y
sus
lágrimas
MENDAÑA
Su
alteza...
QUEVEDO
Mirad...
la
infanta
llora...
de
risa.
MARGARITA
Eso
es...
chistes
de
Quevedo...
QUEVEDO
Pues...
MENDAÑA
Mejor,
¡cuánta
gracia,
cuánta!
QUEVEDO
Pues
hoy
con
gracioso
porte
3025
yo
que
mil
gracias
ensarto,
al
fin,
de
mis
gracias
harto,
dejo,
por
gracia,
la
corte.
MENDAÑA
Y
aun
muy
gracioso
al
marchar...
QUEVEDO
Y
chiste
acerté
a
decir...
MENDAÑA
Que
hizo
a
su
alteza
reír...
QUEVEDO
Pues,
y
de
risa
llorar;
que,
unidos
en
un
engaste,
por
lo
alegre
y
por
lo
triste
una
lágrima
y
un
chiste
3035
son...
un
chistoso
contraste.
GRANA
¡Es
verdad!
QUEVEDO
Si
bien
lo
mira
la
excelente
humanidad,
todo
en
el
mundo
es
verdad...
CASTILLA
¡Cómo!
QUEVEDO
Cuando
no
es
mentira.3040
MENDAÑA
Ya
que
sin
vuestra
persona
en
la
corte
nos
quedamos,
¡qué
de
chistes
aguardamos
de
esa
musa
juguetona!...
Desde
allá
vos...
ya
lo
sé:
3045
sois
en
el
chiste
muy
ducho.
QUEVEDO
¡Mucho,
mucho!
(A
MARGARITA)
¡Mucho!
(A
todos)
¡Mucho!
MENDAÑA
Escribid.
QUEVEDO
Escribiré;
que
al
surcar
simples
y
mansos
las
cortesanos
espumas,
3050
me
han
provisto
ya
de
plumas
muchos,
muchísimos
gansos.
Y
van
dispuestos
y
prontos
en
mi
alquitara
mental...
mil
sonetos.
MENDAÑA
¡Mil!
¿Qué
tal?3055
¿Sobre
qué?
QUEVEDO
Sobre
los
tontos.
Ya
os
tendré
presente
a
vos....
(A
todos)
¡La
amistad!...
entre
los
dientes....
Yo
os
tendré
a
todos
presentes...
porque...
MARGARITA
¡Ay!
(A
QUEVEDO,
despidiéndose
en
la
meseta)
¡Adiós!
QUEVEDO
(íd.
besándola
la
mano)
¡Adiós!
(A
todos)
¡Adiós!3060
(QUEVEDO atraviesa la escena, cálase el sombrero, se emboza y vasepor la derecha; los cortesanos se miran unos a otros, y cae el telón)
Fin del Drama
NOTES
ACTO I, STAGE DIRECTION. la de San Martín: Sanz has associated theIglesia de San Martín with the Plazuela de San Martín. The square infront of the Iglesia de San Martín was in reality the Plazuela de lasDescalzas. The present Plaza de Antón Martín, at the intersection of theCalle del León and the Calle de Atocha, is in quite another part of thecity.
The church of San Martín was built in the seventeenth century.
Itsrichness attracted the attention of the French soldiers in 1809, when itwas sacked and destroyed by them.
5-6. In 1583 Philip II gave orders that no woman in all his kingdom,whatever her state, quality, or condition, should go about with her facecovered (Nov. Recop., ley 8, t. 13, lib. vi).
The same order went forthagain in 1593, 1610, and 1693. The prohibition was obviously to preventscandal and intrigue.
32. mejoría: Castilla early shows his scorn for the empty-headedsycophant Mendaña by thus punning on the word mejoría. Here, in additionto the meaning of 'advancement', it alludes to the exaggerated use byMendaña of the exclamation mejor.
47. Su excelencia: the conde-duque de Olivares.
52. mejoreo: another jibe at Mendaña, cf. l. 32. The suffix -eo isgenerally used to form nouns only from verbs in -ear.
