of his Taming of the Shrew.

Alfonso the Wise, in the thirteenth century, was the author of a
legislative code known as Las Sieta Partides, or the Seven Parts. It
forms the Spanish common law, and has been the foundation of Spanish
Jurisprudence ever since; and being used also in the colonies of Spain,
it has, since the Louisiana Purchase, become in some cases the law in
our own country.

Juan Ruiz, who lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, wrote
a poem, partly fiction and partly allegorical, called the Battle of Don
Carnival, which strongly resembles Chaucer; both poets found their
material in northern French verse.

Santob, a Jew in the fourteenth century, wrote a poem called the Dance
of Death, which became a favourite subject with both painters and poets
for several succeeding ages.

The literature of Spain may be divided into four classes--the old
Ballads, the Chronicles, the Romances of Chivalry, and the Drama. The
most interesting of the old ballads are historical; but there are also
ballads that have to do with private life wherein appear the effusions
of love, the shafts of satire, the descriptions of pastoral life, and
the oddities of burlesque. One and all, however, faithfully represent
Spanish life. No such popular poetry is found in any other language.
The English and Scotch ballads belong to a more barbarous state of
society, and their verse is less dignified and lofty than that of the
Spaniards, who were uplifted by a deep religious sense, and an
unswerving loyalty to their sovereign. A state of feeling that elevated
them far above the men and events of border feuds, and the wars of
rival Barons.

The great Spanish heroes, the Cid, Bernardo del Carpo, and Pelayo, are
to this day a vital part of the belief and poetry of the lower classes
in Spain, and are revered as they were hundreds of years ago. The
wandering Mulateers still sing of Guarinos and of the defeat at
Roncesvalles as they did when Don Quixote heard them on his way to
Toboso; and the street showmen in Seville rehearse to this day the same
wonderful adventures that the Don saw in the Inn at Montesinos. The
Chronicles developed among the more refined and educated classes. The
most celebrated is the Chronicle of Spain, written by Alfonso the Wise.
It starts with the creation of the world, and ends with the death of
Alfonso's father, St. Ferdinand. It contains all the time-honored
traditions of the country, as well as exact hist