oses anarchy with energy and courage. As a satirist
he attacks the excesses of radicalism as well as the vices
and foibles common to mankind.[5] As a poet he is neither
original nor imaginative, and often his ideas are unduly
limited; but he writes with a manly vigor that is rare
amongst Spanish lyric poets, most of whom have given first
place to the splendors of rhetoric.

[Footnote 5: Speaking of Nunez de Arce's satire, Juan
Valera says humorously, in _Florilegio de poesias
castellanas del siglo XIX_, Madrid, 1902, Vol. I, p. 247:
"Esta el poeta tan enojado contra la sociedad, contra
nuestra descarriada civilizacion y contra los crimenes y
maldades de ahora, y nos pinta tan perverso, tan vicioso
y tan infeliz al hombre de nuestros dias, atormentado por
dudas, remordimientos, codicias y otras viles pasiones,
que, a mi ver, lejos de avergonzarse este hombre de
descender del mono, debiera ser el mono quien se
avergonzara de haberse humanado."]

Most writers on the history of European literatures have page xliii called attention to the fact that at the
beginning of the nineteenth century there was a great
outpouring of lyricism, which infused itself into prose
as well as verse. When this movement had exhausted itself
there came by inevitable reaction a period of materialism,
when realism succeeded romanticism and prose fiction
largely replaced verse. And now sociological and
pseudo-scientific writings threaten the very existence of
idealistic literature. And yet through it all there has
been no dearth of poets. Browning in England and Campoamor
in Spain, like many before them, have given metrical form
to the expression of their philosophical views. And other
poets, who had an intuitive aversion to science, have
taken refuge in pure idealism and have created worlds
after their own liking. To-day prose is recognized as
the best medium for the promulgation of scientific or
political teachings, and those who are by nature poets are
turning to art for art's sake. Poetry is less didactic
than formerly, and it is none the less beautiful and
inspiring.

The _Notes_ to this volume contain historical sketches of
the literatures of Argentina (p. 279), Colombia (p. 285),
Cuba (p. 291), Ecuador and Peru (p. 296), Mexico (p. 307),
and Venezuela (p. 315). It is to be regretted that lack of
space has excluded an account of the literatures of other
Spanish-American countries, and especially of Chile and
Uruguay.