Note 121 — BOOK I. FROM THE END OF THE THIRTEENTH TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

An accurate idea of all the romances of this class may be derived from the Historia de los Vandos de los Zegris y Abencerrages, Caballeros Moros de Granada, a work well known to those who are acquainted with Spanish literature. It has been several times printed. The edition which I have now before me (Lisboa 1616,) seems to be one of the latest. On the title page the author styles himself, Ginez Perez de Hita, and on that page also appear the words, Aora nuevamente sacado de un libro Arabigo. The German critic Blankenburgh, is of opinion, that there is no more reason for supposing this work to be a translation from the Arabic, than that Don Quixote was derived from a similar source. But the word sacado on the title page, by no means indicates that it is a translation. The author has evidently derived much of his information, such for instance, as the genealogical register of the families, from Moorish sources. He has probably availed himself of an Arabic work to write a half true and half fabulous history of Granada, and to intersperse it with favourite romances. There is a counterfeit edition of this work, entitled, Historia de las guerras civiles de Granada, Paris, 1660. From the French words on the margin, it is obvious that the book must have been used in Paris in the seventeenth century, for learning the Spanish language.