CALDE RON'S THEDE?010IOEIBECfiOSS IRSITY of [FORNIA oiseo . L BAYFIELD BEQFEST. By the fame Author. I. DRAMAS FROM THE SPANISH OF CALDERON. 2 VOLS. LONDON : C. DOLMAN. * # * Thefe Volumes contain unabridged Tranflations of the following fix celebrated Dramas: The Purgatory of St. Patrick, The Conjlant Prince, The Scarf and the Flower, The Phyfician of bis oivn Honour, The Secret in Words, and To Love after Death. II. BALLADS, POEMS, AND LYRICS, ORIGINAL AND TRANSLATED. DUBLIN : M'GLASHAN. %* A few Copies of this Edition may ftill be had of Mr. Cornifli, Bookfeller and Publisher, 1 8, Grafton Street, Dublin. III. THE BELL-FOUNDER, THE VOYAGE OF ST. BRENDAN, THE FORAY OF CON O'DONNELL, ALICE AND UNA, AND OTHER POEMS. LONDON : KENT AND Co. (Bocus). DUBLIN : M'GLASHAN AND GILL. IV. THE BRIDAL OF THE YEAR, THE YEAR KING, THE MEETING OF THE FLOWERS, THE PROGRESS OF THE ROSE, AND OTHER POEMS OF THE FANCY. (UNDERGLIMPSES.) LONDON : KENT AND Co. (Bocus). DUBLIN : M'GLASHAN AND GILL. LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT, THE SORCERIES OF SIN, AND THE DEVOTION OF THE CROSS. cdl Li LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT: THE SORCERIES OF SIN: THE DEVOTION OF THE CROSS. FROM THE SPANISH OF CALDERON. ATTEMPTED STRICTLY IN ENGLISH ASONANTE AND OTHER IMITATIVE VERSE, BY DENIS FLORENCE MAC-GARTH Y, M.R.I. A. WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO EACH DRAMA, AND NOTES BY THE TRANSLATOR, AND THE SPANISH TEXT FROM THE EDITIONS OF HARTZENBUSCH, KEIL, AND APONTES. LONDON: LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN AND ROBERTS. I86l. TO GEORGE TICKNOR, ESQ. THE HISTORIAN OF SPANISH LITERATURE, Cijts Volume IS INSCRIBED IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE OF INFORMATION LIBERALLY COMMUNICATED, AND PRAISE GENEROUSLY BESTOWED. PREFACE. N 1853 I publiflied two volumes of tranflations from the Spanifh of Calderon, which contained the firft (as it ftill continues to be the only) complete verfion of any of his plays that has ever been prefented to the Englifh reader.* This attempt met with as much fuccefs as I could have reafonably anticipated for it, confidering the circumftances under which the work grew up, as detailed in the preface, and the timidity with which I fhrunk from the whole metrical difficulties of my talk dif- ficulties which then appeared to me to be fo infurmountable, that, had I the time, I fcarcely would have had the courage to try and overcome. A forced leifure, however, of many months, occurring at irregular intervals, but extending through the whole of the intervening period, * The dramas contained in thofe volumes are the following : The Purgatory of Saint Patrick, The Conflant Prince, The Scarf and the Flower, The Phyjician of his own Honour, The Secret in Words, and Love after Death. The remark in the text is by no means meant to difparage Mr. Fitzgerald's Six Plays of Calderon freely tranf- Jated, London, 1853, the nervous blank verfe of which, though I think unfuited to Calderon, I greatly admire ; but furely a tranflator who confeffes that he has " funk, reduced, altered, and replaced" whatever did not feem to him particularly "fine" in his author, can fcarcely be taken as a fatisfa&ory interpreter of a poet whofe very de- fefts and extravagances are as charafteriftic of his genius as are his beauties. viii PREFACE. having again induced me to refume my labours upon Calderon, I felt the very difficulties, which before I had left unattempted, an attraction and an incentive, as fupplying a more laborious occupation, and a more engroffing diffraction. I felt, too, a fmcere artiftic conviction that I was bound to do my beft for a poet whom I had been, to fome extent, inftru- mental in introducing to a foreign audience, and a determination that he mould not fuffer in their eftimation by any wilful omiflion or neglect on the part of him at whofe invitation he had appeared before them. Two things I fet before me at the beginning of my renewed tafk, which, I truft, I have pretty faithfully obferved to the end ; namely, in the firft place, to give the meaning of my author exactly, and in its integrity, neither departing from it through diftufenefs, nor cramping it through condenfation ; and, fecondly, to exprefs it ftrictly in the form of the original, or not to exprefs it at all. It is by no means my intention to enter into the oft-debated queftion as to the principles which mould guide or coerce the tranflator in his tafk. As far as the tranflator is concerned, it is a much eafier thing to produce a popular and flowing verfion of any foreign poem or play, than a faithful and exact one j and the effect to be produced will fo depend upon the capacity and culture of the reader, whether, in a word, he will have his German or Spanifh fo thoroughly " done into Englifh," as to have every particle of its original nature eliminated out of it, or will have it faithfully prefented to him, with all its native peculiarities pre- ferved, is fo much a matter of tafte, that no definite rule can ever be arrived at in the matter. What Mr. Newman has faid upon this fubject fo entirely agrees with my own impreflions, that I print his ob- fervations here, the more readily, that I have been actuated independently by the fame convictions long before I was aware that they were fhared by him. Mr. Newman, alluding to fome of his own critics, who had laid down, as axioms, certain principles which he confiders to be utterly PREFACE. ix falfe and ruinous to tranflation, thus proceeds : " One of thefe is, that the reader ought, if poffible, to forget that it is a tranflation at all, and be lulled into the illufion that he is reading an original work. Of courfe, a neceflary inference from fuch a dogma is, that whatever has a foreign colour is undefirable, and is even a grave defedt. The tranflator, it feems, muft carefully obliterate all that is chara&eriftic of the original, unlefs it happens to be identical in fpirit to fomething already familiar in Englifh. From fuch a notion I cannot too ftrongly exprefs my intenfe diflent. I aim at precifely the oppofite ; to retain every peculiarity of the original, as far as I am able, with the greater care, the more foreign it may happen to be, whether it be matter of tafte, of intellect, or of morals."