Kitabı oku: «Spain», sayfa 10

Painting

Though Spain cannot rival some other countries, Italy for example, in the number of her great painters; though she has founded no great technical school; yet is she worthy of greatest admiration; in one or two of her artists she has attained the very highest rank. As a religious painter, especially in expressing in form and colour the heights of mystic ecstasy, Murillo stands unrivalled. As a portrait-painter of courtly grace and distinction, Velazquez has few equals. It is not in landscape, or as interpreters of the ever-varying beauty of external nature, that Spanish painters excel, but in the delineation of the human form, and especially in the rendering of those religious emotions which lead through asceticism to ecstasy. Not the glorification of merely sensuous beauty, but the triumphs of the spirit over the flesh are the conquests which they prefer to delineate.

Spanish painters may be divided among three great provinces: the Valencian, Andalusian, and Castilian schools. Of these the Andalusian, and especially the school of Seville, has produced by far the greatest artists.

The earliest specimens of Spanish painting are of the decorative kind, and are employed in subordination to architecture, to add colour to form, and to heighten and make more evident the details of sculpture in churches or convents. Much of this phase of art, in which they stand very high, they probably learned from the Moors. From these labours in churches and convents art in Spain received a religious imprint and direction which it has never lost, and from which it is only now turning in the present generation. Goya and Fortuny are perhaps the only considerable painters of Spain in whose works religious subjects do not preponderate. Spanish art reflects in a peculiar degree the characteristic of Spanish theology. The mystic grace, the transport of love which seems almost too human and tender when fixed on the Divine, which moves us in the writings of St. Teresa, St. Juan de la Cruz, Xavier, and others, touches us no less in the pictures of Murillo. Stern and sombre, as these are lovely, are the paintings which remind us that we are in the land of the inquisition. Figures of martyrs serene in tortures, whose horrors are laid bare as by no other artists, figures of saints of primitive, mediæval, or of later times, who have carried asceticism to excess, portraits of men who were as severe to themselves as they were pitiless to others; such are the subjects which are faithfully rendered by the pencils of Ribalta, Ribera, Zurbaran, and many others. Later on, when the old constitutional liberties of Spain had almost utterly fallen, and when the worship of the king had begun almost to rival that of the Blessed Virgin, Velazquez and others give us portraits of the royal family of Spain. The fun and wit which really existed in Spanish life, and which her novelists have depicted with such relish in innumerable novels, is but poorly represented in Spanish art by any of her great masters. Murillo's beggar-boys are almost the only pictures which answer to the "picaresque" side of Spanish literature till the advent of Goya and of Fortuny.

The expressions of the plastic arts of Spain are neither so idealized as the Italian, nor so intellectual as the German, nor so sensuous as the Flemish, nor so realistic as those of the Dutch school; but they are far more powerful in colouring and truer and deeper in feeling than are those of the French school. The Spaniard painted the types and characters of his native land, but he delighted to throw around them the magic lights that never were on sea or land; through the intense darkness of his asceticism ever peers a ray of heavenly light; but the type of the figure is ever Spanish; never, in the best days of art, was inspiration sought from a reproduction of the forms of pagan classical ism, or from a mere eclecticism of beauty. Though the drawing is correct, we feel that it has not been learned from a mere study of ancient statuary or from anatomical preparations, but from the living type and figure. Here and there we find painters like Juande Joannes (Vicente Macip) and Domenico Theotocopuli (El Greco), who might have lived on Italian soil; but generally the tone of Spanish painters is local and unmistakable. Through all his styles—the frio (cold), calido (warm), and the vaporoso (mystic)—Murillo remained faithful to Spanish, nay, to Andalusian models; none can mistake his saints and virgins, his boys and beggars, as belonging to any other race. He does not tell the wondrous story of the Incarnation with so grand an appeal to the intellect as do the Italian painters. The "woman blessed throughout all generations" does not look out to us from his canvas from the serene heights of perfect woman-hood which has found its crown in the mystery of the Motherhood of the Son of God, but in younger and more girlish forms he paints for us the maiden rapt in adoring ecstasy as she experiences the wonders of love divine, bathed in the golden light of a rapture which none but the very purest can ever feel, and which the very angels are represented as reverencing.

