specimen of his affected style is the first line of his Decline of the sonnet addressed to Richelieu :

"Sweat, O fires! to frame metallic tubes."

But Marini's affectation was carried even farther by his imitators, who, lacking his imagination and elegance, produced often the most absurd verses.

theatre: Andreini (15781652), a drama

tist, whose "Adam" is believed by

some to have dation of "Par

been the foun

adise Lost," is best known.

IV. Spain.-PHILIP II., 1556-1598. PHILIP III., 1598-1621. PHILIP IV., 1621

Spain reached the zenith of

her power under Philip II., who was sovereign of Spain, the two Sicilies, Milan, and the

Netherlands.

Completion of the great Port

uguese epic,
"The Lusiad,"

moens, in 1569.
[See Mrs.
Browning's
Camoens."]

Great Poetical Activity. Luis de Leon, Gongora.The long reign of Philip II. was the golden period of Spanish literature. Of the vast number of poets, Luis de Leon (1528-1591) is the most important. Under his hands lyric poetry reached its height. Many of his works were translations, but he produced some original odes and hymns which rank him fully equal to Klopstock and Filicaja. Herrera and Ercilla were also poets of merit. Their works, as well as those of contemporary poets, were characterized more or less by an imitation of the Italian school, especially in their odes, epistles, and sonnets, while by Luis de Cathe polished Italian style was universally cultivated. Castillejo, however, is an exception; he attempted "Catarina to to revive native poetry. Many of the Cid and Moorish ballads have been referred to the reign of Philip III. Villegas produced some graceful lyrics, though often marred by extravagance and conceit, and Quevedo wrote numerous satirical poems. But the most popular Spanish poet of the seventeenth century was Luis de Gongora, who invented a new poetic style, Lope de Vega, absurd for its strained metaphors, complicated constructions, and obscure allusions. He had numerous followers. The Gongorists were a powerful literary party, and their school is thought by some critics to have been Marini's model.

Culmination of the Spanish Drama under Lope de Vega and Calderon.-During the seventeenth century English, French, and Spanish drama reached their highest development. The founder of the national

Establishment

at Madrid, under the management of

of the two regular theatres that have since continued.

Theatres
closed by Philip

II., on account
of irregularities

and immorality, in 1598.

National prosperity on the decline at the

death of Philip,

on account of (1) the foreign

wars with Eliz

abeth, Henry IV., and the Netherlands, which exhaust

ed the finances

of the country and produced a contempt for any but military occupation -thereby destroying industry; (2) the luxury caused by gold brought from America.

Theatres re

theatre of Spain was Lope de Rueda (1544-1567), whose dramas resemble the rude English comedies of "Ralph Royster Doyster," "Gammer Gurton's Needle," etc. Cervantes (1547-1616) produced eight dramas which were superior to those of his predecessor, but totally wanting in dramatic effect. It was through the genius of Lope de Vega (1562–1635), the most prolific writer known in literature, that the Spanish drama attained full expansion. He is said to have written eighteen hundred plays and four hundred autos, the most noted of which were "The Star of Seville," ""The Madrid Steel," and "Punishment not Revenge." In his dramas everything-dramatic probabilities, the dialogues, the characters, history, geography, and even morality-are made subordinate to the plot. Lope sacrificed everything for popularity; he took for his dramatic creed the maxim of the grandees of Madrid, "Love excuses everything," and made gallantry entirely independent of morality. His neglect of the rules of art was in accordance with public taste, while the introduction of old balemployment of lads into his plays gratified national pride. The copiousness of his works, and his ability to adapt them to the times, gained for him a prodigious reputation. His dramas were performed in Rome, Naples, Milan, and in the seraglio of Constantinople, and at his death he was honored with a nine days' funeral. Poems were written to his memory, and his name became proverbial for all that was most excellent-a Lope day, a Lope woman. The most distinguished of Lope's followers were Gaspar de Aguilar, Guillen de Castro (1569-1631), whose best dramas were two on the subject of the Cid, one of which was the foundation of Corneille's tragedy, and Montalvan (1602-1638), Lope's most intimate friend, biographer, and eulogist. After Lope's death the dramatic throne was filled by one no less celebrated— Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-1681)—who, till after the middle of the century, contributed to the Spanish stage a wonderful series of religious and

opened in 1600, under three conditions

smaller troupes

of actors, main

tenance of morality, and rep

resentations

only on Sun

day and three week-days.

Under Philip

IV. a gay and careless monarch-taxes were increased, coin adulterated, and universal poverty prevailed; but the drama flourished more brilliantly than at any time in its history.

ious dramas,

ite amusements

of the mass of the people till teenth century,

the seven

and were repre

secular plays. His "Devotion to the Cross" is re- Autos, or relig garded as one of the finest dramas in Spanish litera-were the favor ture. "No Monster like Jealousy" has been translated into German by Schlegel, and much admired in Berlin, Vienna, and Weimar. The chief characteristic of his dramas is their fatalistic character: masculine honor, female love, knightly gallantry, and jealousy are subjected to such invariable necessities that, the circumstances of an individual's situation being given, his course can be determined almost with mathematical accuracy.

sented at great expense in the

streets of the ligious arces are still acted villages of Spain].

larger cities [re

in some remote

of art: beginning of the ca reer of Murillo, one of the most

celebrated of Spanish painters.

Invention of the Spanish Novel by Cervantes.-Probably no work has ever acquired a more universal popularity than Cervantes' burlesque romance “Don Quixote," the two parts of which appeared in 1605 and 1615. It was written to destroy the taste for Development fictions of chivalry, which had become almost a mania in Europe and the American Colonies; and so complete was its success that no work of that nature was produced after its publication. Cervantes was also the author of numerous plays and of several minor novels: his "Persilis and Sigismunda" has been pronounced the forerunner of the English tale, "Robinson Crusoe." The Spanish novel invented by him was soon cultivated by other writers, notably Quevedo (1580-1645), whose "History and Life of the Great Sharper, Paul of Segovia," is a prose satire of considerable ingenuity.

Extension of Spanish influ

ence over

French customs, fashions, and literature.

E. P. Whipple's 'Literature of the
Age of Elizabeth."

Walton's "Life of Richard Hooker."
R. G. White's "Rise and Progress of
the English Drama to the Time of
Shakespeare."

Hudson's "Historical Sketch of the
Origin and Growth of the Drama in
England."

W. Besant's
de Coligny."

Biography of Gaspard

Schlegel's "History of Dramatic Lit- Sismondi's "History of the Literature

Schiller's "History of The Thirty Magnificent English edition of “Don Years' War."

Tassoni's Secchia Rapita," transla- Bouterwek's "Spanish and Portu