LOS SUEROS, los sna'nyfis. Francisco Gomez Quevedo Villega composed his or 'Visions,' at intervals between the years 1606 and 1627, at which latter date they were first published at Barcelona. The conception of a dream or vision of the other world, peopled by contemporaries of the author in this, was familiar in mediaeval literature, and is utilized by Quevedo with full realization of its possi bilities in the sphere of personal satire and scandalous attack. The satire of the is rather journalistic than philosophic, more akin to the opportunism and animosities of the periodical press than to the spirit of belles lettres. Ductile and incisive by turns, the humor is both crushing and keen. Clergy, physicians, merchants, Jews, actors, poets, all the cherished abominations of the author, pass in rapid kaleidoscopic review, more effective indeed at the outset, as in the °Vision of the Last and in miniature than in the later pages, which suffer from the repetition in evitable in the monotony of the scheme. Usually reckoned as six in number, an addi tional vision is admitted by many editors — °La Hora de Todos y la Fortuna con Mature and highly mannered in style, this was printed posthumously in 1658, constituting a substantial volume in itself. It is properly
a cento of later writings of the author. The earlier 'Visions' circulated in manuscript, or surreptitiously as pamphlets. Two years after the first collected edition, a reprinting under the title 'Juguetes de la Nifiez y Travesuras del Ingenio' was authorized by the Inquisition at Madrid (1629), the more offensive passages being deleted, and the text revised through the substitution of names of pagan deities for those of the Christian dispensation. Although inferior in directness and energy, this version is that which has since been commonly known. The standard Spanish text, edited by Aurelio Fernandez Guerra, is included in the (Obra& of Quevedo 'Biblioteca de Autores (Vols. XXill and XLVIII, Madrid 1880 et seq.). The are also reprinted in the series of Castellano& (2 vols., Madrid 191(-17), with an introduction by Julio Cejador y Frauca. The familiar English ver sion is by Sir Roger L'Estrange.