Indeed, it is a great charm of this drama, that the popular traditions everywhere break through so picturesquely, imparting to it their peculiar tone and character. Thus, the insult offered to old Laynez in the council; the complaints of Ximena to the king on the death of her father, and the conduct of the Cid to herself; the story of the Leper; the base treason of Bellido Dolfos; the reproaches of Queen Urraca from the walls of the beleaguered city, and the defiance and duels that follow,[510]--all are taken from the old ballads; often in their very words, and generally in their fresh spirit and with their picture-like details. The effect must have been great on a Castilian audience, always sensible to the power of the old popular poetry, and always stirred as with a battle-cry when the achievements of their earlier national heroes were recalled to them.[511] [510] This impeachment of the honor of the whole city of Zamora, for having harboured the murderer of King Sancho, fills a large place in the “Crónica General,” (Parte IV.), in the “Crónica del Cid,” and in the old ballads, and is called _El Reto de Zamora_,--a form of challenge preserved in this play of Guillen, and recognized as a legal form so far back as the Partida VII., Tít. III., “De los Rieptos.” [511] The plays of Guillen on the Cid have often been reprinted, though hardly one of his other dramas has been. Voltaire, in his Preface to Corneille’s Cid, says Corneille took his hints from Diamante. But the reverse is the case. Diamante wrote after Corneille, and was indebted to him largely, as we shall see hereafter. Lord Holland’s Life of Guillen, already referred to, _ante_, p. 121, is interesting, though imperfect. In his other dramas we find traces of the same principles and the same habits of theatrical composition that we have seen in those we have already noticed. The “Impertinent Curiosity” is taken from the tale which Cervantes originally printed in the First Part of his Don Quixote. The “Count Alarcos,” and the “Count d’ Irlos,” are founded on the fine old ballads that bear these names. And the “Wonders of Babylon” is a religious play, in which the story of Susanna and the Elders fills a space somewhat too large, and in which King Nebuchadnezzar is introduced eating grass, like the beasts of the field.[512] But everywhere there is shown a desire to satisfy the demands of the national taste; and everywhere it is plain Guillen is a follower of Lope de Vega, and is distinguished from his rivals more by the sweetness of his versification than by any more prominent or original attribute. [512] “Las Maravillas de Babilonia” is not in Guillen’s collected dramas, and is not mentioned by Rodriguez or Fuster. But it is in a volume entitled “Flor de las Mejores Doce Comedias,” Madrid, 1652, 4to.