* On this principle I have ated throughout the entire of this volume, with what fuccefs, however, of courfe remains to be feen. The peculiar feature, then, of this Tranflation is its rigid adherence to the metres of the original, and particularly to that efpecial Spanifh one, the afonante vowel rhyme, of which but a few fcattered fpecimens exift in Englifh, and thefe rather as famples of what our language was incapable of producing to any confiderable extent, than of what it could achieve. This metre is fo very peculiar, and fo oppofed to anything that bears the femblance of rhyme in Englifh, that I have known feveral perfons, who were able to read in the original a romance, or a fcene from a Spanifh play, and who, notwithftanding, never perceived the delicate and moft elaborate form of verfification they had been enjoying, until their attention was drawn to it ; when once feen or heard, however, the difcovery is hailed with delight, and we look or liften for the ever- recurring fimilarity of cadence or conftru&ion, " the manifold wild chimes" of the Spanifh afonance, with pleafure and furprife. The numerous examples of it throughout this volume will fhow the reader * The Iliad of Homer, faithfully tranjlated into unrhymed EngliJIi Metre } by F. W. Newman. (London, 1856.) Preface, p. xv. x PREFACE. what it is more clearly, perhaps, than any explanation j and yet fome definition of it may not be inappropriate in this place. " The Spanifh afonante"* fays the late Lord Holland, " is a word which refembles another in the vowel on which the laft accent falls, as well as the vowel, or vowels, that follow it ; but every confonant after the accented vowel muft be different from that in the correfponding fy liable. Thus : tos and amor^ orilla and delira^ alamo and paxaro y are all afonantes." f This definition, though, perhaps, a little too limited for the boundlefs variety and freedom of the afonance, may be confidered tolerably fatisfa&ory. The rhyme, fuch as it is, is not confined, as in all other languages, to a few repetitions, of which thofe in the otave ftanza are, perhaps, the moft frequent j but in Spanifh, the fame afonance, that is, the fame recurring fimilarity of vowel, or vowels, in the laft accented fyllable, or fyllables, of every fecond line is kept up unchanged, however long may be the ballad or the fcene in which it is commenced. In Spanifh, from the open found of the vowels, and from the copioufhefs of the language, this is eafy. In fat, it is faid that the difficulty lies not in producing the afonante where it is required, but in avoiding it in the intermediate lines, where it is fuperfluous. But in Englifh the cafe is very different j from the comparative weaknefs of the vowel founds,J from the rare poffibility of combining them, and, what is ftill more, from their per- * This word is generally written ajjbnant in Englifh. For a thing fo entirely Spanifti, perhaps the Spanifh form is the more appropriate one, and I have therefore followed Lord Holland and Mr. Ticknor in calling it by its original name. f Life of Lope de Pega, vol. II. p. 215. J Mr. Newman has a remark, in the Preface from which I have already quoted, which feems to be applicable here, efpecially in reference to the general objection made againft the introdu&ion of the afonance into northern languages, namely, its infuffici- ency and incompletenefs of found. " An accentual metre," he fays, " in a language loaded with confonants, cannot have the fame fort of founding beauty, as a quantitative metre in a highly vocalized language. It is not audible iameneis of metre, but a like- nefs of moral genius which is to be arrived at." P. xvii. PREFACE. xi petual variation in quantity, anything like producing the fame effet as in the Spanifti is impoflible. Yet this " ghoft of a rhyme," as Dean Trench calls it,* is better than none at all ; and I have found, from my own experience, that an inflexible determination to reproduce it, at whatever trouble, even though with imperfect fuccefs, enables the tranf- lator more clofely to render the meaning of the original, and faves him from the danger of being tempted into diffufenefs by the facilities of expanfion which even the unrhymed trochaic, without the afonante^ too readily fupplies. Tranflators who have felt the weight of too much liberty might find within the reftri&ed limits of the afonance the fame falutary reftraints which Wordfworth difcovered " Within the fonnet's fcanty plot of ground" it is to be hoped with fome flight portion of the fame fuccefs. With regard to the dramas and auto fele&ed for tranflation in this * In his charming little book on Calderon (Lifers a Dream, &c. London, 1856), Dean Trench has the merit of being the firft to attempt the tranflation of any portion of Calderon into equivalent Englifh afonantes : his tranflations having been made, as I infer from his preface, about eighteen years before they were publiftied. I may fupply here an omiffion in the Preface to my Dramas from Calderon, when noticing the contributions to a knowledge of the Spanifti Drama which our early Englifti literature fupplies, an omiffion alfo noticeable in that part of Dean Trench's Eflay which goes over the fame ground. I was not aware at the time that Preface was written that Sir Richard Fanfhaw, the tranflator of Guarini and Camoens, had given, in 164.9, a very pleafing verfion in fliort lyrical lines, almoft Spanifh in their fe- licity and grace, of Antonio de Mendoza's long and fmgular drama, Querer par Solo Querer (" To Love for Love's Sake"). This is the drama which took Charles Lamb three " well-wafted hours" to read, and, according