CONTENTS TO NO. XXXV. ART. I. Some Account of the Lives and Writings of Lopez Felix de Page II. Historical Sketches of the South of India; in an Attempt to trace the History of Mysoor; from the Origin of the Hindoo Government of that State to the Extinction of the Mahomedan Dynasty in 1799. By Colonel Mark Wilks III. The Lives of Haydn and Mozart; with Observations on the Genius of Metastasio, and the present State of Music in France and Italy. Translated from the French of L. A. C. IV. The History of Brazil. By Robert Southey. Vol. ii. V. Plan of Parliamentary Reform, in the form of a Catechism, with reasons for each Article; with an Introduction, show- ing the necessity of radical, and the inadequacy of mo- derate Reform. By Jeremy Bentham, Esq. VI. Relation Historique du Voyage de MM. de Humboldt et Bonpland. Tome premier, Seconde Partie, conte- nant les feuilles 45 à 81, la Table des Matières et l'Er- VII. A practical Inquiry into the Causes of the frequent Failure of the Operations of Depression, and of the Extraction of the Cataract, as usually performed; with the Descrip- tion of a Series of new and improved Operations, by the practice of which most of these Causes of Failure may be avoided. Illustrated by Tables of the comparative success of the new and old modes of practice. By Sir VIII. Naufrage de la Frégate La Méduse, faisant partie de l'Expé- dition du Sénégal, en 1816. Par J.B. Savigny, Ex-thirur- gien de la Marine, et Alexandre Corréard, Ingénieur Géo- graphe; tous deux Naufragés du Radéay IX. Mandeville: a Tale of the seventeenth Century in England. XI. Narrative of a Voyage to Hudson's Bay, in his Majesty's Ship Rosamond, containing some Account of the North- XII. Panorama d'Angleterre, ou Ephémérides Anglaises Politi- ques et Littéraries. Publiées par M. Charles Malo, de XIII. Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Watson, D.D. Bishop of Landaff; written by himself at different intervals, and re- QUARTERLY REVIEW. OCTOBER, 1817, ART. I. Some Account of the Lives and Writings of Lopez Felix de Vega Carpio, and Guillen de Castro. By Henry Richard Lord Holland. 2 vols. London. 1817. No O name among the Spanish poets is so generally known out of its own country as that of Lopez de Vega, but it is only the name; and perhaps no author whose reputation is so widely extended has been so little read. The good fortune, however, of this phoenix of Spain' has not wholly forsaken him, and he has been as happy now in a biographer, as he was during his life in obtaining the patronage of the great, and the favour of the public. This celebrated man was born at Madrid on the 25th of November, 1562: both his parents were persons of good family in that city, and the father, according to the son's testimony, was deserving of praise as a poet: it may, indeed, frequently be noticed, that an aptitude for metre is hereditary, like that for drawing, or the more analogous art of music. At five years of age young Lopez is said to have composed verses, and exchanged them with his school-fellows for prints and sweetmeats :-school-boys in Spain must be very different from those in other parts of the world, if such wares were saleable among them. It is said also, that at this early age he could read Latin; and that at eleven he was master of the Latin idiom, with rhetoric, eloquence, and poetry :-but however complete his classical education may have been thought, the Latin verses which he ventured to publish in after life would not have passed muster in the fourth form at Westminster. He was taught also to dance, to sing, and to fence. When he was about fourteen he ran away from school, being actuated, according to his friend and eulogist, Montalva, by a restless desire of seeing the worldanother biographer, with more propriety, hints at this as one of the vagaries and scrapes of his youth. One of his school-fellows accompanied him in his elopement; they bought a mule at Segovia, and got as far as Astorga before they perceived that the state of their finances made it prudent for them to return home. This measure, which in itself was not very palatable, was accelerated by an unpleasant adventure at Segovia on their way back Having offered some trinkets for sale, the tradesman to whom they applied took them before a magistrate upon a suspicion that they had stolen them, and the magistrate, with a moderation which, from the VOL. XVIII. NO. XXXV. 1 praise bestowed on it, appears not to have been usual at that time, sent them home under the care of a constable. After this we find Lopez de Vega mentioned as an orphan, without any friend to whom he might look for support, or any means of supporting himself. He obtained, however, the patronage of the inquisitor general D. Geronymo Manrique, bishop of Seville, and composed sundry eclogues to his honour;-under this patronage probably it was that he was enabled to study philosophy, such as was taught at Alcala, and to graduate at that university. The Duke of Alva then took him into his service, as secretary:-whether this was the old duke or his successor, is said by Nicolao Antonio to be uncertain; it was most probably the former, for the duke's death did not take place till the year 1583, and as Lopez remained only four years at Alcala, he must have quitted it two or three yearsbefore that event. His Arcadia is said to have been written at the desire of his patron, and hence also an argument may be drawn that it was the father and not the son, in whose service he was engaged, for the work which was then written appears not to have been licensed and published till 1598, the death of the patron being the apparent cause of this delay. Alva's name is written for everlasting infamy in the history of the Low Countries: he was one whose stern and inexorable nature made him capable of cruelties to which he was instigated by a mistaken sense of duty, and an implicit faith in an abominable superstition. Thus it is that while in other parts of Europe he is named always as a monster of faithlessness and inhumanity, in his own country he is remembered only for his great qualities, his signal services, and his redeeming virtues.* Lopez de Vega regarded him with unfeigned admiration, and speaks of him accordingly in terms of the highest eulogium, where there is no * Lopez de Vega places his panegyric in the mouth of them agician Dardanio, one of the personages in the Arcadia. The magician is exhibiting certain statues in his cavern, and relating prophetically whom they represent. This last,' he says, whose gray head is adorned by the ever verdant leaves of the ungrateful Daphne, merited by Somany victories, is the immortal soldier Don Fernando de Toledo, Duke of Alva, so justly worthy of that Fame which you behold lifting herself to Heaven from the plumes of the helmet, with the trump of gold, through which for ever she will proclaim his exploits and spread His name from Spanish Tagus to the African Mutazend, and from the Neapolitan Sabelo to the French Garonne. This will be Pompilius in religion, Radamanthus in severity, Belisarius in his guerdon, Anaxagoras in constancy, Epaminondas in magnanimity, Themistocles in the love of his country, Perianderin wedlock, Pomponius in veracity, Alexander Severus in justice, Attilius (Regulu s)in fidelity, Cato-in modesty, and finally Timotheus in the felicity which attended all bis wars. This is a goodspecimen of the style in which the Arcadia is written. The in scription under the Statue is curious,--its play upon words renders it untranslatable. De tal Sol nacio mi llama Y de tal Alva sali, Y a mi Rey tam bien servi Sin ver jamas rostro al miedo |