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Title: La moza de cántaro

Author: Lope de Vega

Editor: Madison Stathers

Release Date: October 26, 2007 [EBook #23206]

Language: Spanish

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LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

POR

LOPE DE VEGA

EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

MADISON STATHERS

(Docteur de l'Université de Grenoble)
Professor of Romance Languages in West Virginia University

NEW YORK

HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY

1913

PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
BIBLIOGRAPHY
NOTES
FOOTNOTES

LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

LAS PERSONAS

ACTO PRIMERO
ESCENA PRIMERA, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV

ACTO SEGUNDO
ESCENA PRIMERA, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI

ACTO TERCERO
ESCENA PRIMERA, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII

PREFACE

The vast number of the works of Lope de Vega renders the task of selecting one of them as an appropriate text for publication very difficult, and it is only after having examined a large number of the works of the great poet that the editor has chosen La Moza de Cántaro, not only because it is one of the author's most interesting comedies, but also because it stands forth prominently in the field in which he is preëminent—the interpretation of Spanish life and character. It too is one of the few plays of the poet which have continued down to recent times in the favor of the Spanish theater-going public,—perhaps in the end the most trustworthy critic. Written in Lope's more mature years, at the time of his greatest activity, and probably corrected or rewritten seven years later, this play contains few of the inaccuracies and obscure passages so common to many of his works, reveals to us much of interest in Spanish daily life and in a way reflects the condition of the Spanish capital during the reign of Philip IV, which certainly was one of the most brilliant in the history of the kingdom.

The text has been taken completely, without any omissions or modifications, from the Hartzenbusch collection of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega published in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles and, where it varies from other texts with which it has been compared, the variation is noted. The accentuation has been changed freely to conform with present usage, translations have been suggested for passages of more than ordinary difficulty and full notes given on proper names and on passages that suggest historical or other connection. Literary comparisons have been made occasionally and modern forms or equivalents for archaic words and expressions have been given, but usually these have been limited to words not found in the better class of dictionaries commonly used in the study of such works.

The editor is especially indebted to Sr. D. Eugenio Fernández for aid in the interpretation of several passages and in the correction of accentuation, to Professor J. D. M. Ford for valuable suggestions, and to Sr. D. Manuel Saavedra Martínez, Professor in the Escuela Normal de Salamanca, for information not easily accessible.

M. S.

West Virginia University.

INTRODUCTION

I. LIFE OF LOPE DE VEGA

The family of Lope de Vega Carpio was one of high rank, if not noble, and had a manor house in the mountain regions of northwestern Spain. Of his parents we know nothing more than the scanty mention the poet has given them in his works. It would seem that they lived a while at least in Madrid, where the future prince of Spanish dramatists was born, November 25, 1562. Of his childhood and early youth we have no definite knowledge, but it appears that his parents died when he was very young and that he lived some time with his uncle, Don Miguel del Carpio.

From his own utterances and those of his friend and biographer, Montalvan, we know that genius developed early with him and that he dictated verses to his schoolmates before he was able to write. In school he was particularly brilliant and showed remarkable aptitude in the study of Latin, rhetoric, and literature. These school days were interrupted once by a truant flight to the north of Spain, but at Astorga, near the ancestral estate of Vega, Lope, weary of the hardships of travel, turned back to Madrid.

Soon after he left the Colegio de los Teatinos, at about the age of fourteen, Lope entered the service of Don Jerónimo Manrique, Bishop of Ávila, who took so great an interest in him that he sent him to the famous University of Alcalá de Henares, where he seems to have spent from his sixteenth to his twentieth year and on leaving to have received his bachelor's degree. The next five years of his life are shrouded in considerable obscurity. It was formerly believed, as related by Montalvan, that he returned from the University of Alcalá to Madrid about 1582, was married and, after a duel with a nobleman, was obliged to flee to Valencia, where he remained until he enlisted in the Invincible Armada in 1588, but recent research [1] has proved the case to be quite otherwise. It would seem that, on leaving the University about 1582, he became Secretary to the Marqués de las Navas and that for four or five years he led in Madrid a dissolute life, writing verses and frequenting the society of actors and of other young degenerates like himself and enjoying the favor of a young woman, Elena Osorio, whom he addressed in numberless poems as "Filis" and whom he calls "Dorotea" in his dramatic romance of the same name. In the latter work he relates shamelessly and with evident respect for truth of detail many of his adventures of the period, which, as Ticknor says, "do him little credit as a young man of honor and a cavalier."

In the light of the recent information cited above, we know also that Lope's career immediately after 1587 was quite different from what his contemporary Montalvan had led the world long to believe. In the Proceso de Lope de Vega por libelos contra unos Cómicos, it is shown that the poet, having broken with "Filis," circulated slanderous verses written against her father, Jerónimo Velázquez, and his family. The author was tried and sentenced to two years' banishment from Castile and eight more from within five leagues of the city of Madrid. He began his exile in Valencia, but soon disobeyed the decree of banishment, which carried with it the penalty of death if broken, and entered Castile secretly to marry, early in 1588, Doña Isabel de Urbina, a young woman of good family in the capital. Accompanied by his young wife, he doubtless went on directly to Lisbon, where he left her and enlisted in the Invincible Armada, which sailed from that port, May 29, 1588. During the expedition, according to his own account, Lope fought bravely against the English and the Dutch, using, as he says, his poems written to "Filis" for gun-wads, and yet found time to write a work of eleven thousand verses entitled la Hermosura de Angélica. The disastrous expedition returned to Cadiz in December, and Lope made his way back to the city of his exile, Valencia, where he was joined by his wife. There they lived happily for some time, the poet gaining their livelihood by writing and selling plays, which up to that time he had written for his own amusement and given to the theatrical managers.

Of the early literary efforts of Lope de Vega, such as have come down to us are evidently but a small part, but from them we know something of the breadth of his genius. In childhood even he wrote voluminously, and one of his plays, El Verdadero Amante, which we have of this early period, was written at the age of twelve, but was probably rewritten later in the author's life. He wrote also many ballads, not a few of which have been preserved, and we know that, at the time of his banishment, he was perhaps the most popular poet of the day.

The two years following the return of the Armada, Lope continued to live in Valencia, busied with his literary pursuits, but in 1590, after his two years of banishment from Castile had expired, he moved to Toledo and later to Alba de Tormes and entered the service of the Duke of Alba, grandson of the great soldier, in the capacity of secretary. For his employer he composed about this time the pastoral romance Arcadia, which was not published until 1598. The remaining years of his banishment, which was evidently remitted in 1595, were uneventful enough, but this last year brought to him a great sorrow in the death of his faithful wife. However, he seems to have consoled himself easily, for on his return to Madrid the following year we know of his entering upon a career of gallant adventures which were to last many years and which were scarcely interrupted by his second marriage in 1598 to Doña Juana de Guardo.

Aside from his literary works the following twelve years of the life of Lope offer us but little of interest. The first few years of the period saw the appearance of La Dragontea, an epic poem on Sir Francis Drake, and Isidro, a long narrative poem on the life and achievements of San Isidro, patron of Madrid. These two works were followed in 1605 by his epic, Jerusalén Conquistada, an untrustworthy narration of the achievements of Richard Cœur-de-Lion and Alfonso VIII in the crusade at the close of the twelfth century. Lope left the service of the Duke of Alba on his return to Madrid, or about that time, and during the next decade held similar positions under the Marqués de Malpica and the Conde de Lemos, and during a large part of this period he led a more or less vagabond existence wherever the whims of his employers or his own gallant adventures led him. About 1605 he made the acquaintance of the Duque de Sessa, who shortly afterwards became his patron and so continued until the death of the poet about thirty years later. The correspondence of the two forms the best source for the biography of this part of Lope's career. From 1605 until 1610 he lived in Toledo with his much neglected wife, of whom we have no mention since their marriage in 1598. But in 1610 they moved to Madrid, where Lope bought the little house in what is now the Calle de Cervantes, and in this house the great poet passed the last quarter of a century of his long and eventful life.

The next few years following this return to the capital were made sorrowful to Lope by the sickness and death of both his wife and his beloved little son, Carlos Félix, in whom the father had founded the fondest hopes. Then it was that Lope, now past the fiftieth year of his age, sought refuge, like so many of his contemporaries and compatriots, in the protecting fold of the Church. Before the death of his wife he had given evidence of religious fervor by numerous short poems and in his sacred work, los Pastores de Belén, a long pastoral in prose and in verse relating the early history of the Holy Family. Whether Lope was influenced to take orders by motives of pure devotion or by reasons of interest has been a question of speculation for scholars ever since his time. From his works we can easily believe that both of these motives entered into it; in fact he says as much in his correspondence with the Duque de Sessa. Speaking of this phase of the poet's life, Fitzmaurice-Kelly says: "It was an ill-advised move. Ticknor, indeed, speaks of a 'Lope, no longer at an age to be deluded by his passions'; but no such Lope is known to history. While a Familiar of the Inquisition the true Lope wrote love-letters for the loose-living Duque de Sessa, till at last his confessor threatened to deny him absolution. Nor is this all: his intrigue with Marta de Navares Santoyo, wife of Roque Hernández de Ayala, was notorious." But later, speaking of those who may study these darker pages of Lope's career, he adds: "If they judge by the standards of Lope's time, they will deal gently with a miracle of genius, unchaste but not licentious; like that old Dumas, who, in matters of gaiety, energy and strength, is his nearest modern compeer." We may say further that Lope, with no motive to deceive or shield himself, for he seems to have almost sought to give publicity to his licentiousness, was faithful in the discharge of his religious offices, evincing therein a fervor and devotion quite exemplary. Yet neither does his gallantry nor his devotion seem to have ever halted his pen for a moment in the years that succeeded his ordination. His dramatic composition of this period is quite abundant and other literary forms are not neglected.

Two interesting incidents in the poet's life are never omitted by his biographers. They are the beatification, in 1620, of San Isidro and his canonization, two years later, with their accompanying poet "jousts," at both of which Lope presided and assumed a leading rôle. Before this time he was known as a great author and worshiped by the element interested in the drama, but on both these occasions he had an opportunity to declaim his incomparable verses and those of the other contesting poets, revealing his majestic bearing and versatility to the great populace of Madrid, his native city. He was thereafter its literary lion, whose very appearance in the streets furnished an occasion for tumultuous demonstration of affection.

The last decade of the life of Lope de Vega saw him seeking no rest or retirement behind the friendly walls of some monastic retreat, but rather was it the most active period of his literary career. Well may we say that he had no declining years, for he never knew rest or realized a decline of his mental faculties. He did not devote by any means all his time to his literary pursuits, but found time to attend faithfully to his religious duties and to the cares of his home, for he had gathered about him his children, Feliciana, Lope Félix and Antonia Clara, of whom the last two and Marcela, in a convent since 1621, were the gifted fruit of illicit loves. In 1627 he published his Corona Trágica, a long religious epic written on the history of the life and fate of Mary, Queen of Scots. This work won for him the degree of Doctor of Divinity, conferred with other evidences of favor by Pope Urban VIII. Three years later appeared Lope's Laurel de Apolo, a poem of some seven thousand lines describing an imaginary festival given on Mount Helicon in April, 1628, by Apollo, at which he rewards the poets of merit. The work is devoted to the praise of about three hundred contemporary poets. In 1632 the poet published his prose romance, Dorotea, written in the form of drama, but not adapted to representation on the stage. It is a very interesting work drawn from the author's youth and styled by him as "the posthumous child of my Muse, the most beloved of my long-protracted life."[2] It is most important for the light it sheds on the early years of his life, for it is largely autobiographical. Another volume, issued from the pen of Lope in 1634 under the title of Rimas del licenciado Tomé de Burguillos, contains the mock-heroic, La Gatomaquia, the highly humorous account of the love of two cats for a third. Fitzmaurice-Kelly describes this poem as, "a vigorous and brilliant travesty of the Italian epics, replenished with such gay wit as suffices to keep it sweet for all time."

Broken in health and disappointed in some of his fondest dreams, the great poet was now rapidly approaching the end of his life. It is believed that domestic disappointments and sorrows hastened greatly his end. It would appear from some of his works that his son, Lope Félix, to whom he dedicated the last volume mentioned above, was lost at sea the same year, and that his favorite daughter, Antonia Clara, eloped with a gallant at the court of Philip IV. Four days before his death Lope composed his last work, El Siglo de Oro, and on August 27, 1635, after a brief serious illness, the prince of Spanish drama and one of the world's greatest authors, Lope Félix de Vega Carpio breathed his last in the little home in the Calle de Francos, now the Calle de Cervantes. His funeral, with the possible exception of that of Victor Hugo, was the greatest ever accorded to any man of letters, for it was made the occasion of national mourning. The funeral procession on its way to the church of San Sebastian turned aside from its course so that the poet's daughter, Marcela, might see from her cell window in the convent of the Descalzadas the remains of her great father on the way to their last resting-place.

II. THE EARLY SPANISH THEATER AND THE DRAMA OF LOPE DE VEGA

The theater of the Golden Age of Spanish letters occupies a position unique in the history of the theaters of modern Europe, for it is practically free from foreign influence and is largely the product of the popular will. Like other modern theaters, however, the Spanish theater springs directly from the Church, having its origin in the early mysteries, in which the principal themes were incidents taken from the lives of the saints and other events recorded in the Old and the New Testament, and in the moralities, in which the personages were abstract qualities of vices and virtues. These somewhat somber themes in time failed to satisfy the popular will and gradually subjects of a more secular nature were introduced. This innovation in England and France was the signal for the disappearance of the sacred plays; but not so in Spain, where they were continued several centuries, under the title of autos, after they had disappeared in other parts of Europe.

The beginnings of the Spanish secular theater were quite humble and most of them have been lost in the mists of time and indifference. The recognized founder of the modern Spanish theater appeared the same year Columbus discovered the New World. Agustín Rojas, the actor, in his Viaje entretenido, says of this glorious year: "In 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella saw fall the last stronghold of the Moors in the surrender of Granada, Columbus discovered America, and Juan del Encina founded the Spanish theater." Juan del Encina was a graduate of the University of Salamanca and lived at the time mentioned above in the household of the Duke of Alba at Alba de Tormes. It was here that, before select audiences, were first presented his early plays or Églogas. The plays of Encina, fourteen in number, were staged and constitute the modest beginnings of a movement that was to develop rapidly in the next two decades. A contemporary of Juan del Encina, Fernando de Rojas, published in 1498 his famous dramatized romance, La Celestina, which, while it was not suited for representation on the stage, was a work of great literary merit and had remarkable influence on the early drama. About the same time a disciple of Juan del Encina, Gil Vicente, founded the Portuguese theater and made notable contributions to Spanish letters, for he seems to have written with equal facility in the two idioms. Perhaps the greatest dramatic genius of the period, Bartolomé Torres Naharro, while he wrote in Spanish, passed the greater part of his life in Italy, where he published at Naples in 1517 an edition of his plays entitled Propaladia. He, first of Spanish authors, divided his plays into five acts, called jornadas, limited the number of personages, and created a plot worthy of the name.

For almost half a century after the publication of the Propaladia the Spanish theater advanced but little, for this was the period when Carlos Quinto ruled Spain and kept the national interest fixed on his military achievements, which were for the most part outside of the peninsula. But about 1560 there flourished in Spain probably the most important figure in the early history of the national drama. This was the Sevillian gold-beater, later actor and dramatic author, Lope de Rueda. The dramatic representations before this time were doubtless limited in a large measure to select audiences in castles and courts of noble residences; but Lope de Rueda had as his theater the public squares and market-places, and as his audience the great masses of the Spanish people, who now for the first time had a chance to dictate the trend which the national drama should take. In his rôle of manager and playwright Lope de Rueda showed no remarkable genius, but he began a movement which was to reach its culmination and perfection under the leadership of no less a personage than the great Lope himself. Between the two Lopes there lived and wrote a number of dramatic authors of diverse merit. Lope de Rueda's work was continued by the Valencian bookseller, Juan de Timoneda, and by his fellow actors, Alonso de la Vega and Alonso de Cisneros. In this interim there took place a struggle between the popular and classic schools. The former was defended by such authors as Juan de la Cueva and Cristóbal de Virués, while the latter was espoused by Gerónimo Bermúdez and others. The immortal Cervantes wrote many plays in this period and claimed to favor the classic drama, but his dramatic works are not of sufficient importance to win for him a place in either party. Thus we find that in 1585 Spain had a divided drama, represented on the one side by the drama of reason and proportion fashioned after Greek and Roman models, and on the other a loosely joined, irregular, romantic drama of adventure and intrigue, such as was demanded by the Spanish temperament. Besides the defenders of these schools there was an infinite variety of lesser lights who wrote all sorts of plays from the grossest farces to the dullest Latin dramas. Before taking up the discussion of the works of the mighty genius who was to establish the popular drama, it is well to give a brief glance at the people who presented plays and the places in which they were given.

As has been already observed, the dramas of Juan del Encina and his immediate successors were probably presented to limited audiences. It is not improbable that parts were often taken by amateurs rather than by members of regular troupes. However, at an early date there were many strolling players who are classed in the Viaje entretenido in no less than eight professional grades: (1) The bululú, a solitary stroller who went from village to village reading simple pieces in public places and living from the scanty collections taken among the audience. (2) The ñaque, two players, who could perform entremeses and play one or two musical instruments. (3) The gangarilla, group of three or four actors of whom one was a boy to play a woman's part. They usually played a farce or some other short play. (4) The cambaleo was composed of five men and a woman and remained several days in each village. (5) The garnacha was a little larger than the cambaleo and could represent four plays and several autos and entremeses. (6) The bojiganga represented as many as six comedias and a number of autos and entremeses, had some approach at regular costumes, and traveled on horseback. (7) The farándula was composed of from ten to fifteen players, was well equipped and traveled with some ease. (8) The compañía was the most pretentious theatrical organization composed of thirty persons, capable of producing as many as fifty pieces and accustomed to travel with dignity due the profession. Of still greater simplicity were the theaters where these variously classified actors gave their plays. In the villages and towns they were simply the plaza or other open space in which the rude stage and paraphernalia were temporarily set up. Quoting from Cervantes, Ticknor says of the theater of Lope de Rueda: "The theater was composed of four benches, arranged in a square, with five or six boards laid across them, that were thus raised about four palms from the ground. The furniture of the theater was an old blanket drawn aside by two cords, making what they called the tiring-room, behind which were the musicians, who sang old ballads without a guitar." In the larger cities such simplicity cannot be expected in the later development of the theater, for there the interest and resources were greater. In this respect Madrid, the capital, may be considered as representative of the most advanced type. In that city the plays were given in corrales or open spaces surrounded on all sides by houses except the side nearest the street. By the beginning of the seventeenth century these corrales were reduced to two principal ones—the Corral de la Pacheca (on the site of the present Teatro Español) and the Corral de la Cruz, in the street of the same name. The windows of the houses surrounding these corrales, with the adjoining rooms, formed aposentos which were rented to individuals and which were entered from the houses themselves. At the end farthest from the entrance of the corral was the stage, which was raised above the level of the ground and covered by a roof. In front of the stage and around the walls were benches, those in the latter position rising in tiers. On the left hand and on a level with the ground was the cazuela or women's gallery. The ground to the rear of the benches in front of the stage was open and formed the "standing-room" of the theater. With the exception of the stage, a part of the benches and the aposentos, the whole was in the open air and unprotected from the weather. In such unpretentious places the masterpieces of Lope de Vega and of many of his successors were presented. With this environment in mind we shall proceed to a brief review of the dramatic works of el Fénix de los ingenios.

Lope de Vega found the Spanish drama a mass of incongruities without form, preponderating influence, or type, he left it in every detail a well-organized, national drama, so perfect that, though his successors polished it, they added nothing to its form.[3] When or how he began this great work, it is not certain. He says in his works that he wrote plays as early as his eleventh year and conceived them even younger, and we have one of his plays, El Verdadero Amante, written, as has been mentioned, when he was twelve, but corrected and published many years later. Of all his plays written before his banishment, little is known but it is natural to suppose that they resembled in a measure the works of predecessors, for this period must be considered the apprenticeship of Lope. Though written for the author's pleasure, they were evidently numerous, for Cervantes says that Lope de Vega "filled the world with his own comedias, happily and judiciously planned, and so many that they covered more than ten thousand sheets." That his merit was soon appreciated is evident from the fact that theatrical managers were anxious to have these early compositions and that during his banishment he supported himself and family in Valencia by selling plays and probably kept the best troupes of the land stocked with his works alone. Of the number of his works the figures are almost incredible. In El Peregrino en su Patria, published in 1604, he gives a list of his plays, which up to that time numbered two hundred and nineteen; in 1609 he says, in El Arte Nuevo de hacer Comedias, that the number was then four hundred and eighty-three; in prologues or prefaces of his works Lope tells us that he had written eight hundred plays in 1618, nine hundred in 1619 and one thousand and seventy in 1625. In the Égloga á Claudio, written in 1632, and in the concluding lines of La Moza de Cántaro, revised probably the same year, he says that he is the author of fifteen hundred comedias. In the Fama Póstuma, written after his death in 1635 by his friend Montalvan, it is stated that the number of dramatic works of Lope included eighteen hundred comedias and four hundred autos. From the above figures it is evident that Lope composed at times on an average a hundred comedias a year, and this after he had passed his fiftieth year! Yet still more astonishing is his own statement in regard to them:

«Y más de ciento, en horas veinte y cuatro,
Pasaron de las musas al teatro.»[4]

And it is a matter of history that he composed his well-known La Noche de San Juan for the favorite, Olivares, in three days. This, in addition to his other works, offers us a slight insight into the wonderful fertility of the man's genius and gives reason to Cervantes and his contemporaries for calling him "el monstruo de la naturaleza" and "el Fénix de los ingenios."

To his plays Lope de Vega has given the general name of comedias, which should not be confused with the word "comedies," for the two are not synonymous. They are divided into three acts or jornadas of somewhat variable length and admit of numerous classifications. Broadly speaking, we may divide the comedias into four groups: (1) Comedias de capa y espada, which Lope created and which include by far the greater number of his important works. In these plays the principal personages are nobles and the theme is usually questions of love and honor. (2) Comedias heroicas, which have royalty as the leading characters, are lofty or tragical in sentiment, and have historical or mythological foundation. (3) Comedias de santos, which represent some incident of biblical origin or some adventure in the lives of the saints. In them the author presents the graver themes of religion to the people in a popular and comprehensible manner, in which levity is often more prominent than gravity. (4) Comedias de costumbres, in which the chief personages are from the lower classes and of which the language is even lascivious and the subject treated with a liberty not encountered in other dramas of the author. To these various classes must be added the Autos sacramentales, which were written to be represented on occasions of religious festivals. Their theme is usually popular, even grotesque, and the representation took place in the streets.

Lope de Vega took the Spanish drama as he found it, and from its better qualities he built the national drama. He knew the unities and ignored them in his works, preferring, as he says, to give the people what they wished, and he laid down precepts for composition, but even these he obeyed indifferently. Always clever, he interpreted the popular will and gratified it. He did not make the Spanish drama so much as he permitted it to be made in and through him, and by so doing he reconciled all classes to himself; he was as popular with the erudite as he was with the masses, for his plays have a variety, facility, and poetic beauty that won the favor of all. His works abound in the inaccuracies and obscurities that characterize hasty composition and hastier proof-reading, but these are forgotten in the clever intrigue which is the keynote of the Spanish drama, in the infinite variety of versification and in the constant and never flagging interest. For over fifty years Lope de Vega enriched the Spanish drama with the wonders of his genius, yet from El Verdadero Amante, certainly in its original form one of his earliest plays now in existence, to Las Bizarrías de Belisa, written the year before his death, we find a uniformity of vigor, resourcefulness and imagination that form a lasting monument to his versatility and powers of invention, and amply justify his titles of "Fénix de los ingenios" and "Monstruo de la naturaleza."

III. LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

This interesting comedia was written in the last decade of the life of Lope de Vega, in the most fertile period of his genius. Hartzenbusch is authority for the statement that it was written towards the close of the year 1625 and revised in 1632.[5] It is evident that the closing lines of it were written in 1632, for the author says in the Égloga á Claudio that he had completed that year fifteen hundred comedias. As evidence of its popularity, we have the following resumé and appreciation from the same critic in the prólogo of his edition of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega: «Iba cayendo el sol, y acercábase á la peripecia última, precursora del desenlace, una comedia que en un teatro de Madrid (ó corral, como solía entonces decirse) representaban cuatro galanes, dos damas, un barba, dos graciosos, dos graciosas y otros actores de clase inferior, ante una porción de espectadores, con sombrero calado, como quienes encima de sí no tenían otra techumbre que la del cielo. Ya la primera dama había hecho su postrera salida con el más rico traje de su vestuario: absorto su amante del señoril porte de aquella mujer, que, siendo una humilde criada, sabía, sin embargo, el pomposo guardainfante, como si en toda su vida no hubiese arrastrado otras faldas; ciego de pasión y atropellando los respetos debidos á su linaje, se había llegado á ella, y asiéndole fuera de sí la mano, le había ofrecido la suya. El galán segundo se había opuesto resueltamente á la irregular y precipitada boda; pero al oir que la supuesta Isabel tenía por verdadero nombre el ilustre de doña María Guzmán y Portocarrero, y era, aunque moza de cántaro parienta del duque de Medina, su resistencia había desaparecido. Hecha pues una gran reverencia muda á la novia, se adelantó el actor á la orilla del tablado para dirigir esta breve alocución al público:

Aquí
Puso fin á esta comedia
Quien, si perdiere este pleito,
Apela á Mil y Quinientas.
Mil y quinientas ha escrito:
Bien es que perdón merezca.

De las gradas y barandillas, de las ventanas y desvanes, de todos los asientos, pero principalmente de los que llenaban el patio, hubo de salir entonces, entre ruidosas palmadas, un grito unánime de admiración, de entusiasmo y orgullo nacional justísimo. «¡Vítor, Lope!» clamaba aquella alborazada multitud una vez y otra; «¡Viva el Fénix de los ingenios! ¡Viva Lope de Vega!»[6] And in no less laudatory terms, Elías Zerolo says: "En ella,... agotó Lope todos los sentimientos resortes propios de su teatro... Esta comedia es una de las más perfectas de Lope, por lo que alcanzó en su tiempo un éxito ruidoso." In enumerating the plays of Lope which were still well known and represented in Spain in the nineteenth century, Gil de Zárate names La Moza de Cántaro among the first,[7] and doubtless on this authority Ticknor speaks of it as one of the plays of Lope which "have continued to be favorites down to our own times."[8]

The "Watermaid" belongs to the largest class of Lope's plays—the class in which he excelled—comedias de capa y espada. Ticknor erroneously classes it as a comedy "founded on common life" or as styled by others comedia de costumbres, but it is probable he did so without making himself thoroughly familiar with the comedy in its full form. Zerolo is very emphatic in attributing it to the class of comedias de capa y espada, for he says: "Más que ninguna otra, reune esta obra las circunstancias que caracterizan á las comedias de capa y espada, como embozos, equívocos, etc." Were the leading character what her name implies—a humble servant—and were the other characters of her rank, the play might well be classed as a comedia de costumbres; but that it belongs to the larger class is established by the fact that the intrigue is complicated, the question of love and rank is prominent, and the characters are of the nobility.[9] Any opposing irregularities in language or action may be explained by the period represented, for the time is that of the early years of the reign of the young monarch, Philip IV, a brilliant though corrupt epoch of Spanish history well worthy of a moment's notice.

Philip III died in 1621, leaving the vast realm which he had inherited from his father, the gloomy though mighty Philip II, to his son, a youth of sixteen years, who came to the throne under the title of Philip IV. If Philip III was ruled by Lerma and Uceda, Philip IV, in his turn, was completely under the domination of the unprincipled Olivares, and his accession initiated one of the most interesting and most corrupt reigns that Spain has ever known. Philip himself was weak and pleasure-loving, but has never been regarded as perverse, and Olivares was ambitious and longed to rule Spain as the great Cardinal was ruling France. To achieve this end he isolated the monarch from every possible rival and kept him occupied with all sorts of diversions. At an early age Philip had been married to Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV of France, and she was an unconscious tool in the hands of Olivares, for she was as light and as fond of pleasures as the king. Trivial incidents in royal circles were sufficient excuse to provide the most lavish celebrations and expenditures, illy authorized by the depleted condition of the royal exchequer. The external conditions of the kingdom were momentarily favorable for such a period as that through which the country was passing, for Spain was at peace with all the world. The Netherlands and other continental possessions were placated by concessions or temporarily quieted by truces, and the American possessions were prosperous and contributed an enormous toll of wealth to the mother-country. Madrid, with all its unsightliness, was one of the most brilliant courts of Europe and attracted to itself the most gifted subjects of the realm. Encouraged by the king's love of art and letters, the great painters like Velázquez and Ribera vied with each other in creating masterpieces for princely patrons, and great authors like Lope, Quevedo, and Calderón sharpened their wits to please a literary public. This cosmopolitan society furnished abundant food for observation and an inexhaustible supply of interesting personages for the dramatist.

Since Lope de Vega had no classic rules to observe and was limited in his composition only by popular tastes, he could without offense take his characters from whatever class of society he wished so long as his choice was pleasing to the audience, which, it happens, was not easily offended. Like Shakespeare, he brings upon the stage illiterate servants to mix their rude speech and often questionable jests with the grave and lofty or poetic utterances of their noble or royal masters. His characters, too, were not limited to any fixed line of conduct, as long as honor was upheld. They could be creatures of passion or impulse who gave expression to the most violent or romantic sentiments, mingling laughter and tears with all the artlessness of children. Therefore we may expect the most divergent interests and the most complex combinations of aims and actions of which the popular reason is capable of conceiving.

On the Spanish stage, woman had always had a secondary rôle, not only because she was not fully appreciated, but also because the rôle was usually taken by boys, for women were long prohibited from the stage. "Lope, the expert in gallantry, in manners, in observation, placed her in her true setting, as an ideal, as the mainspring of dramatic motive and of chivalrous conduct."[10] Doña María is a type of Spanish woman of which history furnishes numerous parallels. Her family name had suffered disgrace and her own father was crying out for an avenger; there was no one else to take up the task, she eagerly took it upon herself and punished her suitor with the death she thought he deserved. Then to escape arrest she fled in the guise of a servant girl, which was in fact a very natural one for her to assume, for even at the present time no high-born young Spanish woman would dare to travel unattended and undisguised through her native land; besides, to do so would have revealed her identity. Once located in the capital, she becomes an ideal Spanish servant girl, performing well the duties imposed upon her, gossiping with those of her assumed class, breaking the heads of those who sought to molest her, usually gay and loquacious, but, when offended, impudent and malicious. That she does things unbecoming of her true rank only shows how well she carries out her assumed rôle; that she was not offensive or contrary to Spanish tastes of the times is proved by the fact that, although she was a Guzmán and consequently a relative of the ruling favorite, Olivares, the play did not fall under royal censure. Her versatility and just claim to her high position are emphasized by the ease with which she assumes her own rank at the close of the play.

Don Juan, the hero of the play, while he pales somewhat before the brilliant, protagonistic rôle of the heroine, represents on a lesser plane Lope's conception of the true Spanish gallant, whom the poet often pictures under this name or that of "Fernando" and not infrequently lets his personality show through even to the extent of revealing interesting autobiographical details.[11] That Lope did not approve entirely of the higher social life of his time is brought out all through the play and revealed in the hero, for the contemporaries and friends of the latter considered him an original. But in him we find more nearly the common Spanish conception of chivalry and honor.

Breathing his love in poetic musings, eating out his own heart in sleepless nights and in anxious waitings for his lady-love by the fountain in the Prado or at the lavaderos along the banks of the Manzanares, refusing wealth and spurning position gained at the price of his love, preserving an unrivaled fidelity to his friend and kinsman, but finally consenting to sacrifice his love for the honor of his name and family, Don Juan is the embodiment of Spanish chivalry of all ages. That the poet makes him love one apparently on a lower social plane illustrates his power of discrimination and magnifies these virtues rather than diminishes them.

Don Bernardo, of whom we see but little, recalls don Diègue of Corneille, to whom he is directly related, for Guillén de Castro is a worthy disciple of Lope de Vega and wrote many plays, including las Mocedades del Cid, in his manner, and Corneille's indebtedness to the former is too well known to need explanation. More violent than Don Diègue, who is restrained by the decorum of the French classic theater, more tearful than Don Diego of las Mocedades, who, after a passionate soliloquy, rather coolly tests the valor of his sons, ending by biting the finger of "el Cid," Don Bernardo appears first upon the stage in tears and frequently, during the only scene in which he figures, gives way to his grief. The comparison of the three is interesting, for all three had suffered the same insult; but before we judge Don Bernardo too hastily, we should consider that both the other two are making their appeals to valiant men, while he is appealing to a woman, and not appealing for vengeance as they, but rather lamenting his hard lot. Don Diègue and Don Diego impress us by the gravity of their appeals, while Don Bernardo arouses our sympathy by his senility—old Spanish cavalier, decorated with the cross of Santiago, that he is!

If we make Don Juan the impersonation of Lope's idea of chivalry, we may well interpret el Conde and Doña Ana as representing his appreciation of his more sordid contemporaries; both are actuated by motives of interest and are not scrupulous enough to conceal it. The poet is far too discreet to hold either up to ridicule, yet he makes each suffer a keen rebuff. Both are given sufficient elements of good to dismiss them at the close with the partial realization of their desires.

One character particularly local to Spanish literature is the Indiano. In general usage the term is applied to those who enter Spain, coming from the Latin-American countries, though properly it should include perhaps only natives of the West Indies. Since an early date, however, the term has been applied to Spaniards returning to the native land after having made a fortune in the Americas. In the early years of the seventeenth century, when the mines of Mexico and South America were pouring forth their untold millions, these Indianos were especially numerous in the Spanish capital, and Lope de Vega, with his usual acute perception ready to seize upon any theme popular with the public, gave them a prominent place in his works. Sometimes they appear as scions of illustrious lineage, as Don Fernando and the father of Elena in la Esclava de su Galán, and again they figure as the object of the poet's contempt, as the wealthy merchant, Don Bela, in la Dorotea. In the present instance the Indiano is a bigoted, miserly fellow who seeks, at the least possible cost, position at the Spanish court and who employs doña María largely for motives of interest rather than through sympathy for her poverty-stricken condition. Later, at Madrid, he exhibits himself in a still more unfavorable light, and ends by driving her from his service, of which incident she gives a highly entertaining, though little edifying, narration.

The last characters in the play who need occupy our attention are Martín and Pedro, the graciosos. This very Spanish personage dates, in idea, back to the servants of the Celestina and to the simple of Torres Naharro, but in the hands of Lope he is so developed and so omnipresent that he is justly accredited as a creation of the great "Fénix."[12] Martín, the clever but impudent servant, is the leading character in the secondary plot and the only one to whom prominence is given. He acts as a news-gatherer for his master and, while thus occupied, he falls in love with Leonor, who does not seem to prove for him a difficult conquest. With characteristic Spanish liberty he advises his masters freely and is generally heeded and mixes in everything his comments, which, while not always free from suggestiveness, are filled with a contagious levity. Pedro, the lackey suitor of doña María, known to him as Isabel, is the prototype of the modern "chulo" whose traits can be traced in his every word and action. Disappointed in his love-making, he loses none of his characteristics of braggadocio and willingly assumes the rôle of defender of Isabel although he himself has been maltreated by the bellicose "moza de cántaro."

Untrammeled by the unities or other dramatic conventionalities, Lope was able in this drama, as in his others, to permit the action to develop naturally and simply with the various vicissitudes attendant upon every-day life and yet to weave the intricate threads of intrigue into a complex maze perfect in detail. The leading character is introduced in the first scene, which is followed by the long exposition of attendant circumstances that could be as well narrated as produced upon the stage. Thus delay and harrowing detail are avoided. The introduction of the tragic element into the play early in the first act has a tendency to soften its effect, especially as it has little relation to the subsequent action. However, the mere introduction of it in the play would probably, in the early French theater, class the drama as a tragi-comedy. And Alexandre Hardy, the French playwright and contemporary of Lope de Vega, who borrowed largely from the latter both in method and detail, so styled many of his works. The scene, opening in historic Ronda in the midst of the places made famous by the mighty family of the Guzmáns, then moving north to an obscure town in the Sierra-Morena, little known to the cultured atmosphere in which the play was to be represented, and finally centering in the capital and developing under the very eye of the audience, as it were, just as so many tragedies and comedies, less important perhaps but no less interesting, unfold in daily life about us, gives the play a broader interest than it would have and doubtless contributed powerfully to its success. The introduction of the secondary plot, affording the excuse for the prominent place given to the gracioso, is a device which Lope, like his great English contemporary, often uses as in this case with good effect. The disguising of a lady of the highest nobility and making her play so well the part of the lowly water-maid furnish the key to the intrigue and would not detract from the play in the eyes of the contemporary, following upon the reign of the pastoral and according as it did with the tastes of the times.[13]

Unlike Shakespeare, whose rare good fortune it was to establish a language as well as found a national drama, Lope de Vega took up a language which had been in use and which had served as a medium of literary expression many centuries before he was born, and with it established the Spanish drama. Here again Lope conformed to common usage. He knew of the elegant conceits of linguistic expression and used them sparingly in his plays, but usually his language was, like the ideas which he expressed, the speech of the public which he sought to please, not slighting the grandiloquent phraseology to which the Spanish language is so well adapted. We find a good example of these different elements in La Moza de Cántaro in the three sonnets of Act II, Scene III, of which the first is in the sonorous, high-sounding, oratorical style, the second, in the elegant conceits so common in Italian literature of the period, and the third in the language of every-day life. Each is well suited to the occasion and to the rôle of the speaker. Seldom in any of his works, and never in La Moza de Cántaro, does Lope descend to dialect or to slang, but rather in the pure Castilian of his time, preferably in the Castilian of the masses, he composes his rhythmic verses. Like some mountain stream his measures flow, sometimes in idle prattle over pebbly beds, soon to change into the majestic cascade, then to the whirling rapids, only to tarry soon in the quiet pool to muse in long soliloquy, to rush on again, sullen, quarrelsome, vehemently protesting in hoarse and discordant murmurings, then to roll out into the bright sunshine and there to sing in lyric accents of love and beauty. So the style like the action never settles in dull monotony, which, be it ever so beautiful, ends by wearying the audience. The great master put diversion into every thought and filled the listener with rapture by the versatility and beauty of his inimitable style.

One of the secrets of Lope's influence over his contemporaries is to be found in his versification. Ticknor says that no meter of which the language was susceptible escaped him. And in his dramatic composition we find as much variety in this respect as in any other. In el Arte nuevo de hacer Comedias, he says: "The versification should be carefully accommodated to the subject treated. The décimas are suited for complaints; the sonnet is fitting for those who are in expectation; the narrations require romances, although they shine most brilliantly in octaves; tercets are suitable for matters grave, and for love-scenes the redondilla is the fitting measure."[14] These various rimes, except the tercet, are found in La Moza de Cántaro, but in this rule, as in others which he prescribes, Lope does not follow his own precepts. The redondilla is far more common than any other, though the romance is frequently used. Most of the plays of Lope contain sonnets, and they vary in number from one to five or even seven: in the present instance we have the medium of three. The décima is used in four passages and the octava in two.[15] The widely varied scheme of versification is as follows:

ACT I

1-176
Redondillas

177-260
Romances.

261-296
Redondillas.

297-372
Romances.

373-704
Redondillas.

705-744
Décimas.

745-824
Redondillas.

825-914
Romances.

ACT II

915-1062
Redondillas.

1063-1076
Soneto.

1077-1088
Redondillas.

1089-1102
Soneto.

1103-1106
Redondilla.

1107-1120
Soneto.

1121-1236
Redondillas.

1237-1280
Décimas.

1281-1452
Romances.

1453-1668
Redondillas.

1669-1788
Romances.

1789-1836
Redondillas.

ACT III

1837-1896
Redondillas.

1897-1984
Octavas.

1985-2052
Redondillas.

2053-2112
Décimas.

2113-2226
Romances.

2227-2374
Redondillas.

2375-2422
Octavas.

2423-2478
Redondillas.

2479-2558
Décimas.

2562-2693
Romances.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Biblioteca de Autores Españoles desde la formación del lenguaje hasta nuestros días, 71 vols., Madrid, 1849-1880. The references to this extensive work are usually made by means of the titles of the separate volumes. Particularly is this true of the references to the dramas of Lope de Vega, which, under the title of Comedias Escogidas de Lope de Vega, include volumes 24, 34, 41, 52 of the work.

Obras Escogidas de Frey Lope Félix de Vega Carpio, con prólogo y notas por Elías Zerolo, Paris, 1886, Vol. III.

La Moza de Cántaro, Comedia en cinco actos por Lope Félix de Vega Carpio y refundida por Don Cándido María Trigueros, Valencia, 1803.

La Moza de Cántaro, Comedia en cinco actos por Lope Félix de Vega Carpio y refundida por Don Cándido María Trigueros, con anotaciones, Londres (about 1820).

Obras Sueltas de Lope de Vega, colección de las obras sueltas, assi en prosa, como en verso, 21 vols., Madrid, 1776-1779.

Handbuch der Spanischen Litteratur, von Ludwig Lemcke, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1855.

Diccionario Enciclopédico hispano-americano de literatura, ciencias y artes, 26 vols., Barcelona, 1887-1899.

Grand Dictionnaire Universel, par Pierre Larousse, 17 vols., Paris.

Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, por R. Menéndez Pidal, Madrid, 1905.

Fitzmaurice-Kelly, A History of Spanish Literature, New York and London, 1898.

Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, 3 vols., 5th ed., Boston, 1882.

Espino, Ensayo histórico-crítico del Teatro español, Cádiz, 1876.

J. A. Symonds, Renaissance in Italy, 2 vols., New York, 1888.

A. Gassier, Le Théâtre Espagnol, Paris, 1898.

H. A. Rennert, The Life of Lope de Vega, Glasgow, 1904.

Havelock Ellis, The Soul of Spain, Boston, 1909.

Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, London, 1907.

NOTE.—The last three works mentioned are especially recommended for collateral reading in the study of La Moza de Cántaro.

LA MOZA DE CÁNTARO

PERSONAS

El Conde |
Don Juan | galanes
Don Diego |
Fulgencio |
Don Bernardo, viejo
Pedro |
Martín | lacayos
Lorenzo |
Bernal |
Doña María, dama
Doña Ana, viuda
Lüisa |
Leonor | criadas
Juana |
Un Alcaide
Un Indiano
Un Mesonero
Un Mozo de Mulas
Músicos.—Lacayos
Acompañamiento

La escena es en Ronda,[a] en Adamuz y Madrid

Transcriber's note:
Clicking on the line's number will take you to the section of notes pertaining to that line.
Clicking on the note's number will return you to the particular line.

ACTO PRIMERO

Sala en casa de don Bernardo, en Ronda.

ESCENA PRIMERA

Doña María y Lüisa, con unos papeles

LUISA

Es cosa lo que ha pasado
1
Para morirse de risa.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Tantos papeles, Lüisa,
Esos Narcisos te han dado?

LUISA

¿Lo que miras dificultas? 5

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Bravo amor, brava fineza!

LUISA

No sé si te llame alteza
Para darte estas consultas.

DOÑA MARÍA

Á señoría te inclina,
Pues entre otras partes graves, 10
Tengo deudo, como sabes,
Con el duque de Medina.

LUISA

Es título la belleza
Tan alto, que te podría
Llamar muy bien señoría, 15
Y aspirar, Señora, á alteza.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Lindamente me conoces!
Dasme por la vanidad.

LUISA

No es lisonja la verdad,
Ni las digo, así te goces. 20
No hay en Ronda ni en Sevilla
Dama como tú.

DOÑA MARÍA

Yo creo,
Lüisa, tu buen deseo.

LUISA

Tu gusto me maravilla.
Á ninguno quieres bien. 25

DOÑA MARÍA

Todos me parecen mal.

LUISA

Arrogancia natural
Te obliga á tanto desdén.—
Éste es de don Luis.

DOÑA MARÍA

Lo leo
Sólo por cumplir contigo. 30

LUISA

Yo soy de su amor testigo.

DOÑA MARÍA

Y yo de que es necio y feo.

(Lee.) «Considerando conmigo á solas,
señora doña María...»

No leo. (Rompe el papel.)

LUISA

¿Por qué?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿No ves
Que comienza alguna historia,
Ó que quiere en la memoria 35
De la muerte hablar después?

LUISA

Éste es de don Pedro.

DOÑA MARÍA

Muestra.

LUISA

Yo te aseguro que es tal,
Que no te parezca mal.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Bravos rasgos! ¡Pluma diestra! 40

(Lee.) «Con hermoso, si bien severo,
no dulce, apacible sí rostro, señora
mía, mentida vista me miró vuestro
desdén, absorto de toda humanidad, rígido
empero, y no con lo brillante solícito,
que de candor celeste clarifica vuestra
faz, la hebdómada pasada.»

¿Qué receta es ésta, di? (Rómpele.)
Qué médico te la dió?

LUISA

Pues ¿no entiendes culto?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Yo?
¿Habla de aciértame aquí?

LUISA

Hazte boba, por tu vida. 45
¿Puede nadie ser discreto
Sin que envuelva su conceto
En invención tan lucida?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Ésta es lucida invención?
Ahora bien, ¿hay más papel? 50

LUISA

El de don Diego, que en él
Se cifra la discreción.

DOÑA MARÍA

(Lee.) «Si yo fuera tan dichoso como
vuestra merced hermosa, hecho estaba
el partido.»

¿Qué es partido? No prosigo. (Rómpele.)

LUISA

¿Qué nada te ha de agradar?

DOÑA MARÍA

Pienso que quiere jugar 55
Á la pelota conmigo.
Lüisa, en resolución,
Yo no tengo de querer
Hombre humano.

LUISA

¿Qué has de hacer,
Si todos como éstos son? 60

DOÑA MARÍA

Estarme sola en mi casa.
Venga de Flandes mi hermano,
Pues siendo tan rico, en vano
Penas inútiles pasa.
Cásese, y déjeme á mí 65
Mi padre; que yo no veo
Dónde aplique mi deseo
De cuantos andan aquí,
Codiciosos de su hacienda;
Que, si va á decir verdad, 70
No quiere mi vanidad
Que cosa indigna le ofenda.
Nací con esta arrogancia.
No me puedo sujetar,
Si es sujetarse el casar. 75

LUISA

Hombres de mucha importancia
Te pretenden.

DOÑA MARÍA

Ya te digo
Que ninguno es para mí.

LUISA

Pues ¿has de vivir ansí?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Tan mal estaré conmigo? 80
Joyas y galas ¿no son
Los polos de las mujeres?
Si á mí me sobran, ¿qué quieres?

LUISA

¡Qué terrible condición!

DOÑA MARÍA

Necia estás. No he de casarme. 85

LUISA

Si tu padre ha dado el sí,
¿Qué piensas hacer de ti?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Puede mi padre obligarme
Á casar sin voluntad?

LUISA

Ni tú tomarte licencia 90
Para tanta inobediencia.

DOÑA MARÍA

La primera necedad
Dicen que no es de temer,
Sino las que van tras ella,
Pretendiendo deshacella. 95

LUISA

Los padres obedecer
Es mandamiento de Dios.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Ya llegas á predicarme?

LUISA

Nuño acaba de avisarme
Que estaban juntos los dos... 100

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Quién?

LUISA

Mi señor y don Diego.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Qué importa que hablando estén,
Si no me parece bien,
Y le desengaño luego?

LUISA

Y don Luis ¿no es muy galán? 105

DOÑA MARÍA

Tal salud tengas, Lüisa.
Muchas se casan aprisa,
Que á llorar despacio van.

LUISA

Ésa es dicha, y no elección;
Que mirado y escogido 110
Salió malo algún marido,
Y otros sin ver, no lo son.
Que si son por condiciones
Los hombres buenos ó malos,
Muchas que esperan regalos, 115
Encuentran malas razones.
Pero en don Pedro no creo
Que haya más que desear.

DOÑA MARÍA

Sí hay, Lüisa...

LUISA

¿Qué?

DOÑA MARÍA

No hallar
Á mi lado hombre tan feo. 120

LUISA

Mil bienes me dicen dél,
Y tú sola dél te ríes.

DOÑA MARÍA

Lüisa, no me porfíes;
Que éste es don Pedro el Cruel.

LUISA

Tu desdén me maravilla. 125

DOÑA MARÍA

Pues ten por cierta verdad
Que es rey de la necedad,
Como el otro de Castilla.

LUISA

Don Diego está confiado;
Joyas te ha hecho famosas. 130

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Joyas?

LUISA

Y galas costosas;
Hasta coche te ha comprado.

DOÑA MARÍA

Don Diego de noche y coche.

LUISA

¡De noche un gran caballero!

DOÑA MARÍA

Mas ¡ay Dios! que no le quiero 135
Para don Diego de noche.
Otra le goce, Lüisa,
No yo. ¡De noche visiones!

LUISA

Oigo unas tristes razones.

