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 andone one hundred and forty-fourth of an inch. By a comparison of the twoeditions it is clear that there is a play on this word. Cara isprobably a typographical error for vara, but it may be used here in arelated sense to the archaic á primera cara, which was the equivalentof á primera vista. Therefore the sense of ll. 961-2 is: "That is thesize that one would take of that foot with a measure," or "That is thesize 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 wasa heavy low shoe or sandal better suited to the use of servants, whilethe escarpín was an elegant thin-soled, shoe or slipper, and oftenwith cloth top as the following verse seems to indicate. Here the senseis not very apparent and may involve some colloquialism of the time. Thepassage 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 thepreposition para, or possibly of a form of the verb parar,
"parryoff, protect," and the obsolete substantive gamba, the equivalent of pierna. It was evidently applied to some covering of the leg, as agaiter or boot. In the Valencia edition it appears as two words, paragambas.
974. á cierta dama depends upon pregunté.
975. cañafístolas= cañafístulas. The word seems to have the idea ofsomething indicated but not named, and here may have the sense of"ridiculous adornments." It is still used colloquially as theapproximate 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. Theperiod at the end of the line must be a typographical error, for thesense seems to favor a comma. The two subordinate clauses introduced by si and connected by y do not require as much separation as is affordedby a period.
1052. Como quedó concertado. Note the repetition of line 1000. Lope isgiven to repetitions in his works, but this is perhaps the only verse inthe play which he has unconsciously repeated.
1062. inglés á Cádiz. "Año de 1625." (Note by Hartzenbusch.) Theincident referred to is the irrational attack upon Cadiz by the Englishfleet under Sir Edward Cecil in October, 1625. The English wereignominiously defeated and the Spanish encouraged to continue an unequalstruggle.
1066. tusón dorado. The name of a celebrated order of knighthood foundedin 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the Netherlands. Itoriginally consisted of thirty-one knights and was self-perpetuating,but Philip II absorbed the nominating power. In 1713 Charles VI movedthe order to Vienna, but this action was contested by the Spanish andthe dispute was settled by dividing the order between the two countries.
1067. Con débil caña, etc. "En la edición antigua de la comedia: Condébil 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 laedición antigua de la comedia, tendidas."(Note by Hartzenbusch.) Thesonnet is found also in the Obras Sueltas, vol. IV, p. 500, under thetitle, Á la Venida de los Ingleses á Cádiz. Hartzenbusch speaks of itas though it appeared in the Corona trágica, but his note ismisleading, 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 initialinterrogation 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, putan end to her life. According to one account she was changed after deathinto an almond-tree without leaves.
But when Demophon, on his return,embraced the tree, it put forth leaves, so much was it affected by thepresence of the lover. To the mythological Phyllis, however, Lope isindebted only for the name. To him "Filis" was a more material being inthe person of Elena Osorio, daughter of a theatrical manager and amarried woman. During the early part of the period 1585-1590 hededicated to her some of his most beautiful love-ballads, and in thelatter part, when he turned against her and was exiled from Madrid andCastile, he continued to address poems to her, but now filled withbitter complaints. (See Introduction.) The fact that he mentions hername here in a play written in the later years of his life is ofinterest; either he wrote the sonnet in his earlier years and used ithere, or it would seem that the poet's mind reverts to his youthfulfollies. But in one of the last works written just before his death Lopespeaks of his daughter, Antonia Clara, under the name of "Filis," whichhas given rise to some confusion. "Phyllis," moreover, is a very commonname in pastoral poems in the 16th and 17th centuries.
1110. devantal= delantal.
1126. hubiérades... Dijérades= hubierais... Dijerais. Cf. v.
835 andnote.
1133. Si es disfrazar, etc. In the pastorals the author usuallydisguised personages of distinction in the garb of shepherds andshepherdesses. These compositions were very popular in Spain during thesixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
1145. que viene... á pretender, who comes to court to makepretensions. 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 birdand half woman, which were supposed to inhabit reefs near the island ofCapri 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 clearlythe 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 thefollowing stanzas or décimas. Such a verse is called the pie dedécima.
1252. Andalucía forms one of the most important and romantic of Spain'sancient divisions and still occupies a unique position in the life andcharacter of the Spanish people.
Geographically it occupies almost thewhole 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 asindicated by verse 1284, but it is difficult to give a concisetranslation. Freely expressed we may offer: "Whither bound, my prettymaid?"
1291. Pero... admira, But on my word I am astonished.
1300. No tengo por mal acuerdo requebrar, etc., I do not consider itill-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 itas impersonal and supply an infinitive construction after it.
1305. Para el río. This expression is out of its natural order and mightwell be set off by commas. The sense is: "A hat with its band for goingto 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 itsmeaning in the present instance.
1314. No hay plata... Potosí. Potosí is a city of Bolivia situated onthe Cerro de Potosí at an altitude of thirteen thousand feet. The Cerrode Potosí is said to have produced up to the present time over threebillion dollars in silver. The first mine was opened there in 1545, andthe year of Lope's birth, 1562, a royal mint was established in the cityof Potosí to coin the output of the mines. Small wonder is it then thatthe Spaniards still refer to the city in proverb as a synonym for greatriches. 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 deAutores 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 alittle of the précieux spirit which in the same century became sopopular in France. A man must not proceed
"brutally" to a declaration oflove at the very beginning, but by interminable flatteries and conceitslead up to such a declaration, and even then must not expect the objectof 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 thecarriage her curls on the hooks of a 'rest.' In modern usage whenapplied to the parts of a carriage estribo means the "step" but in thetext 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, suchas was represented some years later by Velázquez in his famous portraitof Mariana de Austria, which now hangs in the Prado Museum at Madrid.
