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Title: La moza de cántaro

Author: Lope de Vega

Editor: Madison Stathers

Release Date: October 26, 2007 [EBook #23206]

Language: Spanish

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

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LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

POR

LOPE DE VEGA

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

MADISON STATHERS

(Docteur de l'Université de Grenoble)
Professor of Romance Languages in West Virginia University

NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

1913

PREFACE

The vast number of the works of Lope de Vega renders the task of selecting one of them as an appropriate text for publication very difficult, and it is only after having examined a large number of the works of the great poet that the editor has chosen La Moza de Cántaro, not only because it is one of the author's most interesting comedies, but also because it stands forth prominently in the field in which he is preëminent—the interpretation of Spanish life and character. It too is one of the few plays of the poet which have continued down to recent times in the favor of the Spanish theater-going public,—perhaps in the end the most trustworthy critic. Written in Lope's more mature years, at the time of his greatest activity, and probably corrected or rewritten seven years later, this play contains few of the inaccuracies and obscure passages so common to many of his works, reveals to us much of interest in Spanish daily life and in a way reflects the condition of the Spanish capital during the reign of Philip IV, which certainly was one of the most brilliant in the history of the kingdom.

The text has been taken completely, without any omissions or modifications, from the Hartzenbusch collection of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega published in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles and, where it varies from other texts with which it has been compared, the variation is noted. The accentuation has been changed freely to conform with present usage, translations have been suggested for passages of more than ordinary difficulty and full notes given on proper names and on passages that suggest historical or other connection. Literary comparisons have been made occasionally and modern forms or equivalents for archaic words and expressions have been given, but usually these have been limited to words not found in the better class of dictionaries commonly used in the study of such works.

The editor is especially indebted to Sr. D. Eugenio Fernández for aid in the interpretation of several passages and in the correction of accentuation, to Professor J. D. M. Ford for valuable suggestions, and to Sr. D. Manuel Saavedra Martínez, Professor in the Escuela Normal de Salamanca, for information not easily accessible.

M. S.

West Virginia University.

INTRODUCTION

I. LIFE OF LOPE DE VEGA

The family of Lope de Vega Carpio was one of high rank, if not noble, and had a manor house in the mountain regions of northwestern Spain. Of his parents we know nothing more than the scanty mention the poet has given them in his works. It would seem that they lived a while at least in Madrid, where the future prince of Spanish dramatists was born, November 25, 1562. Of his childhood and early youth we have no definite knowledge, but it appears that his parents died when he was very young and that he lived some time with his uncle, Don Miguel del Carpio.

From his own utterances and those of his friend and biographer, Montalvan, we know that genius developed early with him and that he dictated verses to his schoolmates before he was able to write. In school he was particularly brilliant and showed remarkable aptitude in the study of Latin, rhetoric, and literature. These school days were interrupted once by a truant flight to the north of Spain, but at Astorga, near the ancestral estate of Vega, Lope, weary of the hardships of travel, turned back to Madrid.

Soon after he left the Colegio de los Teatinos, at about the age of fourteen, Lope entered the service of Don Jerónimo Manrique, Bishop of Ávila, who took so great an interest in him that he sent him to the famous University of Alcalá de Henares, where he seems to have spent from his sixteenth to his twentieth year and on leaving to have received his bachelor's degree. The next five years of his life are shrouded in considerable obscurity. It was formerly believed, as related by Montalvan, that he returned from the University of Alcalá to Madrid about 1582, was married and, after a duel with a nobleman, was obliged to flee to Valencia, where he remained until he enlisted in the Invincible Armada in 1588, but recent research [1] has proved the case to be quite otherwise. It would seem that, on leaving the University about 1582, he became Secretary to the Marqués de las Navas and that for four or five years he led in Madrid a dissolute life, writing verses and frequenting the society of actors and of other young degenerates like himself and enjoying the favor of a young woman, Elena Osorio, whom he addressed in numberless poems as "Filis" and whom he calls "Dorotea" in his dramatic romance of the same name. In the latter work he relates shamelessly and with evident respect for truth of detail many of his adventures of the period, which, as Ticknor says, "do him little credit as a young man of honor and a cavalier."

In the light of the recent information cited above, we know also that Lope's career immediately after 1587 was quite different from what his contemporary Montalvan had led the world long to believe. In the Proceso de Lope de Vega por libelos contra unos Cómicos, it is shown that the poet, having broken with "Filis," circulated slanderous verses written against her father, Jerónimo Velázquez, and his family. The author was tried and sentenced to two years' banishment from Castile and eight more from within five leagues of the city of Madrid. He began his exile in Valencia, but soon disobeyed the decree of banishment, which carried with it the penalty of death if broken, and entered Castile secretly to marry, early in 1588, Doña Isabel de Urbina, a young woman of good family in the capital. Accompanied by his young wife, he doubtless went on directly to Lisbon, where he left her and enlisted in the Invincible Armada, which sailed from that port, May 29, 1588. During the expedition, according to his own account, Lope fought bravely against the English and the Dutch, using, as he says, his poems written to "Filis" for gun-wads, and yet found time to write a work of eleven thousand verses entitled la Hermosura de Angélica. The disastrous expedition returned to Cadiz in December, and Lope made his way back to the city of his exile, Valencia, where he was joined by his wife. There they lived happily for some time, the poet gaining their livelihood by writing and selling plays, which up to that time he had written for his own amusement and given to the theatrical managers.

Of the early literary efforts of Lope de Vega, such as have come down to us are evidently but a small part, but from them we know something of the breadth of his genius. In childhood even he wrote voluminously, and one of his plays, El Verdadero Amante, which we have of this early period, was written at the age of twelve, but was probably rewritten later in the author's life. He wrote also many ballads, not a few of which have been preserved, and we know that, at the time of his banishment, he was perhaps the most popular poet of the day.

The two years following the return of the Armada, Lope continued to live in Valencia, busied with his literary pursuits, but in 1590, after his two years of banishment from Castile had expired, he moved to Toledo and later to Alba de Tormes and entered the service of the Duke of Alba, grandson of the great soldier, in the capacity of secretary. For his employer he composed about this time the pastoral romance Arcadia, which was not published until 1598. The remaining years of his banishment, which was evidently remitted in 1595, were uneventful enough, but this last year brought to him a great sorrow in the death of his faithful wife. However, he seems to have consoled himself easily, for on his return to Madrid the following year we know of his entering upon a career of gallant adventures which were to last many years and which were scarcely interrupted by his second marriage in 1598 to Doña Juana de Guardo.

Aside from his literary works the following twelve years of the life of Lope offer us but little of interest. The first few years of the period saw the appearance of La Dragontea, an epic poem on Sir Francis Drake, and Isidro, a long narrative poem on the life and achievements of San Isidro, patron of Madrid. These two works were followed in 1605 by his epic, Jerusalén Conquistada, an untrustworthy narration of the achievements of Richard Cœur-de-Lion and Alfonso VIII in the crusade at the close of the twelfth century. Lope left the service of the Duke of Alba on his return to Madrid, or about that time, and during the next decade held similar positions under the Marqués de Malpica and the Conde de Lemos, and during a large part of this period he led a more or less vagabond existence wherever the whims of his employers or his own gallant adventures led him. About 1605 he made the acquaintance of the Duque de Sessa, who shortly afterwards became his patron and so continued until the death of the poet about thirty years later. The correspondence of the two forms the best source for the biography of this part of Lope's career. From 1605 until 1610 he lived in Toledo with his much neglected wife, of whom we have no mention since their marriage in 1598. But in 1610 they moved to Madrid, where Lope bought the little house in what is now the Calle de Cervantes, and in this house the great poet passed the last quarter of a century of his long and eventful life.

The next few years following this return to the capital were made sorrowful to Lope by the sickness and death of both his wife and his beloved little son, Carlos Félix, in whom the father had founded the fondest hopes. Then it was that Lope, now past the fiftieth year of his age, sought refuge, like so many of his contemporaries and compatriots, in the protecting fold of the Church. Before the death of his wife he had given evidence of religious fervor by numerous short poems and in his sacred work, los Pastores de Belén, a long pastoral in prose and in verse relating the early history of the Holy Family. Whether Lope was influenced to take orders by motives of pure devotion or by reasons of interest has been a question of speculation for scholars ever since his time. From his works we can easily believe that both of these motives entered into it; in fact he says as much in his correspondence with the Duque de Sessa. Speaking of this phase of the poet's life, Fitzmaurice-Kelly says: "It was an ill-advised move. Ticknor, indeed, speaks of a 'Lope, no longer at an age to be deluded by his passions'; but no such Lope is known to history. While a Familiar of the Inquisition the true Lope wrote love-letters for the loose-living Duque de Sessa, till at last his confessor threatened to deny him absolution. Nor is this all: his intrigue with Marta de Navares Santoyo, wife of Roque Hernández de Ayala, was notorious." But later, speaking of those who may study these darker pages of Lope's career, he adds: "If they judge by the standards of Lope's time, they will deal gently with a miracle of genius, unchaste but not licentious; like that old Dumas, who, in matters of gaiety, energy and strength, is his nearest modern compeer." We may say further that Lope, with no motive to deceive or shield himself, for he seems to have almost sought to give publicity to his licentiousness, was faithful in the discharge of his religious offices, evincing therein a fervor and devotion quite exemplary. Yet neither does his gallantry nor his devotion seem to have ever halted his pen for a moment in the years that succeeded his ordination. His dramatic composition of this period is quite abundant and other literary forms are not neglected.

Two interesting incidents in the poet's life are never omitted by his biographers. They are the beatification, in 1620, of San Isidro and his canonization, two years later, with their accompanying poet "jousts," at both of which Lope presided and assumed a leading rôle. Before this time he was known as a great author and worshiped by the element interested in the drama, but on both these occasions he had an opportunity to declaim his incomparable verses and those of the other contesting poets, revealing his majestic bearing and versatility to the great populace of Madrid, his native city. He was thereafter its literary lion, whose very appearance in the streets furnished an occasion for tumultuous demonstration of affection.

