[165] Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, “Historias Peregrinas,” Zaragoza, 1628, 1630, and 1647, the last in 12mo. Only the first part was ever published. It is a curious book. It opens with “An Abridgment of the Excellences of Spain,” and each of the six tales of which it consists, having its scene laid in some famous Spanish city, is preceded by a similar abridgment of the excellences of the particular city to which it relates. Céspedes is the author of the “Gerardo Español,” noticed, _ante_, p. 87, and, like many of the story-writers of his time, was a native of Madrid. [166] Juan Martinez de Moya, “Fantasías de un Susto.” It reminds us of the theory of Coleridge about the rapidity with which a series of events can be hurried through the mind of a drowning man, or any person under a similar excitement of mind. It is, however, a very poor story, intended for a satire on manners, and is full of bad verses. There is a reprint of it, Madrid, 1738, 12mo. [167] “Auroras de Diana, por Don Pedro de Castro y Anaya.” He was a native of Murcia, and there are editions of his “Auroras” of 1632, 1637, 1640, and 1654, the last printed at Coimbra, in 12mo. The fair sex, too, entered into the general fashionable competition. Mariana de Carbajal, a native of Granada, and descended from the ancient ducal families of San Carlos and Rivas, published, in 1638, eight tales, pleasing both by their invention and by the simplicity of their style, which she called “Christmas at Madrid,” or “Evening Amusements.”[168] And in 1637 and 1647, María de Zayas, a lady of the court, printed two collections; the first called simply “Tales,” and the last “Saraos,” or Balls; each a series of ten stories within itself, and both connected together by the entertainments of a party of friends at Christmas, and the dances and _fêtes_ at the wedding of two of their number, during the holidays that followed.[169] [168] Mariana de Carbajal y Saavedra, “Novelas Entretenidas,” Madrid, 1633, 4to. At the end of these eight stories, she promises a second part; and in the edition of 1728 there are, in fact, two more stories, marked as the ninth and tenth, but I think they are not hers. [169] Baena, Hijos, Tom. IV. p. 48. Both collections are printed together in the edition of Madrid, 1795, 4to;--the first being called _Novelas_ and the second _Saraos_.