En vano trabajas, Lira, De impidirme este camino, Do mi voluntad y signo Allá me convida y tira. Tú rogarás entre tanto A los Dioses, que me vuelvan Con despojos que resuelvan Tu miseria y mi quebranto. _Lira._ Morandro, mi dulce amigo, No vayas, que se me antoja, Que de tu sangre veo roxa La espada del enemigo. No hagas esta jornada, Morandro, bien de mi vida, Que si es mala la salida, Es muy peor la tornada. Jorn. III., Sc. 1. There is, in this scene, a tone of gentle, broken-hearted self-devotion on the part of Lira, awakening a fierce despair in her lover, that seems to me very true to nature. The last words of Lira, in the passage translated, have, I think, much beauty in the original. He persists, and, accompanied by a faithful friend, penetrates into the Roman camp and obtains bread. In the contest he is wounded; but still, forcing his way back to the city, by the mere energy of despair, he gives to Lira the food he has won, wet with his own blood, and then falls dead at her feet. A very high authority in dramatic criticism speaks of the Numancia as if it were not merely one of the more distinguished efforts of the early Spanish theatre, but one of the more striking exhibitions of modern poetry.[122] It is not probable that this opinion will prevail. Yet the whole piece has the merit of originality, and, in several of its parts, succeeds in awakening strong emotions; so that, notwithstanding the want of dramatic skill and adaptation, it may still be cited as a proof of its author’s poetical talent, and, in the actual condition of the Spanish stage when he wrote, as a bold effort to raise it. [122] A. W. von Schlegel, Vorlesungen über dramatische Kunst und Literatur, Heidelberg, 1811, Tom. II. Abt. ii. p. 345. CHAPTER XI. CERVANTES NEGLECTED.--AT SEVILLE.--HIS FAILURE.--ASKS EMPLOYMENT IN AMERICA.--AT VALLADOLID.--HIS TROUBLES.--PUBLISHES THE FIRST PART OF DON QUIXOTE.--HE REMOVES TO MADRID.--HIS LIFE THERE.--HIS RELATIONS WITH LOPE DE VEGA.--HIS TALES AND THEIR CHARACTER.--HIS JOURNEY TO PARNASSUS, AND DEFENCE OF HIS DRAMAS.--PUBLISHES HIS PLAYS AND ENTREMESES.--THEIR CHARACTER.--SECOND PART OF DON QUIXOTE.--HIS DEATH.