The last decade of the life of Lope de Vega saw him seeking no rest or retirement behind the friendly walls of some monastic retreat, but rather was it the most active period of his literary career. Well may we say that he had no declining years, for he never knew rest or realized a decline of his mental faculties. He did not devote by any means all his time to his literary pursuits, but found time to attend faithfully to his religious duties and to the cares of his home, for he had gathered about him his children, Feliciana, Lope Félix and Antonia Clara, of whom the last two and Marcela, in a convent since 1621, were the gifted fruit of illicit loves. In 1627 he published his Corona Trágica, a long religious epic written on the history of the life and fate of Mary, Queen of Scots. This work won for him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, conferred with other evidences of favor by Pope Urban VIII. Three years later appeared Lope's Laurel de Apolo, a poem of some seven thousand lines describing an imaginary festival given on Mount Helicon in April, 1628, by Apollo, at which he rewards the poets of merit. The work is devoted to the praise of about three hundred contemporary poets. In 1632 the poet published his prose romance, Dorotea, written in the form of drama, but not adapted to representation on the stage. It is a very interesting work drawn from the author's youth and styled by him as "the posthumous child of my Muse, the most beloved of my long-protracted life."[2] It is most important for the light it sheds on the early years of his life, for it is largely autobiographical. Another volume, issued from the pen of Lope in 1634 under the title of Rimas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos, contains the mock-heroic, La Gatomaquia, the highly humorous account of the love of two cats for a third. Fitzmaurice-Kelly describes this poem as, "a vigorous and brilliant travesty of the Italian epics, replenished with such gay wit as suffices to keep it sweet for all time."

Broken in health and disappointed in some of his fondest dreams, the great poet was now rapidly approaching the end of his life. It is believed that domestic disappointments and sorrows hastened greatly his end. It would appear from some of his works that his son, Lope Félix, to whom he dedicated the last volume mentioned above, was lost at sea the same year, and that his favorite daughter, Antonia Clara, eloped with a gallant at the court of Philip IV. Four days before his death Lope composed his last work, El Siglo de Oro, and on August 27, 1635, after a brief serious illness, the prince of Spanish drama and one of the world's greatest authors, Lope Félix de Vega Carpio breathed his last in the little home in the Calle de Francos, now the Calle de Cervantes. His funeral, with the possible exception of that of Victor Hugo, was the greatest ever accorded to any man of letters, for it was made the occasion of national mourning. The funeral procession on its way to the church of San Sebastian turned aside from its course so that the poet's daughter, Marcela, might see from her cell window in the convent of the Descalzadas the remains of her great father on the way to their last resting-place.

II. THE EARLY SPANISH THEATER AND THE DRAMA OF LOPE DE VEGA

The theater of the Golden Age of Spanish letters occupies a position unique in the history of the theaters of modern Europe, for it is practically free from foreign influence and is largely the product of the popular will. Like other modern theaters, however, the Spanish theater springs directly from the Church, having its origin in the early mysteries, in which the principal themes were incidents taken from the lives of the saints and other events recorded in the Old and the New Testament, and in the moralities, in which the personages were abstract qualities of vices and virtues. These somewhat somber themes in time failed to satisfy the popular will and gradually subjects of a more secular nature were introduced. This innovation in England and France was the signal for the disappearance of the sacred plays; but not so in Spain, where they were continued several centuries, under the title of autos, after they had disappeared in other parts of Europe.

The beginnings of the Spanish secular theater were quite humble and most of them have been lost in the mists of time and indifference. The recognized founder of the modern Spanish theater appeared the same year Columbus discovered the New World. Agustín Rojas, the actor, in his Viaje entretenido, says of this glorious year: "In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella saw fall the last stronghold of the Moors in the surrender of Granada, Columbus discovered America, and Juan del Encina founded the Spanish theater." Juan del Encina was a graduate of the University of Salamanca and lived at the time mentioned above in the household of the Duke of Alba at Alba de Tormes. It was here that, before select audiences, were first presented his early plays or Églogas. The plays of Encina, fourteen in number, were staged and constitute the modest beginnings of a movement that was to develop rapidly in the next two decades. A contemporary of Juan del Encina, Fernando de Rojas, published in 1498 his famous dramatized romance, La Celestina, which, while it was not suited for representation on the stage, was a work of great literary merit and had remarkable influence on the early drama. About the same time a disciple of Juan del Encina, Gil Vicente, founded the Portuguese theater and made notable contributions to Spanish letters, for he seems to have written with equal facility in the two idioms. Perhaps the greatest dramatic genius of the period, Bartolomé Torres Naharro, while he wrote in Spanish, passed the greater part of his life in Italy, where he published at Naples in 1517 an edition of his plays entitled Propaladia. He, first of Spanish authors, divided his plays into five acts, called jornadas, limited the number of personages, and created a plot worthy of the name.

For almost half a century after the publication of the Propaladia the Spanish theater advanced but little, for this was the period when Carlos Quinto ruled Spain and kept the national interest fixed on his military achievements, which were for the most part outside of the peninsula. But about 1560 there flourished in Spain probably the most important figure in the early history of the national drama. This was the Sevillian gold-beater, later actor and dramatic author, Lope de Rueda. The dramatic representations before this time were doubtless limited in a large measure to select audiences in castles and courts of noble residences; but Lope de Rueda had as his theater the public squares and market-places, and as his audience the great masses of the Spanish people, who now for the first time had a chance to dictate the trend which the national drama should take. In his rôle of manager and playwright Lope de Rueda showed no remarkable genius, but he began a movement which was to reach its culmination and perfection under the leadership of no less a personage than the great Lope himself. Between the two Lopes there lived and wrote a number of dramatic authors of diverse merit. Lope de Rueda's work was continued by the Valencian bookseller, Juan de Timoneda, and by his fellow actors, Alonso de la Vega and Alonso de Cisneros. In this interim there took place a struggle between the popular and classic schools. The former was defended by such authors as Juan de la Cueva and Cristóbal de Virués, while the latter was espoused by Gerónimo Bermúdez and others. The immortal Cervantes wrote many plays in this period and claimed to favor the classic drama, but his dramatic works are not of sufficient importance to win for him a place in either party. Thus we find that in 1585 Spain had a divided drama, represented on the one side by the drama of reason and proportion fashioned after Greek and Roman models, and on the other a loosely joined, irregular, romantic drama of adventure and intrigue, such as was demanded by the Spanish temperament. Besides the defenders of these schools there was an infinite variety of lesser lights who wrote all sorts of plays from the grossest farces to the dullest Latin dramas. Before taking up the discussion of the works of the mighty genius who was to establish the popular drama, it is well to give a brief glance at the people who presented plays and the places in which they were given.

As has been already observed, the dramas of Juan del Encina and his immediate successors were probably presented to limited audiences. It is not improbable that parts were often taken by amateurs rather than by members of regular troupes. However, at an early date there were many strolling players who are classed in the Viaje entretenido in no less than eight professional grades: (1) The bululú, a solitary stroller who went from village to village reading simple pieces in public places and living from the scanty collections taken among the audience. (2) The ñaque, two players, who could perform entremeses and play one or two musical instruments. (3) The gangarilla, group of three or four actors of whom one was a boy to play a woman's part. They usually played a farce or some other short play. (4) The cambaleo was composed of five men and a woman and remained several days in each village. (5) The garnacha was a little larger than the cambaleo and could represent four plays and several autos and entremeses. (6) The bojiganga represented as many as six comedias and a number of autos and entremeses, had some approach at regular costumes, and traveled on horseback. (7) The farándula was composed of from ten to fifteen players, was well equipped and traveled with some ease. (8) The compañía was the most pretentious theatrical organization composed of thirty persons, capable of producing as many as fifty pieces and accustomed to travel with dignity due the profession. Of still greater simplicity were the theaters where these variously classified actors gave their plays. In the villages and towns they were simply the plaza or other open space in which the rude stage and paraphernalia were temporarily set up. Quoting from Cervantes, Ticknor says of the theater of Lope de Rueda: "The theater was composed of four benches, arranged in a square, with five or six boards laid across them, that were thus raised about four palms from the ground. The furniture of the theater was an old blanket drawn aside by two cords, making what they called the tiring-room, behind which were the musicians, who sang old ballads without a guitar." In the larger cities such simplicity cannot be expected in the later development of the theater, for there the interest and resources were greater. In this respect Madrid, the capital, may be considered as representative of the most advanced type. In that city the plays were given in corrales or open spaces surrounded on all sides by houses except the side nearest the street. By the beginning of the seventeenth century these corrales were reduced to two principal ones—the Corral de la Pacheca (on the site of the present Teatro Español) and the Corral de la Cruz, in the street of the same name. The windows of the houses surrounding these corrales, with the adjoining rooms, formed aposentos which were rented to individuals and which were entered from the houses themselves. At the end farthest from the entrance of the corral was the stage, which was raised above the level of the ground and covered by a roof. In front of the stage and around the walls were benches, those in the latter position rising in tiers. On the left hand and on a level with the ground was the cazuela or women's gallery. The ground to the rear of the benches in front of the stage was open and formed the "standing-room" of the theater. With the exception of the stage, a part of the benches and the aposentos, the whole was in the open air and unprotected from the weather. In such unpretentious places the masterpieces of Lope de Vega and of many of his successors were presented. With this environment in mind we shall proceed to a brief review of the dramatic works of el Fénix de los ingenios.

