Note 725 — Chapter XXIII

Though Lope de Vega, in his “Justa Poética de San Isidro,” (Madrid, 1620, 4to, f. 76,) declares the Glosas to be “a most ancient and peculiarly Spanish composition, never used in any other nation,” they were, in fact, an invention of the Provençal poets, and, no doubt, came to Spain with their original authors. (Raynouard, Troub., Tom. II. pp. 248-254.) The rules for their composition in Spain were, as we see also from Cervantes, (Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 18,) very strict and rarely observed; and I cannot help agreeing with the friend of the mad knight, that the poetical results obtained were little worth the trouble they cost. The Glosas of the Cancionero of 1535 are at ff. 118-120.