66. no haya duelo ni quebranto: 'let there be no dueling or damagedone.'
70. El de Guzmán: Don Gaspar de Guzmán, conde-duque de Olivares.
103. La infanta Margarita: cf. Historical Introduction.
110. Ocaña: an old town in the northeast corner of the province ofToledo, not far from Aranjuez. During the Middle Ages it was a town ofconsiderable importance. As late as the early years of the seventeenthcentury it was still a resort for the fashionables of Madrid.
134. la duquesa de Mantua: cf. Historical Introduction.
Mantua is aprovince that formed part of ancient Lombardy. The succession to theduchy of Mantua caused a bitter war. The legitimate heir was Charles,duke of Nevers. His heritage was disputed by Ferdinand and CæsarGonzaga, dukes of Guastalla, and by the duke of Savoy. Charles causedMantua to be occupied by his son contrary to the wishes of the EmperorFerdinand II.
France and Venice supported Charles and ousted theSavoyards and Spaniards who were besieging Casale (1629). In July, 1630,the city of Mantua was taken and sacked by the imperial troops. At thediet of Ratisbon the Emperor Ferdinand gave in, putting Charles inpossession of his duchies. Spain at first refused to accept thisdecision, but later, by the treaty of Cherasco (1631), recognized it.
139. Saboya: Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy married Marguerite of Valois, asister of Henry II of France. The son of this marriage, Charles EmmanuelI, married the infanta Catalina, daughter of Philip II of Spain. Theambitions of Charles Emmanuel to extend his dominions westward wereseverely punished by Henry IV in the treaty of Lyons (1601).
Savoymingled in most of the wars of the early part of the century. CharlesEmmanuel's shifting politics were always guided by his desires ofaggrandizement.
153. el conde-duque: not a legal title. When Philip IV made him duke ofSan Lúcar, he should according to custom have dropped the lower title ofcount of Olivares; but he asked leave to keep the title which wasalready well known to the nation.
Thenceforth he was popularly called"the count-duke."
202. Villamediana: cf. Historical Introduction.
266. ¿Conocéis?... : i.e. ¿Conocéis...? In the Romance languages thesuspensive points take the place, for many purposes, of the dash inEnglish. The most authoritative usage is that when these points are usedwith an exclamation or interrogation point, as here, they (like the dashin English) are put before the exclamation or interrogation point ifthey mean that the sentence is broken off, but after it if they meanthat there is a break between this and the next sentence. But it iscommoner to put the exclamation or interrogation point invariably beforethe suspensive points, as the comma in English is always put before thedash, regardless of the sense. When this is done, it expresses the senserightly in most places, but there will generally be a considerableminority of places where the punctuation must be understood as iftransposed, i.e. as indicating an uncompleted sentence. Since Sanz, orhis printer, followed this more mechanical rule, it is followed in thisedition; but the student must take care not to be misled by it.
303-306. Ya hace meses, etc.: cf. Historical Introduction.
336 ff. Cf. Historical Introduction.
434. cruz de Santiago: a red cross to represent a sword withfleurs-de-lis at hilt and guard, on a field of white. The order of St.James was founded in the twelfth century as a combatant order to fightthe Moors. Later membership in the order was purely honorary. It carriedwith it an encomienda or estate from which income was derived.
ACTO II, STAGE DIRECTION. el palacio del Buen Retiro: built by Olivaresto flatter the whims of Philip IV. It stood beyond what were then theeastern limits of Madrid. Work on it was begun in 1621, and in 1632Olivares presented the keys of the new palace to his sovereign amidstgreat rejoicing. During the French occupation of Madrid after 1808 itwas used as a fortress by the troops of Napoleon. The palace andbuildings were destroyed later by the French. What were the palacegrounds now form the nucleus of the Parque del Retiro.
627-634. An allusion to Philip's suspicion of Doña Isabel's guilt in theaffair with Villamediana. Cf. Historical Introduction.
687. ese escrito: cf. Historical Introduction.
