Note 820 — Chapter IV

These two letters are printed in that rude and ill-digested collection called the “Seminario Erudito,” Madrid, 1789, 4to; the first in Tom. XVIII., and the second in Tom. XXIV. Pellicer, however, says that the latter is taken from a very imperfect copy (ed. Don Quixote, Parte I. c. 1, note); and, from some extracts of Clemencin, (ed. Don Quixote, Tom. I. p. 5,) I infer that the other must be so likewise. They pass, in the MS., under the title of “Cartas del Bachiller de Arcadia.” The Catariberas, whom Mendoza so vehemently attacks in the first of them, seem to have sunk still lower after his time, and become a sort of jackals to the lawyers. See the “Soldado Pindaro” of Gonçalo de Cespedes y Meneses, (Lisboa, 1626, 4to, f. 37. b,) where they are treated with the cruellest satire. I have seen it suggested that Diego de Mendoza is not the author of the last of the two letters, but I do not know on what ground.