e the whole
nation was at the same time in course of mental as well as moral
development. We are obliged to acknowledge that Spain in many ways was
far behind Italy, though hardly as some would have it, at the distance
of half a century. We must remember that, in 1530, there were only two
hundred printing-presses in the whole of Europe, and that when the first
one was set up in London, the Westminster abbot exclaimed, "Brethren,
this is a tremendous engine! We must control it, or it will conquer us."
The first press in Spain was set up in Valencia, in 1474, and Clemencin
says that more printing-presses in the infancy of the art were probably
at work in Spain than there are at the present day.

A change seemed to have crept gradually over the whole national
character of Spain after the brilliant and prosperous reign of Ferdinand
and Isabella, commencing with the severity of the Inquisition and
continuing under the tyranny of Philip II., predisposing the army to
savage deeds, till even the women and children were infected and the
literature of the period slightly tinged.

Cervantes is too often merged into Don Quixote as if he had no separate
existence. He accomplished more for the improvement of Spanish
literature with his well-timed satire than all the laws or sermons could
effect. His remarkable mind seems to have escaped the influence of the
times, unless we make an exception of his drama "Numancia," which, while
it excites the imagination, fills us with horror at its details, and
fails to touch our hearts, but is full of historical truths. Schlegel,
however, reviews it with enthusiasm. He calls his "Life in Algiers" a
comedy, but undoubtedly it is a true picture of his own captivity. We
are touched and filled with gloom at its perusal, and only remember it
as a tragedy. These two dramas were lost sight of till the end of the
eighteenth century, and they are superior to later dramatic efforts. He
was proud of his original conception of a tragedy composed of ideal and
allegorical characters which he permitted to have part in the "Life in
Algiers," as well as in "Numancia." Of the thirty plays spoken of as
given to the stage but few now remain; but others may yet be found. The
Spaniards say the faults of a great writer are not left in the
ink-stand. Spain, in Cervantes' day, had passed the chivalric age,
though many relics of it still remained in its legends, songs, and
proverbs. Cervantes becomes his own critic in his