707. Y con su propia sangre: cf. Historical Introduction.
765. van ya muchos años: Villamediana was murdered in 1622.
782. el príncipe heredero: Don Balthasar Carlos received a separateestablishment in 1643. A boy of rare promise, his early death in 1646was a serious blow to the hopes of Philip and of the Spanish people.
793-800. It was customary for members of the nobility to have lodgingsin the palace, especially those who enjoyed honorary positions aspersonal servants to the sovereign. In this passage no particularsignificance attaches to the names mentioned other than that theirhostility to Olivares was the cause of their removal. For this episodecf. Historical Introduction.
926. letrilla: a letrilla is usually divided into strophes at the end ofeach of which the central thought of the whole composition is repeatedas a refrain. This form was effectively used by Quevedo as a vehicle forsatire.
928. al buen entendedor: the whole proverb is "Al buen entendedor, pocaspalabras," or "A buen entendedor, breve hablador." The Englishequivalent is "A word to the wise is sufficient."
944. It should be recalled that Quevedo, Act I, Scene XIII, had pickedup by mistake Medina's cloak instead of his own.
1070. Grana calls attention to the cross of St. James and congratulatesQuevedo on receiving it.
1277-1292. As the stage direction explains, Sanz has cleverly takeneight lines from Quevedo's sonnet A Una Nariz, and introduced asidesto Olivares. The sonnet continues:
Érase un espolón de una galera,
érase un pirámide de Egipto,
las doce tribus de narices era.
Érase un naricísimo infinito,
muchísima nariz, nariz tan fiera,
que en la cara de Anás fuera delito.
1281. una nariz sayón y escriba: the two nouns sayón ('executioner') andescriba ('scribe,' 'notary') used as adjectives convey the idea thatthis nose was a sharp one, even a deadly one. The notary with hisaffidavits was as much to be dreaded as the executioner himself.
1291. Ovidio Nasón más narizado: the allusion is to the Latin poetPublius Ovidius Naso; the pun is on the word Nasón (Naso); naso inLatin = narizado.
1445-1468. Cf. Historical Introduction.
1552. Esthin: Hesdin, a fortified town near the English Channel, inArtois; taken by the French in 1639.—Wiranzan: probably Besançon inFranche-Comté.—Dola: Dôle, a fortified town, capital of Franche-Comtétill 1648.
1553. Islas Terceras: the name given to the central group of the Azores;it may apply as well to the entire archipelago.
Portuguese territoryuntil 1582, it passed with Portugal to the control of Spain and was notrestored to Portugal until the mother country regained her independence.
1554. el Ducado de Borgoña: an error; the duchy of Burgundy, west ofthe river Saône, had not been a Spanish possession. It was the county of Burgundy, east of the Saône, better known in English asFranche-Comté, that came to the Spanish crown from the house of Austria.It was largely occupied by the French about 1643, though it was restoredto Spain at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and did not becomepermanently a part of France till thirty years later.
1555. el Brasil: Brazil was a Portuguese possession until 1822. In1630-1644 the Dutch occupied the northern provinces almost down to thecapital, Bahia.—el Rosellón: Roussillon, north of the eastern end ofthe Pyrenees, was formerly a dependency of the crown of Aragon. LouisXIII began its conquest in 1639 and concluded it in 1642.
1556. Ormuz: a Portuguese trading station on the East India route until1622, when it was captured and destroyed by the Persians and English. Itwas on the strait of the same name, which connects the Persian Gulf andthe Sea of Oman.—
Pernambuco: a Brazilian state whose colonization datesfrom the second decade of the sixteenth century. The Dutch seized it in1630 and held it till 1654.—Hoa: for Goa, a Portuguese trading stationin India.
1559. Braganza: the house of Braganza was founded by John I of Portugalin the person of his illegitimate son Alfonso. The dukes of Braganzaplayed important rôles in the history of Portugal during the fifteenthand sixteenth centuries. Tedosio II served Philip II faithfully as longas Portugal was a Spanish dependency. In 1630 his son John II succeededhim, and in 1640
was proclaimed king of Portugal as John IV.
