The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-12

him. According to his own testi-
mony," Herr Bouterwek says, he
wrote on an average five sheets day;
it has, therefore, been computed that
the number Of sheets which he com
posed during his life must have
amounted TO 133, 225. and that allowing
for the deduction of small portion OF
prose, Lope de Vega must have writ
ten upward OF q, 500,000 versesr' His
theatrical profits were so great that
he became rich man. He gave away
money generously, but to the end OF
his life he could have lived luxuriously
if he would. He did not create the
Spanish drama, but he fixed it's form
and spirit.
The word "comedia" Comedy in
Spanish must not be taken to mean q
light, satirical play Of manners, with
marriage or several marriages at the
end 1t was play Of intricate plot,
surprising adventure, puzZling intrigue.
It's story might be sad, gay, with a
touch Of satire historical heroic; il
might even be a burlesque. In fact,
it might cover as many qualities as cur
own now does. 1t was divided into the
sacred and temporal drama-divine and
human comedies; the temporal come
dies were called heroic or "of the
cloak and sword" (Capa Y Espada).
The latter answered TO our modern
idea of the comedy OF manners though
there was no limit to the intricacy Of
the plot or the number Of adventures.
Lope wrote over 1900 original plays,
including the dramatiZed lives OF the
saints and the sacramental acts (Au-
tos Sacramentales), which were a. spe-
cies by themselves. Against this dra-
matte prodigy, CervanteS entered the
lists. He failed. OF the thirty plays
he wrote in competition with Lope only
his tragical play of ''Numantia'' and
Life in Algisrs'' are remembered.
He began after his marriage, his
series Of Instructive Novels" IN velas
Exemplares). Of which good transla-
tons may be found in the Bohn libra
ry; and these were well received. I'M
prisone6 at La Mancha, owing to some
difficulty not rejecting in any way on
his honor. he began his celebrated novel
of Don QuiXote." It appeared in 1906.
The Spanish writer's preceding Cervan-
ties had moments Of sublime inspira-
tion. and they knew how 10 sing it.
THE Cid" Lope de Vegan, gave a new
world Of delight TO all Spain and fur
nished all Europe with material for
plays. Calderon is almost universal
and above the limits Of nationality in
his sublinity; but the finest flower of
this one great age Of Spanish litera-
rure is Don Quixote." 1t was the
work of a lifetime. the result Of the
thought and observation of a mature
mind. Serious. yet humorous. replete
with Spanish feeling, yet so sympa-
thetic with universal life that il has
been put among the four liking books
in all the western civilized countries.
There is no finer gentleman in all the
world Of great fiction than the knight
Of La Mancha. who was not mad, but
filed with ore idea 1t is a mistake
TO imagine that Cervantes wrote Don
Qu1xote" with the side intention OF
laughing the foolish and exaggerated
books Of chivalry out of the good
graces Of the Spanish, or TO believe
that 1t is a comic burlesque Of life in
Spain in the seventeenth century
These false impressions are due TO the
hasty opinions OF critics and to the
manner in which this superb master
piece-a flower of national life-haS
been translated. The amusing rO-
names Of roguery, in imitation Of the
manner Of Lazarillo de Sormes. are
utterly unlike Don Quixote.'' The
comic episodes are related with an air
of grandiloquence which gives flavor
to them so quaint and humorous that
it is as impossible to translate them as
it is TO put Mark Twain'S "HuckleberTy
Fun or David Harum" into French.
Nevertheless, Don Quixote' is de-
lightful, even when inadequately
translated It is as much novel OF
character as ''The NewcOmesr is a
novel of character. No cultivated
Spaniard could give high place to the
preceding light romantic sketches af-
ter he had read this chief work Of the
GOLDEN age Of Spain. His satire
against preterded poets, ''The Voyage
TO ParnassuS." ranks next to Don
Quixote''; it is a beautiful poem, but il
is like Tennyscn's Princess" at
times both serious and ironicsl, and
there are passages in which tbs au-
thor does not seem TO know whether
he means to be serious or ironical. OF
his many plays, he mentions especially
these: THE Captives OF Algiers.'' 'lNu-
mantia" and 'sThe Naval Engage
ment. Il made an attempt to reduce
the comedies Of four acts to three: I
was the first TO represent the phan-
toms of the imagination and the hid
den thoughts Of the soul by introduc-
ing figures Of them upon the stage: I
composed during this period from
twenty to thirty dramas AL ~ --'-f@h