Spanish Literature

Juan Ruiz, Arcipreste de Hita, Libro de buen amor by Jean Ducamin

Review by: C. Carroll Marden
Modern Language Notes, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Apr., 1901), pp. 123-125
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2917906 .
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 245 Afril, rgor. MODERN LANGUA GE NO TES. Vol. xvi, No. 4. 246

onlyhad Beniveniuto an immensevocabulary, siglo xv.1 This early edition was based on
but he inflectedhis verbsand variedthe other the three extant manuiscripts of Juan Ruiz's
partsof speeclhwithall the profusionof a ple- work, but, as may be judged from the date,
beiani to whom aspettavi and asf ettaivate,den- the editor did not produce a text suitable for
tro and drento,filosafo and filosofo, stietto modern critical investigations in regard to
anidsc/ie/to,are prettymuchthe same. language and versification. Furthermore,
Notwithstanding the miianifold value of Cel- S.Anchez himself tells us that he has
lini's Life, no good edition of it has existed "suprimido una poesia eniteray varios
pasajes,
ulntil this year. WVehalve to thank Siglnor nio los mdnos festivos 6 ingeniosos por no
Orazio Bacci for editinig the book in an ade- ofender i los que lean estas composiciones,
quate, I miglhtsay coniclusive,way. TIhlelabor- olvidados del finicon que se publican."
In I863, Amnador de los Rios published in
ious years Nvhichthis distiniguishedsclholar re-
quired and gave to his task, will niotfail to find his Historia crzt'ica de la literathera espahoza
a rewardin the appreciationof all wlhostudy the greater portion of those passages which
Italianiliterature. SAinchezhad suppressed. Unfortunately,Rios
This editionl of Cellini is the work of a conisulted only two of the early maniuscripts
trained philologist,and halsfurtlhermore the and it is even possible that he saw onily later
mierit of beingwell printed-a rare anidgrati- copies of the original documents.2 Tlhus we
fyingquality in the books of modern Italy; are lnotsurprised to find that lhe failed to dis-
forthe land of Aldo Manuzio in this respect cover all the missing passages, and that his
lags uLsuallyfar behind England, the United text, as published, is by no meanis free of lin-
States anid Franice, in wliclh countries no guistic errors. In tle followilg year Florencio
classic is likely to remaini long in shoddy Jainerreprinted SAnchez's text, emendinig it in
dress. It is a pity that the only good acces- the light of but one early manuscript anid two
later copies of anotlher. Janer also attempted
sible eclition of Italv's greatest poet slhould
have hladto bt-e printedin Eniglanid.That the to publish the stanzas not included in the
earlier edition, aind it seems that he was not
Life of Benvenuto Cellini, aftera duranice of
three hundr-edanid fiftyyears, ilmaybe read at famniliarwvitli Rios' ivork on the same subject.
last in ani edition at once so sclholar-lyanid so Prof. Jean Ducamin, realizinig that the pre-
to is due in the to vious editions could not serve as a proper
plecasing the eye, firstplace
the instigationl of Signior Giosued Carducci. founidationfor linguistic study, hls prepar-eda
The credit, however, for carrying out the work 10ookthe ainmof whicl may be set fortlhin the
editor's owIn wvords:
witlhsuch success belonigs to Signior Orazio
Bacci, and lhise(lition Nvillbe appreciated by Notts avons cru que l'euvre de l'Arcipr6tre
all the frienidsof Betiventiuto Cellinii. etait assez importanitepour nm6riter tine 6dition
pal6ographique et une 6dition critique, et c'est
RICHARADHOLBROOK. la preniire que niousoffronsaux hispanisanits,
YazleUnivjer-sity. .... Les textes de S'atnchez et de Janlei peu-
vent, r la rigueur, foulrnlir tine base suffisanteA
uine 6tude litt6raire de l'Arcipr6tre, niais ils
SPANISHI L IT7ER.A YU R E. iie sauraient servir aulx gramniairienisoU atix
m1-6triciens pour leuirstravaux pr6cis et minu-
i
j Ia Ruiz, Ab-rcip-esfe1C Iitl, Libr-o (le bu?eii tieux. C'est surtoLut eni
penisenitA euix que
awRor. T''exte dii xive si"cle publie pour la iiOus avons fait niotr-e6dition. Notis avons
premie'refois avec les le9onS des trois imiauuii- vouilu qtu'elle I.it, auitant qtie possible, leur
scrits cOIiii1Ss,par- JEAN DUJCAIIIN. Biihijo- tenir lieLldes miiantLscrits.
thleque WIridioinale, rie Serie, Tome vi. Forimier editors clesignated the Arcipreste's
lroulouse: 190i. 8vo, Iv;-+344 IlT. work Poesias or Libi-o de cantares; Duicamin
1TH1E pOemIS of Jua11 RuliZ,Arcil)restedle I-lita, prrfers
Libro de bue n amwor whliclhwas the
title used by th-ecatithior hiimselfin several
were firstmade accessible to t1le public in the
year 1790 wilhe" 'I'ouias SAnchez published instances, adopted l)v Baist.3 and discrus.ed nt
i Repriinted by Ochoa, Paris, 1842.
tliethe in the foturthi and last volutiue of hlis
2 Cf. Dticamiii, p. xlii.
Coleccicn (le /'ocsfis casfeic(gWasanleriores tal 3 Gritndriss ere-RO z. J"cHZ., ii, 2, 405.

