asal, a skeptic
and a Parnassian poet who wrote pleasing but empty verses
(_Hojas al viento_, _Nieve_, _Bustos y Rimas_); and
Francisco Sellen, whose philosophy is to conceal suffering
and to put one's hand to the plow again (_Libro intimo_,
Havana, 1865; _Poesias_, N.Y., 1890). Jose Marti
(1853-1895) spent most of his life in exile; but he
returned to Cuba and died in battle against the Spanish
forces. He wrote excellent prose, but few verses (_Flor y
lava_, Paris, 1910(?)).

References: Menendez y Pelayo, _Ant. Poetas
Hisp.-Am._, II, p. 1 f.; Blanco Garcia, III, p.
290 f.; E.C. Hills, _Bardos cubanos_ (contains a
bibliography), Boston, 1901; Aurelio Mitjans, _Estudio
sobre el movimiento cientifico y literario en Cuba_,
Havana, 1890; Bachiller y Morales, _Apuntes para la
historia de las letras y de la instruccion publica de
la Isla de Cuba_, Havana, 1859; _La poesia lirica en
Cuba_, M. Gonzalez del Valle, Barcelona, 1900; _Cuba
poetica_, Havana, 1858; _Parnaso cubano_, Havana,
1881.

Heredia: see preceding note.

5. This is quite true. On the coast of central and
southern Mexico the climate is tropical; on the central
plateau it is temperate; and on the mountain slopes, as at
the foot of Popocatepetl, it is frigid.

13-14. =Iztaccihual= and =Popocatepec= are the popular
names of these mountains, but their official names are
_Iztaccihuatel_ and _Popocatepetel_. These words are of
Nahuatlan origin: see in _Vocab_.

16--18. =do... tenirse= = _donde el indio ledo los mira
tenirse en purpura ligera y oro_.

=181=.--3. This poem was written in the fourth decade of
the nineteenth century, when Mexico was torn by civil war.
There was peace only when some military leader assumed
despotic power.

21. Note that the moon set behind =Popocatepec=, a little
to the south of west from Cholula, while the sun sank
behind =Iztaccihual=, a little to the north of page 296
west from the city. This might well occur in summer.

=182.=--14. =Fueron= (lit. _they were_), _they are no
more_. In this Latinism the preterit denotes that a thing
or condition that once existed no longer exists. Cf. _fuit
Ilium_ (_AEneid_, II, 325), "Troy is no more."

=186.=--4-5. =Que... seguir= = _que, en su vuelo, la
turbada vista quiere en vano seguir_.

=190.=--"Placido": see note to p. 179.

=Plegaria a Dios=: this beautiful prayer was written a few
days before the poet's death. It