History of Spanish Literature, vol. 3 (of 3)Ticknor, George
History
History of Spanish Literature, vol. 3 (of 3)
Ticknor, George
Spanish literature -- History and criticism
In some parts of it, we have sketches of the places they visit, with
notices of the local history belonging to each. In others, Roxas
himself, in a spirit that not unfrequently reminds us of Gil Blas,
relates his own previous adventures, as a soldier, as a captive in
France, and as a play-actor at home. In yet others, we have fictions,
or what seem to be such, and among them, the story on which Shakspeare
founded his Christopher Sly and the Induction to “The Taming of the
Shrew.” But, in general, it is rather an account of what relates to
the theatre and the affairs of the four gay companions at Seville,
Toledo, Segovia, Valladolid, Granada, and on the roads between all of
them, interspersed with forty or fifty _loas_, which Roxas wrote with
recognized success, and of which he is evidently very proud. It is a
pleasant book, loosely and carelessly put together, but important for
the history of the Spanish drama, and with talent enough to attract
the attention of Scarron, who took from it the hint for his “Roman
Comique.” From internal evidence, “The Amusing Journey” was written in
1602, and, at the end, a continuation is announced; but, like so many
other promises of the same sort in Spanish literature, it was never
kept.[241]
[241] An edition of 1583 is cited by Antonio, (Bib. Nov., Tom. I.
p. 178,) but this cannot be. See Viage, Madrid, 1640, 12mo, f.
66. a. The first edition must be that of Madrid, 1603, cited in
the Index Expurgatorius, 1667, where it is roughly handled, but
since which it has been often reprinted. Clemencin, (Don Quixote,
Tom. III. p. 395,) when speaking of Spanish actors, rightly calls
the Viage of Roxas “libro magistral en la materia.” Another
work, imputed to Roxas, which I have never seen, called “El Buen
Repúblico,” was wholly prohibited.
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