they had halted for the night, and returned to Valladolid, which he soon after left for Madrid, where he supported himself on his emoluments as a writer in the periodicals. The talents of Zorrilla were, however, at that time eclipsed by the genius and reputation of Mariano José de Larra, whose poems, plays, and essays, (written at first under the name of Figaro,) full of originality, brilliancy, and ease, were received with universal admiration. But the tragical death of Larra formed the stepping stone on which Zorrilla rose at once into fame. Larra, rash, impetuous, and eccentric as intellectual, had experienced some unexpected disappointment; and giving way to frenzied feelings, shot himself through the head, on February 13, 1837. On the following evening his body was placed on a funeral car, in a coffin adorned with a crown, and escorted by crowds of sorrowing admirers through the streets of Madrid to the cemetery of the gate of Fuencarral, where he was laid in his grave, over which an oration was pronounced by Señor Rocca de Togores. At the conclusion of the oration, the assembly that filled the cemetery were surprised by the appearance of an unknown youth beside the grave, as suddenly as if he had arisen from it. This was Zorrilla, then but twenty years of age, and a stranger to the surrounding mourners. With a pale countenance and trembling lips he began to read from a manuscript an epicedium on the departed Larra; but his voice failing from emotion, Señor Rocca took the paper from his hands, and finished the interrupted reading. The enthusiasm of the auditors equalled their astonishment: as soon as they could learn the appellation of the stranger who had afforded them so much melancholy pleasure, they saluted him with admiration, rejoicing to see a new genius rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the one just departed: and they who had escorted Larra to the "silent city of the dead," returned from it bearing another poet in triumph to the world of the living, and proclaiming with applauses the name of Zorrilla". From that hour he fixed upon himself the attention of his fellow-countrymen, and poured forth his poems with a rapidity and fertility rivalling those of Lope de Vega. The elder Zorrilla, who had completely estranged himself We follow the account given by Nicomedes Pastor Diaz, in his preface to the first volume of Zorrilla's poems. from his son, espoused the cause of the Carlists in the distractions of Spain; and on the failure of Don Carlos, lost his property, and was reduced to great indigence; a circumstance which, after long silence, he communicated to our poet, who promptly and dutifully assisted his impoverished parent from his own finances as long as his aid was needed. He was offered by the government the administration of his father's confiscated estate, which was equivalent to putting him in possession; but this he refused so long as the right owner should live. On the demise of his father, however, he has succeeded to his property as a matter of course; and has since lived in affluence, employed only in literature, having constantly declined to hold any office. He married a Señora Matilda O'Reilly, a lady evidently of Irish extraction. Several of the O'Reillys, of the county Cavan, (formerly princes of Breffney,) emigrated to Spain; Count Alexander O'Reilly was a general in the Spanish service from 1770 to 1800. Shortly after the appearance of Zorrilla at Larra's funeral, he published a volume of poems, which was rapidly succeeded by seven or eight others up to the year 1840 since which he has published "Songs of the Troubadours" in 3 vols., "Granada," a very attractive work, being a series of lyrics embodying description, legend, and history, upwards of twenty dramatic pieces, and various other collections of poems. Judging from a portrait appended to a volume published in 1845, we should say that the poet was rather a handsome man, with an intellectual and mild expression, fine hair, and a truly Spanish face. Zorrilla is fertile in ideas; he is often original and brilliant; and his versification is generally musical and flowing, but sometimes careless, and he is frequently unequal to himself in many respects. His poems are generally long for lyrics, but not tedious; for they exhibit different views of the subject-matter; and with each change the poet ingeniously alters his metre, so that the ear is pleased and interested, and the perception of length is prevented by the variety in the rhythm. His descriptions are clear and animated; he has studied the Scriptures, and learned therein a vigour and solemnity of diction. He has risen in great measure above the conceits, antitheses, and plays on words, to which the earlier Spanish poets were too much addicted: but he sometimes. indulges in sarcastic expressions, and in a vein of misanthropy which, in one so well treated by the world, we should deem to be merely an affected imitation of our Byron, but that considering the degenerate state of modern Spain, we may fairly infer he had seen much to shock and offend his feelings. It is Zorrilla's characteristic, and his boast, to be essentially a national poet: his themes are, with few exceptions, confined to Spanish subjects and scenery; and he seems purposely to avoid the history and mythology of Greece and Rome, which other poets have considered as ornaments to their compositions. He says himself in his preface to his second volume that he has kept in view two objects, the country in which he was born, and the faith in which he lives: that as a Christian he believes his religion contains more true poetry than paganism can boast; and he prefers its rites to those of the meretricious Venus, and the irreverend Bacchus; and that as a Spaniard he holds it unworthy to sing the praises of Horatius Cocles, Leonidas, or Curtius, and leave the heroes of his own land unnoticed. For a paper confined within certain limits, as this must necessarily be, it is difficult to select specimens for translation from Zorrilla's poems. The best of his lyrics are too long for the present purpose; and we would not of course wish to choose those whose chief merit is their comparative brevity. Among those effusions which fall below Zorrilla's own powers and aim, we must include the epicedium on Larra, that very composition by which he rose so suddenly to fame. Much of the effect produced by the recitation was owing to the circumstances of the moment, the place, the hour, the state of feeling of the auditors; it was especially the poem of that present time; and the minds of the hearers were tuned in unison with any voice that should descant on the subject by which they were engrossed. Nicomedes Pastor Diaz owns in his preface to Zorrilla's works, that if these verses had been read calmly, and in another place, to each of the auditors individually, they would not have been considered so beautiful and so striking as they were when there recited. Zorrilla looks with great liberality on the memory of the Moors, so long the brave and successful competitors with the Spaniards on their own soil. He has written some very pretty ballads, à la Morisco, which he calls "Orientals," and in which he represents in glowing colours that rival race as magnificent in habits, refined in manners, chivalrous in feeling, and tender and delicate in love. We here translate a specimen. MOORISH BALLAD. (Corriendo van por la vega, A las puertas de Granada, Y el Capitan que los manda.) WITH forty horsemen in his train, Before the gate his courser grey "Beautiful Christian, grieve me not! "Within Granada's walls have I "I have a tower by Genil's side, "O'er river's bank, by vale, by hill, Can with those lands compare. "There with majestic palms unite And fig-trees broad o'er plain and height "The hardy walnut darkly green, The nopal's yellow glow, And mulberries 'mid the shady screen Around my castle grow. b A small river in Granada. "Mine are tall elms whose boughs have met To form my close arcade; And mine are birds that sing in net "And thou within my Harem's walls No fair ones grace its vacant halls, "I'll give thee silks from orient lands, And veils, the work of Grecian hands, "I'll give thee graceful plumes so light, "Pearls for thy hair, its braids to deck: And jewels for thy swan-like neck; "For me thy treasures have no charms," Bring me but where my father dwells, His tower in fair Leon excels Granada's proudest dome." The Moslem strok'd his raven beard, He spake "If more thou dost esteem "If Spanish knight thy love has won, He gave her half his armed men; |