DOÑA MARÍA

Volvióse en llanto la risa. 140
¿No es éste mi padre?

LUISA

Él es.

ESCENA II

Don Bernardo, de hábito de Santiago, con un lienzo en los ojos.—Dichas

DON BERNARDO

¡Ay de mí!

DOÑA MARÍA

Señor, ¿qué es esto?
Vos llorando y descompuesto,
¡Y yo no estoy á esos pies!
¿Qué tenéis, padre y señor, 145
Mi solo y único bien?

DON BERNARDO

Vergüenza de que me ven
Venir vivo y sin honor.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Cómo sin honor?

DON BERNARDO

No sé.
Déjame, por Dios, María. 150

DOÑA MARÍA

Siendo vos vida en la mía,
¿Cómo dejaros podré?
¿Habéis acaso caído?
Que los años muchos son.

DON BERNARDO

Cayó toda la opinión 155
Y nobleza que he tenido.
No es de los hombres llorar;
Pero lloro un hijo mío
Que está en Flandes, de quien fío
Que me supiera vengar. 160
Siendo hombre, llorar me agrada;
Porque los viejos, María,
Somos niños desde el día
Que nos quitamos la espada.

DOÑA MARÍA

Sin color, y el alma en calma, 165
Os oigo, padre y señor;
Mas ¿qué mucho sin color,
Si ya me tenéis sin alma?
¿Qué había de hacer mi hermano?
¿De quién os ha de vengar? 170

DON BERNARDO

Hija, ¿quiéresme dejar?

DOÑA MARÍA

Porfías, Señor, en vano.
Antes de llorar se causa
La excusa, pero no agora;
Que siempre quiere el que llora 175
Que le pregunten la causa.

DON BERNARDO

Don Diego me habló, María...
Contigo casarse intenta...
Respondíle que tu gusto
Era la primer licencia, 180
Y la segunda del Duque.
Escribí, fué la respuesta
No como yo la esperaba;
Que darte dueño quisieran
Estas canas, que me avisan 185
De que ya mi fin se cerca.
Puse la carta en el pecho,
Lugar que es bien que le deba;
Que llamarme deudo el Duque
Fué de esta cruz encomienda. 190
Vino á buscarme don Diego
Á la Plaza (¡nunca fuera
Esta mañana á la Plaza!),
Y con humilde apariencia
Me preguntó si tenía 195
(Aunque con alguna pena)
Carta de Sanlúcar. Yo
Le respondí que tuviera
Á dicha poder servirle:
Breve y bastante respuesta. 200
Dijo que el Duque sabía
Su calidad y nobleza;
Que le enseñase la carta,
Ó que era mía la afrenta
De la disculpa engañosa. 205
Yo, por quitar la sospecha,
Saqué la carta del pecho,
Y turbado leyó en ella
Estas razones, María.—
Quien tal mostró, que tal tenga.— 210

«Muy honrado caballero
Es don Diego; pero sea
El que ha de ser vuestro yerno
Tal, que al hábito os suceda
Como á vuestra noble casa.» 215

Entonces don Diego, vuelta
La color en nieve, dice,
Y de ira y cólera tiembla:
«Tan bueno soy como el Duque.»
Yo con ira descompuesta 220
Respondo: «Los escuderos,
Aunque muy hidalgos sean,
No hacen comparación
Con los príncipes; que es necia.
Desdecíos, ó le escribo 225
Á don Alonso que venga
Desde Flandes á mataros.»
Aquí su mano soberbia...
Pero prosigan mis ojos
Lo que no puede la lengua. 230
Déjame; que tantas veces
Una afrenta se renueva,
Cuantas el que la recibe
Á el que la ignora la cuenta.
Herrado traigo, María, 235
El rostro con cinco letras,
Esclavo soy de la infamia,
Cautivo soy de la afrenta.
El eco sonó en el alma;
Que si es la cara la puerta, 240
Han respondido los ojos,
Viendo que llaman en ella.
Alcé el báculo... Dijeron
Que lo alcancé... no lo creas;
Que mienten á el afrentado, 245
Pensando que le consuelan.
Prendióle allí la justicia,
Y preso en la cárcel queda:
¡Pluguiera á Dios que la mano
Desde hoy estuviera presa! 250
¡Ay, hijo del alma mía!
¡Ay, Alonso! ¡Si estuvieras
En Ronda! Pero ¿qué digo?
Mejor es que yo me pierda.
Salid, lágrimas, salid... 255
Mas no es posible que puedan
Borrar afrentas del rostro,
Porque son moldes de letras,
Que aunque se aparta la mano,
Quedan en al alma impresas. (Vase.) 260

ESCENA III

Doña María, Lüisa

LUISA

Fuése.

DOÑA MARÍA

Déjame de suerte
Que no pude responder.

LUISA

Vé tras él; que puede ser
Que intente darse la muerte,
Viendo perdido su honor. 265

DOÑA MARÍA

Bien dices: seguirle quiero;
Que no es menester acero
Adonde sobra el valor. (Vanse.)

ESCENA IV

Cuarto en la cárcel de Ronda.

Don Diego, Fulgencio

FULGENCIO

La razón es un espejo
De consejos y de avisos. 270

DON DIEGO

En los casos improvisos
¿Quién puede tomar consejo?

FULGENCIO

Los años de don Bernardo
Os ponen culpa, don Diego.

DON DIEGO

Confieso que estuve ciego. 275

FULGENCIO

Es don Alonso gallardo
Y gran soldado.

DON DIEGO

Ya es hecho,
Y yo me sabré guardar.

FULGENCIO

Un consejo os quiero dar
Para asegurar el pecho. 280

DON DIEGO

¿Cómo?

FULGENCIO

Que dejéis á España
Luego que salgáis de aquí.

DON DIEGO

¿Á España, Fulgencio?

FULGENCIO

Sí;
Porque será loca hazaña
Que á don Alonso esperéis; 285
Que, fuera de la razón
Que él tiene en esta ocasión,
Pocos amigos tendréis.
Toda Ronda os pone culpa.

DON DIEGO

Claro está, soy desdichado... 290
Pues el haberme afrentado
Era bastante disculpa.

FULGENCIO

Mostraros la carta fué
Yerro de un hombre mayor.

DON DIEGO

En los lances del honor 295
¿Quién hay que seguro esté?

FULGENCIO

El tiempo suele curar
Las cosas irremediables.

ESCENA V

El Alcaide de la Cárcel, con barba y bastón.—Dichos

ALCAIDE (á don Diego)

Una mujer está aquí
Que quiere hablaros.

DON DIEGO

Dejadme, 300
Fulgencio, si sois servido.

FULGENCIO

Á veros vendré á la tarde. (Vase.)

ALCAIDE

Llegó á la puerta cubierta;
Pedíle que se destape,
Y dijo que no quería. 305
Parecióme de buen talle
Y cosa segura; en fin,
Gustó de que la acompañe
Á vuestro aposento.

DON DIEGO

Que entre
La decid, y perdonadme; 310
Que es persona principal,
Si es quien pienso.

ALCAIDE

En casos tales
Se muestra el amor. (Vase.)

(Dentro. Entrad.)

ESCENA VI

Doña María, cubierta con su manto.—Don Diego.

DON DIEGO

¡Sola, mi señora, á hablarme,
Y en parte tan desigual 315
De vuestra persona y traje!

DOÑA MARÍA

Dan ocasión los sucesos
Para desatinos tales.

DON DIEGO

Descubríos, por mi vida,
Advirtiendo que no hay nadie 320
Que aquí pueda conoceros.

DOÑA MARÍA

Yo soy.

DON DIEGO

Pues ¡vos en la cárcel!

DOÑA MARÍA

El amor que me debéis
Desta manera me trae;
Que agradecida del vuestro, 325
Me fuerza á que me declare.
Á pediros perdón vengo,
Y á que no pase adelante
Este rigor, pues el medio
De hacer estas amistades 330
Es el casarnos los dos;
Que cuando á saber alcance
Don Alonso que soy vuestra,
No tendrá de qué quejarse.
Con esto venganzas cesan, 335
Que suelen en las ciudades
Engendrar bandos, de quien
Tan tristes sucesos nacen.
Vos quedaréis con la honra
Que es justo y que Ronda sabe, 340
Satisfecho el señor Duque,
Desenojado mi padre,
Y yo con tan buen marido,
Que pueda mi casa honrarse
Y don Alonso mi hermano. 345

DON DIEGO

¿Quién pudiera sino un ángel,
Señora doña María,
Hacer tan presto las paces?
Vuestro gran entendimiento,
Y divino en esta parte, 350
Ha dado el mejor remedio
Que pudiera imaginarse.
No le había más seguro,
Y sobre seguro, fácil,
Para que todos quedemos 355
Honrados cuando me case.
No será mucha licencia
Que á el altar dichoso abrace,
Sagrado de mis deseos,
Donde está amor por imagen, 360
Pues ya decís que sois mía.

DOÑA MARÍA

Quien supo determinarse
Á ser vuestra, no habrá cosa
Que á vuestro gusto dilate.
Confirmaré lo que digo 365
Con los brazos.—Muere, infame.

(Al abrazarle, saca una daga y dale con
ella.)

DON DIEGO

¡Jesus! ¡Muerto soy! ¡Traición!

DOÑA MARÍA

¡En canas tan venerables
Pusiste la mano, perro!
Pues estas hazañas hacen 370
Las mujeres varoniles.
Yo salgo.—¡Cielo, ayudadme! (Vase.)

ESCENA VII

Fulgencio.—Don Diego, moribundo

FULGENCIO

Paréceme que he sentido
Una voz, y que salió
Esta mujer que aquí entró 375
(Que no sin sospecha ha sido)
Más turbada y descompuesta
Que piden casos de amor.—
No fué vano mi temor.
¡Don Diego!... ¿Qué sangre es ésta? 380

DON DIEGO

Matóme doña María,
La hija de don Bernardo.

FULGENCIO

¡Alcaide! ¡Gente! ¿Qué aguardo?

(Ap. Mas cosa injusta sería
Ocasionar su prisión. 385
Esperar que salga quiero;
Que esto ya es hecho.)

DON DIEGO

Yo muero
Con razón, aunque á traición.
Muy justa venganza ha sido,
Por fiarme de mujer. 390
Mas no la dejéis prender.

FULGENCIO

Yo pienso que habrá salido.
Pero ¿por qué no queréis
Que la prendan?

DON DIEGO

Ha vengado
Las canas de un padre honrado. 395
Esto en viéndole diréis...
Y que yo soy, cuanto á mí,
Su yerno, pues se casó
Conmigo, aunque me mató
Cuando los brazos la dí. 400
Con esto vuelvo á su fama
Lo que afrentarla pudiera.

FULGENCIO

Toda la cárcel se altera.
Quiero buscar esta dama.

(Se lleva á don Diego.)

ESCENA VIII

Una calle de Madrid.

El Conde, Don Juan

CONDE

¡Hermosa viuda, don Juan! 405
No he visto cosa más bella.

DON JUAN

Con razón, Conde, por ella
Esos desmayos os dan.

CONDE

¿Hay tal gracia de monjil?
Que es de azabache, repara, 410
Imagen, menos la cara
Y manos, que son marfil.

DON JUAN

Vos tenéis un gran sugeto
Para versos.

CONDE

No he pensado
Meterme en ese cuidado; 415
Que pienso andar más discreto.

DON JUAN

¿Cómo?

CONDE

Remitirme á el oro,
Que es excelente poeta.

DON JUAN

Dicen que es rica y discreta:
Guardadle más el decoro. 420

CONDE

¿Fué vuestro criado allá?

DON JUAN

Con una criada habló,
Y á estas horas pienso yo
Que bien informado está.

CONDE

Mejor entre sus iguales 425
Suele hablar más libremente
Este género de gente.

ESCENA IX

Martín.—Dichos

DON JUAN

¿Qué hay, Martín? Contento sales.

MARTÍN

Servir á el Conde deseo.

CONDE

Yo estimo tu buen amor. 430

MARTÍN

Hablé con la tal Leonor,
Como si fuera en mi empleo,
Estando en larga oración
La retórica lacaya,
Y ella, á manera de maya, 435
Serena toda facción.
Díjela que me tenía
Sin alma Leonor la bella;
Que hacía un mes que la huella
De sus chinelas seguía; 440
Y que bailando en el río
De la castañeta al son,
Me entró por el corazón
Y por toda el alma el brío.
Cuando ya la tuve tierna, 445
Pregunté la condición
De su ama, y la razón
De estado que la gobierna.
Dijo que era principal,
Con deudos de gran valor, 450
Y que tenía su honor,
Desde que enviudó, cabal.
Que era rica y entendida,
Y no de su casa escasa,
Si bien no entraba en su casa 455
Ni aun sombra de alma nacida.
Que el parecer recatada
Era todo su cuidado,
Y díjome que había estado
Sólo dos meses casada; 460
Porque su noble marido,
De enamorado, murió.

CONDE

No envidio la muerte yo,
La causa sí.

DON JUAN

Necio ha sido,
Pues tanto tiempo tenía. 465

MARTÍN

Poca edad y mucho amor,
Toda la vida, Señor,
Remiten á solo un día.

CONDE

¿Cómo trae tan pequeñas
Tocas?

DON JUAN

Más hermosa está. 470

MARTÍN

Porque las largas son ya
Para beatas y dueñas.
Y las cortas en la corte
No se traen sin ocasión.

CONDE

¿Qué ocasión dará razón 475
Que para disculpa importe?

MARTÍN

Muriósele á una casada
Su marido, y no quedó
Muy triste, pues le envolvió,
Como si fuera pescada, 480
En un pedazo de anjeo;
Y sin que cumpliese manda,
Con largas tocas de Holanda
Salió vertiendo poleo
En un reverendo coche. 485
Pero el muerto, mal contento,
Del sepulcro á su aposento
Se trasladó aquella noche,
Y díjole: «¡Vos Holanda,
Y yo anjeo, picarona! 490
¿No mereció mi persona
Una sábana más blanda?»
Esto diciendo, el difunto
En las tocas se envolvió,
Y el anjeo le dejó: 495
Ocasión desde aquel punto
Con que sin tocas las veo;
Y cuerdo temor ha sido,
Porque no vuelva el marido
Á dejarlas el anjeo. 500

CONDE

Cuanto la licencia alargas,
La obligación disimulas.

MARTÍN

Señor, en dueñas y en mulas
Están bien las tocas largas.

CONDE

Mucha honestidad promete, 505
Y es decoro justo y santo.

MARTÍN

Una viuda con un manto
Es obispo con roquete.
Fuera de esto, aquel estar
Siempre en una misma acción 510
No mueve la inclinación
Que el traje suele obligar.
Ver siempre de una manera
Á una mujer es cansarse.

CONDE

Pues ¿puede el rostro mudarse? 515

MARTÍN

Pues ¿no se muda y altera,
Mudando el traje, el semblante?

DON JUAN

Conde, Martín dice bien;
Porque el varïar tan bien
Da novedad á el amante. 520

MARTÍN

De mi condición advierte
Que me pudren las pinturas,
Porque siempre las figuras
Están de una misma suerte.
¿Qué es ver levantar la espada 525
En una tapicería
Á un hombre, que en todo un día
No ha dado una cuchillada?
Qué es ver á Susana estar
Entre dos viejos desnuda, 530
Y que ninguno se muda
Á defender ni á forzar?
Linda cosa es la mudanza
Del traje.

CONDE

La viuda, en fin,
¿Es conversable, Martín? 535

MARTÍN

No me quitó la esperanza,
Si entráis con algún enredo;
Que dice que da lugar
Que la puedan visitar.

CONDE

Yo le buscaré, si puedo. 540

DON JUAN

Como visto no te hubiera,
Fácil remedio se hallara.

CONDE

Si en que me ha visto repara,
Fingirme enojarla fuera.
Llama; que yo he prevenido 545
Con que me pueda creer.

DON JUAN

No lo echemos á perder.

CONDE

No puedo estar más perdido. (Vanse.)

ESCENA X

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

El Conde, Don Juan, Martín; y luego, Doña Ana, de viuda; Leonor y Juana

MARTÍN

Ya te ha visto: á verte sale.
No le has parecido mal. 550

CONDE

¿Hay jazmín, rosa y cristal
Que á la viudilla se iguale?

(Salen doña Ana, de viuda, Leonor y Juana.)

DOÑA ANA

Novedad me ha parecido;
Vueseñoría perdone.

CONDE

No hay novedad que no abone 555
El deseo que he tenido
De serviros, si yo fuese,
Para que no os cause enojos,
Tan dichoso en vuestros ojos,
Que serviros mereciese. 560

DOÑA ANA

Leonor, sillas.

MARTÍN (ap. á don Juan)

No va mal,
Pues piden sillas.

DON JUAN

Martín,
La viudilla es serafín
De perlas y de coral.

MARTÍN

¿Agrádate á ti también? 565

DON JUAN

Á esa pregunta responde
Que está enamorado el Conde,
Y yo no.

MARTÍN

Dices muy bien.

DOÑA ANA

¿Quién es este caballero?

CONDE

Mi primo don Juan.

DOÑA ANA

Señor, 570
Perdonad.

DON JUAN

No ha sido error.
Hablad; que estorbar no quiero.

DOÑA ANA

Vos no podéis estorbar,
Ni aquí tendréis ocasión.

DON JUAN

No lo mandéis.

DOÑA ANA

Es razón. 575

DON JUAN

No me tengo de sentar.

DOÑA ANA

Ahora bien, yo no porfío.

DON JUAN

Decísme que necio soy.

CONDE

Oidme.

DOÑA ANA

Oyéndoos estoy.

DON JUAN

Por lo mismo me desvío. 580

CONDE

Señora, aunque os he mirado
Mil veces sin conoceros,
Antes que viniera á veros
Tuve de veros cuidado.
Vuestro esposo, que Dios tiene, 585
Era mi amigo: jugamos
Una noche; comenzamos
Por una rifa, que viene
Á ser, como en los amores,
La tercera que concierta, 590
Ó á lo menos que dispierta
El gusto á los jugadores.
Perdió, picóse, sacó
Unos escudos, y luego,
Terciando mi primo el juego, 595
Cuatro sortijas perdió.
Mas vamos á lo que importa.

DOÑA ANA

Esas sortijas eché
Menos: pesadumbre fué
(Tan mal amor se reporta), 600
Porque vine á sospechar
Que á alguna dama las dió.

DON JUAN (ap. á Martín)

Bien la mentira salió.

MARTÍN

¿Hay cosa como atinar
Las sortijas que faltaron? 605

DON JUAN

Hay dichosos en mentir.

MARTÍN

Á cuantas supe decir,
Con el hurto me pescaron.
No he mentido sin que luego
No se me echase de ver. 610

CONDE

Así se vino á encender
Con esta pérdida el juego,
Que perdió seis mil ducados
Sobre palabra segura,
De que tengo una escritura. 615

DOÑA ANA

Más enredos y cuidados
Que días vivió conmigo
Don Sebastián me dejó.
¿Seis mil ducados?

CONDE

Si yo
Basto, que soy quien lo digo, 620
Y los testigos presentes.

MARTÍN

Al firmarla estuve allí
Tan presente como aquí.

DON JUAN (ap. á Martín)

¡Con qué desvergüenza mientes!

MARTÍN

¡Qué gracia! El buen mentidor 625
Ha de ser, señor don Juan,
Descarado á lo truhán,
Y libre á lo historiador.

DOÑA ANA

Pensé que vueseñoría
Me venía hacer merced. 630

CONDE

Que os he de servir creed;
Que ésa fué la intención mía.
No os dé pena la escritura,
Puesto que fué de mayor;
Que no tiene mal fiador 635
La paga en vuestra hermosura.

MARTÍN (ap. á don Juan)

¿Hay oficial de escritorios
Que encaje el marfil ansí?

DON JUAN

En amando, para mí
Son los engaños notorios. 640

MARTÍN

¿Amor se funda en engaños?

DON JUAN

Primero que el amor fueron;
Pues desde que ellos nacieron,
El mundo cuenta sus daños.

CONDE

Si yo, Señora, creyera 645
Cobrar la deuda de vos,
Sin conocernos los dos,
Por otro estilo pudiera.
No vengo sino á ofreceros
Cuanto tengo y cuanto soy, 650
Con que pagado me voy,
Y aun deudor de solo veros.
Sólo os suplico me deis
Licencia de visitaros,
Si fuere parte á obligaros 655
Confesar que me debéis,
No dineros, sino amor.

DOÑA ANA

Yo quedo tan obligada,
Como deudora y pagada
De vuestro heroico valor. 660

CONDE

Bésoos las manos.

DOÑA ANA

El cielo
Os guarde.

CONDE

¿Vendré?

DOÑA ANA

Venid.

(Vase el Conde.)

ESCENA XI

Doña Ana, Don Juan, Leonor, Juana, Martín

DOÑA ANA

¡Ah, señor don Juan! Oid.

MARTÍN (ap.)

Cayó el pez en el anzuelo.

DON JUAN

¿En qué os sirvo?

DOÑA ANA

Bien sé yo 665
Que todo aquesto es mentira.

DON JUAN

Y yo sé que el Conde os mira;
Esto de la deuda no.

DOÑA ANA

¡Mala entrada de galán,
Entrar mintiendo!

DON JUAN

Señora, 670
Mi primo el Conde os adora.

DOÑA ANA

Id con Dios, señor don Juan;
Que yerra el Conde en traeros.

DON JUAN

¿Desacredítole yo?

DOÑA ANA

Cuando el Conde me miró, 675
Me dió ocasión de quereros.

DON JUAN

Aunque deudos, nos preciamos
Mucho más de ser amigos,
Aunque envidias ni enemigos
No quieren que lo seamos. 680
Queredle bien; que merece,
Señora, que lo queráis.

DOÑA ANA

Lo que por él negociáis,
Al Conde desfavorece.

DON JUAN

Voy; que en la carroza aguarda. 685
Dad licencia que os visite,
Y que yo lo solicite.

DOÑA ANA

Si vuelve con vos, ya tarda.

DON JUAN

Tanto favor da á entender
Que por él queréis honrarme. 690

DOÑA ANA

Por vos quiero yo obligarme
Para que me vuelva á ver.

DON JUAN

Todo se lo digo ansí.

DOÑA ANA

Yo os tengo por más discreto.

DON JUAN

¿Volverá el Conde en efeto? 695

DOÑA ANA

No sin vos, y con vos sí.

(Vanse don Juan y Martín.)

ESCENA XII

Doña Ana, Leonor, Juana

LEONOR

Mucho le has favorecido,
Para ser la vez primera.

DOÑA ANA

Cuando él me favoreciera,
Mi favor lo hubiera sido; 700
Mas no me quiso entender:
Tomo la amistad del Conde.

JUANA

Agora tibio responde.
Aun no ha llegado á querer.

DOÑA ANA (para sí)

Necio pensamiento mío, 705
Que en tal locura habéis dado,
Volved atrás, afrentado
De ver tan necio desvío.
Yo, que de tantos me río,
¡Ruego, pretendo, provoco! 710
Pensamiento, poco á poco,
No diga el honor que pierdo
Que sois con desdenes cuerdo,
Ya que quisistes ser loco.
Dieron los ojos en ver, 715
Puesto que en lugar sagrado,
Al hombre más recatado
De mirar y de entender;
Mas, ya que ha venido á ser
Provocado á desafío, 720
Responde tan necio y frío,
Que me pide que á otro quiera:
Mirad ¡quién tal os dijera,
Triste pensamiento mío!
En vano estoy descansando 725
Con daros disculpa á vos;
Mas tengámosla los dos,
Vos amando y yo pensando;
Porque de pensar amando
Lo que puede resultar, 730
Viene el alma á sospechar
Lo que imaginó del ver;
Porque no hubiera querer
Si no hubiera imaginar.
Que no queráis os advierto 735
Hombre tan fino y helado,
Que por lo helado me ha dado
Tristes memorias del muerto.
Pero si á cogerle acierto
Con mirar y con rogar... 740
Guárdese pues de llegar;
Que, agraviada una mujer,
Quiere hasta que ve querer,
Por vengarse en olvidar. (Vanse.)

ESCENA XIII

Patio de un mesón de Adamuz.

Un Indiano, y un Mozo de Mulas; después, un Mesonero

INDIANO

Pasaremos de Adamuz, 745
Si este recado nos dan.

MOZO

Por eso dice el refrán:
«Adamuz, pueblo sin luz.»
Mas mira que desde aquí
Comienza Sierra-Morena. 750

INDIANO

Tú las jornadas ordena;
Eso no corre por mí.

(Sale el Mesonero.)

MESONERO

Bien venidos, caballeros.

INDIANO

Pues, huésped, ¿qué hay que comer?

