The lovers set out,
forthwith, for Madrid, to see the newly discovered father. On the
route, Bartolome dogs their steps; fires at Preciosa; misses her;
the shot is returned; he falls; and "The Spanish Student" is
concluded.
This plot, however, like that of "Tortesa," looks better in our
naked digest than amidst the details which develop only to disfigure
it. The reader of the play itself will be astonished, when he
remembers the name of the author, at the inconsequence of the
incidents- at the utter want of skill- of art-manifested in their
conception and introduction. In dramatic writing, no principle is more
clear than that nothing should be said or done which has not a
tendency to develop the catastrophe, or the characters. But Mr.
Longfellow's play abounds in events and conversations that have no
ostensible purpose, and certainly answer no end. In what light, for
example, since we cannot suppose this drama intended for the stage,
are we to regard the second scene of the second act, where a long
dialogue between an Archbishop and a Cardinal is wound up by a dance
from Preciosa? The Pope thinks of abolishing public dances in Spain,
and the priests in question have been delegated to examine,
personally, the proprieties or improprieties of such exhibitions. With
this view, Preciosa is summoned and required to give a specimen of her
skill.
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