to him, nine days to reprefent. (See the Extracts from the Garrick Plays in his Specimens of Engli/h Dramatic Poets, Bonn's Ed. 1854, p. 476.) " Five or fix mortal hours," however, are the limits which Don Ramon de Mefoneros Romanos in the Apuntes Biograficos prefixed to his Dra- maticos Contemporaneos de Lope de Vega, t. ii. p. a8, puts to the patience of the audience in liftening to the fix thoufand four hundred verfes of whch the original drama confifts. xii PREFACE. volume, little requires to be faid in this place, as I have prefixed to each of them fuch introductory remarks as feemed neceflary for the proper underftanding of the time and circumftances of their production. They all may be confidered reprefentative pieces pieces that convey a fair idea of the clafs of drama, whether Fiefta, Comedia, or Auto, to which they belong. The firft, Love the Greateft Enchantment, which is the ftory of Circe and Ulyfles, is a favourable fpecimen of the dramas which Calderon founded upon claflical or mythological fubje&s. Of thefe he wrote altogether eighteen, and though they have been greatly admired, not alone in Germany, but in England, for the freedom with which the poet entered into pofleflion of thefe ancient fables, ufmg them for his own purpofes with a freflinefs of invention ever new and ever delightful, but one only out of the eighteen has ever been even analyfed in Englifh with anything like completenefs or precifion.* The next piece, The Sorceries of Sin, is even ftill more interefting and more wonderful. It is an auto, and therefore, though dealing with the fame ftory as its foundation, is as different from the preceding play as fpirit is to matter, or the foul to the body. In fa6l, the long dramatic fpe&acle in which the ancient Hellenic fable ftarts into new life, in an- other climate, and at a different era, beneath the power of a new creator, feems to be worthlefs in the poet's eyes, unlefs he can deduce from it its moral, namely, the power of Man to refift, or, at leaft, to triumph over temptation, if he will only liften to the voice of his own foul, and the filent whifperings of repentance and of grace. This he has done in The Sorceries of Sin. In the introductory remarks which I have pre- fixed to it the reader will find fome moft interefting and valuable biblio- graphical notes by Mr. Ticknor, relative to the firft publication of the * The drama alluded to is Los Tres Mayores Prodigios, on which there is a good paper in Frazer^s Magazine for Auguft 184.9. Ecoy Narcifo is referred to with great praife in the Weftminfter Review for January 1851, pp. 295-307. PREFACE. xiii Sy taken from communications which he has had the kindnefs to addrefs to me upon the fubjet. Upon the general character of the autos I cannot do better than refer the reader to the third part of Dean Trench's effay, to which I have previoufly made allufion. The celebrity of the third piece which this volume contains, The Devotion of the Crofs y and the mifconceptions which exift as to its real character, will be, I truft, fufficient excufe for my having tranflated it. As in the other cafes, I refer the reader to the introductory remarks prefixed to this tragedy, which Dean Trench characterizes as, " defpite of all its perverfity, a wonderful and terrible drama."* The Spanifh text, which I have printed for the convenience of the reader, is founded, as far as the comedias are concerned, partly on the edition of Keil, and partly on that of Hartzenbufch. The fcenes are altogether taken from the latter edition. Where any important difference exifts between the text of the two editions, I have generally drawn attention to it in a foot-note. The auto, with the exception of a few flight corrections, is printed verbatim from the edition by Apontes (Autos Sacramentales^ 6 vols. 410. Madrid, 1759-60, vol. vi. p. 109). f * For a fupplementary note to The Devotion of the Crofs fee next page. -f- In addition to what has been faid in the note to p. xi. relative to Sir Richard Fanfhaw's tranflation of }uerer par Solo Querer, it may be mentioned that he alfo tranf- lated another dramatic fpeflacle from the Spanifh, called Fieftas de Aranjuez. See The Companion to the Play-houfe, London, 1764, v. ii., under letter F, where it is erro- neoufly attributed to Mendoza. This is doubtlefs the mafque written, by the unfortu- nate Count of Villa-Mediana, for the birth-day feftivities of Philip IV. in 1622. See Ticknor, v. ii. p. 172, n.; fee alfo Madame d'Aulnoy's Relation du Voyage d^Efpagne, t. ii. pp. 20, 21. (La Haye, 1715,) for a very curious account of the exhibition of this fpelacle, and for the author's premeditated aft of daring gallantly towards the Queen, which, it is fuppofed, led to his immediate affaffination. Summerfield, Dalkey, September, 1861. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTE TO THE DEVOTION OF THE CROSS. !N the Introdu&ion to The Devotion of the Crofs, and at p. 284 of the Tranflation, I have ftated that La Devotion de la Cruz was firft printed at Huefca, in 1634, under the title of La Cruz en la Sepultura, and as the work of Lope de Vega. This miftake, in a volume forming a portion of a collection containing the dramas of various authors, is perhaps not to be wondered at ; but it feems ftrange that the fame error mould be repeated fix years later, in a volume of the collection devoted exclufively to the dramas of Lope himfelf, in the twenty-fourth part or volume of which (Madrid, 1640) La Cruz en la Sepultura is again given as the work of Lope de Vega.