MESONERO

Desde hoy á el amanecer 755
Dos mozos, seis perdigueros
Vienen con un perdigón,
De que estoy desesperado.

INDIANO

Para mí basta.

MESONERO

Ha llegado
Á hurtaros la bendición 760
Una mujer que le tiene.

INDIANO

Y cuando yo le tuviera,
Por ser mujer se le diera.
¿Viene sola?

MESONERO

Sola viene.

INDIANO

¡Sola! ¿De qué calidad? 765

MESONERO

Pobre, y de brío gallarda;
Porque en un rocín de albarda
(El término perdonad)
Como un soldado venía.
Ella propria se apeó, 770
Le ató y de comer le dió
Con despejo y bizarría.
Volvíla á mirar y ví
Que un arcabuz arrimaba.

INDIANO

¿Que es tan brava?

MESONERO

Aunque es tan brava, 775
Os aseguro de mí
Que más su cara temiera
Que su arcabuz.

INDIANO

¿Habéis sido
Galán?

MESONERO

Bien me han parecido.
Ya pasó la primavera, 780
Y estamos en el estío:
Así los años se van.

INDIANO

¿Qué traje trae?

MESONERO

Un gabán
Que cubre el traje, no el brío;
Un sombrero razonable... 785
Todo de poco valor;
Al fin, parece, Señor,
De buena suerte y afable,
Menos aquel arcabuz.

INDIANO

¿Es ésta?

MESONERO

La misma es. 790

ESCENA XIV

Doña María, con sombrero, gabán y un arcabuz.—Dichos

DOÑA MARÍA (ap.)

Temerosa voy, después
Que he entrado por Adamuz,
Por ser camino real,
Á que nunca me atreví;
Si bien desde que salí, 795
Ha sido el ánimo igual
Al peligro que he tenido.
¡Ay, padre, y cuánto dolor
Me da el verte sin favor,
Si no es que el Duque lo ha sido! 800
Suelen faltar los amigos
En la mejor ocasión;
Mas ¡ay! que tus años son
Los mayores enemigos.
Los de mi hermano pudieran 805
Suplir los tuyos, Señor,
Aunque no para tu honor
Más que mis manos hicieran.
Yo cumplí su obligación;
Mas defenderte no puedo, 810
Por no acrecentar el miedo
De mi muerte ó mi prisión.
Al fin, bien está lo hecho.
¿De qué me lamento en vano?
¡Traidor don Diego! ¡Á un anciano 815
Con una cruz en el pecho!...
Así para quien se atreve
Á las edades ancianas;
Que es atreverse á unas canas
Violar un templo de nieve. 820
Pero la mano piadosa
Del cielo quiere que espante
Á un Holofernes gigante
Una Judit valerosa.

INDIANO (á doña María)

Como suelen los caminos 825
Dar licencia á los que pasan
Para entretener las horas,
Que por ellos son tan largas,
Á preguntaros me atrevo
Si lo ha de ser la jornada, 830
Ó por ventura tenéis
Cerca de aquí vuestra casa.

DOÑA MARÍA

No soy, Señor, desta tierra.

INDIANO

Como os ví sola, pensaba
Que érades de alguna aldea 835
De aquesta fértil comarca.

DOÑA MARÍA

No, Señor; que yo nací
De esa parte de Granada,
Y á servir en ella vine;
Que cuando los padres faltan 840
En tierna edad á los pobres,
No tienen otra esperanza.
No se cansó mi fortuna,
Pues cuando contenta estaba
Del buen dueño que tenía, 845
Persona de órdenes sacras,
Le llevó también la muerte,
Que para mayor mudanza
Me dió ocasión, como veis.

INDIANO

Y ¿dónde vais?

DOÑA MARÍA

Siempre hablaba 850
Esta persona que digo,
Con notables alabanzas
De la corte y de Madrid:
Yo pues, á quien ya faltaba
Dueño, con algún deseo 855
Que de ver grandeza tanta
Nació con mi condición,
Determiné de dar traza
De ir á servir á la corte.
Y una vez determinada, 860
Lo que viviendo tenía
El buen cura (que Dios haya)
Para su regalo y gusto,
Arcabuz, rocín de caza
Y este gabán, tomé luego, 865
Y voy con notables ansias
De ver lo que alaban todos.

MOZO

El camino de Granada
No es éste.

DOÑA MARÍA

Decís muy bien;
Mas vine por ver si estaba 870
En Córdoba un deudo mío.

INDIANO

¡Determinación extraña
De una mujer!

DOÑA MARÍA

Soy mujer.

INDIANO

Decís muy bien, eso basta.
Yo voy también á Madrid: 875
Traigo jornada más larga,
Porque vengo de las Indias;
Que pocas veces descansa
El ánimo de los hombres
Aunque sobre el oro y plata. 880
Y si allá habéis de servir,
Porque me dicen que tarda
El premio á las pretensiones
Que la ocupación dilata,
Casa tengo de poner: 885
Si en el camino os agrada
Mi trato, servidme á mí.

DOÑA MARÍA

El cielo por vos me ampara.
Desde hoy soy criada vuestra,
Y creed que soy criada 890
Que os excusaré de muchas.

MOZO (áp.)

Convertirse quiere en ama.

DOÑA MARÍA

No habrá cosa que no sepa.

MOZO

Y yo salgo á la fianza;
Que la buena habilidad 895
Se le conoce en la cara.

INDIANO

Hanme dicho que en la corte
Hay ocasiones que gastan
Inútilmente la hacienda,
Y yo querría guardarla; 900
Que cuesta mucho adquirirla.

DOÑA MARÍA

La familia es excusada
Donde hay tanta confusión,
Pues no se repara en nada.
Yo sola basto á serviros: 905
No habrá cosa que no haga,
De cuantas haciendas tiene
El gobierno de una casa.

INDIANO

Pues partamos en comiendo,
Y fiad de mí la paga. 910

DOÑA MARÍA (áp.)

¡Ay fortuna! ¿dónde llevas
Una mujer desdichada?
Pero no fueras fortuna,
Á saber en lo que paras.

ACTO SEGUNDO

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

ESCENA PRIMERA

El Conde, Don Juan

DON JUAN

Compiten con sus virtudes 915
Sus gracias y perfecciones.

CONDE

¿Que tantas persecuciones,
Visitas, solicitudes,
Celos, desvelos, requiebros,
Tengan por premio su olvido, 920
Hasta verme convertido,
De Amadís, en Beltenebros?
No he visto tales aceros.

DON JUAN

Conde, no habéis de cansaros;
Que el estado de estimaros 925
Ya es principio de quereros.

CONDE

Á los principios me estoy
Á el cabo de tres semanas.
¿Adonde, esperanzas vanas,
Con este imposible voy? 930

DON JUAN

Todas son penas posibles,
Pues que sin celos amáis.

CONDE

¡Ay, ojos, celos me dais,
Aunque celos invisibles!
Quéjase de amor doña Ana, 935
Y á mí no me tiene amor:
Esto es celos en rigor.

DON JUAN

¿Por qué, si es sospecha vana?

CONDE

Es celos lo que imagino;
Que no es celos lo que sé: 940
Cosa que pienso que fué,
Y que en mi daño adivino.

ESCENA II

Martín.—Dichos

MARTÍN

Por poco tuviera calma
La nave de tu deseo.
Entro, y á doña Ana veo, 945
Venus de marfil con alma.
¿Cómo te podré pintar
De la suerte que la ví?
Cultas musas, dadme aquí
Un ramo blanco de azahar 950
De las huertas de Valencia
Ó jardines de Sevilla.
Comience una zapatilla
De la Vera de Plasencia,
Porque entremos por la basa 955
Á esta coluna de nieve,
Agentado azul, pie breve,
Que de tres puntos no pasa.

CONDE

¿Tres puntos? Necio, repara...

MARTÍN

Pues lo digo, yo lo sé: 960
Puntos son que de aquel pie
Los tomara por la cara.

DON JUAN

¿Cómo lo viste?

MARTÍN

Un manteo
Esta licencia me dió,
Donde cuanto supo obró 965
La riqueza y el aseo.
Pero pidió los chapines
Porque mirarla me vió,
Y entre las cintas metió
Cinco pares de jazmines. 970

DON JUAN

De escarpines presumí,
Según anda el algodón.

MARTÍN

Ésos paragambas son;
Que á cierta dama que ví
Con cañafístolas tales, 975
Que se pudiera, aunque bellas,
Purgar su galán con ellas
Por drogas medicinales,
Pregunté si era importante
Traer damas delicadas 980
Las pantorrillas preñadas.
Y con risueño semblante
Me dijo: «No es gentileza;
Pero cosa no ha de haber
En una honrada mujer 985
Que se note por flaqueza.»

CONDE

¡Linda disculpa!

DON JUAN

Extremada.

MARTÍN

La ropa de levantar,
Con tanto fino alamar,
Era una colcha bordada. 990
Finalmente, no quería
Salir, por no verte ansí;
Pero como yo la ví
Que para ti se vestía,
Por no estar siempre en el traje 995
De trájico embajador,
Porfié, y saldrá, Señor,
Si la haces pleito homenaje
De sola conversación,
Como quedó concertado. 1000

CONDE

¡Qué ejercicio tan cansado
Para mi loca afición!

DON JUAN

Música y versos quedaron
Para esta noche de acuerdo.

CONDE

En tenerme por tan cuerdo 1005
Muchos locos la engañaron.

ESCENA III

Doña Ana, en hábito galán; Juana, Músicos.—Dichos

DOÑA ANA

No dirá vueseñoría
Que no le fían el talle.

CONDE

Quien tan bien puede fialle,
Agravio á los dos haría: 1010
Á vos por seguridad,
Y á mí por justo deseo.
¡Gracias á amor, que en vos veo
Señas de más amistad!

DOÑA ANA

Siéntese vueseñoría; 1015
Que no le quiero galán
Esta noche, que nos dan
La música y la poesía
Los sugetos que han de hacer
Un rato conversación. 1020

CONDE

Dice mi imaginación
Que no quiere más de ver.

DOÑA ANA

Señor don Juan, ¿no os sentáis?—
¡Qué esquivo primo tenéis! (Al Conde.)

DON JUAN

La culpa que me ponéis, 1025
Para disculpa me dais;
Pero quiero obedeceros.

CONDE

Canten, y hablemos yo y vos.

DOÑA ANA

Y los tres, porque los dos
No parezcamos groseros. 1030

MÚSICOS. (Cantan.)

¿De qué sirve, ojos serenos,
Que no me miréis jamás?
De que yo padezca más,
Y no de que os quiera menos.

DOÑA ANA

No me agrada que á los ojos 1035
Llamen serenos.

CONDE

¿Por qué,
Si el cielo, cuando se ve
Libre de azules enojos,
Se llama así?

DOÑA ANA

En una dama
No apruebo vuestro argumento, 1040
Si es el alma el movimiento
Que á cuantos los miran llama,
Y si al cielo en su azul velo
La serenidad cuadró,
Á el sol y á la luna no, 1045
Que son los ojos del cielo;
Porque éstos siempre se mueven.

CONDE

Perdonad á la canción
No ser de vuestra opinión:
Tanto los versos se atreven. 1050

DON JUAN

Díganse á varios sugetos,
Como quedó concertado.

DOÑA ANA

Comience el Conde.

CONDE

He buscado
En vuestro loor seis concetos.
Oid.

DOÑA ANA

No por vida mía; 1055
Escritos me los daréis.

CONDE

No sea, pues no queréis.

DOÑA ANA

Emplead vuestra poesía
Adonde más partes haya.

CONDE

Pues oid, si sois servida, 1060
Un soneto á la venida
Del inglés á Cádiz.

DOÑA ANA

Vaya.

CONDE

Atrevióse el inglés, de engaño armado
Porque al león de España vió en el nido,
Las uñas en el ámbar, y vestido, 1065
En vez de pieles, del tusón dorado.

Con débil caña, no con fresno herrado,
Vió á Marte en forma de español Cupido,
Volar y herir en el jinete, herido
Del acicate en púrpura bañado. 1070

Armó cien naves y emprendió la falda
De España asir por las arenas solas
Del mar, cuyo cristal ciñe esmeralda;

Mas viendo en las colunas españolas
La sombra del león, volvió la espalda, 1075
Sembrando las banderas por las olas.

DON JUAN

¡Levantó la pluma el vuelo!

DOÑA ANA

¡Gran soneto á toda ley!

DON JUAN

¡Qué bien pinta á nuestro rey!

DOÑA ANA

Mejor le ha pintado el cielo. 1080

MARTÍN

¡Gran soneto!

CONDE

No le he dado,
Porque no estoy dél contento.—
Decid vos.

DOÑA ANA

¡Qué atrevimiento!
Donde vos habéis hablado!

DON JUAN

Excusad tales excusas. 1085

DOÑA ANA

¿Mas qué os ha de causar risa?

CONDE

Hablad, divina poetisa.

MARTÍN

Silencio; que hablan las musas.

DOÑA ANA

Amaba Filis á quien no la amaba,
Y á quien la amaba ingrata aborrecía; 1090
Hablaba á quien jamás la respondía,
Sin responder jamás á quien la hablaba.

Seguía á quien huyendo la dejaba,
Dejaba á quien amando la seguía;
Por quien la despreciaba se perdía, 1095
Y á el perdido por ella despreciaba.

Concierta, amor, si ya posible fuere,
Desigualdad que tu poder infama:
Muera quien vive, y vivirá quien muere.

Da hielo á hielo, amor, y llama á llama, 1100
Porque pueda querer á quien la quiere
Ó pueda aborrecer á quien desama.

CONDE

Vos os podéis alabar;
Que nadie puede, Señora.

DOÑA ANA

Hablará don Juan agora. 1105

DON JUAN

Dejádmele imaginar.

Una moza de cántaro y del río,
Más limpia que la plata que en él lleva,
Recién herrada de chinela nueva,
Honor del devantal, reina del brío; 1110
Con manos de marfil, con señorío,
Que no hay tan gran Señor que se le atreva,
Pues donde lava, dice amor que nieva,
Es alma ilustre al pensamiento mío.
Por estrella, por fe, por accidente, 1115
Viéndola henchir el cántaro, en despojos
Rendí la vida á el brazo trasparente;
Y, envidiosos del agua mis enojos,
Dije: «¿Por qué la coges de la fuente,
Si la tienes, más cerca, de mis ojos?» 1120

DOÑA ANA

¡Malos versos!

DON JUAN

No sé más.

DOÑA ANA

Un caballero discreto
¿Escribe á tan vil sugeto?
No lo creyera jamás.

CONDE

Tiene doña Ana razón. 1125

DON JUAN

Si hubiérades visto el brío
Del nuevo sugeto mío,
La hermosura y discreción,
Dijérades que tenía
Tanta razón de querer, 1130
Que no supe encarecer
Lo menos que merecía.

DOÑA ANA

Si es disfrazar vuestra dama,
Como suelen los poetas,
Por tratar cosas secretas 1135
Sin ofensa de su fama,
Está bien; pero si no,
Bajo pensamiento ha sido.

DON JUAN

Ninguna cosa he fingido,
Ni tengo la culpa yo; 1140
Porque no lejos de aquí
Vive la hermosa Isabel,
Por quien el amor cruel
Hace estos lances en mí.
Sirve á un indiano, que viene 1145
Á la corte á pretender.
No sé qué puede querer
Quien tanta riqueza tiene.

DOÑA ANA

Á tal sugeto ¡tal fe!

DON JUAN

La que me ha muerto y rendido, 1150
Moza de cántaro ha sido,
Moza de cántaro fué.
En él este amor bebí,
Todo me abrasó con él;
Ella fué Sirena, y él 1155
El mar en que me perdí.
Con él veneno me ha dado,
Con él me mató.

DOÑA ANA

Si fuera
Martín quien eso dijera,
Estuviera disculpado; 1160
Pero ¡un caballero, un hombre
Como vos!...

DON JUAN

No es elección
Amor; diferentes son
Los efetos de su nombre.
Es desde el cabello al pie 1165
Tan bizarra y aliñosa,
Que no es tan limpia la rosa,
Por más que al alba lo esté.
Tiene un grave señorío
En medio desta humildad, 1170
Que aumenta su honestidad
Y no deshace su brío.
Finalmente, yo no ví
Dama que merezca amor
Con más fe, con más rigor. 1175

DOÑA ANA

Advertid que estoy yo aquí,
Y toca en descortesía
Tan necio encarecimiento.

DON JUAN

Yo he dicho mi pensamiento
Sin pensar que os ofendía. 1180

CONDE

No os levantéis. ¿Dónde vais?

DOÑA ANA

Corrida me voy.

DON JUAN

¿Por qué?
Sin ofensa vuestra hablé.

DOÑA ANA

Si cosas bajas amáis,
No las igualéis conmigo. 1185

(Vanse doña Ana y Juana.)

ESCENA IV

El Conde, Don Juan, Martín; después, Juana

CONDE

¡Por Dios, que tiene razón!

MARTÍN

Cesó la conversación.

DON JUAN

¡Porque lo que siento digo!

CONDE

Decir que no visteis dama
Como ella, ¿no ha sido error? 1190

DON JUAN

¿Error?

(Sale Juana.)

JUANA

Conde, mi señor,
Entrad: mi señora os llama.

CONDE (á don Juan)

Ella me quiere decir
Que no os traiga más conmigo.

DON JUAN

Si lo tiene por castigo, 1195
No apelo de no venir.
(Vanse el Conde y Juana.)
Di á el Conde que á verla fuí,
(Á Martín.)
Ésa que á doña Ana enfada.

MARTÍN

Tú ¿quieres lo que te agrada?

DON JUAN

Sí, Martín, mil veces sí. 1200

MARTÍN

Pues quiérela si la quieres;
Que tal vez agrada un prado
Más que un jardín cultivado,
Y al fin todas son mujeres. (Vanse.)

ESCENA V

Calle.

Doña María, en hábito humilde y devantal; El Indiano, siguiéndola.

DOÑA MARÍA

Advierta vuestra merced 1205
Que si esto adelante pasa, No estoy un
hora en su casa.

INDIANO

(Ap. Pensamiento, detened
El paso; que hay honra aquí.)
Palabra, Isabel, te doy 1210
Que no seré desde hoy
Importuno como fuí.
Desprecia en fin tu belleza
Y ese donaire apacible;
Que ya sé que es imposible 1215
Mudar la naturaleza. (Vase.)

ESCENA VI

DOÑA MARÍA

Tiempos de mudanzas llenos,
Y de firmezas jamás,
Que ya de menos á más,
Y ya vais de más á menos, 1220
¿Cómo en tan breve distancia,
Para tanto desconsuelo,
Habéis humillado á el suelo
Mi soberbia y arrogancia?
El desprecio que tenía 1225
De cuantas cosas miraba,
Las galas que desechaba,
Los papeles que rompía;
El no haber de quien pensase
Que mi mano mereciese, 1230
Por servicios que me hiciese,
Por años que me obligase;
Toda aquella bizarría
Que como sueño pasó,
Á tanta humildad llegó, 1235
Que por mí decir podría:
Aprended, flores, de mí
Lo que va de ayer á hoy;
Que ayer maravilla fuí,
Y hoy sombra mía aun no soy. 1240
Flores, que á la blanca aurora
Con tal belleza salís,
Que soberbias competís
Con el mismo sol que os dora,
Toda la vida es un hora: 1245
Como vosotras me ví,
Tan arrogante salí;
Sucedió la noche al día:
Mirad la desdicha mía,
Aprended, flores, de mí. 1250
Maravilla solía ser
De toda la Andalucía;
Ó maravilla ó María,
Ya no soy la que era ayer.
Flores, no os deis á entender 1255
Que no seréis lo que soy,
Pues hoy en estado estoy,
Que si en ayer me contemplo,
Conoceréis por mi ejemplo
Lo que va de ayer á hoy. 1260
No desvanezca al clavel
La púrpura, ni á el dorado
La corona, ni al morado
Lirio el hilo de oro en él;
No te precies de cruel, 1265
Manutisa carmesí,
Ni por el color turquí,
Bárbara violeta, ignores
Tu fin, contemplando, flores,
Que ayer maravilla fuí. 1270
De esta loca bizarría
Quedaréis desengañadas
Cuando con manos heladas
Os cierre la noche fría.
Maravilla ser solía; 1275
Pero ya lástima doy;
Que de extremo á extremo voy,
Y desde ser á no ser,
Pues sol me llamaba ayer,
Y hoy sombra mía aun no soy. 1280

ESCENA VII

Don Juan.—Doña María

DON JUAN

Dicha he tenido, por Dios.—
Isabel, ¿adónde bueno?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Adónde bueno, Isabel?
Adonde hallase un requiebro.
¿Pensáis que no tengo yo 1285
Mi poco de entendimiento?

DON JUAN

Bien conozco que no ignoras
Tanto; que á veces sospecho
Que finges lo que no entiendes.

DOÑA MARÍA

Lo que no quiero no entiendo. 1290
Pero á la fe que me admira
Que un caballero tan cuerdo
Y tan galán como vos
Humille sus pensamientos
Á una mujer como yo. 1295
¿Sois pobre?

DON JUAN

Pues ¿á qué efeto
Me preguntas si soy pobre?

DOÑA MARÍA

Porque si os falta dinero
Para pretensiones altas,
No tengo por mal acuerdo 1300
Requebrar lo que, á la cuenta
Del entendimiento vuestro,
Os costará zapatillas,
Ligas, medias y un sombrero
Para el río con su banda, 1305
Avantal de lienzo grueso,
Chinelas ya sin virillas
(Que solía en otro tiempo
En los pies de las mujeres
La plata barrer el suelo), 1310
Castañetas, cintas, tocas;
Que para últimos empleos
De las damas, fondo en ángel,
No hay plata en el alto cerro
Del Potosí, perlas ni oro 1315
En los orientales reinos.
Más pienso que os costarían
Las randas de un telarejo
Que una legión de fregonas.

DON JUAN

No juzgaras mis deseos 1320
Por el camino que dices,
Si te dijera el espejo
El despejo de tu talle.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Espejo y despejo? ¡Bueno!
Ya con cuidado me habláis, 1325
Porque en efeto os parezco
Mujer que os puedo entender.
Pues yo os prometo que puedo;
Pero el estar enseñada
Á oir vocablos groseros 1330
De un indiano miserable:
«Vé por esto, vuelve presto,
Esto guisa, aquello deja,
¿Limpiaste aquel ferreruelo?
Vé por nieve, trae carbón, 1335
Esto está sin sal, aquello
Sin agrio, llama á ese esclavo,
Éste lava, y dame un lienzo,
¿Cómo gastas tanta azúcar?
Para madrugar me acuesto, 1340
Despiértame de mañana,
Pon la mesa, luego vuelvo;»
Y otras cosas de este porte
Me han quitado el sentimiento
De otras razones más grandes, 1345
No porque no las entiendo.
En efeto ¿qué queréis?

DON JUAN

Que me quieras en efeto.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Bien aforrada razón,
Y bien dicha para presto! 1350
Bien digo yo que pensáis
Que á mi corto entendimiento
Importan resoluciones,
Atajos, y no rodeos.
Pues levantad el lenguaje; 1355
Que, como dicen los negros,
El ánima tengo blanca,
Aunque mal vestido el cuerpo.
Habladme como quien sois.

DON JUAN

Yo, Isabel, así lo creo; 1360
Porque, pensando en tu oficio,
Tal vez el respeto pierdo;
Pero en mirando á tu cara,
Vuelvo á tenerte respeto.
Mas no te debe enojar 1365
Que te diga mi deseo;
Que sólo son por el fin
Todos los actos perfectos.
¿Qué dirás deste lenguaje?

DOÑA MARÍA

Que, aunque es el término honesto, 1370
No me agrada la intención
De la suerte que la entiendo.
Conmigo (á lo que imagino)
Tomáis la espada á lo diestro.
Tiré, desviasteis, huí; 1375
Y acometiéndome al pecho,
Herida de conclusión
Formó vuestro pensamiento.
Pues no, mi señor, por vida
De los dos, porque no quiero 1380
Que, asiendo la guarnición,
Engañéis mi honesto celo.
Esténse quedas las manos,
Y aun los pensamientos quedos;
Que no seremos amigos 1385
En no siendo el trato honesto.

