Estoy buscando a los descientes de su familia. El poeta
Quintana no tuvo hijos, pero tuvo cuatro hermanos.
Estoy investigando a estas cuatro ramas de descendencia colateral.
Si usted es un descendiente o si conoce a algún descenciente de la famila,
por favor contacte conmigo a través de la siguiente dirección: caoimhghin@yahoo.com
I am looking for descendants of his family. The poet Quintana did not have
children
but he had four brothers and I am researching these four branches.
If you are a descendant or if you know a descendant of the family
please contact me at caoimhghin@yahoo.com
Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo
(Madrid; 11 de abril de 1772 - ídem; 11 de marzo de 1857),
poeta español de la Ilustración y una de las figuras más
importantes en la etapa de transición al Romanticismo.
Leonor Brodett line (source: Diederik
Kelder)
(For more information see Family
History section below)
Biografía
Manuel José Quintana nació en Madrid el 11 de abril de 1772,
hijo de padres extremeños. Estudió en Madrid primeras letras
y después latinidad en Córdoba con Manuel de Salas. Después
vuelve a Madrid, donde ya el 14 de julio de 1787 recita una
oda en la Academia de San Fernando. Pasó a estudiar Derecho
en Salamanca, donde se llevó muy bien con el rector liberal
Diego Muñoz-Torrero, pero no con quien le sucedió, Tejerizo,
quien lo expulsó en 1793, aunque fue readmitido al año
siguiente. Sus maestros salmantinos, en derecho y poesía,
fueron los neoclásicos Juan Meléndez Valdés, Pedro Estala,
Nicasio Álvarez de Cienfuegos y Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos.
Ejerció como abogado en Madrid desde 1795 y prosigue su
carrera poética. Es nombrado en ese mismo año procurador
fiscal de la Junta de Comercio y Moneda. Hasta 1798 escribe
una serie de odas que, impresas más tarde (Poesías, 1802),
le harán famoso. Sin embargo, su breve matrimonio en 1800
con la hermosísima dama zaragozana María Antonia Florencia
terminó en fracaso, se separaron y no tuvieron hijos; ella
morirá en 1820. En todo lo demás la vida le sonríe: estrena
con gran éxito su drama Pelayo (1805) y al año siguiente, el
25 de marzo, es nombrado censor de teatros; en 1807 empieza
a publicar una serie de biografías, Vidas de españoles
célebres, de inspiración muy patriótica, y funda una revista,
Variedades de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes. Parece que en
estos años preparaba otras tres obras dramáticas, pero en la
confusión creada por la invasión napoleónica se perdieron
para siempre los manuscritos y el escritor nunca llegó a
reiniciar su trabajo.
Durante la Guerra de la Independencia y a
partir de 1808 militó en el bando liberal y ocupó varios
cargos políticos en la resistencia antibonapartista,
ganándose una merecida fama de patriota sobre todo por su
dirección del Semanario Patriótico, idea que surgió en la
famosa tertulia de su casa madrileña; impreso al principio
en Madrid, esta importante publicación periódica pasó luego
a Sevilla y después a la Cádiz sitiada. Publica además en
1808 España libre y Poesías patrióticas. A partir de
entonces su obra de creación literaria pura quedó marginada
al poner su pluma al servicio de sus múltiples compromisos
políticos de orientación liberal, puesto que era oficial
primero de la Secretaría General de la Junta Central desde
enero de 1809, de la que era titular Martín de Garay. Con
éste, Calvo de Rozas y otros miembros de la Central que
habían nacido en la década de los 70 del siglo XVIII labró
un plan para imponer sus ideas liberales frente a los
absolutistas e incluso a ilustrados como Jovellanos, con
quien condescendieron en ocasiones pese a que no compartían
su defensa de las leyes tradicionales. Pero el impulso de
Quintana y Garay permitió que se reuniesen las Cortes de
Cádiz en una sola cámara sin respetar al estamento
privilegiado. En enero de 1810 es nombrado Secretario de
Interpretación de las Lenguas y participa además en la Junta
de Instrucción Pública. En 1813 publica otra colección de
Poesías. En 1814 ingresó en la Real Academia Española y en
la de San Fernando, pero ese mismo año, al regresar de
Francia [|Fernando VII]] y a causa de la reacción de "los
Persas", fue encarcelado en Pamplona por su colaboración con
las Cortes de Cádiz.
"Una vez que esto fue demostrado",
concluyó Quintana, "fuimos condenados por atentar contra la
subversión de las leyes fundamentales y por traición y
rebelión contra el rey" (Manuel José Quintana, Memoria
sobre el proceso y prisión de D. Manuel José Quintana en
1814 [1818] [Madrid: Real Academia Española, 1872], 229).
Fue liberado al restablecerse el gobierno constitucional en
1820; ingresa en la Sociedad del Anillo y la preside desde
el 30 de noviembre de 1821; en ese mismo año fue elegido
para las Cortes y nombrado presidente de la Dirección
General de Estudios, para la que redactará un Informe en
1822; en 1823, tras ser abolida de nuevo la Constitución, de
nuevo fue despojado de todos sus cargos y honores. Hasta
1828, cuando se le permitió volver a Madrid, vivió en
Extremadura con su familia paterna; allí redacta sus famosas
Cartas a Lord Holland, publicadas solamente en sus Obras
completas de 1852.
Muerto el monarca, fue restituido en sus
cargos, nombrado prócer del reino (1834-1836), director de
Estudios nuevamente en 1835 y senador electo por Badajoz
jurado en 1837; en 1830 empieza a editar una antología de
poetas clásicos españoles preparada por él con importantes
prólogos y notas, Poesías selectas castellanas, cuyo tercer
volumen, Musa épica, aparecerá en 1833; era el fruto de sus
pasados trabajos filológicos con Pedro Estala. El primero se
consagra a los clásicos, el segundo a la poesía del siglo
XVIII y el tercero a la poesía heroica o narrativa. En 1840
fue nombrado ayo instructor de la Reina doña Isabel II.
Senador vitalicio en 1845, el 25 de marzo de 1855 es
laureado como poeta nacional en el Senado por Isabel II
durante un solemne acto que Luis López dejó inmortalizado en
su pintura.
En el número uno de la Puerta del Sol falleció dos años más
tarde y, dejó algunas
deudas que fueron satisfechas con la venta de libros de su
Biblioteca. El entierro fue costeado en su totalidad por la
reina. Su vida y obra han sido estudiadas por autores como
el hispanista Albert Dérozier. Todos sus contemporáneos
destacaron en él como rasgos fundamentales de su carácter su
enorme honestidad e integridad, el patriotismo y el
compromiso radical con la libertad del género humano.
La poesía de Quintana es casi toda de tema cívico, moral,
patriótico o político, de inspiración fundamentalmente
neoclásica, pero se acerca al Prerromanticismo en algunos
momentos, como en su poema consagrado al mar.
This was Inés Pizarroso's house, his stepmother, in old Nº
19 of Calle del Parral, later called
Calle Muñoz Torrero, and now divided into two sections:
Calle Muñoz Torrero and Calle Manuel José Quintana,
Inés Pizarroso's house is current Nº 3 in the photo. The
house has two brown and white doors
(the one on the left leading to an upper floor) and three
green windows on the right.
The most remarkable thing about the house is the stone
front, which clearly shows that it was an
important building from the 19th Century.
(Photo credit: Nazaret Serrano Simancas)
View of the street in Cabeza del Buey
(Photo credit: Nazaret Serrano Simancas)
Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (April 11, 1772 - March
11, 1857), was a Spanish poet and man of letters. He was
born at Madrid. After completing his studies at Salamanca he
was called to the bar.
'Quintana was born at Madrid, the 11th April, 1772, of a respectable family of Estremadura. He received his primary education in classical learning at Cordova, whence he proceeded to Salamanca, and graduated there in canon and civil law. In this university he had the advantage of
studying under Melendez Valdes, by whom he was soon favourably noticed, and was made known to the illustrious Jovellanos, by whose counsels also he had the good fortune to be assisted. Thus his natural disposition for the study of elegant literature was encouraged, both by precept and example, under two such able directors, to take a higher course than the mere study of law, for which profession he was destined.
Having been admitted an Advocate of the Supreme Court, he has held various appointments, as fiscal of the tribunal of commerce, and censor of theatres; afterwards chief clerk of the Secretary-General to the Central Junta of Government, secretary of decrees and interpretation of languages, member of the censorship to the Cortes, and of the commission for the formation of a new plan of education. In the last, he was charged with the duty of drawing up a report of all the works on the subject presented to the government, which was, in 1835, approved of by the Cortes.
In the two former of these employments he was interrupted by the French invasion, when he took an active part against the invaders. Receiving afterwards the other offices mentioned, he wrote many of the proclamations and other addresses which were put forth on the part of the national government, during the struggle for independence. Throughout those eventful times, he was in the most advanced rank of the party that advocated constitutional rights, so that when Ferdinand
VII returned to the possession of absolute power, in 1814, he
[Quintana] was, amongst the proscribed, made a prisoner, and confined in the castle of Pamplona. There he was kept six years, without being allowed to
communicate with his friends, or make use of his pen.
[Ferdinand VII (Spanish: Fernando VII de Borbón; 14 October
1784 – 29 September 1833) was twice King of Spain: in 1808
and again from 1813 to his death. He was known to his
supporters as "the Desired" (el Deseado) and to his
detractors as the "Felon King" (el Rey Felón). After being
overthrown by Napoleon in 1808 he linked his monarchy to
counter-revolution and reactionary policies that produced a
deep rift in Spain between his forces on the right and
liberals on the left. He reestablished the absolutist
monarchy and rejected the liberal constitution of 1812. He
suppressed the liberal press 1814-33 and jailed many of its
editors and writers. (See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_VII_of_Spain)]
[Following a popular riot at Aranjuez Charles IV abdicated
in March 1808. Ferdinand ascended the throne and turned to
Napoleon for support. He abdicated on 6 May 1808. Napoleon
kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the
Chateau of Valençay. While the upper echelons of the Spanish
government accepted his abdication and Napoleon's choice of
his brother Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain, the Spanish
people did not. Uprisings broke out throughout the country,
marking the beginning of the Peninsular War (See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsular_War).
Provincial juntas were established to control regions in
opposition to the new French king. After the Battle of
Bailén proved that the Spanish could resist the French, the
Council of Castile reversed itself and declared null and
void the abdications of Bayonne on 11 August 1808. On 24
August, Ferdinand VII was proclaimed king of Spain again,
and negotiations between the Council and the provincial
juntas for the establishment of a Supreme Central Junta were
completed. Subsequently, on 14 January 1809, the British
government acknowledged Ferdinand VII as king of Spain. (See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_VII_of_Spain)]
On the constitutional government becoming re-established, he
[Quintana] was released, and restored to his offices as secretary for the
interpretation of languages, and member of the board of censors. In 1821, the directorship-general of public education having been formed, he was made president, until 1823, when the constitution was again set aside, and he was again deprived of his employments.
Hereupon Quintana retired to Estremadura to his family, and lived there till the end of 1828, when he was permitted to return to Madrid, to continue his labours and literary studies. The following year he was named member of the board for the museum of natural sciences, and in 1833 was re- established in his former employment, as secretary for
interpretations, for which his knowledge of the French, English and other languages rendered him qualified, and also reappointed president of the council of public instruction. He was shortly after appointed preceptor to her present Majesty, Queen Isabel II., and although ever maintaining strong liberal principles, has been since, under the administration of Narvaez, named a senator of the kingdom.'
(MODERN POETS AND POETRY OF SPAIN
By JAMES KENNEDY, Esq., See below)
In 1801 Quintana produced a tragedy, El Duque de Viseo,
founded on M. G. Lewis's Castle Spectre; his Pelayo (1805),
written on a patriotic theme, was more successful.
The first volume of his Vidas de Españoles célebres,
containing lives of Spanish patriots, stirred the public
imagination and secured Quintana the post of secretary to
the Cortes during the French invasion. His proclamations and
odes fanned the national enthusiasm into flame. But he was
ill rewarded for his services, for on the return of
Ferdinand VII he was imprisoned at Pamplona from 1814 to
1820.
He was finally given a small post in the civil
service, became tutor to Queen Isabella II, and was
nominated senator. Though publicly crowned as the
representative poet of Spain (1855), he seems to have lived
in poverty.
[Isabella II (Spanish: Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 10 April
1904) was queen regnant of Spain from 1833 until 1868. She
came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was
disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female
sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled
reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1868,
and formally abdicated in 1870. Her son Alfonso XII became
king in 1874.Isabella succeeded to the throne because
Ferdinand VII had induced the Cortes Generales to help him
set aside the Salic law, introduced by the Bourbons in the
early 18th century, and to re-establish the older succession
law of Spain. The first pretender, Ferdinand's brother
Carlos, fought seven years during the minority of Isabella
to dispute her title. Carlos' and his descendants'
supporters were known as Carlists, and the fight over the
succession was the subject of a number of Carlist Wars in
the 19th century. Isabella's reign was maintained only
through the support of the army. The Cortes and the Moderate
Liberals and Progressives reestablished constitutional and
parliamentary government, dissolved the religious orders and
confiscated their property (including that of Jesuits), and
tried to restore order to Spain's finances. (See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_II_of_Spain)]
Quintana died at the age of 84. His poems, thirty-four in
number, are inspired by philanthropy and patriotism; the
style is occasionally gallicized, but his nobility of sentiment and resounding
rhetoric attract many generations of Spaniards.
QUINTANA, Manuel José
(Madrid,1777-1857). Político y escritor español. Durante el
reinado de Fernado VII fue encarcelado por sus ideas
liberales, pero a la muerte del monarca, ocupó distintos
cargos públicos. Autor de las poesías "Al combate de
Trafalgar", "A la paz entre España y Francia" y "Revolución
de marzo". Oleo de José Min Tudó. Ministerio de Educación y
Ciencia. Madrid. España.
Biblioteca del Senado de España,
del que Quintana fue miembro vitalicio
Antonio María Esquivel y Suárez de Urbina, Los
poetas Contemporáneos o Lectura de José Zorrilla en el
estudio del pintor, óleo sobre lienzo, 144 x 217 cm,
firmado, 1846, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
El cuadro más famoso de Esquivel y pieza capital del
Romanticismo español. Considerado como máximo testimonio
gráfico del ambiente intelectual bajo el reinado de Isabel
II (1830-1904), este lienzo reúne de forma ficticia a las
personalidades culturales más relevantes contemporáneas a
Esquivel. En su composición se aúna la complejidad del
retrato colectivo junto al esquema de gabinete del barroco
flamenco, al detenerse en cada detalle del taller del pintor,
pudiéndose identificar y analizar las obras y gustos del
artista.
Según el orden de la cartela grabada que acompaña a este
cuadro, de izquierda a derecha, pueden identificarse los
siguientes personajes: Antonio Ferrer del Río (1814-1872),
Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch (1806-1880), Juan Nicasio Gallego
(1777-1853), Antonio Gil y Zárate (1793-1861), Tomás
Rodríguez Rubí (1817-1890), Isidoro Gil y Baus (1814-1866),
Cayetano Rosell y López (1817-1883), Antonio Flores
(1818-1866), Manuel Bretón de los Herreros (1796-1873),
Francisco González Elipe, Patricio de la Escosura
(1807-1878), José María Queipo de Llano, conde de Toreno
(1786-1843), Antonio Ros de Olano (1808-1887), Joaquín
Francisco Pacheco (1808-1865), Mariano Roca de Togores
(1812-1889), Juan González de la Pezuela (1809-1906), Ángel
de Saavedra, duque de Rivas (1791-1865), Gabino Tejado
(1819-1891), Francisco Javier de Burgos (1824-1902), José
Amador de los Ríos (1818-1878), Francisco Martínez de la
Rosa (1787-1862), Carlos Doncel, José Zorrilla (1817-1893),
José Güell y Renté (1818-1884), José Fernández de la Vega,
Ventura de la Vega (1807-1865), Luis de Olona (1823-1863),
Antonio María Esquivel, Julián Romea (1818-1863), Manuel
José Quintana (1772-1857), José de Espronceda (1808-1842),
José María Díaz († 1888), Ramón de Campoamor (1817-1901),
Manuel Cañete (1822-1891), Pedro de Madrazo y Kuntz
(1816-1898), Aureliano Fernández Guerra (1816-1891), Ramón
de Mesonero Romanos (1803-1882), Cándido Nocedal
(1821-1885), Gregorio Romero Larrañaga (1814-1872),
Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Pimentel, duque de Frías
(1873-1851), Eusebio Asquerino (h.1822-1892), Manuel Juan
Diana (1814-1881), Agustín Durán (1793-1862).
Antonio Maria Esquivel Suarez de Urbina, The Contemporary
poets or the readingby José Zorrilla in the studio
of the painter, oil on canvas , 144 x 217 cm , signed,
1846 , Museo del Prado, Madrid.
The most famous painting by Esquivel and a capital piece in
the Spanish Romanticism. Considered the most graphic
testimony of the intellectual environment during the reign
of Isabel II (1830-1904), this canvas fictitiously meets the
most relevant contemporary cultural figures to Esquivel. In
its composition, it is unified the complexity of the
collective portrait with the scheme of the Flemish Baroque
cabinet, by investigating in every detail of the artist's
workshop, being able to identify and analyze the works and
the artist aesthetics.