* In a note to the exceedingly valuable catalogue of all the Comedias and Autos of Lope de Vega, compiled with fuch care and labour by the diftinguiftied Spanifh fcholar Mr. J. R. Chorley, of London, and pre- fented by him with fo much liberality to Senor Hartzenbufch for his fourth volume of Lope's Comedias Efcogidas (Madrid, 1853-60), it is ftated that this twenty-fourth part is the only one out of the twenty-five to which the collection of Lope's comedias ex- tended (1604-47), which is wanting to complete the copy in the Spanim Library of Lord Taunton, at Stoke Park, near London. It is preferred, however, with the others in the National Library of Madrid. Mr. Chorley alfo mentions that according to Mr. Ticknor (under date October 1857), the edition of Huefca, 1634, is to be found in the Library of the Arfenal at Paris, and in the Library of the Vatican at Rome. A volume of the collection of feparately-printed Spanim plays, brought from Spain by Lord Ar- lington in the reign of Charles the Second, and now prelerved in the Library of the Britifh Mufeum, contains, according to Mr. Chorley, two of Calderon's dramas (one of them being La Cruz en la Sepultura}, which are both attributed to Lope de Vega.f * See Schack's Gefchicbte der Dramatifcbcn Literatur und Kunjt in Spanien, b. 11. p. 696, Lord Holland's Life of Lope de Fega, vol. ii. p. 151, and Mr. Chorley's Catalogo de Comedias y Autos de Frey Lope Felix de Vega Carpio, referred to above. J- Catalogo de Comedias, &c. p. 54Z. I may add that the fecond, Amor, Honor, y Poder is alfo given under another name in the twenty-fourth of Lope's Comedias above mentioned. The volume published at Huefca in 1634 contains, in addition to thefe, a third of Calderon's dramas, erroneoufly attributed to Lope, namely UnCaftigo en Ires fenganxas. See Hartzenbufch's Catalogo Cronologico, Comedias de Calderon, t. iv. p. 669. LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. FROM THE SPANISH OF CALDERON. INTRODUCTION. HE Homeric Circe, previous to her becoming the heroine of this drama of Calderon, had figured under various names, and with various adventures, in the romances and romantic poetry of Europe, and we recognize her as the fame perfon, whether called Morgana, as in Launcelot du Lac, and in Boiardo, Alcina, as in Ariofto, or Armida, as in Taflb. To thefe may be added the Duefla of Spenfer, in 1590, and in 1634 (the year preceding the firft performance of Calderon's drama) a male reproduction of the character in the " Comus" of Milton. Under her original name, Lope de Vega had devoted upwards of three thoufand lines to her adventures in his " Circe," a poem in otave ftanzas, which he publimed in 1624. The ground-work of Calderon's Circe is to be found in Homer, OdyJJey^ B. x. from line 135 to 574, and B. xn. from line 8 to 141. But he was under great obligations both to Ariofto and to Taflb, the former of whom, in the Sixth Canto of the Orlando, and the latter, to a ftill greater degree, in the Sixteenth Canto of the " Geru- falemme," fupply him with many of his moft interefting incidents. In- deed the thirty-feventh ftanza of the Sixteenth Canto of the latter poem may be taken as the key-note of his entire compofition, and as fuch I introduce it here in the quaint verfion of Fairfax, although the con- cluding couplet of the original 4 LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. Lafcia gl' incanti, e vuol provar fe vaga E fupplice belta fia miglior maga more clearly exprefles the meaning of Calderon : All what the witches of Theflalia land With lips unpure yet ever faid or fpake, Words that could make heaven's rolling circles ftand, And draw the damned ghofts from Limbo lake, All well (he knew, but yet no time me fand To ufe her knowledge or her charms to make, But left her arts, and forth fhe ran to prove If fingle beauty were beft charm for love. The experiment of recalling Ulyfles to his martial taftes and duties, by placing before him the long-unufed armour of Achilles, is probably fuggefted by the fimilar ftratagem which gave Rinaldo courage to break from the enchantments of Armida ; but both, no doubt, founded upon one of the later traditions of Achilles himfelf, who, when concealed in the court of Lycomedes of Scyros, under the difguife of a maiden, was difcovered by Odyfleus through a fomewhat fimilar ftratagem. The conduct of Armida herfelf upon her defertion alfo prefents refemblances to the cataftrophe in El Mayor Encanto Amor^ detracting nothing, how- ever, from the merits of Calderon's work, in which every incident of the ancient claffical myth is recaft, reborn, as it were, in the creative mind of the poet with a freflmefs (fays Schack, from whom I have derived fome of the foregoing references) which, while preferving all the charms of the old Hellenic Legend, imprefles upon it the diftindtive and not lefs delightful character of modern romance.* The following curious paper I have tranflated from a document firft publifhed by Don Cafiano Pellicer, in the fecond volume of his Tratado Hiftorico fobre el Origeny Progrefos dela Comedia en Efpana^ and introduced * Gefchichte der dramatifchen Literatur und Kunft in Spanien, B. in. p. 190. INTRODUCTION. as a preface to this play by Hartzenbufch in his edition of Calderon.* It is interefting as well for {bowing the labour which the great poet took in working upon the plan of the machinift, and in what refpe&s he departed from it, as for the very remarkable proof which it gives of the mechanical refources of the theatre in the reign of Philip the Fourth, and the unequalled magnificence with which this and flmilar royal pageants were produced at the court of Madrid. The Mafques of Ben Jonfon,f which were about the fame period the delight of" our James," are the only productions which can be compared with thefe dramatic fpe&acles of fplendour and ingenuity ; and while, in their united labours as dramatift and machinift, the palm for poetical excellence muft be given to Calderon, it will be perceived that, in productions of this kind, the great Englifh architect had no mean rival in the lefs widely known, but ftill famous Italian artift, who had the honour of being Calderon's fellow- labourer in thefe magnificent fhows. CIRCE, " A Dramatic Speclacle which was reprefented on the great pond of the Retlro,\ the invention of Cofme Lotti^ at the requeji of her moft excellent Ladyjhlp, the Countefs ofOlivarez^ Duchefs of San Lucar la May or ^ on the night of St. John [June 24, A.D. 1635]. " There will be formed in the middle of the pond a ftationary ifland, raifed feven feet above the furface of the water, with a winding afcent, terminating at the entrance into the ifland, which will be furrounded by a parapet of loofe ftones, adorned with corals and other curiofities of the * Biblioteca de Autores Efpanoles, T. vu. p. 385. Madrid, 184.8. Tratado Hif- torico fibre el Origen y Progrefos de la Comedia y del Htftrionifmo en Efpana, por D. Cafiano Pellicer. Parte Segunda, p. 146. Madrid, 1804. f Chlorldia, which he produced in conjunction with Inigo Jones in 1630, coft 3ooo/. for decorations. J The celebrated palace of the Buen Retire. 