DON JUAN

Como das, Isabel mía,
(¿Mía dije? ¡Ay Dios! que miento)
En pensar que por ser pobre
Te busco, te sigo y ruego, 1390
Dilatas á mis verdades
El justo agradecimiento.
Pues yo te juro, Isabel,
Que por quererte, desprecio
La más hermosa mujer, 1395
Donaire y entendimiento
Que tiene aqueste lugar;
Porque más estimo y precio
Un listón de tus chinelas
Que las perlas de su cuello. 1400
Más precio en tus blancas manos
Ver aquel cántaro puesto,
Á la fuente del Olvido
Pedirle cristal deshecho;
Y ver que á tu dulce risa 1405
Deciende el agua riyendo,
Envidiosa la que cae
De fuera á la que entra dentro;
Y ver cómo se da prisa
El agua á henchirle de presto, 1410
Por ir contigo á tu casa,
En tus brazos ó en tus pechos,
Que ver como cierta dama
Baja en su coche soberbio,
Asiendo verdes cortinas 1415
Por dar diamantes los dedos,
Ó asoma por el estribo
Los rizos de los cabellos
En las uñas de un descanso,
Que á tantos sirvió de anzuelo. 1420
Yo me contento que digas,
Dulce Isabel: «¡Yo te quiero!»
Que también quiero yo el alma;
No todo el amor es cuerpo.
¿Qué respondes, ojos míos? 1425

DOÑA MARÍA

Á ojos míos yo no puedo
Responder ninguna cosa,
Porque decís que son vuestros.
Á lo de la voluntad,
Pienso que licencia tengo; 1430
Y así, pues alma queréis,
Digo (porque os vais con esto)
Que el primer hombre sois vos
Á quien amor agradezco.

DON JUAN

¿No más, Isabel?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Es poco? 1435
Pues vaya por contrapeso
Que no me desagradáis.

DON JUAN

¿No más, Isabel?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Qué es esto?
Conténtese, ó quitaréle
Lo que le he dado primero. 1440

DON JUAN

¿Podré tomarte una mano?
Aunque por Dios que la temo,
Después que la ví tan diestra
Esgrimir el blanco acero.

DOÑA MARÍA

Pues vos no me conocéis: 1445
Por Dios que algún hombre he muerto
Aquí donde me miráis.

DON JUAN

Con los ojos, yo lo creo.

DOÑA MARÍA

Idos; que viene mi amo.

DON JUAN

¿Dónde esta tarde te espero? 1450

DOÑA MARÍA

En la fuente, á lo lacayo.

DON JUAN

Logre tu donaire el cielo. (Vase.)

ESCENA VIII

Leonor.—Doña María

LEONOR

Isabel...

DOÑA MARÍA

Leonor amiga...

LEONOR

¿Con éste hablabas?

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Pues bien?

LEONOR

¿Qué se hizo tu desdén? 1455

DOÑA MARÍA

Un amor honesto obliga.
Y te aseguro de mí
Que es mucho tenelle amor.

LEONOR

Su talle, ingenio y valor
Habrán hecho riza en ti. 1460
Que lo merece confieso;
Pero en la desigualdad
No puede haber amistad.

DOÑA MARÍA

Los elementos por eso
No tienen paz y sosiego: 1465
El agua á la tierra oprime,
El aire á el agua, y reprime
La fuerza del aire el fuego.
Mas como él me quiere á mí
No más de para querer, 1470
¿Qué pierdo en corresponder?

LEONOR

Mucho.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Cómo?

LEONOR

Mucho.

DOÑA MARÍA

Di.

LEONOR

Adora mi ama en él.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Quién te lo ha dicho?

LEONOR

Yo y Juana
Lo vemos, y á ella con gana 1475
De casamiento, Isabel.
Por eso, si no envidaste,
Descarta y quédate en dos.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Sábeslo bien?

LEONOR

Sí, por Dios.

DOÑA MARÍA

Tarde, Leonor, me avisaste; 1480
No porque pueda alabarse
Del más mínimo favor,
Sino por tenerle amor,
Que no es fácil de olvidarse.
Necia fuí en imaginar 1485
Que un don Juan tan entonado
Para mí estaba guardado.

LEONOR

Un hombre te quiero dar
Compañero de otro mío,
Bravo, pero no cruel, 1490
Que puede ser, Isabel,
De cuantas profesan brío.
No pone codo en la puente
Hombre de tales aceros,
Ni han visto los lavaderos 1495
Más alentado valiente.
Ama en tu misma región.
¿Quién te mete con don Juanes?

DOÑA MARÍA

Tu ama ¿trata en galanes?

LEONOR

De honesta conversación 1500
De un conde que la visita,
Le nacieron los antojos.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Quién la ve tan baja de ojos
Á la señora viudita!

LEONOR

Hermana, enviudó ha dos meses, 1505
Viénele grande la cama.

DOÑA MARÍA

Y en fin ¿le quiere tu ama?

LEONOR

Como si juntos los vieses.

DOÑA MARÍA

Vé por el cántaro, y vamos
Al Prado.

LEONOR

Á Pedro verás; 1510
Que se quedan siempre atrás
Él y Martín de sus amos. (Vase.)

ESCENA IX

DOÑA MARÍA

Á mis graves desconsuelos
Solo faltaba este amor,
Á este amor este rigor, 1515
Á este rigor estos celos.
¿No me bastaba tener,
Para no ser conocida,
Este género de vida,
Sino á quien quieren querer? 1520
Pero andar en competencia,
Moza de cántaro en fin,
Cristalino serafín,
Con vos, será impertinencia.
Mejor es ser lo que soy, 1525
Pues que no soy lo que fuí:
Aprended, flores, de mí
Lo que vá de ayer á hoy. (Vase.)

ESCENA X

Prado con una fuente.

Martín, Pedro

PEDRO

Y ¿que tiene tan buen talle?

MARTÍN

Esto me dijo Leonor, 1530
Y que es la moza mejor
Que tiene toda la calle.
Es una perla, un asombro;
Rinden parias á su brío
Cuantas llevan ropa á el río 1535
Y llevan cántaro en hombro.
Es mujer que este don Juan,
Primo del Conde mi dueño,
Pierde por hablarla el sueño,
Desmayos de amor le dan. 1540
De la suerte la pasea
Que á la dama de más partes;
Pero en estos Durandartes
Poco el pensamiento emplea.
De noche la viene á ver, 1545
Y anda el pobre caballero,
De su cántaro escudero,
Sin dormir y sin comer.
Sirve á un caballero indiano
Tan cuidado, que consiente 1550
Que vaya y venga á la fuente;
Puesto que le culpo en vano,
Porque pienso que ella gusta
De salir, por ver y hablar
(Que á mozas deste lugar 1555
Mucho el no salir disgusta),
Á jabonar y á lavar
Á los pilares, á el río.

PEDRO

En fin, es moza de brío,
Y que puede descuidar 1560
De camisas y valonas
Á un hombre de mi talante.

MARTÍN

Lleva, en saliendo, delante
Más pretendientes personas
Que un oidor ó presidente. 1565

PEDRO

Si yo la moza poseo,
Luego habrá despolvoreo
De todo amor pretendiente:
Á ellos de cuchilladas
Y á ella de muchas coces. 1570
Ya mi cólera conoces.

MARTÍN

No la has visto ¿y ya te enfadas?

PEDRO

Gente de un coche se apea.

MARTÍN

Con ellos viene don Juan.

PEDRO

¡Por vida del alazán, 1575
Que no es la viudilla fea!

ESCENA XI

Doña Ana, Juana, Don Juan.—Dichos

DON JUAN

Por el coche os conocí,
Y luego al Conde avisé,
Que en la carroza dejé
Harto envidioso de mí. 1580
Vine á ver lo que mandáis;
Que apearos no habrá sido
Sin causa.

DOÑA ANA

Causa he tenido;
Que siempre vos me la dais.
Quiero venir á la fuente, 1585
Porque sé que es el lugar
Adonde os tengo de hallar,
Y donde sois pretendiente.

DON JUAN

¡Buen oficio me habéis dado!
Ó de bestia ó de aguador. 1590

DOÑA ANA

Conociendo vuestro humor,
Señor don Juan, he pensado
Venir por agua también.—
Muestra ese búcaro, Juana.

DON JUAN

Dado habéis esta mañana, 1595
Filos, Señora, al desdén.

DOÑA ANA

Deseando enamoraros,
Moza de cántaro soy,
Por agua á la fuente voy.

DON JUAN

Tenéos...

DOÑA ANA

Quiero agradaros. 1608

DON JUAN

Es el cántaro pequeño,
Templará poco el rigor
Á los enfermos de amor.

ESCENA XII

Doña María y Leonor, con sus cántaros.—Dichos

DOÑA MARÍA (á Leonor)

Esto me dijo mi dueño;
Que en el patio de palacio, 1605
Archivo de novedades,
Ya mentiras, ya verdades,
Como pasean de espacio,
Lo contaba mucha gente.

LEONOR

Y ¿que esa mujer mató 1610
Á el que á su padre afrentó?
¡Bravo corazón!

DOÑA MARÍA

Valiente.
Dijo que había pedido
La parte pesquisidor,
Y que á el Rey nuestro señor 1615
(Cuya vida al cielo pido),
Consultaron este caso,
Y que no quiso que fuese
Quien pesadumbre le diese.

LEONOR

No fué la piedad acaso, 1620
Si el padre estaba inocente.
¿Y nunca más pareció
Esa dama que mató
Á el caballero insolente?

DOÑA MARÍA

De eso no me dijo nada. 1625
Yo estoy contenta de ver
(Que en efeto soy mujer)
Que la hubiese tan honrada.

LEONOR

¿Dijo el nombre que tenía?
Que me alegra á mí también. 1630

DOÑA MARÍA

No sé si me acuerdo bien...
Aunque sí: doña María.

MARTÍN

Aquí están dos escuderos
Para las dos.

LEONOR

Isabel,
Este mozazo es aquel 1635
Que te dije.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Oh, caballeros!...

MARTÍN (á Pedro)

Llega, no estés vergonzoso;
Llega y habla.

PEDRO

Estoy mirando
Á Isabel, y contemplando
Su talle y su rostro hermoso. 1640
Téngame vuesamerced
Por suyo desde esta tarde.

DOÑA MARÍA

(Ap. ¡Qué buen hombrón!) Dios le guarde.

PEDRO (ap.)

Cayó la daifa en la red.
Ya está perdida por mí. 1645

DOÑA MARÍA (ap.)

Con pocos de éstos pudiera
Conducir una galera
Á la China, desde aquí,
Don Fadrique de Toledo.

PEDRO

Pido mano, doy turrón. 1650

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Mas que lleva un mojicón,
Hombrón, si no se está quedo?

PEDRO

¡Por el agua de la mar,
Que tiene valor la hembra!

DOÑA MARÍA

Pues no sabe dónde siembra. 1655

PEDRO

(Ap. Á el primer encuentro azar.)
¡Voto á tus ojos serenos,
Isabel, porque te asombres,
Que me mate con mil hombres,
Y esto será lo de menos! 1660
Ablándate, serafín.

DOÑA MARÍA

Déjeme, no me zabuque.

PEDRO

Aquí en la esquina del Duque
Hay turrón.—Vamos, Martín.

MARTÍN

Vamos, y gasta; que luego 1665
Estará como algodón.

PEDRO

Sí, mas ¡coz y mordiscón!...
Parece rocín gallego.
(Vanse Martín y Pedro.)

ESCENA XIII

Doña Ana, Don Juan, Doña María, Leonor, Juana

DOÑA ANA

Quedo, no os pongáis delante;
Que ya he visto por las señas 1670
Que es aquélla vuestra dama.

JUANA

Pues Leonor viene con ella,
¿Quién duda que es Isabel?
Fuera de que no tuviera
Ninguna aquel talle y brío. 1675

DOÑA ANA

Disculpa tiene en quererla
El señor don Juan.

JUANA

La moza
En otro traje pudiera
Hacer á cualquiera dama
Pesadumbre y competencia. 1680

DON JUAN

¿Es todo por darme vaya?

DOÑA ANA

Quisiérala ver más cerca.
Dígale vuesamerced
Que está aquí una dama enferma,
Que se le antoja beber 1685
Por la cantarilla nueva;
Que no irá de mala gana.

DON JUAN

Sólo por serviros fuera.

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Ay, Leonor!

LEONOR

¿Qué?

DOÑA MARÍA

Tu señora
Y aquél mi galán con ella. 1690

LEONOR

Parece que te has turbado.

DOÑA MARÍA

Por poco se me cayera
El cántaro de las manos.

DON JUAN (á doña María)

Aquella señora os ruega
Que la deis un poco de agua. 1695

DOÑA MARÍA

De buena gana la diera
Á ella el agua, y á vos
Con el cántaro.

DON JUAN

No seas
Necia.

DOÑA MARÍA

Llevádsela vos,
Y de vuestra mano beba. 1700

DON JUAN

Mira que en público estamos,
Y las mujeres discretas
No hacen cosas indignas.

DOÑA MARÍA

Iré porque nadie entienda
Que me da celos á mí.— 1705
(Llégase á doña Ana.)
Vuesamerced beba, y crea
Que quisiera que este barro
Fuera cristal de Venecia;
Pero serálo en tocando
Esas manos y esas perlas. 1710

DOÑA ANA

Beberé, porque he caído.

DOÑA MARÍA

Si el agua el susto sosiega,
Beba; que todos caeremos,
Si no en el daño, en la cuenta.

DOÑA ANA

Yo he bebido.

DOÑA MARÍA

Y yo también. 1715

DOÑA ANA (ap.)

Yo pesares.

DOÑA MARÍA (ap.)

Yo sospechas.

DOÑA ANA

¡Qué caliente!

DOÑA MARÍA

Vuestras manos
De nieve servir pudieran.

DOÑA ANA (á Juana)

Haz que llegue el coche.

JUANA (llamando)

¡Ah, Hernando!

DOÑA ANA

¡Buena moza!

DOÑA MARÍA

Buena sea 1720
Su vida.
(Vanse doña Ana y Juana.)

ESCENA XIV

Doña María, Don Juan, Leonor

DOÑA MARÍA

¿No la acompaña?
¡Mal galán! ¿Así se queda?

DON JUAN

Á darte satisfaciones.

DOÑA MARÍA

Estoy yo tan satisfecha,
Que será gastar palabras. 1725

DON JUAN

Mira, Isabel, que esto es fuerza,
Y que bien sabe Leonor
(Dejo aparte mi fineza)
Que el Conde sirve á doña Ana.

DOÑA MARÍA

Cántaro, tened paciencia; 1730
Vais y venís á la fuente:
Quien va y viene siempre á ella,
¿De qué se espanta, si el asa
Ó la frente se le quiebra?
Sois barro, no hay que fiar. 1735
Mas ¿quién, cántaro, os dijera
Que no os volviérades plata
En tal boca, en tales perlas?
Pero lo que es barro humilde,
En fin, por barro se queda. 1740
No volváis más á la fuente,
Porque estoy segura y cierta
Que no es bien que vos hagáis
Á los coches competencia.

DON JUAN

¿Qué dices? Mira, Isabel, 1745
Que sin culpa me condenas.

DOÑA MARÍA

Yo con mi cántaro hablo;
Si es mío, ¿de qué se queja?
Váyase vuesamerced,
Mire que el coche se aleja. 1750

DON JUAN

Iréme desesperado,
Pues haces cosas como éstas,
Sabiendo que Leonor sabe
Que no es posible que quiera
Eso de que tienes celos. (Vase.) 1755

ESCENA XV

Doña María, Leonor

LEONOR

Necia estás. ¿Por qué le dejas
Que se vaya con disgusto?

DOÑA MARÍA

Leonor, el alma me lleva;
Que los celos me han picado.
Pero no seré yo necia 1760
En querer desigualdades,
Aunque me abrase y me muera.
No he de ver más á don Juan.
¡Esto faltaba á mis penas!

LEONOR

¡Buen lance habemos echado! 1765
Tú desesperada quedas,
Y mi ama va perdida.

ESCENA XVI

Pedro, Martín.—Dichas

PEDRO

Como dos soldados juegan:
Perdí el turrón y el dinero.

MARTÍN

Cosas la corte sustenta, 1770
Que no sé cómo es posible.
¡Quién ve tantas diferencias
De personas y de oficios,
Vendiendo cosas diversas!
Bolos, bolillos, bizcochos, 1775
Turrón, castañas, muñecas,
Bocados de mermelada,
Letuarios y conservas;
Mil figurillas de azúcar,
Flores, rosarios, rosetas, 1780
Rosquillas y mazapanes,
Aguardiente, y de canela;
Calendarios, relaciones,
Pronósticos, obras nuevas,
Y á Don Alvaro de Luna, 1785
Mantenedor destas fiestas.
Mas quedo; que están aquí.

PEDRO

¡Oigan! ¿De qué es la tristeza?
¿No estaba alegre esta moza?
¡Qué pensativas están! 1790

MARTÍN

Pienso que andaba don Juan
Acechando una carroza.

PEDRO

Quien te me enojó, Isabel,
Que con lágrimas lo pene:
Hágote voto solene 1795
Que pueden doblar por él.
Vuelve, Isabel, esos ojos;
Que no soy yo por lo menos
Quien á tus ojos serenos
Quitó luz y puso enojos. 1800
¿Quién tan bárbara y cruel,
Á tu hermosura atrevido,
Causa de tu enojo ha sido?
¿Quién te me enojó, Isabel?
No es posible que tuviese 1805
Noticia de mi rigor,
Sin que luego de temor
Súbitamente muriese.
Quien te enojó, ¿vida tiene?
¿Que donde estoy, vivo esté? 1810
Dime quién es; que yo haré
Que con lágrimas lo pene.
Dime cómo y de qué suerte
Que le mate se te antoja,
Porque en sacando la hoja, 1815
Soy guadaña de la muerte.
Si el Cid á su lado viene,
Gigote de hombres haré,
Y de que lo cumpliré
Hágote voto solene. 1820
Si yo me enojo en Madrid
Con quien á ti te ha enojado,
Haz cuenta que se ha tocado
La tumba en Valladolid.
Porque en diciendo, Isabel, 1825
Que he de matalle, está muerto.
No hay que esperar, porque es cierto
Que pueden doblar por él.

DOÑA MARÍA

Ven, Leonor; vamos á casa.

LEONOR

Triste vas.

DOÑA MARÍA

Perdida estoy. 1830

PEDRO

¿Así se va?

DOÑA MARÍA

Así me voy.

PEDRO

Pues cuénteme lo que pasa.

DOÑA MARÍA

No quiero.

PEDRO

Tendréla.

DOÑA MARÍA

Tome.

PEDRO

¡Ay!

MARTÍN

¿Qué fué?

PEDRO

Tamborilada.

LEONOR

¿Dístele, Isabel?

DOÑA MARÍA

No es nada. 1835
Pregúntale si le come.

ACTO TERCERO

ESCENA PRIMERA

Pedro, Bernal, Martín y Lorenzo, dentro

PEDRO

¡Fuera digo! No haya más.

LORENZO

¡Ay, que me ha descalabrado!

MARTÍN

Con el cántaro le ha dado.

BERNAL

¡Lavado, Lorenzo, vas! 1840

LORENZO

Esto ¿se puede sufrir?

PEDRO

Llévale á curar, Bernal.

LORENZO

¡Vive Cristo, que la tal!... (Salen.)

MARTÍN

No lo acabes de decir.

PEDRO

No queda lacayo en ser 1845
Donde esta mujer está.

MARTÍN

Bravas bofetadas da.

PEDRO

Dos mozas azotó ayer.

BERNAL

¡Ea, ea! Que no es nada.

ESCENA II

Doña María, Leonor.—Dichos

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Pícaro! ¿Pellizco á mí? 1850
¡Fuera, digo!

LEONOR

¿Estás en ti?

LORENZO

¡Á mí, Isabel, cantarada!
¡Voto á el hijo de la mar!

DOÑA MARÍA

Llegue el lacayo gallina.

PEDRO

Daga trae en la pretina. 1855

DOÑA MARÍA

Y aun enseñada á matar.
Llegue el barbado, y daréle
Dos mohadas á la usanza
De mi tierra, por la panza,
Y hará el puñal lo que suele. 1860

LORENZO

¡Mataréla!

PEDRO

Estoy aquí
Á pagar de mi dinero.

LORENZO

Pues con él haberlas quiero,
Aunque es mujer para mí.

PEDRO

¡Miente!

LORENZO

Véngase conmigo. 1865
(Vanse los hombres.)

ESCENA III

Doña María, Leonor

LEONOR

¡Buenos van, desafiados!

DOÑA MARÍA

¡Qué diferentes cuidados
Me da, Leonor, mi enemigo!

LEONOR

¿No le has visto más?

DOÑA MARÍA

Ayer.

LEONOR

Alegre quisiera hallarte, 1870
Porque te alcanzara parte
De mi contento y placer.
Ya Martín se determina,
Y nos queremos casar:
Mira que nos has de honrar, 1875
Y que has de ser la madrina.

DOÑA MARÍA

Estoy desacomodada
Del indiano; que si no,
Yo lo hiciera: aquí me dió
Su casa una amiga honrada, 1880
Donde de prestado estoy.

LEONOR

Mi Señora te dará
Vestidos: vamos allá;
Que pienso que ha de ser hoy.

DOÑA MARÍA

Tendré vergüenza de vella. 1885

LEONOR

Anda; que te quiere bien,
Y sé que tiene también
Gusto de que hables con ella.

DOÑA MARÍA

Vamos, y de aquí á tu casa Te diré lo que pasó 1890
En el río.

LEONOR

No fuí yo;
Que mujer que ya se casa,
Ha de mostrar más recato
Del que solía tener.

DOÑA MARÍA

Es achaque; voy por ver 1895
Aquel caballero ingrato.
Fuimos Teresa, Juana y Catalina,
El sábado, Leonor, á Manzanares:
Si bien yo melancólica y mohina
De darme este don Juan tantos pesares. 1900
De tu dueño las partes imagina;
Que cuando en su valor, Leonor, repares,
Presumirás, pues no me he vuelto loca,
Que soy muy necia ó mi afición es poca.
Tomé el jabón con tanto desvarío 1905
Para lavar de un bárbaro despojos,
Que hasta los paños me llevaba el río,
Mayor con la creciente de mis ojos.
Cantaban otras con alegre brío,
Y yo, Leonor, lloraba mis enojos: 1910
Lavaba con lo mesmo que lloraba,
Y al aire de suspiros lo enjugaba.
Bajaba el sol al agua trasparente,
Y, el claro rostro en púrpura bañado,
Las nubes ilustraba de occidente 1915
De aquel vario color tornasolado;
Cuando, despierta ya del accidente,
Saqué la ropa, y de uno y otro lado,
Asiendo los extremos, la torcimos,
Y á entapizar los tendederos fuimos. 1920
Quedando pues por los menudos ganchos
Las camisas y sábanas tendidas,
Salieron cuatro mozas de sus ranchos,
En todo la ribera conocidas;
Luego, de angostos pies y de hombros anchos, 1925
Bigotes altos, perdonando vidas,
Cuatro mozos: no hablé; que fuera mengua,
Estando triste el alma, hablar la lengua.
Tocó, Leonor, Juanilla el instrumento
Que con cuadrada forma en poco pino, 1930
Despide alegre cuanto humilde acento,
Cubierto de templado pergamino;
Á cuyo son, que retumbaba el viento,
Cantaba de un ingenio peregrino,
En seguidillas, con destreza extraña, 1935
Pensamientos que envidia Italia á España.
Bailaron luego hilando castañetas
Lorenza y Justa y un galán barbero
Que mira á Inés, haciendo más corvetas
Que el Conde ayer en el caballo overo. 1940
¡Oh celos! todos sois venganza y tretas,
Pues porque ví bajar el caballero
Que adora de tu dueño la belleza,
No le quise alegrar con mi tristeza.
Entré en el baile con desgaire y brío, 1945
Que, admirándole ninfas y mozuelos,
«¡Vítor!» dijeron, celebrando el mío:
Y era que amor bailaba con los celos.
Estando en esto, el contrapuesto río
Se mueve á ver dos ángeles, dos cielos, 1950
Que á la Casa del Campo (Dios los guarde)
Iban á ser auroras por la tarde.
¿No has visto á el agua, al súbito granizo
Esparcirse el ganado en campo ameno
Ó volar escuadrón espantadizo 1955
De las palomas, en oyendo el trueno?
Pues de la misma suerte se deshizo
El cerco bailador, de amantes lleno,
En oyendo que honraban la campaña
Felipe y Isabel, gloria de España. 1960
¿No has visto en un jardín de varias flores
La primavera en cuadros retratada,
Que por la variedad de las colores,
Aun no tienen color determinada,
Y en medio ninfas provocando amores? 1965
Pues así se mostraba dilatada
La escuadra hermosa de las damas bellas,
Flores las galas y las ninfas ellas.
Yo, que estaba arrobada, les decía
Á los reyes de España: «Dios os guarde, 1970
Y extienda vuestra heroica monarquía
Del clima helado á el que se abrasa y arde;»
Cuando veo que dice: «Isabel mía,»
Á mi lado don Juan; y tan cobarde
Me hallé á los ecos de su voz, que luego 1975
Fué hielo el corazón, las venas fuego.
«Traidor, respondo, tus iguales mira;
Que yo soy una pobre labradora.»
Y diciendo y haciendo, envuelta en ira,
Sigo la puente, y me arrepiento agora: 1980
Verdad es que le siento que suspira
Tal vez desde la noche hasta el aurora;
Mas recelo, si va á decir verdades,
Lo que se sigue á celos y amistades. (Vanse.)