According to the order of the recorded gusset accompanying
this picture, from left to right, one can identify the
following characters: Antonio Ferrer del Rio (1814-1872) ,
Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch (1806-1880) , Juan Nicasio Gallego
(1777-1853 ), Antonio Gil y Zárate (1793-1861) , Thomas
Rodriguez Rubi (1817-1890) , Isidoro Gil y Baus (1814-1866)
, Cayetano Rosell and Lopez (1817-1883) , Antonio Flores
(1818-1866) , Manuel Breton de los Herreros (1796-1873) ,
Francisco González Elipe , Patrick's Escosura (1807-1878) ,
José María Queipo , Count of Toreno (1786-1843) , Antonio
Ros de Olano (1808-1887) , Joaquín Francisco Pacheco
(1808-1865) , Mariano Togores Rock (1812-1889) , Juan
Gonzalez of Pezuela (1809-1906) , Angel de Saavedra , Duke
of Rivas (1791-1865) , Gabino Roof (1819-1891) , Francisco
Javier de Burgos (1824-1902) , José Amador de los Ríos
(1818-1878) , Francisco Martínez de la Rosa (1787-1862) ,
Child of Carlos José Zorrilla (1817-1893) , José Güell and
Renté ( 1818 - 1884 ), José Fernández de la Vega, Ventura de
la Vega ( 1807-1865 ) , Luis de Olona ( 1823-1863 ), Antonio
Maria Esquivel , Julian Romea ( 1818-1863 ), Manuel José
Quintana ( 1772-1857 ), José Espronceda (1808-1842) , José
María Díaz ( † 1888), Ramón de Campoamor ( 1817-1901 ),
Manuel Cañete ( 1822-1891 ), Pedro de Madrazo y Kuntz (
1816-1898 ) , Aureliano Fernández Guerra ( 1816 - 1891 ) ,
Ramon Innkeeper Roman ( 1803-1882 ) , Cándido Nocedal (
1821-1885 ) , Gregorio Romero Larrañaga ( 1814-1872 ) ,
Bernardino Fernández de Velasco y Pimentel , Duke of Frías (
1873-1851), Eusebio Asquerino ( h .1822-1892) , Manuel Juan
Diana (1814-1881) , Agustín Durán ( 1793-1862 ) .
López y Piquer, "Coronación
de don Manuel J. Quintana"
Luis LÓPEZ Y PIQUER (Valencia, 1802 - Madrid, 1865) - Óleo
sobre lienzo - 420 x 561 cms
"Obra depositada por el MUSEO NACIONAL DEL PRADO en el
Senado"
La ceremonia que evoca este cuadro tuvo lugar el 25 de marzo
de 1855 en el Salón de Sesiones del Senado.
La idea de que el poeta Quintana fuera coronado por Isabel
II fue sugerida por Espartero y su iniciativa secundada por
la Reina, la cual, al serle expuesto el propósito de la
Comisión organizadora que presidía Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch,
según las crónicas de la época, respondió: "Yo amo a
Quintana, no solo como mi ayo y maestro, sino también como
al ingenio más grande de mi reino; estoy, pues, pronta a
coronarle".Son muchas las noticias de la prensa del momento
donde se describe con detalle la ceremonia. Al parecer,
Quintana se desplazó al Senado acompañado por el Presidente
del Congreso, el Alcalde de Madrid y el Director de la Real
Academia Española.
López y Piquer, "Coronation of Don Manuel J. Quintana"
Luis López Y Piquer (Valencia, 1802 - Madrid, 1865) - Oil on
canvas - 420 x 561 cms
"Work deposited by the Prado Museum in the Senate"
The ceremony that this painting evokes took place the 25th
March of 1855 at the Meeting Hall of the Senate.
The idea to crown the poet Quintana by Isabel II was
suggested by Espartero, and his initiative was supported by
the Queen, who, when she was exposed the purpose of the
Organizing Committee presided by Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch,
according to the chronicles of the time, responded: "I love
Quintana, not only as my tutor and teacher, but also as the
greatest genius of my kingdom, I am therefore ready to crown
him." Many press reports of the time described in detail the
ceremony. Apparently, Quintana went to the Senate
accompanied by the President of the Congress, the Mayor of
Madrid and the Director of the Royal Spanish Academy.
Durante el Renacimiento, los que
recibieron un doctorado, al pasar sus exámenes finales,
estaban decorados con ramas de freza de laurel, un antiguo
símbolo de alto honor. De esta antigua costumbre se deriva
la palabra francesa baccalauréat (del latín bacca, una baya,
y Laureus "del laurel") y por modificación, el término "bachiller"
para referirse a alguien que posee un título universitario.
During the Renaissance, those who
received a doctorate, upon passing their final examinations,
were decorated with berried branches of bay, an ancient
symbol of highest honor. From this ancient custom derives
the French word baccalauréat (from the Latin bacca, a berry,
and laureus, "of the bay laurel") and by modification, the
term "bachelor" in referring to one who holds a university
degree.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor%27s_degree
Traslado de restos mortales de D.
Manuel el 11 de Marzo de 1922 al Cementerio de la Almudena
M.J. Quintana muriό el 11 de Marzo de
1857 y fue enterrado en el Cementerio Patriarcal de Madrid.
En 1922, debido a la mala preservaciόn del cementerio, sus
restos fueron trasladados al cementerio de la Almudena. La
Reina Isabel II sufragό los gastos del funeral.
M.J. Quintana died the 11th of March of 1857 and was buried
in the Cementerio Patriarcal in Madrid. En 1922, due to the
bad preservation of the cemetery, his remains were moved
into the Cementerio de la Almudena. The Queen Isabel II
defrayed the expenditures for his funeral.
Cementerio Patriarcal de Madrid
Fue construido en 1849 para dar sepultura a aquellos
miembros que pertenecían a la llamada iglesia de la
Patriarcal, cuya jurisdicción se extendía a soldados,
funcionarios, sirvientes, y demás trabajadores de la Casa
Real.
Se trataba de un cementerio pequeño, formado por un solo
patio, y en el que apenas merece destacar el monumento
levantado por pública suscripción al poeta Quintana.
Clausurado el 1 de septiembre de 1884, su lugar lo ocupan
hoy diversos edificios de viviendas situados entre las
calles de Donoso Cortés y Magallanes.
Calle Marqués Viudo de Pontejos 1, (segunda
planta), Madrid, donde viviό y muriό M. J. Quintana.
Ruta Manuel José Quintana en Madrid / The
Manuel José Quintana Trail in Madrid
(1) Iglesia de San Ginés,
Calle Arenal, 13, 28001 Madrid
(Baptism / Bautizo)
(2) Museo Nacional del Prado, Paseo del Prado, s/n, 28014
Madrid
(Pintura / Paintings Los poetas Contemporáneos o
Lectura de José Zorrilla en el estudio del pintor andEl Poeta
Manuel José Quintana
(1806) [Sala 38])
(3) El Senado, Calle Bailén, 3, 28071 Madrid
(Pintura / Painting Coronación
de don Manuel J. Quintana)
(4) La Real Academia de la Historia, Calle León, 21,
28014 Madrid (Gold Laureate Crown and Tray / Corona de
Oro y Bandeja )
(5) Calle del Marqués Viudo de Pontejos, 28012 Madrid (Commemorative plaque / Placa conmemorativa)
(6) Cementerio Municipal de la Almudena, Av de Daroca,
90, 28017 Madrid (Tomb / Mausoleo
Manuel José Quintana)
Commemorating Manuel José Quintana /
Conmemoración de
Manuel José Quintana
Propuesta para el levantamiento de una estatua para la
memoria de Manuel José Quintana
Proposal to erect a statue to the memory of Manuel José Quintana
El
proyecto para erigir un monumento al inmortal poeta
Quintana.
Domingo La Epoca 4 de Diciembre de 1870
Nuestro apreciable colega LA IBERIA, refiere las vicisitudes
que ha sufrido el proyecto para erigir un monumento
al inmortal poeta Quintana.
Recuerda LA IBERIA que cuándo ocurrió la muerte
de este insigne vate se formó una comisión encargada
de organizar los trabajos, preliminares, para la ereccion
del monumento, abriéndose una suscricion que comenzó
dando escelentes resultados.
En 1858, y al ver las dificultades
que se oponian á la inauguración de la estatua
de Mendizábal, la comisión dejó de gestionar; pero hecha
la revolución, y habiendo venido á Madrid el señor
D. Salustiano Olózaga, presidente de ella, promovió una
junta en su casa,á la cuál asistieron los Sres. D.Francisco
Santa Cruz, D. Fermín Caballero, D.Nicolás María
Rirero, D. Juan Eugenio Hatrzenbusch, D. Eugenia
de Ochos y D. Antonio Ferrer del Rio. Este ultimó sustituía
á D.Pedro Calyo Asensio, que era secretario de la
comisión mencionada.
En dicha Junta se leyó una carta de D. Julián Duro,
testamentario de D. Vicente Bayo, tesorero de la comisión,
participando que la suscricion había producido
88,281 rs., aumentados con 47,688 por intereses que el
Sr. Bayo abonaba espontáneamente.
Existiendo cerca de 7,000 duros, y teniendo la comisión
algunos datos respecto á lo que habían costado la
estatua de fray Luis de Leon, en Salamanca, y la de don
Ramón Pignatelli, en Zaragoza, parece se acordó entonces
unánimemente erigir otra en Madrid al esclarecido
poeta y consecuente liberal Quintana, siendo de esperar
que promovida nuevamente la suscricion, dé resultados
satisfactorios.
Secreyó también en aquella reunión, y nosotros participamos
del mismo convencimiento, que los escultores
españoles, amantes de nuestras glorias, cooperarían
generosa y espontáneamente al pensamiento de la comisión,
que contaba con ellos para idear proyectos dignos
del objeto y fáciles de ejecutar.
También cuenta la comisión con la prensa periódica, y sería
de desear que,
así la de Madrid como la de provincias, auxiliara á la
misma, Quintana es uña gloria nacional, y bajo este
concepte España entera debe contribuir á perpetuar su
memoria.
Cantor de las libertades patrias,no perteneció
a ninguna bandería determinada, porque el genio y la
grandeza de alma se sobreponen á las miserias humanas,
elevándose á las altas regiones dé la inspiración y
del talento, y toda la familia liberal, todos los buenos
patricios le deben algo por el ardor con que defendió la
libertad y los derechos del puebo.
Familia yDescendientes
deManuel
JoséQuintana yLorenzo
Family and Descendants of
Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo
Juan Antonio Quintana y Dávila (2/11/1745 - 23/6/1816)[See/ver:Epistolario inédito] (father/padre of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Married: (1) Antonia Lorenzo(2) Inés Pizarrosoy Cortes (Married in 1815) Children: (in order of birth) Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo (1772-1857)
Frey
Domingo Benito Quintana y Lorenzo
Luis Ezequiel Quintana y Lorenzo
José (Pepe) Quintana y Lorenzo
Juan Mariano Quintana y Lorenzo
Cabeza del Buey Marriage Registry.
Según aparece publicado en el libro
Historia de Cabeza del Buey escrito por Vicente Serrano,
en la página 266, "Manuel José Quintana, de escasos recursos,
le mantuvo durante su estancia en nuestra villa su virtuosa
madrastra, doña Inés Pizarroso, esposa en segundas nupcias
de su padre Juan Antonio. Habitaba en el nº 19 de la calle
del Parral, hoy Calle de Muñoz Torrero. A finales del Siglo
XIX se instaló en dicha casa el Café Muñoz-Torrero".
As published
in the book
History of Cabeza del Bueywritten byVicenteSerrano,on page266,"Manuel
José
Quintana, poor
maintainedduring your
stayin our villahis virtuousstepmother,
doña Inés Pizarroso,
wife
remarriageof his
fatherJuan
Antonio.He livedat No.19 Calledel Parral,MuñozTorrerostreettoday.
late nineteenth
century
settled inthis houseMuñoz-Torrero
Café".
Ana Belén Pérez -
Biblioteca Cabeza del Buey (13-2-2014)
Albert Dérozier: Manuel José Quintana y el nacimiento del
liberalismo en España / Albert Dérozier. Trad.: Manuel Moya.
Madrid: Turner, 1978.
Clemente Reboles (cousin/primo of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo) "Haga Vd. un cajoncito con todo, incluyendo una resma de
papel sellado de desecho para borradores, que Vd. me
comprará, la cual cuidará Vd. que sea blanca y fina, aunque
tenga los sellos. La dirección del cajón será a D.ª Inés
Pizarroso, y hágalo Vd. llegar cuanto antes a casa de mi
primo D. Clemente Reboles, que vivecalle de la Encomienda
n.º 9, 2.º, de donde lo recogerán los arrieros." Epistolario
Manuel José Quintana [Text
version]
http://www.biblioteca.org.ar/libros/606.pdf
María Antonia Florencia (wife/mujer of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Married:1800
Died: 1820
Frey Don Domingo Benito Quintana (brother/hermano of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Albert Dérozier: Manuel José Quintana y el nacimiento del
liberalismo en España / Albert Dérozier. Trad.: Manuel Moya.
Madrid: Turner, 1978.
Juan Mariano Quintana y Lorenzo (brother/hermano of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
LIBRO DE MATRIMONIOS DE CABEZA DEL BUEY.
NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LA ARMENTERA
Libro 20, 1818 fol.145:
Juan Mariano Quintana and Maria del Carmen Garcia Mora
“En la villa de Cabeza del Buey a tres días del mes de
septiembre del año de mil ochocientos y diez y ocho, yo Fray
Don Juan Manuel Mariano de Orive Gutiérrez de los Ríos, al
orden del cura propio de la parroquia de esta villa de Santa
María de Armentera, precedido lo que manda el Santo Concilio
de Trento, y no habiendo cosa alguna que obste lo válido y
lícito del matrimonio, fuera el tercero parte y cuarto por
otra, ambos de consanguinidad, que se hallan dispensados,
como costa del despacho del Imo. Sr. Prior de Magacela, y
refrendado por su notario Don Ramón Malfeito de Villanueva
de la Serena a catorce de agosto del corriente, desposé en
las casas de morada del contrayente, por estar tan bien
dispensados, a Don Juan Mariano Quintana, hijo legítimo de
Don Juan Antonio Quintana y de Doña Antonia Lorenzo, su
mujer; nieto paterno de Don Juan Antonio Quintana y de Doña
María Fernández Dávila; maternos de Don Manuel Lorenzo y de
Doña Juana Polo, naturales los dos últimos y la Doña Antonia
de Móstoles, arzobispado de Toledo y el de don Mariano de la
villa y corte de Madrid, con doña María del Carmen
Pizarroso, hija legítima de Francisco García Mora y de María
del Carmen Pizarroso, su mujer, nieta paterna de Francisco
García Mora y de María Calvo Ramírez y materna de Antonio
Cayetano Pizarroso, natural de Santi Spiritus y de Inés
Fernández Cortés, natural de esta, y los demás de esta
villa. Fueron testigos: Fray Don Antonio Bote y Becerra,
cura propio der esta parroquia, Don Juan de los Santos
Gallardo y Don Bernardo Gómez Masilla, tenientes de cura de
ella. Y lo firmé” L 20 1818 p145
Juan Mariano Quintana and Maria del Carmen Ga. Mora "Inthe village of
Cabeza del Bueythreedays ofSeptember
in the yearone thousand eight
hundredand eighteen,
byFrayJuanManuelDonMariano deOriveGutiérrezde los Ríos, the
order's own parish priestof thisvillaSt. Mary of
Armenteraprecededwhat sendsthe
HolyCouncil of Trent,and not having
anything thatwould inhibitthe validand
lawfulmarriage,
was thethirdand fourthon the
otherhand,
bothof
consanguinity, which areexempt, ascoastImooffice. Mr.PriorMagacela,
and countersigned byhis notary
MalfeitoDonRamónVillanueva
dela SerenatoAugust 14of thecurrent,espousedinthedwellinghouses
contracting, being dispensedas well, DonJuanMarianoQuintana, legitimate son
ofDonJuanAntonioQuintanaandDoñaAntoniaLorenzo,
his wife;
paternal grandson of Don Juan Antonio Quintana and Doña
María Fernández Dávila;
mother of Don Manuel and Doña Juana Lorenzo Polo, natural
the past two and Doña Antonia de Móstoles, Archbishop of
Toledo and Don Mariano de la Villa de Madrid and cut, and
María del Carmen Pizarroso, legitimate daughter of Francisco
García Mora and Maria del Carmen Pizarroso, his wife,
paternal granddaughter of Francisco García Calvo Mora and
Mary mother of Antonio Ramirez and Cayetano Pizarroso,
natural Santi Spiritus and Inés Fernández Cortés was born
here, and the rest of the villa. Witnessed: Don Fray Antonio
Boat & Becerra, der own this parish priest, Don Juan de los
Santos and Don Bernardo Gómez Gallardo Filler, deputy cure
it.