Space forbids our giving even an approximate catalogue of Spanish painters; we can merely single out for mention the two or three of highest rank in their respective provinces. In Valencia we have Ribalta (1551-1628), Juan de Joames (Vicente Macip) (1523-79), and the great but gloomy Ribera (1588-1609). To this school also belong the artists of Catalonia and of the Balearic Isles. In Castile are Navarette (El Mudo) (1526-79), Morales (1509-86), Theotocopuli (El Greco) (died 1578), and the younger Herrera (died 1686). But the greatest painters are from Andalusia and from Seville. The well-known names of Herrera the Elder (1576-1656), Zurbaran (1598-1662), Murillo (1618-82), Velazquez (1623-60), suffice to show its pre-eminence. The eighteenth century, in art as well as in literature, was a time of utter decadence; Goya (1746-1820), the caricaturist, is the only artist we need mention; but, like its literature, Spanish art is now at length rising from its long sleep. Fortuny (1838-74), has made himself a European reputation; though, through his early death, the pictures he has left give promise only of what his future might have been. Rosales (1840-73), though less known by foreigners, is of equal, if not of greater merit; like Fortuny, he died in his early prime. Madrazo, Jimenez, Fradilla, and others, though not of more than national reputation, yet prove that art is not extinct in Spain.

In what have been called the industrial arts Spain was formerly very rich, and, but for the wretched economical policy and administration of the Government since the seventeenth century, would probably have held her own against other countries. The gold and silver ornaments still worn by the peasantry in a few districts perpetuate designs and methods of workmanship originally derived from the Moors, and much of the church work is still of great excellence. No less beautiful is the iron-work, in which a grand effect is often produced by simply noble proportions in the gates, rejas, and screens of her cathedrals and churches; and in another sphere, in the manufacture of arms, and of inlaying steel or iron with arabesque patterns of gold and silver, an art which has been lately revived with great success in Biscay and the Basque Provinces. In porcelain and pottery the majolica ware, made at Valencia, was renowned throughout Europe; and the Moorish glazed and lustred ware, the manufacture of which remained a secret till the present century, is greatly sought after by amateurs. The wine-jars (tinajas and alpujarras), the porous pottery (bucaros), the azulejos or decorated tiles, continue traditions originally derived through the Arabs from the East, but which had almost expired when the manufacture was faintly revived under royal patronage in the times of Charles III., to start again on a stronger life with the aid of English capital in our own times. Spanish glass is sometimes curious, and much of the stained and painted windows in the cathedrals is excellent, especially that of Toledo and of Leon; but this art was undoubtedly learned from foreign workmen, and only became naturalized in Spain. Of carvings in wood and marble and ivory we have already sufficiently spoken. In textile fabrics and embroidery, especially in lace, Spain was formerly very rich. The mantillas of the ladies, the dresses of the sacred images, the copes of the clergy, gave full opportunity for the production of this fabric; but the chief effort is now directed to the manufacture of the best foreign laces, all of which are most successfully imitated by hand-workers in Valencia and Murcia, where they can be produced at a lower cost than is possible in colder and more northern climes. Everything in Spain, even the common use of colour and of flowers by the Andalusian peasants, shows a natural feeling for art; and its production is hindered more by indolence, and by the mischievous economical conditions of almost all Spanish industry, than by any want of talent in the native workman or artisan.

Though, perhaps, there is no country in Europe in which music is more appreciated or practised than in Spain, it is singular that she has produced no really great master. She has many composers of "zarzuelas," a species of lighter opera; her traditional dance and ballad tunes are some of the most inspiriting possible; and her guitar playing is renowned, but more for the romantic sentiment of the words and the occasion on which it is used than for the music itself. Well-nigh the only name for which even Spaniards claim equality with the great European masters in serious music is that of Don Manuel Doyague, of Salamanca (1755-1842). His Miserere, Te Deum, and various Masses are said to equal those of any master of his time.

Literature

It is not necessary to repeat here what has been said above on the Spanish authors who wrote during the silver age of Latin literature, or to trace again the origin of the Spanish language. It is evident that all we can do is to give a very brief sketch of Spanish literature. This literature is, perhaps, the richest in Europe in ballads and romances, and these, which make one of its chief glories, are among its earliest monuments. While the "Chanson de Roland" and other "Chansons de Gestes" were being written in Northern France in the form of continuous epic poems, Spain was celebrating her hero—the Cid—in a series of ballads. These, if united, would tell almost the whole story of his life; but each could be sung or recited alone as a separate and complete poem. This form of verse continued for many ages to be the favourite literature of the common people, and attained a development in Spain beyond that which it did in any other land. For spontaneity, for movement, for grace of expression, for sudden turns from martial ardour to the most pathetic tenderness, the Spanish ballad is unrivalled. It embraces and handles with almost equal success the most varied subjects: war and chivalry and love, patriotism, wit, amusement, and religion, have all been treated of in these romances, and the collections of each kind would fill many volumes.