6 LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. fea, fuch as pearls and fhells of different colours, with waterfalls and fimilar decorations. In the midft of this ifland will be fituated a very lofty mountain of rugged afcent, with precipices, and caverns, furrounded by a thick and darkfome wood of tall trees, fome of which will be feen to exhibit the appearance of the human form covered with a rough bark, from the heads and arms of which will iflue green boughs and branches, having fufpended from them various trophies of war and of the chafe, the theatre during this opening fcene being fcantily lit with concealed lights : and, to make a beginning of the feftival, a murmuring and a rippling noife of water having been heard, a great and magnificent car will be feen to advance along the pond, plated over with filver, and drawn by two monftrous fifties, from whofe mouths will continually iflue great jets of water, the light of the theatre increafing according as they ad- vance ; and on the fummit of it will be feen feated in great pomp and majefty the goddefs Aqua, from whofe head and curious vefture will iflue an infinite abundance of little conduits of water ; and at the fame time will be feen another great fupply flowing from an urn which the god- defs will hold reverfed j and which, filled with a variety of fifties, that, leaping and playing in the torrent as it defcends, and gliding over all the car, will fall at length into the pond. This admirable machine is to be accompanied by a choir of twenty nymphs of rivulets and fountains, who will advance, finging and playing, along the furface of the water : and, when this beautiful piece of mechanifm ftops in the prefence of His Majefty, the goddefs Aqua will commence the fcene by reprefenting the Loa.* This being finifhed, the found of various inftruments will be heard, and the proceflion will retire from the theatre in the fame order, and with * The Loa here mentioned is probably that which precedes the Auto, Los Encantos de la Culpa (The Sorceries of Sin}, which is alfo founded on the ftory of Ulyfles and Circe, and a tranflation of which forms the fecond portion of this volume. This Loa has no connection with the incidents of either drama or auto, being merely a glorifi- cation of Madrid. In it, however, the goddefs Aqua makes her appearance, which (he does not do in either Love the Greateft Enchantment, or in The Sorceries of Sin, her INTRODUCTION. the fame mufical accompaniment as it entered. Scarcely has it difap- peared, when a ftirring found of clarions and trumpets will burft forth, with difcharges of mufketry and cannon, and the cry of Land! Land! will be heard from within : and a great and beauteous gilded bark will be difcovered, adorned with ftreamers, pendants, banneroles, and flags, which, with fwelling fails, will come to harbour, furling her fails, and dropping her anchors and cables ; and on her deck will be feen Ulyfles and his companions, who, returning thanks to the gods for having reached land, will fpeak of their paft misfortunes and their prefent neceffities, none of them having the daring to difembark even to feek refrefhment, fearing the dangers that might enfue ; on which account, lots being drawn, eighteen of them will be compelled to enter the long- boat, and to make the attempt : and they having tremblingly leaped on the ifland, a great number of various animals, fuch as lions, tigers, dragons, bears, and others, will place themfelves before them, who, aftonifhed and full of terror, will form themfelves into a body for their defence ; but the animals, with human intelligence, will approach them careflingly, at which moment will be heard a fad, but melodious ftrain of mufic, proceeding from the trees and plants, which with human forms have been there metamorphofed, at which mufical wail, the animals, in their various ways, will perform an extraordinary dance, and while this is kept up and continued, a terrible earthquake, with agitation of the air, will be felt, which, awakening flafhes and peals of thunder, will dart forth a forked bolt, that, ftriking the top and fummit of the mountain, will fo loofe and matter it, that it will fall to pieces in various parts of the theatre, at which event the animals will difappear, and the mufic will ceafe, and the mariners will remain full of terror and amazement, place in the car being filled, in the former, by the nymph Galatea, and in the latter by the perfonification of Penance. The car itfelf feems to have been ufed in other of thefe gorgeous fpetacle-plays of Calderon. In his Phaeton, for inltance, which was alfo a&ed on the pond of the Retiro a few years later, there are two references to its having been feen by the audience on feveral previous occafions. TRANSLATOR. LOVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. feeing, in the place where the mountain flood, a fplendid palace appear, inlaid with precious ftones of various colours, of a rich and well-defigned architecture, with columns of agate and cryftal, having bafes, capitals, and cornices of gold, and ftatues of bronze and of marble, all arranged in their proper places. And the frightful and horrible wood will at the fame time