of the Black Prince and the odour of his virtues were still fresh in Spain. It was the age of chivalry, the noon-day of heroism and honour. A Portugueze, one of the good and loyal Portugueze as their own excellent chronicler calls them, who fought at Aljubarrota, for King Joam of good memory, might conceive the character of Amadis. Nuno Alvares Pereira might be his living pattern. But a Spaniard who described humane and generous valour in the days of Ferdinand and the Austrian family, could paint only from a dim recollection of the past. A century the most eventful of any in human history had changed every thing, the mode of warfare, the politics, the religious feelings of Europe were all altered. The Inquisition and the house of Austria, two curses more fatal than all the plagues of Egypt, were established in Spain, and her civil and religious liberties were destroyed.

Inferior as these after-books of Amadis certainly are, they form so singular an epoch in the history of literature that an abridgement of the whole series into our language is to be desired. Should this be attempted, it must be from the Spanish, not from the Bibliotheque des Romans, nor from the versions of D'Herberay. D'Herberay has omitted much that is curious in manners, and inserted much that is abominable in morals; he is inaccurate and obscene. There is occasionally, though but rarely, a rude and savage nakedness in the original which I have veiled. The French

man has always delighted to expose it; he has dilated single phrases into whole paragraphs, with that love of lewdness which is so peculiarly and characteristically the disgrace of French litera

ture.

What is become of these books which were once so numerous? in their own country they are as rare as they are in this. Almost one might suppose that the curate and the barber had extended their inquisitorial scrutiny to the booksellers' shops, and committed editions instead of volumes to the flames.

4

Ir is the hypothesis of Warton, that romance was introduced by the Moors into Spain, and from thence diffused over Europe. Writers of equal eminence have controverted this opinion, and advanced others equally hypothetical. Romance, or fictitious narrative, is, in fact, like poetry, common to all countries, and its character is in like manner every where modified by the circumstances of society.

The machinery of the carly romance writers is probably rather of classical than of oriental origin. Classical superstitions lingered long after the triumph of Christianity. The Spanish chronicles continually speak of augury. Certain practices of heathen faith were prohibited in Portugal, by

a law enacted during the life of Vasco Lobeira. The Fathers of the Church expressly assert that the gods of the gentiles are the fallen angels; and with this key, a Catholic may believe the whole of Ovid's Metamorphoses. St. Anthony the Great saw and conversed with a centaur, and St. Jerome vouches for his veracity.

Enchanted weapons may be traced to the workshop of Vulcan as easily as to the dwarfs of Scandinavia. The tales of dragons may be originally oriental; but the.adventures of Jason and Hercules were popular tales in Europe, long before the supposed migration of Odin, or the birth of Mohammed. If magical rings were invented in Asia, it was Herodotus who introduced the fashion into Europe. The fairies and ladies of the lake bear a closer resemblance to the nymphs and naiads of Rome and Greece, than to the peris of the East.

5

THE reputation of the books of chivalry was declining, when Cervantes destroyed it. George of Montemayor had newly introduced the pastoral romance; his Diana is so dull and worthless a story, that it is wonderful it should ever have been successful enough to provoke imitation. Tales of intrigue were becoming fashionable. Of these Juan de Timoneda, a Valencian, is said to

have been the first writer in Spain. His first work El Patranuelo bears date 1576. These novelas were symptomatic of worse morals than the books of chivalry. The comic romance, of which the heroes are uniformly rogues, was st.il more mischievous. Lazarillo de Tormes was the first of this class: of the swarm which followed, Guzman de Alfarache, and La Picara Justina are the best known. The common ballads of the country were infected, and ruffians and sharpers are still the heroes of the popular songs of Spain. The French romances do not appear to have been naturalised either in Spain or Portugal. Of late indeed we are told by Fischer that two editions of Cassandra have Fold in the space of a year and a half at Madrid. It is singular that Calprenade should have found no readers in Spain, till he was no longer read in any other part of Europe.

The books of chivalry have become scarce, in consequence of their popularity. They have probably been fairly worn out by repeated perusal; but as their fashion was gone by, it was useless to reprint them for general sale. Some few are still published for children, and it is no little proof of their merit that they are their favourite books. In England we have Valentine and Orson, and the Seven Champions of Christendom. Parismus and Parismenos, which is among the boys' books mentioned by Uncle Toby and in the very interesting Memoirs of Mr. Gifford, has lost its ground. In Portugal, Turpin's History of Char

lemain and the Twelve Peers is the popular work; the parent of the whole stock, is the last survivor.

.6

Ir remains that I should state in what manner the present version has been executed.

To have translated a closely printed folio would have been absurd. I have reduced it to about half its length, by abridging the words, not the story; by curtailing the dialogue, avoiding all recapitulations of the past action, consolidating many of those single blows which have no reference to armorial anatomy, and passing over the occasional moralizings of the author. There is no vanity in saying, that this has improved the book, for what long work may not be improved by compression? meagre wine may be distilled into alcohol. The minutest traits of manners have been preserved, and not an incident of the narrative omitted. I have merely reduced the picture, every part is preserved, and in the same proportions. Amadis of Gaul is valuable, not only for its intrinsic merit, as a fiction, but as a faithful representation of manners and morality; and as such, these volumes may be referred to, as confidently as the original. The edition which I have made use of is that of Seville,* 1547. The copy, for

* M. le C. Gordon de Percel in his Bibliotheque des Romans, says the oldest edition of Amadis is that of Seville,