And I signed it "
[DonJuanMarianoQuintana, legitimate son
ofDonJuanAntonioQuintanaandDoñaAntoniaLorenzo,
his wife;
paternal grandson of Don Juan Antonio Quintana and Doña
María Fernández Dávila;
mother of Don Manuel and Doña Juana Lorenzo Polo,
natural the past two and Doña Antonia de Móstoles,
Archbishop of Toledo and Don Mariano de la Villa de Madrid
and cut,
and María del Carmen Pizarroso, legitimate daughter of
Francisco García Mora and Maria del Carmen Pizarroso, his
wife,
paternal granddaughter of Francisco García Calvo Mora and
Mary mother of Antonio Ramirez
and Cayetano Pizarroso, natural Santi Spiritus and Inés
Fernández Cortés was born here]
José (Pepe) Quintana y Lorenzo (brother/hermano of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Married: Leonor Brodett
Children:
Eduardo Quintana y Brodett
Manuel José
Quintana y Brodett
Eduardo Quintana y Brodett
(son/hijo of José Quintana y Lorenzo,
brother/hermano of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
(nephew/sobrino of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Married: Terésa Gómez y Rivas
Manuel José
Quintana y Brodett (son/hijo of José Quintana y Lorenzo,
brother/hermano of Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
(nephew/sobrino of
Manuel José Quintana y Lorenzo)
Born: (c.1840) Madrid Spain
Job: Spanish Consulate In England, Australia, Syria, Italy
And Canada.
1864 Newcastle Courant. Fri.27th May 1864, Issue 9883: The
Queen (Victoria) has been pleased to approve of Don Manuel
Jose Quintana as vice-Consul at Newcastle, for Her Majesty
the Queen of Spain.
1866
Newcastle Courant. Fri 18th May 1866 Issue 9886:
Gateshead Industrial & Amateur Exhibition. Opened on Wed
16th May 1866, The Spanish Vice-Consul Manuel J Quintana
attended the opening ceremony.
1868
Newcastle Courant Fri 17th April
1868 Issue 10086: Spanish Consulate at 67 Grey St.,
Newcastle. Capt. de Belauds of the Spanish Barque 'Lau-buru'
lying at South Shields wishes to contract 830 for repaires
to the said barque. Tenders to be addressed to this
Consulate on the 16th inst. The best will be accepted in Sat
18th from twelve to one o'clock. M.J.Quntana Vice Consul,
Acting Consul.
1869 Marriage:
St Peters Church, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland,
England
1869 Newcastle Courant Newspaper: 10th February 1869
at St Peter's church Newcastle upon Tyne, Manuel Jose
Brodett (Manuel Jose Quintana Y Brodett) son of the Late
Senior Don Jose Quintana of Madrid married Isabella, twin
daughter of John Elcoate, formerly of Sedgefield, Durham.
(her father John Elcoate was in Australia.)
1869 Argus Sat 12 June p5: Telegraphic
despatches: Sydney Friday: Don Manuel Quintana has been
appointed Spanish Consul at Sydney in room of Don San Just
deceased.
1869 The Ballarat Star (Vic. :
1865 - 1870) Monday 14 June (Sydney, Australia). 'Don Manuel Jose Quintana has been appointed
Spanish Consul, in the place of Don San Just, who committed
suicide some days ago.'
1869
Sydney Morning Herald Wed 16th June p5:
Intelligence was received by the mail that Don Manuel Jose
Quinatana has been appointed Spanish Consul at this port
(Sydney). The new Consul and his lady sailed from London for
Sydney per "Leicester" on 7th April 1869. ( Arrived 10 July
1869)
1869
Sydney Morning Herald: Thurs 10th July: Per
Leicester" for Sydney. Sen. Manuel Jose Quintana and Mrs
Quintana and Miss Elcoat. ( arrived from England: Capt.
Rowe.- 91 days.)
1869 Arrival: Ship "Leicester" With Wife Isabella And Her Sister
Jane Elcoate. Sydney, New South Wales Australia.
Residence: Spanish Consulate, 181 Dowling St, Sydney, Australia
1870
Birth - 24 Apr in Spanish Consulate, 181 Dowling
St, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Leonora Isabel Carolina Quintana y
Brodett (1870-1881)(Daughter/hija of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
1870
Departure: Signor Manuel Quintana Y Brodett, The Spanish
Consulate And Madam Isaballa, Daughter Leonora, And Servant.
For London, Ship "Hawsbury".
Residence: Occup: Spanish Consulate, Sydney New South Wales Australia.
1871 Transfer from Australia to La Guaira, Venezuela.
"In a few days leaving for La Guaira, where
the consul is going who was already the consul in Australia,
Manuel J. Quintana."
La Epoca 12-3-1871
1872
Birth - Aug Manuel Jose Luis Carlos Quintana y Brodett (1872-1881)(Son/hijo of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
1876
Death - Lady Isabel Quintana Y Brodett, 21
January Spanish Consulate Peyrout Syria
1881
Death - 25 May in Leghorn Italy (age 8) Manuel Jose Luis Carlos Quintana y Brodett (1872-1881)(Son/hijo of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
1881
Death - 4 Jul in Leghorn Italy (age 11) Carolina Quintana y Brodett (1870-1881)(Daughter/hija of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
1885: Madrid 15 Sep 1885: Archivo Diplomatico, Y Consular De
Espana:
Revista Internacional, Politica, Literaia Y De Intereses
Materiales.
Director: Don Manuel J. Quinatan Y Brodett.
Este Periodico se Publica Los Dias 15 Y De Cada Mes.
1885 Transfer from Liorno, Italy to Piraeus, Greece
Archivo Diplomatico
de Espana 21-01-1885
1887 Transfer to Civitavecchia, Italy
Guia de Espana 1887
1890 New York Passenger Lists (1820-1957):
M J Quintana, 50yrs, Spain, to USA, Paris, Alien,
Mrs Quintana, 40yrs, wife, Spain,
" "
"
Miss Quintana,12yrs, daughter, Spain,
Adela Mucciarelli 23yrs, Spain, etc
Emilia Mucciarelli, 21yrs,Spain, etc
Ports of departure: Hamburg Germany; Le Havre, France;
Port of Arrival New York, New York,
Date of arrival 13 Sep 1890
German Steamer "Suevia"
They picked up the ship at Le Havre, France.
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
1892 Transfer to Veracruz, Mexico
El Heraldo
18-8-1892
1900 Transfer from Valparaiso, Chile to
Montreal, Canada
El Globo
4-11-1900
1900 Dec 15th: London Gazette: The Queen has been pleased to
approve of Don Manuel Quintana y Brodett as Consul - General
At Montreal, Canada.
1901 UK
Outward Passengers: Mr M Quintana, wife, daughter, infant
and
servant, departed Liverpool, England, arrived on the 23 Feb
1901 at Halifax, Canada on the ship " Numidian" Embarked
Portland.
(Wife of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
Birth:
1845 Sedgefield Durham England
Job: Spanish Consulate's Wife
1845
Baptism:
St Edmund Church Sedgefield Durham England
1851 Census: Isabella 5yrs, [born 1846 Sedgefield] with her
sisters Jane 5yrs, [born 1846 Sedgefield], Annie 7yrs [born
1844 Sedgefield] and Margaret 10yrs [born 1841 Sedgefield]
were at a boarding house for Ladies at "Field House", Gate
Fulford, York, Yorkshire. (The birthplaces for Annie,
Margaret and Jane incorrect, they have Newcastle upon Tyne)
"Field House", Gate Fulford,
York, Yorkshire
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
1861 Census: Isabella 15yrs living with mother Ann
41yrs born Sedgefield, Durham, a "Lodging House" Keeper at 6
Picton Place Newcastle upon tyne, Yorkshire, and siblings
Jeannie 15yrs, Thomas 12yrs Robert 9yrs and Mary 8yrs.
Servant Barbara Hodge, 16yrs. John & Charlotte Mabson
Lodgers. (Ann's husband John and son John Weatherly Elcoate
were in Australia, sons Stephen & William at sea and
daughter Margaret was Governess in Gillygate, York. Ann,
whereabouts unknown, possible in Hospital)
1869
Marriage to
Manuel Jose
Quintana Y Brodett
- St Peters Church Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland,
England
1869
Arrival: Ship " Leicester" With Her Husband, The Spanish
Consul, And Her Sister Jane Elcoate
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1870
Departure: Signor Manuel Quintana Y Brodett, And Madam
Isabella And Daughter Leonora And Servant.
For London, Ship "Hawsbury"
1876 Death: Lady Isabel Quintana Y Brodett, 21
January Spanish Consulate, Peyrout, Syria [Now Beirut,
Lebanon].
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
Grave of Lady Isabel Quintana Y Brodett
(1845-1876),
wife of Spanish consul Manuel José
Quintana Y Brodett (nephew of the poet Manuel José
Quintana)
found in Beirut,
Lebanon.
Inscription: 'M. J. Quintana to his beloved wife Ysabel
Elcoate'
"I can confirm that Isabel Elcoate is buried in the
French Protestant Cemetery of Lebanon we have in charge.
At the time of her burial, it was known as the German
Protestant Cemetery of Lebanon." (Damien Boustany-Kasper,
Treasurer of the French Protestant Church in Lebanon)
For information, map and directions see: http://epfb.net/
Family Members Father -
John Elcoat 1805-1875
Mother -
Ann Weatherly 1818-1898
Brother -
John Weatherly Elcoate 1839-1897
Sister -
Margaret (Marguerite) Elcoate 1840-1933
Brother -
Stephen Elcoate 1842-1909
Sister -
Ann Elcoate 1844-1862
Sister -
Jane (Jeanie / Jannie) Elcoate 1845-1870
Brother -
William Elcoate 1847-1914
Sister -
Thomas Elcoate 1849-1901
Brother -
Robert Teasdale Elcoate 1851-1899
Sister -
Mary Elcoate 1852-1898
Husband -
Manuel Jose Quintana y Brodett
Daughter -
Leonora Isabel Carolina Quintana y Brodett 1870-1881
Son -
Manuel Jose Luis Carlos Quintana y Brodett 1872-1881
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
http://www.mundia.com/au/Person/19020783/781624287
Elaine Shaw: Brisbane, Australia (Brennan / Elcoate)
Elaine's parents were John Brennan (1913-2006) and Daphne Elcoate
(1919-1969),
her grandparents were Harold Elcoate (1893-1948) and Ethel Pryor
(1900-1977),
her great grandparents were William Elcoate (1847-1914) and Maria
O'Brien (1863-1945).
William Elcoate was Isabella Elcoate's (1845-1876) brother
and brother-in-law to Manuel Jose Quintana y Brodett.
Manuel Jose Luis Carlos Quintana y Brodett (1872-1881)
(Son/hijo of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
Birth - Aug 1872
Death - 25 May 1881 in Leghorn Italy (age 8)
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
http://www.mundia.com/au/Person/19020783/785274448
Leonora Isabel Carolina Quintana y
Brodett (1870-1881) (Daughter/hija of
Manuel J. Quintana y Brodett)
Birth - 24 Apr 1870 in Spanish Consulate, 181 Dowling
St, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Death - 4 Jul 1881 in Leghorn Italy (age 11)
(from Elaine Shaw 2014)
http://www.mundia.com/au/Person/19020783/785272661
"Deaths.
QUINTANA.—On the 26th May at the Spanish Consulate, Leghorn,
Manuel Jose Luis Carlos, son of
Manuel and the late Isabel de Quintana, aged eight years and
nine months, and on the 4th July, Leonora Isabel Carolina
daughter of Manuel and the late Isabel do Quintana, aged 11
years and four months." The Argus
(Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957) Saturday 27 August 1881
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/5966199?searchTerm=manuel%20quintana&searchLimits=
Leonor Brodett (Source:
Diederik Kelder)
Leonor Brodett
was baptized on 5 Aug 1801 in the Porto Salvo church in
Valletta, Malta. Her parents were Daniele Brodett and
Margarita Galdies both from Malta.
The Maltese
Brodett family dates back to about 1640 when Giovanni
Guglielmo (Jean Guillaume) Brodett moved from France to
Malta. The family used the names Brodett, Brodet and Brudet
interchangeably. Leonor was not the only Brodett to move
from Malta to Spain, around 1798 her aunt and uncle Luis
Brodett and Claudia Carbone moved from Malta to
Burgos in Spain. Their four sons became notable figures in
the early 1800s in Spain and overseas territories.
Juan Bautista
Brodett y Carbone
(1786 - 1850) was an accomplished military officer who
played a pivotal role in the liberation of Castro
Urdiales in 1813. In 1815 he moved to Cuba where he
married Maria de los Dolores Sedano y Galán in 1855.
Casimiro
Brodett
(1793 - 1837) was also a military officer. He became widely
known as the lover of Maria Pineda. In 1824 the couple
intended to marry but Casimiro but did not get the necessary
dispensation from the military authorities. Casimiro moved
to Cuba in 1830, but returns to Spain in 1834 where he died
on the battlefield in one of the Carlist wars in 1837.
Manuel Brodett
(1788 - 1836) was Ministro Contador de las RealesCajas
(Minister Accountant of the Royal Treasury) in the
Philippines. In 1834 he married Don͂a María Varela de
Brodett (1814-64), she became the first woman to publish a
book in the Philippines. The book was published in 1840 and
titled Novena de Santa María Magdalena.
Luis Brodett
(1790 - ~1850) was Alcalde mayor in Iloilo in the
Philippines. In 1829 he left his post and fled to Singapore.
His son Luis jnr. returned to Iloilo and became the
forefather of the Brodett family in the Philippines. His
second son John, born in Singapore in 1833, became the
forefather the Brodett family in the Dutch East Indies.
Books, newspaper articles, journal articles and links
relating to Manuel José Quintana
Manuel José Quintana by Jorge Vilches
"El madrileño Manuel José Quintana (1772-1857) puede ser
considerado el fundador del patriotismo liberal en España y
uno de los abanderados de la poesía lírica del XIX. Sus
escritos y su liderazgo le convirtieron durante la Guerra de
la Independencia, en palabras de Alcalá Galiano, en el "patriarca
de la iglesia político-filosófica". En su tertulia reunió a
gran parte de los que armaron el cuerpo doctrinal del primer
liberalismo español (con esa misma gente fundó el Semanario
Patriótico, el periódico más influyente de la época). Al
servicio de la Junta Central y de las Cortes, escribió los
manifiestos patrióticos del Gobierno Nacional. Además, su
teatro y su poesía ayudaron a crear la interpretación
liberal de la historia de España, forjada en torno a la
búsqueda de la libertad y de la virtud cívica. A pesar de
todo esto, o quizá por ello, su figura ha estado huérfana de
biógrafos y de análisis políticos, salvo escasas excepciones,
en los últimos cuarenta años." To read furthersee:
http://www.ilustracionliberal.com/34/manuel-jose-quintana-jorge-vilches.html El retrato de Quintana pintado por Ribelles(1806)
Boletin de la Sociedad Espanola de Excursiones Tomo LVI
(Madrid 1952)
Á D. Luis Lopez en elogio de su bello y magnífico
cuadro de la coronacion de Quintana(1859) Author: Príncipe y Vidaud, Miguel Agustín, 1811-1863
https://archive.org/details/dluislopezenelog00prnc Biografía de Manuel José Quintana escrita por
Manuel Ovilo y Otero, que forma parte del libro Manual de
Biografía y de bibliografía de los escritores españoles del
siglo XIX - Tomo II.
Fernando Durán, Alberto Romero, Marieta Cantos (eds.): La
patria poética. Estudios sobre literatura y política en la
obra de Manuel José Quintana. Editorial Iberoamericana,
2009
Homenajes al autor
En la muerte del laureado poeta señor don Manuel José
Quintana poesía de Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda.
Quintana, poesía de Manuel Reina.
Albert Dérozier: Manuel Josef Quintana et la naissance du
libéralisme en Espagne. 2 vols. Paris: Les belles Lettres,
1968-70. Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon,
95, 105.
Albert Dérozier: Manuel José Quintana y el nacimiento del
liberalismo en España / Albert Dérozier. Trad.: Manuel Moya.
Madrid: Turner, 1978.
Diego Martínez Torrón: Manuel José Quintana y el espíritu de
la España liberal (con textos desconocidos). Sevilla: Ed.
Alfar, 1995. ISBN 84-7898-106-3.
José A. Valero: "Manuel José Quintana y el sublime moral."
Hispanic Review 71 (2003): 585-611.
Chapter 4
The "Entirely Spanish Art" Returns to Its Homeland
1795–1805
"The private home in which Alca encountered young Grcgorio
was no doubt the scene of a tertulia, or social gathering.
Here conversation enlivened the boring social scene of what
residents called the villa, or market town, of Madrid.