be transformed into a fair and delicious garden, enclofmg a lofty edifice of fpherical form, with corridors and porticos ; and in the midft of each delightful compartment will be feen fountains of running water, covered alleys, and numbers of domeftic animals pafling to and fro ; and, at the appearance of this new wonder, the theatre will be illuminated by a brilliancy fo great, that it will feem as if the fun miniftered its light, which will proceed from and be the refult of the reflection which the jewels of this rich and fumptuous palace will make, and from two fplendid ftars which, with fingular and remarkable brilliancy, will iflue from the waves and waters of the pond ; and, in front of the porticos and corridors in the centre of the crefcent, Circe will be feen feated on a majeftic throne, drefled magnificently in flower-embroidered robes of filk, attended by many ladies and damfels, fome of whom will go about gathering herbs and flowers, which they will place in golden bafkets, and others will collect in cryftal vafes waters of various kinds, for the ufe and convenience of the forcerefs and her enchantments ; and Circe, with a grave and compofed countenance, holding a golden wand in one hand, and in the other a book, from which (he reads, (the timid companions of Ulyfles being prefent, and beholding with wonder what has happened,) fhe will direct one of her ladies to encourage and to lead them to her prefence, when, with an agreeable and deceitful countenance, fhe will afk them who they are, and for what object they have approached that ifland. To which they will give anfwer, referring to the events of the fiege of Troy, and the fubfequent misfortunes that had befallen them fince its fall ; and they will implore pity and fuccour for themfelves and their difmantled and ill-provided veflel : and fhe, feigning companion for their mifery and misfortune, will INTRODUCTION. promife them afliftance, and, defcending from her throne, on which, up to this time, fhe has been feated, me will ftrike the earth with her golden wand, and at the inftant a fplendidly-furnimed table will arife, at which banquet a potion in a golden cup will be adminiftered to them which will transform them into fwine, with the exception of one, who, flying a fimilar metamorphofis, and the treacherous hofpitality of the forcerefs, will re-enter the boat, ftill lying by the fhore, and will relate this new adventure to Ulyfles : and me, enraged at the flight of their companion, will beat the feeming fwine with her wand, ordering them away to the fty, at which much amufement will arife from their grunting ; and me will make one of them, who appears of a humorous turn, to ftand upright, and fpeak naturally as a man : and this one, ferving as the graciofo^ will make entertaining jefts and comic buffooneries with the ladies, endeavouring to fit in their laps, and imitating the playfulnefs of a lap-dog : and, taking a fancy for one of them, he will fall in love with her, whom Circe will trans- form into a monkey, through anger and jealoufy that the appearance of any lady mould appear to the fwine more beautiful and attractive than her own : from which will refult a pleafant and entertaining allegory, for the lady feeing herfelf transformed into a monkey, and great difcord on this account enfuing between her and the fwine, will under this metaphor point out the punifhment which follows the vices and fenfuality of men ; and on the other hand a like allegory, under the metaphor and transfor- mation of the lady into a monkey, the degradations which follow thofe of women. In the meanwhile, the cavalier who fled the dangers and deceits of Circe, having come to the prefence of Ulyfles, and having related the mournful fate of his companions, will move him to fuch pity, that he will inftantly go to their relief; and, making the land in his boat, he will hear a voice, without knowing from whom it proceedeth, and feeking the fource of this voice, it will be found to proceed from one of thofe cavaliers who, clothed in rugged bark, have been transformed into trees, who will exhort him not to proceed farther, nor expofe himfelf to the certain danger that threatens him, but that he mould fly the en- io LOPE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. chantments of that ifland, originating in the deceptions of Circe, and in her magic and impure loves : at which UlyfTes, wondering, will afk him who he is, and what was the occafion of fo cruel an enchantment. To whom he with deep forrow will anfwer that he was one of the com- panions of King Picus, and will relate the tragic and mournful fate which had overtaken them and their king, all being, as their final mif- fortune, either transformed into trees, or condemned to wander, in the fhape of various animals, through the woods. At which Ulyfles, com- paflionate and confufed, will refolve to undertake their reftoration as a part of the conqueft he was about undertaking j and fcarcely will he have proceeded to put it into execution, when Mercury will be feen coming through the air, dazzling with various colours and reflections, who, as ambaflador from Jupiter, will prefent him with a flower, by means of which he will be able to come triumphant out of the adventure which he had vowed, and from the fnares and enchantments of Circe : to whom Ulyfles will fcarcely have given thanks, when from his prefence, cleaving the air, he will return to heaven : and Ulyfles, recovering his breath, and thus fecure of fuccefs, will with frefh courage come in fight of the beautiful palace, in which will be feen new wonders, fince at the difappearance of the throne on which Circe had been feated, under an arch in the middle of the porticos and corridors, will be difcovered a moft beautiful open portal, through which will be feen long and deep perfpectives, exciting great admiration ; and while Ulyfles ftands in fufpenfe during the carrying out of this prodigy, that follower of his