Note 217 — Chapter VII

“En lo que hubo Cid, no hay duda, ni menos Bernardo del Carpio; pero de que hicieron las hazañas que dicen, creo que hay muy grande.” (Parte I. c. 49.) This, indeed, is the good sense of the matter,—a point in which Cervantes rarely fails,—and it forms a strong contrast to the extravagant faith of those who, on the one side, consider the ballads good historical documents, as Müller and Herder are disposed to do, and the sturdy incredulity of Masdeu, on the other, who denies that there ever was a Cid.