Lope de Vega found the Spanish drama a mass of incongruities without form, preponderating influence, or type, he left it in every detail a well-organized, national drama, so perfect that, though his successors polished it, they added nothing to its form.[3] When or how he began this great work, it is not certain. He says in his works that he wrote plays as early as his eleventh year and conceived them even younger, and we have one of his plays, El Verdadero Amante, written, as has been mentioned, when he was twelve, but corrected and published many years later. Of all his plays written before his banishment, little is known but it is natural to suppose that they resembled in a measure the works of predecessors, for this period must be considered the apprenticeship of Lope. Though written for the author's pleasure, they were evidently numerous, for Cervantes says that Lope de Vega "filled the world with his own comedias, happily and judiciously planned, and so many that they covered more than ten thousand sheets." That his merit was soon appreciated is evident from the fact that theatrical managers were anxious to have these early compositions and that during his banishment he supported himself and family in Valencia by selling plays and probably kept the best troupes of the land stocked with his works alone. Of the number of his works the figures are almost incredible. In El Peregrino en su Patria, published in 1604, he gives a list of his plays, which up to that time numbered two hundred and nineteen; in 1609 he says, in El Arte Nuevo de hacer Comedias, that the number was then four hundred and eighty-three; in prologues or prefaces of his works Lope tells us that he had written eight hundred plays in 1618, nine hundred in 1619 and one thousand and seventy in 1625. In the Égloga á Claudio, written in 1632, and in the concluding lines of La Moza de Cántaro, revised probably the same year, he says that he is the author of fifteen hundred comedias. In the Fama Póstuma, written after his death in 1635 by his friend Montalvan, it is stated that the number of dramatic works of Lope included eighteen hundred comedias and four hundred autos. From the above figures it is evident that Lope composed at times on an average a hundred comedias a year, and this after he had passed his fiftieth year! Yet still more astonishing is his own statement in regard to them:

And it is a matter of history that he composed his well-known La Noche de San Juan for the favorite, Olivares, in three days. This, in addition to his other works, offers us a slight insight into the wonderful fertility of the man's genius and gives reason to Cervantes and his contemporaries for calling him "el monstruo de la naturaleza" and "el Fénix de los ingenios."

To his plays Lope de Vega has given the general name of comedias, which should not be confused with the word "comedies," for the two are not synonymous. They are divided into three acts or jornadas of somewhat variable length and admit of numerous classifications. Broadly speaking, we may divide the comedias into four groups: (1) Comedias de capa y espada, which Lope created and which include by far the greater number of his important works. In these plays the principal personages are nobles and the theme is usually questions of love and honor. (2) Comedias heroicas, which have royalty as the leading characters, are lofty or tragical in sentiment, and have historical or mythological foundation. (3) Comedias de santos, which represent some incident of biblical origin or some adventure in the lives of the saints. In them the author presents the graver themes of religion to the people in a popular and comprehensible manner, in which levity is often more prominent than gravity. (4) Comedias de costumbres, in which the chief personages are from the lower classes and of which the language is even lascivious and the subject treated with a liberty not encountered in other dramas of the author. To these various classes must be added the Autos sacramentales, which were written to be represented on occasions of religious festivals. Their theme is usually popular, even grotesque, and the representation took place in the streets.

Lope de Vega took the Spanish drama as he found it, and from its better qualities he built the national drama. He knew the unities and ignored them in his works, preferring, as he says, to give the people what they wished, and he laid down precepts for composition, but even these he obeyed indifferently. Always clever, he interpreted the popular will and gratified it. He did not make the Spanish drama so much as he permitted it to be made in and through him, and by so doing he reconciled all classes to himself; he was as popular with the erudite as he was with the masses, for his plays have a variety, facility, and poetic beauty that won the favor of all. His works abound in the inaccuracies and obscurities that characterize hasty composition and hastier proof-reading, but these are forgotten in the clever intrigue which is the keynote of the Spanish drama, in the infinite variety of versification and in the constant and never flagging interest. For over fifty years Lope de Vega enriched the Spanish drama with the wonders of his genius, yet from El Verdadero Amante, certainly in its original form one of his earliest plays now in existence, to Las Bizarrías de Belisa, written the year before his death, we find a uniformity of vigor, resourcefulness and imagination that form a lasting monument to his versatility and powers of invention, and amply justify his titles of "Fénix de los ingenios" and "Monstruo de la naturaleza."

III. LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

This interesting comedia was written in the last decade of the life of Lope de Vega, in the most fertile period of his genius. Hartzenbusch is authority for the statement that it was written towards the close of the year 1625 and revised in 1632.[5] It is evident that the closing lines of it were written in 1632, for the author says in the Égloga á Claudio that he had completed that year fifteen hundred comedias. As evidence of its popularity, we have the following resumé and appreciation from the same critic in the prólogo of his edition of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega: «Iba cayendo el sol, y acercábase á la peripecia última, precursora del desenlace, una comedia que en un teatro de Madrid (ó corral, como solía entonces decirse) representaban cuatro galanes, dos damas, un barba, dos graciosos, dos graciosas y otros actores de clase inferior, ante una porción de espectadores, con sombrero calado, como quienes encima de sí no tenían otra techumbre que la del cielo. Ya la primera dama había hecho su postrera salida con el más rico traje de su vestuario: absorto su amante del señoril porte de aquella mujer, que, siendo una humilde criada, sabía, sin embargo, el pomposo guardainfante, como si en toda su vida no hubiese arrastrado otras faldas; ciego de pasión y atropellando los respetos debidos á su linaje, se había llegado á ella, y asiéndole fuera de sí la mano, le había ofrecido la suya. El galán segundo se había opuesto resueltamente á la irregular y precipitada boda; pero al oir que la supuesta Isabel tenía por verdadero nombre el ilustre de doña María Guzmán y Portocarrero, y era, aunque moza de cántaro parienta del duque de Medina, su resistencia había desaparecido. Hecha pues una gran reverencia muda á la novia, se adelantó el actor á la orilla del tablado para dirigir esta breve alocución al público:

De las gradas y barandillas, de las ventanas y desvanes, de todos los asientos, pero principalmente de los que llenaban el patio, hubo de salir entonces, entre ruidosas palmadas, un grito unánime de admiración, de entusiasmo y orgullo nacional justísimo. «¡Vítor, Lope!» clamaba aquella alborazada multitud una vez y otra; «¡Viva el Fénix de los ingenios! ¡Viva Lope de Vega!»[6] And in no less laudatory terms, Elías Zerolo says: "En ella,... agotó Lope todos los sentimientos resortes propios de su teatro... Esta comedia es una de las más perfectas de Lope, por lo que alcanzó en su tiempo un éxito ruidoso." In enumerating the plays of Lope which were still well known and represented in Spain in the nineteenth century, Gil de Zárate names La Moza de Cántaro among the first,[7] and doubtless on this authority Ticknor speaks of it as one of the plays of Lope which "have continued to be favorites down to our own times."[8]

The "Watermaid" belongs to the largest class of Lope's plays—the class in which he excelled—comedias de capa y espada. Ticknor erroneously classes it as a comedy "founded on common life" or as styled by others comedia de costumbres, but it is probable he did so without making himself thoroughly familiar with the comedy in its full form. Zerolo is very emphatic in attributing it to the class of comedias de capa y espada, for he says: "Más que ninguna otra, reune esta obra las circunstancias que caracterizan á las comedias de capa y espada, como embozos, equívocos, etc." Were the leading character what her name implies—a humble servant—and were the other characters of her rank, the play might well be classed as a comedia de costumbres; but that it belongs to the larger class is established by the fact that the intrigue is complicated, the question of love and rank is prominent, and the characters are of the nobility.[9] Any opposing irregularities in language or action may be explained by the period represented, for the time is that of the early years of the reign of the young monarch, Philip IV, a brilliant though corrupt epoch of Spanish history well worthy of a moment's notice.

Philip III died in 1621, leaving the vast realm which he had inherited from his father, the gloomy though mighty Philip II, to his son, a youth of sixteen years, who came to the throne under the title of Philip IV. If Philip III was ruled by Lerma and Uceda, Philip IV, in his turn, was completely under the domination of the unprincipled Olivares, and his accession initiated one of the most interesting and most corrupt reigns that Spain has ever known. Philip himself was weak and pleasure-loving, but has never been regarded as perverse, and Olivares was ambitious and longed to rule Spain as the great Cardinal was ruling France. To achieve this end he isolated the monarch from every possible rival and kept him occupied with all sorts of diversions. At an early age Philip had been married to Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV of France, and she was an unconscious tool in the hands of Olivares, for she was as light and as fond of pleasures as the king. Trivial incidents in royal circles were sufficient excuse to provide the most lavish celebrations and expenditures, illy authorized by the depleted condition of the royal exchequer. The external conditions of the kingdom were momentarily favorable for such a period as that through which the country was passing, for Spain was at peace with all the world. The Netherlands and other continental possessions were placated by concessions or temporarily quieted by truces, and the American possessions were prosperous and contributed an enormous toll of wealth to the mother-country. Madrid, with all its unsightliness, was one of the most brilliant courts of Europe and attracted to itself the most gifted subjects of the realm. Encouraged by the king's love of art and letters, the great painters like Velázquez and Ribera vied with each other in creating masterpieces for princely patrons, and great authors like Lope, Quevedo, and Calderón sharpened their wits to please a literary public. This cosmopolitan society furnished abundant food for observation and an inexhaustible supply of interesting personages for the dramatist.

Since Lope de Vega had no classic rules to observe and was limited in his composition only by popular tastes, he could without offense take his characters from whatever class of society he wished so long as his choice was pleasing to the audience, which, it happens, was not easily offended. Like Shakespeare, he brings upon the stage illiterate servants to mix their rude speech and often questionable jests with the grave and lofty or poetic utterances of their noble or royal masters. His characters, too, were not limited to any fixed line of conduct, as long as honor was upheld. They could be creatures of passion or impulse who gave expression to the most violent or romantic sentiments, mingling laughter and tears with all the artlessness of children. Therefore we may expect the most divergent interests and the most complex combinations of aims and actions of which the popular reason is capable of conceiving.

On the Spanish stage, woman had always had a secondary rôle, not only because she was not fully appreciated, but also because the rôle was usually taken by boys, for women were long prohibited from the stage. "Lope, the expert in gallantry, in manners, in observation, placed her in her true setting, as an ideal, as the mainspring of dramatic motive and of chivalrous conduct."[10] Doña María is a type of Spanish woman of which history furnishes numerous parallels. Her family name had suffered disgrace and her own father was crying out for an avenger; there was no one else to take up the task, she eagerly took it upon herself and punished her suitor with the death she thought he deserved. Then to escape arrest she fled in the guise of a servant girl, which was in fact a very natural one for her to assume, for even at the present time no high-born young Spanish woman would dare to travel unattended and undisguised through her native land; besides, to do so would have revealed her identity. Once located in the capital, she becomes an ideal Spanish servant girl, performing well the duties imposed upon her, gossiping with those of her assumed class, breaking the heads of those who sought to molest her, usually gay and loquacious, but, when offended, impudent and malicious. That she does things unbecoming of her true rank only shows how well she carries out her assumed rôle; that she was not offensive or contrary to Spanish tastes of the times is proved by the fact that, although she was a Guzmán and consequently a relative of the ruling favorite, Olivares, the play did not fall under royal censure. Her versatility and just claim to her high position are emphasized by the ease with which she assumes her own rank at the close of the play.