who, changed into a fwine, acts the part of the graciofo, will come before him, and recognizing him, will ftrive to embrace him, and with his filthy fnout attempt to kifs him, calling to his companions, who, grunting in a comic way, will furround him, making altogether a grotefque tableau ; and he, compafiionating their mifery, will carefs them, afking the talking fwine to introduce him to the enchantrefs Circe ; and they then, fearing greater evil, perceiving her prefence, will fly away, leaving Ulyfles alone with her, whom, in an affable manner, the enchantrefs INTRODUCTION. n will receive, inviting him to drink, and offering him the fame cup which had been prefented to his companions. UlyfTes will excufe himfelf, threatening her, in order that fhe mould give them their liberty ; and (he, refufmg, will fo provoke the anger and fury of Ulyffes, that he will put his hand to his fword ; but, feeing that his threats are of no avail, and his fword equally ineffectual, he will change his anger and fury into flatteries and careffes ; and, pretending to be enamoured, will offer to dwell with her, and to comply with all her wifhes and defires, provided that fhe will reftore his companions to their original fhape, which Circe offers to do, and, enamoured of him, embraces him ; and, conducting him to his companions, fhe will make them warn in a beautiful fountain, the waters of which will reftore them to their original fhape of men, all except the gradofo, who, for their greater pleafure and entertainment, will remain transformed, gaining nothing from his ablutions but a ftill longer fnout, and the fudden acquifition of a pair of afs's ears ; at which, haraffed and enraged, he will indulge in various comic and amufmg expreffions, and will implore Circe to reftore him, and of Ulyffes he will afk it, and of his companions in like manner : which fhe will pro- mife to do when he has done penance in that fhape for having been attracted more by the beauty of the lady transformed into a monkey, than by hers. And, matters being thus arranged, there will appear in the pond fix barks or floops, commanded and fleered by fix cupids, in which Circe will caufe the companions of Ulyffes to enter, afligning to each one the lady to whom he is to pay court, and to the graciofo-fwine the lady that was transformed into a monkey : and fhe herfelf will enter with Ulyffes into hers ; and, finging to the found of various inftruments, they will go through the pond, fifhing with rods for frefh fifh, which, wherever the tackle is thrown into the water, will nibble at the fly, and, being caught by the hook, will be raifed up, plunging and bounding ; but the fwine-transformed graciofo, in place of catching frefh fifh, will only draw up thofe that are falted and dried, fuch as dog-fifh and hake j and after this comic diverfion the little fleet will form a crefcent, the 12 LO7E THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. bark of Circe and UlyfTes being in the centre, {he will command the fea, in order to give pleafure to her new lover, to bring forth and ex- hibit on its waves the diverfity of fifties and marine monfters which it contains in its womb : at which precept and command the pond will be feen filled with a variety of fifties, great and fmall, which, playing with each other, will force up through their mouths and noftrils frequent jets of odoriferous water, which, fcattered in fragrant ftiowers upon the fpe&ators, will diffufe a fweet and agreeable odour around. And at this time will come and appear fuddenly upon the pond VIRTUE, difguifed under the form and figure of a female magician, feated upon a great fea- tortoife, and feeming to Circe (in confequence of her aflumed difguife of a magician) a great friend of hers, (he will be rejoiced to fee her, and will compliment her on her arrival, at which they will all difembark upon a flowery lawn in front of the palace, where they will fit down ; and then, converfing on various matters, and being much pleafed at the vifit of her friend, Circe, to entertain her, will introduce a grotefque afTemblage of firens and tritons, who, on the water of the pond, will perform a wonderful fort of dance, the like of which has never been feen or heard of: at the end of which, they having difappeared, and Circe, Virtue, and UlyfTes having refumed their converfation and difcourfe, Circe will afk Virtue the reafon that has moved her to leave her ftudies and magical purfuits to come and vifit her : and ftie will anfwer, that the object of her coming is her love for Ulyfles, whom, from the mo- ment of his birth, ftie had deftined for herfelf, having experienced from him fuch tender refpecl: and attention, which have obliged her to feek him, and to come for him, in order to withdraw him from her hands, becaufe her great love allowed her no reft, nor confidence in her ancient friendftiip with Circe. And the companions of Ulyfles, hearing this explanation, wondering and confufed at what had happened, will be aftonifhed, and not knowing Virtue under the difguife of a magician, will believe her to be mad ; but Circe, laughing, and treating what her friend had faid to her as a jeft, will treat her with raillery, notwithftand- INTRODUCTION. 