But this bashfulness soon wore off. Before the end of the sixteenth century famous writers like Lope de Vega and Góngora proved themselves to be masters of the ballad-form, and within a comparatively short while there came into existence the mass of _romances_ which fill the two volumes of the _Romancero general_ published in 1600 and 1605. The best of these are brilliant performances; but they are late, artistic imitations. For genuine old popular _romances_ we must look in broadsides, or in the collections issued at Antwerp and Saragossa in the middle of the sixteenth century by Martín Nucio and Esteban de Nájera respectively. We may also read them (with a good deal more) in the _Primavera y Flor de romances_ edited by Wolf and Hofmann; and, most conveniently of all, in the amplified reprint of the _Primavera_ for which we are indebted to Sr. Menéndez y Pelayo, the most eminent of living Spanish scholars. But the _romances_—not all of them very ancient—in the amplified _Primavera_ fill three volumes; and, as it would be impossible to examine them one by one, it has occurred to me that the only practical plan is to take Lockhart as a basis, and to comment briefly on the ballads represented in his volume of translations—which I see some of you consulting. There may be occasion, also, to point out some omissions. Lockhart begins with a translation of a _romance_ quoted in _Don Quixote_ by Ginés de Pasamonte, after the destruction of his puppet-show by the scandalised knight:— Las huestes de don Rodrigo desmayaban y huian.[12] The English rendering, though not very exact throughout, is adequate and spirited enough:— The hosts of Don Rodrigo were scattered in dismay, When lost was the eighth battle, nor heart nor hope had they; He, when he saw that field was lost, and all his hope was flown, He turned him from his flying host, and took his way alone.