Acto I, Stage Direction.la de San Martín: Sanz has associated the Iglesia de San Martín with the Plazuela de San Martín. The square in front of the Iglesia de San Martín was in reality the Plazuela de las Descalzas. The present Plaza de Antón Martín, at the intersection of the Calle del León and the Calle de Atocha, is in quite another part of the city.
The church of San Martín was built in the seventeenth century. Its richness attracted the attention of the French soldiers in 1809, when it was 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 face covered (Nov. Recop., ley 8, t. 13, lib. vi). The same order went forth again in 1593, 1610, and 1693. The prohibition was obviously to prevent scandal and intrigue.
32.mejoría: Castilla early shows his scorn for the empty-headed sycophant Mendaña by thus punning on the wordmejoría. Here, in addition to the meaning of 'advancement', it alludes to the exaggerated use by Mendaña of the exclamationmejor.
47.Su excelencia: the conde-duque de Olivares.
52.mejoreo: another jibe at Mendaña, cf. l. 32. The suffix-eois generally used to form nouns only from verbs in-ear.
66.no haya duelo ni quebranto: 'let there be no dueling or damage done.'
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 of Toledo, not far from Aranjuez. During the Middle Ages it was a town of considerable importance. As late as the early years of the seventeenth century it was still a resort for the fashionables of Madrid.
134.la duquesa de Mantua: cf. Historical Introduction. Mantua is a province that formed part of ancient Lombardy. The succession to the duchy of Mantua caused a bitter war. The legitimate heir was Charles, duke of Nevers. His heritage was disputed by Ferdinand and Cæsar Gonzaga, dukes of Guastalla, and by the duke of Savoy. Charles caused Mantua to be occupied by his son contrary to the wishes of the Emperor Ferdinand II. France and Venice supported Charles and ousted the Savoyards and Spaniards who were besieging Casale (1629). In July, 1630, the city of Mantua was taken and sacked by the imperial troops. At the diet of Ratisbon the Emperor Ferdinand gave in, putting Charles in possession of his duchies. Spain at first refused to accept this decision, but later, by the treaty of Cherasco (1631), recognized it.
139.Saboya: Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy married Marguerite of Valois, a sister of Henry II of France. The son of this marriage, Charles Emmanuel I, married the infanta Catalina, daughter of Philip II of Spain. The ambitions of Charles Emmanuel to extend his dominions westward were severely punished by Henry IV in the treaty of Lyons (1601). Savoy mingled in most of the wars of the early part of the century. Charles Emmanuel's shifting politics were always guided by his desires of aggrandizement.
153.el conde-duque: not a legal title. When Philip IV made him duke of San Lúcar, he should according to custom have dropped the lower title of count of Olivares; but he asked leave to keep the title which was already 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 the suspensive points take the place, for many purposes, of the dash in English. The most authoritative usage is that when these points are used with an exclamation or interrogation point, as here, they (like the dash in English) are put before the exclamation or interrogation point if they mean that the sentence is broken off, but after it if they mean that there is a break between this and the next sentence. But it is commoner to put the exclamation or interrogation point invariably before the suspensive points, as the comma in English is always put before the dash, regardless of the sense. When this is done, it expresses the sense rightly in most places, but there will generally be a considerable minority of places where the punctuation must be understood as if transposed, i.e. as indicating an uncompleted sentence. Since Sanz, or his printer, followed this more mechanical rule, it is followed in this edition; but the student must take care not to be misled by it.
303-306.Ya hace meses, etc.: cf. Historical Introduction.
336ff.Cf. Historical Introduction.
434.cruz de Santiago: a red cross to represent a sword with fleurs-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 fight the Moors. Later membership in the order was purely honorary. It carried with it anencomiendaor estate from which income was derived.
ACTO II, STAGE DIRECTION.el palacio del Buen Retiro: built by Olivares to flatter the whims of Philip IV. It stood beyond what were then the eastern limits of Madrid. Work on it was begun in 1621, and in 1632 Olivares presented the keys of the new palace to his sovereign amidst great rejoicing. During the French occupation of Madrid after 1808 it was used as a fortress by the troops of Napoleon. The palace and buildings were destroyed later by the French. What were the palace grounds now form the nucleus of the Parque del Retiro.
627-634.An allusion to Philip's suspicion of Doña Isabel's guilt in the affair 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 separate establishment in 1643. A boy of rare promise, his early death in 1646 was 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 lodgings in the palace, especially those who enjoyed honorary positions as personal servants to the sovereign. In this passage no particular significance attaches to the names mentioned other than that their hostility to Olivares was the cause of their removal. For this episode cf. Historical Introduction.
