given by Gutierre Díez de Games in the _Crónica del Conde de Buelna, Don Pero Niño_. And no account of the writers of Juan II.’s reign would be complete without some mention of the celebrated Bishop of Ávila, Alfonso de Madrigal, best known as _El Tostado_. But _El Tostado_ wrote mostly in Latin, and, apart from this, his incredible productivity weighs upon him. Es muy cierto que escrivió para cada día tres pliegos de los días que vivió: su doctrina assi alumbró que haze ver á los ciegos. We must be satisfied to quote this epitaph written on _El Tostado_ by Suero del Águila, and hurry on as we may, blinder than the blind. When all is said, the importance of _El Tostado_ and the rest is purely relative. We need only concern ourselves with the more significant figures of the time, and this select company will occupy the time at our disposal. One of the most striking personalities of Juan II.’s reign was Enrique de Villena, wrongly known as the Marqués de Villena. Born in 1384, he owes much of his posthumous renown to his reputation as a wizard, and to the burning of part of his library by the king’s confessor, the Dominican Fray Lope Barrientos, afterwards successively Bishop of Segovia (1438), Ávila (1442), and Cuenca (1445). Barrientos has been roughly handled ever since Juan de Mena, without naming him, first applied the branding-iron in _El Laberinto de Fortuna_:— O ynclito sabio, auctor muy çiente, otra é avn otra vegada yo lloro porque Castilla perdió tal tesoro, non conoçido delante la gente. Perdió los tus libros sin ser conoçidos, e como en esequias te fueron ya luego vnos metidos al auido fuego, otros sin orden non bien repartidos.