[119] There are two Spanish editions of the Conde Lucanor: the first and best by Argote de Molina, 4to, Sevilla, 1575, with a life of Don John prefixed, and a curious essay on Castilian verse at the end,--one of the rarest books in the world; and the other, only less rare, published at Madrid, 1642. The references in the notes are to the first. A reprint, made, if I mistake not, from the last, and edited by A. Keller, appeared at Stuttgard, 1839, 12mo, and a German translation by J. von Eichendorff, at Berlin, in 1840, 12mo. Don John Manuel, I observe, cites Arabic twice in the Conde Lucanor, (Capp. 11 and 14,)--a rare circumstance in early Spanish literature. CHAPTER V. ALFONSO THE ELEVENTH.--TREATISE ON HUNTING.--POETICAL CHRONICLE.-- BENEFICIARY OF UBEDA.--ARCHPRIEST OF HITA; HIS LIFE, WORKS, AND CHARACTER.--RABBI DON SANTOB.--LA DOCTRINA CHRISTIANA.--A REVELATION.--LA DANÇA GENERAL.--POEM ON JOSEPH.--AYALA; HIS RIMADO DE PALACIO.--CHARACTERISTICS OF SPANISH LITERATURE THUS FAR. The reign of Alfonso the Eleventh was full of troubles, and the unhappy monarch himself died at last of the plague, while he was besieging Gibraltar, in 1350. Still, that letters were not forgotten in it we know, not only from the example of Don John Manuel, already cited, but from several others which should not be passed over. The first is a prose treatise on Hunting, in three books, written under the king’s direction, by his Chief-huntsmen, who were then among the principal persons of the court. It consists of little more than an account of the sort of hounds to be used, their diseases and training, with a description of the different places where game was abundant, and where sport for the royal amusement was to be had. It is of small consequence in itself, but was published by Argote de Molina, in the time of Philip the Second, with a pleasant addition by the editor, containing curious stories of lion-hunts and bull-fights, fitting it to the taste of his own age. In style, the original work is as good as the somewhat similar treatise of the Marquis of Villena, on the Art of Carving, written a hundred years later; and, from the nature of the subject, it is more interesting.[120] [120] Libro de la Monteria, que mando escrivir, etc., el Rey Don Alfonso de Castilla y de Leon, ultimo deste nombre, acrecentado por Argote de Molina, Sevilla, 1582, folio, 91 leaves,--the text not correct, as Pellicer says (note to Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 24). The Discurso of Argote de Molina, that follows, and fills 21 leaves more, is illustrated with curious woodcuts, and ends with a description of the palace of the Pardo, and an eclogue in octave stanzas, by Gomez de Tapia of Granada, on the birth of the Infanta Doña Isabel, daughter of Philip II.