The first prose works in the Spanish language seem to have been a translation of the Bible, under Alphonse X., and of two codes of law, the "Fuero Juzgo" and "Las Siete Partidas," in the middle of the thirteenth century. It seems to have been almost by accident that Alfonzo wrote in the dialect of Leon and Castile in preference to that of Galicia and Portugal. Had he chosen the latter, probably Portuguese would have become the language of the whole Peninsula. Under his reign, too, may have been commenced the first history written in Spanish, "La Gran Conquista de Ultramar," telling the story of the Crusades, with many romantic episodes. The next production that calls for remark is the epic of Alexander the Great, by J. L. Segura, of the latter part of the same century. This poem gives the name "Alexandrine" to all European verse written in the same metre. In the early part of the fourteenth century we have a collection of tales, with morals attached, called "El Conde Lucanor," by Don Juan Manuel, nephew of Alphonse X. (1282-1347); and Alfonso XI. continues the list of royal authors with a "Libro de la Monteria,", or treatise on hunting. The arch-priest of Hita, Juan Ruiz (1330-43), about the same time took up the strain of love and war in a romance of mingled prose and verse, entitled "Guerras Civiles de Granada." In the latter half of the fifteenth century we meet with a remarkable production, the tragi-comedy of Celestina, which, in its two-fold character of novel and of drama, has been the parent of a double offspring, both of the comedy and of the picaresque novel of Spain. The Spanish rogue, at least in fiction, has been said to be the only amusing rogue in Europe. The chief representations of him in literature are in the novel of "Lazarillo de Tormes" (1554), by Hurtado de Mendoza; "Guzman de Alfarache" (1599), by Mateo Aleman; and "La Picara Justina" (1605), by the Dominican monk, Andreas Perez. The whole series of these works culminated in a masterpiece, "Gil Blas," written, not by a Spaniard, but by the Frenchman Lesage, in 1668; perhaps the most graphic description of the manners of another nation ever written by a foreigner.

The serious drama in Spain arose, probably, like that of other European nations, from the mysteries and moralities of the Middle Ages, such as are still continued to be performed occasionally at Elche and in other districts. In the "Autos" of Calderon and others it bore clear marks of this origin to a later date than any other contemporary drama. The first plays of any consequence we hear of are those of Lope de Rueda (1544-67), who, both as actor and as author, was greatly admired by Cervantes. From him the Spanish drama, like the almost contemporary Elizabethan drama in England, sprang at once to its full height. Cervantes, in his tragedies "Los Baños de Argel," and in "El trato de Argel" in which he described incidents in his own captivity, and in the "Numancia," telling the story of the siege by the Romans, imitated and surpassed his friend. In lighter pieces, comedies and entremeses, he was less successful. Almost coeval with Cervantes is Lope de Vega (1562-1635), perhaps the most prolific dramatic writer of any value that ever lived. His pieces are numbered at from 1500 to 2000, and the best of these are equal, if not superior, to those of Calderon in delineation of character and in plot, and are inferior only in poetical merit. We can only mention Tirso de Molina (1588-1648), Montahran (1602-38), and Ruiz de Alarcon (died 1639) as dramatists of merit, whose best pieces, especially those of the latter, approach very nearly to those of Lope and of Calderon. Calderon de la Barca (1600-81), with the German, Göthe, is the only dramatist of modern Europe who has been seriously put forward as a rival, or even superior, to Shakspere. This we think to be a mistake; in rich poetical imagery, in gorgeousness of fancy, in harmony of verse, in stately dignity, in depth of religions feeling, in knowledge of stage effect—in all these things he may be compared to our English master; but he is very far inferior to him in width of sympathy, in wit and rollicking fun, or in thoughtful humour; his comedy will not bear comparison with that of Shakspere; but he falls most short in his delineation of individual character. In comparison with Shakspere's, his figures are but well-dressed puppets compared to living men and women; not one of them lingers in the memory like a person whom we have known. We remember Calderon's verses, we revel in his splendid poetry, but we utterly forget who it is that utters these dazzling strains. Calderon's dramas and comedies are reckoned at 120, and his Autos, religious or sacramental pieces, generally performed by religious or civil corporations in the open air, are numbered at about seventy. In these plays abstract qualities take the place of living personages, and it is perhaps the greatest proof of Calderon's genius that he has by his brilliant poetry and serene religious feeling made some of even these acceptable to a modern reader.

