Gil Vicente

I. LIFE AND PLAYS OF GIL VICENTE

II. CHARACTER AND IDEAS

III. TYPES SKETCHED IN HIS PLAYS

IV. ORIGINALITY AND INFLUENCE

EXHORTAaeAO DA GUERRA [n]

FARSA DOS ALMOCREVES [n]

TRAGICOMEDIA PASTORIL DA SERRA DA ESTRELLA

AUTO DA ALMA

EXHORTAaeAO DA GUERRA

FARSA DOS ALMOCREVES

TRAGICOMEDIA PASTORIL DA SERRA DA ESTRELLA (2)

LIST OF PROVERBS IN GIL VICENTE'S WORKS

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GIL VICENTE [155]

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF GIL VICENTE'S LIFE

INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• [Frontispiece]
• PREFACE
• CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• AUTO DA ALMA
• EXHORTAÇÃO DA GUERRA
• FARSA DOS ALMOCREVES
• TRAGICOMEDIA PASTORIL DA SERRA DA ESTRELLA
• NOTES
• • AUTO DA ALMA
  • EXHORTAÇAO DA GUERRA
  • FARSA DOS ALMOCREVES
  • TRAGICOMEDIA PASTORIL DA SERRA DA ESTRELLA
• LIST OF PROVERBS IN GIL VICENTE'S WORKS
• BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GIL VICENTE
• CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF GIL VICENTE'S LIFE
• INDEX OF PERSONS AND PLACES

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

• textual variant notes have been marked in the text with [v]
• endnotes have been marked in the text with [n]

PREFACE

Gil Vicente, that sovereign genius[1], is too popular and indigenous for translation and this may account for the fact that he has not been presented to English readers. It is hoped, however, that a fairly accurate version, with the text in view[2], may give some idea of his genius. The religious, the patriotic-imperial, the satirical and the pastoral sides of his drama are represented respectively by the Auto da Alma, the ExhortaÇÃo, the Almocreves and the Serra da Estrella, while his lyrical vein is seen in the Auto da Alma and in two delightful songs: the serranilha of the Almocreves and the cossante of the Serra da Estrella. Many of his plays, including some of the most charming of his lyrics, were written in Spanish and this limited the choice from the point of view of Portuguese literature, but there are others of the Portuguese plays fully as well worth reading as the four here given.

The text is that of the exceedingly rare first edition (1562). Apart from accents and punctuation, it is reproduced without alteration, unless a passage is marked by an asterisk, when the text of the editio princeps will be found in the foot-notes, in which variants of other editions are also given.

In these notes A represents the editio princeps (1562): CopilaÇam de todalas obras de Gil Vicente, a qual se reparte em cinco livros. O primeyro he de todas suas cousas de deuaÇam. O segundo as comedias. O terceyro as tragicomedias. No quarto as farsas. No quinto as obras meudas. Empremiose em a muy nobre & sempre leal cidade de Lixboa em casa de Ioam Aluarez impressor del Rey nosso senhor. Anno de MDLXII. The second (1586) edition (B) is the CopilaÇam de todalas obras de Gil Vicente... Lixboa, por Andres Lobato, Anno de MDLXXXVJ. A third edition in three volumes appeared in 1834 (C): Obras de Gil Vicente, correctas e emendadas pelo cuidado e diligencia de J. V. Barreto Feio e J. G. Monteiro. Hamburgo, 1834. This was based, although not always with scrupulous accuracy, on the editio princeps, and subsequent editions have faithfully adhered to that of 1834: Obras, 3 vol. Lisboa, 1852 (D), and Obras, ed. Mendes dos Remedios, 3 vol. Coimbra, 1907, 12, 14 [Subsidios, vol. 11, 15, 17][3] (E). Although there has been a tendency of late to multiply editions of Gil Vicente, no attempt has been made to produce a critical edition. It is generally felt that that must be left to the master hand of Dona Carolina MichaËlis de Vasconcellos[4]. Since the plays of Vicente number over forty the present volume is only a tentative step in this direction, but it may serve to show the need of referring to, and occasionally emending, the editio princeps in any future edition of the most national poet of Portugal[5].

AUBREY F. G. BELL.

8 April 1920.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION