Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/158

14 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. TART I. Manjuis rif Villeiia. might be the value of his criticisms, that of his example cannot be doubted. The courtiers, with the quick scent for their own interest which distin- guishes the tribe in every country, soon turned their attention to the same polite studies ; '^ and thus Castilian poetry received very early the courtly stamp, which continued its prominent characteristic down to the age of its meridian glory. Among the most eminent of these noble savans, was Henry, marquis of Villena, descended from the royal houses of Castile and Aragon,'^ but more illustrious, as one of his countrymen has observed, by his talents and attainments, than by his birth. His whole life was consecrated to letters, and especially to the study of natural science. I am not aware that any specimen of his poetry, although much lauded by his contemporaries,^^ has come down to us.'^ He translated Dante's " Commedia " into 1^ Velazquez, Origenes de la Poesia Castellana, (Malaga, 1797,) p. 45. — Sanchez, Poesias Cas- tellanas, torn. i. p. 10. — " The Cancioneros Generales, in print and in manuscript," says Sanchez, " show the great number of dukes, counts, marquises, and other no- bles, who cultivated this art." 15 He was the grandson, not, as Sanciiez supposes (torn. i. p. 15), the son, of Alonso de Villena, the first marquis as well as constable created in Castile, descended from James II. of Aragon. (See Dor- mer, Enmiendas y Advertencias de Zurita, (Zaragoza, 1683,) pp. 371-370.) His mother was an illegitimate daughter of Henry II., of Castile. Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 28. — Salazar de Mendoza, Monarquia de Espaua, (Madrid, 1770,) torn. i. pp. 203, 339. 16 Guzman, Generaciones, cap. 28. — Juan de Mena introduces Ville- na into his " Laberinto," in an agreeable stanza, which has some- thing of the mannerism of Dante. " Aquel claro padre aquel dulce fUente aquel que en el castolo monte resuena es don Enrique Senor de Villena honrra de Espana y del siglo presente,"&c. Juan de Mena, Obras, (Alcala, 1566,) fol. 138. li" The recent Castilian transla- tors of Bouterwek's History of Spanish Literature have fallen into an error in imputing the beautiful candon of the " Querella de Amor " to Villena. It was composed by the Marquis of Santillana. (Bou- terwek, Historia de la Literatura Espaiiola, traducida por Cortina y Hugaldc y Mollinedo, (Madrid, I829,|p. 196., and Sanchez, Poesias Castellanas, tom. i. pp. 38, 143.) Tiie mistake into which Nicolas