The _Romancero General_, published at Madrid in 1600, and amplified in the reprint of 1604, is often described as a collection of old ballads, made in continuation of the anthologies arranged by Nucio and Nájera. Old, as applied to _romances_, has a relative meaning; but even in the lowest sense the word can scarcely be used of the songs in the _Romancero General_, which is very largely made up of the work of contemporary poets. Another famous volume of lyrics is Pedro Espinosa's _Flores de Poetas ilustres de España_ (1605), which includes specimens of Camões, Barahona de Soto, Lope de Vega, Góngora, Quevedo, Salas Barbadillo, and others of less account. Of minor singers, such as López Maldonado, the friend of Cervantes and of Lope, there were too many; but Maldonado's _Cancionero_ (1586) reveals a combination of sincerity and technical excellence which distinguishes him from the crowd of fluent versifiers typified by Pedro de Padilla. Devout songs, as simple as they are beautiful, are found in the numbers of Juan López de Úbeda and of Francisco de Ocaña, who may be studied in their respective _cancioneros_ (1588, 1604), or—much more briefly, and perhaps to better purpose—in Rivadeneyra's _Romancero y Cancionero sagrados_. The chief of these pious minstrels was JOSÉ DE VALDIVIELSO (?1560-1636), the author of a long poem entitled _Vida, Excelencias y Muerte del gloriosísimo Patriarca San José_; but it is neither by this tedious sacred epic nor by his twelve _autos_ that Valdivielso should be judged. His lyrical gift, scarcely less sweet and sincere than Lope's own, is best manifested in his _Romancero Espiritual_, with its _romances_ to Our Lady, its pious _villancicos_ on Christ's birth, which anticipate the mingled devotion and familiarity of Herrick's _Noble Numbers_. ANTONIO PÉREZ (1540-1611), once secretary to Felipe II., and in all probability the King's rival in love, figures here as a letter-writer of the highest merit. No Spaniard of his age surpasses him in clearness, vigour, and variety. Whether he attempt the vein of high gallantry, the flattery of "noble patrons," the terrorising of an enemy by hints and innuendos, his phrase is always a model of correct and spirited expression. In a graver manner are his _Relaciones_ and his _Memorial del hecho de su causa_, which combine the dignity of a statesman with the ingenuity of an attorney. But in all circumstances Pérez never fails to interest by the happy novelty of his thought, the weighty sententiousness of his aphorisms, and by his unblushing revelation of baseness and cupidity.