13 ing which me, through jealoufy, and to reaffure herfelf, will make Ulyfles and his companions perform a mimic tournament on foot, the tilting enclofure fuddenly appearing for the occafion : fcarcely has this begun, when Virtue, praifmg the fhape, the graceful deportment, the activity and courage of Ulyffes, will caufe great jealoufy to Circe, who will fufpend the tournament, caufing the lifts to difappear, and com- manding Virtue on the inftant to depart the ifland j but fhe will not do fo, unlefs fhe can take Ulyfles with her ; at which Circe, angry and enraged, will make great incantations, fhapes, fpe&res, and enchant- ments to overcome her and to drive her thence, which will produce in the air and on the ifland great prodigies and wonderful appearances, which will do no injury to Virtue, who will conquer them all ; and Circe, finding that fhe is powerlefs to fubdue her, will go away in wrath, leaving Virtue alone with Ulyfles, who will reveal herfelf to him, re- buking him for his way of life, and cenfuring him for his effeminacy, afking him if it was he that fhe had conducted out of Greece, and had made victorious over the Trojans, and recalling the other glorious achieve- ments of Ulyfles. He, grateful, and with his memory reftored, will repent, and will promife to follow her, abandoning his vices, which, till then, had held him in forgetfulnefs, at which fhe will lead him to the fountain, where, beholding himfelf as in a mirror, he will fee himfelf fo different from what he was in the days of his valour, that, with a fixed determination, he will refolve to leave Circe. At which there will ap- pear in the theatre a very old and deformed giant, wearing a venerable beard, drefled in the habit of a hermit, and with a ftafF in his hand, whofe prefence will compel Ulyfles to inquire of Virtue who he is, and what was his bufinefs with him ; to whom fhe will give anfwer : 11 This is he whom thou art to follow, and whom thou oughteft to con- gratulate in order to rife from the abyfs of vices into which thou haft fallen." With that Ulyfles will turn to the giant, and afk him to give him his protection, and to tell him who he is : and the other will aflure him of it, faying that he is called the Buen Retiro, (the Happy Re- 14 LQVE THE GREATEST ENCHANTMENT. treat,*) and telling Ulyfles that what is neceflary to obtain for him a place in the temple of eternity, and to make his name famous, illuftrating it with glorious a&ions, is to follow him, the Happy Retreat, becaufe unlefs he followed that, he would not be able to renounce vice and love virtue, which could only be done by retiring from all that could divert him from her. With that Ulyfles, determining to follow the Happy Retreat, will embrace Virtue, and being embraced by her, Circe will return in defpair, and, feeing Ulyfles embraced by Virtue, will afk him if thefe were the attentions, the fond vows, the promifes and flatteries, on account of which fhe relied upon his fteadfaftnefs and fidelity : and me will afk him not to leave her, availing herfelf for that purpofe of great threats, mingled with carefles, at which, mocking her, Virtue will fay, that not only is fhe powerlefs to fubjugate Ulyfles, but that, for his greater triumph, he will take with him all whom that enchanted ifle contains, and, for the carrying out of this, it will be fo arranged, that the trees will then burft afunder, and from their trunks and cavities all will iflue forth who have been there confined." Love the Greateji Enchantment was firft printed, in the year 1641, in the fecond volume of the poet's dramas, publifhed by his brother. It is thus defcribed : " El Mayor Encanto Amor^ a fiefta which was reprefented before his Majefty on the night of St. John, in the year 1635, on the pond of the royal palace of the Buen Retire." (Segunda parte de Comedias de Calderon. Collected by Don Jofe Calderon, his brother. Madrid, 1641 .) Previous to its reprefentation, however, in 1635, a ftill earlier play on the fame fubjecT: had been produced, to which the date of 1634 has been afligned, from an allufion to it in the firft al of Love the Greateji En- chantment^ to which I have more particularly referred where the paflage * " El Buen Retiro" a pun, doubtlefs, on the name of the palace in the gardens of which this fpeftacle was to be exhibited. In the phrafeology of the " Pilgrim's Pro- grefs," perhaps it might be tranflated " Giant Good-path." TRANSLATOR. INTRODUCTION. occurs. This drama was called Polyphemus and Circe , and was the united work of Mira de Mefcua, Perez de Montalvan, and Calderon. It is fuppofed to have been printed at Madrid in 1652, in the fecond part of the collection of Comedias de varios Autores,* as would appear from the MS. index, by Don Juan Ifidro Fajardo, of all the plays printed in Spain to the year 1716, which is preferved in the National Library of Madrid. Of this fecond part, however, there feems to have been two diftin& impreflions, the one above mentioned, in 1652, and another in 1653. Of thefe impreflions, no copy of the edition of 1652 is known to exift, and that of 1653 does not contam tne drama of Polyphemus and Circe. A copy, however, has been made up by Senor Hartzenbufch from two manufcripts kindly placed at his difpofal by Senor Duran, (the editor of the moft complete Romancero that has yet been given to the world,) and publifhed by him in the fourth volume of his edition of Calderon. f In addition to the curious paper juft given, it may be interefting to give an analyfis of this hitherto unknown drama, as a further evidence of the care and deliberation with which Calderon * It is fmgular, as Mr. Ticknor remarks, that of this colleHon of the old dramas of Spain, which at leaft extended to forty-three volumes, (from the lift of Fajardo, above mentioned, it would appear there were forty-feven,) fo little mould now be known. Of thefe volumes, at the date of the publication of his " Hiftory of Spanifh Literature" (1849), Mr. Ticknor himfelf poflefled three, namely, the twenty-fifth (Sara- gofla, 1633), the thirty-firft (Barcelona, 1638), and the forty-third (Saragofla, 1650). He mentions two others, which he had not feen, namely, the twenty-ninth (Valencia, 1636), and the thirty-fecond (Saragofla, 1640). In addition to the twenty-fifth (a copy of which, as has been already mentioned, is in the pofleffion of Mr. Ticknor), Senor Hartzenbufch mentions four others, the twenty-eighth (Huefca, 1634), the thirtieth (Saragofla, 1636), the thirty-third (Valencia, i64z), and the part above defcribed as wanting the Polifemo y Circe. It is from the thirtieth volume of this collection he has taken the firft (ketch of Calderon's Armas de la Hermofura, namely, El Pri