the monotonous _arte mayor_ stanza and the deadly
earnestness of his temperament. He enjoyed great renown
and authority for many decades.

Two anonymous poems of about the same time deserve
mention. The _Danza de la muerte_, the Castilian
representative of a type which appeared all over Europe,
shows death summoning mortals from all stations of
life with ghastly glee. The _Coplas de Mingo Revulgo_,
promulgated during the reign of Henry IV (1454-1474), are
a political satire in dialogue form, and exhibit for the
first time the peculiar peasant dialect that later became
a convention of the pastoral eclogues and also of the
country scenes in the great drama.

The second half of the century continues the same
tendencies with a notable development in the fluidity of
the language and an increasing interest in popular poetry.
Gómez Manrique (d. 1491?) was another warrior of a
literary turn whose best verses are of a severely moral
nature. His nephew JORGE MANRIQUE (1440-1478) wrote a
single poem of the highest merit; his scanty other works
are forgotten. The _Coplas por la muerte de su padre_,
beautifully translated by Longfellow, contain some
laments for the writer's personal loss, but more general
reflections upon the instability of worldly glory. It is
not to be thought that this famous poem is in any way
original in idea; the theme had already been exploited to
satiety, but Manrique gave it a superlative perfection of
form and a contemporary application which left no room for