Note 455 — Chapter XIV
Reading edition
It is in the Hamburg edition (Tom. I. pp. 36-62); but though it properly ends, as has been said, with the song to the Madonna, there is afterwards, by way of envoi, the following vilancete, (“por despedida ó vilancete seguinte,”) which is curious as showing how the theatre was, from the first, made to serve for immediate excitement and political purposes; since the vilancete is evidently intended to stir up the noble company present to some warlike enterprise in which their services were wanted, probably against the Moors of Africa, as King Manoel had no other wars.
To the field! To the field! Cavaliers of emprise! Angels pure from the skies Come to help us and shield. To the field! To the field! With armour all bright, They speed down their road, On man call, on God, To succour the right. To the field! To the field! Cavaliers of emprise, Angels pure from the skies Come to help us and shield. To the field! To the field!
A la guerra, Caballeros esforzados; Pues los angeles sagrados A socorro son en tierra. A la guerra! Con armas resplandecientes Vienen del cielo volando, Dios y hombre apelidando En socorro de las gentes. A la guerra, Caballeros esmerados; Pues los angeles sagrados A socorro son en tierra. A la guerra!
Vicente, Obras, Tom. I. p 62.
A similar tone is more fully heard in the spirited little drama entitled “The Exhortation to War,” performed 1513.