Note 505 — Chapter XX
Reading edition
Both these plays are in the first volume of his Comedias, printed in 1614; but I have the Don Quixote in a separate pamphlet, without paging or date, and with rude wood-cuts, such as belong to the oldest Spanish publications of the sort. The first time Don Quixote appears in it, the stage direction is, “Enter Don Quixote on Rozinante, dressed as he is described in his book.” The redondillas in this drama, regarded as mere verses, are excellent; e. g. Cardenio’s lamentations at the end of the first act:—
Donde me llevan los pies Sin la vida? El seso pierdo; Pero como seré cuerdo Si fué traydor el Marques? Que cordura, que concierto, Tendré yo, si estoy sin mí? Sin ser, sin alma y sin tí? Ay, Lucinda, que me has muerto!—
and so on. Guerin de Bouscal, one of a considerable number of French dramatists (see Puybusque, Tom. II. p. 441) who resorted freely to Spanish sources between 1630 and 1650, brought this drama of Guillen on the French stage in 1638.