The 18th Century.—After the death of Calderon (1681) it may be said that a period of decay set in rapidly in the field of letters; it became well-nigh absolute in the early years of the 18th century. The writers were still many but their aesthetic sense and that of their readers were of a deplorably low order. The advent of the Bourbons with Phillip V, who came to the throne in 1700, led to a large in flux of Frenchmen to the court and a con siderable Frenchifying of fashions. From France there came also the neo-classic methods of her writers, which the critic Ignacio de Luzin (1702-54) recommended to his Spanish fellow-countrymen as providing a panacea for the literary ills of Spain. In his 'Poitica' (1737) Luzin paid particular attention to the reform of the Spanish theatre which had fallen into a chaotic condition and he urged the adoption by Spanish playwrights of the three unities and the other leading principles of neo classic restraint which had been in force in France since the 17th century. The ideas of Luzin met with acceptance; there was some translation of French dramatic pieces and some Spaniards of talent wrote original plays cast in the French classic mold. Among these were N. F. de Moratin (Moratin the Elder, 1737-80), the statesman Jovellanos (d. 1811), and Moratin, the son (Leandro Fernandez de Moratin, 1760-1828). The greatest of the trio was the last named, who acquired favor with the many by means of his pieces reflecting his veneration for the French dramatist lvfoliere: and especially by his two prose plays, 'El Cafe) and 'El Si de las A school of poets who gathered about Valdes, a pro fessor at the University of Salamanca, sought to subordinate lyric composition to the same principles of neo-classic restraint and, though they succeeded in attaining to some plasticity of form, they did so to the detriment of emo tional expression. In the domain of the versi fied fable a high degree of excellence was reached by Iriarte (1759-91) and Samaniego (1745-81), who were familiar with the work of La Fontaine and of other foreign fabulists as well. With a satirical novel, the 'Fray Gerundio) (1758), the Jesuit Isla gained much éclat and also contrived to bring about a re form of the sensational methods of preachers of his day. Isla won notice, furthermore, by his Spanish translation of the 'Gil Bias' of the French novelist Lesage, which, in ac cordance with a false assertion of Vol taire, he regarded as a plagiarism of a lost Spanish picaroon romance. The scientific dis coveries of the outside world were com municated to his countrymen by the Benedic tine Feijoo (1726-1829) through the medium of the essays contained in his (Teatro critico' and his eruditas y curiosas.' The cultured soldier Jose de Cadalso (1741-82) repeated in his (Cartas Marruecas' the satirical methods utilized by Montesquieu, in his (Lotres per sanes,) and derived inspiration for his 'Noches 16gubres' from Young's 'Night Thoughts.' Ramon de la Cruz (1731-94) showed the uni versal predilection for things Gallic in his adaptations of French plays, but he took a unique stand for the age when he produced his sainetes of an entirely native flavor, for they are one-act pieces reproducing the methods of the old Paso. Sarmineto, Hervas and Arteaga are notable among the historians, scholars and critics of the period.
The More Recent Only to a slight degree did the rationalistic spirit of the French 18th century show itself in the workings of the minds of the French writers who have been mentioned thus far as subordinating themselves to the precepts of neo-classicism. But in the leading author of the opening of the 19th cen tury rationalism dominates along with fiery lib eralism. He is Quintana (1772-1857). His en
during fame, however, rests more upon the heroic odes in which he, a patriotic Spaniard, assailed the Napoleonic invaders of his land during the War of Independence. With him was associated the priest Gallego (1777-1853), who wrote patriotic odes and elegies of highly plastic form. Though they fought the French man as the enemy of their country, Quintana and Gallego did not disclaim the methods of neo-classicism. These methods still found ac ceptance with the young men who constituted the coterie of writers known as the School of Seville, but in the poetry of the guiding spirits among them, such men as Arjona, Lista, Blanco and Reinoso, there is also evident a respect for the older and purely Spanish literary tradition.
The Romantic movement which had swept Europe outside reached Spain somewhat be lated in the fourth decade of the century. Liberal writers who had fled the land during the despotic rule of Ferdinand VII returned at his death in 1833 and helped efficaciously in spreading the evangel of Romanticism which had come to them in England and France. As understood by them Romanticism was the very antithesis of Classicism, in that it threw off all restraint and believed in giving unchecked ex pression to the .feelings of the inner man, and, moreover, it sought inspiration in the Christian Middle Ages and not in pagan classic antiquity so favored by the classicists. Martinez de la Rosa (1787-1862), who is in many respects still a votary of Classicism, manifested clear tend encies toward Romanticism in his play (La Conjuration de Venecia> (1834). A decided victory for the new doctrines was won in 1835 by the performance at Madrid of the play 'Don Alvaro' by the Duque de Rivas (1791-1865), who likewise introduced the Romantic spirit into the lyric with his 'Faro de Malta,' and into narrative poetry with his 'Moro Exposito.' The fervor of Romantic enthusiasm is patent in one of the most transcendentally lyrical of all Spanish poets, Jose de Espronceda (1809 42), who rose up rebellious to all social and literary convention and proved to be an apt, though not a servile, disciple of Byron, in his longer compositions, the (Estudiante de Salamanca' and the (Diablo Mundo.' The Romantic's love for mediaeval traditions has full expression in the legends in verse of Jose Zor rilla (1817-93), who has, besides, achieved widespread popularity with his drama 'Don Juan Tenorio.> The Romantic ferment appears but slightly in the pieces of the prolific play wright, Breton de los Herreros (1796-1873), who delighted rather in rendering pictures of living manners. The poetess and dramatist, Gertrudis de Avellaneda (1814-73) alternated Romantic and Classic moods. By the middle of the 19th century the realistic attitude prevailed over the Romantic and has done so ever since both on the boards and in prose fiction. The dramatists Lopez de Ayala (1829-79) and Ta mayo y Bans (1829-98) pictured vividly the cor ruption of manners induced by the exaggerated materialism and positivism of society and the business world. While the historical drama has a brilliant representative in the (Haz de Lena' of Nidiez de Arce (1834-1903), the theatre of recent times has not been marked by the ap pearance of works of great and lasting merit. At the moment, the genera chico (one-act plays frequently farcical of plot) holds sway; still a really artistic endeavor is revealed in the more ambitious plays of Benavente and the Quintero brothers. Much praise can hardly be accorded to the dramatic attempts of the es sentially novelistic genius, Perez Galdes.