But while the drama and comedy and the picaresque novel had been thus developing themselves, a whole literature of quite a different kind had sprung up into favour, flourished, and died away. This consisted of the prose books of chivalry, and of the pastoral romances both in prose and verse. They are remembered now chiefly through mention of them in the pages of the immortal work, the "Don Quixote," of Cervantes, which crushed them for ever. The most celebrated of them was the "Amadis de Gaul," written probably at the end of the fourteenth century. The imitations of it were innumerable, each more wild, extravagant, more insipid, and in worse taste than the last. Of the pastoral romances the only one we need to note is the "Diana Enamorada," of Montemayor (1520-61), and perhaps the most successful after this is the "Galatea," of Cervantes himself, who could never entirely shake off the influence of the writings he delighted to satirize, and of which he was the literary executioner. The one Spanish book which has become really European, in a degree which has been attained by no other purely secular work, is the "Don Quixote" of this author (1547-1616). Into this extraordinary production, under the guise of the adventures of his hero, the last of the knights-errant, with his squire, Sancho Panza—a story full of mirth, incident, and humour—Cervantes has put all the wisdom which, by his observation on mankind and literature, he had collected during a singularly varied life as writer, soldier, seaman, Algerine slave, poet, and man of business. Though hardly belonging to the school of the classical Renaissance, yet we see in Cervantes a specimen of the marked and distinguishing excellence of the men at that time—the width of their sympathies; so that each more eminent man seemed to contain in himself an epitome of the experience of mankind. It is, perhaps, to this many-sidedness of his experience, and of his culture, that is owing the genial character, the pathetic humour, and the total absence of bitterness in this masterly satire. Thus Cervantes, while laughing down and extinguishing for ever the absurdities of the chivalrous and pastoral romances, yet retains his sympathy for all that was really noble, though exaggerated, in them. His "Don Quixote," though moving irrepressible laughter, will for ever remain one of the choicest representations of a brave, pure-minded, honourable gentleman, and tears of pity for him are not far distant from our smiles at his quaint insanities. Since the days of Cervantes one kind only of the chivalrous romances has really survived in literature, and that is the historical romance, of which the "Guerras Civiles de Granada" of the arch-priest Hita, mentioned above, is so good an example. Another satirist, less known than Cervantes, to whom his life bears some resemblance, Quevedo y Villegas (1580-1645), is even a more versatile writer. In prose and verse his writings are very numerous, but his style, learned and obscure, often laboured in the extreme, though pregnant with thought and wit, contrasts unfavourably with the clearness of Cervantes; he holds now in Spanish literature a place nearly analogous to that of Swift among British writers.

But we must hurry on. With the downfall of Granada, the discovery of America, the consolidation of the kingdoms of the Peninsula into one nation, real historical study began in Spain. Thus we have in quick succession many works of considerable merit, such as the "Annals of Aragon," by Zurita (1512-80); the "Comunidades of Castille," by Mejia (1549); the great "History of Spain," by the Jesuit Mariana (1536-1632); Herrera's "General History of the Indies" (1549-1625); the "Commentaries on Peru," by the Inca, Garcilasso de la Vega (1540-1616); the monographs of Hurtado de Mendoza on the "Wars of Granada" (1610); the "Expedition of the Catalans," by Moncada (1623); the "Wars of Catalonia," by Melo (1645); and, in literary form superior to all these, the "Conquest of Mexico," by Solis (1685).

Of poetry, apart from the stage and from the romances, there is not much of real value to engage our attention. The grandest verses of early Spain are undoubtedly the "Coplas" of Manrique (1476), which have been often translated into English, and which form one of the finest elegies extant in any language. After Garcilassa de la Vega (1503-36), Spanish poets fell into an unworthy imitation of the Italian; and subsequently Gongora (1561-1627) set the example of a still more debased and stilted style, full of affected conceits and mistaken classicalism. The only tolerable epic poem which Spain has yet produced is the "Araucana" of Ercilla, which tells the story of the wars with Indians of that name in Chili, and in which the author had personally taken part.