1439. Conténtese ó quitaréle. Observe the change from the second personto 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 downyour hand and remain apart. Leonor applies here the terms of a game ofcards when speaking of the love-affairs of doña María.
1493. No pone codo en la puente, etc., a reference to the custom of theidlers and braggarts lounging in public places and seeking trouble oroffering defiance to every passer-by.
1495. los lavaderos. The banks of the Manzanares immediately in the rearof the Royal Palace have long been the public lavaderos orwashing-places of the city of Madrid, and every day acres of network oflines are covered with drying linen. It is here naturally that thegallants of the lower classes go to meet their sweethearts, and scenessuch 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 ofMadrid and later converted into a magnificent paseo between the BuenRetiro palace and the city proper. The house of Lope de Vega stillstands in the narrow Calle de Cervantes, a short distance from thePrado, and the poet often mentions this celebrated paseo in his works.The name is frequently used to refer to the famous art-gallery locatedthere.
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 ofthe 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 givesutterance to his lamentations in the famous old ballad beginning withthe 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 tothe celebrated cave of la Mancha, visited by don Quijote, whoseadventures in this connection are narrated in Don Quijote, Part II,Chapters XXII and XXIII. Cervantes calls Durandarte the "flor y espejode los caballeros enamorados" and probably Lope is indebted to his greatcontemporary for the word, which he uses in the sense of lances deamor.
1552. Puesto que, etc. The Valencia edition has here instead of thisverse: Con todo, no he de culpalle.
1608. de espacio= despacio.
1649. Don Fadrique de Toledo, son of the Duke of Alba and descendant ofthe 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 ringingin his ears, it was quite natural that Lope should honor the hero in hisdrama and at the same time add to the popularity of his work. Later in1634 don Fadrique de Toledo fell into disfavor or incurred the jealousyof the Count-Duke Olivares and was cast into prison.
1668. rocín gallego. The gallegos, or inhabitants of Galicia, are asober, industrious people, but have throughout Spain a reputation forignorance and stupidity; so they have long been made the butt ofmalicious gibes and jests by their more volatile fellow-countrymen. Inthe Valencia edition this verse and the preceding one are rendered in amanner 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 centerfor the manufacture of glass. The industry was at its height in the 15thand 16th centuries, but gradually declined until it ceased in the 18th,only to be revived about the middle of the 19th century. Since thenVenice has retaken her position as the European center for artisticcreations in glass. Near the close of the 13th century the factorieswere moved outside the city to the island of Murano, where they are atthe present time.
1714. Si no, etc., If not in harm, in the realization. —Caer en lacuenta, to understand, realize.
1723. satisfaciones is now written satisfacciones.
1733-4. The language of these two verses is drawn from the popularproverbs: "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 lafrente." 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, inhis youth, a page at the court of John II, whose favor he later enjoyedto a high degree. He was made Constable of Castile in 1423 and a fewyears later grand master of the order of Santiago—a double distinctionnever enjoyed by any other man. He afterwards fell a victim of aconspiracy of the Spanish feudal grandees and was executed at Valladolidin 1453. His life and achievements became a popular theme for Spanishauthors, and doubtless much of interest written concerning him has beenlost. The romances relating to don Alvaro de Luna which have come downto us concern his fall and execution, and some of them are favorites ofbeggars 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 CidCampeador," is the great national hero of Spain. From the numerousaccounts, real and fictitious, of his achievements we learn that he wasa great warrior who fought sometimes with the Moors, sometimes with theSpaniards, and that at last as a soldier of fortune he seized Valenciaand until his death successfully defied the two great rivals of histime, the Spaniards and the Moors. His life has served as a theme fornumerous literary masterpieces, especially the Old Spanish Cantar demio 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 ofan important university. Valladolid has figured prominently in Spanishhistory for many centuries, for it was long the favorite residence ofthe Spanish sovereigns. Early in the reign of Philip III the seat ofgovernment was again transferred to that city, but was returned toMadrid 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 comeon.
1858. mohadas= mojadas, coll., knife-thrusts.
1863. Pues con él haberlas quiero, Well I am willing to have it outwith him.
1901. dueño is regularly used in its present sense when referring to awoman 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 musicalinstrument for such occasions as the one here described.
Compare thedescription of it with its direct descendant, the modern banjo.
1951. Casa del Campo, commonly written Casa de Campo, is a large royalpark immediately in the rear of the royal palace and grounds and on theother side of the Manzanares, which is here spanned by the Puente delRey.
1960. Felipe y Isabel, that is, Philip IV of Spain and his first wife,Isabel de Bourbon, daughter of Henry IV, king of France.
(SeeIntroduction.) Observe that modern Spanish would require
"Felipe eIsabel."
1963. las colores. Color is now almost limited in usage to themasculine, 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 cannotsee her.
2131. Porque ha mucho que no soy, Because I have not been