velorado to publish it, and obtained an order from his grandfather Fernando the Catholic King to the same effect. The Abbot performed his task very carelessly and very inaccurately, giving no account of the manuscript, and suffering many errors to creep into the text, which might have been corrected by collating it with the original. Beuther, Escolano, and others, ascribe it to Abenalfarax, the nephew of Gil Diaz. Berganza is of opinion that the main part was written by Gil Diaz himself, because the manuscript at Cardeña says, 'Then Abenfax the Moor, who wrote this Chronicle in Arabic, set down the price of food:' And Abentaxi, according to him, was the name of Gil Diaz before his conversion. Abenalfarax is named in the end of the book as the author: a he concludes therefore that it was completed by him;.. and this the Coronica General confirms by saying, Segun cuenta la Estoria del Cid, que de aqui adelante compuso Aben Alfarax su sobrino de Gil Diaz en Valencia. The printed Chronicle however says Abenalfarax where Berganza reads Abenfax, and writes Alfaraxi for the Moorish name of Gil Diaz. This question is not easily decided. There is nothing Arabian in the style of the Chronicle, except the lamentation for Valencia, which is manifestly so. It is most probably the work of a Spaniard, who used Arabic documents. It is equally impossible to ascertain the age of this Chronicle. The Abbot who published it judged that it was as old as the days of the Cid himself. This supposition is absurd. Lucas of Tuy and the Archbishop Rodrigo are frequently cited in it. It was however an old manuscript in 1552. A much older was seen in 1593 by Don Gil Ramirez de Arellano, which according to his account was in Portugueze, but agreed in the main with that which had been published. The older the language, the more it would resemble Portugueze. Another question is, whether it has been inserted in the Coronica General, or extracted from it: for that the one copied from the other is certain: but it is equally certain from the variations, that each must have had some other original; .. perhaps the Arabic. If the Chronica del Cid be extracted from the General Chronicle, which is giving it the latest date, even in that case it was written before the end of the 13th century; that is, little more than 150 years after the Cid's death; and whatever fiction has been introduced into the story, must have been invented long before, or it would not have been received as truth, and incorporated into the general history of Spain. This question has not been, and perhaps cannot be decided. There are some errors in the Chronicle of the Cid which are corrected in the |