Note 174 — Chapter XXXVI

Alonso de Alcalá y Herrera, “Varios Efetos de Amor,” Lisboa, 1641, 18mo. He was a Portuguese, but was of Spanish origin, and wrote Spanish with purity, as well as Portuguese. (Barbosa, Bib. Lus., fol., Tom. I. p. 26.) Clemencin cites these stories of Alcalá as proof of the richness of the Spanish language. (Ed. Don Quixote, Tom. IV. p. 286.) There is a tale, printed by Guevara, called “Los Tres Hermanos,” in the volume with his “Diablo Cojuelo,” (Madrid, 1733, 12mo,) in which the letter A is omitted; and in 1654 Fernando Jacinto de Zarate published a dull love-story, called “Méritos disponen Premios, Discurso Lírico,” omitting the same vowel;—but the five tales of Alcalá are better done than either.