Here were to be found Bretón de los Herreros, Estébanez
Calderón, Mesonero Romanos, Gil y Zárate, Ventura de la
Vega, Espronceda and Larra. The influence of Spanish epic
and dramatic poetry had been important in stimulating the
growth of romanticism in England, Germany and France. In
England, Robert Southey translated into English the
poem and the chronicle of the Cid and Sir Walter Scott
published his Vision of Don Roderick; in Germany, Herder's
translation of some of the Cid _romances_ and the Schlegel
brothers' metrical version of Calderón's dramas had called
attention to the merit of the earlier Spanish literature;
and in France, Abel Hugo translated into French the
_Romancero_ and his brother Victor made Spanish subjects
popular with _Hernani_ and _Ruy Blas_ and the _Légendes
des siècles_. But Spain, under the despotism of Ferdinand
VII, the "Tyrant of Literature," remained apparently
indifferent or even hostile to its own wonderful
creations, and clung outwardly to French
neo-classicism.[2] Böhl von Faber,[3] the German consul at
Cadiz, who was influenced by the Schlegel brothers,
had early called attention to the merit of the Spanish
literature of the Golden Age and had even had some of
Calderón's plays performed at Cadiz. And in page xxxvi
1832 Durán published his epoch-making _Romancero_. In 1833
Ferdinand VII died and the romantic movement was hastened
by the home-coming of a number of men who had fled the
despotism of the monarch and had spent some time in
England and France, where they had come into contact with
the romanticists of those countries. Prominent amongst
these were Martínez de la Rosa, Antonio Alcalá Galiano,