926.letrilla: a letrilla is usually divided into strophes at the end of each of which the central thought of the whole composition is repeated as a refrain. This form was effectively used by Quevedo as a vehicle for satire.
928.al buen entendedor: the whole proverb is "Al buen entendedor, pocas palabras," or "A buen entendedor, breve hablador." The English equivalent is "A word to the wise is sufficient."
944.It should be recalled that Quevedo, Act I, Scene XIII, had picked up by mistake Medina's cloak instead of his own.
1070.Grana calls attention to the cross of St. James and congratulates Quevedo on receiving it.
1277-1292.As the stage direction explains, Sanz has cleverly taken eight lines from Quevedo's sonnetA Una Nariz, and introduced asides to 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.
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 nounssayón('executioner') andescriba('scribe,' 'notary') used as adjectives convey the idea that this nose was a sharp one, even a deadly one. The notary with his affidavits was as much to be dreaded as the executioner himself.
1291.Ovidio Nasón más narizado: the allusion is to the Latin poet Publius Ovidius Naso; the pun is on the wordNasón(Naso);nasoin Latin =narizado.
1445-1468.Cf. Historical Introduction.
1552.Esthin: Hesdin, a fortified town near the English Channel, in Artois; taken by the French in 1639.—Wiranzan: probably Besançon in Franche-Comté.—Dola: Dôle, a fortified town, capital of Franche-Comté till 1648.
1553.Islas Terceras: the name given to the central group of the Azores; it may apply as well to the entire archipelago. Portuguese territory until 1582, it passed with Portugal to the control of Spain and was not restored to Portugal until the mother country regained her independence.
1554.el Ducado de Borgoña: an error; theduchyof Burgundy, west of the river Saône, had not been a Spanish possession. It was thecountyof Burgundy, east of the Saône, better known in English as Franche-Comté, that came to the Spanish crown from the house of Austria. It was largely occupied by the French about 1643, though it was restored to Spain at the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648 and did not become permanently a part of France till thirty years later.
1555.el Brasil: Brazil was a Portuguese possession until 1822. In 1630-1644 the Dutch occupied the northern provinces almost down to the capital, Bahia.—el Rosellón: Roussillon, north of the eastern end of the Pyrenees, was formerly a dependency of the crown of Aragon. Louis XIII began its conquest in 1639 and concluded it in 1642.
1556.Ormuz: a Portuguese trading station on the East India route until 1622, when it was captured and destroyed by the Persians and English. It was on the strait of the same name, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.—Pernambuco: a Brazilian state whose colonization dates from the second decade of the sixteenth century. The Dutch seized it in 1630 and held it till 1654.—Hoa: for Goa, a Portuguese trading station in India.
1559.Braganza: the house of Braganza was founded by John I of Portugal in the person of his illegitimate son Alfonso. The dukes of Braganza played important rôles in the history of Portugal during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Tedosio II served Philip II faithfully as long as Portugal was a Spanish dependency. In 1630 his son John II succeeded him, and in 1640 was proclaimed king of Portugal as John IV.
1560.Villaviciosa: Villa Viçosa, a city of Portugal about twenty miles from 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 Latin mythology. 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 has the same touch of quaintness as the English "once upon a time there was," etc.
1837.tarantela: the tarantella is a Neapolitan dance, particularly animated and spirited. The sense of the passage is that Quevedo watches his fellow mortals rush feverishly hither and thither with great stir of activity, but accomplishing nothing of value.
1838.This name originally was applied to a German dancing mania. Sanz uses it in its modern sense of a disease whose most conspicuous symptom is interference with the control of the muscles.
1882.This line is faulty; two syllables are lacking.
1908.Quevedo is even more famous for his satiricalromances(ballads) than for his letrillas and sonnets.
1926-1929.Margarita here probably alludes to Quevedo'sPoesías Morales, "esto es que descubren y manifiestan las pasiones y costumbres del 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 capital of 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 highly artificial love sonnets, "Musa" IV, VII.
2030.ese altivo Girón: cf. Historical Introduction.
2036-2043.Sanz quotes the two quatrains of Quevedo's sonnet "Memoria inmortal de Don Pedro Girón, Duque de Osuna, muerto en la prisión." The concluding tercets are inferior to the quatrains.
2048.los Guzmanes en Tarifa: the allusion is to Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, calledel 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 an army of Moors and adventurers. Assaults proving fruitless, Don Juan summoned Guzmán to a parley on the walls of the city, where he told him that if Tarifa were not immediately surrendered, the son of the gallant defender would be put to death before his eyes. The answer of Alonso Pérez was to fling down the weapon with which his son should be murdered. Don Juan promptly dispatched the boy and cast his head within the walls.