ESCENA IV

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

Doña María, Leonor; después, Doña Ana y Juana

LEONOR

Á mi casa hemos llegado: 1985
Después, que no puedo agora,
Porque viene mi Señora,
Te diré lo que ha pasado
Por los celos en los dos.

(Salen doña Ana y Juana.)

DOÑA ANA

¿Ésta dices?

JUANA

Ésta es. 1990

DOÑA MARÍA

Dadme, Señora, los pies.

DOÑA ANA

Isabel, guárdela Dios.
¿Qué se ofrece por acá?

DOÑA MARÍA

Quiéreme hacer su madrina
Leonor, que no me imagina 1995
Desacomodada ya.

DOÑA ANA

¿No está ya con el indiano?

DOÑA MARÍA

No, Señora.

DOÑA ANA

Pues ¿por qué?

DOÑA MARÍA

Cierto atrevimiento fué,
De hombre al fin; pero fué en vano. 2000

DOÑA ANA

¿Cómo, cómo, por mi vida?

DOÑA MARÍA

Pudiera estar satisfecho
De mi honor y de mi pecho:
De mi honor por bien nacida,
De mi pecho porque, habiendo 2005
Entrado por los balcones
Una noche tres ladrones,
Que ya le estaban pidiendo
Las llaves, tomé su espada,
Y aunque ya se defendieron, 2010
Por la ventana salieron,
Y esto á pura cuchillada.
Pero obligándole á amor
Lo que pudiera á respeto,
Me llamó una noche, á efeto 2015
De no respetar mi honor.
Que le descalzase fué
La invención: llego á su cama,
Donde sentado me llama,
Y humilde le descalcé. 2020
Pero echándome los brazos,
Tan descortés procedió,
Que á arrojarle me obligó
Donde le hiciera pedazos.
Mas de aquellos desatinos 2025
Sus zapatos me vengaron,
Cuyas voces despertaron
La mitad de los vecinos.
Y aunque culpando el rigor,
Poniéndose de por medio, 2030
Celebraron el remedio
Para quitarle el amor.

DOÑA ANA

Notable debes de ser.
Cierto que te tengo amor.

JUANA

Es el servicio mejor 2035
Y la más limpia mujer
De cuantas andan aquí.
Ruégale que esté contigo.

DOÑA ANA

¿No querrás estar conmigo,
Isabel?

DOÑA MARÍA

Señora, sí. 2040

DOÑA ANA

¿Qué sabes hacer?

DOÑA MARÍA

Lavar,
Masar, cocer y traer
Agua.

DOÑA ANA

¿No sabrás coser?

DOÑA MARÍA

Bien sé coser y labrar.

DOÑA ANA

Pues eso será mejor. 2045
Manto y tocas te daré.

DOÑA MARÍA

Señora, yo no sabré
Servir de dueña de honor.
Éste es un hábito agora
De cierta desdicha mía, 2050
Que vos sabréis algún día. (Vase.)

JUANA

Aquí está don Juan, Señora.

ESCENA V

Don Juan, Martín.—Doña Ana, Leonor, Juana

DON JUAN

Siempre soy embajador.
El Conde os pide licencia,
Y dice que de su ausencia 2055
Fué causa vuestro rigor;
Que tratáis tan mal su amor,
Que ya toma por partido,
En la caza divertido,
Solicitar á su daño 2060
Una manera de engaño
Que á los dos parezca olvido:
Á vos excusando el veros,
Y á él, Señora, el cansaros.
Pero no quiere engañaros 2065
Ni olvidarse de quereros:
Visitaros y ofenderos
Es fuerza para serviros.
Esto me manda deciros:
Mirad si le dais licencia; 2070
Que le cuesta vuestra ausencia
Cuantos instantes, suspiros.

DOÑA ANA

Vos venís en ocasión
Que os he hecho un gran servicio:
Á lo menos es indicio 2075
De ésta mi loca pasión.
Mirad en qué obligación
Os pone el haber traído
Á mi casa quien ha sido
Lo que tanto habéis amado; 2080
Que os quiero ver obligado,
Pues no puedo agradecido.
Volved los ojos, veréis
Á Isabel, que viene aquí,
No para servirme á mí, 2085
Sino á que vos la mandéis;
Que no quiero que os canséis
En buscarla en fuente ó prado.
Mirad si estáis obligado,
Y cómo he sabido hacer 2090
Que vos me vengáis á ver,
No como hasta aquí, forzado.

DON JUAN

De vuestra queja os prometo
Que es el Conde, mi señor,
La causa, cuyo valor 2095
Únicamente respeto;
Porque ¿cuál hombre discreto
No conociera y amara
De vuestra belleza rara
La divina perfección, 2100
Y el discurso á la razón,
Y á vos el alma negara?
Con esto la puse en quien
La misma desigualdad
Disculpe la voluntad, 2105
Para no quereros bien.
Mas no me pidáis que os den
Gracias de haberla traído
Mis ojos; que antes ha sido
Para no poderla ver, 2110
Pues testigo habéis de ser,
Y yo menos atrevido.

ESCENA VI

El Conde.—Dichos

CONDE

Tanto la licencia tarda,
Que sin ella vengo á veros.

DOÑA ANA

Conde, mi señor, disculpa. 2115
De ausencia de tanto tiempo.—
Llega una silla, Isabel.

DON JUAN

Aquí me estaban riñendo
Tu ausencia.

CONDE

¡Buena criada!
Y nueva; que no me acuerdo 2120
Haberla visto otra vez.

DOÑA ANA

¡Buena cara, gentil cuerpo!
¿No es muy linda?

CONDE

¡Sí, por Dios!

DOÑA ANA

De que os agrade me huelgo;
Que es la dama de don Juan. 2125

CONDE

Si es así el entendimiento,
Disculpa tiene mi primo.
Verla más de espacio quiero.—
Pasad, Señora, adelante,
¿De dónde sois?

DOÑA MARÍA

No sé cierto; 2130
Porque ha mucho que no soy.

CONDE

Partes en la moza veo,
Que en otro traje pudieran,
Con el donaire y aseo,
Dar, fuera de vuestros ojos, 2135
Á muchos envidia y celos.
Mi primo es tan singular,
Que por bizarría ha puesto
Las preferencias del gusto
En tan bajos fundamentos. 2140

MARTÍN

Á mí responder me toca.
Perdónenme si me atrevo,
Por el honor del fregado,
La opinión del lavadero,
Del cántaro y el jabón; 2145
Que más de cuatro manteos,
De ésos con esteras de oro,
Cubren algunos defetos.

DOÑA ANA

Cásase Martín agora
Con mi Leonor, y por eso 2150
Siente que vueseñoría
Haga de don Juan desprecio.

DON JUAN

¡Dar en el pobre don Juan!

CONDE

Huélgome del casamiento.
Y ¿seréis vos la madrina? 2155
Porque ser padrino quiero.

DOÑA ANA

No, Señor, que es Isabel;
Que pienso que ha mucho tiempo
Que ella y Leonor son amigas.

CONDE

Pues tócale de derecho 2160
Ser el padrino á don Juan.

DON JUAN

Basta; que estáis de concierto
Todos contra mí. Pues vaya;
Que el ser el padrino aceto.

CONDE

¿Cómo calla la madrina? 2165

DOÑA MARÍA

Señor, corto entendimiento
Presto se ataja, y más donde
Hay tantos y tan discretos.
Allá en mi lugar un día
Un muchacho en un jumento 2170
Llevaba una labradora,
Y perdonad, que iba en pelo.
«Hazte allá, que le maltratas,»
Iba la madre diciendo;
Y tanto hacia atrás se hizo, 2175
Que dió el muchacho en el suelo.
Díjole: «¿Cómo caíste?»
Y disculpóse diciendo:
«Madre, acabóseme el asno.»
Así yo, que hablando veo 2180
Á tan discretos señores,
Hago atrás mi entendimiento,
Hasta que he venido á dar
Con el silencio en el suelo.

MARTÍN (ap.)

Tomen lo que se han ganado. 2185

DOÑA MARÍA

Es el Conde muy discreto,
Y la señora doña Ana
Un ángel; pues yo ¿qué puedo
Decir que no sea ignorancia?

DOÑA ANA

Ahora bien, Señor, hablemos 2190
De la ausencia destos días.
Ya me olvidáis, ya me quejo
De vos al pasado amor.

CONDE

Negocios son, os prometo,
Que me han tenido ocupado 2195
Por un notable suceso.
Mató en Ronda cierta dama
Guzmán y Portocarrero,
Cuyo padre con el duque
De Medina tiene deudo, 2200
Un caballero su amante.

DOÑA ANA

¿Con qué ocasión? ¿Fueron celos?

CONDE

Desagraviando á su padre
De un bofetón, porque el viejo
No estaba para las armas. 2205

DOÑA ANA

¡Gran valor!

DON JUAN

¡Valiente esfuerzo!
Diera por ver á esa dama
Toda cuanta hacienda tengo.

DOÑA MARÍA (ap.)

Turbada estoy, encubrir
Puedo apenas lo que siento. 2210

CONDE

Al fin, perdonó la parte,
Poniéndose de por medio,
Entre deudos de unos y otros,
Muchos nobles caballeros.
Con esto me ha escrito el Duque, 2215
Por el mismo parentesco,
Alcance el perdón del Rey;
Lo que hoy, Señora, se ha hecho.
Mándame también buscalla,
Si entre tantos extranjeros 2220
Alguna nueva se hallase,
Siendo esta corte su centro.
Mirad si estoy disculpado;
Y porque me voy con esto,
Vendré, Señora, á la noche, 2225
Si me dais licencia, á veros.

DOÑA ANA

Id con Dios; volvé á la noche.

CONDE

Si haré, encanto de Babel.—
Quedáos con vuestra Isabel; (Á don Juan.)
Que yo me voy en el coche. 2230

(Vanse el Conde, doña Ana y los criados.)

ESCENA VII

Doña María, Don Juan

DON JUAN

Alegre, Isabel, estás,
Que ya el cántaro dejaste,
Pues con la fe le mudaste,
Y con el alma, que es más.
Que desde que te la dí, 2235
De cántaro la tenía,
Pues pienso que se decía
Este proverbio por mí.
Nunca quisiste trocar,
Cuando yo lo deseaba, 2240
Al hábito que te daba
El que ya quieres dejar.
Si cuando yo te rogué,
Hábito honrado tomaras,
La voluntad disculparas, 2245
Que baja en tus prendas fué.
Si el venir aquí son celos,
Pensando que así me guardas,
Son, Isabel, sombras pardas
En ofensa de tus cielos. 2250
¿Qué guarda de más valor,
Isabel, que tu hermosura,
Si ella misma te asegura
Que merece tanto amor?
¡Vive Dios, que te he querido, 2255
Y te quiero y te querré,
Con tanta firmeza y fe,
Que vive mi amor corrido
De no vencer tu rigor,
Siendo tú tan desigual! 2260

DOÑA MARÍA

Quien siente bien no habla mal;
Que para tener valor
Con que poder igualaros,
Aunque de vuestro apellido
Príncipes haya tenido 2265
Italia y Francia tan raros,
Sóbrame á mí el ser mujer;
Pero si de vuestro engaño
Á los dos resulta daño,
Desengaño habrá de ser. 2270
No estoy contenta de estar
Donde, con hacer mudanza
Del hábito, mi esperanza
Aspire á mejor lugar.
Ni menos estoy celosa, 2275
Ni os guardo, aunque os he querido;
Que en este humilde vestido
Hay un alma generosa,
Tan soberbia y arrogante,
Que el cántaro que dejé, 2280
Un cielo en mis hombros fué,
Como el que sustenta Atlante.
Yo os quiero bien, aunque soy
De naturaleza esquiva;
Pero hay otro amor que priva, 2285
Por quien os dejo y me voy.
No os dé pena; que os prometo
Que no hay nieve tan helada;
Pero he nacido obligada
Á su amor y á su respeto. 2290
No puedo hacer más por vos
Que decir que os he querido:
En fe de lo cual os pido,
Y del amor de los dos,
Que una cosa hagáis por mí. 2295

DON JUAN

¿Como ausentarte, mi bien?
Después de tanto desdén,
¿Esto merezco de ti?

DOÑA MARÍA

No excuso, aunque lo sintáis,
Este camino.

DON JUAN

Isabel, 2300
¿Qué dices?

DOÑA MARÍA

Que para él
Esta joya me vendáis.
Diamantes son: claro está
Que justa sospecha diera
Si á vender diamantes fuera 2305
Mujer que á la fuente va;
Que con lo que ella valiere,
Podré á mi casa llegar.

DON JUAN

Cuando pensaba esperar,
Quiere amor que desespere. 2310
¡Notable desdicha mía!
¡Tristes nuevas! ¿Quién amó
Con la fortuna que yo?
Mas ¿quién, sino yo, podía?
Tened la joya y la mano, 2315
Que entrambas diamantes son,
Si es la mina un corazón
Tan firme como tirano;
Que cuando forzosa sea
Vuestra partida, no soy 2320
Hombre tan vil...

DOÑA MARÍA

Si no os doy
La joya, don Juan, no crea
Vuestro pecho liberal
Obligarme con dinero;
Que, pues de vos no lo quiero, 2325
Bien creeréis que me está mal.
¡Oh, qué habréis imaginado
De cosas, después que visteis
La joya! Aunque no tuvisteis
Culpa de haberlas pensado, 2330
Pues yo os he dado ocasión.

DON JUAN

Cuando yo, Isabel, pensara
Tal bajeza, imaginara
Prendas que más altas son
De las que tenéis, bastantes 2335
Á abonaros; cuando fuera
Hurto, mayor le creyera,
Si fueran almas, diamantes.
Algo sospecho encubierto,
Isabel; y en duda igual, 2340
Que sois mujer principal
Tengo por mayor acierto.
Que desde el punto que os ví
Con el cántaro, Isabel,
Echó amor suertes en él 2345
Para vos y para mí.
Vos salisteis diferente
De lo que aquí publicáis,
Y yo sin dicha si os vais,
Para que yo muera ausente. 2350
¿Quién sois, hermosa Isabel?
Porque cántaro y diamantes
Son dos cosas muy distantes;
Que hay mucha bajeza en él,
Y en vos mucho entendimiento, 2355
Mucha hermosura y valor,
Mucho respeto al honor,
Que es más encarecimiento.
La verdad se encubre en vano;
Que como al que ayer traía 2360
Guantes de ámbar, otro día,
Le quedó oliendo la mano;
Así, quien señora fué,
Trae aquel olor consigo,
Aunque del ámbar que digo, 2365
Reliquias muestre por fe.

DOÑA MARÍA

No os canséis en prevenciones;
Que yo no os he de engañar.

ESCENA VIII

Leonor.—Dichos

LEONOR

¿Cuándo piensas acabar,
Isabel, tantas razones? 2370
Vente á vestir y á vestirme;
Que mi señora te llama.

DOÑA MARÍA

Voy á ponerme de dama.

DON JUAN

¿Volverás?

DOÑA MARÍA

Á despedirme.
(Vanse los dos.)

ESCENA IX

DON JUAN

¿Qué confusión es ésta que levanta 2375
Amor en mis sentidos nuevamente,
Que á tales pensamientos adelanta
Mi dulce cuanto bárbaro accidente?
Así el cautivo en la cadena canta,
Así engañado se entretiene, ausente, 2380
De vanas esperanzas, que algún día
Verá la patria en que vivir solía.
No con menos temor, menos sosiego,
Tímido ruiseñor su esposa llama,
Á quien el plomo en círculos de fuego 2385
Quitó la amada vida en verde rama,
Que mi confuso pensamiento ciego
En noche obscura los engaños ama,
Esperando que llegue con el día
La muerta luz de la esperanza mía. 2390
Mas ¿cómo puede haber tales engaños?
Cómo pensar mi amor que la belleza
No puede haber nacido en viles paños,
Si pudo la fealdad en la nobleza?
Así, para mayores desengaños, 2395
Mostró por variedad naturaleza
De un espino la flor candida, hermosa,
Y vestida de púrpura la rosa.
Que darme yo á entender que la hermosura
Que ví llevar un cántaro á la fuente, 2400
Por engastar el barro en nieve pura
Del cristal de una mano trasparente,
No pudo proceder de sangre obscura,
Y nacer entendida humildemente,
Es vano error, pues siempre amando veo 2405
Calificar bajezas el deseo.
Pues ¿quién será Isabel, locura mía,
Con hermosura y prendas celestiales?
¡Oh! ¿cuándo resistió tanta porfía
La bajeza de humildes naturales? 2410
No ha de pasar sin que lo sepa el día.
Industrias hay; y si por dicha iguales
Somos los dos, como mi amor desea,
Tu cántaro, Isabel, mi dote sea.
No te pienses partir, si por ventura 2415
No lo quieres fingir para matarme;
Que ya no tiene estado mi locura
Que yo pueda perderte y tú dejarme;
Que si tienes nobleza y hermosura,
Del cántaro por armas pienso honrarme; 2420
Que con el premio con que ya se trata,
Amor le volverá de barro en plata. (Vase.)

ESCENA X

Calle.

Martín, Pedro

PEDRO

Martín, en esta ocasión
Me habéis desfavorecido:
Quejoso estoy y ofendido. 2425

MARTÍN

Pedro, no tenéis razón;
Que el Conde gusta que sea
Padrino con Isabel.

PEDRO

Ensancharáse con él Cuando á su lado se vea. 2430
Yo sé que si
me casara, Padrino os hiciera á vos.

MARTÍN

Yo no pude más, por Dios.

PEDRO

Pedro ¿también no la honrara?
¿No tengo cueras y sayos, 2435
Capas, calzas, que por yerro
Quedaron en su destierro
Vinculadas en lacayos?
Pues ¡por el agua de Dios,
Aunque poca me ha cabido, 2440
Que soy yo tan bien nacido!...

MARTÍN

¿Quién pudiera como vos
Honrarme con Isabel?

PEDRO

¿Hay hidalgo en Mondoñedo
Que pueda, como yo puedo, 2445
Volver la silla á el dosel?

MARTÍN

Dejad el enojo ya;
Y pues que sois entendido,
Decidme si acierto ha sido
Casarme.

PEDRO

Pues claro está; 2450
Que es muy honrada Leonor,
Aunque pide más caudal
La talega de la sal,
Que anda el tiempo á el rededor.
Mas queriendo el Conde bien 2455
Á doña Ana, por Leonor
Os hará siempre favor,
Y ella ayudará también
De su parte á vuestra casa.

MARTÍN

Pues con eso pasaremos. 2460

PEDRO

¿Quién queréis que convidemos?

MARTÍN

No lo excusa quien se casa.
Á Rodríguez lo primero,
Á Galindo y á Butrón,
Á Lorenzo y á Ramón, 2465
Y á Pierres, buen compañero.

PEDRO

Haced llevar un menudo;
Que no hay hueso que dejar.

MARTÍN

Eso es darles de cenar.

PEDRO

En esta ocasión no dudo 2470
De que tendrán los señores
Arriba gran colación.

MARTÍN

Por allá conservas son
Y confites de colores.

PEDRO

Lobos de marca mayor 2475
Tendremos en cantidad.

MARTÍN

Pedro, ésa es enfermedad
Que no ha menester doctor. (Vanse.)

ESCENA XI

Sala en casa de doña Ana.

Doña Ana, Don Juan

DON JUAN

Yo pienso que es condición,
Y no amor, vuestra porfía. 2480

DOÑA ANA

Y ¿quién sin amor podía
Sufrir tanta sinrazón?

DON JUAN

No es sinrazón la ocasión
Que me fuerza á no querer
Lo que del Conde ha de ser. 2485

ESCENA XII

El Conde, que se queda escuchando sin que le vean.—Dichos.

CONDE (ap.)

Necios celos me han traído
De un deudo amigo fingido
Y de una ingrata mujer.

DON JUAN

Cuando no os quisiera bien
El Conde, mil almas fueran 2490
Las que estos ojos os dieran.

DOÑA ANA

¡Oh, mal haya el Conde, amén!

CONDE (ap.)

Don Juan la muestra desdén,
Y ella á don Juan solicita.

DOÑA ANA

Con oro en mármol escrita 2495
Tiene el amor una ley,
Que como absoluto rey,
No hay traición que no permita.
Demás, que esto no es traición;
Que nunca yo quise al Conde. 2500

CONDE (ap.)

En lo que agora responde
Conoceré su intención.

DON JUAN

Ninguna loca afición
Que se haya visto ni escrito,
Ha disculpado el delito 2505
Del amigo; que el valor
Es resistir á el amor,
Y vencer á el apetito.
Que yo con vos me casara
Es sin duda, si pudiera. 2510

DOÑA ANA

Y ¿si el Conde lo quisiera,
Y aun él mismo os lo mandara?

DON JUAN

Entonces es cosa clara;
Mas cierta podéis estar
Que no me lo ha de mandar. 2515
Y así, me voy; que no quiero
Dar á tan gran caballero
Ni sospecha ni pesar.

CONDE

Detente.

DON JUAN

Si habéis oído
Lo que ya sospecho aquí, 2520
Pienso que estaréis de mí
Seguro y agradecido.

CONDE

Todo lo tengo entendido;
Y si por quereros bien
Trata mi amor con desdén 2525
Doña Ana, no ha sido culpa,
Porque sois vos la disculpa,
Y mi desdicha también.
Dice que sabe de mí
Que os mandaré que os caséis: 2530
Dice bien, y vos lo haréis,
Porque yo os lo mando así.
Que á saber, cuando la ví,
Que os tenía tanto amor,
No la amara; aunque en rigor 2535
Fué engañado pensamiento
Que con tal entendimiento
No escogiese lo mejor.

DON JUAN

Aunque á Alejandro imitéis
En darme lo que estimáis, 2540
Ni como Apeles me halláis,
Ni enamorado me veis,
Ni vos mandarme podéis
Que sea lo que no fuí;
Pues cuando pudiera aquí 2545
Ser lo que no puede ser,
No quisiera yo querer
Á quien os deja por mí.

DOÑA ANA

Quedo, quedo; que no soy
Tan del Conde, que me dé, 2550
Ni tan de don Juan, que esté
Menos contenta ayer que hoy.
Libre, á mí misma me doy,
Y daré luego, si quiero,
Á un honrado caballero 2555
Mujer y cien mil ducados,
Sin suegros y sin cuñados,
Que es otro tanto dinero.

ESCENA XIII

Doña María, de madrina y muy bizarra, con Leonor, de la mano; Martín, Pedro, Lorenzo, Bernal y otros Lacayos, muy galanes; acompañamiento de Mujeres de la boda, Músicos.

MÚSICOS (cantan)

En la villa de Madrid
Leonor y Martín se casan: Corren toros y juegan cañas.2560

MARTÍN

¡Mala letra para novios!

PEDRO

Pues ¿no os agrada la letra?

MARTÍN

Correr toros y casarme
Paréceme á los que llevan 2565
Pronósticos para el año
Dos meses antes que venga.

CONDE

Gallarda viene la novia;
Pero quien no conociera
Á Isabel, imaginara, 2570
Viéndola grave y compuesta,
Que era mujer principal.

DOÑA ANA

Juzgarse puede por ella
Cuánto las galas importan,
Cuánto adorna la riqueza. 2575

CONDE

¡Qué perdido está don Juan!

DOÑA ANA

¡Qué admirado la contempla!