From the close of the seventeenth and through the greater part of the eighteenth century, literature partook of the progressive decadence of all things in Spain. It withered and declined under the double censure and oppression of the king and of the inquisition. The theatre, which had striven hard in Spain to become the ally, or even the handmaid, of the Church, was contemptuously thrust aside by the latter, and within a century of Calderon's death, not even an Infanta could procure permission from the inquisition for a comedy in time of carnaval. No history of any value could be written under such conditions; the only outlet for literary skill lay in religious and mystic writings, which are of singular beauty. The classical and grammatical movement of the Renaissance which had begun so well under the patronage of Juan de Cisneros, Cardinal Ximenes, the great minister of Charles V., and the chief monument of which is the Complutensian Polyglot Bible of 1514-17, and its greatest scholar, Antonio de Nebrija, soon died away, and the Spanish universities, which for a while had been the admiration, became, in the eighteenth century, the laughing-stock of Europe. Of the earlier period we may mention among the religious writers Luis de Granada (1505-68), Santa Teresa (1515-82), the Jesuit, Ribadeneyra (1527-1611), Juan de la Cruz (1542-91); but even this literature degenerated into casuistry and mere technical scholasticism. Spanish religious poetry is, however, far more copious and of greater excellence than is generally supposed. It has been studied and collected in our own day by the opposite schools of the Spanish Protestants, and by the champion of orthodoxy, Menendez Pelayo.

There is little to notice in Spanish literature from this time until the rise of the doctrinaire and economical writers of the reign of Carlos III., who for the most part closely followed the contemporary school of French publicists and encyclopædists. Among these are Padre Benito Feyjoo, who was the first to protest against the absence of science and true learning in Spain; the Padre Isla (1703-81), decidedly one of the wittiest of Spanish writers and satirists; Jovellanos (1744-1811), the best statesman and political writer of his time, and in the purer walks of literature the two Moratins (1737-1828). One or two philological works, far in advance of their age, made now their appearance, such as the tracts of Padre Sarmiento (1692-1770) on the Spanish language; the works of the Jesuits Larramendi (1728-45) on the Basque, and of Hervas (1735-1805) on general philology. To this period also belongs the magnificent collection entitled, "La España Sagrada," commenced by Florez (1754-1801), and, after many interruptions, completed only in 1880.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century, however, a reaction set in against the French and so-called classical school, and the attention of Spanish writers was recalled to the masterpieces of their own earlier literature. The movement was accelerated by the course of political events, and the successes of the war of independence against the French. One of the earliest defenders of the romantic against the classical school was Bohl de Faber, a Hamburg merchant settled in Cadiz. He published in 1820-3, in his native town, selections from works of the early poets and dramatists of Spain; and his daughter, Cecilia, under the name of Fernan Caballero, has attained the highest rank among the lady novelists of Spain. The admission of Bohl de Faber into the ranks of the Spanish Academy, under Martinez de la Rosa, marks the definite triumph of the national school. At first it seemed as if the movement would produce simply a change of French for English and German models. Fiction became a stiff imitation of Sir Walter Scott. In poetry the influence of Byron reigned supreme. Espronceda (1810-42) has equalled his master in his cynical odes. "The Beggar," "The Executioner," "The last day of the Condemned," and "The Pirate," might almost have been penned by Byron; and "El Mundo Diablo" will long live in Spanish literature. Zorilla, born in 1817, still living, has been more successful in his dramas than Espronceda, especially in "Don Juan Tenorio," but his poems are inferior in force, though rich in colouring and in the melody of his verse. Gustavo Becquer (1836-70) is another poet who fed his genius with the legends of the past, but his models were Edgar Poe and Hoffmann; some of his weird fantastic tales and poems are excellent examples of their kind. Of an opposite character are the realistic novels of Fernan Caballero above mentioned (1797-1877). These are exquisite rose-tinted photographs of Spanish life and character taken by one who sees everything Spanish with a favourable eye. Her writings are distinguished by a delicate aristocratic grace and tenderness which she throws over all subjects which she handles, whether of high or lowly life. As an artist her plots are inferior to those of many worse novelists; her descriptions of scenery are beautiful and exact; as a delineator of individual character she fails, but as a painter of type and class she is unrivalled. Her sketches abound in humour and in gentle melancholy; a deep and true religious feeling pervades every line, but she fails in strength and passion. Thus she can be classed only in the second rank of female novelists, and does not approach the genius of Georges Sand or of George Elliot. Trueba, in the north, essays to imitate her, but he often sinks into puerility, nor are his studies marked by the conscientious regard for fact which distinguishes those of the lady writer. Pereda, who delineates the peasants of Santander, is a less prolific writer but of higher literary merit. Of living novelists we should place in the first rank Juan Valera with his powerful novels, "Pepita Jimenez," "El Doctor Faustino," and "Doña Luz." Next to him is, perhaps, Perez Galdos, who, in the series entitled "Episodios Nacionales," rivals the national romances of Erckmann-Chatrian in French. Pedro Alarcon has a greater fund of wit and humour, and his "Sombrero de tres picos" is a most mirth-provoking tale. Fernandez y Gonzalez, in the number, if not in the quality of his works, may almost compete with the elder Alexandre Dumas, whose semi-historical style he repeats. Feliz Pizcueta, a Valencian writer, has also written many novels, whose scenes are laid in his native province. Among dramatists now living, or lately dead, we may mention Hartzenbusch (1806-80), whose "Amantes de Teruel" is one of the most successful tragedies of the romantic school; Breton de los Herreros (1800-70); Gertrudis de Avellaneda, the first Spanish female dramatist, born in Cuba in 1816; Gutierrez, who, born in 1813, sought refuge, like Zorilla, in Spanish America; Lopez de Ayala; and lastly, J. Estebanez, whose best work is entitled "Un Drama Nuevo," and who reaches a high level of dramatic art. Of more extravagant style, inferior to these, and already marking a decadence, is José Echegaray, a man of most versatile and opposite talents, and one of the first mathematicians of Spain, the best of whose plays is "Locura o Santidad." Of lyric poets we may mention Campoamor, an original but languid and graceful writer of minor verse, and Selgas, whose grace is seasoned with wit and satire, but whose prose is much superior to his verse. But by far the greatest of living Spanish poets, though like Tennyson he has failed comparatively on the stage, is Gaspar Nuñez de Arce. His "Gritos del Combate," and "La Ultima Lamentacion de Lord Byron," contain some noble verses. He writes in the spirit of purest patriotism, with a stern morality, and with severe and chastened art.

