MENDOZA.--Hurtado de Mendoza must be regarded--that proud, gloomy, bellicose and haughty minister of Charles V--because he was the earliest of the picaresque romancists. The picaresque method consisted in delineating the habits of outcasts, bohemians, spongers, swindlers, and vagrants. It lasted for about three quarters of a century. To this class belonged _Guzmar of Alfargue_, by Mateo Aleman; _Marco of Obregon_, by Espinel; _The Devil on Two Sticks_, by Guevara; and somewhat, in France, the _Gil Bias_ of Le Sage. Now the prototype of all these was _The Lazarillo of Tormes_, by Hurtado de Mendoza. GUEVARA.--A moment's heed must be paid to the amiable Antonio de Guevara, an insinuating moralist whose _Familiar Letters_ and _Dial of Princes_, though rather affectedly grave, contain interesting passages which commend the author to readers. He is more particularly interesting to Frenchmen because it was from him La Fontaine borrowed his _Countrymen of the Danube_, attributing it to Marcus Aurelius (which led to much confusion), because the principal personage in _The Dial of Princes_ is one Marcus Aurelius, who is discreetly intended for Charles V. In spite of what Taine wrote, though his criticisms in detail were accurate, La Fontaine followed pretty closely the fine and highly original wording of Guevara. THE ROMANCE.--The Spanish romance was at its zenith in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It had a legion of authors, but here the principal only can be mentioned. Montemayor, who lived at the close of the sixteenth century and led an adventurous existence, wrote the _Diana in Love_, which became celebrated in every country under the title of "_Diana_ of Montemayor." It is a mythological, bucolic, and magical romance, entirely lacking in order, being wholly fantastical, sometimes cruelly dull, sometimes graceful, affecting, seductive, and pathetic, always ridiculously romantic. Its vogue was considerable in Spain, France, and Italy. The _Astrea_ of Honoré d'Urfé proceeds in part from it, but is more sensible and more restrained. QUEVEDO.--Here Quevedo is again found, now as prose writer and in this no worse than as poet. He was prolific in romances or satirical fantasies, in social reveries wherein contemporary society is not spared and Juvenal is often suggested. Finally, he put forth all his powers, which were considerable, in his great romance, _Don Pablo of Segovia_, which, twenty years ago, would have been called naturalist. Quevedo obviously was an observer, possessed psychological penetration or, at least, the wisdom of the moralist; but above all, his imagination was curiously original, he invented, on an apparently true foundation, adventures which were almost probable and were diverting, burlesque, or possessed a bitter flavour. His was one of the most original brains in Spain, which has abounded in mental originalities.