New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-12
ron and Murillo. and they sucoumbed WITHIN 'he

next two years.
The excessive rarity of books Of knight-eTantry
and any of the nine editions of the Cancionero "ou-
eral publshed in the peninsular and FLANDERS iron
1911 TO 1873, have among Others special o"uso'
One Vergerio an "apostate" from Rome. wnere no
had erioyed the rank of bishop. went over 10 Tue
Lutheran cause bearing with him all the experience
of familiar at the Vatican In lo49 ana 1000 IT.
snectively. he brought ont in Germany certain sen
strye weaknesses of the Papal Court, and among
other novelties reproduced verses of Petrarch
and Dante among the ancients and of Berni, Bembo
and Giovan della Casa, among the moderns, press
ing heavily on the church of which the two last
were Cardinals. Germany cnjoved the controversy,
ms nav be supposed and roared with laughter. Iaul
" scandalizcd, had recourse TO the Iadr that hau
done good service in Flanders and Venice. and peeY-
ishy suppressed the above poets so far as they sa
lied sacred things. Ashamed of his predecessors
weakness, Plus w. burned his Catalogues, and IN
1861 issued his own Moderate Indcls," relaxing
the reins and quietly letting himself down to the
broader policy adopted In 1864 at the dsbandlng
of Trent. But the Pauline idea, being capital
one had been caught at by the lnquisitor-General
Vald6s in Spain, and shortly retrospective and
prospective raid was organized on all the best ana
most characteristic books Of the Peninsula. linen
fell the Celestinas and their progeny, the Amadis
far as they treated of obrQs de derOcOn or devout
poetry. Thus persisted the Ballad Books of Llabia
! Urea, Montesinos Enema, and the one printed at
/ Naera. the works of Montemayor Gil Polo e. todas
| as Dianas" swecpinglv says the Lisbon Index OF
! 1JSD Gil Vicente. Torres NaharrO, Sarmieno and
! host of other wel-knOwn names. Toward the
close of the century, however, the lnquisitors au-
! thorized few editions, moderated and revised Dy
| them" so that they may now be read with All
safety" The best of the joke is, that to-day the
finest collection of original canciODeros and chivalry
books is to be found in the Kings Library at the
Palace of Madrid and for theological prohibtd noth-
ing can compete with the San Isidro collection,
| the most monkish of all the Libraries OF Spain, eX-
ceptng only those of Salamanca.
Under these difficult circumstances, here too
rapidly and specifically set forth, Mr.. Hcknor
founded the materials for his Spanish studies. AL
though he began at a most unpromising period Tor
research 1t was also the most favorable for the for
eiQn bOok-hunteT, inasmuch as the entire absence
of bbiographies and sale catalogues left the ven
der without q compass. Besides the suppression OF
the Jesuits and monastic establishments OF the two
previous regns, and the license attending the
Pcninsuar war, had brought TO light vast quantl-
ties of curious material current at Mr. llckn0r $
visit but long since absorbed by the markets OF
Europe The liberal Jose Gallardo, one OF the
acutest men ofmodern Spain, and veIitable Mag
liabecchi in photography. had been employed
bv the Government TO ransack the SPOTS OF
the conventual Libraries, then lying III store
at Toledo, and to weed out the rubbish.
GallaIdo carefully weeded out the rubbish"
and left it for the Government, while
he slrewdly carted off the rarities to surer
retreat. In this he equivOcated III the interests of
literature, for the government share was aban-
doned to the meroiless tredo Some of Gallard0s
finds of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
are easily recognIz able to the initiated among the
worthless of Boylston-st but the most still grace the
shelves of two notable scholars OF Madrid. MIR.
Ticknor truly says in his preface: don jose
[AntoniO Condel knew the lurking places where
such books and their owners were to be sought"
and he certainly proved it by his later expectations
TO London. IdtG SUG habeat HbelH!
Victoria de st n,isD,o, Yaad. 1850 SIN. so-really
| from ScraphnO da FeImO, prohibited author Mr..
/ GayaugOs's Library.