THE play from which our extracts are taken, is one of that class of Calderon's dramas which, on the Spanish stage, have received the title of Comedies of the Cloak and Sword, from the important part which disguises and duels occupy in the complication and evolution of the plot. They are dramas turning on the Spanish national character and manners, and the scene is generally laid on Spanish ground; or, if occasionally the locality be transplanted to Germany, Italy, or France, all the peculiarities rities of Spanish feeling, with its code of love, honour, and pride, and all the refinements and Orientalisms of its language of gallantry, are transferred to the foreign personages of the scene. THE GOBLIN LADY appears, from an allusion in the first scene to the festivities in honour of the baptism of the Prince of Asturias, to have been produced about the year 1623, at the time when Calderon's dramatic power and invention were most vigorous, and his style had in a great measure emerged from the taint of that Euphuism by which it had been at first deformed, and into which, in the decline of his career, it relapsed. The play, from the numerous allusions to it in Calderon's own works, as well as those of his dramatic rivals and contemporaries, appears to have obtained immediate and extraordinary popularity in Spain. An imitation of it by NO. CCXCI, VOL. XLVII, Hauteroche, under the title of L'Esprit Follet, exists upon the French stage. Of our translations, we shall only remark that our chief object has been scrupulous fidelity; every line being rendered as nearly as possible by its equivalent in English. The occasional extravagances of metaphor, and the exaggerations or over-refinements of sentiment, as well as the very indifferent jests, which are unquestionably of frequent occurrence in the original, we give as we find them; for, so far as our slender powers permit, we wish to exhibit Calderon to the English reader as he is. The Spanish drama is a national and peculiar, but self-consistent creation, which deserves to be studied in its beauties and its defects; and for that purpose a literal translation, not a dexterous adaptation to English tastes, is required. For the same reason we have adhered, in our translation, to the same measures as those which have been made use of in the original. So much of the impression produced by the Spanish drama depends on the musical effect of its versification, that to attempt to render the Spanish redondillas by English blank verse, would be to alter entirely their character. The ordinary dramatic verse of the Spanish stage is trochaic, and consists either in assonances or imperfect rhymes, (where the vowels rhyme A but not the consonants,)-or in consonantes or complete rhymes, (the first line rhyming with the fourth, and the second with the third.) These are occasionally varied by the introduction of other forms of versification, many of a very intricate and complex nature. Even the sonnet is frequently employed in soliloquies, or in those effusions of gallantry which are so frequent in the Spanish drama. After many experiments, we feel satisfied that the assonance, as used on the Spanish stage, is undistinguishable in English, while the principle which requires that the same assonance, if once begun, shall be continued throughout the scene, DON MANUEL, DON LUIS, DONA BEATRICE, ISABEL, CLARA, COSME, RODRIGO, though consisting of several hundred lines, would render its adoption too irksome to be practicable in English poetry. We have therefore substituted, for the assonances of the original, unrhymed trochaics as the nearest approach to the effect of the Spanish; - the other forms of versification which occur in the original, we have endeavoured to transfer to our translation. A few words of explanation, added to the names of the characters, will be sufficient to give an idea of their position at the commencement of the play: after which the development of the action proceeds simply and rapidly. The personages of the play are, (in love, without knowing her, with) (a young widow, the sister, and living in the house of) (the friend and former companion in arms of DON MANUEL, and the brother of) (in love, but without success, with) (the cousin and friend of ANGELA-inlove with Don Juan, and beloved by him in turn.) (the servant of DONA ANGELA.) (the servant of DONA BEATRICE.) The opening of the play affords a good instance of the skill with which Calderon at once introduces the reader into the action of the play, and excites, from the first moment, an interest in the fortunes of his personages, which goes on increasing to the last. The scene is a Street in Madrid; the time November 1623, being the baptismal day of the Infante Balthazar, the son of Philip IV. DON MANUEL and his servant COSME appear in travelling dresses. Cosm. Well, since we have miss'd the revels By an hour, let us endeavour D. Man. 'Tis Don Juan de Toledo, He became my ensign; then Through the town, my path enquiring. Stopp'd a while to learn the reason, Enter hastily DONA ANGELA and her servant ISABEL veiled. Cavalier, you bear within you Cosm. Was't a lady or a whirlwind ? D. Man. Strange event, indeed! [The women hurry out. What mean you, D. Man. First, by some device to stay him: But, if that be unavailing, |