CHAPTER I SPANISH VERSES During Garcilaso's lifetime only one of his works was published, the Dedicatory Epistle to the edition of Boscán's translation of Il cortegiano, printed in 1534. But his talent must have been known, to a certain extent, at least, among his contemporaries through manuscript copies of his poems; perhaps the suelto, bearing the date 1536, which contains the sonnet "Passando el mar Leandro el animoso" (No. XXIX) was printed even before his death. The scattered papers of the poet were gathered by his family and intrusted to the care of his friend Boscán, who was preparing them for publication together with his own verses, when he too was surprised by death. Boscán's widow determined, however, to carry out her husband's purpose; in 1543 the press of Carles Amoros in Barcelona produced a quarto volume intitled: "Las obras de Boscan y algunas de Garcilasso de la Vega, repartidas en quatro libros." The publisher in a brief note "A los lectores" explained the circumstances which had affected the publication of the work, adding that, despite any imperfections which it might Ieveal for lack of the polish which Boscán's hand would have given it, he had printed the text as he had found it, for no one would be so bold as to undertake to emend the works of Boscán nor those of Garcilaso. The works of Garcilaso, all in the Italian measures, comprised the Fourth Book of the volume, twenty-eight sonnets, five canciones, two elegies, an epistle and three eclogues. At the front of the volume on an inserted sheet appeared another sonnet (No. XXIX), “which they forgot to put at the end with his works," and among the verses which formed the First Book of Boscán's works in the Castilian measures, was included a villancico of Garcilaso on the theme: Que testimonios son estos, que no fue sino baylar?1 Rarely has a book of verse enjoyed a greater popularity than did this monument to the lifelong friendship of the two poets; before the end of the century no less than twenty-one editions were printed, including editions made in Italy, France, Portugal and Flanders, and of these, sixteen appeared before 1560. Not until 1569 did there appear an edition of the works of Garcilaso alone, when there was printed at Salamanca a slight volume containing the compositions which had been included in the editions of Boscán's works, with the exception of the villancico. In 1574 the eminent humanist, Francisco Sánchez de las Brozas, printed at Salamanca the first edition of Garcilaso's works with a commentary. In addition to the works included in the edition of 1569 he printed several other compositions, six sonnets and five coplas. The second edition (1577) contained three more sonnets "at |