Around this time two rival tertulias convened regularly in
the Spanish capital. One was headed by the poet and
dramatist Manuel José Quintana, the most enlightened
humanist of his day.[16] Quintana's study was, in the words
of one participant, the spirited political orator and author
Antonio Alcalá Galiano, "the principal meeting place for
those Spaniards most noted for their talent and
knowledge."[17] The congregants included the poet,
journalist, and future religious polemicist José María
Blanco White, and the celebrated dramatist, poet, and editor
Nicasio Alvarez de Cienfuegos, the poet Juan Nicasio Gallego,
the notorious author, critic, and political figure abate
Marchena, the writer Eugenio de Tapia, the historian and
literary critic Antonio de Capmany, the poet and naval
officer Juan Bautista Arriaza, the writer José Somoza, the
Andalusian clergyman Manuel María de Arjona y de Cubas, and
José Miguel Alea, our public-spirited abate .[18] At
Quintana's house Alea was in fast company—indeed, more than
one of his companions would eventually run afoul of the
Inquisition. According to tertuliano Alcalá Galiano, these
men subscribed to "an excess of political and religious
liberty"; their ideas, he wrote, were "those of the
eighteenth-century French philosophers and of our neighbor
nation's revolution, regarding both religion and politics,"
although he was quick to point out that "not everyone
carried things to that extreme."[19] Their conduct, this
writer maintained, was "Cultured and decorous, well suited
to the master of the house, a dignified and stern man," but
another participant, Antonio de Capmany, left a rather
different impression, referring to "scandalous and
contemptible" poems read there—although he too left
Quintana's reputation unscathed.[20]"
Articles by Karl Marx in the New York Herald Tribune
Revolutionary Spain
Written: August-November 1854;
Source: MECW Volume 13, p. 389;
Published: in New-York Daily Tribune, September 9 to
December 2, 1854.
map of spain
The series of articles Revolutionary Spain was written by
Marx for the New-York Daily Tribune between August and
November 1854. Marx observed all the symptoms of the
revolutionary movement in Europe and paid much attention to
the revolutionary events in the summer of 1854 in Spain.
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1854/revolutionary-spain/
"It is true that the Central Junta included a few men
— headed by Don Lorenzo Calvo de Rosas, the delegate of
Saragossa — who, while adopting the reform views of
Jovellanos, spurred on at the same time to revolutionary
action. But their numbers were too few and their names too
unknown to allow them to push the slow State-coach of the
Junta out of the beaten track of Spanish ceremonial. This power, so clumsily composed, so nervelessly
constituted, with such outlived reminiscences at its head,
was called upon to accomplish a revolution and to beat
Napoleon. If its proclamations were as vigorous as its deeds
were weak, it was due to Don Manuel Quintana, a Spanish
poet, whom the Junta had the taste to appoint as their
secretary and to intrust with the writing of their
manifestoes."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1854/revolutionary-spain/ch03.htm
"In revolutionary times, when all ties of subordination are
loosened, military discipline can only be restored by civil
discipline sternly weighing upon the generals. As the
Central Junta, from its incongruous complexion, never
succeeded in controlling the generals, the generals always
failed in controlling the soldiers, and to the end of the
war the Spanish army never reached an average degree of
discipline and subordination. This insubordination was kept
up by the want of food, clothing, and all the other material
requisites of an army — for the morale of an army, as
Napoleon called it, depends altogether on its material
condition. The Central Junta was unable regularly to provide
for the army, because the poor poet Quintana’s manifestoes
would not do in this instance, and to add coercion to their
decrees they must have recurred to the same revolutionary
measures which they had condemned in the provinces."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1854/revolutionary-spain/ch05.htm
Translation by Friedrich Engels
"At school and in Bremen, Engels had tried his hand at
literary and critical essays, poetry, and translations; and
he enthusiastically espoused the rationalist,
anti-authoritarian, and humanist views of the “Young
Germany” literary movement. He published several dozen
writings under pseudonyms; the first under his name was a
romantic translation of a Spanish poem in honor of
Gutenberg, in which the poet Manuel José Quintana praised
the inventor for bringing mankind reason and truth—and
thereby peace and freedom—through the printing press."
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Friedrich_Engels.aspx
Epistolario inédito del poeta D. Manuel José Quintana:
Observaciones preliminares Eloy Díaz-Jiménez Molleda
(Madrid, Librería General de Victoriano Suárez, 1933. 182
pp)
Manuel José Quintana, Memoria del Cádiz de las Cortes,
Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz («Colección
de Bolsillo» nº 2), Cádiz 1996 (214 pp.). Edición de
Fernando Durán López. ISBN: 84-7786-321-0.
http://www2.uca.es/grup-invest/esigloxviii/fernando.htm
Insula: MANUEL JOSÉ QUINTANA EN SU TIEMPO
Número 744
Diciembre 2008 Manuel José Quintana y el destino del héroe Joaquín Álvarez Barrientos Quintana periodista Marieta Cantos Casenave Quintana ante la poesía de la ilustración Jesús Cañas Murillo Quintana y la historia literaria española José Checha Beltrán Teatro y política en Quintana: "Amor de patria y libertad" Alberto Romero Ferrer/ Blanco y Quintana Fernando Durán López El exilio de 1814 Raquel Sánchez La coronación de Manuel José Quintana (1855) Marta Palenque La España que vivió Quintana Alberto Ramos Santana
http://www.revistasculturales.com/revistas/37/insula/num/744/
El Pais 24 FEB 2012
La revolución española 'El levantamiento antifrancés y la Constitución de 1812
anuncian una tensión entre luz y oscuridad, búsqueda de la
libertad y persistencia de la opresión, cuyas oscilaciones
pendulares alcanzan hasta nuestros días.'
'El principal ideólogo de la renovación política, Manuel
José Quintana, editor del Semanario Patriótico, explicó el
efecto producido por la invasión, al cobrar conciencia los
españoles, por encima de sus diferencias regionales, de que
formaban parte de un sujeto colectivo con identidad propia:
“La Nación, de repente, cobró forma de tal”. Su soporte
sociológico no es otro que el Pueblo, mientras la Patria
aparece como la entidad que hace posible la religación de
las conductas individuales, en tanto que espacio sagrado,
dentro del cual se despliega el sentimiento, la entrega de
los españoles a la causa común.'
Calle del Poeta Quintana, Valencia, Spain
(Photo: Caoimhghin Ó Croidheáin July 2015)
PRINCIPIOS POLÍTICOS Y RAZONES PERSONALES
PARA LA REFORMA DEL ESTADO EN ESPAÑA (1805-1840)
(De la correspondencia inédita de M. J. Quintana con Lord
Holland) Por MANUEL MORENO ALONSO
Revista de Estudios Políticos (Nueva Época) Núm. 70. Octubre-Diciembre 1990
Archivo del Senado
Manuel José Quintana
'Prócer 1834-1835, 1835-1836, 1836; Senador por la
provincia de Badajoz 1837-1838, 1838-1839, 1839; Senador por
la provincia de Valencia 1840; Senador por la provincia de
Badajoz 1841, 1842, 1843[1ª], 1843[1ª], 1843[2ª]; Senador
vitalicio 1845-1846, 1846-1847, 1847-1848, 1848, 1849-1850,
1850-1851, 1851-1852, 1852, 1853[1ª], 1853[2ª]'
Estudio de don Manuel José Quintana by Manuel
Cañete y Manuel Quintana La presente biografía no es un artículo laudatorio, ni tiene
tampoco pretensiones literarias de ningun género: cualquier
otro escritor la hubiera desempeñado con más acierto y mejor
estilo; mas al publicarla en este lugar, debo hacer presente
que en ello cumplo el grato deber de rendir á la memoria de
mi tio un tributo de cariño y respeto.
Hay también dos motivos que me deciden á hacerlo: uno, que
al dar á luz estas obras inéditas, parecia natural que
figurase al frente de ellas la biografía de su autor;
educado y dirigido por mi tio, habiendo sido él mismo mi
maestro en algunos estudios, y habiendo vivido yo en su
compañía durante el último período de su existencia, tuve
ocasión de conocer su carácter y sus costumbres, y he podido
apreciarlas hasta en sus menores detalles con mayor
facilidad que cualquier extraño. El otro es que, al examinar
con el detenimiento y el estudio debidos los papeles y
escritos de- Quintana, que desde su muerte han existido en
mi poder, he hallado -entre ellos apuntes y documentos que
se mencionan en el lugar correspondiente de esta biografía,
cuyos documentos, olvidados ó ignorados, no han tenido
presente algunas personas al criticarle ciertas palabras en
sus escritos políticos.
Dicho lo que antecede, sólo me resta añadir, que ni el
interés de un parentesco tan cercano, ni el cariño que le
profesé me obligarán á hacer un panegírico que no esté
fundado en la verdad de los hechos.
Estudio de don Manuel José Quintana
LOS FUNERALES DE QUINTANA by Raquel Sánchez García
(Universidad Complutense de Madrid) A lo largo del siglo XIX el escritor alcanzó un papel social
cada vez más relevante como expresión de unos determinados
ideales políticos. Su instrumentalización por parte del
estado se observa claramente en ceremonias como las
coronaciones o los funerales. Durante los funerales llevados
a cabo con motivo de la muerte del poeta Manuel José
Quintana se puso de manifiesto la capacidad del estado
liberal para poner en marcha sus propios rituales públicos,
así como sus limitaciones. Quintana, ejemplo moraldel
liberalismo español, se convertía así en un hombre público
que pasaba al panteón delos referentes morales de la patria.
http://eprints.ucm.es/16976/1/Los_funerales_de_Quintana.pdf
La edición más completa de su obra hasta la fecha se
encuentra en el volumen XIX de Obras completas (1855) de la
Biblioteca de Autores Españoles de Manuel Rivadeneyra.
Aparte de sus numerosos discursos de tema político y varios
volúmenes recopilatorios de Poesías selectas castellanas,
cultivó varios géneros literarios. Las Obras inéditas de D.
Manuel J. Quintana se publicaron póstumamente en 1872.
Obras inéditas Manuel José Quintana
(Madrid 1872) (online)
http://sirio.ua.es/libros/BFilosofia/obras_ineditas_quintana/index.htm
Índice
Quintana.
Las obras inéditas de D. Manuel José Quintana.
Obras inéditas de Quintana.
Poesías.
La diversion.
A un amigo que, bajo el emblema de una violeta, me
escribía lisonjas y esperanzas.
A Dafne, en sus dias.
A Licoris, consolándola de una ingratitud.
Oda en la muerte de Excma. Sra. Doña Piedad Roca de
Togores, Duquesa de Frias.
La fuente de la Mora Encantada.
Á Somoza.
Cristina. -Cancion epitalámica al feliz enlace de S. M.
Católica D. Fernando VII con la Serma. Sra. Doña María
Cristina de Borbon.
Al Rey nuestro señor.
Cancion.
Para el album de la Sra. Doña María Encarnacion Fernandez
de Córdova, hija de los Marqueses de Malpica, á ruego de su
tia la Marquesa de Cerralbo.
Para el album de Doña Dolores Perinat de Pacheco.
Para el album de Doña T. F. Y. B.
A la señorita Doña Dolores Faxardo.
Para el album de M. D.
Para el album de la Sra. Doña Gertrudis Gomez de
Avellaneda.
Para el album de Doña Flora de Ferrer.
Para el album de Doña Aurora de Ferrer.
Para el album de Facundita Horrubia.
Para el album de Doña Carmen Quintana, esposa del ministro
y general Ros de Olano.
Para el album de la señora Marquesa viuda de Ceralbo.
Para el album de la señorita Doña Eladia Espartero de
Montesino.
Para el album de Doña Concha Martinez de Figueras, recien
casada.
Para el album de la niña Eloisa D'Herbil, eminente
pianista.
Á la Sra. Doña Pilar Sinués y Navarro, que habia hecho
unos versos á mi coronacion.
Defensa de las poesías.
Defensa de las poesías ante el Tribunal de la Inquisicion.
El Duque de Alba.
El Duque de Alba.
Memoria sobre el proceso y prisión de don Manuel José
Quintana en 1814.
Memoria.
Apéndice primero. -Citas.
Cuestiones.
Pensamientos.
Soberania.
Apéndice segundo. -Interrogatorios.
Cargos.
Segunda respuesta fiscal en la causa de Quintana y del
Semanario.
Necrología.
Lord Holland.
Don Agustín Argüelles.
Algunos recuerdos sobre D. Agustín Argüelles.
Índice.
Errata notable.
Lista de suscritores á las obras inéditas del excmo. señor
don Manuel José Quintana.
Lives of celebrated Spaniards, comprising the Cid
Campeador, Guzman the Good, Roger de Lauria, the Prince of
Viana, the Great Captain (Gonzalo de Cordova).
Translated from the Spanish ... by T. R. Preston
Manuel José QUINTANA Alonso PÉREZ DE GUZMÁN (called El Bueno,
Señor de San Lúcar de Barrameda.) T. R. PRESTON
- 1 January 1833
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=E65VAAAAcAAJ
Poesias selectas Castellanas desde el tiempo de Juan de
Mena hasta nuestros dias ... Nueva edicion aumentada y
corregida. - Madrid M. d. Brugos 1830-33
Manuel Jose Quintana
- 1 January 1830
M. d. Brugos
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=eAVUAAAAcAAJ
Poesías selectas castellanas: Musa épica, ó, Colección de
los trozos mejores de nuestros poemas heróicos, Volumen
1
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1833
Imprenta de D.M. Burgos
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=-vgwAQAAMAAJ
Corona poética dedicada al Exmo Sr. Manuel José Quintana:
con motivo de su coronación por los redactores de la España
Musical y Literaria
- 1 January 1853
Imprenta de J. Rodríguez
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=IcjDprfmWekC
Corona poética dedicada al Exmo. Sr. D. Manuel José
Quintana con motivo de su coronacion por los redactores de
La España Musical y Literaria
- 1 January 1833
José Rodriguez
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=QFYM8MOhEvQC
Tesoro del Parnaso español, poesias selectas castellanas
desde el tiempo de Juan de Mena hasta nuestras dias,
recogidas y ordenadas por M.J. Quintana
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1861 https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=l2ICAAAAQAAJ
Tesoro del Parnaso español, ó Poesías selectas, desde el
tiempo de Juan de Mena, hasta el fin del siglo xviii,
recogidas y ordenadas por M.J. Quintana
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1817
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=Db8DAAAAQAAJ
Poesías selectas castellanas, desde en tiempo de Juan de
Mena hasta nuestros dias: Recogidas y ordenadas por Manuel
Josef Quintana, Τόμος 2
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1807
Gomez Fuentenebro
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=ufcwAQAAMAAJ
Cristina: cancion epitalámica al feliz enlace de S.M.C.
el Señor Don Fernando VII con la serenisima Señora Doña
María Cristina de Borbon
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1829
Impr. Real
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=y7h1Vxo_ZpwC
Indice de los enemigos de la religión y de la patria: Dos
polabritas al Sr. Argüélles ... otras dos á los Sres.
Conciso, Redactor, Duende ... y algunas docenas de ellas al
difunto Semanario Patriótico el (Excmo. Sr. in voto) D.
Manuel de Quintana ...
- 1 January 1814
Impr. de la viuda é hijo de Aznar
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=_SVWAAAAYAAJ
Coleccion de piezas escogidas de Lope de Vega, Calderón
de la Barca: Tirso de Molina, Moreto, Rojas, Alarcon, La Hoz,
Solis, Cañizares y Quintana; sacadas del Tesoro del teatro
español formado por don Eugenio de Ochoa
Lope de Vega Pedro Calderón de la Barca Tirso de Molina
Agustín Moreto Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla Juan Ruiz de
Alarcón Juan de la Hoz y Mota Antonio de Solís José de
Cañizares Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1840
Baudry
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=6c5LAAAAYAAJ
Poesias selectas castellanas desde el tiempo de Juan de
Mena hasta nuestros dias, recogidos y ordenados por M.
Quintana
Manuel Josef QUINTANA
- 1 January 1807
Gomez Fuentenebroy Ca
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=PRGXjUdgdTYC
Vidas de españoles célebres: El Cid Campeador. Guzman el
Bueno. Roger de Lauria. El principe de Viana. El Gran
Capitan
Manuel José Quintana
- 1 January 1833
Imprenta de don Miguel de Burgos
- Publisher
https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=-PLTAAAAMAAJ
Quintana
revolucionario. Quintana, M.J. (1972).Madrid: Ed. Narcea.
Memoria sobre el proceso y prisión de Don Manuel José
Quintana en 1814.Cervantes
De don Nicolás de Moratín, y de Cadalso.
Discurso pronunciado en la Universidad Central el día de su
instalación : (7 de Noviembre de 1822)
El Duque de Alba.
Epistolario.
Estudios sobre nuestra poesía
Informe de la Junta creada por la Regencia
Lord Holland.
Meléndez Valdés
Obras dramáticas
Obras políticas.
Vidas de los españoles célebres (Paris, 1827, en Google
Books)
https://archive.org/details/vidasdeespaole00quin
Obras completas del Excmo. Sr. D. Manuel José Quintana
(1852)
Las reglas del drama (1791)
Vidas de españoles célebres (Tomo I: 1807; Tomo II: 1830;
Tomo III, 1833)
Cartas a Lord Holland, 1852, pero 1824.
Cartas a Lord Holland: sobre los sucesos políticos de España
en la Segunda ...
By Manuel José Quintana, Henry Edward Holland (Lord.) Memoria del Cádiz de las Cortes, Manuel José
QUINTANA,
Edición y estudio preliminar de Fernando
DURÁN LÓPEZ, Cádiz, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz,
1996
Informe de la junta creada por la rejencia para proponer los
medios de proceder al arreglo de los diversos ramos de
instrucción pública, 1813
Poesía
Poesías (1802)
Elaboró un canto para ella. Realizó el cantar para Helena
Baquedano
Poesías patrióticas (en Internet Archive, 1808)
A España, después de la revolución de marzo (¿Qué era,
decidme, la nación que un día)
A Licoris (¿Por qué de tus penas Ir siempre seguida?)
