IRIARTE, or YRIARTE,Y OROPESA.
(.C'n\-1)5'sa, TONISS DE ( 1750-91). A Span ish poet, born on the island of Teneriffe, Sep tember IS, 1750: edueated at .Aladrid under the care of his untie, .Juan de Iriartc, the head of the Royal Library. Ile began very early to translate French plays and to compose plays of his own. For his maintenanee, however, he depended throughout his life upon the income derived front certain minor posts to which he was appointed in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of War, and from other administrative ap pointments. The tranquillity of his career was disturbed by numerous literary quar rels with other writers of the time, notably with Juan Pablo Forum and in 1786 lie was sum before the Inquisition to answer a charge of adherence to the doctrines which the French philosophers were then disseminating, a charge from which he seems, however, to have had little difficulty in clearing himself. Ile died at Madrid, September 17. 17411. Much of his published verse consists of translations, most of which are not so good as his original poems. Among these are the Epistles, one of which forms the dedi cation of his translation of Ilarace's .1 rs Poct
ira to his friend Cadalso. and a didactic work, La. musky:, a discussion of the elements of music, which attracted attention abroad and won him praise from Metastasio. But his per manent fame is based upon his versified fables, the Fiibulas litcrarias. still among the most popular in Spain. In their content these stow considerable skill on Iriarte's part in adapting the peculiarities and habits of animals to doe trinal purposes: in their form they also display his ingenuity, being written in a great variety of metres with a due regard for harmony and symmetry. Consult his Ohms (Madrid, 1805) ; :Ind the edition of his poems in the Biblioteca de autorcs vol. lxiii. (Madrid. 1891): Cutarelo y Mori. Marie sa epora (Madrid. 18971. The fables were translated into many European languages. Belfour's Literary Fables Imitated from the Rpanish of Yriartr appeared in London in 1806. and BoeklifTe's rendering of lriarte reached a third edition in 1866.