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 247 April, I9OI. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES Vol. xvi, No. 4. 248

length by Men6ndez Pidal.4 In the present The documentis of little value forthe study
editionthe firsttwo chaptersof the introduc- of Juan Ruiz's text,but taken as a whole it
tiondeal with the manuscripts-theirhistory, throwssuch a light on the history of the
contents,size, script, water-marts,etc., and Sparrishjongleurs thatDucamin has decided
finallythe extentto whichthe documentshad to publishit in fullat an earlydate.5
been used by previouseditors. In additionto themanuscripts, thereare five
The earlymanuscriptsare three in number. "'copies" based on sources which are acces-
The first(S) was formerly in Salamanca and is sible. The firstthree copies are so closely
now preservedinthePalace LibraryinMadrid. relatedthat
The hand-writingis late fourteenthor early " Elles semblentprouverqu'k une dpoque oti
fifteenth century,and the textcontains,as an S n'dtaitpas encore connu,antdrieurement A
introduction, ten stanzas and a lengthyprose Sanchez, en 1753, on avait songdA faire,avec
G et T compl6tdsl'un par l'autre,une ddition
passage, neitherofwhichis foundin the other de l'Arcipr6tre."
early versions. The second manuscript(G)
belonged formerlyto BenitoMartinezGoyoso The fourthcopy is based on S, and the fifth
and passed later into the possession of the seems to be simplya reproduction of Sancliez'
Spanish Academy. The manuscript was printedtext.
finished July 23, 1389 and some unknown Afterdiscussingthe various editionsof the
person,"d une 6poque assez ancienne," under- Arcipreste's work,Ducamin concludes his in-
scored,orotherwisemarked,certainversesand troductionwith three tables. These tables
single words,and Ducamin gives a complete containi,respectively,the comparativenum-
list of these verses and words,and notesthat beringof the strophesof his own and Janer's
the formerare generallyproverbs,while the text; a series of parallel columns showing
latterwere apparentlyintendedfora vocabu- which strophes are contained in the several
laryof those expressionswhichoffered special manuscripts;a comparisonof the foliosofthe
difficulty orinterest.The thirdmanuscript manuscriptwiththe pages of the edition.
(T),
The editorhas taken S as the basis forhis
originallyin the Cathedral of Toledo, is now
in the NationalLibraryin Madrid. The hand- text,thoughhe uses G in orderto supply the
lacunae. The reason forselecting S as a
writingis contemporarywith that of G. In
I899 the manuscriptwas re-bound,and the basis lies in the factthat it is more complete
thanieithef T or G.; it is writtenmore care-
binderwhiletrimmingtheleaves cuitinto the
textinseveralinstances.Fortunately,Ducamin fullyand intelligently, and gives, as a ruile,
had made his copy in i897, and thus he has the more correct readings, in spite of the
preservedto us the missingletters. T and G somewhat moderniizedorthography. Furtlher-
belong to a separate group fromthat repre- more,the spellingin S is rathercomplex,and
it was found moreconvenientto producethis
sented by S; the order of versesis thesame
manuscript in full,and give the readinigof the
in G and T, thoughitdiffers at timesfromthat
othertwo in the variants. In somecases slight
in S; G and T show similarerrors,and as
noted above these twodocumentswerewritten orthographicdifferences, such as the formsof
the letters, are not noted amonigthe varianits,
at about the same time. The book beforeus
but in order that the reader may become
containsa facsimileof one page fromeach of
familiarwith such miniorvariations,onie huin-
the threemanuscripts.
dredand thirty-four stroplhes
ofG,and sevenity-
Afterdiscussingthe sources just mentioned
seven strophes of T are produced in extenso.
the editorrefersto
rhere are several typograplhical featuresof
"un curieuxprogrammeou bonimentde jon- the textwhichcall forspecial miention.Those
gleur .... Ce de
pot potirri (lictons et boutfon- portionsof the
neries diverses renfermequelques vers de manuscriptwhichare written
l'Arcipretre. Ils sont certainementcit6s de in red inikare transcribedin heavytype. The
m6moireet sans le moindresoucide la mesure, editorhas reproducedthe three scribalforms
ni de leur ordreveritable." of the letter i (0. and has used five dictinnt
4 Rev. de arch. bib.y mus., ii, I898, pp. Io6 ff. 5 Cf. MenendezPidal. Cron.gen. de EsAa*a, p. 9.

