The Critical Review (Volume 16); Or, Annals of Literature (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: f but Mr. Southey is of opinion that the language of the poem is considerably older than that of the works of Gon- zalo de Berceo who flourished so early as 1220. Sanchez,, he says, conjectures that it was composed within fifty year? after the Cid's death. Be that as it may, 'adds Mr. S.' it is unquestionably the oldest "poem in the Spanish language. In my judgment it is as decidedly and beyond all comparison the finest, ' . In another place he says!, 1 I have preferred it to the Chronicles sometimes in point of fact, and always in point of costume; for as the historian of manners, this poet, whose name unfortunately has perished, is the Homer of Spain.1 To the ancient romances (a word answering to our popu- lar bullads) of the Cid, Mr. Southey acknowledges little obligation, and indeed estimates the worth of the Spanish romances in general much lower than we have been accustomed to rate th'em. He says that, with the exception of those contained in the Guerru$ civilts de Granada, they are infinitely and every way inferior' to our own national ballads. One thing more we shall observe before we enter niora particularly into the contents of the .work: whatever degree of credit may be thought due to the facts which it records, jt must, supposing Mr. Southey's account of theMSS. lobe correct, be admitted as a most authentic, valuable, and interesting document of the manners and sentiments of the Sge in whicn those MSS. were composed. It will be remarked that the highest date to which Mr. Southey has been able with any confidence to carry either of them, very nearly corresponds with that of Joinvilles history; but that the events related are considerably more than a century antecedent. With this view, it would be an object of great curiosity to institute...