Don Juan, the hero of the play, while he pales somewhat before the brilliant, protagonistic rôle of the heroine, represents on a lesser plane Lope's conception of the true Spanish gallant, whom the poet often pictures under this name or that of "Fernando" and not infrequently lets his personality show through even to the extent of revealing interesting autobiographical details.[11] That Lope did not approve entirely of the higher social life of his time is brought out all through the play and revealed in the hero, for the contemporaries and friends of the latter considered him an original. But in him we find more nearly the common Spanish conception of chivalry and honor.

Breathing his love in poetic musings, eating out his own heart in sleepless nights and in anxious waitings for his lady-love by the fountain in the Prado or at the lavaderos along the banks of the Manzanares, refusing wealth and spurning position gained at the price of his love, preserving an unrivaled fidelity to his friend and kinsman, but finally consenting to sacrifice his love for the honor of his name and family, Don Juan is the embodiment of Spanish chivalry of all ages. That the poet makes him love one apparently on a lower social plane illustrates his power of discrimination and magnifies these virtues rather than diminishes them.

Don Bernardo, of whom we see but little, recalls don Diègue of Corneille, to whom he is directly related, for Guillén de Castro is a worthy disciple of Lope de Vega and wrote many plays, including las Mocedades del Cid, in his manner, and Corneille's indebtedness to the former is too well known to need explanation. More violent than Don Diègue, who is restrained by the decorum of the French classic theater, more tearful than Don Diego of las Mocedades, who, after a passionate soliloquy, rather coolly tests the valor of his sons, ending by biting the finger of "el Cid," Don Bernardo appears first upon the stage in tears and frequently, during the only scene in which he figures, gives way to his grief. The comparison of the three is interesting, for all three had suffered the same insult; but before we judge Don Bernardo too hastily, we should consider that both the other two are making their appeals to valiant men, while he is appealing to a woman, and not appealing for vengeance as they, but rather lamenting his hard lot. Don Diègue and Don Diego impress us by the gravity of their appeals, while Don Bernardo arouses our sympathy by his senility—old Spanish cavalier, decorated with the cross of Santiago, that he is!

If we make Don Juan the impersonation of Lope's idea of chivalry, we may well interpret el Conde and Doña Ana as representing his appreciation of his more sordid contemporaries; both are actuated by motives of interest and are not scrupulous enough to conceal it. The poet is far too discreet to hold either up to ridicule, yet he makes each suffer a keen rebuff. Both are given sufficient elements of good to dismiss them at the close with the partial realization of their desires.

One character particularly local to Spanish literature is the Indiano. In general usage the term is applied to those who enter Spain, coming from the Latin-American countries, though properly it should include perhaps only natives of the West Indies. Since an early date, however, the term has been applied to Spaniards returning to the native land after having made a fortune in the Americas. In the early years of the seventeenth century, when the mines of Mexico and South America were pouring forth their untold millions, these Indianos were especially numerous in the Spanish capital, and Lope de Vega, with his usual acute perception ready to seize upon any theme popular with the public, gave them a prominent place in his works. Sometimes they appear as scions of illustrious lineage, as Don Fernando and the father of Elena in la Esclava de su Galán, and again they figure as the object of the poet's contempt, as the wealthy merchant, Don Bela, in la Dorotea. In the present instance the Indiano is a bigoted, miserly fellow who seeks, at the least possible cost, position at the Spanish court and who employs doña María largely for motives of interest rather than through sympathy for her poverty-stricken condition. Later, at Madrid, he exhibits himself in a still more unfavorable light, and ends by driving her from his service, of which incident she gives a highly entertaining, though little edifying, narration.

The last characters in the play who need occupy our attention are Martín and Pedro, the graciosos. This very Spanish personage dates, in idea, back to the servants of the Celestina and to the simple of Torres Naharro, but in the hands of Lope he is so developed and so omnipresent that he is justly accredited as a creation of the great "Fénix."[12] Martín, the clever but impudent servant, is the leading character in the secondary plot and the only one to whom prominence is given. He acts as a news-gatherer for his master and, while thus occupied, he falls in love with Leonor, who does not seem to prove for him a difficult conquest. With characteristic Spanish liberty he advises his masters freely and is generally heeded and mixes in everything his comments, which, while not always free from suggestiveness, are filled with a contagious levity. Pedro, the lackey suitor of doña María, known to him as Isabel, is the prototype of the modern "chulo" whose traits can be traced in his every word and action. Disappointed in his love-making, he loses none of his characteristics of braggadocio and willingly assumes the rôle of defender of Isabel although he himself has been maltreated by the bellicose "moza de cántaro."

Untrammeled by the unities or other dramatic conventionalities, Lope was able in this drama, as in his others, to permit the action to develop naturally and simply with the various vicissitudes attendant upon every-day life and yet to weave the intricate threads of intrigue into a complex maze perfect in detail. The leading character is introduced in the first scene, which is followed by the long exposition of attendant circumstances that could be as well narrated as produced upon the stage. Thus delay and harrowing detail are avoided. The introduction of the tragic element into the play early in the first act has a tendency to soften its effect, especially as it has little relation to the subsequent action. However, the mere introduction of it in the play would probably, in the early French theater, class the drama as a tragi-comedy. And Alexandre Hardy, the French playwright and contemporary of Lope de Vega, who borrowed largely from the latter both in method and detail, so styled many of his works. The scene, opening in historic Ronda in the midst of the places made famous by the mighty family of the Guzmáns, then moving north to an obscure town in the Sierra-Morena, little known to the cultured atmosphere in which the play was to be represented, and finally centering in the capital and developing under the very eye of the audience, as it were, just as so many tragedies and comedies, less important perhaps but no less interesting, unfold in daily life about us, gives the play a broader interest than it would have and doubtless contributed powerfully to its success. The introduction of the secondary plot, affording the excuse for the prominent place given to the gracioso, is a device which Lope, like his great English contemporary, often uses as in this case with good effect. The disguising of a lady of the highest nobility and making her play so well the part of the lowly water-maid furnish the key to the intrigue and would not detract from the play in the eyes of the contemporary, following upon the reign of the pastoral and according as it did with the tastes of the times.[13]

Unlike Shakespeare, whose rare good fortune it was to establish a language as well as found a national drama, Lope de Vega took up a language which had been in use and which had served as a medium of literary expression many centuries before he was born, and with it established the Spanish drama. Here again Lope conformed to common usage. He knew of the elegant conceits of linguistic expression and used them sparingly in his plays, but usually his language was, like the ideas which he expressed, the speech of the public which he sought to please, not slighting the grandiloquent phraseology to which the Spanish language is so well adapted. We find a good example of these different elements in La Moza de Cántaro in the three sonnets of Act II, Scene III, of which the first is in the sonorous, high-sounding, oratorical style, the second, in the elegant conceits so common in Italian literature of the period, and the third in the language of every-day life. Each is well suited to the occasion and to the rôle of the speaker. Seldom in any of his works, and never in La Moza de Cántaro, does Lope descend to dialect or to slang, but rather in the pure Castilian of his time, preferably in the Castilian of the masses, he composes his rhythmic verses. Like some mountain stream his measures flow, sometimes in idle prattle over pebbly beds, soon to change into the majestic cascade, then to the whirling rapids, only to tarry soon in the quiet pool to muse in long soliloquy, to rush on again, sullen, quarrelsome, vehemently protesting in hoarse and discordant murmurings, then to roll out into the bright sunshine and there to sing in lyric accents of love and beauty. So the style like the action never settles in dull monotony, which, be it ever so beautiful, ends by wearying the audience. The great master put diversion into every thought and filled the listener with rapture by the versatility and beauty of his inimitable style.

One of the secrets of Lope's influence over his contemporaries is to be found in his versification. Ticknor says that no meter of which the language was susceptible escaped him. And in his dramatic composition we find as much variety in this respect as in any other. In el Arte nuevo de hacer Comedias, he says: "The versification should be carefully accommodated to the subject treated. The décimas are suited for complaints; the sonnet is fitting for those who are in expectation; the narrations require romances, although they shine most brilliantly in octaves; tercets are suitable for matters grave, and for love-scenes the redondilla is the fitting measure."[14] These various rimes, except the tercet, are found in La Moza de Cántaro, but in this rule, as in others which he prescribes, Lope does not follow his own precepts. The redondilla is far more common than any other, though the romance is frequently used. Most of the plays of Lope contain sonnets, and they vary in number from one to five or even seven: in the present instance we have the medium of three. The décima is used in four passages and the octava in two.[15] The widely varied scheme of versification is as follows:

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biblioteca de Autores Españoles desde la formación del lenguaje hasta nuestros días, 71 vols., Madrid, 1849-1880. The references to this extensive work are usually made by means of the titles of the separate volumes. Particularly is this true of the references to the dramas of Lope de Vega, which, under the title of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega, include volumes 24, 34, 41, 52 of the work.

Obras Escogidas de Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, con prólogo y notas por Elías Zerolo, Paris, 1886, Vol. III.

La Moza de Cántaro, Comedia en cinco actos por Lope Félix de Vega Carpio y refundida por Don Cándido María Trigueros, Valencia, 1803.

La Moza de Cántaro, Comedia en cinco actos por Lope Félix de Vega Carpio y refundida por Don Cándido María Trigueros, con anotaciones, Londres (about 1820).

Obras Sueltas de Lope de Vega, colección de las obras sueltas, assi en prosa, como en verso, 21 vols., Madrid, 1776-1779.

Handbuch der Spanischen Litteratur, von Ludwig Lemcke, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1855.

Diccionario Enciclopédico hispano-americano de literatura, ciencias y artes, 26 vols., Barcelona, 1887-1899.

Grand Dictionnaire Universel, par Pierre Larousse, 17 vols., Paris.

Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, por R. Menéndez Pidal, Madrid, 1905.

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, A History of Spanish Literature, New York and London, 1898.

Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, 3 vols., 5th ed., Boston, 1882.

