f the
early eighteenth century enjoyed fame in their day and
some possessed talent; but the obscure and trivial style
of the age from which they could not free themselves
deprived them of any chance of enduring fame. One may
mention, as the least unworthy, Gabriel Alvarez de Toledo
(1662-1714) and Eugenio Gerardo Lobo (1679-1750).

Some one has said that the poetry of Spain, with the
exception of the _romances_ and the drama of the _siglo
de oro_, has always drawn its inspiration from some other
country. Add to the exceptions the medieval epic and the
statement would be close to the truth. First Provence
through the medium of Galicia; then Italy and with it
ancient Rome; and lastly France and England, on more than
one occasion, have molded Spanish poetry. The power of
the French classical literature, soon dominant in Europe,
could not long be stayed by the Pyrenees; and Pope,
Thomson and Young were also much admired. Philip V, a
Frenchman, did not endeavor to crush the native spirit in
his new home, but his influence could not but be felt. He
established a Spanish Academy on the model of the French
in 1714.

It was some time before the reaction, based on common
sense and confined to the intellectuals, could take deep
root, and, as was natural, it went too far and condemned
much of the _siglo de oro_ entire. The _Diario page xxviii
de los literatos_, a journal of criticism founded in 1737,
and the _Poetica_ of Ignacio de Luzan, published in
the same year, struck the first powerful blows. Luzan
(1702-1754) followed in general the precepts of Boileau,
though he was able to praise some of the good points in
the Spanish tradition. His own poems are frigid. The
_Satira contra los malos escritores de su tiempo_ (1742)
of Jorge Pitillas (pseudonym of Jose Gerardo de Hervas, d.
1742) was an imitation of Boileau which had great effect.
Blas Antonio Nasarre (1689-1751), Agustin Montiano
(1697-1765) and Luis Jose Velazquez (1722-1772) were
critics who, unable to compose meritorious plays or
verse themselves, cut to pieces the great figures of the
preceding age.

Needless to say, the Gallicizers were vigorously opposed,
but so poor were the original productions of the defenders
of the national manner that their side was necessarily the
losing one. Vicente Garcia de la Huerta (1734-1787) was
its most vehement partisan, but he is remembered only for
a tragedy, _Raquel_.

Thus it is seen that during a century