The mention of this great dramatist reminds one that the Cid underwent another transformation in the theatre. Guillén de Castro introduced him in _Las Mocedades del Cid_ as the central figure in a dramatic conflict between love and filial duty; Corneille took over the situation, and created a masterpiece which completely overshadowed Castro’s play. The names of other dramatists who treated the same theme are very properly forgotten: another great dramatisation of the Cid’s story is about as likely as another great dramatisation of the story of Romeo and Juliet. But the poetic possibilities of the Cid legend are inexhaustible. Nearly fifty years ago Victor Hugo, then in the noontide of his incomparable genius, reincarnated the primitive Cid in the first series of _La Légende des siècles_. Who can forget the impression left by the first reading of _Quand le Cid fut entré dans le Généralife_, by the sixteen poems which form the _Romancero du Cid_, by the interview between the Cid and the sheik Jabias in _Bivar_, and by that wonder of symbolism _Le Cid exilé_? It is as unhistorical as you please, but marvellous for its grandiose vision and haunting music:— Et, dans leur antichambre, on entend quelquefois Les pages, d’une voix féminine et hautaine, Dire:—Ah oui-da, le Cid! c’était un capitaine D’alors. Vit-il encor, ce Campéador-là? The question was soon answered. Within three years a fiercer—perhaps a more melodramatic—aspect of the Cid was revealed by Leconte de Lisle in three pieces which contributed to the sombre splendour of the _Poèmes barbares_, and now appear among the _Poèmes tragiques_; and thirty years later, in our own day, José Maria de Heredia, the Benvenuto of French verse, included a figure of the Cid among his glittering _Trophées_. These three are masters of their craft, and one of them is the greatest poet of his time; but their puissant art has not superseded the virile creation of the nameless, candid, patriotic singer who wrote the _Poema del Cid_ some eight hundred years ago. CHAPTER II THE ARCHPRIEST OF HITA