Espino, Ensayo histórico-crítico del Teatro español, Cádiz, 1876.

J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, 2 vols., New York, 1888.

A. Gassier, Le Théâtre Espagnol, Paris, 1898.

H. A. Rennert, The Life of Lope de Vega, Glasgow, 1904.

Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain, Boston, 1909.

Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, London, 1907.

NOTE.—The last three works mentioned are especially recommended for collateral reading in the study of La Moza de Cántaro.

LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

PERSONAS

La escena es en Ronda,[a] en Adamuz y Madrid

ACTO PRIMERO

Sala en casa de don Bernardo, en Ronda.

ESCENA PRIMERA

Doña María y Lüisa, con unos papeles

ESCENA II

Don Bernardo, de hábito de Santiago, con un lienzo en los ojos.—Dichas

ESCENA III

Doña María, Lüisa

ESCENA IV

Cuarto en la cárcel de Ronda.

Don Diego, Fulgencio

ESCENA V

El Alcaide de la Cárcel, con barba y bastón.—Dichos

ESCENA VI

Doña María, cubierta con su manto.—Don Diego.

ESCENA VII

Fulgencio.—Don Diego, moribundo

ESCENA VIII

Una calle de Madrid.

El Conde, Don Juan

ESCENA IX

Martín.—Dichos

ESCENA X

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

El Conde, Don Juan, Martín; y luego, Doña Ana, de viuda; Leonor y Juana

ESCENA XI

Doña Ana, Don Juan, Leonor, Juana, Martín

ESCENA XII

Doña Ana, Leonor, Juana

ESCENA XIII

Patio de un mesón de Adamuz.

Un Indiano, y un Mozo de Mulas; después, un Mesonero

ESCENA XIV

Doña María, con sombrero, gabán y un arcabuz.—Dichos

ACTO SEGUNDO

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

ESCENA PRIMERA

El Conde, Don Juan

ESCENA II

Martín.—Dichos

ESCENA III

Doña Ana, en hábito galán; Juana, Músicos.—Dichos

ESCENA IV

El Conde, Don Juan, Martín; después, Juana

ESCENA V

Calle.

Doña María, en hábito humilde y devantal; El Indiano, siguiéndola.

ESCENA VI

ESCENA VII

Don Juan.—Doña María

ESCENA VIII

Leonor.—Doña María

ESCENA IX

ESCENA X

Prado con una fuente.

Martín, Pedro

ESCENA XI

Doña Ana, Juana, Don Juan.—Dichos

ESCENA XII

Doña María y Leonor, con sus cántaros.—Dichos

ESCENA XIII

Doña Ana, Don Juan, Doña María, Leonor, Juana

ESCENA XIV

Doña María, Don Juan, Leonor

ESCENA XV

Doña María, Leonor

ESCENA XVI

Pedro, Martín.—Dichas

ACTO TERCERO

ESCENA PRIMERA

Pedro, Bernal, Martín y Lorenzo, dentro

ESCENA II

Doña María, Leonor.—Dichos

ESCENA III

Doña María, Leonor

ESCENA IV

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

Doña María, Leonor; después, Doña Ana y Juana

ESCENA V

Don Juan, Martín.—Doña Ana, Leonor, Juana

ESCENA VI

El Conde.—Dichos

ESCENA VII

Doña María, Don Juan

ESCENA VIII

Leonor.—Dichos

ESCENA IX

ESCENA X

Calle.

Martín, Pedro

ESCENA XI

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

Doña Ana, Don Juan

ESCENA XII

El Conde, que se queda escuchando sin que le vean.— Dichos.

ESCENA XIII

Doña María, de madrina y muy bizarra, con Leonor, de la mano; Martín, Pedro, Lorenzo, Bernal y otros Lacayos, muy galanes; acompañamiento de Mujeres de la boda, Músicos.

NOTES
 

ACT I

a. Ronda. A city of about 20,000 in Southern Spain, founded by the Romans and occupied for many centuries by the Moors. On account of its history and its natural beauty it is one of the most interesting cities in Spain.

1. Es cosa... de risa, It is enough to make one die of laughter.

3. Lüisa, spelled with the dieresis for metrical reasons.

4. Narcisos. Now a common noun and written with a small letter. In origin the word is derived from the mythological character, Narcissus, the son of the river Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He was insensible to the charms of all the nymphs, who at last appealed to Nemesis for revenge. She made him fall in love with his own image reflected in a fountain; because he could not grasp it he longed for death and, according to Ovid, was metamorphosed into the flower which bears his name. A century before Lope it had evidently not yet passed into such common usage, for in the Celestina we read: "Por fe tengo que no era tan hermoso aquel gentil Narciso, que se enamoró de su propia figura cuando se vido en las aguas de la fuente." (Novelistas Anteriores á Cervantes, p. 25.)

8. consultas are reports or advice submitted to a ruler, hence the use of alteza.

10. entre otras partes. The Parisian edition of 1886, for no evident reason, reads, entre otros partes.

12. el duque de Medina. Gaspar Alonzo de Guzmán, duque de Medina-Sidonia, was a relative of Olivares and head of the great house of Guzmán of which the prime minister was a descendant through a younger branch. He was immensely wealthy and enjoyed high favor at court during the first years of the reign of Philip IV. Later, as governor of Andalusia, he conceived the idea of establishing a separate kingdom, as his brother-in-law, Juan de Braganza, had done in Portugal in 1640. His plans were discovered and as punishment and humiliation he was compelled to challenge the king of Portugal to a duel for the aid the latter was to give to the projected uprising in Andalusia. He made the journey to the Portuguese border only to find that Braganza had ignored his challenge. Covered with ridicule by the affair he passed the rest of his life in obscurity and disgrace. At the time Lope de Vega was writing La Moza de Cántaro he seems to have been seeking the favor of Olivares and therefore made the leading character of the play a relative of the favorite and the Duque de Medina-Sidonia.

16. Señora is now regularly written in such cases with a small letter, as well as similar titles hereafter encountered in the play.

17. Lindamente... vanidad, You know my weakness! You are trying to flatter me.

21. Sevilla, the metropolis of Andalusia and a city always noted for the beauty of its women.

29. Éste. Supply papel as suggested by line 3.

35. quiere en la memoria de la muerte, etc., that is, after he has died for her.

After 40. Con hermoso, etc. The author evidently intends to make the suitor write a wordy letter void of clear meaning, and that he is striking a blow at the then popular literary affectation known as culteranismo is indicated beyond a doubt by the word culto in line 43. A comparison of the passage with Cervantes' celebrated quotation from Feliciano de Silva, "La razón de la sinrazón" is interesting. (See Don Quijote, Part I, Chap. I.) A possible translation of the letter is as follows: "With fair though stern, not sweet, yet placid countenance, lady mine, appearances deceiving you, there gazed at me last week your disdain, imbued with all benevolence and yet rigid, and withal its brilliancy not solicitous, (benevolence) which with celestial candor illumines your face."

44. ¿Habla de aciértame aquí? The imperative is used here as a noun after the preposition and the verse is approximately equivalent to the expression "Habla de alguna adivinanza aquí?"

54. ¿Qué nada te ha de agradar? Can nothing please you?

58. Yo no tengo de querer. Tener de is used here where we should now expect haber de or tener que.

62. Flandes. In the time of Lope de Vega Spain held the Netherlands and constantly maintained a large force there.

64. Zerolo's edition has a comma instead of a period at the end of this line. Either punctuation makes good sense.

66. que yo... aquí, for of all those who appear here I do not see one to whom I should direct my favor.

70. si va á decir verdad, if the truth be told.

79. ansí, middle Spanish and archaic form of así. Cf. the French ainsi.

92. La primera necedad, etc., They say that the greatest folly is not the one to be feared, but those which follow it seeking to undo it.

95. deshacella=deshacerla. In earlier Spanish verse the assimilation of the r of the infinitive is quite common.

107. Muchas se casan aprisa, etc. Compare the English proverb of similar purport, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure."

121. dél=de él. A contraction no longer approved by the Spanish Academy.

124. Pedro el Cruel (1334-1369) was proclaimed king of Castile at Seville in 1350 after the death of his father, Alphonso XI. He early became infatuated with María de Padilla, but was made to marry against his will Blanche de Bourbon whom he immediately put aside. Pedro then plunged into a career of crime seldom equaled in Spanish history. Several times he was dethroned but always succeeded in regaining the scepter. He was finally killed by his own brother, Henry of Trastamare, at Montiel. Pedro's meritorious works were his successful efforts to break down the feudal aristocracy and his encouragement of arts, commerce and industry.

133. Don Diego de noche y coche. The implication is that don Diego is one who would woo his lady love at night and under the cover of a carriage rather than in the more open and approved manner of a gentleman of his rank. In spite of the brilliant example of the king, horsemanship was becoming a lost art and in a complaint of a member of the Cortes, addressed to the king, the subject is treated as follows: "The art of horsemanship is dying out, and those who ought to be mounted crowd, six or eight of them together, in a coach, talking to wenches rather than learning how to ride. Very different gentlemen, indeed, will they grow up who have all their youth been lolling about in coaches instead of riding." (Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, p. 130.) There is also a flower called dondiego de noche, and the author may have intended to make also a subtle play on words between this and the more suggestive meaning.

138. De noche visiones. "Thoughts of him at night give me the nightmare!"

Stage directions: hábito de Santiago: The order of Santiago is one of the oldest and most distinguished of all the Spanish military orders. It is said to have been approved by the Pope in 1175 and had during the middle ages great military power. The right to confer it is now vested in the crown of Spain. The badge is a red enamel cross, in the form of a sword with a scallop-shell at the junction of the arms.

174. agora, archaic and poetic word, synonym of ahora which is of similar origin. Hac hora > agora and ad horam > ahora.

180. primer licencia. The apocapation of the feminine of the adjective primero is not admissible in modern Spanish.

181. Duque, that is, the Duque de Medina. See v. 12 and note.

188. Lugar... deba, A place which is certainly its due.

192. la Plaza mentioned here is evidently the Plaza de la Ciudad, which is the center of the ancient part of the city.

