The ease and variety of the lines indicate the natural poet, however, and even when form departs the sentences retain a certain elegance. The first part was published as _Primera Parte de las Elegías_, etc., Madrid, 1589, 4o, used by De Bry in his eighth part on America, and given in the fourth volume of _Biblioteca de Autores Españoles_, 1850. The second and third parts, provided with maps and plans, and dedicated, like the first, to King Philip, remained in manuscript in the library of the Marqués del Carpio—_Pinelo_, _Epitome_, ii. 590—till issued by Ariban, together with the first part, in 1857, as a special volume of the above _Biblioteca_. A fourth part, perhaps the best and most important, as it must have recorded the latest and freshest recollections of Castellanos, was used by Bishop Piedrahita for his history, and has since disappeared. He found the original with Consejero Prado, and refers to "las otras tres partes impressas." _Hist. Conq. Granada_, preface. The three published parts are divided into elegies, eulogies, and histories, according to the theme, though Castellanos evidently stretches a point to obtain so many subjects under the first heading, inscribing them, as a rule, 'to the death' of some noted captain. The subdivision forms octave stanzas of the Italian form, undecasyllabic triple measure, in feminine rhyme, of triple alternating lines, with a finishing couplet. Toward the end a continuous and chiefly blank verse is used. The facility for versification in Spanish can hardly find a better illustration than these sustained triplets of double rhyme, which reflect no small credit on Castellanos' patience and power of expression. The usual faults of writers of his age are, of course, to be found; incredulity, pedantry, and contradiction, chiefly due to the readiness with which he accepted statements from chroniclers and from participants in the events related. His own versions may, Muñoz' slurs notwithstanding, be regarded as faithful recitals, so far, at least, as memory and military ardor permitted, while everywhere are to be found clear, vivid descriptions of battles, scenes, and people.