LISTA V ARAGON, ALBERTO, an eminent Spanish mathema tician, poet, and critic, wee born at Triana, a suburb of Seville, in 1775, on the 15th of October, the day which as he delighted to remember was also the birthday of his favourite poet Virgil. His parents were iu humble circumstances, and engaged in silk-weaving, and in his early years Lista was himself obliged to work at the trade, but he soon dis played such talents for mathematics, that by the time he was thirteen he was already enabled to earn his own living by giving lessons to pupils. As be went about from one house to another for this purpose, he filled up the intervals by playing with the other boys in the streets. At fifteen he was made teacher of mathematics in the schools of the society of 'Amigos del Pais,' and at twenty nominated by the king to the same office in the nautical college of San Talmo at Seville. Before that time he had studied philosophy, theology, and canon law at the university, and be had also devoted himself to the priesthood. This however did not prevent him from engaging in private theatri cals, and gaining applause in some of the priocipal characters in Lope and Calderon. At that period there were four young men in Seville ••uthuaiastio in their devotion to literature and intimate personal friends, Arjona, Iteynoso, Liata, and Don Jos6 Maria Blanco, after wards so well-known in England by the name of Blanco White.
In 1808, soon after Lista'a appointment to the professorship of poetry and rhetoric at the University of Seville, the French invasion brought ruin to every literary circle iu the peninsula. Lista at first joined with Blanco in continuing the Semanario Patriotico,' begun by Quintana, but his firmness appears afterwards to have failed him. When the French entered Seville he remained, and while improvising patriotic odes on the victory of Baylen, he allowed himself to earn the compliments of Soult by the skill with which, under compulsion, lie turned the French proclamations into excellent Spanish. The consequence was that when the French armies were driven out of the country in 1813, Lista found himself obliged to keep them company, and spent some years in France as a teacher of Spanish and also as a curate, occasionally venturing to preach in French, though he could never conquer the Spanish accent. In 1817 he was allowed to re-enter Spain, and after passing a few years in the provinces as a teacher of mathematics, wee established in 1820 at Madrid aa, in conjunction with Hermosilla and 311hano, editor of the magaziuo 'El Censor,' one of the beat periodicals Spain has ever produced. In 1822 he pub lished his poems with a dedication to Blanco White, under the name of ' Albino.' They at once placed their author among the first poets of modern Spain. Not long after he established a sort of private college at 3Iadrid, the reputation of which rose singularly high, and had the effect of exposing him to many annoyances ou the part of the government. Among the pupils of Lista at differeut periods of his life are found the names of Duran, Esprencede, Ventura do la Vega, Roca de Togoree, and many others of peninsular eminence. He
became so dispirited at the obstacles thrown in his way by the authorities, that ho finally left the country and established himself at Bayonne, where he published a ' Gaceta de Bayona ' in Spanish, which supported him by its circulation in Spain till it was prohibited by the ministry. lie then went to reside at Paris, and while there paid a visit of a fortnight to London for the exclusive purpose of renewing hia intercourse with lila old friend White, then a minister of the Church of England, resident at Oxford. When the frieuda mat their emotion was so great that both were for some time unable to speak. Soon after, in /833, the writer, whose 'Oaceta de Bayous' had been forbidden to enter Spain, was summoned home to edit the • Oaceta ee Madrid,' where his leading articlea were so highly approved, that King Ferdinand offered him in recompense the bishopric of Astorga, which he declined in favour of his friend Torres Amat, the biographer of Catalan authors. From this time his life flowed through a series of honours. When in 1837 ho resigned the editorship of the 'Gazette; he became professor of mathematics at Madrid, and helped to establish the Athenmum,' or university' there. His health suffered by the climate of Madrid, and be removed to Cadiz, where he superintended the new college of St. Philip Neri. In 1810 ha gave this up, and returned to his native Seville, on his road to which he was met at two leagues off by a procession of friends and admirers to escort him in. He again accepted in his old age the professorship of mathe unities in the city where his early triumphs had been won, and there he died on the 5th of October 1848. The municipality of Seville decreed that one of the streets in which lie had often played when a boy should bear henceforth the nano of 'Calle de Doti Alberto Lista.' Lista was an author of very various merit, his Tratade de Mate maticas puma y mixtas' is the standard book on mathematics in Spain, and his amorous and anacreontie poetry is considered little inferior to that of the admired Melendez. His philosophic poems in the style of Horace are peculiarly happy, and his sacred poems are superior to those of any of his contemporaries. As a literary critic his • Lecciones de Literature dramatics Eyehole ' (Madrid, 1839), and his Ensayea literarios y entices' (2 vols., Seville, 1840 are in high esteem, and contain a fund of valuable information for foreigners; and he has also displayed his intimate acquaintance with the literature of his country in an excellent collection of selected extracts, ' Trozos escogidos de loo majores hablistas Espalioles en prose y verso.' A translation of S6gur's French work on universal history, which he executed when in France, has a title to be mentioned from the numerous additions it contains, including among others, a history of Spain to a late period. As a political writer ha was distinguished by his advocacy of moderate and cautious reforms ; and it should be mentioned that among his poems is one entitled ' The Triumph of Tolerance,' directed against the Inquisition.