Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis

3
Spanish Literature," new edition, vol. iii. p. 461) writes thus:
"Calderon is a poet who, whenever he is translated, should have his very
excesses and extravagances, both in thought and manner, fully
reproduced, in order to give a faithful idea of what is grandest and
most distinctive in his genius. Mr. MacCarthy has done this, I
conceive, to a degree which I had previously supposed impossible.
Nothing, I think, in the English language will give us so true an
impression of what is most characteristic of the Spanish drama; perhaps
I ought to say, of what is most characteristic of Spanish poetry
generally."
Another eminent Hispaniologist (Mr. C. F. Bradford, of Boston) has
spoken of the work in similar terms. His labours did not pass without
recognition from the great dramatist's countrymen. He was elected a
member of the Real Academia some years ago, and in 1881 this learned
body presented him with the medal struck in commemoration of Calderon's
bicentenary, "in token of their gratitude and their appreciation of his
translations of the great poet's works."
In 1855, at the request of the Marchioness of Donegal, my father wrote
the ode which was recited at the inauguration of the statue of her son,
the Earl of Belfast. About the same time, his Lectures on Poetry were
delivered at the Catholic University at the desire of Cardinal Newman.
The Lectures on the Poets of Spain, and on the Dramatists of the
Sixteenth Century, were delivered a few years later. In 1862 he
published a curious bibliographical treatise on the "Memoires of the
Marquis de Villars." In 1864 the ill-health of some of his family his
leaving his home near Killiney Hill[6] to reside on the Continent. In
1872, "Shelley's Early Life" was published in London, where he had
settled, attracted by the facilities for research which its great
libraries offered. This biography gives an amusing account of the young
poet's visit to Dublin in 1812, and some new details of his adventures
and writings at this period. My father's admiration for Shelley was of
long standing. At the age of seventeen he wrote some lines to the
poet's memory, which appeared in the "Dublin Satirist" already
mentioned, and an elaborate review of his poetry in an early number of
the Nation. I have before alluded to Shelley's influence in directing
his attention to Calderon. The centenary odes in honour of O'Connell
and Moore were written, in 1875 and 1879, at the request of the
committees which had charge of these celebrations. He returned to
Ireland a few months before his death, which took place at Blackrock,