SPANISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. The Spanish language is one of the Romanic tongues, and, like the others, originated in the lingua Montana ruxtica. See ROMANIC LANGUAGES. The earliest of the different Spanish dialects that assumed a lit erary form was the Castilian, which gradually became, and has continued to be, the classic dialect of the nation. It finally blends a certain soft, lingering richness of cadence with an occasional sonorous majesty of expression, and on the whole may he considered one of the most beautiful of the European tongues. The course of Spanish conquest has also led to its establishment in Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Porto Rico, the greater part of South America, the Canary isles, and the Philippines. See the Gl•iMMar and DirtiOpary published by the Spanish academy (1771); the grammars of Keil (Belt). 1837); Fuchs (Bed. 1837); Wiggers, and Schele de Vere (New York, 1854). The best material for a historical grammar is furnished by Diez in his Grammatik, der Romaniel.en Sprachen. The best Spanish dictionaries, besides that of the academy, are Cabrem'a (Mad. 1837); the Spanish-German by Seekendorff (3 vols. Hamb. 1823), and the Span ish-English of Neumann and Baretti (re-edited by Velazquez, New York, 1852).
literature of Spain may, in a superficial sense, be regarded as com mencing under the auspices of the Romans, for Lucan, Seneca, and other eminent Latin authors, were at least. Spanish by birth; and, if we please, we may further look upon the Christian ecclesiastical writers of the Gothic period as the second link in the historical chain. But in the proper sense of the term, the literature of these two periods is no more a national—than an English book by an Anglo-Indian is to be held as a portiou of Hindu literature, or the sermons preached by a missionary to South Sea islanders are to be quoted as svecimens of the literature of the Pacific. Passing over, then, the various developments cif non-national literature in Spain—pagan Latin, eccle siastical Latin. Arabic and .Jewish—we come down to the 12th c., and then, for the first time after the gradual formation of a Spanish language, begin to notice the growth of something like a Spanish literature. Epic and didactic poems appear, written in Cas
tilian verse, and full of strong national sentiment. The oldest of these is the Poona del Cid (see CID CAmehAnon), of which only a single MS. exists. This MS, contains three ether poems: The Book of Apollonius, Prince of Tyre; The Life of our Lady, St. Mary of Egypt ; and The Adoration of the Three Holy Rings, the authorship of which (as of the Poema del Cid) is unknown. Other productions of this first period are the rhymed Lives of the Saints, by Gonzalo of Berceo (died about 1260); and the anonymous poem, Gaunt Fernan Gonzalez, which, like the Poema del Cid, paints the earliest and picturesque struggle between the Moors and Spaniards. In all of these we trace the influence either of the church or of the chivalric poetry of France; but they maintain, nevertheless, a distinctively national and independent character. Agreat impulse was given to the artis tic development of Spanish literature by Alfonso the wise of Castile (q.v.), who substi tuted Spanish for Latin in the courts of law, and fostered in many ways the growth of the national language. He is regarded as the founder of Spanish prose, his chief work in this department being the compilation of a series of codes, of which the most memor able is Las Siete Partidas, and a translation of the Bible into Spanish. Subsequent princes walked in his steps, and achieved an honorable reputation both as authors and patrons of literature, conspicuous among whom was the Infante Don Juan Manuel (died 1347), whose El Conde Lucanor (count Lucanor) is a collection of 49 tales. apo logues, etc., from oriental sources, and wearing an oriental aspect. The most remarl:ablo Spanish poet of the 14th c. is Juan Ruiz, arch-priest of Hita (died 1351). Ills pieces, composed in a great variety of measures, number some 7,000 verses, and include relig ious and love songs, fables, pastorals, etc. The didactic tendency is particularly visible in the D General de let Muerte (dance of death).