20 REIGN OF JOHN II., OF CASTILE. I'ART poetry.^" His great work was his " Laberinto," the
- outlines of whose plan may faintly remind us of
that portion of the " Divina Commedia," where Dante resigns himself to the guidance of Beatrice. In like manner the Spanish poet, under the escort of a beautiful personification of Providence, wit- nesses the apparition of the most eminent indi- viduals, whether of history or fable ; and, as they revolve on the wheel of destiny, they give occasion to some animated portraiture, and much dull, pe- dantic disquisition. In these delineations we now and then meet with a touch of his pencil, which, from its simplicity and vigor, may be called truly Dantesque. Indeed the Castilian Muse never be- fore ventured on so bold a flight ; and, notwith- standing the deformity of the general plan, the obsolete barbarisms of the phraseology, its quaint- ness and pedantry, notwithstanding the cantering dactylic measure in which it is composed, and which to the ear of a foreigner can scarcely be made tolerable, the work abounds in conceptions, nay in whole episodes, of such mingled energy and beauty, as indicate genius of the highest order. In some of his smaller pieces his style assumes a graceful flexibility, too generally denied to his more strained and elaborate efforts.'^ ."^jon" ro """' ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^® necessary to bring under review the minor luminaries of this period. Alfonso de Baena, a converted Jew, secretary of John the 30 See Velazquez, PoesJa Cas- porated in the Cancionero General, tellana, p. 49. fol. 41 et seq. 31 A collection of them is incor-