But more important than in the movement of fiction and poetry has been the influence of the romantic school in history. The attention of Spaniards has been at length turned to the study of their original records, and especially to that of the early Arabic writers. The first to attempt this, but with insufficient means, was J. A. Condé (1757-1820) in his "Historia de la Dominacion de los Arabes en España." This has since been superseded by the exacter learning of Don Pascual Gayangos, in the "Mohammedan Dynasties of Spain," by many foreign writers, and by the labours of Fernandez y Gonzalez in "Los Mudejares de Castilla" (1866) and others. The labours of Don Modeste and Don Vicente Lafuente, the one in ecclesiastical, the other in civil history, must be mentioned with approval, and the works of Amador de los Rios, on the literature of Spain and on the history of the Jews in Spain, do honour to his country. Among other historians, we may mention F. Castro and Sales y Ferrer, whose works are the popular manuals in education. Fernandez Guerra in the ancient, and Coello in the modern, Geography of Spain, are authors of the highest class; nor must we omit the Englishman Bowles, who wrote on the Natural History of Spain in 1775. In Geology another English name, Macpherson, attains the highest rank, together with the surveyors employed on the "Comision de la Mapa Geologica" of Spain. On the history of property in Spain and Europe, are two remarkable essays by Cárdenas and de Azcárate. In theology, on the Roman Catholic side, are the writings of Balmés (1810-48); of Doñoso Cortes (1809-53), of the present Bishop of Cordova, Ceferino Gonzalez; and, still publishing, the remarkable production of Menendez Pelayo, "Historia de los Heterodoxos in España;" while in the Protestant theology, Usoz, assisted by B. Wiffen in England and Boehmer in Germany, has rescued from oblivion the works of the Spanish reformers. In philology the Jesuit, Padre Fita y Colomé, worthily continues the traditions of Larramendi and of Hervas. Fernandez Guerra, and F. Tubino, and the Barcelona school pursue archæological studies with success. The influence of outside European thought is every day more evident in Spain. Ardent disciples of the school of Comte, of Darwin, and of Schopenhauer, are to be found among her publicists. In political economy Figuerola, G. Rodriguez, Colmeiro, Azcárate, and others, follow keenly the teaching of the English liberal school. Face to face in parliamentary eloquence and in politics stand Cánovas del Castello and Emilio Castelar; the latter distinguished by a florid oratory which is unsurpassed in Europe, but whose style is far more effective when spoken than when read; the former, with greater learning and a more cultivated taste, would undoubtedly be known as a writer but for his devotion to political life. The periodical and daily press of Spain, though not to compare with that of England, or of the United States, is almost on a par with that of most continental countries; the scientific and literary reviews and magazines are yearly increasing both in numbers and in value.