Canción ( ¡Oh belleza! alto don, rico tesoro)
Cristina (Nunca osara, Señor, la Musa mía)
Drama
El Duque de Viseo (representada en 1801 e inspirada por The
Castle Spectre de Matthew Gregory Lewis) Pelayo: tragedia en cinco actos.
(representada en 1805)
Prueba para María Eugenia García "Maru" Solo creer lo que
mis ojos ven.
A Dafne, en sus días (A aquella airosa andaluza)
A Somoza (En vano el ingenio animas)
La diversión (El amor se ha desprendido)
La fuente de la mora encantada (Oye, Silvio, ya del campo)
Sonetos
A un amigo (No con vana lisonja y blando acento)
Recopilaciones
Poesías selectas castellanas - Colección de los trozos
mejores de nuestros poemas heroicos (1833)
Obra como antólogo
MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA was born at Madrid. He became in
declared opposition to the French domination in Spain. On
the return of Ferdinand VII to power, he was imprisoned for
six years, dying poor after holding many offices tinder the
Liberal Government. He and his friend Gallego submitted,
however, to all the French rules of composition, and he
produced odes of great power on patriotic subjects. His best
edition of Obras is that of Madrid, 1897. He is
also represented in the Biblioteca de autores espanoles
(vol. xix).
What nation, tell me, in the older day
Proclaimed its destiny across the world,
Through all the climes extending its broad
sway
From east to west with golden pomp un-
furled?
Where from the sunset the Atlantic swept
Its glorious fortunes there was mighty
Spain!
America and Asia's confines kept
And Africa's upon its boundary main.
The hardy sail upon its fickle course
In vain would 'scape the reaches of its
power;
All earth for mineral riches was its source,
All ocean was its pearls' and corals' bower.
Nor where the tempests raged the most
Met they on any but a Spanish coast.
Now to the depths of shame reduced,
Abandoned to the alien eye of scorn,
Like some poor slave unto the market used
To the vile whip and shackle basely
borne
What desolation, God! The plague re-
spires
Its deadly breath of poison on the air
And Hunger scarce with feeble arms aspires
For a poor morsel there!
Thrice did the temple gates of Janus ope
And on Mars' trumpet was a mighty blast!
Thrice, but oh see, where even without a
glance of hope
The tutelary gods have passed,
And on the sea and land have left us cast!
Throughout thy spreading realms what hast
thou seen,
O Spain? but bitter mourning spread,
Sorrow and misery between
Thy fruits of slavery full harvested?
Thus the sail rends, the hulk is smashed,
And broken goes the bark upon its way;
With every wave a torment it is lashed;
Its prows no more their garlands old display.
Nor sign of hope nor of content appears;
Its standard floats no more upon the air.
The voyager's song is broken by his tears;
The mariner's voice is hushed by weight
of care,
And dread of death comes ever on his heart,
A dread of death in silence; there apart
He drifts where the destroying shoals
prepare.
Then the fell moment! Reaching forth
his hand
The Tyrant threatening the west, exclaims:
"Behold, thou now art mine, Western
Land!"
His brow with barbarous lightning flames,
As from the cloud the summer tempest
brings
The horror spreading bolt's appalling wings.
His warriors afar
Fill the great winds with paeans to their war ;
The anvils groan, the hammers tall,
The forges blaze. shame, and dost thou
dream
To make their swords their toil, and that is
all?
See'st thou not where within their fiery
gleams
'Tis chains and bars and shackles they
prepare
To bind the arms that lie so limp and bare?
Yea, let Spain tremble at the sound,
And let her outraged ire
From the volcano of her bosom bound,
High justice for its fire,
And 'gainst her despots turn,
Where in their dread they hide,
And let the echoes learn
And all the banks of Tagus wide
Hear the great sound of rage outcried,
"Vengeance!" Where, sacred river, where
The titans who with pride and wrong
Opposed our weal so long?
Their glories are no more, while ours
prepare ;
And thou so fierce and proud
Seeing Castile and thy Castilians there
Urgest thy ruddy waves in seaward pour,
Crying aloud: "The tyrants are no
more!"
Triumph! and glory! celestial time!
Would that my tongue might speak our
country's name
Unto the very winds sublime!
Gladly would I but not on harp of gold
My song acclaim; not in the prison hold
Where the inspired breast
Grows weak and cold,
With breathless lips opprest.
Old Tyrteus' lyre untomb,
In the bright sun and the uplifting wind
Of pineclad, rocky Fuenfria's bloom !
High be my flight consigned
To noble singing that shall rouse the plain
And wake Castilians to the sound again
Of glory and of war combined.
War, awful name and now sublime
The refuge and the sacred shield in time
To stay the savage Attila's advance!
With fiery steed and lance
War! War! O Spaniards, on the shore
Of Guadalquivir, see arise once more
Thy Ferdinand the Third's imposing
brows!
See great Gonzalo o'er Granada rear;
Behold the Cid with sword in mad carouse!
And o'er the Pyrenees the form appear
Of brave Bernardo, old Jimena's son!
See how their stormy wraiths are interspun!
How valor breathes from out their hollow
tombs
Where "War" upon the mighty echoes
booms!
And then! Canst thou with face serene
Behold the fertile plains
Where endless greed would glean
Our heritage and gains,
And to destruction cast? Awake,
hero-race, the moment is at hand
When victory thou must take
Our glory owning thine more grand,
Thy name a higher place than ours to
take!
It was no little day they raised
Nor vain the altar of our fathers grand;
Swear then to keep its praise;
Swear, "Rather death than tyrants in the
land!"
Yea, I do swear it, Venerable Shades,
And with the vow mine arm is stronger
grown.
Give me the lance, tie on my helm and
blades,
And to my vengeance bid me swift be gone!
Let him despairing bow his coward head
To dust and shame! Perchance the
mighty flood
Of devastation on its course shall spread
And bear me on? What matter? One
can shed
But once his mortal blood!
Shall I not go to meet
Our mighty ones upon the field of old?
"Hail, warrior forefathers! " there to greet
Their mighty "Hail." Where hero-Spain
Amid the horror and the carnage cold
Lifts up her bleeding head again,
And turns anew from her unhappy reign,
A Victress, her reconquered lands to
sign
With golden sceptre and device divine!
Manuel José Quintana, April 1808
(Trans: Thomas Walsh)
On the Invention of Printing [in English]
Translated: in the first half of 1840
First published: in the Gutenberrgs-Album, Braunschweig,
1840
Signed: Friedrich Engels
"[48] This is a translation into German of the poem A La
invención de La imprenta by Manuel José Quintana, a Spanish
poet, politician and supporter of the 18th-century French
Enlightenment. The poem was first published in Madrid in
1803 in Quintana’s book Poesias. Engels’ translation
was published together with the original in the Gutenbergs-Album
issued on the occasion of the quatercentenary of the
invention of printing (the official date of the invention is
1440). The anniversary was widely celebrated in Germany in
June 1840."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1840/04/printing.htm
Shall then the Poet’s voice sing, only
telling
Of bloody Ambition, Thrones in all their pride,
When Fame’s shrill trumpets sound about him, swelling
The lips in places where the Gods abide?
Have you forgotten shame? And do you waste
The precious gift of Praise with its bright light
On men to curses and to execration
Ever condemned by History outright?
Awake, awake! Song, that’s become so shy,
Soar up above the clouds,
With might unmatched to lofty triumph fly!
And he who wants the world to find his song
Well worthy of the laurels on his brow,
Must make his song from now
Unfold well worthy of the world, and strong!
They were not prodigal in olden days,
But freely at the Altar
Of beneficial Spirit, of Invention,
They spent the sacrificial smoke of Praise.
Saturn came down, and with the mighty plough
Divided he the Earth’s maternal breast.
And then mankind beheld
The living seeds grow on the barren ground.
Heaven received Man’s gratitude profound:
God of the Golden Age is Saturn called.
And were you not a God, you who once found
Body for Thought, for Word,
Fixing in signs the life of speech that would
Have otherwise flown off, by no ties bound?
Without you, Time had gone,
Still self-consuming, sinking, dying, down,
Buried forever in oblivion.
You came. ‘Twas then that Thought
Saw the swift widening of the narrow sphere
That once enfolded its long infancy.
It winged its way into that world so vast,
Where mighty dialogue doth fill the air
Between Time Future and deed-heavy Past.
You've helped the blind to see!
Immortal one, enjoy the honours rare,
The lofty hymns of praise,
That are your due alone, Exalted Spirit!
And Nature, just as if the one invention
Were of itself enough to prove her power,
Rests from that time and, parsimonious,
Gives the world no such wonder any more.
But Nature in the end bestirs herself,
To give another token: the icy Rhine
Sees Gutenberg come forth: “O vain endeavours!
What does it help you, that you can inspire
Your thoughts with life by writing,
If thought dies, petrified, dumb in the dire
Darkness of lethargy and long forgetting?
Say, can a single vessel be enough
E'er to contain the billowing sea that rages?
Much less can Man’s gifts of the Spirit be
Unfolded in a single volume’s pages!
What lacks? The art of flight? But when bold Nature
Created in one image countless beings,
Now, after hers, there comes my own Invention!
That, echoing a thousandfold, Truth might
Embrace the world with powerful proclamation,
Soaring aloft with Clarity’s sheer flight!”
He spoke. And there was Print. And lo! all
Europe,
Astounded, moved, forthwith herself bestirs
With thunderous sound. As if by storm winds fanned,
Swift-rushing onward roars
The wrathful fire that has so long lain deep
In the dark bowels of the Earth, asleep.
O evil Pile, raised up for Ignorance there
By base brutality and Tyrants’ wrath!
Rocks glowing, the Volcano gushes forth,
And your foundations tremble in their fear!
What is this monster of the evil spirit,
This foul abortion, that, all scruples gone,
Founds on the old decaying Capitol
Its loathsome and abominable Throne,
And now bids to destroy, yea, murder all?
It stands, although the structure of its
power
Is crumbling slowly. But one day that Throne
Shall fall and cast its ruins o'er the land.
A fastness perching on a crag alone
Thus crowns the summit of a mountain high.
The Sons of War once took up their abode
In its security.
Ruling by force of stolen power, they
Would sally forth exultant to the fray.
Deserted and alone,
The Keep stands in the forest, seen by none.
It still surveys, though crumbling with neglect,
The world all round with menacing aspect.
One day it shall fall down,
And then the fields shall groan,
Covered with ruins. Meanwhile, it shall be
Scarecrow and bogey to all folk that lived
In fear and terror of it recently.
That, then, was the first wreath of bay to
deck
The brow of Reason; but Intellect now rises
Courageously, athirst for certain knowledge,
Encompassing the world in its embraces.
Copernicus soars to the starry places
Hitherto shrouded in a heavy pall;
And then he sees, immeasurably far,
Day’s bringer, our forever festive star,
The brightest luminary of them all.
Then Galileo feels beneath his feet
The Earth’s ball rolling; but blind Italy
Rewards him with a prison cell’s disgrace.
Meanwhile, the Earth sails onward ceaselessly
And swiftly through the infinite sea of space,
And with it, fast as lightning, sweep the stars,
Shimm'ring in flight. Then Newton’s fiery spirit
Is flung aloft into their very midst.
He follows, understands them,
Charting the tracks of forces
That keep them racing in their whirling courses.
What does it help you, then, to conquer
Heaven,
To find the law that moves eternally
Air’s circle and the seas? To split the ray
Of light incorporeal; or to dig down
Into the bowels of Earth and snatch the cradle
Of gold and crystal? Spirit, return once more
To Man!
And so it did, only to pour
Its bitterness into lamentations loud:
"How is the Intellect with blindness cowed!
How rings that chain of iron
Forged by the frenzied powers of Tyranny,
From pole to pole each with the other vying,
And pins Man helpless lying,
Upon his death-bed, tired of slavery!
This must be ended.”
And the Despots heard,
And wielded in their vile and villainous hands
Two weapons to depend on — Fire and Sword.
“O senseless ones! Those very high-piled
faggots
That threaten to devour me horribly,
That burn to keep me from the Truth away,
Are beacons guiding me along Truth’s way,
Are Torches to light up Truth’s victory!
Truth fondly I desire;
With rapture drunk, my heart to Truth gives prayer,
My spirit looks on Truth; I follow her,
Not of the sword afraid, nor yet of fire.
That being so, then shall I still demur?
Can I turn back again,
Retrace my steps? The waves of Tagus never
Run back towards the source from which they came
Once they have flowed into the mighty sea.
The mountains seek to bar its course in vain;
They cannot stay it in its onward motion.
It rushes in the train
Of Destiny that roars into the Ocean.”
And then the great day came
On which a mortal man arose outraged,
In wrath from all-encompassing disgrace,
And, with almighty voice,
Called out to all the World: Mankind is free!
And narrow boundaries no longer caged
The sacred call: it rose up on the wing
Of the great echo Gutenberg invented,
Soared up, a wondrous thing,
And swift, in mighty inspiration,
O'erleapt the mountains and the ocean wide
And o'er the very winds held domination.
It was not shouted down by Tyranny,
And loud and lusty rang on every side
The joyful cry of Reason: Man is free!
Oh, free, yes, free! Sweetest of words, the
breast
Swells, beating faster at the sound of you;
My spirit, that you imbue,
O'erbrimming with your holy inspiration,
Soars to serene celestial dominions,
Bearing me on its fiery beating pinions.
Where are you all that hear
My singing, mortal beings? From on high,
I see the awesome prison doors of Fate
Open, the impenetrable veil of Time
Is torn apart — the Future lies before me!
I see full clear that Earth never again
Shall be the wretched planet where Ambition
And War with its fierce countenance can reign.
Now both of them are gone from Earth for
ever,
As Plague and Storm, those torturers, prepare
To leave the zone they've pillaged and laid bare,
When Polar ice-winds threaten to blow over.
AB people felt their true equality;
With strength untamed, brave heroes struggled for
That right and won it with triumphant glee.
There are no Slaves or Tyrants any more.
Now Love and Peace fill all the World around,
And Love and Peace breathe over all the Earth,
And “Love and Peace!” both near and far resound.
And up aloft, upon his golden Throne
In blessing doth the Lord his sceptre raise,
Dispensing Air and joy all round below,
So that on all Earth’s ways
They might, as once of old, abundant flow.
Do you not see that column soaring there,
Towering in all its splendour to the sky,
A-throb with flashing light, eye-dazzling?
Less mighty are the pyramids so high,
The work of slaves who toiled in abject fear
Of one whose glory came from suffering.
See there, unwavering,
The eternal incense rise,
As the whole Earth gives thanks to Gutenberg.
For such beneficence, a modest prize!
Hail to the one who broke the insensate power
Of battering violence; raised the might of Reason,
The strength of soul, high o'er the world to fly!
Praise him who raised the Truth in triumph high,
Making his hands’ work fruitful for all time!
Sing the Well-Doer’s praise in song sublime!
nació en Madrid el n de Abril de 1772 y murió
en esta misma capital el 11 de Marzo de 1857.
No es posible ni nos incumbe referir aquí su
larga y gloriosa vida. D. Antonio Ferrer del
Rio, el Marqués de Valmar, D. Manuel Cañete
y otros escritores de nota lo han hecho ya dete-
nida y discretamente. Nosotros mismos, en el
primer tomo de esta obra, hemos tratado de
Quintana y hemos procurado ensalzarle como
merece, calificándole de gran poeta, calificación
que no somos pródigos en conceder, y cuya im-
portancia estimamos sobre manera.
Su poderoso estro, la grandilocuencia y brío
de su dicción y el buen gusto y la severa crítica
de que su inspiración lírica iba siempre prece-
dida ó acompañada, contribuyeron á dar á Quin-
tana el laurel de oro con que sus contemporá-
neos le coronaron hacia el fin de su vida en 25
de Marzo de 1855, laurel que la posteridad con-
serva inmarcesible y luminoso, adornando la
efigie y ensalzando la memoria del egregio vate.
Pero masque de las prendas, en cierto modo téc-
nicas de que hemos hablado, nacieron su gran-
deza y su gloria, del entusiasmo generoso y fe-
cundo que encendió en su corazón el amor de
la libertad, de la patria y del progreso del hu-
mano linaje.
Aunque ya lo hemos dicho no podemos me-
nos de repetir aquí que ese entusiasmo puso en
la lira de Quintana cuerdas inauditas, ó si se
quiere jamás oídas desde los tiempos de la an-
tigua Grecia. Los que acusan sus cantos de mo-
notonía, los que dicen que el profundo senti-
miento de la naturaleza le faltaba y que le con-
movía poco la contemplación del universo visi-
ble y menos aun los amorosos afectos que Dios y
sus predilectas criaturas infunden en las almas,
tal vez no carecen de razón para esta censura;
pero bien podemos contestarles que aunque no
fueran más que dos las cuerdas de la lira de
Quintana, poseían novedad sublime, y los tonos
vibrantes que arrancaba de ellas el plectro del
poeta estaban dotados de inmortal y maravillosa
resonancia.
