Note 210 — Chapter XIII
Reading edition
Lord Holland treats him as the old Duke (Life of Lope de Vega, London, 1817, 2 vols., 8vo); and Southey (Quarterly Review, 1817, Vol. XVIII. p. 2) undertakes to show that it could be no other; while Nicolas Antonio (Bib. Nov., Tom. II. p. 74) speaks as if he were doubtful, though he inclines to think it was the elder. But there is no doubt about it. Lope repeatedly speaks of Antonio, the grandson, as his patron; e. g. in his epistle to the Bishop of Oviedo, where he says,—
Y yo del Duque Antonio dexé el Alva.
Obras Sueltas, Tom. I. p. 289.
He, however, praised the elder Duke abundantly in the second, third, and fifth books of the “Arcadia,” giving in the last an account of his death and of the glories of his grandson, whom he again notices as his patron. Indeed, the case is quite plain, and it is only singular that it should need an explanation; for the idea of making the Duke of Alva, who was minister to Philip II., a shepherd, seems to be a caricature or an absurdity, or both. It is, however, the common impression, and may be found again in the Semanario Pintoresco, 1839, p. 18. The younger Duke, on the contrary, loved letters, and, if I mistake not, there is a Cancion of his in the Cancionero General of 1573, f. 178.