1560. Villaviciosa: Villa Viçosa, a city of Portugal about twenty milesfrom Elvas. It is famous for its connection with the house of Braganza.
1587. las Salinas: I am unable to identify this place.
1615-1616. Mars and Bellona, the god and goddess of war in Latinmythology. Margarita and Quevedo are leading the attack on Olivares.While Quevedo is absent Margarita is idle.
1685. Éranse etc. : the stereotyped manner of beginning a story. It hasthe same touch of quaintness as the English "once upon a time therewas," etc.
1837. tarantela: the tarantella is a Neapolitan dance, particularlyanimated and spirited. The sense of the passage is that Quevedo watcheshis fellow mortals rush feverishly hither and thither with great stir ofactivity, but accomplishing nothing of value.
1838. This name originally was applied to a German dancing mania. Sanzuses it in its modern sense of a disease whose most conspicuous symptomis interference with the control of the muscles.
1882. This line is faulty; two syllables are lacking.
1908. Quevedo is even more famous for his satirical romances ( ballads)than for his letrillas and sonnets.
1926-1929. Margarita here probably alludes to Quevedo's PoesíasMorales, "esto es que descubren y manifiestan las pasiones y costumbresdel hombre, procurándolas enmendar."
1938-1941. These lines are taken from the first strophe of Quevedo's"Elogio al Duque de Lerma, Canción Pindárica."
1977. Sicily was at this time still ruled by a Spanish viceroy.
1979. Palermo, a city on the north coast of Sicily, formerly the capitalof the kingdom of Sicily and now the capital of the province of Palermo.
1989-1990. These lines are taken from one of Quevedo's cold and highlyartificial love sonnets, "Musa" IV, VII.
2030. ese altivo Girón: cf. Historical Introduction.
2036-2043. Sanz quotes the two quatrains of Quevedo's sonnet
"Memoriainmortal de Don Pedro Girón, Duque de Osuna, muerto en la prisión." Theconcluding tercets are inferior to the quatrains.
2048. los Guzmanes en Tarifa: the allusion is to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán,called el Bueno (1256-1309). In the reign of Sancho IV of Castile,Alonso Pérez was entrusted with the defense of Tarifa against the Moors.Tarifa was besieged by the traitorous infante Don Juan at the head of anarmy of Moors and adventurers. Assaults proving fruitless, Don Juansummoned Guzmán to a parley on the walls of the city, where he told himthat if Tarifa were not immediately surrendered, the son of the gallantdefender would be put to death before his eyes. The answer of AlonsoPérez was to fling down the weapon with which his son should bemurdered. Don Juan promptly dispatched the boy and cast his head withinthe walls.
2153. This line is faulty; one syllable is lacking.
2173-2175. Blue symbolizes perseverance, loyalty and recompense; whileblack, as the symbol of grief and mourning, would signify despair.
2186. al Escorial: the Real Sitio or Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo delEscorial lies thirty-one miles northwest of Madrid. It is traditionallybelieved that during the battle of St. Quentin on St. Lawrence's day(Aug. 10), 1557, Philip vowed that he would build a monastery anddedicate it to St. Lawrence in order to make amends for the destructionby Spanish artillery of a church that bore his name. However, asEmmanuel Philibert of Savoy won the battle and Philip himself was notpresent, we may suppose that the Escorial was built rather to fulfillPhilip's promise to his father Charles V that he would build a suitabletomb as a final resting-place for the remains of the latter and of hiswife. In modern times the Escorial has been little used as a palace bythe kings of Spain. It is now a monastery in the care of Augustinianmonks.
2242. Cf. Historical Introduction.
2247. Cf. Historical Introduction.
2255. enmudecerá Talía: Thalia is the muse of comedy; hence the passagewould mean 'your laughing satirical tongue will be silenced.'
2256-2257. Cf. Historical Introduction.
2315. Mendaña gives the explanation in the following scene, cf. l. 2346and note.