The striking characteristic of this remarkable Chronicle is, that, especially in its Third Part, and in a portion of the Fourth, it is a translation, if we may so speak, of the old poetical fables and traditions of the country into a simple, but picturesque, prose, intended to be sober history. What were the sources of those purely national passages, which we should be most curious to trace back and authenticate, we can never know. Sometimes, as in the case of Bernardo del Carpio and Charlemagne, the ballads and gestes of the olden time[241] are distinctly appealed to. Sometimes, as in the case of the Children of Lara, an early Latin chronicle, or perhaps some poetical legend, of which all trace is now lost, may have constituted the foundations of the narrative.[242] And once at least, if not oftener, an entire and separate history, that of the Cid, is inserted without being well fitted into its place. Throughout all these portions, the poetical character predominates much oftener than it does in the rest; for while, in the earlier parts, what had been rescued of ancient history is given with a grave sort of exactness, that renders it dry and uninteresting, we have in the concluding portion a simple narrative, where, as in the account of the death of Saint Ferdinand, we feel persuaded that we read touching details sketched by a faithful and affectionate eyewitness. [241] These _Cantares_ and _Cantares de Gesta_ are referred to in Parte III. c. 10 and 13. [242] I cannot help feeling, as I read it, that the beautiful story of the Infantes de Lara, as told in this Third Part of the Crónica de España, beginning f. 261 of the edition of 1541, is from a separate and older chronicle; probably from some old monkish Latin legend. But it can be traced no farther back than to this passage in the Crónica de España, on which rests every thing relating to the Children of Lara in Spanish poetry and romance.