197. Sanlúcar (de Barrameda) is an important and interesting seaport town at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. It was taken from the Moors in 1264 and occupied a prominent position during the 15th and 16th centuries. Columbus sailed from this point in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World. Lope makes Sanlúcar the scene of part of his Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón and mentions it in a number of his other plays.

198. Le respondí, etc. Don Bernardo's reply was intended to reveal delicately to the lover that his suit was not favored by the Duke.

228. Aquí su mano soberbia... For an analogous situation compare Guillen de Castro's las Mocedades del Cid and its French counterpart, Corneille's le Cid.

231. que tantas veces, etc., because an insult is renewed as many times as he who receives it tells it to him who ignores it.

236. con cinco letras, that is, the five fingers of the hand which had left its imprint on his face.

245. á el afrentado. Not a little laxity in the observance of the rule for the contraction of the preposition and the definite article is to be noted throughout the play.

252. It is to be observed in a number of instances in the text that the initial exclamation and interrogation marks are often omitted before exclamations and interrogations if they follow other similar constructions.

301. si sois servido, if you please.

310. La decid. Modern usage generally requires the object after the imperative in such a case as this, but the license may occur in poetry.

324. Desta=De esta.

337. quien. Translate in the plural. Concerning this doubtful usage we have the following from one of the best known modern authorities: "En el siglo XIV caía ya en desuso qui, por inútil duplicado de quien; éste en el siglo XVI se creó un plural: quienes, que aunque calificado de inelegante por Ambrosio de Salazar en 1622, se generalizó, si bien aun hoy día se dice alguna vez 'los pocos ó muchos de quien ha tenido que valerse.'" (Menéndez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, p. 176.)

354. Y sobre seguro, fácil, And besides sure, easy. The assonance of final unaccented i with final unaccented e is permissible.

362. Quien supo, etc., If anyone could determine to be yours there can be nothing to put off your pleasure.

409. ¿Hay tal gracia de monjil? Is there anything so graceful in widow's weeds? monjil, "mourning garments."

413. sugeto=sujeto.

441. el río. The Manzanares, a stream which rises in the Sierra de Guadarrama and flows by Madrid, emptying into the Jarama, which in turn flows into the Tajo a short distance east of Toledo. In the eyes of the madrileños this stream assumes importance which its size scarcely merits. Its banks have been the scene of festivities from the early days of the city to the present time. In the time of Lope de Vega the banks of the Manzanares and its dry bed were, as a place for promenading, in the same class as the Prado, the Plaza Mayor and the Calle Mayor, and during the great heat of summer the populace of all classes sought refuge here. Lope makes frequent reference to the stream in many of his works.

477. Muriósele á una casada, A woman's husband died.

482. Y sin que, etc., And without fulfilling the obsequies (as requested). Manda, lit., "legacy, bequest"; but cumplir la manda, "to observe the religious rites (according to the will of the deceased)."

484. vertiendo poleo, putting on airs. Poleo, "strutting gait, pompous style."

485. reverendo coche, elegant carriage. Reverendo, lit., "worthy of reverence," but here fam., "worthy of a prelate." Many of the higher clergy formerly lived in princely style.

499. Porque no vuelva el marido, Lest the husband might return.

519. variar, in Zerolo's edition, is varïar, as it should be in order to fill out the verse.

521. De mi condición, etc. An interesting parallel to the idea of this passage is found in the following from Voltaire: "Il m'a toujours paru évident que le violent Achille, l'épée nue, et ne se battant point, vingt héros dans la même attitude comme des personnages de tapisserie, Agamemnon, roi des rois, n'imposant à personnes, immobile dans le tumulte, formeraient un spectacle assez semblable au cercle de la reine en cire colorée par Benoît." ("Art dramatique" in the Dictionnaire Philosophique.)

522. Que me pudren, etc., That paintings vex me. Note peculiar sense of pudrir.

529. Susana. In the thirteenth chapter of Daniel is narrated the story of Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joachim, of whom two old men, judges during the Babylonian captivity, were enamored. They surprised her one day in her bath in the garden and, because she repelled their advances, testified that they had found her with a young man. She was condemned to death, but on the way to her execution Daniel intervened and by a clever ruse succeeded in convicting the two old men of bearing false witness. They were put to death and the innocence of Susanna proclaimed. The story has furnished a theme for many painters and from it many notable works have been produced, of which several existed in the time of Lope de Vega. In the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 450, there is a sonnet, Á una Tabla de Susana, which begins:

541. Como visto, etc., If she had not seen you an excuse would be easy to find.

545. Llama. From this word it would seem that this part of the play is enacted in front of the house of doña Ana.

547. No lo echemos á perder, Let us not spoil it.

576. No me tengo de sentar, I must not sit down. Cf. v. 58 and note.

587. comenzamos... jugadores, we begin by a 'rifa,' which results, as in a love-affair, that it is the third party who starts the game or at least arouses the interest of the players. The word rifa is usually used in the sense of the English word "raffle" or "auction," as for example the baile de rifa narrated in Alarcón's El Niño de la Bola, but Lope seems to use it here referring to a game of cards. It is used as a term at cards in Portuguese. The same word from another source means a "quarrel"; the author evidently had them both in mind and makes a play upon them.

595. Terciando mi primo el juego, My cousin being the third party in the game.

634. Puesto que fué de mayor, Since it was by one who had attained his majority.

638. Que encaje el marfil ansí, Who is as clever. Encajar el marfil, "to manipulate, falsify." A possible proverbial reference to the corruption among government department employees of the time.

655. Si fuere parte á obligaros, If it will be sufficient to oblige you.

664. Cayó el pez en el anzuelo, The fish has been hooked.

666. aquesto=esto. The old form is used now only in poetry.

695. efeto=efecto.

699. Cuando él... sido, If he should have favored me my favor would have been so (i.e. too great).

714. quisistes=quisisteis. The obsolete form continued in general usage up to the 17th century and was still used by Calderón, though a grammar gave the modern form as early as 1555. See Menéndez Pidal's Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, pp. 189, 190.

745. Adamuz is a town of about five thousand inhabitants, situated in the mountains twenty-five miles northeast of Cordova in the midst of a prosperous olive-growing country. It has a church, three schools, two inns, an Ayuntamiento and two religious communities. There is a local tradition to the effect that Adamuz, several centuries ago, boasted of a population of about twenty thousand and was one of the important centers of the Sierra Morena, and that it was swept by an epidemic which carried away almost the entire population. However, nothing exists in the archives of the Ayuntamiento to confirm or deny the tradition. (For all the information concerning the town and its vicinity, the editor is indebted to the kindness of the Reverend Señor José Melendo, curate of Adamuz.)

748. Adamuz, pueblo sin luz. This refrain is not now current in the place and its origin cannot be definitely determined. It may be a reflection upon the state of intelligence of the inhabitants of the town and a pure creation of the poet, but rather would it seem to be due to the natural features of the town, for it is situated in a fold of the mountains.

750. Sierra-Morena is a mountainous region extending from east to west from the head waters of the Guadalquivir to the Portuguese border. It is mentioned in many of the Spanish romances and is assured of immortality as the scene of some of the adventures of the "ingenioso hidalgo" Don Quijote.

768. El término perdonad. The innkeeper regarded the indiano as a person of distinction and offers apology for mentioning in his presence anything so lowly as a caballo de alabarda, "nag, hack."

770. propria=propia.

793. camino real. A good road now extends from Cordova to Adamuz, but it does not cross the Sierra Morena. If such a royal highway from Andalusia to Madrid ever existed it has long since disappeared and given place to the railways and the important "carretera" which extends up the Guadalquivir and through the Puerto de Despeñaperros.

813. Bien está lo hecho, What is done is well done.

824. Holofernes... Judit. The comparison suggested is based upon the story related in the Book of Judith of the Bible. Judith determined to free the children of Israel from the invading Assyrians under the leadership of Holofernes and for this purpose went to the camp of Holofernes who received her kindly and celebrated her coming with feasting. When he was sufficiently under the influence of wine she cut off his head and carried it back with her to her own people who pursued the leaderless and disorganized Assyrians and gained a complete victory over them.

835. érades=erais. This obsolete form of the verb was often used by Lope de Vega and his contemporaries. It is from the Latin eratis. (See Menéndez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, paragraph 107, I.)

838. Granada, the most historic city of Southern Spain and the last stronghold of the Moors.

868. El camino de Granada, etc. The more probable route from Granada to the capital would have taken her some distance east of Adamuz.

876. Traigo jornada más larga, I am making a longer journey. Besides its common meanings traer has that of "to be occupied in making, to have on one's hands." Jornada usually means "day's journey," cf. French étape, but it is also used in the sense of a "journey" more or less long.

877. vengo de las Indias. Hence the name "Indiano," which may mean that one is a native of the Indies or simply a Spaniard who is returning from there after having made his fortune. The term has a depreciative meaning also, and then is an equivalent of our nouveaux riches, for which we in turn are indebted to the French. (See Introduction.)

882. Porque me dicen, etc., Because they tell me that the realization of one's pretensions which one's occupation puts off, is slow in arriving, I am going to set up a household.

ACT II

917. Que tantas persecuciones, etc. Supply some introductory interrogative expression like "Can it be" or "Do you believe."

922. De Amadís, en Beltenebros. Amadís de Gaula is the title of an old romance of uncertain authorship. The oldest text of which we have record was in Spanish or Portuguese prose, and the most interesting part of it is attributed to the Portuguese, Joham de Lobeira. The incident referred to by Lope occurred in the early years of the career of Amadís, hero of the story. After a youth filled with adventure, he meets and falls in love with Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of Great Britain, who returns his affection. A short time afterwards Amadís is freed from a perilous situation by a young girl named Briolania, who herself is suffering captivity. He then promises to return and deliver her. Having been successful in a number of other adventures, he sets out, with the tearful consent of Oriana, to rescue Briolania. After his departure on this mission, Oriana is erroneously informed that Amadís loves Briolania; mad with anger and despair, she sends him a letter saying that all is ended between them. Amadís, having avenged Briolania's wrongs, receives Oriana's letter and, overcome by grief, retires to a hermitage on a rock in the sea, where he receives the name of Beltenebros, which Southey translates as the "Fair Forlorn." Afterwards Oriana, undeceived, seeks a reconciliation with Amadís, and their happiness is at length realized. Amadís has remained the type of the constant lover who comes into the possession of the object of his affections only after adventures and difficulties without number.

