And dost them, holy Shepherd, leave Thine unprotected flock alone, Here, in this darksome vale, to grieve, While thou ascend’st thy glorious throne? O, where can they their hopes now turn, Who never lived but on thy love? Where rest the hearts for thee that burn, When thou art lost in light above? How shall those eyes now find repose That turn, in vain, thy smile to see? What can they hear save mortal woes, Who lose thy voice’s melody? And who shall lay his tranquil hand Upon the troubled ocean’s might? Who hush the winds by his command? Who guide us through this starless night? For THOU art gone!--that cloud so bright, That bears thee from our love away, Springs upward through the dazzling light, And leaves us here to weep and pray![78] [78] It is in _quintillas_ in the original; but that stanza, I think, can never, in English, be made flowing and easy as it is in Spanish. I have, therefore, used in this translation a freedom greater than I have generally permitted to myself, in order to approach, if possible, the bold outline of the original thought. It begins thus:-- Y dexas, pastor santo, Tu grey en este valle hondo escuro Con soledad y llanto, Y tu rompiendo el puro Ayre, te vas al immortal seguro! Los antes bien hadados, Y los agora tristes y afligidos, A tus pechos criados, De tí desposeidos, A dó convertirán ya sus sentidos? Obras de Luis de Leon, Madrid, 1816, Tom. VI. p. 42. In order, however, to comprehend aright the genius and spirit of Luis de Leon, we must study, not only his lyrical poetry, but much of his prose; for, while his religious odes and hymns, beautiful in their severe exactness of style, rank him before Klopstock and Filicaja, his prose, more rich and no less idiomatic, places him at once among the greatest masters of eloquence in his native Castilian.[79] [79] In 1837, D. José de Castro y Orozco produced on the stage at Madrid a drama, entitled “Fray Luis de Leon,” in which the hero, whose name it bears, is represented as renouncing the world and entering a cloister, in consequence of a disappointment in love. Diego de Mendoza is also one of the principal personages in the same drama, which is written in a pleasing style, and has some poetical merit, notwithstanding its unhappy subject and plot. CHAPTER X. CERVANTES.--HIS FAMILY.--EDUCATION.--FIRST VERSES.--LIFE IN ITALY.--A SOLDIER IN THE BATTLE OF LEPANTO.--A CAPTIVE IN ALGIERS.--RETURNS HOME.--SERVICE IN PORTUGAL.--LIFE IN MADRID.--HIS GALATEA, AND ITS CHARACTER.--HIS MARRIAGE.--WRITES FOR THE STAGE.--HIS LIFE IN ALGIERS.--HIS NUMANCIA.--POETICAL TENDENCIES OF HIS DRAMA.