CONDE

Por Dios, que tiene disculpa
De estimarla y de quererla;
Que la gravedad fingida 2580
Parece tan verdadera,
Que, á no conocerla yo
Y saber sus bajas prendas,
Hiciera un alto conceto
De su gallarda presencia. 2585

DON JUAN

(Para sí. Amor, si en esta mujer
No está oculta la nobleza,
La calidad y la sangre
Que por lo exterior se muestra,
¿Qué es lo que quiso sin causa 2590
Hacer la naturaleza,
Pues pudiendo en un cristal
Guarnecido de oro y piedras,
Puso en un vaso de barro
Alma tan ilustre y bella? 2595
Yo estoy perdido y confuso,
Doña Ana celosa de ella,
El Conde suspenso, hurtando
Á su gravedad respuesta.
Ella se parte mañana, 2600
Diamantes me da que venda;
¿Qué tienen que ver diamantes
Con la fingida bajeza?
Pues ¿he de quedar así,
Amor, sin alma y sin ella? 2605
¿No alcanza el ingenio industria?
No suele en dudosas pruebas,
Por las inciertas mentiras,
Hallarse verdades ciertas?
Ahora bien; no ha de partirse 2610
Isabel sin que se entienda
Si en exteriores tan graves
Hay algún alma secreta.)
Conde, el más alto poder
Que reconoce la tierra, 2615
El cetro, la monarquía,
La corona, la grandeza
Del mayor rey de los hombres,
Todas las historias cuentan,
Todos los sabios afirman, 2620
Todos los ejemplos muestran
Que es amor; pues siendo así,
Y que ninguno lo niega,
Que yo por amor me case,
Que yo por amor me pierda, 2625
No es justo que á nadie admire,
Pues cuantos viven confiesan
Que es amor una pasión
Incapaz de resistencia.
Yo no soy mármol, si bien 2630
No soy yo quien me gobierna;
Que obedecen á Isabel
Mis sentidos y potencias.
Cuando esto en público digo,
No quiero que nadie pueda 2635
Contradecirme el casarme,
Pues hoy me caso con ella.
Sed testigos que le doy
La mano.

CONDE

¿Qué furia es ésta?

DOÑA ANA

Loco se ha vuelto don Juan.2640

CONDE

¡Vive Dios, que si es de veras,
Que antes os quite la vida
Que permitir tal bajeza!
¡Hola! Criados, echad
Esta mujer hechicera 2645
Por un corredor, matadla.

DON JUAN

Ninguno, infames, se atreva;
Que le daré de estocadas.

CONDE

Un hombre de vuestras prendas
¡Quiere infamar su linaje! 2650

DON JUAN

¡Ay Dios! Su bajeza es cierta,
Pues calla en esta ocasión.
Ya no es posible que pueda
Ser más de lo que parece.

CONDE

¿Con cien mil ducados deja 2655
Un hombre loco mujer,
Que me casara con ella,
Si amor me hubiera tenido?

DOÑA MARÍA

Quedo, Conde; que me pesa
De que me deis ocasión 2660
De hablar.

DON JUAN (ap.)

¡Ay Dios! ¡Si ya llega
Algún desengaño mío!

DOÑA MARÍA

No está la boda tan hecha
Como os parece, Señor;
Porque falta que yo quiera. 2665
Para igualar a don Juan,
¿Bastaba ser vuestra deuda
Y del duque de Medina?

CONDE

Bastaba, si verdad fuera.

DOÑA MARÍA

¿Quién fué la dama de Ronda 2670
Que mató, por la defensa
De su padre, un caballero,
Cuyo perdón se concierta
Por vos, y que vos buscáis?

CONDE

Doña María, á quien deban 2675
Respeto cuantas historias
Y hechos de mujeres cuentan.

DOÑA MARÍA

Pues yo soy doña María,
Que por andar encubierta...

DON JUAN

No prosigas relaciones, 2680
Porque son personas necias,
Que en noche de desposados
Hasta las doce se quedan.
Dame tu mano y tus brazos.

MARTÍN

Leonor, á escuras nos dejan. 2685
Los padrinos son los novios.

DOÑA ANA

Justo será que lo sean
El Conde y doña Ana.

CONDE

Aquí
Puso fin á la comedia
Quien, si perdiere este pleito, 2690
Apela á Mil y Quinientas.
Mil y quinientas ha escrito:
Bien es que perdón merezca.

NOTES

ACT I

a. Ronda. A city of about 20,000 in Southern Spain, founded by the Romans and occupied for many centuries by the Moors. On account of its history and its natural beauty it is one of the most interesting cities in Spain.

1. Es cosa... de risa, It is enough to make one die of laughter.

3. Lüisa, spelled with the dieresis for metrical reasons.

4. Narcisos. Now a common noun and written with a small letter. In origin the word is derived from the mythological character, Narcissus, the son of the river Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He was insensible to the charms of all the nymphs, who at last appealed to Nemesis for revenge. She made him fall in love with his own image reflected in a fountain; because he could not grasp it he longed for death and, according to Ovid, was metamorphosed into the flower which bears his name. A century before Lope it had evidently not yet passed into such common usage, for in the Celestina we read: "Por fe tengo que no era tan hermoso aquel gentil Narciso, que se enamoró de su propia figura cuando se vido en las aguas de la fuente." (Novelistas Anteriores á Cervantes, p. 25.)

8. consultas are reports or advice submitted to a ruler, hence the use of alteza.

10. entre otras partes. The Parisian edition of 1886, for no evident reason, reads, entre otros partes.

12. el duque de Medina. Gaspar Alonzo de Guzmán, duque de Medina-Sidonia, was a relative of Olivares and head of the great house of Guzmán of which the prime minister was a descendant through a younger branch. He was immensely wealthy and enjoyed high favor at court during the first years of the reign of Philip IV. Later, as governor of Andalusia, he conceived the idea of establishing a separate kingdom, as his brother-in-law, Juan de Braganza, had done in Portugal in 1640. His plans were discovered and as punishment and humiliation he was compelled to challenge the king of Portugal to a duel for the aid the latter was to give to the projected uprising in Andalusia. He made the journey to the Portuguese border only to find that Braganza had ignored his challenge. Covered with ridicule by the affair he passed the rest of his life in obscurity and disgrace. At the time Lope de Vega was writing La Moza de Cántaro he seems to have been seeking the favor of Olivares and therefore made the leading character of the play a relative of the favorite and the Duque de Medina-Sidonia.

16. Señora is now regularly written in such cases with a small letter, as well as similar titles hereafter encountered in the play.

17. Lindamente... vanidad, You know my weakness! You are trying to flatter me.

21. Sevilla, the metropolis of Andalusia and a city always noted for the beauty of its women.

29. Éste. Supply papel as suggested by line 3.

35. quiere en la memoria de la muerte, etc., that is, after he has died for her.

After 40. Con hermoso, etc. The author evidently intends to make the suitor write a wordy letter void of clear meaning, and that he is striking a blow at the then popular literary affectation known as culteranismo is indicated beyond a doubt by the word culto in line 43. A comparison of the passage with Cervantes' celebrated quotation from Feliciano de Silva, "La razón de la sinrazón" is interesting. (See Don Quijote, Part I, Chap. I.) A possible translation of the letter is as follows: "With fair though stern, not sweet, yet placid countenance, lady mine, appearances deceiving you, there gazed at me last week your disdain, imbued with all benevolence and yet rigid, and withal its brilliancy not solicitous, (benevolence) which with celestial candor illumines your face."

44. ¿Habla de aciértame aquí? The imperative is used here as a noun after the preposition and the verse is approximately equivalent to the expression "Habla de alguna adivinanza aquí?"

54. ¿Qué nada te ha de agradar? Can nothing please you?

58. Yo no tengo de querer. Tener de is used here where we should now expect haber de or tener que.

62. Flandes. In the time of Lope de Vega Spain held the Netherlands and constantly maintained a large force there.

64. Zerolo's edition has a comma instead of a period at the end of this line. Either punctuation makes good sense.

66. que yo... aquí, for of all those who appear here I do not see one to whom I should direct my favor.

70. si va á decir verdad, if the truth be told.

79. ansí, middle Spanish and archaic form of así. Cf. the French ainsi.

92. La primera necedad, etc., They say that the greatest folly is not the one to be feared, but those which follow it seeking to undo it.

95. deshacella=deshacerla. In earlier Spanish verse the assimilation of the r of the infinitive is quite common.

107. Muchas se casan aprisa, etc. Compare the English proverb of similar purport, "Marry in haste and repent at leisure."

121. dél=de él. A contraction no longer approved by the Spanish Academy.

124. Pedro el Cruel (1334-1369) was proclaimed king of Castile at Seville in 1350 after the death of his father, Alphonso XI. He early became infatuated with María de Padilla, but was made to marry against his will Blanche de Bourbon whom he immediately put aside. Pedro then plunged into a career of crime seldom equaled in Spanish history. Several times he was dethroned but always succeeded in regaining the scepter. He was finally killed by his own brother, Henry of Trastamare, at Montiel. Pedro's meritorious works were his successful efforts to break down the feudal aristocracy and his encouragement of arts, commerce and industry.

133. Don Diego de noche y coche. The implication is that don Diego is one who would woo his lady love at night and under the cover of a carriage rather than in the more open and approved manner of a gentleman of his rank. In spite of the brilliant example of the king, horsemanship was becoming a lost art and in a complaint of a member of the Cortes, addressed to the king, the subject is treated as follows: "The art of horsemanship is dying out, and those who ought to be mounted crowd, six or eight of them together, in a coach, talking to wenches rather than learning how to ride. Very different gentlemen, indeed, will they grow up who have all their youth been lolling about in coaches instead of riding." (Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, p. 130.) There is also a flower called dondiego de noche, and the author may have intended to make also a subtle play on words between this and the more suggestive meaning.

138. De noche visiones. "Thoughts of him at night give me the nightmare!"

Stage directions: hábito de Santiago: The order of Santiago is one of the oldest and most distinguished of all the Spanish military orders. It is said to have been approved by the Pope in 1175 and had during the middle ages great military power. The right to confer it is now vested in the crown of Spain. The badge is a red enamel cross, in the form of a sword with a scallop-shell at the junction of the arms.

174. agora, archaic and poetic word, synonym of ahora which is of similar origin. Hac hora > agora and ad horam > ahora.

180. primer licencia. The apocapation of the feminine of the adjective primero is not admissible in modern Spanish.

181. Duque, that is, the Duque de Medina. See v. 12 and note.

188. Lugar... deba, A place which is certainly its due.

192. la Plaza mentioned here is evidently the Plaza de la Ciudad, which is the center of the ancient part of the city.

197. Sanlúcar (de Barrameda) is an important and interesting seaport town at the mouth of the Guadalquivir. It was taken from the Moors in 1264 and occupied a prominent position during the 15th and 16th centuries. Columbus sailed from this point in 1498 on his third voyage to the New World. Lope makes Sanlúcar the scene of part of his Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón and mentions it in a number of his other plays.

198. Le respondí, etc. Don Bernardo's reply was intended to reveal delicately to the lover that his suit was not favored by the Duke.

228. Aquí su mano soberbia... For an analogous situation compare Guillen de Castro's las Mocedades del Cid and its French counterpart, Corneille's le Cid.

231. que tantas veces, etc., because an insult is renewed as many times as he who receives it tells it to him who ignores it.

236. con cinco letras, that is, the five fingers of the hand which had left its imprint on his face.

245. á el afrentado. Not a little laxity in the observance of the rule for the contraction of the preposition and the definite article is to be noted throughout the play.

252. It is to be observed in a number of instances in the text that the initial exclamation and interrogation marks are often omitted before exclamations and interrogations if they follow other similar constructions.

301. si sois servido, if you please.

310. La decid. Modern usage generally requires the object after the imperative in such a case as this, but the license may occur in poetry.

324. Desta=De esta.

337. quien. Translate in the plural. Concerning this doubtful usage we have the following from one of the best known modern authorities: "En el siglo XIV caía ya en desuso qui, por inútil duplicado de quien; éste en el siglo XVI se creó un plural: quienes, que aunque calificado de inelegante por Ambrosio de Salazar en 1622, se generalizó, si bien aun hoy día se dice alguna vez 'los pocos ó muchos de quien ha tenido que valerse.'" (Menéndez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, p. 176.)

354. Y sobre seguro, fácil, And besides sure, easy. The assonance of final unaccented i with final unaccented e is permissible.

362. Quien supo, etc., If anyone could determine to be yours there can be nothing to put off your pleasure.

409. ¿Hay tal gracia de monjil? Is there anything so graceful in widow's weeds? monjil, "mourning garments."

413. sugeto=sujeto.

441. el río. The Manzanares, a stream which rises in the Sierra de Guadarrama and flows by Madrid, emptying into the Jarama, which in turn flows into the Tajo a short distance east of Toledo. In the eyes of the madrileños this stream assumes importance which its size scarcely merits. Its banks have been the scene of festivities from the early days of the city to the present time. In the time of Lope de Vega the banks of the Manzanares and its dry bed were, as a place for promenading, in the same class as the Prado, the Plaza Mayor and the Calle Mayor, and during the great heat of summer the populace of all classes sought refuge here. Lope makes frequent reference to the stream in many of his works.

477. Muriósele á una casada, A woman's husband died.

482. Y sin que, etc., And without fulfilling the obsequies (as requested). Manda, lit., "legacy, bequest"; but cumplir la manda, "to observe the religious rites (according to the will of the deceased)."

484. vertiendo poleo, putting on airs. Poleo, "strutting gait, pompous style."

485. reverendo coche, elegant carriage. Reverendo, lit., "worthy of reverence," but here fam., "worthy of a prelate." Many of the higher clergy formerly lived in princely style.

499. Porque no vuelva el marido, Lest the husband might return.

519. variar, in Zerolo's edition, is varïar, as it should be in order to fill out the verse.

521. De mi condición, etc. An interesting parallel to the idea of this passage is found in the following from Voltaire: "Il m'a toujours paru évident que le violent Achille, l'épée nue, et ne se battant point, vingt héros dans la même attitude comme des personnages de tapisserie, Agamemnon, roi des rois, n'imposant à personnes, immobile dans le tumulte, formeraient un spectacle assez semblable au cercle de la reine en cire colorée par Benoît." ("Art dramatique" in the Dictionnaire Philosophique.)

522. Que me pudren, etc., That paintings vex me. Note peculiar sense of pudrir.

529. Susana. In the thirteenth chapter of Daniel is narrated the story of Susanna, the beautiful wife of Joachim, of whom two old men, judges during the Babylonian captivity, were enamored. They surprised her one day in her bath in the garden and, because she repelled their advances, testified that they had found her with a young man. She was condemned to death, but on the way to her execution Daniel intervened and by a clever ruse succeeded in convicting the two old men of bearing false witness. They were put to death and the innocence of Susanna proclaimed. The story has furnished a theme for many painters and from it many notable works have been produced, of which several existed in the time of Lope de Vega. In the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 450, there is a sonnet, Á una Tabla de Susana, which begins:

Tu que la tabla de Susana miras,
Si del retrato la verdad ignoras,
La historia santa justamente adoras,
La retratada injustamente admiras.

541. Como visto, etc., If she had not seen you an excuse would be easy to find.

545. Llama. From this word it would seem that this part of the play is enacted in front of the house of doña Ana.

547. No lo echemos á perder, Let us not spoil it.

576. No me tengo de sentar, I must not sit down. Cf. v. 58 and note.

587. comenzamos... jugadores, we begin by a 'rifa,' which results, as in a love-affair, that it is the third party who starts the game or at least arouses the interest of the players. The word rifa is usually used in the sense of the English word "raffle" or "auction," as for example the baile de rifa narrated in Alarcón's El Niño de la Bola, but Lope seems to use it here referring to a game of cards. It is used as a term at cards in Portuguese. The same word from another source means a "quarrel"; the author evidently had them both in mind and makes a play upon them.

595. Terciando mi primo el juego, My cousin being the third party in the game.

634. Puesto que fué de mayor, Since it was by one who had attained his majority.

638. Que encaje el marfil ansí, Who is as clever. Encajar el marfil, "to manipulate, falsify." A possible proverbial reference to the corruption among government department employees of the time.

655. Si fuere parte á obligaros, If it will be sufficient to oblige you.

664. Cayó el pez en el anzuelo, The fish has been hooked.

666. aquesto=esto. The old form is used now only in poetry.

695. efeto=efecto.

699. Cuando él... sido, If he should have favored me my favor would have been so (i.e. too great).

714. quisistes=quisisteis. The obsolete form continued in general usage up to the 17th century and was still used by Calderón, though a grammar gave the modern form as early as 1555. See Menéndez Pidal's Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, pp. 189, 190.

745. Adamuz is a town of about five thousand inhabitants, situated in the mountains twenty-five miles northeast of Cordova in the midst of a prosperous olive-growing country. It has a church, three schools, two inns, an Ayuntamiento and two religious communities. There is a local tradition to the effect that Adamuz, several centuries ago, boasted of a population of about twenty thousand and was one of the important centers of the Sierra Morena, and that it was swept by an epidemic which carried away almost the entire population. However, nothing exists in the archives of the Ayuntamiento to confirm or deny the tradition. (For all the information concerning the town and its vicinity, the editor is indebted to the kindness of the Reverend Señor José Melendo, curate of Adamuz.)

748. Adamuz, pueblo sin luz. This refrain is not now current in the place and its origin cannot be definitely determined. It may be a reflection upon the state of intelligence of the inhabitants of the town and a pure creation of the poet, but rather would it seem to be due to the natural features of the town, for it is situated in a fold of the mountains.

750. Sierra-Morena is a mountainous region extending from east to west from the head waters of the Guadalquivir to the Portuguese border. It is mentioned in many of the Spanish romances and is assured of immortality as the scene of some of the adventures of the "ingenioso hidalgo" Don Quijote.

768. El término perdonad. The innkeeper regarded the indiano as a person of distinction and offers apology for mentioning in his presence anything so lowly as a caballo de alabarda, "nag, hack."

770. propria=propia.

793. camino real. A good road now extends from Cordova to Adamuz, but it does not cross the Sierra Morena. If such a royal highway from Andalusia to Madrid ever existed it has long since disappeared and given place to the railways and the important "carretera" which extends up the Guadalquivir and through the Puerto de Despeñaperros.

813. Bien está lo hecho, What is done is well done.

824. Holofernes... Judit. The comparison suggested is based upon the story related in the Book of Judith of the Bible. Judith determined to free the children of Israel from the invading Assyrians under the leadership of Holofernes and for this purpose went to the camp of Holofernes who received her kindly and celebrated her coming with feasting. When he was sufficiently under the influence of wine she cut off his head and carried it back with her to her own people who pursued the leaderless and disorganized Assyrians and gained a complete victory over them.

835. érades=erais. This obsolete form of the verb was often used by Lope de Vega and his contemporaries. It is from the Latin eratis. (See Menéndez Pidal, Manual elemental de gramática histórica española, paragraph 107, I.)

838. Granada, the most historic city of Southern Spain and the last stronghold of the Moors.

868. El camino de Granada, etc. The more probable route from Granada to the capital would have taken her some distance east of Adamuz.

876. Traigo jornada más larga, I am making a longer journey. Besides its common meanings traer has that of "to be occupied in making, to have on one's hands." Jornada usually means "day's journey," cf. French étape, but it is also used in the sense of a "journey" more or less long.

877. vengo de las Indias. Hence the name "Indiano," which may mean that one is a native of the Indies or simply a Spaniard who is returning from there after having made his fortune. The term has a depreciative meaning also, and then is an equivalent of our nouveaux riches, for which we in turn are indebted to the French. (See Introduction.)

882. Porque me dicen, etc., Because they tell me that the realization of one's pretensions which one's occupation puts off, is slow in arriving, I am going to set up a household.

ACT II

917. Que tantas persecuciones, etc. Supply some introductory interrogative expression like "Can it be" or "Do you believe."

922. De Amadís, en Beltenebros. Amadís de Gaula is the title of an old romance of uncertain authorship. The oldest text of which we have record was in Spanish or Portuguese prose, and the most interesting part of it is attributed to the Portuguese, Joham de Lobeira. The incident referred to by Lope occurred in the early years of the career of Amadís, hero of the story. After a youth filled with adventure, he meets and falls in love with Oriana, daughter of Lisuarte, king of Great Britain, who returns his affection. A short time afterwards Amadís is freed from a perilous situation by a young girl named Briolania, who herself is suffering captivity. He then promises to return and deliver her. Having been successful in a number of other adventures, he sets out, with the tearful consent of Oriana, to rescue Briolania. After his departure on this mission, Oriana is erroneously informed that Amadís loves Briolania; mad with anger and despair, she sends him a letter saying that all is ended between them. Amadís, having avenged Briolania's wrongs, receives Oriana's letter and, overcome by grief, retires to a hermitage on a rock in the sea, where he receives the name of Beltenebros, which Southey translates as the "Fair Forlorn." Afterwards Oriana, undeceived, seeks a reconciliation with Amadís, and their happiness is at length realized. Amadís has remained the type of the constant lover who comes into the possession of the object of his affections only after adventures and difficulties without number.

951. Valencia is an important seaport town on the Mediterranean with a population of about 160,000. The city is picturesquely situated on the banks of the Guadalaviar in the midst of a luxuriant tropical nature. Valencia was formerly the capital of a kingdom of the same name and has played an important rôle in Spanish history since the time when the Romans occupied the peninsula. During the Moorish occupation it was a worthy rival of Seville, with which it is here mentioned. The gardens of Valencia have always been justly celebrated for their beauty, and Lope well knew this, for during his exile in Valencia he himself had a garden in which, as he tells us in several of his works, he passed many pleasant hours.

954. Vera de Plasencia is a small town northwest of Zaragoza, situated in the desolate Llano de Plasencia. Lope must have sojourned there at some time or have had more than a passing interest in the place, for in his Epístola á D. Michael de Solis he writes:

Si fuera por la Vera de Plasencia
Á buscar primavera al jardín mío,
Hallara tu Leonor en competencia.
Obras Sueltas, vol. I, p. 268.

960. Pues lo digo, etc. In the Valencia edition Martin says:

Quando lo digo lo sé.
Tres puntos del que los vé
Que no son puntos de vara:
Puntos, que puedo decir,
Según en su condición,
Que tres en un punto son:
Ver, desear, y morir.

The sense of the passage seems to turn on the words punto and cara. A punto or "point" is one twelfth of the antiquated French line and one one hundred and forty-fourth of an inch. By a comparison of the two editions it is clear that there is a play on this word. Cara is probably a typographical error for vara, but it may be used here in a related sense to the archaic á primera cara, which was the equivalent of á primera vista. Therefore the sense of ll. 961-2 is: "That is the size that one would take of that foot with a measure," or "That is the size that one would take by a glimpse of that foot."

971. De escarpines presumí, etc. The consonance of escarpines is with jazmines, but the contrast is with chapines above. The chapín was a heavy low shoe or sandal better suited to the use of servants, while the escarpín was an elegant thin-soled, shoe or slipper, and often with cloth top as the following verse seems to indicate. Here the sense is not very apparent and may involve some colloquialism of the time. The passage may be freely translated: "I thought you were speaking of escarpines, since the distinction depends only upon (the height of) the cotton (top)."

973. paragambas. An obsolete or colloquial word made up of the preposition para, or possibly of a form of the verb parar, "parry off, protect," and the obsolete substantive gamba, the equivalent of pierna. It was evidently applied to some covering of the leg, as a gaiter or boot. In the Valencia edition it appears as two words, para gambas.

974. á cierta dama depends upon pregunté.

975. cañafístolas=cañafístulas. The word seems to have the idea of something indicated but not named, and here may have the sense of "ridiculous adornments." It is still used colloquially as the approximate equivalent of the English "thingumajig" or "thingumbob." That the author intends it to have something of its true meaning, "purgative," is indicated by the next few lines of the text.

1009. fialle, see v. 95 and note.

1038. azules enojos, dark clouds. Lit. "blue wrath."

1042. á cuantos los miran. Los refers to ojos mentioned above. The period at the end of the line must be a typographical error, for the sense seems to favor a comma. The two subordinate clauses introduced by si and connected by y do not require as much separation as is afforded by a period.

1052. Como quedó concertado. Note the repetition of line 1000. Lope is given to repetitions in his works, but this is perhaps the only verse in the play which he has unconsciously repeated.

1062. inglés á Cádiz. "Año de 1625." (Note by Hartzenbusch.) The incident referred to is the irrational attack upon Cadiz by the English fleet under Sir Edward Cecil in October, 1625. The English were ignominiously defeated and the Spanish encouraged to continue an unequal struggle.

1066. tusón dorado. The name of a celebrated order of knighthood founded in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands. It originally consisted of thirty-one knights and was self-perpetuating, but Philip II absorbed the nominating power. In 1713 Charles VI moved the order to Vienna, but this action was contested by the Spanish and the dispute was settled by dividing the order between the two countries.

1067. Con débil caña, etc. "En la edición antigua de la comedia: Con débil caña, con freno herrado." (Note by Hartzenbusch.)

1068. Marte... Cupido, Mars, the god of war, Cupid, the god of love.

1076. Sembrando. "En la Corona trágica se lee sembrando; en la edición antigua de la comedia, tendidas."(Note by Hartzenbusch.) The sonnet is found also in the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 500, under the title, Á la Venida de los Ingleses á Cádiz. Hartzenbusch speaks of it as though it appeared in the Corona trágica, but his note is misleading, for it really is found in a collection of Poesías varias in the volume stated which begins with the Corona trágica.