Bien puede alegarse además que, aún supo-
niendo que el alma de Quintana fué capaz de
inspirarse en otros diferentes y altos objetos y
sentir pasiones y emociones muy otras que las
del patriotismo y del liberalismo, la agitadísima
época en que vivió y la parte tan activa y tan
principal que durante su mocedad, tomó en los
más transcendentales y grandes sucesos políti-
cos, no le dejaron vagar ni reposo para consa-
grarse á la contemplación de la hermosura de
los cielos y de la tierra, para tener arrobos místi-
cos y menos aun para abrir las puertas de su co-
razón á devaneos y amores petrarquistas.
Quintana, en prosa como en verso fué siem-
pre, y no pudo menos de ser dados su carácter y
el ambiente que respiraba, el político, el liberal,
el progresistay el patriota. Oficial primero, secre-
tario ó como queramos llamarle de la Junta cen-
tral y redactor asimismo del Semanario patriótico,
animó al pueblo en la guerra de la Independen-
cia y exaltó su denuedo y furor contra los invaso-
res franceses. Las elocuentes proclamas de en-
tonces, los manifiestos y los decretos estaban
escritos ó dictados por él; tal vez exaltaban más
los ánimos que sus magnificas odas y tal vez eran
obras no menos elocuentes y sentidas. Sean
muestra de este sentimiento y de esta elocuen-
cia las siguientes hermosas frases: «Vale más
espirar gloriosamente por las orillas paternales
del Tajo ó del Ebro, que irse á fenecer, hecho
un esclavo, por las márgenes heladas del Vístu-
la y del Niemen, como instrumento vil de la
frenética ambición de un infame advenedizo.»
Se diría que Quintana al expresarse así, dio
idea, asunto y plan á Leopardi para su admirable
canto á Italia. También, al notar que los italia-
nos combaten por Bonaparte en el norte de Eu-
ropa, exclama aquel sublime lírico:
Oh misero colui che in guerra é spento,
Non per li pairii lidi e per la pia
Consorte e ifigli cari,
Ma da nemici altrui
Per altra gente, e non puó dir morendo:
A ¡ma ierra natía,
La vita che mi desti ecco ti rendo.
Con lo cual, impulsado el poeta por su ima-
ginación y por su sentimiento, se lanza en rau-
do vuelo contra la corriente de los siglos, y adi-
vina y reconstruye el hermoso himno de Simó-
nides á los trescientos esparciatas que muriendo
en las Termopilas se sustrajeron á la muerte.
No son inferiores en majestad y grandeza las
dos odas de Quintana que insertamos A Espa-
ña después de la revolución de Marzo y Al arma-
mento de las provincias españolas contra los fran-
ceses. Lo que del canto de Leopardi las distingue
es que no son desesperadas, sino belicosas y ri-
cas de fe en el triunfo definitivo.
En las otras odas de Quintana, más que el pa-
triotismo prestan poderoso vigor al estro ideas
y sentimientos, quizás venidos de tierras extra-
ñas, quizás nacidos y difundidos á la vez por toda
Europa en el último tercio del siglo xvni, si bien
más propios de Francia, de donde parecían como
importados, porque allí tomaron forma popu-
lar y más celebrada en los escritos, y porque
allí se transformaron en hechos, terribles á par
que grandiosos. Estos elementos de la inspira-
ción de Quintana, exóticos en la apariencia al
menos, dan gallarda nuestra de sí en las compo-
siciones A la invención déla imprenta, en El Pan-
teón del Escorial y en no pocas otras donde la
mente de Quintana se encumbra también á la
más alta poesía. No negaremos, con todo, que
aun prescindiendo de doctrinas y opiniones, ex-
presadas allí en discordancia con las de muchos
españoles de entonces y aun de ahora, el poeta
se deja llevar y se hace eco de injustas acusacio-
nes contra nuestra nación. Algo deslustra asi-
mismo la belleza y la sublimidad de las suso-
dichas composiciones, cierto sentimentalismo
amanerado muy de moda en aquellos días. Sin
duda la tal moda, había sido inventada y propa-
gada por Kousseau y contenia ya el germen y
el fermento del romanticismo en una de sus
fases, maldiciente, quejumbrosa y empalagosa
como ninguna.
El buen gusto de Quintana y su recto y sano
juicio, no consintieron que cayese con frecuen-
cia en el defecto á que aludo, defecto en que
solía caer D. Nicasio Alvarez de Cienfuegos,
menoscabando ó torciendo asi la energía del es-
tro que le impulsaba. Tenía este defecto algo
que inducía y excitaba á ser antisocial: á suponer
que la civilización habia pervertido y viciado la
naturaleza humana, buena de suyo, y que el me-
jor estado del hombre, el más moral y el más
puro, era el estado salvaje. Por eso, sin duda,
exclama Quintana:
«|Vírgen del mundol ¡América inocente!»
saludando á la patria de los americanos preco-
lombinos, en quienes supone que nuestra in-
fernal codicia y nuestro espantoso fanatismo hi-
cieron tantos estragos.
Fuera de este extravío, que en Quintana se
nota poco y del que era difícil salir exento á fines
del siglo xvm y principios del xix, no acierto yo
á ver en Quintana sino excelencias dignas de
todo elogio. Y no se señaló sólo como inspirado
poeta y como escritor político en los documen-
tos oficíales y en sus Cartas á Lord Holland, sino
que brilló también como elocuente historiador
y como juicioso crítico literario, salvando á me-
nudo con la agudeza y penetración de su enten-
dimiento los estrechos límites en que encerra-
ban los preceptistas á los que cuando él escribió
escribían de literatura.
Su colección de poesías selectas dan claro tes-
timonio de su mérito en este punto y valieron,
durante no pocos años, para hacer conocer y es-
timar á la generalidad de las gentes que no se
dedican á detenidos y especiales estudios, lo
más acendrado y bailo de nuestro tesoro poético
castizo.
Como historiador, elocuente, imparcial y jui-
cioso, aunque menos investigador de documen-
tos de lo que hoy se estila y se requiere, Quin-
tana es digno de aplauso por sus vidas del Cid,
de Roger de Lauria, de Guzman el Bueno, del
Gran Capitán, de D. Alvaro de Luna y de otros
ilustres varones.
MODERN POETS AND POETRY OF SPAIN
By JAMES KENNEDY, Esq.,
HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S JUDGE IN THE MIXED COURT
OF JUSTICE AT THE HAVANA.
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE,
14, HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON;
AND
20, SOUTH FREDERICK STREET, EDINBURGH.
1860.
VI. Quintana Born 1772. Living 1851. Age 79.
Contents
VI. MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA.
Memoir of p141
To the Spanish Expedition for the Promotion of Vaccination
in America, under Don Francisco Bahnis p152
On the Battle of Trafalgar p158
MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA [Biography in English]
p141 MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA.
Connecting the present age of modern Spanish poetry with
that of the past generation, by a happily protracted existence,
as well as by the style and tone of his writings, the venerable
subject of this memoir still survives, to close a life of active
usefulness in a healthy and honoured old age.
Quintana was born at Madrid, the 11th April, 1772, of
a respectable family of Estremadura. He received his pri-
mary education in classical learning at Cordova, whence he
proceeded to Salamanca, and graduated there in canon and
civil law. In this university he had the advantage of study-
ing under Melendez Valdes, by whom he was soon favourably
noticed, and was made known to the illustrious Jovellanos,
by whose counsels also he had the good fortune to be assisted.
Thus his natural disposition for the study of elegant literature
was encouraged, both by precept and example, under two
such able directors, to take a higher course than the mere
study of law, for which profession he was destined.
Having been admitted an Advocate of the Supreme Court,
he has held various appointments, as fiscal of the tribunal
of commerce, and censor of theatres; afterwards chief clerk
of the Secretary-General to the Central Junta of Government,
secretary of decrees and interpretation of languages, member
of the censorship to the Cortes, and of the commission for
the formation of a new plan of education. In the last, he
was charged with the duty of drawing up a report of all the
works on the subject presented to the government, which
was, in 1835, approved of by the Cortes.
In the two former of these employments he was interrupted
by the French invasion, when he took an active part against
the invaders. Receiving afterwards the other offices mentioned,
he wrote many of the proclamations and other addresses which
were put forth on the part of the national government, during
the struggle for independence. Throughout those eventful
times, he was in the most advanced rank of the party that
advocated constitutional rights, so that when Ferdinand VII.
returned to the possession of absolute power, in 1814, he
was, amongst the proscribed, made a prisoner, and confined in
the castle of Pamplona.
There he was kept six years, without being allowed to com-
municate with his friends, or make use of his pen. On the
constitutional government becoming re-established, he was
released, and restored to his offices as secretary for the inter-
pretation of languages, and member of the board of censors.
In 1821, the directorship-general of public education having
been formed, he was made president, until 1823, when the
constitution was again set aside, and he was again deprived
of his employments.
Hereupon Quintana retired to Estremadura to his family,
and lived there till the end of 1828, when he was permitted
to return to Madrid, to continue his labours and literary
studies. The following year he was named member of the
board for the museum of natural sciences, and in 1833 was re-
established in his former employment, as secretary for inter-
pretations, for which his knowledge of the French, English
and other languages rendered him qualified, and also reap-
pointed president of the council of public instruction. He
was shortly after appointed preceptor to her present Majesty,
Queen Isabel II., and although ever maintaining strong libe-
ral principles, has been since, under the administration of
Narvaez, named a senator of the kingdom.
Quintana first appeared as an author in 1795, when he
published a small volume of poems, among which was an Ode
to the Sea, considered one of his best compositions. The
greater part, however, of them were of unequal merit, and
those have been omitted in subsequent editions : the next
one was published in 1802, and it has been reprinted with
additions several times. The best and most complete edition
of his poetical works was published at Madrid, in 1820, in
two volumes, entitled, ' Poems, including the patriotic odes
and tragedies, the Duke of Viseo, and Pelayo.' Of this edition
five or six surreptitious reprints have been made at Bordeaux
and elsewhere, the laws regarding copyright having only
lately been made accordant with justice in Spain as regards
authors, though they do not yet extend them protection
against piratical republications from abroad.
The tragedy of the 'Duke of Viseo' imitated from the En-
glish, the 'Castle Spectre' of Lewis, was brought forward in
1801, and that of 'Pelayo' in 1805. The latter, on a favourite
subject of their ancient history, was received with much
favour by his countrymen, as were also many of his patriotic
odes and poems, written in a spirit accordant with the national
feeling. Most of these were at the time inserted in two
periodical works he had under his direction ; the first, 'Varie-
dades de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes' and the second, the
'Seminario Patriotico,' which was of a political character,
and established to promote, and sustain the spirit of inde-
pendence, against the French invasion.
Beyond his original poems, Quintana has done an im-
portant service to Spanish literature by publishing 'A Col-
lection of select Spanish Poetry' altogether in six volumes,
Madrid, 1830-33, with critical and biographical notices, re-
printed in Paris by Baudry, 1838. These notices are written in
a tone of great impartiality and fairness, and are preceded by
a Dissertation, as an Introduction, on the History of Spanish
Poetry, which, written as it is with eminent ability, Mr.
Wiffen has shown great judgement in translating, prefixed to
his very correct and elegant version of the works of Garcilasso
de la Vega, London, 1823. Besides this valuable collection
of Spanish poetry, Quintana has favoured the public with a
work in three volumes, — 'Lives of celebrated Spaniards,' of
which the first volume was published in 1807, the other two
in 1830 and 1833 respectively.
The first volume, which has been translated into English
by Mr. Preston, London, 1823, contains the lives of the
earlier heroes of Spanish history, — the Cid Campeador,
Guzman the Good, Roger de Lauria, the Prince of Viana,
and Gonzalo de Cordova; all bearing impressions of the en-
thusiastic and poetic feelings, characteristic of the compara-
tively youthful period of life at which they were written. It
was Quintana's intention to have proceeded with a series of
like biographies; but the subsequent public events, in which
he had to take so active a part, interrupted the task, and
when he resumed it, after the lapse of twenty years, it was
under the influence of other feelings. He then proceeded
principally with the lives of persons distinguished in American
history ; the second volume containing those of Vasco Nunez
de Balboa and Francisco Pizarro ; and the third volume those
of Alvaro de Luna, and Bartolome de las Casas. Of these
two volumes, the former has been translated into English by
Mrs. Hobson, Edinburgh, 1832; and of the third a transla-
tion has been announced, London, 1851; both, and the latter
especially, well deserving of study.
In the first volume, treating of heroes, whose history,
almost lost in the obscurity of remote times, might be con-
sidered among the fabulous legends prevailing everywhere in
the first formations of society, it seemed only appropriate to
give a colouring of poetry, to characters of whose actions
nothing could be judged, except by their outward bearing.
But in the others he could write as a philosophic historian,
inquiring into the motives of actions, and teaching lessons of
public morality by individual examples. The life of Alvaro
is thus particularly interesting, depicting the caprices of
fortune, as they affect
The wish indulged in courts to shine,
And power too great to keep or to resign.
In the other lives he maintains the high tone of feeling
shown in his beautiful Ode to Balmis, the philanthropic
introducer of vaccination into America, where the ravages of
the disease, so graphically described by Humboldt, had made
this benefit more peculiarly desirable.
The generous sentiments expressed in this ode are such
as to do honour not only to Quintana, but also to the nation,
where they are in the present generation adopted, as we find
them repeated emphatically by so popular a writer as Larra.
More than thirty years had elapsed after writing that ode,
when Quintana, in the Life of the enthusiastic Las Casas,
proved his consistency of character and principles, by main-
taining them in a work of historical character, as he had done
in poetry in his youth.
In the prologue to the third volume he says, "The author
will be accused of little regard for the honour of his country,
when he so frankly adopts the sentiments and principles of
the Protector of the Indians, whose imprudent writings have
been the occasion of so much opprobrium, and of sub-
ministering such arms to the detractors of Spanish glories.
But neither the extravagance or fanatical exaggerations of Las
Casas, nor the abuse which the malignity of strangers have
made of them, can erase from deeds their nature and cha-
racter. The author has not gone to imbibe them from sus-
picious fountains ; nor to judge them as he has done, has he
regarded other principles than those of natural equity, or
other feelings than those of his own heart. Documents care-
fully appended for this purpose, and the attentive perusal of
Herrera, Oviedo, and others our own writers as impartial and
judicious as those, give the same result in events and opinions.
What then was to be done? To deny the impressions received,
and repel the decision which humanity and justice dictate, on
account of not compromising what is called the honour of
the country ? But the honour of a country consists in actions
truly great, noble and virtuous of its inhabitants; not in
gilding with justifications, or insufficient exculpations, those
that unfortunately bear on themselves the seal of being
iniquitous and cruel. To strangers who to depress us, accuse
us of cruelty and barbarity in our discoveries and conquests
of the New World, we might reply with other examples on
their own part, as or more atrocious than ours, and in times
and under circumstances sufficiently less excusable
"The great glories and usefulnesses, which result from
extended conquests and dominations, are always bought at a
great price, whether of blood, or violence, or reputation and
fame : unhappy tribute to be paid even by nations the most
civilized, when the impulse of destiny bears them to the same
situation. Glorious, without doubt, was for us the discovery
of the New World ! But at what cost was it bought ! For
myself what affects me, leaving apart as not required here
the question of the advantages which Europe has derived
from that singular event, I will say, that wherever I find,
whether in the past or the present, aggressors and aggrieved,
oppressors and oppressed, on no account of ulterior utility,
nor even of national consideration, am I able to incline myself
to the former, or to fail in sympathizing with the latter. I
may have put therefore into this historical question more
entireness and candour than is commonly expected, when
referring to our own conduct, but no odious prejudices, nor
an inclination to injure or detract. Let us everywhere give
some place in books to justice, now that unfortunately it is
wont to have so little left it in the affairs of the world."
Holding such high opinions in all his writings, it may be
seen that the youth of Spain cannot have a better guide to
take for private study than those writings, the best prepara-
tives for honourable exertion in life; and Quintana's own
history shows, that whatever misfortunes may befall any one
individually, he does not labour or suffer in vain, who labours
or suffers honestly in a just cause. In another part of the
same prologue, Quintana says of his own lot, "Of this variety
of circumstances and continued alternations, from good to ill,
and from ill to good, not small has been the part fallen to
the author of this work. Drawn by the force of events from
his study and domestic lares, flattered and excessively exalted
now, afterwards borne down and contemned, falling into im-
prisonment and proceeded against capitally, destined to a
long and perhaps indefinite detention, deprived during it of
communications and even of his pen, released from it, when
he least hoped, to rise and prosper, and descending again
soon to be endangered, he has experienced all, and nothing
now can be to him new. Let it not be supposed from this
that he puts it forth here as a merit, and less, that he pre-
sents it in complaint. For of whom should I complain ? Of
men ? These in the midst of my greatest calamities, with
very few exceptions, have shown themselves constantly re-
gardful, benevolent, and even respectful towards me. Of
fortune ? And what pledges had she given me to moderate
for me the rigour with which she treated the rest ? Were
they not of as much or more value than I ? Political and
moral turbulences are the same as the great physical dis-
orders, in which the elements becoming excited, no one is
sheltered from their fury."