951. Valencia is an important seaport town on the Mediterranean with a population of about 160,000. The city is picturesquely situated on the banks of the Guadalaviar in the midst of a luxuriant tropical nature. Valencia was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name and has played an important rôle in Spanish history since the time when the Romans occupied the peninsula. During the Moorish occupation it was a worthy rival of Seville, with which it is here mentioned. The gardens of Valencia have always been justly celebrated for their beauty, and Lope well knew this, for during his exile in Valencia he himself had a garden in which, as he tells us in several of his works, he passed many pleasant hours.

954. Vera de Plasencia is a small town northwest of Zaragoza, situated in the desolate Llano de Plasencia. Lope must have sojourned there at some time or have had more than a passing interest in the place, for in his Epístola á D. Michael de Solis he writes:

960. Pues lo digo, etc. In the Valencia edition Martin says:

The sense of the passage seems to turn on the words punto and cara. A punto or "point" is one twelfth of the antiquated French line and one one hundred and forty-fourth of an inch. By a comparison of the two editions it is clear that there is a play on this word. Cara is probably a typographical error for vara, but it may be used here in a related sense to the archaic á primera cara, which was the equivalent of á primera vista. Therefore the sense of ll. 961-2 is: "That is the size that one would take of that foot with a measure," or "That is the size that one would take by a glimpse of that foot."

971. De escarpines presumí, etc. The consonance of escarpines is with jazmines, but the contrast is with chapines above. The chapín was a heavy low shoe or sandal better suited to the use of servants, while the escarpín was an elegant thin-soled, shoe or slipper, and often with cloth top as the following verse seems to indicate. Here the sense is not very apparent and may involve some colloquialism of the time. The passage may be freely translated: "I thought you were speaking of escarpines, since the distinction depends only upon (the height of) the cotton (top)."

973. paragambas. An obsolete or colloquial word made up of the preposition para, or possibly of a form of the verb parar, "parry off, protect," and the obsolete substantive gamba, the equivalent of pierna. It was evidently applied to some covering of the leg, as a gaiter or boot. In the Valencia edition it appears as two words, para gambas.

974. á cierta dama depends upon pregunté.

975. cañafístolas=cañafístulas. The word seems to have the idea of something indicated but not named, and here may have the sense of "ridiculous adornments." It is still used colloquially as the approximate equivalent of the English "thingumajig" or "thingumbob." That the author intends it to have something of its true meaning, "purgative," is indicated by the next few lines of the text.

1009. fialle, see v. 95 and note.

1038. azules enojos, dark clouds. Lit. "blue wrath."

1042. á cuantos los miran. Los refers to ojos mentioned above. The period at the end of the line must be a typographical error, for the sense seems to favor a comma. The two subordinate clauses introduced by si and connected by y do not require as much separation as is afforded by a period.

1052. Como quedó concertado. Note the repetition of line 1000. Lope is given to repetitions in his works, but this is perhaps the only verse in the play which he has unconsciously repeated.

1062. inglés á Cádiz. "Año de 1625." (Note by Hartzenbusch.) The incident referred to is the irrational attack upon Cadiz by the English fleet under Sir Edward Cecil in October, 1625. The English were ignominiously defeated and the Spanish encouraged to continue an unequal struggle.

1066. tusón dorado. The name of a celebrated order of knighthood founded in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands. It originally consisted of thirty-one knights and was self-perpetuating, but Philip II absorbed the nominating power. In 1713 Charles VI moved the order to Vienna, but this action was contested by the Spanish and the dispute was settled by dividing the order between the two countries.

1067. Con débil caña, etc. "En la edición antigua de la comedia: Con débil caña, con freno herrado." (Note by Hartzenbusch.)

1068. Marte... Cupido, Mars, the god of war, Cupid, the god of love.

1076. Sembrando. "En la Corona trágica se lee sembrando; en la edición antigua de la comedia, tendidas."(Note by Hartzenbusch.) The sonnet is found also in the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 500, under the title, Á la Venida de los Ingleses á Cádiz. Hartzenbusch speaks of it as though it appeared in the Corona trágica, but his note is misleading, for it really is found in a collection of Poesías varias in the volume stated which begins with the Corona trágica.

1086. Mas qué os, etc. More exact punctuation would place the initial interrogation after mas and before qué.

1089. Filis. In Greek mythology Phyllis, disappointed because her lover, Demophon, did not return at the time appointed for their marriage, put an end to her life. According to one account she was changed after death into an almond-tree without leaves. But when Demophon, on his return, embraced the tree, it put forth leaves, so much was it affected by the presence of the lover. To the mythological Phyllis, however, Lope is indebted only for the name. To him "Filis" was a more material being in the person of Elena Osorio, daughter of a theatrical manager and a married woman. During the early part of the period 1585-1590 he dedicated to her some of his most beautiful love-ballads, and in the latter part, when he turned against her and was exiled from Madrid and Castile, he continued to address poems to her, but now filled with bitter complaints. (See Introduction.) The fact that he mentions her name here in a play written in the later years of his life is of interest; either he wrote the sonnet in his earlier years and used it here, or it would seem that the poet's mind reverts to his youthful follies. But in one of the last works written just before his death Lope speaks of his daughter, Antonia Clara, under the name of "Filis," which has given rise to some confusion. "Phyllis," moreover, is a very common name in pastoral poems in the 16th and 17th centuries.

1110. devantal=delantal.

1126. hubiérades... Dijérades=hubierais... Dijerais. Cf. v. 835 and note.

1133. Si es disfrazar, etc. In the pastorals the author usually disguised personages of distinction in the garb of shepherds and shepherdesses. These compositions were very popular in Spain during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

1145. que viene... á pretender, who comes to court to make pretensions. Pretender also means "to sue for place, seek position" and might be here "to seek favor at court."

1153. En él este amor bebí. Here as well as in the following line él refers to cántaro.

1155. Sirena. The Sirens were fabulous mythological monsters, half bird and half woman, which were supposed to inhabit reefs near the island of Capri and lure sailors to their death by the sweetness of their song.

1186. que tiene razón, indeed she is quite right. Zerolo's edition has que instead of qué of the Hartzenbusch edition, and it is clearly the author's intent.

1231. Por servicios que me hiciese, etc., Whatever services he did me, however many years he put me under obligation.

1237-40. Observe that one of these verses concludes each of the following stanzas or décimas. Such a verse is called the pie de décima.

1252. Andalucía forms one of the most important and romantic of Spain's ancient divisions and still occupies a unique position in the life and character of the Spanish people. Geographically it occupies almost the whole of the south of Spain.

1262. dorado, a yellow flower.

1266. Manutisa is usually written minutisa.

1282. Adónde bueno=Qué tal. There is also a sense of motion as indicated by verse 1284, but it is difficult to give a concise translation. Freely expressed we may offer: "Whither bound, my pretty maid?"

1291. Pero... admira, But on my word I am astonished.

1300. No tengo por mal acuerdo requebrar, etc., I do not consider it ill-advised to enumerate, etc. Requebrar usually means "to flatter," but it also means "to break in small pieces," hence "to give in detail" or "to enumerate."

1303. Os costará, etc. The sense of the verb is plural unless we take it as impersonal and supply an infinitive construction after it.

1305. Para el río. This expression is out of its natural order and might well be set off by commas. The sense is: "A hat with its band for going to the river."

1306. Avantal=delantal. Cf. v. 1110 and note.

1307. virillas. In addition to its usual meaning, vira, or virilla, is used to denote the border around the top of the shoe, which is its meaning in the present instance.

1314. No hay plata... Potosí. Potosí is a city of Bolivia situated on the Cerro de Potosí at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. The Cerro de Potosí is said to have produced up to the present time over three billion dollars in silver. The first mine was opened there in 1545, and the year of Lope's birth, 1562, a royal mint was established in the city of Potosí to coin the output of the mines. Small wonder is it then that the Spaniards still refer to the city in proverb as a synonym for great riches. Lope mentions it in several of his other dramas.

1324. Compare this speech of doña María with that of Areusa in the Celestina against the exacting duties of servants. (See Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. III, p. 43.)

1341. de mañana, early in the morning.

1349. Bien aforrada razón, etc. In this reply of doña María we see not a little of the précieux spirit which in the same century became so popular in France. A man must not proceed "brutally" to a declaration of love at the very beginning, but by interminable flatteries and conceits lead up to such a declaration, and even then must not expect the object of his devotion to yield at once to his cleverly conceived pleadings.

1404. cristal deshecho refers to the running water of the fountain.

1410. henchirle. The antecedent of le is cántaro.

1417. Ó asoma por el estribo, etc., Or shows through the doorway of the carriage her curls on the hooks of a 'rest.' In modern usage when applied to the parts of a carriage estribo means the "step" but in the text it is used apparently as the equivalent of portezuela. Descanso seems to have been at the time a device used in women's head-dress, such as was represented some years later by Velázquez in his famous portrait of Mariana de Austria, which now hangs in the Prado Museum at Madrid.

1439. Conténtese ó quitaréle. Observe the change from the second person to the third in this verse and the following one.

1455. ¿Qué se hizo tu desdén? What has become of your pride?

1460. Habrán hecho riza en ti, Have probably done you a great injury. Hacer riza, "to cause disaster or slaughter."

1477. si no envidaste, etc., if you have not staked any money, lay down your hand and remain apart. Leonor applies here the terms of a game of cards when speaking of the love-affairs of doña María.

1493. No pone codo en la puente, etc., a reference to the custom of the idlers and braggarts lounging in public places and seeking trouble or offering defiance to every passer-by.

1495. los lavaderos. The banks of the Manzanares immediately in the rear of the Royal Palace have long been the public lavaderos or washing-places of the city of Madrid, and every day acres of network of lines are covered with drying linen. It is here naturally that the gallants of the lower classes go to meet their sweethearts, and scenes such as we have portrayed later in the play are of frequent occurrence. Cf. note on verse 441.

1510. Prado, formerly, as its name implies, a meadow on the outskirts of Madrid and later converted into a magnificent paseo between the Buen Retiro palace and the city proper. The house of Lope de Vega still stands in the narrow Calle de Cervantes, a short distance from the Prado, and the poet often mentions this celebrated paseo in his works. The name is frequently used to refer to the famous art-gallery located there.

