Note 217 — BOOK VI.

Pedro de Láinez joined with Cervantes in writing eulogistic verses for Padilla's Jardín espiritual: see note 27. Examples of his skill are given in Pedro Espinosa's Flores de poetas ilustres de España (1605). Fernández de Navarrete, in his biography of Cervantes, states (p. 116) that Láinez died in 1605: he is warmly praised by Lope de Vega in the Laurel de Apolo (silva iv.).

His widow, Juana Gaitán, lived at Valladolid in the same house as Cervantes and his family: she is mentioned, not greatly to her credit, in the depositions of some of the witnesses examined with reference to the death of Gaspar de Ezpeleta; but too much importance may easily be given to this tittle-tattle. Luisa de Montoya, a very respectable widow, corroborated the evidence of other witnesses who assert that the neighbours gossiped concerning the visits paid to Láinez's widow by the Duque de Pastrana and the Conde de Concentaina—"que venian a tratar de un libro que había compuesto un fulano Laynez, su primer marido."

The contemptuous phrase—un fulano Laynez—would imply that Luisa de Montoya was not a person of literary tastes: she was, however, widow of the chronicler, Esteban de Garibay Zamalloa, author of the Ilustraciones genealogicas de los catholicos reyes de las Españas, y de los christianissimos de Francia, y de los Emperadores de Constantinopla, hasta el Catholico Rey nuestro Señor Don Philipe el II y sus serenissimos hijos (Madrid, 1596). The words—su primer marido—which are likewise used by another witness (Cervantes's niece, Costanza de Ovando), might be taken, if construed literally, to mean that Láinez's widow had married again shortly after her husband's death: for the evidence was taken on June 29, 1605. But, apparently, the inference would be wrong. When examined in jail, to which she was committed with Cervantes and others, Juana Gaitán described herself as over thirty-five years of age, and as the widow of the late Pedro Láinez. She accounted for Pastrana's visits, which had given rise to scandal, by saying that she intended to dedicate to him two books by her late husband, and that Pastrana had merely called to thank her in due form. A reference to Pastrana in the Viaje del Parnaso (cap. viii.) seems to suggest that Pastrana was a munificent patron:—

It is a little unlucky that these works by Láinez, concerning the publication of which the author's zealous widow consulted Pastrana, should not after all have found their way into print. For details of the evidence in the Ezpeleta case, see Dr. Pérez Pastor's Documentos Cervantinos hasta ahora inéditos (Madrid, 1902), vol. ii., pp. 455-527.