The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1900-08-05


temporal comedies were called heroic" or
''of the cloak and sword" (capa y Espadn)
The latter answered to our modern idea OF
the comedy OF manners. though thore was no
limit to the intricacy OF the plot or the
number OF adventures. 1,ope wrote over
400 original plays. including the drama
tised lives OF the saints and tho sacrsmental
acts autos sacramentales), which were a
special by themselves Against this dramatic
prodigy. cervantes entered the lists. He
failed. OF the thirty plays he wrote in COM
petition with Lope only his tragical play OF
"Numanta" and Life In Algiers'' are re-
menbered
He began. after his marriage, his series
of obstructive Novels" IN veias Exon
piares) OF which good TRANSACTIONS may be
found in the Bohn library; aud these were
well received. Imprisoned at La Maucha
owing TO some difficulty not rejecting in
any way on his honor. he began his cele
brated novel OF "Don Quixote." It appeared
In 1906. The Spanish writer's preceding
Cervnntes had moments OF sublime inspra-
ton, and they knew how to sing 1t. THE
Cid" Lope de Vega, gave n new world OF de-
light TO all Spain and furnished all Europe
with material for plays. Caideron is almost
universal and above the limits of nationality
In his sublimity. but the finest flower of this
one great age OF Spanish literature Is Don
Quixote." 1t was the work OF lifetime the
result OF the thought and observation OF n
mature mind Serious, yet humorous. Te-
plete with Spanish feeling, yet so sympa-
thetc with universal life that It has been
put among the four king books" in all the
western civilized countries There Is no
Amer gentleman in all the world of great ne
ton that the knight OF La Mancha, who was
not mad. but filled with one idea II Is a
mistake TO imagine that Cervantes wrote
Don Quixote" with the side intention Of
laughing the foolish and exaggerated looks
of ohisalry out OF the good graces OF the
Spanish people. or TO believe that It is a
comic burlesque of life in Spain in the Sew
enteentb century. These false impr sssions
are due to the hasty opinions OF critics and
to the manner in whIcn this superb master
picce--a flower OF national life--has been
translated.
The amusing romanccs of roguery, in imi-
tation OF the manner OF LazarllIo de Sormos,
are utterly unlike Don Quixote." The comic
episodes are related with an air OF grandllo-
quence which gives flavor TO them so quaint
and humorous that II Is as impossible to
translate them as II Is to put Mark Twain 8
'liuoklebeiry Finn or David Harum" into
French. Nevertheless Don Quixote" is de-
lightful. even when inadequately translated,
1t is as much novel of character as 'The
Newcomes'' is novel OF character. No Gull
tvated spanard could give high place to tho
tf.As ~ -
had read this chief work OF the golden age
OF Spain. His satire against pretended poets,
THE Voyage to Parnassus,' ranks next to
Don ouiSoto;" It is beautiful poem. but 1t
lie. like Tennyson's princess" at times both
serious and ironicnl, and there are passages
in which the author does not seem to know
whether he means to be serious or ironienl
OF his many plays, he mentions especially
these: "Ihe Capuves of Algers." 'Nu-
mantia" and 1.-THE Naval Engagement"
~
In the succeeding time OF Calderon, the
greatest OF all Spanish poets. the theater be-
came as luxurious in Its apparatus az in our
day. Caideron followed the example OF Ger
vantes and introduced abstract qualities In
human guse into his "autos." In THE
True God Pan 1.-THE Vineyard Of the Lord,
1.-The Entertainments of SIM" THE Brazen
Serpent and dozens OF others. sin. taste,
touch smell are personined as Shakespeare
personfes Hymen at tho end Of AS You
Like It."
or Caderon's many plays, 1.-THE Wonderful
Magician" is the best known. Shelley trans
lated hne passages, Edward FitzGerad and
Denis Florence MCCARTHY have likewise
translated t. 1.-THE Devotion of the Cross"
Is so terrible and gloomy and yet so exalted
a drama that II has excited the censure OF
sismondl and other critics. who insist that 1t
and 1.-THE Physician OF His Own Honor" are
UNIT for presentaton-as UNIT. some OF the
English critics say. as the "Cenci" OF Shell
ley. But these dramas are great works Of
literature. and no reader who aims for Gull
ture can afford to neglect them.
Will them the golden age OF Spanish lltera-
ture reached It's height The "autos"-tho
splenddly mounted religious Facts" played at
the court OF Philip ~ or in tho plazas before
ereat palaces on feast days--will repay
study. The best translation OF the most I'M
portant OF them Is by the lato Denis Flor
ence MacCarthy. Cervantes. Calderon and
Lope do Vega were friends. Calderon dram
affixed Don Quixote;' having been solder,
he became at last q priest while remaining
a poet He died In 16s1-on May 2b-revered.
beloved and honorad. Great names crowd
the epoch OF SPANS splendor. but none Is 30
great as that OF any one OF these three.
Maurice FrRnoia Eknn.