Resigning himself thus to his fate, Quintana seems to have
learned the philosophical secret of preserving his equanimity
in all the vicissitudes of life, to the enjoyment of a tranquil
old age. The privilege of attaining this is a favour to every
one, to whom it is granted ; but its highest enjoyments must
be consequent only on a life of active usefulness, with a con-
science void of offence. The man of cultivated mind, who
has been called upon to do or to suffer more than others bis
fellows in the turmoils of the world, may then be supposed
to receive his greater reward in the remembrances of scenes,
happier perhaps in the retrospect than in the reality, which
may have given them even the semblance of a longer exist-
ence. As perspectives appear lengthened, according to the
number and variety of objects that intervene to the view, so
life itself may appear to have been longer or shorter, accord-
ing to the memory and character of events witnessed in its
course. Described as a person of athletic form, yet unbowed
by the burden of fourscore years, Quintana, as before observed,
still survives, to receive the honour justly due to him for his
honourable exertions through life, the remembrances of which
may thus give him more pleasurable enjoyments, than can be
supposed to fall to the lot of ordinary moi'tals.
As a poet, if a foreigner may be allowed to express an opi-
nion, for which he has no native authority to adduce, Quin-
tana may be said to be more eloquent than poetical. As
Quintilian said of Lucan, both also natives of Spain, "ut
dicam quod sentio, magis oratoribus quam poetis annume-
randus." Quintana's eloquence consists in earnestness more
than in flights of fancy. His favourite subjects were the glo-
ries of his country ; and his patriotic odes, in which he endea-
voured to incite his countrymen to imitate the examples of
their forefathers, have been pronounced his best compositions.
He has as a poet paid his tribute of admiration to beauty and
the arts ; but his whole soul seems to be poured forth when
pathetically mourning over the dimmed glories of his country,
as when at the thought " of our miserable squadrons flying
before the British," he turns to the Padillias aud Guzmans
of former days, " when the Spaniard was master of half of
Europe, and threw himself upon unknown and immense seas
to give a new world to men."
As a patriotic poet Quintana has been compared to Be-
ranger, and is said to have had the same power over the minds
of his countrymen. If the parallel be correct, it may be
curious to consider how characteristically these two poets ap-
peal to the feelings of their admirers ; one by songs and in-
cidents, which though often trivial, yet speak to the heart in
its most sensitive points, while the other proceeds to the same
object by martial odes of commanding austerity. Besides the
Ode to Balmis, the other one in this work, on the Battle of
Trafalgar, has been chosen for translation, as most likely to
interest the English reader, though it may not be in itself so
much to be admired as some others of his poems. The reader
will perhaps observe a constrained style in it, even beyond
that of translation, — sentiments forced, as if the subject had
not been taken voluntarily. It must not therefore be looked
upon as a favourable specimen of Quintana's genius, like the
Ode to Balmis, which more fully shows the character of his
mind.
Quintana, more than other poets of his time, has written in
one style of verse, as in imitation of the Pindaric ode, or of
our Gray and Dryden. Thus with free metres and often
unfettered by rhyme, he has a staid measured tone, well suited
to the subjects he has generally adopted. They are con-
sidered in Spain as of an elegiac character ; and as accordant
with them, they have fallen in the translation into the form
of our elegies, or the heroic lines with alternate rhymes, the
style of verse which Dryden, a high authority on such a ques-
tion, pronounced " the most magnificent of all the measures
which our language affords."
Much as Quintana has published, both of his own works
and of the works of others, for the advancement of sound
learning and moral instruction, we have still great cause to
regret that the circumstances of the times in which he has
lived have prevented him from publishing more. Not only
has he been interrupted in the course of those instructive
biographies, of which we have such valuable beginnings, but
we might have hoped, if he had lived in more peaceful times,
that he would have given the world some work, of a character
more distinctively his own, to place his name still higher in
the history of elegant literature. It was one of the maxims
of the wise Jovellanos, " that it was not sufficient for the pur-
poses of good government to keep the people quiet, but that
they ought to be kept contented." Without this condition
the other cannot be expected ; and for all public commotions,
therefore, the rulers are always most responsible, as unmindful
of this truth. The greatest evil is, when the whole literary
world has thus also further cause to complain of their mis-
deeds, as affecting those who were endowed with talents of a
higher order, such as to make all men interested in their
well-being. It is to be hoped that we are now, under the
benignant reign of Isabel the Second, entitled to expect a
more liberal government, and the advent of a still brighter
aera for the literature of Spain.
Taking the space of eighty years, as comprehending the
period during which modern Spanish poetry has been pecu-
liarly distinguished for superior excellence, we may now make
a further division of this period, into the former and latter
parts of it. All the poets, whose lives we have hitherto traced,
wrote their principal works previously to the year 1810 ; after
which time we have a succession of writers, whose genius may
perhaps be found to take a yet wider range of thought and
feeling, consequent on the extended field of knowledge, which
later events presented to their observation.
p152
TO THE SPANISH EXPEDITION FOR THE
PROMOTION OF VACCINATION IN AMERICA,
UNDER DON FRANCISCO BALMIS.
Faik Virgin of the world, America !
Thou who so innocent to heaven display'st
Thy bosom stored with plenty's rich array,
And brow of gentle youth ! Thou, who so graced
The tenderest and most lovely of the zones
Of mother Earth to shine, shouldst be of fate
The sweet delight and favoured love it owns,
That but pursues thee with relentless hate,
Hear me ! If ever was a time mine eyes,
When scanning thy eventful history,
Did not burst forth in tears ; if could thy cries
My heart e'er hear unmoved, from pity free
And indignation ; then let me disclaim'd
Of virtue be eternally as held,
And barbarous and wicked be one named
As those who with such ruin thee assail'd.
In the eternal book of life are borne,
Written in blood, those cries, which then sent forth
Thy lips to Heaven, such fury doom'd to mourn,
And yet against my country call in wrath.
Forbidding glory and success attend
The fatal field of crimes. Will they ne'er cease ?
Will not the bitter expiation end
Sufficed of three eventful centuries ?
We are not now those who on daring's wing,
Before the world, the Atlantic's depths disdain'd,
And from the silence found thee covering,
That fiercely tore thee, bleeding and enchain'd !
" No, ye are not the same. But my lament
Is not for this to cease : I could forget
The rigours which my conquerors relent,
Their avarice with cruelties beset :
The crime was of the age, and not of Spain.
But when can I forget the evils sore
Which I must miserably yet sustain ?
Among them one, come, see what I deplore,
If horror will not you deter. From you,
Your fatal ships first launch' d, the mortal pest,
The poison that now desolates me flew.
As in doom'd plains by ruthless foes oppress'd,
As serpent that incessantly devours,
So ever from your coming, to consume
Has it raged o'er me. See here, how it lowers !
And in the hidden place of death and gloom,
Buries my children and my loves. Affords
Your skill no remedy ? ! ye, who call
Yourselves as of America the lords,
Have pity on my agony. See, fall
Beneath your insane fury, not sufficed
One generation, but a hundred slain !
And I expiring, desolate, unprized,
Beseech assistance, and beseech in vain."
Such were the cries that to Olympus rose,
When in the fields of Albion found remote,
Variola's fell havocs to oppose,
Kind Nature show'd the happy antidote.
The docile mother of the herd was found
Enrich'd with this great gift ; there stored attent
Where from her copious milky founts around
She gives so many life and aliment.
Jenner to mortals first the gift reveal'd :
Thenceforward mothers to their hearts could press
Their children without fear to lose them heal'd ;
Nor fear'd thenceforward in her loveliness
The maiden, lest the fatal venom spoil
Her cheek of roses, or her brow of snow.
All Europe then is join'd in grateful toil,
For gift so precious and immense to know,
In praises loud to echo Jenner's name ;
And altars to his skill to raise decrees.
There to long ages hallowing his fame,
Beside their tutelar divinities.
Of such a glory at the radiant light,
With noble emulation filTd his breast,
A Spaniard rose, — " Let not my country slight,"
He cried, " on such a great occasion's test,
Her ancient magnanimity to employ.
'T is fortune's gift discovering it alone ;
That let an Englishman his right enjoy.
Let Spain's sublime and generous heart be shown,
Giving her majesty more honour true,
By carrying this treasure to the lands
Which most the evil's dire oppressions knew.
There, for I feel a deity commands,
There will I fly, and of the raging wave
Will brave in bearing it the furious strife ;
America's infested plains to save
From death, as planting there the tree of life."
He spoke, and scarcely from his burning lip
These echoes had beneficently flowed,
When floating in the port, prepared the ship,
To give commencement to so blest a road,
Moved spreading her white canvas to the air.
On his fate launched himself the aeronaut.
Waves of the sea, in favouring calmness bear,
As sacred, this deposit to be brought
Through your serene and liquid fields. There goes
Of thousand generations long the hope ;
Nor whelm it, nor let thunder it oppose ;
Arrest the lightning, with no storms to cope,
Stay them until that from those fertile shores
Come forth the prows, triumphant in their pride,
That fraught remote with all their golden stores,
With vice and curses also come allied.
Honour to Balmis ! 0, heroic soul !
That in such noble toil devotest thy breath,
Go fearless to thy end. The dreadful roll
Of ocean always hoarse, and threatening death ;
The fearful whirlpool's all-devouring throat,
The cavem'd rock's black face, where dash'd by fate,
Break the wreck'd barks, the dangers they denote
Greatest are not most cruel thee that wait.
From man expect them ! Impious, envious man,
In error wrapped and blind, will prove him bent,
When hush'd against thee is the hurricane,
To combat rough the generous intent.
But firmly and secure press forward on ;
And hold in mind, when comes for strife the day,
That without constant, anxious toil, can none
Hope glory's palms to seize, and bear away.
At length thou comest ; America salutes
Her benefactor, and at once her veins
The destined balm to purify deputes.
A further generous ardour then regains
Thy breast ; and thou, obedient to the hand
Divine that leads thee, turn'st the sounding prow
Where Ganges rolls, and every Eastern land
The gift may take. The Southern Ocean now
Astonished sees thee, o'er her mighty breast
Untiring passing. Luzon thee admires,
Good always sowing on thy road impress'd :
And as it China's toilsome shore acquires,
Confucius from his tomb of honoured fame,
If could his venerable form arise,
To see it in glad wonder might exclaim,
" 'T was worthy of my virtue, this emprise ! "
Right worthy was it of thee, mighty sage !
Worthy of that divine and highest light,
Which reason and which virtue erst arrayed
To shine in happier days, now quench'd in night.
Thou, Balmis ! never mayst return ; nor grows
In Europe now the sacred laurel meet
With which to crown thee. There in calm repose,
Where peace and independence a retreat
May find, there rest thee ! where thou mayst receive
At length the august reward of deeds so blest.
Nations immense shall come for thee to grieve,
Raising in grateful hymns to Heaven address'd
Thy name with fervorous zeal. And though now laid
In the cold tomb's dark precincts thou refuse
To hear them, listen to them thus conveyed
At least, as in the accents of my Muse.
p158
ON THE BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR.
Not with an easy hand wills Fate to give
Nations, or heroes, power and renown :
Triumphant Rome, whose empire to receive
A hemisphere submissively bow'd down,
Yielding itself in silent servitude,
How often did she vanquish'd groan ? repell'd
As she her course of loftiness pursued !
Her ground to Hannibal she scarcely held ;
Italian blood of Trevia the sands,
And wavy Thrasymenus deeply dyed,
And Roman matrons the victorious bands
Of Cannae nigh approaching them descried,
As some portentous comet fearful lower.
Who drove them thence ? Who from the Capitol
Turn'd on the throne, that founded Dido's power,
The clouds that threaten' d then o'er them to roll ?
Who in the fields of Zama, from the yoke
They fear'd, with direful slaughter to set free,
At length the sceptre of great Carthage broke,
With which she held her sovereignty, the sea ?
Unswerving courage ! that alone the shield
That turns adversity's sharp knife aside :
To joy turns sorrow ; bids despair to yield
To glory, and of fortune learns to guide
The dubious whirlwind, victory in its train ;
For a high-minded race commands its fate.
0, Spain ! my country ! covering thy domain,
The mourning shows how great thy suffering state ;
But still hope on, and with undaunted brow,
From base dejection free, behold the walls
Of thy own lofty Gades, which avow
Thy strength, though fate them now awhile appals ;
Which though affrighted, blushing in their shame,
As bathing them around the waves extend,
Yet loud thy sons' heroic deeds proclaim,
Far on the sounding billows they defend.
From the proud castled poop that crowns his high
Indomitable ship, the Briton round
Look'd, on his power and glory to rely,
And boastful cried, " Companions renown' d !
See, there they come : new trophies to attain
Wait your unconquer'd arms ; the feeble pines
That Spain prepares for her defence in vain :
Fate from our yoke exemption none assigns.
We are the sons of Neptune. Do they dare
To plough the waves before us ? Call to mind
Aboukir's memorable day ! to share
Another such a triumph : let us find
One moment as sufficing us to come,
To conquer, and destroy them. Grant it me,
Kind fate ! and let us crown' d with laurels home
Our wealthy Thames again returning see."
He spoke, and spread his sails. With swimming prows
Opening the waves, they follow him elate,
Conquerors of winds and waves. With dauntless brow
The Spaniards view them, and in calmness wait,
Contemning their fierce arrogance, and high
Their bosoms beating with indignant rage.
Just anger ! sacred ardour ! " There come nigh
Those cruel foes, who hasten war to wage,
And spill our blood, when we reposed secure
Beneath the wings of peace. They who are led
By avarice vile ; who friendship's laws abjure ;
Who in their endless tyranny o'erspread
Would hold condemn' d the seas ; who to unite,
As brothers, pride and insolence of power
With treachery and rapacity delight ;
Who " — but with mantle dark night brings the hour
To enwrap the world. Wandering round the shrouds
Are frightful shades, dire slaughter that portend
And fearful expectations raise. Through opening clouds
The day displays the field, where wildly blend
Fury and death ; and horrid Mars the scene
Swells loud with shouts of war, upraised in air
His standard high. To answer intervene
From hollow brass the mortal roarings glare.
The echo thunders, and the waves resound,
Dashing themselves in rage to Afric's shore :
In conflict fly the ships to ships around,
By rancour moved. Less violent its store
Of heap'd-up ice in mountains, the South Pole
Emits immense, loud thundering through the waves
To glide, and on the adventurous seaman roll.
Nor with less clamour loosen' d from their caves
Eush the black tempests, when the East and North,
Troubling the heavens enraged in furious war,
And dire encounter, all their strength put forth,
And shake the centre of the globe afar.
Thrice the fierce islander advanced to break
Our squadron's wall, confiding in his might :
Thrice by the Spanish force repulsed, to shake
His hopes of victory he sees the fight.
Who shall depict his fury and his rage,
When with that flag before so proud he saw
The flag of Spain invincible engage ?
'T is not to skill or valour to o'erawe,
Solely he trusts to fortune for success.
Doubling his ships, redoubling them again,
From poop to prow, from side to side to press,
In an unequal fight is made sustain
Each Spanish ship a thousand, thousand fires ;
And they with equal breath that death receive
So send it back. No, not to my desires,
If heaven would grant it me, could I achieve
The task that day's heroic deeds to tell,
Not with a hundred tongues ; hid from the sun
By smoke, Fame's trumpet shall their praises swell,
And bronze and marble for their names be won.
At length the moment comes, when Death extends
His pale and horrid hand, to signalize
Great victims. Brave Alcedo to him bends,
And nobly Moyua, with Castanios, dies.
And Alcala, Churruca, also ye !
Of Betis and Guipuzcoa the pride.
O ! if Fate knew to spare, would it not be
Enough to soothe, upon your brows allied
Minerva's olive with Mars' laurels seen ?
From your illustrious and inquiring mind
What could the world, or stars, their mysteries screen ?
Of your great course the traces left behind
The Cyclades are full, nor less the seas
Of far America. How seeks to mourn,
New tears from her sad heart her grief to appease,
The widowed land such heroes from her torn ;
And still she sheds them o'er your cruel fate.
! that ye two could live, and I in place
Of grief, of sorrowing song, to consecrate
To you the funeral accents that I raise,
Might have opposed my bosom to the stroke,
And thus my useless life my country give !
That I might thus your cruel lot revoke,
To bear the wounds, so that ye two might live !
And she might proudly raise her front anew,
Victorious crown' d with rays of glory bright,
Her course ''gainst arduous fortune to pursue,
Triumphant in your wisdom and your might.
Yet fell ye not, ye generous squadrons ! there,
Without revenge and slaughter. Spreading wide,
Rivers of English blood your powers declare.
And Albion also horror-struck descried
Mountains of bodies weigh, a heavy pile,
On her so proud Armada. Nelson, too !
Terrible shade ! O, think not, no, that vile
My voice to name thee, e'er an insult threw
On thy last sigh. As English I abhor,
But hero I admire thee. O, thy fate !
Of captive ships a crowd, the spoils of war,
The Thames awaits, and now exults elate
To hail with shouts the conqueror's return !
But only pale and cold beholds her Chief !
Great lesson left for human pride to learn,
And worthy holocaust for Spanish grief.
Yet still the rage of Mars impels the arm
Of destiny ; mow'd down unnumber'd lives.
By fury launch'd, voracious dames alarm ;
On every side planks burning. Loosely drives
Each ship a fierce volcano ; blazing high
Through the wide air 't is raised, and thrown again
With horrid bursting in the seas to lie,
Engulf' d. Do other havocs yet remain ?
