Which, like some snowy garment's flowing folds, In converse. These discuss the arts of verse, Arduous and nice; those sing; and all between, Cervantes pleads his own cause before Apollo, and sets forth the merits of his different works with a degree of pride which has sometimes been censured. But who will not pardon the proud feeling of conscious superiority, which sustains genius when sinking beneath the pressure of misfortune? Who will insist upon humility in a man, who, whilst he formed the glory of his age, found himself, in old age and in sickness, exposed to absolute want? Was it not just that Cervantes, to whom his country had denied all recompense, should appropriate to himself that glory which he felt that he had so truly merited? Las sirenas en torno navegaban Dando empellones al baxel lozano, Semejaban las aguas del mar cano Todos los del baxel se entretenian CHAPTER XXVIII. On the Dramas of Cervantes. THE Comic powers which Cervantes had manifested in his Don Quixote seemed eminently to qualify him for dramatic attempts. We have already seen that his first literary compositions were of this class; but, although he had considerable success in this career, he likewise experienced some mortifications. He did not at that time conceive that his dramatic talent was proportioned to the superiority which he afterwards manifested in other branches. Thus, when compared with Lope de Vega, whose fertility is so wonderful, his dramas are but few in number. This might, perhaps, have afforded a reason for commencing our notice of the Spanish Theatre by examining the works of Lope before those of Cervantes, had we not wished to present to the reader, from the mouth of Cervantes himself, a history of the early progress of the dramatic art in Spain. The extract is taken from the preface to his comedies: "I must entreat your pardon, dear reader, if you should see me in this prologue a little overstep my accustomed modesty. Some time since I happened to find myself in company with a few friends who were discoursing about comedies, and other matters relating thereto, and they treated this subject with so much subtilty and refinement, that they appeared to me almost to approach perfection. They spoke of the man who was the first in Spain to free the Drama from its swathing-bands, and to clothe it in pomp and magnificence. As the oldest of the company, I remarked that I had frequently heard the great Lope de Rueda recite, a man equally celebrated as an actor and a scholar. He was born at Seville, and was by trade a gold-beater. As a pastoral poet he had great merit; and, in that species of composition, no one, either before or since his time, has surpassed him. Although I could not judge of the excellence of his poems, for I was then but a child, yet some of them still remain in my memory; and recalling these at a riper age, they appear to me to be worthy of their reputation. In the time of this celebrated Spaniard, all the apparatus of a dramatist and a manager was contained in a bag, and consisted of four white cloaks, bordered with gilt leather, for shepherds, four beards and wigs, and four crooks, more or less. The dramas were mere dialogues, or eclogues between two or three shepherds and a shepherdess; and these conversations were enlivened and prolonged by two or three interludes, in which negresses were introduced as confidantes, or go-betweens; and, occasionally, some clowns and Biscayans made their appearance. At this time there was no scenery; no combats between Moors and Christians, on horseback and on foot; no trap-doors, by which figures might appear to rise from the centre of the earth. The stage was merely composed of four square blocks of wood, upon which rested five or six planks, so as to elevate the actors a foot or two above the ground. No angels or spirits descended in clouds from heaven. The sole ornament of the theatre was an old curtain, supported at both ends by strings, which separated the dressing-room from the audience. At the back were placed the musicians, who sang without any guitar some ancient ballad. Lope de Rueda at last died, and, on account of his celebrity and excellence, was buried between the two choirs in the great church at Cordova, where he died, in the same place where that renowned madman Luis Lopez is interred. Naharro, a native of Toledo, succeeded Lope de Rueda. He attained great celebrity, more especially in his representation of a meddling poltroon. Naharro added something to the scenic decorations, and changed the bag, in which the wardrobe was contained, for trunks and portmanteaus. He introduced the music upon the stage, which had been formerly placed in the background, and he took away the beards from the actors; for until his time no actor ever appeared without a false beard. He wished all his actors to appear undisguised, with the exception of those who represented old men or changed their characters. He invented scenes, clouds, thunder, lightning, challenges, and combats; but nothing of this kind was carried to the perfection which at this day we behold, (and it is here that I must trespass upon my modesty,) until the time when the theatre of Madrid exhibited the Captives of Algiers, which is my own composition, Numantia, and the Naval Engagement. It was there that I made an attempt to reduce the comedies of five acts into three. I was the first to represent the phantoms of the imagination, and the hidden thoughts of the soul, by introducing figures of them upon the stage, with the universal applause of the spectators. I composed during this period from twenty to thirty dramas, all of which were represented without a single cucumber or orange, or any other missile usually aimed at bad comedians, being thrown at the actors. They proceeded through their parts without hisses, without confusion, and without clamour. I was at length occupied with other matters, and I laid down my pen, and forsook the drama. In the mean time appeared that prodigy, Lope de Vega, who immediately assumed the dramatic crown. He |