Chapter 40

THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES: SPAIN

The Drama still Brilliant: Moratin. Historians and Philosophers, Novelists, Orators.

THE DRAMA. Since the middle of the seventeenth century, approximately, Spain has exercised less literary influence than in the preceding centuries. Nevertheless Spanish literature was not extinct; it was in the drama more especially that it was manifest. Candamo, Cañizares, and Zamora all illumined the stage. Candamo devoted himself to the historical drama; his masterpiece in this type was _The Slave in Golden Chains_; Cañizares, powerful satirist, displayed the comic spirit in his comedies of character; Zamora manipulated the comedy of intrigue with remarkable dexterity. Then came Vincente de la Huerta, skilful in combining the type of French tragedy with something of the ancient dramatic national genius; then Leandro Moratin (called Moratin the Younger to distinguish him from his father Nicholas), very imitative, no doubt, of Molière, but in himself highly gifted, and of whose works can still be read with pleasure _The Old Man and the Young Girl_, _The New Comedy on the Coffee_, _The Female Hypocrite_, etc. He also wrote lyrical poems and sonnets. He lived long in France, where he became impregnated with Gallic classical literature.

PROSE.--Stronger and more brilliant at that period than the poetry, the prose was represented by Father Florez, author of _Ecclesiastical Spain_; by the Marquis de San Phillipo, author of the _War of Succession in Spain_; by Antonio de Solis, author of _The Conquest of Mexico_. In fiction there was the interesting Father Isla, a Jesuit, who gave a clever imitation of the _Don Quixote_ of Cervantes in his _History of the Preacher Friar Gerund_. He was well read and patriotic. He was convinced that Le Sage had taken all his _Gil Blas_ from various Spanish authors, and he published a translation of his novel under the title: _The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santiago, stolen from Spain and adopted in France by M. Le Sage, restored to their country and native tongue by a jealous Spaniard who will not endure being laughed at_. Another Jesuit (and it may be noticed that Spanish Jesuits of the seventeenth century often displayed a very liberal and modern mind), Father Feijoo, wrote a kind of philosophical dictionary entitled _Universal Dramatic Criticism_, a review of human opinions which was satirical, humorous, and often extremely able. The historian Antonio de Solis, who was also a reasonably capable dramatist, produced a _History of the Conquest of South America Known under the name of New Spain_, in a chartered style that was very elegant and even too elegant. Jovellanos wrote much in various styles. Among others he wrote one fine tragedy, _Pelagia_; a comedy presenting clever contrasts, entitled _The Honorable Criminal_; a mass of studies on the past of Spain, economic treatises, satires, and pamphlets. Engaged in all the historical and political vicissitudes of his country, he expired miserably in 1811, after having been alternately in exile and at the head of affairs.

ROMANTICISM.--In the nineteenth century Spanish romanticism was brought back in dignified poetic style by Angel Saavedra, José Zorilla, Ventura de la Vega, Ramon Campoamor, Espronceda. The latter especially counts among the great literary Spaniards, for he was poet and novelist, who wrote _The Student of Salamanca_ (Don Juan), _The Devil World_ (a kind of Faust), lyrical poems, and an historical novel, _Sancho Saldano_.

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.--In drama, _Quintana_ also produced a _Pelagia_; the Duke of Rivas a _Don Alvaro_, which enjoyed an immediate success; Zorilla a _Don Juan_ entirely novel in conception; Martinez de la Rose tragedies, some in the classic vein, others with modern intrigue and comedies; Gutierrez, by his _Foundling_, attracted the attention of librettists of French operas; Breton de los Herreros wrote sparkling comedies, the multiplicity of which suggest Scribe. In prose, Fernan Caballero was a fertile novelist and an attentive and accurate painter of manner. Trueba (who was also an elegant poet) was an affecting idyllic novelist. Emilio Castelar, the Lamartine of Spain as he was called by Edmond About, was a splendid orator, thrown by the chances of political life for one hour at the head of national affairs, who raised himself to the highest rank in the admiration of his contemporaries by his novels: for instance, _The Sister of Charity_ and his works on philosophical history and the history of art, _Civilisation in the First Centuries of Christianity_, _The Life of Byron_, _Souvenirs of Italy_, etc. In our day, there have been numerous distinguished authors (and for us, at least, out of the crowd stands forth the dramatist José Echegaray), who carry on the glorious tradition of Spanish literature.