Gómez Arias Read online

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  [The spelling (sometimes archaic: shew, extacy, stopt, etc.) of theoriginal book has been retained. (Note of transcriber)]

  GOMEZ ARIAS;

  OR,

  THE MOORS OF THE ALPUJARRAS.

  A SPANISH HISTORICAL ROMANCE.

  BY

  DON TELESFORO DE TRUEBA Y COSIO.

  IN THREE VOLUMES.

  VOL. I.

  PREFACE.CHAPTER I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XIII., XIV.

  VOL. II.CHAPTER I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI., XII., XIII., XIV.

  VOL. III.CHAPTER I., II., III., IV., V., VI., VII., VIII., IX., X., XI. CONCLUSION.

  NOTES.

  _LONDON:_HURST, CHANCE, AND CO.65, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.1828.

  GUNNELL AND SHEARMAN, PRINTERS, SALISBURY SQUARE.

  VOL. I.

  TO THERIGHT HONORABLE LORD HOLLAND.

  _My Lord_,

  _It is with pleasure I avail myself of your permission to dedicate thefollowing Work to your name, as a small mark of my respect for yourLordship's character._

  _As a Spaniard, I find an additional motive for addressing it to one whohas uniformly shewn the interest he feels in the prosperity andliterature of my country._

  _I have the honor to be_,

  _My Lord_,

  _Your Lordship's_

  _Most obedient and obliged Servant_,

  TELESFORO DE TRUEBA Y COSIO.

  _London, March 1, 1828._

  PREFACE.

  Let me intreat the reader not to be alarmed at the hacknied word, whichgenerally augurs that a person is going to be very egotistical andprosy. This, at least, it will be my ambition to avoid. Nor is it myintention to assume its literary prerogatives in any way as a mask for asort of mock humility, endeavouring to impose upon good-natured personsby protestations of demerits, want of experience and talent, with thatlong series of et ceteras with which a writer generally opens his firstcampaign.

  The public has nothing to do with an exculpatory doctrine, which carrieswith it the aggravating circumstance of not being sincere; for I am surethat no man, with a moderate share of common sense, will suppose that anauthor really believes the accusation he so humbly utters againsthimself. Could he indeed persuade himself that his book was so veryindifferent a performance, he might assuredly more justly accuse himselfof acting the part of an unnatural parent in thus gratuitously exposinghis intellectual offspring to the neglect and compassion of the world.

  Besides, when an author presents his readers with this stultifyingcatalogue of demerits, he supplies them with the very best reasons toretort upon him:--"Good heavens; if the man has neither talents norinformation, why does he write at all?" Having thus waved my claims toany similar indulgence, it only remains for me to say a few wordsrespecting the origin and the object of the following Romance.

  As an enthusiastic admirer of the lofty genius, the delightful and vividcreations of that great founder of English historical fiction, SirWalter Scott, it often struck me, while reading his enchanting novels,as rather singular that he had never availed himself of the beautifuland inexhaustible materials for works upon a similar plan to be metwith in Spain. It has, indeed, been generally admitted that Spain wasthe classic ground of chivalry and romance. The long dominion of theMoors--the striking contrast between their religion, their customs andmanners, and those of their Christian enemy--the different pettykingdoms into which Spain was divided, with the consequent feuds,intrigues and battles,--all concurred to produce a succession ofextraordinary incidents and character, highly adapted for romantic anddramatic illustration. Yet, while the less abundant chronicles andtraditions of England, Scotland, Ireland and France, were successivelyransacked by the great magician and his most successful imitators, theyseem almost studiously to have avoided dwelling upon those glowing,luxuriant productions, replete with such variety of incident andcharacter, which form the national treasures of Spain.

  Conceiving, then, that I had the same right as any one else to spoil, ifI failed to give attraction to a fine subject, I found that my ideaswere further confirmed by the encouragement of some of the most eminentamongst my fellow-countrymen. I accordingly engaged in the undertaking,the result of which is the following Romance.

  With regard to the hero, I cannot well determine whether he ever existedor not. In spite of my researches, I have no other authority for hisreality than the well known comedy of the celebrated Calderon de laBarca, entitled "_La nina de Gomez Arias_." The probability is, thatCalderon took the hint of this comedy, according to a generallyprevailing custom in his time, from some legend or tradition now lost.Be this as it may, it is enough that such characters as Gomez Arias areunfortunately within the pale of human nature. I have endeavoured,however, to soften the character, as it is depicted, from that of anutterly abandoned libertine into a man of extraordinary ambition; forgreat passions, though they cannot palliate crime, are nevertheless notinconsistent with a dereliction of moral and legal ties.

  To conclude my prefatory reasons for not writing a long preface, thereis one point on which I am anxious to appeal to the indulgence of myreaders. It is obvious that the work being written in English by aSpaniard, must bear some traces of its foreign descent. In extenuationof these unavoidable faults of style and language, I can only entreatthat the English public will extend the same generous sympathy andbenevolence to the errors of the author, which it has already evinced,in far more important matters, on behalf of his unfortunatefellow-countrymen.

  GOMEZ ARIAS;

  OR,

  THE MOORS OF THE ALPUJARRAS.