Note 1182 — Chapter XIV

Bouterwek, Sismondi, and others, have quoted a romance, beginning Tanta Zayda y Adalifa, as the effusion of an orthodox zeal, which had taken offence at these encomiums on infidels. Whoever reads this little poem, which may be found in Depping’s collection, will see that it is written more as a humorous ridicule on contemporary poets, than a serious reproof. It is much more lively than the answer, which these modern critics also quote. Both these poems are of the end of the sixteenth century. Neither Bouterwek nor Sismondi have kept in mind the recent date of the Moorish ballads.