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 249 April, I9OI. MfODERN LANGUAGE NOTES. Vol. xvi, NO. 4. 250

lettersin orderto renderthe variousformsof In many respectsJuan Ruiz is the most imn-
the dental sibilant; namely, C, 5, a, f, and s. portantfigureof his time,and the publication
The abbreviations have,forthemostpart,been of the manuscriptsof his verses formsan ap-
resolved, and the correspondingletters are propriatesequel to Knust's recent study of
put in italics. The horizontalstroke,when JuanManuel,the Arcipreste'sfamouscontem-
used to representpalatalizationof the letter porary.
ni,is transcribedas a tilde (safia,aflo),other- C. CARROLL MARDEN.
wise it is interpreted as n (mueran,nonilo). In johns HlotkinsUniversity.
thiosecases whenthe strokeis superfluous, or
where its value is doubtful,it has been re-
tained, thus we find such forms as grahd, LITE:RAR Y HIS TOR Y OF AMERICA.
cienit,feclio, cofiio,oiie. I reproduce,here- A LiteraryHistoryof America. ByBARRETT
with, the first two stanzas of the text, WENDELL, Professor of English at Harvard
omittingthe foot-notescorrespondingto the College. New York: Charles Scribner's
numeralsT-4: Sons. I900.
Sefior dios qnealodjodjo6 puel)lode perdigio I THE moststrikingfactabout Americanlitera-
facaftede cabtiniodel poder de fa[raon]2, tureis its retardation. The earliest coloinists
adaniel facaftedel pogo de babilon, came overin the heat ofreligiousand political
faca ami coytadodeftamala prefion. controversies,and brought with them the
Sefnor tu difte grafia aefter la Reyna, Bible-tlhat is, Religion, and the Common
antel(sic) el rreyafueroouo tu grafiadigna: Law-that is, Politics. When theyhad set up
ferior, da me tu grafia e tnimercedAyna; (in New England at least) a commonwealth as
facame3deftalaSeriadeftaprefio?14. nearlyresemblingtheold Hebrewtheocracyas
was possible for Eniglishmen, and substituted
It is somewhlatdifficultto decide wvhen the the despotismof the pulpitfor the
despotism
horizontal stroke over a letter is superfluous, ofthe throne,theynaturallyfoundthatpolitics
consequientlywe findthe stroke retainedin and religionmergedintoone. Thuisthewhole
' 11, ' n11,'buttranscribedas ii in "connella" literatuire (if we can call it literature)of the
(538d); likewise,we see "con nel (sic) " (46 c) seventeenthcenturywas theological;
" (34i b). Indeed it is re-argu-
in contrastto " conznel ing in heavy prose,or droningin unmelodious
to be regretteclthat the editor has not pre- verse,the doctrineswhlichhad been alive
at
served intact all the abbreviations,tlhereby the beginniing of the century. TIheywere out
keepinlghiistext oniestep ne.arerthe original of the world; ernbayedfromall currentsof
manuiiscripts. tranisformatiotn; and theclhanigesthatEngland
Wlhileit hlas been the aimiiof the present passed tlhrouglh fromJamesI. to Anniie, from
reviewer to give a briefdescriptioniof the Slhakespeareto D)ryden,practicallytouched
anid
contenits puLrpose of this new edition,it is themnot. In artand lettersthe beginniiing of
inipossil)le to convey ani adequate inipressioni the eighteentlh cenituryfoundtlhema hlundred
of the patieniceanid skill exhlibitedby tlhe years behliind.
editorin the p)reparationi of the introduction, But the middle of the cenitury sawvani ad-
text,variants,and foot-niotes. Whilethebook vanice. America became conscious of itself,
is inten(led primarilyfor the studentof lan- anidceased to be a detachedpiece ofEngland.
guage, per-son1siniterestedin Spanislh literature New Eniglanid had shakeenoffthe shackles of
will findwelcotmle materialin the seventeeni her rigid tlheology;anidsecuLlarpolitics,the
hiitlherto unp11upblislhed stanizas,6 andintheInidex nature anid duties of government,and the
de noms propires. Ii silor-t,thle tresente(litioni riglhts of the people, especially the American
is an invaluhable contribUtion to ouirknowledge people, niowoccuipiedmeni'sminids. To this
of 01l Sp)anish, and, altlhouglhthe editor extenitthe literature was Aiier-icani:intlhouglht
mnakes iiopromiiises,I hio}.elie imiay stpplemiient it was Etnglislh,and in expressioniit imiodelled
the book by a critical Studlyof the text. itselfonithe SSpectator, Swift,and Pope.
6 Nos. 385, anid 436-451. See also no. 1656. The beginnintg ofthenineteetnth ceniturvsaw

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