Modern Poets and Poetry of Spain/Dedication
TO
THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
GEORGE, EARL OF CARLISLE,
&c. &c.
- My Lord,
I have sought permission to inscribe your Lordship's name on this page, as a favour appropriate to my work, under the considerations in which it originated.
I began these translations, partly as a means of acquiring an accurate knowledge of the Spanish language, and partly as a relaxation from other studies and pursuits, about the time when your Lordship, in the course of your statesmanlike visit to America, made, in 1842, a lengthened stay in Cuba, studying the circumstances of those countries, which are soon, perhaps, to take a yet more prominent place, than they do at present, in the history of the world.
The discussions I heard respecting that visit—for it was then considered an extraordinary one—raised in my mind many suggestions, as to the benefits that must accrue to the public from the observations of individual travellers. Accordingly as each one might have his special object in view, his sphere of action or opportunities of learning, so the knowledge he acquired might be proportionately imparted. The community at large had always evinced the greatest interest in the accounts given by travellers of their visits to foreign countries, as was shown by the favourable reception uniformly given to their works. Of these many that were published were well deserving of the popularity they obtained, especially as with regard to Spain there were several that left little for any future writer to supply of ordinary information. In one respect, however, all such works appeared to me to be deficient, though their failure was almost unavoidable, in the case of transient visitors, in their being unable to convey any adequate idea of the state of mental culture among the people they visited.
Yet this, to a philosophic reader, would be undoubtedly the truest test of the state of civilization to which any nation had attained. Such a reader would not be contented with merely a recital of the everyday occurrences of travelling, nor yet with general or statistical information respecting any people, obtained from ordinary sources. He would rather seek to follow them into the occupations of private life and into their favourite courses of thought and feeling, judging of these by the studies of their better classes of society, in their hours of relaxation or for domestic enjoyment. As the sagest of the Roman emperors, M. Antoninus, observed, To know any people's minds and inclinations, we should examine their studies and pursuits,—τὰ ἡγεμονικὰ αὐτῶν διάβλετε, καὶ τοὺς φρόνιμους, διὰ μὲν φεύγουσιν, διὰ δὲ διώκουσιν.
Few persons going abroad for a short period, or for a specific purpose, could be expected to acquire such an intimate knowledge of the literature of any country as to be able to render a satisfactory account of it. Where, however, any one had the means and the leisure to do so, that seemed to me the task most worthy for him to undertake.
As a servant of the public, I considered this more peculiarly a duty; and I therefore ventured, by extending my studies, to attempt giving a comprehensive view of Modern Spanish Poetry, and so complete the representations of Spanish society and manners given by other writers. This I thought best to be done, first, by compiling some critical and biographical notices of the principal modern poets; and, next, by endeavouring to transfuse into English verse the most favourable specimens of their productions, by which the English reader might in some degree be enabled to judge of their merits.
Such was the task I then set before me, the results of which I now offer to the public as my contribution to the store of general knowledge. For such a work there can be little merit claimed, except that for patient industry. But as a naturalist or collector of works of art patriotically endeavours to bring home the most valuable productions or treasures of other countries, so I trust that this work may also be favourably accepted, as a praiseworthy attempt to enrich our English literature with what was most interesting in the Spanish.
I have relied on your Lordship's approval of the design, from your well-known anxiety and constant efforts to improve the moral and social condition of the people, by literary as well as by legislative means. Sharing in the public respect for those efforts on their behalf, and with much thankfulness for the sanction afforded me, I have the honour to subscribe myself,
- Your Lordship's
- Most obedient,
- Humble Servant,
- J. KENNEDY.
London,
May 6, 1852.