2153.This line is faulty; one syllable is lacking.
2173-2175.Blue symbolizes perseverance, loyalty and recompense; while black, as the symbol of grief and mourning, would signify despair.
2186.al Escorial: the Real Sitio or Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial lies thirty-one miles northwest of Madrid. It is traditionally believed that during the battle of St. Quentin on St. Lawrence's day (Aug. 10), 1557, Philip vowed that he would build a monastery and dedicate it to St. Lawrence in order to make amends for the destruction by Spanish artillery of a church that bore his name. However, as Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy won the battle and Philip himself was not present, we may suppose that the Escorial was built rather to fulfill Philip's promise to his father Charles V that he would build a suitable tomb as a final resting-place for the remains of the latter and of his wife. In modern times the Escorial has been little used as a palace by the kings of Spain. It is now a monastery in the care of Augustinian monks.
2242.Cf. Historical Introduction.
2247.Cf. Historical Introduction.
2255.enmudecerá Talía: Thalia is the muse of comedy; hence the passage would mean 'your laughing satirical tongue will be silenced.'
2256-2257.Cf. Historical Introduction.
2315.Mendaña gives the explanation in the following scene, cf. l. 2346 and note.
2320.Quevedo puns on the wordlabores'embroidery' and the usual sense of 'labor, work.'
2327.en Toledo: an allusion to the hospital for the insane at Toledo, calledla Casa del Nuncio.
2340.el consejo de Castilla: the Consejo de la Real Cámara or Cámara de Castilla was an outgrowth of the reorganized Consejo Real of Ferdinand and Isabella. It was established in 1588 by Philip II, who required that its members be persons chosen for their prudence, piety, and zeal. Its principal functions were to look after the royal revenues, to fill ecclesiastical benefices, and to administer justice in Castile, Navarre, and the Canary Islands.—For this action by the Consejo cf. Historical Introduction.
2346.Fuenterrabía: the siege by the French began in July, 1638. The town was supplied with provisions by sea from San Sebastian until a fleet commanded by the archbishop of Bordeaux put an end to this source of supplies with heavy loss to the Spaniards. Meanwhile a force was being prepared to attack the French in their camp. The attack was successful and the rout of the French was complete.
2395.del Corpus: Corpus Christi, the day upon which the institution of the Holy Eucharist is commemorated. It is observed in Roman Catholic countries with great pomp and ceremony.
2511.Lo: not the paper, but, as line 2513 shows, the proposition that the paper should go in.
2547.Al fin me estrellé en la roca: 'at last I have met my fate.' Quevedo had always affected scorn for women. Sanz ignores the fact of Quevedo's marriage.
2565.¿quién?...: the full form of the question is 'which will prove the stronger?'
2647.It was a breach of etiquette for Quevedo to be seated without permission in the presence of Olivares.
2658.ya no quitáis ni ponéis: this is a reminiscence of Bertrand du Guesclin's "Ni quito ni pongo rey, pero ayudo a mi señor." Du Guesclin with his White Companies came to the aid of Enrique de Trastamara in the latter's rebellion against his half-brother Pedro el Cruel. Pedro, besieged in the castle of Montiel, tried to save himself from Enrique by making terms with Du Guesclin, but he was betrayed into the presence of Enrique. In the struggle that necessarily ensued the two brothers fell to the ground locked in each other's arms. Things were going badly for Enrique when Du Guesclin interfered to give Enrique a chance to dispatch Pedro with his dagger (1369).
2693.la carta de Urías: in order to have greater opportunity to indulge his passion for Bathsheba, King David sent her husband Uriah to the siege of Rabbah, and at the same time sent a letter giving orders that Uriah be stationed in the place of greatest danger. Cf. II Samuel xii.
2714.postrer: we should expectpostrerabefore a feminine noun, but the meter demandspostrer.
2731.Gozáis de tan cumplida preeminencia: the right to cover the head in the presence of the king was the special ceremonial distinction of the grandees of Spain.
The King's Letter, last line: if Quevedo had not made pauses in reading in order to hold his hearers in suspense, there would have been a punctuation mark afterbrazosbut not afterrey.
3009.mi villa: la Villa de la Torre de Juan Abad, in the Campo de Montiel, about one hundred miles from Madrid.
The sign ~ means a repetition of the word in black type at the beginning of the paragraph; thus, underacordar, "~ se" meansacordarse.
The sign ~ means a repetition of the word in black type at the beginning of the paragraph; thus, underacordar, "~ se" meansacordarse.