1520. quien, cf. 1. 337 and note.

1527-8. Aprended... hoy. Note the repetition of 11. 1237-8.

1543. Durandartes. In Spanish ballads Durandarte is the name of one of the twelve peers who fought with Roland at Roncesvalles. In the Romancero General the adventures and death of the knight are narrated. Steadfast to death in his affections for his beloved Belerma, he gives utterance to his lamentations in the famous old ballad beginning with the following lines:

Durandarte was the cousin of the knight Montesinos who gave his name to the celebrated cave of la Mancha, visited by don Quijote, whose adventures in this connection are narrated in Don Quijote, Part II, Chapters XXII and XXIII. Cervantes calls Durandarte the "flor y espejo de los caballeros enamorados" and probably Lope is indebted to his great contemporary for the word, which he uses in the sense of lances de amor.

1552. Puesto que, etc. The Valencia edition has here instead of this verse: Con todo, no he de culpalle.

1608. de espacio=despacio.

1649. Don Fadrique de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alba and descendant of the great soldier, Alba, was one of Spain's greatest naval commanders. In 1625 he destroyed the Dutch fleet off Gibraltar. Writing this play, as he may have been, with the acclamations of the great victory ringing in his ears, it was quite natural that Lope should honor the hero in his drama and at the same time add to the popularity of his work. Later in 1634 don Fadrique de Toledo fell into disfavor or incurred the jealousy of the Count-Duke Olivares and was cast into prison.

1668. rocín gallego. The gallegos, or inhabitants of Galicia, are a sober, industrious people, but have throughout Spain a reputation for ignorance and stupidity; so they have long been made the butt of malicious gibes and jests by their more volatile fellow-countrymen. In the Valencia edition this verse and the preceding one are rendered in a manner to give a clearer meaning:

1681. Es... vaya, Is all that to tease me?

1696. diera is used here in the double sense of "give" and "strike."

1708. cristal de Venecia. Early in the middle ages Venice was a center for the manufacture of glass. The industry was at its height in the 15th and 16th centuries, but gradually declined until it ceased in the 18th, only to be revived about the middle of the 19th century. Since then Venice has retaken her position as the European center for artistic creations in glass. Near the close of the 13th century the factories were moved outside the city to the island of Murano, where they are at the present time.

1714. Si no, etc., If not in harm, in the realization.—Caer en la cuenta, to understand, realize.

1723. satisfaciones is now written satisfacciones.

1733-4. The language of these two verses is drawn from the popular proverbs: "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, alguna se quiebra," and "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, que deja el asa ó la frente." Doña María uses parts of each of these forms.

1737. volviérades=volvierais. See v. 835 and note.

1782. de canela, that is, agua de canela.

1785. Don Alvaro de Luna, a Spanish courtier, born about 1388, was, in his youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyed to a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a few years later grand master of the order of Santiago—a double distinction never enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of a conspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolid in 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanish authors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has been lost. The romances relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come down to us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites of beggars who sing in the streets of Spanish cities. It is evidently to a romancero or collection of these poems that reference is made by Lope.

1817. el Cid. Rodrigo Ruy Diaz de Bivar (1040-1099), called "el Cid Campeador," is the great national hero of Spain. From the numerous accounts, real and fictitious, of his achievements we learn that he was a great warrior who fought sometimes with the Moors, sometimes with the Spaniards, and that at last as a soldier of fortune he seized Valencia and until his death successfully defied the two great rivals of his time, the Spaniards and the Moors. His life has served as a theme for numerous literary masterpieces, especially the Old Spanish Cantar de mio Cid. Lope de Vega treats of his fall in his play entitled el Milagro por los Celos.

1818. gigote=jigote.

1824. Valladolid, an interesting city of Northern Spain and the seat of an important university. Valladolid has figured prominently in Spanish history for many centuries, for it was long the favorite residence of the Spanish sovereigns. Early in the reign of Philip III the seat of government was again transferred to that city, but was returned to Madrid in 1606.

1836. si le come, if he likes it. Comer, lit. "to eat."

ACT III

1837. No haya más, Let that be the end of it.

1844. No lo acabes de decir, Don't go any farther.

1854. Llegue el lacayo gallina, Let the chicken-hearted lackey come on.

1858. mohadas=mojadas, coll., knife-thrusts.

1863. Pues con él haberlas quiero, Well I am willing to have it out with him.

1901. dueño is regularly used in its present sense when referring to a woman as well as to a man. The feminine dueña has the same meaning, but more commonly means house-keeper or chaperon.

1911. mesmo=mismo.

1920. Cf. v. 1495 and note.

1929. Tocó... el instrumento, etc. The reference is evidently to the bandurría which in its ancient form was a very popular musical instrument for such occasions as the one here described. Compare the description of it with its direct descendant, the modern banjo.

1951. Casa del Campo, commonly written Casa de Campo, is a large royal park immediately in the rear of the royal palace and grounds and on the other side of the Manzanares, which is here spanned by the Puente del Rey.

1960. Felipe y Isabel, that is, Philip IV of Spain and his first wife, Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV, king of France. (See Introduction.) Observe that modern Spanish would require "Felipe e Isabel."

1963. las colores. Color is now almost limited in usage to the masculine, but Lope, like other authors of the 16th and 17th centuries, used it indifferently in the masculine and in the feminine.

2003. pecho, courage.

2044. labrar, embroider.

2109. que antes ha sido, etc., for rather has it been so that I cannot see her.

2131. Porque ha mucho que no soy, Because I have not been there for a long time. There is perhaps a play upon ser, "to exist" in this verse.

2146. Que más de cuatro manteos, etc., That more than a few (lit. "four") of those mantles of yours with fabrics of gold cover many defects.

2164. aceto=acepto.

2172. en pelo, bareback. With mock respect doña María asks pardon for using in the presence of people well-bred a term as commonplace as en pelo. Cf. v. 769 and note.

2217. Alcance, the present subjunctive with the conjunction que omitted.

2236. De cántaro la tenía=Tenía el alma de cántaro. Alma de cántaro is a colloquial term nearly equivalent to our "harebrained fellow."

2238. proverbio, that is, the proverbial use of cántaro in the expression alma de cántaro.

2282. Atlante, a name usually applied to masculine figures in Greek architecture, which, like the female caryatides, take the place of columns. The reference here seems to be to the mythological Atlas, from which word we have the architectural term Atlante. The author used it in the same sense in one of his sonnets:

But Lope knew it in its more exact architectural sense and apparently uses it so in the following lines:

2315. Tened. Note the change from the less formal second person singular as soon as don Juan suspects doña María to be above the servant class.

2342. In Zerolo's edition there is a comma at the end of this verse instead of a period, which is clearly the more correct punctuation.

2347. Vos salisteis diferente, Your origin has been different.

2349. Y yo sin dicha=Y yo salí sin dicha.

2360 and ff. Compare the similar sentiment expressed by the author in el Cuerdo en su casa, Act II, Scene XXIV:

2399. Que darme yo á entender, For me to assume.

2420. por armas, as a coat of arms.

2422. In the Valencia edition this passage is identical except that it continues through one more octava.

2438. Vinculadas en lacayos, Handed down from lackey to lackey. Vincular, "to entail, continue, perpetuate."

2440. Aunque poca me ha cabido, Although little has fallen to my share.

2444. Mondoñedo, a town in Galicia, northeast of Lugo, with a population of about 12,000. This region has been particularly prolific in noble houses and among them is that of Lope de Vega. He mentions the fact in el Premio de bien hablar, when he makes don Juan say:

2446. Volver la silla á el dosel, Conduct himself better on occasions of ceremony. The origin of the expression is explained in the following note in the London edition of the play: "Alude á la costumbre de estar en los actos públicos la silla del rey vuelta hacia el dosel siempre que S. M. no la ocupa. Así se mantuvo la silla real en las Cortes Extraordinarias de Cádiz y Madrid todo el tiempo que Fernando VII estuvo preso en Francia."

2452. Aunque pide, etc., Although the sack of salt requires greater fortune. A probable reference to the high cost of living and particularly to the high price of salt, of which Olivares made a government monopoly in 1631, the year previous to the revision or appearance of the play.

2468. Que no hay hueso que dejar, For nothing must be omitted. Lit. "For not a bone must be left out".

2534. Que á saber, For if I had known.

2539. Aunque á Alejandro, etc. Apelles was a famous Greek painter in the time of Philip and Alexander. His renown may be imagined, since the three cities, Colophon, Ephesus and Cos, claimed to be his birthplace. He spent, however, the greater part of his life in the Macedonian court, where he was very popular. Many anecdotes were told of Alexander and Apelles which show the intimate relations of the two and among which is the one referred to in the text. Apelles had painted Campaspe, also called Pancaste, the favorite of Alexander, undraped, and had fallen in love with her. The generous monarch learning of it yielded her up to the painter. This picture is said to have been the famous Venus Anadyomene. At the time of the first representation of the play, the author must have had Apelles fresh in mind, for about that date he cites another anecdote of the painter in his dedication of Amor secreto hasta Zelos, and mentions him several times in miscellaneous verse of the period.

2549-50. que no soy tan del Conde, I do not belong so much to the Count.

2559-61. These three lines are disconnected and are not adjusted either to the rime scheme of the preceding verses or to that of the following. They may be part of a popular song of the day.

2561. juegan cañas. Cane tourneys were modern adaptations of the medieval tilts or jousts, in which the contestants were mounted on horseback but armed only with reeds. The contests were made up of several features which permitted the participants to exhibit their skill in horsemanship. They were popular in the first part of the reign of Philip IV, for the king encouraged them and even took part in them himself.

2562. ¡Mala letra para novios! The reference finds its full expression in a rime of coarse sentiment which recounts the immediate fortunes attending the novio who dreams of bulls.

2567. Dos meses. Cf. v. 2146 and note.

2641. ¡Vive Dios, que si... bajeza! By heavens, if this be true I shall kill you rather than permit such a disgrace.

2679. por andar encubierta, in order to remain in disguise.

2685. á escuras=á oscuras.

2691. Compare this with the following lines from the Égloga á Claudio:

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