The publication of the choice Spanish poems, collected by Don Juan Joseph Lopez de Sedano, was a circumstance very favourable to the restoration of the poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to its proper place in Spanish literature. This work appeared in the year 1768, under the title of the _Parnaso Español_; but there certainly would have been little difficulty in producing a better collection. The notions which Sedano entertained respecting religion and morality have induced him to mingle not a few bad and indifferent productions with poems of superior merit; and it was by no means a happy idea to reprint long translations, such, for example, as the whole of Tasso’s Amynta, when so much of the rich fruit of the original Spanish stock remained ungathered. But the undertaking was praiseworthy; and the biographical and literary notices annexed to the work rendered the Spanish public once more acquainted with estimable authors whom it ought never to have forgotten. YRIARTE. Tomas de Yriarte, general archivist to the high council of war, and translator to one of the ministerial departments of state in Madrid, combined French elegance with the ancient forms of Spanish poetry in a manner very different from that of La Huerta. After he had acquired a certain degree of reputation by several translations of French dramas, by original poems in the latin language, and various other literary labours, he obtained more decidedly the favour of the elegant portion of the Spanish public by his _Fabulas Literarias_, (Literary Fables), which were first printed in the year 1782.[613] Yriarte conceived the novel idea of rendering literary truths, many of which may at the same time be regarded as moral truths, themes for fables in the style of Æsop; and of composing these fables in every variety of verse which was in any way applicable to them. No classical fabulist had hitherto appeared in Spanish literature. Yriarte’s fables are, however, not only remarkable for their classic language and excellent versification, but they possess a peculiar charm of style which may be mistaken for a happy imitation of the manner of Lafontaine, though it is to be traced to a different source. Like Lafontaine, Yriarte had a true feeling for that delicate harmony which is so indispensable to the fabulist, and for that spirited infantine style, which, in a graceful prattling, playfully unfolds the truth as it were intuitively, and, as it ought always to be disclosed, in apologue, without the slightest trace of didactic design. He had no need to turn to the writings of foreigners in quest of the literary elements of such a style. It was only necessary to combine the exquisite simplicity of many old Spanish romances and songs, with the true spirit of Æsopian fable, and his narrative style could not fail to assume the tone in which it so successfully rivalled the manner of Lafontaine. Accordingly among Yriarte’s sixty-seven literary fables, those which are composed in