gaze.

Of Jose Zorilla as a poet there is little need to speak. His countrymen
read his voluminous works, but they are not of any real value.
Campoamor describes his _Dorloras_ as "poetic compositions combining
lightness, sentiment, and brevity with philosophic importance." His
earlier works were studied from Shakespeare and from Byron, who was the
star of the age when Campoamor began to write. His most ambitious work,
the _Universal Drama_, is "after Dante and Milton." He is a great
favourite with his fellow-countrymen, both as poet and companion. He is
a member of the Academy and a Senator.

It is impossible, however, to do more than indicate a few of the writers
who are leaders in the literature of Spain to-day. There has, in fact,
been an immense impulse in the production of books of all classes within
the last twenty or thirty years. In fiction, Spain once more aspires to
have a characteristic literature of her own, in place of relying on
translations from the French, as was the case for a brief time before
her political renaissance began.

A notable departure has been the foundation of the Folklore Society, and
the publication up to the present time of eleven volumes under the name
of _Biblioteca de las Tradiciones Populares Espanolas_, under the
direction of Senor Don Antonio Machado y Alvarez. In the introduction to
the first volume, the Director tells us that, with the help of the
editor of _El Folklore Andaluz_ and his friends, D. Alejandro Guichot y
Sierra and D. Luis Montolo y Raustentrauch, he has undertaken this great
work, which arose out of the _Bases del Folklore Espanol_, published in
1881, and the two societies established in 1882, the Folklore Andaluz
and Folklore Extremeno. These societies have for object the gathering
together, copying, and publishing of the popular beliefs, proverbs,
songs, stories, poems, the old customs and superstitions of all parts of
the Peninsula, including Portugal, as indispensable materials for the
knowledge and scientific reconstruction of Spanish culture. In this
patriotic and historical work many writers have joined, each bringing
his quota of garnered treasure-trove, presenting thus, in a series of
handy little volumes, a most interesting collection of the ancient
customs, beliefs, and, in fact, the folklore of a country exceptionally
rich in widely differing nationalities.

Many of the tales, which it would seem even at the present time,
especially in Portugal a