of Literature," remained apparently
indifferent or even hostile to its own wonderful
creations, and clung outwardly to French
neo-classicism.[2] Boehl von Faber,[3] the German consul at
Cadiz, who was influenced by the Schlegel brothers,
had early called attention to the merit of the Spanish
literature of the Golden Age and had even had some of
Calderon's plays performed at Cadiz. And in page xxxvi
1832 Duran published his epoch-making _Romancero_. In 1833
Ferdinand VII died and the romantic movement was hastened
by the home-coming of a number of men who had fled the
despotism of the monarch and had spent some time in
England and France, where they had come into contact with
the romanticists of those countries. Prominent amongst
these were Martinez de la Rosa, Antonio Alcala Galiano,
the Duke of Rivas and Espronceda.

[Footnote 2: Cf. _l'Epopee castillane_, Ramon Menendez
Pidal, Paris, 1910, pp. 249-252.]

[Footnote 3: The father of Fernan Caballero.]

In this period of transition one of the first prominent
men of letters to show the effects of romanticism was
Francisco MARTINEZ DE LA ROSA (1787-1862). Among his
earlier writings are a _Poetica_ and several odes in honor
of the heroes of the War of Independence against the
French. After his exile in Paris he returned home imbued
with romanticism, and his two plays, _Conjuracion de
Venecia_ (1834) and _Aben Humeya_ (1836: it had already
been given in French at Paris in 1830), mark the first
public triumph of romanticism in Spain. But Martinez de
la Rosa lacked force and originality and his works merely
paved the way for the greater triumph of the Duke of
Rivas. Angel de Saavedra, DUQUE DE RIVAS (1791-1865), a
liberal noble, insured the definite triumph of romanticism
in Spain by the successful performance of his drama
_Don Alvaro_ (1835). At first a follower of Moratin and
Quintana, he turned, after several years of exile in
England, the Isle of Malta and France, to the new romantic
school, and casting off all classical restraints
soon became the acknowledged leader of the Spanish
romanticists. Among his better works are the lyric _Al
faro de Malta_, the legendary narrative poem _El moro
exposito_ and his _Romances historicos_. The _Romances_
are more sober in tone and less fantastic,--and it should
be added, less popular to-day,--than the legends of page xxxvii
Zorrilla. After a tempestuous life the Duke of
Rivas settled quietly into t