1086. Mas qué os, etc. More exact punctuation would place the initial interrogation after mas and before qué.

1089. Filis. In Greek mythology Phyllis, disappointed because her lover, Demophon, did not return at the time appointed for their marriage, put an end to her life. According to one account she was changed after death into an almond-tree without leaves. But when Demophon, on his return, embraced the tree, it put forth leaves, so much was it affected by the presence of the lover. To the mythological Phyllis, however, Lope is indebted only for the name. To him "Filis" was a more material being in the person of Elena Osorio, daughter of a theatrical manager and a married woman. During the early part of the period 1585-1590 he dedicated to her some of his most beautiful love-ballads, and in the latter part, when he turned against her and was exiled from Madrid and Castile, he continued to address poems to her, but now filled with bitter complaints. (See Introduction.) The fact that he mentions her name here in a play written in the later years of his life is of interest; either he wrote the sonnet in his earlier years and used it here, or it would seem that the poet's mind reverts to his youthful follies. But in one of the last works written just before his death Lope speaks of his daughter, Antonia Clara, under the name of "Filis," which has given rise to some confusion. "Phyllis," moreover, is a very common name in pastoral poems in the 16th and 17th centuries.

1110. devantal=delantal.

1126. hubiérades... Dijérades=hubierais... Dijerais. Cf. v. 835 and note.

1133. Si es disfrazar, etc. In the pastorals the author usually disguised personages of distinction in the garb of shepherds and shepherdesses. These compositions were very popular in Spain during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

1145. que viene... á pretender, who comes to court to make pretensions. Pretender also means "to sue for place, seek position" and might be here "to seek favor at court."

1153. En él este amor bebí. Here as well as in the following line él refers to cántaro.

1155. Sirena. The Sirens were fabulous mythological monsters, half bird and half woman, which were supposed to inhabit reefs near the island of Capri and lure sailors to their death by the sweetness of their song.

1186. que tiene razón, indeed she is quite right. Zerolo's edition has que instead of qué of the Hartzenbusch edition, and it is clearly the author's intent.

1231. Por servicios que me hiciese, etc., Whatever services he did me, however many years he put me under obligation.

1237-40. Observe that one of these verses concludes each of the following stanzas or décimas. Such a verse is called the pie de décima.

1252. Andalucía forms one of the most important and romantic of Spain's ancient divisions and still occupies a unique position in the life and character of the Spanish people. Geographically it occupies almost the whole of the south of Spain.

1262. dorado, a yellow flower.

1266. Manutisa is usually written minutisa.

1282. Adónde bueno=Qué tal. There is also a sense of motion as indicated by verse 1284, but it is difficult to give a concise translation. Freely expressed we may offer: "Whither bound, my pretty maid?"

1291. Pero... admira, But on my word I am astonished.

1300. No tengo por mal acuerdo requebrar, etc., I do not consider it ill-advised to enumerate, etc. Requebrar usually means "to flatter," but it also means "to break in small pieces," hence "to give in detail" or "to enumerate."

1303. Os costará, etc. The sense of the verb is plural unless we take it as impersonal and supply an infinitive construction after it.

1305. Para el río. This expression is out of its natural order and might well be set off by commas. The sense is: "A hat with its band for going to the river."

1306. Avantal=delantal. Cf. v. 1110 and note.

1307. virillas. In addition to its usual meaning, vira, or virilla, is used to denote the border around the top of the shoe, which is its meaning in the present instance.

1314. No hay plata... Potosí. Potosí is a city of Bolivia situated on the Cerro de Potosí at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. The Cerro de Potosí is said to have produced up to the present time over three billion dollars in silver. The first mine was opened there in 1545, and the year of Lope's birth, 1562, a royal mint was established in the city of Potosí to coin the output of the mines. Small wonder is it then that the Spaniards still refer to the city in proverb as a synonym for great riches. Lope mentions it in several of his other dramas.

1324. Compare this speech of doña María with that of Areusa in the Celestina against the exacting duties of servants. (See Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. III, p. 43.)

1341. de mañana, early in the morning.

1349. Bien aforrada razón, etc. In this reply of doña María we see not a little of the précieux spirit which in the same century became so popular in France. A man must not proceed "brutally" to a declaration of love at the very beginning, but by interminable flatteries and conceits lead up to such a declaration, and even then must not expect the object of his devotion to yield at once to his cleverly conceived pleadings.

1404. cristal deshecho refers to the running water of the fountain.

1410. henchirle. The antecedent of le is cántaro.

1417. Ó asoma por el estribo, etc., Or shows through the doorway of the carriage her curls on the hooks of a 'rest.' In modern usage when applied to the parts of a carriage estribo means the "step" but in the text it is used apparently as the equivalent of portezuela. Descanso seems to have been at the time a device used in women's head-dress, such as was represented some years later by Velázquez in his famous portrait of Mariana de Austria, which now hangs in the Prado Museum at Madrid.

1439. Conténtese ó quitaréle. Observe the change from the second person to the third in this verse and the following one.

1455. ¿Qué se hizo tu desdén? What has become of your pride?

1460. Habrán hecho riza en ti, Have probably done you a great injury. Hacer riza, "to cause disaster or slaughter."

1477. si no envidaste, etc., if you have not staked any money, lay down your hand and remain apart. Leonor applies here the terms of a game of cards when speaking of the love-affairs of doña María.

1493. No pone codo en la puente, etc., a reference to the custom of the idlers and braggarts lounging in public places and seeking trouble or offering defiance to every passer-by.

1495. los lavaderos. The banks of the Manzanares immediately in the rear of the Royal Palace have long been the public lavaderos or washing-places of the city of Madrid, and every day acres of network of lines are covered with drying linen. It is here naturally that the gallants of the lower classes go to meet their sweethearts, and scenes such as we have portrayed later in the play are of frequent occurrence. Cf. note on verse 441.

1510. Prado, formerly, as its name implies, a meadow on the outskirts of Madrid and later converted into a magnificent paseo between the Buen Retiro palace and the city proper. The house of Lope de Vega still stands in the narrow Calle de Cervantes, a short distance from the Prado, and the poet often mentions this celebrated paseo in his works. The name is frequently used to refer to the famous art-gallery located there.

1520. quien, cf. 1. 337 and note.

1527-8. Aprended... hoy. Note the repetition of 11. 1237-8.

1543. Durandartes. In Spanish ballads Durandarte is the name of one of the twelve peers who fought with Roland at Roncesvalles. In the Romancero General the adventures and death of the knight are narrated. Steadfast to death in his affections for his beloved Belerma, he gives utterance to his lamentations in the famous old ballad beginning with the following lines:

¡O Belerma! ¡O Belerma!
Por mi mal fuiste engendrada,
Que siete años te serví
Sin de ti alcanzar nada;
Agora que me querías
Muero yo en esta batalla.

Durandarte was the cousin of the knight Montesinos who gave his name to the celebrated cave of la Mancha, visited by don Quijote, whose adventures in this connection are narrated in Don Quijote, Part II, Chapters XXII and XXIII. Cervantes calls Durandarte the "flor y espejo de los caballeros enamorados" and probably Lope is indebted to his great contemporary for the word, which he uses in the sense of lances de amor.

1552. Puesto que, etc. The Valencia edition has here instead of this verse: Con todo, no he de culpalle.

1608. de espacio=despacio.

1649. Don Fadrique de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alba and descendant of the great soldier, Alba, was one of Spain's greatest naval commanders. In 1625 he destroyed the Dutch fleet off Gibraltar. Writing this play, as he may have been, with the acclamations of the great victory ringing in his ears, it was quite natural that Lope should honor the hero in his drama and at the same time add to the popularity of his work. Later in 1634 don Fadrique de Toledo fell into disfavor or incurred the jealousy of the Count-Duke Olivares and was cast into prison.

1668. rocín gallego. The gallegos, or inhabitants of Galicia, are a sober, industrious people, but have throughout Spain a reputation for ignorance and stupidity; so they have long been made the butt of malicious gibes and jests by their more volatile fellow-countrymen. In the Valencia edition this verse and the preceding one are rendered in a manner to give a clearer meaning:

En la coz y mordiscón
Parece rocín gallego.

1681. Es... vaya, Is all that to tease me?

1696. diera is used here in the double sense of "give" and "strike."

1708. cristal de Venecia. Early in the middle ages Venice was a center for the manufacture of glass. The industry was at its height in the 15th and 16th centuries, but gradually declined until it ceased in the 18th, only to be revived about the middle of the 19th century. Since then Venice has retaken her position as the European center for artistic creations in glass. Near the close of the 13th century the factories were moved outside the city to the island of Murano, where they are at the present time.

1714. Si no, etc., If not in harm, in the realization.—Caer en la cuenta, to understand, realize.

1723. satisfaciones is now written satisfacciones.

1733-4. The language of these two verses is drawn from the popular proverbs: "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, alguna se quiebra," and "Tantas veces va el cántaro á la fuente, que deja el asa ó la frente." Doña María uses parts of each of these forms.

1737. volviérades=volvierais. See v. 835 and note.

1782. de canela, that is, agua de canela.

1785. Don Alvaro de Luna, a Spanish courtier, born about 1388, was, in his youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyed to a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a few years later grand master of the order of Santiago—a double distinction never enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of a conspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolid in 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanish authors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has been lost. The romances relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come down to us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites of beggars who sing in the streets of Spanish cities. It is evidently to a romancero or collection of these poems that reference is made by Lope.

1817. el Cid. Rodrigo Ruy Diaz de Bivar (1040-1099), called "el Cid Campeador," is the great national hero of Spain. From the numerous accounts, real and fictitious, of his achievements we learn that he was a great warrior who fought sometimes with the Moors, sometimes with the Spaniards, and that at last as a soldier of fortune he seized Valencia and until his death successfully defied the two great rivals of his time, the Spaniards and the Moors. His life has served as a theme for numerous literary masterpieces, especially the Old Spanish Cantar de mio Cid. Lope de Vega treats of his fall in his play entitled el Milagro por los Celos.

1818. gigote=jigote.

1824. Valladolid, an interesting city of Northern Spain and the seat of an important university. Valladolid has figured prominently in Spanish history for many centuries, for it was long the favorite residence of the Spanish sovereigns. Early in the reign of Philip III the seat of government was again transferred to that city, but was returned to Madrid in 1606.

1836. si le come, if he likes it. Comer, lit. "to eat."

ACT III

1837. No haya más, Let that be the end of it.

1844. No lo acabes de decir, Don't go any farther.

1854. Llegue el lacayo gallina, Let the chicken-hearted lackey come on.

1858. mohadas=mojadas, coll., knife-thrusts.

1863. Pues con él haberlas quiero, Well I am willing to have it out with him.

1901. dueño is regularly used in its present sense when referring to a woman as well as to a man. The feminine dueña has the same meaning, but more commonly means house-keeper or chaperon.

1911. mesmo=mismo.

1920. Cf. v. 1495 and note.

1929. Tocó... el instrumento, etc. The reference is evidently to the bandurría which in its ancient form was a very popular musical instrument for such occasions as the one here described. Compare the description of it with its direct descendant, the modern banjo.

1951. Casa del Campo, commonly written Casa de Campo, is a large royal park immediately in the rear of the royal palace and grounds and on the other side of the Manzanares, which is here spanned by the Puente del Rey.

1960. Felipe y Isabel, that is, Philip IV of Spain and his first wife, Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV, king of France. (See Introduction.) Observe that modern Spanish would require "Felipe e Isabel."

1963. las colores. Color is now almost limited in usage to the masculine, but Lope, like other authors of the 16th and 17th centuries, used it indifferently in the masculine and in the feminine.

2003. pecho, courage.

2044. labrar, embroider.

2109. que antes ha sido, etc., for rather has it been so that I cannot see her.

2131. Porque ha mucho que no soy, Because I have not been there for a long time. There is perhaps a play upon ser, "to exist" in this verse.

2146. Que más de cuatro manteos, etc., That more than a few (lit. "four") of those mantles of yours with fabrics of gold cover many defects.

2164. aceto=acepto.

2172. en pelo, bareback. With mock respect doña María asks pardon for using in the presence of people well-bred a term as commonplace as en pelo. Cf. v. 769 and note.

2217. Alcance, the present subjunctive with the conjunction que omitted.

2236. De cántaro la tenía=Tenía el alma de cántaro. Alma de cántaro is a colloquial term nearly equivalent to our "harebrained fellow."

2238. proverbio, that is, the proverbial use of cántaro in the expression alma de cántaro.

2282. Atlante, a name usually applied to masculine figures in Greek architecture, which, like the female caryatides, take the place of columns. The reference here seems to be to the mythological Atlas, from which word we have the architectural term Atlante. The author used it in the same sense in one of his sonnets:

Igualará la pluma á la grandeza,
Y el Parnaso de vos favorecido
Tendrá en su frente el cielo como Atlante.
Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 277.

But Lope knew it in its more exact architectural sense and apparently uses it so in the following lines:

Y otras del reino importantes,
Que siendo en ellos atlantes,
Serán rayos de Archidona.
La Estrella de Sevilla, Act I, Scene IV.

2315. Tened. Note the change from the less formal second person singular as soon as don Juan suspects doña María to be above the servant class.

2342. In Zerolo's edition there is a comma at the end of this verse instead of a period, which is clearly the more correct punctuation.

2347. Vos salisteis diferente, Your origin has been different.

2349. Y yo sin dicha=Y yo salí sin dicha.

2360 and ff. Compare the similar sentiment expressed by the author in el Cuerdo en su casa, Act II, Scene XXIV:

El que nació para humilde,
Mal puede ser caballero.
..............
Haya quien are y quien cave;
Siempre el vaso al licor sabe.

2399. Que darme yo á entender, For me to assume.

2420. por armas, as a coat of arms.

2422. In the Valencia edition this passage is identical except that it continues through one more octava.

2438. Vinculadas en lacayos, Handed down from lackey to lackey. Vincular, "to entail, continue, perpetuate."

2440. Aunque poca me ha cabido, Although little has fallen to my share.

2444. Mondoñedo, a town in Galicia, northeast of Lugo, with a population of about 12,000. This region has been particularly prolific in noble houses and among them is that of Lope de Vega. He mentions the fact in el Premio de bien hablar, when he makes don Juan say:

Nací en Madrid, aunque son
En Galicia los solares
De mi nacimiento noble,
De mis abuelos y padres.
Para noble nacimiento
Hay en España tres partes:
Galicia, Vizcaya, Asturias,
Ó ya montañas se llamen.—

2446. Volver la silla á el dosel, Conduct himself better on occasions of ceremony. The origin of the expression is explained in the following note in the London edition of the play: "Alude á la costumbre de estar en los actos públicos la silla del rey vuelta hacia el dosel siempre que S. M. no la ocupa. Así se mantuvo la silla real en las Cortes Extraordinarias de Cádiz y Madrid todo el tiempo que Fernando VII estuvo preso en Francia."

2452. Aunque pide, etc., Although the sack of salt requires greater fortune. A probable reference to the high cost of living and particularly to the high price of salt, of which Olivares made a government monopoly in 1631, the year previous to the revision or appearance of the play.

2468. Que no hay hueso que dejar, For nothing must be omitted. Lit. "For not a bone must be left out".

2534. Que á saber, For if I had known.

2539. Aunque á Alejandro, etc. Apelles was a famous Greek painter in the time of Philip and Alexander. His renown may be imagined, since the three cities, Colophon, Ephesus and Cos, claimed to be his birthplace. He spent, however, the greater part of his life in the Macedonian court, where he was very popular. Many anecdotes were told of Alexander and Apelles which show the intimate relations of the two and among which is the one referred to in the text. Apelles had painted Campaspe, also called Pancaste, the favorite of Alexander, undraped, and had fallen in love with her. The generous monarch learning of it yielded her up to the painter. This picture is said to have been the famous Venus Anadyomene. At the time of the first representation of the play, the author must have had Apelles fresh in mind, for about that date he cites another anecdote of the painter in his dedication of Amor secreto hasta Zelos, and mentions him several times in miscellaneous verse of the period.

2549-50. que no soy tan del Conde, I do not belong so much to the Count.

2559-61. These three lines are disconnected and are not adjusted either to the rime scheme of the preceding verses or to that of the following. They may be part of a popular song of the day.

2561. juegan cañas. Cane tourneys were modern adaptations of the medieval tilts or jousts, in which the contestants were mounted on horseback but armed only with reeds. The contests were made up of several features which permitted the participants to exhibit their skill in horsemanship. They were popular in the first part of the reign of Philip IV, for the king encouraged them and even took part in them himself.

2562. ¡Mala letra para novios! The reference finds its full expression in a rime of coarse sentiment which recounts the immediate fortunes attending the novio who dreams of bulls.

2567. Dos meses. Cf. v. 2146 and note.

2641. ¡Vive Dios, que si... bajeza! By heavens, if this be true I shall kill you rather than permit such a disgrace.

2679. por andar encubierta, in order to remain in disguise.

2685. á escuras=á oscuras.

2691. Compare this with the following lines from the Égloga á Claudio:

Mil y quinientas fabulas admira,
Que la mayor el numero parece,
Verdad que desmerece
Por parecer mentira,
Pues más de ciento en horas veintiquatro
Passaron de las Musas al Teatro.
Obras Sueltas, vol. IX, p. 368.

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FOOTNOTES:

[1] Professor Hugo Albert Rennert, in his excellent and exhaustive work entitled The Life of Lope de Vega, from which many of the details of this Introduction are taken, quotes at length from Tomillo and Pérez Pastor's Datos Desconocidos the Spanish criminal records of the Proceso de Lope de Vega por Libelos contra unos Cómicos. In the course of the procedure much light is thrown upon this period of Lope's life.

[2] Égloga á Claudio, Obras Sueltas, Vol. IX, p. 367.

[3] Lope was by no means unaware of his important influence on the Spanish theater. In his Epístola á Don Antonio de Mendoza he evinces it in the following lines:

Necesidad y yo partiendo á medias
el estado de versos mercantiles,
pusimos en estilo las Comedias.
Yo las saqué de sus principios viles,
engendrando en España más Poetas,
que hay en los ayres átomos sutiles.
Obras Sueltas, vol. I, p. 285.

[4] Obras Sueltas, Vol. IX, p. 368.

[5] I have not been able to verify on what foundation Hartzenbusch bases the statement that the play was written first in 1625. It is true that several historical events which took place about that year are alluded to in the work in a way to indicate that they were fresh in the mind of the author, but they do not offer conclusive proof. It does not appear in the twenty-five Partes or collections of Lope's dramas, and it is doubtful if it was published in any regular edition during the poet's life. In a note, Act II, Scene III, Hartzenbusch mentions "la edición antigua de la comedia," but does not specify to what edition he refers. The play appears in Comedias de Diferentes Autores, Vol. XXXVII, Valencia, 1646, but it is not certain or even probable that this is the first time it was published.

[6] The sun was setting and a comedia was approaching its last phase, precursor of the denouement. It was presented in a theater of Madrid (or corral as it was then called) by four gallants, two ladies, an old man, two graciosos, two graciosas, and other minor characters, before an audience with hats pulled down as those who had no other roof above them than that of heaven. Already the leading lady had made her last entry, decked in the richest costume of her wardrobe; her lover, absorbed by the noble bearing of that woman who, although a humble servant, knew, nevertheless, the pompous farthingale as if in all her life she had not worn any other style of skirt; blind with passion and trampling on the respect due his lineage, had approached her and, beside himself, seizing her hand, had offered her his. The second gallant had resolutely opposed the irregular and hasty match, but on hearing that the supposed Isabel bore as true name the illustrious one of Doña María Guzmán y Portocarrero and was, although a water-maid, a relative of the Duke of Medina, his resistance had vanished. Then with a sweeping and silent bow to the fiancée the actor approached the front of the stage to pronounce this brief address to the public:

Aquí
Puso fin á esta comedia
Quien, si perdiere este pleito,
Apela á Mil y quinientas.
Mil y quinientas ha escrito:
Bien es que perdón merezca.

From the gradas and barandillas, from the windows and desvanes, from all the seats, but especially from those which filled the patio, there must have gone forth then amid clamorous applause a unanimous shout of admiration, of enthusiasm, and very just national pride. "¡Vítor, Lope!" shrieked that tumultuous multitude time and again. "Long live el Fénix de los ingenios! Long live Lope de Vega!"

[7] See Comedias Escogidas, Vol. I, p. xxviii, and Gassier, Le Théâtre Espagnol, p. 60.

[8] Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature, Vol. II, p. 275.

[9] The Ticknor collection in the Boston Public Library contains two copies of the play; the one is entitled "La Moza de Cántaro, comedia en cinco actos por Lope Félix de Vega Carpio y refundida por Cándido María Trigueros, Valencia, 1803," and the other, idem, "con anotaciones, Londres" (probably about 1820). These are probably the only editions of the play with which Ticknor was familiar when he made his classification of it, for certainly he could not reconcile it with his definition of "comedies on common life," but he could easily accord it with his definition of "comedias de capa y espada." (See Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature, Vol. II, pp. 243 and 275.) Quoting from Lista's classification, Romualdo Alvarez Espino says: "Comedias de costumbres in which are painted vices of certain persons who, since in that epoch they could not be represented to be of the nobility, were drawn from the dregs of the people. Perhaps his very object in these compositions drew Lope away from the culture and urbanity which distinguish him in others; but fortunately they are few. Let us mention as examples El rufian Castrucho, La Moza de Cántaro, El sabio en su casa, La doncella Teodor." (Romualdo Alvarez Espino, Ensayo Histórico Crítico del Teatro Español, p. 116. See also, Alfred Gassier, Le Théâtre Espagnol, p. 38.) In the broader sense of the term, comedias de costumbres could easily include not only the Moza de Cántaro but generally all comedias de capa y espada, for true comedy is the presentation of the customs of society in a diverting manner. However, the Spanish critics usually narrow the class to include only the dramas of Lope which deal with the lower strata of social life and make the error of classing the Moza de Cántaro among them. This error may be explained by the fact that the critics, especially those cited above, have probably referred directly or indirectly to the refundida edition of the play which makes prominent the part of the servants and minimizes the rôles of the masters.

[10] Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Spanish Literature, p. 257.

[11] In his Dorotea the character Fernando is known to present an authentic biographical account of the author's youth and early manhood, while others of his heroes, as Don Juan in el Premio de bien hablar, furnish unmistakable details.

[12] One can scarcely say that the character is purely Spanish in origin, for servants had long been given a prominent part in dramas. Without seeking further we may well recall the place they have in the works of both Plautus and Terence. The early Italian comedies inherit this character from the Latins, and it appears in most of the plays of Ariosto, Machiavelli, and Aretino. It is found in the early Spanish dramas, and the debt to Italy is unmistakable; for example, in La Celestina the name of one of the leading servant characters—Parmeno—is the same as appears in the three plays of Terence: Eunuchus, Adelphi, and Hecyra. And in the hands of Rojas and Naharro the type is not markedly different from the Latin and Italian originals. It remained for Lope to perfect it and make it truly national.

[13] Philip IV's passion for the theater was so great that he himself, Martin Hume tells us, appeared in private theatricals upon the stage in roles that scarcely did credit to his lofty station. Of the young queen, Isabel de Bourbon, who may be considered as well representing contemporary tastes, the same author says: "Not only was she an ardent lover of the bullfight, but she would in the palace or public theaters countenance amusements which would now be considered coarse. Quarrels and fights between country wenches would be incited for her to witness unsuspected; nocturnal tumults would be provoked for her amusement in the gardens of Aranjuez or other palaces; and it is related that, when she was in one of the grated aposentos of a public theater, snakes or noxious reptiles would be secretly let loose upon the floor or in the cazuela, to the confusion and alarm of the spectators, whilst the gay, red-cheeked young Queen would almost laugh herself into fits to see the stampede." Martin Hume, The Court of Philip IV, pp. 149 and 203.

[14] Obras Sueltas, Vol. IV, p. 415.

[15] While this is not the place to treat in detail with Spanish versification, it may be well to define briefly the forms used in the play which are not met with in English. The redondilla is composed of four verses of seven or eight syllables each, the first verse riming with the fourth and the second with the third. The romance is composed of any number of seven or eight syllable verses, in the even numbers of which there is a correspondence of vowel sounds in the last two syllables, which is called assonance. The décima consists of ten octosyllabic verses, of which generally the first rimes with the fourth and fifth, the second with the third, the sixth with the seventh and tenth, and the eighth with the ninth. The octava has eight hendecasyllabic verses of which the first rimes with the third and fifth, the second with the fourth and sixth, and the seventh with the eighth.

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