Yes, for that Heaven, displeased to see such foes,
Bids the inclement north winds rise to part
The furious combatants, and day to close
In stormy night. 'T is order'd, and athwart
They throw themselves the miserable barks,
Lashing the waves on high with cruel wings.
As each this new unequal combat marks
For ruin, falls the mast, and over swings
Trembling beneath the assault. The hulls divide,
And where the gaping seams the waves invite,
They enter, while the dying Spaniards cried,
" ! that we were to perish, but in fight ! "
In that remorseless conflict, high in air,
Then shining forth their glorious forms displayed
The mighty champions, who of old to bear
The trident and the spear, supreme had made
Before the Iberian flag the nations bow.
There Lauria, Trovar, and Bazan were seen,
And Aviles, their brother heroes now
Of Spain to welcome, and in death convene.
" Come among us," they cried, " among the brave
You emulate. Already you have gain'd
Your fair reward. The example that you gave
Of valour, Spain in constancy sustained
Her warriors shows, inciting to prepare
For other conflicts they undaunted greet.
Look to the city of Alcides ! there
Gravina, Alavsi, and Escanio meet !
Cisneros and a hundred more combine
There in firm column, with proud hopes to bless
Our native land. Come, fly ye here, and shine
In heaven their stars of glory, and success."
Decia Quintana en el año 1813 al ilustre Gienfuegos, muerto
pocos años antes :
•Nada importa que el mármol del sepulcro le tenga ya
separado de la región de los vivientes.
¿Desata acaso la muerte los lazos de amor y de estimación
que unen entre sí á los hombres?»
Estas palabras deben ser repetidas ahora por los que, como
nosotros, tenemos el sentimiento de
anunciar el término de la vida del más esclarecido discípulo
de Melendez.
Para Quintana había llegado, en efecto, la época de la
posteridad aun antes que la muerte le
arrebatara de entre nosotros. Anciano de más de ochenta años,
hacia ya tiempo que habia dejado
la pluma, con la cual se supo conquistar tantos laureles en
España, en Europa y en América. Jus-
tamente celebrado de propios y extraños, calificadas sus
obras entre las verdaderamente clási-
cas, proclamado como el patriarca y restaurador de la
moderna literatura, como el cantor del
patriotismo y de la virtud, como el Plutarco español, su
muerte produce en nosotros el dolor
natural del que ve desaparecer poco á poco los últimos
representantes de una época gloriosa para
nuestra patria; pero no añade nuevos quilates á la
reputación del grande hombre; no hace más
que imprimir su sello indeleble en el diploma de
inmortalidad que los contemporáneos le habían
otorgado.
El cadáver de Quintana reposa ya en la noche del sepulcro,
pero su genio vive y vivirá entré
nosotros mientras dure la historia, mientras haya una
literatura nacional, mientras existan co-
razones capaces de comprender, apreciar y admirar la belleza
en sus manifestaciones diversas.
No ha roto, pues, no ha podido romper la muerte los lazos
que á él nos unían. En su dilatada
vida, consagrada al servicio de su patria, se ha conquistado
un puesto entre los claros varones,
cuya historia dejó escrita con esos rasgos indelebles que
sólo nacen del que es capaz de sentir,
comprender y ejecutar lo que describe.
Don Manuel José Quintana nació en Madrid, en 11 de Abril de
1772, é hizo sus estudios de
humanidades, primero en Córdoba y después en Salamanca. Tuvo
por maestros al insigne poeta
Melendez Valdes, á don Pedro Estala y al erudito y
esclarecido escritor Jovellanos (2).
Dióse á conocer la índole de su genio, tanto en los escritos
poéticos, como en los históricos y
políticos, todos marcados con el sello de un ardiente
patriotismo, de un intenso amor á la virtud
(1) En el tomo xix de la Biblioteca se publica- á la estampa
por los ilustrados editores señores Me-
ron las Ohras completas de Quintana. A pesar de dina y
Navarro , con una extensa y exacta biogra-
llamarse completa esta colección, se omitieron en fía,
hábilmente escrita por un sobrino del ilustre
ella algunos escritos notables, en prosa y verso, sin poeta,
y un atinado juicio crítico, debido á la ele-
razon literaria que alcance á explicarlo. Nos com- gante
pluma de nuestro amado compañero, el señor
placemos ahora en rendir un nuevo homenaje á don Manuel
Cañete. {Nota del Colector.)
aquel varón insigne, completando en la parte poé- (2)
Estudió en la universidad de Salamanca, y
tica la colección de sus obras, fué colegial de La
Magdalena, uno de los varios
Casi todos los versos suprimidos en la mencio- colegios
menores que habia en aquella ciudad, don-
nada colección han sido há poco reunidos y dados de se
reunieron entonces esclarecidos ingenios. {Id.)
186 DON MANUEL JOSÉ QUINTANA.
y á los altos hechos, y de un horror profiindo á la tiranía
y á la corrupción {!). Teniendo á la
vista en su primera juventud los ejemplos de una corte
corrompida, sus primeros acentos casi
puede decirse que fueron los de la indignación ; y ya se
dirija á su amigo Cienfuegos convidán-
dole á gozar de la vida del campo en versos llenos do
imágenes dignas de Gésner, ya cante las
glorias de Padilla, ya la invención de la imprenta, ya el
combale da Trafakjar, ya fije sus mira-
das en el panlcon del Escorial, ya traiga á la memoria la
restauración de nuestra patria en su tra-
gedia Pelayo (2) , su voz robusta y enérgica truena contra
todo lo que ve innoble, bajo, abyecto,
en derredor de sí.
La invasión de 1808 enardeció aun más su patriotismo, y
haciéndose intérprete de los senti-
mientos de que entonces se hallaban poseídos todos los
españoles, llamó al combate y á la liber-
tad ¿aquella raza que pancia degenerada, y que se levantó
poderosa y gigante ante los ojos de la
atónita Europa. Sus odas A España después de la revolución
de Marzo de 1808, y su grito de guerra
contra los franceses son la expresión más digna, más fiel y
más sublime del espíritu que animaba
entonces á nuestros padres. Incapaz de someterse á la
tiranía el que habia conservado la inde-
pendencia de su alma aun en medio del abatimiento general,
revindicando en 1797 la memoria
de Padilla después de tres siglos de ultrajes, abandonó los
puntos que los franceses ocupaban, y
siguió ;i la Junta Central como oficial 1.° de sus oficinas
, redactando las proclamas y los más cé-
lebres documentos de aquella época. No descuidó, sin
embargo, otros trabajos literarios (o), y
antes de terminar aquella lucha, escribió, por encargo de la
Regencia, como secretario de la co-
misión nombrada al efecto, un luminoso informe sobre los
medios de arreglar la instrucción pú-
blica, en el cual se expusieron ideas de gran progreso para
su tiempo, y que más tarde, en 1822,
debían llevarse á cabo. Es notable también en este género el
discurso que pronunció por encargo
de la Dirección de Estudios al instalarse la Universidad
Central; establecimiento que debía des-
aparecer á impulso de las vicisitudes políticas, en las
cuales el mismo Quintana, atendidas sus
ideas, no podía menos de verse envuelto.
Pero la persecución no entibió su fervor patriótico ni su
amor á la verdad. Refugiado en Ex-
tremadura en 1825, escribió sobre los sucesos de la segunda
época constitucional unas Cartas á
lord Ilolland, que son un precioso monumento de gusto y de
corrección literaria, así como de
imparcialidad, de severidad y de verdad históricas.
Esta fué la última obra importante que de la pluma de
nuestro autor ha visto la luz pública.
Ella y las anteriores le habían conquistado demasiados
laureles para que anhelase ceñirse otros
nuevos, al paso que las desgracias, las vicisitudes, los
desengaños, las miserias de estos últimos
cincuenta años, y los achaques inseparables de la edad,
justifican bastante su silencio posterior.
Sus contemporáneos , como hemos dicho, le habían decretado
ya la palma de la inmortalidad.
Procer, senador en varias legislaturas, director de Estudios
en 185o, coronado públicamente en
una reunión solemne, vice-presidente del Consejo de
Instrucción pública en los últimos tiempos,
no habia sociedad ni academia que no se enorgulleciese de
contarle entre sus más preclaros in-
dividuos (4). A las siete de la mañana del día 11 de Marzo
de 18o7 recibió la extrema-unción, y
pocas horas después exhaló, con la tranquilidad del justo,
el último aliento.
Las obras que nos quedan de su pluma pertenecen á tres
géneros distintos , en los cuales des-
colló igualmente : poesía, historia y política. Ademas de
los escritos que hemos mencionado,
escribió la tragedia El Duque de Viseo , y tenía muy
adelantadas otras tres , con los títulos
de Roger de Flor, El Príncipe de Viana y Blanca de Borbon.
Todo el mundo sabe y cita también
con elogio su oda á la expedición española enviada para
propagar la vacuna en América. Entre
sus obras históricas sobresalen las Vidas de españoles
célebres, libro que comprende las del Cid,
Guzman el Bueno , Roger de Lauria , el Príncipe de Viana ,
el Gran Capitán , Vasco Nuñez de
Balboa , Francisco Pizarro, don Alvaro de Luna y fray
Bartolomé de las Gasas. Escribió también
(1) Una de sus primeras obras fué el ensayo di- mático,
famoso en aquel tiempo por su monstruosa
dáctico titulado Las reglas del drama, escrito en novela, El
Fraile. (Nota del Colector.)
1791. (Nota del Colector.) (3) En 1807 publicó el primer
tomo de su obra
(2) En 1805 dio al teatro el Pelayo. Cuatro años Vida de
españoles célebres. No publicó el segundo
antes se habia representado su primera tragedia El hasta el
año de 1830. (ídem.)
Duque de Viseo, imitada del drama inglés Castle (4) En 1814
tomó asi^ento en U Academia de San
Sjpectre, de Mateo Léwis, novelista y escritor dra- Fernando
y en la Española. (ídem)
NOTICIA BIOGRÁFICA. 187
una noticia histórica y literaria sobre Cervantes, otra
sobre Melendez Valúes y una introducción
para la colección que formó do poemas castellanos.
Por último, las Cartas á lord Hollando sin dejar de ser una
narración histórica, pueden consi-
derarse más bien como políticas, por expresar las ideas del
autor en materias de gobierno y ad-
ministración.
Sus escritos inéditos, según su última disposición
testamentaria, no se publicarán sino después
de un maduro examen, encomendado á una comisión de eruditos
y personas inteligentes.
Quintana ha dejado á la Academia de la Historia la corona de
oro que en ceremonia pública
ciñó sus sienes hace pocos años (1) , á la de San Fernando
el busto de Jovellanos, á la Española
un ejemplar de la obra de lord Holland sobre Lope de Vega,
al país su genio, que no ha muerto,
y sus inspirados acentos, que tantas enseñanzas contienen
para la juventud, anhelosa de seguir
sus huellas.
CARTA DE DON BARTOLOMÉ JOSÉ GALLARDO. {Autógrafo.)
Toledo, 27 Mayo 1846.
Señor don Félix Calvo y Caballero, canónigo de Córdoba (calle
de San Roque).
Paisano y dueño: Al arreglar aquí mis papeles, de vuelta y
asiento en esta casa de campo (La
Alberquilla, donde vivo á las órdenes de usted), me
encuentro borradas en gran parte ciertas es-
pecies curiosas , que oí de labios de usted ahí á nuestra
buena vista, el 24 de Julio de 1843, y
apunté de lápiz en mi libro de memoria, relativas á sus
primeros estudios, siendo su condiscí-
pulo el famoso don Manuel Quintana.
Las que puedo sacar en limpio de mi libro y mi memoria son
las siguientes :
Primeramente , que Quintana no nació en Cabeza del Buey ,
sino en Madrid .
Que estudió gramática latina en Córdoba.
Que su preceptor era extremeño y natural de Cabeza del Buey,
el cual se llamaba ( no sé si leo
bien) don Manuel Salas, y estaba casado con una extremeña de
Campanario.
No me acuerdo de si me añadió usted que después empezó ahí
Quintana á estudiar filosofía,
y pasó luego á Salamanca á continuar ese estudio y seguir
carrera.
Sírvase usted ratificarme y ampliar cuanto pueda estas
noticias. Y de camino quisiera mere-
cer de usted me dijera si un don Francisco Borja de Salas,
natural (creo) de Campanario, que,
cuando yo estudiantino, fué allá de médico, y lo ha sido más
de treinta años, era hijo del pre-
ceptor Salas , porque conservo no sé qué memoria confusa de
haberle oido decir que fué también
condiscípulo de Quintana.
Usted dispense la impertinencia y mande cuanto sea de su
agrado á este su afectísimo paisano
yS. S.,Q. S.M. B.,
6. J. Gallardo.
APUNTE AUTÓGRAFO DE GALLARDO.
Quintana.
Noticias que me da en Córdoba , 4.° Octubre 1845, el señor
don Francisco Fernandez Muñoz
yerno de don José Mariano Moreno, profesor de letras humanas.
Quintana estudió latín en Córdoba con un preceptor llamado
D. Manuel Salas.
Moreno estudiaba con don José Baéna , presbítero, preceptor
de la catedral , de cuyo estudio
(1) Alude á la coronación de Quintana, como
poeta, en el salón del palacio del Senado, el dia 25
de Marzo de 1055. Llegó Quintana al pié del tro-
no, apoyado en el brazo de don Francisco Martínez
de la Kosa. La reina doña Isabel II, al ceñir con la
corona de oro las sienes de su antiguo ayo, le dijo
estas palabras : «Me asocio á este homenaje en nom-
bre de la patria, como reina; en nombre de las le-
tras , como discípula. » (Nota del Colector.)
188 DON MANUEL JOSÉ QUINTANA.
iban con frecuencia varios alumnos á la clase de Salas á
provocarlos á argüir, contendiendo los
de un grado mismo de estudios. En una de estas ocasiones
arguyo Quintana con Moreno, y éste
le venció, de cuyas resultas ([uedaron tan amigos, que
continuaron su trato, y aun después de
muchos años no olvidó Quintana la amistad de Moreno.
Al retirarse la Junta Central por Córdoba tó visitó para
renovar su amistad.
Quintana
de Manuel Reina
A Manuel Garat.
¡Miradlo, es él! En su pupila ardiente
del genio el gran relámpago serpea;
el noble patriotismo centellea
en su pecho valiente,
en su severa frente
con intenso fulgor brilla la idea.
¡Miradlo, es él! Nuestro inmortal Quintana,
el poeta coloso
cuyo canto soberbio y generoso
es el orgullo de la historia hispana.
Es el poeta que cantó la imprenta
con pindáricos sones,
e inspirose también en la sangrienta
noche fatal de cien revoluciones.
Su alma fue siempre espléndido tesoro
de entusiasmo de fe, de valentía,
y de su fuerte cuerpo en cada poro
un corazón enérgico latía.
El gran patricio, el escritor gigante
de numen soberano;
su pluma fue la espada centellante
que el ángel vengador puso en su mano.
Él azotó la espalda del tirano,
y al torpe absolutismo
sepultó con esfuerzo sobrehumano
en el eterno abismo.
La patria era su Dios, su amor, su vida;
por eso al verla herida
por la garra del águila de Jena,
gritó con voz potente:
¡Guerra!... Dadme una lanza,
ceñidme el casco fiero y refulgente,
volemos al combate, a la venganza.
Y la española gente
al escuchar su grito, diligente
acudió belicosa a la matanza.
El gran Quintana, arrebatando entonces
el fuego a los volcanes,
la luz al rayo, el son a los torrentes,
los acentos valientes
a los recios y roncos huracanes,
la voz atronadora y altanera
al eje de la esfera,
y el poderoso grito a los titanes,
lanza su canto enérgico y sublime,
y en heroica bravura al par que fiera,
enciende los hispanos corazones.
La Francia al escucharlo tiembla y gime,
y cayendo esta hiena en vil desmayo,
su altiva frente aplasta el férreo callo
de nuestros fogosísimos bridones.
El lírico fue el dios de la victoria
y de entonces su nombre insigne, suena
en la guerrera tropa, en la alta almena,
en el choque de bélica armadura,
en el mar, en el monte, en la llanura...
¡Toda nuestra nación su nombre llena!
Por eso cuando cruza por mi mente
el glorioso recuerdo de esta hazaña,
exclamo, lleno de entusiasmo ardiente:
«¡Quintana ha de vivir eternamente,
pues Quintana es España!»
http://es.wikisource.org/wiki/Quintana
Origins of surname
The Spanish surname Quintana is of habitational origin. The
name Quintana is chiefly found in the regions Catalonia,
Asturias, Leon, and Galicia and is a name from any of the
numerous places, named Quintana. The name is derived from
the Spanish word quintana meaning “ a country house”
(originally having a tax liability of one fifth of the
annual produce). The first reference to the name in the
United States was Domingo Quintana who settled in New
Orleans in 1779. A notable bearer of the name was the
accomplished 19th Century Spanish poet Manuel José Quintana
y Lorenzo. - See more at:
http://www.heraldicjewelry.com/quintana-crest-page.html#sthash.T741cHTr.dpuf
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