[22] “Agudezas de Juan Oven, etc., con Adiciones por Francisco de la Torre,” Madrid, 1674, 1682, 2 tom. 4to. _Oven_ is the Owen or Audoenus of Wood’s “Athenæ Oxon.,” Tom. II. p. 320. His “Epigrammata,” printed about a dozen times between 1606 and 1795, were placed on the list of prohibited books in 1654. Index, Romæ, 1786, 8vo, p. 216. But though he wrote more good epigrams, and in a greater variety of forms, than any other individual Spaniard, he did not, perhaps, write the best or the most national; for a few of those that still remain anonymous, and a still smaller number by Rebolledo, seem to claim this distinction. Of the sort of wit frequently affected in these slight compositions the following is an example:-- Fair lady, when your beads you take, I never doubt you pray; Perhaps for my poor murdered sake, Perhaps for yours, that slay.[23] Rebolledo was sometimes happier than he is in this epigram, though rarely more national. [23] Pues el rosario tomais, No dudo que le receis Por mí, que muerto me habeis, O por vos, que me matais. Obras, 1778, Tom. I. p. 337. Camoens had the same idea in some Portuguese _redondillas_, (Rimas, 1598, f. 159,) so that I suspect both of them took it from some old popular epigram. * * * * * Didactic poetry in unsettled and uncertain forms appeared early in Spain, and took, from time to time, the air both of moral philosophy and of religious instruction. Specimens of it in the old long-line stanza are found from the age of Berceo to that of the chancellor Ayala; few, indeed, in number, but sufficiently marked in character to show their purpose. Later, examples become more numerous, and present themselves in forms somewhat improved. Several such occur in the Cancioneros, among the best of which are Ludueña’s “Rules for Good-Breeding”; “The Complaint of Fortune,” in imitation of Bias, by Diego de San Pedro; and the “Coplas” of Don Juan Manuel of Portugal, on the Seven Deadly Sins;--all of them authors known at the court of Ferdinand and Isabella. Boscan’s poem on his own Conversion, that of Silvestre on “Self-knowledge,” that of Castilla on “The Virtues,” and that of Juan de Mendoza on “A Happy Life,” continue the series through the reign of Charles the Fifth, but without materially advancing its claims or its character.[24] [24] The poems of Boscan and Silvestre are found in their respective works, already examined; but of Francisco de Castilla and of Juan de Mendoza and their poetry it may be proper to give some notice, as their names have not occurred before.