то THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD HOLLAND. MY LORD, It was you who in this country first excited and first gratified the public curiosity with respect to the Literature of Spain; and prepared the way for other less illustrious labourers. To you, my Lord, I would venture to dedicate a Volume containing Translations of the least pretending, though not the least interesting, class of Spanish Poetry; and proud I am to associate with the recollections of Spain, and with the name of your Lordship, my affection for the one and my respect for the other. I have the honour to be, My Lord, Your obedient humble servant, HACKNEY, March 20, 1824. JOHN BOWRING. PREFACE. I HAD sketched a short history of the popular poetry of Spain, and had endeavoured to trace the changes which extraordinary political vicissitudes had produced upon the literature of that interesting country; but, to confess the truth, the more I read, and the more I thought on the subject, the less was I satisfied with the information obtained, or with the deductions I was disposed to draw. I choose rather to own that I was groping about in the twilight, than to make a parade of the few memorials which I have been able to gather together out of the ruins the splendid ruins of other days. And I suspect, as a man grows older, if his honesty grow with his years, he will set a less value the sum of contribution to the mass of know upon ledge which he is enabled to bring. He will find he has little to say which has not been said before, and little to communicate which is not already known. The popular poetry of Spain is, however, especially interesting, because it is truly national. Its influence has, perhaps, served more than any other circumstance to preserve, from age to age, the peculiar characteristics of the Spanish nation. Their language, their habitual thoughts and feelings, their very existence, have all borrowed the hues of their romantic songs. The immortality of their poets is not alone in the recollections, or the affections, of the people, but in their every-day pursuits, and enjoyments, and cares. All events have combined to create this character. The haughty orientalism of the Mussulmans, and the rude struggles of ardent and courageous adventurers for freedom,-the knight-errantry of the chivalric ages, the music of the trobadores,-all in action among high mountains, mighty streams, the surrounding sea, the unclouded heaven, and conveyed through a language |