PART II.

VII. Martinez de la Rosa Born 1789. Living 1851. Age 62.

VIII. The Duke de Rivas Born 1791. Living 1851. Age 60.

IX. Breton de los Herreros Born 1796. Living 1851. Age 55.

X. Heredia Born 1803. Died 1839. Age 35.

XI. Espronceda Born 1810. Died 1842. Age 32.

XII. Zorrilla Born 1817. Living 1851. Age 34.

PRELIMINARY NOTE.

For readers unacquainted with the Spanish language, it may be perhaps most advisable, in this place, to affix a few short instructions for the proper pronunciation of such names and words as are to be found in the following pages.

1. The vowels in Spanish have each invariably their peculiar sound; not as in English, where each has two or more sounds, making them in fact so distinct as strictly requiring to be designated by different characters, or after the manner of the Hebrew points. Thus _a_ has always the broad open sound found in the English words _arm_, _arrack_.

_e_, long or short, as in the English words _ere_, _ever_.

_i_ and _y_, as in _machine_, _syntax_.

_o_, long or short, as in _ore_, _host_, _hostage_.

_u_ has uniformly the sound of _oo_ in _food_. The Celtic sound of this vowel, preserved in France and Portugal, is unknown in Spain, and also in the Basque or Biscayan language.

2. Of the consonants, _b_ has a softer sound than in English, and approaches to _v_, which again is made to sound like _b_. Thus the city of the Havana is, in Spanish spelling, La Habana, and the river Bidasoa is written Vidasoa.

_c_, before _a_, _o_, _u_, is to be pronounced hard, as in English; before _e_ or _i_, it is to be sounded like _th_ in _thin_, though in the provinces this pronunciation is giving way to the French and English mode of sounding the letter. Thus the name of the great Roman orator is pronounced Thithero. _ch_ has always the soft sound it usually has in English, as in _chat_, _check_, _chin_, _choke_, _chum_.

_d_, at the end of a word, is generally pronounced like _th_: thus Madrid is Madrith; _ciudad_, a city, is pronounced _thiudath_; otherwise, both _d_ and _t_ are spoken as in English, or slightly more dentally.

_f_ has the same sound as in English.

_g_ is an aspirate, like our _h_, more or less guttural, according to the word. The soft sound of this letter, as in _gem_, left by the Celts in Italy and Portugal, is unknown in Spain, as is also the soft sound of the letter _j_.

_h_ may be said to be invariably a silent letter, and seems only used to prevent two vowels running into each other, so as to form a diphthong.

_j_ is a very harsh guttural, like the Hebrew _Cheth_. Thus Juan (John) is to be pronounced strongly, Hwan; Josè (Joseph) also strongly, Hosè.

The letters _k_, _l_, _m_, _n_, _p_, are the same as in English.

_q_ or _qu_ has the sound of our _k_: thus _que_ (that) is the same as the Italian _che_.

_r_, _s_, _t_ have the same sounds as in English, except that the first has one somewhat rougher, especially when two come together.

_x_ is a strong guttural, for which _j_ is now generally used, as Don Quijote.

_z_ is pronounced as _th_: thus Cadiz is sounded Cadith.

The Spaniards consider their _ll_ and _ñ_, or _n_ with a circumflex, distinct letters, but they are in fact only the letters _l_ or _n_ with the sound of _i_ after them, as in the English words _million_, _minion_, being the same sound that the French and Italians express by _gn_, or _gl_. Several names may be found in the body of this work altered according to our mode of spelling, though in the headings retained as in the original, as Padillia instead of Padilla. For the sake of preserving the sound free from constant explanation or confusion, the like course has been sometimes adopted with regard to other words, as, for instance, the name of the river Genil or Xenil, represented in English as Henil.

Two or more vowels coming together are enunciated so as to form one syllable generally in Spanish, and especially in poetry, yet nevertheless so as to allow of each vowel to be sounded distinctly, as each syllable is also.

With regard to accents, the general rule is, that it should be placed on the penultimate syllable. There are many exceptions, but in print these are always marked by the accent (´) on the vowel indicated, except in words of two syllables, which, if ending in a consonant, have generally the accent on the last syllable, if ending in a vowel, on the first, without being notified.

From these notices it may be observed, that the Spanish language is remarkable for two sounds, the guttural and the predominating _th_, which distinguish it from the two sister dialects of Italy and Portugal, while it is deficient in the soft sound of _g_ and _j_, found so frequently used in the latter. These two assimilate so much to each other that natives of either country understand those of the other readily, while they cannot those of Spain, showing that the influence of the Gothic and Moorish invaders was impressed there on the pronunciation of the common language, though it was not extended to altering materially the language itself.

Besides the soft sound of the _g_, there are two other sounds unknown in Spanish, though common in Portugal and France, left by their former Celtic inhabitants, those of the _sh_ or French _j_, and the disagreeable nasal pronunciation of the letter _n_. The latter is very slightly given in _Don_, and a few other words, but the other is unknown. In Portuguese it is so prevalent that they even use it for Latin words which it would be difficult to recognize at first as the originals from which the others were derived; thus the words _pluvia_, _plorare_, transformed in Spanish into _lluvia_, _lorar_, are in Portuguese further transformed into _chuva_ (_shuva_), _chorar_ (_shorar_). The natives of Galicia speak a dialect more allied to Portuguese than the Spanish, being of more decided Celtic descent, like the Portuguese, than the rest of the people of the Peninsula. The natives of Catalonia speak a dialect half French, half Spanish, which may be considered the representative of the ancient Provencal or Limoisin. It is very guttural as well as nasal. The Basque or Biscayan language is entirely distinct from the modern Spanish, and also from the Latin, the Celtic, or that of any neighbouring country, and is well deserving of study. It has no harsh or disagreeable sounds in it, and abounds in vowels, many words having not a single consonant in them.

ERRATA.

Page xxii line 30, _instead of_ association, _read_ assertion. -- 11, -- 18, ---- “make it a well,” _read_ “use it for a well.” -- 60, -- 7, ---- suffice _read_ suffices. -- 66, -- 11, ---- sensibly _read_ sensitively. -- 157, -- 23, ---- sage _read_ shade. -- 271, -- 29, ---- nineteen _read_ eighteen. -- 301, -- 12, ---- “of Lord Byron’s,” _read_ “in Lord Byron’s.”

Page 145, line 4, “has been announced,” &c. This statement is erroneous, the reference having been made to Mr. J. Russell’s Life of Gonzalo de Còrdova, translated from Quintana’s first volume, London, 1851.

CONTENTS.

Page

DEDICATION iii

INTRODUCTION. On the character of Spanish Poetry, Ancient and Modern.--Causes affecting it suggested from considerations of Roman civilization, Moorish wars, and personal history of the principal Poets.--Works on Spanish literature: Remarks on translation and language.--References to other modern Poets.--Spanish metres and versification vii

PRELIMINARY NOTE. On the pronunciation of Spanish names and words xxxiii